"Seventeen," I said. I thought I caught a flash of surprise from him, and I gave him a rea.s.suring smile. "I'm eighteen now. Don't sweat it, okay?"

"Eighteen and headed into trouble," he said. "You sure I can't help?"

"I think my bosses at the Directorate are going to be upset enough with the people I've already dragged into this," I said with a short laugh as I closed my bag and hefted it onto my shoulder. While I did that, I felt his arms wrap around me at my waist, slipping under my untucked blouse and touching my skin, giving me a thrill that ran up my spine.

He kissed my neck again, then whispered, "Surely one more won't matter to them; but I might make all the difference for you if you get in a tight spot."

I pulled away. "Pretty sure it would matter to them." I smoothed the wrinkles in my pants and pulled down my shirt to cover my midriff. I hesitated, staring at him, his muscled chest catching my attention. "I could certainly use some more help, but I can't..." I sighed again. "You seem pretty resourceful, so I'll tell you this much. I'm going east. If you show up, I won't be upset to see you there."

He smiled, a growing, widening one that made me feel a warm flutter. "You might just see me there, then."

I walked toward the door and opened it, casting one last look back. "I kinda hope so."

Chapter 16.

I suspected Reed was stealing a car for Kat to use since there wasn't a rental place I knew of that would be open in the middle of the night, at least not in Eau Claire. I crossed the lobby of the hotel with my bag on my shoulder, heading toward the bar. I hoped that Charlie would still be there; no one had answered her door when I knocked.

The five of them were still cl.u.s.tered around the table, still laughing. I checked the clock on my cell phone; it was close to 3 A.M. One of the guys had pa.s.sed out, his head down, and another was leaning heavily on his arm, eyes shut, keeping his face propped off the table. "Another round!" one of the two that was still fully upright called out to the bartender, and he stepped into motion behind the bar, his skinny hands grabbing bottles off the shelves.

I made my way through the tables and over to them. My aunt was laughing, hard, when I got there, but I hadn't caught the set-up or the punchline, so I was still serious. She caught my eye as I approached, and stopped laughing when I got close. "This is my sister," she said to the two men who were still awake. They both turned to look at me, and at least one of them came up with an idea that was so obvious it was written all over his sodding-drunk face. His leer made me uneasy, as though I were being undressed by his eyes. "Come on! Drink with us," she said.

Oddly enough, being literally undressed with James, a near-stranger, had been far more comfortable than this.

"Hey," I said, leaning over to Charlie. "I have to go."

"Go?" She looked around in confusion and laughed, a deep, drunken laugh. "You just got here!"

"I have to go to Eagle River tonight," I said, keeping my voice low. I heard the men muttering to themselves, something about me that I ignored, otherwise I might have had to smite them. "Will you come with me? I could really use your help."

She met my gaze, her eyes looking into mine, and I caught a fleeting hint of concern that pa.s.sed in about a second. "I don't think so, sweety." She reached up and patted me on the cheek twice. "I'm not done here yet."

I knelt down next to her. "Charlie," I said, catching her attention again as she was reaching for the gla.s.s the bartender had just set in front of her. "I'm serious. This could be really bad and I need all the help I can get."

"I said no." She took a drink, draining half her tallboy gla.s.s in one gulp. "G.o.d! You're all work and no fun, Sienna."

I felt the sting of her words curiously more given what had happened only minutes before, with James. "All right. I'll leave you be, then." I stood and started to walk out.

"Hey, wait!" She stood, almost turning over the table, and staggered over to me, shaking her head as though she could get rid of the effects of her drunkenness that way. "You're just gonna leave me here? In this town?"

I stared back at her, dully. My aunt, my blood. The person who I thought would be in my corner for sure, especially heading into this mess. "Yeah. You said you didn't want to come with me."

Her head rocked back and she looked offended. "Well, I don't have any money to get home."

I stared at her in disbelief and shook my head before reaching for my wallet. I pulled out five crisp hundreds and handed them to her. She flashed me a bright smile. "Good luck," she said. "I'm sure you'll knock *em dead, kiddo." She rolled up the bills and slipped them down the front of her dress, then turned and walked back to the table, where she was greeted with laughter and cheers.

I was still feeling burnt as I walked out the doors of the lobby into the stuffy, hot air of outside. The SUV was only a few feet outside the entrance, already running. I walked over to the pa.s.senger door and got in, took a quick look to confirm Reed was in the back seat, and nodded at Scott, who put the car in gear.

"I take it your aunt's not coming?" This from Reed, who was bathed in the shadows behind me.

