Gretel sat in her car, her dad’s voice coming through the Bluetooth speakers.
“I know it’s frustrating when your FOIA requests don’t get anywhere,” Beau said. “But maybe there isn’t a story here.”
Gretel ground her teeth. “Thereis,” she said. “I’ve dug plenty up in the public records already. Have you ever looked at how much funding EI gets from the military? It’s weird. Suspicious.”
“Why would it be?” Beau said. “Empaths are dangerous.”
“They’re pacifists,” Gretel said. “So what is EI doing with piles of military money? That they pass on to Stone Solutions?”
“Stone Solutions makes the gloves—”
“More money than that. There has to be more they’re doing.” Gretel glanced at her phone, at the inexplicable picture Alex had sent, of Officer Stensby and the big blond man in camouflage outside Cedrick Stone’s office at Stone Solutions. She hadn’t heard from Alex since.
“Come on, Dad,” she tried again. “Don’t you wonder why someone always seems to be calling and asking for your AMI member lists? Asking about how many cops and soldiers AMI’s got?”
Beau sighed. “I don’t have time to talk you out of a new obsession every week. Every time we talk, it’s some new story—”
“And you make me send them all to AMI,” Gretel said, teeth clenched. “You trust my work. And I’m telling you, something is going on with the empaths. Something someone is not telling us. Something big.”
Beau was quiet for a moment. “Okay, honey,” he finally said. “I’m listening.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Polaris has always been more essential to the population’s safety than anyone has wanted to admit. Cedrick Stone can emblazon anything he likes with Stone Solutions’ “Defending American Minds” motto, but the true defense against empathy has always been here, on my island in Canada. We are the ones who contain the danger, and we are the ones who will figure out how to defeat it.
—EXCERPT FROM VICTOR NICHOLS’ JOURNAL
“Code red.Codered.”
Jamey had given Aisha’s directions to Liam, and they’d flown over the Inside Passage ferry route before crossing an island to land on a lake maybe half a mile away from the mine that held Polaris.
They’d just touched down when Aisha’s voice came crackling out of the plane’s radio.
“I have to get to her.” Jamey was already reaching for the .44 Magnum Grayson had given her back in November, leaning forward in her seat so she could wrap the holster around her waist.
Liam was bringing the plane across the lake’s surface. There was no dock for them to taxi to; she’d have to be ready to leap. “I wish I could come,” he said.
“Are you kidding? You’revital,” Jamey said. “We only have a shot here because you’re our escape route. I’ve busted a lot of crooks and trust me: a crime is only as good as your getaway driver. Flyer.”
“Why is it so hot when you talk like that?” Liam had the plane nearly up to the shore. “You got the flares? Send one up like a bat signal as soon as you need me; I’m not going to take my eyes off the sky.”
Jamey kissed his cheek. When Liam had the plane close enough to the lake’s edge, she opened the passenger door and braced herself. “Wish me luck.”
“I’m going to tell you to be careful and come back safe with Aisha, that’s what I’m going to do.” Liam leaned over and kissed her, on the lips this time. “Give ’em hell, baby.”
She smiled and then leapt for the shore. The mud was slippery, but she’d been ready for that and kept her feet, darting off into the tree line. She worked her way through the forest until she heard noises up ahead: a helicopter taking off; rotted wood and metal collapsing, voices.
But not just any voices. Screaming.
She slowed her steps, making them silent as she slipped through the trees. But with a plummeting stomach, Jamey thought she might know what she was hearing. Moments later, she could see them: at least ten people, some of them tearing at each other in a rage, way too much red on their faces.
Empath thralls.
Buthere?
Her eyes widened as they landed on familiar red hair. Shit, that wasStensbythere in the group, yelling at the others. What the fuck was Stensby doing here?
She whirled around, putting her back to the tree and taking a silent breath. Okay. She was breaking into a top-secret empath prison to rescue her friend and doing it through a raging crowd of murderous empath thralls. All in a day’s work. Apparently.
