The Empowered, page 19
“Like I said, how sad that you don’t see this.”
Peep slapped his hands together. “Well, I appreciate it.”
Mutter nodded. “Of course you would, Lyle. You’re a man of vision after all.”
Peep nodded enthusiastically. He didn’t get it that Mutter mocked him.
Gus mumbled something under his breath.
“What was that, Gus?”
Gus jerked upright. “Ah, nothing.”
Mutter leaned forward. “You doubt the value of this technology?”
“No, no. I’m sure it’s a key to riches.”
Something in Gus’s expression told me he thought Mutter lied. For an instant I thought Mutter would see the same thing, and then things would get ugly real fast, but he just nodded again. Maybe he only saw fear. Fear was something Mutter basked in. Bastard ate it for breakfast.
Time to get back to playing the loyal follower. “Okay,” I said. “So what is the plan?”
“The cell will come in the front door and remove the device.”
“Just like that?” Keisha scowled.
“Just like that, Steel Witch,” Mutter said, voice dripping with annoyance. He glanced at April. “April and I will be wearing HC jumpsuits, tagged as sanctioned Empowered from the European sector, the Spire in Dublin. The rest of you will be dressed as Support operatives, with appropriate identification.”
This looked way too easy. Again. “What excuse do we have for being there?”
“It’s classified,” Mutter replied.
“So, you’re not telling us.”
He clapped. “Exactly. As Support operatives, your job will simply be to escort us, to follow my orders and April’s. Peep will be on lookout. You and Keisha will be extraction.”
“What about me?” Gus’s voice trembled.
“Why, Blender, you’ll be our reserve. Ready to act as needed. I will brief you later on that.” That didn’t make any sense. Gus’s power made him a great thief.
“I don’t get it. Why not send Gus in?”
April and Mutter laughed, and even Keisha shook her head in disbelief. Gus stared at his hands.
Mutter stroked the tabletop. “He’s better in reserve.” Mutter and his damn chess game. Reserves, he loved his reserves. Just like at the Lansing Building, only then it was me.
“Okay, fine,” I said. “You’re telling us this is a cakewalk. That all we’ve got to do is walk in the front door, check all the boxes, and walk out with some super tech that is apparently why this place exists. Won’t that set off like a million alarms?”
Mutter shook his head. “It's not why it exists. This tech is a legacy item.”
“Legacy item?” Keisha and I asked together.
Mutter looked over at April. “I love it when they speak in stereo.” She snickered.
That didn’t make any sense. “If this tech is so awesome, why is it some sort of museum piece?”
“There is all sorts of tech that the powers that be have chosen not to develop,” Mutter said, always the guy with the secret.
Whatever. This whole thing smelled like a setup. Again.
He moved on. “Now, let’s go over the timetable.”
Mutter ran us through his plan. It really did sound like a cakewalk. All the while, I glimpsed Gus nervously rubbing his hands under the table.
He glanced at me. He looked so very afraid.
After the briefing Mutter and April took us to our rooms in the farmhouse, then they headed back to the basement, no doubt to have a little confab of their own.
Our bedrooms all had bars on the windows.
I dropped my duffel bag on my narrow bed and called out to Keisha, whose room was across the hall.
“Hey, can you come here?”
“One minute,” came the answer. A far cry from even a week ago, when she seemed to want nothing more than to take my head off.
She tramped into my room. “You want to talk?” Keisha asked me.
“Close the door, behind you.”
She sat beside me on the narrow bed.
“We’re in the shit,” she said.
I nodded. “Yeah, we are. Listen,” I began.
She cut me off. “No, let me say my piece first.” She looked at her hands. “I’ve been thinking lately. A lot.” She twisted her fingers, glanced over at me, suddenly looking vulnerable. “You saved my life. Yeah, sure, you nearly killed me, but I did start it. I never gave you a chance. I was jealous of you and afraid.”
“You afraid of me?”
