Kelly Meding - Wrong Side of Dead

“One of many questions we’ll ask when we find him.”

I only wished I had Phin’s confidence. We’d had no previous luck locating Thackery—not while he was blackmailing me, and not after I was taken. The man wasn’t stupid. In fact, he was pretty much a genius, especially when it came to his genetic meddling. He had a plan, and he had an endgame in mind. Finding him would not be easy.

No, finding him will be fucking impossible—unless he wants to be found .

“Everyone makes mistakes,” Phin said.

It took me a moment to realize I’d said that “fucking impossible” thought out loud. “He hasn’t made one yet.”

“Then he’s due.”

“Maybe.”

Everyone missing was connected to me in some way. They were also all Therian. No humans had been taken, and I could think of several who would have been easy targets. “Why all Therians? If Thackery is really involved in this, why would he want them?”

Phin shifted positions so he was sitting next to me on the couch, one hand still on my knee. “He wouldn’t have been so precise with his choices if it was merely for experimentation.”

“True.” But it didn’t make me feel any better about the idea of a small child in the hands of a madman. Or anyone else at his mercy. “He can do his experiments and fuck with me at the same time.”

“You believe this is personal?”

“Don’t you? Thackery chose people connected to me, connected to the Watch, when he could have snatched any of hundreds of other Therians in this city. The bastard doesn’t do anything randomly.”

Phin nodded, thoughtful. “Another bargain, perhaps?”

I shuddered at the thought. His last two bargains hadn’t gone well for any of us. The first had been the trade of inanimate objects—two of his experimental serums for the crystal housing a demon. The second had been me for the safety of the city. “Both times, Thackery contacted us almost immediately to make his demands,” I said.

Eleri entered the living room, her expression impassive. “We followed two imprints of new tire tracks down the lane,” she said, “but they disappeared once the vehicles reached the main road. Depth and spacing indicate a van or a utility vehicle, but we cannot ascertain more than that.”

A van or a utility vehicle was used to spirit away three kidnapped Therians—duh. If ever information could be more useless … “Thank you,” I said.

“You are welcome. My squad is returning to the Watchtower. Do you require transportation?”

“Yes, thanks,” Phin said.

I didn’t want to leave, but we’d do no good here. Aurora, Ava, and Joseph were gone, and we weren’t likely to find them unless Walter Thackery wished it. Two months into her life and I’d already managed to fail Ava, just as I’ve failed almost everyone else I’ve been responsible for.

Some fucking Aluli I turned out to be.

On the trip back, I somehow got stuck in the rear bench seat of the SUV between the window and Paul Ryan. Phineas had shifted into osprey form—to save seating space, he said, but I was jealous of his clever way of avoiding conversation—and was perched in the small rear compartment with his pants and shoes.

I gazed out the window at the passing mountains, and then the outskirts of the city, trying to ignore Paul. We’d managed to mostly avoid each other these last few months, and for good reason. He’d been a one-week rookie in the Triads when I was first resurrected, and his twitchy trigger finger had gotten Wyatt killed. Granted, a gnome healing crystal had brought Wyatt back, but that wasn’t the point. And he’d helped out at Parker’s Palace and fought hard at the Boot Camp slaughter, but I still wanted to dislike Ryan on principle.

And he was still twitchy. He shifted on the crowded seat, hands tapping on his thighs, like someone in the middle of a sugar high. Or someone who wanted to say something and kept changing his mind. I resisted the urge to elbow him in the ribs. Hard.

Lucky for him, I dozed off for the last half of the trip. I jerked awake as we pulled into the parking area. As soon as the side door slid open, Phineas flew out and away. I was the last one out of the SUV. The cold cement floor sent a shock through my bare feet, reminding me that I needed to find shoes and a change of clothes.

“Stone?” Paul’s voice stopped me short.

I turned and shot him an impatient look.

“I’m real sorry about your friends,” he said. “Not just Felix, but the Therians, too.”

“Um, thanks.” I didn’t know what else to say. We were in no danger of becoming BFFs or anything, but the sentiment was a pleasant surprise.

He nodded, and then followed the rest of his squad out of the lot.

I cast around for Phin. He’d gone off on his own, probably to calm down before going back to work. I kind of liked the idea. I could use a little relaxation, too, so I didn’t take my temper out on someone who didn’t deserve it. The gym was a good place to do that.

My room, alas, was on the opposite end of the mall from the gymnasium rooms. We always kept extra sweats around, though, so I forewent a trip for clothes and headed the other way. My path took me past Operations. A buzz of conversation drifted through the open doors, and I slipped by quickly.

“Stone!”

Shit . I stopped, looked over my shoulder. Baylor had poked his head out of Ops.

“What?” I asked.

“You reporting in?”

“I already reported to Astrid,” I replied. “Eleri can report the rest of it. Unless Walter Thackery happens to call with ransom demands, I don’t want to talk to anyone for at least half an hour. Okay?”

Fortunately, Baylor was used to my snappish tendencies. “Okay. Where’s Phineas?”

“Around, probably blowing off steam.”

He nodded, then went back into Operations. The entire mall was outfitted with heat sensors in order to keep track of the two hundred–plus people who came and went on a daily basis. If Baylor needed to locate Phin, an osprey-sized heat signature would be easy to spot on the internal security system.

I made it to the gym without further incident. Some of the free weights were being used. I ignored the funny looks my outfit earned me, snatched a pair of sweatpants and a cotton T-shirt out of the community locker, and put them on with practiced ease. The sticky leather skirt came off as the sweatpants went up. Tank top off after the T-shirt was on. All skills I learned in Juvie, when privacy was at a minimum and you wanted to flash as little skin as possible in a room full of others.

The adjoining workout room was empty. Blue mats lined the floor, with two specific wrestling areas taped out. The opposite side of the room had several suspended heavy bags and three speed bags. Throwing some punches at sand-filled leather was a better alternative to taking my anger out on someone’s softer flesh, so I found a pair of gloves that fit.

My first punch sent a shock up my right shoulder. I hadn’t done this in a while. The majority of my physical training these last few weeks had been about endurance. Getting my cardio stamina back up, getting my joints loose and flexible again, and putting back on some useful muscles—all lost during those weeks of torture.

I spread my feet, corrected my stance, tried again. Better.

Left hand, right hand. Jabs, upper cuts, crosses. Sweat slicked my back and face and trickled down my neck. It felt great. I imagined Thackery’s face on that heavy bag. A face I’d looked up at from a metal gurney for twenty days, always calculating and earnest, a zealot to his own research. A face I longed to beat into a bloody, broken mess and then watch as it took its last breath.

My arms and back muscles burned from exertion. My legs felt like jelly, and it was getting harder and harder to breathe. I just couldn’t stop. Stopping was giving up, and I wasn’t giving up on this. Wouldn’t stop until I had Ava, Aurora, Joseph, Leah, Michael Jenner, and all the missing others back.