Shadow of Temptation (Asylums for Magical Threats #2.5) (13 page)

“And I’m supposed to believe you, why?”

“Listen, I don’t have time to argue. I’m the best chance you have for getting free of the Collector, so take it or leave it.”

She stared at him and finally said, “Give me a piece of your shirt as collateral, and I’ll agree. That way if you don’t contact me within the next twenty-two hours, I’ll have two hours to locate you, find you, and turn you in to the Collector’s people.”

Chapter Twelve

Sabrina had agreed to trust Jorge, but as they finished surveying the old shop across the street, she still felt uneasy about his deal with the Locator woman. Sabrina had known nothing about the Collector last week, but from what little she did know now, she was starting to put together a profile of both the woman and the people who worked for her. It wouldn’t be out of line to assume Luciana was playing Jorge to protect her husband.

She shifted her position on the roof of an abandoned building and turned toward Jorge. “The windows are dark, and I don’t see any movement. Are you sure about this? We only have one shot; Watkins won’t let himself fall vulnerable again.”

“I think Neena told us to go to the school so that we’d find Luciana, probably so she could try and get yet another person to help her organization by trading favors.” He glanced at her. “Given the nature of your work, I gather you’ve spent years profiling people. Do you agree this fits what you know of Neena?”

At least Jorge was referring to her past and identity in a positive light. “It’s possible, but the woman isn’t exactly predictable.”

“Do you have any other ideas?”

“No.”

He reached out and brushed her cheek with his knuckles. “Then that’s settled. The sooner we can finish this, the sooner you and I can talk about what happens next.”

She felt a sudden rush of happiness at the prospect of Jorge wanting a future with her. They had issues—lots of issues—to work out and discuss, but the thought of being herself again focused her. “Okay, then we’ll stick to the plan. When should your DEFEND friends arrive?”

Jorge had mentioned two
Feiru
named Santos and Jimenez organizing a team of DEFEND soldiers to help them. The phone call had been brief on their way here, but he seemed confident they would help out.

He nodded to the east. “The group in charge of the distraction should be there already, and the others should be in position near the shop. When the distraction is ready and the others are in place, the group in the east will signal us with a high-powered flashlight.”

She looked toward the east, but all she saw were streetlights. Good, that meant she had at least a little more time to say what she needed to say. “Jorge.” He looked back to her face. “Promise me that whatever happens, you won’t kill Watkins outright and will hand him over to the
Feiru
enforcers.”

“What makes you think I’d kill him?”

“Well, it’s more than likely that he’s the one who turned you over to the Collector.”

Jorge fell silent for a second before glancing to the east and saying, “You put that together too, huh? Well, as much as I’d like to kill the bastard for the pain and suffering he’s caused all of the
Feiru
he’s handed over to the Collector, there’s a reason why I can’t.”

“Why?”

“Because then I’d never get a chance with you.”

The words slipped out before Jorge could stop them. This wasn’t the time or place to get sentimental, but it was true—if he killed Watkins, then he’d probably be locked up and sent to some AMT research facility. Just because the
Feiru
High Council hadn’t passed a law requiring all
Feiru
with latent abilities to be turned over to the AMT system didn’t mean it wouldn’t happen.

Hell, he had no idea if surviving tonight would result in anything with Sabrina, but dammit, he wanted to try.

Sabrina was staring at him with her mouth slightly open, but before either of them could say another word, there was a series of light flashes from the east. He switched into work mode. “Okay, that’s the signal. Let’s go.”

Sabrina managed to close her mouth and nod.

The signal meant they had five minutes to climb down the one story building to the ground and get into position, and all without making a sound. At the edge of the roof, he eased over the side until his feet touched on the discarded sofa. Once he was down and out of the way, Sabrina did the same. They circled around the building and kept to the shadows to reach their target.

Ninety seconds to go.
Most of the DEFEND soldiers would guard the back door, Sabrina the front, and Jorge would cover the door of the building adjacent to the shop where Watkins and the others assembling the bomb for the school would be. If what Sabrina had told him about Watkins was true, the man usually kept an empty dummy house or shop next door to his workshops or safe houses. He had a feeling Watkins would use the dummy house to escape.

However, Jorge wasn’t an idiot and wouldn’t go into this without sufficient backup. Luciana had mentioned other Fed League soldiers and maybe even a few latent abilities in there with Watkins. Just in case, a few DEFEND soldiers were keeping lookout from nearby rooftops, armed with rifles that shot tranquilizer darts.

Everyone was in position by the time a loud boom sounded from the east. Jorge hugged the shadows of the nearby wall, his gun out and ready. He might not be in his shadow form, but his black clothes hid him well enough.

The plan was for Santos to throw a homemade smoke bomb into the house and force the people inside to flee. If the human police somehow caught word of the smoke bombing, they would pin the homemade device on some of the local teenagers. The last thing they needed was the human police sniffing around and looking for DEFEND or the Fed League.

He heard some glass break and a few seconds later there were cries and coughs from near the back door of the original building, but he held his position. Anyone who’d done mercenary work as long as Watkins had would know that dividing his resources would also divide an enemy’s. Sometimes the maneuver was a death sentence, other times the sole means of escape. Since Watkins only cared about himself, he’d divide his resources and not give a shit who else died.

A few more seconds passed, but while the front and back of the other house grew noisier with scuffling and the muffled sound of an occasional tranquilizer gun going off, nothing happened on his end.

Part of him itched to go help the others, but he trusted Sabrina and—oddly—Santos. DEFEND had yet to fuck him over, and if this went according to plan, he might even consider helping them out again if they asked him.

