Chapter 29

Major incident unfolding in eastern quadrant of airport zone. Traffic at a standstill. No official reports. To be continued.

—Moskva Gazeta livestream (today)

IT HAPPENED WHILE they were about a half hour out from the site—which put them inside the airport’s automatic driving zone. Yakov was just about to take another sip of his coffee when he saw brake lights up ahead.

Not just one set.

Looked like a severe traffic jam. Unusual, when a major reason for the mandatory automatic driving zone was to ensure a steady and uninterrupted flow; his vehicle had switched to that mode the instant he crossed into the airport area—though Yakov had never mentally switched off.

Auto-driving in general might be safe, but it was still based on machinery. He needed to be in a position to react rapidly if his car suffered a sudden mechanical failure, or if an unpredictable hazard impacted the road. Today, however, his trusty all-terrain vehicle came to a halt at the precise safe distance behind a sedan stopped in the road. In front of that was a transit van to a rural area, and the line continued on.

When he flashed the car’s navigation system up onto the dash to check what was holding things up, he saw the red exclamation mark symbol that indicated an emergency a quarter mile up ahead. “Most likely an accident,” he said to Theo. “Must be pretty bad if traffic is this backed up.” The first responders usually opened up one lane around the site of an accident, but from the lack of traffic on the other side of the road, the entire thing had been shut down.

“I hope no one was seriously injured.” Theo lowered her window and tried to look around the side of the car. “I can’t see anything from here.”

Having mirrored her move, angling his head out into the crisp wind, Yakov said, “I can see the barest glimpse of flashing lights. A whole lot of them.” He sat back, his gut tight. “Has to be bad.” Injuries—even deaths—were highly likely.

Yakov’s phone beeped at that moment, with StoneWater’s emergency code. He answered it at once, putting the phone to his ear rather than on speaker. It was one thing to trust Theo on a personal level, quite another to bring her into the heart of his clan. One decision was his and his alone to make, while the other required the input and trust of his clanmates.

Valentin’s voice in his ear, no humor to it as there’d been at the bakery. “Yasha, our system is showing that your vehicle is very close to the site of a major incident.”

Yakov could’ve turned off that tracking—it wasn’t a clandestine thing. He’d left it on because he was on clan business and one of the benefits of the tracking system was that the clan could find people when it needed them in particular areas. “Stuck in a queue of traffic. I can see flashing lights up ahead but that’s all. What’s happened?”

“Another murder.” Valentin’s bitten-out statement made Yakov’s skin go cold. “Fucker is getting bolder. He laid his victim out in the middle of the road. Two drivers actually saw him do it, but no one was fast enough to capture him even though he escaped on foot. Enforcement brought in bloodhounds, but they lost the trail. They asked if we had a tracker nearby and you’re the closest.”

“Got it.” While most people didn’t know the extent of a brown bear’s acute sense of smell, Enforcement in Moscow would’ve had to be brain-dead not to utilize it. StoneWater’s relationship with Enforcement hadn’t always been as good as it was these days, but the bears had always responded when the cops asked for their assistance when it came to tracking down dangerous predators—or vulnerable victims.

That was one of the many reasons Moscow loved the bears even when they misbehaved. They knew that should their child or another at-risk member of the family wander off, they could send out an SOS for bear assistance and it would be provided.

“Transfer the vehicle’s controls to Theo,” Valentin added. “If she doesn’t drive, I’ll have Enforcement send someone back to mark it off with emergency signs.”

Yakov glanced at the passenger seat. “Hold on a second.” He turned to Theo. “I need to get up to the scene of the incident. Can you drive this vehicle?”

Theo, incisive and quick, didn’t ask questions that would’ve delayed him, just reacted with a nod.

“Theo has it,” he said into the phone. “I’m heading to Enforcement now.”

“Good luck. I hope you locate the bastard.”

After hanging up with his alpha, Yakov quickly programmed Theo’s fingerprint and voice ID into the car’s system so that she had temporary authority to drive it. “If the queue starts moving, drive to where you see Enforcement vehicles, then pull off to the shoulder and park. Tell them you’re with me. I’ll explain everything after I get back.”

He waited only until Theo had given him a nod before he got out and began to run between the rows of cars, his nose already picking up the scent of old blood and ice-cold fear.

THEO didn’t bother to get out of the car. She just slid over into the driver’s seat. It was easy since Yakov was bigger than her—she had plenty of space to get her feet underneath the dash. At which point, the automated seat controls reset for her height and asked her to either confirm the setting or make further changes. She confirmed the setting while her heart yet thundered from witnessing Yakov’s sudden burst of speed. She hadn’t realized that bears could run that fast.

It wasn’t the kind of graceful and relentless speed she might expect from a feline or a canine. Rather, it had been a burst of raw power that propelled him down the road. No human or Psy would ever outrun him. And other changelings would be very stupid to pick a fight with an animal that big and strong and fast.

Once again, Aunt Rita’s wise words reverberated in her head: Never underestimate a bear.

After her pulse finally slowed, she began to scan the highways of the PsyNet for any piece of information on what might’ve happened. She found it minutes later. A live feed into the network built of neural energy from a Psy near the front of the line.

Body on road. Murdered there? Enforcement officers everywhere. I think I recognize a detective from a news show. Maybe the body was dumped from a moving car? People in neighboring cars milling about. One woman says she’s sure it’s just a stunt. Fashion dummy on the road. Annoying. I heard dogs, though. And there’s a forensics van. Oh, I see a dog! Such a floppy face.

