The Change (Unbounded)

by Teyla Branton

  Wishful thinking.

  The Unbounded guard emerged from the room where I’d sent him, his gun ready. Confusion lit his face as I lunged toward him. The gun went off, the shot going wide. We struggled for the weapon, but he was stronger. Slowly, he brought the barrel to my stomach. I tensed for the pain I knew was coming.

  A single silenced shot. But no pain.

  The guard crumpled. Arms came around me—familiar arms.

  I turned. Ritter stood there, looking angry and disheveled. My eyes fell greedily over his dark hair, his unshaven face, the black clothes that I knew hid more weapons than I’d ever begin to know what to do with.

  For a moment I leaned against him, not wanting to appear weak, but craving more than anything the comfort of his solid presence. His arms tightened around my body, holding me to the wide expanse of his chest. I felt safe for the first time in days.

  More than safe. Other emotions came through every bit as strong. Not his feelings this time, but my own, because my mental barriers were tight and impenetrable—in case Delia was searching for me.

  Not good. I couldn’t fall for Ritter. Better the mortal Keene or Tom or anyone else. At least their hearts might be whole enough to be capable of real love. Ritter survived only to exact revenge.

  I drew away and turned toward him. “I knew you couldn’t pass up this party.”

  His eyes roamed my face, his expression fierce. “Can’t let the new people have all the fun.” An aura of danger emanated from him, in the hard lines of his chest and shoulders, the defined muscles of his legs. Or maybe it was in the fire in his eyes, that unending thirst for revenge. Even though I knew he was on my side, everything warned me to run.

  He started down the hall and I followed as fast as I could, only limping slightly. “There’s something you should know. Cort’s a spy. He told them everything—about the technology from John Halden, the address of a safe house in New York, and probably more. He’s been working for the Emporium all along.”

  “Impossible.”

  “Why do you think I’m here? His brother was waiting for us at his house.”

  “Cort’s loyal to the Renegades. He’s trying to knock out their systems now.”

  I gaped, my horror complete. “You brought Cort?”

  “He’s the one who tracked you here. Stella’s in New York and Dimitri’s still with your father.”

  My father? I’d become so accustomed to everyone here talking about Stefan as my father that it took me a moment to understand what he meant. “How is he?”

  “Dimitri says if he leaves him, he’ll die.”

  Blood rushed from my face, leaving me momentarily lightheaded. “If my father’s dying, why would it matter if Dimitri stays with him?”

  Ritter stopped moving, his eyes meeting mine. “I can’t explain it any more than I can explain what Ava does. It’s part of his ability. Still, in the end it may not matter. He may be able to keep your father alive, but he can’t make him another heart. Come on, we’ve got to get you out of here. Cort’s waiting.”

  “He’s not waiting!” I gritted. “He’s the reason I’m in this mess. If he’s here, he’s plotting against us. Cort’s father runs this place.”

  “I know that.”

  I blinked. “You know about Cort’s father?”

  “He told me, Ava, and Dimitri the truth before he joined us. I think Stella suspects his story, but she knows he’s okay. His misfortune in fathers doesn’t mean he’s a traitor.”

  I backed away uneasily. “I heard Cort and his brother talking.”

  “Everything isn’t always what it appears.”

  “I’m not putting my life in his hands.”

  He took a step toward me, closing the gap I’d put between us. “And how about in mine?”

  I trusted him with more than my life. Crazy, maybe, but true. I wet my lower lip with my tongue. “I trust you, Ritter, but you have to trust me about this.”

  “You’re wrong, and I’ll prove it to you.”

  I opened my mind enough to sense his sincerity. Emotion slammed into me, the foremost was a deep and bitter hate. Not directed toward me, but partly because of me. I was one more person he’d almost lost. He noticed my stare and the emotions vanished as though I’d imagined them.

  He smiled. “Trust me with your life, Erin. Nothing more.”

