Skin Deep (34 page)

Laura raised her hands and gave him a winsome smile. “I don’t recommend you fire, Gianni. You shoot, the woman behind me will be on you before you feel the recoil.”

He stood, keeping the gun on Mariel. He tapped his headset. “Breach at Position 12.”

Saffin growled and surged forward. Gianni lost the cocky attitude as his aim drifted toward Saffin. Laura shot a burst of essence in his face. He staggered back, clutching at his eyes. With an essence-hardened fist, she laid him out with a roundhouse punch to the head. He hit the wall and slid to the floor.

“That was for Janice Crawford.” She kicked him for good measure. Moving quickly, she spun a binding spell on him that functioned with razorlike ribbons of essence. The more he struggled, the more the binding would burn into his flesh.

Saffin tackled her from behind. Laura scrambled beneath her in panic, expecting sharp claws to pierce her skin. Essence raked the air above them. She twisted her head to look down the hall. Three Inverni fairies in Triad uniforms came toward them.

“Stay!” Saffin growled. She bound down the hall on all fours, jumping from floor to wall and back again, evading essence-fire with an astounding agility. She launched at the lead Inverni, arms and legs forward. He screamed as she landed, the claws on her hands and feet ripping into his torso.

The other two Inverni fell back in terror, firing wildly. Panicked, one of them took to the air, but in the close quarters, he hit the wall and careened against his partner.

Saffin evaded their fire with every leap and turn. She sprang from the wall, flipped across the ceiling, and swiped her claws. An Inverni shrieked as her hands tangled in his wings, sparks of white essence bleeding from the tears she made. Saffin lifted him and flung him at his retreating partner. Their bodies met with a sickening crack, and they fell motionless.

Saffin whirled to face Laura. “Bomb, bomb, bomb.” She raced toward the basement vault.

Laura pulled herself to her feet.
Terryn, the Treaty’s primed with a spell bomb. I need Cress back down here,
she sent. She ran after Saffin. As she neared the vault, she heard Saffin’s raging howl punctuated with essence-fires and screams.

Laura skidded to a stop.
Terryn?
She pumped more essence into the sending to give it the effect of a shout. Still no response.
Cress?
she tried. Nothing. Laura doubted both of them could have been taken out without warning. Her sendings were being jammed.

Another scream from the vault grabbed her attention. She hardened her body shield and charged into a blood-bath. Two guards lay dead near the entrance. Saffin sprang among the columns and ceiling beams, slashing at a retreating Inverni, his uniform shredded and bloodied. She evaded his essence-fire, but her blows landed, opening wounds on his face. Another Inverni worked behind him, sending the Treaty on its way through the ceiling to the Rotunda above.

Laura threw a jagged spear of light that hissed and crackled as it flew. The shot hit the lift mechanism and reacted with the metal. The odor of ozone filled the air, the scent of essence-fire and burned electronics. The Treaty ground to a halt.

The Inverni fired at her as he leaped to the manual controls, gears grinding with the speed and strength of the fey. The Treaty rose and disappeared into a ceiling shaft.

Saffin knocked Laura aside and jumped. She landed on the Inverni’s back and wrenched her hands down. He screamed and convulsed as Saffin stood over him, the shredded remains of his wings dangling from her hands.

Laura ran to the manual controls and pulled on the gearshift. It wouldn’t move. She couldn’t reverse its direction. Saffin howled and scrabbled at the grease-slick hydraulic system.

“Saffin! Stop!” Laura shouted. Saffin ignored her. “Saffin! Listen to me! You did it. You found the bomb. You did it, Saffin. Calm down. You finished your job.”

Saffin hesitated, uncertainty glimmering in her eyes. Laura stepped closer and lowered her voice. “You did it, Saffin. Good job. You can stop now. Mariel will take care of it.”

“Laura?” she rasped.

“I will tell Laura,” Laura said.

Saffin thrust a hand at her. “Laura!”

Laura did a double take. Was this something about bog garts she didn’t know? Could Saffin see through her glamour? She pushed the thought aside. Time enough later to learn about it. She hoped.

“It’s okay, Saffin. Yes, Laura knows about the bomb. Come with me,” she said.

Tension drained out of Saffin, and she slumped against Laura. Her mania subsided. Even as Laura guided her across the room, she felt the woman’s body shifting beneath her hands, the limbs retracting to their normal length, the elongated features smoothing out. Laura wanted her out of the area before she fully recovered. Extreme boggart mania resulted in blackouts. She didn’t want Saffin to know what she had done until she was prepared to hear it.

