Storm Called

by Susan Copperfield

  “My phone is tracked by the RPS, and they’ll see it go offline. We run software that is constantly in communication with headquarters. They’ll figure out my car went off the bridge looking at the tracking data.” Geoff twisted around and pointed across the bridge, where a line of trees reached the lake’s shores. “There should be plenty of cover there. Right now, unless they come over the side of the bridge or go to the end, we’re safe enough. My first job is to get you to the safest location possible. The cover of the trees is ideal, but we might have to hide among the bridge supports until the RPS responds to my phone going offline.”

  My back hurt just thinking about trying to reach the shore. “Odds that truck stayed around?”

  “Unless he damaged his engine getting us over the bridge, nil. He probably has false tags. Like most of the traffic along this stretch of road, that truck had been following us for at least thirty minutes, so he was likely waiting for a good opportunity to ram us. If it was planned, they might be invested enough to try to make sure you’re eliminated.”

  On the far shore, a figure stepped towards the water. Geoff pulled me away from line of sight, his eyes narrowing.

  “Let me guess. He’s not a friend.”

  “Considering I’m the only RPS agent in the area and he’s armed, no.”

  I peeked.

  The figure, a man in a suit similar to Geoff’s, stepped onto the surface of the water.

  “Waveweaver?”

  “Airweaver. He’s creating a cushion of air between his feet and the water. My guess is German RPS; they’ve got a semi-powerful airweaver on their team.”

  “German RPS? There’s German RPS here?”

  “One of the contenders for Her Royal Highness, and much like the Virginia royals, the younger princes are known for being short tempered and lacking in common sense.”

  “That’s going to create a bit of an incident, especially with the Germans trying to open negotiations for expanded trade.”

  Geoff glanced at me before giving the man strolling across the water his full attention. “I see you’ve been doing your homework.”

  “I might read up on international news, especially regarding Texas, in my spare time.”

  “Stay out of line of sight. Your rank would make your death… forgivable… at the moment. Mine would cause Germany a great deal of trouble. And once you’re confirmed as Her Royal Highness’s bonded partner, your death will hurt their interests even more.”

  Once I obeyed, keeping the pillar between me and the man walking on water, Geoff said something in German, and according to his tone, he had full plans of indulging in a great deal of violence.

  The answering reply didn’t bode well, his tone as brisk and displeased as Geoff’s.

  “It looks like he’d rather take living hostages today than go straight for the kill. That’s something.”

  “You got that from that short conversation?”

  “I asked him what his plans were, and I identified him by name. He told me that he would like to talk to us—plural. He said he figured just a flip off the bridge wouldn’t kill either one of us.”

  “How accurate is that?”

  “That could have easily been lethal had the car flipped upon hitting the water. They often do—or they roll while sinking. We got lucky.”

  “Great.”

  Geoff chuckled and shot something back to the rival RPS agent in German, and it was a long enough speech I was impressed with his fluency. He was answered with silence.

  “Dare I ask what you told him?”

  “I asked how he’d best like to be cooked, as an airweaver has no hope in hell of taking on a lightningweaver, and if he tried to touch you, given the bond of Her Royal Highness, I’d be delivering him in one of four states of charred. I even gave him the option of quietly going home and suggesting, rather strongly, that the German delegation should return home and send someone with more dignity over to discuss important state matters, as I doubt their negotiations will favor them once Her Royal Highness found out what they’re up to. He’s thinking about it.”

  “How long are you going to let him think about it?”

  “Until it looks like you’re about to start suffering from hypothermia. I also neglected to inform him of the other option.”

  “Other option?”

  “Taking him hostage. But I doubt he’ll give me that opportunity. It tends to be do or die in our field, and they didn’t research me very well, obviously.”

  “Obviously?”

  “Had they, they would’ve made sure I was dead before the car hit the water. I’m still new to the RPS, however. Their files on our operations must not be very comprehensive. I did give him a fair chance.”

  The German finally replied, and Geoff sighed.

  “I take it he rejected your offer?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The finality in Geoff’s tone warned me things were about to take a lethal turn.

  Any other day, I might’ve cared a little more about that. “Do what you need to do, Geoff. All’s fair in love and war, as they say.”

  “Right you are, sir. If you can get a foot hold, I recommend you cover your ears and close your eyes. Things are about to get very bright and noisy.”

  To my relief, it was possible for me to find a place to stand on the bridge’s support pillar. I did as he asked, turning my head to face away from the German RPS agent.

  Through my closed eyes, a brief flash of light made my eyes hurt, and covering my ears didn’t help much with the thunderous crack that shook the bridge. A shock passed through the water, and I yelped. Geoff caught my arm to keep me balanced.

