The Island Deception Read online

  Julian Miller, the R & D lab chief, waved off the disappointment. “No problem. She’s the big boss.”

  “Can I take these with me?”

  Julian scrunched up his face. “Eh, I’d rather you didn’t. If you set fire to something in her office, she’ll bring the hammer down on me.”

  Good point. Quinn started unstrapping them. “To be fair, she’d bring it down on me first. And she’d put out that fire with a look.” He set them on the metal table beside Julian, careful not to point them at him or the other engineers.

  “You’d better hustle. The lieutenant doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”

  “Well, I don’t like being interrupted.” Quinn opened the door to the hall and strolled out. Only after it had closed all the way did he break into a jog.

  She really didn’t like to wait.

  He swung into the hallway where her office was and saw Logan coming from the other way. They locked eyes and sped up. Not quite running, but hustling not to be the last to Kiara’s room.

  Quinn got to her door first. He slowed his breathing and strolled in at a casual pace. Chaudri was already there, buried in a report. The stress of trying to fill Holt’s shoes was showing on her. Her eyes had perpetual shadows under them, and she carried a huge stack of files with her wherever she went.

  Kiara looked up from her comm tablet, and her face was grim. She saw Logan come in behind Quinn, and her frown deepened.

  “What’s going on?” Quinn asked.

  “There’s been a disruption in our communications infrastructure,” Kiara said.

  Logan grunted. “Another UAV attack? We should be up in MTAC.”

  Kiara shook her head. “Our Alissian infrastructure.”

  “Impossible. We built three hundred percent redundancy into those networks,” Chaudri said. “The worst storm in recorded history wouldn’t knock them out.”

  “What about sabotage?”

  Chaudri tapped a finger on her lips. “I suppose if you knew which nodes to target, and hit them all at once. But the outage would only be temporary. Less than two minutes.”

  “One minute forty-five seconds, actually,” Kiara said. “Which would be more than enough time to tap into our network undetected.”

  “All of our transmissions will be encrypted, though. And we changed the keys after Dr. Holt’s departure.”

  “After Holt’s defection, you mean,” Kiara said.

  “Right.” Chaudri blushed. “Of course.”

  “The intrusion is still a cause for concern among my superiors. Which is why we’ve moved up the mission timetable.”

  Quinn bit back a curse. “By how much?”

  “We’ll leave in seventy-two hours.”

  Son of a bitch. “Half of my equipment won’t be ready by then.”

  “I can authorize double shifts for the whole R & D lab,” Kiara said. “Whatever it takes.” She turned to Logan. “Where are we with Bradley’s training?”

  Logan frowned. “He’s coming along, but in a fair fight . . .” He raised his eyebrows and shook his head.

  “Hey now, don’t forget that I won a couple of those on the last mission,” Quinn said. And saved your ass besides.

  “You never told us how you pulled that off,” Logan said.

  “I do better under pressure.”

  Logan grunted, then glanced back to Kiara. “He still needs more prep.”

  “We all do,” Kiara said. “But Alissia will not wait.”

  Chapter 5

  Snowballing

  “The fact that the gateway was discovered on an inhabited island raises the question of whether anyone has gone through before us. From their side, or from ours.”

  —R. Holt, “Recommendations for Gateway Protocols”

  Quinn barely recognized the cave that held CASE Global’s most valuable asset. Two new security checkpoints stood in front of the gateway airlock. The outer one had next-gen biometric scanners, which he only knew about because they also protected the door of the prototyping lab. The smell was the same, though: that wet-stone musty scent of an underground cave.

  Two grim-faced men dressed in black from the company’s private security division stood at attention just inside the doorway. That’s also new. They cradled their submachine guns and made eye contact with no one. Chaudri sat in the far corner, her face hidden behind one of Holt’s old notebooks. No one else had come yet.

  “Where’s Logan?” he asked. “Didn’t think he’d be the last one here.”

  “He left an hour ago.”

  “What?”

