The Takeover (28 page)

“I’m sorry.”

Jeane shrugged. “I didn’t know her. I grew up in foster homes. The Emporium contacted me some years after I Changed.”

I knew the rest. She had become a famous actress after stepping into the life of a young mortal, who had met with a fatal accident that I didn’t believe was an accident at all. Then Delia had learned of her nulling ability and faked Jeane’s death before taking her in for experimentation. Murdering the man Jeane loved—mostly because he’d been a Renegade—had come years later.

“And Ropte’s father?” I asked.

One delicate shoulder lifted in a careless shrug. “Don’t know. He’s been dead a thousand years, and it’s really never come up with David. We’re not
that
close.”

She was probably an embarrassment for him, especially where he was now. “Let me know if you remember anything.” Something wasn’t right, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

“There is one thing you’ll need to be careful of once we’re there,” Jeane said. “That other sensing Unbounded I told you about, Catrina.” The curl of her lip said everything I needed to know about Jeane’s feelings for this girl. “Lew says she’s powerful for one so young. If he’s been working with her, she might be trouble.”

“They’re probably already breeding her,” Eden said. “Maybe her mind will be on other things.”

Jeane’s face hardened. “I intend to see that doesn’t happen. Lew is
mine.
”

Jealousy infused every word. I couldn’t read her mind, but I guessed that in a society where breeding was not only desired but required for the good of the whole, her inability to conceive was a wound she would never come to terms with. She should have picked a man with a more common ability to love.

Pity rose in my face, but she only sneered. “Save your sympathy. I
will
get rid of the girl. She has no power against me.”

I nodded silently and left, experiencing an odd compassion for this Catrina.

Ritter was still in the conference room with Ava, though the others had been released for a break, and despite my desire to get rid of the Emporium, I couldn’t return to the conference room. I found myself following a path that led to the dining room, looking for company that wouldn’t be talking strategy.

I passed our other two mortal guards in the hallway, returning Fenton and Bedřich to their suite after a workout in the basement. Fenton nodded, but Bedřich stared at me with something akin to hatred. I didn’t blame him. I’d known Delia and what her ability made her capable of. But I wasn’t her, and I wouldn’t try to prove myself to him.

I paused in the dining room doorway, a smile coming to my face as I viewed the scene. Chris was there with his two children and Stella, eating a late afternoon snack. Kathy and Spencer sat on either side of Chris, their heads leaning against him. Stella sat next to Spencer, inclining slightly in his direction as if pulled toward the family, and Spencer held her hand. Stella was eating what looked like yogurt and granola, while the kids and Chris munched on grilled cheese sandwich fingers, minus the crust. Everyone had a huge glass of milk—almond milk most likely, since Spencer preferred it.

Chris reached for his glass, the muscles in his arms bulging. When had he become so fit? But something besides the muscles was different, something that took me a while to pinpoint: he was content. I’d thought for a long time after his wife’s murder that maybe he wouldn’t love again, and then that maybe he’d fallen too fast for Stella. That she wouldn’t return his feelings because of his mortality. Stella was different too, that same contentment radiating through her. Not the sadness that had filled her after losing her husband and baby. Today they looked like a family.

Spencer made a comment I couldn’t hear, and they all laughed. I smiled with them. This was what we were fighting for. This and the right to have my parents in their grandchildren’s lives. For this, I’d willingly walk right into Stefan’s lair.

I was about to leave Chris to his happiness when he looked up and saw me. “Hey, Blondie,” he called, using the nickname I’d had as a child. He hadn’t called me that in forever. “Come over here.”

Spencer bounced up from the table. “Did you hear, did you hear? We’re having a baby! Stella’s baby is ours too!” He came running around the table, practically flying with his excitement. “It was made in a test tube, and it might be Unbounded when it gets older, but it’ll still be just like a real baby. I can’t wait!”

“Really,” I said.

Spencer studied my face. “Aw, you already knew.” But his face still glowed as he pulled me over to the table where we sat opposite Chris, Stella, and Kathy.

