Burn (Story of CI #3) (24 page)

He'd been so distant, but it was probably because of what he'd lived. In Timbuktu, things were so dark. Violent. She had seen that with her own eyes.

Wara had steeled her heart to the reality that he just might not care anymore.

But Alejo did care.

He had asked her. To marry. Him.

And Wara had broken his heart.

CAIL WAS A LITTLE SURPRISED TO SEE Lalo loping around the side of the hospital towards her at ten in the morning, moving like a panther in his Operator vest and a tattered black baseball cap. He was still avoiding her like the plague. It had to be the stress, but Cail didn’t like it.

Even though Lalo never opened up to anyone else, he had always been pretty honest with her, even when he was scared out of his mind. Like he probably was now, with all the rumors of tracking devices going around the city.

Lalo halted in front of Cail and Caspian, who were keeping an eye out at the front of the hospital. They were taking the morning shift, but both Lalo and Alejo had refused to go to the compound and get some rest. The two of them were still keeping watch at the hospital’s back gate.

Cail watched Lalo’s Adam’s apple dip and rise as he swallowed hard. “Caspian,” Lalo said, “go around back with Alejo. We’re gonna switch for a while.”

“Yeah, ok.” Caspian’s thick eyebrows arched but he did nothing else to question Lalo. Caspian nodded at Cail and shuffled through the sand towards the back of the hospital. His shadow shimmered across the super-heated pebbles.

Lalo moved into place at Cail’s side. The sleeve of his Mario Brothers tee pressed against her arm and even though he was sweaty as hell she could have sworn she felt him shiver. As soon as Caspian was out of sight Lalo pulled out his cell and told it to call Rupert.

“He just called and told me something’s come up,” Lalo said as the phone dialed. “And that it’s only for your ears and mine. It must have to do with me.”

Crap.

Lalo was probably right. She and Lalo were the only ones who knew about Lalo’s connection to the tracking device rumors, and Lalo really wanted to keep it that way.

She wished it were news about Wara. But what good news could there be from her? Cail’s heart burned remembering how Wara had been so stupid, had saved Lázaro and taken down Alejo.

She couldn’t understand how Wara could do something so horrible. But Cail had to admit she was rather frantic, wondering what Lázaro Marquez was doing to her friend.

What the hell had happened?

Rupert was answering the phone. “We’re good to talk,” Lalo clipped, totally skipping over the usual friendly hellos.

Rupert sighed. “It’s about Markov,” he said. Lalo paled and squared his jaw.

“You said he was dead,” Lalo croaked. The fear stretching across his face was painful to watch. Cail assumed they were talking about the Russian from Lalo’s past.

“He is,” Rupert explained. “But Tsarnev works in the region and Alejo connected him to the attack on the school. And it turns out Tsarnev is Markov’s nephew. There’s a good chance he could have an interest in continuing his uncle’s research in psychic warfare. And have access to his files.”

Lalo blinked and leaned back into the wall. “So Tsarnev could
know
about me?”

“About the tracking,” Rupert said. “You’ve changed your name, and it’s been twenty years. He wouldn’t know it was you, specifically. But it sounds very likely that Tsarnev is one of the people who’s looking.” Rupert’s voice was tight. “I’ve confirmed the link you made between Tsarnev and Lázaro. It’s probable that Tsarnev is who’s giving Lázaro his orders.”

“Oh my God,” Cail frowned. There was the connection. If Alexei Tsarnev did have his uncle’s files, then he knew everything about Lalo. And the rumors of someone looking for a multi-million dollar tracking device were more than just rumors.

Tsarnev worked in this area.

And he was Marquez’s boss.

And Marquez had Wara.

She was connecting the dots in her head even as Rupert was saying it all out loud. The horror punched her in the gut and she felt absolutely nauseous.

“Tsarnev could be looking for you,” Rupert was saying, “so that he can use you to help them with their goal of taking over the region. And more. These people would love nothing more than to control the whole world with their brand of Islam. But they don’t really have any way to figure out that
you
are the one they’re looking for.”

Lalo was still backed against the wall, shaking his head. “You need to get Cail out of here, Rupert,” he said brusquely. “Now. Do whatever it takes.”

