“Yes. She’s helping keep the children calm. There were about a half dozen of them hunkered down in the warehouse they’ve been using for living quarters.”
The poor kids. “What are they going to do with them?”
“Find suitable homes for them I suppose. Honor has promised to keep track of that end for us.”
Some of the mothers could be innocent in all this. Hopefully after questioning them we could narrow down who needed to be confined and who could be set free. It would probably take a while before families could be brought back together, though. With DHS involved, they wouldn’t make snap decisions based only on my lie detector abilities. I’d already gone over that with them during the planning stage and accepted there were procedures that had to be followed.
“What about the lab?” I asked, nodding at the ruined building. “How much were you able to recover from it?”
He frowned. “Not a lot. A few samples of the bacteria and some paperwork. They destroyed their computers as soon as the first DHS agents pulled up and set timers on the bombs before I could stop them.”
“How long did you have?”
“Five minutes.” He ran a hand through his tangled hair. “Derrick and the EOD man we brought with us did what they could to dismantle the bombs. I took out as much evidence as I could before relocating them to safety, but it was hardly enough time. The sensors were prepared for this eventuality.”
I’d assumed Jerome would be. That much didn’t surprise me.
“Any chance there was a cure in there?”
“If there was, I didn’t find it.” His expression turned regretful. “There were some rats in cages with fleas infesting them in a back room, but by the time I discovered them there wasn’t enough time to get them out.”
I’d suspected that’s how they started things. Sneaking the rats to places where they were sure to run into the targeted supernaturals. They could have used the rodents to test cures and vaccinations as well. It was too bad Yerik didn’t find them in time for experts to check them out.
“They must have inoculated themselves as a precaution, especially since a regular plague vaccine won’t work against this strain.” I rubbed my face. “They can’t have just trusted it would never break out among the human population.”
Lucas nodded to a spot over by the fence. “They’re rounding up the group members now. We’ll be able to question them soon enough.
“About that,” O’Connell said, walking up. “Under the circumstances we’ve decided to take the entire group—minus the critically wounded—straight to our facilities in New Mexico. With nearly sixty of them to handle and their proclivity for violence my superiors think it’s best to get them to a more permanent location rather than impose on local authorities.”
New Mexico was the main place where they handled supernaturals. It was supposed to have very high security. While that was a good thing for holding Jerome and his people, I didn’t know how to find it. We’d be left in the dark unless we found a way to track DHS and break into their place. It wasn’t impossible but made things a lot more difficult.
I glared at him. “I told you from the start they were dangerous and you knew their potential numbers. Why change the plan now?”
“To be honest? They didn’t think you’d really give us something this big on our first operation together.”
“But all the support?” I waved my hand around at all the agents and crews working around us.
He shrugged. “It would have been more if they’d taken the gravity of the situation seriously.”
“So what are you telling the emergency crews?” They’d been arriving steadily since before I came outside.
“We’ve mostly stuck with the truth—aside from the supernatural element, of course. They think we’ve just shut down an operation for a dangerous terrorist group. Your friends here have promised not to do anything that would make them think otherwise.”
In other words, they wouldn’t be flashing around or performing magic.
I glanced at Lucas. “You did?”
A lot had happened while I’d been in the warehouse.
He gave me a blank look. “It is easier than compelling all of them and it’s not as if we walk around making spectacles of ourselves normally.”
“Okay, fine.” I returned my attention to O’Connell. “But you still have to let us question members of the group.”
He gave me a condescending look. “Speaking of group members. It might have been nice to know your father was the one who ran it.”
I’d been waiting for that shoe to drop.
“If you’ve looked at my records then you know I was adopted. It wasn’t until recently that I discovered the identity of my real father. But…” I pointed a finger at him. “It only proves I don’t let my personal relationships get in the way of taking down dangerous men.”
I wasn’t above twisting the facts to suit my needs.
His expression was unfathomable. “That point has been noted already. While we will need to speak with you further about that relationship, my superiors have agreed to allow you and three others access to the New Mexico facility. That’s the best I could do.”
I searched for Kerbasi and found him sitting against the building with his eyes closed. There were several bullets lying on the ground in front of him. He must have dug them out. I’d have to take him no matter what, though it looked like he wouldn’t be causing much trouble.
“Then Lucas, Yerik, and Kerbasi will be the three I take,” I replied.
Mr. Brown walked up. “We’d assumed that’s who you would choose.”
There was something about him that bothered me. He just seemed a little overeager to make things work between his agency and supernaturals. Maybe I’d grown too paranoid in recent years, but it didn’t hurt to be cautious.
“You’re not planning to hold us as well are you?”
He shook his head. “I’m not sure we could.”
“That’s not an answer.” I put my hands on my hips. “Try again.”
His expression turned impatient. “I assure you that we will not hold you in our facility against your will. You will be free to come and go. We only ask that you follow some basic rules while you’re there and not reveal the location to anyone.”
“Fine, but while I’m visiting I want my pixies back. You’ve held onto them long enough.”
O’Connell had claimed he had no say in the matter when I first asked for them back. DHS had kidnapped them around the same time they tried to take my mystic friends. Now that I had a little more clout I was going to use it.
Brown gave me an apologetic look. “You’ll have to discuss that with my superiors.”
“Believe me, I will.”
