by I. T. Lucas
“Which one?”
“I don’t remember the title, and it doesn’t matter. You are both immortal, and I’m human. It could never work with you or with Kalugal, so you’d better get it out of your heads.”
36
Jacki
Rufsur smiled. “Okay, I get it. But if Kalugal and I were not immortal, who would you have chosen?”
Jacki didn’t have to think hard. She liked Rufsur, but Kalugal was the one she craved.
“But you are immortal, and I don’t like what-ifs. They are a waste of time and mental energy.” She wiped her hands on a dishtowel. “I need to go back to Kalugal. With how much he is paying for my company, I shouldn’t make him wait.”
Pushing away from the counter, Jacki didn’t look at Rufsur as she walked out of the kitchen. Hopefully, he’d gotten the hint and would stop pestering her.
It was a pity that they couldn’t be friends, though. He was a decent guy and good company when he wasn’t trying to charm her into agreeing to a date, or whatever he hoped to achieve.
Even if she were inclined to accept, Kalugal wouldn’t have allowed it.
Rufsur was walking a tightrope with his boss. She’d noticed the glares Kalugal had been casting at him and wondered how far their friendship would stretch before it snapped.
Perhaps she should have been more forceful with her refusal. Except, she couldn’t have been clearer without crossing the line into rude and turning Rufsur into an enemy instead of an ally.
But then that was the trouble with men. As long as they thought they had a chance, they acted all nice and helpful, but the moment they got rejected, they made a complete one-eighty.
With a sigh, Jacki opened the door to the library and walked in.
Kalugal hadn’t moved from his spot next to the games table, and as he lifted his head and looked at her, the damn butterflies in her stomach took flight.
“You wanted to see me?”
“Always.” He smiled, and the butterflies went into a flapping frenzy.
Pretending that it was business as usual, Jacki pulled out a chair on the other side of the table, sat down, and waited.
“Tell me more about the program. How many people were in it, and what kind of talents they had.”
“Why do you want to know?”
“It bothers me that the government has paranormals. It’s a new threat to immortals on both sides.”
“How so?”
Kalugal crossed his legs. “As long as claims of supernatural powers were ridiculed and dismissed, we had nothing to worry about. Even if someone noticed something out of the ordinary and reported it, no one would have taken it seriously. The fact that the government is collecting paranormals means that’s no longer the case. We need to be even more careful than we’ve been up to now.”
She nodded. “You’re right. I had no problem believing you when you told me that Arwel was immortal. It was almost on the same level as if you’d told me that he was Russian. I would have been a little doubtful because he had no Russian accent, but I wouldn’t have dismissed it completely either. I don’t think that I would have been as open-minded about it if I didn’t have a paranormal ability myself and had met others who were like me.”
“That’s only one part of the problem. The other part is the kinds of talents the people in the program have. Powerful telepaths, for example, could potentially tune into the minds of immortals. Someone with the ability to remote view could potentially uncover the clan’s village or my father’s island.”
Jacki frowned. “There was one guy who could read auras, but he didn’t notice anything unusual about the immortals. Or maybe he did and just didn’t say anything.”
Kalugal leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s why it is important for me to know exactly who is in that program and what their powers are. I also need to know how the clan sprang you and Jin free. Kian and I might have to put our heads together and figure out a way to get the rest of the trainees out and then shut that program down.”
Jacki straightened in her chair. “If you could do that, it would be awesome. But Kian said it would have been too dangerous to take everyone with us because it would have triggered a massive manhunt, and he didn’t want the government breathing down his neck.”
“That’s a consideration. But first, I need to know all the facts.”
“Where do you want me to start?”
“At the beginning. How were you, Jin, and the others recruited?”
37
Kalugal
When Jacki had finished telling her story, Kalugal was even more alarmed than before.
He got up and poured himself another drink, then pulled out a can of coke and handed it to her without asking if she wanted it.
“Thank you. So what do you think?”
“I anticipated advancements in artificial intelligence that would complicate things for immortals on both sides, but I thought that we had more time. I’ve also known that the American government as well as others around the globe were collecting information, but up until now, it was a futile pursuit because it was impossible to sift through the massive amounts of data. It seems that they’ve overcome that obstacle with technology. Instead of having hordes of people analyzing the information, they have bots doing it much faster and more efficiently. I find it very troubling that they have programmed the bots to respond to trigger words mentioning paranormal abilities.”
“Don’t you have a secure satellite network like Kian and his people have?”
“I do. And I assume that my father is smart enough to have one as well. But that’s not going to help us when the information gathered will include the feed from countless surveillance cameras. With bots analyzing the feeds, it will become very difficult for us to hide who we are.”
Artificial intelligence wouldn’t be affected by his various shrouds. Traveling as Professor Gunter or any of his other personalities would become impossible without the use of elaborate disguises that included prosthetics.
