Page 106 of Concluded
Then his English-accented shadow spoke again, voice tight.“Do it, Birdie.”
And Charles pulled a handgun from his pocket and shot Abe in the heart.
Dee cried out.Surely there must have been another solution.But already Abe’s body lay crumpled on the blood-streaked floor.He didn’t get up again.He was a small man, short and wiry, and in death he seemed diminished.An empty shell.
To Dee’s considerable surprise—and perhaps everyone else’s—Tenrael knelt beside him and uttered a brief prayer in Hebrew.Still on his knees, he looked up at Charles, whose expression was stricken.“Thank you, Master, for sparing Birdie the burden of this act.”
“May his memory be a blessing,” Charles said.In his own voice.
“I don’t understand,” Dee whispered.But nobody heard.
Three men entered through the doorway, apparently unarmed.One of them was Spurling, and Dee recognized the other two from the conference room, both in their forties, white, and dressed as if they’d stepped off a golf course.All three of them appeared annoyed but not especially worried.
Spurling chuckled.“This is what the mighty Bureau has come to?A handful of has-beens in workout clothes?”
“We never claimed to be mighty,” said Charles.No, Dee realized.That had to be Chief Townsend.
“A waste of taxpayer dollars.Coddling monsters.Colluding with them even.”Spurling sneered in the direction of the dragon, who looked very much like he wanted to bite Spurling’s head off.“And now you’re trespassing on federal property.Authorities are on the way to take you into custody.”
“He’s lying,” Keaton said.“They’re scared and?—”
Keaton collapsed, writhing and screaming.When Owen ran to his side, he collapsed too.Dash and a couple of other agents pulled out handguns and fired at Spurling and his companions, but the only result was that the three of them rocked back slightly when struck.There was no blood.
“Guns are useless,” Townsend rumbled to his agents.At which point several of them—Ralph and the dog included, leapt forward, no doubt intending to repeat their previous mayhem.But all it took were careless little gestures by the three men, and those agents joined Keaton and Owen in shrieking agony.Nonaffected people had to rush to get out of the thrashing dragon’s way.
“Stop it!”bellowed Charles in his own voice.“None of this is necessary.”
One of Spurling’s pals huffed a laugh.“No, but it’s fun to watch.”He made another motion and fully half of the agents were in agony.As were Tenrael and Ish.And it wasn’t stopping—their pain went on and on, and anyone who moved to help was immediately on the floor as well.
Dee put his hands over his ears, blocking the terrible sounds that echoed off the hard surfaces.This small gesture signaled that he’d regained enough energy to move a little.Sitting up, he scooted backward until he was flush against a wall.He looked to see what Charles was doing, but the chief simply stood there, expression grim.Dee couldn’t even see Achilles anymore.He’d never felt so terrified and helpless.Hopeless.
He knew that hope was the best weapon—he’d had that hammered into his head repeatedly—but he couldn’t muster it.And he didn’t see the point in trying, seeing as Keaton, their jumper cable, was either unconscious or dead.
Jesus, what was the point of it all anyway?His own people, whom he’d barely known, were now functionally extinct.The only person he’d loved was fighting a losing battle.Spurling and his buddies would win, and with the exception of a few elite assholes,Homo sapienswould soon go the way of the dinosaurs.And shit, maybe the rest of the world would be better off for it.Humans certainly had made a mess of things.Maybe it was best if their time was ended.Maybe Dee should?—
Dee gasped.The trio near the front door weren’t just felling agents with pain.They were also doing exactly what Dee’s side had planned: blasting the enemy with emotions.They were spewing despair like a crop duster dumping poisons, and there was nothing he could do about it.If he drew attention to himself by speaking out, he was likely to end up tortured or worse.
But he couldn’t justsithere, dammit.
What if he could muster enough energy for a wish?He wasn’t at all sure he was capable, and even if he were, he couldn’t think clearly enough to devise an appropriate one.Whathewished was that the screaming would stop, the bad guys would disappear, and everyone would be safe.That was, of course, far beyond the realm of possibility.
He gathered his will and, using the wall against his back for support, slowly rose to his feet.Everything looked worse from this angle.Abe dead near the center of the room; what was left of the original intruders near the door.Blood smearing the white floor like morbid abstract art.Agents unconscious, or thrashing on the floor, or frozen in place.Spurling and his companions looking on with expressions of smug satisfaction.
Achilles stood very still, hands fisted at his sides, face turned away from Dee.At first Dee was slightly hurt by this, until he noted the stiffness of Achilles’ posture and realized he was deliberately trying to avoid drawing attention to Dee.
It didn’t work.Spurling cocked his head and caught Dee’s eyes.“Well, too bad.You could have had everything.”
“Irina?”Dee asked through gritted teeth.He saw Achilles turn to look and wanted to say something to him, but held his tongue.
Spurling huffed a laugh.“We never needed her.Or you, for that matter.You might have eased a few things along, but….”He shrugged.“No big deal.”
Dee took a page from Charles’s book.Not because he expected it to do any good but because he had to make the effort.“You can still turn back from this.You could do so much good if you tried.You could be heroes.You could love and be loved.”
A flash of emotion showed on one man’s face, but Spurling and the other man sneered.“Love is for weaklings,” said Spurling.Then he made a gesture that felled every agent and sent Dee to his knees, blind with pain.
When Dee could register his surroundings again, Spurling and pals were gone, and everyone was shakily rising to their feet.Achilles came stumbling over at once.“Are you hurt?What did he?—”
“I’m okay.”Dee took a few breaths.“But they’re not done with us, are they?”
