Harlequin Nocturne March 2014 Bundle: Shadowmaster\Running with Wolves (23 page)

The look on Brita's face told Phoenix that something she'd said
was
news to the double agent.

The part about egging on the Expansionists? Phoenix thought. Did Brita just now realize that she and her people had fallen into a trap deliberately set by their enemies?

“He told me how Aegis had sent several agents, including you, to dig out the assassin,” Phoenix continued. “Most of the operatives failed, and they didn't want you breaking cover, so they sent me in to stir the pot, though Shepherd made it seem as if they wanted me because I was different from every other agent in Aegis.”

Brita laughed with a sharp, vicious edge. “You made a little trouble for me, I'll admit.”

“Very generous of you,” Phoenix said. “He said you held off telling me that you knew who the assassin was, or reporting it to Aegis. He said he was sure you were a double agent, and had been all along. And then he told me you were blackmailing him by threatening to release information proving that he had a hand in Patterson's death.”

Leaning back, Brita feigned an indifference she obviously didn't feel. “Did he say why I was doing it?”

“No. And he didn't mention his and Patterson's secret weapon.”

“So there are limits to what he'll tell you,” she said, “even though he regards you as his puppet.”

“I've given him no reason to believe that,” Phoenix said.

“But it's clearly what
he
believes. What did he tell you to do?”

“He offered me another one of those
‘bargains'
we've all been making lately,” Phoenix said. “Freedom for Drakon in return for your death.”

“My
death?
” Brita's lips curved up into a smile of genuine amusement. “And how were you to kill me? With your superior strength and wit?”

“No,” Phoenix said. “With this.” She withdrew the tube from her pocket. Brita nearly leaped from her chair.

“Stand down, Agent,” Phoenix said. “I'm not armed. Not unless I take the syringe out of this tube and stick you with it. Shepherd didn't say what this was, or where it came from. He told me it would be painless. You'd have the flu for a while, and then...drift away.”

“The pathogen,” Brita said. “Give it to me.”

Phoenix handed the tube to the Opir, who unscrewed it and peered inside.

“It's empty!” she snarled, throwing the tube to the ground. “Where is it?”

“In a safe place. And I
will
give it to you...eventually, if we reach an agreement.” She leaned forward, holding Brita's furious gaze. “I don't want to kill you, Brita, let alone use that abomination against you or any Opir. But Shepherd made it very clear that Drakon would die and I'd be exposed as a traitor if I didn't go through with this. So you and I are going to have to come up with a plan that takes care of Shepherd and his threats, frees Drakon and enables us to find the source of this pathogen.”

“You may want Drakon free,” Brita said, “but you don't give a damn about the Opir race.”

“Even if I didn't care about Drakon, I'd give a damn about genocide. I think most people in the Enclave do, too. But we have to have proof, and we have to make sure this stuff isn't released before we get it.”

Brita wasn't stupid. Phoenix could see the thoughts racing behind her eyes, scheming, weighing, reaching a decision all in a matter of a few tense minutes.

“I was blackmailing him because I'm trying to find out where the lab is, and he's strangely reluctant to tell me,” Brita said. “Drakon had already been sent to assassinate the mayor before I found out about the pathogen. I thought Patterson was the major player then. I was going to help Drakon kill the mayor and blackmail Patterson afterward. But then I realized the mayor was the brains behind the deal. Drakon was too involved with you to be trusted, and I wanted you both out of the way. So I set Drakon up to kill Shepherd, knowing he wouldn't have access.”

“And though you made it look as if Drakon killed Patterson, Shepherd knows he didn't,” Phoenix said. “His entire career is on the line.” Phoenix held Brita's gaze. “Are you going to work with me on this, or do something stupid? Aaron Shepherd has turned unpredictable. He was always ambitious, but it's more than that now. He's gone too far, and he knows it.”

“He'll give me the information,” Brita said.

“But not in the way you think, because you're not handling this alone. We work together, or I'll risk everything to expose you for what you are.”

She could see that Brita was beginning to accept her conviction and consider the possibility that Phoenix would go through with what she promised. “What can
you
possibly do?” she asked.

“Shepherd thinks he has me over a barrel because of Drakon. We're going to make you vanish, and I'm going to distract Shepherd by telling him you're dead and I've disposed of your body. He probably won't believe me without seeing it, but since he's sure I'll do anything to save Drakon, he'll hear me out.

