‘Mimosa?’
‘Please.’
Casting my eyes over the room, I spotted the safe and moved over to it. Before I could ask for the combination, he called it over to me.
Keying in the code, I reached in and collected the three folders setting each one on the table.
Illarion brought over two glasses and handed me one while he took a folder.
‘What are these?’ I asked.
‘I’ve been putting together whatever I could find about the Serum, anyone off the books and on, who might have been working on it.’
‘You think this could be someone we know?’
‘I have no doubt. But to what extent, that’s the real question.’
Skimming through the information, I looked up at him. ‘So, it is a DNA weapon, knew I wasn’t being paranoid.’
‘What?’
‘Nothing, just said that these deaths were a test, Aurel thought I was being paranoid.’
‘Don’t worry about Aurel, he’s been a little more grounded sine Lucy came home. I’ll talk to him.’
‘Leave it.’
He didn’t say any more, thankfully.
I leaned over and turned the sheet he was looking at toward me. ‘Is this the report from the hospital?’
‘It is. I think they could be working on weaponized targeting.’
‘That sounds plausible.’
‘Unfortunately, it’s more than plausible. We have evidence of it now. We have the mysterious dead Sensitives and Collectors, and two missions sabotaged where the primary objective was to acquire the codes for that safe.’
‘Right.’ I cringed.
I ran through file after file, piecing together everything Illarion said and figured out pretty quickly that he was right. But what I couldn’t work out was, to what end? Sure, they could be using DNA to target specific Sensitives, but that would be endless work for little reward unless it was a scare tactic. Kill a few to set an example, surely this wasn’t just about me.
Groaning, I drank the rest of the mimosa in my glass and placed it down with a little more force than necessary.
‘Nothing?’
‘Too many what-ifs and not enough solid data.’
‘I’m with you there. I’ve been reading this over and over, each time it becomes less clear.’
‘We’re missing something.’
‘There would be a link somewhere in here, something that would make all of this link up.’
‘What is it?’
He held up a bit of paper and read out loud, ‘The warrior’s blood will open the door and in the morrow the battle will soar. But only when the door is sealed can the human race be healed. The Dark and the Light will soon be one and there in the quiet the chosen one will come. Warrior, lover, protector and friend, with their love it will finally end.’
A somber gloominess filtered down over us.
‘It has to mean something; it can’t be coincidence that this is showing up again?’
‘Ila, it’s just cryptic shit.’
‘I know you don’t believe that.’
Damn it.
Before I could say any more, a knock on the door drew his attention.
As much as I wanted to pretend that I believed what I said but I didn’t. The cryptic crap Reicher had said back at the warehouse, held up… the note Matt and I retrieved, held up.
The warrior’s blood will open the door and in the morrow the battle will soar. But only when the door is sealed can the human race be healed.
‘Hey.’ Aurel nodded at me, dropping a pile of paperwork beside my glass startling me. ‘Started without me?’
‘Yeah.’ I shook the thoughts out of my head. ‘Nothing I love more than rummaging through files, didn’t want to wait.’
He smirked ignoring the disinterested look Illarion threw him.
‘Have you started going through the surveillance?’
‘I have, and did you know that your neighbor is seriously weird? The guy waters his cactus five times a day.’
Chuckling, I shook my head. ‘Well, he doesn’t have much else going for him.’
‘Yeah, you’re not wrong.’ He shivered, like he was disturbed by the image. ‘We should get him a cat.’
‘I think he had a cat.’
‘Oh.’
I laughed, taking the transcripts from him.
‘Was there anything aside from the cactus guy?’
‘No.’ He shook his head, helping himself to a beer from the mini fridge. ‘But I only went through about twenty hours so far.’
‘I’ll get on the rest.’
He handed me the USB drive and set down his laptop. ‘I made a copy for each of us.’
‘Good.’ Illarion nodded, plugging his one directly into his tablet. ‘Was the apartment clean?’
‘Squeaky.’ Aurel nodded. ‘No signs of tampering or any equipment. But there was this.’
Both mine and Ilarion’s attention snapped to the image Aurel showed us on his phone.
The blood drained from my face.
‘What is it?’ Illarion asked, before he got a look at it.
My Ficus was pushed slightly out of its usual position on the balcony, but only just and the dust from where it’d been before was disturbed. Right in the center of the image was an imprint of half a boot and in it; as clear as day, the very small, but very distinct insignia.
‘Someone has been creeping around alright, someone highly trained.’ I explained. ‘Someone from the army.’
Illarion took the tablet.
‘I’ll send this to Josh; we need to get it analyzed.’
‘No need.’ I shook my head. ‘It’s standard issue for the U.S. Military.’
He frowned.
‘Why would someone from the army be creeping around out here?’ Aurel asked.
‘I don’t know.’ The image shook me. ‘But you’re sure there was nothing else?’
‘No, nothing.’
‘That’s a relief.’ I nodded but the look on Aurel’s face said he wasn’t that pleased about my apartment being clean.
‘Something about that is bad?’
‘It’s almost too clean.’ He explained.
‘I don’t understand.’