She gave me a sidelong glance, followed by a rueful laugh. “Girl, don’t you know it.” She looked at her hands again. “You’d been in another gang, survived the Hero Council taking your old outfit down, and spent five years in Special Corrections. Yeah, I was a little afraid.
“I’m sorry, too,” I said. “I’d rather be your friend than your enemy, Keisha.”
She rubbed at her eye. “Me, too.”
No, we didn’t hug, but for the first time I felt like maybe we really could be friends.
We sat together, sharing silence for a bit. Finally, I spoke up. “So,” I whispered. “Who is this back from the dead April person?”
“A real bitch. She used to be a sanctioned Empowered, you know, one of those holier than us Hero Council Heroes, only she went over to the dark side when Halo joined the Scourge.”
David Drake, twin brother of Daniel. Both men were super charismatic types. Wouldn’t be hard to see how April might follow him into the Scourge.
“When did you meet her?” I asked.
“She joined the cell a few years ago.”
“Was Mutter always in charge?”
“No, there was this woman named Alvarez. She never gave us her first name, nor a nickname. She was a speedster.”
I’d never seen a speedster.
“How fast?”
Keisha shook her head sadly. “Not fast enough.”
“What happened?”
“Alvarez and Little Miss Flame Warden hit a bank while me, Peep, and Mutter were outside, covering for when the police showed up. Something went wrong, the police got there faster than we expected, and security was on the alert. April set the building on fire, that’s what she said over the radio. But we had an HC strike team coming down on us. It was all we could do to get away.
“Alvarez and April died in that inferno, along with a bunch of bank security. Mutter took over the cell after that.”
So, Alvarez and April die, Mutter becomes the new leader, only April isn’t really dead. Yeah, that was suspicious. But Keisha must have considered that. If not, I wasn’t about to get her riled up.
Keisha went on. “I liked Alvarez—she ran a good operation. She kept us up to speed on what the Inner Circle wanted, didn’t treat us like mushrooms.”
I rubbed my neck, looked out the window. “Sucks.”
We sat there for a while longer, just sharing the companionship.
I don’t know if Keisha and I were friends, but I hadn’t felt this close to someone since Lenore in Special Corrections, and prison friendships weren’t the same thing. Trust no one all the way, not even me, Leonore used to say.
We had an early dinner. Mutter said we had a day or so before the job. None of us were to leave, nor make any calls. We were basically prisoners in that damn farmhouse.
Mutter made us turn in our phones, but I still had a plastic, stealth Support burner phone in a hidden compartment in my duffle bag.
Gus cornered me on the stairs, appearing out of nowhere like he could do. “We need to talk, Mat.”
I jumped when he did his unblending act. “Geez, Gus, do you have to appear like that here?”
He was being very melodramatic, like a gangster with a secret, deadly serious. “Let’s go outside.”
“Mutter’s going to get suspicious if he sees us going off to chat, don’t you think?”
“Okay. I’ll meet you down by the river in fifteen.”
I didn’t recognize this version of Gus. He acted so determined, so sure of himself. Surprised me.
I needed to go outside without making anyone else suspicious.
Peep was in the kitchen, drinking beer, his special specs on the table in front of him. He seemed shrunken without the glasses on. l didn’t want him looking through my eyes to see Gus, but I wouldn’t put it past the creep.
He looked up as I stomped into the kitchen, heading to the back door.
The clock above the stove said 8:06. It was night now, but as long as a peeper could see a person good enough to pick them out, they could see out of their eyes. Tanya had been able to read lips; I was sure Peep could, too.
“Where are you going?” Peep asked.
“Outside. I need some air.”
“You tell Mutter?” He stared at his mostly empty beer.
“I don’t want to be grilled, Peep. I just need a walk.”
“Fine.”
I put my hand on the doorknob, turned back. Peep took a swig from his beer, drained the last of it.
Then it hit me. He was afraid. Peep, loyal follower, mister creepy, was frightened.