“When you disappear, you're going to arrange some kind of major distraction that will get most of Shepherd's security team focused on something else. And then you're going to take out the rest of the guards outside Shepherd's suite. Without killing them. You'll hide their
living
bodies, and I'll force Shepherd to say he dismissed all but a few of his security to see to the emergency. If you do a good enough job, no one will notice a few missing security personnel.”

“I never knew you had such faith in me,” Brita said with a sarcastic laugh.

“You managed to convince everyone you were a loyal Enclave citizen and agent,” Phoenix said. “Can you do it? Tell me now if you can't, because we have to come up with something else fast.”

“I can do it,” Brita said, in a tone of complete confidence. “And what will you be doing, while I'm handling all the work and betraying myself to the entire Agency?”

“Once most of his security are involved elsewhere, I'll be telling the mayor that you and I are working together, and between us we can destroy him in a heartbeat. He's going to get Drakon out, along with those other Opiri, and show us where they make this pathogen. He'll make sure nothing is to be said about his
‘secret'
departure from the city.”

“What makes you think you can force Shepherd to agree?”

“Because I don't think even the prospect of destroying all the Opiri on the West Coast is enough to make him give up his position or his life. His confidence is already badly shaken, and he'll be thrown even more off balance by my defiance...since, as you said, he obviously doesn't think too highly of my ability to resist him or his threats.”

“And the syringe? I can make you show me where it is.”

“And I'll scream bloody murder. That'll cause you some inconvenience, even if no one believes what I say about you. Once we've found the lab, you can have it. Because by then it won't matter. We'll be able to destroy it all.” She got up. “We've got to move fast and use the element of surprise, because once Shepherd realizes I didn't go through with killing you, he's likely to do something drastic.”

Chapter 23

T
hey removed the blindfold and cuffs when Drakon and his escorts of two dhampires and two human operatives were through the Wall. They'd exited just outside the small, seldom-used side gate in the north Embarcadero Wall. Rotting piers jutted out into black water, and the night was utterly silent.

It had all happened with swift efficiency, and Drakon had been too weak to resist even if he'd seen the point in doing so. There had been some great emergency in Aegis headquarters while he had lain in a half-delirious huddle on the floor in the corner of his cell, the wail of distant alarms and raised voices echoing from all directions.

He'd never found out what it was. The operatives had come, and he'd known when they'd taken him from his cell and escorted him outside that they were either a part of Phoenix's unexplained plan, or he was about to be executed and his body dumped into the frigid waters of the Bay.

He had been prepared for death since the moment of his capture. Since well before that. But he scanned the darkness, searching for the one thing he wanted and feared to see before he learned his fate.

When the black-clad figures appeared from the north, he knew. He whispered a half-forgotten prayer and watched Phoenix walk toward him, her gaze fixed on his. She was followed by the Daysiders and Freebloods who had been Drakon's fellow operatives in the Fringe. They were bound and surrounded by several heavily armed guards, one of them carrying a highly valuable weapon knows as a Vampire Slayer—a weapon that could actually kill an Opir quickly and quite thoroughly without a precise shot to the heart or brain. Aaron Shepherd walked off to the side with his own team of three Enforcers.

What kind of bargain had Phoenix made?

She embraced him, resting her cheek against his chest without any regard for their audience. “It's okay, Drakon,” she murmured. “It's all worked out. We're going to the hidden laboratory. We're going to get that pathogen and destroy it.”

He pushed her away gently and looked into her eyes. “Why is Shepherd here?” he asked, getting to the heart of the matter. “Where is Brita?”

“I said I'd take care of it,” she said. “You and I and Brita are on the same team at the moment. I didn't want to tell you what I planned because I didn't want you worrying.”

“You made a truce with Brita?” he said, holding tightly to her arms as he searched the area again.

“It's in her best interest as well as ours. You see, Shepherd wanted me to kill her with the pathogen, and—”

“He
gave
it to you?” Drakon asked in disbelief.

“A syringe full of it. She was blackmailing him for the location of the lab. He didn't know I guessed what it was, because he didn't realize I knew anything about the weapon. But he also told me it wouldn't work on dhampires. I couldn't tell you that, either. I'm sorry.” She searched his eyes with obvious anxiety. “Are you all right? No more symptoms?”

Drakon smiled and touched her hair. “None.”

She obviously didn't see the lie in his eyes. He was growing progressively weaker. Something was wrong with his gut, but it was far worse than influenza. The operatives and guards who'd come for him hadn't seemed to notice the dark, almost grainy stuff he'd expelled onto the cell floor several times since Phoenix had left him.

