The Syndicate

  Inside his study, he’s playing a game of chess with Stefan. I ask to speak with him alone, but he refuses this time.

  “We have no secrets here, Vasi. You know that. Whatever you have to say to me, you may say to Stefan.”

  Nodding, I sit, and although Henri is trying to appear as if he has no secrets, something in his eyes tells me otherwise. He’s making this even more difficult.

  “I’ve come to respectfully tell you that I won’t be able to complete my second assignment.”

  Stefan’s marble pawn falls over, breaking the lingering silence.

  Henri remains much more composed. “Now, Vasi, we’ve already discussed this. Even challenges we do not understand must be confronted. Have no fear. You will prevail.”

  I clear my throat to make sure he hears me clearly. “Henri. I’m not afraid. I’m not completing my task, because my target is simply not a Hybrid.”

  I notice Henri’s grip on his bishop tighten as he makes a move. “Again, Vasi, I have already told you, the Reader sees that your target will become a threat, and that is all that matters.”

  There’s no use debating, so I stand and nod respectfully to both men. “I’m sorry, Henri, but my intuition is telling me otherwise.” And knowing it’s the only way Stefan will truly understand, I add, “And my father taught me to always follow my instincts. No matter what. So, I’m sorry. I can’t.”

  I back away as they continue their game. It appears no further comment will be made, so I turn to leave. As if waiting for the exact moment my hand touches the knob, Henri says to Stefan. “He is a respectable boy. We will just have to reassign her to someone else.”

  My reflexes cause me to grip the knob a little too tightly and pause.

  “Unless,” I say, hopeful, “the Reader’s vision changes.”

  “Perhaps,” he says. “We’ll just wait until the next Circle and find out. Have no worries, Vasi. The Syndicate will do what is necessary.”

  Chapter 8

  THE UNEXPECTED

  I know what Henri means when he says the Syndicate will do whatever is necessary. Even if a Reader doesn’t still see her as a threat at the next Circle. But, I also know Henri won’t want to raise an alarm that he’s lost control. He’ll wait until the next Circle and assign her name as if it were the first time. No one will know the difference.

  Even though the idea bothers me, I can’t seem to bring myself to think about it any longer. It’s one thing for me to refuse an assignment, but it’s another for me to interfere with assignments that aren’t mine. The last thing I want to do is continue to inflict it on my mind. I’ve already inflicted unnecessary pain on my body. Which is exactly why I decide to feed myself.

  I fix a sandwich and chips, and then grab a water and sit at our dining room table. No sooner am I there does Rosie plop herself across from me. I ignore her, no longer feeling obligated to explain my decent nature. I’ve already done enough to make myself feel better.

  “So?” she says after she can’t hold it in any longer.

  “So. I told you.”

  She leans forward in a whisper now. “No, what did Henri say?”

  “He said ‘okay.’”

  “That’s it?”

  I eat my chips, since there’s barely anything left of my sandwich, really hoping she’ll drop it there, but I know better.

  “So, he didn’t say anything?”

  I roll my eyes. “No, he said something.”

  “Damn it, Vasi. Stop jerking my chain. What did he say?”

  I lean back, my lunch officially not going as planned. “He said he’ll wait until the next Circle and do what needs to be done.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I don’t know—”

  “Yes you do. He’s going to assign her to someone else, and you’re going to let him.”

  “Rosie. It’s not in my hands anymore. What do you want from me? I can’t help what the Elders decide.”

  She stands swiftly and leans over the table to whisper, “You might as well have done it yourself if you sit back and let someone else do it. She’s my age, Vasi, for Christ’s sake. I didn’t sign up to be a part of this crap.”

  There’s a fire in her eyes that I’ve never seen before, but something tells me I need to take back the control a Guard is given over his Scout. It’s time to separate blood from duty.

  I stand, leaning over the table as if I’m going to fill her in on a secret. In the same hushed tone, I lean into her. “Rosie, what we do keeps those Hybrids from taking over everyone. Including you. The Readers have been doing their work long before you were even a thought in Mom’s brain. So you need to show some respect, and right now you are way out of line. I suggest you go back and wait until we have another assignment that’s our business.”

