The Empowered, page 42
“Got it. The boss appreciates you getting you know who out.”
Cooper. “Couldn’t let that stand as it was.” I would never get used to talking like this. Beating around the freaking bush.
It had been a very long day. Things blurred together.
I went on. “There was a bad episode on the mountain. Monsters walked. People died. On both sides.” No, I shouldn’t be out in the open with this, but screw it, I was exhausted.
“Understood.” For once, Winterfield didn’t get all hard case on me. “I believe the boss will rethink things, based on what you’ve said.”
I shook myself. Seemed too good to be true. “Didn’t think she ever changed her mind.”
“Sometimes,” Winterfield said. He hesitated for a moment. That wasn’t like Winterfield. “She wants me to meet with you out in the field.”
“When?” This was nuts. Definitely not procedure.
“Now.”
“Now? But my team mate is going to wonder where I am.”
“It can’t be helped.” Something in Winterfield’s tone told me he thought this was more than a little crazy.
I couldn’t exactly argue out here. “Okay. Where?”
He told me. It wasn’t far at all from here.
“I’d better go.”
“Thanks for calling.” I hung up before realizing that Winterfield never thanked me for anything.
My cell phone rang, making me jump. Simon’s number. So there I was, standing in front of a rundown payphone, answering a call on my cell phone, right after agreeing to meet with Winterfield ASAP.
I flipped it open. “Yeah?”
“I see you survived as well.” Simon sounded like he was ordering a coffee. Slightly bored sounding.
Relief flooded me. “Where are you?” I didn’t know I cared that much, but suddenly things didn’t seem so bad. It was crazy, I didn’t know him at all, he was one of the bad guys, but at that moment I was glad he lived.
“At your place,” he replied.
“Connor okay?”
“The kid is sleeping like the proverbial baby.”
They were damn lucky. Maybe some of Nefarious’s probability-improving mojo had shone on them.
“We’re in a temporary residence,” I said. “Can you come pick us up?”
“I’d like to get some sleep, but if you ask, I will.”
“Come by at 6AM.” That would give me tons of time to meet with Winterfield come back and get some rest, leave before the sun came up. I gave Simon the hotel address, hung up, and then headed to meet Winterfield.
The meeting place turned out to be darkened alleyway, next to a dumpster. Mold grew on the sides of the old bricks. Moldy newspapers, rotting cardboard, and old bottles were strewn everywhere.
“Nice place you picked for a talk,” I said.
Winterfield wore a turtleneck sweater, jeans, and a knit cap. He didn’t look like he was enjoying this any more than me.
“Not my choice,” he said. Figured. He preferred greasy diners to greasy dumpsters.
“The coffee sucks even worse here,” I said.
“Funny.”
“Enough chit-chat,” a familiar female voice said from behind me. I whirled around, reaching out with my power to the mold. Spores were a long shot, never been able to do anything with them.
Zhukova stood there, in a big wool coat and a knitted cap. She wore jeans tucked into knee-high leather boots. She was absolutely the last person I expected to find here. That explained why I’d been dragged out to this garbage-infested alleyway.
I opened my mouth but didn’t know where to begin.
“We needed to talk immediately, and not spend time with security procedures,” she said. She reached into her coat and drew a pistol from a shoulder holster and pointed it at my chest.
I stiffened. I didn’t think I could hit her hard and fast enough to avoid getting shot but I had to try.
She cocked an eyebrow. “Insurance.”
“What?” That stopped me from charging her.
She glanced at Winterfield, gestured with her head. “Draw your firearm.”
He seemed to crumple, then he drew a pistol, but kept it aimed away from me.
She gave him an exasperated look.
“What gives?” I asked. “You could have killed me anytime you wanted back in the dungeon. Just don’t want to clean up your own mess?”
“Your loyalty is in question.”
“This is supposed to make me more loyal?”
“No, this is insurance.”
Insurance, in case I wasn’t loyal? “Nice friendly way of asking me if I’m still on the team, boss.”
“Report.”
“I already told Winterfield.”
“Not good enough.”
So I ran through what happened, again.
She listened, didn’t ask any questions.
“So, Drake is now focused on Emerald Biologic.”
“Yes.”
“He needs to be stopped.”
I sighed. “Really? I never would have guessed.”
“Keep your voice down, Ms. Brandt.”
I glanced at Winterfield and rolled my eyes. He shrugged.
I ignored the pistol pointed at my chest. “Fine.” Stage whisper time. “What do you want me to do?”
She must have liked that question, because her cold, cruel smile came out to play. She lowered her pistol.
I guess I had passed a weird test too subtle for a simple woman like me to notice.
“Our intelligence indicates that the Scourge is smaller than we had thought.”
“I’m just in my own little silo.”
“Of course,” she waved the gun dismissively. “We believe that the organization has less than half the number of Empowered we believed it to possess. The incidents we recorded, spikes in activity around North America, we believe were a ruse to inflate the Scourge’s numbers.”
“Okay so it’s smaller than you thought.” There had to be more to this. “What else do you know?”
“You aren’t as stupid as you let on, Ms. Brandt.”