  Not my heart, he meant. Well, he didn’t need to worry on that score. Slamming my barriers back into place, I turned and strode down the hall in the direction we’d been heading, ignoring the unpleasant pulsing of my ankle. I needed to find Chris and the kids, but I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for. Would there be a flight of stairs to the second entrance? Or was it straight through one of these doors? I opened one but it only revealed a deserted office.

  In two bounds, Ritter caught up with me. I risked a glance at him, but his face was unreadable. As I reached for another door, he paused at a new hallway leading off the first. “We can get to the control room through here. Cort should be finished there now, and he’ll know the best way out.”

  I was about to tell Ritter I had no intention of leaving until I made sure my brother had escaped when we heard someone coming down the new hallway. Ritter motioned me behind him and took a fighting stance, his gun drawn. Three long seconds passed before Cort came into view. He had his own weapon out, and for a tense moment, I thought they’d shoot each other, but when Cort saw us, he lowered his gun.

  “Good, you found her. There was a fire on one of the lower floors, and no one was even in the control room when I got in to put up the fake camera feed, but I almost got caught getting out. We’ve got ten minutes to get to the roof before the feed runs out.”

  “You!” I came from behind Ritter and launched myself at Cort. “Traitor!”

  Cort lifted his hands to ward off my blows. “What are you talking about? We came to save you!”

  “I suppose you want me to believe you haven’t been feeding your father information all this time? Tell the truth, Cort. Ritter doesn’t believe me. You know, Keene may not be Unbounded, and he may have done a lot of bad things in his life, but at least he doesn’t lie.”

  Cort’s smile challenged me. “And you’d know the difference?”

  Ritter pushed between us, his strong arm drawing me back. “Erin has Ava’s talent, not her father’s.”

  “You knew those people at the restaurant were Unbounded,” I accused Cort. “You knew my family would be in danger once they saw me.” I dug my nails into Ritter’s arm in an attempt to get past him to Cort, but he didn’t even flinch.

  Cort shook his head. “I knew they were Unbounded, but I thought they were tracking me, not you. They often show up to let me know they’re waiting for information. I didn’t think they’d connect me with your brother.”

  “Liar!”

  Ritter shoved me back and kept his arm out to keep me away. He brought up his gun, aiming it at Cort’s temple. “I know this won’t kill you, Cort, but it will hurt even more than the stakes those vampire hunters kept trying to put in our chests a hundred years ago.”

  “You know I’m not a traitor,” Cort growled, his eyes growing angry. “You know what I’ve gone through for the Renegades.”

  To my horror, Ritter lowered his gun. “I do trust you. Now show Erin why she should. After what she’s been through, she deserves that much.”

  “There’s no time!” Cort’s normal composure had deserted him, making him decidedly desperate. “I managed to fix their camera, but I couldn’t do anything with the jamming system. I don’t have Stella’s skill. That means we can’t communicate internally or radio Ava when we need her and the chopper. We’ll have to signal her the old-fashioned way. Can’t this wait?”

  “Not if it saves us from another betrayal,” I muttered.

  Ritter shrugged. “You see how she is.”

  I tried not to take offense.

  Cort looked at me. “Go ahead. Read me—if you can.”

  Read him? Oh, like Delia had done
to me. I could try.

  Ritter lowered his arm and motioned us into one of the empty rooms. I placed my hand on Cort’s face. I expected him to fight, to hide his thoughts, anything to prevent Ritter from learning the truth through me. With centuries of experience, he’d know many tricks to keep me from his secrets.

  To my surprise there were no barriers in his mind. “Be careful,” he said. “You could damage me.”

  I hadn’t known that. Gently, I pushed deeper, working by instinct and what I’d learned from Delia—a poor substitute for training, I decided as my head began to ache with the effort.

  As his swirling emotions cleared, I saw images of Cort growing up, of him eventually leaving the Emporium and joining the Renegades. How he gave the Emporium enough to continue to trust him, but not enough to sever the ties that allowed him to work as a double agent. Even his own brother, for whom Cort felt an honest affection, had been kept in the dark, though Keene had apparently become suspicious of late—which explained why he’d been waiting for us at Cort’s house.

