Harlequin Nocturne March 2014 Bundle: ShadowmasterRunning with Wolves

by Susan Krinard

  “The Hold has already been moved,” he said, “and I’m doing my best to get people out.”

  “I couldn’t help noticing that,” she said, squeezing his hand. She put the case on the floor between them, unlocked it and pulled out the contents. “Patterson didn’t manage to purge all his files. We have enough here to make him look very bad to anyone who has an objection to the murder of innocents or blatant and horrific miscarriages of justice.” Her eyes grew moist. “Nothing can ever change the past. But this may open some eyes, and it will make it pretty hard for Patterson to hold on to his political career, let alone further it.”

  “And yet nothing will be solved,” he said, staring blindly at the littered floor.

  Phoenix thought of Aegis, of all the work it had done trying to keep the peace by patrolling the Zone and discouraging any Nightsider attempt to break the Armistice. She’d no longer be a part of that. Aaron Shepherd was determined to make her his own personal operative. She could never let that happen.

  “We’re only two people,” she said softly, touching Drakon’s shoulder. “Once we get out, maybe we can locate one of the free colonies, and help them build a new way of life. Maybe that’s the only thing that will save all of us, Opiri and human. Maybe there’s still a way to mend this world without letting it burn to the ground and wait for a better one to be born out of the ashes.”

  He finally looked at her. “Your wish may not come true, Phoenix.”

  “But it’s all I have. It’s what we have to hope and fight for in any small way we can.”

  She leaned against his shoulder, closing her eyes as she realized that she’d gone without sleep for nearly two full days.

  But she was here. With him. Everything could fall apart in the next hour, the next day, the next week. But they were together now, and she intended to cherish this moment.

  After making love twice more, they went to the half-collapsed market in which Brita, Drakon and one or two others had taken shelter earlier. Matthew Patterson, his hands tied loosely to one of the pylons, seemed strangely relaxed, as if he had become accustomed to his captivity or at least no longer saw any point in struggling.

  Repo showed up by midnight, but Brita still hadn’t returned by the next day. Drakon didn’t seem worried, and Phoenix thought it better not to discuss the subject with him. She needed a chance to get Brita alone before the exchange was made.

  But she and Drakon had plenty of work to fill their time. While volunteer Scrappers organized patrols and kept watch throughout the Fringe—ever mindful that the Enclave politicians might yet break their word and send Enforcers in—Drakon, Phoenix and a few of the crew who had refused to leave their Boss arranged to move the other Fringers who wanted to escape the city. They were sent out armed, carrying as much in the way of food as Drakon could dig up, and with spare sets of clothing. After that, their fates were in their own hands.

  But they’d chosen possible freedom over the likelihood of eventual serfdom, and Phoenix wouldn’t have chosen any differently. She felt more useful, more needed than she ever had in her life, and she had nothing to prove. She and Drakon worked as a perfect team, seldom needing to speak, curling up together at night on ragged blankets and making love—always with a kind of urgency, as if Drakon expected these days to be his last.

  Phoenix refused to consider the possibility. She accepted the happiness she’d found, the look in Drakon’s eyes, both sad and filled with something very close to love. It was enough for her.

  And one night, when they held each other, she told him she loved him.

  There was nothing momentous about the occasion. She’d made her feelings clear enough. But he said nothing...only held her close, enfolding her with his arms and gently rocking her as if she were a child in need of comfort.

  She thought of his lost wife and child, how he had held them, loved them, and wished with all her heart that she could restore them to him, even if she had to give him up forever.

  The day before the scheduled exchange, Drakon spoke privately with Matthew. Though she made no attempt to listen in, Phoenix watched the young man’s face. She saw no hostility or resentment, only earnest attention. Afterward, Phoenix asked Drakon what had transpired between them.

  “He kept demanding to know why I was so certain his father was...what I claimed him to be,” Drakon said, his gaze distant.

  “And?”

