I eventually muttered, “How hard could it be to buy a new phone? Or e-mail me.”
“Come on. We won’t settle anything standing here and I have things to tell you.”
“Me too,” I said, thinking of the guy in the subway.
“You go first.” He opened my door with careless courtesy and then jogged around to hop in on the driver’s side.
I summarized the weird subway encounter and when I finished, Kian wore a ferocious scowl. “So I was right. They’ve already found you.”
“Who has?”
“The company is called Dwyer & Fell. They mask another faction in the game, just as Wedderburn, Mawer & Graf does.”
“Game?”
“From what I hear, Wedderburn and Dwyer have been competing for centuries.”
Pondering the implications, I spoke before I was sure. “But that means—”
“They aren’t human.” Kian likely saw my uncertainty and filled in the blank.
Understandable. We had too much ground to cover for him to wait for me to make logical deductions when he could supply the answers. But that didn’t address the fact that he looked terrible; something bad obviously went down during his long silence.
“So what happened? Are you all right?” I couldn’t restrain the expression of concern and he shot me a grateful look.
“A bit singed here and there, no life-threatening injuries. There’s no proof Dwyer & Fell are involved, but it’s no coincidence that my place burned last night.”
Muttering a curse, I shifted in the seat to take a more careful inventory of him. Now that he’d mentioned it, I could see a smear of ash he’d missed on his temple and when I breathed in, I pulled hints of soot and smoke.
“Why are they targeting you?”
“To weaken you,” he said quietly. “They’re not permitted to go after you directly, but they can attack people close to you. Pawns like me are always the first to go.”
“Whereas I’m the queen in play?” I joked, trying to lighten the mood.
I couldn’t believe how serious he seemed as he glanced over with grave green eyes. “At the moment, yes.”
“I don’t understand. WM&G pays you well and trusts you with special assignments. How does that make you a pawn?”
He wore an inscrutable look. “If I’m eliminated, it doesn’t hurt Wedderburn. True, the company is out the cost of my favors, but when you consider the scale they operate on—”
“It’s a drop in the bucket,” I guessed.
“So, to them, my chief value resides in my connection to you. The game can change at any time, you understand, but right now, you have a vital, viable future to protect.”
“I’d give a lot to know what future-me achieves and why it’s so critical.” I sighed. “Seems like it’s past time to visit you at work.”
“Agreed. That’s where we’re headed, in fact. Wedderburn asked to meet you.”
My heart stuttered in my chest. I’d asked to tour the place, but this was different. His boss wanted me there, and it made me nervous. “Any idea why?”
“He has a proposition for you.” Though his tone was matter-of-fact, he shook his head ever so slightly.
Right. Whatever Wedderburn wants, I say no. Provided that I believed Kian had my best interests at heart. I wished I could be sure he did. I can’t let myself be taken in by good looks and a pair of sad eyes. That would make me quite an idiot.
“I hope I can remember not what I’m not supposed to know,” I muttered.
“Just listen and act appreciative. Wedderburn has a thing for humility. And when he makes his offer, tell him you need time to think about it.”
That didn’t sound ominous or like bad advice. I might’ve done the latter without Kian’s guidance. I sat quiet for the remainder of the drive, though I stole periodic looks at him, unable to stop reassuring myself that he was really here. Absently I touched the infinity symbol on my wrist. Though it looked like a tattoo, the raises felt more like a brand.
“Does it hurt?” he asked.
“No. It just…” I couldn’t explain it, but it felt as if the thing were alive on my wrist and operating independently of me, like it might, someday, force my right hand to do things I didn’t want.
More crazy. But if I can’t share it with Kian …
So I took a deep breath and blurted all of that out. I expected him to stare in shock or even laugh. Instead he swore. “It’s happening too fast. They’ve accelerated the timetable, hoping to push you into burning your favors.”
“It’s not bothering me enough to make me ask you to take it off my arm.” But I stared at the symbol, quietly horrified, like it was an alien using me as its host.
“That’s not something I could do anyway. That mark is part of you now.”
Before I could ask what he was talking about, he pulled into an underground parking lot. The place was dark and creepy as the car went down, down, down, and it wasn’t better when Kian pulled into a spot that had his name painted on the wall. It made me think he was more important than he was telling, and I couldn’t escape the possibility that he might’ve been lying about everything, from his age to his name. While I was sure there had been a Kian Riley, it didn’t mean he was that person. None of the stories I’d found online had included a picture.
“Try not to be afraid,” he whispered as he opened the door for me. “Some of them find it … exciting.”
ICE, ICE, BABY
Wedderburn, Mawer & Graf had offices downtown, a glittering glass and steel monstrosity some twenty stories tall. The only hint as to who owned the building came in the form of a bronze plaque beside the front door with the names graven in copperplate lettering; the sign looked much older than the skyscraper, burnished with a patina created by time and the elements. Doubtless Kian wondered why I went out front to look around when we’d come up from the garage elevator, but I wanted to get a better sense of where I was.
Call it recon.
The reception area was banal to the point of seeming ironic—with beige upholstered chairs in the waiting area and abstract art in shades of brown. Even the receptionist seemed to have been hired to go along with the room, as she had ash-blond hair and brown eyes, skin that almost matched the walls. And she was wearing, you guessed it, an ensemble in various hues of brown and beige. She followed us with her gaze as we went past her to the elevator, but she didn’t speak.