Page 114 of The Shadows Beyond
With an almighty crash, Elliot brought one of the light fixtures down from the ceiling, knocking one man down to the ground. Then, a flick of two wrists sent the lumenmotes he’d cultivated bursting in two directions—at the remaining gang member, and Richter himself.
An unseen current gripped their muscles, and tremors rippled through their frames, from the tips of their limbs to their cores. Collapsing to the ground, their bodies twitched with involuntary, jittery movements.
Tyler let out a low whistle, the first action of his that Julien approved of.
Cinn pushed Julien off him with a grunt. “I literally couldn’t breathe, you freak.” Though as Julien turned to face him, there was a tender softness to his expression that told a different tale.
With his trainer, Cinn nudged the shoulder of one of the men who’d been electrocuted. “What did the lumenmotes do?”
“Elliot converted them to electromagnetic waves to shock them.” Something that Julien had done himself many times, in the controlled practice sessions of his youth. “They better not be dead, Elliot.”
A smirk in response. “As if I don’t have perfect control. Fuck, Richter had a gun on him,” Elliot said, nodding to the handgun that lay on the floor.
“We’ll dispose of that.” Julien shoved it into the duffle bag, then retrieved his rucksack from near Tyler. Theoretically, he could have untied the guy at the same time, but he was busy. Busy sorting out his mess.
“Good thing Darcy didn’t come,” said Elliot. “She’d havefreakedat all that.”
Julien was pretty ruffled himself, adrenaline still freely jabbing at his beating heart. He rummaged in his bag to find what he was looking for.
To a casual observer, it was an oddly shaped metal headpiece.
To motetech experts, it was a powerful memory disrupter.
Elliot grabbed the nearest unconscious man under the shoulders to pull up upright.
“What the bloody hell are you up to?”
Ignoring Tyler, Julien continued to install the LMD onto the man’s head. “Still up for what we agreed?” he asked Cinn, who nodded once, face set.
The Lumimeld Memory Disrupter was neverdesignedto tamper with long-term memories. It had only been formally approved for memories obtained within the last twenty-four hours.
That didn’t mean it couldn’t be wielded for a range of purposes, in the right hands.
Connecting the headband to the palm-sized battery-powered controller, Julien began to charge the LMD.
Cinn, after untying Tyler, came to crouch down beside Julien. “So, they’ll all wake up with no idea who they are, even?” he asked quietly.
“Oui. That’s the plan. Let’s hope they still have enough brain cells for bodily functions.”
Cinn’s face clouded as he stared at Julien’s first victim, whose head was vibrating as the LMD worked its magic. “I don’t give a shit about Richter, but these other men… We don’t know their stories.”
Oh, precious Cinn and his goddamn eternally caring nature. What was he going to do with him?
Julien turned down the dial.
It took fifty minutes to do all five of them. Julien took pleasure only in the one he’d saved for last: Heino Richter. Once he was done with them, Elliot and Cinn carried the bodies outside and dragged them to various parts of the industrial estate, in the hope they’d wake up separately.
Finally, it was done. He didn’t even bother suggesting to Cinn they at least wipe the last twenty-four hours from Tyler’s mind—he already knew what his response would be. Cinn had trusted Tyler to keep hisown moteblessed ability a secret since he’d confided in him—Julien would have to hope Tyler would extend them the same courtesy.
Tyler, who’d been rather quiet throughout the whole thing, remained sheepish on the Tube journey back to the flat—hood up, eyes downcast unless Cinn spoke to him.
Now they’d accomplished what they’d come here to do, how much longer would they have to stay in London?
Silently filing into Bradley’s kitchen, exhaustion was evident on everyone’s faces. For a sickening moment, Julien imagined Cinn suggesting he and Tyler share Tyler’s single bed, but then they found the note from Bradley, a scribbled message about working the night shift, and offering his room.
In a bizarre show of domesticity—considering they’d just taken down one of London’s notorious drug lords—they took turns brushing their teeth in Bradley’s tiny yet spotlessly clean bathroom.
Julien opened the door to let Cinn in, then flinched in surprise as he shut it behind him, bolting the door.