He pushed back his chair, went to the fridge, opened another beer, and took a long swallow, ignoring me. He wasn’t going to be following me and trying to sneak a peep.
The night felt ominous as I walked down the grassy slope to the river. Lights from some sort of industrial facility shone on the Oregon side of the river. A bird called in a tree nearby, and then there was an answering call from an island in the river. I sensed willow trees, half submerged, on that island.
I reached the water’s edge, closed my eyes, and let the quiet hum of the willows wash over me. All they knew was the water, the water-filled soil, and the water's comings and goings. The willows' world was a little island in the mighty Columbia. The trees were ignorant of the factory or whatever it was across the river, and the Interstate on the ridge a half mile behind me, beyond the farmhouse and Mutter’s secret underground villain lair.
I knew how the willows felt.
So much of this world I didn’t know. “The miracle of the powers” some said of our powers. Or the curse. Where did it come from? God? The Devil? Honestly I had never thought much about it. The great mystery of our time, the TV liked to call it. Even the Professor had said our powers “defied scientific explanation.” Even we Empowered were in the dark about where our powers had come from.
A sudden splash and swearing jolted me.
“Gus?” I whispered. Or had Peep decided to follow me down to the river?
“Yeah.” Gus appeared beside a flat rock the size of a coffee table, bent down and wiped his legs. “I didn’t see that rock.” He kicked the flat rock, cursed it.
“It’s just a rock.” I walked over to a tree stump and perched on it, hugging myself for warmth. The night had turned out to be colder than I thought.
I heard him take in a deep breath, like he was working himself up to something.
I shifted on the stump, rubbed my arms. Why hadn’t I thought to bring my jacket?
The silence drew out until I itched to end it.
“Gus, what is it?”
“We both work for the same people.” He blurted the words.
“Excuse me. The world seemed to tilt.
“Support.”
I swallowed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, dude.”
“Yes you do.”
How did he--? “This one of Mutter’s loyalty tests, Gus?”
He laughed bitterly. “He’d pull that kind of shit, wouldn’t he? But he’s not, this time.” He tapped his chest. “I’m”—he paused. “I’m an informant for Winterfield and Sanchez. I’m why you were selected.”
“Selected?”
The bitter laugh again. “Yeah. I was caught about two years after you went to Special Corrections—I’d been stealing food from restaurants, and one night, just after snagging dinner from an Italian place, Support hit me with sonics and a stunner. Can’t hide from that. I woke up in some secret underground facility. They gave me a choice. Prison for life or work for them.”
The same damn choice they’d given me. Bastards.
Those in the know control the ignorant.
“So you took the offer.”
“Yeah, weasel Gus, right? What choice did I have?”
Gus, the most fearful person I’d ever known in my life, getting told to infiltrate the Scourge.
“They must have had info on the Scourge cell.”
“It took me a long time to find the cell, but I finally did, and approached Alvarez. If it had been Mutter, I don’t think I’d have had a chance. The man is way too suspicious.”
“Yeah. Then what?”
“I committed crimes for the cell and the Scourge. Alvarez was killed. We thought Flame,” he paused, “I mean April, died too. Mutter took over.”
I jumped up. “Damn Winterfield,” I said, and my voice was a harsh rasp. “Mushrooms, being fed shit, that’s all we’ve been to him.”
“I couldn’t tell you, Mat. I was ordered not to. And I was afraid.”
I clenched my jaw so hard my face started to hurt, and my fingers dug into my thighs.
Alex—that flash of recognition on Gus’s face when we brought Keisha to the safe house, that should have tipped me off.
I grabbed him by the shoulders. “So, you reported on me?” Rage poured through me like lava.
“I’m, I’m sorry Mat. I had to.”
Damn those two men. They had me so fingered. Their favorite mushroom.
I shoved him away. “Why tell me now, Gus? Why break your silence? You’ve been a good little spy for Winterfield and Alex.”
He stumbled and fell.
