Sky Ghosts: All for One (Young Adult Urban Fantasy Adventure) (Sky Ghosts Series Book 1)

by Engellmann, Alexandra

  As she stepped over the threshold, she paused and peered into his eyes.

  “Listen, do you by any chance know how much Peter’s paying her for this mission?”

  Another white grin flashed across his face.

  “You better not know! You’re not gonna see that money anyway. You’ll just get some good beating after what you’re up to.”

  She shrugged, unconcerned.

  “Okay. You didn’t see me!”

  Marco’s eyes glistened ironically as he saluted into the darkness, “Yes, sir!” and slammed the door shut.

  *

  Pain reached the first fork in the tunnel and stopped.

  She could navigate in the tunnels pretty well without a flashlight or a map. She knew a lot of exits where she could get just by counting turns and tracing her hand along the wall. The problem was that she didn’t know which one Peter chose for Betsy, so basically she didn’t know where to go. But she knew three things – it would be a short route, it would end in a busy area where Betsy would get a cab easily, and it would be one they used very rarely. The right corridor led to the outskirts of Brooklyn, and it clearly wasn’t what she needed, so she dug her heels into the metal floor and dashed for the left one.

  She thanked herself silently for choosing sneakers and a light sweatsuit that morning. It could be difficult if Betsy knew about her, but now she would just sneak upon her and do everything smoothly. Another intersection was there, and she stopped. She had the most powerful ally in all this – the sound. At first, everything seemed still and quiet, and Pain had to make an effort to soothe her breathing, and mostly, thoughts. It was difficult to wait when she needed to move as fast as possible before Betsy would get to the surface, but there was no choice. A minute passed, and then she heard it, a steady clip-clop of the heels. A little smile curved the corners of her lips, and she turned to the right, following the sound.

  One more turn, and she could see her, a dark figure walking along the tunnel in a cloud of yellow illumination from the flashlight. Pain got behind her back quickly, careful not to make a sound, and assessed her victim. It wasn’t helping that Betsy was so big, but Pain fought bigger.

  With a single swift blow, she stunned the woman, catching her awkwardly with one arm and lowering her to the floor. Something clattered sharply, turning the metal walls around her into a grumbling orchestra. Her ears prickled, and she tensed, only to realize that it was Betsy’s flashlight that slipped from her fingers and hit the floor. She exhaled, relaxing, and picked it up. She put it on the floor upside down, its light turning the air into a dance of flying dust motes. Then she wiggled out of her hoodie and laid it down. She put Jane’s suit atop of it, together with her shoes and papers. She took the jacket and put it on – good thing it had a row of buttons instead of just one; nobody needed to know that she only had a bra under it. Then she changed her pants and put on the heels. After a short speculation, she crouched over Betsy, took her head in her hands, and fumbled for her hairclip. It was suitable for holding her hair in a high ponytail. She took the briefcase that Betsy was carrying and slipped her documents inside it, taking the woman’s papers out and leaving them there.

  She stepped aside, looking over the still body of their cook. Please don’t put cockroaches in my breakfast, she pleaded silently and rearranged her sweatsuit on the floor. Bending over, she took Betsy under her heavy arms and hauled her to the left, so she could lay her on the covered patch of floor. Unfortunately, it was one thing to throw people around with the help of her power, and another to drag them. Finally, she straightened up, taking the briefcase and the flashlight off the floor, and brushed the dust off her suit. As a finishing touch, she reached down and plucked the glasses off of Betsy’s nose, looking at them with doubt. Won’t hurt, she decided and put them on.

  “I hope you won’t catch a cold here, poor… giant… woman.”

  She gave Betsy one last glance, dropping a half-apologetic, half-indifferent shrug, and started along the tunnel, followed by an idle whistling tune.

