Chapter Three

Hubert Quinn - Chicago

Quinn crossed the threshold into the apartment, his eyes drawn to the soft purple glow that cast shadows behind the flatscreen TV. The monitor was on a stand, towering above the cozy gray armchair with extended legs. Behind the chair, the bustling Chicago skyline provided the perfect backdrop for the cameras.

Jade stopped next to Quinn so that they were almost shoulder-to-shoulder. “She doesn’t live here, just comes here to film.”

Quinn smiled. “I know. And she’s due for a stream in two hours.”

“What do we do until then?” Jade asked.

With his arms folded behind his back, Quinn paced around the room. “Thanks for meeting me here on such short notice. And now, I ask that you don’t leave my side from this moment on unless I ask you to.”

Jade’s eyes followed him. “It’s not like I have anything else to do. After that video went viral, they canceled all of my speaking engagements.” She snapped her fingers. “Just like that, they deemed me too problematic to inspire young girls.”

Quinn’s mouth ticked. “COG is already spinning the narrative. They will say that the Red Hounds were on a murderous rampage and that we had to seize the base from them to assist our allies in Oshela.”

Jade nodded. “Good spin. The public isn’t used to seeing us engage in violence, though. That damage is already done.”

“Do you know I told Zip to erase that footage? Keeping it meant that he had his doubts about us. He wanted collateral.”

“But why?” Jade asked. “We were some of the most well-known faces of the immortals. I thought we were in this together, no matter what.”

Quinn walked over to another corner of the room, where a green screen covered an entire wall. “They refer to me as the smartest man in the world,” Quinn said. “The immortal with the enhanced brain. But even I can’t uncover the darkness festering in another man’s mind.”

Quinn turned to the professional grade cam recorder facing the green screen. It was an industry-standard camera, the type you would see at the studio of a commercial network. He turned on the camera and thumbed through its contents.

“Even if Zip was keeping backups on us, it doesn’t change the fact that he was one of us. And now he’s gone. Taken out by a human.” Jade kissed her teeth and shook her head. “His murder gives the green light to all of our non-believers. Now they’ll think we’re not so mighty. COG better help us fix this.”

After seeing the dates on the camera’s footage, Quinn turned the camera off and removed the storage disk from the camera. He walked over to Jade and handed it to her. “Slip this into your bag for me,” he smiled. She obliged. He gazed at her, admiring her winged eye shadow. Her hair was tied back into a bun with two thick strands of hair curtaining each side of her face. “COG moves too slow,” he said in response. “We’ll fish out the killer ourselves.”

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“Hence why we’re here,” Jade said. “You’re always the man with the plan.”

“What’s the status of the others?” Quinn asked. “You said they’re already flying back to the States, but how long?”

Jade looked him in the eyes and read his anxiety. Hubert Quinn was a man who had to have everything under control. And if he didn’t, everyone would suffer. She would have to get used to him bossing her around until this ordeal was over. “Amina will land in five hours. Watts is flying over from South Korea, so I believe it will take around twelve more hours since he boarded four hours ago. As for Masha, he still has no interest in banding together.”

“Yes,” Quinn said. “It will take some work to get him on board after what happened last time. Leave it to me. I’ll make it so he can’t refuse.”

The lock disengaged on the front door. Elaine Rowe had arrived at her studio.

***3.5***

Elaine Rowe paused with shock on her face at seeing two figures standing in the middle of her studio apartment. Her producer, Heath, walked into the room behind her and dropped his bags. “What the...”

“It’s them,” Elaine said. “You’re Hubert Quinn and Jade. But what are you doing here?”

Quinn scanned her with his eyes. Elaine Row looked as elegant in real life as she did on camera. Her short, tousled tresses complimented her shapely jawline and the award-winning smile that she often wore on her broadcast. The smile was missing at this moment. She dropped her duffel bag. She and Heath were still carrying around their own equipment. Elaine Rowe was self-made and proud of it.

“Are you really that surprised to see us? Hmm?” Jade responded. “You were the one to break the Internet with that leaked footage, after all.”

Heath stepped forward, getting in between Elaine Rowe and the intruding immortals. “Look, we run an unbiased media outlet here. Our focus is to keep the public in the know and not feed them propaganda. If you have a legal complaint, then we’d ask that you contact our administration team. But you can’t break into our studios when we’re due to film.”

Quinn’s lips thinned as he stared plainly at Heath. “Do you plan to do something about it?”

“Look, man, I don’t want a confrontation with you. You’re a freaking immortal. They view you as gods. I just-”

Quinn interrupted him. “I’m sorry, you specified they. Does that mean you don’t view us as gods?”

Heath chuckled. “Gods don’t get killed by activists.”

Quinn’s own laugh echoed through the apartment. A resounding strike followed those echoes, as Quinn nailed Heath in the jaw so hard that he fell. Quinn repeatedly stomped Heath’s face, slamming his head against the varnished floor.

“Stop!” Elaine screamed, grabbing Quinn by the elbow. Quinn nudged her, causing her to lose her footing. “Please stop. I’ll do whatever you want. If you want the video taken down, I’ll do it.”

Quinn settled himself, straightening his clothes. He gazed down at the bloody results of his work. He turned to face Elaine, who was sitting upwards on the floor, panic spread across her face. Quinn offered her a hand and elevated her back onto her feet. “Keep the video up. It’s all over the Internet now. Until COG gets its cyber team on it, there’s little we can do about that. But there is something you can do to make this right.”

Elaine sniffed. “What is it?”

“I need you to contact whoever sent you that video. Converse with them. Act like you’re on their side. Make them comfortable with you. Show them you’re willing to fight the good fight. And then I need you to plant a seed.” Quinn pressed his index finger against her chest. “You tell them that the NGR research facility in Phoenix has detailed information on immortal genes that will be valuable to them.”

“Did you get that?” Jade snapped in response to Elaine’s silence.

Elaine nodded. “Sure, whatever.”

Quinn pet Elaine on the shoulder and smiled. “And don’t you dare think of doing otherwise. We have ways to track you.”

“I’ll do it. Just leave us alone.”

Quinn took a burner phone from his pocket and slipped it into the side pocket of Elaine’s coat. “There’s only one contact saved. Send a message when you’ve planted the seed.” Quinn glanced over at Jade and grinned. “I’m starving. Wanna grab a bite somewhere?”

Jade sneered. The light from the city’s backdrop shined against her brown skin. “You know hunger won’t kill you, right? Can’t it wait?”

Elaine Rowe’s eyes followed the two of them all the way out of the door.