  She looks stunned and takes a deep breath. “If you guys start killing people for no reason, then all honor goes out the window.”

  “Like I said. Back to your own business.”

  I stand firm, knowing she wants to huff and puff, but she sees I’m serious. I’ve never played the superior card with her before, but it’s about time she got a glimpse. Scouts can easily be replaced, and if Henri senses resistance from her, too, it’ll just be another thing I have to deal with.

  After one barely audible huff, she stomps off, but I suspect she won’t mention the assignment again, and neither will I.

  I pick up my empty plate and return it to the kitchen. I’m about to find Dani for some Horse when I hear the doorbell chime. Looking for any reason to keep my mind on something other than reflections, I quickly make my way to answer it.

  Like a makeshift butler, I find pleasure in pulling open the door. “Yes,” I practically sing until my eyes bulge. Before my brain catches up to my antics, my unexpected guest speaks, nervously.

  “Hi. I’m sorry, but I didn’t know how else to reach you. I…I…looked up your address in the computer at work.”

  A very large frog is caught in my windpipe as I stare, speechless, at her mesmerizing ringlets blowing in the wind around her nervous face, which is nearly pleading with me for a response.

  All I can think of is, “You shouldn’t be here.”

  Her bottom lip clamps shut and opens slightly before clamping shut again. “Um…”

  “No, I mean it,” I say, closing the gap of the door so it’s only slightly open. “You really can’t be here right now.”

  She steps closer, which causes me to close the door another inch. “Listen. Please. I had a nightmare that Hybrids were living in my building, coming for me. And this morning, I think I saw one, and you said your fam—”

  “I also said my family put a hit out on you. Weren’t you listening?”

  “I’m sorry. I don’t know where else to go.”

  I look at her and sympathy overtakes my stiff bones.

  “Just give me something from your purse,” I say.

  Her eyebrows raise above the almond-shaped olives which are staring at me like a lost puppy. “Give me something from your purse, quickly,” I demand.

  She shuffles through her bag, with shaking hands, and gives me something, which I put in my pocket without looking. “Now, go back to your apartment. Lock your door and wait for me.”

  She sighs, nods, and backs away. I close the door without watching her leave. As casually as possible, I walk back to my room, heavily hoping that Henri and Stefan are exactly where I left them.

  I shut my door and immediately begin pacing.

  You cannot be serious.

  She did not just show up at my house.

  This is insane.

  Rosie is right.

  We didn’t sign up for this.

  My nerves are going haywire, the walls closing in on me. I don’t want to think anymore about what’s going on, or to have to care when, or if, this girl walks right into the lion’s den. It’s not my problem.

  About forty paces later, I calm down and start thinking logically. That means I block out the images of her perfec
t face and, instead, concentrate on her words. She mentioned Hybrids, and, although I’m lying to myself by saying I don’t want to see her, I easily focus on my duty.

  If there are Hybrids around her apartment, then that’s a language I’m prepared to speak, and it also gives me a logical reason for seeing her. Finally focused on something familiar, I take out the object she gave me.

  It unfolds easily to reveal a receipt. Curiosity sparks me to scan the items: mandarins, milk, bagels, grapes, and tampons. Not needed information. Yet, I can’t help but laugh. Somehow it puts the real back into this surreal situation. I fold it up and put it in my pocket, vowing to give it back to her.

  After dark, I make my way back down to the supply room. There have only been a handful of times when a Guard has run into a Hybrid without being on an assignment, and there is an absolute seek and kill motto if we do. Not having seen the situation for myself, the proper thing to do would be to put Rosie on it to confirm and gather intel.