  *

  Back in the building, Jane and Chad returned to their room. Dave was taken by Marco, to play poker with Ryan and Cooper, a guy from their floor. Chad landed in the recliner, snatching some magazine off the table – he didn’t really care which as long as it was a male one. Another quiet day without as much as moving was just what he needed after their Manhattan fun. Maybe he didn’t fight there, but he had lost enough nerve cells for a year ahead.

  Jane paused at the entrance and looked over the room skeptically. It was a mess, clothes strewn everywhere, doubled with Chad’s and Dave’s help. Weapons were scattered on top of them, some of them still brown with the dried blood. Pain’s new gear set lay on the floor, left where it had landed after falling off her bed, apparently. Jane grimaced. It was difficult enough to live with her sister, an actual chaos worshipper, who had a habit to jab her knives into walls so she could hang her clothes on them while she was getting dressed. And now she had to deal with the boys, too. Her hopes that maybe Pain would become more organized if the guys stayed with them turned out to be something from an alternate reality. Apparently, even the Queen’s visit wouldn’t make her sister neater.

  After Jane picked up and folded the clothes, she moved to the vanity table. It was covered in papers and magazines, smeared with black eyeliner – Pain’s, of course. She was sorting through the things there when she found her sister’s new volume of “One Day” and held it out.

  “Where does she keep getting these?” she wondered with a smile. “I thought we just got back, and she’s already got a new one!”

  Chad looked at the book, not sure if he should tell her or not.

  “Actually, I gave it to her,” he said simply.

  Jane’s eyebrows instantly shot up; she turned to look at him.

  “Oh, really?” She seemed bemused, and a glint of irony flickered in her eyes, reminding him of Pain.

  “Well, yeah, it’s no big deal to help at least with something.” He shrugged, trying to look nonchalant. It was difficult with Jane seeing right through him, though.

  “Right, because all you had to do was to teleport into some book store, buy the book, and get back here-”

  “No, seriously,” he tried to interrupt.

  “Or,” she held up her index finger, silencing him, “just borrow it from someone here, because it’s not a problem considering that Nicholls is favorite among our folks. I think I saw Skull have one just like this, with all the kissing on the cover. Did you get it from him?” she finished and blinked at him innocently.

  Chad stared back with mild annoyance.

  “No, I would never do that to Skull. The man has his right to wallow in drama. It’s actually much simpler. I met Ryan yesterday early in the morning and asked him if he could get me a book from the nearest book store. He agreed and was back with it in twenty minutes. Then you guys woke up. The end,” he explained.

  Jane only stared at him, her features frozen in a mask of surprise.

  “Hm-mm…” she murmured finally. Chad raised his eyebrows, but she didn’t seem to have any more questions. “No, no, nothing.” She shook her head and returned to her cleaning.

  He shrugged to himself and got back to reading, but then he heard her chuckle and raised his eyes at her once again.

  “What?”

  She waved a hand.

  “Oh, nothing, forget it.” But the laughing didn’t stop.

  “What??” he asked with more intensity now.

  “Well, you said you’re trying to be helpful, but I only see you eager to give things to Pain…” she hinted, and Chad had to make an effort to keep his expression composed.

  “Okay… Do you want something, too? You need a book or…?”

  “Actually, I was remembering my favorite bra- ”

  “Jane!”

  He rolled his eyes, hiding behind his magazine as she burst out laughing again.

  *

  Pain decided not to follow the route from the
map that Betsy got from Peter and just chose one of the most remote from their building and rarely-used exits, heading straight to it. The chosen hatchway didn’t lead to a street – it opened into a basement of one building in the middle of Brooklyn. She hovered under the ceiling, lifting the cover and peeking outside – no one. So the cover banged open, and she flew through the opening, landing carefully in her shoes. The basement was all concrete and dust; nothing changed since she had been here last winter. There were two doors in two opposite walls, and she headed for the left one, smoothing down the front of her jacket.

