Tainted: Book Three - Enslaved

32. Void

Rome

"Dude, it is not working to follow Hubler."

Spin didn't waste any time getting to the point of his call.

"What's going on?" I asked. "Did he spot you? Is Monkey giving you trouble?"

"Of course he didn't see me. Nobody can see me when I don't want them to." Spin's indignation made me roll my eyes. "And Monkey's fine. But Hubler is all over the place, and I can't get close enough to travel with him. He has more security than the president! We can follow his itinerary on his Internet site, but neither of us is able to teleport, and relying on civilian flights barely gets us there in time to hop on a plane to the next place. Oh, and the Council credit card was declined this morning."

"Sorry. We just found that out ourselves."

I'd received a text from Hank as we were moving the clothes from the washers to the dryers. He'd been keeping us in the loop since our Sanctuary phones were all off.

I should have contacted Spin and Chance right away, but riding herd on Kerry distracted me.

"The Council officially pulled the plug on missions," I explained now. "We're not in lockdown yet, but the wardens ordered teams to withdraw from the field unless actively engaged with the enemy. We're on our own, and operating without sanction."

"Then I guess it won't do any good to ask you where the nearest outpost is," he grumbled. "Look, I only got twenty bucks on me. That isn't even going to get us a hotel room tonight. Make that less than twenty. Monkey's decided to buy a soft pretzel."

"Where are you?"

"Chicago airport."

"Okay, we'll send you some money."

"You get rich all of a sudden?"

"Kerry did." I didn't bother to explain further. "Until we find Gemma, he's our bank."

At the back of my mind was the thought that, after we found her, we'd have to return to the Sanctuary and face the music. I wondered what consequences the Council would dish out.

Then again, if we stop a demon prince's long-range plan and shut down the Alchemists' nephilim trafficking ring, we might be rewarded instead of punished for ignoring orders.

"That'll take care of the finances," Spin said, "but what about following Hubler?"

"Where is he now?"

"On a plane bound for San Francisco."

"Wow. He is all over the country." My eyebrows flew up. "Let me talk it over with Kerry, and I'll get back to you."

"Roger that, bro."

#

Spin

Monkey grabbed my sleeve and tugged me into a little newspaper shop, where she flitted around until she found a rack of news magazines and tabloids. Her eyes scanned each title until she settled on one and held it out to me.

I took it, looked at the price, and raised my eyebrows. When did magazines get so expensive?

"Monkey, that's the last of my money. We'll be in trouble unless Rome comes through and sends us more."

She shrugged.

"Yeah, you're right. Fifteen bucks isn't going to buy much else." As I reached for my wallet, my temper erupted without warning. "You're a real burden sometimes, you know that?"

I said it in a mean tone, too, which was not like me. Worse, I kept going. It was like my mouth decided to pour all my frustration onto her, and none of it was her fault.