Splintered (7 page)

"Oh, that has changed while you were gone. I've
got Rachel as a friend and a few other kids. In fact Sam and Alison
asked me if we could all go to lunch together on
Saturday."

Mom blinked slightly, almost as if having a
hard time believing that I really had other friends. "Oh. Well
then, that's good news. I'm glad to hear that you're branching out.
What ever happened to Britney?"

"We don't really talk now. It turns out she was
really jealous when we thought Brandon liked me. She said some
things, I said some things. I don't think we'll be spending time
together anymore."

Mom
nodded, but she'd picked up her camera and started absently
fiddling with it. There was no surer sign that Mom had moved on to
thinking about another project.

Chapter 8

School was every bit as depressing and desolate
as I'd expected with Alec gone. I'd been so smug thinking that Mom
couldn't keep me away from him, all the while forgetting that he
was going to be halfway across the country.

Jasmin was getting more frustrated
by the minute. Apparently her efforts with Ben really weren't going
well. That didn't help the ongoing tension at lunch. With Alec gone
there was less effort to present a unified front to the rest of the
world. We all still sat together, but the conversation was more
strained. The old pack sat on one side of the table and new pack
sat on the other, with Rachel and me sort of in the
middle.

Rachel spent more time talking to Jasmin and
the others from the old pack. I spent more time talking to Alison
and Sam.

I drifted through the last half of
the week, coming awake again Friday afternoon in tutoring. Friday
was never a big tutoring day. I know--hard to believe kids our age
would choose to procrastinate studying a few extra days.

By the time my shift hit, there were
exactly three people in the lab: me, Rachel and a strangely
familiar boy. As soon as Albert and Peter left the lab, Rachel
casually walked over to my table.

"That's Ben. It's maybe our only shot. Who
knows what Jasmin had to do to get him here."

I consciously forced myself not to
look at him. "Okay, so we need to convince him that Jasmin likes
him, that she's for real?"

"Yep. Only by we, we mean you. I've had a go at
Ben. A few months ago, it didn't go well."

"Gee, thanks. That's not a lot of
pressure or anything."

Rachel turned to leave and then
paused, a faraway look on her face. "He really is a good guy, Adri.
One who takes secrets very seriously. I think you could tell him
pretty much anything and not worry about it getting
out."

I let Rachel go back to her table,
waited a couple of minutes and then stood up. I felt like a deer on
the interstate. I wasn't any good at talking to boys. Heck, I still
couldn't really talk to Alec sometimes and we are about as in love
as two people could get.

"Hi. Ben, is it?"

He looked up for a second, met my eyes and
shrugged. "It's not exactly a secret."

Feeling incredibly forward, I sat
down in the chair next to him. "Since it's down to just you and
Rachel, I thought I'd come by and see if you had any
questions."

"Right. You just happened over. Come on. You
rich chicks are all in this together, and Rachel is the queen rich
chick."

"It sounds to me like you don't know Rachel
very well. You definitely don't know me. I'm about as poor as they
come."

"Except now you're rolling with Rachel and Alec
so you're getting plenty of perks."

My resolve to help Jasmin was wavering. Not
that I didn't want to help, but I was starting to think maybe he
didn't deserve her.

"Look, I don't know what got you so
bent out of shape, but Rachel's one of the best people I know.
Sure, she buys people stuff, but she's not trying to buy friends or
anything, she just likes people to be happy. And Jasmin, Jasmin's
stood by me when nobody else would. She's risked losing stuff, big
stuff to do the right thing. How many people do you know who really
care about right and wrong?"

He was ignoring me again, working on some kind
of portable video game player. He already had it disassembled into
smaller pieces than I knew was possible. He shrugged as he pulled
apart two circuit boards.

"Okay, let's say I believe you
really mean what you said. Even so, it still doesn't matter if
we're from such different frames of reference that the words mean
different things to us."

"What, like good doesn't mean good
somehow?"

"More like loss doesn't mean loss. For you or
me losing a couple hundred bucks would be the end of the world. For
someone like Alec he'd misplace ten times that amount and never
even blink."

He'd said it all still without looking up. It
should have made his statement the kind of casual thing people blow
off without even thinking about it. Instead it sent me reeling. His
words seemed to mix with Rachel's advice from earlier and I found
myself settling back down into my seat.

"Okay. I'll tell you about loss.
Last year my dad and sister left home to come pick me up from
school. I waited for like an hour and a half, getting more and more
pissed by the minute when they didn't show up on time. I remember
borrowing a friend's cell phone so I could call home and leave a
nasty message on the machine. Turns out they were broadsided by one
of those monster SUVs yuppies buy just because they
can."

I hadn't examined my memories of that day in a
very long time. They hadn't become any weaker. Tears still gathered
at the corner of my eyes, and my breathing sped up, but over the
last few weeks I'd somehow gained the ability to go through it all
without collapsing. Sometimes.

"I was the last one to find out. Mom
got the call, tried the school office once, and then went to the
hospital. She finally got a hold of one of the neighbors who
offered to pick me up and bring me to the hospital. They…well, they
were both dead pretty much on impact. It just took the doctors a
couple of hours to get around to agreeing with what the universe
had already decreed."

Ben had stopped fiddling with the
Gameboy. He opened his mouth but I cut him off.

"So now you know the truth. Adriana
Paige's attacks aren't some romantic tale about a semi-pro soccer
player. Half my family was wiped out between one heartbeat and the
next, and I've been pretty much a wreck ever since."

"I--I didn't know. I mean I figured
the rumor was pure crap but I never would have guessed the
truth."

