Read Online A New Day (StrikeForce #1) by Colleen Vanderlinden - Free Book Online
Authors: Colleen Vanderlinden
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while.
“I can do things, too,” he said, and I glanced over at him. “Not like you. My powers are mostly the kind nobody would notice.”
“What can you do?” I asked.
He shrugged. “You use a jammer or passcode decoder to get into houses, right?”
I didn’t answer.
“You broke into my house. I figured out how you did it. Anyway, I don’t need to do stuff like that. I just kind of…” he held his hands out, as if waiting for the right words to come. “I just kind of see how stuff like that works and communicate with it. I don’t get how it works. But pass codes, frequencies, computer code, electricity… it’s almost like a living thing, and I can interrupt it. I can see it, feel it. Or something.” He paused. “So I can be subtle. Or, I can make a point.” My mind went to news reports, stories about electrical fires, cars going haywire. It felt like a chill came up on me, out of nowhere.
“Well. That’s handy,” I said.
“It is. But sometimes, you need a little more muscle. And an easy getaway,” he said, still watching me. “Imagine what we could do together, Jolene. We’d own this city. As much damage as we’ve done individually, can you even imagine how much we could get if we worked together? We could have anything we wanted. Fifty-fifty. We share everything. We have each other’s backs.”
That last part made my stomach give a funny little twist. The idea of anyone other than Mama and maybe Luther having my back was an alien one.
“And what if I don’t want to?”
“What do you mean?”
“If I don’t agree to work with you? What then? You go to the police about me? You harass my mother? What?”
He glanced back toward the trailer park. “No.”
“No, what?”
“No. I wouldn’t do any of that. You say no, then that’s it. I walk away wishing I’d done a better job of convincing you. I’d never do any of that.”
“Why not?”
“Because there’s no benefit in it to me. All of it would end up pissing you off, and then you’d never work with me. Plus what does your mother have to do with it? What kind of jerk would bring her into it?”
“Are you for real?”
He took a breath. “I’m being honest here. I manage well enough on my own. But it could be so much better. It could be so much more, and I have plans. There are so many things I want to do, and it feels like nothing is happening fast enough. And that day I caught you in my house; it was like the answer was there, staring me right in the face. If it had been anyone else standing there, I would have ended them.”
“You could have tried,” I said, meeting his eyes.
“I might have succeeded.”
“Not likely.”
He smiled. “It’s a business proposition. I mean, there are enough rich bastards to go around, right? But it would be a lot easier on both of us to team up. Less… lonely, maybe.” He shrugged again.
“Aren’t you one of those rich bastards?” I asked.
He grinned then. “Only thanks to the generosity of all the rich bastards I’ve encountered over the years, including my father,” he said with a smirk. “I still want more.”
Damn it. He was saying all the right things. And he had Luther’s trust. He was appealing to my own desire to do more, though I had the feeling his “more” was a bit different from mine. It was probably stupid. He was probably planning on double-crossing me or something for all I knew, but I had to admit that he had a point. He was the first person I’d ever met who was like me. As in, a thief and a powered person. I could see the same feral, hungry look in his eyes that I saw every time I looked in the mirror.
But there was more. The sense that he wasn’t used to hearing the word “no.” The fact that he clearly knew my name, where my mother lived, and what I could do — the three things I’d been almost obsessive about keeping secret. He was saying he would never use those things against me. I’d have to be a moron to actually believe that.
“I can do things, too,” he said, and I glanced over at him. “Not like you. My powers are mostly the kind nobody would notice.”
“What can you do?” I asked.
He shrugged. “You use a jammer or passcode decoder to get into houses, right?”
I didn’t answer.
“You broke into my house. I figured out how you did it. Anyway, I don’t need to do stuff like that. I just kind of…” he held his hands out, as if waiting for the right words to come. “I just kind of see how stuff like that works and communicate with it. I don’t get how it works. But pass codes, frequencies, computer code, electricity… it’s almost like a living thing, and I can interrupt it. I can see it, feel it. Or something.” He paused. “So I can be subtle. Or, I can make a point.” My mind went to news reports, stories about electrical fires, cars going haywire. It felt like a chill came up on me, out of nowhere.
“Well. That’s handy,” I said.
“It is. But sometimes, you need a little more muscle. And an easy getaway,” he said, still watching me. “Imagine what we could do together, Jolene. We’d own this city. As much damage as we’ve done individually, can you even imagine how much we could get if we worked together? We could have anything we wanted. Fifty-fifty. We share everything. We have each other’s backs.”
That last part made my stomach give a funny little twist. The idea of anyone other than Mama and maybe Luther having my back was an alien one.
“And what if I don’t want to?”
“What do you mean?”
“If I don’t agree to work with you? What then? You go to the police about me? You harass my mother? What?”
He glanced back toward the trailer park. “No.”
“No, what?”
“No. I wouldn’t do any of that. You say no, then that’s it. I walk away wishing I’d done a better job of convincing you. I’d never do any of that.”
“Why not?”
“Because there’s no benefit in it to me. All of it would end up pissing you off, and then you’d never work with me. Plus what does your mother have to do with it? What kind of jerk would bring her into it?”
“Are you for real?”
He took a breath. “I’m being honest here. I manage well enough on my own. But it could be so much better. It could be so much more, and I have plans. There are so many things I want to do, and it feels like nothing is happening fast enough. And that day I caught you in my house; it was like the answer was there, staring me right in the face. If it had been anyone else standing there, I would have ended them.”
“You could have tried,” I said, meeting his eyes.
“I might have succeeded.”
“Not likely.”
He smiled. “It’s a business proposition. I mean, there are enough rich bastards to go around, right? But it would be a lot easier on both of us to team up. Less… lonely, maybe.” He shrugged again.
“Aren’t you one of those rich bastards?” I asked.
He grinned then. “Only thanks to the generosity of all the rich bastards I’ve encountered over the years, including my father,” he said with a smirk. “I still want more.”
Damn it. He was saying all the right things. And he had Luther’s trust. He was appealing to my own desire to do more, though I had the feeling his “more” was a bit different from mine. It was probably stupid. He was probably planning on double-crossing me or something for all I knew, but I had to admit that he had a point. He was the first person I’d ever met who was like me. As in, a thief and a powered person. I could see the same feral, hungry look in his eyes that I saw every time I looked in the mirror.
But there was more. The sense that he wasn’t used to hearing the word “no.” The fact that he clearly knew my name, where my mother lived, and what I could do — the three things I’d been almost obsessive about keeping secret. He was saying he would never use those things against me. I’d have to be a moron to actually believe that.
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