Oath Bound

  The rest of us peered around him, and my entire body went cold when I saw what was waiting for us in the hall, facing the door we’d just opened in the only dark spot in the building.

  A spot that had been left dark for us on purpose, I realized, as I stared at what Julia Tower had left behind.

  Ned-the-guard. Dead, with a neat-ish hole in the center of his forehead. Nude and propped up in a sitting position, with a paper note safety-pinned to the flesh above his heart. His dead eyes stared up at us, and I knew what he was meant to be even before I read the note, which appeared to have been written in blood. Probably his.

  Ned was a message from Julia Tower. To me.

  I should have known she’d kill him if he was no longer useful to her. And if she knew I had set him free, then she knew I’d figured out exactly who I was and what I could take from her.

  Pretense was over. The battle had just begun.

  Only one of us could survive.

  Fifteen

  Kris

  “Oh, shit...” I tried to block the dead man from Sera’s line of sight, but I could tell by her suddenly rapid breathing that she’d already seen. She tried to push past me, but I refused to move. I’d already lost Kenley by letting her rush into an unknown situation, and I wasn’t going to make that mistake again. “Wait!” I whispered when she wouldn’t stop shoving. “It’s probably an ambush.”

  “Bullshit.” Sera didn’t even bother to whisper. “They obviously knew we were coming—this was left here for us. If this were an ambush, they wouldn’t want us to know they knew we were coming.”

  I had to think about that for a second; however, once I’d untangled her sentence, I couldn’t argue with it. But caution never hurts.

  Kori and I fanned out for a quick search of the four other rooms emptying into the hallway, while Ian and his gun—fortunately, he’d been shot in his left shoulder—stood guard over Sera.

  When we were sure the immediate area was deserted, I motioned for Ian to let her out of the men’s room. Sera shot an angry glance at me, but I was starting to get used to those. And I refused to feel guilty for trying to keep her safe. Angry-Sera was better than dead-Sera any day of the week.

  Although agreeable-Sera would have been a nice change.

  She knelt by Ned’s body, and when Kori and Ian took up posts on either side, I knelt with her to read the note pinned to the dead man’s bare chest.

  His blood is on your hands.

  “That’s Julia’s handwriting,” Kori said, and I looked up to see her staring at the note as if she’d seen a ghost. “She doesn’t usually get her hands dirty, but this time I’d bet my last drop of vodka that the bitch pinned it to him herself.”

  “But how is his blood on our hands?” Sera said. “We let him live.”

  Kori snorted. “That’s what got him killed.”

  Sera stood and covered her face with both hands, then ran her fingers through her hair. Her hands were small. They looked softer than Kori’s and more feminine, with short rounded nails instead of bitten stubs. I wanted to touch one of them. Then she dropped them, and for a second she was looking right at me—until that seemed to make her uncomfortable and her gaze found the corpse again.

  I tried not to be offended that she’d rather look at a dead man than at me.

  “Okay.” She took a deep breath, obviously collecting her thoughts. Trying to mentally move past the dead body. “My guess is that if your sister was ever here, she’s gone now.”

  “Kenley was here.” I was sure of that. “They knew we’d figure it out, after talking to Ned, so they moved her and left him here for us to find. Unless you think Julia left us a rotting welcome gift at every warehouse we might think to search?”

  Sera shook her head and I watched her, studying her intense focus. “You think Julia killed Ned because he didn’t kill us? Or because she knew it would upset you? Or because he told us they moved the blood farm to a warehouse?” It was a trick question, intended to test her growing understanding of syndicate life. The answer was: D. All of the above. Julia had killed him because she could.

  “He’s dead because she doesn’t know what he told us,” Sera mumbled, rereading the note for at least the hundredth time, and I shook my head.

  “Julia Tower is a Reader. The only way to keep her in the dark is to say nothing, and Ned didn’t have that option. He was bound to her.”

  Sera started to argue—I could see it coming before she even opened her mouth—then seemed to think better of it. “Either way, they obviously knew we were coming. My bet is that this place is deserted.”

  “Or they want us to think this place is deserted, so they can ambush us when we search it.” The warehouse was a trap. It had to be. If Julia wanted us dead—and she did—and knew we were coming—which she did—why not take advantage of the opportunity?

  “Okay.” Kori glanced from Ian to me. Sera looked miffed that she wasn’t being consulted about the plan. “This hall has two exits.” The only two doors we hadn’t checked, because they were locked. “You two go left, we’ll go right. Stay together. If it gets dangerous, go home. Immediately.”

  Ian could make his own shadows for them to travel through, but I’d have to destroy the infrared lighting grid for a chance to travel. “This isn’t my first rodeo,” I reminded her.

  “Well, it is hers.” Kori shot a pointed glance at Sera.

  “What, the last mostly deserted building doesn’t count?” Sera demanded softly. “If I hadn’t seen that guard in time, Ian would have been hit in the chest, instead of the shoulder.”

  My sister scowled. “And if you’d known how to disarm him, Ian wouldn’t have been hit at all.”

  “If I haven’t already thanked you...thank you,” Ian said.

  Kori turned toward the door on her end of the hall and he followed her with a reassuring smile at Sera.

