Chapter Twenty-Nine
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
From: Victor Nichols [email protected]
To: [REDACTED]
Subject: Re: Progress
Your support for my projects is, of course, appreciated; Polaris could have never accomplished all that it has without you. This research has been but the tip of the iceberg; there’s so much more to come.
Reece chewed on the tip of his thumb as he watched Grayson take an exit and follow dark roads down the mountainside toward the water. His thoughts were in turmoil, as if his intuition knew something his mind hadn’t grasped.
Evan lied to everyone about Alex.
Just like he lied to all of them about me.
People in power don’t like being lied to.
They don’t like what they can’t control.
Keeping one eye on Grayson, he carefully pulled his phone out of his pocket. He tilted the screen away from Grayson and checked to see if anything had come in while he’d been unconscious.
His eyebrows flew up. His message to Stensby’s phone had gotten a response.
Pleased to meet you, Mr. Davies. I apologize for the delay; I’ve been a bit tied up today.
Grayson was navigating a tight turn with the big truck. Reece quickly typed a response.
This is Alex Grayson, isn’t it?
The phone lit back up a moment later.
Yes, sir. Cora says to tell you hi, by the way, and that we didn’t hurt your bouncer friend from the club.
Cora? Bouncer friend from the club—was that Diesel ? Alex and Cora were together and they’d been with Diesel? Grayson hadn’t mentioned any of that.
Jesus, his fingers were itching to text Alex back.
Reece forced himself to turn the phone face down on his lap as Grayson turned in past a chain-link fence and into a tiny parking lot. At the far end was a small wooden dock with a very nice boat. Grayson drove toward the water, stopping a few feet back from the dock, and nodded toward the boat. “That’s my ride.”
“Don’t make me jealous.” Reece wasn’t going to put a name to the bone-deep sense of protectiveness and affection that now ran through him in Grayson’s presence, but he would admit to himself that he’d left any semblance of platonic back in Seattle.
And something in him was shouting that he needed to think, needed to understand, or Evan was the one who would pay the price.
He cleared his throat. “So you’re taking that boat? Alone? ”
“I’m pretty sure I can guess where Alex is going,” said Grayson, “and I’m gonna want my own ride there. I have to go, Reece. And it has to be alone.”
Reece shook his head. “After everything that’s happened, after everything I said, how can you think I’ll let you go by yourself—”
“Because if I bring you to the rendezvous with Stone Solutions or the Empath Initiative, they’re gonna want to take you to the same place,” Grayson said, more quietly, “and then they’re never gonna let you leave.”
Reece’s fingers tightened on his phone. “You’re talking about the prison for corrupted empaths, aren’t you?”
“You know I’m not going to answer that.”
Reece didn’t need him to; it was obvious. Cora was supposed to be at that prison; if she was with Alex, was he already there? But why in the hell would Diesel be at an empath prison? There was so much Grayson hadn’t told him.
“What do you mean, rendezvous with Stone Solutions or the Empath Initiative?” Reece said, asking a question Grayson might actually answer.
“Because I gotta pick one,” Grayson said. “I got one location from Director Traynor of the Empath Initiative, and a different location from Vivian Marist of Stone Solutions Canada.”
“They sent you different locations?” Reece frowned. “That’s weird, isn’t it?”
“They’re usually a lot more in sync, yeah,” Grayson said. “But then, they’re usually not dealing with my corrupted empath brother coming back from the dead.”
Reece’s frown deepened. “I guess,” he said reluctantly.
“I can get to both rendezvous points by land or sea,” Grayson said. “You got an opinion which place I should go?”
Yes, you do , something in Reece’s mind said. You have to figure out what it is . He screwed his eyes shut, trying to think.
Grayson cut the engine. “I know you’re fighting me on the safe house because when it comes to danger, you’re only ever thinking of others. But if you’ll go to the safe house, I’ll make you a deal.”
There was a jingling sound. Reece opened his eyes to find Grayson holding up the truck keys.
And then he held them out to Reece.
Reece’s eyes widened. “No fucking way.”
“Drive back to the ferry terminal and catch the next ride over to Nanaimo,” Grayson said. “I’ll text you where you’re going from there.”
“You’re loaning me your truck ?” Reece said. “This isn’t a hoodie, which means you’ll definitely have to come get it back, right?”
“Yeah, I am, and yeah, I will,” Grayson said. “Deal?”
Reece stared at the keys.
He’s sparing me.
Like he spared Alex.
He’s never been an empath hunter.
He’s been protecting us since the beginning.
Reece quickly reached for the keys before Grayson could change his mind, carefully taking them without making contact with Grayson’s hand. “Do me a favor?”
