The Cure Read online

  I nodded. The things you overlook when you’re worried about those you love.

  “Your shield,” I reminded Jace. I didn’t want any sensing Unbounded who might be out there tracking us by his fear—or picking up any plan we might formulate.

  Something small and deadly slammed into the building not a foot from where I crouched.

  “Sniper,” Jace grunted. He aimed his pistol at the roof of the building opposite us, but could see nothing to fire at.

  “Let’s make a break that way,” Keene motioned down a side street. “It rounds back on the main. My car’s there.”

  I nodded. We really didn’t have a choice. The one who’d be taking the most risk was Keene, since a bullet would hurt Jace and me but wouldn’t be fatal.

  Maybe that was worse, knowing what the Emporium planned for us.

  “Now,” I muttered, launching myself into the open. Another silenced shot crashed into the building.

  The men ran after me, Jace soon far ahead, though I could tell he was holding back for my sake. I wanted to yell at him to forget me and get to the palace, but I couldn’t find breath.

  Ahead of me, Jace suddenly stopped.

  “What—” My protest silenced as three figures stepped from the shadows in front of us. Two carried pistols and the third an assault rifle. Each of them had a sword strapped to their backs which showed they meant business. Swords were perfect for severing all three focus points from one another: the brain, the heart, and reproductive organs. Without at least two points connected the rest of the body could no longer regenerate.

  An Emporium hit team.

  I SHOULD HAVE SENSED THE men before they appeared; even though their life forces were darkened by their blocked minds, they had been within my range. That I hadn’t instinctively found them showed I wasn’t as ready as I hoped to use my gift in battle. I couldn’t blame everything on my worry for Jace.

  Holding my Sig on the three men, I glanced behind me, relieved to see we’d come far enough that we were probably out of the sniper’s line of fire. At least until he moved or came to help his comrades. I shifted my attention back to the men. Unbounded confidence radiated from two of them. The other was mortal. I could feel all three life forces clearly now, which told me they probably weren’t sensing Unbounded. That was good news, though it might not make much difference if both Unbounded were gifted in combat.

  “Ah, crap!” Keene muttered.

  “There’s only three.” Jace’s gun wavered slightly.

  “Two Unbounded,” I told them in a low voice. “Guy on the right’s a mortal.”

  “Well, well, look what we have here,” said the Unbounded in the middle. He was a Nordic-looking man, tall and extremely pale, apparently their leader. “You’re surrounded. Come with us, and we won’t hurt you.”

  “Yet,” muttered the Hispanic Unbounded next to him. They both laughed.

  “Put your guns down slowly now,” the leader ordered. “Toss ’em on the ground.”

  None of us obeyed.

  His grin was pure evil. “So that’s the way you’re going to play it, huh?”

  “Three of us, three of you,” I said. “Why don’t you just walk away?” Even as I said it, I felt them coming fast. Running. Two more sparks that signaled life forces, their thoughts also dark.

  The Nordic Unbounded laughed. “Because there’s not just three of us.”

  The two new men stepped from the shadows behind us, armed with rifles. Knit caps, black coats, jeans, nose rings. Average American thugs, only meaner. Hello sniper and friend.

  “Mortals,” I whispered to Jace and Keene, lowering my gun, but not tossing it to the street. Not yet.

  Keene took a step forward, ignoring the Hispanic who moved his assault rifle in his direction. “It’s me, Keene McIntyre. My father’s in the Triad. I’m Tihalt’s son. I know you recognize me. At least I’ve seen you.”

  The Hispanic and the mortal shook their heads, but the leader laughed. “I know who you are—and I’m guessing with what happened two months ago, I’ll get a bonus for you.” He gestured toward me with his chin. “Unlike her, there’s not even a standing order to bring you in alive.”

  Alive? No way. Letting them take us wasn’t an option.

  I looked at Jace, a signal, and he dropped the barrier over his mind so I could send him direction or at least sense what he planned to do. If I was wrong and one of these men could also sense, we’d be in trouble, but if I was right, it would give us the advantage of working as one. There was no way to get Keene to drop his shield so I could do the same with him, and I hoped his training would take over once the fight began.

