The Change (Unbounded)

by Teyla Branton

  If he did, I hoped I wasn’t sending him to his death. When I pulled back, my head felt as though it had been cleaved in two.

  Ritter had eased past Halden and was now a few steps closer to the Hunters, who were watching him carefully, prepared for any sudden movement. I knew he’d be able to take out two of them before any shots were fired, but that left the other two, plus Halden’s guards. We had to somehow stop them from shooting us or the bullets might be our last memory before the cutting began.

  Ava had taken several steps backward, preparing to attack Halden’s guards from the side. Stella, however, seemed rooted to the spot, and I knew she was afraid. It was no longer only herself and us she had to defend. This time there was more to lose. A new life. A piece of her beloved Bronson.

  Justine’s eyes met mine, sending a message. My former best friend didn’t agree with our cause, but she would fight these murdering bastards with us rather than go to her death willingly. Later she would personally take care of me. She wasn’t sending out any pheromones that I could sense, and I wondered if she was afraid of distracting the Unbounded from the coming fight. I didn’t think she needed to worry; we all knew what she was.

  I looked from her to Ritter and the Hunters. Justine’s head dipped slightly, showing her understanding. When Ritter attacked, she would, too. Cort shifted his weight, realigning himself in preparation. I knew he was with us and that he and Ritter had been together long enough to read each other completely.

  The Hunters brought up their guns. “Easy now,” said the one who seemed to be in charge. “We’re taking you in for questioning, that’s all.”

  “Right,” Ritter sneered.

  I’d left myself open to all the emotions in the room, but Ritter’s came through stronger than anyone’s. I focused more tightly on him and had a vision of my knife and Halden. Underneath barely concealed fury, he kept thinking the same thing over and over, which was crazy given that he should be focusing on what he planned to do himself.

  Unless he’d expected me to see his thoughts. I delved further. My knife in my hand at Halden’s throat. A threat only. An attempt to get the upper hand.

  I could feel Ava’s reticence at the images, which I echoed. I’d worked hard during my training sessions with both Ritter and Keene, but my experience was far too limited. Besides, though Halden was a trim man, he was a lot heavier than I was and had a good foot on me in height.

  He was also sorry he’d made a mess of things. Maybe I could use that.

  “Wait,” I said, acting before I’d really decided that I would. “Nobody move. I have an idea.” I crossed the few steps separating me from Halden. Faking a nonchalance I didn’t feel, I reached out and touched his bare arm. Sit, I thought.

  He looked at me, startled.

  For your son. I pushed so hard with the thoughts that pain knifed through my head. I struggled not to cry out. Meeting Halden’s gaze, I dropped my eyes once to his chair. He sat.

  Instantly, I stepped behind him, pulling him back with one hand on his chest while the other whipped the knife out from under my dress and held it against his throat. Under his shirt I could feel a sort of hard rubbery material. Was that the body armor I’d heard Stella mention back in Kansas? Naturally he would be wearing it when he met with those he viewed as his enemies, but it couldn’t save him from either the Hunters or the Unbounded. A slash on the neck or a shot to the head would snuff out his life instantly.

  “Don’t anyone move,” I said in what I hoped was a deadly voice. “I swear I’ll kill him and then all deals are off.” All the while I was sending Halden peaceful, calming images. I couldn’t tell if he felt any of them, but he didn’t move. Needles of pain still pierced my skull.

  The Hunters acted, but their delay was their undoing. As expected, Ritter took down two at once, his arms and legs little more than a blur. Justine and Cort removed the two remaining Hunters. Ava disarmed one of Halden’s guards, while Edgel put the other in a headlock.

  Unfortunately, I hadn’t kept track of my supposed dear old Dad. “Good thinking, Erin.” Stefan’s admiration was clear. Then in a blurred motion, he took the knife from my hand and pushed me out of the way, dragging Halden to his feet. I cursed under my breath, realizing I should have anticipated the move.

  “Weapons down, everyone.” Stefan pressed the knife against Halden’s neck. “Except my people, of course.”