  Given that Riley says they’re in her apartment complex, and Rosie knows where Riley lives, I can’t ask Rosie to scout first. She’d see the connection, and it would only open doors I worked hard to close earlier. I need to do this by myself, and anyone with a brain would probably say it’s unwise, but it is what it is. If Riley wanted me dead or hurt, she’d have pulled the trigger last night. And if she had ulterior motives, I don’t think she’d be so bold as to walk right up to our door.

  When I’m done hashing out where I’m going and why, I grab two knives, strap them around my ankles, and then put on a gun harness and tuck one at my side. By 9 p.m., I pick up a couple of disposing bags, just in case, and hop into my truck, heading to the very same apartment as the night before.

  I don’t know what I’m doing. Or why I care, or why I can’t seem to put my trust in our Readers. I’m supposed to be the smartest, the most efficient. The one with the most promise. That’s what my father believed.

  When I was fourteen, I trained in direct-contact fighting with Dani. My father and Henri were supervising and guiding us. I was winning the entire fight, and Dani was getting frustrated, so I eased up.

  Once it was over, I realized that it wasn’t Dani’s frustration that made me fold, but the desperation in Dani’s eyes to impress his father. That’s the only time I’ve ever let one of my brothers beat me in training, and the only time I’ve seen Henri praise his son.

  Afterward, my father commended me on my unselfish showmanship, and then he told me to never do it again, saying he didn’t want me to compromise myself and what I’m capable of just to please someone else. He also warned me to never compromise my integrity, because it could be the difference between life and death. As I drive, I don’t feel like I’m compromising. It feels right.

  When I arrive at Riley’s this time, she’s wearing a pink robe and slippers. Her hair is dangling around her shoulders in messy ringlets. I don’t see much makeup. Not something I paid attention to before. Now that I think about it, she’s just naturally pretty. I blink away thoughts of the kind of nice things I want to do for her, and not just for her, but with her.

  Get a grip, Vasi.

  She steps aside, and my eyes drop to the floor in an awkward attempt to avoid further eye contact. There I notice her feet, covered in pink, fuzzy slipper-boot things that an Eskimo might wear trekking through the snow. Again I smile, having no clue why this girl makes me feel soft on the inside.

  “Thanks for coming,” she says. “I mean, I think, anyway.”

  Toughening my mojo, I turn, more abruptly than intended. Whatever this is needs to stop, so business is business.

  “You said you saw Hybrids. Where?”

  Shutting the door, she nods and walks past me into her living room. It’s pretty sparse. There’s not much here, but it looks homey. Warm colors, blues and browns and lots of fluffy pillows. It’s a girl’s apartment, for sure, but with a hint of maturity.

  She sits down Indian style and pulls one of the throw pillows onto her lap. Her arms wrap around it like it’s providing her comfort. In a way, I feel for her. It seems like she’s a lonely girl with no one to turn to. No wonder she came to me, even at the worst possible time and to the worst possible place.

  Finally, I’m inclined to sit. With the awkwardness from my last visit still hovering, I find a chair in the corner, farthest away from her.

  “Um,” she begins, her gaze locked on the pattern of her rug. “I had a dream of being in some forest, and I fell down. Then, the sound of what seemed like bears began to home in on me. I was terrified and alone, but knew to lie there and play dead, so I did. But then, one started sniffing at my legs, and, no matter how hard I tried to be still, I couldn’t. I had to open my eyes, and that’s when I saw them. They were not bears, but men. Salivating and sniffing and finally growling. I screamed my head off and woke up.”

  “That’s interesting,” I say, still taking it all in. “But I’m not surprised.”

  She looks up at me. “No?”

  “No. You’ve been through a lot. I attacked you last night and told you that monsters exist. You’re probably freaked out. Anyone would be. A nightmare wouldn’t be unheard of after…after what I did.”

  I’m not looking for her forgiveness, and she doesn’t give it to me. Her mind is too focused on her nightmare.

  “No,” she says shaking her head. “That’s what I thought too. But when I got home this afternoon, there were a couple of guys hanging out on the front steps of my building. They were laughing and drinking. My gut told me to keep one hand on my pepper spray, but my keys fell in the process of reaching for it, and then one of them lunged at me. I nearly had a heart attack until I saw it was the guy who lives upstairs.

