He motioned with his hand for me to get up. When I hesitated, he caught hold of my elbow, jerking me to my feet. He steered me down the corridor. The sick feeling in my stomach didn’t go away; if anything, it got worse, until I no longer cared whether Revik was angry.
He took me through the glass front doors of the diner and to the street outside. The sun reflected coldly from the windows of high-rise buildings. It blinded me, making the sickness worse. I planted my feet when Revik stopped.
Still holding my arm, he pulled out a mobile phone, hit a single key.
His message to whoever picked up was brief.
“Yes,” he said. “We’ll need it.”
He clicked the phone shut, extracted the battery and threw both things at a nearby garbage container, hard enough for the bin to vibrate. Jerking me closer by the arm, Revik turned to speak, then stopped, staring directly at my face.
The anger in his eyes faltered.
“What?” he said. “What is it?”
I tried to answer.
“What, Allie?” His voice sharpened, but he didn’t sound angry at me anymore. “What is going on? What’s wrong with you?”
My stomach lurched. I turned away from him, throwing up coffee and part of a danish in a thick sluice on the sidewalk. A family was walking past us, aiming for the diner, and one of the kids gave a sharp cry of disgust.
“Ewww! Mom, that lady’s barfing!”
I heaved again, bent in half. I didn’t think about moving, not even to aim for the potted tree in the cement walk. Revik stood impassively, holding my arm, his eyes sweeping the street. I heaved a third time, gasping. When it started to feel like it might be over, I wiped my lips with the back of a hand.
Revik cleared his throat. “Are you finished?”
“I think so.”
Spitting to get the excess saliva out of my mouth, I plugged my nose with my knuckles when the stench of stomach acid and coffee reached it.
“You need the restroom,” he said. It wasn’t a question. He exhaled. “I’ll wait. But not for long, Allie.”
“I had to call her.”
His voice became a snarl. “So you pick the stupidest way imaginable? You could have asked me!”
“I did ask you! You said no!”
“That was weeks ago! Why here, Allie? Why now?”
“My fucking dad died today, okay?”
He opened his mouth to answer––then his face went blank.
I looked away, pausing on a couple staring at us from where they’d just been about to enter the restaurant. Meeting my gaze, the woman hesitated, clutching her jacket to her throat. Great. Revik and I had just become drunk domestic-violence couple. I fought to give her a reassuring smile, lost in the woman’s wide, concerned eyes.
When I looked back at Revik, he stared at me like I’d lost my mind.
“Allie, you realize that anyone could have picked up?”
“I wasn’t in…” I remembered we were in public. “I wasn’t in that other place.”
“It doesn’t matter! You could lead them straight to her. If they weren’t there already!”
“With my mom?” I shrieked. “That’s great, Revik! You told me you could keep her safe!”
“You think you are helping her?” He stepped closer, dropping his voice to a rough whisper. “I listened to you, Allie. You might as well have told them to use her to get to you.”
He seemed about to say more, then bit it back, adding,
“…And you let your voice be recorded. Do you have any idea what that is, to have a recent recording on a target? For an infiltrator this is like… a present! At the very least, they could trace the call. Every branch of law enforcement has Rooks in it. SCARB more than any other.”
“I wasn’t on long enough for that.”
He stared at me, openly disbelieving, then averted his eyes, forcing his gaze back to the diner. His jaw hardened.
“Should I go in with you?” he said.
I shook my head. “No. I’ll come back. Then you can yell at me all you want.”
He released my arm so suddenly that I lost my balance.
I pushed my way back through the double glass doors.
Our performance hadn’t gone unnoticed inside the diner either; staff and customers gave me a wide berth as I staggered past the cashier’s desk. I retreated into the restroom. My fingers grasped for the bumpy silver handles and twisted the cold water on full. Because of the prosthetics, I couldn’t stick my face in the sink like I wanted.
I cupped water to my lips instead, washing out my mouth, then dabbing my forehead.
I checked my face in the mirror. It looked the same. It still wasn’t mine.
Revik was waiting when I came out, but on the other side of the door, away from my puke.
“Ready?” His voice remained cold.
“Yes.”
“Are you going to tell me what happened?”
“You heard me. I said I was alive, and with a friend. Nothing they didn’t already know.”
He stared at the cement, hands on his hips.
When I didn’t go on, he turned, walking in the direction of the harbor, passing the parked motorcycle without breaking stride. I followed him at a distance. Straight ahead, glass buildings blocked my view of the water, but I glimpsed a white complex adorned with sail-like tents.
At the next stoplight, I approached his side warily.
“Aren’t we going to the airport?” I said.
“No,” he said. “We’re not taking a plane anymore.” He looked at me. His voice leaked frustration. “Will you not tell me? You say no one picked up. You weren’t in the Barrier. So what is this?”
“I don’t know.”
“But you felt something?”
I hesitated, then nodded.
“What?” he said.
I started to answer, but the cold feeling rose, forcing me to take another breath.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I really don’t.”
