Damnation Marked (25 page)

It settled gently in the center of the street. The engine slowed, but didn’t stop.

The door opened. Malcolm hopped out.

“Darling,” he said, grinning at Elise’s shocked expression.

She punched him.

Even though he had to be expecting it, he was still flattened on the pavement. The armed guard cried out and whirled to aim the rifle at her again, but James stepped between them before he could fire.

Elise stared at James. “This is who you’ve been talking to?
Malcolm
?” She didn’t give him the opportunity to respond. She shoved Malcolm in the chest as he tried to get to his feet. “What are you doing?”

“Elise—”

“What have you done to my
territory
?”

“I’m doing my job, that’s what,” he said. “Calm down; we’re on the same side!”

She moved to attack him again, but James grabbed her arm, holding her back. The look she shot him was pure venom. “The Union’s not welcome here. I’ve got a handle on the situation.”

“Oh really?” Malcolm asked. He didn’t have to say anything else to make his meaning clear. The snowing ash was more than enough.

“The agreement at the summit—”

“Totally circumvented us.” She lifted her fist again, and he stepped back quickly before she could strike. “I know, I know. But give me a chance. The Union’s a whole different company under my command.”

Elise barked a laugh. “You’re the
commander
? What happened to Zettel?”

“Demoted.”

“Then you have the authority to let me back into Reno.”

“I do, but—”

“I need to speak with you, Malcolm,” James said. He glanced at Elise. “Privately.”

He walked a few short feet away, and the commander sauntered after him. Malcolm dropped his voice low to speak under the thumping engine unheard by the others. “That’s not a woman prepared to surrender her territory to the Union right there, is it?” he asked with a frozen smile and clenched teeth.

“We haven’t had an opportunity to discuss it,” James said. “I’ve been somewhat distracted by the impending apocalypse.”

“I bet you have. And you’ve had plenty of reading material to keep you distracted.” His voice sharpened. “What did you think of the Prophecies? Good reading?”

“You want to kill my son.”

“You’re a smart guy, Jim, but you lack context. There are a lot of Union codes in there—you have no idea what any of that says.”

James took the prophecies from his pocket and opened it to the page he had dog-eared. “‘Explore destruction of offspring.’ That’s what it says, verbatim. If I misunderstand that, I would certainly appreciate enlightenment.”

“Well, yeah, I can see how that would
sound
bad.” Malcolm grabbed for the book, but James held it away. “That’s Union property.”

The witch shook the book at him. “This is my life. This is
Elise’s
life.”

“You know what the Prophecies of Flynn say about me?” Malcolm asked. “Nothing. Nothing at all. And you know what that means? Nothing! Prophecies are uselessly incomplete. A man could drive himself to madness worrying over that kind of thing.” He suddenly lunged and ripped the book out of James’s hand. Malcolm touched the butt of his gun when James moved to take it back. “Watch it.”

“I want to take my son and his mother to the Haven,” James said.

“You do, do you?”

“Yes. I want you to arrange transportation for me to Colorado, and then for my family from Colorado to the Haven.”

Malcolm rubbed a scar that protruded from the side of his eye patch. “The terms are the same. You can take the Easter Bunny with you for all I care, but Elise has got to go, too.”

“Of all the idiotic—”

“Not my choice. It comes from Union HQ.”

James glanced at his partner. Elise was having a conversation with an armed kopis by the generator, and whatever she was saying didn’t look nice. She pointed at the guard’s gun, the people in line, and the houses around them. Her shouts were drowned out by the helicopter’s beating propeller. Her hair and jacket buffeted around her.

“I can convince her,” James said finally.

“And what a fun conversation that will be.” Malcolm stuffed the Prophecies into his pocket and strode back to Elise’s side.

Her yells became more distinct as they approached.

“—children in those houses, and you idiots are so fucking trigger happy—”

“Let’s go for a ride, Elise. We’ll have a chat,” Malcolm interrupted. He planted a hand in James’s chest to keep him from approaching the helicopter. “Not you. We’re getting people out of Reno, not letting them in. You’re going back the way you came.”

“And what am I supposed to do? Go home? Twiddle my thumbs?”

