Power(9)

I looked back down at Grihm’s unmoving figure and sighed again. First things first, though—this bastard wasn’t going to rip off his own head, and it wasn’t like I could leave him without making sure he was dead …





Chapter 4


There had been a really wide, swampy river channel between me and the road, and although I’d jumped with my newly found Wolfe strength, I hadn’t quite cleared it. I’d say this was not my night, but frankly, this was the least bad thing that had happened to me this evening.

There were still worse things—much worse—that I didn’t want to deal with yet.

My shoes were still sloshing as I walked through the doors to the lobby of headquarters. I could sense that I was being watched, but when I looked up I was greeted by an assload (technical term) of assault rifles and submachine guns pointed at me from all directions on the ground floor and the second floor balcony.

Reed, Scott, Zollers, Janus and Kat were standing just in front of the security checkpoint’s metal detectors, and only Zollers and Janus looked relaxed. I figured they’d gotten the telepathic and empathic read on me while everyone else was still assuming the worst. I had blazed past the front gate guard without offering more than a cursory explanation, after all. Plus I had an unconscious body—the driver of the car who stopped to pick me up—in the passenger seat. I had suspected the guard would whistle for help as soon as I was through, which is what I would have told him to do if I’d been training him.

I should probably get him a raise, come to think of it.

“It’s me,” I said, raising my arms as if I were surrendering. “I promise. Pinky swear.”

“You can’t pinky swear with your hands up like that,” Reed said, and his bravado almost masked the slight crack I heard in his voice.

“It’s her,” Zollers confirmed, and I felt the unease in the room drop, along with all the gun barrels. Which was a relief, because even with Wolfe powers, I wasn’t sure my skin was conditioned to resist bullets like his had been. At least not yet.

Was it bad that I was already thinking ahead about that?

“How’d you get away?” Scott said, and his voice cracked too, big time. “I mean, you got dragged off by Weissman, didn’t you? How did you—?”

“He stuck me on a plane,” I said and caught a glimpse of red hair as Ariadne shouldered her way through the crowd, Agent Li a pace or two behind her. “With the brothers Grihm—and Frederick, hilariously enough.”

“The what?” Scott asked.

“The big guys at Como Zoo,” I said. “They were Wolfe’s brothers.”

“Holy shit,” Reed breathed. “And did you …?”

“They’re dead,” I said. “I’d say it was sudden and tragic, but it took me a while. They, uh …” I swallowed hard, “… Weissman is still out there. He …” My voice trailed off and I felt a lump in my throat.

“No, he’s not,” Ariadne said, entering the conversation as she crossed the floor toward me in slow steps. “His body was found at the airfield in Crystal, north of Minneapolis. Along with …” She hesitated.

“My mom’s,” I said and felt a cool trickle of sadness run over me, causing a shiver down the back of my neck. “I saw him stab her, knew she was …” I blinked and the world got blurry. “We should … we should go to the conference room.” I snapped my hands at the guard detail still filling the room, their black tactical gear a wall of ebony across the lobby. “Dismissed.”

Security didn’t waste time carrying out my orders, dispersing to their posts and filing away down the white hallways with military precision. Ariadne, Scott and Reed made their way toward me in the bustle of activity, and I watched them come with a reluctance born of the last ounces of denial I had in me.

My mother was dead.

And seeing the look in their eyes—Reed, my brother, Scott, the man who wanted to be my lover—that last ounce of doubt—of hope—was erased.

It wasn’t either of them that took hold of me, though. They held their distance, the strong men they were, uncertain of what to say, of how to deal with the warring emotions I’m sure were raging across my face. It wasn’t like I had them often. I could see the indecision.

There was none of that in Ariadne. She knew, just knew, and I felt her delicate arm find my shoulders as she steered me. I could smell the faint hint of her fragrance as I walked along numbly. I could sense Kat and Zollers and Janus around me as we stepped into the elevator, but I didn’t even notice when it dinged and we stepped out on the top floor.