  There was more, much more. I saw glimpses of women he had loved and lost. A son who was now dead. A sister who became a Hunter. A mother he’d never known. A father he hated and rejected, but whom he still loved with a childlike doggedness. After the first few memories, I shied away from these more personal experiences.

  I’d been wrong. Oh, so wrong! I wished the floor could open and swallow me whole.

  I pulled away from Cort. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.

  He gave me a tight half smile in return, his mental shields springing into place and blacking out his real reply.

  “Satisfied?” Ritter asked, his tone mocking.

  I lifted my eyes slowly to his, struggling against the emotion of what I’d seen. “So when they told me they knew about the identification program and the location of the safe house in New York—that was false information you gave them, right? Or junk they were feeding me to see what I knew?”

  Cort stared, his horrified gaze going to Ritter and then back to me. “What do you mean? The Emporium shouldn’t know about the program, much less any safe house.”

  “Apparently they do.” Ritter’s body became taut. “Tell us everything.”

  Quickly I outlined what Delia had told me. My heart thundered in my chest and any moment I expected the door to bang open and a dozen guards to pounce on us. “She hoped I knew the location of the exchange, but I didn’t.”

  “If they know about the technology and the safe house, our very existence is at risk,” Cort said.

  “So the Renegades are planning to develop the identification program?” I asked.

  Cort shook his head. “Absolutely not. We’re trying to stop Halden from developing it. When we got wind of what he was doing last year, Stella and some technopath friends of hers began creating the virtual reality program to exchange for the work he’s done so far on the identification technology. The designers are coming together tonight to present it to him. On this one thing we agree with the Emporium. Nothing like this technology must ever be allowed to come into use. It’s far too dangerous, not only for Unbounded, but for all humanity. We plan to destroy it.”

  I believed him, and that meant Delia had lied. I wasn’t surprised at the lie, but the fact that it had been cloaked in half truths was disconcerting. I met Cort’s gaze. “If you didn’t tell the Emporium about the safe house or the technology, who did? Because someone had to.”

  “Only our group and a few key Renegade leaders know the full import of this exchange.” Ritter’s muscles flexed beneath his T-shirt as though he wanted to punch something. “Stella and I were supposed to brief you and the New York people there, along with the Unbounded delegations who are flying in from Italy and London. They should all be meeting at the safe house within the next hour or so.”

  Cort paced a few steps. “Ava and Dimitri would sooner die than betray us, and Stella’s in New York. We’re here. So that leaves only Laurence, and he wouldn’t betray us. Besides, he called Ava this morning from Oregon. Maybe it’s someone from the New York side.”

  I shook my head. “No, he’s here.” Or had been. Hopefully, he and the others had succeeded in making it out of the building.

  Ritter frowned, his eyes glittering with suppressed violence. “Who’s here?”

  “Laurence. He was captured with Chris right after they picked up the kids. But hopefully they’re outside by—”

  “Wait a minute.” Cort shifted his weight, glancing at the door. “Laurence told us he and Chris got the kids to one of our safe houses in Missouri. There’s no way they could have been followed to the kids’ party. I made sure of that after the attack.”

  His words were like a punch to my stomach. “Then Lawrence lied.” Which could mean Chris and the children hadn’t made it to safety after all.

  “It’s Laurence, then.” Ritter’s voice was deadly. “That explains a lot.”

  Had I trusted my brother’s life to a traitor?

  “We have to get up to the roof and signal Ava,” Ritter said. “The sooner we warn New York the better. Too many will be at risk. Everyone was acting like it was an opportunity for a big reunion.” There was self-deprecation in the words, as though he blamed himself for the oversight. He eased opened the door a crack and peered out. “Let’s go.”

  “I can’t,” I said. “Laurence was with Chris and the kids. Keene was supposed to create a distraction and get them out a back exit.”

  “My brother did that?” Cort sounded doubtful.

