Thirteen (Otherworld 13)

"Actually, yes."

"Do you know what my power is?"

"Do I care?"

Adam took the car keys from Jaz. He gripped them in his hand. When he opened it, metal dust spilled onto the ground.

"It works with people, too," he said. "Especially useful for body parts. Amputates, cauterizes and destroys the evidence all in one shot. If you screw with us again, Jasper, I'm starting with your fingers." He paused. "Or maybe a small body part that you won't be needing any time soon."

I made a show of turning off my mike and motioning for Adam to do the same. Then I lowered my voice. "Look. We aren't here to fight you, Jaz. If you do this and you get away, that's not my concern. I'm here because I need a cure for my brother. You had a brother, right?"

For the first time since he'd stepped off the jet, genuine emotion flashed across his face. Grief, rage, and pain, quickly reined in.

"Karl killed him, I know," I said. "Believe me, I have no love for that jerk. But I do love my brother. He's all that matters to me here."

Jaz glanced at Adam.

Adam put his arm around my waist. "I want what she wants."

"So cool the games, ok

ay?" I said. "That pump on your side means you're stuck following the script. You might as well make the best of it. Don't blow your chance to get out of here with Hope."

He should have been smart enough to know I was bull-shitting about Hope. But she was his blind spot. Or maybe he just found it easy to believe we'd let an acquaintance be taken against her will if it benefited us. He certainly would.

Adam and I put on the guards' uniforms. They were army surplus, with name tags. Then I cast glamour spells on us.

"I don't think that worked," Jaz said when we were done. "You still look the same to me."

"Because you expect to see us," I said. "The others will expect to see the guards."

He rolled his eyes, smirking slightly at such substandard camouflage powers. I pushed him toward the door to the bunker.

Despite what I'd said to Jaz, I wasn't completely convinced that the glamour spell had worked. The test came quickly. The stairs led down to a secured entrance guarded by two more young men. Jaz pulled Scott's cheerful-condescending routine. They barely looked at us, but they did look, which proved that we passed.

We expected them to say something about us leaving our posts. But Clay had said that these were just kids. More like hall monitors than trained guards. He was right. They let us through without comment.

We did, however, hit a snag of another kind--the "hall monitor" just inside the secured doors.

"I'm going to have to call Giles," she said. "No one's allowed past without a card." She glowered at us. "You guys know the rules."

"It's a surprise, gorgeous," Jaz said. He gave her his lazy, sexy Jaz smile, which I'm sure would have worked a lot better if he didn't look like Gordon Scott, late fifties, pot belly and jowls.

Adam tried charm, too, but his "guy" was about nineteen, chubby, with acne. My "guy" was much cuter, so I tried a sexy smile, but probably looked like I had indigestion.

Damn it. We'd been so close. Now we needed to take all three out before anyone called for help.

I glanced at Adam. He nodded. We could do this. He motioned for me to focus on the girl while he took the guards behind him. I started whispering a binding--

"Hey, Nina," someone said as the door behind the girl opened. "Do you know--?"

Two guys walked in, a young woman behind them. They stopped when they saw Scott.

"Mr. Scott," one of the guys said. "Damn, Giles is going to be happy to see you. Does he know you're coming?"

"No, it's supposed to be a surprise," Jaz said. "But this young lady seems intent on spoiling it."

"I just passed Giles back there." He turned to the hall monitor. "Want me to take them?"