Lethal Engagement

by Teyla Branton

  I grinned. “New identity, cameras flashing, cute guy to romance. Sounds great! When do I start? But can I drive a Jaguar? Gotta keep up appearances if I’m dating the president’s son, don’t I?”

  “Oh, really?” Keene rolled his eyes. “Is that all it takes? A new identity and a car? What about a Ferrari? Would you go out with a guy just because he had a Ferrari?”

  I leaned over and elbowed him. “Only if he’s really hot. Otherwise, I’ll save up and buy my own.” We received good pay for our ops, aside from our regular stipend allotted us at our Change, so I wasn’t just talking.

  Ava’s next words wiped the smile from my face. “I want you to understand that your life will be in danger every minute. We know the Emporium has plans to take over the country despite everything we are doing to stop them, and Patrick may be a part of their long term goals. If we don’t learn what they’re up to, this war to save humanity may be lost before it’s truly begun.”

  HER WORDS SHUDDERED THROUGH ME, and for the first time, I felt inadequate. Why were they sending me? I wasn’t the best fighter among the non-combat-gifted Unbounded. I couldn’t sense thoughts like Ava and her descendent Erin, who was usually her first choice for ops like this. Yes, I could add pages of numbers with a single glance, but I couldn’t manipulate other data anywhere as fast as Stella. I couldn’t heal someone who was ill like Dimitri could, or whip up one of Cort’s scientific solutions.

  I got along with people. I could make them laugh. I always knew the time down to the second, and I could shift anywhere I’d visited before, or someplace Erin could show me with her mind. I could even shift to unknown locations to find certain people with whom I shared a strong connection, but I couldn’t take anyone with me for more than a few feet. If Patrick Mann got in too deep, I couldn’t shift out with him. My choice might come down to leaving without him or dying with him.

  “So,” I tried to swallow past the clot of terror in my throat, “you’re giving me backup, right?”

  “Something like that.” Ava pointed at Keene. “Mari, meet your brother.”

  Was she serious? Keene and I looked nothing alike. I was only one-eighth Japanese, but I’d kept Stella’s family’s slight olive coloring and the heart-shaped face. My long hair was dark, if not perfectly straight, and my eyes were decidedly brown. Keene was much lighter in coloring, from his hair to his green eyes and the skin that was a far different shade of white, even when he’d been out in the sun too much. He was tall, while I was a good foot shorter, and despite all the hours of grueling training, I didn’t have anything approaching his lean muscle.

  “Sure,” I said. “Everyone will buy that.”

  Keene gave a slight snort. “If they’re blind.”

  Ava nodded at Stella, and another holographic image flickered to life above the table. I peered at it, barely recognizing the woman with auburn hair and green eyes as myself. The man with matching auburn hair and trim beard threw me for a loop. Okay, so maybe it would work. With my high metabolism, I’d have to use a lot of hair dye.

  If I lived long enough.

  Something of my fear must have radiated in my face because Keene leaned over and put his arm around me. “Hey, sis, let’s do this thing. Piece of cake.”

  My stomach did that weird little flopping thing again, which had to be left over from my years as a mortal when I’d been shy and not accustomed to men taking notice of me. Except for Trevor.

  “Okay,” I said, “but can I have bacon on that cake?”

  He groaned. “More bacon? Really? Okay, fine. Whatever you want.”

  “Chris is already prepping the plane,” Ava said, ignoring our little exchange. “You’ll leave for the airport at eight, sleep on the plane, and get there bright and early. I’m also sending Cort and Jace along for backup and to work with the New York cell. If there’s any kind of emergency, the New York cell may be able to provide additional people, but they are already swamped with all the Hunter and Emporium movements there. I’d send more of our people, but everything is on edge here just like it is there, and we need to keep a strong presence on this side of the country or the Emporium will take advantage of our absence. Stella will, of course, be in regular contact with Patrick through the Internet.”

  “So, I guess I’ll go pack,” I said.