  Jace’s emotions told me he was frightened and exhilarated all at once for his first real battle. My feelings leaned more toward worry. Though Ava and Dimitri were excellent fighters, they weren’t gifted in combat and that meant Jace had learned all he could from them weeks ago and wasn’t as prepared as he should have been. He should have trained with the best, but the best had disappeared for two months.

  All Ritter’s fault. If I survived the next few minutes, I would make Ritter’s life miserable.

  “My father will not be pleased if I’m hurt,” Keene said. “I have information about the Hunters and the Renegades. It involves Mexico. Stuff he’ll want to know.”

  “Mexico?” asked the blond leader. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Of course not. It’s on a need to know only.” Keene’s voice was practically a sneer. He was brave, I’d give him that.

  Now would be the perfect time to act, with their attention on Keene. But doing so would almost invariably get him killed since that assault rifle was now only a foot away from his chest and the added guns behind us almost as close. Jace was fast, but not that fast. I had to act carefully—and soon. Every moment that ticked by meant one more that we weren’t helping Ava and the children and the rest of our Renegade family.

  “Shut up, mortal,” I told Keene. “No use groveling. It is what it is.”

  Keene turned on me. “Oh? Why don’t you make me, Princess?”

  Jace snorted, and I felt his fear lessen. Good. He’d be more effective that way.

  I leapt at Keene. It was a classic distraction move, one I believed the mortals would buy, but if the Unbounded had lived long enough the ruse might not work. Still, at the rate the Emporium were multiplying, the odds were good that neither of these Unbounded was more than a half century old.

  Behind. Now, I thought at Jace, as I hit into Keene. Pushing off immediately, I rammed into the Hispanic’s rifle. A dangerous move, but necessary since I seemed to be the only one they weren’t interested in killing. I grabbed the barrel of the rifle and yanked it downward. The weapon began spitting bullets, peppering the space where I’d been, sounding like ten trucks backfiring all at once.

  The noise of the gunshot worked both for and against us. Someone would call the police and that might cause a distraction, but it also meant we needed to dispatch these guys quickly before anyone else was endangered. Emporium Unbounded wouldn’t hesitate to take out as many local authorities as necessary to achieve their goal of capturing or killing us. Besides, with the increasing number of Emporium agents in high places, being detained by the police might eventually mean ending up as Emporium prisoners anyway.

  As I fell, I kept hold of the rifle, which jerked wildly in my hand as the Hispanic tried to pull it from my grasp, his finger still on the trigger. Twisting, I threw my weight into his arm, bringing the rifle up and around until the spray of bullets hit the mortal on the right. One down.

  The Hispanic stopped firing. I kicked at his knee and felt it buckle. Too close now to use the rifle on me, he dropped it and went for another weapon. I pulled the trigger on my Sig. He jerked, but I hadn’t hit him accurately enough to stop him. He pulled out a knife as I fired again. This time he went down, swiping at my right ankle with the knife. Deep. Too deep. Pain made my vision turn black. I pulled the trigger twice more. Then again.

&nb
sp; The wail of a police siren cut into the night.

  I pushed back the pain and the darkness receded. The Hispanic Unbounded lay still beside me, but he wouldn’t be out for long. Where was my brother? Ah, there he was, standing over two unconscious mortals, without a scratch on him. The little brother whose shoes I used to help tie. I wasn’t surprised. Even trained, they couldn’t possibly be a match for him, unless they were as good as Keene.

  The thought chopped off as I searched for Keene. He and the Nordic Unbounded were still exchanging blows, their weapons having fallen to the ground. Though the Unbounded appeared to be gifted in combat, Keene was as good as I remembered. He’d spent a lifetime trying to prove to a father who didn’t care that he was good enough.

  The sirens were coming closer.

  Jace leapt toward Keene and the Unbounded. He landed two blows and a kick that made the Unbounded stagger. Another powerful jab from Keene and the man went down.