  She glanced up, probably noticing the edge of panic in his voice. “He’s scouting the perimeter of the gateway cave. It’s part of the new SOP.”

  “Oh.”

  “He did say something about not letting you near the gateway until he’s back.”

  “Psh. They’re lucky I’m going at all.” He did have to admit, however, that being this close to the gateway was having an effect on him. Right on the other side of that portal was an entire other world. With real magic. And people who could wield it without illusions or sleight of hand. Quinn might even be one of them, if he could rediscover whatever it was that had happened atop those cliffs in Landor.

  I need to talk to Moric. Maybe the bald magician’s claims about Quinn’s latent abilities weren’t so far off the mark. And he wouldn’t mind talking to the man’s daughter, either, but for totally different reasons.

  Chaudri had put down her journal and now scrutinized him. “Why are you going on this mission anyway?”

  “I’m the only one who can get into the Enclave.”

  “Oh, I understand what we’re getting out of your participation. I’m asking about what you’ll get in return.”

  A chance to bring some real magic home. There was no putting a price on that. He grinned. “Oh, don’t worry about me. A magician always ends up one ahead.”

  Quinn had packed his own saddlebags this time. A lot of his equipment was delicate, and he didn’t want Logan’s unnaturally large hands breaking something important. The last seventy-two hours had gone by in a blur. He got most of the equipment he wanted, but not all of it. And he’d barely slept at all.

  I’m actually looking forward to making camp over there. That’s how bad it is.

  The only upside was that Logan had stopped walloping him so badly in their training sessions. Too many visible bruises would raise suspicion in the other world, especially at the Enclave. The last thing Quinn needed was Moric demanding to know who’d hurt him. He’d have a hard enough time explaining where he’d been since they parted in Landor.

  An alarm sounded as a man-sized snowball trudged through the gateway from the Alissian side. Red floodlights cast the room in crimson hues. There must have been some kind of auditory challenge, and then Logan’s voice boomed on the speakers. “Sergeant Major Logan, Alpha Team.” He tugged off a glove and put his palm on the scanner.

  The security console beeped its acceptance. Identity confirmed. The guard behind it reached to hit the release for the airlock.

  Quinn leaned over the console and cleared his throat. “Might want to double-check that.”

  The guard’s brow furrowed, but he was private security. And private security didn’t take chances.

  Quinn turned back to smirk at Chaudri, who’d looked up in surprise. “What? He’s been pounding on me all week.”

  She smiled, and hid it behind the report she was reading.

  Logan tried the door, and found it locked. He rattled it, as if he thought it might be stuck. “Door’s jammed.”

  “Sir,” said the guard into the mic. “Could you reconfirm?”

  “You kidding me?”

  “I need you to reconfirm, sir,” said the guard.

  Logan glared in the direction of the console, though there was no way he could really see through the one-way glass. “Sergeant Major Logan, Alpha Team.” He jerked off the other glove and tried his other palm, then leaned down for a retinal scan. Three for three. There’d
be no denying that one.

  “Thank you, sir,” the guard said.

  The panel slid aside, and Logan squeezed in just far enough to shake the snow from his cloak. He spotted Quinn and his eyes narrowed.

  Uh-oh. He probably should have wiped the grin off his face.

  “So it’s you who got cute with the IDs,” Logan said.

  “Well, you’re always saying we can never be too careful about security.”

  “I’m also in charge of security, Bradley.”

  “Hey, no one’s above the law.”

  Kiara’s entrance put an end to the jabber. She took Logan’s measure. “How’s it look over there?”

  “Like they’re having a goddamn blizzard,” Logan said. “No immediate threats, as far as I could tell.”

  “What about reptiles?” Quinn asked. They’d encountered one last time and the jury was still out as to whether or not it qualified as a dragon.

  “No, none of those, either.”

  “It’s no longer wyvern breeding season, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Chaudri offered.

  “You’re not worried? The last one did almost eat us.”