  “About that.” Ava’s face relaxed into a smile. “Stella has some plans to help you get ready. Hope you’re up for a visit to the salon and then some shopping.”

  Right. I’d need red hair, and I guess my usual attire wouldn’t be up to presidential standards. Great.

  Keene laughed at my expression. “Sorry.”

  “You too,” Stella said. “I sent you an email about your appointment with a guy named Rogero. He’ll set you up with your new look and supplement your wardrobe.”

  Keene groaned. “You gotta be kidding.”

  I couldn’t help my smirk, thinking that he should be accustomed to such treatment. As the son of an Emporium Triad member, he’d been raised with the best of everything.

  Everyone was up now and moving toward the door. I stood more slowly, waiting until Stella rounded the table. Physically, my great-aunt was only thirty-two, a year older than I was, but she’d celebrated more than two centuries of life, and I looked to her as a mentor. I needed her wisdom now. We walked down the hallway for a moment in silence, the others disappearing from sight. I itched to shift to my room on the third floor, or anywhere else but this tight hallway. Only worry held me back.

  “So why isn’t she sending Erin?” I asked finally. “If I stayed somewhere nearby, Erin could channel my ability, and she’s a lot better at combat, especially when she channels Jace or Ritter.” In fact, Erin’s ability to channel others’ gifts, essentially using them as her own, made her potentially the most powerful Unbounded to Change in a millennium.

  “She was a possibility,” Stella admitted, “but even though Patrick is no longer staying at the White House, the president wasn’t keen on having a woman who can force her way into people’s minds interacting so closely with his family and the politicians who are actually doing their jobs. Besides, Erin is far too well-known by the Emporium. She could channel Patrick’s ability and alter her appearance using nanites, but maintaining that cover would be a huge distraction for her during a conflict. And then there’s Ritter. Hiding him from both the Emporium and Hunters would be even more of a challenge, and Ava doubted he’d stay put here without Erin. Not until he gets over the fact that he almost lost her. Besides, we need Erin and her ability in the political meetings here. There’s too much disquiet.”

  Stella paused, giving me a gentle smile. “Mari, you’re the right one for this job—no, the only one. We weighed every option, including using Unbounded from the New York cell. Their leader and Ava, along with the rest of us, all came to that conclusion.”

  A portion of the weight on my shoulders lifted. “Well, truthfully, it sounded kind of fun before Ava got all serious.”

  Stella laughed and put an arm around me. “That’s her job—keeping our minds on the goal. I’ve been wishing I could go with you because you know how I worry, but I really think you’ll enjoy the experience, and that’s the best kind of op. With Keene there, you’ll be in good company.”

  Truthfully, I thought it was rather strange that they’d send a mortal who could be killed, but Keene had gone with Erin on a major op in New York, so maybe he was that experienced. He’d absolutely best me any day in a fair fight, and probably in an unfair one as well. His inner knowledge of the Emporium and his former infiltration of the Hunters gave him added advantage.

  Still, what if I messed up and he was hurt? Cort and Jace would be in DC, but maybe too far away to help.

  Stella came to a stop. “Look, frankly, I wish we’d had more time to prepare the world to know about us, but we’ll do what we have to, and that’s making sure mortals see us as allies and not as a danger.”

  Most of the Renegades felt the way she did, that the announcement had come too soon,
but I was glad the secret of our existence was out to the mortal world. I wanted to be accepted for what I was, not what I’d been. A mere four months had passed since my Change, but already the life I’d lived as an accountant seemed a faint memory, one I didn’t care to hold onto. I didn’t miss being cooped up in an office all day or trying to convince Trevor that it was time to move forward with our family, never realizing that he was a Hunter and wouldn’t stoop to having a child with me.

  All that mundane stuff was gone. The clients, the daily grind, Trevor’s lies. Everything but the numbers. They were still with me, in me—and my life was so much better. I wanted to shout my joy to the world and use my ability whenever I felt like it, not hide in the shadows and hope no one noticed I was different.

