He nodded. "It"s used for striking, catching, and stabbing. You normally hold it like this." He rotated it so the blade lay along the inside of his arm. "This is for blocking with your arm and for thrusting with the handle. Keep your arm straight or it"ll bounce back and hit you. And this"-he slowly pivoted the blade out-"is for striking and for blocking swords and the like. Make sure your fingers aren"t still over the guard or they"ll be cut off. There"s another way to strike and a hold where you use the handle as a sort of hammer, but we won"t worry about those right now." He stroked the blade of the one in his hand again before pa.s.sing it to me.
"They"re beautiful. Thank you." I turned to put them in my room, but his hand grabbed at the flap of my long coat.
"They go in these inside pockets. Stella orders all of the coats and jackets with them, but not everyone carries sai. I haven"t even trained Jace on them yet, though I know he grabbed some from the armory."
I"d fleetingly wondered what the oddly shaped pockets were for-it wasn"t as if I went around looking inside everyone"s coats when we were out on duty to check what weapons they carried. The sai fit perfectly, the main blade emerging from a hole in the bottom of the pocket, pointing toward the ground. "Nice."
"Yeah." He opened his black jacket, which was shorter and thinner than my coat but still long enough for his own pair of sai. I could see other bulges in his black clothing, and a sword rose from a back sheath, so apparently he"d taken the time to restock as well. Nothing more attractive than a man dressed to kill.
Silence stretched between us. Ritter opened his mouth, but closed it again without speaking. Was that uneasiness I felt from him? I stifled the urge to push into his mind. Despite his earlier a.s.sertions about me helping to strengthen shields, he"d hate the uninvited intrusion.
I broke eye contact first. "I guess we"d better get down there. Ava"s in the conference room."
"About time."
"Yeah."
As we hurried to the elevator, I wondered what he"d wanted to say.
THE MEETING WAS WELL ON ITS way without us when we arrived in the conference room, with Ava, Dimitri, Stella, and Jace all seated on one side of the table, staring up at the huge screen. A live stream of local news coverage filled one corner, the sound turned low, and the rest was taken up with different websites. Behind our people stood Tenika Vasco, leader of the New York Renegades, a line of worry on her prominent forehead. Tonight, her many small braids were pulled from her face into a large black ma.s.s at the nape of her neck, and her dark clothing told me she"d come directly from staking out the Emporium compound.
"Hey, Erin, we"re going to be on the news," Jace said, looking up at me. "Or at least what happened at the hotel is going to be. They keep mentioning breaking news and live coverage before every commercial break."
"Great." I really hoped they didn"t show any video feed of the attack.
Tenika walked toward us, and it said something for my state of mind that I was glad she was too preoccupied to give Ritter the kiss she normally gave him on the mouth. She simply hit her fist with each of ours in the customary Unbounded greeting, dipping her head in acknowledgment. "I hear you had quite a time tonight." Her voice held the slightest Angolan Portuguese accent.
"It was eventful." My eyes went to Dimitri as I spoke. That he was here had to mean Keene was out of immediate danger.
"Cort"s with him." Dimitri answered the question I hadn"t voiced. "He"ll join us when Keene wakes."
"Maybe we shouldn"t have gone tonight," I said.
"Of course we had to." Ava"s voice was firm. "There might never have been another chance to get you close enough to the vice president to look into his mind."
Tenika nodded. "I agree."
"So what do we know?" Ava tented her hands on the table.
A smile tugged at Stella"s mouth, and I knew she was remembering her earlier comment about me sounding like Ava. "Well, besides the conclusions Jace and I have filled you in on, I think we need to find out what we can about Patrick Mann"s birth."
"Agreed," Dimitri said. "We must learn how he got into place, especially when Erin says his parents seem unaware of the whole Unbounded issue."
I took a chair at the head of the conference table where I could still see the screen. Ritter sat kitty-corner next to me with his back toward it.
"If they"ve done it once," Ava began. She didn"t need to finish. However the Emporium had accomplished Patrick"s positioning, we all realized it wouldn"t be an isolated incident.
Tenika paced a few steps, her lean body and tight movements betraying centuries of training. Her ability wasn"t combat, but I wouldn"t want to meet her in battle alone on a dark street. "My biggest concern is getting my people back from the Emporium."
