Part 9 (1/2)

First I had to find the strength. I began to absorb as fast as possible.

”Hurry, Keene,” Mari muttered as she came to a stop.

I wondered if he was coming at all. Maybe he wanted us to get away and had told Mari to leave, knowing the Emporium agents would be in front waiting and hoping she would obey him and not stop. Yet neither of us were prepared to leave him behind. At the same time, I didn't dare expend energy trying to find him mentally. I was already close to collapse.

The agents' s.h.i.+elds were nowhere near as strong as the sensing Unbounded's-a good thing since shards of gla.s.s seemed to be nestled inside my back and chest, making it difficult to focus. I pushed hard but the s.h.i.+eld of the first agent only bounced back. I had nowhere near the energy it'd take to break it down. If only I had something strong to hit it with. In frustration, I conjured up a mental image of my machete and hit the s.h.i.+eld again. I was in!

”There he is.” Mari's voice came from far away.

Not daring to move my head and lose my concentration, I saw Keene not with my eyes but as a life force moving down the stairs. Far too slowly. He wasn't going to make it. The second agent reached for the door. I slammed my machete again and I was inside him, too. His foot stepped onto the pavement as he reached for his gun. Keene was at the bottom of the stairs.

I mentally grabbed at the agent's arm, much as I had pushed at Oliver's hand that morning. But I was too spent, and he hesitated only briefly before the gun started rising. The other agent stepped from the car.

No! I swung the imaginary machete at them and light pulsed from the tip. I felt more than saw them grab at their heads.

The next second our car was in motion, tires squealing on the pavement. The last thing I heard before I lost consciousness was the door slamming.

THE SOFT Sc.r.a.pE OF A sword leaving its scabbard woke me. I was lying on my stomach naked from the waist up. Grabbing at the sheet covering me, I sat up too quickly, trying to see in the dark. I felt Ritter before I recognized the infirmary, and I let out a sigh of relief. Mari had gotten us to the safe house.

”Did I wake you?” Ritter asked, his tone too casual. In the dim light coming from the open door, I could see the gleam of his sword as he rubbed it with a cloth.

”What happened?” There was no pain in my chest, but I felt a buzz that told me I'd been given curequick, and probably more than once if I was healed and the high remained.

His hand stilled on the sword. ”What part? When you disobeyed Ava's order and took Keene with you this morning? Or when you almost got yourself killed trying to get the Hunters' records? What happened to s.h.i.+fting out at the first sign of danger?”

”I did what any of us would have done to preserve our cover and mitigate damages.” I swung my bare feet over the edge of the bed, adjusting my position. No pain meant someone had operated on me and taken out the bullet so I could heal faster. It sometimes took days to expel bullets on your own. With Dimitri away in Ma.s.sachusetts, I was betting Ritter had done the operation. He seemed to excel at taking bullets from my body.

Ritter didn't respond, so I continued, ”Look, I made a decision I felt would give the fastest return. As for the records, at least we stopped the Emporium from getting them.”

”It might have been our last opportunity for months to grab those records.”

”Don't you think I know that? But if I was able to get the combination from him so fast, don't you think the Emporium would have as well once they made contact with his son?”

In two steps Ritter was next to me, moving so fast I didn't see him put down the sword. He smelled of soap and clean clothes, so at some point he'd had a chance to wash up after his day of work and my operation. As usual, he was dressed in black and looked as dangerous as any weapon. He opened his mouth to speak but closed it again. Frustration leaked from him. What did he want?

”I used the ballistic knife,” I said. ”You'll be happy to know it works great. Shot out of the housing perfectly.”

He sank beside me, a reluctant smile curving one corner of his mouth. ”So I heard. Good shot, by the way.”

”Thanks.”

A buzz in the sudden silence had him reaching for his cell phone. ”It's Ava texting from the garage, asking if you're awake. They're on their way up.” He handed me a s.h.i.+rt. ”Guess you'll be wanting this.”

”Man, and I really liked my blue one.” I seemed to have the worst luck with clothes. Maybe I'd start ordering them by the dozen. Mari had ruined my favorite pair of jeans in Mexico, and I still hadn't found time to find a decent replacement.

Voices down the hall signaled Ava and Dimitri's arrival. Quickly, I pulled the s.h.i.+rt over my head, threading my arms in the holes and letting it slide down before releasing the sheet. The older Renegades in our group didn't worry much about nudity, but I wasn't casual with my nakedness. Besides, with what hung unsettled between me and Ritter, the more clothes between us, the better.

Ritter hit the light switch on the wall by the bed and came to his feet. ”I hope they have good news.”