“Sandwich fingers?” Chris pushed their shared plate at me.

I took one. “You used to make these for me when we were kids.”

“You were a kid,” Chris corrected. “I was the older brother.”

Spencer found that very funny. He picked up two sandwiches and pretended he was eating his fingers. Kathy rolled her eyes while the adults laughed.

Stella gave a sigh. “Break time’s up. For me, at least. I’d better get back to the conference room.”

Chris grabbed her hand as she stood. “You get enough to eat?” Worry creased his face, and I knew it wasn’t just for Stella, but for all of us and what we were about to do.

“Yes, thanks.” She bent over and kissed his forehead, her straight dark hair cascading over her shoulders and into his mouth. “Oops, sorry,” she said. Chris laughed, the worry smoothing from his face again.

“You’d better take the rest of your yogurt, just in case.” Kathy reached around her father for the yogurt cup and handed it to Stella.

“Thanks, sweetie.” Stella circled the table, pausing to fluff Spencer’s hair.

He tossed down a sandwich finger and twisted toward her, throwing his arms around her stomach, his greasy face pressed into the material of her flowing dress. “I love you, baby!” Stella laughed and rumpled his hair.

All eyes followed Stella to the door. “I hope she doesn’t choke on it,” Spencer said after she was gone. “It might hurt the baby.”

“Shush!” Kathy hissed. But from Spencer’s mind, I’d already caught the memory of a ring tucked inside the yogurt cup.

I gaped at Chris. “You’re trying to propose? Now? In front of the kids?”

He looked confused. “What do you—why not now? You know as well as I do that the next few days are going to be . . . difficult. But not in front of the kids—she might say no. I was going to . . .” He trailed off, the color seeping from his face. “Oh, no. They didn’t.”

I nodded.

His gaze jerked to his daughter. “Kathy, tell me you didn’t.”

She gave him a sheepish grin, her eyes wide. “You’ve had it for weeks. Spencer and I thought you needed a little help.”

“Help?” he repeated. “Oh, help!” The color flooded back into his face as he pushed back his chair, rounded the table in a sliding run, and sprinted for the door.

“Dad!” Spencer yelled after him. “Wait for me!”

“No, you stay here!” Chris disappeared.

“Seriously?” I asked Kathy.

“Well, it could have worked.” Her smile had a bit of sadness to it. “I like seeing him happy. And Stella is so . . . I really love her.”

I relented. “So do I. On both accounts. But let them work it out themselves, okay?”

She gave a soft sigh. “I miss my mom.”

“I know, honey. We all do. But it’s going to be all right.”

“Actually, it already is. But I still miss her.”

I hugged her tightly.

Ritter wants a family.
I couldn’t help the thought as I walked back to the conference room. He’d made no secret of it. He was ready. Was I? Only if the Emporium couldn’t take them from me.

Tomorrow I would make sure they didn’t.

The next hours passed too slowly but also faster than I wanted. After our final planning meeting concluded, I saw little of Ritter and the others as we hurried about our assigned jobs. After retrieving the rest of Stella’s yogurt from the trash bin in the conference room, Chris ducked out to pack for his trip. Mari and Keene began transferring the former prisoners from Mexico into the care of the New York Renegade cell. Stella monitored communications, Dimitri and Jace worked on blockade plans, and Ava coordinated with New York. Ritter oversaw everything.

My job was to supervise Jeane’s phone call to Stefan. The first part of the call went just as she’d shown me, but as I listened to his hard voice in my headphones, my fear grew to a fist-sized ball of lead in my stomach.

This meeting would be different from our previous one. I wasn’t newly Changed, and he wouldn’t try tricking me into joining his side. No, his plan would be to capture, control, and force.

Piece of cake.
I signaled Jeane to end the call. The less she talked, the less chance she had to make a mistake.

“Well done,” Stefan was saying. “There will be a reward in this for you when you deliver Erin in the morning. But I really think you should let my team escort you here. She’s gifted in combat, remember.”

“Don’t worry,” Jeane said, ignoring the command in his voice. “I got it covered. She has no power over me. Bye now.” She pushed the off button on the untraceable phone we’d given her.