Before the slaughter, Tenika"s group had been the largest organization of Renegades in the world. They"d had fourteen Unbounded and a dozen mortal family members and employees. They lost fifteen people the night of the slaughter, five of them Unbounded. Our visiting European allies lost four more Unbounded and one mortal. Twenty people in all. By piecing together the remains found at the scene, Tenika discovered that five of the lost Unbounded hadn"t been killed, two from her group, and we a.s.sumed they were the prisoners in the Emporium compound listed on the recovered thumb drive.
She stopped pacing and turned at the foot of the table, leaning over and placing her hands on the gleaming mahogany. "What I haven"t told you is that of our seven remaining Unbounded we lost two more that same week."
"What?" Jace interjected. The question could have come from any of us, judging by my own reaction and the surprise on my companions" faces.
Tenika nodded. "It"s not what you think. They left on their own-they just needed time away . . . from everything. Both are gifted in combat. One is very young, only a couple centuries, the other over five hundred. Their wives were killed that night. One was expecting. The other had a teenage son, who was also killed. So many deaths. It was hard for all of us."
Standing straight, she pulled back the chair in front of her and sat. "Sometimes people need to distance themselves in order to recover from a traumatic event. I see it all the time in my practice. I know where they are. They haven"t removed their transmitters, but they won"t come back, not yet. I believe they will eventually. Unfortunately in the meantime, that leaves me with only two Unbounded I can depend consistently on, Yuan-Xin and Eric Halden."
"What about the other two?" Jace asked.
Tenika rubbed her temple. "They have helped where they can. In fact, tonight they"re with Eric, Yuan-Xin, and your two new Unbounded watching the compound, but the truth is, their minds are elsewhere. They"re gifted in the arts." She smiled, nostalgia entering her voice. "When Chloe dances, you forget everything else exists. And when Noah sings, the tune makes you cry with its beauty. In another age, they would be our blessing, but for the moment, I confess that I worry about protecting them."
Ava put her hand over Tenika"s. "You should have told us."
Tenika shrugged. "I thought I had it covered, especially once we had two more of our descendants Change, bringing us back to seven, even without the two who left, but they . . ." A frown grew on her face. "Well, let"s just say they lack training."
Tenika was being generous. I"d heard from Yuan-Xin that their newest members were more interested in thrills and close encounters with death than protecting mortals. Hopefully they"d get over themselves soon.
"Anyway," Tenika continued, "this past November we managed to block several Emporium Unbounded from being elected to important political positions here in the east-mostly by uncovering flaws in their fake pasts and alerting the media, but we know for sure at least one was elected. The cover story was too perfect and attacking her openly and planting some false information was beyond our ability."
"It"ll get worse if they have more like Patrick Mann," I said.
Tenika blew out a long breath. "Yes, but let"s not a.s.sume anything yet. I believe if we can free our people, they will be enough to keep us active here in the east. Their return may even be enough to bring the others home."
"We all agree that freeing them is of primary importance," Ava said, "but so far the odds have been too great that we"ll lose more than we"ll gain. We must do this at a minimum cost to both our groups. That means waiting for the right opportunity."
Ritter spoke for the first time. "I think I may have a plan, but I need another day or so to work out the details. You know me, Tenika, and I a.s.sure you that freeing them is my first concern. Your people are our people. We work together. It has always been that way."
Tenika inclined her head. "Thank you. Yuan-Xin did tell me you were considering a new option, and perhaps these developments tonight will help us find a solution. Maybe even give us some leverage against the Emporium."
"What about long term?" Ava said. "We"re moving far too slowly getting our own people into place. When we eventually do announce our presence to the world, we"ll need a face, someone people can trust. At my last count we have fewer than a dozen Renegade sympathizers in prominent political positions. That"s not enough. And none are Unbounded so they couldn"t be the face for our cause."
Sorrow crossed Tenika"s features. "We"d have three Unbounded in place if not for the ma.s.sacre. I really don"t know what we can do about that right now, but there"s a limit to the shootouts and murders we can continue attributing to the drug world or gang activity. Between the Hunters and our battles with the Emporium, we"ve already drawn too much suspicion. Especially after the slaughter of our people. Throwing down a couple packets of drugs and known gang paraphernalia didn"t begin to cover it up. Nearly all of us were questioned and it was only my hypnosuggestion that prevented police from making a more thorough investigation. We should lie low for at least another three months, but I don"t see how that"s possible as long as the Emporium have our people."
