Quinn took a deep breath, preparing himself for a sermon about how wonderful Soma was and how good life could be if he’d just drink the Kool-Aid.
“Let’s just focus on your immediate future.” James sat back in his chair. “You’ve been through hell your first few months here. You lasted a lot longer than most, which tells me you are incredibly strong of will. Michael’s tactics are base and cruel. His tactics are not mine. While you are here with me, you will work out. Regain your strength. You will eat well and you will sleep soundly. We want you to recuperate. You’ve earned it.”
“You want me healthy and happy so you can push me back down when I least expect it?”
“We’re only talking about your immediate future. I am not privy to whatever happens to you when you leave me.”
Quinn twisted in his seat, looking over his shoulder at the door. He could sense her. The tug of her control was always there, but he knew she was coming and he knew she was furious.
“Yeah. She’s mad as hell.” James winced, glancing at the door just before Livia barged in, the door rattling on its hinges.
“Livia.” James stood to greet her but she swept past him, dropping a pile of photos on the desk in front of Quinn.
“We have a problem.” She took James’s seat. “Whenever we remove a young Immortal from their home, the families tend to take the hint and walk away when they realize the kids are better off with the kind of training we can provide. Occasionally, a family will attempt to negotiate the release of their loved one, but rarely does a family challenge the Fold the way yours has.”
“Are you that deluded or are you just stupid?” Quinn leaned forward, ignoring the way James tried to cover his laughter with a coughing fit. “Do you really think what you did qualifies as ‘removing me from my home?’ What are you? Immortal Social Services? If you think they’re going to let me go that easily, you don’t know a thing about family.”
“I hate families,” Livia sighed. “Yours has been poking around for weeks, but today … this man had the nerve to pay me a visit.” She pulled a surveillance photo from the stack and Quinn’s heart skipped at the sight of a familiar face. Liam. He technically wasn’t family, but he’d always been like an uncle to Quinn and Graham.
He shrugged as if to say he didn’t know the man in the photo.
“He made an appointment with one of my assistants. Apparently he’s interested in purchasing a commercial space on the first floor of Sterling Tower. He wants to open a bar, of all things. He pitched it as a means for the Fold to gather useful information on those Immortals who come and go in Atlanta. I met with him briefly. He didn’t mention you, of course, but my sources tell me he is connected with the governor’s family in your region. He’s obviously using this scheme to get close to you. Who is he? I don’t like the way he looks at me.”
“What do you want me to say, Livia? Maybe he just has a crush on you,” Quinn said.
“There have been others. A lieutenant governor of your region has approached Soma—a Greyson Hauser. He claims the governor there is interested in our next auction and would like to start the paperwork to join our exclusive and private organization. Who is the governor to you? Are they your parents? Friends of your parents?”
“I’ve never met the governor,” he lied. He wouldn’t sell out Gregg and Naeemah like that. “If they’re interested in joining your secret club, it’s not because of me. Maybe they want to buy a servant? I hear she’s an awful cook. Burns everything.” Quinn shook his head, thinking of the way Naeemah always burned the bread. Every. Single. Time. He’d give anything to be home now, not complaining about her cooking ever again.
“Your family is hunting for information and it will lead to nothing good. For you. Or them.”
She slid a photo across the table and Quinn’s mouth went dry at the sight of Graham. It wasn’t just seeing his brother that sent Quinn into a panic. It was seeing where his brother was. The time stamp on the photo was just a few days ago. Graham sat on a bench in a park. Piedmont Park, just below Sterling Tower. Graham was in Atlanta. Quinn did his best to seem disinterested in the photo of his brother sitting on a bench, casually texting on his phone—but Quinn knew better. Graham could hack the Pentagon from his phone and make it do a little dance for his entertainment. Graham was trying to get to him and it crushed something inside of him. Forget about me, little man, I’m not worth the risk.
