Winter Halo (Outcast 2)

I laughed. “We can do the caveman thing when you are next free. I do own silk restraints; perhaps we can put them to use?”

His gaze darkened. “I look forward to it.”

And with that, he left. I watched until he’d entered the elevator and the doors had closed, then shut my door and leaned my forehead wearily against it. What a night. It might have been an enjoyable one, but it was nevertheless one in which there’d been no sleep. That, ultimately, was what I now needed—and the one thing I wouldn’t get anytime soon. I pushed away from the door and headed upstairs. By the time I’d showered and put the bedroom back into some semblance of order, an hour had past. Even so, I took the time to sit down and boost my energy levels. It might not erase all the tiredness, but hopefully it would help get me through the day.

Outside, it was cool and crisp, and the bitter wind that swept down Third Street made me glad I’d thrown on a coat. I hitched the bag holding my change of clothes a little higher on my shoulder and headed for the nearest cross street. I slowed my pace once I’d entered, waiting for the couple at the other end to exit, then glanced over my shoulder to check that no one else was approaching. Once I was in the clear, I quickly drew a light shield around my body and then changed both form and clothes. Doing all that while holding on to the shield was not something I’d attempted too often, and it left me shaking with fatigue. So much for boosting my reserves earlier.

And while it would undoubtedly have been easier to simply find another public convenience in which to shift, I couldn’t risk using them too often. Cameras still monitored the entrances to most of them, thanks to the attacks that used to happen in the early, somewhat turbulent years after the war. Going in as someone who didn’t come out would attract attention; if it happened too often, it might also attract the attention of the very people I was trying to avoid.

I repacked my bag, then headed for the drawbridge. By the time I reached the bunker, my head was pounding and the shield was beginning to pulse, a sure sign that I was close to losing it.

Thankfully, the museum’s doors were already open. I all but dove through them, falling to my knees as the shield disintegrated around me.

“For God’s sake,” Nuri said. “Are you all right?”

I nodded slowly, and even that was hard.

“Well, you look like fucking shit,” Nuri said. “Jonas, rustle up that remaining steak and pile it high with eggs and potatoes. This girl needs some starch and protein in her.”

“Must have been one hell of a night,” was Jonas’s only comment.

“It’s more the fact that I’ve gone almost thirty-six hours without much sleep; the final straw was holding the light shield in place while I shifted shape.”

Nuri clucked. “No wonder.” I didn’t hear any footsteps, but suddenly she was beside me. “Up you get, my girl.”

She grabbed my arm and gently hauled me upright, then helped me over to the table. Once I’d sat, her grip slipped to my hand; electricity immediately bit into my skin and dove deep into my body. Recharging me with her own strength.

“Don’t.” I uselessly tried to pull my hand from hers. “You’ll need all the strength you can get if we’re to pull this rescue off.”

“I don’t need my strength, because I’m not the one going in,” Nuri replied evenly. “You and Jonas are.”

“But Jonas can’t—”

“Jonas can, with the aid of a little witchery,” Nuri cut in. “You can’t drive the truck and rescue those kids. It’s a two-person job.”

“So you’ve figured out a way to get us in?”

She nodded. “Took a bit of a risk and put the relatives to work again. There’s a truck delivering supplies to the fifteenth floor. You two are now the drivers.”

I frowned. “That won’t help us any. If this place follows general protocols, it will be programmed only to that floor.”

“Which is why we’ll be replacing its current sensor with the one your ghosts stole.”

“I’m not sure I can rewire—”

“You won’t have to.” Jonas returned with a large plate of food and a cup of hot green muck that was actually an herbal drink favored by shifters for its energy-boosting properties. I’d had it on occasion during the war, and was not a fan. “I’ll switch the two sensors while you drive us in.”

“Which doesn’t answer the question as to how you plan to get to the children when they’re on the twenty-ninth and we’ll be on the thirtieth.”

“Thanks to the information you sent, we have acquired the cooperation of one Nevel Williams,” Nuri said. “He’s a divisional head and is willing to help on the proviso we immediately relocate him and his family—which we already have done.”

Making me wonder if they’d snatched his family before or after he’d agreed to help. I snagged some cutlery from the center container and began to tuck in. “So, where and when do we pick up this truck?”

“It’s coming in from Harston.”

Which was, as far as I knew, a mining town. I frowned. “Why would a pharmaceutical company be bringing in minerals?”

Nuri shrugged. “Industrial minerals have long been used in both pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.”