  I wanted to scream with impatience. “Do you know where that exit is? I have to make sure they got away. Laurence might have betrayed them.”

  “I know where it is, but the monitors showed a half-dozen armed guards heading that way before I put in the fake feed. They always reinforce the exits when something happens. That’s why we chose the roof for our escape. If Keene’s not out by now, they won’t be getting out.”

  “Maybe they will with my help.”

  Ritter grabbed me before I went two steps. “You don’t stand a chance.”

  “I’m not leaving them!”

  He thrust a shiny disk into my hand. “Get to the roof. Signal Ava with this. Cort and I will see to your brother.”

  I shook my head.

  “You’d trust your life to me.” Ritter’s grip on my arm tightened. “Why not your brother’s?”

  “I’ll play the return of the prodigal son, if I have to,” Cort added, “and I know my way around.”

  Ritter nodded. “Besides, if Laurence is still here, we can’t allow him to tell them anything more.”

  I knew what Ritter wasn’t saying: Laurence would have to be captured or die. “Fine,” I said. “But don’t leave Chris and the kids behind.”

  With a fierce glare, Ritter took weapons from his body, passing them to me—a gun, a knife, a grenade.

  A grenade?

  I handed him back the grenade. I had no idea how to use it or how far away I’d have to be to survive the blast.

  Hesitating only a second, he tucked it back inside his pants. My face flushed when I saw exactly where. He gave me a flat grin and started down the hall, his body moving like liquid, showing the same ease my new half-brother Jonny had displayed while running. It was all I could do not to stare.

  Cort chuckled. “There’s a service elevator by the control room, if you can get close enough. Might be easier to get to than the other one. That is, if it doesn’t have a hand print lock. I’ve never used it myself.”

  “If it does, I have something to take care of it.”

  “Good. Don’t get caught. Wouldn’t want to have to save you again.” He turned to go after Ritter.

  “Cort?”

  He stopped. “Yeah?”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “You can make it up to me later.” He lifted his brow suggestively.

  I laughed. “In your dreams.”

  “I have pretty good dreams.” Grinning, he sprinted after Ritter.

  Was he really g
oing to forgive me that easily? Somehow I doubted it.

  I tucked the shiny disk Ritter had given me into my shirt, grateful to possess enough bust to secure the compact-sized object. The knife attached rather awkwardly to the fake belt on my stretch suit, but the gun I carried in my hands. What I’d have given for a big pocket.

  I moved down the hallway toward the control room with none of Ritter’s grace. At least my ankle was stronger. If I hadn’t known I was Unbounded, I might have thought I’d imagined the sprain. I had no idea regarding the layout of the area, and my sense of direction had deserted me. How far was the service elevator?

  Voices and running footsteps. I dived into a room, Ritter’s gun ready in case it was occupied. It wasn’t. I listened as the footsteps passed in the hallway. I slipped out and continued my search. I could hear voices now, and I wondered if the Emporium guards had reached the control room. If so, I should be close to the service elevator. I moved softly, glad for the comfortable flats Justine had supplied with my suit. For once, both practical and attractive.

  I found the elevator in a tiny alcove. It was much smaller than the main elevators, and was guarded only by a hand print reader.

  I ran toward it, pulling on Keene’s glove and pressing it to the panel. The numbers above lit up to show the elevator was on its way. I shut my eyes briefly in relief.

  More footsteps. I brought up my gun and squeezed myself against the wall, hoping whoever it was would pass by without noticing me.

  “Erin?”

  Tom.

  I lunged toward him, grabbing his shirt and pulling him farther into the alcove up against the wall, the gun pressed into his neck. Inside, I was shaking, but my gun hand was remarkably steady.

  “What are you doing?” Tom didn’t fight me, and for that I was glad. I didn’t fool myself that I could actually pull the trigger.

  A soft ding signaled the arrival of the elevator. I released him. “Get inside.”

  He obeyed. I punched the fifth floor and breathed a sigh of relief when the door shut without anyone else appearing. Now if I could only make it to the rooftop. But what would I do with Tom?