Sky Ghosts: All for One (Young Adult Urban Fantasy Adventure) (Sky Ghosts Series Book 1) (19 page)

Blood was beating in her temples like a hammer, pictures rushing through her head, until the recent ones, and they included the dark-haired attendant, Alex.

Damn.

She backed out carefully until she reached the shaft again. There she was able to straighten up and fish out her map. There were bathrooms on the second floor, just as she needed. It was a perfect place to get out of the vent and make sure she didn’t look suspicious. She knew Alex wouldn’t run to his colleagues right away. After all, he was the one who had lost a visitor in the building, and he wouldn’t be too happy about it. He would spend some time trying to find her, and she hoped that time hadn’t passed yet.

After a few pretty intense minutes – she had to come up with a detour around the fans – she turned out behind another big grid. The slats showed an empty bathroom, and no sounds were coming from it. She was over one of the stalls now and could get out of the vent without anyone noticing her.

Quickly, she slid outside, landing in a crouch on a toilet bowl’s edges. She listened for a few seconds, but there was no one in the room, so she rose back to the ceiling to close the grid. No need to raise suspicion.

She lowered the toilet seat cover and sat down on it, letting out a relieved breath. Half of the work was done. Now she just wanted to leave this place. As much as she liked the idea of staying for a while, getting in trouble, and wrecking the whole place, she had some important news to break to the others. Taking out her shoes and glasses, she thought about the best way to leave. Should she escape without any witnesses through the first open door or get back to the reception? The first could make them suspicious, she admitted. The second could be dangerous if someone had recognized her and now waited for her return. She looked over herself: her suit was more than a little dusty, and she tried to brush it off before coming out of the stall. It didn’t help much, and there still wasn’t anybody inside except for her, so she opened the door and came out.

There was a row of sinks below a long mirror. She washed her hands and ran them over her suit, trying to make it at least a little bit neater. She looked at herself in the mirror – her hair didn’t look so good anymore with the loose strands that were falling sloppily into her eyes. She gathered them thoroughly and pulled them back up into a ponytail. Then she folded the briefcase strap and stuffed it into her pants pocket, wondering idly if Betsy had come around and Peter was freaking out already. Good thing she hadn’t taken the cell phone.

The door creaked, making her jump a little. A middle-aged woman in a gray suit came in and headed for the stalls without a single look in her direction. Pain exhaled nervously and cursed in her mind. It wasn’t like she was doing something bad in here, she reminded herself.

With one last look at herself in the mirror, she grabbed the briefcase and went to the exit.
Okay, where’s that redhead. A neat spy like me should say a proper goodbye.
She allowed herself one smug smile before recomposing her face back into the mask of cold fake professionalism.

In less than five minutes she passed the staircase and headed toward the reception table. The girl looked up at the sound of her heels, and her eyebrows rose a little when she didn’t find Alex around. Every time Pain saw some of Eugene’s employees, she had to suppress a wave of hatred. They didn’t know who they were working for,
just humans, simply humans
. She made her frown disappear as she said,

“Looks like me and the attendant somehow lost each other, but I’ve made it on my own perfectly fine. Everything looks good here. You’ll be notified about the details after my report is examined. Have a good day.”

Then she turned away and strode to the exit before the receptionist had the time to reply.

The day was bright and noisy outside. Through the glass doors, she could see cars passing by, people hurrying at a green light.
Should go out more often in daylight, huh,
she said to herself. And just as she approached the doors, and they slid away, someone put a hand on her shoulder.

Time stopped. So many times she had been through this, through being busted, surrounded, or ambushed; through this feeling of the air catching in her lungs, of her heart skipping a beat before sending a blazing shot of adrenaline through her veins, of her muscles tensing to the point of feeling like a wound up spring. And still, it never failed to surprise her. Slowly, she turned around, a remote thought about how finally her hand-to-hand training would be of use filling her mind. There was a man in front of her, a security guard, tall and bulky, his face expressionless. He let go of her shoulder and handed her something slung over his broad palm.

