by James Moore
Kyrie let out a soft sigh and rolled over on her side. Tina looked at the other girl for a long moment, appreciating the girl’s beauty and simultaneously hating her for it.
It wasn’t that Tina was ugly. She knew that. Her skin was clear, her eyes were nice, her dark curls were enviable. But next to Kyrie she might as well have been another guy.
Tina sighed and stood up, moving carefully to the window and looking out into the darkness.
And she saw Sam as he moved along the side of the road leading back to the interstate. He was a good distance away, but she recognized him from his photo. The way he moved, the way all of the Others moved, was different than the way most people moved. It was hard to define, really, except they seemed lighter on their feet and more fluid. And the way they listened, looked at the world around them; it was predatory. They didn’t walk. They hunted. They didn’t just look at other people: they assessed them, studied their strengths and weaknesses. Maybe it was something built into them or maybe it was just because they were new to the world, but they were different on an elemental level.
She thought about Hunter again and then about Joe Bronx. And then she looked at Sam as he walked down the road and compared him to Gene.
Sam was different. He maybe didn’t like dirt, but he didn’t dislike it either. He was willing to experience getting filthy just so he could say he’d rolled around in the mud. Tina could understand that. If she wasn’t such a coward, she’d have been more like that herself. But she was afraid of a lot of stuff, even if she didn’t like to let it show.
Her mom was dead. The only family she had left in the world was dead and gone, just that fast. The others had something to look forward to, to get back to. What did she have? A damned tattoo and a Hyde to her Jekyll, who wanted to be in charge. There weren’t a lot of options open for her. She really didn’t have much to win or lose from what was going on around her. The others all wanted something, all needed to get something from Evelyn Hope. There was nothing for Tina to get.
Mostly, right at the moment, she was afraid of how much she wanted to be someone special to Hunter. Oh, she understood it well enough. She wasn’t stupid. Her only family was dead and she was on the run and Hunter gave off a sort of calm confidence that he wasn’t even aware of. He was cute, yeah, but he was also strong. He had an edge, he was angry and he was driven. He knew what he wanted and he was the sort of guy that would get it, no matter how long it took.
Being around Hunter, well, it just made her feel like no matter what, things were going to be okay eventually. She wanted that security in her world because everything else was screwed up.
Outside of her window Sam turned around on the road and looked directly at her. She had no doubt that he’d seen her. She couldn’t see the expression on his face from this distance or guess what he was thinking, but she doubted it was anything pleasant.
Not-Tina wouldn’t have cared. Not-Tina might even have smiled. But Tina wasn’t the same person as her Other. She had no idea why he was outside—why he was wandering around in the middle of the night—but Sam scared her. Not that she’d ever let him see that. No one got to see that. Not now, not ever.
And especially not Hunter. He was falling for Kyrie. He chose the pretty girl over her.
She hated him just a little bit for that. Even though her heart beat faster when he was around, even though she had trouble looking away from him, she hated him just that little tiny bit for liking the other girl instead.
And that scared the hell out of her.
Because even though she couldn’t remember much of anything that Not-Tina did, she understood that her Other reacted to her moods. If she hated Hunter—or Kyrie for winning his affections so easily—it was possible that Not-Tina would hate him too.
And Not-Tina seemed to like destroying whatever she hated.
Chapter Nineteen
Cody Laurel
THE FEVER WAS GETTING worse. Cody felt like he was sitting on a gigantic ice cube. He couldn’t stop shivering, and his teeth were chattering too.
The worst part was, he was asleep and he could still feel it, that damned cold sensation that refused to leave him alone. If he’d been able to muster up the strength—or if he’d even been conscious in any real sense of the word—he would have tried to get himself to the shower and soak in a blast of hot water, anything at all to make the cold go away.
On the other bed, he heard the sound of Hunter moaning in his sleep. The boy rolled toward him and his eyes opened, but they didn’t see Cody. Didn’t see anything. They were open, yes, but whatever he was seeing, it was strictly in his mind. He was still asleep and dreaming.
“Nnnoduddeeno.” The words were gibberish, whimpered past sleep-numbed lips. Cody sat up, shocked into motion. The cold was as bad as ever, but for a moment at least he was distracted from the discomfort.
He was looking into Hunter’s sleeping eyes when the change took place. It was smooth and seemed almost easy. When he felt himself changing from Cody into Hank, there was a lot of pain, an overwhelming hammer of agony that ran through him, but Hunter grew, changed, warped into Joe Bronx without any indication of discomfort.
One moment he was looking into the sleep-filled eyes of Hunter Harrison. The next, Joe Bronx was looking back at him, taking his measure. The differences were unsettling and substantial. It wasn’t just that Joe was bigger—a given, really—it was his whole demeanor the way a sudden cunning appeared in the eyes.
“You look like shit, Cody. No offense. How’re you feeling?”
Cody sat up straighter, his heart slamming. The look in Bronx’s eyes—the expression on his face—they were familiar to Cody. He’d seen them a million times on the faces of the bruisers who’d liked to pick on him. There was a dark joy in that look, a savage pleasure that came from knowing that the person in front of you was easy prey.