“Sure,” Grayson said easily.
“Look me in the eyes and say Reece, I promise I’ll come back to you .”
Grayson hesitated.
“You want me to phrase it a different way?” Reece said lightly, echoing Grayson’s words from the airsoft course. How had that been only yesterday? “How about, Care Bear, I know I could be in danger, so I promise I’ll only make good decisions for a change .”
“What are you talking about?” Grayson said. “I always make good decisions.”
“You literally just handed me your truck keys.”
“Didn’t you tell me you’re a real good driver?” Grayson said lightly, as his gaze flicked down to Reece’s lips, the motion likely too subtle for most people to notice in a darkened truck cab but a giant billboard for an infatuated empath.
Reece couldn’t stop himself from leaning closer. The feeling of being caught in Grayson’s gravity, like the moon and tide, had only become stronger. “I need to know that you’re going to be safe. Promise me, Evan.”
Grayson exhaled, and Reece felt his breath ghost against his cheek. “I’ll try,” he said, soft and low. “Gonna check the boat. Wait in the truck where it’s warm; I’ll be right back.”
Reece sat in the passenger seat as he watched Grayson walk down the dock, lit by the truck’s headlights. In Reece’s hand, the metal of the truck keys was cool against his skin because he wasn’t wearing his gloves.
They hadn’t found the record of gloves they’d been looking for in Stone Solutions Canada.
But they’d found an attempt at a How to Make a Dead Man manual.
Reece frowned, watching Grayson in the boat as he poked around, lifting the seats and checking beneath them—body turned at a funny angle, meaning he was probably making sure whatever weapons he’d asked for were there, but not wanting Reece to see them.
Stone Solutions, the Empath Initiative—they all thought Grayson was the weapon.
And now Evan is in danger.
Reece ground his teeth. Why? Why did he keep thinking that? The answers were there, he could almost taste them, like he could see the shadows on the ground but not what cast them.
Stone Solutions had used Cora’s fiancé to corrupt her, and she’d come into her stronger empathy powers too late to save him. Same for Alex and his parents. But Reece had already been twisted by scientists, and his empathy could find out what he wanted to know.
If he was willing to use insight.
His fingers tightened on the keys.
Insight isn’t an option and never will be , Grayson had said, because using it on purpose is a one-way street. You ever cross that line, you’re not coming back, Reece. And then the Dead Man will have to step in.
There are no circumstances worth the consequences.
“Bullshit there aren’t,” Reece said under his breath.
Grayson had been willing to take a bullet to protect Reece from corruption and still had the scar. He’d throw himself between Reece and corruption like a shield and pay the price before he let Reece use insight to protect him.
And maybe he was right, that using insight was a one-way street.
But so was losing Evan.
Reece took a bracing breath. “The Dead Man can take me down if I turn,” he whispered into the truck cab. “If corruption gets ahold of me and I can’t come back from this, the Dead Man can stop me.”
Not a lie. Reece believed that.
He closed his eyes and deliberately reached for the power crackling at the back of his skull.
Why do I think Evan is in danger?
His eyes popped back open wide, the dark truck cab suddenly brighter as Reece’s pupils dilated.
Alex and Cora didn’t hurt Diesel, but why would a bouncer and ex-marine be in an empath prison—
Not just a prison. A research facility. Run by a man who left comments on a broken Dead Man blueprint, who could have sent Keith Waller the empath gloves from Vancouver—
Waller is ex-army and had been trying to recruit Diesel too, and has not just fear but also greed in his eyes as he says that Reece is who he needs, that unlike others, Waller knows how to follow orders—
Waller was going to kidnap Reece, just after an empath from Montreal also went missing. And the one thing Reece and Marie have in common is a sibling, just like Alex, who made the Dead Man—
Stensby thinks Reece should have been locked up for his crimes and wants to know why the Dead Man protected Reece from consequences, hints that someone told him Agent Grayson can’t be relied on because his priority is protecting empaths—
Someone doesn’t trust Evan.
Someone’s been trying to figure out how to make more Dead Men to replace him.
Someone would have learned today that Evan lied about his brother and they’ll want to replace him—
Now.
“Reece?”
The truck door had opened, cold air swirling in. Reece took a deep breath through his nose, dots connecting themselves in his mind to create the terrible picture. And through it all, fury was building, a rage so hot he could taste it.
You can’t tell Evan , his mind ordered. He will know you used insight. It won’t matter that he protects empaths and it won’t matter what you shared. If he knows you crossed this line on purpose, he will do his job, arrest you, and take you in to Stone Solutions.