A window opened on his side of the building and a small amount of smoke started to trail outside. An arm and head poked out to look around, but it was just one of the Fed League lackeys. However, the lackey in question was one of Watkins’s best bodyguards who just happened to be a dead shot.

The presence of the bodyguard meant Jorge was going to have to shift and use his shadow-transport trick to anonymously deliver Watkins to the
Feiru
enforcement agents in the area.

Jorge tucked his gun into his waistband and imagined his cells breaking down until the familiar pain shot through his body and he became a dense shadow-mist. He kept to the shadows as the lackey slipped out of the window and motioned one of his guns—he had two—to signal the all clear. As Watkins started to climb out the window, Jorge moved closer.

He’d never brushed up against someone to try to knock them unconscious before since all of his past assignments had been to get in and out as quickly as possible. This time, however, he was going to try.

The instant Watkins touched his feet on the ground, Jorge moved as fast as he could toward the lackey, brushed over him, and was relieved that the man fell down to the ground in unconsciousness. Watkins started to run, but in this form, Jorge was faster. He caught up with him and surrounded him from behind. Watkins also fell to the ground unconscious. As much as he didn’t want to bring the bastard into his shadow cloud, Jorge knew he had to do it, so he started to imagine the bastard’s cells breaking down. But just before he managed to finish the process, a sharp pain shot through him and he lost his concentration. One second he was a shadow cloud, and the next he was in his human form again.

What the fuck?
Jorge glanced down his body and saw a knife sticking out of his thigh.

No one should’ve been able to hit him in his shadow form, but he didn’t have time to figure out how it happened because something glowing light blue was charging straight at him.

The blue blur meant that Watkins had borrowed a
Feiru
with a latent ability called a Blue Demon from the Collector. He needed to stop the woman from reaching him, or it was game over since one of the Blue Demons’ abilities included poison-filled claws.

He reached for his gun and aimed, but before he could pull the trigger, his hand dematerialized and rematerialized. The flash from skin to shadow and back again sent enough pain through his body to cause him to scream. The gun clattered to the ground, and the woman drew closer. But just before she reached him, Jorge heard a rifle and the woman went down.

In the back of his brain, he knew it was a tranquilizer dart, but before he could do anything, his arm flashed again, and he gritted his teeth against the pain. Something was wrong with him. Really wrong.

People started to come from all sides, but Jorge concentrated on his arm. If he couldn’t get the flashing to stop, he was going to burn out and die.

He heard a female’s voice and he looked up to see Sabrina. The split-second distraction cost him, because in that instant, he couldn’t prepare against his body turning to shadow and back, and the pain was so overwhelming that he screamed before the world went black.

Sabrina had just finished securing the last of the unconscious Fed League people on her side of the building when one of the DEFEND soldiers came rushing up to her and said, “Something has happened to Salazar.”

The person assisting her nodded for her to go and Sabrina stood up and ran to the far side. Her heart was already beating fast from the takedown, but her heart rate kicked up a notch as she rounded the corner. She refused to think Jorge could be dying, but as she saw his arm and a section of his torso flash into shadow and back to solid flesh, her stomach dropped. Something was wrong.

She kneeled by his side and gave him a quick once-over. While the knife in his leg would hurt like hell, it wasn’t life threatening. She wanted to touch him and comfort him, but the switching between shadow and flesh stopped her. Until she knew exactly what was wrong with him, she couldn’t risk making the situation worse.

“Jorge? What happened?” He looked at her and then he screamed in agony before his eyes closed and he went slack. Isabel Santos kneeled down across from her. Sabrina looked to the woman and said, “You know more about latent abilities than I do. What’s wrong with him? If he keeps doing this, he’ll burn out and he’ll die.”

Santos’s face went grim. “I don’t know what’s wrong with him. Some of my people are trying to find someone who does.”

Sabrina watched as Jorge’s arm flashed again to shadow and back. It seemed unconsciousness didn’t give him any kind of relief.

The man had already been through so much pain. He didn’t deserve this. Her eyes started to water, but she caught herself and took a deep breath. Emotions could kill in the heat of a takedown. She needed to focus if she wanted to give Jorge the best chance at living.

She looked at Santos. “Since Jorge can’t anonymously drop Watkins at the door of a local
Feiru
enforcer’s office, we’re going to need to think of something else. Can any of your people manage it?”

Santos shook her head. “DEFEND is technically an illegal organization. Some enforcers are lenient as long as we don’t blatantly break any laws in front of them, but the enforcers in Merida are sticklers. Our best bet is for you to call your office and have them cart Watkins off.”

Her heart skipped a beat. “How do you know about my office?”

Santos’s gaze was steady. “Because I needed to know. Don’t worry, I’m not going to out you. You helped my people, and for that, you’ve earned some respect.”

Sabrina looked down at Jorge. She had planned to run with him after turning in Watkins. It wasn’t much of a plan, but it would’ve given them time to try to find her a way out of being relocated by her boss.

But that plan had been replaced with a new one. She needed to give Santos time to try to find a way to stop the random shifting, which meant she was going to have to call her boss to clean up this mess. She’d have to stay until they arrived to make sure Watkins didn’t get away. No doubt they’d lock her up afterward, once they discovered her cover had been blown.

As much as she wanted her freedom, Jorge’s life was more important. She had no other choice but to sacrifice what future she might’ve had with him in order to save him.

She looked back up at Santos. “Can you give me your word that you’ll look after him?”

Santos nodded. “I’ll oversee his transport myself, and I’ll find a way to contact you once we know what’s wrong with him.”