Ava put one elbow on the table and tapped her finger on her lips. For the s.p.a.ce of several long seconds no one spoke. "Okay," she said finally, "this is what I propose. Dimitri and I will visit the medical facility in . . ." She looked at Stella.
"Worcester, Ma.s.sachusetts," Stella supplied.
Ava nodded. "It"ll take some doing, but we"ll come up with some reason to hold a medical consult with personnel who were there at the time of Patrick Mann"s birth. We"ll probably have to track those who"ve left or retired to wherever they are now. Once we get close enough, I should be able to learn something from their minds, even if they don"t tell us willingly. Stella, you may have to break into their records as well."
"I"ve already tried," she said. "I think I"ll have to do it from the inside. Even for a hospital, they"re paranoid."
"That works in our favor most of the time." Dimitri took out his phone and began touching the screen. "I bet I can find someone who can get us an introduction." He shook his head. "Or at least get us an introduction to someone who can get us an introduction."
Having worked in many hospitals all over the country under several different ident.i.ties, I was sure he could do better than that.
"Good," Ava said. "Ritter, you will continue to work with Yuan-Xin to plan the rescue of our people. You"ll have everyone except-"
"Wait," Jace interrupted, gesturing toward the big screen. "Turn it up, Stella. This is the interview they"ve been promising. Better record it." We all turned our attention to the screen, Ritter pivoting his entire body.
"Hey, that"s Patrick Mann," I said. Someone at the news station had pull if they could get an interview with the son of the vice president on such short notice. Or maybe he was trying to further his political career and had gone looking for the publicity.
On screen, he appeared like any other confident, attractive man. Nothing told me he was Unbounded. For my ability to work, the subject had to be in view, and it was odd seeing him as others did, looking like an ordinary mortal.
"So we understand there was a commotion at your father"s fundraising event tonight," the blonde reporter said, smiling at Patrick as though she considered him the most important person at the event. "What can you tell us?"
Patrick shook his head. "Unfortunately, not much. There was an altercation in a hallway at the hotel, and some people were taken to the hospital."
"We understand there were weapons involved. How did those get past the tight security?"
"I"m sorry. I can"t speak to that." His pursed lips radiated disapproval.
"Any clue as to the ident.i.ty of the people involved?"
"None." Patrick shook his head solemnly. "Apparently there was some interference in the camera feed for that hallway in the hotel. I understand that"s under investigation now."
I grinned. The Emporium was certainly quick at covering up their messes.
The reporter hesitated a dramatic moment before saying, "Was the vice president in any danger at all during the course of the evening?"
"That"s uncertain. Everyone in town knew my father would be present tonight, so my feeling is that he may have been the target." Patrick flashed a tight smile. "But whatever these people wanted, they didn"t succeed. My father is safe and ready to continue his job, as always."
"That"s good to hear." The reporter nodded as if any other vice president would have tendered his resignation. "How does it feel to know your father could have been in danger?"
Patrick looked directly into the camera. "Well, we knew when he took office that the American people came first. This won"t change anything. His family is behind him one hundred percent."
"Thank you for your very valuable time," the reporter said. "Please give our best to Vice President Mann."
The scene switched back to the news anchors, and Stella lowered the sound.
"Smart," Tenika said. "Creating sympathy and a feeling of outrage for the vice president, even though he was nowhere near the attack."
"If President Stevens really is sick," I put in, "this will smooth the way for the vice president to step in for him until he"s able."
"If he"s ever able," Jace muttered.
Something shifted inside me. "Do you think that"s part of the plan? To get the vice president in control even before the next election?"
"I don"t see how that would help the Emporium," Ava said with a frown. "The vice president doesn"t appear to be connected with them. And with all the protection President Stevens has, how could they have made him sick?"
"There are ways," Dimitri said. "Poisons that can"t be detected. Or an Unbounded healer who damages instead of heals." His dark expression told all of us what he thought about that idea. "Maybe the vice president isn"t connected with the Emporium but has his own agenda."
I shook my head. "I saw nothing like that in his mind. Or in anyone around him."
"Not even Patrick Mann?" asked Ritter, his black eyes meeting mine.
"No. But I did learn something odd about Patrick." I recounted finding the shiny, black cord in the sand stream of his thoughts. "It reminded me of a snake, and it was definitely put there by Delia Vesey."
"Show me what it looked like," Ava said.
