Night Shadow (35 page)

Rather me than you. What are we going to do?

Working on it.

“Ah. Alex, she’s lovely. And delightfully spirited. She’l do wel .” In spite of

the sweltering wet heat, Lexi went cold. “Do w—”

“Do wel at
what,
Mason?”

“It’s been quite inconvenient and complicated obtaining the fluids of

suitable wizards and Halfs, my boy. Due to your diligence, and that of

Lucas and Simon, you’ve gifted me with three lovely, healthy young

women as breeding stock.”

Bile rose in the back of Lexi’s throat.

“Unacceptable.”

Yeah. That,
she thought, tamping down unproductive terror and a good

dose of hysteria. Neither of which was going to solve the problem of

besting Knight and getting Alex as far away from him as humanly

possible. Emotions had no place in any of this. She had to keep a cool,

logical
head.

Knight laughed with genuine amusement. “You think not?”

“Teleport Lexi outside, and we can talk about this project of yours.”

“I’d like to give you a little tour before we begin. An
overview,
if you wil .”

“Screw you, you sick fuck! Not until Lexi leav—Aargh!” With a cry of

agony, Alex dropped to his knees, his face contorted as he doubled over.

Whatever Knight was doing to him, Alex’s body shook. The muscles in his

back and arms bulged and contorted as he fought the pain.

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Night Shadow

“Stop it!” Lexi dropped to her knees beside Alex. She couldn’t help him to

his feet because his entire body was wracked and contorted by the agony

Knight was inflicting on him. She spread her fingers on his sweat-

drenched back.
I’m here. I’m not going to leave you. Ride the pain.
His

skin felt like ice despite being washed in sweat. She lifted her head,

furious because her eyes swam with tears. “Dammit, stop it, you’re killing

him!”

“Don’t be tiresome, gentlemen,” Knight muttered as though Lexi hadn’t

yel ed at him like a madwoman. “No talking. Come along, ladies, the boys

can catch up when they decide to behave themselves.”

Alex shot to his feet as though he were a puppet on a string. His sudden

movement knocked her on her ass, and she shot him a terrified look as

she scrambled to her feet. He seemed oblivious. Oh God, oh God.

“Come along, girls. Let’s start here,” Knight suggested, leading Lexi

between the tall boxes. She turned her head, reluctant to leave Alex, and

dreading following Knight. Divide and conquer?

Alex’s arms hung to his sides, his chest heaved with every breath as

though he were under unbearable torment. He seemed to be almost in a

trance. Lexi’s heart was beating so hard she was afraid she was literally

going to have a heart attack right there. No heart attack, don’t be

dramatic, she told herself fiercely.
Forget everything but staying cool and

calm and using your God-given smarts.

“Alexis? Come along, my dear. I think you’l quite enjoy this.”

As much as she didn’t want to leave Alex’s side, she considered the

possibility that if she went with Knight, Alex might figure out a way to

break free. But—Lord. Was he changing into one of these . . .
machines

right before her very eyes? She didn’t know what to do . . .

“The Alex version 2002,” Knight paused. “A
very
good year, and one I like

to call the beginning. The Lucas model peaked in 2004, the Simon model

later that same year. As with anything, practice made perfect. And here

they are.” He opened his arms expansively. “My creations. Like the three

boys,
creations.
”

Alex? Snap the hell out of it. We have to get out of here.

No response. Sweat oiled his body, his eyes were glazed and unfocused.

The muscles across his chest looked carved from stone. This was bad.

Really, really bad.

She had to fol ow Knight as he strol ed between the black glass-fronted

boxes, display cases, whatever the hell they were.

“Of course this started almost forty years ago,” Knight said amicably as

they walked. “But I’m sure you don’t want me going
that
far back.”

Alex. Talk to me.

Knight kept talking, and Lexi dared to take her attention away from Alex

for a second to see what Knight was showing her.

The Vitros.

Naked, blank-eyed duplicates of a twenty-year-old Alex.

Alex times a thousand.

Their glass-fronted containers went on to what looked like infinity. Lexi

couldn’t breathe.

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Night Shadow

“How—” Her mouth was so dry she could barely push the words out.

“How do I do it?” Knight asked, clearly pleased with the question. “Oh,

now that I’ve almost perfected their production, I do it very wel indeed,

my dear.” He laughed at his own little joke. “Very wel indeed.” His

American accent had a slight British undertone, Lexi presumed from living

there for many years. His
teeth
had been done in England. They were too

big, and too white under a sinister black mustache and surrounded by a

gray beard that matched his hair.

He looked exactly what he was. The villain.

Forget the man’s teeth, Stone. Think.

“The infants are created in a test tube,” he told her with not a little pride.

“The gestation period for my Vitros is twelve months. Birth to death. One

year. That was part of their wrist marking, of course. Longitude and

latitude of where they were hatched, then their expiration date one year

later.”

She was going to keep the son of a bitch talking until she could figure out

how to get Alex and herself out of here. Or die trying. “Where are the

babies?”

“Ah, the maternal instinct. Yes, let me show you the fourteen-day-olds.

You boys wait here. This way,” he said to Lexi.

There were no
boys.
There was Alex. Alone. Where were the others? Lexi

had no idea. And she couldn’t worry about them. If she didn’t keep on

task, and think fast and smart, Alex would be lost to her forever.

