Ritter’s eyes narrowed. “I agree, but it’s still our best chance—as long as they do eventually move our people. If we go in there now, we’ll lose both of Yuan-Xin’s new Unbounded as well as his other two, no matter how well they sing and dance. They’ll be nothing more than cannon fodder. Even with all our people here, we aren’t strong enough to take that building from fourteen experienced men armed with assault rifles.”
The sinking feeling in my gut told me he was right, but there had to be another way. A better way. Two of the captured Renegades were women, and after nearly being raped myself for the so-called Emporium good, I worried most about them. While Unbounded sperm could be removed from its owner and manipulated to increase the possibility of Change, tampering with the ovum had not yet been successful, and neither had implanting an Unbounded-bred ovum in a host body. That meant Unbounded women were vital to the Emporium breeding program. They wouldn’t let these two go easily, especially if they had any unusual gift or ancestry.
The Emporium’s success at sperm manipulation had led to our own testing. We didn’t, however, experiment on unwilling participants or kidnap Emporium agents for their genes. We also didn’t try to force early Changes. I told myself that was because the resulting damage, defects, and even death caused by the failed experiments was immoral, but part of me wondered if it had anything to do with numbers. We had fewer than a hundred Renegade Unbounded in the entire world and significantly fewer healers and scientists. The Emporium had a least four times that amount, possibly more. They could afford to lose one or two potentials to an experiment that might reap far more. We couldn’t.
Ritter took my silence as capitulation. “Can you see inside the building? Are they all still there?”
He meant the prisoners. Of the five, we’d sighted only two in the last three weeks, one when she’d briefly been allowed to walk around the grounds, and another when he’d made a break through the front door. The building was made of heavy materials and was large, but I should be able to see inside better. Unfortunately, an occasional glimpse of the five huddled life forces was all that I was able to receive. I’d broken through many shields outside the building as the guards came and went, but so far that hadn’t been useful. The last time I was here, I’d considered trying to access the roof because it might get me closer to the Unbounded inside. Unfortunately, their soldiers and cameras made that impossible.
“I can’t tell,” I said.
Mari squinted into the night. “What about the new Unbounded? The one they brought in the other night? Any sign of him?”
I concentrated. “Nothing. Sorry.”
“Not your fault,” Ritter said. “It’s a long way.” I felt slightly placated, though I was still mad at him for that stupid plan. Still, he had to know what he was doing, right? He’d been fighting the Emporium for more years than I’d been alive.
“Someone’s coming.” I turned to stare into the street behind us. “Two, on foot. Coming from that direction.” Everyone reached for a weapon, Ritter fading into the night to circle around. I pushed out my thoughts, touching the newcomers. “Stand down. It’s Cort and Oliver.”
“Oh, did he have to bring Oliver?” Mari muttered.
Jace snorted a laugh.
Ritter reappeared at my side as Cort rounded the shed, Oliver two steps behind him. “So, couldn’t stay away from the fun, eh?” Ritter said.
“I came to give you another option.” Cort nodded at me. “Actually, it was Erin who suggested it.”
Me? I was brilliant, but I didn’t know what he was talking about. “How’s that?” I asked.
“Show her, Oliver.”
Oliver’s satisfied smile vanished and a cold menacing one took its place—an exact mirror of the one on Ritter’s face. No, it
was
Ritter, and I was standing next to him where Cort had been, except my catwoman suit was nowhere near that tight or that low. And did I really have that much cleavage?
“Wow, that’s pretty neat,” Jace said, moving around them. “It even looks real from the back, though not exactly like the real thing.”
“Well, I didn’t see them from behind.” The Ritter that was really Oliver took several steps and peered behind the real Ritter, keeping a safe distance, which I thought was pretty smart, given that the real Ritter’s expression had hardened even more.
“Oh, that’s much better,” Jace said. “Now try to do me.”
Jace’s blond hair slowly replaced Ritter’s black, followed more quickly by the rest of Jace’s face and body. Fascinated, I reached out to see how Oliver did it, to see if I could mimic his ability.
Mari looked back and forth between the real us and the illusions. “Wow, that’s incredible. So how many can you do at one time?”
