Right Through Me (The Obsidian Files #1) (37 page)

“All the more reason to protect her for as long as I can,” Noah said.

Silence descended between the three of them, but the clatter and hum of the bar got louder. Out-of-tune rockabilly music floated through the greasy smoke that hung in the air. They’d been waiting a half hour when Noah’s gaze flicked to the door.

Sisko and Caro craned their necks to look at who had walked in.

Asa Carr was big and tall, muscular and built, which was no surprise. He wasn’t similar to his brother in any obvious way, aside from his height and size. Asa’s long body was somewhat narrower than Noah’s, and his long-lashed eyes were a clear silver gray beneath a thick slash of dark brows. He had the same strong chin and stern mouth, and his dark hair was buzzed off short. The battered brown leather coat, jeans and heavy boots amped up the intense, brooding vibe. In fact, the subtle vibration of danger was the biggest similarity he shared with Noah.

That, and the way every woman’s head turned as he walked by.

Unsmiling, he walked toward them, his eyes locked on his brother’s. Caro sensed violent emotion beneath their blank expressions. The disconnect was eerie and unsettling.

Noah slid out of the booth and stood up. “Hey, Asa.”

Asa nodded. “Noah. Been a while.”

“Yes,” Noah agreed. “Thanks for coming.”

Asa nodded, and his gaze flicked to Caro and Sisko. “Thought you’d be alone.”

“This concerns them too,” Noah said.

Asa made no comment, just studied Sisko. “I’ve seen you on surveillance photos. Edward Sisko?”

Sisko inclined his head in cautious assent.

Asa turned his eyes on Caro. “Not you, though. You’re not, ah . . .” He slanted a questioning glance at Noah.

“She’s not a Midlander,” Noah said, answering both the spoken and the unspoken question. “But she knows everything.”

“I see,” Asa said. “That’s a first.”

“How do you know about Midlands?” Sisko demanded.

“Don’t want to get into that right now.” Asa looked at Noah. “So. You got a new girlfriend so soon?”

The question had a strange edge, which Noah ignored. But he answered it.

“This is Caro Bishop,” he said. “Caro, Asa Stone. My brother.”

“I’m glad to meet you.” Caro held out her hand.

Asa took it, and pulled her subtly closer to his towering body, as if he meant to somehow let her know who was boss. Caro pulled her hand away, taken aback.

Noah took a menacing step forward. “Never touch her again,” he said.

“Sorry,” Asa said.

The single word conveyed bored contempt. Noah locked eyes with him.

“Guess you’re serious about this one,” Asa commented, after a moment.

“What’s it to you, Asa?”

His brother looked at him hard. “Women get in the way. You know that. Or you did. Now look at you. Pillar of the community. Philanthropist. Job creator. Tight-assed tycoon with custom-built closets full of tasteful shit. You were on track to become a major criminal. What happened to you, my brother?”

“You already know everything about me. I don’t want to bore you with the recap.” He gestured toward the space in the booth next to Sisko. “Sit.”

Asa slid into the booth, staring. “Weird, how much you look like Dad now.”

“I don’t want to talk about the past,” Noah said. “It’s dead and gone.”

Asa pondered that for a moment. “If you want to talk about that tip I gave you the other day, I can’t discuss my sources.” His eyes flicked to Caro. “Not in front of unvetted strangers, anyway.”

“Forget it. I don’t give a shit about that right now.”

Only stillness betrayed Asa’s surprise. “I see,” he said. “You don’t want to talk about the past. You don’t care about the mess I just saved you from, including that stupid engagement. So why am I here?”

“What do you know about my engagement?” Noah snapped.

“That the buttoned up blond chick was all wrong for you. What were you thinking?” His eyes flicked to Caro. “Was this the one who convinced you?”

Caro calmly returned his scrutiny, refusing to drop her gaze. It took some effort.

Asa’s gaze slid over Caro’s cuts and bruises, then turned his gaze to Noah’s scabbed knuckles, the long scrape on his cheekbone. “Rough night?”

“That’s why we’re here,” Noah said.

Asa’s large, square fingernails tapped on the tabletop. “So? Tell me.”

Noah looked at Caro. “Go ahead.”

“It’s a long story,” Caro said.

“I get it.” Asa said. “Not your story. It’s
her
story. You didn’t call me to help my family. You want me to do a favor for your new girlfriend. For fuck’s sake.”

“You can leave,” Noah said. “Feel free.”

