Wild Card Read Online Free Page B

more on that they’d died trying against unequal odds. Jen had argued to keep the security detail smaller, and she’d be hurting because of that. I was confident that she’d want Victor’s team.
    Victor dropped us off at my car.
    “You take care,” he rumbled, speaking so quietly I felt his voice as much as heard it.
    I thanked him for everything he’d done. “Check on Trey,” I added as he was leaving, and he was calling as he pulled away.
    We climbed in my car. As I drove I pulled the blindfold we’d used in the van from my pocket and handed it to Julie.
    “Sorry. This location is confidential.”
    She rolled her eyes, but put the blindfold on.
    “At least I won’t have to watch you driving,” she said, tilting the seat back and stretching out. “Nice car by the way. Being a PI pays better than I thought.”
    I laughed. “I wish. Payment in lieu. But I do like it.”
    And I did. I’d been unable to drive it the previous week, with Matlal teams who knew the car actively searching for me. There were still Matlal Athanate out there in Denver, of course, but since the Assembly and Basilikos’ defeat, they had a lot more on their minds than hunting for me.
     
    ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
     
    Haven was lit up like a Disney castle.
    Julie, good soldier that she was, had slept the whole way, but the change in speed alerted her and she sat back up as we drove along Bear Ridge.
    “There are guards. You’ll probably be frisked,” I said.
    “Again,” she replied. They’d been thorough when they’d snatched her in the van.
    I was right. Haven was on alert after the attacks over the weekend and security had been tightened all the way around.
    I was fine. My hand scan and their noses confirmed who I was easily enough.
    They weren’t happy with Julie.
    “Who is she, House Farrell?” said the senior guard.
    “A former colleague of mine, Julie Alverson. She’s been employed by my House for security purposes.”
    “House, this whole site is secret. You can’t just bring her in.”
    “The location’s still secret; she doesn’t know where the hell we are. And as for knowing about Athanate, all this,” I waved at the bustle, “isn’t telling her anything she and a whole battalion of army people don’t know.”
    The guards still weren’t happy. They couldn’t raise Bian from a crisis meeting to clear it. Time was wasting; I needed to get in to be there for Jen.
    “Julie’s House Farrell,” I tried. “She’s my responsibility.”
    Tension rose in everyone at the gate. Julie because she didn’t know what I was claiming, and the guards because their Athanate senses disagreed with my words.
    “She’s unbitten,” the senior guard said. “I’d guess unbound.”
    I’d probably fallen foul of yet another Athanate rule I hadn’t had time to learn, but I couldn’t back down.
    “I’m House Farrell. I’ll dictate who’s in my House.”
    The guard blinked at that. He motioned the others back and stood close.
    “House,” he muttered, “it’s your call. But understand, there are responsibilities that go with it. Absolute responsibilities. Remember that.”
    I swallowed and nodded.
    Pia was producing a handbook of what being House Farrell entailed for me, and I desperately needed time to study that. If only everything else would stop for a minute.
    The guard stepped back and the gates swung open.
    I drove through and a traffic marshal guided us to parking. It’d been getting full as I left earlier, but things had escalated while I was out.
    House Altau and all the Panethus Athanate were gearing up for the changes brought about in the aftermath of the Assembly. The Theokos subgroup had left Basilikos; crossed the floor to join Panethus. An avalanche of security procedures were being exchanged between teams. The Canadian Houses had elected to leave the Midnight Empire and join Panethus. More avalanches. All Altau’s scattered American sub-Houses had to be integrated into the new Panethus systems. Technology