The Syndicate

  A knock at the door pulls me from my thoughts. Riley makes a move toward it.

  “No!” I shout, a little too quickly. She jumps, shocked, and I stand in front of her and sigh. “Sorry, but please don’t answer doors.” She’s been missing long enough to spark an all-out hunt by now, and thoughts of what happened the last time my mother answered the door cause me to shudder. “Let me get it,” I say.

  A flash of understanding crosses her face as her gaze leaves mine, bounces off the door and meets mine again. She steps to the far corner of the room, more than willing to let me get the door. I pull my gun from the back of my belt, wishing I were more heavily armed.

  Unfortunately my guns and knives of preference are still in the car I drove to the hit. Too preoccupied with making my trip look like a weekend getaway, I hadn’t armed myself properly. The only weapon I have is the handgun that stays in my glove box.

  With it cocked and by my side, I ask who’s there.

  “Room service.” A small sense of relief washes over me, but my guard is still up. I open the door and watch closely as the waiter rolls the cart just beyond the threshold, and then I tip him, sending him on his way.

  Riley is still in the corner. “It’s good. You can relax,” I say.

  “I’m famished,” she says, eagerly making her way over to the cart. It’s the most she’s said since the park.

  “Yeah, me too.”

  We transfer our American cuisine over to the tiny round table by the window. She digs into her burger while I’m deciding on which of my entrées I want to eat first: the burger or the chicken sandwich. Still undecided, I start on the fries.

  “Vasi?”

  “Yeah?” I say, finally deciding on the burger.

  “I don’t think the Cosmina you found is related to me.”

  “Oh she is,” I assure, not missing a beat in my sandwich.

  “What makes you so sure? I don’t even know her last name. It could be anyone.”

  “Riley, it’s not a coincidence. You have nightmares about Hybrids, and so does your mother. It’s the same Cosmina. I know it.”

  “But don’t you think I’d know if I were some sort of psychic?”

  I shake my head, savoring the taste of my sandwich and feeling much more relaxed as I talk through this. It feels right. Like she’s family. Which she is. Not by blood, but code. “You wouldn’t know, because you didn’t have anyone to tell you what your visions were. If you didn’t believe in monsters, then why would you believe in your visions? Being a Reader takes training, which neither you nor your mother had.”

  She leans back and raises her brow, considering. “So I’m like one of your Readers?”

  I nod.

  “And my mom’s not crazy?”

  I shake my head.

  “All this time she thought she was. All of these years she’s been in an institution with no one to help her.”

  It looks like she’s about to cry, and just as I’m tempted to reach out and touch her, she unexpectedly propels herself toward me. I drop my sandwich, unsure of what she’s about to do, and then she wraps her arms around my neck, kissing my cheek.

  “Thank you,” she whispers, tears beginning to fall.

  I place my hand on her forearm, which is nearly choking me. “For what?”

  “For saving my mother. And for saving me. My mother’s not crazy. You have no idea how much it means to me.”

  I swivel my legs away from the table and pull her to my lap. “Why are you crying?”

  “I’m not,” she says, wiping her face.

  I still don’t know what any of this has to do with our future or my family, but her gratitude reminds me of why I’ve done this. I hold her tighter, my face resting in the nook of her collar bone, her hair tickling my nose. The familiar scent of mangos and strawberries wraps itself around me, and I breathe her in, knowing that I do more than like her.

  “I love you,” I admit, shocking myself as the words slip out unexpectedly.

  “What did you say?” she asks, pulling away.

  “You heard me,” I whisper.

  Choosing not to press the issue, she takes my face in her tiny palm and pulls me to her. She kisses me hungrily, and her free hand finds its way to the back of my hair. I’m at her mercy as she holds my head in a tight grip. Reluctantly, I finally turn my face away.

  “You’d better stop,” I warn.

  “But I don’t want to.”

  “Me neither, but there may not be a church nearby for you to redeem yourself again.”