  No one saw her come out to the parking lot and cross it, approaching the elevator. In a couple of minutes she was outside, squinting at the bright sun and trying to glimpse a free cab. As she got into one and gave the address to the cabbie – the traffic was busy, and she knew the road would take at least an hour – she opened the briefcase and sorted through its contents. Peter’s gonna be so pissed, she thought with a detached worry. She looked over Jane’s papers quickly. Good thing they were so alike. Nobody would ever bother that it wasn’t really her on the photo, because she would look almost the same without her makeup. According to the passport, she was twenty-eight. I could pass for a twenty-eight, she thought. I’m a well-preserved twenty-eight, Jane Adams. Jane A-dams, she practiced in her mind as they drove up to a bridge. People shouted and cursed outside – she didn’t hear them, as her focus was already on the building plan. Now, this was something that needed memorizing. She knew what she was going to do once she would get inside, but the floors scheme was essential to doing it fast.

  They were halfway to the Beasts’ building when she was done. Aside from the documents and the plan, there was a stack of cash in the briefcase. She split it in two halves, folded, and slid in different pockets. It would be stupid to walk around like a drug lord. She blinked. Why was she expecting being searched? Call if you need backup, Marco had said. She hadn’t told him she didn’t have her cell phone with her, but again, there was no need for him to know that. He would worry in vain. It wasn’t like she was going to have any trouble. She knew everything Peter had told Jane: Beasts didn’t show up there, nobody would recognize her, and even if it happened, they would still have to catch her. She felt a smile form on her lips, That could be fun… okay, no daydreaming.

  The car screeched to a stop, and she jammed the papers back into the briefcase. Under the expectant stare of the driver, she put the glasses back on her nose and took a deep breath.

  “We’re here,” he barked out, not very kindly.

  “Easy, tiger.”

  She handed him the money – much more than the meter was showing – and smiled the foxiest of her smiles.

  As the car hurried away, roaring and snarling like a bear, she stood in front of the building regarding it with a hateful look. There it was, the hotbed of the infection, the eight-story glass and concrete bulk, looming over her. It shone in sun rays, reflecting their blinding light, its windows a blue sea of mirrors. Pain tore her gaze off of it with an effort of will and began mounting the stairs, reluctance heavy and strong in the pit of her stomach. Somehow all her eagerness to pay a visit to Eugene evaporated once she arrived at the place. But she had a job to do and she wasn’t going to disappoint Peter. She knew her chances to find out something useful were better than Betsy’s.

  The glass doors slid open, and she strode through them and right to the reception table. A redhead girl sat behind it, engaged in sorting through some papers. Pain came up to her and cleared her throat.

  “Hello, how can I help you?” Two big eyes stared at her questioningly, the color of emerald.

  “Hello. Department of Buildings, Jane Adams. I’m here to inspect the building. You must have received a notification,” Pain answered in a steely voice.

  “Hm-mm…” The receptionist leaned close to the monitor, grabbing the mouse. She must have been checking the email for some time, then raised her look at Pain again. “No, we haven’t, actually,” she said a bit apologetically.

  “I guess there was some kind of a mistake, then. It won’t take much time. I’d like to proceed anyway, since I’ve already arrived. Would you assign someone to attend to me, please?” She looked at the girl through the glasses with all her superiority. If only the redhead knew what a funny picture was before her eyes, she thought with a dark humor.

  The girl looked at Pain’s documents – clearly, she didn’t understand a thing in them.

  “Sure,” her voice didn’t sound sure at all when she replied. She took the phone and dialed a number.

  “Alex, I need you downstairs,” she spoke quietly into it and hung up after a moment. “You can wait over there,” she prompted to Pain with a half-smile, pointing at the white couches by the wall.

  “Thank you,” Pain replied, taking her papers, and walked to one of the couches.

  She barely had the time to put the documents back into the briefcase, when the elevator pinged, and a young man with curly dark hair showed up from it. He was tall and lanky, and his light gray suit looked too loose on him. He hurried to the receptionist, and after she quickly explained him the situation, he turned and headed to Pain with long gawky strides.