Or they simply hadn't cared.

But that didn't matter now. Drakon measured his remaining strength against the number of Enclave personnel and his former colleagues, wondering how many he could take down if he had to. He wanted to trust Phoenix. He believed in her courage, her conviction, her loyalty, her compassion. But she'd never been made for treachery, no matter how often she'd expressed guilt for deceiving him.

The Enforcers led Shepherd to Drakon and Phoenix and backed away, one of them nodding to Drakon. He couldn't see the man's face through the infrared visor, but he recognized the shape and movements of the body and its scent.

Matthew Patterson. He wasn't there to protect Shepherd. He and his two companions were escorting a prisoner. Shepherd stared at Drakon, flexing his hands in the prisoner's cuffs as if he were prepared to attack his enemy like a wild beast.

“Do you think you've won, you and your bitch?” the mayor said quietly. “Do you think it's so easy?”

“If you weren't bound,” Drakon said, “I'd kill you for speaking of her like that.”

“You'd kill me, anyway,” Shepherd said with a wry smile. “I'm supposed to take you to the lab, and that's it for me.”

“I promised to let you go,” Phoenix said. “Just as soon as the lab is—”

“You'll leave us helpless!” he shouted. “You half-breed slut...”

Drakon grabbed the mayor by his throat and bared his teeth.

“I'm hungry,” he said. “Very hungry. And while I wouldn't kill you if I fed from you, I don't think you'd find it a pleasant experience.”

Paling, Shepherd backed out of Drakon's reach, stumbled and was hauled upright by Matthew, who kept a firm grip on him.

“Who are the other guards?” Drakon asked as soon as they were alone again.

“More of Matthew's friends, fellow Enforcers who share his views. No one questioned us when we left with the mayor. He was very...persuasive.”

“Where is Brita?” Drakon repeated more urgently.

“She's coming,” Phoenix said, though a crease appeared between her brows. “We've got to get moving, and let her catch up.”

Drakon knew he didn't have to tell her that Brita might already be working against them in some way, even if they did supposedly share a common goal. He also didn't have to tell her that he was ready to give his life to stop his
“sister”
from carrying out whatever scheme she was undoubtedly planning.

“What about my fellow agents?” he asked.

She glanced behind her, where the captive Opiri were looking around them with wary disbelief. “We're going to leave them somewhere, tied up, until we've taken care of the rest. Then we'll let them go.”

“They're still your enemies.”

“And I'm not a murderer, even for Aegis,” she said.

“No,” he said softly. “Where are we going?”

“Across the Bay, to the Marin Peninsula,” she said. “There's a patrol boat waiting a quarter mile southwest of here, docked at one of the old piers. We'll disembark at the old Larkspur Ferry Terminal.” She looked him over again as if he were an ancient, fragile sculpture on the verge of disintegration. “You should take my blood now, before we go.”

“I can hold off until we get across the Bay,” he said.

“If you're lying to me, I'll kill you.”

He mustered up a smile and cupped her face in his hands. “And I'll let you,” he said.

With one final, dubious glance at his face, Phoenix signaled the others. She turned west along the waterfront, running at a half-crouch, the others right behind her.

The boat was waiting as promised, large enough to hold a few more than the fourteen of them. Brita still hadn't shown up when they'd all boarded.

“We can't wait,” Phoenix said, swearing under her breath.

“We can't trust her,” Drakon said, staring across the pier. “You go on, and I'll look for her.”

“No,” Phoenix said. “Only Aaron knows where to find this lab. Even if Brita has betrayed us in some way, that won't matter if we accomplish this one thing. It's worth our lives, isn't it?”

“Without a doubt.” They exchanged a lingering look, and then Phoenix moved away to speak softly with one of Matthew's colleagues.

A moment later the patrol boat's almost silent engine kicked in, and they began gliding north across the dark, choppy water.

There were always other patrol boats on the Bay, day and night, but Phoenix, Drakon and their party were extraordinarily lucky. Drakon assumed it was Shepherd who had arranged their safe passage. Unwillingly, of course.

Drakon leaned against the port side of the boat near the stern, dividing his attention between the receding city, the Bay around them and Phoenix, who was still talking with Matthew and one of his companions. He didn't try to listen in. He focused instead on being prepared to move at an instant's notice, first to protect Phoenix and then to take down whoever might threaten her.

And he remained alert to any sight or sound of a smaller boat slipping across the water. Phoenix was obviously on her guard as well, in spite of her firm air of confidence. The confidence of one who knew herself to be in the right.