Malcolm tapped the side of his nose and pointed at James. “Spot on.” He waved at the kopis Elise had been yelling at. “I need transport. Take this gentleman wherever he wants outside the barrier.” He jumped into the helicopter again.

“Elise,” James said as she followed the commander. She paused with a hand on the door, and he tucked the remnants of his Book of Shadows in her pocket. “Watch out. Don’t do anything stupid.”

A smile ghosted across her lips. “Stupid? Me?”

The helicopter lifted off.

I
t was a
harrowing ride through the black sky. The usual collection of Union monitors were spread across the cockpit, but they couldn’t be precise enough to guide the pilot through such perfect darkness.

Yet the helicopter ascended steadily, the houses fell away beneath them, and it blew through the clouds as briskly as though it was the brightest of days.

Malcolm buckled himself in, and Elise followed suit. Another man was already harnessed near the opposite door, feet on the skid with a gun trained on the neighborhood. She didn’t recognize him, but judging by the nasty look he shot over his shoulder, he knew her. “You were with Zettel’s unit at the summit, weren’t you?” Elise asked.

“I guarded McIntyre when he was in custody.” She might not have known his face, but she knew his New England accent.

“Oh, yeah,” she said. “I remember now. I kicked your ass.”

He swung the muzzle of his gun around, but Malcolm leaned forward to get between them. “Remington, Elise—relax. We’re all friends here.”

She scowled. “I’m not friends with the Union.”

“Not yet,” he said. “But I told you things are different with me here.”

“I’m not friends with you, either.”

He put a hand to his heart. “I’m wounded. I thought we split on good terms.”

“I checked out of a hotel while you were at a bar and left a note with the clerk. James and I were halfway around the world by the time you sobered up.
If
you ever sobered up.”

Malcolm’s eye sparkled. “I’ve had worse breakups.”

“I believe that.” She almost smiled. Damn if he wasn’t still a funny bastard. “What happened to Benjamin Flynn? The precog kid? Is he around?”

“He’s not with the Union anymore,” Malcolm said. “He escaped.”

He wouldn’t be collared anymore. He was free. Probably on the run—but free. “Good,” she said forcefully. Which only left one very large, very frustrating item of business. “You guys cut out the phones and power in the Reno area, didn’t you?”

He shrugged. “This is the internet era. The Union had to act fast to keep the information contained and prevent—you know—panic. Mayhem. General hysteria.” He reached into the cockpit and grabbed a clipboard. “I’m going to have to ask you to sign a non-disclosure agreement, actually.”

“A non-disclosure…?” Her jaw dropped. “You need me to sign
what
?”

He handed it to her. Elise flung it out the open door of the helicopter.

“Oh, come on,” Malcolm said. “What if that hits someone in the head?”

“You can’t isolate an entire city from the rest of the world.”

“Actually, we can.”

“You don’t think having no power is going to cause more mayhem and hysteria?”

“Reno’s somewhat of a lost cause anyway.” The helicopter swung through a bank of clouds, and the city became visible under them again. They were flying low to the streets, just over the train tracks.

She grabbed his shirt in a fist. “That’s my home you’re talking about.”

Thumping explosions echoed through the air. A tank rolled down the road, firing on a cluster of inky-black fiends that scrabbled in front of it. Elise glimpsed them for only a moment before the helicopter lifted again.

Carefully, Malcolm dislodged her hand. “We’re doing what we can to make this go smoothly. The Union’s been preparing for this event for weeks—ever since Flynn saw it. It came earlier than we expected, but it’s going smoothly.”

“You call this smooth?”

“We’ve evacuated fifty thousand people to Fallon. Another twenty thousand are headed over the pass to Sacramento. That’s pretty good, you’ve got to admit.”

“You don’t need to evacuate if I can stop this. And I can.”

“You’ve done really well so far,” Malcolm said. “Hear me out, Elise. Some things are too big for a single kopis to handle. Remember the Grand Canyon? You never could have done that one without McIntyre. And this event is easily triple that. Quadruple. This is a mess, and the Union’s uniquely equipped to handle it.”

“Like with the summit?”

