Grayson blinked. Up ahead, he could make out vehicles in the parking lot, and two tiny figures on the end of the dock, waiting for him. Vivian Marist, bright blond hair and white puffy coat. FBI Assistant Director Jacobs next to her in a long black wool coat.
“Oh,” Grayson said. “Well, I figured if Alex broke into Stone Solutions, he was probably looking for—”
“The location of Polaris, yes, and guess what, he found it, and he’s already been there, wrecked that.”
Grayson took a moment to process that. He watched Marist and Jacobs on the dock, and yeah, they were standing pretty close together for work colleagues. Reece might’ve been right about them.
“Okay,” he finally said into the phone. “Guess maybe I don’t need to head up there right this second anymore. But I gave Reece the truck. I thought he was going to the safe house—”
“My brother is with your brother and Cora Falcon.” St. James’s voice had gone very tight. “Have you seen the news?”
“No,” Grayson said slowly. “Reece switched our phones. I haven’t been able to unlock his.”
“There was a series of murders at a warehouse by Horseshoe Bay maybe thirty minutes ago.” St. James sounded like she was fighting back an overwhelming emotion. “Director Traynor of the Empath Initiative was at the scene but now he’s missing. I haven’t heard from Reece, but according to the news, there’s mayhem happening in downtown Vancouver. A high-rise is on fire, on the same street as Stone Solutions Canada.”
Grayson stilled. He looked at Marist and Jacobs, who were waving at him, a frantic edge to their movements.
He grabbed the steering wheel and turned the boat around. “I guess I know where I’m going, then.”
He heard shouts behind him; he ignored them, taking the boat away from the dock and out into the strait, pointed at the lights of downtown Vancouver.
“Evan,” St. James said warningly. “Liam’s flying over the Georgia Strait; he’s going to drop me off downtown and then take Aisha and Diesel to the safe house.”
“Aisha and Diesel?”
“I’ll explain everything,” said St. James. “Butwait for me.”
Reece had become corrupted, just like Cora Falcon, just like Alex. And now the director of the Empath Initiative was missing.
Up ahead, the city lights twinkled. He’d be there in minutes. “Sorry, Jamey,” he said quietly. “But I have a job to do. And this time, I have to finish it.”
“Evan—”
Grayson hung up, and pushed the boat to full speed.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
He keeps his friends close—and his enemy even closer.
—TAGLINE FOR THE 2001 TELEVISION DRAMATHE EMPATH ADVERSARY
After the confrontationwith Director Traynor, Reece had driven south, back to Vancouver. Alex and Cora had grabbed their own rides, big black government SUVs that could each fit several of Traynor’s now-thralled soldiers.
The three of them had parked along the curb at the edge of downtown, close to the convention center where Reece had been with Evan only half a day ago, and then Alex and Cora had turned their thralls loose.
Traynor apparently had a specific taste in his backup: big, armed men who liked violence. Reece watched, lips curled in a new kind of smile as ten of those men disappeared with a roar into the streets of Vancouver.
“We’ll keep everyone busy,” Cora promised, as the three empaths stood at the edge of a small green space. At night, the water beyond the city’s edge was black, glittery lights reflected in its surface. She tilted her head, and for a moment, she could have been a therapist again, not an empath prison escapee with blood speckling her jumpsuit. “How are you feeling, Reece?”
Reece’s entire body sparked and buzzed, like he’d drunk electricity. The night was cold, but it didn’t bother him; he’d always run hotter than non-empaths, and now he felt the burn like he was made of fire. The phrasebloodlustcame to mind, like he finally understood what other humans must have been feeling when they seemed to crave violence and mayhem.
For the life of him, he couldn’t imagine why he’d fought corruption off so long.
“I feel ready to raise a little hell,” he said.
Somewhere down the block, someone screamed.
“I didn’t saythank youyet,” Reece said. “For showing up when I needed you.”