  Ritter snorted. “No way. What do we care if that fool dies?”

  We stood at an impasse. Each side armed with guns, and Stefan with the knife. A thin line of blood appeared on Halden’s dark throat. He was a victim here, as much as any of the Renegades.

  “Let go of my father.” The voice came from the second door to the room, the one behind Stefan and Halden where the Emporium Unbounded had been waiting earlier. Standing there now was the guard with the dreadlocks, and he was holding a gun less than a foot away from Stefan’s head.

  “Eric!” Halden said. “I thought I told you I didn’t want you anywhere near here today.”

  Eric smiled grimly. “Sorry, Dad. When I knew what was at stake, I signed up for the whole weekend.” To me, Eric added, “I let the knife through to help my dad, not to get him killed.”

  I made a face. “Sorry about that.” Now what? Something had to break.

  “Cort,” Ritter said quietly.

  Cort pulled the trigger.

  A STACCATO BURST SENT JUSTINE to the ground, far from dead, but in too much agony to retaliate. Ritter kicked Edgel’s gun from his hand, at the same time bringing his weapon to point at Stefan. “Drop the knife. You know I don’t care if I shoot you both.”

  Several heartbeats passed. Then Stefan released Halden, tossing the knife to the table. His eyes gleamed murderously at Cort. “I should have known. You may be Unbounded, but you’re only half the man your brother is.”

  Cort gave him a chilly smile. “I have to agree. He’s had a harder life all these years under your employ, though last I heard, he’s finally had the courage to leave.”

  “Your father will hunt you down. Both of you!”

  Cort shrugged. “That’s entirely up to him. But I really doubt he’ll come out of his lab long enough. You and I both know that he may be the brains behind the Emporium, but you and Delia control it.”

  “I’ll hunt you down myself!” Stefan growled.

  Ritter’s laugh held no mirth. “Maybe I should kill you now and be done with it.”

  “My sensors stop transmitting my vitals and my men rush in,” Stefan said. “You’d never make it out of here alive. They’ll also kill the Renegades we captured last night. Is my death worth theirs? As it is, they may survive long enough to participate in our genetic research.”

  Ritter met his gaze. “One of these days, it’ll be just you and me, Stefan. Then we’ll see what happens.”

  “I’m looking forward to it.” Stefan turned to me. “What about you, Erin? Are you coming with us?”

  “I was never your daughter,” I said, quite truthfully, though I knew he’d take it to mean that I’d made my choice. I didn’t look at Ava.

  “Get her,” Stefan told Edgel. For a moment I thought he meant me, but Edgel bent to pick up Justine, who looked close to death.

  We all knew better. Before two days were gone, she’d be plotting against us again, seeking revenge for Tom’s death.

  “Are we just letting them go?” This from Eric Halden, his words meant not for his father, but for Ava.

  “Yes, but not until we’re ready to leave ourselves.” Ava crossed to the door Eric had come through and peered inside. “Lock them in here. Guard both doors.”

  “You should reconsider,” Stefan said. “We could work well together.”

  Ava gave him a disparaging glance. “No, we couldn’t.” She was confident and beautiful and I was proud of her.

  Halden’s guards made a move to escort Stefan inside the room, but Ritter shook his head. “Stay out of our way. Cort, you’re with me.” The guards glanced at Halden who nod
ded.

  When Ritter and Cort had disappeared with Stefan and the others, Ava faced Halden. “We’re not going anywhere until we get what we came for. One way or another.”

  “It’s yours.” Halden slumped heavily in his chair, his dark skin drawn and his eyes hollow. “I’ll need verification that you’re really going to destroy it. I want my son protected.”

  Ava shook her head. “Our word will have to suffice. But know that any Renegade would protect Eric with their life, if necessary. To us, he is also family.”

  Of course he was. He would have ancestors, and even if they’d died last night, other Renegades would step up to take their place. Being a Renegade meant more than sharing the same blood.

