Ivory (Manhatten ten) (2 page)

Valdís wasn’t quite there, but she was knocking on the door, at least in terms of sheer back-the-fuck-up warrior spirit. She stood over a dead man, in a pool of the passengers’ fear, and her eyes rolled.

No fear there. Goddamn if she wasn’t looking for an exit. I wouldn’t put it past her to jump.

It was time to get the situation under control. I lifted my hands and took a few slow steps. Despite the fact I was supposed to be a badass, my pulse moved. “Valdís? You okay there?”

After one more killer glare, she blinked.

Ignoring the body at her feet and the killer tension in the cabin, her automated flight attendant response kicked into gear. “The fasten seatbelt sign is on, sir. Please return to your seat.”

All that tension pricked like a bubble. Couldn’t help it. Had to laugh.

The sound must’ve kicked her back out of shock. She finally took a good look at the dead guy.

“Shit.” Valdís melted her ice spear in a puff of frigid mist.

Cool trick.

“Why don’t we sit down?” I wanted to get her out of sight before the cavalry arrived. I was surprised they hadn’t already. You’d figure, gunshot on a plane, someone would get interested.

She shot me a cold eye-roll.
Why would I want to sit down?
Pretty composed after killing a guy, and I was impressed. “Let me take care of your friend there. You just saved the plane.” I said the last a little louder than necessary, just in case anyone was confused. I could see how they might mistake her as the attacker.

“Panther?” A man peeked over his seatback, and some of the other passengers turned my way. Whispered relief breathed through the cabin.

If I’d already been spotted, I could turn the situation my way. “Sorry everyone. My partner and I have everything under control.” I snagged an in-flight blanket and tossed it over the body. Valdís still looked like she was contemplating a jump, so I grabbed her shoulder and steered her back to my seat.

Her muscles tensed, but she let me lead her. Probably would’ve ripped off my hand if she didn’t want to go where I was headed.

When she finally sat down, the warrior spirit drained away. Not all of it—I doubt she could lose it all if she tried—but enough that worry pinched the corners of her eyes. “What am I supposed to do about that? I’ll be fired. Jailed.”

“I’d think the airlines would want a super stewardess, wouldn’t you?”

“Flight attendant.”

I grinned under that frigid gaze. “Sounds like you need a career change.”

“Back to wrestling.” She sighed and sank deeper in the chair.

I had to wonder. What
kind
of wrestling?
 

Later. I gave her my best smile.

“Ever want to be a super hero?”

Chapter Two

Ivory

They should’ve put me in handcuffs as soon as we landed, but Panther, if that really was his name, pulled more strings than a seamstress.

As soon as we touched down in Los Angeles, FAA, TSA and a million other acronyms were on the scene. They removed the body and interviewed a few witnesses but never approached me. A few words from Panther, and the men in suits nodded and left us alone. All I could do was pace the galley and wait for them to clear the plane.
 

As much as I didn’t want to be charged, the phrase “miscarriage of justice” came to mind. How could I kill a man, even an armed one, in front of a plane full of witnesses and walk away without so much as a questioning?

Clearly I was dangerous. I’d come close to the edge, letting out my powers and instincts. Something in Panther had drawn me back, but my calm was shaken. A few moments more and I might’ve snapped. Permanently. The ice inside me jumped, pushing to get free now that it saw an outlet. It hadn’t been this bad in years.

“Ready to go?” Panther flexed his massive shoulders.
 

“Go where?” I’d been too distracted to listen to his tale about heroes.

“Told you I was recruiting you.” He gestured for me to precede him down the aisle, but I folded my arms. I didn’t want him where I couldn’t see him. He smiled and walked ahead. “Come on. We’ve got a flight to New York.”

“This is madness.”

“This is Sparta.”

“We’re in Los Angeles.” What was wrong with this man? “And why are we going to New York?”

His broad shoulders shook with laughter. “Don’t go to many movies, do you?”

“Answer the question.” I had no plans to follow him anywhere. If I wasn’t going to jail, I needed to put myself back together.

“Our organization’s called the Manhattan Ten. You’ve heard of us, yes?”
 

“Yes.” They appeared in the news often enough, but I wasn’t interested in such things. I tended toward travel magazines when I had a moment to read.

“Right now we only have nine on the roster. After all that, I think you’d make an excellent number ten.”

“No.” I did have a life of my own, as hellish as it would be now. Returning to my routine was the only way I’d get out of the danger zone. “I’m going home right after I speak with the authorities.” We neared the exit, but the door opened to a set of rolling stairs instead of the passenger bridge.
 

“I told them you were working with us to get you out of trouble.” Panther froze in the portal. His frame blocked the airfield, but not the roar of activity outside. “There’s no going back.” He descended the steps.

It took all my courage to follow him. Officials swarmed the runway, ushering terrified passengers into a secure area. News vans and copters teemed just outside the protected airspace. The telephoto lenses were tangible on my skin.

They had pictures and eyewitness accounts, and Panther was right. I couldn’t go back in the middle of the storm. Not to my apartment, and certainly not to my homeland. My mother would execute me on sight for revenge, and to absorb my powers into her own. I hadn’t spoken to her since I stole to the south, but leaving the tundra—especially in secret—was a traitor’s action. My absence would be a perpetual source of shame to the family.

I couldn’t go back. Ever. A homecoming would be pride-swallowing at best and deadly at worst. To save myself from that, I could follow this man’s lead. Things would cool down eventually.

Panther waited at the bottom of the stairs. All the officials looked our way, but Panther waved and strode past their blockades, heading toward the sleek G6 that idled nearby.

It couldn’t really happen like this. Certainly it couldn’t be so easy.

I followed him into the private jet. It was better than anything I’d ever flown in, with custom leather seats so large that he and I both fit like regular passengers without folding in half.

