Moonlight(Pact Arcanum 3) (11 page)

“Alex who?”

“Collins, the Vice President.” Daniels snarled. “He’s the only one who knew and had that level of access.” He stabbed his finger down on a call button on his desk.

The two Secret Service agents at the door walked back into the room. “Yes, sir?”

“Find out where the Vice President is right now.”

The other agent spoke into his wrist microphone and waited a few seconds for a reply. He faced the President. “Sir, the Vice President is at Andrews, on board Air Force Two. They’re about to take off.”

“Where the hell is he going?” Daniels snapped.

“England, sir. He’s supposed to meet with the Prime Minister in London regarding the U.K. Government’s relationship with the Court of Shadows. He’s been setting it up with the Court Ambassador for several months.”

“Right,” said Daniels, nodding. “I remember now. Tell them to hold the flight on the ground on a pretext until I get there. Don’t let him leave the plane under any circumstances.”

Nick stared at the President incredulously. “Collins has been meeting with the Court Ambassador for months, and you didn’t tell me?”

Daniels ground his teeth. “At the time, I didn’t think it was relevant.”

Nick’s eyes shaded toward red. “You were wrong.”

“Obviously.” Daniels addressed the agents again. “Get me a helicopter to take me to Andrews, right now. Stay off the radios, and don’t warn the Vice President’s security detail that I’m coming.”

One of the agents nodded. “Yes, sir,” he said, exiting the room.

“I can jump us there faster,” Nick said.

Daniels shook his head. “Andrews is a sensitive military transfer point. We brought in outside contractors to project a jumper block over the entire facility and give us the means to rotate the access frequencies continuously. Even if I order the block shut down, the soldiers on the base have been ordered to shoot first if they see a teleport matrix form.”

Nick raised his eyebrows at that. “Why?”

Daniels smiled grimly at him. “We didn’t want a repeat of your performance at the Los Angeles Air Force Base.”

Nick faced the remaining agent. “How long before a helicopter can get here?”

“Ten minutes from Andrews to here, and then another ten minutes to return,” answered the agent.

“Get my security detail ready, and tell them that I’m expecting trouble when I meet with Collins,” Daniels instructed. He smiled grimly at Nick when the second agent left. “You have my permission to read his mind, if it will help find my daughter any faster.”

Nick nodded. “I know most high-level government officials keep some version of a second-generation psychic inhibitor on their persons, ever since Court started dumping them on the American black market, so I might not be able to get in.”

Daniels snorted. “If we’re right, he’s guilty of treason by releasing an EMP projector to a foreign power. He wears an American flag lapel pin. The inhibitor is attached to the stud on the back. Under the circumstances, I think it’s safe to say that he doesn’t deserve to wear it.”

CHAPTER 13

House Daviroquir Stronghold, Pennine Mountains, Greater Manchester, England; Four hours, twenty-nine minutes remaining

“Wake up, Toby!”

The words were piercingly loud, but he couldn’t grasp their meaning. Sluggishly, he tried to focus.

“Please wake up. I’m scared.”

Andrea,
he thought finally.
It’s Andrea’s voice. What is she scared of?
Toby opened his eyes and found himself lying face-down on a scratchy wool blanket. He attempted to roll onto his back but found his hands were bound behind him. Blearily, he tried to remember what had happened. The memory chilled him like ice. Gasping, he flopped onto his side and took in his surroundings. He was lying on a narrow cot in a six-foot cell, surrounded by clear glass walls on three sides. The fourth was covered by metal bars. Andrea paced back and forth in a similar cell next to his.

“Oh, thank God.”
Andrea stopped pacing and came to stand directly opposite him on her side of the wall. “About time you woke up,” she said out loud.

“Are you all right?” Toby’s voice rasped, and he felt the pain of bruises all over his body along with the sharp stab of what was almost certainly a cracked rib.
It can’t have been that long if the damage hasn’t healed
.

“I guess Sentinel genes are good for something.” Andrea said with a snort. “They brought us in about two hours ago, and since then they’ve left us alone.”

Toby blinked in surprise.
Two hours? Why haven’t they killed us yet?