Of course, he was worried about her. But Cail was worrying about bigger things than herself right now.

“I’m more worried about getting you out of there,” Rupert said gravely. “Lalo, they shouldn’t be able to figure out you’re the boy from Tsarnev’s files. But we can’t let them take you. I’ll call you back soon with arrangements to get the hell out of Dodge. Cail should come with you. She’s the only other one in Timbuktu who knows who you are.”

“Wara knows.” Cail felt her tongue sticking to the roof of her mouth. “When we worked together in Rabat…I told her. I shouldn’t have…but we talked about a lot. She doesn’t know any details…just…that Lalo can track things.”

Silence dropped over the line. Finally Rupert said, “And now Marquez has access to whatever Wara knows.” His voice sounded sad.

Lalo had a death grip on the phone. His eyes were wild. “Please, you have to get Cail out of here!” he told Rupert.

Cail was touched by how much Lalo seemed to be worried about her. She was. But he was the one in danger here. “We have to assume that Wara is cooperating with Lázaro,” she told Rupert bitterly. “Tsarnev has been looking for Lalo. And now that they have Wara, they’ll have no trouble figuring out his exact identity.”

“And thinking they can use him to take over anything,” Rupert grated. “Lalo, you need to bring in Caspian and Alejo. We’re gonna need them involved in this now. They have to know.”

Robotically, Lalo spoke into the radio, telling the other team to come around front. Cail’s heart was slamming around inside her ribcage. Yeah, she’d told Wara something secret about Lalo. But who would have thought Wara would ever use anything she knew to betray others at CI?

Who could have imagined that?

Alejo and Caspian showed up quickly, pulling up in a cloud of dust. “We’re on the phone with Rupert,” Cail explained, because Lalo seemed to be losing it. The guy was actually rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet. “There’s a security situation.” Involving her best friend. Cail felt her eyes turn into fire. She would never let these monsters anywhere near Lalo.

Let them try to take him.

Rupert was bringing the two guys up to speed. “There’s a part of Lalo’s past that he has kept to himself, because it’s painful and never seemed to be relevant to the current situation. Only Cail and myself are aware of this. You’ve heard rumors of the bounty hunter searching Timbuktu for a stolen tracking device?”

“Yep,” Alejo clipped. His eyebrows dipped dangerously low and his gaze flitted across Lalo.

“It’s more than rumor,” Rupert said. “We’ve now connected Alexei Tsarnev to a Russian scientist notorious in his time for experimenting with psychic abilities with military applications. His name was Igor Markov, and he was ruthless, using drug therapy and reprogramming techniques even on children. Tsarnev is this man’s nephew, and we now believe Tsarnev is probably interested in continuing his uncle’s work. He could have access to all his uncle’s files. These files would include the fact that Markov paid thirty million dollars to acquire a very powerful tracking device back in 1995, something that they say can find any target on the planet. A few years later Markov lost the device. It seems his nephew has taken up the crusade of finding it after all these years.”

“Tsarnev has probably pulled back to Mopti along with everyone else,” Alejo said. He was frowning, probably thinking all this sounded really weird.

“Probably,” Rupert said, “but we can’t take that risk. If the tracking device falls into the hands of these people, God only knows what havoc they would cause.”

“And Lalo knows something about this?” Alejo was still frowning. He knew Lalo had lived in Russia, and was probably making the connection in his head that way.

“I knew, too.” Cail bit her lip. “And I told Wara. Now we have to assume she’s giving information to Lázaro.”

Alejo paled and blinked. Cail watched as Alejo’s fist made a ball at his side. “What’s going on, Lalo?” he asked. “Where is it?”

Rupert cleared his throat roughly on the phone.

“Lalo is the tracking device,” he said.

Cail watched as Alejo and Caspian both dropped their jaws and gaped at the phone. “What?” Alejo scrunched up his face.

“It’s Lalo,” Rupert repeated. “Lalo can find anybody, anything, anywhere. It’s a psychic ability called remote viewing, and not only Russia used it with military applications. The US military experimented with it for years, spent millions through programs like Stargate. Most of their psychics were limited in what they could see, and after a while the programs were abandoned. But Lalo was trained to do this from the time he was a child. He was born on a cult compound with a father whose whole life was connecting with supernatural forces. When Lalo’s dad realized what Lalo could do, he trained him night and day. Lalo’s father sold him to Russia when he was thirteen. Thirty million dollars.”

