Mammon

by J. B. Thomas

  Sarah nodded. ‘It marks me out as a telepath. We only wear these while training, never on missions. The mercs have their own crests, as do the engineers.’

  ‘Can you read minds?’

  ‘No,’ Sarah gave Joe a half-smile. ‘I can plant ideas in others’ minds, that’s all.’ She scratched her head. ‘I don’t really use my gift much – I work in research and development instead, and sometimes I work with the communications systems.’ She cleared her throat and shot a glance between Grace and Joe. ‘What did you guys think of the asylum?’

  Grace shuddered. ‘Those guards are creepy.’

  Joe smirked. ‘Without their guns, they’d be pussies.’

  Sarah gave him a doubtful look. ‘Not really. Marcus picks the cream of the mercenary crop to join his guard, so they’re pretty good.’ She shrugged. ‘Most of the time they just stand there with guns. It’s a waste of talent, really. Nobody gets out of those cells – ever.’

  They approached a group of boys sitting at a table. Grace noticed each of them wore a triangle insignia on their sleeve. A guy who appeared to be in his early twenties looked up. His eyes, warm and brown, radiated a deep intelligence. His skin, smooth and even, was a light shade of caramel, and his hair a mass of tight, fair curls.

  ‘Hi, Sarah.’

  Sarah grinned. ‘Hey, Seth. This is Grace and Joe Callahan.’

  Seth stood up and nodded. ‘I know. Your reputations precede you. Settling in okay?’ He fell into step with them.

  ‘Reputations?’ Grace shook her head. ‘We haven’t done anything.’

  ‘That’s not what we’ve heard.’

  The group walked on.

  ‘Seth’s part of the engineering core. Their crest represents Pythagoras. They’re learning to design weapons and communications systems and fly choppers. The very technology that the grunts . . . I mean, mercs, rely on.’

  Seth clasped his hands behind his back, lifted his chin and put on an English accent. ‘Actually, I’m in charge of the core.’ He looked down his nose at them before bursting into a bright grin.

  Sarah shook her head. ‘Crap acting, buddy. You can’t even pretend to be an arsehole.’ She punched his arm.

  ‘Oh.’ Seth put on a mock pout. He threw Grace a grin and winked.

  Grace tore her eyes away to give Sarah a questioning look. ‘Who are you imitating?’

  ‘Malcolm, Sarah’s brother,’ said Seth.

  ‘Stepbrother.’ Sarah waggled her finger. ‘He thinks he’s better than everyone else.’

  ‘Definitely not an engineer,’ Seth added. ‘Certainly not skilled enough to be a telepath.’

  ‘Ah,’ said Sarah, ‘you flatter us.’

  Seth lowered his voice. ‘Although, Daddy’s the head honcho, isn’t he? Malcolm probably thinks he’s going to inherit power, like this is some kind of monarchy.’

  Grace looked at him. ‘Lucius is Malcolm’s father?’

  ‘No, Marcus is.’

  ‘Oh,’ said Grace. ‘I thought Lucius was in charge of us.’

  ‘He’s supposed to be.’ Seth sighed. ‘But he lets his brother call all the shots.’

  Sarah tutted. ‘Don’t let Diana hear you say that.’

  Grace looked back at Joe, who was listening with a bemused look on his face.

  A passing group of mercenaries gave the group a lasting stare. Grace studied the crests on their sleeves: a long spear set against a bronze shield emblazoned with an eight-pointed star. She felt their gaze moving over her body. One of them mumbled to his friend. They broke into laughter and walked on.

  Grace breathed deeply, trying to quell that old feeling that arose whenever boys laughed and stared. ‘Are they always this unfriendly?’

  Sarah shrugged. ‘Don’t let it get to you. Some of these guys think they’re God’s gift to women. Comes from fighting hand-to-hand with ghoulies. But people like us value mind over muscle.’ They stopped at a glass sliding door.

  ‘Ghoulies? That’s what you call them?’ Grace noted the derisive tone. Perhaps they were talking about different monsters here.

  Sarah slid the door open. A rush of cool air hit their cheeks; in the distance Grace could see a blur of movement among the trees.

  The red-headed girl, Maya, jogged past. ‘You’re late.’

  Sarah rolled her eyes. ‘That’s Diana’s assistant.’

  Maya shot a look back. ‘I’m a mercenary, actually. Try to keep up.’