When I didn’t say anything more, he shoved his hands into his pockets, walking as soon as the light changed. I followed after he’d gone a few steps. Then the feeling surged back for real, and suddenly I knew.
I knew.
She was dead. My mom was dead.
Halfway across the street, everything around me grayed. I collapsed before I realized that the problem wasn’t a sudden eclipse of the sun by heavy clouds.
It was me.
21
REVIK
WHEN I OPENED my eyes, cars honked loudly, like alarm clocks going off around my head. I didn’t know where I was.
Shadowy people stared down at me with blank faces. I didn’t know any of them.
I heard a voice I knew—
“Allie! ALLIE!”
Revik’s face appeared. His eyes, wide with panic, startled me.
He tried pulling me to my feet, then slid his arms under my knees and shoulders. He held me against his chest, murmured in my ear.
“Stay awake… please, baby. Please. Don’t fall asleep.”
I thought I had to be hallucinating. My voice seemed to come from far away.
“I’m here,” I said. “I’m still here.”
I burst into a sob.
He stared down at me, then around at the gathering crowd.
I still lay in the middle of the street, so he tightened his hold on me and stood up. Pausing to adjust his grip, he began to walk, fast, with long strides. He had me across the street and halfway down the block before he spoke again.
“Can you walk?” he said. “We’re conspicuous.”
I nodded. He stopped to set me on my feet, reaching back to unlock my fingers from his neck. Standing there, I wiped my face. My legs shook.
“We have to go under the complex,” he said, his voice nearly a mutter. “Look for ‘Llysa’s people.”
His eyes tracked faces.
Some paused to stare at me curiously until they saw Revik and blanched at whatever expression they saw on him.
He looked at me, his eyes hard.
“You have to stay out of sight on the ship! I mean it, Allie. Please. Please do as I say in this. I’m begging you.”
I stared back at him, hearing his accent come out stronger, confused at the expression I saw on his face. Then his actual words reached me.
“Ship,” I repeated dully. “You said ship?”
“Yes.” He watched me wipe my eyes, his accent still stronger than usual. “We need the construct now that you have blown our cover. A plane is not big enough. You need mass for a construct, weight. They take time to set up. Ullysa’s people prepped one as backup.”
I nodded.
He stood there a few seconds more, as if unsure what to do with me. Then he clasped my hand, half-dragging me down the sidewalk that led under the tented complex.
When we stopped at the end of the line for customs, his arm wound around my waist. I didn’t feel any affection in the gesture. Instead, a kind of angry control seeped over from him into me as he held me tightly against him, like he was trying to contain me in some way, or maybe keep me invisible.
I probably should have minded.
Right then, I really didn’t, though.
ONCE MORE, REVIK found himself at a loss.
They stood at the end of the security line that led into the customs kiosks, and he still didn’t see any sign of Ullysa’s people.
But that wasn’t what threw him, not really.
His senses remained on high alert, his fingers conscious of the gun nestled in a side holster under his jacket. It was a Glock 18, illegal for civilian use even in the United States; just carrying it risked jail time here, but he needed a full automatic for seers.
Her hand clutching his was in the way of him reaching it quickly, but for reasons even he didn’t understand, he didn’t let go of her.
Seeing the row of metal detectors, he resigned himself to the fact that he might have to dump the gun, or risk pushing security to get them past. He spotted a trash can in one elbow of the zig-zagging line and decided the former was safer.
He was reluctant to do so until he’d ID’d the security team and knew he wouldn’t have to make a run for it with her. He didn’t see any other garbage cans along the line, though, so he might not have any choice.
The crowd picked up, thickening as they crushed into the main line leading to security and then customs.
He glanced down at the Bridge, saw her staring up at the advertisement screens that hung over the lines of people. There was a sort of dim confusion in her eyes as she gazed at a row of pictures of wildlife in Alaska. Grief wavered below that, and it occurred to him again that he had to get her on board, find those guards before she recovered from her shock and lost control of her light for real.
He needed her inside a construct before that happened.
As he thought it, five beings emerged from around him on the causeway.
In different ways they each made him aware of their presence.
Despite their casual stances, each in some way also blocked him from the ropes leading into security. Revik felt their movements occur as one, a near-perfect synchronization that was not human.
He reached for the Glock, using his other hand, but the female closest to him shook her head minutely, and he found he knew her.
Relaxing his fingers, he opened his palm to sign his question.
Are we inside the construct?
She answered him with her mind.
Yes, brother. We have arranged for you to board another way.
She nodded towards his fingers, indicating his gun.
Revik found himself relieved they were letting him keep it. As he began to follow her away from the security line and down a side passage, he realized two of the Seven’s guard wore United States Homeland Security uniforms.
When Revik next turned to look at the female hunter, Chandre, he caught her studying Allie’s light, a thinly veiled curiosity shining from her own structures.
He felt his jaw harden, but knew it was natural.
