The Cure (38 page)

Benito stirred as Ritter settled him into one of the bunks in the back of the plane. “No,” he moaned, pushing our hands away.

“It’s okay, Benito.” I tucked a blanket around him. “We stopped you in time. You didn’t hurt anyone.”

“I didn’t?” The words came out a sob. One eye fluttered open, the other too swollen to even crack. “So you got the drive?”

I sighed. “I didn’t see the drive, and Justine destroyed the information on her laptop.” We didn’t even have the laptop to see if Stella could retrieve the information, but I didn’t feel like discussing that with him or anyone else.

“I have eet.”

“You’re hungry?” Was it his accent? Or was my brain still playing tricks?

“I have
it,
” he emphasized. “They were punchin’ me and kickin’ me, and I was there on the floor anyway, so I took the drive from the laptop. Look in my shoe.”

I stared at him. “You have the research?” My voice rose loud enough that the others stopped what they were doing and hurried over.

“My shoe.” He moved his foot and groaned.

I pulled off the shoe as the others crowded around, spilling a blue thumb drive onto the thin mattress. I gave a disbelieving laugh as I swept it up. I couldn’t imagine how he’d had the courage and presence of mind to take it, bloodied and half dead as he was. “Oh, Benito,” I said, stroking his bruised forehead. “You’re a hero just like your grandfather. He would be so proud of you. I know I am.”

“So you trust me now?” His ruined face twisted in a gruesome attempt at a smile.

“Yes, I do.” I had from the moment he hit Justine over the head with that rock. “You’ve more than proven yourself. This is going to help a lot of people.” One in particular.

I met Ritter’s eyes and saw the same relief I was experiencing. He turned and strode down the aisle. “Let’s take off, Chris. Now. Every minute we waste is a minute the Emporium might show up to stop us.”

Spirits rose as Chris guided the plane into the air. We hadn’t saved the lives of the two scientists, and we didn’t know what had happened to Keene, but our mission was no longer an utter failure. We had brought back the cure for Bronson. We hadn’t let Stella down.

I sat next to Ritter, my aching head resting on his arm. “You still worried about Keene?” he asked me.

I couldn’t tell if there was a hidden innuendo in the question, if he was really asking whether I cared for Keene as a man, but I chose to take the comment at face value. “He’s a big boy. He can take care of himself. I think I’m more worried about how mad Cort’s going to be when he wakes up and realizes Keene didn’t come back with us. He’ll blame me for telling him about Tom. And then there’s Justine. What about her?” I had to say the words. Would saving her stand between us every bit as much as killing her would have?

Ritter stared at me for several long seconds. “There’s something you should know. Keene wanted to go back for Tom, but that’s not the only reason I let him.”

I stared at him. “He asked permission?”

“Not exactly. You know how he is. But when I knew he was going back, I ordered him to get Justine. We’ll have to wait to see if he succeeds.”

“If he doesn’t, it’s you Cort will be mad at.”

He shook his head. “I know, but I had to make a decision based on the entire picture. Keene’s good at what he does, and for what it’s worth, I don’t believe they’ll kill Tihalt’s son.”

I wasn’t so sure about that, but in the headiness of the moment, I would let myself believe.

Ritter closed the gap between us. “I never told you thanks,” he whispered in my ear, his breath spreading delicious heat through my body.

“For what?”

“Watering my plant while I was gone.”

“I noticed you’d brought it from the palace. I should have let it die.”

He grinned. “But you didn’t.”

No, I hadn’t, and of all the personal things he could have rescued, he’d chosen that stupid plant. Both things probably said a lot about us, but I didn’t care what.

So much left to say. So much to decide. Relationships were never simple for Unbounded. Yet for the moment none of it mattered. It was enough to feel Ritter close. I’d deal with the rest later.

I fell asleep then, waking up only to check periodically on Benito and Cort, though Dimitri was on the job. He and Mari played cards, apparently too keyed up to sleep. We’d barely passed into U. S. air space when Jace stumbled from the cockpit.