  She sighs, nearly whining and stares at me for a long minute. “You’re right.” Then she kisses me again and whispers, “I love you too, by the way.”

  “I know.” I smile confidently. Then I kiss her nose and pat her thigh, prompting her to get up. Once she’s standing, I take a deep breath and slip past her.

  “Where are you going?” she asks.

  “To take a cold shower,” I answer without looking back.

  After the shower, I feel good and refreshed, but didn’t think to pack anything to sleep in other than my boxers. That means it’s me, her, and my underwear. Hopefully she’ll be able to handle herself, because if she comes on to me like that again…I’m pretty sure she’ll be looking for forgiveness tomorrow.

  I come out of the bathroom and notice she’s cleaned off the table and tidied up. “Sorry, I was bored,” she says. Her gaze travels down my frame and quickly settles on my face. “Mind if I shower too?”

  “Not at all.” I move away from the bathroom door and open my hand to guide the way. She scoops up a small pile of clothes from the bed and heads over. Both of us hold back smiles as she passes and closes the door. A moment later, I hear the lock click. I smile again.

  While she’s in the shower, I think things over some more and call Dani. He’s flipping.

  “Are you insane, Vasi?”

  Did he actually think I was going four-wheeling without him? He doesn’t know me very well. “No I’m not. I’m perfectly sane. Can’t say that about Henri, though. No offense.”

  “My dad’s worried about you.”

  I snort. “Right. He was real concerned last night when I almost died.”

  “That’s just his way of maintaining order. He was stunned. He’s been asking about you since you left.”

  “I bet.”

  “He has. He’s worried, man. He thinks you need help.”

  “Help?” I roll my eyes.

  “Yeah, he thinks you need to see someone. Like maybe you’re having post-traumatic stress from your parents’ deaths.”

  I laugh bitterly. “Yeah, I’m having post-traumatic stress. But it isn’t from my parents. It’s from him ordering a hit on an innocent girl. And from Hybrids attacking her and me left and right. If you don’t see something wrong with this picture, then maybe I don’t know you that well.”

  “You know me, Vasi. I’m with you, but you can’t run away from the Syndicate. It doesn’t look good that you’ve run off with this girl. You need to come back on your own.”

  On my own? “What the hell does that mean?”

  “He sent Alexandru to find you and bring you back.”

  I jerk upright. “What?!”

  “Yeah, he’s called a meeting with the Circle and wants everyone there to talk about what’s going on.”

  Unbelievable. What a crock. “Wake up, Dani! He didn’t send Alexandru to bring me back. Alexandru got Riley’s name this time. I wouldn’t do it, so Henri gave it to him!”

  Dani is silent. Too silent. “Vasi, just come back. I’m on your side, but it doesn’t help that you’ve gone AWOL.”

  I think about my options for a few minutes.

  “Vasi?” he says, breaking the silence.

  I sigh. “Just tell Henri I’ll be home tomorrow night.”

  I hang up the phone, pissed. “What’s tomorrow night?” Riley says, emerging from the bathroom, clenching her wet curls in a towel that covers most of her body.

  “I’ve got to go home. Tomorro
w.”

  Her lips part. “Okay…”

  She knows it’s strange, but doesn’t question me on it. I appreciate the space, but want her to understand. “Henri has sent Alexandru ‘looking for me’ to get me to return for a meeting.”

  “Okay?”

  “Alexandru is not looking for me. He’s looking for us, and I don’t like the sound of it. It’s better if I show up, because everyone needs to know what I know. I can’t just let Henri feed them half of the story.”

  “Okay.”

  “Would you stop saying that?”

  “Okay. I mean. All right. Where should I go?” The silent message in that is I’m not going with you to your house even if you drag me.

  I agree. “I’ll take you somewhere safe.”

  “O—I mean, sounds good. Well, I’m just going to dry my hair.”

  I nod and lie back down, rehearsing what I’m going to say. It’s real simple. She’s one of us, the Hybrids want her dead, and I’m not going to let that happen. Period.