  “I didn’t go that far, but the immediate area around the gateway cave looks clear. No barrier, as far as I could tell.”

  “Well, are we doing this?” Quinn asked. If we don’t leave now, I might lose my nerve.

  “We’re waiting for one more,” Kiara said.

  That surprised him, and he was trying to figure out what wrinkle they were adding to the mission when the door from the hallway hissed open. Another soldier strode in. He’d lost weight and looked considerably tan, but Quinn would know the owner of that easy swagger anywhere.

  “Mendez!”

  “Hey, Bradley.” Mendez shook his hand. He gave the lieutenant a deferential nod, but didn’t smile until he saw Chaudri. “Hi, Chaudri. Love the hair.”

  “Really? Thank you.” She blushed, and checked the little silver hair clips with nervous fingers. “It’s a Landorian style.”

  Mendez held her smile until he saw Logan. Something passed between the two men, Logan asking a question and Mendez confirming it. They stepped away to confer in low voices. Kiara didn’t so much as glance at them, but as she opened a black clamshell case, she tilted her head as if trying to eavesdrop.

  Five communications earbuds nestled in two inches of gray foam within. Kiara plucked one out. “These are the new comm units.” She handed one to Chaudri and gave her a stern look. “Keep it in at all times.”

  Quinn took his and looked it over. He’d spent enough time with the one from the last mission to know that this was different. “What’s the new button do?”

  “Long range transmission. Should work anywhere on the continent.”

  “What if I’m not on the continent?”

  “You’ll need this.” She pried open a second, oblong case that held a flat, arrow-shaped piece of metal.

  “A weathervane.” He’d seen a few of those on top of buildings, mostly in the rural areas of Felara and New Kestani.

  “It’s an integrated network antenna.”

  “Clever.” Had to admire the weathered-metal look the tech team had given it. Not shiny enough to draw attention, but not rusted enough to need replacing, either.

  She fastened the case again and tossed it to Quinn. “I want this installed on the highest point of the Enclave’s island.”

  Of course you do.

  If he wanted to talk to the others at all once he got there, he’d probably need to do it, too. But there was a good possibility that would permit CASE Global to triangulate the position of the Enclave island. And that idea made him nervous.

  Granted, they could probably just take the wayfinder stone off him and find the island anyway, but he wasn’t about to bring that up.

  Kiara checked her watch, which was disguised as a flat copper bracelet. “It’s time. It’ll be Mendez, me, Bradley, then Chaudri. Logan comes last.” She looked at the big man. “You know what to do?”

  He nodded.

  What’s that about? Quinn raised a questioning eyebrow at Mendez.

  Mendez shrugged, but there was no humor in it. There was no humor in any of him.

  The gates and airlock opened, and he saw the gateway for the first time in weeks. The portal to another world was nestled right in the wall of the cavern. He might have imagined it, but he felt like the thing pulled him. The wayfinder trembled against his chest.

  The gateway shimmered every now and then, as if it were doing funny things to the light that hit it. He’d have watched it and timed the shimmers, but Mendez and Kiara got in the way as they made their way through. My turn. He took the mare’s reins and marched into the open airlock. He paused right in front of it. The far side was blurry, as if he were looking at it through a glass of water.

  He put his head down and pushed through the void. The threshold washed over him like a warm steady rain. He stumbled through onto a smooth stone floor, and a wall of cold slapped him in the face. Even though he knew what to expect, the transition left him disoriented.

  “Keep moving, Bradley,” Kiara said.

  He tugged his horse over to one side. Logan came through a moment later, with his mount right behind him.

  Kiara had wrapped a scarf around her face so that only her eyes were visible. “Mount up, everyone.”

  Quinn put a hand on the pommel, kept the reins with the other, and put one of his boots in the stirrup. Obviously that was the moment his horse chose to pivot around, leaving him to hop on one foot around in pursuit. When he finally scrambled into the saddle, he realized he was the last one.

  Logan had a hand shading his eyes, as if embarrassed. “Ready, princess?”