"It's okay. It's not like I expect
strangers to treat me differently or anything. Just remember that
it's Rachel, Jasmin and the others who've put me more or less back
together. There was nothing in it for them, but they did it
anyways. That's not the kind of thing shallow jerks do. I don't
know when or how you decided they were pond scum, but you're
wrong."

Ben cocked his head slightly to the
side. "Okay, you've convinced me. At least partly. So assuming that
Jasmin isn't a blood-sucking uber-biotch, what next?"

"Are you asking me for advice?"

"Sure. Jasmin says she likes me, and to be
honest I like her too, what I know of her that is. Still, you don't
just tell a super-hot girl something like that. I figure another
hot girl would be the way to go. Birds of a feather and all
that."

I rolled my eyes at his implication
that I was anywhere even close to as attractive as Jasmin. "Well, I
think the best place to start would be for the two of you to
actually spend some time together."

"Please. Can you see Jasmin and me sitting
together over dinner on a normal date?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Neither of us is exactly overly talkative.
We'd just end up sitting in silence. Besides, I think you learn
more about people from how they treat others, not just how they
treat you."

"Actually I agree. So what are you proposing,
some kind of group date?"

"No,
just a bunch of…potential friends hanging out. You and Rachel seem
particularly invested in seeing Jasmin and me together. I think the
four of us should do just fine."

Chapter 9

Alec - Charleston

By the time I called Donovan, I was well and
truly pissed. I had to make a conscious effort not to take it out
on him.

"The name Sam gave me was a mule, Donovan. I
had to spend like Rachel in Vegas to get it, but I've got the name
of the guy behind the operation. Fredric Sergen."

"I'll run the name past our contacts
in the southeast, sir. We're particularly thin east of the
Mississippi obviously, but I should be able to get something back
for you in the next half day or so."

"Don't bother. It's as bad as we expected.
Sergen runs every type of drug known to man and my bet is he's
responsible for the sharp rise in overall crime in the last three
years."

Donovan was silent for several
seconds as he ran through the logic trees I'd already spent the
last few hours considering.

"Sam was pressing very strongly for money. If
we cut Sergen off from the capital flow he's used to and put the
word out he's experiencing difficulties, it may bring about the
kinds of reverses required to bring him down."

"This isn't the kind of thing I'm willing to
leave to chance. Brandon funded this guy because we weren't strong
enough to keep him from breaking off in the first place. This is
our mess and it has to be cleaned up."

Donovan took a deep breath,
more in resignation than acceptance. The problem with raising the
kind of child that could one day lead a shape shifter pack is that
at some point 
they
 are the ones deciding what kind of risks they
ran.

"I'll contact Alexi. He can have a couple of
men there inside of twenty-four hours. It's not a pack matter so
there's no reason not to bring in professionals as
backup."

"No, Sergen will never let me in sight of him
with the kind of backup Alexi will send. I'll have to go in alone.
I need you to arrange a withdrawal with a bank down here. A million
dollars is about the most that can be carried easily. Do we have
that much in liquid funds still available after sweeping up the
rest of Brandon's old holdings?"

"Yes. Just barely, but we do have
it."

"All right, tell Rachel no crazy
shopping trips until I'm back."

"Of course, Master Alec. Please do be
careful."

**

Sixteen hours later I had the rented
car drop me off in front of a nondescript building down in the
harbor area. The driver hadn't even batted an eye when I'd given
him the address. I tried not to think too hard about what kind of
business Sergen was running at the location; something that was
drawing the kind of moneyed clientele in the habit of renting
limos, obviously.

Rather than the tattooed thug I was expecting,
an attractive thirty-something woman answered the door. I jiggled
the titanium briefcase holding the money and she nodded and led me
up a series of stairs to a comfortable room which overlooked the
inside of the building. The elegant furnishings inside the room
were a stark contrast to the gritty industrial building interior
visible through the windows.

The hostess waited for me to survey the room
and then cleared her throat. "My name is Jenny. While you're here
please don't hesitate to let me know of any need you might have.
I'll just go check now to see where Mr. Sergen is."

I'd only been sitting for a minute
before Jenny returned. "I beg your pardon, Mr…?"

"Worthingfield."

"Ah yes, Mr. Worthingfield. I must
apologize, Mr. Sergen has run into some unexpected delays and will
be unavailable for the next two hours."

I felt my face tighten up. I could recognize a
power play as well as the next person. Sergen was trying to
establish who was calling the shots.

"Our appointment was for now. If he's
uninterested in honoring our arrangement I can always take my money
elsewhere."

The fear that flashed across Jenny's face was
immediate and genuine. She was terrified of what would happen to
her if I walked out the door without Sergen getting his
money.

"Please, sir. I'm sure Mr. Sergen
will be along just as soon as he's able. In the meantime I'd like
to offer you some entertainment. If you'd like to describe your
preferences I'll make sure you have your pick of the
girls."

My knuckles tightened on the titanium case.
There'd been rumors of underage girls being imported into the area,
but I'd hoped even Brandon wouldn't stoop so low.

Jenny cleared her throat, clearly
worried at my lack of response, but her pulse and scent told a
different story than the disinterested madam worried only about the
displeasure of her boss. There was something almost maternal about
what I was getting from Jenny, which made what she was doing worse
in some ways.

It was all too much. The briefcase handle bent
with a groan. I stood and walked over to Jenny, pinning her against
the wall by her throat. "I think you actually care for these girls
a little, so I don't want to hurt you, but if you scream out or lie
to me things will go badly. Where's Sergen?"