“Only two if I want them to look just like the real thing.” Oliver morphed back into himself. “Cort says I should be able to do more eventually.”
“Maybe I can do it.” My thoughts were churning. If we could pose as someone who belonged inside the compound, it would be a lot better start than that ridiculous plan.
Oliver frowned at me. “I don’t think you’ll be able to. It took me all day to—hey! Get out of my mind!”
I glanced down and found myself looking at Oliver. It looked real enough that I had to touch myself to see that it was an illusion.
“I can’t believe you’d do that,” spluttered Oliver.
“You didn’t have a shield.” At least not one of any note. “Anyway, I’m not in your thoughts, exactly. I’m barely inside. I just watched how you did it.” I let the illusion drop, taking myself from his mind. I really hadn’t meant to go inside him, but what a discovery. “There, I’m out.”
Oliver glowered. “Don’t do it again.”
“Shut up, Oliver,” Cort said. “You finally have a way to help us. Don’t blow it. Or are you saying you don’t want backup?”
“I’m just saying she shouldn’t—” Oliver broke off when he glimpsed Ritter’s face. “All right. But if we’re both going to do it, she’d better watch me again to make sure she’s got it. There’s a particular problem with the speech.”
Ritter exchanged a glance with Cort. “The question is how can we use it?” Ritter asked. “Three or four people won’t be enough to take the compound over, even from inside. Not without a plan and a simultaneous attack from outside.”
“No, but it’ll be enough to give us a peek and see what the setup is,” Jace said. “We could even plant some booby traps inside.”
“Go inside?” Oliver made a sour face. “What if we’re caught?”
“Then we free you when we free the others.” Mari gave him an insincere smile as she added, “Cousin.”
Oliver flashed teeth that seemed almost too bright against his dark skin. “Sure you would. Cousin.”
“Kids, kids.” Jace placed a hand on each of their shoulders. “Let’s call a truce, eh? Oliver, I’m amazed. That’s a useful trick. And if we get caught, you can fake that SWAT team like you did in Oregon. They were detailed enough to cause a distraction. Maybe not from behind, but who cares?”
Oliver seemed mollified at the praise and Mari knew when to keep her mouth shut. That left Ritter to decide what to do since Ava had given him total control over what went on at the compound. He paced to the end of the storage shed and back. “If we take out the new guards that are coming tonight and fake being them to get inside, we’ll tip our hand when they pull out early. Because no way am I leaving our people there all night, especially if we begin the siege.”
“We couldn’t fake being the guards anyway,” Cort said. “We know nothing about their protocol except what Erin and Ava have seen from their minds. That won’t be enough.”
An idea was forming in my head. “What about visitors? They’ve had at least two surprise inspections that we know about. One we even witnessed.” I used the term
we
very loosely because I hadn’t actually been there at the time of the visit.
Ritter’s face snapped to mine. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking we forget the siege for right now and some of us go in there with Oliver, posing as another inspection team or visitor. We take note of the setup, see if we can give our people weapons, and let them know to watch for a signal.”
“What if something goes wrong?” Oliver asked.
“We know they’re blocking radio signals from going outside the gate,” I said, “to make sure their guards aren’t overheard, so we can’t use radios. But we have detected cell phone signals. We can call out if we need to.”
“If they don’t take our phones.” Oliver’s voice was a mutter.
I shrugged. “Well, if it’s just you and Mari and me, Mari and I can always shift and take you with us at least some of the way.”
Jace arched a brow and I knew he was remembering our practices with him. “You may need to fight your way out. Maybe someone else should go, too.”
I opened my mouth to tell him that was ridiculous, but I couldn’t because he was right, and I was suddenly dreading going in with only Mari and Oliver. Even if the two didn’t kill each other, they would be next to useless in an actual fight. Oliver’s illusions certainly couldn’t fight, and Mari’s knives wouldn’t be much protection against experienced Unbounded. At least she could save herself by shifting out.
“I don’t think—” Oliver began.
“The question is, can he do it?” Ritter ran over Oliver’s protest, looking intently at Cort.
“Oh, yeah. He does it rather easily, in fact.” Cort’s voice told me he wished it were otherwise. “He should be able to grow stronger with practice. There’s even a possibility that—” He shook his head. “Never mind.” But I had already seen in his thoughts that he thought Oliver might learn to imbue his projections with substance.
