The Avenger (6 page)

He headed straight for the bathroom for a hot shower. Draping a towel round his waist, he frowned at his reflection in the mirror above the small sink. The effect of the gym workout had abated the ragged look, but his facial hair continued to grow rapidly. His beard, heavy at normal times, was a pain in the ass during the Change.

Slowly he applied lather to his cheeks and scraped off the scraggly growth with a straight razor. He preferred the sharp edge and accuracy of the old-fashioned implement, a throw-back to his grandfather's era. Somehow it made him feel more human. Finishing up, he rinsed his face and applied after shave.

He angled his head for another look in the mirror. Still too dark, too rough, too shaggy, he thought. He sighed and checked his watch. Time to make the call.

That's when he saw Olivia's message on his phone. Not the Prima phone – that was reserved strictly for Invictus business – but on his normal cell phone. He knew instinctively she'd changed her mind. But why, he wondered? His chest constricted momentarily before he pressed mail and listened to her voice. He wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or apprehensive.

Collapsing on the bed, he pulled his Prima phone from his briefcase, and punched in speed dial number one, the special line that went directly to the Judge, day or night.

"Yeah?" The voice sounded wakeful even though at this hour on the east coast the Judge had to have been sleeping.

"It's me."

No need to identify himself. Even if Warren didn't recognize his voice, the special sound recognition feature would identify him. Agent Number Thirteen on the display. And if that number wasn't a hell of a curse, Jack didn't know what was.

"Problem?"

"No." Jack hesitated. "The Gant woman's on board."

"Oh?"

Did he detect curiosity in his mentor's voice? Jack considered again that contacting Olivia hinged on design rather than chance. "Are you surprised?"

Warren chuckled. "Hell, nothing surprises me anymore."

Jack heard the long draw of breath over the line, most likely the Judge sucking on one of his cigars. He had to ask. "Did you know?"

"Know what?"

"About the Gant woman." When dead air traveled the length of the line like something spiteful, he continued, "That she was the one. Back then. The one who started it all."

"Is that going to be a problem?"

"For me or for Invictus?"

"Both."

Another long pause while Jack collected his thoughts. Hating to admit a weakness, he dropped the subject. "I'm concerned about the Change. It's different this time."

"The meds?"

Jack thought about Olivia.
That too.
He sensed the sudden alertness over the line, knowing Warren weighed the potential danger of the special medications against the possibility of the aggression getting out of control.
"Yeah," Jack said at last.
A small lie. And not entirely false.

"How's that?"

"I stopped the whites, started the red regime, but they're making me feel weird."

"In what way?"

"Headaches, olfactory mismatches." Jack paused and continued meaningfully. "Rough, angry, aggressive." He thought of Olivia again, all that she'd stirred up in him.

"That's not good. The MM's will screw you royally." They both knew it wasn't the olfactory mismatches that were the real problem. "Supposedly Davis eliminated the side effects with the new batch of reds."

Jack paused, mused again about the lusty intensity that being around Olivia brought out. "You need to send the Phens."

When he'd first entered the Invictus program, his medications had been a serious complication. The medical team discovered Jack's body didn't work the same as the other agents, whose natural skills were enhanced with a variety of established drugs, including steroids, so Dr. Davis had concocted powerful cocktails tailored especially for Jack. The Phens were supposed to mitigate the aggression.

And wasn't he the lucky one?

"Are you sure?" the Judge asked.

"Yeah." He paused again, suppressing a sigh. "The aggression's a bitch."

Jack could almost hear the Judge calculating the odds, measuring an innocent's life against a completed mission. Collateral damage or a job well done.

"Did you kill anyone?" the Judge asked finally.

Jack tunneled his fingers through his damp hair. "Jesus Christ! No."

"Hurt anyone?"

He thought of the bruiser at the gym. "No one that matters."

The Judge's voice over the line was calm and practical. "Then why do you need the Phens?"

Jack's voice hardened before he clicked the disconnect button. "Just send the damn pills."