  “Is your sister always so bossy?” Sera whispered as we headed toward our locked door.

  “Yeah. We let her think she’s in charge, because it’s easier than arguing with her. But if her way isn’t the best way, I do things my way.” I shrugged and leaned closer to whisper near her ear, hyperaware that Vanessa’s strawberry-scented shampoo made Sera smell like she might actually be edible. And I wanted a taste. “Sometimes I do things my way anyway, just to watch her head explode. Though I usually save that for when the cable goes out and everyone’s bored.”

  At the end of the hall, I tried the doorknob one more time, to make sure nothing had changed. It was still locked. I glanced back just in time to see Ian pull a deep column of darkness out of nowhere for them to step through, then I holstered my gun and took a longer look at the door and lock.

  It was an interior commercial door. Aluminum and hollow, with a standard doorknob lock. Easier to kick open than to shoot.

  “Stand back,” I said, and Sera backed up to give me some space. Two heel kicks to the left of the knob, and the door swung open with minimal noise and no real mess.

  I stepped into the dark interior office beyond and did a quick security check, then motioned for Sera to follow me inside. Though the only visible light came from an open supply closet, I could feel the infrared grid blazing above me, rendering every shadow shallow and useless.

  The office held two metal desks, each with the drawers open and emptied. A laptop power cord trailed across the surface of each desk, but the computers themselves were gone, along with whatever information they’d contained.

  The wall opposite the door I’d kicked in held a long glass panel overlooking the warehouse itself, a good six feet lower than the rest of the building. A quick glance inside showed that it was empty, too, except for a couple of abandoned medical gurneys and several scraps of tubing, IV bags, and other medical supplies on the concrete floor.

  “They left in a hurry.” I crossed
the room, toward the entrance to the warehouse. “Maybe that means they’re still setting up the new place.”

  “Or that they already had it ready, just in case.” Sera followed me down the steel grid stairs into the body of the warehouse. There was a set of bathrooms on the far side of the huge room, both doors standing wide open, but other than that, I saw nowhere for anyone to hide.

  “So, what?” She ran one hand down the length an abandoned gurney, and I wanted to tell her to stop—that there was no telling what she could catch. Then I remembered that Tower’s victims weren’t sick. They were kept unconscious for ease of handling. “They strap these poor people to the bed and drain them?” Sera looked horrified all over again now that she could see a little of what Jake Tower had started and his sister was continuing. “A little at a time, or all at once?”

  “Kori didn’t mention straps, and these gurneys aren’t equipped with them. She says they keep the donors sedated via IV drip and they never take enough blood to kill. Tower was very interested in the renewable aspect of his...resources.”

  “The bad guys are going green?”

  “Only if the color refers to cash. They’re trying to milk every dollar they can out of each body before it finally gives out. The Towers are motivated by two things—money and power. The only things they like better than money and power are more money and more power. I think it’s some kind of chromosomal abnormality. They lack the genes for compassion and morality.”

  Sera scowled and her green eyes darkened.

  “What now?” I’d thought we were making progress. She was speaking to me again, and as soon as I had a moment alone with her, somewhere other than an enemy warehouse, I was prepared to declare myself an idiot and apologize for the night before. So why was she getting angrier with every word I spoke?

  “Nothing.” She started across the warehouse toward the bathrooms.

  “Sera, wait,” I said, and when she finally turned to face me again, her scowl had etched deep lines in her forehead. “Okay, I know you’re mad about what I said last night, and I know I deserve it—”

  “I’m not mad. You were right.” Her gaze met mine with what looked like considerable effort. “I’m not in the best state of mind, and if I’d been thinking clearly, I wouldn’t have thrown myself at the first available warm body.”

  “I was just the first available...” Ouch. I tried to pretend it didn’t sting to hear that mine was a bed of convenience. That any port in the storm would have done.

  “Yeah.” She shrugged, but the motion looked stiff and insincere. Or was I imagining that? “So...thanks. You saved us both from a big mistake.”

  A mistake? My jaw clenched. Was she throwing my own words at me out of anger, or had we really switched positions so quickly?

  “Anyway, you’re off the hook,” she continued, oblivious to my confusion. “I won’t be throwing myself at you anymore. I promise.”

  “Um...okay.” I hid disappointment behind what I hoped was a casual smile. “But to prove I have no hard feelings, if you change your mind and decide to throw yourself at me again, this time I promise to catch you.”

  Her brows rose in surprise. “Are you flirting? Because you should know, that kind of comes off as a mixed signal, after last night.”

  “Sera, I’m so sorry about last night. I had my wires totally crossed, but today they’re all straightened out. I swear.”

  The crook in her eyebrow said she was intrigued, but the downward tilt of her lips said she was also feeling cautious. I’d never wanted to turn a frown upside down so badly in my life. “I’m not sure what that means, Kris.”

  “That means I want to be here for you. Whatever you need.”

  “Thanks, but seriously, you were right. I shouldn’t jump into anything right now. I think we’d both regret that.”

  She was wrong. But... “Hot chocolate, then. With or without the Peeps. Or a shoulder to lean on. A hand to hold. An ear to bend. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Just promise you won’t dial me out next time you need something. Okay?”

