Part 15 (1/2)

I needed a few extra magazines myself, but I didn't need to ask. Ritter would come prepared. He always did.

I headed for the elevator, Keene close on my heels, and before the elevator shut, Jace ran toward us, a mound of weapons still in his hands. We waited for him and I held his jacket as he tucked guns, knives, and other odds and ends in his specially made blue jeans that Stella must have found for him. Even his dark green T-s.h.i.+rt had a few subtle pockets, one of which held a backup pistol under his arm.

Keene laughed. ”You remind me of your sister.”

”You don't carry so many?” Jace finished dressing and reached for his jacket.

”Oh, I carry enough, but I've learned my real strength is in my hands and feet.” Keene spread out his fingers.

”That makes sense.” The elevator arrived on the first floor and Jace started toward the door. ”How are you feeling anyway?” he asked Keene. ”I miss sparring with you.”

Keene's hand briefly brushed his middle where I imagined his bandage still encircled his chest. ”I'm feeling good. Thanks.”

”You shouldn't go with us today,” I said as we left the elevator.

He gave me a flat stare. ”I am going. Remember, I'm the one who knows the secret handshakes.”

”Can't we just blow them up?” Jace looked over his shoulder at us.

”Only if we want the whole city to hear,” Keene said. ”Though it might save us trouble in the long run.”

I snorted. ”It may come to that. While Brody Emerson may not know how to use his blasting ability, he might discover it really fast. Remember how Oliver discovered his ability when the Emporium attacked us in Oregon?” The Unbounded sense of self-preservation was unparalleled.

”Oh, I really hope so.” We couldn't help but laugh at Jace's exuberance.

Cort and Stella were having breakfast when the three of us entered the dining room. They listened as Jace eagerly explained about Brody Emerson's abduction.

Cort abandoned the rest of his meal. ”I'd better grab a few things.” He didn't look as if he'd been up all night, but maybe he was accustomed to going without sleep.

”Did Ritter mention me going?” Stella asked. ”I'm waiting for word from Marco on the DNA results in Virginia.”

”No.” I didn't feel like eating, but I grabbed a couple slices of bacon.

Stella arched a brow. ”You look like you didn't get much sleep.”

I was about to comment on my relations.h.i.+p issues with Ritter and Keene, but given what Stella had been through with Bronson, it would only sound like whining. ”I slept well enough, though I might have overdone things a bit during workout.”

She laughed. ”That's nothing new.”

Jace had gulped down three helpings of his favorite omelet by the time Ritter and Ava came into the dining room, Ritter with a large black duffel bag in each hand. ”If you see that we need more manpower once you get there,” Ava was saying, ”I can ask Tenika for backup.”

Ritter nodded, but his face showed no concern. For all their nastiness and violence, Hunters were mortal and that meant we knew their weaknesses. Unfortunately, we couldn't really afford another unexplained bloodbath, and we certainly wouldn't kill them unless it meant saving Brody Emerson's life. The mortal officials in this area were already on high alert. That didn't stop Ritter from tossing Jace a smaller bag that I knew carried drug evidence we hoped not to have to plant.

Cort met us in the garage as we were loading Ritter's black Land Cruiser, a mini laptop in his hands and a wireless headset that I knew was linked through his phone to Stella's neural receiver. We threw the rest of the gear into the back and piled in. I rode shotgun next to Ritter in the front, leaving Cort and Keene in the second row of seats and Jace and Oliver in the third. Jace didn't look happy, but for once Oliver wore an almost pleasant expression.

Cort cleared his throat and leaned close to the front seat. ”Erin, I thought you'd like to know what I found out about the readings at the compound. Stella's running them through a series of a.n.a.lyses now, but from what I've seen so far, I believe they've created a machine that acts very much like a mental s.h.i.+eld, only instead of using the human mind, it's powered by electricity. They must have wires circling the entire building. Ingenious, actually. I tried to rig something similar myself back in the day, but electricity was scarce when we first invented it. And later there were so few sensing Unbounded that it hardly seemed necessary. The downside for us is that they can crank up the output so that even you can't penetrate it. But at least until we invent another type of power supply, the device isn't practical for them to carry around. Meaning they can't use it to protect an individual.”

I turned to look at him. ”So, cut the electricity and the s.h.i.+eld vanishes?”

”Yes. It would also become weak during any sort of fluctuation. I suspect that was why you could occasionally sense the prisoners from outside.”

”It didn't seem to affect me when I was connected to Oliver as we pa.s.sed through it. But I was disconnected from everyone outside.”