Opening my shield to her, I pictured it. After a moment, she nodded. "I"ve heard of this. It"s called a binding. With bindings, a sensing Unbounded can place important information in someone"s mind, either to pa.s.s it on to another sensing Unbounded or to hide important secrets from anyone who might break through a mental shield." Her gray eyes, so like my own, became troubled. "It worries me to see this now. There haven"t been Unbounded who can break through shields for many years, so what"s the point?"
She hesitated, her eyes meeting mine. She knew I could break through some shields, but there wasn"t any way the Emporium could know it, so this could only mean they"d discovered for themselves it was possible.
"I can create something like that in myself," Ava continued, "but I wouldn"t know how to go about doing it in someone else. Not without damaging them."
"Maybe that"s the point," I said. "I can"t see Delia worrying too much about damage to someone else."
Ava inclined her head in agreement. "The Emporium has never concerned itself too much with the individual. You were wise not to attempt penetrating it. There"s no telling what might have happened. Although, maybe it"s a new application of an old concept. Something different altogether." Silently she added for me alone, We know Delia recognized your potential when you were captured by the Emporium. This might be connected. She"ll not stay away from you long. She won"t let you grow too powerful.
Normally, I would have tried to show Ava my confidence, but it was a little shaky where Delia Vesey was concerned. The woman was frighteningly powerful.
Ritter"s knee touched mine under the table, freeing me from the thought. "We need to find out more about Patrick Mann. The sooner the better."
"Stella, can you play that piece with Patrick Mann again?" Tenika asked. "Maybe there"s something we missed."
The playback was halfway through when a black-clad person burst into appearance near the conference room door, wearing a knit face mask. Ritter was up in a blur, his gun ready. But it was only our shifter, Mari Jorgenson, emotions pinging from her in every direction. It had only been a few weeks since her Change, and sometimes she forgot to use her mental shield.
Mari pulled off her mask, revealing a heart-shaped face and black hair winding down her back in a thick braid. She looked more American than j.a.panese, but she still shared a family resemblance with Stella, her fifth great-aunt. "The Emporium"s got another prisoner!" she said. "Another Unbounded. They just brought him to the compound. Yuan-Xin sent me to tell you."
There was more she wasn"t saying, particularly that she"d been glad to leave because Oliver Parkin, our other newly Changed Unbounded and also Stella"s descendent, was being his usual obnoxious, egotistical self. I liked to console myself that if he didn"t have such a valuable ability, we"d have tossed him out weeks ago. It wasn"t true because Stella had waited too long for someone in her family line to Change, but imagining it sometimes helped. I was glad Stella had Mari, whose childlike enthusiasm made her everyone"s favorite.
"Did Yuan-Xin recognize the Unbounded?" Ava asked, coming to her feet.
Mari shook her head and stray hair that had escaped from her braid fell into her dark eyes. "No, but he"s Unbounded all right. We heard the guards talking, and they gave him curequick." Tonic, she meant, the Emporium version of our curequick.
Stella replaced her eyepiece. "I"d better contact all the Renegade groups to see if anyone"s missing."
Mari glanced up at the television as Stella turned down the sound. "Maybe he"s new."
Ritter shook his head. "They"d be trying to turn him not imprison him. What did he look like?"
Mari"s gaze went back to the television interview of Patrick Mann in a belated double-take. "Actually, he looked kind of like him."
"When did they bring the prisoner in?" I asked. Could the Emporium have decided that Patrick Mann was a problem? They often turned on their own when it served the greater good.
Mari didn"t hesitate, her gift with numbers coming to her as naturally as breathing. "Eleven minutes and forty-two seconds ago. He struggled with them at the gate and that"s where they gave him the curequick. They, uh, broke his leg."
I saw it in her mind, the vicious strike and the guard glancing around to see if his comrades objected to what he"d done. The tonic would help the prisoner heal quickly in case anyone at Emporium headquarters was told about the break. It created deniability.
"Then it couldn"t be him," I said. "This interview was live and it would have been going on then."
Mari went around the table to take a better look at the screen, where Stella had frozen an image of Patrick Mann. "The mouth is different," Mari said, "and maybe the hair wasn"t quite so dark. It was hard to tell with just the street lights. But he did kind of have those features."
"So a white, American-looking guy with blue eyes and brown hair?" Jace said. "That could be anyone."
"Sorry." Mari glanced back up at the screen. "Yuan-Xin or Oliver might be able to tell you more. I was so mad that I wasn"t really paying attention to details. I wanted to shift over there and shift out with him, but Yuan-Xin wouldn"t let me."