  “So about the shopping,” I said.

  Stella looked at me for a full two seconds before she replied. For Stella, that was an eternity. “Oh, a few hours ago, I sent instructions to the salon and the boutique, so they know what you need. If anything, I’ve erred on the side of too much. I’d go with you if I didn’t have monitoring to do, but Ava promised to see if Erin would go. I’ll drive you to the airport later, though.”

  “All right.” Was it just me or was she distracted? Stella processed information so quickly that normally she came across as being three steps ahead of everyone no matter what else she was doing or thinking at the time. But several times of late, I’d caught her delaying like she had just now. I’d wondered if that was because of Chris Radkey, our pilot and Erin’s older mortal brother. Stella had been spending a lot of time with him and his two young children. Well, I could only hope he was the reason. She’d lost too much in the past months, and I wanted her to be happy.

  Stella hugged me and brushed a light kiss on my cheek before moving toward the stairs, probably heading to her suite on the third floor. Her neural headset blinked furiously, signaling that she was already back to work.

  I reached out to find Erin, first making sure that the numbers for the shift didn’t match up with the location of her bedroom. Or Ritter’s separate suite. Since their marriage two months ago, I was far more careful about where I located her because they were almost always together.

  Erin was one of the few Renegades I could find no matter where she was. I could also shift to Dimitri, and more recently to Cort and Stella. The more I worked with someone, the more vibrant their location in my mind. They were actual numbers themselves, but unlike regular locations, their numbers represented colors, similar to hex color codes. Erin was a shade of vibrant red, Dimitri a steady brown, Cort a medium shade of blue. Stella had been orange, but now she was both orange and yellow, though I didn’t know a reason for the change. The other Renegades I couldn’t “see” yet, but Cort was sure it was only a matter of time as I worked more with them.

  Erin was downstairs in our expansive workout room. I chose numbers that made sure I’d come out near the wall. Before solidifying completely, I always checked to see if I was shifting to a place already occupied by a person or object and could alter my location at the last moment. It didn’t hurt anyone for me to almost appear inside them, but it was unsettling for both me and the person. I still didn’t know what it’d do if I solidified inside someone, and it wasn’t a phenomenon I planned on investigating any time soon. Appearing close to the wall generally assured free space. It also kept me clear of whoever might be attacking Erin, which was a common occurrence.

  Sure enough, Erin and Ritter were at it again, exchanging blows with their escrima sticks at an incredible speed that told me she was channeling his combat ability. They were beauty in motion, each twirling two sticks, blocking and slamming in an odd dance that also radiated sexual tension. Their faces, necks, and bare arms glistened with sweat. Ritter’s black hair was completely soaked, while the top portion of Erin’s long blond hair, swinging free, was still partially dry.

  The instant I appeared, they altered their positions slightly, their momentary glances measuring me as if I were some dangerous foe, but there wasn’t a noticeable change in their ferocious play. Both continued moving for nearly a minute after I appeared, and then, as if by some silent agreement, they stopped simultaneously, chests heaving under their workout tanks.

  I was glad they were on my side.

  “Hey, Mari.” Erin lowered her sticks. The color of her hair, the shape of her face, and even her eyes looked like Ava’s. Funny how the same gray eyes seemed so much warmer on her.

  Ritter dipped his head in greeting. “What’s up? Want to have a go?” He spoke as if offering me a great favor.

  I wasn’t the only one on edge from the past two months of relative inactivity. Ritter was our ops leader, and like all combat Unbounded took downtime poorly. He had increased our four a.m. workouts from two to four hours, and if Erin hadn’t kept him occupied with other endeavors, he probably would have doubled that yet again.

  “No, thanks,” I said. “But you should know that I’m now engaged to Patrick Mann.”

  Erin laughed. “Oh, so that’s why Ava’s asking me to go shopping or somewhere with you.” She made a face, which I understood all too well. She didn’t enjoy shopping like most women.