"No," I said, voice tight. "She decided she'd rather drink with her new friends." I rubbed my face, still feeling the effects of the whiskey I'd had earlier in the night. Maybe one of these days I could actually go out and have a couple drinks without it backfiring on me, but apparently now was not the time in my life when I could pull that off.

The road went by, on and on as the GPS guided us onto the freeway and we headed north. My head swam with thoughts of James and Zack, Zack and James. I had been so close with James, so close to something I doubted I'd ever be able to have with Zack. Or anyone, actually. On the other hand, I knew almost nothing about James; in fact, all I knew about him was that he seemed to be the only man I'd met that I could touch without harming.

Plus, I knew how he looked naked. And it was...not bad. Not bad at all.

I cursed my responsibility again, and thought about Charlie, sitting in the bar even now, doing what she wanted to do when she wanted to do it. She blew through town when she felt like it, hung out with me when she wanted to, and, like some kind of idiot, I gave her money pretty much any time I saw her. Maybe I felt guilty because I thought I had it so much better than her, like I'd gotten lucky. h.e.l.l, I probably had. But she didn't even seem like she was trying, just doing whatever she wanted.

Meanwhile, I had just put off something I wanted more than almost anything else in favor of doing something I had to do.

I fell asleep sometime after pa.s.sing a sign that read Chippewa Falls and when I woke up there was light on the horizon. Reed was talking to Scott in a hushed voice, and I heard them both share a chortle. "Where are we?" I asked.

Scott looked over at me. "About five miles from Eagle River. Directorate a.n.a.lysts went over property records in the area and found a few anomalies for us to check out."

"Oh?" I blinked my eyes. "How far behind us is Kat?"

"At least four hours," he said. "She's got some agents with her, and they're going full tilt with the sirens on, but they're just west of Eau Claire now."

"Maybe we'll get lucky and come up empty the first few places," Reed said from behind us. I looked back at him in askance and he shrugged. "It could happen."

We followed the GPS, pa.s.sing through the town itself and out a side road, stopping at an old building on the outskirts, an aluminum shed that looked a little like a barn. After taking a hard look around inside, we found nothing. The next stop was an abandoned farm on the other side of town. By the time we got out of the car, the sun had been up for a little while and it was already hot. I left my jacket in the car and rolled up my sleeves, shedding my gloves. Reed and Scott shared a look and steered well clear of me as we walked up the dirt road toward the farmhouse.

My holster was solid against my ribs, and, I realized about halfway up the drive, quite visible since my jacket was gone. I felt for my FBI ID and remembered I'd left it and my wallet in the jacket. I shrugged and looked at Scott. "Got your ID?"

"Yep," he said, patting his back pocket.

"Good. I'd hate to get shot by some old farmer because I couldn't properly identify myself."

"As a fake FBI agent, you mean?" Reed cracked a grin when he said it.

We walked up the dusty road, my shoes picking up an acc.u.mulation of particles as we went, a fine sheen of light brown earth on the black surface. "How many more of these property anomalies do we have to check?"

"Three more," Scott said as we reached the farmhouse. The screen door was open, hanging off its hinges. The door behind it was cracked and didn't look to be in much better condition. The white paneling that was wrapped around the house was in shambles, and looked like it had been there since the early 1900s, gray in some places, cracked and peeling. The shutters were off all but a few windows and the gla.s.s was broken out of those that I could see. "I don't think we're going to have to deal with anyone living here," Scott said in dark amus.e.m.e.nt.

"I don't know about that," Reed said. "This looks like a fine place for some snakes to nest; or maybe a posse of angry badgers."

I looked at him in confusion. "Badgers form posses?"

"They do in this state."

Scott led the way through the door, his hand extended in case trouble presented itself. He paused and looked at Reed. "You want to check the barn?" Scott turned back to look into the house. "It's not looking like much in here."

"Sure," Reed said, and looked at me. "You?"

"Yeah, I'll go with you," I said.

Scott frowned, looking back over his shoulder at us. "That's okay. I'll just check out this creepy old farmhouse all by my lonesome."

"That's the spirit." I gave him a barehand slap on the back, causing him to jump and then look at me with a stern face. "We'll meet you outside."

Reed and I walked to the barn, an old, decaying structure that looked to be in just about as good a repair as the farmhouse. The silo looked as though it had collapsed years ago, now nothing more than a bed of concrete blocks laid out across an overgrown field, green gra.s.s sprouting around the white of the blocks like tombstones in a graveyard.

"You think this is it?" I looked at Reed to see how he was holding up. He looked calm enough.

