really had some questions for this guy. Maximus must have given him electro-shock therapy or really strong drugs. I didn't understand how his vocabulary could be so good with such obvious brain damage, though. I motioned him to follow me, walking around the outside edge of the room. My night-vision kicked on and off as I looked around the half-lit room.
Katie came in and hit something on the wall. The lights in my section flicked on.
"What are you doing?" she said. "It's almost time."
I came to an abrupt halt as the flickering light revealed a heap of arms, legs, hands, and heads. A sick feeling came over me. Good god, it was a pile of bodies!
Maximus, you sick bastard.
I spun to warn my former roommate. Shock froze me in place. I fumbled at the sword, but the girls had strapped it on at such an awkward angle, I couldn't get it out of the scabbard on my back in time.
"What is wrong?" asked the man I'd just rescued.
Except he wasn't a man at all. He was a golem. A gray man.
Chapter 18
Elyssa
A klaxon wailed in the Templar compound.
"Crap, crap, crap!" Elyssa said as she and the others left the officers' quarters. "Why are they sounding the assembly?"
Fausta shook her head. "No idea. But maybe it's a good thing. We need to warn Christian."
And I need to tell Underborn about our discovery, Elyssa thought. But would it do any good to tell him every Templar was a potential spy?
"Is Healer Delgado stationed on this base?" Bella asked Fausta.
The Italian woman nodded. "Yes. Why?"
"I want to consult her patient file on Lieutenant Martinez. Perhaps something in there will shed light on matters."
"Why don't you ask her yourself?"
Bella shrugged. "It would probably be faster if we continued our criminal activities."
Fausta looked toward the brightly lit assembly area, a large paved area as big as a football field. "I'm going to warn Christian first. Maybe he'll check into it himself."
Elyssa wasn't all that sure how Christian would react upon hearing their report. What if he didn't believe them? What if he had them arrested? They had to convince him. Find evidence to support their claim. "I'm going with Bella."
"Me too," said Adam, face grim.
"I can't go tell Christian one of his lieutenants is a mole all by myself," Fausta grumbled. "I'll look like an idiot."
"I'll go with Fausta," Meghan said. "I'm a healer, after all. Perhaps I can run a diagnostic on Gigi and find out how vulnerable we are to Daelissa." Her lips tightened. "I did not join the Templars to be used for evil."
The two groups set off in opposite directions. Healer Delgado's office was located just outside the center of the compound next to the armory. The building was dark, but Bella detected no wards guarding the door. Elyssa looked around the deserted area, assuming everyone had responded to the assembly signal.
Bella unlocked the door within a few seconds. They filed inside and looked through the building until Elyssa found the door with Delgado's name on it. The room was devoid of filing cabinets or any paperwork for that matter. A quick search revealed a complete lack of such mundane things.
Adam found a slim tablet on the Healer's desk and turned it on. An orange logo appeared, but a flick of his finger to peel it met with an error.
Warning: This device is property of Healer Delgado and cannot be accessed without her permission. Any further attempts to access this device will be met with unpleasant countermeasures.
Elyssa cursed.
Bella looked the device over and gave a helpless shake of her head. "I'm not so good with these fancy gadgets."
"Just happens to be my specialty," Adam said, pushing thick glasses up his generous nose. He pulled out an arcphone and held it next to the tablet. "It uses a face print," he said after a moment. He looked around the desk and found a picture frame lying flat on the surface. He touched the edge and a holographic image, presumably of Healer Delgado and her family, flickered on above the frame. Adam smiled. "Perfect."
He activated a spell on his arcphone. A pale light wrapped around the three-dimensional holograph of Delgado's head, taking in her auburn hair, brown eyes, and fair skin. He stared at his phone for a moment, and grunted. Elyssa forced herself to remain patient, though she couldn't help stalking back and forth while he worked. After that failed to keep her anxiety at bay, she pulled out Gigi's journal and