Caspian was staring at Lalo in awe. Alejo was still shocked.

“I couldn’t tell you,” Lalo said, “because I always knew they’d be looking for me. They made me find targets for them for three years. Then I ran away. But they paid a lot of money for me.”

“What you can do is priceless,” Caspian gaped.

“It’s priceless,” Rupert confirmed. “And if Tsarnev finds out the exact identity of the man from his uncle’s files, he and AQIM will stop at nothing to take Lalo and use him to conquer as much as they can.”

“And Wara knows.” Alejo folded his arms across his chest. He looked in pain.

“She knows,” Rupert sighed. “And as soon as Tsarnev finds out from Lázaro, they’ll come here and take Lalo. Whether or not Lalo is as valuable to them as they think, AQIM will feel invincible. They’ll take over the region.” Rupert paused. “Maybe we should get Wara back. Before it’s too late and Marquez gets information out of her.”

“What you need to do, Rupert,” Lalo said with painstaking emphasis on each word, “is to get Cail out of here, before it’s too late. If Marquez wanted information from Wara, he already has it. Get Cail out of here! Do you understand me?” Lalo’s eyes were starting to shade red. A thick vein stood out along his jawline, throbbing under feverish skin. “None of you understand. How do you think they made me acquire targets for them after my father sold me to the Russians? Through torture?”

Cail sucked in a gasp as Lalo unbuckled the body armor and dropped it to the dust, then pulled off his long-sleeve tee-shirt, exposing his chest to the sun. She’d never seen all his scars at once and stood there stupefied at the ridges of scarring that engulfed Lalo’s lean belly, chest, and back.

It sure looked like torture. She knew he’d had the satanic tattoos burned off after escaping from Russia. But many of the marks had to be from abuse he suffered growing up on that compound.

Lalo’s chest was heaving. “They couldn’t torture me into finding things for them, because they knew I was used to torture. My father trained me in it from the time I could walk. So they use someone else,” Lalo shouted. “They find someone I actually care about in this freaking, messed up evil world, and then they take that one good person, and they torture
them
. So that I will view targets for them, and give them coordinates, and they can send their missiles and bombs.”

This was new. And horrifying. Cail had never seen Lalo like this. He was always so calm, taking his past with that lazy attitude that said he’d mostly gotten over it and moved on.

They had tortured someone he loved to make thirteen-year-old Lalo work for them.

Cail realized her eyes had slid shut, and she was shaking with sadness for her friend. She couldn’t let these people take him!

She opened her eyes to find everyone staring at her, including Lalo, still standing there shirtless.

“What?” she asked. Alejo’s eyes were wide and Caspian looked like he’d just seen a ghost.

“It’s you,” Alejo said. “Wara knows who it is that Lalo cares about now. And it’s you.”

Cail felt her heart spiral all the way down to her toes and she swayed to one side.

“Get Cail out of here! Right now!”
Lalo had ordered Rupert. Frantic.

Lalo knew they were going to take her, too.

“It’s time to get out of here,” Caspian announced crisply. “Like, right now. Rupert, we need to move the kids. Make it happen, please?”

Alejo had moved over to Lalo and thrown and arm around his shoulder. Lalo let himself be lowered into the folding chair like a weak baby. Lalo’s eyes lifted to meet Cail’s, and they burned at her red and amber, every bit as tortured as the rest of his body.

“I’m on it,” Rupert said. “The kids have asylum in Italy. The paperwork will be ready to send this afternoon and I’m working on getting a plane that will fly in there. We need to get Lalo and Cail out as soon as possible. Alejo? Think about what I said about Wara. She’s a security risk in enemy hands. But she was also a friend to all of you. A friend who’s made a big mistake. But does that mean we forget her?”

Cail watched as Alejo snapped his jaw shut and turned towards the sun-burned street. The sound of sandals pounding the dust reached their ears and everyone tensed. Lalo scrambled for his shirt, covered up his skin. Amadou came flying around the corner, untucked tail of a black and gold African tunic flying in the dry wind.