"Probably not," he said as he opened the barn door wide, letting loose a foul, disgusting smell that caused me to cover my nose and gag.

"What is that?" I asked "I think something died in here." He tucked his shirt over his nose and walked forward, looking around until he stopped in front of one of the animal stalls. "Yep. Something died here."

"Ugh." I retreated from the barn, moving back to a comfortable distance where the smell started to fade. I could still see him looking around within, but after about a minute he came back to me, popping his head out of his shirt and taking a deep breath. "Why did you think this wasn't the place even before you opened the door?" I asked.

He pointed to the ground in front of the barn. "No sign of vehicle tracks or footprints, here or in the main driveway. I don't think anyone's been here for a long time. Now, it could have been Omega doing a really excellent job of covering things up, but now that I've looked around, I'm inclined to believe it's just an old farmhouse." He wrinkled his nose. "Complete with remains of an old farm animal."

I stared off into the distance, where the sun was up off the horizon, casting its light on the green, rolling fields that surrounded us to the trees that covered the horizon. "We've got a few more to check. I kinda hope the next one is it, though; I'm sick of these dead ends." I turned and started walking back to the farmhouse, where I saw Scott emerging from a side door, brushing his shoulders off with enough emphasis that I suspected spider webs might have entangled him.

"I don't know," Reed said, taking one last look at the barn. "It might be the next one, it might be the one after that, but I kinda hope it's none of them. I know Omega, and I shudder to think about what kind of secrets they're hiding out here." He made a face. "I suspect it'll make us long for an abandoned farmhouse with old rancid animals."

"Maybe," I said. "But whatever they're hiding, I need to find out." I took a deep breath, trying to enjoy for just a moment the feel of the sun's rays beating down on my arms and my hands. I felt like I was soaking them up, taking in the heat. "There's a lot riding on this, a lot we've sacrificed to be at this point, to take the a.s.signment this far." I tried to hold my chin up. "Whatever's waiting for us, we'll find a way past it."

"You sure about that?" He raised an eyebrow at me. "You're talking about the organization that threw both Wolfe and Henderschott at you. I doubt they're gonna just let you waltz into one of their most closely guarded secrets."

"I doubt there'll be much waltzing, at least not until afterward," I said. "But whatever they're going to throw at us, whatever's waiting, we'll get through it." I smiled. "After all, how bad could it be?"

Reed rolled his eyes at me. "Jinx."

Chapter 17.

Someone Else It was bad. Worse than I expected. Guards walked the perimeter of their so-called Site Epsilon, black-clad figures that wore tactical vests and hid behind tall chain-link fences with barbed wire stretched across the top. They probably weren't visible to the naked human eye, but a meta would see them if they paid close attention, their black standing out against the green of the woods like tar smudged onto a painting of a summer field.

There was a fairly obvious cl.u.s.ter of them hanging behind the trees just off the driveway, behind the gate. I watched them for a little while, saw them with their underslung submachine guns, and worse, knew they were probably itching for a fight after being stationed out here for so long.

The main gate looked abandoned. I had parked my stolen car a good distance down the road, out of sight. This one had a decent radio but no air conditioning, and I had resolved that the next car I stole would be a new model Mercedes, if possible. The good news was, I had enough money that I didn't have to rob any convenience stores on the way out here. Progress at last.

I took another look at the gate, trying to figure out what their game was. I a.s.sumed that they were aiming for the abandoned look, but the gate was too well kept up, without rust. The gatehouse had dark tinted windows, but the paint was peeling. Based on the size, I had to guess there were at least three human guards inside at any given time, plus others lurking nearby. Every last one of them that I could see looked to be geared like a sweep team, not rent-a-cops with batons and pepper spray. Omega was taking their security here very seriously, unlike the safehouse in Eau Claire. They'd even made sure this property was a half-mile off the nearest road.

I slunk through the gra.s.s, keeping close to the ground. I hate getting dirty, but this was one case where I had no choice. I had other suspicions about what kind of security I'd find behind the fences; motion and heat sensors, cameras, and a bunch of trigger-happy sweepers who probably had a very aggressive kill order, one that probably transcended attempts to surrender.

I stared at the seemingly impenetrable fortress and it stared back at me. I hoped not literally. If they were watching me already, this was going to be even tougher than I thought.

I was a half-dozen yards off the driveway when I heard the sound of a vehicle. I crouched lower and saw an SUV approaching. I huddled even closer to the ground and tried to hide my face as they pa.s.sed. They were headed straight for the gatehouse, and I watched as movement started in earnest on the other side of the fence. The squad of guards I'd seen earlier were moving through the underbrush, coming toward the gatehouse. I waited for the SUV to turn around, to throw gravel and spin out, hauling a.s.s out of there, but they didn't. The guards crept closer in position, weapons raised, and I wondered how long it would be before they opened fire.