“We just talked to Ava,” he said, looking pale and ill. “It’s Bronson. He’s dead.”

A
S THE SUN ROSE OVER
the freezing city, our subdued group arrived at Stella’s apartment. A moving van sat out front, and Mari, who’d shifted the moment we landed in Portland, was helping our mortal guards carry boxes from the apartment. Time to leave. It had been inevitable, but coming so soon after Bronson’s death, the idea made me weepy.

I kept my mind tightly closed now that my headache was gone because whatever had sent that white-hot pain through my skull when I’d stopped Benito had also unlocked something else in my brain. I felt the others differently now, as if their shields were not as strong as before. Or at least not strong enough to keep me out for long. As soon as everything calmed down, I’d test the theory.

Inside, Ava met me with a hug. “Where is she?” I asked.

“The bedroom.” She hesitated before adding. “Bronson’s still in there. She thought you might all want to say goodbye, especially Chris’s kids. She says it helps children deal with death if they can spend some time with the body.” Her eyes filled, but she blinked the tears away. We lived with death every bit as much as we lived with life, and it never seemed to get easier.

Dimitri was behind me and she turned into his arms. “Thank you for bringing them all back safe.” Her words hinted at what it had cost her to stay behind.

“Always, Ava.” As he kissed her cheek, I moved away. Whether they were still oblivious to each other’s emotions, or simply too afraid to act, I might never know.

I went into the bedroom, my shoes quiet on the soft carpet. Stella lay on the bed next to Bronson, her head on her own pillow, one arm thrown across his chest. He looked at peace for the first time in months, and I let out a breath of relief.

Stella jerked and opened her eyes, coming to a seated position. “Erin,” she whispered.

“I’m so sorry.” I went around the bed to sit on her side, away from Bronson.

She caressed his cheek. “Isn’t he handsome? Even now?”

“Yes.”

“I’m going to miss him so much.” Tears started down her cheeks.

I took her other hand and murmured, “I know.”

“All these years I didn’t have a child. I saw the pain other Unbounded endured when their children grew old and died, or when they were murdered by the Emporium. I buried all my sister’s children, who were as close as my own. I knew the risks—I’ve always known the risks—and I did it anyway. I was glad. But now . . .” She paused, a loud sob escaping her throat. “I’ll never have anything of Bronson’s. He’s gone, and so is my baby.”

There was nothing I could do but hold her. Hold her and help her say goodbye. Help her bury her husband.

“You have Mari,” I reminded her. “She’s incredible. You should see her shifting in and out like a pro.”

Stella gave a short laugh, which surprised me. “So I hear.”

“Then there’s Oliver and the rest of us.” I blinked through my own tears. “I can never repay you for saving Kathy and Spencer, but I’m going to try. I know Chris feels the same. He . . . Kathy and Spencer . . .” What more could I say? She’d exchanged her baby’s life for theirs.

She hugged me tight. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be okay again,” she whispered, “but I will
never
regret saving them.”

How could she know how much I needed to hear those words? I’d come to comfort her, but in the end, it was she who gave me what I needed.

A soft popping came from behind me. I turned, reaching for a pistol that was probably still lying somewhere in the Maya ruins. “It’s just me,” Mari said.

I shook my head. “You’re going to have to stop that.”

“Sorry, but I thought you’d want to know right away. Keene’s here, and he’s not alone. He’s got that Unbounded with him. You know, the black man who was with Justine. Ritter almost killed him right outside! Anyway, the guy’s asking to talk to Ava. Ritter called her and she said to bring him up.”

Stella dived for the drawer in her nightstand, bringing out a gun and racking it. I grabbed another one and did the same. We hurried down the hall to the living room, where Keene was coming through the outside door into the apartment. He nodded at me, his eyes running over my body as if checking for signs of injury. “Good to see you all made it out.”

“We could say the same to you.” Warmth spread in my chest at his stare. I told myself it was because I hadn’t caused his death by revealing his relationship with Tom, but the tiniest part of me wasn’t exactly sure.