As she was. Everything about her, Drakon thought, was right. And so much about
him
was...

“We're coming in,” a male voice announced. The boat glided up to the dock, and two of the guards hopped out to secure it. Drakon moved close to Shepherd when he was briefly alone and bent to whisper in the mayor's ear.

“I was prepared to kill you once,” he said. “And I'll do it without hesitation if any harm comes to Phoenix.”

“Even though you're a dying man...I mean, bloodsucker?” Shepherd whispered with a faint smile.

Confirmed,
Drakon thought. He returned the smile. “Your life may mean more to you than your people do,” he said, “but I don't overestimate the value of mine.”

“The way you didn't overestimate the value of the lives you ruined when you arrested innocent people and sent them to Erebus?” Shepherd clucked reprovingly. “Oh, I know about your past, Lieutenant Charles Cruise. There's enough of your human DNA left to identify you.”

The mayor's words struck true.
I'm no better than he is,
Drakon thought.
I never have been
.

“If Phoenix has promised you your life,” he said, “I'll hold to her agreement. But because I was such an amoral bastard even before I was converted, I would take great personal pleasure in tearing your throat out.”

“But you will keep to her agreement, won't you?” Shepherd said. “Because you love her.”

“Once you're converted, you lose that particular weakness,” Drakon said.

“Are you trying to convince me or yourself?” Shepherd chuckled. “Don't mistake sex for love. I kept her as long as I did because she was so good in bed. But she was always tainted. In every way.”

Drakon ground his teeth and stood to the side as the guards escorted the mayor off the boat. Phoenix joined him, and they disembarked together.

“No Brita,” she said.

He was still trembling with rage and weakness, but he quickly brought both body and mind under control. “You should wait here with a few Enforcers,” he said. “Let me go ahead.”

“I've got plenty of protection,” she said, gesturing to the woman with the Vampire Slayer. “If something goes wrong...”

“I have the keenest senses,” he said. “I'll take the rear. It's just as likely that if we're going to be attacked, they'll come from behind us.”

“Whoever
they
might be,” she said. “Please don't take any stupid risks.”

“I'll take no risks with your life.”

She stared at him a moment longer, squeezed his hand and moved ahead to join the others. They fell into a wedge formation with Phoenix, the woman with the VS—Sergeant Trembley—and Matthew in the lead. Drakon followed—listening, smelling, watching.

The Enforcers had been trained to move quietly, if not as silently as a dhampir agent, and they'd obviously
encouraged
Shepherd to take equal care. Hardly a leaf rustled as they made their way through the underbrush near the landing and found a path parallel to one of the crumbling roads leading into the north Peninsular Zone.

Though Drakon had been given heavy clothing, Phoenix had told him that the location of the laboratory complex wasn't more than a three-hour walk from the landing. Once again they met no opposition, no sign of any hostile presence.

After an hour, they reached the edge of one of the many towns that made up the vast sprawl of interconnected urban and suburban communities stretching south from the former Santa Rosa. As in most of the Zone, the streets were filled with the scraps and skeletons of rusted appliances, stone fallen from the abandoned buildings and near-jungles of trees that had burst up through the cracked concrete.

Approximately a mile from their goal, they left the bound Opir spies covered with fallen branches and hidden in a wildly overgrown park. Drakon heard one of them curse him as he and the others moved on.

After making their way through a literal maze of streets, they reached a block of industrial structures and wide parking lots. There was a distinct smell in the air, one Drakon recognized as the complex chemical combination of scents typical of a medical facility. A compound of several interconnected buildings was surrounded by a high wire fence topped with barbed coils, almost certainly electrified.

Shepherd indicated that they'd reached their destination, and everyone found concealment among the nearest buildings, Drakon with Phoenix and Shepherd, the others scattered to various strategic positions.

But there wasn't so much as a single guard patrolling the fence, nor anywhere visible in or around the compound. The gate was open.

“This can't be right,” Drakon said to Phoenix.

“We expected to meet guards,” Phoenix said, her body coiled with tension. “Shepherd was to get us through.”

“Then he's betrayed you.”

“I didn't do this,” Shepherd said as Drakon turned on him. “For God's sake, I didn't warn anyone!”

Grabbing the mayor by his soiled collar, Drakon dragged him to his feet. “You go ahead,” he said, “and we'll find out.”

“Drakon!” Phoenix said. “Wait!”

But he was already force-marching Shepherd ahead of them, and by the time they reached the gate it was evident that there would be no immediate response.