Ultimate Warriors (17 page)

     
Angel
smiled as Anthony took her hand. Light surrounded them. It was beautiful but
bright. Julien winced. Too bright! The sensation started at his toes and rushed
up his body, a sense of loosing himself, of being sucked down a vortex of light
and sound.

     
Julien
threw himself out of the circle with a vicious curse. His eyes snapped open,
but the colors remained, blinding colors that sent shards of pain through his
mind. For a moment, the sensation of mind and body disassociating persisted.
Julien fought back his panic, taking a wild swing at Sky Master when the older
man reached for him. He didn’t know what this was. If Sky Master touched
Julien, it might well kill him.

     
He cried
out as the sensation eased. His strangled breathing smoothed, and Julien
relaxed to the floor. Everything seemed to dim. Colors were muted and dull.

     
Sky
Master checked his pulse. "Medical, now," he ordered.

     
"What
the hell was that?" Firebrand roared.

     
"Med-flight.
STAT," Water Demon rasped into the
comm unit. "It’s Soulchaser."

     
"No,"
Julien managed weakly.
"The strands."
He
grasped at Sky Master’s cover, his muscles leaden and uncertain. Julien stared
at his shaking hand in dismay. "No.
The strands."
The electronics would destroy the weave.

     
"Easy,"
Sky Master soothed him. "We lost this round. Whatever that
was is
better destroyed, Soulchaser."

     
Julien’s
protest was lost in the sound of a helo’s turbines. Medical red filled his
vision as his eyes slid shut.

* * * *

     
"He’s
coming up, sir."

     
Julien
couldn’t place that voice. It was female, not a woman he knew.

     
"Good,"
Adrien growled.

     
Julien
licked his lips. His mouth was dry and his body ached.

     
"Soulchaser,"
the first voice called again. "I know you can hear me, Soulchaser. Give me
a sign."

     
Julien
forced his eyes open. The sea lavender walls swam before him. He cursed softly.
They stuck him in medical. No operative wanted to end up in medical. For some
reason, the med-techs always believed in putting the powers through hell when
they were in, as if they were fragile.

     
"He
knows where he is," Adrien chuckled.

     
Julien
swung his eyes back to Adrien, moving tenderly. He took in the doctor in
surprise, scanning his eyes over the white identi-card on her red work cover.
"Human?" he asked.

     
She
nodded. "We do have some talents," she teased.

     
"I’m
sorry. I just thought—"

     
"Quite all right.
We were closer."

     
"What
the hell happened?" Julien demanded weakly, trying to raise an arm to rub
his neck, and finding the task nearly impossible.

     
"Medically?
Shock complicated by an electrical
imbalance — roughly the same thing that would happen if you got hit by a sonic
wave unit blast coupled with a lightening strike," she answered dryly.

     
"Lovely,"
he growled. "That’s about what it felt like."

     
She
winced. "You’re stuck here overnight," she informed him. "After
that, your own people will handle you — beside the ones they have camped in the
hall protecting you now."

     
"How
long have I been out?"

     
"Overnight."
She headed to the door, nodding to Adrien. "He’s stable, sir. I’ll leave
you alone now."

     
Adrien
smiled warmly. "My thanks, doctor, and the Calante’s thanks as well."
The old man waited until the door closed behind her. When he turned back to
Julien, the smile was gone. "What the hell did you think you were doing,
Soulchaser?"

     
"My job.
How was I supposed to know it would bite
back?"

     
"You’re
trained to know."

     
"You
didn’t train me for that," Julien groused.

     
"What
precisely was that?"

     
"If
I knew what it was, I would have been trained for it."

     
Adrien
glared at him.

     
Julien
sighed. He was too damn tired to spar with the old man today. "I don’t
know.
Light.
Pain.
A feeling that I wasn’t — there."

     
Adrien
nodded.
"Understood.
Who did it?"

     
"Did?"
he asked in confusion.

     
"Which
of the Grellan tried to kill you?" Adrien asked impatiently.

     
"Kill
me? You think that was a trap?"

     
"Of course.
It’s the same way they killed your father.
Luckily, you have faster reflexes than Empathen did."

     
Julien
let his anger have free
rein
, though he hid his mind
carefully. He was angry, and Adrien would accept that, but Julien wouldn’t let
the old man know why he was angry. Julien had no doubts that Adrien was lying
to him.

     
We will
handle it as we did last time.

     
Julien
pasted on a weak smile. "Yes. I watch my back much better than Empathen
did."

     
Julien
took a deep breath, scanning his eyes over his quarters, hopefully for the last
time. He couldn’t take anything with him. It would look suspicious if he did.
He straightened his mandarin collar and smoothed the shirtfront over his dress
slacks. Julien took another deep breath. It was show time.

     
He
ambled through the corridors, waving to other powers as he went, assuring those
who asked that he was fit and ready to return to duty when his ten-day
restriction from duty was lifted. Julien smiled and handed his identi-card to
the guard at the door.