More Inverni waited for them in the hallway. Laura extended her body shield. Saffin clung to her sleeve as they staggered under essence shots. Laura counted five attackers, highly trained and focused. She had power, but she needed to tap organic essence to take on that many alone, and so far underground, there was little available. Saffin growled deep in her throat as her mania returned.

Laura bit her lip. She had to get upstairs. She hugged Saffin from behind, words freezing in her throat. She took a deep breath. “Saffin, we need to get past them. Do you understand me? We have to stop the bomb. Will you do this for me?”

Saffin broke from her embrace in a blur of hair and claws. She bounded down the hallway toward the Inverni, her passage a spiral of acrobatics as she avoided essence-fire. Laura forced herself to watch as the screaming started.

CHAPTER 37

LAURA RAN UP
the stairs, Saffin’s raspy breath in her ears. She did not want to think about what she had seen. What had happened. What she had caused to happen. She did not want to think about what she would say to Saffin when it was over. If she lived long enough to give explanations. They left bloody footprints on the marble steps.

Saffin growled deep in her throat. Laura put a soothing hand on her head. She had never seen a brownie so deep in a boggart mania. “Stay with me, Saffin. It will be okay.”

They reached an unguarded landing on the ground level. Above, essence-fire and fighting echoed down from the main floor. Laura grabbed Saffin by the arm. “You need to get out, Saf. Find Terryn macCullen. Tell him about the bomb in the Rotunda. Can you do that for me, Saf?”

Panting, Saffin stared with a crazed light in her eyes. She trembled and made a sound between a cough and a bark. Laura fought tears at the sight of her twisted and bloody face. Saffin touched Laura’s cheek, using the flat of her palm to keep her claws from scratching. “Go, Saf. Hurry.”

The boggart burst into motion. Laura fought back her emotions as she watched Saffin leap from side to side toward the entrance lobby. With a deep breath, she ran up the last flight. As she made the final turn to the main level, a stray shot of essence ricocheted down at her. She flattened herself against the wall and called up her body shield. After fighting through the basement hallway, no one was left to pursue her up the stairs. That wouldn’t last long. Once the bodies in the basement were found, more fighters would be coming up behind her.

Where are you, Jono?
she sent.

Public Vault.
His sending came through rough and faint.

She breathed a short-lived sigh of relief. The Public Vault was on the opposite side of the Rotunda from her.
Any fey support with you?

Foyle,
he responded. The sending sounded forced and broken. Either she was too far away from Sinclair or his weak ability was failing. She was losing time. A short flight of steps separated her from the Rotunda. She bowed her head and said a prayer of protection. Tightening her body shield, she sank to the floor and crawled up the stairs. Another essence-bolt sparked around her. Laura screamed in panicked alarm, holding her hands out.

“Help! I’ve been shot!” she shouted.

Keeping her head down, she sensed an Inverni above her. She hunched forward, gathered essence in her chest, and released it in a single burst. She ran as it struck, and the Inverni fell. At the top of the stairs, she yanked him out of sight behind her.

On the opposite side of the loge, a door led to the Public Vault. She peered around the corner. Inverni fairies lined the loge area, powering an essence barrier across the entrance gate to the Rotunda. The barrier sizzled and crackled with light as the fey trapped inside fired at it. She leaped into a roll across the floor, wildly firing as she came up onto her feet. The Inverni returned fire, but their shots went astray.

She leaped over two prone humans at the entrance to the Public Vault, Capitol police officers who hadn’t even drawn their weapons. She didn’t stop to check if they were alive. Racing through the documents exhibit, she weaved in and out of display cases and room dividers to the back. Sinclair’s head rose from behind a bank of computer displays and waved her in.

“Get down!” she said. He ducked as she joined him behind a panel. Foyle lay on the ground, his uniform coat and open shirt soaked in blood. His gun was on the floor beside him. “Is he alive?”

Foyle’s eyelids fluttered open. “Yeah, he is. What’s the situation?”

“Unknown number of hostages in the Rotunda. What’s back here?” she asked.

“They made a sweep and took everyone down. We’re the only two left,” said Sinclair.

“Is the president inside?” she asked.

Foyle shook his head. “We aborted in time.”