  “Anyway, he bent down to pick them up, and I swear, his spine was like…protruding under his shirt—”

  I put up my hand, feeling an intense interest to know specifics.

  “What did he do after that?”

  “He handed me the keys and smiled. With big, yellow teeth.”

  “What about his friends?”

  “I don’t know. I said thanks and bolted past them. But they were all looking at me with these strange smirks. So, I waited until I heard them go upstairs, and then I went to your house.”

  “What makes you think I’d be able to help you?”

  “I just remembered you saying you guys fight them. It just seemed right.”

  “How do you know I’m not one of them? What makes you think I’m the good guy?”

  I want to know what’s going on inside her brain. She’s studying me with a look of hesitation. Like she wants to say something, but doesn’t.

  I don’t let up. “Well?”

  She sighs, looks directly at me, and, after studying me closely, says, “Because you have nice teeth.”

  I laugh. No one’s ever said that to me, but then I’ve never been compared to a Hybrid, either.

  “What?” she says, finally cracking a smile.

  “Nothing. I just wasn’t expecting you to say that.”

  It’s quiet for a moment, and then she offers to get me something to drink. Oddly, she reminds me of my mom.

  The way my mom invited people in with her smile made even me believe our house was the warmest on the block. Little did our guests know that Dad was the leader of the Syndicate. A beast killer. Protector of the town.

  Warm. That describes my mom and her natural ability to accommodate guests, but we all knew there was a deeper layer than what any of our “friends” or neighbors saw.

  Looking at Riley’s eyes, there’s definitely something soft and inviting about her, but I get that same sense of layers.

  “So let’s talk about your neighbor,” I say, refocusing.

  She clears her throat. “Oh. Okay. Um…” She grabs her long curls with both hands and, with one sweeping twist, it’s in some sort of ponytail-knot thing, only I didn’t see her use anything to pin it up. I’m mesmerized, wondering why I’m staring at this girl’s hair. It’s pulled away from
the soft skin of her neck, and I blink away thoughts of moving closer to her—just in time to hear what she’s saying.

  “He lives right upstairs. He’s in my Econ class, and that’s pretty much it.”

  That’s it? “Have you noticed him missing at all over the last few weeks?”

  “Not really. We had break, and he could’ve gone away then, but I really didn’t notice. Why?”

  “Because when they’re infected, they can’t maintain the same demeanor and focus. Once they’re too far gone to blend in, they’ll start to hide more.”

  She shudders, and something in me mimics the flutter. Concentration is hard, and I’m almost wondering if this girl is the devil, because I don’t want to talk about anything right now. I’m wondering if the skin on her exposed neck is as soft as it looks.

  “Are you okay?” she asks, brows raised.

  I shake my head. I’ve never been entranced this way, and the wisdom lurking underneath the hormones is telling me to leave. Honesty finally kicks in as I admit to myself that thoughts of Hybrids didn’t bring me here.

  I’m not ready to take out a Hybrid with stitches in my side and my mind clouded by a pretty face.

  “Hello?” She’s waving a hand that gets my attention.

  “I have to go.”

  “What?” I can hear the panic in her voice, but I don’t take back my words.

  “Look, I believe you about the Hybrids, but I’m not in the right mindset to do anything tonight. I need to go home, get one of my brothers, and look into it tomorrow or something.”

  “I don’t want to stay here alone. How am I supposed to sleep?” She stands and makes a beeline toward me as I fight the urge to jump over the back of the chair. She is the devil, luring me into something I’m not supposed to be doing.

  My feet step to the side. “Seriously, Riley, this is dangerous. There may be more than one. I won’t go into this blind. Now you just stay in your apartment with your gun and lock the doors. I’ll take care of it tomorrow with one of my brothers.”

  She argues. “Those guys really freaked me out. Can you just take me with you?” She grabs my arm, but I pull it back, needing to stay firm.