My shoulders sagged. Just like that, my anger was gone. I just felt cold and empty inside.
“Maybe I deserved that, Mat,” Gus said. He picked himself up, holding his left wrist.
A stab of guilt ran through me but I wasn’t going to apologize.
“Why tell me now?” I repeated.
“Because Mutter’s lying about the target.”
“I knew it smelled wrong. Bullshit about tech that could alter plants.”
“That’s just it, Mat, the tech can alter plants.”
“So it’s not about the tech?”
“It is about the tech, just not the way Mutter spun it. The device we’re supposed to steal amplifies an Empowered’s ability. Makes a power way stronger and more potent. So, yeah, if you had the Amplifier, it would amplify your plant abilities, let you create new species, change the biology. You name it. You’d almost be like a god.”
That was a horrible thought. A device that could boost an Empowered. Turn you into a super human of super humans. Shit. I didn’t want to think about Mutter or April with that kind of power. Hell, I didn’t want to think about me with that kind of power. No one should have it.
Steam rose from the factory across the river, disappeared into the black night.
“You’d be invisible if you used it, wouldn’t you? Do you wear this amplifier whatever it is thing?”
“Yeah. Some kind of harness.” He rubbed the side of his face. “Mutter wants it for himself. I think he could create tornadoes or even worse.”
“Why isn’t this better guarded?”
“Because Support doesn’t know they have it.”
He stepped close, dared to put his hand on my shoulder. “I spied on Mutter and April after the Lansing Building heist. They used that as cover to go after Van Cleeve, because he’d been involved in a secret power boosting project for the Hero Council, a long time ago.”
“The Amplifiers.”
“They were supposed to be destroyed, but for some reason Van Cleeve arranged to have two kept intact and hidden inside Support. They were hidden at the bottom of this Sequoia complex. A long time ago.”
The Professor told me once that the best way to lie is to hide it inside the truth. That’s what Mutter had done. What Van Cleeve had done.
Mutter would be worse than just dangerous if he had that thing. “And he needed to keep the Scourge in the dark.”
Gus exhaled sharply. “This is his plan. For him only.”
Winterfield and Alex would want to know, but if they knew, they might stop it. I needed my freedom. If Mutter was captured, my family would be in his sights.
“Okay, so now we know,” I said.
“We need to leave, Mat.”
“What? No.” No way I’d leave now. I couldn’t let that bastard have an amplifier. He’d become king of the world.
“We have to,” he insisted. “Mutter’s going to kill us all.”
“No, if we leave, he’ll come after us.” Or come after my family.
“It’s the only way to survive.
“Make a beeline to Support, is that it?”
He leaned in close to me. “Yes! Let them nab the guy before he could get his hands on the amplifier.” He looked me pleadingly.
But that would blow any chance I had of worming my way into the Inner Circle. By the terms of my assignment, I would have failed. Back to prison for me. And, like I said, Mutter could still hurt my family from Special Corrections. No, I needed to end this. Permanently.
“I’m staying.” I crossed my arms.
“But Support needs to be told about his plan.”
I shook my head. “That’s not my assignment, Gus.”
He shook his head. “What? What are you up to, if it isn’t to spy?”
Funny. Gus wasn’t thinking. Now that I knew he was Support’s informant in Mutter’s cell, Winterfield’s plan was even more obvious—of course I was supposed to find a way to get to the Inner Circle, otherwise why did Support need me?
But Support hadn’t told him. Once a mushroom, always a mushroom.
I pulled Gus close, whispered in his ear. “This goes further than just ratting Mutter out.” If I wanted, I could tell Support. I had the burner phone, I could use it.
“Damn it, Mat, we are in the shit now.”
“We’ve been in the shit for a long time now, Gus.”
If he had a burner phone of his own, I was screwed. But he hadn't said anything, and I wasn’t going to ask him and tip him off that I had one.
He begged me again, but I wouldn’t budge. He disappeared.
I called out, but there was no answer. Fine. I had to do this.
