The Takeover (16 page)

Noah had it right. How could I possibly refuse to sing for a young woman who had survived cancer?

“I’m sure Felicia would love to sing,” Mari said, fiddling with the bracelet on her wrist. I guessed she hoped the performance would mean that she’d have a chance to plant the device Cort had hidden in the large bangle.

“Sure,” I said. “I guess so.” I would rather fight Ropte’s Unbounded guards.

Ropte linked his free arm with mine. “Come along then. Let’s get this started before the caterers announce lunch.”

Beatrice snagged a glass of wine off a tray carried by a passing server. “Thank you so much, dear.” She glugged the entire glass down with obvious enjoyment.

As we moved toward the patio, I saw Ropte’s wife staring with open dislike at the older woman, though she had to be ten years older than Ropte’s physical age. I wondered if Ropte’s wife had any idea of his nature. I guessed not because if she had, she would certainly have more to worry about than Beatrice Shumway.

Outside, the caterers, who had been coming and going through another door that led to the kitchen, looked close to being ready. Some of the guests were already seated at tables, six to each small round table. Ropte strode over to talk to the band, who were delighted to have the opportunity to play for the famous Felicia West.

“Noah,” I whispered, hoping she’d heard at least some of the conversation through our mics.

“Tell them it’s in E flat,” Noah said in my earbud.

“Okay.”

I reached out to Patrick, touching his arm and nodding slightly so he’d let me channel his ability to make sure my body continued allowing the nanites to do their thing during the performance. With so many eyes on me, it wouldn’t do to even partially morph back into myself.

When I had finished with Patrick, I talked to the band members, spouting stuff about chords and melody and anything else Noah threw at me. I didn’t know how well they’d follow my directions, but she seemed confident.

I also noticed the other two Unbounded soldiers, who currently stood on the perimeter of the garden area, but I didn’t recognize them. Keene had seen them before, but he wasn’t concerned. “Those two are loyal to a fault,” he murmured. “Good fighters but not great.”

Ropte took up a microphone and announced my song, which brought the rest of the guests out on the patio, where they took seats at the remaining tables or stood where they could better see the band.

The music began, and this time I didn’t need Noah’s cue. “I wasn’t prepared for you. You were a friend and you had my love . . . But then you stole away my heart.” The words rang out bold and true. By the time I reached the chorus, there wasn’t a single person talking.

A strange euphoria overtook me. The music, the crowd, the words. I could understand why Noah sang, why she’d never stop. She hadn’t quite been telling the truth about what it did for her to be in front of a crowd. The people were riveted, awestruck. Tears fell as they perceived the agony of love that could not be, and their minds silently pleaded for more. Even the caterers and waitstaff stopped what they were doing and stared. The Secret Service agents forgot to scan the crowd. Guests who had chosen to sit on the far side of the fountain left their places and joined the others so they could see me. My own ability drank in their emotions, turning it back again into the music. It was like a drug-induced hallucination that we all shared.

I never wanted to stop singing. I wanted to raise my voice and suck out all the emotions in the world and fill my music with them. But the end had to come. “I wasn’t prepared for you. You were a friend and you had my love . . . but then I
gave
to you my heart.” I stretched out the last note and whispered a refrain until the music faded away.

The crowd burst into clapping and cheers, which shook me from whatever abyss I’d fallen into. “Thank you very much,” I said and stepped down from the stage, releasing Noah with a silent thank-you. As I did, the yearning to sing, to perform, vanished and I was myself again.

Good riddance,
I thought. I’d never experienced an ability quite like Noah’s, but I suspected it was my own ability to sense others’ emotions that intensified it for me.
I should have shielded my mind from them.

Too late now. At least I no longer wanted to perform. That was good.

Ropte took my hand. “That was incredible, my dear.” I could see emotion in his eyes, still lingering from the song.

Next to him, Beatrice was wiping tears from her face. Her thoughts screamed at me as she thought about a man she’d once turned down to pursue her career. He’d wanted a family, and she couldn’t stop for that, not yet. In the end, she’d never stopped. She’d never married or had children.

I pulled gently from Ropte’s grasp. “I’ll need to refresh myself. Could you direct me to the ladies’ room?”

“Sure.” He signaled his wife, who was standing only feet away. “Darling, could you have someone show her to the restroom?”

“I’ll take you myself,” Mrs. Ropte said. “Come with me.”

I followed her through the crowd of people, who still stared at me as if they didn’t know how to react. All of them wanted more.

“That was sure beautiful.” Mrs. Ropte led me back into the reception room that was empty now of everyone but Mari, who nodded and smiled as she passed us on her way to the patio. I noticed Mari’s bracelet was still in place, but presumably the device Cort had stored inside it was somewhere else doing its job.

“Thank you,” I said.

She brought me to a door off the reception room, pausing before directing me inside. She seemed to want to say something, but thought better of it and simply smiled. “Please come out and have a seat when you’re ready. They’ll begin serving now.”

“I’m looking forward to it.” I opened the door, pitying her for the deception Ropte had enacted on her. In her mind, I saw that she suspected he’d strayed, but she stayed with him not only because she loved him madly but to save face in front of her rich, influential friends.

The bathroom had a series of stalls, some of which were occupied, and I had to wait for three minutes until the place cleared. I welcomed the delay and took the opportunity to absorb, regaining some of my strength, listening to the hum of conversation from my companions’ mics as they mingled with the other guests on the patio.

“Ready phase two,” I said quietly into my mic when I was alone.

“Great job on the song,” Cort complimented.

“Thanks. What does Stella say?”

“Cameras on the upper floor are activated, but she’s making a loop. I’m not sure how Mari did it, but she must have found a router, because we have total control over the security and the network. If Ropte’s computer were on, she wouldn’t need anything more.”

