Shards of Hope (Page 137)

A member of the Arrow Squad

(Location Error: Unable to Be Determined)

Chapter 72

KRYCHEK HAD TELEPORTED the captured snipers into a solid concrete bunker for which he’d sent Vasic the teleport visual. Aden’s best friend telepathed him from the valley, a location so distant that Vasic normally wouldn’t have the range. Those experiments we did didn’t prepare me for this.

I only really needed you and Zaira, Aden said, having realized that after the fact. The mirror has matured, needs less fuel.

I don’t think the others will complain. Vasic appeared beside him in a quiet corner of the park, Aden and Zaira having finally extricated themselves from the astonished and grateful civilians. “Cris’s and Axl’s telepathic ranges have also expanded significantly, while Amin just teleported home.”

That was a surprise. Amin’s Tk was a bare 3 on the Gradient—his primary ability was a variant form of telepathy. “Make sure they all monitor their energy levels. I don’t think the rebound effect will be simple tiredness this time.” Always before, anyone he’d drawn from had experienced tiredness after the boost faded, but he’d never drawn this much power or fed such a tremendous amount back.

“No,” Vasic agreed. “We’re all going to crash, but judging from past experiments, we should have three or four hours at least.”

That risk was why Aden was so careful about when and how he used the mirror. He always had to consider the future effect—the squad couldn’t afford to have six of its senior Arrows out of commission or dangerously tired at the same time. “See if you can do some quiet shuffling of duties so that when the crash hits, people are less likely to notice.”

“Amin’s due for a break anyway,” Vasic said, already making notes on an organizer. “I’ll roster him and Cris off, since she’s been going nonstop for the past month. Everyone expects you and Zaira to rest together now, so that only leaves Axl and me, and Axl has a habit of disappearing into the Net. No one will comment if he does it again, and I can just say I’m going to be with Samuel Rain for the duration and out of touch while he tries an experimental prosthetic.”

“Good.” Turning to Zaira, her hand still locked in his and her eyes ink black, Aden ignored any watchers and drew her into a kiss, needing her on a level he’d never needed anyone else. “You’re okay?”

“Deliciously power drunk but my mind is clear.” She rubbed her cheek against his, his private and deadly commander who’d just allowed him to make a public claim that allowed no room for interpretation. “We’ll talk more later. Go do what you need to do. I’ll take care of things here.”

Leaving her to head the team sweeping through the high-rises used by the snipers in search of dead or injured shooters Kaleb may have missed in his initial search, Aden went with Vasic. Once at the bunker, he found two of the snipers were uninjured except for a scratch on one, while a third had a tourniquet around his upper arm that had been inexpertly tied.

A body lay in the corner.

When Aden looked at Krychek, the cardinal Tk said, “He suicided rather than cooperate. His brethren are far more pragmatic.”

One of the snipers snorted, his white skin bearing a raw red scrape on one cheek, possibly from when he’d jerked out of the way to avoid a bullet. “It was a contract job. No way I’m going down for it. Ask me what you want to know.”

The two other snipers weren’t as chatty, but seemed cooperative enough.

“When were you told to move?” Aden asked.

All three stated they’d been contracted two days earlier and instructed to wait in Manhattan for further directions. The men had initially been told the hit would likely take place near the Shine building, and as a result, all three had spent the time scoping out the best lines of sight toward Shine.

“Then the order comes that we have to hit you in the park,” stated the sniper who had a spiderweb tattoo on his left hand, the blue-black ink dark against his light brown skin. “I had to haul ass, get myself in position. Ended up having to incapacitate a tenant, when I prefer to find sites without witnesses.”

His own telepathic reach enormous right now, Aden let Zaira know to search for bound or injured inhabitants of the buildings the snipers had used. “Were you told to work together?”

“No,” said the man with the tourniquet around his upper arm, his features echoing Aden’s own ethnic makeup. “At least I wasn’t—but today, when I got the order to move, it said others would also be gunning for you and I was to ignore it and follow the mission parameters.”

The other two snipers confirmed his story.

Despite the fact that the shooters had initially been directed at Shine, Aden was certain Devraj Santos had no involvement in the assassination attempts. The more likely scenario was that someone had been watching Aden, keeping track of his movements. While he’d been careful, he’d never hidden his visits to talk to Santos and it was the one location where the enemy could be certain to locate him.

It meant the enemy might not in fact have a base in New York.

“Who hired you?” Krychek asked as Aden processed both the patient nature of the setup, and the implications in terms of the money involved. Keeping so many snipers on the payroll and idle for two days wouldn’t have been cheap.

Whoever this was—individual or group—they had significant cash flow.

“All anonymous, via wire transfers,” said the most talkative assassin. “Same as usual. Only difference is I had to wait for their signal and be in Manhattan.” Another shrug. “Got paid to wait so why the fuck not?”