“Hell no. I’m curious. What could be so scary that a pack of bad-ass mutant freaks have to beg a low-life thug like me for help?”

Noah didn’t answer.

“Spill it,” Asa said. “If you want anything from me, I require full disclosure. Real name. Verifiable details. And be warned. I can smell bullshit a mile away.”

“My full name is Caroline Anne Bishop,” Caro said. “Eighteen months ago, that was the name on my driver’s license and passport. Before Mark Olund stole my life.”

“Mark Olund,” Asa mused. “I believe that was a post-Midlands alias. Right? But not one of your core group.”

“He broke off from our group a few months after the rebellion,” Noah said. “He went on alone.”

“And became a--?”

“Criminal. He’s good at it. Rich. Not as rich as you.”

“Huh. He wasn’t around when I started my surveillance on you guys.”

“How in the hell did you do that without us noticing?” Sisko sounded personally insulted.

“Some other time, Sisko. You can buy me a beer,” Asa said. “Focus. Tell the damn story.”

Caro did. Asa’s eyes took on a look similar to Noah’s when he was on AVP; both far away and laser-focused. Caro faltered when she came to the part about the belly dance at Angel Industries, but Asa’s eyes gleamed with enjoyment.

“You came in to shake your stuff during the meeting with Batello and the blonde? Wish I could have seen their faces.” He turned his gaze on Noah. “But let’s stay on topic. Why am I here?”

“We’re not done.” Noah went on to recount the events of the last few days. “When we make contact, Mark will follow us right back through our security,” he concluded. “There’s no keeping him out. The minute he figures out who he’s dealing with, he’ll try to control us by hurting Luke. Assuming Luke is still alive. That’s what we have to prevent.”

“OK.” Asa thought for a few seconds. “You need a proxy with a solid backstory that stands up to stellar hacking. Nice to know I’m so believable as a ruthless villain. I’m a data pirate, not a kidnapper.”

Noah shrugged. “Don’t take it personally. I just don’t know anyone better. Or worse, as the case may be. And an opportunist is an opportunist.”

Asa snorted. “Fuck you, Noah.”

“Didn’t know you were so sensitive,” Noah murmured.

“Neither did I,” Asa admitted. “Did you tell Hannah about my text message?”

“Yes,” Noah replied. “She wants to see you.”

“Ah.” Asa stared down at the table for a moment. “So what makes you think that I could pull this off?”

“Everything about you,” Sisko said. “I checked you out. You’re the perfect bad boy. We liked the data mining, the secret data auctions, the luxury properties. And you gotta tell me how you keep such a low personal profile. It was hard as hell to find a recent picture of you.”

Asa shrugged.

“And the real estate,” Sisko went on. “Buildings in Manhattan, penthouse apartments, mansions in Malibu, San Francisco, Santa Fe, Chicago, Boulder, Boca Raton. Bank accounts, stock portfolios, brokerage accounts, offshore accounts, foreign properties. And I liked your algorithms. There’s some good work there. ”

Asa’s jaw sagged. “Holy shit,” he said. “I don’t know whether to kill you or offer you a job.”

“Neither,” Sisko said. “I won’t let you kill me and I’m not looking for work right now. But if you need a consultant later, when things calm down, I’d tweak that latest algo to increase precision and speed. I’m expensive, though. Be warned.”

“I’ll think about it.” Asa turned back to Noah. “There’s the matter of payment.”

“Money is no object,” Noah said.

“It isn’t an issue for me, either,” Asa said. “That’s not the point. Although I will expect a huge advance. Upfront expenses, that kind of thing.”

“Anything else?”

Asa’s mouth curved in a thin smile. “Yes. If you want to take advantage of my cred and my resources, you have to give me something that I give a shit about. Aside from money. I have plenty of that.”

Noah waited. “What do you want?”

Asa’s eyes glittered. “Depends on what you’ve got.”

The three of them stared at him, blank.

Asa made an impatient sound. “Don’t insult my intelligence. There’s a crucial detail that you all left out. What’s in the safe? And what’s my cut?”

The pause was glaringly awkward. “Nothing of monetary value,” Noah said.

“I didn’t ask what it’s worth,” Asa said. “I asked what it is. What it’s worth is based on a constantly shifting set of relationships between who wants it, why they want it, how badly they want it, and the extent of their resources. Calculating that value is my thing. I’m very good at it.” He tapped impatiently on the table. “So what’s in it?”

No one answered him. Asa leaned forward. “Understand this,” he said softly. “I owe you nothing, and I will not be your tool. Do not fuck with me.”

