Smoke said as they walked, “It’s getting harder on you, the mind reading trick.”
Scythe shrugged, “I’m okay.”
“You don’t look okay. You look like you’re losing it. I think you need to rest.”
“We’ll rest when we find them.”
Smoke hesitated only a moment and then nodded.
Together they made their way through the hallways of the office building and out into the night.
The music dragged its leaden, misshapen bars behind them.
-----------
He had kissed her questions away and then made her forget them. He hadn’t used that power. It was way more fun to do it with the other, more mundane control that he had over her. She had tried, she had, but he had whispered, “We can talk all you want later, sweetheart.” After that, she had decided, wisely, to put business aside for a while.
Another man might have been offended, or hurt or whatever, to find out that a woman was working him for information. Cord, who used to make a living selling information, had no problem with it. It wasn’t personal, just like their lovemaking wasn’t personal. It was definitely no reason to waste a good opportunity with a wonderfully talented, supremely built woman. And, with the promise of getting what she wanted later, she was more than willing: she was enthusiastic. They were a good match.
Another promise that had nothing to do with him and everything to do with her needing permission to have a little fun left his lips on its journey to nowhere.
Later, he reached over the bed, snagged a pillow for her, which she tucked under her head, and pulled the sheet off the floor. It was a tiny compartment, but with the door closed, the bottom bunk slid out to make a full-sized bed. It was smaller than he liked, but better than some places he’d resorted to using in the past. He lay over her body, pulling the sheet over them both and propping himself up with his forearms to make sure he didn’t weigh too heavily on her.
“That okay?” he asked.
She adjusted herself beneath him, letting her hands move up his side and cross over his back under the sheet, “Mmm. Better than okay.”
“Good,” he kissed her again. “You have questions.”
“Yeah, but first, how long did you know?”
“Know what? That I wanted to be lying here with you tonight? That’s easy. The second that I entered the bar.” Another kiss, and then one for the neck.
She caught her breath and let it out slowly. He smiled against her skin.
“No,” she breathed, “how long did you know I wanted to pump you...”
“Now, don’t start that kind of talk,” he warned, pressing down on her below the waist.
“For information!” she laughed, but then pulled his head down for a long kiss.
“Oh,” he took her earlobe between his lips and then whispered into her ear, “Same moment, sweetheart.”
“No shit, really?” She turned her head to get a look at his face, professionally mortified. “How?”
“You’re just too damn good looking to be trolling in some bar.”
Of course, she loved that. Who wouldn’t? What did it matter that it was only half the truth? He had known she was someone to keep an eye on because he saw her recognize him when he came in; it was subtle, just a little twitch and a hitch in the heartbeat. He could tell that she hadn’t expected him to walk in at that moment, but she went with it beautifully. Such a pro.
“On top of that, this fantastic body has never had to go looking for someone to please it, now has it?” He rolled onto his side so that he had one hand free to caress the parts he appreciated the most. “Here, here, definitely here. These are my favorite.” She immediately forgave him for pointing out what a crappy agent she made.
“So you gonna tell me, or what?” she said with a sigh, obviously disappointed with her own sense of duty.
“What are you asking?” He let his head rest on his propped-up hand, while the other continued its tour of paradise.
“Okay, I’ll cut to the chase. You’re traveling with a powered girl, right?”
“Yes, how did you know?”
“Nope. This only goes one way.”
“That’s no fun. You might get a spanking for that, later.”
“Later?”
“Oh, yeah. Definitely. If you’re interested.”
“Maybe.” She closed her eyes and breathed, trying to stay focused, but it was very difficult with his mouth on her. “Probably.”
“Probably?” Another incentive.
She swallowed and then answered with a slow, deep and sexy, “Yes.”
“Yes is better. You are a nice lady. How do you know me, again?”
“Nope. You are her...what?”
“Boyfriend?”
“Not in this lifetime,” she laughed, and he joined her. “Guardian of some type?”
“Guardian is okay.”
“So, not too attached?”
“Nope.”
“That’s good.”
“Why? You jealous?”
“It’s hard to be jealous when I’m the one in bed with you.”
“It is hard, that’s for sure.” He lifted her hand and kissed it, moving his lips over each finger. “Why is it good that I’m not too attached?”
“Nope. Where are you headed?”
“Home.”
“Where?”
“I believe our tickets say…”
“I know what your tickets say, but you’ve already changed routes three times.”
“Damn. You are good, but I already knew that.” Kissing along the inside of the arm. “Why not wait and follow us?”
“Nope.”
“You are a very…” Kiss. “...strong...” Kiss. “...willed…” Lick. “...woman.”
She gave him the look he loved to see. Then she said in a voice that matched it, “Now.”
“What? What about the questions?”
“Later.”
“But, I know stuff. Important things…”
“Later.” And she kissed him.
