Blood Promise (A SkinWalker Novel #4) (A DarkWorld SkinWalker Novel) (38 page)

R
EGISTERING
AT
O
MEGA
WAS
ANTICLIMACTIC
.

I filled in forms, smiled blandly at the enthusiastic registration officer who seemed thrilled that I was 'joining the team'--albeit on a contractual basis, and then we headed home.
 

This time, when I got home I intended to rest. The whole awful day was taking its toll.

But first, I needed to check on Anjelo. So as soon as I got off the bike and gave Logan his helmet back I called him. A quiet Anjelo tended to be a dangerous one, and I hadn't heard a peep from him for hours now and I was beginning to worry
.
 

After a few rings the call went to voice mail.

Not a good sign.

Entering my apartment, I came to a sudden stop, so sharply that Logan almost ran into me from behind. He stopped with his hands on my shoulders to support him.

In the end it was me who need the support.

The apartment was in a shambles, completely trashed. From where I stood I could see into my bedroom where my mattress had been tossed onto the floor, its insides ripped open and its foam and springs spilled out like the guts of a dead animal.

I raced into my room and shoved my closet door wide open. Although my clothing had been torn off the hangers, and the shelves rifled through, the back wall appeared to be intact. The hidden space containing our weapons was still secure.

I returned to the living room grateful we were at least still armed.

"Why the hell don't I smell them?" I mumbled. Then I let out a sharp laugh. "Hazmat suits."

"What?" asked Logan as he checked the windows.

"Never mind," I mumbled, heading to look through the rest of the apartment. It was a mess. When I got back to the living room Logan was busy straightening furniture and putting the totally ruined stuff in a pile beside the kitchen counter.

"Whoever they were, they were looking for something, " Grams said. I turned around to find her leaning against the front door jamb looking slightly sick.

"At least they didn't get into the safe," I said.
 

Grams nodded, and some of the sick look faded.
 

"What do you think they wanted?" I asked softly. Was it my fault?

"Could be my fault," she said, watching Logan answer his buzzing phone. "Maybe digging around in top secret files wasn't a good idea." Her gaze returned to me and grinned. "More likely your fault. What have you been up to?"
 

Little did she know.

So I brought her up to speed; Lily's disappearance, visiting the Graylands, ripping up cheeks that now showed no sign of damage. I skimmed lightly over the fact that I'd joined Omega and took her raised eyebrow and lack of comment to mean she'd deal with me later.

So I went on the offensive first.

"What happened to you today?" I asked. "Why didn't you come to Dad's? And where's Mom?'

Grams shrugged. "I don't about Celeste. She said she had something to look after. And nothing happened to me. I went in to clear the air. I said I used to have full security clearance, and if that had been changed it was certainly done without notifying me. I told them that now I know the new protocols, I'd keep my nose out of things that my security status didn't allow. And I didn't pretend I wasn't pissed off either. They seemed to believe me."
 

She sighed, then gestured the ruined room. "This, however, might indicate both of us were lying."

"It could." Logan pocketed his phone and wove his way through the mess toward us. "And then it could just as easily be something else. Maybe Omega got suspicious of Kai. Maybe Nevins alerted the mastermind and he wants to know what you know."

I nodded. They were good points.
 

Grams raised her eyebrow again and walked over to the television as Logan joined me.

"Jess is collecting Baz for you," he said, and the air in the middle of the living room began to shimmer. Jess materialized with a stricken Baz in tow.

"What the hell happened here?" he asked, his eyes widening as Grams straightened from her failed attempt at setting the television right. "Oh, I do apologize for my language, ma'am." His skin flushed a darker shade of chocolate, and I hid a grin.

Grams, on the other hand, smiled brightly. "Young man, you should teach that particular brand of manners to a few people I know."

I laughed. "Sorry, Grams. Only the Brits can do manners that well."

She made a face then moved away to talk to Jess.

"Right, Baz," I said. "Let's get to it. What do you need?"

"A terminal to access the Omega servers," he said.

Okay.

"Just a moment." Grams abandoned Jess and hurried to my bedroom. "You can use my laptop. I think someone took it when they trashed my apartment."

"Very sad," I said.

Jess came to stand beside me, giving a soft huff in agreement to Grams' idea.

Grams returned with the laptop and handed it to Baz. "You have one hour, and then I'll report it stolen. Off you go."

"Let me deal with the GPS first." He sank to the floor. Opened the laptop and tapped away. Then he looked up with a grin. "I wonder when your burglary happened. The tracking system was activated two hours ago. I've disconnected it. We can go."

"Give us half an hour," I told Grams. "Then report it. That way it'll look like the place was trashed, the GPS disabled and the laptop taken, then you arrived after they left."

"If it wasn't Sentinel." Grams mouth tightened and she glanced at Jess then me. "You kids better go somewhere far away. And fast." Then she met Baz's eyes. "And you, young man, had better work faster than you've ever done in your life. All our lives are depending on it."

Baz nodded, looking like he was about to choke. Grams did have that kind of effect on people.

