Chapter Thirty-nine

Agood night’s sleep did Morrisey a world of good, as well as a hearty breakfast provided by someone in the house who sure the hell knew what to do with eggs, cheese, green peppers, onion, and sausage. He couldn’t recall falling asleep, just holding Farren in his arms and something… happening.

He poked a mental finger at a spot in his mind that hadn’t been there before, feeling both the bond and Farren’s somber mood. Instead of poking, he tried a gentle caress of the invisible thing connecting them. Farren’s tension relaxed.

Morrisey paused one more moment to marvel at the bond. The bond. They’d bonded. Never again would he feel alone, misunderstood, and not fitting in. He took two cups of coffee upstairs to the war room.

Farren gave Morrisey a tired but welcoming smile Morrisey felt as much as saw. Doubly so when he handed over one of the cups.

“We need to see Leary.” He sipped his cup of coffee, projecting a calm resolve he didn’t truly feel.

Farren frowned. Oh, right. No hiding any emotion from him now without effort. “How can we get past security? You can’t take us all in, can you?”

“Probably not, but I’ve done it once with two; maybe I can again.” Of course, the distance had only been a few miles before. The FBI compound was over ten miles away. Still, based on what the Domus elder said, Morrisey’s power could only grow.

Believe in yourself, then you can do anything,Will used to say. If Will was still alive, would he turn away from Morrisey, throwing away years of friendship? No, he judged by a person’s merit.

Hopefully, other humans would, too, and the race was on to ensure humans didn’t equate all travelers with Asher.

Morrisey slipped his latest Agnes into her holster. Agnes. Agnetis. His parent. Fitting to take his parent’s namesake into battle. He wrapped his arm around Farren, picturing Leary’s office, the bare desk, the chairs, the bookcases. Please let him not fail or sneeze and rematerialize in the middle of the ocean.

No disorientation, no wooziness. One minute, Morrisey stared at the attic walls; the next, he stood before Leary’s desk.

“Son of a bitch!” Leary shrieked, swinging his gun up to aim at Morrisey.

Morrisey pushed Farren behind him. He’d wonder later why Leary sat at his desk armed. With little thought and a slapping motion, Morrisey whipped the gun from Leary’s hand. It fell to the floor with a dull thud. Wow! If only he’d possessed such abilities during his time as a beat cop.

But how had Morrisey known he could?

Leary glared at Morrisey, then the gun, then the air between them. “How did you… How did…”

“It doesn’t matter,” Farren replied, stepping from behind Morrisey. Good, because Morrisey couldn’t form words at the moment. “This Asher you’ve spoken to is not the travelers’ leader. He’s out for himself, not the people. Don’t deal with the asshole. Most travelers only want peace. They don’t want war.”

Leary fixed his glower on Morrisey. “And what about you? What do you want?”

Morrisey pulled in a deep, calming breath. So many things he wanted. Mostly a good stiff drink, a smoke, and a day spent chilling on his couch. He had about a zillion episodes of Survivor to catch up on. He settled for “What’s best for everyone.”

“You’re one of them,” Leary growled.

Enough of this “us” and “them” bullshit. All the anger, fear, and uncertainty of the past few days rolled into a ball of rage. For once, Leary’s wasn’t the loudest voice in the room. “I’m one of us. I stand for anyone who wants to live a law-abiding life, regardless of where they came from. We’re all in human bodies, so we’re all human now.” The sooner people got facts through their heads, the sooner they could stop the bad guys and get back to the business of living.

“What about materializing in my office and slapping a gun from my hand without making a connection?”

Strange how Leary didn’t seem as freaked out as Morrisey might have been. Then again, someone had already betrayed the secret, hadn’t they? “I have talents others don’t. Aren’t you lucky I choose to use them for good?” Morrisey narrowed his eyes. “As long as I’m allowed to. Wouldn’t you rather stand with us than against us?” Threatening the boss? Why, yes, indeed. It felt damned good, actually.

“What about this Asher?”

“He tricked me once before I knew how to use my gifts. It won’t happen again. Has he asked to meet?” Like hell would Morrisey admit to being the jerkoff’s half-brother.

Leary paused before answering, shifting his gaze between Farren and Morrisey. “He has.”

“Where and when?” The guard Morrisey assigned to watch the mansion hadn’t seen any movement there.

“He demands a meeting with the president and a formal surrender.”

So Asher planned to go on with his plan for world domination. Maybe he’d not needed Morrisey after all. Maybe he just wanted to ensure Morrisey didn’t play on the opposing team.

The anger pouring off Leary would’ve made a good meal for someone not picky about what they ate. How easy it would be for Asher and his followers to body snatch the country’s top officials. Then what? Or he could take a more direct approach.

Morrisey considered the options. What would a power-hungry dipshit like Asher do? First, he’d send the country into a panic. How best could he accomplish this? Kill the leaders. Then he’d start his war and emerge as some kind of savior. Or present Morrisey as one. “I can’t let that happen.”

Leary’s face purpled before he bellowed. “You can’t?” The surge of his anger was a near-palpable wave. How easy to take the anger, use it to shore up Morrisey’s abilities. But no. That would be madness.

Farren voiced Morrisey’s fears. “He could easily kill the president and anyone else to strike fear into human hearts, or he could simply take his body. We can’t allow it. If he succeeds, he’ll put every traveler’s life in danger. There can be no war. Neither side will survive.”

“How do I know you’re any better than him?” Leary’s anger turned to suspicion, his glower focusing on Morrisey. How had Morrisey lived his whole life without the added advantage of knowing precisely what opponents felt? He’d turned into a human—or not-so-human—lie detector.

“Because he’ll feed on the carnage. I’d rather feed on positive emotions, like a winning Braves game.”

“How long have you fed on emotions? Have you known you could do this all the time?” Leary tapped out a beat on his desk with an ink pen.

“Why tell you? You’ll believe whatever you want to. But Asher is the one who kidnapped me. Something he did heightened all those abilities that started when I got attacked in the alley. Then I visited Domus, but I won’t get into details right now. But know this. Not only are humans in danger, but travelers too, and without us, you won’t even be able to tell the difference—until a normally peaceful man takes a machete to his neighbors.”

Morrisey let the thought hang, watching emotions playing over Leary’s face and matching them to the corresponding energy released into the ether.

Oh, the self-control Farren showed in not feeding on emotions all these years.

Leary didn’t reply, merely sat with his arms crossed and a muscle twitching in his jaw.

Morrisey growled, “You know about us. Farren saved you. Worked with you for ten fucking years. If we were bent on taking on humanity, don’t you think we’d have used the element of surprise and done so long ago?”

Teleportation, telekinesis. If not direct mind-reading, then close. What other talents did travelers possess that could either be a help or a hindrance to the new partnership they must build with humans?

Farren used soft tones to explain. “Most of us have no desire to hurt anyone. Some have taken humans as mates and have human children. Before you ask, children born of traveler-human pairings don’t have special powers, as they are of the inhabited body. Don’t let a minority condemn a whole species. Would you have us judge you for your criminals?”

Now for Morrisey to deliver a little hard truth. “Leary, there’s no fucking way humans can defeat us if we combined forces against you. You’re not in a position to bargain. Either work with us, or condemn so many innocents to the evil of those like Asher. Let us help you. Don’t tie our hands.” Not that a little thing like Leary’s disapproval would stop Morrisey from going after Asher.

Leary deflated, the anger disappearing like a popped soap bubble. “What do I have to do?”