“Well, that went well,” Reed said through the open window of the town car as he rolled up to the curb at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park. Scott was beside him in the passenger seat, and thankfully the backseat was clear. I got in and shut the door, my hospital gown fluttering behind me. I was so sick of these things.
“Yeah, it was great,” I said as I gathered my gown behind me. I had left against medical advice, and the one security guard who’d given me a look as I left had been convinced to sit his ass back in his chair with a single glare. I guess he figured it wasn’t worth it. “We lost our only lead to what Century’s planning in Minneapolis, landed Janus in the hospital, and were responsible for three square blocks worth of destruction to the city.” I rubbed my temples. “I’m sure that’s going to be another lovely addition to my record when it’s made public. Then I’ll get to watch the news as they burn my skin off in the not-literal way.”
“No other deaths, near as we can tell,” Reed said, voice shot through with sympathy. “The warehouse was isolated, the shock wave was powerful but localized. Didn’t do much once it got past a block or so of distance, and it looks like the warehouse helped absorb the heat in every direction but the one you were in.”
“If only I could have gotten that door closed after I chucked her in,” I said, leaning my head back against the leather seat. Amaterasu had been one hell of a tough one. “I have to admit, I didn’t see these Century dicks going suicidal in such a big way when they lost.”
“Yeah, you must have really pissed her off,” Scott said, glancing back at me. He had the puppy dog eyes on, too, which normally I might have found annoying. Now I thought it was kind of acceptable. Kind of.
“Of course I did,” I said. I could still smell the ash on my skin. I doubted it was something a shower would immediately cure. “It’s me we’re talking about, after all. Pissing people off is what I do.”
“That and killing them,” Reed agreed. “You couldn’t have left one of them alive for questioning?”
“I did,” I said. “I left several alive. Rudra, I think, barely. The Atlas. And that lady with powers like Gavrikov.” I cleared my throat. “Unfortunately, Amaterasu did not share my enthusiasm for taking prisoners.” After I’d made sure Janus was okay, I’d walked the area around the incineration site. Lady Gavrikov was still looking bisected where I’d left her, missing an arm and covered in scorched skin. Rudra hadn’t looked very structurally sound, either, so I’d nudged him with a toe. He’d flaked into ash. He’d been awfully close to the building when it went up, though.
“What about our agents?” Scott asked.
“Dead,” I said simply. I paused for a moment. “What were their names?”
“Baker and Hanlon,” Reed replied. Neither of them looked back at me.
I sighed and looked out the window as brick buildings passed on my right. “When this is all over, if I have any sway left, we’re going to build a wall—a monument—to all the people who died trying to stop this moronic genocide of Sovereign’s.”
“I don’t even know how much of this you can blame on him at this point,” Scott said, shaking his head. “They tried to kill you again, didn’t they?”
“They did indeed,” I said idly, still staring out the window.
“Seems they’re in out-and-out defiance of him now, then,” Scott said. He let that sink in for a second. “Maybe you ought to think about talking to him, let him know—”
“I’m sure he knows already,” I said. “He’s a telepath, and a pretty powerful one. If he doesn’t know what happened here, I’d be shocked.” I folded my arms over the soft cloth of my robe. “If he wants to denounce what his people are doing, he knows my number.”
We lapsed into silence, and I stared out the window again. I didn’t want to think too hard about Sovereign right now. What Scott had said was too sensible, made me feel like I’d be weak for even asking him.
And whatever else was happening, I couldn’t look weak in front of him. Not now. There was too much at stake to play this in a way that made it seem like I was willing to come to him.
Instead, I settled back in the seat and tried to plan my next move. And blissfully, they were both too courteous to break that silence—all the way back to the Agency.
Chapter 33
We rolled up to the Agency and I had them take me to the dorms. I wasn’t going to bother going through the elaborate trouble of working my way there through the basement of headquarters and through the tunnel just so I could expose my nearly naked ass to all the security guys waiting in the lobby of that building at the checkpoint. I needed to maintain some of my dignity, at least.