Illarion sat beside us, giving me a knowing look. ‘It means whoever is creeping around your apartment would know we’d eventually catch them, so, they’re either that good at cleaning up, or they’re that confident in their surveillance skills they don’t need equipment.’
‘Which means they’re probably confident coming and going without me ever knowing.’
Illarion’s brow rose with agreement. ‘But that’s not entirely true either, you do know, right?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Care to explain?’ Aurel asked.
‘Been sensing one of us.’
‘Around your apartment?’
‘Yeah, whoever it is, or, maybe army guy is keeping the surveillance off me, maybe he’s a friendly?’
‘Let’s not throw any labels on them just yet.’ Illarion muttered. ‘Whoever it is, is skilled, enough that they’re confident in knowing they’d get away before you notice, that doesn’t sit well with me.’
A shiver rolled down my spine. It made my skin crawl thinking that someone could have been in my home.
‘We’re on it, Ace, don’t stress. We got your back.’ Aurel said with a smile.
‘Thanks.’
Illarion took the flash drive from Aurel and set himself up for a long haul of surveillance. ‘We don’t have a lot of time to run through this, so let’s make it count. Ace, Belfort will be calling you shortly.’
That time already? I glanced down at my watch. Like clockwork, my phone rang and Illarion gave me a quick nod.
‘You take that, Aurel and I will continue combing through the feeds. You can take my room.’
Mouthing a thanks, I slipped inside and answered. ‘This is Hart.’
***
Illarion
My eyes hovered on the spot Ace was just
moments ago and when Aurel cleared his throat, I looked across at him.
‘You doing alright?’
‘I’m fine.’
‘So…you and Ace’
‘Don’t start. Not right now.’
‘I’m not starting anything. I’m just concerned.’
‘You don’t have to be.’ I muttered.
‘Brother.’
‘Aurel, don’t.’
‘I’m sorry, but I can’t just stay quiet on this. Have you spoken to her about the dreams? About Xiao? She’s teetering on a not so stable edge.’
‘You don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘I’m pretty sure I do. I was there when she went Super Saiyan and started bleeding from her eyes.’
‘That’s not fair.’
‘No?’ He shrugged. ‘Guess it’s not fair to be stuck with a ticking time bomb either.’
‘Where is this coming from?’
‘From a place of concern,’ he said letting out a long breath, ‘Look, I went on a job with her as back up, Christ Illarion, we could have needed back up from her.’
‘She is fighting, I’m helping her.’
‘Maybe it’s not enough.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘Maybe she needs something you can’t give her.’
‘I’m going to pretend you’re not about to say what you’re thinking.’
‘Illarion—'
‘I’m not having this conversation with you. Not now, not ever.’
He cocked his brows but dropped it, turning back to the surveillance feeds.
For a moment, he didn’t say a word and then he let out a long breath, ‘I’m sorry.’
‘Can we can talk about this later?’
‘I love Ace, you know I do. I love you both and I want you to be happy. But she needs help. What I saw yesterday, scared the shit out of me Illarion.’
‘You said.’
‘And I’ll say it again. Whatever is going on in her head is serious.’
I gave him a pointed look and returned my attention to the files and he stopped talking. What was I meant to say to that?
‘I have a duty to the Agency and to each person we work with, you know that better than anyone, Illarion. She could have killed Price.’
‘I know.’ I ran a hand through my hair. Aurel shut his mouth. ‘I’ve already spoken to her about it, I know how bad it was. I saw it.’
‘Then help her. Talk to her about seeing someone.’
Aurel was on his own unstable edge and I was afraid that he was about to leave us dead in the water.
Keeping my eyes down on my work, I bit down and ignored his erratic emotions. We had to be incredibly careful, Ace needed to reign in her power, and I had to keep Aurel pacified. If it came to it, I wasn’t sure whether he would side with us or not and that worried me.
‘If you won’t, then I can talk to her. Sometimes it’s easier coming from someone else.’
‘It’s fine, I’ll do it.’
‘Then do it.’
Ace was gone for more than fifteen minutes and the repetitive feeds of nothing other than the cactus guy or known tenants coming and going, started to blend into one, tedious image.
But then, something stood out. Aurel moved over when I straightened up in my seat.
‘What is it?’
‘Can’t be sure. What do you make of this?’
I turned the tablet toward him, took the feed back a few minutes and pressed play.
The time in the bottom left of the screen showed three fifteen in the morning and a relatively still night. There were cats, a couple of dogs and a lone taxi that made their way past the building. Aurel watched as the feed grew still and then a man appeared from across the street and ran toward Ace’s building.
For a moment he stood at the fire escape holding what looked like a phone to his ear and then he disappeared up the ladder.
Aurel leaned back in his chair. ‘Shit.’
‘Son of a bitch has been there before. He knew exactly where to go.’
‘What’s the date on this video?’
‘Seventh of September.’
‘He’s been here for more than eight months.’
‘That we know of.’
Anger coiled around my stomach.
‘What do you want to do?’
‘I want eyes on her apartment at all times.’
‘That’s not a problem, you stay with her, they’re expecting it by now which gives us the advantage.’
‘True.’
‘You set up there tonight and I’ll set up post on the roof across the street.’
