Enemies(37)

“There are not,” Janus said. “There is another in the north of Scotland and two in Ireland.”

“We don’t have the manpower to stage some kind of bodyguard force around every cloister in the isles,” Rick said. “I want our people protecting our own, here at headquarters. If you want to send out an envoy to convince these cloisters to huddle up with us, that’s fine, but we’re not gonna go running out to northern Scotland for anything other than a burial detail to see what’s up with those people.”

“What about the non-cloistered metas?” I asked, looking to Janus, who watched me with a flat stare. “Like that Athena we talked to this morning? Why aren’t more metas running like her, if this kind of calamity is falling on the cloisters?”

“Oh, but they are,” Bast said from behind me. “We’re finding them as well, in ones and twos.” She let out a cruel smile. “Well, we’re finding pieces of them, anyway.”

“I’m sorry, wait,” I said as I tried to process that thought. “You’re saying that they’re being killed, too?”

“Quite violently, in fact,” Janus added. “Very much at odds with what we have just seen. Whoever Century has set out to track these spares, they are not doing it nearly as quietly as they have been with the cloisters that have been falling. Those metas have been dying after being torn to pieces or shot to death.” He shuddered, so subtly it was almost unnoticeable. “It is not a pleasant way to go. I think I would prefer to go out quietly, in a church basement.”

“So, multiple metas, multiple teams,” I said, thinking out loud.

“Yeah, yeah,” Rick said, and I caught the first hint of annoyance from him. “Like I said, enough speculation here. Go brainstorm if you have to, and bring me back some hard facts and solutions to our problems. Keep in mind our priority is still protecting our own, not people who haven’t signed on with us.”

“You’re a real wellspring of humanity,” I said.

His look darkened. “I’m in charge of Omega, not the whole damned world and all its puppies and kitties, too.”

“You’re not in charge of the kitties?” I said, mockingly. “That’s odd, because you seem like a p—”

“That’s quite enough,” Janus said quietly. “We need to focus on the problem at hand. There are indeed people who need our help, and we should reach out to them as quickly as possible, to all the additional cloisters in the isles. After that, we can look to gathering up some more of the strays before the tracker teams—or whoever is killing them singly—manage to make it to London.”

“You have your orders,” Rick said to Janus, forcing a wide smile after spending a good long while leering at me. “The rest of you can get out; I need to talk to Sienna for a minute.”

“Ooh,” I said, “looks like I have to stay after class. Bet I’m in wicked trouble now.”

I watched the others file out one by one, Janus the last, holding the door and hesitating before leaving and closing it behind him.

I turned back to Rick and stared at him over the desk. “Aren’t you worried?”

Rick gave a slight bob of his shoulder. “About what? I’ll weather this extinction just fine, and so will Omega.”

I cocked my head at him. “I actually meant about being left alone in your office with a woman who’s probably killed more of your operatives than anyone else on the planet, but thanks for the helpful insight into your megalomaniacal personality. I haven’t heard any rampant ego for the better part of a day, so it’s nice to get in a dose now and again to remind me of what it sounds like.”

He made a slow sound of, “Pfffffft,” as he blew air out the side of his lips. “No, I’m not worried about being in an office alone with you.” He didn’t deign to look at me. “Do you know why that is?”

“I hope for your sake it’s because you’re the most uber-powerful meta this side of that Sovereign guy,” I said with only barely concealed amusement.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” he said, dripping sarcasm and looking at me sideways as he leaned his chair back and I saw him in profile. The guy was such a prick, he didn’t even bother to look at me head-on. “It’s because you’re not stupid. You know where the power rests here. I’m the Primus of Omega, and that makes me the most powerful man on the planet.”

“What is he, Wolfe?” I whispered in the back of my throat. “Bjorn? Gavrikov?”

His power was as closely guarded a secret as any I’ve ever seen in Omega, Bjorn said, and I could feel Gavrikov agreeing with him. His father kept him far from our operations, far from London, for almost his entire life.