Gameboard of the Gods (Age of X, #1)(39)

“Damn, you really are fast.” A man stepped out of the shadows, holding his hands up in a placating gesture. “Easy.”

Mae didn’t lower the gun as she took him in. He was no one she’d seen before. Blond-haired and blue-eyed, he appeared close to her age and to also belong to some northwestern-European caste. He might very well have been Nordic, but it was difficult to make out too many regional specifics in the dim lighting. Despite his ostensibly nonthreatening attitude, there was something about him that set her on edge.

“Who are you?” she demanded.

He stuffed his hands in his pockets and smiled, perfectly at ease. “You can call me Emil, pr?torian.”

Mae didn’t blink or ask how he knew who she was. “And? What do you want?”

“You,” he said bluntly. “You had to have known we’d send someone eventually.”

“Oh, yeah? Are you some kind of bounty hunter sent by my mother to drag me home?”

“Somehow, I don’t think that would be too easy a task.” He chuckled. “But it’s funny you mention your family, because I do have something that might be of interest to you—something that’s a sign of our goodwill and desire to welcome you.”

Adrenaline flooded her. She kept her face perfectly still, refusing to let on that she was completely clueless about the context of this visit, seeing as he seemed to think she should know it. Revealing her ignorance would be a weakness.

Emil reached toward his pocket, and Mae’s finger tensed on the trigger. “See if this looks familiar.” He produced an ego and casually scrolled through until he found a picture. Holding it up, he showed it to Mae.

Again, she made sure her expression gave away nothing, though this time, keeping that control was much harder. “I’ve never seen her before.”

The girl in the picture was about eight years old, wearing a bizarre, homespun dress made of a drab brown fabric. A white kerchief covered her head, but wisps of sunny blond hair escaped it. She stood outside in a grassy area that had no other identifying features. She looks exactly like Claudia, Mae thought. Well, a prettier version, which would make sense.

“Would you like to?” he asked, slipping the ego back into his pocket. “We have the resources to help you.”

And that’s when Mae knew. Her breath caught. The Br?dern, at long last. She’d tried getting information from them for years, but the Swedish mafia wasn’t all that eager to help someone in the military. She never thought they’d finally come through. “Tell me where she is.”

Emil shook his head, still wearing that condescending expression. “I can’t give it away so easily.”

Of course he couldn’t, but Mae was prepared for that. She’d had to be, with the kind of sordid contacts she’d made in this quest. “How much will it cost? I have Eastern currency.”

“Money, bah. We have plenty. What we don’t have is the influence and access of an enterprising young woman in one of the military’s most elite units.”

The insinuation was ludicrous. “I’m not going to use my position to help your group with whatever plots you’ve got going.”

“You should’ve joined us a long time ago,” he said ominously. “It’s your birthright.”

She wasn’t surprised by that attitude. Organizations like the Br?dern tended to have separatist inclinations even more extreme than those of regular patricians. Pointing out that she had more Finnish than Swedish blood, by Nordic ranking, probably wouldn’t make a difference.

“Sorry. I’m not interested in joining up.”

He tapped the pocket that his ego had disappeared into. “But you’re interested in this.”

“It could be a fake. It could be anyone.”

“Perhaps,” Emil conceded. He reached for his pocket again and this time pulled out a tiny, sealed plastic bag. He handed it to Mae and after several moments of hesitation, she took it with her left hand. A lock of golden hair was inside. “But this could only belong to one person.”

“You’re lying.”

He shrugged. “Get it tested and see. Maybe then you’ll show a little more respect for doing your duty.”

She had to force herself not to study the hair. “You still haven’t really explained what it specifically is you want in return.”

“It’ll depend on how we need to use you.”

“You think I’m going to trade some open favor?”

From his face, that was exactly what he thought. “It’s a small thing compared to all we’ve done for you and all we can do.” He nodded toward the hair. “Get it tested. Then we’ll talk.”

He began to walk away, and she toyed with the idea of shooting or at least tackling him. But he hadn’t technically done anything wrong. And so, Mae stayed where she was, watching until the darkness completely swallowed him. Only then did she put the gun away and slowly walk toward her town house, clutching the bag he’d given her.





[page]CHAPTER 10





MASTER AND APPRENTICE





Justin’s first week flew by like some kind of dream. Part of it was spent getting up to speed with SCI and his upcoming caseload. He essentially had to be rehired, so there were countless authorization hoops to jump through and reams of the paperwork so ubiquitous in government. The delay gave him a lot of free time, allowing him to immerse himself back in the world he’d longed for these past four years.