"Believe me, Miss Borathen, things will go more smoothly if you don't try to interfere with the operation."
One word in his sentence piqued her suspicion. Interfere? "Why are you telling me this if my only job is to wait around until Justin is led outside? You don't even need me for that." Elyssa searched his expression for a clue, but he was too skilled at hiding his intent behind a poker face. "Tell me what you really want."
Underborn pursed his lips. "It isn't so much what I want as what I don't want."
"Maybe you can say that again, but this time, try to make sense."
"The Templars are patrolling the perimeter, keeping eyes on the comings and goings of the vampires."
Elyssa shrugged. "Normal procedure. Our intel would be dangerously outdated if we didn't keep a constant watch."
The assassin nodded. "Unfortunately, it means when we go in to retrieve Justin, those same eyes will be watching us."
"So what?" Elyssa tapped her chin in contemplation as she tried to unravel the weave of Underborn's plot. He had to have ulterior motives. All anecdotal evidence about this man indicated he was exceptional at leading his victims into the exact place he wanted them before ending them. He was known not simply for killing, but for manipulating everyone involved with the deal. And his price was always the most valued possession of the buyer. When Underborn said it would cost an arm and a leg, he wasn't joking.
"I don't wish Templars to see me or my inside agents. While they may not know who I am at first, they would certainly figure it out."
"You want me to clear the perimeter?" Elyssa wasn't sure how to accomplish such a thing. Her father or Christian could give the command to clear the perimeter, but she certainly couldn't. Even if she knew where the lookouts were stationed, distracting one of them wouldn't be enough. The location of Maximus's stronghold left few, if any, concealed approaches thanks to a wide road looping about it and roundabouts on all corners. A tall wall towered over those streets and offered few entrances to anyone wanting inside. From the history Elyssa had uncovered, the place had once served as a military fort, later converted into a mansion with several outbuildings.
In other words, the Templars using the cluttered buildings around the stronghold would see everyone coming in and out. The vampires on the walls would as well.
Underborn already seemed to know this. "Not feasible, I'm afraid. What we need, however, is nearly as impossible."
Here it comes, Elyssa thought. "Spit it out already."
"What I'm about to tell you may come as a shock."
"After all I've been through lately, your revelation had better be about Godzilla or aliens, because I can't think of much else that would shock me."
Underborn chuckled. "True. After surviving the horrors of El Dorado, fleeing from husks, wraiths, and even facing down leyworms, I don't imagine there is much in the physical realm that could surprise you."
A shudder ran through Elyssa's back at the thought of the husks, short and infant-shaped creatures with smooth oily skin and nothing but a maw of sharp teeth on an otherwise featureless face. Justin called them cherubs which wasn't far from the truth. Vadaemos told them they were the leftover husks of angels nearly killed when the Grand Nexus tying their plane of existence to Earth was destroyed.
She shook the troubled memories from her thoughts and returned to the question at hand. "So tell me then. What's the shocker you have in store for me?"
Underborn seemed to pause for dramatic effect and said, "There is a spy among you."
Elyssa raised an eyebrow. "That's not shocking. It's silly." She glanced at the dark hulk leaning against the wall, and wondered who he was. "Do you agree with him?"
The man didn't respond.
She rolled her eyes. "Maximus has a spy in our ranks? That's your shocking news?" She had no doubt the rogue vampire was spying on them somehow, but to have an actual spy, a member of the Templars, implanted in their ranks hardly seemed feasible. "You realize we can sense vampires, right? I mean, you were a Templar."
"I'm quite aware of that, Miss Borathen. However, Maximus has been rather adept lately at avoiding and outsmarting the Templars. How else do you think he knew about Justin's arrival at La Casona, hmm? Or when, exactly, to hit the convoy? Or how to hide so many vampires from Templar senses until it was time to strike?"
"Easy." Elyssa directed a condescending look at the assassin. "He probably has eyes on La Casona and the Grotto. It's not like we veiled our forces or tried to sneak into Colombia."
Underborn reflected her condescension with a condescending grin of his own. "I would agree with you, except Maximus wouldn't have had enough time to mobilize such a force, not to mention positioning scroll casters in strategic firing locations at a moment's notice. If he had watchers at the Templar compound in Atlanta, he would have had less than thirty minutes to organize before you arrived at La Casona. The cars there to pick you up arrived only moments before you did."
