The Escape (30 page)

“Ah, so the two from the room weren’t alone after all,” Dimitri said.

“It happens again over here.” Stella brought up a second image. “This time with an employee who seems to be watching the elevator.”

“If they have those two, they’ll be careful enough to have someone near the back exit we plan to use,” Yuan-Xin said.

Ritter put a hand on the table leaning over to get a better view of Stella’s laptop screen. “Show me the door to the alley.” He studied a man slowly vacuuming a floor. “Probably him.” He straightened. “We’ll have to take care of them all before we smuggle Patrick out. Okay, Jace, get down to the kitchens and report to duty. By the time you get there, Stella will have made sure you are their latest employee.”

“Already done,” Stella said. “I can’t get him the clearance he’d need to deliver room service to Mann because security has it flagged, but once the call is made—if the call is made—we’ll give Jace the signal and have him take the cart from the real employee.” Her eyes went to Jace. “I’ll send the details to your phone.”

“The original agents are leaving,” I said, having kept track of them, both on the camera picture in one corner of Stella’s screen and in my mind. “We’ll need to make sure they leave the hotel.”

Jace put in his wireless earpiece, followed by the ring that hid a mic. “I assume someone is going into the room with me? Though if there are only two mortals and Mann, it should be a piece of cake. As long as there aren’t any others lurking around.”

“There could be more hiding their life forces behind shields.” I felt uneasy that it was my word they depended on when it was my little brother’s life at stake.

That didn’t faze Jace. “Then it’d be someone with sensing not combat. If they can’t channel like you, they won’t be a problem.”

If, if, if.
I wanted to tell him he didn’t know what he was talking about, that Delia was more powerful than he could imagine, but I didn’t really have anything but my one meeting with her and my own fears to base that assumption on.

“I’ve reviewed their video footage since Friday night,” Stella said, “and there’s no record of anyone entering that room besides Patrick Mann and several different sets of agents.”

“No connecting rooms?” I asked.

“None.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust my ability exactly, but the fact that I’d been sharing Davis Emerson’s mind with Delia’s minion and had sensed absolutely nothing had unnerved me more than I’d admitted to myself.

“Regardless, no one goes in alone.” Ritter hesitated, his eyes wandering over each of us in turn. “With at least three other agents in the hotel, I’ll need someone to help me below, and someone will need to help Jace remove and hide the employee he’ll be taking the room service cart from.” He glanced at Dimitri. “That’s probably you.”

Dimitri nodded. “Whoever it is won’t even remember the prick of my needle.”

“Will you need any help getting out of the building?” Ritter asked Stella.

“No, I’ll just take my laptop and my headset and walk out the front door.” She patted a five-inch square box. “This will need to stay here to keep their cameras blind, but I’ll leave a timed auto erase when I leave, so it won’t matter if they find it later.” She hesitated a heartbeat before adding, “But we do have another slight problem. I laid down one of my mini bots as we came in, but it stopped transmitting before it even reached Mann’s room. I’ve tried it on various frequencies with the same result and even tried to call it on my phone. Still nothing. That means they’ve got a signal interrupter inside to prevent anything but hard-wired communications. My guess is not even their own cell phones can call out from that room.”

“That could work in our favor,” Jace said. “Especially if you can make sure they don’t use the hotel phone to call backup.”

Stella grinned. “I can do that. Of course, they could always just switch off the machine if they want to use their cell phones. I imagine it’s there so no one can spy on them electronically. That might mean they’re expecting us.”

“If they were, they’d have a mental shield like the one broadcasting at the compound,” Dimitri said. “Erin wouldn’t be able to see inside.”

“Hmm.” Stella didn’t look convinced. “I suppose the interrupter could be in place to make sure no unscrupulous reporters get their thrills.”