Wait.
I pulled back mentally from Cort, shocked at myself for spying, but unlike with Oliver, I hadn’t penetrated his shield, only picked up his surface thoughts, perhaps even meant for me. I gave an internal sigh of relief. I hadn’t lost myself to instinct entirely. I really needed to talk to Ava about this increase of my abilities. I didn’t want to lose what few friends I had in this new life.
“Look, if it fails,” I told Ritter, “you can always go with the original plan. I know it’s a risk, but what we stand to gain far outweighs what we might lose.”
Our eyes met, neither of us speaking. Everyone else seemed to vanish until we were alone. A tremor slid down my back.
“Okay,” he said finally. “You go in now, before they change guards.” He looked at his watch. “You have one hour. If you’re not back by then, we’ll attack the guards, cut the electricity, blow Yuan-Xin’s booby-traps, and hope that provides you with enough distraction to get out.” In other words, he’d show all his hand instead of doling it out bit by bit as the original plan called for.
“Maybe we should wait,” Mari said, “and do it all at once. Free them and attack from the inside and out with all our strength on the same day. We’d keep the advantage of surprise. We’ll lose that if they discover us tonight.”
Ritter shook his head. “We need to know what we’ll be walking into. We have the original building plans but no idea how the inside might have been modified. We have no clue about locking doors or what kinds of experiments have been done on our people and how able they are to defend themselves. They could be drugged and useless for all we know, or their minds could have been damaged.”
This last he said because of Delia Vesey. The Triad member had been one of the visitors to the compound before we’d arrived. Her machinations were not limited to enemies, as verified by the distinct fear the guards had of a possible return visit. It was she I planned to impersonate.
A sense of excitement replaced the trepidation in the pit of my gut. Ritter had signed off on my plan and that meant he thought we had a real chance at success.
“In and out,” he said.
Sometimes he was so predictable. “Of course, Your Deathliness. No dallying or fancy stuff. I promise.” Not even Jace laughed at my comment. Probably too afraid of the beating he’d get at their next training session.
Ritter scowled. “Good. Now just try to remember that.”
“Will they let them in with weapons?” Cort asked, giving me a subtle wink.
“They will if I’m in the Triad,” I said.
Ritter’s mouth twitched. “Delia Vesey?”
Oliver paled. “If she finds out, she’ll kill us.”
“She’d kill us anyway.” Mari looked at me. “Who should I be?”
“How about that guy at Emerson’s?” I said. “The sensing Unbounded. He’s obviously a favorite with Delia so they might have been seen together.”
“Oh, I like that.” Venom laced her voice. Apparently, she knew how to hold a grudge. So did I because a perverse part of me was looking forward to being Delia. She scared the hell out of me and I didn’t like that one little bit.
“Oliver and Jace can be a couple of their Unbounded guards,” Cort said. “Someone prominent enough that they are recognizable, but no relation to anyone we’ve identified at the compound. Stella should be able to send us profiles. Oliver will be able to remember the information long enough to mimic them tonight. He has a good memory.” That was an understatement. Oliver’s memory was a lot better than any of ours—as he enjoyed reminding us every other day.
“Jace?” Ritter said.
Jace looked over eagerly, and for a long moment they exchanged a measured stare. At last, Jace sighed and shook his head. “Normally I’d be all over this, but it’s too risky to send four. Not when Erin and Mari can shift only one. Even a few feet could get them free. If Erin has to mask two people, she won’t be able to concentrate on getting information. Besides, I’ll need to be out here if things go wrong.” Jace met my surprised gaze. “Don’t worry, Sis. I have your back. I’ll plow through these guards and come get you if you run into trouble—no matter how many guns they shove in my face.” That was more like the Jace I knew.
“Erin can fight well enough if it comes to that,” Ritter said. Well enough was high praise from him, but the fact that he’d been willing to let my unpredictable brother go inside told me he was more worried than he let on about us making it out without incident.
I was both relieved that Jace had finally started listening to his ability’s internal warnings and worried that I’d need him inside. Clamping down on the emotions, I turned to Oliver. “What was it you were saying about voices?”