     
"Afternoon,
Soulchaser," Ice Warden greeted him. "Have to check the
database."

     
Julien
raised an eyebrow.
"For?"

     
"Have
to make sure you’re cleared for this."

     
He
nodded. That wasn’t surprising. Julien had spent the day after his release from
the civilian medical center in the Academy medical wing. The following two
days, Julien had been confined to his quarters then the Academy. He had begun
to worry that he would still be on lockdown when Angel came for him.

     
Ice
Warden grinned, his pale blue eyes crinkling over his snow-white cheeks. He
handed Julien’s identi-card back. "All clear, Soulchaser. Have a nice
day."

     
"I
will. I haven’t had a full day out for a long time."

     
"With
great power
comes
great responsibility," he
quoted.

     
Julien
nodded. "Yes. It does."

* * * *

     
It didn’t
take Julien long to realize that he was being followed. The three operatives
were good, but they weren’t good enough.

     
With
more than five hundred operatives and cadets in the city, it was a given that
other operatives had the day off. They were all dressed in civilian clothes as
Julien was. Any power capable of blending into the populace did so to avoid the
usual power-chasers, humans who wanted to bed powers for the thrill or for
bragging rights. Of course, their identi-cards would identify them when they
paid, but most operatives frequented establishments that were discreet about
what they were.

     
The
identi-cards told even the most casual observer all they needed to know. If the
standard white card was edged in green, the bearer was a cadet through fourth
year. Blue denoted an older cadet. Yellow marked an operative, and red marked a
unit leader like Julien. Only metallic gold outranked him. Gold marked a
trustee.

     
No. They
might have been operatives out for R and R, but they weren’t. After Julien noted
two of the three in each of his first two stops, a coffee shop and a bookstore,
he purposely led them all over the city. As he expected, two of the given three
appeared at the music shop and clotherie he chose to visit.

     
Then
came
the acid test. Julien chose a restaurant near the tower
he needed that was typically overrun with power-chasers, not the type of place
that most operatives would frequent. Even cadets tired of power-chasers
quickly, once the novelty wore off.

     
Julien
sipped his coffee, glancing at the two who followed him in through his lashes.
What now? If he went to Angel, he’d lead these three bozos in. If he didn’t go,
he’d blow his chance at everything she offered.

     
He went
to the restroom, considering slipping out a window or a back door, but one of
the operatives followed him in. Julien went about a normal bathroom routine,
checking his watch critically. It was less than an hour until sunset. Whatever
he did, Julien would have to do it soon.

     
Julien
nodded to the operative at the sink on his way past, resisting the urge to
brush past him to gain momentary access to the man’s thoughts. There was no
need for it. Julien knew who sent them, and he knew their aim. What else did he
need to know?

     
He
needed somewhere the operatives couldn’t follow him, but where was that? Their
clearance would have been expanded to match
his own
.
There was nowhere Julien could access that they couldn’t. He was still
considering his predicament as he paid his bill.

     
The hand
that touched his as Julien accepted his identi-card back shouldn’t have
surprised him. Julien had chosen this restaurant for its reputation for
power-chasers, after all. The strands of her blatant invitation settled in his
groin, and Julien shivered in response.

     
She
leaned close to his ear, her full breasts brushing over his arm.
"Interested?" she purred.

     
Julien
took her hand, searching the connection. "Depends," he answered. An
idea took shape. If this one wasn’t optimum to his purpose, perhaps another
would be. If it meant getting to Angel, Julien would dust off his wild days of
bedding power-chasers. He knew how to make it clear he was available, and a red
card was a ticket to any woman he wanted — if he used it right. Few unit
leaders played the game.

     
The
information came in no certain order, as usual. She was twenty-five, an only
child. Her name was Elaine. She had her own apartment. Stunning! Elaine was a
major player. Soulchaser would be her seventeenth power. Her quarters were
close. Good sign. They were in the same tower as the quarters Julien had to
reach, second floor, outside access.

     
Julien
grinned and kissed her knuckles. "Ever been with a psychic operative,
Elaine?" She hadn’t. He knew that, and he knew the challenge of a new
conquest — a unit leader, no less — would convince her to jump at almost
anything he suggested.

     
"My
place is—"

     
"Tower
1022," he teased, kissing her hand again. "Shall we go?"

     
Julien
smiled the whole way to her quarters. This would work. The operatives didn’t
dare follow him into Elaine’s quarters. Better, their spread would be by the
book: in the hall, at the back stairpad, and in the lobby. It would be a full
twenty minutes before they’d cover the other exits. They wouldn’t call in
backup until they were sure that Julien intended to take his time about the
liaison.

     
Elaine
wasted no time, turning into his arms as soon as the door shut behind them.
Julien allowed himself a single moment of reveling in her urgency. It had been
more than three years since Julien had gone home with a power-chaser. He’d
forgotten how wild sex could get when it was one who enjoyed the game.

     
Thirty-seven
minutes, he reminded himself. Julien broke off the kiss. "Undress for
me."