”That's right. It's a barrier and as you pa.s.s through, it'd cut you off from those outside, or inside if you were heading through the other way, but if you're already connected and you go inside together, you should maintain status quo. In fact, as you pa.s.s through the ten or twenty feet of the s.h.i.+eld, you might not be able to disconnect from someone near you. Certainly, you wouldn't be able to put up a new mental barrier of your own. The good news is that with Stella's a.n.a.lyses, I should be able to replicate the s.h.i.+eld. It'll make a fine addition to our safe house in San Diego, one that's important given that Roberts guy you ran into at Emerson's. There could be more like him.”

”What about other gifts? Would it block those?” I meant Mari specifically, but I didn't have to spell it out for him.

”It didn't affect Oliver, and that is closer to what you do than Mari's ability.”

”But wouldn't that be part of the status quo you were talking about?” This from Ritter, who had been following our conversation. ”His illusion was already in place as they went inside.”

Cort paused to think. ”I really can't say, but you're probably right. As for Mari, she might simply fold s.p.a.ce and go past it, or it also might not come up on her mental screen as a place that even exists. We'll have to experiment.”

”We need to get a hold of that equipment,” Ritter said.

”That would make recreating it significantly easier.” Cort glanced down at his computer and back at me. ”But of course our first priority is getting our people out.”

”And discovering what's going on with that Patrick Mann lookalike.” I frowned before adding, ”I wonder if the one I met is a technopath like the man they have prisoner.” A niggling thought pushed at me, but I still couldn't place it. I needed to go back over the whole encounter with Patrick Mann.

I hadn't come to any new conclusions by the time we arrived at our destination an hour later, Ritter having shaved off fifteen minutes from the GPS estimate. Jace had his head back and was snoring noisily, while Oliver stared out the window. Keene was also napping, but Cort was still wide awake and working on his computer.

We focused on the narrow, one-story building nestled quietly among a row of small businesses, each separated by a few parking s.p.a.ces or short stretches of gra.s.s. The Hunter insignia of a man with a rifle splashed across a neon sign on the roof of the building, and below this was another sign with the words: Freedom Means Protecting Yourself. Fewer than a dozen cars lined the wide street in front. In all, it didn't look impressive. With any luck we could break in, get Brody Emerson, and be home in time to learn where Patrick Mann was having lunch.

”Uh-oh.” Keene pointed at the building next door where a group of people were arriving at what was obviously a church, if you judged by the huge cross on the steeple. So far there were only a few men and women, but it was Sunday and more would likely be coming as the morning progressed.

Ritter edged the Land Cruiser down the block just past the Hunters' meeting house. He looked at me. ”How many are inside?”

I was already trying to get a feel, but the life forces were so close that some were hard to separate. ”The place is deeper than it looks, or they've spilled out onto a backyard or something, but there's at least twenty.” A van drove up in front of the house and three more emerged. ”Twenty-three,” I amended.

”Those guys don't look old enough to be in the Hunter Circle,” Keene said. ”That means they've probably sent out an alert to all the Hunters in nearby towns. Can you find Brody?”

I nodded. ”Someone is lying down with a group around him. Must be Brody.” I pushed harder. ”Yeah, it's him. He's conscious-and scared.”

”If you can access his ability,” Jace said, apparently having awakened with our conversation, ”you could gather the energy from nearby and make an explosion. I bet if you piggyback your ability, you could reach even farther to pull in more energy than he can.”

The idea was interesting. ”I usually have to see it done first to channel an ability. Remember, he only learned who he was yesterday.”

Jace smirked. ”You mean after you killed him. Bet he remembers that.”

I glanced out the window. ”What about the church?” More people were arriving now, and even this early a little boy was playing on the strip of gra.s.s between the two buildings. Sabbath music trickled into the air.

Ritter followed my gaze. ”I don't like the idea of experimenting here, but better a small explosion with enough power to cover our escape than a bloodbath where innocents are caught in the cross fire. Every single Hunter in there has at least one gun.”

”Don't they know they're in New York?” Jace said. ”I thought owning a gun was practically a felony here.”

No one laughed. Restrictive gun laws were a concern to us because it left citizens even more at risk of being trampled by the Emporium once they took control. An unarmed nation is a nation at the mercy of its own government and lunatics.

”I need to get closer to see if using his ability is possible,” I said. ”There're too many thoughts in there for me to try anything from here. Anyway, the overall feeling is ugly. I think they plan to do more than just kill him.” I swallowed hard.

”So let's go in and join them,” Keene said.