  If Dorina thinks she’s seen a trace of my father in me, just wait. They’re about to see what real leadership looks like, and it isn’t Henri.

  Riley comes out, hair dry and body blazing. I try to keep my eyes from her shorts and small tank. I don’t think she’s wearing a bra, but my quick glance can’t confirm. I look away, and she flips the light off and climbs onto the bed with me, nestling into the nook of my arm. We don’t watch TV and we don’t talk. At least not for a while. The silence speaks loudly enough, tossing thoughts and ideas through our heads while we both ponder internally.

  After a long time, she speaks up.

  “I’ve been thinking.”

  “About…?”

  “About my mom.”

  “What about her?”

  “I want to see her.”

  “All right.”

  “Tomorrow.”

  There is a lot on my agenda, but that isn’t one of them.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I say as nicely as possible.

  She pulls back, pushing off my chest. “I want to. Vasi, you don’t understand. Every day that passes is torture for her. I don’t want another minute to go by with my mom thinking she’s a freak. She left me because she thought she was a danger to me. She missed my whole childhood. She’s in there all alone. I can’t—’

  “Okay, okay. We’ll go.”

  She instantly relaxes back into me, and again I wonder what it is about this girl that causes me to go against everything rational. Then, mental fatigue takes over as we both fall asleep early.

  The following morning we take a sunrise flight back to D.C. and then rent a car for the two-hour trek to the facility where Riley’s mom is.

  Now I’m feeling nervous, though I’m not sure why. Since I’m confident we’re not being followed, it must be that I want Riley’s mom to like me too, but does it really matter right now? She’s probably so far gone that she won’t even notice me. Still, my palms are sweating.

  “You’re nervous,” Riley says.

  “No I’m not.”

  “Yes you are. Don’t worry. My mom has her moments, but she’s the kindest woman you’ll ever meet. At least, when she’s not having visions of monsters.”

  Good to know. We arrive at the complex and our roles have oddly changed. This time, she’s leading the way with me in tow, and I’m holding on to her hand for dear life.

  We reach the information desk and Riley asks, “Sonya Bennett, please?”

  The receptionist peers out over her bifocals. “IDs, please.”

  Riley turns to me and it takes a second to register. She’s waiting for guidance on which IDs to give her. Using our true identities here is probably best, so I hand the woman my license. “My name is Vasi.”

  Riley hands over hers, and, after making copies, the woman hands us temporary visitor passes and points us down the hall. We ride the elevator to a secure floor, apparently the room location requested by her mother and father. Riley says it’s not that the facility is worried about her mom escaping, but rather that her mom is worried about things coming in.

  Off the elevator, Riley’s strides have noticeably shortened as we near her mother’s room. For the first time since we arrived, I feel like taking the lead again. Putting my arm around her shoulder, I give her a supportive squeeze and guide her to the door.

  “I haven’t seen her in months,” she mumbles.

  After a long pause and a deep breath, she hesitantly pushes the heavy door open to reveal a petite woman with long, wavy, blond hair, sitting in a chair with her back to us. Her arms are moving strangely, but from our angle we can’t see why.

  Although the room is set up like a standard bedroom, decorated with inviting yellows and greens that match the plush comforter, it still feels like a temporary space. Like maybe a hotel room.

  “Mom?” she asks as we walk closer. “Mom? It’s me, Riley.”

  We pause for a response, but get silence. Stepping closer, we can follow the movement of her mother’s arms; she’s rigorously knitting something blue.

  Riley touches her arm, which finally breaks her mom’s concentration, but she still doesn’t look up. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she says pulling away. “I have to finish this. The baby needs his blanket. He needs to be warm. I have to finish.”

  Riley looks around the room and then at me. I don’t see anything, so I shrug. Confused, she moves in front of her chair, kneeling. “What baby, Mom?”

  Sonya looks at Riley, wide eyed, and then at me. “Why…well..” She turns back to Riley. “Your baby.”

