Thin Air

The woman shrugged. “That’s what they say. Doesn’t look too likely to me; just look at her. Not exactly Qui

“Looks can be deceptive,” Eamon said, and lowered the glasses. “You’re sure Qui

“As sure as I can be,” the woman said. “Cops found his SUV blown all to hell out in the middle of nowhere, no sign of Qui

“Anything good?” Eamon asked, and looked through the field glasses again. Not-me looked polished and glossy, ta

“A package from our friend Mr. Velez. Nothing too unusual this time. I was thinking of moving it through the East Coast cha

“No, Cynthia, that’s fine. You do as you think best.” Eamon stretched, sighed, and put the glasses down. “She’s one of them, though. You’re certain.”

“She’s one of them,” the unknown Cynthia said. “I’d stake my life on it.”

Eamon started the car. “You are staking your life on it, love.”

Joa

Blood would tell.

Blur.

Eamon with my sister. Eamon gaining my trust and betraying it in the most shocking way. I couldn’t possibly have hated anyone more after I saw what he was up to, but the betrayals just kept on coming.

Mine, as well as his.

Eamon trading me Sarah for what he supposed was a Dji

Eamon ru

Eamon coming back to me afterward, threatening Sarah again, but realizing that he’d lost his leverage. Not giving up, though. He was nothing if not persistent.

Imara was in the memories, too. Helping me. Guarding me. Terrified for me, as Eamon calculated how far he could push me-and her-to get what he wanted.

And David. That memory was crystal clear in Eamon’s mind. David had come out of nowhere, nowhere, picked up a fallen knife, and-The second you disappoint me, little man, the instant I think that you’re mocking me or even thinking about harm to my family, that ends. I watch you bleed your life away in less than a dozen heartbeats.

We’d left him, the three of us-mother, father, child. We’d been a family once. And David had loved us both with such intensity that it burned through to even a self-absorbed predator like Eamon.

Eamon respected him. And he liked me-in the same way he’d once liked Thomas Orenthal Qui

That turned my stomach.

What was worse, far worse, was that even as sick and horrifying as Eamon was, as far from human as I thought he was, when I looked at him with that dizzying rush of power, when his body dissolved into multilayered lights and networks of flowing energy, he was beautiful. Unique and beautiful and impossible not to somehow love for his damage and his brilliance and his fierce, unflinching intelligence…

I couldn’t help but go back for more. So many memories, every color, every flavor filling my empty spaces. His memories weren’t like Marion’s; hers had been astringent, like dry white wine. Eamon’s were red, bloodred, thick and salty and choking in their intensity. Horrors and wonders. Things that even in that state I tried not to see.

Ve

“Oh,” Ve

When Ve

I found myself sitting limply in the sand, tinted with flashing red and blue lights. Shaking.

“Jo?” It was Sarah, looking so much older and harder than in the memories. He’d had her for only a few months, right? And already she was destroying herself. “Eamon passed out. I think he’s sick, but he’s breathing, would you please-”

I reached out to her and grabbed hold and hugged her. Hard. I dragged her down to a kneeling position. “I had a daughter,” I said. My voice didn’t sound at all right. “I had a daughter and she’s gone, Sarah, she’s gone…” More than anything else in Eamon’s memories, seeing Imara had hurt me. A sound welled up out of me, a helpless tearing sound, and I couldn’t stop shaking. Sarah held on somehow. My sister. Selfish, shallow, willfully deluded…but deep inside, still my sister.

“Oh, Jo,” she said, and kissed my hair. “I’m sorry. You mean Imara? Something happened to Imara?”

“Something…” I didn’t even know the details. I hoped I wouldn’t. “She’s gone.”

Sarah hugged me again, harder. “I’m so sorry. She wasn’t…well, she wasn’t human, but she was sweet. Like the best parts of you. She…she tried to keep me safe, like you told her, but I wasn’t…I didn’t want to be safe. I sent her away.” I felt her hitch a damp, unsteady breath. “Oh, God. Was it because I did that? Did she get hurt because of that?”

“I…don’t know,” I said slowly. God. That couldn’t be true, could it? That somehow my own sister had been a part of…No. I couldn’t think that way.

“Sarah,” I said, and pulled back to stare into her eyes. “You need to listen to me. Just this once. Promise?”

She nodded. I took in a deep breath.

“Eamon will hurt you,” I said. “He’s toxic. Maybe he doesn’t mean to hurt you, I don’t know, but he won’t be able to help it. It’s what he does. He can’t do anything else. You need to walk away from him, and stay away. Get clean. Find out who you are without him or me or anyone else.”

She tried to pull away, but I held her where she was. “Sarah,” I said. “I’m not kidding. You have to leave.”

Her eyes filled up with tears. “I know,” she said. “I know all that’s true. But I love him.”

“He used you to get me to do this,” I said, and nodded at the wrecked building. “Nobody got hurt this time. What happens next time? What happens when he has cash sunk into some hotel or resort or something, and he wants a nice big tsunami to wash it away? How many people do you think he’ll kill who stand between him and a payday? You say you love him, Sarah, but do you love him that much?”

The tears spilled over.

“I want you to go,” I said. “Get in the car and go. It doesn’t matter where, just away, and don’t call him. Don’t contact him. Do you have any money?”

She nodded numbly. There were more tears where the first ones came from. “There’s a suitcase in the trunk,” she said. “It has cash in it. He doesn’t think I know about it.”

I’d expected that. Eamon wouldn’t go anywhere without an emergency flight kit. He was too good a criminal. “Are there drugs in it?” She didn’t answer, which was as good as a yes. “Sarah, I want you to promise me that you’ll stop. Take the drugs and pills and flush them. Will you?” I played the only card I had, the guilt card. “For Imara, if you won’t do it for yourself?”

She just stared at me, face gone blank and lifeless with fear and uncertainty. And then she said, “He’ll come after me. Jo, I can’t say no to him. I just can’t.”