Chapter Twenty
I stared through the Plexiglas window, seeing one of my brothers for the first time. A man who was about six years older than me at thirty-four. He had brown hair like Jerome but was slighter than our father with a medium build. A set of cracked glasses rested on the edge of his nose. He lifted his cuffed hands from the table where he sat to push them back up.
This was the chemist who’d engineered the plague bacteria before the demon added its magic. Not only did I have to live with a demented father, but a brother who was apparently just as corrupt. I half expected people to start casting wary glances at me. Not that I could blame them.
“Are you going to talk to him?” Lucas asked, coming to stand beside me.
He’d just come from interrogating Jerome—with little success. I’d let him have first crack at my father because I wanted to see what I could get out of my brother first. Plus it would make Jerome squirm a little, wondering when I’d visit him.
“Yeah,” I answered. “I just wanted to study him a little before going in there. He’s got his emotions closed off like his father.”
Lucas gave me an amused glance. “Stubbornness seems to run in the family, but perhaps we’ll get lucky and Brennan will be more forthcoming.”
Lucas had tried all sorts of tactics to make my father talk—short of outright violence since we’d promised DHS to not abuse their detainees. Jerome had refused to say a word. There were a few tricks to get around that if we had a few days to play them out, but we had less than one.
The plague was still spreading and we needed to return to Alaska. I also wanted to get back to Emily. Cori would be taking good care of her, but I hated to leave her for long. Tomorrow was Monday and she’d have to go to school.
“Wish me luck.” I reached for the doorknob.
“Give him Hell.”
I stepped into the room and Brennan looked up. There was instant recognition in his expression. At least one of us could recognize the other.
“So we finally meet face-to-face,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “The photos I saw of you lying tied to a bed didn’t do you justice.”
No way was I going to let him see that comment hit its mark. That had been one of the worst experiences of my life and I had a lot to choose from. The fact our own father orchestrated it only made the wounds that much deeper.
I took a seat across from him. “Wish I could say it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
He cocked his head, studying my face. “You look like her.”
“Like who?”
“Our mother.” He gave me a malicious smile. “I guess I had a little more time with her than you did.”
I lifted a brow. “Maybe, but it’s interesting she left you behind when she took me.”
According to Jerome, she had wanted to give me a different life. A life that didn’t involve giving birth to as many children as possible in the name of propagating our race. She’d run and managed to give me up for adoption before Jerome caught up with her and killed her.
Brennan flinched. “One point for my little sister. It’s too bad you’re batting for the wrong side. We might have learned to like each other.”
“I doubt it.” I held his gaze, keeping my emotions in check. “You get along with Jerome and I never could.”
“That’s what you say, but it would have been different if you’d been raised with us.” He jiggled his cuffs as he scratched his hands. They were irritated and red—probably from wearing latex gloves so much in the winter.
“Speaking of family, where is our other brother?” I asked.
I’d checked every member of the group that had been present back at the hideout—those who survived the raid and those who didn’t. He hadn’t been there and Honor, our spy, said she hadn’t seen him return.
Brennan shrugged. “I don’t know.”
He spoke the truth.
I leaned forward. “Why wasn’t he there?”
“You know, I could reach over and choke you right now.” His gaze dipped to my throat and back up. “But I guess that wouldn’t kill you, would it?”
“I dare you to try,” I taunted. It would give me the excuse I needed to hit him.
He dropped his hands onto his lap. “You’d like that, but I’m guessing DHS rules are why you’re keeping your distance now. That’s what you get for bringing the government into this.”
“Where’s our brother?” I asked again.
Brennan stared at me with eyes the same shade of blue as mine and said nothing.
“Did he get tired of you guys?”
He didn’t blink.
“Did he decide you were going too far? Decide to take off on his own?”
Still nothing. Maybe it was time to get to the more important question.
I leaned closer to him until there was only a foot separating our faces. “Where’s the cure?”
“There is no cure that I know of.”
Truth. Dammit.
“A vaccine?” I inquired.
He gave me an amused glance but said nothing.
“Maybe I should expose you to your little plague bacteria and see what happens.”
He shrugged. “You could try—if DHS will let you.”
“But will you get sick?”
“Little sister, I think you know the answer to that question.”
He was referring to me that way just to annoy me. I didn’t want to be his sister. In fact, I hated the very idea of it. How could I have come from this family? The very thought of it was going to give me a complex.
“So what happened to the vaccine?” I asked.
When he didn’t say anything, I just kept staring at him and didn’t move. For a few minutes he did the same, but then he started to fidget. After five more minutes, he broke eye contact. Now that I was immortal and my body didn’t get uncomfortable as easily I could play the game for a long time.
“It’s destroyed,” he finally said.
“All of it?”
“Yep.” He smiled.
Damn. He was telling the truth. “How do we make more?”
“We? I won’t help you, but I’m sure if you get enough experts on it you might figure it out in the next couple years.”
I gritted my teeth. “What if it spreads to the human population?”
“It won’t as long as you or any other sensor doesn’t break it. The demon magic makes that much obvious to our kind. I can’t imagine anyone would be stupid enough to do it.”
The jackass was cocky—I’d give him that. I had the overwhelming urge to poke his eyes out so I wouldn’t have to look at them anymore. They were just like mine, except evil.