Only afterward did he realize the Judge never answered his question about Olivia.

#

They met for breakfast because Olivia wouldn't agree to Jack coming to her house. He didn't blame her. She suggested a little mom and pop place near the capitol building. When he walked into the brightly lighted Country Kettle Restaurant a little after eight-thirty, Olivia was already seated at a booth by the window, gazing out at the crowded traffic on Tenth Street.

Sunlight dappled dust motes through the wooded blinds and across the oiled tablecloth. Tension darkened Olivia's eyes to the color of primeval forests and she clenched her fists on the vinyl tablecloth, warily examining him as he sat opposite her.

"What's wrong?" he asked after the waitress brought water and left menus.

Olivia didn't answer immediately, but hunched her shoulders beneath the salmon-colored sweater set that complemented her dark hair. Jack noted her ringless fingers and the utilitarian watch on her left wrist.

The waitress, a lanky, bleached blonde, whose black and white uniform strained against her breasts, returned to take their order. She pulled a pencil from behind her ear. "What can I get you folks?"

"Just coffee and sour dough toast," Olivia said.

"Make that two," Jack added.

The waitress nodded and walked away to place their meager order on the metal roundel.

Apparently Olivia wanted to make small talk before she broached the subject on her mind because after a few moments, she led with, "What made you go into government work?"

"The condensed version is college, marines, government service."

She glanced at his hands. "No wife? No children?"

He shook his head, taking her meaning. "I wouldn't wear a ring anyway."

She looked surprised. "Why not?"

"Too revealing. I prefer to give as little information as possible about myself."

Olivia stared at him over the rim of her water glass, reminding him of a time when keeping secrets was foreign to both of them, and they'd virtually poured out their young hearts to each other. "Tell me about the case," she said, setting down her glass.

"First, why don't you tell me why you called?"

A pretty flush crept up her neck into her cheeks. He waited easily while she struggled with her words. Patience had always come easy for him. Patience and a stubborn doggedness that made him a tough opponent.

The waitress set their toast orders down and poured coffee. "Anything else?"

Jack shook his head and kept his eyes trained on Olivia.

She cleared her throat. "I think a student of mine is in trouble."

He'd expected many things. Her tearing into him was high on the list, followed by anger, accusation, questions. God, lots of questions. She had the right to ask and demand answers. But the unexpected twist caught him off guard.

"Your student?"

"Her name is Keisha Johnson and no one's seen her since Friday." She leaned across the table, desperation in her voice. "I'm afraid something awful has happened to her."

"Has anyone filed a missing persons report?"

"I thought there was a waiting period."

"Not in California."

"Jack," she said, a hitch in her voice, "she's barely nineteen, a freshman. I don't think she'd take off like this without telling anyone."

Olivia could see Jack's razor-sharp mind calculating the possibilities. She breathed out a sigh of relief. Jack knew what to do. He'd help.

"You talked to her friends?" he asked. "Her family?"

"She's from New York. She wasn't planning to go home until winter break." She stirred the coffee and ignored the toast. "I didn't want to be hasty and worry her parents." She lifted one shoulder. "You know, in case it turns out to be nothing."

"But you don't think it's nothing."

She shook her head. "Keisha's very responsible. Her roommate said she went out Friday night, wouldn't say where, just that she'd be back late."

Jack narrowed his eyes. "Sometimes girls go to a party and don't come back for a few days."

Olivia held his eyes stubbornly. "This girl's not flaky, she's fast-tracked in her department, and she's on a full-ride scholarship. She's the golden girl. She wouldn't go on some wild, unplanned trip without telling someone. I know something's happened to her."

Jack nodded as if he believed her and took a small spiral notepad and pen from his inside jacket pocket. "Description?"

The waitress swept by their table, poured more coffee, and slapped the check on the table.

"Mixed race, African-American and Islander, I think," Olivia said. "She's about five-foot two, long dark hair, naturally curly, brown eyes."