Elyssa ran some calculations through her mind and came to the conclusion Underborn had a point. Unless Maximus maintained a force outside La Casona, he couldn't have mobilized such an organized ambush and kidnapping in so short a time. A chill settled in her stomach. As impossible as it sounded, someone she knew, someone close to the commanders might be a traitor.
"Crap," she said, running a hand through her hair as faces of friends ran through her mind. Could one of them be the spy? She gave Underborn a quizzical look. "Why do you care if there's a spy?"
"If your people see one of my agents inside Maximus's camp bring Justin outside, they'll likely take video with an all-seeing eye and send it up the chain. The Templar spy will see my person and report them to Maximus who will likely torture them until they reveal the identities of my other insiders." He shrugged. "I have spent considerable time and resources putting my agents into place, and can't afford to withdraw any of them at this stage of the game."
"They're just resources to you, aren't they?"
"We're all resources to someone, Miss Borathen." He smiled. "Just ask your father."
Much as she wanted to punch the man in the mouth for his mocking smile, she couldn't disagree. Thomas Borathen had trained her to be a resource more than a daughter. Rather than a father, he'd always been her commanding officer. Had he ever held her as a child and spun her around in his arms, a smile on his face, a gleam in his eye? Had he ever kissed her and told her he loved her no matter what she wanted to do with her life?
The cruel but true answer was no. Any time he'd been proud of her was for her advancement in the Templars. For her fighting prowess. He'd been all too quick to have her mind wiped when she'd stepped out of line and fallen in love with Justin.
Why, then, had her heart ached when she'd thought he was dead? And why had it nearly flown away when she found him alive?
Damn her traitorous heart.
"Do you have any idea who the traitor might be?" she asked.
"I'm afraid not. However, this person is likely close to Commander Salazar or your father. He or she would have to be to gather timely information."
That left very few people. Elyssa's mother, Leia, and her brother, Michael were the two closest to her father. Even so, he rarely told anyone what his plans were until it was nearly time to execute them. As for Christian, she knew Beck was now a top advisor. But who else? "I think I know where to start," she said.
Underborn nodded. "Good. But you'll need to hurry." He checked a pocket watch. "You have five hours until the operation." The assassin withdrew a disposable arcphone and handed it to her. "You can reach me with this once you've succeeded. Don't try to trace the number. It's magically encrypted.
Elyssa took the thin rectangular device. "What if I can't find the traitor in five hours?"
"I said five hours until the operation, Miss Borathen. You have four hours to find the mole."
"Just four hours? Why?"
"Because, young lady, if you don't find them, I will scrub the mission."
Chapter 13
My head throbbed. Every heartbeat sent a dagger straight into my brain. I'd had a horrible hangover before. In fact, the day I'd started down the disastrous road of incubus puberty had been the day of my first and, so far, last hangover. Seriously, one had been enough to make me swear off drinking for life.
"Nyuh," I croaked through chapped lips and a parched throat.
"You are alive," said my roommate in his usual monotone voice.
"Water." My voice rasped like sand across pebbles.
"The guard installed a watering device for you."
I blinked the crust out of my eyes and saw a metal tube just above my face, a drop of water hanging at its tip. I craned my neck up, lips grasping for the precious drop, but couldn't reach it. The droplet hung at the tip of the metal tube, suspended as though by black magic, torturing me with its close but unreachable proximity. As a last resort, I stuck my tongue out. It touched the tip. Sweet water trickled into my dry throat.
Laying back and panting with the effort, I savored the tiny drop. It didn't sate me by any stretch of the imagination, though. I forced my head back up, though the tight strap around my neck choked me. Lapping at the tube with my tongue, I released another trickle of water, but soon had to lean back to rest my throat and neck.
After repeating the process more times than I could remember, I finally conquered some of my thirst. I longed to close my lips around that tube and draw a long gulp of water down my parched throat. No matter how hard I tried, only my tongue could reach it. As I lay gasping from my last effort, I abruptly realized exactly where I'd seen a water dispenser like this—in a hamster cage.
"That bitch," I said, gritting my teeth. Amanda had installed it so I'd have to lick it. On purpose. My incubus hunger growled from its cage. Great. One more thing to worry about.