  “Damn right,” Quinn said. “Tired of waiting on you.”

  Felara, the snow-blanketed city-state on the Alissian side of the gateway, brought a new meaning to the word cold. Even with the Gore-Tex boots and poly-insulated jacket, Quinn was shivering more often than not. Logan wasn’t kidding about the snowstorm, either. Visibility was only about ten feet, and the snow blew every direction—sideways, down, and up—whatever it took to get under his collar and down his back.

  I miss Vegas already.

  His morning training sessions with Logan had helped, but horses trudging through deep snow were a whole different challenge. Keeping his saddle was still a full-time job. It didn’t help that Logan had taken the lead, and the man knew only one speed.

  Mendez rode twice as fast and twice as far as anyone. Half the time he brought up the rear, and the rest of it he was scouting ahead or checking their backtrail. Kiara and Logan had to remind him to eat, and to rest his horse. Quinn didn’t know if he was running toward something, or from something, but something was driving him.

  They pushed south for a week, three days longer than it should have taken thanks to the snow. It tired the horses faster, and made Logan’s little training sessions all the more exhausting. Apparently those were still on the docket, even on this side of the gateway. Logan and Mendez drilled Quinn constantly. Even Chaudri had to participate. She’d had a few close calls on the first mission, as Logan was happy to remind her.

  She stepped out of their fighting circle and bent over to catch her breath. “That’s enough for me. I’m as good as I’ll ever get.”

  Logan leaned back from Quinn’s halfhearted slash. “No one reaches that point.”

  “You’re better off spending your time on Quinn,” Chaudri said.

  Quinn would have argued, if it weren’t for the welt on his side she’d given him in their previous melee. She fought with the longsword, and he kept forgetting the reach of the thing.

  “Don’t worry about me,” Quinn said. “I plan to fight dirty.”

  “That’s not a real strategy,” Logan said. He brandished his sword and circled to come at Quinn’s weak side.

  Quinn pivoted with him. “Why not?” He didn’t think to keep an eye on Mendez, until he felt the cold steel against the back of his n
eck.

  “Because everyone fights dirty when it comes down to it,” Mendez said.

  Oh, hell. “Come on! That’s cheating.”

  Mendez shrugged. “Collusion happens all the time in a real fight. It’s how I’ve won half of mine.”

  “So how do I get someone to collude with me?” Quinn asked.

  “The same way you get them to do anything. Lie, cheat, bribe, blackmail.”

  “Exactly.” Logan clapped Quinn on the shoulder. “I hear you magicians are good at that stuff.”

  Chapter 6

  Fork in the Road

  “The only thing better than a decent trick is an audience who’s never seen it before.”

  —Art of Illusion, October 10

  They decided to part ways in a mountainous region called Three Corners, at the intersection of Felara, Landor, and New Kestani. The settlement there was originally a hematite mining colony, but the richest veins had run dry decades ago. Most of the village houses were deserted.

  “Which way is your stone pointing you, Bradley?” Kiara asked.

  “Still southeast, as far as I can tell.”

  She pulled up the Alissian map on her console. “Based on our position, that means you’ll end up somewhere off the eastern coast. South of Pirea, certainly.”

  “Dr. Holt spent three months with a Pirean fishing vessel,” Chaudri said. “He never mentioned any offshore islands of any kind.”

  “If the Enclave doesn’t want to be found, it won’t be,” Quinn said. He didn’t add, And the Enclave doesn’t want to be found.

  “What’s your plan for getting there?” Kiara asked.

  “By ship. The docks at the Enclave island got regular transports. They’re self-sufficient as far as food goes, but they had a lot of imports, too.”

  Logan grunted. “Doesn’t mean a ship captain will take you.”

  “I think I can pass myself off as a magician.” Quinn spread his fingers out and made a coin appear. An Alissian silver piece, too, with the name of some long-dead Valteroni Prime on it. He wove it across his fingers, snapped once, and disappeared it up a sleeve.