Revelations: Book One of the Lalassu (11 page)

“No.” He shook his head.

“I don’t want you to get hurt.” She heard the words and was shocked.
When the hell did I decide to say that?

“Listen to me, Dani. I don’t want to get hurt either. But I won’t sit on the sidelines while they hurt Bernie. We’re partners. Equal partners. With equal say. We’ll decide what we’re doing together.” His voice and face were completely serious and sincere.

The hope and certainty she could see in him made her feel small and petty. Part of her wanted to unleash withering sarcasm, but something held her back. Maybe it was the memory of her sister holding out the sketch of Michael’s face. Maybe it was the intent earnestness in his eyes. But her verbal weapons melted away.

This was the moment of choice. She could crush him, or she could protect him. Clearly, he’d go on to investigate without her, and he’d most definitely get hurt. The only way she could get him through the next few days intact would be to truly join up with him. She faced him and shouldered the responsibility. “Fine. Partners.”

Chapter Seventeen

“Who’s the narc?” Vapor demanded, dark eyes squinting at Michael from less than an inch away.

“No one says
narc
anymore.” Dani rolled her eyes. “He’s a friend.”

Michael leaned back as the looming giant studied him, tilting his shaved head back and forth like an inquisitive hawk.

Vapor’s nostrils flared as if marking his scent for the future. “He’s not one of us,” the hacker announced.

“He’s gifted.” Dani’s eyes glinted in the light. “You doubt me?”

Michael let loose a sigh of relief as Vapor retreated. He could deal with continuing suspicion, but would rather it happened from across the room.

Vapor cocked an eyebrow at Dani. “Interesting. Your papers are in the envelope.”

Michael’s curiosity hummed into overdrive. Dani had warned him this man was part of the
lalassu
community, but she hadn’t shared what his gifts were. What powers were even possible? He’d definitely stepped into the deep end of his new reality. He wanted to pepper them both with a thousand questions but held his tongue. He had to focus on Bernie and Dani’s brothers.

She picked up the plain manila envelope and thumbed through the contents. “And my research?”

Vapor tapped on his keyboard and images appeared on the multiple screens: enlarged driver’s photos of young men and women, blueprints for buildings, scans of newspaper clippings. Michael rubbed his chin with his hand, uncertain what to look for in the mass of data.

“What the hell is all this?” Dani demanded.

“Bigger than you could imagine. Bigger and deeper. Your brothers interviewed for Right-Hand Man, which hires and trains bodyguards for a parent company—AD Enterprises. Branches on both coasts and overseas.” Vapor rapidly pulled up image after image as he talked. “AD Enterprises is part of a network of companies owned under the umbrella of Dalhard Industries.”

Michael stepped forward, studying the information. “It’s all shells to keep the parent company clean. Is one called Expanding Horizons?”

Vapor’s fingers clicked away, summoning the answer like an ancient magician. “Score one for the groupie. Expanding Horizons, run by Horizon Charitable Foundation, main donor: Dalhard Industries. CEO, André Dalhard. Born in the United States but mostly works out of Europe. Tabloids have spotted him on our side of the ocean.”

“Then they have Bernie. But she’s not like your brothers. She’s only a little girl with schizophrenia.” Despair threatened to swallow him. He turned away, not wanting to lose face in front of Dani and Vapor.

“Are you sure about that?” Vapor asked.

Gentle fingers stroked along Michael’s arm and determination welled through the contact. “We’ll get her back. Her and my brothers.” Dani met his surprise with cool certainty. He could feel her compassion but also her ruthlessness of purpose. In that moment, he believed nothing would stop her short of killing her.

“Has she ever shown any unusual symptoms? Things flying through the air? Being afraid before something bad has happened?” Dani asked.

“Talk about it later. For now, let’s focus on Dalhard Industries,” Vapor interrupted.

These were frightening people with frightening resources. An image formed in Michael’s mind of Dani sprawled on the ground, blood pooling below her while empty eyes stared blindly at the sky. His breath stuck in his throat as he reminded himself he didn’t see the future. He tried to shove the image away, but it lingered, staining through his thoughts like a watermark. He couldn’t bear to see this proud, confident woman humbled by the crushing forces of power and wealth.

He was more determined than ever not to let her or Bernie down. The time for playing a hero was over—now it was time to shut up or step up to the plate. Vapor continued his explanation, and Michael hastily dragged his attention back.

“It’s not just your brothers. Dalhard hunted widely. They avoid leaving direct evidence but cannot hide the ripples of their actions. I have found five others who have been taken, and I have strong suspicions of a dozen more.”

“Have any of them returned?” Michael asked.

“Only the bodies.” Vapor’s blunt answer knocked the hope out of Michael.

