My spine instantly stiffened and my calves tensed, ready for action.
He smiled and leaned against the doorway. “I’ve fought many people, Benjamin. Only two have outwitted and escaped me time and time again, and both of them have the initials BT. When I say that I pinned you as the smarter one a long time ago, I’m not trying to flatter you. You are cunning, you are clever, and when you need to be, you are ruthless. Yesterday you destroyed my house to kill a woman, and I know better than to think that it was purely self-defense. You were angry that she’d killed Topher, and more importantly, she stood between you and your wife, so she had to go.”
I had no idea what to say. Beau had always been the smarter one. Where was all this coming from?
The moment ended when the sound of someone sprinting came from down the hall, quickly followed by a door banging open. Seconds later, the wet sound of vomit splattering against porcelain began.
Reuben turned to go, but I held up a hand, secretly grateful for the change of subject. “Don’t worry, it’s just Ember. She’s been struggling with the stomach flu.”
“Actually, it’s Gabriela,” Ember said, walking into the living room. “I feel fine. My appetite came back last night, and I haven’t had any nausea this morning.”
Reuben transformed in front of me, his hard warrior exterior replaced by almost childlike concern.“Is she okay? Ben, do you think she needs to go to the hospital? I’ve been reading about hyperemesis gravidarum on my phone…”
“I’m sure she’s fine,” I said. “Morning sickness usually isn’t that serious. I’ll check in on her later and see how she’s feeling.”
Lark, Marco, and Abby wandered into the living room. Abby had let someone brush her hair, lending her a civilized atmosphere she’d lacked before. “Berenice is with Gabriela,” Lark said by way of greeting as she draped herself on the loveseat. “Rube, you wouldn’t believe how many times your wife got up to use the bathroom last night. You’re in for a long ride after the mission is over.”
“Did she get enough sleep?” he asked, alarmed. He spun around and faced me. “Is that normal?”
“Aren’t you the oldest of a million brothers? Surely you’ve seen pregnancy symptoms before.” Was he going to be like this for the rest of the mission? Yeesh.
He rubbed his forehead in frustration. “I was always helping dad out on the border, looking out for Westerners. Reid was the one who helped mom with her chores, and with pregnancies and our baby brothers. That’s why he took it so hard when she died.”
The Fischers were the most dismal group of men I’d ever met.
“Well, then, yes, this is normal. Pregnancy causes a lot of changes. She’ll have morning sickness, have to use the bathroom more, and a host of other symptom. She’ll probably have headaches, heartburn, fatigue, and things like that, but every woman is different.”
Life is wacky. Two years ago, I’d been one of the worst enemies of most of the people around me. Now here I was, hanging around the living room of the Baltimore team’s secret seventh member, explaining pregnancy symptoms to quell their leader’s new-dad hysteria, three feet from a woman who was licking her hand, all the while worried about my wife, who’d been kidnapped by my brother. What would the next day bring?
Berenice and Gabriela emerged from the bathroom. Berenice no longer wore her shredded uniform, but a freshly laundered one she’d dug up from who-knew-where. Gabriela leaned on Berenice and wrinkled her nose, then said, “If anyone had to hear that, I’m sorry.”
Berenice patted her hand and murmured inaudibly. Gabriela smiled weakly at her.
“Looks like we’re all here,” Marco said from his spot on the arm of the couch. “That is,” he called, raising his voice and cupping his hands around his mouth, “if you count pouting in the kitchen as being here!”
Reid stormed out of the kitchen at once. “I was eating breakfast.”
“Sure you were,” Marco shot back.
“Do you have a problem with me, St. James?” Reid growled.
I blinked in surprise—I’d never heard Reid speak to Marco that way.
“Anyway, the sun will start setting soon, so we need to come up with a plan,” Reuben said, his baritone carrying over everything.
Reid backed away, never taking his eyes off Marco.