“Gee, thanks.”
Zhukova got deadly serious. “We have been able to determine two other cell leaders have arrived in Portland. Along with the Inner Circle, which we now believe is in actuality a cell, that makes four cells. Assuming each cell has four to six members, plus a few support members like “Frank,” we are dealing with less than thirty individuals. And all four leaders are here, counting you.”
So the gun had been insurance. If I hadn’t started answering her questions, I’m guessing she would have killed me and then seen about capturing my cell, and taking out any leaders she could. But that wouldn’t be her first choice. Not by a long shot.
It wasn’t.
“Our calculations indicate a high probability Nefarious has called a meeting of the cell leaders in order to plan action against Emerald Biologic.”
Why did I think she was about to try and put a stop to that? The bitch could care less about the monsters Ellis and his favorite company were working on.
“This is our opportunity to decapitate the Scourge once and for all. If done properly, meaning capturing the leadership alive, we will be able to locate the cells and take them out.”
She definitely cared nothing about anything else. This came back to destroying the Scourge. Ellis could do what he wanted to the world. But I wouldn’t let him do whatever he wanted with the world, with plants, with people, any of it.
“Let me guess, you want me to call you from the meeting, so you can swoop down.” I didn’t bother trying to hide my sarcasm.
“Actually, yes,” she said.
“How—ask them to keep talking while I make a cell call? Or would it be better to go find a payphone?”
She held up what looked like a duplicate of my wrist comm, right down to the scratches on the back. “With this.”
“How is that any better than whipping out my cell phone?”
“It’s a passive locator, as well as a fully functional wrist communicator.” She pointed at the stopwatch button. “All you need to do is press this button three times, then hold it down for three seconds. That will activate it for a very short interval, but long enough for our monitoring network to find you.”
She handed me the duplicate wrist comm. “It is imperative you activate it as soon as the meeting starts, no more than five minutes in. We will be able to scramble strike teams to respond.”
“Great, the Hero Council is going to swoop down, kill people, and break things.” My voice was a low snarl. “Or is it break people and kill things?”
“Who said anything about involving the Hero Council?” Zhukova replied. Something about her tone made my blood run cold. It also annoyed the hell out of me.
She was so sure of herself and her nasty little plan. “We will be utilizing our own resources.”
“You think you can take out the leadership of the Scourge with a bunch of armored goons.”
“No. We can capture the leadership with nullifiers, force field containment, and armored goons.”
I gestured at Winterfield. “What about you? This sound like the plan to save the world?”
He shrugged. “It will work.”
Zhukova stepped closer to me. “It is feasible. This plan has an excellent chance of capturing the cell leaders, including you.”
My stomach twisted. “Including me? I work for you already.”
“Yes, and this will allow us to maintain your cover, for future ops.”
Future ops. She was lying. They’d have gotten what they wanted—the Scourge destroyed. They wouldn’t need me. I was an ex-criminal. A dangerous Empowered to be let free. They’d never let me foreswear my power. It would be back to Special Corrections, this time for life. Unless she wasn’t lying, in which case I’d be a goon for Support forever. Either option sucked.
“Put on your replacement comm,” she ordered.
I hesitated. She raised her eyebrows. I ground my teeth, but did as I was told.
22
The next morning back at the duplex, Simon and Connor gave Keisha and me a quick version of how they’d survived. Simon had been the guy with the flame thrower, who managed to retreat out a side door in the front of the house, while Connor hit the nearest goons with a static shock.
I returned the favor, but left out the part about the apparition. I’d pushed it out of my mind yesterday, but now couldn’t stop thinking about it. The air had been thick with the stench from unlife, the rotten plant smell. Support had thought it was a hallucinogenic, and Keisha and Simon had the same idea after Colombia. So I kept my mouth shut.
“What are we going to do?” Connor asked. He looked like a scared rabbit, wide-eyed, sweaty.
“What we are ordered to do,” Simon said, ever the good little soldier.
Keisha just scowled.
The Scourge didn’t keep me waiting long. Ashula contacted me through the necklace just after noon. I told her the squad had survived.
“I am glad to hear this, Mat. We were very concerned.”
Thanks for caring. “Well, we are all together.” I left an open question hanging between us.
“Drake wants you to join us as soon as possible. We are going to act against those who attacked us.”
Keisha was not happy I was taking off again. She took a butter knife from the kitchen drawer, laid it on the counter, and twiddled her fingers. The knife spun up into the air. She twitched her hands. The butter knife crackled and broke into bits.
Her neck muscles were tight as she gestured. The metal steamed, then flowed back together. More steam, and then what looked like an ancient dagger slowly revolved in the air. She handed the dagger to me, hilt first.
“If you won’t take me, then take this.”
I didn’t use knives. “Thanks.” I wrapped it in a towel. Easier to take it than refuse and piss her off.
I drove the Dasher down to Salem, to a storage facility there. Ashula had given me the entrance code. The place had cameras over the gates and in each row of units, but I guessed that, against all odds, they had broken down and somehow the person in charge didn’t know about it. Not yet.