  Grace watched the girl disappear into the trees. ‘Yeah, we’ve met.’

  A Greek-style amphitheatre lay ahead, with six rows of grassed levels. Maya was sitting in the back row beside two other mercenaries. Both had cropped hair, like marines. One blond, one dark. The blond boy glanced up, gave the newcomers a once-over and looked back at his teammate. Grace noticed he wore the standard white t-shirt, but the front was emblazoned with SERB PRIDE.

  The place was packed with people in white shirts. Ahead, a boy stood and made a joke, then he ducked down when some- one threw a drink can at him. At the front, five young guys and two girls were standing in conversation. Grace gulped against the rising wave of nerves. But then again – with a closer look – this gathering resembled nothing more than a school assembly. This wasn’t an army. They were just kids.

  ‘Sit here,’ Sarah said. They took their seats behind Maya and the two other mercenaries.

  ‘Quiet!’ One of the leaders stepped forward and stared out into the group.

  ‘That’s Ivan,’ whispered Sarah. ‘He’s our squad leader. Hopefully you’ve both been assigned to him if Lucius knows what he’s doing.’

  Ivan ran his gaze along the crowd and began to take rollcall.

  Grace scanned his face. Pale, with short, dark hair. She couldn’t see his crest, but there was something about him that made her feel compelled to stare, as though she was drawn to him . . .

  ‘Is he a telepath?’

  Seth snorted. ‘Hell, no. He’s a merc. Hardcore one, too.’ He looked at Grace. ‘Why’d you think that?’

  ‘Never mind.’

  She continued to stare, mesmerised by his voice and the eyes that seemed to speak to whomever he looked at. And then Seth was nudging her arm. ‘You’re up.’

  ‘Callahan, Grace,’ Ivan repeated.

  She raised her hand. ‘Here.’

  Ivan stared at her for a moment before looking down at his list again. ‘Callahan, Joseph.’

  When rollcall was over, the two mercenaries next to Maya turned and looked at Grace and Joe. ‘You two are with us,’ the blond boy said. ‘Move it.’ He cast a long look at Grace as he hoisted a large black bag over his shoulder and began to move up the stairs, closely followed by Maya.

  ‘That’s Armin,’ Sarah said. ‘Sorry about his attitude, but that’s grunts for you.’

  Armin glanced back. ‘Shut up, girl. When was the last time you killed a ghoulie?’

  The dark-haired boy coughed. ‘Ahem.’

  Sarah sighed. ‘Grace, meet my stepbrother, Malcolm.’ She pressed her lips together, struggling not to laugh at Seth, who was pulling faces.

  Malcolm reached across, but didn’t wait for Grace to accept his handshake. Rather, he grabbed her hand and shook hard. ‘I’m Malcolm Penbury. You’ll answer to me whenever Ivan’s not here.’

  ‘Ivan’s always here,’ Sarah said. ‘So you won’t have to answer to him often.’

  Grace pulled her hand away. ‘Okay then.’ Seth was pretending to gag, shoving his forefinger down his throat. Sarah broke into laughter.

  Grace began to climb the stairs. Malcolm fell into step next to her. ‘So what do you have to offer us, Grace? What’s your motivation for wanting to join up?’

  ‘My parents were murdered by demons. I want to find the ones who did it, and kill them.’

 
‘Yes.’ Maya threw her a look over her shoulder. ‘As you say in English, join the club.’

  ‘It’s true,’ said Sarah. ‘Everyone here has lost family that way. Well, except for Malcolm. He’s still lucky enough to have his dad.’ She gave Grace a meaningful look. ‘You’ve met Marcus already, haven’t you?’

  ‘Yep.’ Grace kept her tone friendly. She could feel Malcolm’s eyes burning into her face.

  The group moved into a small clearing surrounded by trees with climbing holds and ropes. Armin dropped the bag and crouched next to it, opening the zipper. He began to unload weapons and ammunition.

  Joe wandered across. ‘Tasers?’

  Armin gave Joe an appreciative smile. ‘Our training program is going to be totally different now you’re here. We stun them, you throw them into a rift.’

  ‘Neat.’ Joe picked up a handgun and took aim.

  ‘Don’t you point that thing at me,’ said Grace.

  ‘Yeah, watch out,’ said Sarah. ‘Accidents do happen.’