“Your brother?” Livia said. “I can just imagine what he’s up to. He has that techie look about him, doesn’t he? You know we love our techies around here, right? They fetch such a spectacular price at market. We prefer kids like Graham. Kids who don’t have access to the kind of training they need to understand their more modern gifts. He’d be a perfect fit for Soma.”
“Lay a hand on him and I will end you.” Quinn’s eyes blazed in fury. She was right. Graham was a technological genius who had only scratched the surface of what he would one day be capable of. His training was often unproductive and frustrating for him because their parents didn’t know enough about his type of gift. But they were making an effort to get him the help he needed. Quinn would die before Livia ever laid a finger on his brother.
How did he manage to slip away from Mom and Dad? And why? If Quinn knew anything about how his family would react after his capture, it would be to get Graham and the other kids out of the country as fast as possible. Graham should be in the Azores with their parents by now. But Graham was sneaky. He could easily ditch the family and hop a plane to Atlanta to check out Soma and return without their ever noticing his absence. Their mom was probably a mess anyway. And Dad…. Quinn couldn’t fathom what his dad must be thinking. All his years in a Coalition prison only to lose his son to something even worse? They couldn’t know much about Soma yet, but by the looks of it, they were all busy doing their homework, looking for an opportunity to make a move.
“A kid like that could bring a fortune. And this one? She’s beautiful.” Livia slid another photo from the pile.
A girl with sun-kissed caramel skin stared back at him and Quinn’s heart stopped in his chest. His eyes starved for the sight of her.
“She’s not nosing around our front door, but she’s asking too many questions and seems quite determined to find you. But we’re keeping her busy.”
What is Sasha doing in the jungle? It was obvious from the selfie that she was far from home, laying on a mat beside a man teaching her how to use a sniper rifle. The brilliant smile that lit her face told him she was in her element. But there was something wrong. The light in her eyes was different. There was something incredibly sad there. Like she wasn’t the girl he remembered. The man beside her had a faded tattoo on his face and the two looked far too friendly for Quinn’s comfort. They look happy. Jealousy coiled like a snake inside him. Even after that last night together, Quinn and Sasha had no claim on each other. They’d set each other free more than a year ago. He’d done enough to hurt her over the years, but he didn’t want to see her anywhere near this man.
What have they pulled her into? The time stamp was from just a few weeks ago.
“Who are all of these people, Quinn?” Livia gestured at the photos piled on the desk.
“I’m not telling you anything, Livia.” Quinn heaved a deep sigh of despair. The only thing he could do for Sasha and his brother was to keep his mouth shut. Wherever Sasha was now. Whatever they had her doing, there was no way Greggory McBrien didn’t have a tail on her. Livia could threaten all she wanted. He was calling her bluff and praying to God he could count on Gregg to keep Sasha and Graham safe.
“She’s your girlfriend, right?” Livia gave a disgusted snort. “She was your date to the little school dance that night, wasn’t she?”
“We’ve hooked up on and off over the years, but she means nothing to me,” Quinn said, the lie tasting like ash on his lips. Sasha meant the world to him. He’d gladly stay here if it meant keeping her safe.
“I’m keeping her close for the moment. Just remember tha
t.” She fanned out the images of his family in different parts of the world. Liam and Darius meeting with a Soma rep in Chicago. Graham, all on his own just across the park, right here in Atlanta. Sasha in some distant corner of the world. The photos of his mother standing watch on the rooftops just a few buildings away—each one was like a knife in the gut. His father, looking older than he remembered, clearly following Ryan along the streets of some foreign city. Gregg. Naeemah. His grandparents. Everyone he loved was looking for him and he wanted nothing more than for them all to give up and let him go. He wasn’t worth the risk.
“I want names, occupations and abilities, right now.” Livia placed a pen and a sheet of paper in front of him. “Who they all are and what they do.”
“So you can go after them? Not a chance.” Quinn folded his arms across his chest and sat back.