“I’ll go in with Jace,” I volunteered, coming to my feet. “That way I can channel his ability and we’ll be doubly efficient. And I’ll be able to communicate with you if our radios don’t work inside.” I’d also be responsible for Jace in case I was wrong about Mann being alone. As I was fairly sure the Emporium wanted me alive, my presence might give me a bargaining tool.

No one else is there,
I told myself.
Nothing will go wrong.

Ritter nodded, his mouth tight. “Okay, but stick to the plan. No variations. Down and out to the back alley. Dimitri will hide the employee and meet you guys in the stairs to help get Mann out. Yuan-Xin and I will dispatch our guys and be there waiting as well. I want it all to happen within three minutes. We can’t risk discovery once you go in.”

“You want me to remove the employee’s memory of seeing us?” I asked.

“Don’t waste the time,” Ritter said. “He won’t see enough of you to matter, and sooner or later everyone is going to know the vice president’s son is missing. Let Secret Service muzzle the hotel staff if they don’t want the press to know yet.”

Jace walked toward the door. “Patrick had better order soon. I swear, if I’m on dish duty, I get patrol without Oliver for the entire next month.”

Ritter’s lips twitched, but he only said, “Remember that if Mann decides to go out, we’ll change to plan B.”

Jace paused. “And that is?”

“We jump him before he gets to the elevator and hustle him down the stairs. You’ll be close enough in the kitchens to get the agent at the back entrance.”

“Cool.” Jace opened the door.

Stella followed him with the cameras down to the front of the hotel and then to the kitchen where the personnel there directed him to the man in charge. Satisfied that Jace was safe, I sat on the couch next to Dimitri to wait. Plan B would be so much more convenient. If only we could get lucky.

After ten minutes, I finally stood and took off Ava’s coat before sitting back down. I let a few seconds pass before I said to Dimitri, “How do you keep doing it? All these years.” Over a thousand. My mind could barely comprehend living a tenth that long.

“You mean keep fighting against the Emporium?” His eyes were grave.

I nodded. “I’d think at some point you’d just say to hell with it all and disappear. Spend the rest of your days on a beach somewhere, or in a cabin deep in the mountains of some remote village whose name no one can pronounce.”

A smile tugged at his lips. “I’ve actually done both of those things at different times in my life. It never lasts for long. I keep going for my posterity. For the human race. Besides, I enjoy my comforts too much to go native somewhere, and I like working with all of you. We’re a family. That’s what keeps us going. Family doesn’t give up. Not ever.”

“So much depends on us. These little fixes.” I frowned. “And you also have so many children and grandchildren and other descendants to keep an eye on. Don’t you ever get tired? Don’t you ever worry that you might miss someone? That you might not be—” Be what? I didn’t know.

“Enough?” he asked.

“I guess that’s it. I don’t know if I could—” Remove myself from my children’s lives to protect them, watch my grandchildren die while I was still young. Keep lists of posterity and check up on them when they neared the age of Change, only to induct those who did Change into a secret war that might bring death at any moment—and likely in the most gruesome and painful way possible. So much loss and responsibility.

Dimitri laid a hand on my shoulder, comfort radiating from him. “You do it one day at a time. You use what technology is available and you simply go forward. You let yourself experience joy when you can, and you take time to mourn. It’s not as hard as you might think.”

“If you had it to do over, would you have so many children?” So many that after a thousand years he wouldn’t be able to tell me all the names without one of our genealogical programs.

He chuckled. “Well, it’s not as if my genes gave me much of a choice since we can’t simply switch off our fertility, but there isn’t one I would wish away, and that’s a lot more than most mortals can say. I’ve learned that it’s not over until it’s really over, and I have unlimited years to wait for misbehaving kids to come around—whether they’re mortal or Unbounded.” He paused, his smile widening. “Is this about you and Ritter?” He glanced toward the door, where Ritter was deep in conversation with Yuan-Xin.

“Maybe.”

He nodded. “It’s about time.”

“You once told me he might not be ready for a hundred years or so.”