  “It took some time, but I think he believes at least part of what I’ve told him.” He smiled slightly and kissed her lips. “He’s been quiet, at least.”

  “Whatever he may believe, he’ll never turn against his father. And what good would it do if he did?”

  “No good at all,” Drakon said.

  “Then why torment him?”

  “Why?” Drakon said, meeting her gaze with the same hardness in his eyes she’d seen when they’d first met. “So that the younger Enforcers can understand, even if their elders don’t.”

  “We’re not quite elders yet, Drakon,” she said, trying to tease him out of his dark mood and herself out of her fear of what tomorrow would bring.

  “You’ll live longer than any human,” Drakon said, his mood changing suddenly to one of profound sadness. “If I survive, I’ll live still longer. Can you accept that?”

  “Growing old while you don’t? It’s more a question of the other way around.” She cupped his cheek. “Can you live with an old woman?”

  “I’ll never let you go,” he said gently, “unless I die first.”

  Clenching her fingers around his, she squeezed as hard as she could. “You’re leaving your old life behind. We both have too much to live for.”

  He worked his hand free, turned her palm up and kissed it. “I’ve found it’s possible to go on living when the ones you love have died. If that ever happens to either one of us, we’ll survive, because there is much to be done. As you told me, there may still be a way to save this world without letting it burn to the ground. You’ll be part of that, Phoenix.”

  “And so will you.”

  But he was very quiet after that, and that night they both fell asleep in each other’s arms without making love beforehand.

  She woke to find the space beside her cold, and hard hands clutching at her arms. Two men pulled her to her feet, and she recognized Repo’s features as well as those of another member of Drakon’s crew.

  Instantly she began to fight, shouting Drakon’s name. But Repo had a stunner, and though it only slowed her down, it was enough for them to force her arms behind her, cuff her and gag her so that she was unable to call out.

  When the stunner’s effects wore off, she just had time to notice that Matthew was gone and she and her captors were alone in the market. As they dragged her outside, she could see that it was midmorning, only around three hours until the meeting between Drakon and Patterson was to take place.

  She continued to struggle, but Repo made it very clear that he’d continue to use the stunner if she tried to break the cuffs or run.

  They took her to the Wall, where two Scrappers with military gear were waiting along with several couples and children.

  “You know what to do,” Repo said, handing the stunner to the woman of the first pair. “Get her out and take her away as fast as you can. If you have to, there’s a stronger setting that’ll knock her out for an hour or two, but she’ll be more of a burden then. You decide what’s best.” He looked at Phoenix. “Sorry, but this was Sammael’s order. Get you out along with the last bunch before the meeting.”

  Phoenix shook her head wildly, shouting under the gag. Her voice came out muffled and unintelligible.

  “He wants you free in case something happens to him,” Repo said. “I know you wanted to stay. Most of us would do anything for him. But it ain’t in the cards.”

  Nodding to the pair with the backpacks, Repo passed her
over to a large man, who grabbed her and started for the exit. It looked very much as if they would succeed in getting her out.

  But desperation was a potent enhancer, and Phoenix was much stronger than they were. Before the woman could apply the stunner, Phoenix kicked out and knocked one of the men down. The other one tripped over the lip of the hole, and Phoenix darted back through.

  Repo and his fellow crew member were lying prone on the ground, Brita standing over them with an Enforcer pistol. When the woman with the stunner tried to return through the hole, Brita aimed her gun and shook her head.

  “Stay out,” she said. “Leave the passage open. These men will be joining you.” She glanced down at the outraged faces of the men on the ground. “Get up, Repo. You’re both going out.”

  “What in hell are you doing, Brita?” Repo demanded. “This wasn’t part of what Sammael—”

  “He changed his mind,” she said, waving the gun. “Go. I’m going to seal up this end, so you won’t be coming back this way. I’d advise that you take the chance to escape, because it’s going to get hairy once the temporary truce is over.”

