Unbounded - The Escape Part 17

"Dad isn't my biological father, is he?"

I'd been waiting for him to ask, and in fact I'd been close to telling him myself several times. It wasn't a secret that our parents had trouble conceiving and had gone to a fertility clinic, which was how Dimitri came to be my birth father. Ava had taken advantage of our parents, allowing them to believe the insemination had succeeded, but maybe that wasn't such a terrible thing given my parents' longing for children. They still didn't know the truth.

Jace dug his foot into the small rocks on the side of the road. "I mean, it's obvious Dad couldn't have more children and besides, we're seventh generation. Without an influx of new Unbounded genes, the likelihood of Change was already practically zero. That both of us Changed would take the possibility into the negative." He blew out a puff of air. "Don't worry, I won't tell Mom and Dad. They went back to that clinic, didn't they? When they wanted to have me. So how do I find out who my father is? It's not Dimitri, I don't think, or he would have said something when you confronted him. Do you think Ava will tell me if I ask? Or maybe you could ask her for me. I'd like to know."

I believed a person deserved to know who their biological parents were, regardless of whether or not they pursued a relationship with them. Except in Jace's case where the consequence of knowing might be fatal. I was afraid that once I put words to it, I'd start something no one could stop.

"Maybe," I said, "Ava has a reason not to tell you."

"You know, don't you?" His words were accusing. "How long are you going to hide it? Until I'm a hundred? Three hundred? Come on, I deserve to know the truth. You know our life. One day to the next he might be dead." A smile quirked his lips, reminiscent of the man whose ident.i.ty he sought. My stomach twisted.

"I'll talk to Ava," I said. "For what it's worth, I think you have the right to know, but I sure wish you would trust me when I tell you it's not that easy. You may wish you'd never asked." Learning that our mother had been inseminated with the stolen genetic material of Emporium Triad member Stefan Carrington, generally believed to have been used for my conception, definitely wouldn't be the happy ending he was looking for.

"That bad, huh?" He chuckled a little too loudly. "Wouldn't you want to know if you were me?"

I would. But I wasn't Jace. I was impulsive and new at this Unbounded stuff, and even a little bit reckless, but he was all that and more. An innocent in many respects. I didn't want anyone taking advantage of him. "Yeah," I said.

"Okay. Then talk to her."

We walked back to the Land Cruiser in silence, me feeling as though I'd betrayed my brother by not telling him the truth. Since when had I toed the line with Ava in regards to my family? Never. No, I didn't tell Jace now not because of her, but because of my own reluctance. Did I think he'd go over to the dark side?

"So can I drive?" Jace asked. "Give me back the keys."

I jingled the keys in my pocket, hurrying a bit faster. "Nope."

When I had the engine running, Ritter asked, "Has anyone thought to notify Emerson that his son is all right?"

"I'll do it," Keene said.

I glanced in the mirror and Ritter's eyes met mine. I extended my arm to Jace. "Help me pull this coat off. It's hot in here."

The drive back to the safe house went quickly until we arrived in New York City and the traffic bogged down. All of us were moving with less pain after an hour of healing, even Keene, though perhaps he'd stayed out of most of the brawl-I hadn't actually noticed what he'd done there. Or maybe the experimental medicines Dimitri and Cort had given him were actually working.

In the bas.e.m.e.nt garage, we retrieved a gurney and laid Brody on it. He hadn't come to yet, but it wouldn't be long, and he'd be full of questions. I didn't intend to be around to answer. I was determined to find Patrick Mann and make him tell me what the Emporium planned.

Ava and Stella waited for us in the conference room. "So, not as easy as you thought," Ava said, her eyes going past us. "Where's Oliver?"

"He said something about a shower," I told her. Jace sprawled on a chair and rolled his eyes.

Ava ignored him. "Is the boy okay?" she asked. "Brody Emerson, I mean."

"Yeah." Ritter took a seat between Jace and Keene. "But we'd better get Dimitri to look him over soon. He had a bad time of it. We've left him in the hall sedated, so keep an ear out for him."

Ava stepped over to the table, pulling out a chair. "Mari explained what she knew, but tell me your version of what happened."