A muscle pulsed in Noah’s jaw. He hesitated so long, Caro had almost concluded that he had decided not to speak at all.

“Obsidian has made a new generation of genetically and technologically enhanced supersoldiers,” Noah said finally. “More powerful than in our day, according to Mark. Their memories were suppressed. They’ve been folded back into normal civilian life until they’re called for. That safe holds their control frequencies and activation codes. All twelve hundred of them.” He gestured toward Caro. “And she set the code.”

Asa’s eyes widened. “She’s the only one who can open it?”

Noah nodded.

Asa whistled. “Control of twelve hundred cyborg supersoldiers? I could monetize the living fuck out of that.”

“No,” Caro snapped. “Absolutely not. Nobody will do that.”

They looked at her, startled at her vehemence. “Why not?” Asa asked.

“They’re slaves. If you even have to ask, then you’re so far gone you wouldn’t understand my answer anyway,” she retorted. “Those twelve hundred people are human beings.”

Asa made a noncommittal sound. “Worth saving?” he murmured. “I’ll do what I can. But they’d be a hell of a lot better off monetized by me than by Obsidian.”

“The slave soldiers aren’t part of the bargain,” Caro said. “Now or ever.”

“Who even asked you, sweetheart?” Asa sounded only mildly curious.

“I’m not your sweetheart,” Caro said coldly. “And I have the brainwaves that open the safe. That makes it my call.”

Asa’s eyebrow tilted up, genuinely startled. “You talk tough for someone who needs a life or death favor.”

“You could help us to help them,” she said. “You’ve got the resources.”

Asa held up his hand. “Count me out. That would wreck my image of selfish villainy, and isn’t that what you needed from me in the first place? I’m sure you guys can figure out how to redeem the twelve hundred without me.”

“Let’s hope so,” Noah said. “Selling them is not an option. But we still need your help.”

Asa rolled his eyes. “Fine. Wouldn’t want to compromise your principles. If you’re not going to split that ocean of profits, what else can you offer to tempt me?”

Noah hesitated for a long moment. “I can’t interest you in a simple, straightforward contract? Monetary payment for services rendered?”

“Nah,” Asa said. “Boring. Come on, big brother. It’s been thirteen years. Thrill me. You guys have special abilities, right? Genetically enhanced this, tech-augmented that? I might find it handy to call in favors from people like that from time to time. Things come up all the time.”

Noah shook his head. “I can’t speak for the rest of the—”

“I can,” Sisko said. “I’ll speak for all of us. For Luke’s sake. Just don’t ask us to kill or hurt anyone innocent. Barring that, we’ll do favors for you.”

“Watch it,” Noah said swiftly. “Shut up, Sisko. That’s way too general.”

“Take a few hours,” Asa soothed. “Talk to your people. Work out the details.” He slid out of the booth and rose to his full height. “I’ll see you tomorrow at midnight in the Kirkland house, and we can nail down the deal. Then we work out how to make contact with this scumbag and get this thing rolling.”

“What the
hell?
” Sisko said. “How do you know where we’re staying?”

“You mutant types underestimate the obsessive-compulsive paranoia of the one percent,” Asa said. “Will Hannah be there tomorrow?”

“No,” Noah said. “She won’t be involved in this.”

The brothers’ eyes met. Tension throbbed in the air like a huge bass note. A complex mix of intense emotions. Anger, fear, pride, guilt. And under it all, the magnetic pull of each man’s own gravitational force fighting for ascendance.

“You were right,” Noah said. “About Midlands. If that’s any satisfaction to you.”

Asa’s eyes slitted as he gazed down at his older brother. “Satisfied,” he repeated. “That’s how you think I’d feel. To see you and Hannah get hurt.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Noah said. “I just know that you like to be right.”

“It’s not that I like it,” Asa said slowly. “It’s just that I
am.
”

Caro stared at the two men in wary fascination as they locked horns. It was plain that neither one of them had ever succeeded in dominating the other, but they were compelled by their essential nature to keep on trying, no matter what.

Noah finally let out a short bark of laughter. “So you’re infallible?”

“I never said that,” Asa said. “If I were, I would have found a way to stop you from going to Midlands. Or at least taken Hannah and run like hell.”

“I would never have let you do that,” Noah said.

“I know.” Asa’s voice was bleak. “So you see? Not infallible.”

Noah scowled. “The Midlands fuck-up was on me. I take full responsibility.”