  ‘Yes, they do!’ Maya snapped. She turned her gaze on Grace. ‘You and your brother are replacements.’ She tilted her head, eyes hard through her bright red fringe. ‘A mentally unstable telepath got two of our team killed.’ With a jaunty flick of her wrist, she loaded yellow cartridges into a handgun.

  Sarah glared at Maya. ‘It wasn’t her fault.’

  ‘Yes, it was. She was incompetent, arrogant and foolish.’

  Sarah’s eyes narrowed. ‘She’s not here to defend herself, Maya.’

  ‘She’s where she belongs now.’

  ‘Shut up! You’ve got no idea!’

  Maya just shrugged.

  Grace stared at Sarah. ‘Who’s she talking about?’

  Trembling with anger, Sarah watched Maya turn to the other mercenaries.

  Grace touched Sarah’s arm. ‘Hey, are you okay?’

  Sarah’s face was flushed, her eyes ablaze. ‘I’m fine.’ She closed her eyes and breathed. ‘Everything’s fine.’

  Making a mental note to find out who this disgraced telepath was, Grace reached out and touched the trunk of a nearby tree, where various hand and foot holds jutted out in an uneven pattern like giant wads of chewing gum, squashed and prodded into different shapes. She reached out and squeezed one between her thumb and forefinger. It felt reassuringly stable – and comfortable.

  Sarah peered up. ‘Have you climbed before?’

  Grace lodged her foot into a lower hold and lifted off. Her foot came to rest on another hold. ‘No.’ She glanced up – another hold was within reach. She could do this. Stretching, she pulled herself up.

  With fluid moves, she climbed higher, the pain in her injured ankle eclipsed by her desire to reach the top.

  ‘You’re not supposed to do that without a harness.’

  ‘Oh.’ Grace looked down and gave Sarah a half-smile. ‘Bit late now.’ She pushed further.

  Sarah winced. ‘Grace, climb down now.’

  For the first time in months, Grace’s stomach felt light.

  Just a little bit further. The next handhold seemed higher but not beyond her reach. She could see above the tops of some smaller trees. She swung her leg up and stretched across to grab one of the handholds. Beyond, the peak of one of the cliff towers came into view. She stopped and gazed out at the ocean.

  A quick glance down confirmed the awful truth – her enthusiastic climb had brought her much higher than she’d intended. Sarah stared up, pressing her palm against her stomach, her face creased with worry. Maya wore a smirk.

  ‘Climb down, Grace!’ Joe scowled.

  Malcolm stood at the foot of the tree. ‘I’ll go up and get her.’

  ‘No!’ Grace swayed, struggling to climb down, her knees scraping against the trunk as she slid, her fingers tearing at the bark. ‘I can get down myself!’ She managed to get a handhold – phew. But she missed the foothold and her good foot was hanging, leaving all the weight on her hands. Armin was staring up at the tree with a predatory grin, juggling a softball in his hand. The smile dropped, and he hurled the ball at Grace.

  ‘Score! A direct hit!’

  Grace’s arms became heavy. Her fingers slipped away.

  With a thump, she landed. A jarring pain hit her back. She lay her head back on the wet grass, closed her eyes and groaned.

  Three, two, one – and she would magically teleport to anywhere but here.

  She felt a warm hand on her arm. ‘Are you all right?’ She opened her eyes and caught her breath.

  It was him. Ivan.

  He peered down at her, frowning with concern. He had clear, near-perfect skin – apart from a small scar on his right cheek. Light blue eyes, crystal cool, but shining with an inner warmth that instantly made her feel at ease, cared for.

  He smelled nice – a mix of the healthy male scent and light aftershave. And boy, was he ripped. Not obscenely, his muscles weren’t bursting through his sleeves, but just enough to create an impression of lithe, gymnast-like strength.

  ‘I’m okay.’ She sat up.

  Ivan gave her his hand and helped her up. His hand was warm and solid – like the rest of him. She hadn’t really noticed this during rollcall, but he towered above everyone else – even Joe. She wiped the wet grass off her jeans, hoping her blush wasn’t too obvious.

  Sarah glared at Armin. ‘You’re a dickhead.’ She lunged across and grabbed the softball from his hand.

  Armin shrugged. ‘What? She made a safe landing.’ Grinning, he snatched the ball back, twirling it in one hand. ‘We have initiations around here. You have to prove yourself before you can call yourself a mercenary.’