  Riley glances at me. “Mom, I don’t have a baby.”

  Next, the unexpected happens. Sonya lunges forward, knocking Riley back. She takes hold of Riley’s shirt and urgently shakes her. “You let the monster get him? Tell me no!! Tell me you didn’t! Not the baby! Not the poor baby!”

  Riley’s fighting her off, but she’s too stunned to get a grip on anything, so I step in and pull her mom off. “I told them they were real. I told them!” she shouts.

  Sonya is almost as tiny as Riley, so lifting her is easy. Once pulled away, she cowers for a moment and then turns on me with her eyes narrowed. “You were supposed to protect them. How could you?!” She starts banging on my chest and scratching at me.

  Finally grasping the turn of events, I spin her around easily and hold her arms down.

  Riley recovers from the floor. “Mom! Stop it! There is no baby. I don’t have a baby!”

  She squirms angrily for another few moments and then finally settles. “No baby?”

  Riley shakes her head. “No.”

  “No?”

  “No, Momma.”

  Her wide eyes stare intensely. “But what about the monsters?”

  Riley looks at me and then back to her. “Momma, there’s no baby, but you’re right about the monsters.”

  Chapter 20

  THE FUTURE

  I guide the entranced Sonya over to the small sofa next to her bed, and we all sit, Riley and I positioned on either side of her.

  “Mom, this is my friend Vasi.”

  “I’m sorry,” she whispers, looking at me. Her eyes are the color of Riley’s, highlighting the resemblance between them. “I didn’t mean to be rude. I don’t know what happened.”

  Riley starts rubbing her back. “Mom, it’s okay.”

  “If there’s no baby, then why are you here?”

  “Mom, I’m here to tell you that you’re not crazy. Vasi here is a member of an organization called the Syndicate. They hunt down things called Hybrids. Those things you see, they aren’t monsters. They’re humans who are infected by something that makes them turn bad. I see them too.”

  “You can see them too?”

  “Yes, and we aren’t the only ones.”

  Sonya slides to the edge of the sofa. “But, if they’re real, you have to get out of here. Now. They’re coming for you. You can’t be near me.”

  Riley grips her mother’s shoulders. “Mom, it’s n
ot you. They’ve already come for me, but I’m fine. Vasi won’t let anything happen.”

  Her mom turns my way, making me feel uncomfortably placed in the middle again.

  “So you’re the one?” she asks quietly. “Yes…you’re the one I dream about. The one who will protect the baby.”

  I’m weirded out again and steal a glance at Riley, who comes to my rescue. “Mom, what are you talking about?”

  “My dreams, the monsters, you, the baby, him.” Sonya says it so matter-of-factly that Riley can’t help but play along.

  “Tell me more about the dream, Mom.”

  “I see monsters, and they’re coming after me, only when they find me, they don’t want me. They want you. And then I see you and the baby. A pretty little baby. And they want him too. The baby. They want to take him. But…but then I see him.” She points to me. “And he makes them go away, but they always come back…for the baby. But I can help the baby. He needs a blanket. I’m making him a blanket.”

  I’m wondering whether this facility is helping this woman or making her worse.

  Riley’s thinking more figuratively. “Mom, why would monsters want the baby?”

  Her mom stands and walks over to pick up the blanket. Rubbing it, she appears as though she’s remembering something. “Because this baby is special,” she says, admiring her creation.

  “How so, Mom?”

  “Because the baby can kill them all. All of them. If he’s protected. If he can be kept safe.” She meets my confused gaze, sending a chill up my spine.

  Riley stands up and moves in front of Sonya. “You’ve seen a baby kill these monsters?”

  “Yes. And then we’ll be safe, and then I can go home.”

  “How can he kill them all?” I interject.

  “Because he’s special,” she shoots back quickly.

  “Special how?” I prod.

  “Because he’s gifted. He has the sight to find them all and he’s a fighter like you. He’s born with both gifts.”