  Her frown finally died, but that caution still swam in her eyes. As if she wasn’t sure she could trust me.

  I chuckled. “You really make a man work for it, don’t you?”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Work for what?”

  “A smile,” I said, and her suspicion disappeared. “All I want is a smile. And you’re really making me work for it.” Okay, a smile wasn’t all I wanted. But it’s what I wanted first. I wanted to be able to make her think, just for a minute, about something other than what she’d lost. How she’d nearly died three times since meeting me. How we were no closer to finding the man who’d stolen everything from her.

  I wanted to give her something. And I would start with a smile.

  “This isn’t the kind of place that inspires smiles,” she pointed out. “And this isn’t exactly a happy time. There’s a dead man in the hall.”

  “I’m happy he’s not you.”

  “I’m happy about that, too.” She glanced at her hands for a second, then met my gaze again, and I could see it in her eyes. I almost had her. “I’m also happy that he’s not you.”

  And finally she smiled.

  I felt absurdly triumphant, and I’m sure my own goofy grin reflected that. Even if neither of our smiles would last. And they couldn’t, considering where we stood.

  With another glance around the warehouse, solemnity returned, and Sera was all business again.

  “Why do you think they left these two gurneys?” she asked, but she’d already drawn the same conclusion I had. I could see that in her eyes as she ran one thumb over a dark spot on the edge of the thin white sheet. “These two didn’t make it, right?” She looked up at me, and I could only shrug. “They poured bleach over the blood—I can smell it—but it’s still damp. We didn’t miss them by much. The cleanup crew, anyway,”

  I couldn’t tear my gaze from that spot of blood. Until I noticed another one. And another, leading to a larger stain where the donor’s elbow might have been. Had the donor woken up and struggled? Had something gone wrong with the IV? Had Julia simply cut her losses on a couple of the more fragile donors, who might not be worth the trouble of moving?

  “I’m sure Kenley wasn’t one of them.” The compassion in her voice drew my gaze.

  “She wasn’t. Julia can’t afford to let her die.” But she wasn’t truly letting Kenni live, either. “Stay put while I check the bathrooms.”

  Sera’s brows rose over what she evidently saw as an order.

  “Please,” I added as an afterthought, and she gave me another small smile.

  “See? That word really can work magic.”

  I laughed, and as I crossed the floor toward the bathroom, I began composing a mental list of every possible way to use her “magic word” in my own favor. The entries were not all G-rated.

  The men’s room door was open widest, so I checked that one first, careful not to turn my back on the ladies’ room, even with Sera there to shout if someone tried to sneak up on me. The men’s room was small and empty, and far from fresh, in spite of the fact that Julia’s people obviously kept plenty of bleach on hand.

  The ladies’ room was just as small and empty, and only marginally cleaner.

  With the restrooms clear, I crossed the room to tug on the padlock bolting the exterior door, then gave the rolling bay doors a tug, too. Everything was locked up tight, from the inside.

  “Well, the cleanup crew didn’t go out this way,” I said, but when I turned to glance at Sera, she was gone.

  “Damn it!” I drew my gun again and rechecked the bathrooms. “Sera!” I hissed, on my way up the steel grid steps, but the office and its supply closet were both empty. She hadn’t gone past me into the warehouse, so the only other option was...

  “Sera!” I called again in an angr
y whisper as I backtracked into the well-lit hallway. The doors Kori and I had checked were still open, and all of the rooms were still dark, except for...the bathroom we’d traveled into. The door was barely ajar now, and the light inside was brighter than the hallway.

  Would it have killed her to tell me if she had to pee? Or to go in the warehouse restroom, where I knew there was no one waiting to decorate the walls with our splattered brains?

  I did a cursory scan of the rooms between me and the bathroom to make sure no one was luring me down the hall, only to sneak up behind me, and I was two doors from the lit restroom when I heard Sera’s voice. Whispering.

  “You don’t have orders to kill me, do you? That’s why you hesitated,” she said, and my trigger finger twitched. Who the hell was she talking to? “That means you know who I am, right?”

  Who she was? A Jammer? A Blocker? What did those have to do with why someone—Julia’s someone, most likely—had no orders to kill her?

  I edged forward slowly and peered into the dark room on my right, but no answer came from whoever she was talking to—no verbal answer, anyway—and I was starting to wonder if she was talking to herself in the bathroom mirror. I hoped she was talking to herself, because if this was a trap, and she’d walked into it, she had no way to defend herself. Not without a spray bottle and a toilet plunger, anyway.

  So why didn’t she sound as though she needed to be defended?

  The room on my right looked empty at a glance, and a glance was all I had time for, if Sera was stalling, waiting for someone with a gun to show up and bail her out.

  “And if you know who I am, you can’t kill me, can you? Not even if she tells you to. You can’t even raise a hand against me, right?”

  Silence met her latest question and my heart beat harder as I crossed the hall silently to peer into the last room between me and Sera and...whoever was in the bathroom with her, real or imaginary.

  “I think I’m starting to figure this out. You can’t hurt me, just like you couldn’t hurt her. Same game, new dealer, right?”