The boulders passed and Adam whipped into the turn, managing the drag of momentum with skillful application of brakes and gas. The back end of the car scraped the metal railing—the Diablo would need a little body work—but reclaimed the road no worse for the wear.
Adam looked at his rearview mirror: The California burned by behind him. With a screeching pop of bursting metal, the car ate empty air for fifty feet before arcing into a dive. A moment later, a squealing crash and roar of fire and smoke assured Adam that his big brother had just gone boom.
Adam groaned in disgust. “What a shame. Such a beautiful car wasted. I hope the crash hurt him like hell.”
He frowned into himself—once upon a time he and Jacob had enjoyed going to the racetrack together. That was before. Another life. Another Jacob.
Another Adam.
At least the explosion would slow Jacob down. Years ago, Adam had tried to get rid of Jacob with fire. Prolonged fire, like they did to witches way back when. Jacob came back afterward—blood, bone, and muscle growing grotesquely over charred remains. The process took Jacob a single afternoon, and he’d been hungry and pissed when he finished.
Talia sat up from Adam’s side, and her darkness dissipated. She settled back into the far edge of her seat, putting as much distance between her and Adam as the car would allow. He brushed his shirt down to cover the sudden coldness of her absence.
Fishing his mobile phone out of his pocket, Adam dialed Spencer’s number. The call went directly to voice mail, which suited him just fi ne. “Spencer, you son of a bitch. Next time we meet, and I pray it’s soon, I’ll kill you. You got that? I will kill you. You tell your superiors that I want my people, those who were based at Segue, and those who work globally, to be left alone. I want their movements unrestricted, unimpeded, and unsurveilled by SPCI or The Collective. If I or any of my people do not check in at their appointed times in their prescribed manner, information about wraith activities will be posted online and sent via both e-mail and hard copy to various sources internationally. SPCI may have elected to cooperate with The Collective, but the people of the world sure as hell haven’t.”
Adam ended the call. He didn’t know how much his threats would help. Matters may have progressed too far to deter The Collective, regardless of any public outcry at their exposure. If SPCI was now involved, The Collective could move with that much more freedom.
By now, whoever was in command would’ve realized that Talia posed no threat to humans—Shadowman had only attacked the wraiths. If Adam didn’t get her away, there’d be soldiers checking cars at all of the roads leading off the mountain. He and Talia would be forced into slow submission.
The tight curve of the road mellowed, and Adam pressed on the accelerator, bringing the vehicle back up over ninety.
Adam glanced at Talia. “Tell me again what Spencer said about the wraiths—when he followed you to your room.”
She took in and released a breath, her brows drawing together. “He said that becoming a wraith was merely a change of state, like dying—going from body to spirit. He was arguing that their way of life, immortality in particular, might be better than the human way of life.”
Spencer’s argument was an old one. He and Adam had hashed it out years ago. Adam had obviously missed how committed Spencer was to that view.
“He also said that you were studying me at Segue, even had cameras on me in my apartment 24–7,” Talia continued. “He said that SPCI has facilities where my rights would be protected. Where there were others like me.”
The cameras. Adam had actually forgotten about those. Jim had them installed a couple years back to monitor ghost activity in the west wing. The cameras and hookups were there, but hadn’t been in use for a while. Unless…
“Talia, I wasn’t watching you in your rooms, but I’ll bet Spencer was. I forgot that the hookups were there. They were installed solely to capture evidence of ghost activity. And for your information, I’ve been to the SPCI facilities. There are no human rights there. Wraiths are caged and experimented on with indifference. I’ve often been tempted to do similar studies on Jacob, but Patty tried to keep me and Segue humane.”
The mention of Patty stabbed at him. Patty had been his conscience for as long as Jacob had been a wraith. Adam felt another stab, hard and sharp. Okay, okay—apparently Patty didn’t actually have to be present to goad him down the right path.
“I did order additional tests when you first arrived at Segue. I knew you were different, and I wanted to know what I was dealing with. I should have told you. Patty wanted me to, and she was right. I’m sorry.”
Another jab from the memory of Patty, this one much more painful.
“As far as her death goes, I am entirely at fault,” he admitted.
Talia didn’t answer. Probably didn’t believe him.