Whoever it was uploading the information wasn’t a person with a neat mind. Neither were they anchoring their data; it would disappear within a matter of minutes. Unless, of course, the feed was quickly picked up by one of the bots that scanned the PsyNet for news. Then it might end up in a more stable form in the Beacon or another reputable news organization.

Why, she considered, had Yakov run to the scene?

She’d heard that changelings tended to keep their distance from Enforcement because Enforcement was thought to be controlled by Psy. The latter wasn’t just speculation; Theo had been in her grandfather’s car more than once when he’d called up an Enforcement contact. Theo wasn’t the only reason he’d gotten away with his murderous crimes.

—bear.

She snapped her attention back to the PsyNet stream. The person up ahead was now broadcasting that one of the StoneWater bears had just run onto the scene. Had to be a local to have pinpointed Yakov as a bear without hesitation.

Bears have an incredible sense of smell. Better than bloodhounds. Oh! That’s the breed of dog the cops brought in!

That fragment of information about bear abilities was blurted out by the same person. It explained everything. As for the rest, Theo would wait until Yakov returned to find those answers. For now, she allowed herself to mourn for the nameless victim who’d lost their life for no reason except that someone felt the need to kill. She had never understood that.

Theo was responsible for more murders than she knew, her hands a permanent blood red—but she had never wanted to kill. That makes you no less culpable, said the part of her that would hold her to account till the end of her days.

For the first time, however, she fought back. “What if I didn’t make the choice?” she said aloud. “What if the only person who made a choice was Grandfather? What if he broke my brain so he’d have a puppet?”

The questions hung in the air, the possibility of redemption a painful hope.

Theo? Her brother’s crystal clear telepathic voice. Is all well? I’m hearing disturbing things about events in Moscow.

You set a bot to monitor the PsyNet for news from Moscow, didn’t you? Of course he had; he’d been taking care of her for so long that he didn’t know how to stop. I’m fine, she replied before he could answer, knowing that his powerful mind would pick up on her much weaker voice. There’s a possible serial killer roaming the streets, but I’m with a bear anytime I’m out.

What’s the word on the facility? Did you have a chance to visit yesterday?

She wasn’t surprised at the lack of any emotional response from her brother. She and Pax, they’d both been damaged in different and equally terrible ways by their upbringing. It’s abandoned, she said, not ready to talk about the rest of it; it would only hurt him. We’re going back there today for a more in-depth look. I’ll send back anything I discover.

Abandoned? I should stop the financial drain on our accounts. It has to be fraudulent.

Theo frowned. No, she found herself saying. I don’t want to risk alerting the person behind the financial draw—they might be our only hope of discovering what was going on there. I need to know.

Yes, I understand, said the twin who hadn’t been allowed to be her twin for most of her life.

Pax? Are you stable? Theo’s headaches had stopped since Memory Aven-Rose began to work with Pax, but that meant she couldn’t always tell when Scarab Syndrome was starting to go rampant inside Pax’s brain.

Yes. No change.

She didn’t tell him that he was to draw from her psychic energy whenever he needed it; he knew that, and he’d also go to the wire in an attempt not to do it—because it weakened her, and Pax didn’t want her weak in a sea of predators.

There is one thing, he added. Those telepathic pings I mentioned? I checked my filter today and they’ve increased in volume so I’m now getting multiple such contacts per hour.

Theo looked into the Net, toward his mind, but saw no obvious disturbances or incursions. Sounds like it might be more than a childish prank. Have you responded to any?

Not yet. I’ve been busy handling the current bloodbath in the family. I’ll let you know when I get around to dealing with it.

He then gave her an update about the power struggle going on in the family, but there was no concern in his tone. It was more, she knew, an annoyance than an actual threat. For better or worse, Pax had been trained for the CEO position by the Marshall. He was also a 9, multitudes more powerful than any other member of their line.

He could crush them like ants.

Why are you letting this continue? Theo usually left all the maneuvering up to him, but today she could hear the tiredness in his tone.

I’m hopeful that the situation will reveal someone who might prove suitable to take over from me should the need arise.

Theo swallowed hard. There’s no one as good as you. Marshall might’ve molded Pax, but their grandfather’d had brilliant material with which to work.

There are children in the line. Maybe, before I go, I can put a CEO in place who’ll ensure their lives aren’t blighted as ours were—our entire family can’t be poison. There has to be at least one person with both empathy and the cutthroat ruthlessness required to survive at the top.

Theo dropped her head against the seat, her hands clenching on the steering wheel. Because the only person in the line who matched that description was Pax. And yet . . . there were children. Innocents. Is there anything I can do? Emotion clogged up her throat, burned her eyes.

At times, she wanted to scream at fate until she had no more voice, and then she wanted to burn down the world, the rage in her an inferno. Forcing herself to breathe, she rubbed compulsively at the metal of her bracelet.

You do everything by just being there, Pax replied. You’re the one person in this world I know will never stab me in the back. A pause. Theo? Will you ever tell me the secret I sense in the shadows of your mind?

She squeezed her eyes shut, her fingers tight on the bracelet, and then told the truth. I don’t know. I’ve kept my own counsel for a long time.

Grandfather taught us well, didn’t he? That tiredness again, so heavy and dark. I have to go. Meeting. His telepathic presence vanished from her mind.

That was one thing they’d done forever. Never said good-bye. Because it was never good-bye, that two percent bond functional even when everything else was gone. Theo would shatter if it ever disappeared . . . and her brother was dying. Being devoured by Scarab Syndrome, piece by brilliant piece.

Her internal scream grew ever louder, the rage within a feral beast.

She’d barely gotten her emotions under control when the traffic began to move. Slowly, but steadily. It looked like the authorities had opened up one of the three lanes on this side.

Her car started up, joining in the mandated flow.