Laura exhaled in relief. The fallout from the attack was going to be bad enough without the added nightmare of a trapped sitting president. She threw out her hand for silence. A faint whir carried on the air, the sound of gossamer wings in flight as they shunted essence. A wave of Inverni essence swept over them and passed on.

Laura waited until she no longer felt them. “They’ll be back. Can you move, Foyle?”

He shook his head. “Two hits. Leg and chest.”

Laura looked up at Sinclair. “We’ve got to get into the Rotunda. There’s a bomb.”

“Where the hell is our backup?” Sinclair said.

“Fighting to get in through the entrance,” she said. She leaned out to check the area. “Give Foyle your gun,” she said to Sinclair. Sinclair checked the clip and handed it over.

Laura crouched in front of the downed officer. “Hero time, Foyle. You up for it?”

He gave her a crooked grin. “If I recall, you don’t like hearing no.”

She smiled back. “Good man. I’ll do everything I can to come back for you. Do not let those Invernis come in behind us.”

He grabbed Laura’s arm. She and Sinclair helped him into a better vantage point. Foyle placed both his and Sinclair’s guns in his lap. “For what it’s worth, Agent Tate. I’m sorry I listened to the wrong people.”

She squeezed his shoulder. “Apologize later. Good luck.”

She grabbed Sinclair by the arm and pulled him into the open. Halfway to the exit, shots rang out behind them. No one followed them.

They stopped at the loge. “What’s the plan?” asked Sinclair.

“Unbutton your shirt,” she said.

He smirked. “Danger turn you on?”

She lowered her brow at him. “We need to get through that essence shield. Make sure I can get at that medallion of yours.”

He started to lift the chain. “Just take it.”

She stopped him with a hand on his arm. “We’ll keep your fey nature secret if I can salvage that. If not, don’t worry. I’ll rip it off your neck.”

He smiled. “I love it when you talk like that.”

She thumped him on the chest. “Stop it. We’re going to charge the barrier. The moment we’re through it, hit the ground.”

He peered out the door. “Isn’t the point of the barrier to keep us out?”

She nodded grimly. “Gambling time. I’m betting on your grandfather for help. Come on. And don’t get hit.”

They charged the Rotunda gate, streaks of essence leaping from Laura’s hands. More Inverni opened fire on them from the far end of the loge. Laura picked out essence waves from at least six Inverni maintaining their barrier. Laura shoved Sinclair toward the entrance gate. He stumbled in surprise as he hit the barrier and froze in place.

Spinning away, Laura hardened her shield and focused an essence shot on the Inverni directly above her. His head snapped back, and he fell hard inside the Rotunda. Without him, a thin spot formed in the essence barrier.

Laura lunged at Sinclair. He hugged her to his chest as they collided. She screamed as essence raked across her back. The barrier resisted them, slowing their momentum. Essence-fire burned through her body shield, and Laura screamed again. She clutched Sinclair’s medallion and fired essence directly into it. Its field exploded in size. The essence barrier thinned. She hit the medallion again. Its field ripped a hole in the barrier, and they fell through. Laura landed on top of Sinclair with a gasp as the wind left her.

Sinclair’s eyes went wide. He rolled and wrenched her with him as a bolt of indigo lightning scorched the floor. An Inverni had followed them through the barrier. Laura scrambled up, dazed. She thrust out her hand. A gunshot exploded in the air. The Inverni’s cheekbone shattered in a spray of blood. Laura looked down at the gun in Sinclair’s hand. “I thought you gave your gun to Foyle.”

“You didn’t say both guns,” he said.

Fanned around Sinclair and Laura, fey of every stripe ranged in an arc and fired at the barrier. Behind them, human and fey diplomats huddled against the wall, a riot of body shields creating layers of protection. Laura picked out Hornbeck near the back of the crowd under a distorted layer of essence generated by Resha Dunne. Blume was nowhere in sight.

At the back wall, the emergency alarms had activated, and the display cases were empty. Except one. The Treaty had reached the Rotunda. Cress stood in front of it, gripping the edges of the casement.

“Can you stop it?” Laura whispered.

Cress held up a hand for silence. A complex maze of essence enclosed the Treaty, an intricate web of layers within layers. Security and preservation charms and bindings pulsed and vibrated in rainbow hues of essence. Beneath them all, a deep green orb radiated with a force that burned against Laura’s skin.