Deep inside of him, Hank responded. He could feel his Other stirring, wanting to be free.
Cody shook his head. “I’m good. Just that food from earlier, it didn’t sit so well.”
Joe slid off the bed, moving with that unsettling panther gait of his. He looked back at Cody as he headed for the bathroom. Monster or not, everyone had to pee now and then.
“Well, you’ll get better soon. We always do. And what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.”
“Who said that? Darwin?”
Bronx shook his head and stopped on his entry to the bathroom long enough to frown in concentration. “Friedrich Nietzsche, maybe. But he was thinking of me when he said it.”
Cody sighed. No ego there, no sir.
Around the same time the toilet was flushing, Not-Gene came into the room, looking momentarily surprised to see Cody awake and Joe off his bed. He recovered quickly.
“Feeling any better?” Cody was surprised to hear anything like concern from the brute standing in front of him. One look at the other’s face told him the question was only a formality. He really didn’t care.
“Sam. I was wondering where you were.” Joe stepped into the room, his eyes locking on the other Doppelganger. Cody frowned. Sam? He guessed Not-Gene had finally picked a name. Whenever that had happened, he must not have been paying attention.
Sam shrugged. “Got hungry.”
“Expect a lot of that. The more you change, the hungrier you get.”
The bruiser held up a bag. “I brought coffee.”
“You have to love late-night diners, don’t you? Two in the morning and you can still get fresh coffee. Good man.” Joe smiled as he reached for the bag.
“So what are we up to?”
Joe patted his pocket. “Got a little note from Hunter. They figure maybe it’s best if a couple of us look over the address we were given. Check to see if it’s a legitimate spot or a trap.”
Sam snorted. “It’s a trap. Of course it’s a trap.”
Cody interrupted. “Or, maybe, it’s where the Evelyn woman lives. Or an office where we can visit her. Not gonna know for sure until we check. That’
s all.” He stopped talking as the two stared at him. He hadn’t been thinking or he would have stayed off their radar.
Joe looked Sam over with no real expression on his face. Cody knew that look too. He was taking Sam’s measure and deciding if he was an equal or prey. Predators did that sort of thing. At least the human ones did. As the number-one victim at his high school, Cody knew the way the bullies thought. He had to if he wanted to survive. “Probably it is a trap. But we still have to check.”
Sam nodded. “So let’s get this done.”
Joe looked into Cody’s eyes. “You gonna be okay on your own?”
“Yeah.” He felt a flash of resentment. He wasn’t a baby. They were all the same age. The fact that he was almost as small as Tina made the apes in the room feel like they were better than him.
Joe smiled, a look that was pure venom. “We’ll be back soon.” Cody looked back and felt that flash of anger again. Joe was asking about him solely because he knew it would offend. That was the way he liked to get his kicks. Cody would have bet money on it.
The other two left the room and he watched them leave. He wanted to resent Joe, but then again, the cold of the room was impossible to ignore. He slipped back under the covers on the rollaway bed and shivered. The fever was the worst he could remember ever having.
He told himself that the food poisoning was the only reason he had to shiver. Better not to admit how much the Others scared him—or how much it hurt him to change. Can’t show weakness to predators. If you do, they tend to want to pounce.
Chapter Twenty
Kyrie Merriwether
TINA AND KYRIE WERE up and looking out the window when Joe and Sam left the hotel room. Sleep was proving elusive for Tina, and Kyrie had awakened when she heard the sounds of conversation from the next room. Tina didn’t seem to have heard anything. Kyrie told herself it was only because the other girl was lost in thought. She didn’t like to think about the way her senses were changing, becoming more acute. If she didn’t think about the way she was changing—or the fact that her Other was becoming more dominant—it didn’t worry her.
Kyrie sat up in her bed, then moved to the window and looked out at the two Others as they left the next room. They moved with the grace of predators, which was a strange thing to see firsthand. Each of them was large, six feet tall and then some. But despite the fact that they were on the third floor of the hotel and the way the cheaply built walkway had creaked as they moved up into the rooms earlier, the two large men didn’t cause the walkway to so much as whisper a protest.
Kyrie rubbed her arms for warmth though she felt no real chill. Cody would have understood—though he probably would have denied it.
Tina moved away from the window. The show was over. She went back to studying the tattoo on her arm, her face darkening with anger as she examined the elaborate details.
“How long you think we were gone this time?” Her words were fast, clipped and demanding. She was angry.
“What do you mean?”
Tina held her arm up and rotated it so that Kyrie could see as much of the tattoo as possible. “This took hours. Maybe even days. How long do you think our Hydes were in charge before we came back?”
And just like that the chill was worse. Kyrie shook her head.
“I don’t think I want to know.”
“I do.” Tina put her arm down. “I want to know. I want every one of those hours back.”
“Well, I don’t think you’re going to get them.”
Tina looked her in the eyes, dead on, with a darkness in her expression that was as intimidating as the monsters that had just left the other room. “Watch me. I’ll get ’em. If I don’t, I’m gonna take it out of Joe’s hide.”
“Why Joe?”
