He straightened up and shut the passenger door. But as he climbed into the driver’s seat, his phone began to ring. He closed his own door and picked it up from the console to seeHolt Traynoron the caller ID.
Grayson palmed the phone for a moment, then answered. “Grayson.”
“Why didn’t you tell anyone you were going to Vancouver?”
So EI had figured out where he was. Stone Solutions probably knew by now too. He cleared his throat. “Director—”
“Someone took a picture of you at the auto show and posted it publicly onEyes on Empaths. Apparently you havefans,” Traynor said, with an edge. “Unacceptably careless, Evan. You’re a classified weapon; you know full well there should be no pictures of you.”
The snowflakes were landing on the windshield and hood, melting away into water.
“I don’t know if you were involved in the fight that broke out in the Stone Solutions Canada building today and got everyone sent home,” Traynor went on, “but those questions are going to have to wait. We have a situation.”
“What kind of situation?”
“The kind where we need Agent Grayson to be the goddamn Dead Man.”
Grayson sat back against the driver’s seat. “What are you—”
“Your brother is alive.”
Grayson blinked.
“Your brother, Alex Grayson, one of the deadliest corrupted empaths we have on record, is alive,” Traynor repeated. “You said you pulled the trigger. You assured us he was dead.”
Grayson watched the snow fall for a long moment. “I guess I was mistaken,” he finally said.
“I guess you were,” Traynor said tightly. “Alex Grayson has thralled a police officer and an ex–army major. He set a fire at Stone Solutions. He’s responsible for multiple murders in Seattle, and if reports are to be believed, he’s just getting started. The entire city is in danger, so I repeat: Are you ready to be the Dead Man?”
Grayson’s gaze darted to Reece, then back to the windshield. “Yes, sir. Tell me what I need to know.”
Jamey hadn’t counted on breaking into Polaris at the same time the place was crawling with empath thralls, but at least she didn’t have to worry about stealth.
The empath thralls out front had been raging at each other, letting her sneak past to the mine’s entrance. The front door must normally be formidable, but it had been wide-open, the thralled scientists apparently rolling out the welcome mat before turning the forest into a cage match.
Had Cora escaped and done all of this? One of the other empaths, perhaps?
Back in Prince Rupert, Aisha had drawn a rough map of Polaris from memory and given it to Jamey. She followed it now, making her way across what looked like a lobby of sorts. It was empty, but bloody footprints tracked across the carpets in several directions.
There was a door at the back, and this one was closed. Blood was smeared on the handle. Jamey held the Magnum at the ready, then smashed the door with her booted foot, hard enough that it flew off its hinges.
The small room behind the door was also empty, save for a desk at the far end, where the corpse of a woman in a bloody lab coat was sprawled unmoving, her eyes staring blankly at nothing. A pink lanyard was draped around her neck with a card on it like a pendant.
Jamey winced, but she couldn’t afford to be squeamish. She stepped forward, and gingerly pulled the swipe card off the woman’s body.
Jamey.
Jamey straightened. That wasn’t an empath thrall screeching with lethal levels of rage. She strained her ears, trying to pick out the words.
Jamey, are you here—Jamey—
It was coming from beneath her feet. Jamey darted out of the room and found stairs tucked back in a short hall off the lobby. She shouldered the door open, sprinting down to the next sublevel and kicking open that door too, gun at the ready.
“Jamey!”
“We’re down here!”
Aisha and—was thatDiesel? The McFeely’s bouncer?