He took the seat across from me and smiled his cat’s grin. “What kind of wrestling?”

“What?” His question knocked away the feeling that this wasn’t happening to me.

“You said you’d have to go back to wrestling.”

“Nothing you need to know about.” It was a woman’s league in Slovakia. A tight, dirty little gym for the desperate. Those had been the dark years, before I’d adjusted to modern life, and I didn’t plan to share them with Panther.
 

“Hmm.” He leaned against his headrest and again, I was struck by his size. His muscles weren’t for vanity. They’d been formed from hard use, and he moved with a fluid grace that showed he could put them to action. My younger self would’ve challenged him to a fight, but I’d grown wiser. I couldn’t be easy around him, especially when I was so off-center.

“Don’t open up much, do you?”

“I’m being functionally kidnapped.” He’d gotten me out of a bad situation, but now I was at his mercy, and I didn’t like being out of control in any sense. One loss could lead to another.

“I’m making good for getting you into trouble. That was my mark you stabbed with the icicle.”

“You were tracking that man?”

He must’ve heard the disdain in my voice. If he’d been responsible for that, then I doubted his eyesight, let alone his abilities as a super hero.
 

“I know. Not a very good job. But there was this gorgeous stewardess—”

“Flight attendant.” I gritted my teeth. He was unbelievable. “And why were you letting such a dangerous man wander around my plane?”

“I was tracking him to find out who he was meeting in L.A.” Panther pulled back his smile for a moment of seriousness. “Our information suggested he was stable unless he was around supers. I’m guessing he noticed your contribution to the air conditioning. ”

I cursed my carelessness. Panther
had
figured me out on the plane.

“I’ll take the flak for letting the guy out of my sight. Your actions were all justified. Though you did beast out on us.”

I’d never heard that expression, but I didn’t disagree. My warrior hadn’t slipped in ages, and it felt dangerously good to give her rein.
 

That was the problem.
 

Now my powers were that much closer to the surface, and they
wanted
out. Willpower kept me solid, but without a few weeks of yogic meditation, I’d be a time bomb. Best case, I’d call down an unseasonal summer blizzard or turn a few innocents into ice cubes.
 

Worst?

I’d be a full-time raging warrior woman. With the power came a lack of…peripheral vision was the nice way to say it. I’d be nothing but a frigid huntress, fixated on my prey at the expense of all else. Then it wouldn’t be just a few innocents to worry about.

“That whole rage thing happen often?”

“What about you?” I was tired of answering all the questions, and as dangerous as I was, Panther didn’t look like any saint.

“Now and again.” Panther’s grin reappeared. His canines pointed a bit more sharply than standard. Not enough to be deadly, but enough to recall my first impression of him. This man was a hunter. “It’s good to let off steam.”

“What
is
your power?”

Panther lifted one of his dinner-plate hands and wicked claws emerged from his fingertips. “Technically it’s a jaguar thing. My tribe used to be in with the Mayans, but there are only a few of us left.”

His liquid yellow eyes glittered, and I reminded myself to keep cold. Perhaps he’d understand me better than I thought. I had my own tribal worries, but that was the life I’d left behind.

I’d already hinted too much. Instead of revealing anything more, I closed my eyes. Both of us knew I couldn’t sleep under the circumstances, but it kept Panther from asking anything else.

In New York, a helicopter waited on the runway. After so many hours in flight, I was eager to get to our destination, wherever that was. My skin would always be flawless, but I craved a shower.

A short trip later, we perched on a skyscraper’s helipad. Panther offered me a hand down, but I leaped without him. I was quite capable on my own.

A woman waited for us at the rooftop doorway. Once we were inside and the helicopter’s noise muffled, she offered a firm handshake.
 

“Lovely to meet you, Ivory.” She was curvy and probably Latina, with dark hair and warm brown eyes without a threat in them. “I’m Angel. Welcome to the tower.”

“My name is Valdís.” I frowned at Panther. “And I’m not sure I’ve gotten a good explanation…”

“¡Pendejo!
” She swatted Panther with a manila folder. “Go see Tank. I’ll take care of your mess. Again.”

“
Mi princessa
.” Panther blew her a kiss, winked at me and disappeared down the stairs.

“I’m sorry about him.” Angel sighed. “We’re still figuring out what happened, so you must feel caught in a whirlwind. In any case, it’ll be a relief to have a woman on the team.”

“You’re a hero?” I followed her down the steps. “You don’t seem…”

“Like a super hero?” She tapped her temple. “Super brain. Mostly photographic memory. I’d call myself a glorified manager, but the boys insist I’m part of the team, even if I don’t do the field work.”

We entered an elevator lobby, but Panther was long gone. Angel punched the button.

“And Ivory?” I was sluggish from such a long day and tapping into my powers after so long. I felt like I’d missed several things I shouldn’t have.

“Ah.” Angel hugged her folder. “The media caught the story and your picture. They’re calling you Ivory.” The door pinged and I followed her inside, wondering how so much had changed so quickly. “We can start a PR counter if you’d rather push your real name, but the public loves naming newfound supers. It would be hard to unstick.”

“Ivory’s fine.” I didn’t plan to associate with their group long enough for it to become permanent.

“Wonderful.”

I expected the doors to open to another lobby, but instead they revealed a penthouse with floor to ceiling Manhattan views. Elegant surfaces of chrome, leather and glass furnished the room and choice Ansel Adams photographs hung on the walls.
 

They weren’t prints.

“Sixteen will be your exclusive floor.” Angel handed me the folder. “I gathered you information on the basics, with access codes to the relevant data on our intranet. You can key your door closed, but there’s no need. It’s totally secure, and the boys will respect your privacy. The main offices are on three, and I’m on seven if you need anything. I had the fridge stocked and—”