“A dozen? How could they take so fucking many of us? Someone should have noticed.” Dani suddenly froze. “The stars disappear, but we don’t see because we don’t know their names.”

“Poetic but accurate. We are a scattered people, hiding in the cracks of society. With patience and money, anything can be swept from plain sight.” Vapor’s brows drew together in anger. He glanced at Dani. “Without divine guidance—”

“Don’t go there,” she snarled.

“You can’t deny your responsibilities. The Babylon legacy—”

Dani heaved an exhausted breath. “You know why I can’t.” Michael felt both fear and weariness from her. He’d only felt something similar once before, when his grandmother had been diagnosed with cancer. The realization of facing an inevitable painful and messy death had provoked the same particular combination of fear and exhaustion. His curiosity sharpened.

“Where are my brothers?” she asked, forcing Vapor back to the subject at hand.

Vapor turned back to the humming bank of computers. “I don’t know. Not yet. There are too many possibilities. I hoped the jacket fragment would narrow matters down, but Dalhard ordered identical ones for many of their companies.”

“Jacket fragment?” Michael lifted his head, his focus and purpose returning. He spotted the palm-wide scrap sitting on a pile of books and tugged off his gloves.

“Mike, you don’t—”

The rest of Dani’s sentence was lost as his fingers touched the plasticized fabric.

Anxiety and purpose were the first emotions, carrying images with them: two men in a deserted gas station, one huddled behind the first. The first lunged at him with savage eyes and a defiant roar. Static-distorted orders filling the area as men in combat gear grabbed weapons, trotting in military rows out of a low office-like building… with an address.

“I know where it is,” he blurted out, jerking back into ordinary consciousness only to lose his train of thought as he became aware of Dani’s body pressed against his, holding him upright with ease. He’d collapsed, he realized with dismay. He’d never had that happen during an object reading before.

“Mike?” she whispered, her hand pressing lightly against his forehead and cheek. He caught the edges of the anxiety she ruthlessly suppressed beneath practical concerns, like glimpsing a seashell under roiling waves.
She’s afraid. Really afraid. For me.
The revelation was startling.

“I’m okay,” he assured her. A little light-headed and his mouth and tongue were dry, but he was okay. Something tugged on his awareness, something he’d missed in the initial flash of information.

She frowned. “You’ve been out for almost—”

“Twelve seconds. Not exactly a 911 call,” Vapor interjected.

Connected by bare skin, Michael felt the sharp jolt of shame stab through Dani. No trace betrayed itself on her face as she stepped back, regaining her cool demeanor. “I’ve never seen a psychic trance like that. You were just… gone.”

“What do you mean, gone?” Whatever happened, it had clearly unnerved her.

“As if your body was empty. Dead.” Her voice was rough and barely audible.

Dead
. Yeah, he could see how that would freak someone out. Shoving the unsettling thought aside, he tried to ignore the tugging of his subconscious to concentrate on what he did know. “I think I found where they were taken. A large building set behind some low hills. It’s out in the middle of nowhere. Perfect place to do secret experiments you don’t want anyone else to know about.”

“I’m surprised more places don’t advertise that feature in the real estate listings,” Vapor said.

“There was no name on the building, but I know where it is. It’s a small access road off County Road Seven.” It wasn’t far, probably less than an hour outside Perdition.

“Seven…” Vapor’s fingers were flying. “Here.”

A large map blinked up onto the screen. County Road Seven was clearly marked, along with a small access road which led to nothing.

“It was there. I saw it,” Michael insisted.

“Switching to satellite.”

Square by square, the map was replaced by a satellite photograph. Vapor zoomed in on the site, which seemed to show a small loop at the end of the access road and nothing else. Michael couldn’t believe the images on screen, his hopes faltering. He’d never gotten false information off a flash before.

“Clever bastards. Think they can hide.” Vapor’s slim fingers traced the image onscreen. “But not from me.”

“Or from me.” Dani studied the image intently.

Michael stared, trying to guess what they were looking at when he suddenly saw it—a faint seam in the interlaced green-and-brown vegetation that traced back and around, outlining a substantial building. “Camouflage paint on the roof. But what about winter?”

“White and gray, probably. Unless the satellite did a pass in spring or fall during the transition, they’d be invisible,” Dani guessed.

Michael’s mind reached toward the image on screen. A logical part of his mind said he should resist, especially if he was going to collapse again. But he didn’t stop.

“These men have the money to ensure a spring or fall pass doesn’t happen,” Vapor added grimly.

“Bernie!” Michael blurted. Dani and Vapor both stared at him. “Bernie is there, too.”

“I thought she was at Expanding Horizons.” Dani glanced over at Vapor.