Kalugal had known that it was coming, but he’d hoped to be the one in charge by then. If he were the puppet master, he could divert the information gathering and processing any way he wanted, which was precisely how he planned to take over.
Except, it seemed that he had to redouble his efforts before it was too late.
“What can you do about that, though? Infect the government's computers with a deadly virus?” Chuckling, Jacki popped the top of the coke can.
“That’s actually a brilliant idea.”
“I know.” Jacki smirked. “But there is a difference between coming up with an idea and implementing it. Who can even do that?” She eyed him from under her lashes. “Can you?”
He laughed. “Not personally. I know how to do some basic programming, but nothing at this level. I can find people who can, though.”
“Immortals?”
“Humans. I don’t know any immortal hackers.”
“Kian has one. William is a freaking genius. I bet he can do it.”
“William? I spoke with someone by that name. He said that he was in charge of communications. Is that the same guy?”
Jacki nodded. “He is really good with computers, and he has another guy he works with named Roni. I think that Roni is even better at hacking. He was the one who found you at the club.”
“Fascinating. So the rumors about the clan having advanced technology are true. I always thought that it was part of my father’s propaganda.”
“Or maybe they just have more talented people.”
“That could be. But in either case, it seems that cooperating with Kian would be beneficial to me.”
Jacki grinned. “I’m so happy to hear you say that. I feel like in a small way I’m helping to bring you two closer.”
“Not small at all.” He leaned across the table with the intention of taking her hand, remembering at the last moment that he’d promised not to touch her. “If not for you, I wouldn’t be donating to Kian’s charity, whic
h I’m sure made him regard me more favorably.”
“I think that you would get along. He is a very different person from you, but I see some things you have in common.”
“Are you basing your opinion on his actions, or have you met him in person?”
“I've met him. He came with the team that helped us escape from the program.”
She hadn’t mentioned Kian in her story, but then she hadn’t mentioned the other team members either. In fact, he had a feeling that she’d tried to reveal as little as she could about the particulars of the escape.
“I’m surprised that he joined the team going out on such a minor mission.”
Jacki smiled. “He planned on it being a ski vacation and an information-gathering trip, and he even brought his wife along. He didn’t expect to find us right away.”
“His wife?”
“You didn’t know that Kian was married?”
“I don’t know much about the clan. How did he meet her?”
Jacki shrugged. “I have no idea. It didn’t come up in conversation. Some of the other Guardians brought their wives and girlfriends as well. They really thought it would be a nice vacation.”
The more Kalugal learned, the more he wanted to find out. “I assume that the wives were immortal?”
“It would make sense. At the time, I didn’t know that they were not human. Later, Arwel told me about the fangs and the glowing eyes, but he said that immortal females didn’t have fangs or venom. Though to tell you the truth, I didn’t notice anything strange about the men or the women. They behaved like regular people, other than the paranormal abilities, that is. But since those were nothing new to me, they didn’t raise any red flags.”
Kalugal’s mind was on the wives and how they’d been found. Had they all been Dormants who transitioned? Or had the clan found unaffiliated immortals?
Jacki couldn’t answer those questions for him. To get answers, he would have to play nice with Kian. The question was, what would his cousin demand in exchange for the information?
Perhaps more contributions to his charity?
Just as having more time with Jacki, that would be money well spent.
38
Jacki
It hadn’t escaped Jacki’s notice that Kalugal had reached for her hand and then pulled back at the last moment. He really was going to refrain from touching her unless she initiated it.
Well, he could keep on waiting because she wasn’t going to do that.
She had no intention of encouraging him.
Right.
Damn. It was hard.
Until she’d met Kalugal, it hadn’t been difficult to stick to her vow to never hook up with a guy unless he loved her and was willing to commit to her. Except, none of the guys that she’d briefly dated could compare.
Kalugal was a sexy devil with sinful blue eyes, the most kissable lips, and a haughty attitude that, for some reason, made him even more irresistible.
Talk about the alpha to top all alphas.
Kalugal gave Kian a run for his money. Not that she’d been attracted to Kian. First of all, the guy was married and off-limits. And secondly, he was too much of a straight arrow, way too serious, and gruff. Jacki liked Kalugal’s charming bad-boy vibe.
Besides, she’d never been into guys with type A personality. Usually, they were obnoxious jerks who thought that the world revolved around them, were bossy, and not interested in anything that anyone other than them had to say.
Who needed that, right?
Except Kalugal listened to her attentively, he appeared to value her opinions, and he treated his men with respect. Other than the forced fake kiss from the day before, he hadn’t acted like a jerk at all.
On the contrary. He’d been the perfect gentleman.
Jacki knew he wasn’t, though. He was naughty, devious, and sensual, and if she was completely honest, she liked that side of him more than the perfectly-mannered one.