Keene edged further into the apartment, giving me an infuriating grin, as if he knew exactly what I was thinking. I returned this with a scowl as Edgel and Ritter appeared in the doorway, Ritter’s gun pressed against Edgel’s head. Jace and Chris were close behind, weapons also drawn.

“Why have you brought him here?” Ava demanded of Keene. She didn’t have a weapon in her hands, but the sharpness in her voice cut deep. “How dare you compromise our safe house.”

Keene shrugged. “You’re leaving anyway. So that makes the point moot.”

“I know for certain none of my people gave you this location,” Ava pressed. “How did you find us?”

“I’m not completely without resources.” Keene’s gaze didn’t waver.

I wondered if he’d followed Ava and the others here the night after the attack on the palace, or if he’d planted his own tracking device.

“Anyway,” he added, “I brought Edgel because he has a request to make.”

“What do you care about his request?” Cort lurched up from the couch where he’d been recovering. “I can’t believe I’ve been lying here consumed with anger at Ritter for letting you go after Tom and Justine on your own, and here you waltz in with this murderer.”

“I gave him my word. He helped me get away from the Emporium at the ruins when I went to find Tom.”

Cort blinked, slowly sinking back to the couch. “What happened?”

Keene’s expression flashed pain, but it was gone again just as quickly. “I arrived at the ruins where Erin found Justine. Tom was . . . he was—” He broke off.

“Spit it out, man!” Jace said impatiently.

It was Edgel who answered. “He killed Justine.”

Mari gasped. “Really and truly killed?”

He nodded. “When our men found Tom and Justine, they revived him. She was still unconscious, of course—probably would have been for several days—and somehow in the excitement Tom got hold of a sword. He went crazy, screaming something about patterns and how he wouldn’t let her destroy his plans. Her men were too late to stop him, but they’re loyal, so they turned their own swords on Tom. He didn’t survive.”

I could imagine the horror all too well, though the reality of what it meant to me was hard to comprehend. Justine and Tom were permanently gone. I’d never have to worry about them reappearing in my life. I’d never have to worry about them murdering my friends or feel guilty for all the lives they would have taken. I didn’t know whether to scream with happiness or weep for all that we had lost. I glanced at Ritter, who surely must be experiencing a similar disbelief and shock, but his face was impassive, his attention riveted on Edgel.

“That’s when I happened on the scene,” Keene said. “Too late to stop his final blow or the resulting anger from her men.” The tightness in his voice was painful to hear, telling me he felt he’d failed Tom. “Fortunately Edgel stopped them from killing me as well. In exchange, I agreed to bring him to you. I also gave him my word that you would let him go.”

“Yeah, right,” Cort said. “The only place he’s going is to our prison compound.”

Ritter lowered his gun. “Don’t be too hasty. I suspect he’s rigged himself.”

“That’s right.” Keene flashed Ritter a bland smile. “It was my idea. I don’t like to be made a liar.”

Edgel held up a small mechanical device in the palm of his hand. A thin wire snaked down his wrist and disappeared into the sleeve of his coat. “Sorry that it’s necessary. There are enough explosives here to take out this building and several of the nearby ones as well, though I do assure you I’m not suicidal.”

So he said. I wanted to strangle Keene, but at the same time I was curious as to why Edgel was so intent on seeing Ava. The explosives indicated that he wasn’t trying to defect to the Renegades.

“Go ahead,” Keene said. “I believe you, but they might not.”

Edgel wet his lips with his tongue, the first indication that he was nervous. “I’m here to ask for a copy of the research from your Mexican lab.”

“What makes you think we have it?” Ava glanced at Stella and then back at Edgel.

“Justine put it on her laptop. She may have had it elsewhere, but that was the only place I saw it, and now that she’s gone, I don’t know where it is. No one does. I was depending on that research.” Edgel’s gaze went to me. “You guys obviously took it when you found Justine, but the laptop was empty. I figured you erased it, and that means you must have a copy.”