Speed Guy waited outside, in an overcoat and fedora, which made him look bulky. Pretty obvious he wore the fire retardant clown suit underneath the coat, which looked straight off the rack.
“About time you showed up,” he said.
“Nice to see you, too.”
We went all the way to the last building in the back of the storage complex. I used the key code and let us in. Down a hall filled with doors and bad fluorescent lighting.
It was the next to last door. I paused. My replacement wrist comm was identical to the old one, right down to the scratches. But what if they somehow sensed it was different? What if they detected it? Perhaps one of the cell leaders knew.
I could feel Speed Guy’s gaze on me. I unlocked the door and we went inside.
Nefarious and Ashula were there, along with two other people I didn’t recognize. And Frank. Shit. I rubbed at my skin around the wrist comm. What if she touched it, and it got a read. I was screwed then.
They stood around a big conference table. There was a map of the world taped on the far wall. Everyone looked over at me when I came in. The two unknowns frowned. One was an albino woman with a cloud of frizzy hair, the other a guy with skin so dark it shone.
“I gather you are expecting her,” the guy said to Nefarious. He had a French accent. He was tall and skinny, and wore a gray business suit and brown shoes that gleamed even brighter than his skin.
Nefarious was dressed all in black.
"This must be your local commander," the albino said, giving me the once over. She spoke with a Spanish accent.
"Got it in one, lady,” I said.
Ashula came around the table and walked up to me. "Mat, I am so glad you are all right."
All right was a relative term. I never liked it. "We made it out," I said.
I crossed my arms. "Nice of you to wait around back at the hideout." I aimed that at Nefarious.
"We had no choice,” Nefarious said. That was it. Nothing else. He moved on to his agenda. "This organization survived a deadly attack yesterday, an attack by security forces of the Ellis Conglomerate."
"Yes, yes, we know that," French-accented man said.
"Mister Odobe, I am explaining this again because the meeting is now starting."
Odobe jerked his head at me. "So, you wait until your local minion has arrived before beginning the meeting proper?"
"Let's not be diverted by procedure," Ashula said, smiling at the man. "We must observe the courtesies; it is the basis of who we are."
Odobe shook his finger at Ashula. ”Who we are is an ‘organization’ deemed a criminal, rogue Empowered group by the Hero Council and the United Nations."
Nefarious tapped the table top. "They might depict the Scourge as a super criminal group, but we know we aren't."
Odobe harrumphed. "That is what you say. I see things differently. Why not embrace who you are?”
"I concur," the albino said.
Ashula leaned over the table and started at the other woman. "Of course you would, Lightning."
There was history there, but of course I had no idea what it was. Ignorant as usual, but this time it wasn't anyone's fault.
But that didn't mean I wasn't going to weigh in. "Can we listen to what the boss has to say? It's been a crappy week, and I'd like to get on with things, so we can get to the weekend and I can have some fun."
Lightning's face got nasty. Tough. I'd been glared at by far better, starting with Keisha.
Odobe laughed, a deep, chest laugh. Gold rings flashed on his fingers, each with a different gem. His suit wasn't exactly cheap either.
Speed Guy must sleep in his outfit. He leaned against a wall and moved his hands in a blur. Juggling? Who the hell knew? I couldn't see what he was playing with.
"I didn't bring us together to discuss the Scourge," Nefarious said. He nodded at me. "Ms. Brandt brought the activities of an Ellis subsidiary to light. Emerald Biologic."
Odobe and Lightning got interested at this. You could practically see their ears perk up. Money. That had to be the reason.
"Emerald Biologic has been developing dangerous new technologies and apparently selling them to the United Nations, individual countries, and even other companies, apparently with the Hero Council's approval."
That was a weak ass way of talking about what they’d really been up to.
"Are we to appropriate this technology?" Lightning asked.
"No. We are to destroy it."
Odobe and Lightning looked like Nefarious had just thrown cold water on them.
"I thought we were looking at taking down the Hero Council?" Odobe said. "Has not that been our shared goal since this organization was reconstituted two years ago?"
Nefarious turned and gestured at the wall map of the world. "The Hero Council holds the levers of power over the Earth.”
“This is no secret, Drake,” Odobe said. He looked bored. “How will going after a biotechnology company change that situation?”
Nefarious laid a duffle bag on the table, unzipped it. “Ms. Brandt discovered this at an Emerald Biologic facility on the Oregon cost.” He pulled out the Hero Council jumpsuit I’d found. I forced my hands to unclench.
Odobe’s eyes narrowed. “A Hero Council jump suit?”
Nefarious lifted it so they could see the name.
“Titan?” Lightning said, and then said something in Spanish.
“The same place where they are making new life forms and turning children into slaves,” Nefarious said.
Odobe and Lightning looked at him like they thought he was full of shit.
I jumped in. “They have been modifying people and plants. They’ve got children being used to create living armor and other tech. They’ve created monster plants that can walk.”
“Ellis,” Lightning said. It wasn’t a question. Her cheeks reddened and her mouth tightened. “So, he is in league with the Hero Council.”
I pointed at the jumpsuit. “That’s proof.”