I waved at Logan and grabbed hold of Jess's arm as Baz did the same. Seconds later we materialized on the rooftop of a high-rise. I blinked and--doing a complete circle--scanned the horizon.

West of us a gleaming pyramid rose out of the desert, and with the conflagration of city lights I knew where we were. Las Vegas.

Baz had already made himself comfortable on the tile of the roof patio, crossing his legs to lay the laptop on his lap. He pulled on a pair of gloves, then shook out his hands in preparation. Soon, he was tapping away at the keys so fast I could hardly see his fingers move.

"Making good use of the vamp virus, I see," I said.

"I do believe it does have its advantages."

"Just don't fry the keyboard, okay."

He didn't even look up.

Jess and I waited a few feet from the vamp, watching the twinkling lights that surrounded us like a sea of glowing bugs.

Baz been working for only a few minutes, yet I felt like hours had passed. I began to tap my foot. "Baz. How you going?"

"I've written a program that'll search the Omega system for files container certain keywords. Termination, ammunition, certain locations, Section Seven--anything that could be considered a connection."

I nodded. "Sounds good. So now we wait?"

He grunted, and began to type again.

"Something happening?"

"I'm refining the search fields."

As he worked I moved over to Jess. The look she gave me made my stomach drop.
 

"What did you High Council say?"

"They want him brought back to our headquarters in Italy," she murmured. "He will stand trial there. And they want it kept secret."

"I understand why, but keeping it a secret won't be easy." I gestured to Baz. "We're all involved. What will you do? Wipe out all our memories?"

Jess shook her head. "The High Council understands certain key people will remember. We will just have to trust you will honor your word."

I hadn't yet given any such word--but I didn't think that fact worth mentioning.

T
HE
LAPTOP
PINGED
AND
I flew to Baz's side. "What is it?"

He pointed at the screen. "Here. A file belonging to a Colonel Gunther. It's a confirmation that Agent Nevins's services will be on loan to Division Seven for an unspecified time, on a top secret mission. The name of the requester has been redacted, even from the Omega top secret files. Which is weird. I'm four levels deep so this far down nothing should be hidden."

I frowned. Could those redacted portions be reference to Storm. I glanced up at Jess and saw the hardening of her jaw. She was thinking the very same thing.

Then he tapped again, and leaned closer to the screen. "And here, a list of orders for items from another facility called Area X." He laughed. "Yeah, it's really called Area X. The files are marked Top Secret too, and it looks like someone has tried to wipe them."

I nodded, my gut tightening. Those would be products made as a result of experimentation done on paranormals like Mom.

"This is proof that Omega is guilty of experimentation."
 

I sounded dead. I felt the same. All along I'd wanted to find the proof that Omega was dirty and now I had my emotions were all twisted. Was it Logan's connection with Omega that made me feel this way?

"I can see a solid paper trail from Omega HQ to this facility," Baz continued, unaware of the hurricane that were my emotions. "They were commissioned to create something--what it is and what it does has also been redacted."

"As they were experimenting on paranormals," I said, "I'd bet they're working on a weapon designed to kill or weaken us."

Jess merely nodded. Baz continued, muttering things like 'confirm design and makeup', 'design and construction of paranormal energy detector', production quantities, and shipment destinations.

He let out a dissatisfied grunt. "Destination: classified."

"Check if the code has military prefixes," suggested Jess.

Baz gave her an odd look, then continued tapping. Good thing he'd been turned or this business would have taken much longer. As it was, we were running out of time.

"Can you copy the files?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Not to this laptop. But I can reroute the files to a secure online server I use. I can reroute and cloak the destination enough times to stay ahead of them long enough to download the files before they discover they've been taken."

He focused for a few moments, and suddenly a low buzzing started.

"Bloody
hell
," he snarled, resuming his frantic typing. Seconds later, he dropped the laptop on the ground in front of him and spun away. The device began to smoke, then spark, and emit a metallic burning smell.

"Self-destruct?" I asked.

Baz shook his head. "No. It's a program written into the Omega server. It found us and followed us back to the laptop."

"Did you get the files copied in time," I asked. He nodded. "Right, then let's get the hell outta here."

I turned to Jess. "Could you take us to my Dad's. We need to keep Baz safe."

We both knew I meant safe from Storm.

We left the laptop on the roof of the building in Las Vegas and were inside my Dad's front hall within seconds.

"What do we have here?" asked Mom as she walked out of the kitchen, a steaming mug in her hand.

"Mom, where have you been?" I asked, giving her a hug.

She laughed. "In hiding. There's been a bunch of strange things going on with the High Council, so Dad figured it was best for me to lie low."

"So the best place is
with
Dad?" I asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Seems ironic eh?" she laughed. "What's happening?'

I introduced her to Baz, and gave a brief rundown telling her we had to keep him safe.
 

She nodded and crooked her finger at him. "Come get something to eat and then I'll show you a room. You'll have to put up with a rowdy pair of goblin twins, though."

Bar's eyes widened. "I appreciate any help, ma'am."