Thomsen.”
“Troy Thomsen?” Evy’s mind wrapped around the name, but couldn’t quite…
“From school,” Liz added.
“ That Troy Thomsen? Are you sure it’s the same one?”
“Well, I wasn’t at first. I had to do some digging. There wasn’t much of a paper trail. It turns out he donated the money in cash .”
“What? Are you kidding me? I mean, this would have to cost—”
Liz nodded. “Yeah. Fifty thousand.”
“Fifty grand?” Evy was pretty sure her eyes had just left her head. Cash? That was weird. What was he, a dealer donating some cash to assuage a guilty conscience? “Are you sure?”
“Yep.”
“Huh.” Troy Thomsen. It wasn’t that Evy begrudged him any good fortune. It just seemed so, well, so unlikely. Troy had graduated a year above them. She’d known him since junior high and had even had a crush on him at one point in high school. But he wasn’t any wealthier than anyone else at their school.
“Chris said he’d be down in like, ten minutes,” Derek said, startling Evy out of her thoughts.
“Oh, perfect. Thanks, Derek.” She smiled at the teen. “Let’s see if we can figure this thing out.”
“Yahtzee!”
SE didn’t realize he’d fallen asleep until X nearly scared the shit out of him. “Wait, you found it?”
“I got something,” X said. “It doesn’t make that much sense to me, but take a look.”
SE leaned toward the monitor and read the entry. aj k’o’ol (n.) One who works to defeat enemies by attacking the spirit companion.
He swallowed hard and read it again. Holy fuck! He began looking through his pockets for the little piece of paper about his conversation with Ana. He pulled out the crumpled little note and reread it. There was no doubt about it. Toltec wasn’t just after shifters’ k’ul anymore. They were after their souls. The vial he’d ganked off that shifter had to somehow be related.
And as for the aj k’o’ol? He’d bet his left nut it was Victrixa. Son of a —well, the profile certainly fit, didn’t it. She’d started out as a rebel on their side, then turned, got pregnant, trained her own daughter as a spy, gave the kid up for adoption when she was ten, and then used her to fucking infiltrate them again . Somehow it seemed so fucking perfect that the bitch gave birth to the female that was torturing his souls.
Ana materialized inside Toltec’s main headquarters, just outside the door to The Initiative’s nerve center. She took a quick look around. She was always very careful never to let anyone see her gleam. If being raised as a spy by her psychotic bitch of a mother had taught her anything, it was that you needed to keep a shitload of secrets. From all sides. And that’s exactly what she was looking for. The mother lode of secrets. If the plan was to take out a fuckload of mutants before she disappeared, then she needed to know what Mommie Dearest was up to.
She cast out her shifter senses, making sure the main hallway was empty, then gleamed to the other side of the door. Anyone else who wanted to enter had to go through a series of ID checks; everything from eye scans to fingerprint screening. Ana had no idea how her mother managed to get that one approved. She pulled her pistol from its holster and moved stealthily down the hallway. Just outside the door to Victrixa’s office, she cast out her senses again and then moved inside.
Hmm . Victrixa wasn’t big on safes or computers. No, if she has anything worth hiding, she’d be clever about it. She quickly began to sweep her mother’s desk, checking the drawers and tapping around for hollow spots. She was rewarded so quickly that for a minute, she thought her mother was losing her touch. She was feeling under the center drawer when she realized it had a false bottom. She popped it and pulled out a file.
The minute Ana opened it, her faith in her mother’s devious ways was instantly restored. Everything in the folder was written in Yucatec Mayan. Now wasn’t
“Troy Thomsen?” Evy’s mind wrapped around the name, but couldn’t quite…
“From school,” Liz added.
“ That Troy Thomsen? Are you sure it’s the same one?”
“Well, I wasn’t at first. I had to do some digging. There wasn’t much of a paper trail. It turns out he donated the money in cash .”
“What? Are you kidding me? I mean, this would have to cost—”
Liz nodded. “Yeah. Fifty thousand.”
“Fifty grand?” Evy was pretty sure her eyes had just left her head. Cash? That was weird. What was he, a dealer donating some cash to assuage a guilty conscience? “Are you sure?”
“Yep.”
“Huh.” Troy Thomsen. It wasn’t that Evy begrudged him any good fortune. It just seemed so, well, so unlikely. Troy had graduated a year above them. She’d known him since junior high and had even had a crush on him at one point in high school. But he wasn’t any wealthier than anyone else at their school.
“Chris said he’d be down in like, ten minutes,” Derek said, startling Evy out of her thoughts.
“Oh, perfect. Thanks, Derek.” She smiled at the teen. “Let’s see if we can figure this thing out.”
“Yahtzee!”
SE didn’t realize he’d fallen asleep until X nearly scared the shit out of him. “Wait, you found it?”
“I got something,” X said. “It doesn’t make that much sense to me, but take a look.”
SE leaned toward the monitor and read the entry. aj k’o’ol (n.) One who works to defeat enemies by attacking the spirit companion.
He swallowed hard and read it again. Holy fuck! He began looking through his pockets for the little piece of paper about his conversation with Ana. He pulled out the crumpled little note and reread it. There was no doubt about it. Toltec wasn’t just after shifters’ k’ul anymore. They were after their souls. The vial he’d ganked off that shifter had to somehow be related.
And as for the aj k’o’ol? He’d bet his left nut it was Victrixa. Son of a —well, the profile certainly fit, didn’t it. She’d started out as a rebel on their side, then turned, got pregnant, trained her own daughter as a spy, gave the kid up for adoption when she was ten, and then used her to fucking infiltrate them again . Somehow it seemed so fucking perfect that the bitch gave birth to the female that was torturing his souls.
Ana materialized inside Toltec’s main headquarters, just outside the door to The Initiative’s nerve center. She took a quick look around. She was always very careful never to let anyone see her gleam. If being raised as a spy by her psychotic bitch of a mother had taught her anything, it was that you needed to keep a shitload of secrets. From all sides. And that’s exactly what she was looking for. The mother lode of secrets. If the plan was to take out a fuckload of mutants before she disappeared, then she needed to know what Mommie Dearest was up to.
She cast out her shifter senses, making sure the main hallway was empty, then gleamed to the other side of the door. Anyone else who wanted to enter had to go through a series of ID checks; everything from eye scans to fingerprint screening. Ana had no idea how her mother managed to get that one approved. She pulled her pistol from its holster and moved stealthily down the hallway. Just outside the door to Victrixa’s office, she cast out her senses again and then moved inside.
Hmm . Victrixa wasn’t big on safes or computers. No, if she has anything worth hiding, she’d be clever about it. She quickly began to sweep her mother’s desk, checking the drawers and tapping around for hollow spots. She was rewarded so quickly that for a minute, she thought her mother was losing her touch. She was feeling under the center drawer when she realized it had a false bottom. She popped it and pulled out a file.
The minute Ana opened it, her faith in her mother’s devious ways was instantly restored. Everything in the folder was written in Yucatec Mayan. Now wasn’t
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