Malcolm grabbed the side of the helicopter as it banked hard. “We can save lives. A lot of them. But you’ve got to let us.” He put a hand on her knee. It was more of a fraternal gesture than a sexual one. Their days of angry sex were long gone. “You don’t trust the Union, but you once trusted me to watch your back. We traveled together for, what, three months? Four? We had a good time. Nobody died. I seem to remember saving you once or twice.”

Or three times. Malcolm was a good fighter, strong, and fun—but unreliable. Elise would have kept him around longer if she could have trusted him not to disappear and get drunk on a whim. “What’s your point?”

“If you can trust anyone to watch your territory, it’s me. I’ve got this. You have to believe me.”

The helicopter abruptly began to descend. Elise gripped a handhold as her stomach rose into her throat. “Where are we?”

“North Reno.”

“You’re letting me back in the city?”

“A gesture of goodwill,” Malcolm said. “Finish your business. Find your friends, if you’ve got any. Keep away from my teams. They’re doing damage control, and it’s terribly dark out there. And once you’re done, then get your ass back out again.”

“This is my home.
My
territory,” Elise said. “I’m not going to leave it.”

“I hope you’ll see us in action and change your mind.”

The helicopter touched down gently on an empty street. Darkened apartment buildings stood around them.

He handed Elise something heavy off of the seat beside him. It felt like metal panels covered in cloth, but she couldn’t make sense of the straps. “Bulletproof vest. There’s a lot of gunfire.”

She almost didn’t put it on. She didn’t want to wear anything in that absolute shade of Union black with the bright UKA logo across the chest. But after a moment of consideration, she stripped her jacket and donned the vest over her spine sheath. She had to tighten the straps completely to get it to fit.

Elise felt dirty putting it on, but if it kept her from getting shot by a confused kopis who shouldn’t have a gun—fine. Whatever it took.

He offered her a Union earpiece. “Here.”

“Not a chance.”

“Take it. Then you can call me when you’re ready to be extracted.”

“Malcolm…” Elise blew a breath out of her lips. “I don’t hate you.”

He grinned. “That’s quite the glowing recommendation, coming from you.”

“But I hate the Union. I’m not taking it. And I’m not going to be extracted.”

Elise dropped out of the door. It felt good to have her feet on solid ground again, even if the cold wind tasted like fire and she couldn’t see beyond the end of the street. “Avoid downtown if you can. It’s messy.” He grinned. “We’ll have to get a drink after this, if you survive.”

She didn’t smile back. “Not a goddamn chance, Malcolm.”

XIII

T
he Union escort
only took James as far as his car. It was up to him to pull it out of traffic and drive it over the median to head in the opposite direction.

He passed a few optimistic cars attempting to enter the city and wondered if the Union would bother turning them away personally, or if those vehicles would get jammed in traffic like everyone else. The road was empty heading north.

James ran out of gas on the edge of his neighborhood.

Muttering profanities, he unplugged his cell phone again and walked the remaining distance. The houses were stirring with motion; the family on the corner was loading their minivan, and James was almost run over by another car on its way out.

He spotted a neighbor—who he only knew as Mrs. Patrick—standing on her front step in a bathrobe and slippers. “What a night,” she called to him. “Are your phones working?”

“No, Mrs. Patrick.”

“What about your water?”

“It’s still running, as far as I know. If you’re having problems, I can bring a few gallons to your house.”

Her thin lips drew into a frown. “That won’t be necessary. My water is still running, too—for now. But just you watch.” She cast a final glance at the sky. “I think I should go stay with my son in Susanville.”

“That might be a good idea.”

Mrs. Patrick shuffled inside, and James went into his house as well.

There was no sign that anyone had been there since he and had Elise left. He sank to his couch, which still had the impression of Yatam’s sleeping body on the cushions and smelled faintly of myrrh.

The Union expected him to wait. Do nothing. Contact nobody.

James pulled the grocery list out of his pocket. It was short; they only needed eggs and milk. It felt strange to realize that they now needed to replace everything else in their freezer, since it would have begun to thaw. Of course, that was with the expectation that he and Stephanie could escape a Union evacuation in the first place.

His phone barely had any reception, but he got a dial tone. Taking a deep breath, James tapped out the phone number from the bottom of the list.