“She’s been moved. I’m sure of it. She’s there. Along with your brothers.” Michael thought he’d been worried about her before in that fake hospital. Now he understood real terror. Men with guns, men who killed those they took. And no one would believe any of them.

“I’ll check the files at this Expanding Horizons. Confirm he’s right,” Vapor offered.

“Thanks, Vapor. See what else you can find out about the new place. Blueprints, security, anything.” Dani studied the screen. “Anything to help me get in and out.”

“Us,” Michael reminded her. Dani nodded slowly, her reluctance clear.

“Come back tomorrow. I should have something by then,” Vapor told them. The meeting had clearly been adjourned.

Dani’s hand was on the doorknob when she paused. “Vapor, one more thing—put the word out. These bastards don’t need any more of us.”

Michael nodded in approval. The hacker snorted and continued to tap away at his keyboard. “Already done.”

Chapter Eighteen

“So what’s the next part of the plan? Go to the site?” Michael asked as they got back into Dani’s convertible.

“Not yet.” Dani’s fingers were tight on the wheel. He could sense the churning emotions inside her. She glanced at his bare hands. “You left your gloves.”

“We need every edge to save Bernie and your brothers. We have to get them out as quickly as possible.” Elation at finding the
lalassu
community and not having to hide his gifts was undercut by his determination not to leave Bernie in hostile hands for a moment longer than necessary.

“Guns blazing? Wouldn’t work even if we had guns. We’d just get dead.”

Michael sank back.
Of course this wasn’t going to be so simple
. “So what do we do?”

“Wait for Vapor to get us the information he promised. Then we figure out how to get in and out. It might take days to find a way in. Meanwhile, I don’t want to attract attention by acting differently.”

Michael nodded. Lesson one in the difference between real life and stories: in stories, they skimmed over all the preparations. As much as he yearned to charge forward, he recognized the wisdom in Dani’s suggestion, but it didn’t explain the frustration and trepidation he sensed from her. “What’s wrong?”

“I hate waiting,” she muttered. “Luckily, I have a shift in a few hours.”

“At the club?” Michael asked.

“Yes, the club.” Her harsh reply suggested he hadn’t been entirely forgiven for his previous assumptions. Guilt swelled. He’d hurt her with his judgment.

Dani continued. “If I have to run, I’ll want the money. And meantime, I don’t want to drive myself crazy while I wait. Maybe it’s not as noble as what you do, but I like it and I’m damn good at it—”

“I’d like to come with you,” he interrupted quietly.

She paused. “What?”

“I’d like to come with you,” he repeated. “I made a mistake before, judging without really knowing anything about your situation. I’d like to learn more.” Her reactions had reminded him of the snaps and snarls of a feral animal. He needed to be the definition of patience to allow her to relearn trust. They’d trained him to deal with clients with similar issues.

A slow smile brightened her face. “That’ll definitely give the Gossip Twins something to talk about. All right, Professor, let’s go.”

He couldn’t resist a twitch of a grin at the mental image of Brianna and Kirsten’s faces. Tossing his bag into the back seat, he noticed the plain manila envelope Vapor had given her lying there.

“Dani, what’s in there?” he asked.

“Something I have to deliver.”

Her curt answer didn’t encourage further questions, but Michael still pressed on. “Is it part of the Babylon legacy?”

Her fingers tightened on the wheel and he felt a maelstrom of emotion erupt inside her. Guilt, terror, shame, and determination all whirled together in a disorienting mash-up. He started to apologize. “I’m—”

“Just leave it alone. Sit back, relax, and try to enjoy the show.” Dani’s mask was firmly back in place. Michael settled into his seat, willing to be patient. There had never been a secret he couldn’t uncover. And he sensed this was one that had festered in Dani’s soul for far too long. Meanwhile, he’d trust his instincts that he was on the quickest path to rescuing Bernie.

“Chuck says it’s a star.” Bernie’s eyes were closed and her head pillowed on her arm as she answered the question.

A woman in a white lab coat made a note on her clipboard before pressing a button on her tablet. She held it carefully to be sure the child couldn’t see the screen.

“Please, I just want to go to sleep,” Bernie said, her eyes ringed with dark bruises.

The woman ignored her, focused solely on the tablet’s screen.

“I don’t want to do this anymore.”

Silence swallowed her pleas.

“A cup. Chuck says it’s a cup.”

Observing from an upper window, André watched as the little girl continued to answer question after question. He marveled at her accuracy. “How long has she been doing this?”

Karan consulted his notes. “Eight hours. We moved her from the Expanding Horizons site after one of her therapists came snooping around.”

For now, he wanted nothing to distract him from his latest acquisition. He’d deal with the security breach later. “She’s the genuine article. Who is this Chuck she keeps mentioning?”