I let the others talk while I paced on the side opposite the big wall screen and considered the problem of Patrick Mann. After a few moments, the screen caught my attention. Stella had zoomed in on the picture of a chestnut-haired man, who I recognized immediately as the biological son of Mrs. Mann. He looked exactly like her with his pale, regal face and wide-set eyes. But where her features screamed exhaustion, his screamed energy. A do-gooder if I ever saw one.

Stella noted my gaze. "Following in his father's footsteps as far as politics go, only without White House aspirations."

"So it seems." Next to his picture was a bullet list describing the man, with items such as donations, service, and programs he'd implemented as a councilman. A smaller picture of him with a woman and three children-a boy and two girls-took up another part of the screen.

"Are you okay?" Stella's hand touched mine. Instantly, our minds were connected. Energy like the kind I'd felt linked to Brody Emerson skimmed through my veins. Or maybe it was because of the connection with him that I now recognized it as energy. It pulsed inside Stella's brain . . . leading where? I reached out.

"Oh," I said, drawing in a sharp breath. All at once I knew what had been bugging me about Patrick Mann.

I sat abruptly in the vacant chair next to Stella, making a sc.r.a.ping sound so loud Ava and the men looked over from where they sat at the end of the table. They looked at me expectantly. "Patrick Mann is a technopath," I said.

Ritter c.o.c.ked his head. "We thought he might be, since the other man he resembles is also a technopath. We've known the Emporium has at least several, so why would that be important?"

"Just now," I said, "when Stella touched me, I connected with her. There are these . . . pulses in her mind, and when I touched them, I followed each one from her brain along a path to an individual nanite. I could see how she adjusts them to keep ahead of her regeneration. I felt the same sort of thing when I was in Patrick Mann's mind. Only it was a hundred times the connections. Or more. His body must be full of nanites." I paused to let that sink in. "Now I'm thinking if Stella can slightly change her appearance with a hundred or so nanites, is it too hard to believe that Patrick Mann-or the man we thought was Patrick Mann-might be changing his entire appearance? If so, he might not bear any resemblance to the real Patrick Mann. And no one would ever know."

"Except the Emporium is far behind us in that kind of research," Cort said. "When Keene was working for them and found out what Stella could do, he was amazed." He looked at his brother for verification.

Keene rubbed a hand through his hair. "Yeah, but I did report it. A couple of years ago, in fact. I think it was one of those tidbits of information you fed me to keep me believing you were still on their side."

"I bet they immediately saw the potential and threw everything they could at it." Stella glowered at Keene, though it was hardly his fault. "Cort and I have been working with some of the others in Europe, and we've made mountains of progress with nanites, but the Emporium has much greater resources."

"We never thought they'd invest so much in something that can only be used by technopaths," Ava said. "Especially when no one in the Triad possesses that ability."

Stella nodded so violently her headset shifted. "A natural a.s.sumption. I mean, who cares if a technopath can turn her eyes a different color or is able to tell her body not to ovulate? That hardly has potential to merit a high volume of attention, especially when the effort expended is so great. But they must have had more success with nanites than we've had. Lately, we've been too busy to focus on anything except survival."

"Even with ten times the sophistication of your nanites," Cort said as he tapped something on his laptop, "there would have to be, let's see . . . thousands in your body to change you to resemble, say, Erin."

Stella raised a brow. "Thousands?"

"Okay, tens of thousands." He waved a hand. "Whatever. The point is it wouldn't be easy. There's no way they've had time to create such sophisticated nanites on a self-adjusting level. That means the technopath would have to be directing them at all times and be specifically trained to use them."

"The Emporium has worked for years putting this into place," Ritter said grimly, "so that's not surprising. Apparently, not only have they been churning out babies and placing them in prominent homes in the hopes that they'll be able to control high positions, but they've also focused on technology that could help them worm their way into other places they don't belong."

"That would explain why Brody saw Patrick glowing at the fundraiser," I added.

Jace swore under his breath. "How many of these technopaths do you think they have?"

"Not many," Stella said grimly. "I know of only two, and with Patrick Mann, that makes three."

"Don't forget the other prisoner, who is likely the real Patrick Mann," Ritter said. "We don't know what his ability is yet."

I shook my head. "He's not cooperating, so maybe he isn't with them. We may be able to rescue him with the others. He might even join us. The point is who's the Patrick Mann we met? And what is he planning?"

"I guess," Ava said with a calm that sent shivers through me, "we're going to have to ask him."