“Then your girlfriend will wind up right here with you.” Livia tapped the picture of Sasha. “The Senate has taken an interest in her training and have hired my people to do it. When it’s done, she’s supposed to go home, no damage done. But I’m intrigued by the intel I’ve received about her. I’d love to bring her in, but if you tell me who these people are, she’ll get to go back to her life. Otherwise, you can make room for her between you and Santi.”
“You can’t cheat, Livia. You can’t break me this way and you know it,” Quinn said. “I know how it’s done and this isn’t it. You want to blackmail me by threatening the people who mean the most to me, fine. But we both know I’m never going to submit willingly and you can’t take shortcuts to break me. Breaking an Immortal’s will requires a hell of a lot more than breaking their heart or scaring them into it. You have to damage me beyond repair. You have to earn it, and this is a cheap shot.” Quinn shoved the pile of photos across the table.
This was all a game to her. This whole thing with the photos was just one more ploy to crush him. It might work for some, but he’d spent half his life training for this and he knew not to fall for it.
“You’re an intelligent guy, Quinn.” Livia sat back with a smile and something that almost resembled respect in her eyes. “You’ve been trained well. Not many kids your age are even aware that an Immortal can be broken, much less understand how it’s done. I walked into a goldmine the night I came for the redhead and came away with you instead.”
“Well, you’ll have to do better than ‘good cop, bad cop.’” He cast a glance toward James, who had stood silently beside Livia throughout their exchange.
“But your brother is a problem.” She pulled the photos of Graham from her stack. There were dozens. Graham at the airport, stepping into an Uber cab. Graham at the park. Graham at a coffee shop with his laptop out, talking with another Immortal boy about his age. Whatever he thought he could discover by coming here, it wasn’t worth it.
“He’s an annoying little punk.” Quinn smiled. “But you should know, he’s damaged goods. He has a deformed foot and he walks with a limp. Surely your people followed him long enough to notice that. His deformity limits him in a lot of ways.” It was a lie. Graham was born with a twisted foot, and he did walk with a limp, but it never slowed him down. If anything, it somehow made him faster. Once that kid started running, few could catch him.
“That’s the thing about the techies. They’re the new scholars. They don’t need to be particularly gifted fighters. Your brother shows up again and he’s mine.”
~~~
“You’re daring. I’ll give you that,” James said as he collected the scattered photos from the table after Livia had gone. “Most wouldn’t risk raising her ire like that. Well done.”
“You’re encouraging me to piss off your boss?” Quinn tried not to look at the photos. He didn’t want James to see how much they affected him.
“Livia’s not as bad as she seems. She wants you to believe she’s evil incarnate, but she has a heart buried in there somewhere. It peeks out from time to time. It’s good to see someone stand up to her. And for the record, you were right. This was just a scheme to get you to stumble. It’s hard work breaking an Immortal. It’d be a lot easier for her bottom line if she can get you to sign your life away. Like me. But you don’t want to be me.”
“You sure you want to be telling me that?” Quinn watched the stocky man thumb through the pictures of his family. His life. Everything that had ever mattered to him. “Aren’t you on her side?”
“James is on whatever side benefits James.” He sat back down. “But make no mistake, Quinn. I’m a Soma slave just like you. This your brother?” he asked.
Quinn nodded.
“He’s a cutie. It’s reassuring to see a young gay Immortal with such talent. I hear he’s pretty impressive. Let’s hope he stays far away from Soma … and Amrita.”
“My brother’s not….” Quinn paused and took another look at Graham with another boy at a cafe.
“That is most definitely a date,” James said.
Quinn smiled. Graham had changed in the months since Quinn’s capture. He was leaner, taller and looked like the constant worry wasn’t letting him get much sleep. But it was clear there was something Quinn had missed about his little brother. “I’ll be damned.” He leaned over the photos, trying to see what James saw.
“Missed that, did ya?” James chuckled. “Families usually do.”
“How can you tell by looking?”