  “We have to go,” I gritted, staggering to my feet. My sliced ankle refused to hold me, and I crumpled to one knee.

  Sweeping up his pistol, Keene ran toward me. “I got you.” He shoved his arms, gun and all, under me and cradled me against his chest. A wave of agony burst through my ankle as he lurched forward.

  Behind us, the blond Unbounded rolled, stretching for his gun. Jace fired a shot, without aiming. He didn’t need to, his combat instinct finding exactly the right place. The man stopped moving. Normally, we’d take the Unbounded with us, but there was no chance of that now. The people in the morgue were due a nasty surprise when they returned to life as their bodies healed.

  A crowd had begun to form at the end of the street, but they scattered to each side as we approached. “Better wait for the police,” someone said.

  Jace grinned like a maniac. “I don’t think so.” He waved his gun and the crowd retreated further. Only a few men held their ground, and I hoped none of them would try to be heroes.

  We made it to Keene’s sleek off-white sedan and sped into the night as the first police vehicles arrived. I turned to see a man pointing after us, and one of the cars began to give chase.

  Great.

  Keene squealed around a corner. “Where?” he barked.

  “Three streets up. Turn left.” The pain in my ankle was receding as my body rushed natural painkillers to the wound.

  In the back, Jace fumbled in his pack, coming up with a clear gel in a syringe. He handed it to me. Excitement still radiated from him in waves that helped me endure the pain.

  I accepted the curequick, though I normally avoided the stuff like the plague. It was addictive, even for Unbounded, but it sped up our already accelerated healing rate by as much as five times. I’d need that before the night was out. I pulled up my pant leg. Blood still poured from the wound, which would explain my dizziness, and through the flesh and sliced ligaments, I could see bone. I eased the needle into my leg as close to the wound as possible and pressed down the stopper. Immediately, I felt my body consuming the curequick, using its energy to make repairs.

  “The police car’s still behind us,” Keene said. “Are we leading it to your hideout then?”

  “No, turn here. On the third street take a left. But you have to go faster or we won’t lose him.”

  Keene stomped on the gas.

  We were prepared for this. The first thing Ava did when we moved to a new city was to set up alternate hideouts, emergency stores, and extra vehicles. Part of our training was memorizing all of the locations. I hoped my memory wasn’t rusty. No use asking Jace. For all his combat ability, he’d never been able to fix places in his mind.

  Jace was staring at his phone. “Still no answer at the palace, but you’ve got the right place for the safe house. It’s coming up quick.”

  Right. The information was also on our phones. Must be the pain that made me forget.

  “You guys jump out,” Keene said. “I’ll keep going. Lead them away.” Determination radiated from him—and worry. Why wasn’t he blocking his emotions? He’d been in enough tough situations that it couldn’t simply be because he was distracted. Which meant he was allowing me to sense them. Was it so I’d trust him?

  He glanced over at me, his hair curling out at the ends beneath his knit cap and his green eyes intense. Something warm ran between us. It felt a lot like trust.

  “No, I’ll do it.” Jace said. “I’ll dump the car and get away on foot. I’m familiar with this area—you’re not.” His eyes switched to me. “I’ll meet you five blocks south at that tobacco shop. You know the one.”

  Keene’s eyes asked a question, and I nodded. “He’ll easily outrun them on foot.”

  Without waiting for more, Jace climbed between the two front seats, shoving Keene against the door. “Now,” he said, grabbing the wheel. “I’ll brake just around that turn. I won’t be stopping, though.”

  There was nothing for it but to open the doors and wait for the brakes to screech. I caught a glimpse of Keene clinging to the driver’s side door, just as I clung to mine. My ankle wasn’t healed yet, though the bleeding had slowed to almost nothing. I had to plan my fall well, or I wouldn’t get out of the way before the police car arrived. Any more delays could mean the difference between life and death at the palace.