Marco just snorted and turned towards Reuben, who continued, “There’s no way around it: the next part of the mission will be the most dangerous. We lucked out knowing about the strike team beforehand, but now we’re going into Trent property. Because this is Benjamin’s childhood home, he’s going to be our strategist. Ben, the floor’s yours.”
I took a breath and slid the laptop from under the couch, then pulled up an internet satellite map of my family’s address. “My family’s land is on a small peninsula that sticks out into the mouth of the South River, in immediate proximity to the Chesapeake Bay. To the east and south east is Cherrytree Cove, and to the west, Duvall Creek. Our first consideration needs to be how we’re going to get there. It’s about thirty-five miles south of here, so we’re looking at an hour by car.”
“We can’t all fit in the truck’s cab,” Lark said. “And we’d attract too much attention if some of us sat in the bed.”
“That’s not safe anyway,” Jen said. “But don’t worry, I know someone with a larger car who owes me a favor. If you give me a few minutes, I’ll get them on the phone and see what I can do.”
After we’d all murmured words of thanks, Jen left with her phone in hand.
I pointed to the enormous building in the center of the peninsula. “After we get there, there are still several problems we need to work out. I don’t know who, exactly, is in the house. My best guess is that we’re going to be dealing with my mother, my brother, and the Rowe twins. However, before we ever encounter them, we have to disable the security systems. Beau has set up sensors and cameras all around the estate. We can’t get close without him knowing. Even an aerial approach will be impossible.” I pulled up an internet satellite map of my family’s land and began to zoom in.
“Is there any way we could do this by subterfuge?” Berenice asked.
I looked up, startled. She’d sounded so…normal.
At my expression, she continued, “What I mean is, could we trick our way into the property by pretending to be a delivery driver, or maybe someone who’s lost and needs directions?”
Again, there was no sarcasm or anger. It threw me off, making me stumble through my words. “Uh…um, no, I don’t think so. Look,” I said, turning the computer around. The teams gathered near me and peered at the screen. “It’s a gated property, so we’d need to ring the bell. That would raise the non-emergency alarm and all the cameras would be on us. Beau hasn’t posted videos of Jillian on his website to taunt me, but I guarantee you, they are geared up for an attack. They’ll be expecting something, so the element of surprise is the best way to go.”
“What if I break the gate?” Berenice asked. “Could we storm in that way?”
“No. The front end of the property is the most fortified. There are cameras here and here, plus spikes at these three points.” I tapped several locations on the screen.
She pursed his lips and studied the map. “I see.”
“What about the back end, then?” Marco asked, pointing towards the waterfront part of my old backyard. “The part that borders the South River? There are some outbuildings we can hide in.”
Outbuildings? There hadn’t been any outbuildings in that part of the estate when I’d last lived there. I focused on the picture, trying to determine what he meant.
Like I remembered, the extreme far end of my family’s estate was about a hundred yards from the house. A thick wall of trees partially obscured the view of the water, to my mother’s eternal frustration. However, we hadn’t cut down the trees because they hid and muffled the generators, noisy eyesores that provided emergency power for our enormous home.
Now that I’d taken a moment, I could see their faint outlines
in the trees. They were large enough to be mistaken for small outbuildings by an untrained eye.
“Those are the generators,” I said. “The nearest outbuilding is the boat house, over here.” I pointed to a white building adjacent to the docking ramp.
Reuben leaned forward and took control of the keyboard. “Those are huge generators.” He zoomed in and squinted. “What do they power?”
“They provide emergency power,” I said with a shrug. “You know, in case a blizzard or something knocks out the main lines. They probably went on last night for a few hours until the city got the power back on. That neighborhood is really wealthy, so the city usually gets the power on quickly.” The house also had an older, smaller, manual generator in the side yard that wasn’t visible on the screen.
“A blizzard…or a superhero,” Lark said thoughtfully.
Marco straightened suddenly. “Dude, the doors.”
“What doors?” I asked. “What’s wrong?”
