A red Ford sedan roared up. Eddie climbed out. Time, a warm voice whispered into her mind. Gabriel, she thought again, and wondered whether his voice was real or simply her imagination.
She raised the laser and fired at the car, splitting it open from front to back. Doing the same to Eddie. At the same time, two more red-blue flashes lit the air, and Jack’s other men were little more than headless corpses lying prone on the concrete.
“What the fuck?” Panic filled Jack’s voice as he swung around. His gaze widened as it settled on the weapon in her hand. “Where the hell did that come from?”
“Magic,” she said softly. “Hands up, Jack.”
He slowly raised his hands. But however much his human half might fear her, his vampire half still had control. It was evident in the calculating coldness of his eyes. “It’s against the law to kill me. You know the rules. You’ve lived with them all your life, and you can’t abandon them now.”
She smiled sadly. She had lived within the rules all her life. She might not have always followed orders, but she had stayed within the letter of the law, even when Jack had tried to convince her to do otherwise.
Look what it had gained her—a phony friendship, a shattered apartment and goddamn loneliness.
“What was that phrase you always used to say?”
A frown flitted across his features. She saw him tense, knew he was ready to leap.
“Oh yeah,” she said softly. “Fuck the damn rules.” He sprang. She fired. Once. Twice. The laser caught him in the head and the chest and disintegrated both. She closed her eyes and heard the soft thump as his remains hit the concrete. She had her ending. It was over.
So why did she feel so empty, so cold?
She dropped the laser, closed her eyes and let her head rest against the wall. After several seconds, she heard the soft flutter of wings, then hesitant footsteps.
Gabriel, she knew, without looking. She could smell his aftershave, a warm, woody scent that tingled through her nostrils. She could somehow feel him in her mind, a wall of heat she could see but not yet touch.
His arms went around her, pulling her into the warmth of his embrace. She bit her lip, then buried her face against his shoulder and let the tears flow.
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, ‘SUSPENDED until further notice’?” Sam stared at the captain, a weird sense of déjà vu running through her. Though it was an entirely different office in which the two of them now sat, the events seemed to be rolling out just the same.
He sighed heavily. “It means that, until further notice, you’re suspended from active service with the State Police.”
“Did some form of evidence come to light when I was in the hospital?”
“No. You’re cleared of all charges relating to the death of Detective Jack Kazdan.”
The clone’s rapidly disintegrating body, and the subsequent discovery of the massive doses of growth accelerant in his body, had corroborated her statement that it wasn’t the real Jack she’d shot that first time. And Gabriel had testified that when she’d shot him the second time, it was in self-defense.
Granted, she shouldn’t have killed him the second time, either, if only because they might have been able to coerce information about Sethanon out of him. But, as Gabriel had pointed out, if she hadn’t shot him, he would have been forced to, if only to save her life. Besides, if this Sethanon was the force of evil everyone was saying, would he leave a general alive to shoot his mouth off? Unlikely.
“Then why am I being suspended?”
The captain rubbed his forehead wearily. “Look, I’m just the middleman around here. I do what I’m told. And right now, my orders are to get your skinny ass down to the SIU.”
She blinked in surprise. “The SIU? What the hell do they want to see me for?” Gabriel had promised no more tests. Surely he wouldn’t go back on his word …
But then, Gabriel didn’t run the SIU. Byrne did. Stephan had arranged a smooth takeover for Hanrahan’s successor, and the transition had gone as planned. As Byrne, Stephan still ran the SIU, and his alter ego still ran the Federation.
“Maybe they want to give you a commendation for your help in rescuing the PM.”
The captain’s dry tone told her it was highly unlikely. “Come on, Cap, you must have heard something.”
He smiled, brown eyes amused. “As I said, I’m just a middleman. Go. The SIU do not like to be kept waiting.”
“Yeah, so you said the last time.” She rose, knowing she would get nothing more from him. “See you around, Cap.”
“I doubt it,” he said, and went back to his paperwork.
Dismissed yet again. She walked out of his office and past the office she and Jack had shared, not even bothering to stop. There was nothing left for her in there. Nothing more than memories she no longer trusted.
She pressed the elevator button and impatiently tapped her foot. After several seconds the door opened. She swiped her pass through it and pressed the button for the SIU. The doors closed, and the elevator whisked her downward.
Gabriel was waiting in the foyer. He’d come to visit her in the hospital, but she hadn’t seen him since she’d gotten out, just over a week ago.
“What the hell is going on?” she said.
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
He made little effort to conceal his annoyance, and she raised her eyebrows in surprise. “I thought assistant directors were told what was going on.”
“Not this one—not on this occasion, anyway.”
He led her down a long corridor and past several well-secured entrances. The furniture became plush and rich in color, contrasting oddly against the harsh white walls. They were in the director’s suite, she realized.
Gabriel approached a desk and stopped. The blonde behind it looked up and smiled. “Assistant Director Stern, the director is expecting you. Please, go on in.”
He glanced at Sam. There was wariness in his gaze, tension in the set of his shoulders. He obviously knew his twin was up to something, but he wasn’t sure what.