  “Hello, I’m Alex, how can I help you?” he said with a smile, regarding her from top to toe as she got up. His brown eyes glistened frantically, and she thought he already seemed eager to get rid of her as soon as possible.

  “Jane Adams. We should start with the top floor. I will perform a brief construction inspection, and the rest will depend on my report.”

  “Follow me then.” With a polite incline of his head, he showed her to the elevator.

  When they reached the top floor, she instantly recognized it as a buffer zone: abandoned rooms, which they used to store furniture and equipment, on the one hand, and a place for a fight on the other. She knew that Eugene’s office was located on one floor from the top, and this one was for rebuffing a possible attack from the roof. For a few long minutes she was walking through the deserted corridors, examining every wall meticulously to impress the attendant. When they were heading to the next floor, the cell phone in his pocket rang.

  “Excuse me.”

  His smile was tense when he took out the phone and answered it. She didn’t care. She just needed him distracted and as far from her as possible.

  Slowing down, she let him pass farther and finally disappear around the corner. At the next second she tiptoed a few steps back and walked again into one of the offices where she had spotted a big grid of the ventilation system. Dust lay in thick sheets on everything around her. She suppressed an urge to sneeze, shutting the door with her back and trying not to touch anything else. The grid was just below the ceiling. She rose into the air and unhinged it at the bottom, then slid in with her feet first and closed the grid. Swiftly, she crawled along the wide rectangular duct until she reached a vertical shaft and hovered inside it. A dull noise filled the space around her. Fans were working somewhere, though she didn’t see any of them near. She tried to see what was below, and then a sharp clang pierced the air.

  “Goddammit!”

  She reached down, trying to stay as far from the duct’s walls as possible, and took off her shoes. Their metal heels obviously weren’t intended for places like this one. The shoes went into the briefcase. Inside it, she found a long strap, which she hitched to the loops so she could sling it over her shoulder.

  For a minute she was remembering the building scheme, and then she lowered to the next floor. Eugene’s office must have been to her left. She realized she still had the stupid glasses on and ripped them off. As she lowered and crawled into another duct, a shrill distant voice caught her attention. Someone was scolding loudly in one of the offices, and she hurried forward, suspecting that only one person on this floor could shout like that. Eugene.

  There were ventilation louvers along the duct’s side, and as she reached the one she needed, she could hear his voice more distinctly. With her face pressed against the louver’s
slats, she peered into the room, barely breathing.

  She could see him now – he stood with his back to her, just a few feet away – and a thrill ran through her veins. It wasn’t the first time she saw him, but then he had been in front of her, armed and alert, practically glowing from all the energy encircling him. Now he had no clue that one of his enemies was right behind his back. He looked so casual in his white polo shirt and light pants, and the very idea of this maniac looking so ordinary was awfully disturbing. There was another man in front of him, an impossibly huge Beast in a black T-shirt and pants, his head shaved and his hands clasped behind his back. It was Eugene’s second-in-command, she knew. They had a brutal encounter in the city a year ago. She couldn’t remember his name, though, for it was unusual and rare. From her spot she could see the surroundings, too: a big wooden desk with a chair behind it, an expensive-looking rug and paintings on the walls, heavy golden drapes on the floor-to-ceiling windows.

  “I don’t want to even think about this anymore! It’s your job! How much brain does one need to perform a task like this?? Why do I have to worry about it and make a plan for you? I don’t care if you’ll have to besiege the whole Headquarters – just get the job done!” Eugene was shouting, every word like a slap at the fighter’s face. The Beast didn’t raise his head, looking down guiltily, his broad shoulders tense.

  “Boss, we almost got him at that apartment. Next time we’ll definitely get rid of the girls and bring him here,” he said, and his voice reminded Pain of Skull, so deep and husky, it was hard to make out the words.

  “Exactly, girls! Two girls against your imbecile squad, and they got away! I’m not going to risk my agents for this, and I’m not going to wait until next time. You use some of that enormous head and come up with a plan, because I can’t get back to my work until we’re finished with this!”