Andrea rolled her eyes. “Don’t go giving them any ideas, Toby. Maybe they just wanted hostages.”

Toby turned his head carefully to stare at her. “Andrea,” he said softly, “why did you just say that?”

She tilted her head quizzically to look at him in confusion. “I just meant there’s no point worrying why they haven’t killed us. We’re alive, at least for now. Be thankful for small favors.”

“I never said anything about them killing us, Andrea,” Toby said in a monotone.

She frowned. “Yes, you did. Just now you said—”

“You’re wrong,”
he thought.
“I didn’t say a word.”

She blinked. “But I heard—” She broke off, her eyes widening. “Your lips aren’t moving.”

Toby laboriously pushed himself into a seated position, dropping his feet to the floor. He turned his gaze back to her. “What the fuck have you done?”

She scowled at his accusatory tone. “What did
I
do? You’re the one with all the magic.”

Toby looked over his shoulder at the leather bindings around his wrists. “These are charmed restraints, Andrea. I couldn’t raise the magic to blow my nose right now, let alone open a telepathic link. This is all on you.”

She stared at him in shock. “But that’s crazy. I can’t do anything like that, Toby.”

“Tell me what you’ve been doing since we got here.” His eyes never left hers. “Everything.”

She sat on her cot, not breaking eye contact. “Nothing. I’ve been trapped in here with nothing to do but check my watch and try to wake you up.”

“How did you try to wake me?”

“I yelled at you. I banged on the glass.”

“What else?”

She frowned. “That’s it. Well, I … Never mind. That doesn’t matter.”

“Tell me. It’s important.”

She colored slightly. “It’s silly, but my mom told me that if you want someone to get well faster, you have to reach out and let them know you’re watching for them to recover. I sort of tried to concentrate on making a connection to you and sending you some good vibes.” She dropped her gaze. “Sorry. I know it’s just superstition—”

“You opened a link,” Toby said in a defeated voice.

She stared at him. “What do you mean, a ‘link’?”

“A Sentinel link, Andrea.” Toby slumped backward against the wall, ignoring the discomfort in his bound hands. “You made us a dyad, forever.”

“But I’m not a Sentinel!” she answered.

“Yes, you are,” Toby whispered.

She stared at him and then slowly got to her feet, her fists clenched in fury. “Oh, my God. This is what it was all about, wasn’t it? That’s why you came, because I’m a Sentinel.”

Toby nodded wordlessly.
“Yes.”

She swallowed when she heard his silent thought. “How long have you known?”

Toby sighed. “Since the funeral, after Nick shook your hand.”

“Who else knew?”

“Just me and Nick, Jack and the Triumvirate, as well as the other Winds.”

She grimaced. “That was a lie. I could feel it on your tongue when you said it.”

Toby sighed. “We told your father. He insisted that we not interfere with your life.”

“Fat lot of good that did,” said Andrea. “It still doesn’t explain why they attacked us. I can’t be the only latent Sentinel in England.”

“Not just a Sentinel,” Toby began, readying himself for her reaction. “You’re one of the Winds.”

Andrea sat again in shock. “The Winds?”

“The leaders of the Sentinel people,” Toby said. “They’re the four strongest Sentinels in the world, one for each element.”

She rolled her eyes. “I know what the Winds are, Toby.” She took a deep breath and let it out. “Which one am I?”

“Air.”

“Power of the mind,” she said, her expression thoughtful. “Is that how I made the link, even with your powers suppressed?”

Toby frowned suddenly. “That’s probably right. They must not have thought you were worth restraining yet. You’re still probably a good four to six hours away from coming into your power entirely, if the usual estimates hold true for the Winds. They probably didn’t realize that your Gift has kindled this far.”

Andrea shivered. “That woman, Yvette, she said she had plans for me.”

“What?” Toby stared at her. “Yvette is bad news, Andrea. She’s schemed and lied her way across Europe for thousands of years. Nick thinks Lorcan agreed to let her serve as Ambassador just to get her away from the Court where she could do less damage.” He thought quickly. “What did she say, exactly?”