I did, too. And I hoped someone had already explained to them what had happened at the Emersons' townhouse so I wouldn't have to. Glancing down, I saw the s.h.i.+rt was a dark gray with a V-neck I'd seen Ritter wear before, made of a thin, stretchy material that caressed my skin like a touch. All at once, accepting the s.h.i.+rt felt far more personal than if I'd kept wearing the sheet.

”Is she awa-” Dimitri broke off as he saw me. He crossed the s.p.a.ce between us and leaned down to give me a hug. ”Sorry I wasn't around to take care of you.”

I laughed. ”You mean put my pieces back together?”

”Something like that. I hope Ritter did a good job.”

Ritter paced to the other side of the room. ”Wasn't me. Keene took out the bullet.”

Oh, so not only had I disobeyed and gotten myself shot, but I'd had the gall to get better with Keene's help. ”Guess I'd better thank him,” I said lightly, turning to Ava. ”Did you find anything?”

”Actually, no.” She frowned. ”Everything, and I mean everything, was in place. We talked to dozens of people at the hospital, pursued leads all over Worcester and several other cities in Ma.s.sachusetts, and interviewed more people over the phone. Stella hacked into computers, I spied on people's minds, and Dimitri consulted on several cases-he even saved two trauma patients in the emergency room.”

”They were children,” Dimitri said somewhat apologetically. ”All I did was give them enough strength so they would survive their surgeries.”

Ava met my gaze. ”Try explaining to frantic parents why a strange man was touching their child in such an intimate manner.”

”Oh, I thought you filled in rather well with all that talk about pressure points and blood flow.” Dimitri smiled. ”As always.”

Ritter and I exchanged a glance, and I was relieved to feel the tension between us dissipate. ”There has to be something,” I said. ”Patrick Mann got those genes somewhere. Isn't there a chance he could be adopted like Brody Emerson?”

Ava shook her head. ”The doctor who delivered him died a few years back, but we talked to two nurses who were there that day. For one woman, it was her first week on the job, and it was a big deal to her. They both verify that the Manns had a son that day. The only slightly interesting thing we found was that on the same day another woman had a baby boy and placed him for adoption, but that's not unusual in a hospital of that size.”

”Did you talk to the birth mother?” I asked. ”Is she Unbounded?”

”I wish. Then we might have some reason to think there was a switch.” Ava sat on the bed next to me, her expression grave. ”After some digging around, Stella found her name, but there is no Emporium connection that we can see. Same with the listed father. We talked to the mother on the phone and she became quite upset. Said she saw her baby after he was born and that he had black hair, but he had problems breathing so they rushed him away. When she saw him again his hair was lighter and he looked different.”

”That seems promising,” I said. ”Maybe there's something to her claim.”

Dimitri pulled a chair from against the wall and straddled it, resting his arms on the back. ”Babies are always wet when they're born. That makes their hair darker. Depending how long they've been in the birth ca.n.a.l, their features are often squished and their color odd, and this mother had been in labor for over thirteen hours. It's also likely she was trying to emotionally distance herself from the baby she wasn't planning to raise.” He sighed. ”At any rate, if she were Unbounded or had any connection to them, I'd be more suspicious, but unless she's lying about who the father is, she can't be Patrick Mann's mother.”

”Well, something happened at that hospital, unless you think Patrick Mann just suddenly became Unbounded on his own.” I frowned at the white sheet on the bed. ”Is there any way to trace that baby? Maybe test blood or something, just to check the woman's claim?”

”Good idea.” Ritter stood by the bed, his arms folded over his chest. ”It's a long shot, but if it's the only abnormality you found, we have to check it out.”

I drew up my right knee and rested my arm on it. ”I don't suppose the Mann baby could have been exchanged later, after they left the hospital.”

”No.” The look in Ava's gray eyes was intent. ”If that baby was taken and another left in his place, it would have had to be done in the first hours. Parents, even busy political ones, spend a lot of time staring at their newborns. By then a switch would be noticed.”

”We'll have to check out the adoption agency that placed Brody Emerson.” Ritter paced to the door. ”And his sister. For all we know, she was placed by the Emporium as well.”

”We'll cross-reference all the names at the agency and where Emerson was born with the people we researched today,” Ava said. ”Another long shot, but any connection would give us a lead.”

Ritter stopped pacing. ”One big problem now is Brody Emerson. The Emporium knows we were there. Is he going to be safe?”

”Nothing we can do about that now,” Ava said. ”We'll bring him in as soon as possible. You sent Cort there to watch him, right?”

”Cort and Oliver.” Ritter's voice showed a decided lack of enthusiasm.

Poor Cort if he had to endure Oliver all day. I'd rather take another bullet.