“You dropped this, miss,” he boomed.

Against her will, her eyebrows rose until they reached the sky.

It was just her briefcase strap.

With an exhalation of relief, she took it. The guard wasn’t even from the Sky folks, she could swear. Eugene wouldn’t risk his façade like that.

“Thanks,” she said it so heartily that one of his eyebrows twitched with surprise. Before anything else could hold her in this place any longer, she turned around and went through the open doors.

Once outside, she had to keep herself from breaking into flight – or a run, since she was in the middle of a busy street. The adrenaline was pulsing in her veins, mixed with excitement now that her mission was finished smoothly, and she walked down the stairs, inhaling the familiar air of New York City with gratitude. She could already see a cab hurrying toward her as she reached the sidewalk, and in a minute the damned building was out of her sight.

“YOU’VE SABOTAGED MY OPERATION!” Peter yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Pain, who was sitting at his conference table with an innocent expression on her face.

She cast her eyes upward quickly and leaned back in her chair, getting more comfortable before the answer.

“I improved it, and we’ve been through this already.”

She was examining the fingernails on her right hand. They were cut almost to the roots, of course, because one can’t have perfectly manicured fingers and kill people with one’s bare hands at the same time.

Peter gave a loud sigh and shot her an angry look, pacing back and forth along his long table. She preferred to keep silent – as always when she was guilty but didn’t think so herself – and just waited for being punished and finally dismissed so she could go and spread her misery all over the building. The punishment usually consisted of cutting her pay in half that month. She wondered idly if Peter would ever realize that she didn’t care about money and come up with something more effective, like tying her up and making her listen to his lectures for hours. Or he could just hire Dave now so he would tag along with her everywhere for the rest of her life and annoy her to the point of madness.

“…and you’ve disobeyed my order!”

She realized Peter was talking again and stared at him blankly.

Peter had to suppress an exasperated growl. He could see that she wasn’t paying attention, and he hated that angelic look with which she often got lost in thought while he was trying to talk some sense into her. How could he shout at such a face? She looked so much like her mother, he thought. If only she had her character, too.

He sighed and came back to his armchair, taking a seat. It had been twenty minutes, and his throat was beginning to ache from all the yelling. He took off his glasses and picked up a handkerchief off the table. Then he began to clean them, slowly and deliberately.

“Can I go now?” she asked right away.

“No,” he cut her off strictly and heard a weary sigh.
Good
.

He held the glasses out in his outstretched hand, looking through them for a long, long time. They were perfectly clear. He just knew too well how to annoy her, and it was his small revenge.

“And now?”

“No.”

Pain smoothed down her T-shirt with boredom. Her hands seemed to itch for something to do already.
So impatient,
Peter thought,
Just like your father
.

His friendship with her and Jane’s parents was the only reason why he was able to deal with Pain at all. If he didn’t know so much about her father’s temper, which she fully inherited, she would be uncontrollable. The others could believe that she was that way because she had lost her parents so early, but Peter knew better. She was strong, confident, and never broken. And her character had nothing to do with that – well, anybody who knew her father would see it. There just weren’t many left.

“Have I told you that your father used to have an O-Katana just like yours?” he asked absently, twirling the glasses in his hand.

She looked down.

“Yes. He gave me mine for my twelfth birthday. And you were the one who gave me those old photos, remember?” she answered, her voice stripped of sarcasm, disregard, and even boredom for a change.

“Right, the photos…” He nodded. He sat silent for a minute, still looking at his glasses. “He bought that sword somewhere in Japan. Had his nickname engraved, fussed over it like crazy. And the fact that he wasn’t really good with it didn’t change shit.” He smirked thoughtfully. “You turned out much better at it. You should visit Japan someday. I think you’ll love it.”

Her shoulders heaved up and fell in a sigh.

“Where is it now?” she asked after a moment, her voice remote.

He looked up dubiously.

“What? Japan? I did hire you two a private teacher, didn’t I?”

“No. The katana, where is it? I realized I never asked it before,” she explained, looking at him. Her face was smooth, but Peter knew what was hidden behind that expression.