  She waited, gun at the ready, while Repo, the other man and the woman—who was still frozen halfway through the Wall—had all gone to the other side. Then she moved to unlock the cuffs around Phoenix’s wrists and untied the gag.

  “What is going on?” Phoenix demanded, putting a good distance between herself and Brita.

  “Just shut up, and stay where you are.”

  Edging toward the Wall, Brita disappeared behind one of the heavy metal road signs that partly blocked the hole. Before Phoenix could move, the other woman had shoved the sign aside, and a pile of bricks balanced on the top of the Wall shifted and thundered down to completely cover the hole.

  Brita stepped back, as expressionless as a mechanic who had just performed the most dull and routine of repairs. She turned to Phoenix.

  “Listen up,” she said. “I have a lot to tell you, and we haven’t got much time.”

  But Phoenix was already moving, setting off at a sprint away from the Wall. Brita lunged after her, tackled her and threw her to the ground. Phoenix grappled with the other woman, both of them entangled in a melee of arms and legs, fists and boots. Brita was stronger than Phoenix had ever imagined, and she had to fight desperately to keep the other woman from besting her.

  In the end, Brita won. As she lay panting with the other woman’s foot on her throat, Phoenix knew Brita couldn’t possibly be less than at least full dhampir, though she, like Phoenix, lacked a dhampire’s catlike pupils.

  It was clear now that she really was the deep-cover agent. If Drakon had meant to get Phoenix out and Brita had stopped it from happening, she was acting directly against her Boss’s orders. But was it for Aegis?

  “Are you a complete idiot?” Brita said in an undertone. “Didn’t they tell you to expect me?”

  “Let me up!” Phoenix gasped as Brita slowly removed her foot.

  “You’ve nearly ruined everything,” Brita said, showing the pointed teeth she’d been so careful to conceal before.

  “You mean your mission?” Phoenix asked. “Because I was told—”

  “That I was supposed to help you. If my own mission wouldn’t be compromised. I’ve believed you were an Aegis operative from the moment we made that agreement, and I had my suspicions the first time we met.”

  “But you didn’t bother to tell me?”

  “I wasn’t supposed to make contact with any other operatives they sent out. Not until I’d found as many Opir spies as I could.”

  “You mean you were sent by Aegis on the same job I was?”

  “Not quite. They really didn’t tell you anything, did they?”

  “The director didn’t have clearance, and she didn’t tell me what she knew until I was about to return.”

  “Stupid. I would have sacrificed you without a thought if I believed you’d endanger what I’ve already achieved.”

  “Then why did they send me at all?”

  Brita shrugged. “I have no idea. When you went back to Aegis, you didn’t tell them he was the assassin, did you?”

  So Brita did know, Phoenix thought. And she rightly assumed Phoenix did, as well.

  “No,” she said slowly.

  “That was smart. It could have complicated things even more on this end.”

  “How did you know I’d found out?”

  “As close as you and Drakon had become, I figured you’d learn the truth sooner or later.” She grimaced. “All the time I worked for him, starting around the time he became a Boss, I never guessed he was the assassin. I didn’t know his real name. I was ready to expose the other spies I’d found...until you arrived, and I learned the truth about him.”

  “How?”

  “It doesn’t matter now. But I realized soon after you slept with him that he was going to make mistakes. And that would be to my advantage.”

  Phoenix swallowed. “So you really aren’t in love with him?”

  Brita laughed. “Not at all.”

  “But you went out of your way to show me the good in him. Why?”

  “I needed to see how you’d respond. Just like all those tests and traps I set for you, telling you your story had already checked out. I still didn’t know how you’d fit in, or what I should do with you if you became a problem. And Drakon did save my life once. For a while, I thought I could—” She shook her head. “When he took Matthew Patterson, I had to change my plans.”

  “So why didn’t you take Patterson back to the Enforcers?”