I'd been planning on doing exactly that, but now my enthusiasm for confronting him had definitely waned. If the real Patrick Mann was being held at the compound, the Patrick we knew hadn't been raised by the Manns but prepared by the Emporium from birth. He'd be ruthless, well-trained, and amoral. Yet Ava was right. With the president sick and the vice president likely to take over, Patrick Mann was too close to the top of the political hierarchy for our comfort.

Stella's gaze strayed to her monitor. "Vice President Mann has made no secret of his plans to run for the presidency next year. My guess is that this Emporium agent took over Patrick Mann's place in preparation for when his father took charge."

Her thoughts echoed my own. "The vice president was thinking that his son had changed a lot recently. He was worried about it."

"What about the president's sickness?" Jace asked. "Do you think Patrick Mann's ident.i.ty relates to that? It all feels too coincidental."

"That's what I'm thinking." Ritter shoved back his chair and stood. "Presumably Patrick would have some input in his father's business, but maybe the Emporium Triad got tired of waiting for the next election."

"I still don't see-" I broke off as another idea occurred to me, a terrifying, frightening idea that was too diabolical for the Emporium not to have dreamed up.

Ava saw it at the same time I did. Whether because I was broadcasting or because she figured it out on her own, it didn't really matter. "Oh, no," she murmured.

I nodded. "It makes perfect sense."

Ritter stared, his gaze going back and forth between us. "Care to fill us in?"

Ava let me break the news. "I don't know why I didn't see it before. Whoever this Patrick Mann is, I bet he's been in place long enough to learn the vice president's routine. He's not going to try to influence the vice president after he steps in for the president, he's going to become him."

A hush fell over the room as we all digested the significance of having the Triad control the American presidency.

"Needless to say," Ava took over, "we're not ready for that. We don't have enough people in place to successfully counter any policies he might put into place. This could mean coming out, and once that happens, all bets are off."

"I bet in twenty years mortals will be second-cla.s.s citizens," Cort said.

"I think you underestimate our will to survive." Keene's voice was hard. "But I agree that more time to prepare would be beneficial to our cause."

"That gives the Emporium just as much time to prepare," Jace said.

Ava sighed. "I believe we can mitigate the damages now that we understand their methods. However, you have a point."

Ritter's mouth drew into a firm line. "It hasn't happened yet, and it's not going to if we have anything to say about it. Let's go have a chat with our fake Patrick Mann."

"Make it a s.n.a.t.c.h and grab then," Ava said, tapping her hands once on the table. "Use lethal force if necessary, because as much as we want information, we can't allow their plan to continue. Keep in mind that after the attack at the fundraiser, it's likely the Secret Service will be all over him."

I stood, feeling anxious to get going now that it was decided. "Maybe the Emporium will have their guard down because they think he's well protected. I'd rather confront mortals any day."

"Maybe." Ava's pursed lips told me she wasn't counting on it. "Provided, of course that the Secret Service agents actually are mortal and not more Emporium plants."

There was that.

Ava met Ritter's eyes. "Who will you need? Everyone?"

Ritter frowned and shook his head. "Cort and Jace. And Stella to coordinate communications and surveillance. Plus either you or"-he paused, his eyes straying to me-"or Erin. We'll need to know exactly who is in the house."

I glared at him, unsettled by his hesitation. I didn't exactly want to go anymore, but I wasn't about to be left out, either, not when so much was riding on securing the imposter.

"Erin, then. She's stronger than I am." Ava said it without envy, her voice laced with a touch of pride I wasn't quite sure I deserved.

Ritter nodded, so I relaxed and stopped glaring at him. "I'd also like Dimitri," he added. "We may need his ability." My entire body tensed again at the request. If Dimitri had to patch one of us up on the go, things would be bad.

"He's actually gone to the hospital to research some test results that came in from Senator Pearson," Ava said. "She managed to get a copy of the most recent results from the hospital where they have the president. Nothing official, but he wanted to see if there was anything he could do from a distance. He shouldn't be long, though." She hesitated before saying, "You don't want Oliver?"

"No." Ritter's response was short-too short. I knew Ava would want a full explanation later and Ritter would have to report how Oliver had frozen at the Hunters' meeting house. Not that Ava would toss Oliver out, but we'd have to work on his skills before we could depend on him again.