“Oh…” He took a deep breath, looking at his interlaced fingers. “It had been stolen. It was an expensive sword. I told him that he shouldn’t show it off, but he wouldn’t listen, of course. We were young. He would beat you at stubbornness. Eventually, someone tore the sword off his back in a battle and fled with it. Joseph wasn’t happy.” Peter smiled wryly. “He searched all the weapon shops in the city and then wrecked the training hall when he didn’t find anything.”

“Wrecked the training hall?” Pain asked, bemused. “Now, that’s something I haven’t done… I think I should add it to my bucket list.”

“Oh, get out of here!” Peter threw his handkerchief at her, mildly annoyed, and she jumped to her feet, laughing.

It was easy to work with her if you only acted like you were equal, he thought. Because she was all against docility. She was mature even as she came there at twelve years old, all wrapped around her little sister, not leaving her alone even for a minute. And he understood at once that she would rebel if he tried to push her. He chose to cooperate instead, and he never regretted it.

Peter chuckled, leaning back in his chair. He watched her come up to him and lay the handkerchief on the table.

“Peter, I just wanted to help, and I had better chances than Betsy,” she said, and for a change, she sounded good-naturedly.

I know,
he thought.

“I’ll still pay her with your bonus,” he said with a grimace. She scoffed. “You got good information, though. I’ll try to dig something up about Chad’s relatives. You should tell them what you’ve found out, everything except the connection with his father.” He looked into her eyes, and she nodded with a stiff look.

“I don’t know if we can trust him, Peter. He may be using us, for all we know. Maybe it’s better to clear it up here and now, maybe we should just press on him.” She cringed inwardly at the thought of questioning Chad for real, of those honest eyes and dazzling smile; at the thought of it being a show. Her teeth gritted together as she tried not to show her emotions and to keep her voice from wavering. “But it doesn’t connect with the way we found them. That couldn’t have been staged.”

Peter nodded, his look frowned now.

“We can’t press on him, we’d just scare him off, and he’d get killed. I’ve checked his record, pulled up some strings, but there’s nothing. Just a few fights, one broken jaw, and an arrest for mouthing off to a cop. Even Rooney couldn’t find anything, and you know his… abilities. Chad is such a typical twenty-three-year-old that it’s almost suspicious. Try to find out some details about his father, family. If there’s nothing, you might as well tell him about the connection with his father. It can make him crack – that’s if he’s up to something and doesn’t want to make enemies out of us, too. And I’ll try to find out what his father has been up to recently, if he met with Eugene or something. Though I can’t imagine why he would still be alive then. It all sounds like nonsense.”

Pain nodded absently with her mind still on Peter’s words about Rooney and the lack of information from him. Rooney had access to
everything
.

Peter continued,

“Be careful. We still don’t know who’s been spying on us. I check everyone once a month, but now I have to dig into it for real before any more information reaches Eugene. You can go.” He watched her nod and head to the door. “Tomorrow I’ll decide where to hide you next time,” he said as she opened the door, “More securely,” he added with a sour face.

Pain only glanced at him with doubt and left the office.

She found her sister and the guys sprawled across the floor, watching a movie on a laptop. The window was wide open, and it was even a little chilly in the room. Jane looked up when she came in, and scrambled to her feet.

“Good, you’re back. I gotta go get my gear,” she said and headed for the door. “How was it?” she added, putting on her sneakers.

Pain had already told her what she found out at Eugene’s office. She hadn’t told the guys, though, and asked Jane not to tell them until she would be back from Peter. Her face was unreadable when she answered, kicking off her high-tops,

“Some screeching, some freaking out; same old, same old…”

She began to pick her way between Chad’s and Dave’s outstretched legs now – not too carefully, because Dave raised his head and grumbled, “You’ve stepped on my leg.”

“And that was the biggest female involvement in your life this year, don’t thank me,” Pain murmured, unashamed. “What are you watching?” she asked, grabbing a pillow from her bed and lowering herself at her sister’s place between them.