He slid to his feet. “You said that Jill’s cell would be electromagnetically locked. That means—”
“We have to knock out the power lines, and then the generators,” I finished for him, mentally caught up. “Yes, you’re right.”
“What else does the power control in your house?” Reuben said quickly. “Think.”
I put my fingers to my temples. “Um, all the appliances, the security systems, everything in the basement, the internet…”
“Can Beau use his powers without access to a computer?” Ember asked. “He’s a technopath, right?”
“No, I don’t think he can,” I said, breathing hard. “Okay, guys, here’s our tentative plan. We need to find a substation near my house—that’ll be the best place to strike to knock out the city power in a way that can’t be easily fixed. It’ll give us enough time to get to the house. If we’re really lucky, the shoreline will have frozen and we can approach on the ice. If not, I know an avenue of approach in the cove. The trees will hide us, especially if we approach after nightfall.”
“Are we going to blow up a substation?” Marco asked, a hilarious gleam in his eye. For a second, he looked just like he did when I met him, all eagerness and verve. “I’d love to see what my heat beam can do to one. I suggest you all bring sunglasses.”
“And then we’ll hightail it to the estate and destroy the generators,” Berenice said with an appreciative tone. “Excellent. I wish I could see that smug bastard’s face when his powers become useless.”
“I’ll be in charge of recon, of course,” Ember said with a grin. “Figure out who’s there, maybe try my hand at mass confusion, like Daisy. I’ll contact Jill early on and—”
“You’re not going,” Reid said coldly.
The room was silent for a few seconds.
“Yes, I am,” Ember said, each word laden with exhaustion. “We’re not doing this again. I’m tired of fighting, Reid, and I want to talk to you about this, but right now I need to be with the group. Nobody else can do what I do.”
“You’re sick,” Reid replied, his voice even harder than before.
“Not anymore, I’m not. There is no good reason to keep me behind. I’m as much a part of this team as you are.”
“This is my last word.”
Ember swallowed. “I want to help save my friend.”
“I said no!”
We all rocked backwards. Reid’s eyes had turned white, and he stepped towards Ember. Abby covered her ears and leaped behind the couch.
The whiteness in his eyes flared, causing Ember to cower away from him. She threw up her arms in front of her face. “Please, don’t!”
Marco jumped between them. “Back off, Reid.” He held up a shaking hand, his own eyes slowly becoming white-yellow. “I don’t want to, but I swore after Patrick I’d never be a bystander again. I just never thought it’d be you.”
For all his previous wrath at Reid, I could tell that he didn’t want to fight him.
Everyone except myself had backed away from them, confusion and horror written on all faces. Lark had scooped Ember up and hidden her behind her back, her own hand hovering over her staff. Berenice had an arm around Abby, protecting her from the Peter-like individual—or so it appeared.
We held our collective breaths; nobody seemed willing to intervene between the two heavyweights facing each other. Even Reuben was taken off guard, shielding Gabriela.
Uncertainty appeared on Reid’s face, then vanished. It was enough for me to make a decision.
“Everyone, I need a minute of privacy with Reid,” I said, never taking my eyes off his white ones. “No arguments. Please, just go. Marco, you too.”
Almost everyone quickly hurried out, worried glances thrown over a few shoulders. Ember was crying quietly into Lark’s shoulder.
But Marco didn’t move or lower his arm. “I’m not leaving you alone,” he said, an audible lump in his throat. “He’s crazy. He’s been crazy since Liberty. I see what Ember meant now.”
Reid’s eyes returned to their normal sad gray appearance. He backed into the wall. “I’m not.”
I gently placed my hand on Marco’s. “I’ll take it from here. Go to Ember. She needs you right now.” Jillian had told me how comforting he’d been following her suicide attempt in the snow a few weeks before. If he’d been able to summon sweet pleasantries in that hellhole, maybe he’d be able to summon such pleasantries now.
But Marco just shot Reid a foul look. “She needs his head on a stick,” he spat. “Kick his ass, will you?” With that, he stomped out of the room with one final scowl at Reid.