Chapter 20
Scythe read the letter from Lena through once and then set it on the table. She had wasted no time in scolding him for not visiting or at least vid conferencing them in over a month. She even threatened to come out and find him “under whatever rock he was hiding” and bring him back home for a visit and a good meal. Then she wrote to him about the events of their lives, Mercy’s rambunctious adventures, and their upcoming return to active duty.
Part of him wanted to visit them and felt guilty about not making more time for them. However, that part had been shrinking for a while and now was very small and weak. He just wasn’t interested in making the effort; sometimes he even felt annoyed by the thought of it. He was too busy to be taking time off for trips.
When he worked, he was consumed by it. He didn’t think about friends or family, and that was something of a relief; it felt good to focus completely on a job. It was also rewarding to complete a mission and know that he was doing something important, something that helped people.
The Kin without exception were appalled when he used his power to read people’s memories; to them, it was unnatural: a tainted aspect of an already defiled person. However, his ability meant that the Scere could meet their objectives faster and with less risk than they could on their own. So, they used him when they needed to, and didn’t talk about it otherwise. Despite what they thought of him and how they treated him, he knew he was doing something no one else could do, and so did they.
After he had heard an agent refer to what they did as a hunt, he began to dedicate all of his time to becoming a great hunter. He spent his days and nights developing the two things that he wanted to make his specialties. The first helped him find his prey, and the second stepped up when he had it cornered and had to take it down.
He had been improving his researching skills by learning what he could from other team members when he was on assignment. The intelligence officers were often the best resource, because t
hey were experts in that area. When they agreed to teach him, he worked intently and learned quickly, often gaining grudging respect and sometimes extra instruction. To supplement what he picked up in the field, he read everything he could get his hands on.
He also continued his training where the Blades had left off: weapons, conditioning, martial arts, operations analysis, explosives, and medical treatments for field injuries. Soshia had told him that the Scere agents could train him in these areas, and she was right. The Scere agents tended to be specialized, for the most part, so he had to divide his time between them. For anything else, he sought outside training or relied on his own study of the topic.
He was the least experienced person, the greenest recruit by far, on every assignment, and they made sure he remembered it. To them, he was someone who was in the way of those who knew what they were doing, so he watched and he learned and he waited for his turn.
Scythe sat down in front of his younger self, “Hey, give me a minute, will you?”
The youth didn’t look up from the paper in front of him, “What?”
“What’s going on?”
The boy sighed and looked up impatiently, “What, that again?”
“No, I mean, you never talk. It’s all just memories now.” They had run through the major events of that period of his life...months of his life and dozens of memories...without stopping. It was both exhausting and disorienting, and Scythe felt sick to his stomach most of the time.
“Yeah, so?” Scythe pulled his books across the wood, picked up the first one, and let it drop down on top of the letter. He opened it up to the section he was interested in and began to read. “That’s what I’m supposed to be doing.”
“I guess so...” Scythe sat back, listening to the music around him: mechanical, rhythmic, orderly. On the surface, it was not an unpleasant melody to listen to. But beneath it all, almost too far down to hear, a low dirge limped along.
He said to himself, “I hope you’re right about me.”
-----------
Mercy didn’t realize that she was squeezing tightly until the woman groaned. Then, her eyes focused on Helaine, who was sprawled on the couch-bed across from where she sat.
“An orphan? You just picked him up and used him like a prop?” Mercy couldn’t believe it, even when the woman told her straight out, even when she saw it right there in her mind. No one, certainly no woman, could be that despicable. Mercy held herself over the woman’s energy well and continued to pull on the energy.
“They don’t care. They’ve got hundreds of them in the bordertowns. They were just happy to give him to someone who could feed him everyday.” Inside, she was scared to death, wondering if she was going to get out this alive, wondering why there was nothing about this in her brief, wondering where her partner was.
Mercy was wondering some of those things, too.
Mercy had let her have her say once they reached the cabin, taking the seat she was offered while the woman reclined confidently on the couch. Helaine had invited her to come to a center where they were studying Human powers. She had also assured her that she would be paid for her participation, and that they only wanted her to volunteer for a short term, maybe a week at the outside. Then, when it became clear that Mercy wasn’t going to have any part of it, she had reached into her bag. That was the last thing the woman had done of her own free will.
“And after?”
“After what?”
“Holy crap. After you kidnapped me and took me to your lab or whatever, then what were you going to do with him?” The woman had no idea. Hadn’t even thought about it. It didn’t occur to her to care.
Greasy. That’s what it felt like to touch her mind. Mercy had the woman’s greasy mind all over her.
“I was going to take him to another one, a good one.”
“You are…” Demented, despicable, morally emaciated. “...a very sick person.” Mercy let her think that she was considering killing her, which she was pretty sure wasn’t true. Mostly sure.
“No! Wait! I can help you.”
“Okay. Help.”