  “I wasn’t ready to expose myself, and I’d realized your connection with Drakon was the best way to stop him.”

  Phoenix let the obvious question pass. “You’re dhampir, aren’t you?” she asked.

  Brita stepped back, letting Phoenix climb to her feet. “Not quite,” she said. “My father was a Bloodlord. My Daysider mother sought refuge in the city when the Enclave needed accurate intelligence about the Nightsiders. I was born here.”

  “You mean Opiri can produce children?” Phoenix asked, stunned by the revelation. “Does Aegis know—”

  “You think even Aegis knows everything?” She laughed again. “I’m a freak, you see. I have my mother’s immunity to sunlight, and my father’s ability to see at night. And I look human. All very handy for an agent.”

  “Where do you get your blood?”

  “The same way Drakon does, though I wouldn’t mind taking it by more direct means.”

  “Why does Drakon look human, too?” Phoenix asked, testing Brita as she had been tested.

  “No time for more questions now,” Brita said. “The only reason I’ve told you so much was to make sure you know I’m on your side. I have a vital task for you. One only you can carry out.”

  “I wasn’t told you were to give the orders.”

  “I got you back, didn’t I?” Her eyes narrowed. “Or are you really willing to turn traitor because you love someone who could destroy our civilization?”

  “But he’s not going through with the assassination.”

  Brita laughed contemptuously. “Did you think he’d turn against his own kind just for your sake?”

  She’s lying, Phoenix thought. She has to be. Drakon wouldn’t do that. Not now. Not after all the things he’d said.

  “He’s been lying to me,” Phoenix said bitterly, hoping she sounded convincing. “I thought I was seducing him, but he must have guessed who I really was all along.”

  “Oh,” Brita said, “I’m not denying that there’s something between you, on both sides. It’s just not what you think it is.”

  “You said he’d make mistakes because of me.”

  “You’re a distraction. That’s enough.”

  “But he must have a reason for wanting me ou
t of the city.”

  “And you don’t know what that is?”

  “I have no idea. He said he was going to let Matthew go after the files were read and then pretend to hold me hostage until we got out of the city. He was supposed to have everything prepared.”

  “Drakon isn’t going to meet the senator now,” Brita said. “Matthew Patterson is already gone, off to expose his own father.”

  “I don’t believe you,” Phoenix said, backing away. “Matthew would never—”

  “You’d be surprised,” Brita said. “But that’s not at issue here. I’m going to need you to use the bond between you and Drakon, and hope it’s enough.”

  “To stop him from killing Shepherd? After all you’ve said, you think I can do that?”

  “I said he wasn’t going to betray his own people. But his plans have changed.” Brita squinted up at the sun. “Right now he’s on a certain rooftop at a perfect vantage point overlooking the meeting, armed with a high-powered sniper’s rifle.

  “He doesn’t plan to ruin Senator Patterson. He plans to kill him.”

  Chapter 18

  Drakon had taken cover on the roof of a tall apartment building just to the south of Old Market Street, crouched in the shadow of the stairwell bulkhead. From here he could see across the city as far as the rough borderland of the Fringe, where the exchange was to take place.

  He had checked the rifle over a dozen times, taken it apart and put it back together, cleaned every last speck of dust from every surface and component, made certain that there could be no question of optimum performance.

  Even at this distance, he might have taken Patterson out. Only the finest marksmen in the world could possibly manage it, and there would be a high risk of failure.

  But it wasn’t Patterson he was focusing on. He was situated on the “right” side of Market, in the better part of the Mids just below the Nobs, where Cits were going about their daily business. There was a definite edge of nervous excitement in the air, a sense of something momentous about to happen.

  That was how he had made it this far into the Mids before dawn. Nearly all the city’s security, its common police and Enforcers and Aegis, were concentrated in two locations: the mayor’s Capitol apartments, and the place where fully a quarter of the senators would be waiting to see Matthew Patterson returned to his father.