It had been foolish to hope, but it looked like Neena’s promise to keep her from being relocated had been a lie.
Chapter Thirteen
Jorge’s eyes popped open as he drew in a deep gasp.
Bright lights. Pain. Noise.
Everything jumbled together inside his head, and he tried to concentrate. But the pain coursing through every nerve in his body was so overwhelming a part of him just wanted to die. He’d do just about anything to make it go away.
Isabel Santos’s face came into view and she frowned down at him and said, “I need you to stay awake and concentrate for me. After the next partial shift, we’re going to try to remove the knife in your thigh. We think that is what’s causing your uncontrollable shifting.”
“How can a—” He flashed from flesh to shadow and back again. The pain was worse than he remembered from before, but somehow he managed not to scream.
When he was solid again, he managed between pants to say, “I can’t take much more of this. Let me go back to sleep. Please.”
“I’d never thought I’d see you ask for anything nicely, but no, you can’t. Whatever substance coats that knife will probably kill you. The sooner we get it out, the sooner we can try to neutralize the effects.”
He wondered how she knew so much about medicine, but a different realization hit him. “Where’s Sabrina? Is she safe?”
Santos nodded. “She’s fine. And if you ever want to see Sabrina Ono again, you’re going to do as I say.”
A small sense of relief flooded him, but then he felt another shift coming on and he focused on that. “It’s going to happen again. Tell me what to do.”
“Okay. Right after the shift, use every bit of energy you have to keep yourself solid. It’s imperative that we get the knife out of you to keep you alive. After all, you can’t get into Ono’s pants if you’re dead.”
He wanted to flip his middle finger, but he wasn’t about to waste what precious energy he had, so he let it go. He could piss off Santos later.
He let the shift happen and clenched his jaw against the pain. As soon as he was flesh again, he used every last bit of his energy to imagine himself solid. He could feel his body wanting to break down, but he pushed it back. He wanted to see Sabrina again and to do that he needed to live.
Someone started pulling the knife out of his leg. The pain was unlike anything he’d ever experienced, as if someone were squeezing his heart with a clamp; he gripped the sheets with his hands as he groaned through his clenched teeth. Once the blade was free, the driving need to shift his body into shadow lessened at the same time as an excruciating flash of pain coursed through his body. Before anyone in the room could say a word, the world went dark again.
Sabrina stared out the sole window in her room and wondered for the thousandth time if Jorge was still alive. After her phone call back at the takedown site, her boss had taken Watkins and led a team to bust the other high-ranking members of the Fed League scattered across Mexico. For all intents and purposes, the Fed League was no more, at least in Mexico.
She should take some satisfaction in knowing that her undercover assignment had been a success, but unlike when she’d finished her job in Rio two years ago, Sabrina was anything but happy. And it wasn’t just because of not knowing what had happened to Jorge.
The room where she sat might look like a hotel room, but in reality, it was her prison cell. She’d been sequestered here for the last two days while the higher-ups decided what to do with her since her identity had been compromised. True, Watkins and the Fed League in the area were gone, but the mysterious Collector woman was a constant threat. Especially since the Feiru Liaison office had never heard of her before Sabrina’s report.
In all likelihood, she would soon be relocated. She’d never be able to see Jorge or her sister ever again.
The lock clicked and her door opened to reveal one of the rookie Feiru Liaison officers who’d been assigned as her guard. She’d seen his face around before he’d become her guard, but she didn’t know his name, and since she didn’t really care, she hadn’t asked.
The man motioned for her to come and said, “Marquez and Garcia want to see you.”
She stood up and followed the man down the hallway. Jose Garcia was the head honcho of the Mexico City office. No doubt they’d be telling her about her future today.
They arrived at one of the meeting rooms and her guard motioned her inside. Sabrina stepped into the room and nearly did a double take at who was sitting at the table. Marquez and Garcia were there, but so was Neena Chatterjee.
Neena gave her a small wave and said, “Come in, my dear.” She motioned to the seat across from her. “I saved you a cookie.”
Sabrina snapped out of her disbelief and took the seat. Sure enough, there was
a cookie sitting on a napkin, but she wasn’t hungry. Instead, she looked from Neena to Marquez to Garcia. DEFEND wasn’t exactly a designated enemy, but neither was it an ally. She asked, “Anyone want to tell me what’s going on here?”
Her boss, Marquez, gestured toward Neena. “Ms. Chatterjee here has been in deep talks and negotiations with us over the last two days, and we’ve come to an agreement.”
She raised an eyebrow and couldn’t help but be sarcastic. “Oh really. Did she promise to save the world? Or give you the information you need to catch one of your most wanted Feiru criminals?”
Marquez opened his mouth, but Neena beat him to it. “We have made a temporary agreement to work together. Someone is circulating nasty rumors about my organization, and I’m out to prove to Mr. Garcia here that the rumors aren’t true.”