"You'll get a position," she amended, spinning the story she knew he wanted to hear. She was winging it, but she had no choice. "Hunter wants people loyal to him in the new order. And if you can prove you're valuable, he'll want you. But first you have to prove it. Okay? Deal?"
"If I can trust you."
"We can trust each other because we have to. We both want the same thing. If we do what Hunter wants, we both win."
"So we cooperate-for the time being."
"We cooperate-and we see what happens," Jez said evenly.
They stared at each other from opposite sides of the room. It was as if the blood sharing had never happened. They were back to their old roles- maybe a little more hostile, but the same old Jez and Morgead, enjoying being adversaries.
Maybe it'll be easy from now on, Jez thought. As long as Hunter doesn't show up to blow my story.
Then she grinned inwardly. It would never happen. Hunter Redfern hadn't visited the West Coast for fifty years.
"Business," she said crisply, out loud. "Where's the Wild Power, Morgead?"
"Ill show you." He walked over to the futon and sat down.
Jez stayed where she was. "You'll show me what?"
"Show you the Wild Power." There was a TV with a VCR at the foot of the bed, sitting on the bare floor. Morgead was putting a tape in.
Jez settled on the far end of the futon, glad for the chance to sit.
"You've got the Wild Power on tape?"
He threw her an icy glance over his shoulder. "Yeah, on America's Funniest Home Videos. Just shut up, Jez, and watch."
Jez narrowed her eyes and watched.
What she was looking at was a TV movie about a doomsday asteroid. A movie she'd seen-it had been awful. Suddenly the action was interrupted by the logo of a local news station. A blond anchorwoman came on screen.
"Breaking news in San Francisco this hour. We have live pictures from the Marina district where a five-alarm fire is raging through a government housing project. We go now to Linda Chin, who's on the scene."
The scene switched to a dark-haired reporter.
"Regina, I'm here at Taylor Street, where firefighters are trying to prevent this spectacular blaze from spreading-"
Jez looked from the TV to Morgead. "What's this got to do with the Wild Power? I saw it live. It happened a couple weeks ago. I was watching that stupid movie-"
She broke off, shocked at herself. She'd actually been about to say "I was watching that stupid movie with Claire and Aunt Nan." Just like that, to blurt out the names of the humans she lived with. She clenched her teeth, furious.
She'd already let Morgead know one thing: that a couple of weeks ago she'd been in this area, where a local news station could break in.
What was wrong with her?
Morgead tilted a sardonic glance at her, just to show her that he hadn't missed her slip. But all he said was "Keep watching. You'll see what it's got to do with the Wild Power."
On screen the flames were brilliant orange, dazzling against the background of darkness. So bright that if Jez hadn't known that area of the Marina district well, she wouldn't have been able to tell much about it.
In front of the building firefighters in yellow were carrying hoses. Smoke flooded out suddenly as one of the hoses sprayed a straight line of water into the flames.
"Their greatest fear is that there may be a little girl still inside this complex-"
Yes. That was what Jez remembered about this fire. There had been a kid....
"Look here," Morgead said, pointing.
The camera was zooming in on something, bringing the flames in close. A window in the pinky-brown concrete of the building. High up, on the third floor. Flames were pouring up from the walkway below it, making the whole area look too dangerous to approach.
The reporter was still talking, but Jez had tuned her out. She leaned closer, eyes fixed on that window.
Like all the other windows, it was half covered with a wrought-iron screen in a diamond pattern. Unlike the others, it had something else: On the sill there were a couple of plastic buckets with dirt and scraggly plants. A window box.
And a face looking out between the plants.
A child's face.
"There," Morgead said.
The reporter was speaking. "Regina, the firefighters say there is definitely someone on the third floor of this building. They are looking for a way to approach the person-the little girl-"
High-powered searchlights had been turned on the flames. That was the only reason the girl was visible at all. Even so, Jez couldn't distinguish any features. The girl was a small blurry blob.
Firefighters were trying to maneuver some kind of ladder toward the building. People were running, appearing and disappearing in the swirling smoke. The scene was eerie, otherworldly.
Jez remembered this, remembered listening to the barely suppressed horror in the reporter's voice, remembered Claire beside her hissing in a sharp breath.
"It's a kid," Claire had said, grabbing Jez's arm and digging her nails in, momentarily forgetting how much she disliked Jez. "Oh, God, a kid."
And I said something like, "It'll be okay," Jez remembered. But I knew it wouldn't be. There was too much fire. There wasn't a chance....
The reporter was saying, "The entire building is involved...." And the camera was going in for a close-up again, and Jez remembered realizing that they were actually going to show this girl burning alive on TV.
The plastic buckets were melting. The firemen were trying to do something with the ladder. And then there was a sudden huge burst of orange, an explosion, as the flames below the window poofed and began pouring themselves upward with frantic energy. They were so bright they seemed to suck all the light out of their surroundings.
They engulfed the girl's window.
The reporter's voice broke.
Jez remembered Claire gasping, "No..." and her nails drawing blood. She remembered wanting to shut her own eyes.
And then, suddenly, the TV screen flickered and a huge wall of smoke billowed out from the building.
Black smoke, then gray, then a light gray that looked almost white. Everything was lost in the smoke.
When it finally cleared a little, the reporter was staring up at the building in open amazement, forgetting to turn toward the camera.
"This is astonishing.... Regina, this is a complete turnaround.... The firefighters have-either the water has suddenly taken effect or something else has caused the fire to die.... I've never seen anything like this...."