"I'll check it out, see what I can find," he said after she'd given him the rest of the particulars. He put the pen and notebook back in his jacket. "Now what are you willing to do in exchange for my help?"

She'd expected nothing less than bartering, but Jack's words, stated so baldly, made her flinch. She leveled a hard look at him, feeling her temper rise. The chasm of the lost years and their disconnected lives widened another mile.

"You really are a bastard, aren't you," she said evenly.

His smile didn't reach his eyes. "Didn't you expect a
quid pro quo?"

Two could play this game, she thought, and put on her bitch face. "Of course," she said smoothly, "I wouldn't expect you to do a favor without getting something in return."

"Good, then," he said. "You won't be sorry."

"I doubt that," she muttered.
She was sorry already.
"Okay, tell me about this Invictus. A kind of government organization, right?"

He nodded. "Of sorts."

"You wanted to change the world," she murmured, feeling a little sad, "work for the rights of the underdog. Now you're part of the establishment."

"Life changes a man."

"That sounds like a bumper sticker," she chastised, frowning. "So, what exactly do you want me to do?"

"I need your specialized help with the notes."

"Notes?"

"The killer left behind two notes, both written in Latin."

"That's odd. Latin's so – "

"Dead?"

"No one speaks it, but English is rich in Latin references, not to mention the cultural influence." She set her lips in a serious line. "I wasn't putting Mr. Higgins off when I said the university doesn't allow outside consultations."

"I'll take care of that."

"How?" she scoffed "By strong arming the Catholic Church?"

"Don't worry about it. I've got it covered."

Exasperated by his arrogance, she caught her lower lip between her teeth. "What exactly do you think I can do for Invictus?"

"Work with us on the translations, maybe create a profile of the writer. There's probably something we've missed from the original cases, maybe a clue in the notes. We had our own people on it, but they're profilers, not linguists."

He paused as if weighing his words. "Four years ago, we had three ... unusual murders. Recently we had a similar murder in Utah. I just came from that crime scene. Finally, we got a lead that the killer may be in California."

A sliver of ice ran down Olivia's spine. "But no one's died, right?" Her words fell over themselves. "I didn't hear anything in the news. Could this be related to Keisha's disappearance?" She heard the raw panic in her voice and fought to control it.

Jack examined her calmly. "Not likely, that'd be a monumental coincidence, don't you think?"

"I never used to believe in coincidence." Olivia's mind rattled with dread, and the clutch of irrational fear grabbed at her throat. She looked into his hard, obsidian eyes.

Until you came back here, she thought.

Tuolumne County, California

Chapter Eight

Dragging the body down the basement steps was no easy task. Long and bony, the body was heavier than it looked and handling it strained the Avenger's muscles.
Avenger.
A self-appointed title, but an apt one. He smiled behind the Inquisitor's mask.

Dumping his awkward load in the basement alcove, he gazed around.

Perfect.

He trailed his fingers over the thick, moist walls. Even if someone lived within a five-mile radius of the building – and no one did – the sounds would be muffled by these ancient, fortified barriers. The access windows high at the north end of the room were boarded up with strips of lumber criss-crossed in irregular patterns. A solitary light bulb dangled from the ceiling, casting a dim glow over the room.

Trudging up the rail-less, wooden steps, he retrieved his tools from the first floor rectory. By the time he returned to the basement and finished positioning his captive correctly, the young man was awake, eyes wide below the gray slash of tape covering his mouth. The Avenger removed the tape in one quick yank.

The kid coughed and choked on his saliva as he hung in his upside-down position. Whining like a child already, even though he was at least nineteen or twenty. "Why are you doing this?" His voice was the high pitch of a girl.

Blood coursed furiously through the captive's body in an attempt to thwart gravity as he hung in his awkward upside down position. It pooled in his cheeks and jutted his forehead into a mass of thick blue veins. The Avenger put forth a finger covered with a purple surgical glove and pushed gently on one ropey pulse at the man's temple.

How weak and puny, thought the Avenger. A roar stormed though his head, disgust mingling with barely controlled fury.