Bite Marks

“So the whole Odeam team is inside the building?”

“That is where Ruvin dropped them off,” said Vayl. “They have no reason to leave until the appointed time. In fact, I suspect the Ufranites are stationed beneath them to make sure they do not wander off.” Cole nodded to the kit in my hand. “How confident are we in that tester?”

“The results are ninety-nine percent accurate,” Vayl said. “Within thirty minutes after we take the team’s samples, we will know which members—besides the vice president—are carriers.” I nodded. “Then phase two of the plan kicks in.”

“If necessary,” Vayl added. “Perhaps he will be the only traitor after all. In which case our mission will be finished before we leave NASA’s guesthouse tonight.”

“You’re sounding awfully optimistic. What’s the deal?”

Vayl was studying me with those gemlike eyes of his. “You are scratching less,” he murmured. “It is only a matter of time, my Jasmine.” A slow smile lifted his lips, which hadn’t touched mine in so long I suddenly felt like a downhill racer. I needed Chap Stick for the dryness and cracking. And a long night by a cozy fire to warm all the spots that had begun to chill in his absence.

I said, “Oh. Yeah. Well.” Why did my mind always spin and stutter when what I wanted most was to whisper all my deepest feelings into that perfectly curved ear of his right before the nibbling began? I sighed.

“You guys make me want to gouge out my eardrums. Seriously,” Cole said. We’d almost reached the primary school by now. Approaching it from the back this time, I found a small neglected corner dominated by delicate- leaved sugar gums, thorny acacia, and a mass of vines twisting around the fence. I parked there, knowing it provided perfect cover for three people who intended to kill a man before the night had ended.

CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO

Though it might’ve been well lit while functioning as a school yard, the outer edge of our target’s quarters now hid in deep shadows. The only working fixtures perched above the doors, both the one with the intricate lock we’d decided to avoid, and the basement illusion.

“Are you ready?” asked Vayl as Cole and I stood at the top of the steps. Cole finished screwing on his silencer, exchanged a look with me, and we both nodded.

Inside my head Brude shouted, I will not allow this!

“My brain-buster is threatening us,” I murmured.

Vayl unsheathed his sword. “Then it is time. Cole and Jasmine, trade positions. Now !” Like a switch flipping behind my eyeballs, the clarity of the moment sharpened to almost painful brightness. The speed of each movement, while outwardly phenomenal, still registered in my mind like I was playing it in slow- motion so it could be cataloged for future reference.

Cole slipped the harness of his weapon over his head and shoved the Parker-Hale into my hands along with his ammo belt.

At the same time I passed the blood-test kit into his.

Vayl spun and plunged through the fake doorway. Cole sped after him while I sprinted to the fence, hauling the rifle’s strap over my head as I moved. Once again my track training kicked in, allowing me to get a foot onto the fence, which gave me a boost into the lower branches of the nearest pine before Brude could roar, What is happening?

None of your damn business, I thought as I scaled the tree, needles and sap both leaving their mark before I was high enough to switch to a sugar gum that had grown in tandem with the pine.

Sweet silence greeted my final push to a sturdy crook where I could brace my hips while standing on the lowest branch. I unslung the rifle and checked my scope. Yeah, I had unobstructed views of all the windows and doors on this side of the school.

I disengaged the safety and chambered a round. I didn’t have time to doubt Vayl’s strategy. He had to figure one of the reasons the gnomes wanted easy access to their carrier(s) was to protect him/them. So he also had to bet their magic plant door would be alarmed once the carrier(s) took residence. But Vayl also knew Brude was a threat. So he’d decided to go in fast and dirty.

Maybe I won’t have anything to do, I thought. Maybe the riot we caused in the warren has already turned the guards against their shaman and the whole scheme has washed away like an eroded riverbank . I only had thirty seconds to believe that angle, because after that the first head appeared, sticking out of the fake concrete passageway like a target at a county fair duck shoot. My shot hit it in the ear and it dropped instantly, half in and half out of the door. The same was true for my next three targets.

Then somebody smartened up and quit sending the grunts into the line of fire.

During the breaks I snuck peeks at the action through the windows.

Vayl and Cole had separated. Cole’s job, which would’ve been mine, was to anesthetize the team members whose affiliation we couldn’t place and pull a blood sample. It would be a quick, simple procedure. Two plugs up the nose that released fast-acting sleepy gas. Then set the head of a device that resembled a staple gun against a major vein, hold it for three seconds while it lifted the vein to the top of the skin, and pull the trigger. Instant suckage followed by wound closure so quick most victims never realized they’d been punctured. The blood would be automatically stored in a compartment in the handle and a new vial moved into place for the next sample. The only downfall? You’ve gotta keep good track of who you’re testing if you haven’t marked the vials. So Cole would be murmuring descriptions into his transmitter as he went. That way Bergman, who was preparing to run the tests back at base, would have no doubt whose results belonged to whom.

A small light came on in the room closest to the main door. Cole had opened the test-kit lid, which came with its own built-in beam. “Black-haired dude with goofy mustache and a unibrow,” he whispered. “I think it’s the software engineer, Johnson.”

“Got it,” Bergman replied from over half a mile away. Have I mentioned lately how much I love his gadgets?

A shadow crossing past the windows in the room nearest the front of the building let me know Vayl had set to work. I couldn’t see much through the gauzy white curtains. But thanks to Bergman, I could hear.

So I glanced around the playground to make sure the gnomes hadn’t made use of a different escape hatch, and listened close.