When he was gone, Reid stared at me with tormented eyes. “So what? You going to punch me until you feel better?”
“No.”
“Then what do you want?”
I sat on the arm of the couch and gazed at my broken teammate. I’d once considered Reid Fischer the quintessential superhero, all rules and honor and classic masculinity. He loved his team, adored—heck, practically worshiped—his girlfriend, and protected his city without complaint. He was unafraid of toil and danger. More than anything, he was spiritually identical to his element, with rock in his soul. I’d thought him unchanging and unyielding.
Obviously, I’d misjudged him.
I’d told both Ember and Reid that I’d talk to them “later” about their problems. “Later” had come, and this time I could not put it off.
I took a few deep breaths. “Why do you think Ember’s mad at you?”
My question shattered his armor.
His face crumpled and slid down the wall, then wrapped his arms around his knees. “I don’t know,” he said, his voice breaking. He hid his face in his knees and began to shake. After a minute of silent grief, he looked up, his eyes bloodshot. “She won’t tell me. I’ve apologized for what happened in Liberty so many times, but she’s still furious with me.”
I got off the couch and kneeled next to him. “What have you apologized for?”
Resting his cheek on his knees. “For letting my want of revenge override my vows. We got into a huge screaming match about that when we were there. A few, actually. I talked about it a lot with Jill after we got back. She helped me understand where I’d gone wrong. That’s what we were talking about that night, right before…”
He couldn’t speak for a few seconds. “I’m sorry for not being able to focus on the mission,” he whispered. “I want her back, Ben. Please don’t think I don’t. I just don’t see how this can end well. You always said Beau was evil, but after what he and Will said to me after the battle in the compound, I understood what you really meant. I can’t be optimistic. Even eating is a struggle now. Everything is.”
I steadied my nerves. “I know you’re struggling, and I think that’s why you need to step down.”
He slowly lifted his head up. “What?”
“I think you need to step down and let me lead.”
There was no flash of white, no great show of protest. Instead, he laid his head down again. “I’ve really lost eve
rything, haven’t I?”
I placed a hand on his shoulder, willing my power to fix psychological wounds, though I’d never been able to do that. Nothing happened, and I dropped my hand. “How about this. If you promise me you won’t kill me in my sleep one night for taking command, I’ll tell you why Ember’s mad at you.”
He jerked his head up. “She told you?”
“Sort of,” I said, wincing at the memory of her unexpected assault after Daisy’s demise. The mere memory of her choking terror turned my stomach. “She’s afraid. You yourself said she complained of feeling unsafe. For a long time, you were the source of her security. And then, suddenly, you weren’t. Everything is spiraling out of control and she’s feeling used and unprotected. She’s angry at you because she’s scared of you. And, uh, after what happened a few minutes ago, she’s probably more scared of you. Hate to say it, but you were channeling Patrick a little bit. I think you scared a lot of people.”
He swore under his breath. “What are the chances Marco doesn’t kill me?”
“Low, unless I talk to him, which I will. But I need you to step down. I don’t want to continue the popular trend around here of forcibly removing leaders when they go off the rails.”
“I’m a shame to my family,” he grumbled. “If it’s not Marco who kills me, it’ll be Reuben.”
“Actually, admitting that you can’t do something and asking for help is honorable. The fifteenth principle: humility.” I grinned at his shocked expression. “Yeah, I memorized them, and I don’t think they’re all stupid. I simply despise what the cult’s twisted them into. Here’s another reason for letting me take over. The twenty-fourth principle—”
“Sincerity,” he said, the corner of his lips lifting a tiny bit. “I will communicate, in my words and deeds, a genuine love and respect for my city and team.”
If he loved his team, he’d realize that he wasn’t the best leader right now. Despite everything, Reid was together enough to understand my reasoning. What was more, he agreed. Miracles did happen.
I stood and extended my hand to him, which he took. When he was up, I crossed my arms and smiled as warmly as I could. “Let’s get this mission underway.”
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