  The car slowed and I launched from the vehicle with my good ankle, tucking and rolling as I hit the pavement. Bruises healed a lot faster than broken bones, and rolling helped limit breakage. For an instant, I caught sight of Jace’s worried face turned in my direction, but thoughts of him fled as pain from my ankle forced me to bite back a scream. Jace hurtled ahead, the engine roaring. I was up and hopping the few remaining steps to the row of parked cars before Keene recovered from his own fall and joined me. We dived behind a battered black truck half a second before the police car screeched around the corner.

  Pressed together on the freezing ground beside the truck, we waited, tensing for the sound of brakes. But the police car passed and the siren began fading.

  Keene watched me, our faces inches apart. His emotions had suddenly gone dark. My heart thumped crazily, but I told myself it was the danger and our success. There was no time for anything else.

  “Come on.” I used the truck to help me rise.

  “Can you walk?”

  “I think so, but it’s still not ready.” Ready for a fight, I meant.

  He nodded and put an arm around me. “Where to?”

  “It’s that green car over there.”

  “That piece of junk?”

  “Hey, everyone leaves it alone. Key is somewhere near the back passenger side wheel in a magnet box. I’ll need the first aid kit in the back of the trunk. You drive. I’ll give you directions to the tobacco shop.”

  I limped over to the car, leaning heavily on Keene. The vehicle might look like a rattletrap, but it had a new, powerful engine and a full tank of gas. After opening my door, Keene went to the trunk for the first aid kit. He handed it to me before sliding into his seat and pulling from the curb.

  I guided Keene through the streets, my thoughts colliding wildly in my head. Were Ava and the others okay? I hadn’t even seen Kathy today. The slight twelve-year-old looked more and more like her mother every day, and sometimes that hurt more than I believed possible.

  “There. Straight ahead.”

  Keene squinted at the night. “I don’t see him.”

  “Give him a moment.”

  The brightness of my brother’s mind told me he was close. Even so, when Jace stepped from the shadows, I gave an internal sigh of relief.

  Keene opened his door. “You drive,” he told Jace, sliding over on the long seat. He grabbed a roll of gauze from my hand. “Let me do that.”

  My brother drove wildly through the streets of Portland. I knew I should tell him to go slower so we wouldn’t attract more police, but I wanted to get there every bit as fast as he did.

  With sure and surprisingly gentle hands, Keene bandaged my ankle in the now-crowded front seat, using a splint on the outsi
de for additional support. He knew as well as I did that any show of weakness during a battle with the Emporium Unbounded could mean death. “That won’t be comfortable,” he said, tapping the splint. “But it’ll give you extra stability until the ligaments heal the rest of the way.”

  Already I felt much better. I reached out, absorbing, gaining strength. I would need it. We all would. I shoved an energy bar from the first aid kit at Keene. “Eat this.”

  He tore off the wrapper. “How far?”

  Jace was the one who replied. “Almost there.”

  Minutes later, Jace turned onto the road leading to the palace. “I’ll dump the car at the bread factory.”

  I nodded. Not close enough to alert any lookouts the Emporium might have, but it would take less than two minutes to steal across the space between the two buildings.

  Seconds later, Jace jumped out and opened the back door, dislodging the seat cushion to reveal two assault rifles, several handguns and various magazines.

  “Nice,” Keene took a rifle for himself.

  “Just don’t shoot any of ours,” I told him. I’d never trained on the rifles myself. Neither had Jace, but that didn’t stop him from taking the other one. I popped a fresh magazine into my Sig and took a couple extra.

  I held my own as we slunk through the darkness toward the old hotel, though I favored my ankle instinctively. Were we in time? I didn’t fool myself that we’d been the only target. The Emporium had perfected their attack methods over millennia.

  Lights burned inside the palace, but there was no sound or movement. A Land Cruiser that hadn’t been there before sat in the gravel lot—probably Ritter’s—and the trailer that Ava had sent for the Hunters. Keene motioned to it, and we followed him there.

  “No sign of them,” Keene said, his back against the trailer.

  Tentatively, I reached out my mind. Doing so might alert the Emporium to our presence if they had a strong sensing Unbounded with them, but it was a risk I had to take, even though I wasn’t strong enough this far away to reach any of them except Ava.