“At the center…”
“The lab where they want to experiment on me.”
“Yes. Um, they’ve only recently started bringing in bordertown people with powers for their tests.”
“But, I’m not a bordertowner.”
“No, but you were flagged by an insider at the university.”
“Alan Gibbs?”
“No, I don’t think he’s involved. They just use him and Doctor Everett to locate subjects. The one who flagged you was an agent of ours.”
“Agent? Like in the Scere?”
“Seer? What’s that?”
“Are they Kin or Human?”
“It’s a Human operation, but I do see Kin there sometimes.”
“What is the name of the center?”
“The cover operation is a chemical factory that specializes in painting products: Chromatic Technologies.”
“I’m thinking this isn’t all that helpful. How is this helpful?”
“Okay, okay. At the center, they just do tests and then let people go. People get paid good money to take the tests. That gets a lot of people in because times are rough and a lot of people are looking for work right now.”
“I already know this. Get to the helpful part. What is the place like?”
“I’ve only been working there a short time. It’s pretty straightforward, like a clinic, except for the restricted areas…the high priority people get taken there…”
“Taken doesn’t sound voluntary to me.”
“I meant...I meant to say assigned…”
“Right.”
“The high priorities, the ones that they really want to study, get assigned to the restricted section. I’ve never been...well, we don’t see that part of the operation, so I don’t know what it’s like. It’s surrounded in a fog…”
Mercy sat up and threw the woman a sharp look. A fog? In a restricted area where they held highly skilled powered people? Mercy asked, “What kind of fog?”
“Well, not a real fog, just...you know...a mystery…”
“I want your report, the address of the center, and every detail about it.”
“Why?”
“Tell me, are there any halfbreeds there?” She didn’t like to say that word, but it was the most common Human term.
“Halfbreeds?”
“Yeah. Ever seen any?”
“No, I don’t think so. But there are a lot of people. It is really big. There might be some. Why?”
“I don’t know. I heard a rumor about them.”
“What was it?”
“Never mind. Anything else?”
“The report said you wouldn’t cooperate...”
That was true.
“...which is why we were hired…Um, wait. Let me think. I was going to tell you...they...they really want strong people. I mean, people with strong powers.”
“So?”
“Well, Karin, no one I’ve ever gone after is as strong as you.”
“No?”
“Not even close. The finder’s for you was top pay, but if they knew you could do this, it would be even higher. They are going to really want you.” She was still hoping she could get free and collect it. The idea of a month’s pay excited the hell out of her.
“A finder’s? Are you a bounty hunter?”
“Something like that. We bring in people with powers and we get cash. It’s…” She spoke faster in reaction to Mercy’s frown and darkening mood. “It’s nothing personal. It’s a lot of money. No way you could make even half that much in a year in the bordertowns.”
She loved the money. Really loved it. Gave her a rush, just to hold the check. She liked to cash it all and carry around the bills for a while...show them on accident to her friends who were struggling. Liked to do stuff for them, pay for things, so they’d feel grateful. She liked it when they thanked her, over and over. She liked it more when they were je
alous.
So greasy.
“You’re a slaver,” Mercy cursed.
“No. Not really. Most people are willing to come for the money.” But she preferred it if they didn’t. Then she could use the gun. Sometimes, she forgot to offer the pay, just went in and took them. Only the easy ones, though, like the teens.
“But people like me?”
“I haven’t gone up against someone like you.”
Humph. No doubt. Mercy was getting tired of the whole business. She’d never spent this much time in a mind like this one, couldn’t remember ever touching someone as filthy. Even Cord when he was at his worst, even then he was nothing like this woman. Touching Helaine’s mind was crushing Mercy from the inside out, but she couldn’t stop yet; there were still a few things she wanted to know.
“How can I keep from being found?”
“Huh? Oh, well, you would have to change your name again, since we have both of the two you’ve used on this trip, and then not take any public transportation, especially after the deadline for registering. It is all going to be monitored closely. You would have to crawl into a hole and hide there. There are sensitive people, like our agent at the university, getting stationed everywhere. Part of the center is dedicated to recruiting people like that.”
“Where’s your partner?”
She hesitated, so Mercy encouraged her to remember why she was talking of her own free will. When she could talk again, she said, “She’s keeping him busy, your fake boyfriend, so I could get you in my confidence.”
“With Jonah.” Mercy looked over at the baby that was wrapped up and sleeping in a blanket beside the couch. It was good that she had disconnected with him just before attacking Helaine in her private cabin. Mercy didn’t want Jonah to come anywhere near the disgusting feelings and thoughts that were spewing all over her, so she resisted the urge to pick him up and hold him again by picking up the diaper bag next to her.
“Well, yeah. And then we separate you at the station and pick you up.” She managed to shrug. “You looked like an easy target. He was our only concern, and not much of one.”
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