  Halden’s gaze fell on his son who was searching the unconscious Hunters for weapons. “I’m sorry, Eric. I thought I was helping you. I didn’t know they would kill all of you.” His eyes went to each of us in turn. “I thought I knew better.”

  “You’ve done great things in the past, John,” Ava said. “We won’t forget that.”

  “The technologies I’ve developed—those came from you?”

  She shrugged. “Some of them.”

  “So Eric has been your connection, at least recently. He’s been reporting to you.”

  “We wanted to make sure you remained safe.”

  Halden reached for the phone. When someone answered on the other end, he barked, “I want all of the identification files brought to the conference room and then delete them from our hard drives and backups. Yes, you heard me, all of them.” To us he added. “I’ll personally go down and make sure they do what I’ve asked.”

  “You’ll have to excuse us if we send Eric instead,” Ava said. “And wait here until he returns.”

  Halden inclined his head. “As you wish.”

  “Eric?” Ava said as the younger Halden moved toward the door. “Bring back the head programmer. Erin and I will need to talk to him to be sure.”

  Eric nodded and left the room, one of the guards trailing him at his father’s request.

  As Ava went to examine the Hunters, Stella handed Halden her briefcase. “The virtual reality files are in here.”

  “Thank you.” He seemed surprised that she would still give them to him.

  “A lot of good will come of this program,” Stella said. “The medical applications, at least. You will save lives with it.”

  He nodded. “We’ll get it out as soon as possible.”

  “These two are dead.” Ava pointed to one of the Hunters Ritter had taken out and the one Justine had attacked. “The other two will probably make it.”

  Halden frowned. “What’ll we do with them?”

  “After we leave, you can call the police and tell them they tried to steal technology. That’ll keep them occupied in court for a while and out of trouble. We do shoot to kill when we’re attacked, but it’s hard to kill them when they’re helpless like this.” She nudged one with her foot. “They have families who depend on them, who have no idea what they’re up to, and for what it’s worth, they’re right about Stefan and his people. As much as we hate being hunted, these vigilantes help keep tabs on the bad guys.”

  Since I’d learned of the Emporium infiltration, I wasn’t too sure about that, but I’d give that information to Ava later.

  “So ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend,’ ” quoted Halden.

  Ava smiled. “Something like that, though I won’t be inviting them to dinner anytime soon, and if Ritter were in here right now, we might not be having this conversation.”

  “Do these Hunters ever tell the authorities about the Unbounded?” Halden asked.

  “The last one who did ended up in psychiatric care.”

  “I see.”

  A new worry was working its way into my mind. “What if the Emporium makes a new identification program?”

  Halden stared at me. “An excellent point. After reviewing their communication program, I’m sure they have the skills.”

  “No doubt,” Ava said with a sigh. “But their focus hasn’t been on computer skills, and it’ll take them years to get anywhere with the idea. Don’t sell yourself short, John. You run an amazing company. Even for a mortal.” Her smile was unexpected, and Halden returned it.

  “We’ll keep tabs on them,” Stella assured him. But we all knew a door had been opened, one we’d have to carefully monitor.

  “Erin, come here.” Ava was still kneeling by the Hunters. “Your first official lesson,” she said as I knelt beside her. “We need to see if we can remove you from their memories. The process should be fairly simple since the time was so brief. Take my hand.”

  Once our minds were linked, she put her other hand on the unconscious Hunter’s head. I saw nothing. He was completely out. How could she extract memories unless he was thinking of them?

  Down, Ava thought. The next minute we were diving into a placid lake that appeared out of nowhere. I couldn’t feel the water, but everything around us rippled and the images that sprang up appeared muted by water.

  Don’t touch anything, Ava said, as she sidestepped an image of a child in a swing.

  Right. Wouldn’t want him to forget his daughter. The memory of the child stunned me. One minute he threatened to kill us, and the next he was a doting father.

  There. With quick hands Ava plucked several images from the man’s mind. So few. He won’t even have the black spots that sometimes follow such extraction.