“Ladies first,” he said, ushering her through the open doorway.
“Gee, thanks,” she muttered, feeling like a lamb about to enter the hungry lion’s den.
Jonathan Byrne looked up as they entered. The impact of his gaze stopped her so suddenly Gabriel had to do a quick step around her. In the intense depths of Byrne’s blue eyes, well beneath the sharp amusement, there was a calculating iciness that boded ill. But she sensed that Gabriel, more than she, wasn’t going to like whatever it was his twin had to say.
The door slammed shut behind them, and a faint buzzing ran across the silence. Voice scramblers, she thought, surprised.
“What the hell are you up to?” Gabriel stalked to the desk and stared at his brother. His voice held no respect. No wonder Byrne had the scramblers up.
“I told you a while ago that I wanted you to have a partner—that these missions of ours, both here and with the Federation, were far too dangerous to continue with alone.” Byrne’s gaze went from Gabriel to her, then back again, and a smile touched his thin lips. “And now, I believe, I have found you the perfect partner.”
“I work alone. I always have, and always will.” Gabriel hesitated and glanced around at her. “No offense.”
“None taken.” Sam stepped up beside him. “I have absolutely no desire to join the ranks of the spook squad, so you can transfer me right back upstairs.”
“Gabriel, you have no choice. And you didn’t volunteer, my dear; you were drafted. We will begin your training straight away.”
“No you won’t, because I’ll quit if you don’t transfer me back.”
“We both know that’ll never happen, because you have no life beyond your job, so let’s not pretend.”
Damned if he wasn’t right. She was stuck, and they both knew it. And in some ways, being here was better than being up in State. She might have been cleared of Jack’s murder, but people hadn’t forgiven her. Whether or not she was in the right,
she’d still shot the man she’d thought was her partner. She’d stepped over that line, and there was no going back now.
Byrne leaned forward, crossing his arms on the desk. “You worked so well together. I saw it, Gabriel—at the house and at the shuttle port. There’s an instant understanding between you, something rare and precious. Sam obviously has talents that are still developing, and she will need monitoring, while you, my brother, have talents you refuse to explore. Together, I think you will make quite a lethal combination.”
They stared at him in silence. There was little else they could do.
He smiled again. “I’ll take your silence as acceptance. Now, get the hell out of my office and go do some work.”
Gabriel glanced down at her, his hazel eyes as cold as the Antarctic, then turned and walked from the room. She had no choice but to follow. She’d lost one job and gained another—and a new partner in the process. Some days, you just couldn’t win.
“This is great,” Gabriel muttered as he strode along the hall. He ran a hand through his hair and glanced back at her. “Nothing personal, of course. I just prefer working alone.”
“Which is not a current option.”
“There’s always another option,” he shot back, “and always a way around orders.”
“He won’t send me back upstairs. You heard him say that.”
“And I won’t work with a partner.” His gaze was almost challenging, as though she were somehow a threat to him.
She raised an eyebrow and wondered what the hell she was missing. “It’s not like either of us has much of a choice. Why not accept it gracefully and just get on with whatever it is we’re supposed to do?”
“What I’m supposed to do now is take you downstairs and register you for training, which I will. But nothing more. You and I will never work together.”
“Why not? I mean, we did work well together, didn’t we?”
He didn’t even bother glancing at her. “Yes, but that doesn’t alter my decision.”
He strode off. She had no choice but to follow. “What the hell have you got against having a partner?”
“It’s not about you. It’s about partners in general.”
Which really didn’t explain a whole lot. Nor did it really matter, because they were both stuck with the situation, and there was no other option than to put up with it the best they could. He would see sense, sooner or later.
Besides, unwanted or not, there was one good thing about her being drafted into the SIU. Their computers had far greater access to secure records than the State Police computers did. Maybe here she could uncover the truth about her being dumped at the orphanage. Maybe here she could finally uncover the truth about the past she couldn’t remember.
And she wouldn’t let one stubborn assistant director, intent on not having her as a partner, stop her journey of self-discovery.
By Keri Arthur
THE NIKKI AND MICHAEL SERIES
Dancing with the Devil
Hearts in Darkness
Chasing the Shadows
Kiss the Night Goodbye
THE RIPPLE CREEK WEREWOLF SERIES
Beneath a Rising Moon
Beneath a Darkening Moon
THE DARK ANGELS SERIES
Darkness Unbound
Darkness Rising
Darkness Devours
Darkness Hunts
Darkness Unmasked
Darkness Splintered
THE MYTH AND MAGIC SERIES
Destiny Kills
Mercy Burns
THE RILEY JENSON GUARDIAN SERIES
Full Moon Rising
Kissing Sin
Tempting Evil
Dangerous Games
Embraced by Darkness
The Darkest Kiss
Deadly Desire
Bound to Shadows
Moon Sworn
THE SPOOK SQUAD SERIES
Memory Zero
If you loved Memory Zero,
be sure not to miss the next book
in the thrilling Spook Squad series:
GENERATION 18
by
KERI ARTHUR
And stay tuned for the final book in the
Spook Squad series—Penumbra—which will
follow next month!