  Her silent communication with Ava, wherever our leader was at that moment, reminded me to pull my shield over my thoughts. At first, shielding had been awkward, like trying to close my ears until I heard a rushing sound in my head, and had required a lot of effort. Now I barely noticed when my block was in place. Living in the same house as two sensing Unbounded, especially one as strong as Erin, we all blocked as a matter of course. Only when shifting did I have to drop the shield or it would interfere with the numbers.

  “Sorry,” I said, “but I could really use the company.”

  “It’ll be good to go somewhere besides those boring political meetings.” She laughed. “But seriously—engaged? I never knew you had it so bad for Patrick.”

  “Me and thousands of other women apparently.”

  She whistled. “Wow, Ava just showed me. Now that’s scary.” She gave her escrima sticks to Ritter, who was grinning, so I knew she’d shared the image from Ava with him.

  “Take Jace to the shops with you,” he said. “He needs to release a bit of energy.”

  I gaped at him. “You think shopping’s going to do that? He’s worse than Erin.” Jace definitely shared his sister’s lack of shopping skills.

  Erin laughed. “No, but he can patrol the streets. And it’s better that he work some of his energy out before you get on the plane. It’s a long flight to DC.”

  “With all that’s going on out there,” Ritter added, “it’s better to go in a group. The Emporium has figured out that we’ve rebuilt this house, and it’s only a matter of time until they come knocking.”

  Erin grinned. “I’d like to see them try to get in.”

  The Emporium had attacked our safe houses before, with fatal consequences, but the Fortress could withstand anything they could do without attracting too much attention—and a lot more. We were finished running.

  “I’m just going to jump in the shower,” Erin said.

  “Okay, I’ll go tell Jace.” I shifted away as Ritter kissed Erin goodbye. I didn’t have to be a sensing Unbounded to feel the attraction pouring off them more copiously than their sweat.

  I couldn’t locate Jace yet by shifting, to his great annoyance, but sometimes I thought I could almost feel his color. Maybe a purple. Instead, I shifted to the second floor outside Cort’s office, more from habit and a need to give Erin privacy than because I was trying to find Cort. I wasn’t surprised at my choice. Cort and I had worked a lot together these past months as we tested the limits of my ability. His talent was to see and understand how things interacted on a quantum level, but he hadn’t been able to figure out why I couldn’t take anyone with me when I shifted.

  At first he’d hypothesized that because I couldn’t shift more than I could comfortably carry, I also wouldn’t be able to shift distances longer than I could physically walk within
a certain period of time. But that wasn’t true—I’d shifted from locations several hundred miles away without straining a muscle. I just reached for the numbers that represented where I wanted to go and moved myself to that place using the in between. It felt like a blink or an involuntary breath. Simple.

  So in theory, I should be able to move someone with me, and not being able to do so felt a lot like failure. But even when Erin channeled my ability and we shifted together, we could drag someone with us only as far as the next room—less distance than we could physically carry that same person. I’d tried repeatedly to choose different numbers to take us farther away, but we’d always ended up dropping randomly out of the shift.

  I pulled out my cell phone to call Jace. The Fortress was big and he could be anywhere on its three floors or in the basement, which had a playroom and a climbing wall for Chris’s kids. I should have looked there before leaving the basement, but Jace could just as likely be outside, either alone or in the gardens with his niece and nephew. We had a hundred-year-old tree that was the largest I’d ever seen anywhere, and the kids loved to climb it.

  I’d punched in Jace’s number and brought the phone to my ear when Keene’s raised voice reverberated from Cort’s office. “I can’t do that!” he said. “I won’t! Not until it makes a difference.”

  “I think you’re making a huge mistake. It could mean life or death.”

  “Yeah, her life or death. I don’t want to risk her.”

  Cort’s snort was loud enough to hear through the door. “That’s funny coming from you, Mr. Honesty. She should have something to say about it. This could give us a huge advantage in the battle ahead. We all have to make sacrifices. Maybe your inability doesn’t have anything to do with why you don’t want to tell her. Have you ever thought of that?”