  Together we came up out of the lake, whose surface appeared undisturbed. We opened our eyes at the same time. “It’s not always a lake,” Ava said, “but that is usually the representation my mind creates.”

  We had finished with the second Hunter by the time the files arrived, and we wasted no time in exiting the building. Ritter walked several paces behind Stefan, watching him carefully. John Halden called a dozen more guards to the door, who stood at the ready. It was almost civil the way Stefan and Edgel, carrying Justine, got into their car as we climbed into ours. No shots were fired, no explosions, no screaming or threats. Once in the car, Ritter radioed our people to begin moving out with the utmost caution. As usual, Ava went through an evade routine, which included a car change.

  “What about our people that Stefan captured?” I asked from the backseat between Ritter and Cort.

  Ritter’s jaw clenched. “They’ll try to use them for information. It won’t be pretty.” Torture took on a whole new meaning for people who couldn’t die in the usual way. “But we’ll find them.”

  “They won’t be killed right away,” Cort said. “You heard Stefan. He wants to expand their Unbounded gene pool. Besides, they know we’ll change all our safe houses and anything really important, so unless they get information from them quickly, it won’t be of any use.” He looked at me intently. “There’s something else you should know.” He hesitated for the space of several heartbeats. “Tom’s alive.”

  I felt the blood drain from my face. “No. He was dead. I killed him.” I looked at Ritter, who nodded his verification.

  Cort shook his head. “We got up to the roof right after you two left. I’d already convinced them that I had come back because my cover was blown, and I saw Tom lying there, but the edges of his wound were closing. They got him into surgery right away and gave him a couple of injections of something similar to my curequick. Since he’s barely coming into his Change, it’ll take longer for him to recover, but he’s going to survive.”

  Stunned was too weak a word for my surprise. I was finding it hard to breathe. “Justine didn’t know. Not even that he’d been shot.”

  “That’s right. I hadn’t told her any of it yet. Or Stefan. Didn’t want to give them the satisfaction.”

  Yes, it all made sense now. The difference I’d been feeling from Tom even in Kansas. The difference I’d either been too close to recognize or had blocked out of my rational mind. The beginning of the Change—both mental and physical. I wavered between joy that he was alive and horror that the Emporium had yet one more
Unbounded. Justine had won that round, and Tom had lived to die another day.

  Beside me Ritter shifted, and I glanced over at him. Even through my turmoil I was intensely aware of his presence. The way his leg touched mine, the soft ache inside my chest. His look was shuttered, his emotions closed to me.

  Ava took a phone call and her backward glance was full of pity. “What?” I asked.

  “Your father isn’t doing well. Dimitri wants you there as soon as possible. I’ll arrange for Chris to fly us back.”

  “Thank you.” I laid my head back against the seat and shut my eyes, fighting tears. Tom’s betrayal, my father dying. I would kill Justine for all this—and Stefan, too. I would make Ritter and Ava teach me everything they knew about combat and sensing. The Emporium would attack again, and I would be ready when they did.

  My mind felt battered, exhausted, and my emotions were careening all over the place. I barely noticed our arrival at the hotel. When I was slow to get out of the car, Ritter helped me stand. “Come on.” His thoughts were still dark, but his voice was gentle.

  I turned into his arms and let him guide me to the elevator. He took me not to the room where Chris waited but to another where we were all alone. Scooping me up at the door, he led me to the large bed that dominated the room, peeled back the covers, and set me inside.

  “Rest. We’ll have a few hours before our flight. I’ll wake you when it’s time.”

  My entire body had come to life at his closeness, the soft ache I’d felt in the car becoming a roar. I wanted to lose myself in his arms, to blot out last night’s loneliness, my grief over my father, and the uncertainty of the future. “Don’t leave,” I whispered.

  Ritter made a choked noise in his throat as he settled beside me, his arms drawing me to him until my back nestled in his chest. His lips rested briefly on my neck below my ear, sending fire through my veins. Fire that almost hurt with its intensity. All the images of death and fighting of the past days fled from my mind.