“Why didn’t you ask him about Lew?” I wondered aloud.

She shook her head. “Stefan can never know that what’s between Lew and me is more than a passing thing. If they suspected we were still involved, they could control us.”

She was right about that. “Come on. Time to go back to your room.”

When Mari and Keene arrived from New York several hours later, Mari looked exhausted, and Keene was as drained as if he’d been shot again. With Keene and Mari were four Renegade Unbounded—not former prisoners—from the Mexican compound, all combat Unbounded. Ritter had decided to send these four to the San Francisco headquarters with Chris and the black ops team. Eden had also been given permission to go with Chris, and I was glad he’d have the extra help.

“Come with me,” I said to the four newcomers. “Chris is saying goodbye to the kids. I’ll have him meet us in the foyer.” He’d be flying his group to meet the black ops team in San Francisco, so he had to leave soon to meet them and to get his men in place before dark.

“Thanks,” Mari said. She touched Keene’s arm and they vanished, hopefully to somewhere they could rest.

A few minutes later, Chris appeared in the foyer with Eden and our three mortal guards, all of them wearing body armor. He greeted the four Unbounded enthusiastically before giving me a hug. “Look, keep an eye on Jace,” he whispered. “This is too weird about Stefan. I have a bad feeling about it.”

“I know. I already talked to Ava. But Jace isn’t as impulsive as he used to be, so we need to trust him. You just be careful.” I’d be doing enough worrying for both of us.

“I will. And no one from the headquarters in San Francisco will be a problem for you, I promise.”

There was more to say. There was always more, but he knew as well as I did what we were walking into. Somewhere along the way, since my Change, he’d finally stopped thinking it was his job to protect me, but right now I yearned to be that little girl he’d made sandwiches for and helped tie her shoes. He’d been able to vanquish everything for me then. Today he merely hugged me again and left, taking Eden and the others with him.

As I stared after him, Ritter’s arms slipped around me. Our first moment alone since this morning. “Ready?” he asked.

I’d never be ready. All I felt was dread. “Yeah. Are you okay?”

He turned me around, meeting my eyes. “You mean after I almost blew it earlier?”

“You knew about Cort killing his brother and how angry his father was over it.”

“Knew and somehow forgot. And I overlooked sending Mari in with Keene because I wanted to be there with you.”

I swallowed hard. “I’ve gone in alone before.”

“Not like this.”

“It’ll be okay.” It had to be.

Ritter’s eyes were dark pools that might hide his emotions from everyone but me, but beneath the misery over his lapse in judgment, I sensed his anticipation at the coming battle. “If things go wrong,” he said, “make no mistake—one way or the other I’m coming inside to get you.”

Only a combat Unbounded could look at what we were going into with any sort of anticipation. Yet I found myself rising to his expectation. Maybe I
was
ready. I gave him a hard kiss. “I wouldn’t expect anything less. Let’s do this thing.”

WE SPENT OUR LAST NIGHT
in New York in the same high-rise safe house we’d borrowed from the New York Renegades months ago when we’d come to help them free their captives. That we’d stumbled on Jeane during that particular op and needed her now seemed ironic. Stella and Cort went right to work checking the communication system and computers in the conference room, which would be the hub of the op.

Mari and Keene were under Dimitri’s care as he used his ability to help their bodies recover from exhaustion brought by the multiple shifts. They were scheduled to walk straight into the jaws of the lion in just a few hours and needed the downtime. Jeane and I would follow in the morning. For now, Jeane was in yet another holding cell, cursing that she didn’t have a blow dryer.

Ritter and Ava left to meet with the New York group to help them organize the ex-Emporium Unbounded in a wide blockade around the corner building where Emporium headquarters was located. Tomorrow Ava herself would be supervising the blockade, patrolling close to the building with the former prisoners and using her ability to make sure all Unbounded in the vicinity were identified and detained. If necessary during the op, Mari would pull from the former prisoners, shifting them inside the building to help with possible fighting or to secure certain areas.