  Sarah’s cheeks flushed red. ‘By having her neck broken? You stupid –’

  Malcolm grunted. ‘Why so touchy, Sarah? Off your meds?’

  Seth glared at him. ‘Shut up, Malcolm.’

  ‘I’m okay, Sarah.’ Grace looked at Ivan, who was speaking to Seth in a low voice. ‘Who is he, anyway?’

  ‘Ivan Konstantinov. He used to be with Spetsnaz – the Russian special forces. Lucius brought him in specially to train us, and he liked it so much that he stayed on. He’s only twenty-one, but there are some stories about him.’ She lowered her voice. ‘His nickname is Ivan the Terrible. Apparently he killed a Level Twenty-two, all by himself.’

  ‘Really?’ Grace cleared her throat. ‘I don’t remember seeing him at the funeral.’ She watched Ivan lead an attentive Joe past the row of climbing trees, pointing upwards.

  ‘He was there. We all were.’ Sarah took a deep breath. ‘Whatever you do, don’t get him angry. He’s friendly nearly all of the time, but if you piss him off, he’s all business.’

  A whistle caught Grace’s attention. Maya was watching her, with an expectant look on her face. ‘If you want to join our team, you have to learn to handle a firearm.’

  Grace lifted her chin. ‘Doesn’t sound too hard to me.’

  ‘Well, there’s not much else that you can do, is there?’ Armin said. ‘But your brother, on the other hand.’ He whistled. ‘Great potential.’

  ‘Yes.’ Maya nodded. ‘All she’s done so far is fall out of a tree.’ She grinned.

  Grace narrowed her eyes. ‘I wouldn’t have if you hadn’t thrown that ball, you moron.’

  Maya’s smile dropped. ‘Don’t you speak to him like that.’

  ‘Right.’ Ivan’s voice snapped through the air. ‘All of you – sit down.’

  Grace lowered herself to the grass and crossed her legs. Sarah touched her arm. ‘Don’t let them get to you, Grace. Diana told us about your gift. You’re going to kick their butts. They’ll never be able to do what we can.’

  ‘No.’ Maya gave Sarah a sarcastic smile. ‘But then again, neither will we go insane and rot away in a padded cell.’

  Sarah flinched.
‘Shut up.’

  Grace pointed at Maya. ‘You know what? You talk too much.’ She turned back to Sarah, whose face was red. ‘Who is she talking about?’

  ‘Someone who used to work here. Sit down.’

  ‘What is wrong with them?’

  ‘They’re mercenaries, Grace. Arrogance comes with the territory.’ Sarah tucked her knees up to her chest. ‘I just ignore it. Most of the time I’m on the radio, away from the action.’ Her eyes grew dim, staring into the nothingness.

  Ivan ran his gaze along the group. ‘Our training objectives have changed, given the new dynamics of the group.’ Grace watched his lips move, noting the strange way he pronounced certain words; how formal his speech seemed compared to the rest of them. He seemed to sense her thoughts and gave her an extra-long look before turning to the mercenaries. ‘You are to spend the morning in a live-fire simulation, then we’ll meet up with these two for a combined exercise.’

  Armin pointed to Grace. ‘What about her? Will she receive any arms training? We’re not about to put our lives in the hands of another incompetent psychic.’

  Ivan threw him a hard look. ‘Jelavic – to me. The rest of you – to the arena.’

  Armin stepped towards Ivan. Maya gave Armin a reluctant look before disappearing into the trees. Grace couldn’t hear what they were saying, but Ivan’s tone was firm, his eyes fixed on his subordinate’s face. Armin shook his head once. Ivan nodded towards the forest; Armin jogged away without giving Grace a glance.

  Ivan watched her for a few seconds and then glanced at Sarah. ‘Okay. Sanderson – you take Grace with you. Do some tests, let me know how she goes.’

  GRACE HURRIED TO keep up with Sarah’s long-legged stride as they passed the Residence. A wave of embarrassment hit as she thought about her ungracious fall from the tree. She looked up at the blonde girl. ‘I don’t usually do things like that. I don’t know what came over me, really.’

  Sarah smiled. ‘You’re grieving, and now you have to accept big changes in your life. It’s normal to act differently at times like these.’

  Grace nodded. She took a moment to study Sarah’s face. This girl seemed so wise. She had a calmness about her that Grace had only seen in much older people. ‘How old is everyone, anyway? I felt like I was the youngest there.’