They would be interested in her. Still, he would rather have a few minutes’ breathing space before he had to handle more reactions to her light, whether human or seer.
He continued to watch Chandre warily when the infiltrator visibly startled.
She looked between the two of them, her dark eyes widening as she confirmed what she’d seen above each of their heads.
Revik sent a ripple of irritation until the woman’s red-tinted eyes shifted to his.
Manners, Chandre.
Sorry, brother… er, sir. They did not tell us.
Some discretion would be appreciated.
The woman bowed. Of course, sir. And congratulations.
Revik nodded, once. He glanced around at her unit. That time he saw two more, in addition to the original five who showed themselves to him on the causeway.
Won’t seven be conspicuous? He’d expected four. Five at most. How big is your whole contingent?
Chandre quirked an eyebrow.
It’s a large ship, sir. You won’t even know we’re here.
Hearing the subtext in her deliberate misunderstanding, he gave her a look that made it clear he wasn’t amused.
He brought the Bridge with him as he walked past Chandre and another smiling seer, then glanced back to see if Allie had noticed the exchange. Her gaze took in the other guards before coming to rest on the dark-skinned Chandre. Allie stepped closer to him as she stared, her eyes faintly glazed, still almost not-there as she crushed into his side as they walked.
From her face and light, he knew she was in shock.
It made sense that her light would draw to his, as the safest option there, but the ease with which his own light responded made him tense all over again.
In a way, he even understood her reaction to Chandre. The East Indian Sark looked exactly like what she was, a highly paid infiltrator. Despite their reddish tint, her eyes had a hint of cold to them, as if she assessed all objects from a distance.
She looked at Allie that way, too.
It occurred to him in the same breath that Chandre had already been briefed on the contingency. Then it clicked.
They would no longer trust him to perform it himself.
He had been effectively removed from duty.
Staring around, another piece fell into place. Having such a large Guard presence was part of that message; they needed enough seers to take him down if he got in the way.
Meeting Chandre’s gaze, he realized she was putting the same thoughts together behind her dark red eyes.
His fingers tightened around Allie’s as they reached a small desk, where a lone customs official examined their documentation before waving them through. Revik could tell from the man’s eyes that he was human, and had been heavily pushed into believing some lie. So had the woman who smilingly directed them around the obligatory photo backdrop that the rest of the ship’s passengers were being escorted through in an assembly line, getting their pictures snapped while two photographers danced around, trying to get smiles from the humans and pump up the cruise-goers for their vacations.
“Come on!” he heard one of the photographers half-shriek. “Let’s see some party faces, y’all! There now! That’s better!”
“If either of you need anything, sir,” Chandre said politely, in English, as they neared the gangplank and the line of people boarding. “You need only say the word. We will of course expect you to restrict your movements around the ship.”
Revik glanced at Allie, saw her listening to the infiltrator intently.
He hoped like hell C
handre wouldn’t make some crack about––
“We have purchased an entire corridor,” she continued, her voice still smoothly polite. “And made some modifications for your comfort. You will be briefed on the rules once we are underway. Clothing and food have already been sent to your cabin, as well as training materials for Alyson. You will not be expected to adhere to ship’s routines.”
“You mean I can’t leave the room,” Allie muttered.
Revik glanced at her again.
Chandre smiled at her faintly, quirking an eyebrow.
“That is correct, Esteemed Bridge… for you, anyway. Dehgoies may leave, provided he follows the rules of the construct, and checks in and out with one of our team.” She smiled. “Vash seemed to feel he might be tempted to break rules if we restricted him too much. But perhaps he can smuggle in anything you need, Esteemed Bridge? Anything you do not wish to ask us for…?”
Revik gave Allie another brief look.
She was studying the infiltrator, her eyes faintly wary.
He saw a glimmer of that older look in them, and felt himself reacting to her again. She was such a fucking paradox; it frustrated the hell out of him. She’d nearly gotten them killed as often as she’d saved his life. He’d already noticed he reacted to that more intense part of her differently, even before Seattle.
Unfortunately, those reactions were all exponentially worse now.
Moreover, Vash warned him.
The aged seer said she’d do things differently, that she’d act in ways that appeared impulsive, counter-intuitive––even foolish. He said Revik would have to trust her, even when those things seemed irrational. Or dangerous.
Realizing he was still crushing her fingers, he loosened his hold, gesturing to Chandre that they understood.
He moved them away a beat later, aiming his feet up the ramp to the gangplank, where the velvet-roped corridor joined the line for the other passengers. He entered the crowd thickening before the portal before looking at Allie again.
Leaning down so he wouldn’t be overheard, he squeezed her hand.
“Are you all right?” he said.
“Who are they?” Her eyes continued to follow the seers who fanned out behind them. Each of the infiltrators let themselves be absorbed into the crowd, but Allie’s eyes found Chandre among the faces. She tracked the hunter’s movements through the crowd with an ease that unnerved him a little.
Rook (Bridge & Sword: Awakenings #1): Bridge & Sword World Page 21