Swarm (15 page)

“In the meantime, we have another problem.” Nate steadied himself as the center of their attention. “At the hockey game, Ethan was using his voice to ditch some cops, and it mentioned an investigation. Internal Affairs. In other words, the police department is looking at itself.”

“The voice could've been lying,” Chizara said.

“I wasn't trying to scam them,” Ethan said. “I was trying to piss them off. And you could tell from their faces it was true.”

“So they're investigating dirty cops?” Flicker asked. “Like, cops who take bribes?”

“Yep,” said Nate. “And it's a secret investigation, like with wiretaps and maybe
bugged cop cars
.”

“Oh,” Kelsie said, and everyone looked at Ethan.

“Yeah,” he said.

Chizara let out a strained laugh. “Just so you know, my police station–destroying days are over, Ethan.”

“Gee,” he said. “Thanks for the confidence builder, Crash.”

“We're not going to let it get that far,” Nate said firmly. “On the way out of the game, Ethan finally spotted our two corrupt cops. When we made contact, they were pretty pissed, but it's not like they could do anything in front of hundreds of other policemen. I've set up a meeting for tonight.”

“To give them real cash?” Kelsie asked. “What if they're under surveillance?”

“Let me guess,” Chizara said. “That's my job.”

“Exactly,” Nate said. “You'll check for hidden cameras in their car. If you find anything, maybe it's not too late to erase the footage from two nights ago.”

“Maybe,” Chizara said. “But maybe Ethan's mom is already watching video of him handing over that bag of money.”

“
Fake
money!” Ethan corrected.

“Or maybe those cops got turned,” Kelsie said quietly. “And tonight's just a setup to arrest us all.”

“Anybody else remember what happened last time we
tried to pay somebody off?” Flicker said. “Two of us got kidnapped.”

Everyone looked at Ethan again, and Nate could feel their fear curdle into anger. They blamed Ethan for his voice, for the way it dragged them all in whenever he went down. They always would.

“Best. Christmas. Ever,” Ethan said.

HAVING JESS HOME WAS GOOD
, in more ways than one.

Mom was relaxed with Jess around. Like she could finally take her eyes off Ethan, now that his big sister was here. As an added bonus, Jess was a girl, and she dated girls. Which made her a walking encyclopedia of girlness.

And what Ethan really needed right now was some advice on girls. Because he needed to talk to Kelsie
before
he was arrested for police bribery.

“Say you thought you were about to die,” Ethan began.

“Mom's not going to kill you.”

“Kill me for what?”

Jess shrugged. “Whatever it is you did this time.”

They were outside under the mountain oak tree in back of
the house. When they were kids, Dad had tied a swing to one of its branches. They'd stay outside until dark, until Mom was so tired of yelling for them to come in for dinner that she'd have to drag them into the house.

The swing was long gone. Ethan leaned back against the trunk, staring at the branch where it used to hang, wishing his life was still as simple as it used to be, back then. He sat with his back to the trunk. Jess lay on the ground looking up at the sky, rubbing an apple on the hem of her shirt. Even on leave, she was wearing faded army khakis and a T-shirt with
FORT JACKSON
emblazoned across a very angry cartoon dog.

This conversation wasn't going to be easy. He had to use his own words, because Jess had been calling bullshit on the voice for as long as he could remember.

“Aren't you cold?” Ethan asked. “My butt is frozen.”

“I like the cold.” Jess bit into her apple. “It burns calories. Like a mini workout.”

“Say you thought you were going to go to jail—”

“What did you
do
, Ethan?”

Ethan swallowed. It wasn't like he could tell her about the crooked cops, or the cash drop in front of the Dish tonight, or any of the rest of the mess he was in.

So he said, “It's a hypothetical, okay? You're going to jail, or dying, or whatever. But first you want to tell someone how you feel about them. You know, romantically.”

Jess's face crinkled into a grin. “I see where this is going.
You finally found a girl to tame the wild Ethan Cooper lust?”

“You know, it kind of cheapens it if you put it like that.”

“Wow. You're serious.”

Ethan was. Tonight he had two tasks. Pay off Murillo and Ang, the cops he'd bribed with Coin's fake money. And tell Kelsie Laszlo he was in love with her, no matter what. He'd promised himself the same thing last night, of course, before two superpowered dickheads had butted in.

But this time Ethan was for real. It was happening tonight.

Unless the crooked cops shot him. Or took him to prison. Or the Zero killer who was out there somewhere showed up.

“Forget it,” he said, standing up. “Let's go in. It's way too cold.”

“Mom told me to keep you out here,” Jess said. “Two detectives are here, talking to her.”

“Crap! Are you serious?” Ethan peered through the living room window, and saw the familiar round outline of Detective Fuentes. No doubt his partner, Detective King, was with him. Were they here to arrest him for bribery already? Why
else
would they visit Mom at home? “Why isn't she talking to them during office hours?”

Jess shrugged. “Must be secret DDA stuff. What're you doing?”

Ethan had drawn his hoodie down over his eyes, and was standing on tiptoes.

“Watching. I know those guys.”

Jess took another bite of apple and talked around it. “
They
gonna kill you?”

“No. They're the detectives who were hassling me last summer.”

“When you went AWOL?” Jess groaned. “Do you
know
how much stress Mom heaped on me that week? You're lucky she can't afford military school.”

“Don't even joke about that!”