‘Done.’
The door to my room opened and Ace came back out.
‘How’d it go?’ I asked, turning all my attention to her.
She sat down, taking a sip from her glass.
‘Long.’ She said. ‘There was a lot of apologizing and promises that she’d be dealt with and he was genuinely upset with how it went down.’
‘Upset?’ Aurel shot. ‘I would have smacked the bitch down. You held your shit together.’
‘What else was I meant to do?’
‘Smack the bitch down?’
Ace laughed, shaking her head with a smile. ‘That would have been great, but no. Not something I was going to do.’
‘She was out of line.’ Aurel said firmly.
‘I know.’ She nodded. ‘I do, believe me. It was the last thing I needed to hear. But she’s just a non-Sensitive, she doesn’t get half of what she’s involved in.’
‘You’re a better person than me.’
Ace was a better person than all of us, Aurel was right about that. But I understood what he meant.
Ace took it in her stride, but it wasn’t without consequence—a dark mark was left on her heart, I felt it.
‘He’s sending me a form to sign.’
‘What form?’ Aurel asked, looking at me.
‘Resignation.’ She said. ‘I can’t go back there.’
‘Are you coming back to New York?’
‘Not yet.’ I interjected. ‘We still have a lot of work to do in DC.’
‘Fair call.’ Aurel nodded.
‘What have you got for me?’ She asked.
‘Illarion will stay with you tonight.’ Aurel said. ‘I’m going to set up on the roof over the store. See if we can get him off guard. Speaking of which, can we call anyone in on this?’
‘Belfort will be more than happy to assist, considering. You can request whoever you want to. I’d take Peyton and Price.’ Ace offered.
Aurel shook his head. ‘No way. You’re shitting me.’
‘Regardless of her shitty attitude, she’s a good agent.’
‘Peyton’s suspended.’ I said softly.
Ace shot me a questioning look. ‘For what?’
‘Insubordination.’
‘Oh.’ She said. ‘I’ll talk to Belfort. She’s going to be an asset.’
‘I’ll talk to him.’ I said quickly. ‘Leave it with me.’
‘Okay.’ She agreed, looking back over the feed.
‘Since we can’t wait for clearance tonight. I’ll take Price, you two head back to Ace’s.’ Aurel added.
Ace gave the video one last look before she closed it. ‘Sounds like a plan.’
I packed up the files and tucked everything into my laptop case.
‘We’ll head over now. Stay alert.’
Aurel nodded, repositioning his laptop. ‘I’m going to keep going here for a while, I’ll get Price and we’ll set up shop just after ten.’
‘Good.’
Chapter Ten
Aurel
Price perched his rifle and sat the anemometer down beside his compass.
Only a few, fundamentally necessary words were spoken, otherwise it was complete silence save for the occasional cat down below or voices from passersby—which worked perfectly for me.
There was barley any movement from any of Ace’s neighbors, except for cactus guy, he was watering the
sorry thing again, that made four times so far. I smirked, looking through my scope at his Star Wars pajamas.
‘Got anything on your end?’ I asked, adjusting the sight for the new wind direction.
‘Nothing yet. You?’
‘Nothing useful.’
‘Stay sharp.’ I said quietly. ‘If he’s going to show, it’ll be in the next hour.’
‘Got it.’ Price replied, and the silence resumed.
About twenty minutes later, I looked over at him. ‘What’s your background?’
‘Air force.’ He replied without taking his attention off his sight. ‘You?’
‘Seals.’
‘Serve with Lazarev?’
‘No.’ I shook my head, checking the front sight. ‘He was special forces, like Ace.’
‘Right.’ He nodded. ‘But they didn’t work together?’
‘No, he was stationed in Russia first. When he came here, he was assigned to the Agency, to watch her.’
Price gave me a quick look before returning his attention to his rifle.
It was hard to explain the workings of the Agency and what we did and why, to non-Sensitives. Had to hand to this guy though, he seemed more understanding and open than the others, and definitely more than Peyton.
The last meeting still angered me, it wasn’t just an attack on Ace it was an attack on all of us, on our kind. And if this weapon had anything to do with people like her going up against us, we were all on the verge of a battle that would most likely change the world as we knew it.
But, as the as the thirty-minute mark came, I shoved that thought aside and focused. That was too heavy for now.
‘What’ve you got?’ I asked.
‘Still dead on my end.’
We both swung our rifles to Ace’s apartment. It was just after three in the morning, but they were both up. The lights in the apartment were off, and a non-Sensitive wouldn’t have been able to see the movement inside.
Both Ace and Illarion were seated together against the far wall of her apartment. They were both armed and ready on comms should this freak show.
‘Check it out.’ A quiet whisper drew my attention to the direction Price was pointing his rifle to.
‘I’ll be damned. He showed.’
We both lowered the rifles in the same direction and watched.
‘What the hell is he doing?’
Matt repositioned himself, adjusting the sight again.
The guy wasn’t climbing the railing, or looking up at her apartment, he was standing by the ladder reaching up to the fire escape and watching down the street. I narrowed my eyes in curiosity and swung my rifle that way.
Jack of Hart- Wild Card Page 17