“Unknown. Her records identify the name with a persistent hallucination, a sort of imaginary friend. Perhaps a way to keep from mentally fragmenting while using her powers?”

He shrugged. “In any case, we have confirmation. No sense wearing her out completely. Tell them to wrap it up in the next hour.” André waved his hand to dismiss the matter, triumph igniting and uplifting his spirits. “Tomorrow, have them try the sessions at a distance. See what her range is. Are we having any more trouble from the mother?”

“She filed a police report, but we inserted a number of reports from social workers and police questioning her fitness.” Karan checked his records.

“I don’t want it left as a loose end.” He liked that he didn’t have to explain it further. But to his surprise, Karan had an objection.

“Eliminating her now could draw unwelcome attention. It should be done at a discreet distance. Perhaps when we have moved the girl overseas?”

André whirled, intending to snap at his aide, but quickly reclaimed his calm. After all, he kept Karan around to warn him of things others might not see. “Discredit her, drug her, kill her. Whatever it takes. Orphans are less messy. What about the other children at the center?”

“None of them show any signs, despite several promising beginnings. They are exactly what they seem, developmentally disturbed individuals.” It had been Karan’s idea to find supernaturals at the center, among those who would think them crazy.

André crossed to the other side of the observation platform to look down on another pristine white room. Monitoring machines crowded a medical bed in the middle. Ron McBride was strapped down, thrashing against his padded restraints as technicians tried to inject him.

André frowned. “They’re risking damaging him.”

“The doctors have imposed a chemical coma, but as you can see, the injections and their results are painful enough to overcome it.” Karan only showed mild interest: a scientist testing a hypothesis.

“How are the results?”

“Muscle mass has increased by over thirty percent in less than twenty-four hours. His bones are growing, as well. He’s almost two inches taller than when we began.”

“Interesting. And it’s only halfway through the treatment.” Excitement intoxicated him. After so many years, the breakthroughs were happening too quickly to savor properly.

“Yes. We can anticipate doubling our current results.”

“Excellent. We’ll run tests after to see if there has been any cognitive impairment.” As long as McBride could stand and pose, and preferably not shoot himself in the foot, they could make it work. He headed toward the elevator.

“The original test subjects have been kept in isolation, as you requested.” Karan anticipated André’s next request. “Despite the poor food and conditions, they have been healing at an accelerated rate. Their metabolism may make the drug trials unreliable.”

“Then we’ll try a more direct approach. Bring them to lab seven. We’ll run the Silver protocols.” André couldn’t keep an anticipatory smile from curling his lips.

“I’ll have Rogers brought up.”

“Good. Any luck in tracking down their true identities?”

“The cell phone was a dead end—too many false trails to follow. But we were able to use facial recognition to find these.” Catching up, Karan offered two enlarged pages from a high school yearbook. “Eric and Vincent Harris. Went to a local rural high school with barely two hundred students.” Karan handed him a third page.

“What is this?” The picture showed a girl on the cusp of womanhood, with long dark hair and olive skin. Her dark, liquid eyes and full lips hinted at a joke unshared with the rest of the world. He stopped to study the image, and his blood ignited for a different reason.

“Danielle Harris, from the same school.”

He couldn’t break away from the siren allure of the girl’s eyes, even in a slightly fuzzy enlarged photograph.

“No other Harrises attended that particular school. I found their emergency contact information and all three listed the same cell number,” Karan finished.

“What number?”

“It is no longer in service. Records indicate it was a prepaid mobile. The address on their enrollment forms also doesn’t exist. But they had to be in the area to attend the school.”

“Search the area, but quietly. No sense triggering a mass evacuation by their relatives, assuming they’ve stayed local.” Dalhard smoothed his finger over Dani’s teenaged image. “And find her.”

She was attractive. If she didn’t know he held her brothers… he could persuade her to become a willing participant in his plans. A pliant wife would be an asset in his business dealings. Men felt more comfortable dealing with a married man. It implied stability. The ideal situation would be if she were a carrier for her brothers’ abilities. He could harvest her ova for any number of subjects.

Even if he couldn’t, he was confident he could charm or threaten her into doing what he wanted. He generally didn’t use his persuasive gift to its full potential. It had a nasty effect on brain functions, turning people into puppets. Mostly he used it to tip people off the fence onto the side he wanted. His mother had used it to ensnare his father and build the business. She’d taught him how to use manipulation to get people wavering, and then seal the deal with a touch.

Dalhard tore his eyes away from the photo. “Find her. Now.”

Sweat trickled along Karan’s temple, and he hurried away without another word, leaving Dalhard with the picture.
Who are you, my dear? Are you the piece I’ve been waiting for?

“Danielle,” he whispered. “Come out, come out, wherever you are.”