Dad used to always threaten Ethan with military school. Like they could train the voice out of him. But the voice would have
loved
a place like that. It thrived in situations where men shouted meaningless macho crap at each other. Ethan's brief high school football career had proved that. He couldn't run, catch, or throw, but he could talk booyah like nobody's business.

He might come back from military school an empty shell, but he'd probably have a ton of medals.

Jess was smiling. “Maybe I should go in there and invite those detectives to Christmas dinner.”

Ethan ducked back down beside Jess, nearly dislodging the half-eaten apple from her hand. “Are you crazy? They hate my guts.”

“Okay, okay.” She was laughing now. She sat up and moved so she was shoulder to shoulder with Ethan. “Forget them. Tell me about this girl. What's she like?”

Ethan sighed, wishing he could just forget Fuentes and
King. He hoped they didn't mention the hockey game to Mom. She'd never believe he'd gone to a sporting event for the fun of it.

“Her name's Kelsie,” he said. “And she's really cool.”

“So, not like you.”

Ethan ignored that. “I've known her for six months, which is way too long for some stupid crush. So it's real, right?” He didn't wait for an answer. “And also about time I tell her how great I think she is. But I think maybe she's too good for me.”

Jess stopped chewing on her apple. “Ethan, you have the worst self-esteem of anyone I know. If you ever joined the army, they'd use you for target practice.”

“Is that supposed to help with the self-esteem thing?”

Jess chuckled and ruffled his hair. He
hated
when she did that.

“Okay,” she said. “So you want to tell this girl how you feel, but you're worried that she thinks you're the lamest person she knows.”

“I guess, yeah.”

“First things first,” Jess continued. “Why are you into
this
girl in particular? That's usually a good place to start.”

“She's totally pretty.”

“I hope there's more to it than that.”

“She's smart and has great taste in music.”

Jess looked bored.

Ethan started speaking faster. “And we've been through a
lot. Like the first time we met, she saved me from this guy who was going to beat me up.”

He could still see Kelsie in the doorway of Thibault's hotel suite, come to warn them about the Craig. Sparkling in a clubbing dress and matching high-tops like she'd just stepped out of a music video.

“So she's big and strong like your sis, huh?”

Ethan had to laugh. “Not exactly. She saved me with a heads-up, not a beatdown. And then I saved her from being alone. Because there's this stuff she and I share—secret stuff.” He hadn't planned on doing this tonight, but why not? In a couple of hours, he could get killed or arrested. “She's kind of like me.”

“Like you, how?”

“She can do weird things.” When Jess raised an eyebrow, Ethan added quickly, “I don't mean in a kinky way. I mean . . . she has a superpower, like I do.”

Jess tossed the apple core across the lawn. “So you're a superhero now?”

“Not a hero.” That word was ridiculous, at least in relation to Ethan. “But you know how I can spew out all kinds of stuff I shouldn't know? When I talk like that, it's a superpower.”

Jess didn't blink. “If that's what you want to call it.”

“That's what it is,” Ethan said. “I don't even know what I'm going to say when the voice talks. The words just
come
out of me.”

“
Listen, little bro. I've known since you were three that there's something oddball about you.” Jess paused, like she was thinking her words through carefully. “Like, there was
smart
you and there was
good
you. But smart you is a faker. That's why smart you was always getting into trouble—”

“Smart me still gets into trouble,” Ethan muttered.

“But the bigger problem is that
good
you, the guy that doesn't try to be smart—the guy that's kind of sweet and actually cares about people—
that
guy keeps being stomped on by smart you.”

Ethan blinked. Whenever he used the voice around Jess, she looked at him like it was a moral failing or something. It was nice that she realized he was a victim too.

“So what do I do about it?”

“You fight back. Stand up to it. To beat this smart-mouth guy living inside you, you got to stop being so smart all the time and just be . . . you.”

“You want me to be stupid? That is the suckiest advice I've ever heard.”

“Yeah, well.” Jess shrugged. “I don't get asked for a lot of romantic advice. All I'm trying to say is that it's time for you to grow up, Ethan Thomas Cooper. Be a man, or whatever.”

“Now I
know
you're being sarcastic,” Ethan said. “Can you check if those detectives have left?”

Jess sighed and stood, craning her neck to look in through the window. “Nope, still there. They probably
are
talking about
you. I mean, that's your real superpower—supremely pissing off Mom.”

“Just forget I said anything.” Ethan stuffed his hands in his pockets. It really was freezing out here, but no way was he going inside for a dose of stink-eye from Detective Fuentes.

“Aww, look,” Jess crouched and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. She pulled him in closer to her warmth. “Superpowers or not, if she's half as awesome as you say she is, this girl will be glad you said something.”

Ethan smiled weakly. “Thanks, Jess.”

“Just don't mention the cape in your closet.”

Ethan pulled away and punched her in the arm.

Jess laughed. “Ow! Superstrength!”

Ethan punched her again, harder, and Jess howled in fake agony.

“Listen, I can prove it,” he whispered. “I can say exactly the thing that'll convince you that smart me is a superpower.”

Jess stopped laughing. She smiled at him the way Mom used to when he was little and said crazy stuff—indulgently.

“Okay, prove it. If you do, I will forever be the humble Robin to your Batman.”

Ethan tried to stare down his big sister. But she was older than him and smarter and more badass and totally unconvinced.

He let his mind fill with the urge to tell her something that no one else knew about her. Something that she'd never told
anyone, not even her closest buddies in Afghanistan when IEDs were going off around them or whatever.

Something that would blow her
mind
.