“You can’t see gay, you idiot. I just have a way of seeing things others can’t. Your brother has accepted who he is but he doesn’t want to come out until you return. He doesn’t want to move on without you. Coming out was easy for me. I didn’t have a family to worry about.”
Quinn ached inside. He wondered how long Graham had known? If he worried about telling their parents. Quinn wanted to be there for his brother. To help him through whatever his future held, but he wasn’t sure he’d ever get that chance.
“Dammit.” Quinn sighed. “I’m going to miss everything.”
His eyes burned and his throat tightened. He missed his brother so much. Quinn hadn’t always been the protective big brother he was now. When he was nearly three and Graham first joined their family, Quinn was insanely jealous of the little blond boy who looked more like their French mother than Quinn ever would. It took Quinn a long time to understand that his parents didn’t see color when they looked at their two sons—one dark and one fair. They simply saw their children. In time, Quinn reciprocated the brother bond Graham offered so freely, and he too stopped seeing color when he looked at his family.
“Yes, food’s here.” James stood to greet the delivery person from the dining hall. “This is getting a little too real for me. Why don’t we dial it back a bit and just eat? I’m starving.” James set the lunch trays on the table.
“There’s a cafeteria here?” Quinn looked down at the tray in front of him. It was very institutional. Like a school. Or a prison.
“The dining hall’s two floors down, near the big gym. You can go any time you want, unless you’re on a particular diet.”
“Like a starvation diet?” Quinn dropped his sandwich, thinking of Santi and that god-awful chain around her ankle.
“Yeah, that would do it. You should know you shouldn’t try to sneak Santi food. You’ll just make it worse.”
Quinn nodded, hating the idea of contributing to her suffering.
“So what were you saying about Amrita before?” Quinn asked, looking for a chance to talk about anything else. He’d heard of the underground Immortal club that traveled all over the world. He and Sasha used to talk about going if it ever came close enough to Cleveland for them to slip away for a night of fun.
“Surely you’ve heard of it?” James said. “Every kid our age is dying for a chance to go to Amrita.”
“Yeah, but you just associated Soma with Amrita.”
“They are one and the same, Quinn. Think about the meaning of the two words. Both are used in the Rigveda. ‘Amrita’ means ‘immorality’ in Sanskrit. But in the Rigveda, Amrita is a drink that was said to b
estow immortality. The drink has also been referred to as Soma in other Hindu texts. Indra, the god of heaven, and Agni, the god of fire, drank Amrita to attain their immortality, after which they said:
“We have drunk Soma and become immortal; we have attained the light, the Gods discovered. Now what may foeman’s malice do to harm us? What, O Immortal, mortal man’s deception?”1{1}
“Clever. It’s an obvious connection in a way most of us would overlook,” Quinn said.
“My gut tells me Amrita is going to Cleveland in a few months. You better hope your friends are smart enough to stay away.”
“There’s no way they’d risk it.” Quinn shook his head. “Not after all this. They aren’t that stupid.” I swear, Aidan, I will rip your head off so they’ll have to feed you through a straw if you’re stupid enough to take them to Amrita.
“The redhead will be there,” James said, trying and failing to act casual.
“What? How do you know?”
“I see things.” James shrugged, fiddling with his food. “Most of the time it’s nonsense. My clairvoyance is mild and not remotely dependable. The Soma powers don’t put much stock in what I do. And … I may make it a point to appear as useless as I can possibly be. But I see important events and people. Your redheaded friend is everywhere I turn. I see her, I dream about her. She smells like apples and soot … and rage. That girl’s anger scares the hell out of me. Whatever’s coming for her isn’t good. She’ll be at Amrita. But that’s all I know.”
If Allie was going to be there, the others would be too. They had to know it was dangerous. Why would they risk it for a party? Quinn’s mind whirled with the possibilities of what they could possibly be thinking. Graham was just here snooping around—talking with other young Immortals. Does he know Amrita is connected with Soma? Are they going because they think in some twisted way they can help me?
Immortals of Indriell- The Collection Page 94