Here’s a special preview:
BEING A SPOOK WASN’T AT all what Samantha Ryan had expected. Long nights, sleepless days, yes—she’d faced that, and worse, during her ten years as a State Police officer. In her time with State, the agents of the Special Investigations Unit had breezed in and out of situations, always on edge, always on the move, always looking as if they loved what they were doing. So the sheer and utter boredom that filled ninety percent of her new job with the SIU had come as something of a shock.
She sighed and shifted slightly, trying to find a comfortable position on the icy metal step. Watch the back door, Gabriel had said. Make sure the vamps don’t hit the blood bank from the alley. This despite the fact that, in the five previous robberies, the vampires had always gone in through the front door.
So why the hell would they change a successful MO now?
They wouldn’t. He knew that. She knew that.
She rubbed her eyes wearily. She could hardly argue, though, as he was her senior and in charge of the investigation. And with intel stating that this blood bank would be the next one hit, she couldn’t argue with orders that were little more than covering all the bases.
What the intel wasn’t saying was whether it was actually vampires doing these robberies. Hell, with recent estimates saying that at least thirty percent of newly turned vampires were unable to control their bloodlust, human blood had become a hot commodity. Combine that with the recent spate of deaths brought about through infected blood in all the major hospitals—leading to a proliferation of private blood banks where people could stockpile their own blood—and you had the perfect opportunity for those wanting to make a quick buck.
So here she sat, in the cold night, on a cold step, waiting for robbers who weren’t likely to appear, while her goddamn partner watched the front door from the warmth of the car.
Bitter? Oh yeah.
He was certainly making good on his statement that he would never work with a partner. Whenever possible, he left her in their box of an office doing paperwork, or sent her on inane errands. This was her first “real” duty in the three months since her transfer, and she suspected she was here only because Byrne had given him a direct order to take her.
The wind picked up, running chilly fingers through her hair. She shivered and flicked up the collar on her coat. Overhead, the starlit sky was beginning to cloud over. The rain they’d been predicting for days was finally on the way. She could smell the moisture in the breeze, could feel the tingle of electricity running through the night air, charging her body with an odd sense of power.
Why she could feel these things was another point of concern, though it was one she kept to herself. There were only two people she trusted enough to sit down and talk to anyway. The first was Finley, who was the head researcher for the SIU. While she didn’t really know him all that well—the only time they’d ever crossed paths was when he was doing either tests or research on her—he probably knew more about her than anyone else alive. Or, at least, knew more about her biology. If anyone had any chance of understanding why these things were happening, it would be him. But Finley was still on leave, recovering from the injuries he’d received in the bomb blast three months ago. The second person was her goddamn partner, and he was harder to nail down than a snowflake in a storm.
And he wasn’t just keeping his distance on a professional level, but on a personal one as well. Given how well they’d gotten on during their investigations of her former partner’s disappearance, she’d thought they could at least be friends. Obviously, she’d been very much mistaken.
God, how bad was it when he wouldn’t even go for a cup of coffee with her?
“Sam, you there?”
/> His warm voice whispered in her ear, so close she could almost feel the caress of his breath across her cheek. Except that he was tucked nice and warm in the car half a block away.
She was tempted, very tempted, to ignore him. But she’d spent ten long years as a cop doing the right thing, following all the rules—including keeping in constant contact when on watch. Even when her partner was being a bastard and deserved to suffer, it was a hard habit to break.
“What?” But her tone left no doubt of her mood. He’d left her sitting here so long her butt was almost frozen to the step. If he expected civility, he needed a brain transplant.
“Just checking if you’re still awake.”
Yeah, right. Like she was the one sitting in the nice warm car. “The cold’s doing a fine job of that, thank you very much.”
He paused. “Do you want to swap for a while?”
She raised her eyebrows. Just for an instant, the compassion in his voice reminded her of the man she’d known before she’d become his partner. “You got coffee onboard?”
“Freshly brewed.”
And he hadn’t offered her any until now? It was lucky he’d equipped the two of them with only stun rifles, because she was very tempted to march right over and shoot him. “Sure you can spare a cup?” she said tightly. “I mean, you oldsters need some sort of stimulant to keep you awake at this hour of the night, don’t you?”
“Do I take that as a yes or a no?” His warm voice held an undertone of annoyance.
But she was way past caring at this particular moment. “That depends.”
“On what?”
“On whether you intend to freeze me out, figuratively or literally.”
He made no immediate reply and she waited, wondering what he’d do now that she’d finally called him out. Down toward the Main Street end of the alley she heard a soft thump, as if someone had jumped off a rooftop, and a dog yelped somewhere to the left of that—a short, sharp sound that spoke of fear. She frowned and stared into the darkness. The electricity filling the night stirred, running over her skin, standing the small hairs at the back of her neck on end. Heat followed quickly. Then her senses exploded outward, and she was tasting the night.