Chapter 18.

Sienna Nealon We rolled down the driveway of the next potential base for Omega, this one an old factory. We'd turned off the road almost a half-mile back, and were surrounded by tall trees and heavy underbrush. I was trying to keep an eye out for whatever might cross our path next, but I kept getting distracted by movement in the forest. After the third time, I chalked it up to sunlight coming through the trees in the distance, but I couldn't quite go along with that explanation, not wholeheartedly anyway. We came up on a gatehouse, with a fence that was at least ten feet high and ran as far as I could see in either direction.

"It would appear they're serious about keeping us out," Reed said from the backseat. "Of course, we could almost jump over the fence..."

"I don't know that I could jump that," Scott said, staring straight ahead.

"Well, some of us could jump it," Reed said, prompting Scott to turn and shake his head, amused. "I'm kidding. I could help you clear it."

Scott raised an eyebrow. "And my landing on the other side?"

"As gentle as being tossed over a fence by a tornado."

I watched out the windshield. The gatehouse was in bad shape, looked to have gone years without painting, but the windows were tinted and I couldn't see anything inside. "Something's different about this place."

"It looks pretty abandoned to me," Scott said.

"No, she's right." Reed was leaning between the seats, looking forward. "There are fresh tire tracks leading up the drive, the fence looks like it's in pretty d.a.m.ned good repair, and some parts of that gatehouse look like they've been artificially aged." He pointed at the windows. "Look at those. If the rest of the place is cracked and peeling, why do those windows look new? They're tinted so dark you can't see in them." He squinted. "I think I see some really small security cameras, too. Why wouldn't they remove those if the place is abandoned?"

We had come to a stop about a hundred feet from the gate, just looking. "Well," Scott said, a little tense, "if we want, we can go check it out nice and slow, or we can start our trespa.s.sing with a little breaking and entering."

I caught movement off the path behind the gate, but I couldn't tell what, just a black blur. "I think we're gonna need to start with a bang."

Scott looked across at me, then back to the windshield. "Okay. You might wanna brace yourself."

I heard Reed buckle his seatbelt in the back as Scott gunned the engine with his foot still on the brake, the sound of gravel hitting the back of the SUV drowning out any possibility of further conversation. He let loose the brakes and we surged forward, racing toward the gate. I saw it get larger, saw a head peek out of the gatehouse and then dodge back in as we collided with the chain link fencing. I heard the smash of metal on the hood, and the top of the gate whipsawed down and hit the roof of our car with a clash so loud I ducked in fear that it would buckle.

We continued to drive, the gate lodged on our car. I saw men in black uniforms on either side of us, diving for cover. I watched as two of them were hit by the edges of the gate and flew through the air as Scott continued to push the car forward, his teeth gritted and his hands clenching the wheel as he tried to steer.

We came around a bend and I had to catch my breath. At least a dozen guards were in the road in front of us, but that wasn't what got me. It was one of them, with a long tube slung over his shoulder, down on one knee, the tube being fiddled with by one of the other guards as the man stuffed something onto the tip * a roughly potato-sized object. I watched him start to pull his hand away, his task completed. I yelled and my hand flew to my seatbelt, unfastening it. I could hear Reed in the backseat, already moving, doing the same.

"RPG!" I shouted and reached over to Scott, slapping the release on his seatbelt. "BAIL OUT!" I waited a half-second to see him grab the door handle and start to open it before I did the same. I saw Reed going out the back on the same side I was, and I hit the ground at a roll. There was an explosion as the car was. .h.i.t with a rocket-propelled grenade as it sped forward, the chain-link gate still on the hood.

The explosion was loud and it felt like my hearing cut out when it happened. I felt the sting of rocks and sticks stabbing through my blouse as I rolled across the dirt sideways, a fern catching me in the face and blinding me. When I came to a stop I spit out leaves and pushed to my feet. The first time I had decided to roll up my sleeves and not wear gloves, I had to bail out of a vehicle into the woods at high speed. Ouch.

"You okay?" I heard Reed's voice and nodded, still trying to get my bearings. We were slightly down from the road and I could hear distant shouting.

"Yeah," I said, ignoring the ringing in my ears, "but we need to get to Scott."

"And cross the open road where the men with guns have a clear line of sight on us?" Reed looked at me in disbelief.