“I was wrong. I think you’ve both delayed enough.”

“You’re a fine one to talk.” Hadn’t he and Ava danced around their relationship for much longer?

His brow furrowed. “Whatever are you talking about?”

“Never mind.” But there was one more thing. I looked at Dimitri and found him waiting, as though he’d already known there was more. “Jace figured out that his birth was engineered. He wants to know the truth.”

“Are you going to tell him?”

“I don’t know. I mean, yes. I just don’t know when. I’m afraid he won’t—” What? That his curiosity and impetuous nature would send him into the arms of the most dangerous man in the world?

Duh.

Dimitri crooked a brow. “Some things you don’t get to choose, and you can’t protect him from everything. He’s a good boy, Erin. He’ll find his way.”

Yeah, but I didn’t know if I could wait a century or two to watch Jace recover from any side trips. Still, Dimitri had a lot of years of experience so maybe he knew what he was talking about. Of course that didn’t mean I had to tell Jace tomorrow.

One hour passed and then another as we waited in the hotel suite. Was Patrick one of those rare Unbounded who never ate anything? I pushed into his mind again, wishing I could send him images of thick beefsteaks and mounds of buttered potatoes. Delia had done it to me, put in thoughts that I’d first assumed were my own, but how?

Normally when I wanted to communicate with someone, I simply pushed out a mental thought without much preparation and it appeared almost instantly in the person’s sand stream. However, the thought clearly originated outside the person’s mind, so I always identified myself if there might be any doubt as to who was doing the pushing. Yet people do sometimes have sudden thoughts that appear for no reason and those don’t cause a mental alarm, so maybe the way I pushed thoughts into the stream is what alerted people to my presence.

Tentatively, I formed a picture in my imaginary hand and held it near the sand stream of Patrick’s thoughts, working more by instinct than anything else. The idea hovered for an instant, shifted up and down gently, and started to move inside. Belatedly, I realized the stupidity of my actions. What if he suspected someone was messing with his mind? I could blow the entire operation if he called for backup. I reached to take back the thought, but it was sucked inside the stream.

Patrick’s reaction was immediate and unexpected. Nausea filled his mind. Okay, so how was I to know he was a vegetarian? Guess that made absorbing rather challenging for him since he couldn’t exactly choose not to absorb animal proteins. The good news was that he didn’t seem to suspect my presence. Should I try again?

As I considered what else to suggest, he put down his magazine and reached for the phone. “Room service?” he asked. “I’d like to place an order. Vegetable soup and bread sticks, warm with extra butter.” I could see the butter melting in Patrick’s thoughts, feel his mouth watering. “As soon as possible. Thanks.”

Before I could tell the others, Stella was already replaying a recording of Patrick’s order.

Ritter shoved in his earbud. “Showtime,” he said, approaching the couch. I stood up to meet him. “Our timing will start on your signal, Erin, so let us know when you’re about to enter the room and we’ll act. Remember, three minutes after you go in I want you at that back door.” His voice was normal but worry screamed from the shallow furrows in his forehead. Had he always been this easy to read? Had I only imagined him as a mountain of impassiveness?

“Wait,” I said, reaching for Ava’s coat.

He hesitated, his eyes going to mine and sending slow heat to my belly. I drew out Keene’s tiny switchblade from a pocket of the coat. I’d challenged him to use words that made up communication in the mortal world, but maybe I could use his terms every bit as much as I expected him to use mine. “I won’t be needing this.”

His hand touched mine, still holding the knife, and at once I felt him around me, exuding a permanence that no longer frightened me. His fingers curled around mine, making my hand into a fist around the knife. “You might need it. You can throw it away yourself as soon as this is over. In fact, I already have another for you.”
A better one,
his tone implied.

I grinned. “I see.”

With black eyes that looked like molten rock, he drew away and started for the door where Yuan-Xin and Dimitri waited. “Let’s go.”