He won’t listen to you when you tell him where to go.
And he’s the one who’ll get hurt.
“Care Bear?”
For the next two minutes, you have to be more dangerous than he is. It’s the only way you’ll save him.
Lie to Evan . Lie so he doesn’t suspect. You won’t flinch this time; you’ll love the way these lies sound because they’re going to keep Evan safe.
“Sorry,” Reece said, and his voice didn’t quite sound like himself. A little deeper, a little more gravelly. “I just—today has been a lot. Tense and anxious, like usual, that’s all.”
Lie. Reece held Grayson’s gaze, his expression and body steady.
“Oh.” Grayson’s gaze flicked over him. “Understandable.”
Reece pointed out toward the dock. “I hope you can drive a boat more safely than a car.”
“Are you actually giving me a hard time about my driving when I’m loaning you my truck?” Grayson said, automatically glancing where Reece was pointing.
“You wouldn’t know what to do with me if I stopped,” Reece said, as he swiped his hand across the center console. “Don’t forget your phone. But don’t text from behind the wheel of a boat either.”
“Unbelievable.” Grayson took the phone Reece was offering him. “What would you do if you didn’t have me to sass?”
“Don’t know,” Reece said lightly. “I guess I’ll just have to make sure you’re always here.”
They climbed out of the truck, coming around to the front, lit in the headlights.
“Go to the location Vivian Marist sent you,” Reece said, and his voice had gone gravellier still.
“Marist?” Grayson blinked. “Surprised to hear you pick Stone Solutions over the Empath Initiative. I was thinking if I had to pick, I’d meet Director Traynor.”
“No,” Reece said firmly. “Go to Marist.”
His anger was like a living thing—not at Evan but at everyone who had used him, who would use up anyone they could get their hands on to fight their battles for them.
But Grayson did need to be far away from Reece as soon as possible, for his own safety.
Grayson’s gaze was on him again. “You promise you’re going to go to the safe house?”
Reece held his gaze again. “I promise.” Lie. He stayed steady. “Be safe, okay?”
Grayson nodded. Reece stepped back, leaning against the front of the truck as he watched Grayson climb into the boat. When Grayson looked back one last time, he waved, then watched as the boat pulled away from the dock and headed out into the strait.
Reece hauled himself back up into the truck’s driver’s seat. The rage was vibrating just under his skin. He could feel power spreading through him, black lightning crackling from the base of his skull.
He couldn’t have stopped it any more than he could have stopped a tidal wave.
And he didn’t want to.
Grayson’s enemies weren’t going to give up just because he didn’t show tonight. They’d be going after Grayson, and he’d be in terrible danger—unless Reece took care of it.
Well. Not just Reece.
“So the Empath Initiative sent Evan a second location,” he said out loud, as he pulled the phone out of his pocket. “I don’t think this meeting is going to go quite like they planned.”
Aisha had managed to give Liam coordinates to Grayson’s safe house on Salt Spring Island, and then she and Diesel had fallen almost instantly asleep on the tiny backseat of the floatplane.
Outside the plane was the blackness of night, only the occasional light on the islands or water below. Jamey looked over her shoulder, where Aisha had listed heavily into Diesel while he slept against the window. “They’re out.”
“We’ll get them to the safe house,” Liam promised. “They can sleep it off. Diesel is probably going to have a lot of questions.”
“I have a lot of questions for Evan,” Jamey said, but she wasn’t angry. Grayson was an enigma who couldn’t be trusted, but he hadn’t killed his brother. And yeah, they were in a terrible mess now, but her last doubts about what kind of man Grayson was had disappeared.
And speaking of, she needed to call the instant the plane’s antenna picked up Wi-Fi again. She held her phone, watching the signal. They were heading south, toward Vancouver and the city sprawl; she’d be able to call soon.
Despite the snow, the wind wasn’t high, and the water wasn’t nearly as choppy as it could have been. Grayson set a speed of thirty knots and started heading south, toward Vancouver and the location Vivian Marist had sent him.
He pulled out his phone.
Except—
Except it was a little too light in his hand. Slightly too small against his palm. He lit up the phone and found himself looking at a lock screen. The numbers one through nine stared mockingly up at him, because he’d made Reece set a passcode but hadn’t asked what it was.
Don’t forget your phone , Reece had said in the truck.
He’d given Grayson the wrong phone. On purpose? Why? Grayson patted himself down but it just confirmed what he’d already guessed: that he had Reece’s phone and Reece, presumably, had his.
And now Grayson couldn’t unlock it.
He sat down in the seat behind the wheel, a little harder than necessary.
“Reece,” he said into the wind. “What’s going on?”