And she’d be a broodmare for Vitros. Bile rose up the back of her throat as

they turned down a corridor made up of staring Vitros. The completely

nude drones were in various stages of development. In one long row of

gestation cases, they looked about six, another early teen, in another

their late teens. Tubes and electrical cables ran in and out of their bodies

while the bank of various colored lights behind them flashed and flickered,

indicating . . . something.

They emerged from between the tal boxes to an open area. Thousands of

square feet fil ed with the same isolettes she’d observed in New Mexico.

This time they were occupied by what looked like newborns. Her heart

twisted. Hal . . .

Every infant was the same length and weight. None of them moved about

like normal babies. They stared at her blankly, with identical green eyes in

identical little faces. Babies. But not.

Wires, bundled neatly, hung from a dropped ceiling, attached to each—not

child, Lexi thought, repulsed. Each clone.

“The twenty-nine-day-olds are automatically transferred by this conveyer

to the larger incubators. Ah, there’s a batch being moved now. Would you

like to watch the transfer?”

No.
It was the very last thing she wanted to do. She fol owed him anyway.

Lexi was ready to kill this monster with her bare hands. If she had the

physical strength to do it, she would. Every step of the way she’d looked

for something—anything—she could possibly use as a weapon.

“Sure.”
Any time you want to freaking chime in, Stone, feel free.

Nothing from Alex.
Lucas? Simon? Anybody?!

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Night Shadow

Knight talked as though everyone was together. But there was no

indication that Simon and Lucas were anywhere near. She and Alex were

it. And Alex . . .

She was it.

Beyond the thousand isolettes, smal er open bassinets took up a quarter

of the vast warehouse. There was no such nicety as a blanket, or anything

else soft one expected around an infant.
Not babies,
she told herself.

These are not human babies. Get that out of your head.

These Vitros were bigger than the “newborns.” They had the same blank

stare, the same rigid limbs. Yet their eyes tracked her movement, and

their small lungs rose and fel .

God, it’s hot in here. Hot and close, and terrifying.

Right. It is. Now get over that and figure out what you’re going to do to

get out of here.

It helped—
slightly
—knowing Edge and the Council and a hundred powerful

wizards were practically outside the door trying to do exactly what she

was trying to do. Save Alex and the others.

The sound of moving machinery snagged her attention, and she watched

transfixed as large, rubber-tipped tongs passed over each bassinet. A

slight creak as the metal opened, and they dipped inside, picking up each

clone by the head.
Not babies. Not babies. Oh, God. Not babies.
The tiny

naked forms rose in synchronized batches to the continuous belt

crisscrossing the ceiling like laundry on a moving clothesline.

This is a replica of Alex.

God, I can’t think like that.

Not. Babies. Clones. Not Alex. Clones.

There’s a special place in hel for you, you sick bastard.
“Then what

happens?”

“Then they’re inserted into these development tanks. Watch.”

She could tel he was very pleased with himself. Lexi’s fingers flexed at

her sides. Sweat glued her hair to her face and neck. She shoved her

bangs out of her eyes. If she could find something to use as a weapon.

Something heavy. Something hard. Something sharp . . . Anything could

be made into a weapon.

Knight was a powerful wizard. But he was also an old man. His steps

faltered slightly as he walked as if his joints and bones ached.

“This stage always gives me a thrill,” he said with a little smile. With

small, repetitive clicks, the glass doors on the large boxes opened. A baby

clone was released inside. Arm and leg bands snapped around their limbs

holding them upright, tubes snaked around their small pale bodies and

were then inserted. Presumably delivering nutrients.

The doors closed. Click-click times a thousand.

Lexi did a quick scan of her surroundings and saw she was stil alone. Her

tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. “How long?”

“Until they resemble a twenty-year-old? Al told, twenty-two days. Then

they’re ready to go to work.”

“Interesting. But hardly genius.”

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Night Shadow

Mason turned to her, his pale blue eyes glittering and hard, and a little bit

crazy. “You think not?”

“Anybody can biologically produce a child. It takes more than that to be a

parent.” And given her own experience, and that of her baby brother, she

should know.

He was, of course, delusional. How could that help them?

“Ah yes, parenting. I think I did a splendid job mentoring the boys, didn’t

I? Encouraging their latent talents to develop without getting in their

way.”

He hadn’t had a loving relationship with the three young boys he’d

mentored. At least
he
hadn’t loved
them.
It was the boys who’d

worshipped Knight . . . Lexi started systematically filing all the information

she had on Mason Knight in her brain, just as she’d do a research project

on her computer in Montana.

There was something—something she’d seen or heard that was going to

trip up this bastard and be his downfall. She just had to access the

information.

Fast.

Twenty

Aswirl of white indicated Alex was teleporting.

No.

Being
teleported.

Against his wil
was a given.

Lexi i ?!
he yel ed into the ether.

Would his being ripped from her side save her? Or would his removal

expose her to more of Knight’s evil machinations? He fought the temporal

power pul ing at him.

Knight.

His efforts were puny against the force. Wherever he was being taken was

completely out of his control.

Lexi i ?!

She was a smart and resourceful woman, an operative in her own right.

But he knew that wasn’t going to be enough to best Knight with his

formidable powers and the wiles of a soul ess predator. He’d never felt

more helpless, more powerless in his life.

He materialized on a dark street.

Christ. What now?

The pain Knight had inflicted, while no longer debilitating, stil echoed like