Despite her best efforts to silence the small voice in the back of her head, it kept whispering that she would love for Kalugal to initiate another kiss, and if he made sure to get her consent first, she wouldn’t even mind if he was a little forceful.
And how stupid was that?
That fantasy was not going to become a reality unless Kalugal declared his undying love for her and offered to marry her. But since those two conditions were as likely to be met as pigs growing wings and taking to the sky, she had to banish the annoying thoughts before he got a whiff of what was going on with her.
That damn sense of smell of his was a major inconvenience, and if Rufsur had been able to detect her arousal, Kalugal must have too.
It was so embarrassing, and she couldn’t even come up with a good excuse for it. They’d been discussing the threat new technology posed to immortals’ ability to remain hidden, not comparing notes on Fifty Shades.
Still, Kalugal hadn’t said anything, so maybe his sense of smell wasn’t as good as Rufsur’s?
That was doubtful given his superiority in everything else. He’d probably noticed but refrained from commenting because he was more of a gentleman than his second-in-command.
“What are you thinking about?” Kalugal asked.
Damn.
“Technology,” she blurted the first thing that popped into her head. “It’s amazing, and I love everything about it, but it’s also scary. Like what you’ve said about the surveillance cameras collecting information and bots analyzing it. It could be both positive and negative. Like it can help reduce crime because the bots could alert the police in real time, but it would also mean loss of privacy on a colossal level. Imagine a prospective employer having access to how many times you’ve cussed in the last year or whether you were rude to anyone. That would affect everyone’s behavior. People would become even faker than they are now.”
Luckily for her, Kalugal found the topic more fascinating than the scents she was likely emitting.
“You are a very smart lady, Jacki. What you are describing is already happening. Have you heard about China’s social credit system?”
“No. What’s that?”
“People accumulate positive and negative scores based on their behavior. The data are collected by various means, including what people spend their money on, how long they spend on leisure activities instead of being productive, and also their behavior. Everything gets recorded by countless surveillance cameras that are spread all over the major cities. In addition, currency and credit cards are being phased out, and the only way to pay for things is through a phone application. That way, the government knows what people are spending their money on and can also block them from purchasing certain things, like train tickets or airfare.”
“What else do they do with that information?”
“According to the score, privileges are granted or taken away. It starts with small things like the internet speed in a person’s home getting throttled, to big things like getting banned from using public transportation. It affects job prospects, the kind of schools a person’s kids may be accepted to, etc. It’s the ultimate Big-Brother-watching.”
“Scary. It gives the government complete control over its citizens.” She let out a breath. “But that can only happen in China because the population has no say in the policies and they just have to take it or else. It will never happen here, so that’s not something you should worry about.”
Kalugal smiled indulgently. “Never is a strong word, and it’s already happening here on a smaller scale. Everything you do online leaves a record and can be accessed, even things that you delete or think that you were browsing anonymously. People's homes are full of electronic gadgets that gather information on them. For now, it’s used primarily for commercial purposes, like advertising that is custom-tailored to your interests, but it can be very easily adapted for other uses.”
As Jacki contemplated what she’d just learned, Shamash knocked and then entered the library. “Atzil is asking if you want to eat your dinner here or in th
e dining room.”
“It’s dinner time already? How long have we been in here?”
Kalugal rose to his feet and offered her a hand up. “As the saying goes, time flies when you are having fun. I’m glad that you enjoyed my company.”
“I did. I hope that you enjoyed mine as well, but I wanted to prepare dinner and didn’t notice that it was getting late.”
He smiled. “I’m glad. I had the most pleasant afternoon, and I wouldn’t have given up a moment of it even for the best gourmet dinner. I’m looking forward to many more conversations with you.” He led her out of the room.
“Me too.” And she meant it. Kalugal was a pleasure to talk to. “Are we eating in the dining room?”
“Yes. I think it is time I introduced you to my men.”
39
Kian
As Kian’s phone rang, he glanced at the caller number and let it go to voicemail. It was nine o’clock in the morning, so it was probably Jacki calling from Kalugal’s number, but he didn’t want to take chances.
Kalugal had already spoken with Areana earlier in the morning, and Turner had been there for that, but he had to leave for his office in the city. The way they had solved the communication problem was Kian letting Kalugal’s calls go to voicemail and returning them only after getting Turner on the other line.
Thankfully, no one had died because the missions Turner had been working on had been delayed by a couple of days while he’d been helping manage the crises. Kian had enough on his guilty conscience without adding that to the pile.
“I’m here,” Turner answered. “You just need me in the background, right?”
“Yes. I’m returning Kalugal’s call. It’s probably Jacki reporting in as scheduled.”
“I’ll put my side on mute.”
“Thanks.”
Kian placed the call.