“So, I just need to turn it on.”

“That’s right. It’s best-case scenario.”

I’d have to thank Mari later. “Let me know when it’s safe to go up.”

“Will do.”

I left the bathroom. Mrs. Ropte thankfully wasn’t waiting for me, and the reception room was still empty, so I retraced our earlier steps to the entry hallway. There were no life forces in the immediate vicinity, but Secret Service agents and a butler still manned the front door. I’d have to find another way up to Ropte’s office. I’d seen the front stairs when we’d entered, but I seemed to remember another staircase somewhere. Digging into the little yellow purse attached to my wrist with a thin strap, I pulled out my phone.

Ah, yes.
The stairway was through one of the other doors leading from the reception room. I hurried across the space and stepped inside. Sure enough, at the end of a short corridor, past several doors, a narrow staircase led upward.

“We’re a go,” Cort said in my ear. “But Stella says his system is complicated. You have only ten minutes until the cameras go through their automatic reboot. Then it’ll take her a few minutes to get control again. So hurry.”

“I’m on it. Switching off the feed from the others’ mics now.” I needed all my concentration on getting to Ropte’s office, and hearing that buzz on the patio was distracting.

The door from the reception room had scarcely closed behind me when the glow of a life force appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. I had no time to flee before Mrs. Ropte appeared on the landing.

“Ms. West?” she asked, her severely arched brows looking more pronounced. “May I help you?”

How had she appeared so quickly? I scrambled for an answer, while my mind searched the area. I saw nothing that could have caused the even temporary vanishing of her life force, but something wasn’t right. Maybe Mrs. Ropte wasn’t all that she seemed.

“Sorry, Mrs. Ropte,” I said. “I guess I got turned around.”

She smiled, though disbelief rolled off her unprotected mind in a wave. She thought I was snooping. “Well, that happens. Come along. I’ll show you to your table.” She turned swiftly to the door, her thoughts leaving my transgression and going to her husband and how she could make sure “that ancient slut Beatrice” didn’t sit with him.

Going with her wasn’t an option, of course. Not with Cort’s ten minute time limit ticking over me. If I went outside, there was no telling when I’d get away or if there would be another chance.

Slipping a small pen from my purse, I flipped off the cap and closed the steps between us before plunging a dart into her neck. She sucked in a breath of air, her eyes turning to me briefly in panic before they rolled upward and closed. I caught her as she fell and dragged her to a door in the hallway. It seemed to be some sort of small privacy room, holding only two couches along facing walls. An arched window gave the narrow space light.

Gently, I laid her on one of the couches and plunged into the lake of her unconscious mind in search of the bubble containing any memory of her seeing me in this area of the house. She should wake in fifteen minutes and wonder about the blackout she’d experienced. I hoped to be back with the others before then.

“Everything okay?” Cort asked in my ear.

“Yeah, she’s out.”

I was about to rise when a female voice from behind startled me.

“What happened?”

I hadn’t felt any life force approaching the open doorway, and the minute I turned, I knew why.

ONLY MY TRAINING PREVENTED ME
from saying her name aloud and blowing my cover. Noah—or Felicia West, rather—wouldn’t know the identity of the Unbounded who stood in the doorway without an apparent life force.

Jeane Baker was a null, and right now her ability was in full force—around her person at least, because I could still “see” the life forces outside on the patio. Her ability explained why I hadn’t felt Mrs. Ropte before she suddenly appeared; the woman must have been close enough to Jeane that she’d also been hidden from me.

Jeane wasn’t her real name, but one she’d sometimes used in a former life as a film star until Delia Vesey had taken her, used her, and finally locked her away for decades. We’d rescued Jeane, only for her to betray us once I’d killed Delia and given Jeane her revenge.

Normally, it took little effort for a null to prevent any Unbounded—or a group of them—from using an ability, but I’d learned how to shield myself and others against Jeane’s nulling. But obviously, she’d made some strides since our past three months because she could hide her life force from me, if not null my ability completely. There was no doubt in my mind that she was the black spot Keene and I had detected earlier.

I strengthened my shield, pushing out at her in case she tried to target me with her ability.

“I asked you a question,” Jeane said sharply. “What happened to Michelle?”

“I don’t know.” I feigned innocence, hoping my shock would be misconstrued as concern for Mrs. Ropte. “She just sort of fainted. I managed to get her in here.” The explanation would work as long as Jeane hadn’t seen me with the dart.

Jeane came forward, her movements sultry grace. Her long hair was still its natural dark brown and her eyes that bright blue. False eyelashes made her eyes pop, and the flesh-colored mole, now painted black, screamed sex appeal. She moved with the confidence of an Unbounded, but my senses couldn’t verify that fact. If I hadn’t met her before, I wouldn’t have been able to tell anything about her—except that she apparently had no life force, and that usually only happened in the dead.

Jeane pushed me out of the way and sat next to Mrs. Ropte on the edge of the couch. She took a limp hand and patted it. “Michelle!” Next, she scooted along the edge and lightly slapped Mrs. Ropte’s cheeks. There was no reaction.

Jeane being here changed everything. Everything, because it meant an association with Ropte, and I couldn’t allow her to remain on the Emporium’s side in their fight against us. Not when I had another choice.

I sank my second dart for the day into her neck—followed by two more. Even these three darts would only keep her unconscious for fifteen minutes; they didn’t contain much sedative when compared with the Unbounded metabolism. I gave her a fourth dose just to be sure. I could see her life force now, but it was much dimmer than even in an Unbounded with a strong mind shield. Interesting that she could still partially use her ability while unconscious. In our cell, most of the older Unbounded were learning to maintain a block when asleep, but Ritter, Dimitri, and I were the only ones to be mostly successful.