“Because he did this to us!” Tina’s voice was a whip crack in the still air of the room. “He woke them up so they could help him! I don’t care what he wants, what he needs, I can’t stand this anymore!” She stood up and waved her arms around, frustrated. “I’m afraid to go to sleep! What if I wake up and it’s been two months? What if the stupid bitch gets me arrested or knocked up? What then?”
And there it was, the fear masked by anger. Kyrie could understand that one. She’d woken up in different states, with blood on her hands on the way to waking up in Boston. Blood, and probably not her own. Kyrie was trying not to think about it, but apparently it was something Tina couldn’t avoid. The girl next to her had gone to sleep and woke with her mother dead and the mob wanting to talk to her about a lot of money. Then she woke up with a serious ink job on her arm and no way to get rid of it. Her Other was marking her territory and Tina had lost control somewhere along the way and that was it in a nutshell, that was what was scaring Kyrie, even when she didn’t want to admit it to herself. If it was happening to Tina, what was to stop it from happening to her?
“I wish I could make it better, Tina.” It was all she could say.
Tina looked at her for a moment and then returned to her bed without responding.
Ten minutes later Tina was asleep.
That was something at least. A little while later, she fell into a fitful sleep herself.
Chapter Twenty-One
Sam Hall
THEY LOOKED THE HOUSE over carefully from a decent range. There was no sign of activity, but Joe cautioned Sam with his mental voice, telling him not to expect the lack of motion to prove anything.
Sam listened, silently studying the two-story house. It was nothing special, just another house on a block of twelve houses that were almost interchangeable.
Start three houses down. Look over each place and see what’s going on inside. Be careful. We don’t want to be seen. Joe spoke through their connection and then moved, slipping through the shadows and reappearing halfway down the block, starting at the other end of the street. Sam didn’t question him. Instead he looked at the houses and did as he’d been instructed, checking the yards and then moving in, peering through windows with open curtains, carefully studying the contents of each home that he examined. Each and every one of them had all the signs of a family. There was furniture, personal belongings, and, in one case, a few toys in the yard.
He felt the fine hairs on the back of his neck rise as he realized that every house he carefully examined was empty of people. His senses, so much sharper than his Other’s, said there was nothing, no one breathing or sleeping or moving inside the buildings.
What the hell? It’s after midnight. Where is everyone? He sent the question toward Joe as he watched the Alpha slip closer to him.
They’re expecting us. They don’t want witnesses. Either they own every house on the block or they made sure no one would be home for a few days. Either way, this is all a trap. We’re being set up so they can knock us down.
Now I just have to let her know when and where. Sam would have to call Evelyn. There weren’t enough distractions for him to try leaving a note. Joe might notice if he tried to leave something behind.
Joe moved fast, ducking down below the windows and vanishing into shadows with a skill that Sam could only envy. The Other was adept at not being seen. Despite senses that were so much more accurate than Gene’s, Sam still had trouble tracking Bronx’s progress.
And then Joe rose in front of him, spilling out of the darkness like a ghost suddenly materializing. When he spoke again, it was with his mouth. “We need to not be here. They haven’t spotted us yet, and I want to keep it that way.”
“Who’s gonna spot us?”
Joe shook his head. “Cameras, security for the area, anyone who happens to drive by.” His answer was tense. “There’s three glass bubbles, one on top of each streetlight. Probably a camera inside each one. But if anyone’s seen us, they haven’t reported us yet. Or the responders haven’t shown yet. Either way, let’s go.”
Sam nodded and did his best to keep up as Joe headed away from the street that had been set up to take them down.
Ten minutes later they stopped at a convenience sto
re and grabbed a dozen candy bars.
When they were out of the store and heading for the hotel, Joe spoke again. “They’re expecting us. We’re not going to disappoint them. But I want to make sure that when we meet up with whatever they’ve got planned, it’s under our control. I want to know what’s coming.”
“Why aren’t we just leaving? We know it’s a setup, so why are we hanging around?”
Bronx eyed him and shook his head. “Sam, whether or not we get to surprise Evelyn, she’s still got all the answers we need. We’re going to have to meet up with her. I just want to make sure that we have contingencies in place, okay? If they try to kill us this time, I want to have weapons so we can fight back. If they want us to surrender peacefully, well, that’s not how I do things. We need to let them know that we are serious about what’s going on, and that means we have to fall for their little trap. But we aren’t really getting set up here; we’re coming in on our terms.”
“How are we going to keep control?” Sam looked at the creature that had given him life and suppressed a twinge of guilt. Guilt was for the weak, and he would not allow himself to be weak.
“Simple. Reconnaissance. We send the girls here tomorrow. Let them walk down the street and see what there is to see in the daylight. Then we follow their lead.”
“Why the girls?”
Joe chuckled. “Because half the country is looking for Gene, they might know what Hunter looks like and Cody is puking his guts out.”
Sam nodded. “What then?”
“Then we come back, follow them and take these bastards out. And then we find Evelyn Hope and get what we need from her once and for all.” Joe’s voice was direct. His eyes were looking toward something beyond Sam’s vision.