"Mari?" Ava sighed. "I suppose not. If only she could move him herself, it would make things so much easier."

"Ah," Keene said, "but if she had that much power, how would she remember she's still human?" His smirk was just short of disrespect.

Ava gave him a bland smile. "What makes you think any of us are completely human?"

I blinked, trying to decipher her meaning. She'd once voiced a theory about the Unbounded gene coming from a s.p.a.ce-faring race that had visited earth, but I'd mostly thought she'd been joking. Now I wasn't so sure.

Cort straightened and cleared his voice. "I've been thinking about Mari. If she's really folding s.p.a.ce as we surmise, it's everything around her that's moving, at least in layman terms. So why shouldn't she be able to take someone else?"

"We've tried and she can't." I stood and walked around the table. "We'll have to leave further experimentation for later."

"Agreed," Ritter said. To Ava he added, "I'd also like Yuan-Xin, if Tenika can spare him."

"I'll go," Keene said.

Ritter's gaze shifted to him. "You're wounded."

"I did okay this morning."

I didn't know about that, but he seemed no worse off now.

"Too risky," Ritter said shortly.

Keene's eyes glittered, and he appeared about to say something when Cort interrupted. "If you're planning on me driving the getaway vehicle, which might be a good thing given the abuse my leg suffered today, I could use him as a lookout."

Ritter's nostrils flared. "Okay. But he doesn't go inside. We can't risk anyone who isn't in full form. Confronting the Emporium isn't the same as going up against a few mortal Hunters."

"Of course not." Bitterness filled Keene's voice, though because of his longing to be Unbounded or his hatred of the Emporium, I couldn't guess. I was too busy wondering if Ritter's comment was partially meant for me, a hint to let Ava take my place. I wasn't feeling altogether myself yet after taking in all that power. Heat still filled my body, and although that was better than the constant cold I'd experienced since arriving in New York, it wasn't normal. But I decided if Ritter had a real concern about me, he would have said something earlier. He wouldn't endanger the mission.

Ritter headed to the door. "Stella, I hope you have a location on our imposter because I want everyone ready to go within the hour."

"Oh, I found him," Stella said. "But he's not at a house. It's a hotel. Dress up nice. We need to look the part."

Nice dress and fighting usually didn't go hand in hand, especially as there had been no time to restock my wardrobe after we'd abandoned our last safe house. I'd have to borrow something from Ava's closet, who like all the others, reordered her favorite clothes with a simple click of a computer key.

"Full disguises," Ritter added. "The Emporium knows us all by sight."

My heart thudded inside my chest as I watched him leave. No time to tell him about my epiphany at the Hunter's meeting house. Maybe tonight. But what would I tell him exactly? It wasn't as if he'd proposed.

I was fooling myself, though, because his so-called gifts told me exactly what he wanted-a complete and total commitment for the next two thousand years. Nothing to worry about. Right?

LESS THAN EIGHTY MINUTES LATER, a taxi carrying Ritter, Jace, Stella, and me pulled up at a luxury hotel in downtown Manhattan. I eyed the huge building doubtfully. "How are we even going to get inside, much less grab him?" There was a young doorman outside and I wondered if we'd have to show him our hotel key or something to prove we belonged.

"They have to let us in." Stella smiled sweetly as she adjusted her narrow eyegla.s.ses. "We're visiting a distinguished Russian amba.s.sador." She looked unlike herself, though still completely arresting in her long black wig, fluttery beige dress, and impossible high heels. Far too good to have had time to concoct a cover story.

"I see," I said.

Stella smiled at the doorman, who blushed as he hurried to open the door for her. We all stepped inside. To my surprise, Dimitri was already there, sprawling casually on a couch in the lobby, almost unrecognizable with a longish gray-peppered wig and something odd going on with the shape of his nose. Hovering over him was Yuan-Xin, wearing small spectacles and a fancy gray cap covering black hair that had suddenly grown to his collar. Both were dressed in designer suits, though Dimitri's was slightly too large.

"Ah," Dimitri said in a heavy Russian accent. "So good to see you, my friends." Standing, he took my hands and pulled me close, kissing both cheeks and then repeating the gesture with Stella. Even Ritter and Jace received a bear hug, which almost made me laugh out loud. Dimitri had actually been born in Russia and it was apparent he enjoyed playing the part.