“The Avengers,” Dave answered, sounding grumpily.

“Still think I wouldn’t take Captain down, don’t ya?” Jane heard her sister mock him as she came out and closed the door.

She quickly got to the supply room and found Ryan inside. He was standing by the counter with his back to her, but she would have recognized this back anywhere. The place behind the counter was empty, and Jane came up to wait with him.

“Hey,” she said when he turned to look at her.

“Hey,” he smiled, “Gina’s got a call. She’ll be back soon.”

“Good,” she responded, not really caring about how long she would have to wait before she could get her gear and head back to the room. She was thinking about how long it had been since she, Pain, Marco, and Ryan went out somewhere together. “Chad told me you got that book for him. It was very nice of you, I think,” she said with an approving smile.

Ryan’s light eyebrows went up. He was dressed casually in a blue tee and jeans and looked very pale in the white light of the room, but it all made his eyes look very bright, crystal-blue. Jane wondered idly if he was wearing contact lenses. Nobody could have such blue eyes, could they?

“Thanks,” he said finally, dropping his gaze, and she saw his cheeks redden. Would he ever cease being shy in her company? It had been years, she thought with amusement. “It wasn’t difficult to get the book. No big deal for me, but if it helps him to get along with Pain, I’ll be glad. I think he’s a nice guy, and it could work out. Too bad he’s not a Ghost, though.”

She blinked, all thoughts evaporating from her head at once.

“What could
work out?
”

Ryan stiffened. He frowned a little and ran his hands down the cloth on his long, defined torso in a nervous gesture. Jane had to crane her head back to look him in the eyes, and they were glistening and embarrassed now.

“Well… Him and Pain, isn’t there something between them?”

“Hm… not really,” she answered, perplexed, “Unless… Did he tell you there was something between them??” Her pulse quickened as the idea hit her.

“No, no, he didn’t,” he said quickly, “I just… well, it seemed to me there was something going on, with the way she looked at him, and then him and this book…”

“Looked at him? What do you mean?” Jane’s expression was completely mixed-up now.

Ryan paused, taking a deep breath.

“I don’t know how to explain it, really,” he said, his face a confused grimace, “But there’s something in her look and in the way she behaves… She’s different when he’s around.”

Jane’s eyes widened at that.

“Oh…” She wasn’t sure what to say, because she hadn’t noticed anything like that about her sister at all, but she didn’t want to argue so he wouldn’t shut down. “Interesting… I guess I haven’t been paying attention,” she said. “Well, I suspected something about him, but not about her. I thought he was just trying to be nice, giving her that book,” she explained and noticed that Ryan was looking at her very intently now, his blue gaze cold and piercing.

“So, what exactly happened in that apartment?” he asked suddenly, making her expression change again, this time to a frown.

“You mean the battle?” She wasn’t sure why he was asking. He knew about the attack from Marco already.

“No, I mean the four of you. You’ve been there for three days. What happened between you in all this time?”

She blinked.

“Nothing,” she answered and then realized that he must have meant something between Pain and Chad. “Oh. No, really, there was nothing out of ordinary between them. Maybe he’s interested, of course, but it’s not like he showed it or anything…” She shrugged, trying to recall anything unusual.

Ryan only gave her a thoughtful nod, and then Gina showed up from the door that led to the storage.

“Here’s your set.” She smiled at Ryan, handing him a thick stack of black-colored clothes.

“Thanks.” He smiled back and turned to leave. “See you,” he said to Jane, and she only nodded, seeing how troubled his eyes were before he turned away and disappeared behind the door.

“Hi, Jane,” Gina’s voice brought her back to reality, and she turned to her.

“Hi. Is my gear ready?”

In a minute she was already walking back to her room, replaying the strange conversation between her and Ryan in her mind.
Looked at him.
What was it that she hadn’t noticed? And she had always believed girls were more perceptive than boys. Only when she was about to walk into the room, she did realize that he wasn’t asking about Pain and Chad at all. He had said, “I mean the four of you,” meaning her and Dave, too.