Andrea stared at the floor. “She said she had plans for me and that we’d have plenty of time later to get acquainted. Then she laughed and walked away.” She swallowed when she looked back at Toby. “I thought she meant that she planned to convert me, but that can’t be it if I’m a Sentinel. We’re immune to vampire blood, aren’t we?”

“Yes, but only once the change is complete. Before then, we’re just as vulnerable as humans. Even more so, since we gain our powers before the final mutation. That’s why Luscian perfected—oh, God.”

She leaned forward at his change of tone. “What is it?”

“A hybrid,” Toby said, staring at her in naked horror. “She wants a scion with the power of a Wind. She’ll be unstoppable if she manages to pull it off.”

The two of them sat in silence for a moment. Then Andrea sat up straight. “We have to get out of here.”

Toby smiled weakly. “I’m open to suggestions. My magic is blocked, and you’re not strong enough yet to get us out of here.” He tested his bonds experimentally. “If I can’t get these off, we’re probably both going to die tonight. The difference is that you’re going to be coming back.”

“Bullshit!” she said, coming to her feet and starting to pace again. “Just because we’re trapped for now doesn’t mean that we should give up and go quietly. So they took away your powers—”

“They’re blocked, not suppressed,” Toby said absently. “The bindings only prevent me from controlling my abilities, but they’re still there.”

“Then maybe we can hack in and free you somehow.”

Toby looked sharply at her. “It might be possible. They probably didn’t know you were strong enough to link this fast, or they would’ve restrained you too. You could use your own magic to free me, if you knew how.”

“But I don’t, so why even mention it? We don’t need another dead end.”

“You’re probably right.” Toby licked his suddenly dry lips, wondering if they were under surveillance.
“Don’t answer out loud, just think what you want to say. If you’ll let me in far enough to establish control, then I could use your own power to cast the spells necessary to break down the restraints.”

She swallowed.
“You want me to let you take over my mind?”

“Either that or die here. It’s worth a try. I just need your consent.”

She thought for a moment before answering.
“Fine. Do whatever you need to do.”

Toby reached out along the link, through the barely substantial shields her human mind had instinctively created over the years. Insinuating himself deeply into her thoughts, he extended his control into her slowly awakening Gift. A rush of power flowed through him, making him realize how dependent he had become on his own magic. Turning his attention back to his own body, he analyzed the spellforms he could now see embedded in the leather. Once he understood them fully, he created a countercharm around the restraints to neutralize their magic progressively. Critically evaluating his work, he decided that it was the best he could do with the strength of her Gift. Then he carefully disengaged himself from her mind.

Andrea stared straight ahead for a moment, then shuddered and closed her eyes.
“Well, that was … different.”

Toby looked at her nervously.
“I tried to be as gentle as possible. I’ve never used a link of this depth before.”

She shook her head.
“No, that’s the thing. It felt right, like you were meant to be there.”

Toby blushed and looked away.
“We’re bonded now, Andrea. It will always feel right.”

She nodded thoughtfully.
“Did it work? Were you able to break the restraints?”

“Yes,”
Toby said, flexing his wrists.
“I couldn’t do it all at once, since your Gift is Air and not Fire, but I could set a spell in motion that will break down the charm layer by layer over time. It might take a while to get to the point where I can actually force them off.”

“How long do we have?”
asked Andrea.

Toby leaned back against the wall.
“If I’m right, and Yvette means to try to turn you, she’ll probably wait until just before the third-stage mutation is complete and you become immune. From the rate your Gift has progressed so far, it won’t be more than four or five hours.”

Her expression hardened.
“Then we need to have a plan for when we get the opportunity to escape.”

Toby looked at her.
“You know we probably aren’t getting out, right?”

She snorted.
“Way to think positive, Tobias.”

“I’m just being realistic,”
said Toby.
“If you make it out and I don’t, will you do me a favor?”

“I don’t think a promise will hold much water, if she turns me into a Nightwalker.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. Honor counts for a lot with them.”
Toby turned his head away.
“Tell Nick and the rest of my family that I loved them, and tell Layla that I’m sorry I won’t be there for her and the baby.”