  “Stay, and keep your head down,” Geoff ordered.

  “I’m starting to think that Jessica should’ve opted to marry someone in the RPS. You’re obviously capable of taking care of yourself just fine.”

  Geoff snorted. “If taking care of one’s self was a requirement for being a monarch’s partner, you would be right, but I think you’ll find that’s the last thing she needs.”

  “She’d do what you just did, wouldn’t she?”

  “She has been training with the RPS since her talent woke. She’s almost as good at this as I am. In some ways, she’s better.”

  “How so?”

  “She can boil your blood in your veins if you’d like—and she picks where your blood boils. I just kill people.”

  Second only to Jessica seriously proposing I become her husband, I’d never heard anything so terrifying in my life. “I’ll keep that in mind. Also, please never leave her detail.”

  Geoff chuckled. “I’ll keep that in mind, sir. Let’s get you through this alive first, then we’ll worry about the rest.”

  “Classes on how to be less useless would be nice, if you don’t mind.”

  “I think arrangements can be made.” Geoff slid out from behind the pillar and swam for where we’d last seen the German RPS agent. He dove beneath the water, and when he surfaced, he hauled the man’s body with him.

  Judging from the man’s open eyes and slack expression, he hadn’t survived Geoff’s display of magic.

  Geoff hauled the body onto the bridge support and searched his pockets. “We try to keep things civil, even if it means hauling a body out of the water so he can be sent back to his kingdom. Or at least notify their RPS that they lost an agent for attacking the interests of another kingdom.”

  “This is going to be a mess, isn’t it?”

  “If you had any plans for the rest of this week, I recommend you cancel them. Once Her Royal Highness hears about this, I expect she’s going to leash you to her. Possibly literally.”

  “If Germany’s RPS team is out to get me, will that even help?”

  “Let’s just say Germany’s delegation will regret its involvement in this incident. Attacking someone bonded to an heir counts as an act of attempted regicide, and that classification doesn’t need the congress’s approval.”

  “Is Germany’s prince an underaged brat, too?�
��

  “Do you count eighteen as underaged?”

  “For purposes of marrying Jessica, yes.”

  Geoff snorted and resumed checking the RPS agent’s pockets, and when he found the man’s phone, he checked the device. Somehow, it had survived. “Ah. Excellent. Let’s see how deep this rabbit hole goes, shall we?”

  Like most phones, the locked screen featured an emergency button, which Geoff pressed before holding it to its ear. Then, with a smug smile in place, he spoke in German. The one-sided conversation lasted long enough I was ready to try my luck swimming towards shore before he hung up.

  “You had a lot to say.”

  “I notified the German RPS that their agent had committed an act of attempted regicide, and I recommended they quietly leave the kingdom before Her Royal Highness and the Royal family discovered their treachery. They’ve likely forgotten this, but all emergency calls registered through a kingdom’s system are recorded, so the Texas RPS now has a recording of my statement, although it’ll take them some time to get a translator in.”

  “Frankly, I’m impressed you speak German.”

  “I speak French and Spanish as well. I only know a smattering of Cantonese and Mandarin, but they’re something I’m learning. It’s useful for RPS agents to speak other languages.”

  “Do you tutor? I think I’m going to need a lot of tutoring.”

  “Arrangements can be made, especially until you have your own official detail.”

  “Good. What now?”

  “We leave, get into the trees, and play with the German RPS until Texas gets that emergency message translated and sends backup. Her Royal Highness’s detail will be called; I know everyone on the team, so we won’t run into a problem of not being able to identify friend or foe. While other details may augment Her Royal Highness’s detail, they’ll make first contact. They already know I’ve been forced to use lethal force, so they’ll treat it as a high-risk situation.”

  “How will we get to shore?”

  “Very carefully.”

  Geoff dragged my useless ass to shore, one part due to my inability to swim well and one part due to my back, which had gone from bad to worse. What hadn’t already been damaged had been finished off in the car accident. The underbrush skirting the bridge and the river shielded us from curious onlookers, who focused on where the vehicle had entered the water. Some air still bubbled up from the site, marking where Geoff’s car rested on the bottom of the river.

  “More magic?”

  “That airweaver had a minor illumination talent, just enough to convince people they should look somewhere else. Had I given him enough time, he might’ve tricked you into believing he was a friend rather than an enemy. A part of why I didn’t give him a chance to act. He should’ve known better. But, it’s a part of RPS training; we try not to kill each other unless absolutely mandatory—or our principal has been threatened.”

  “And you perceived a threat.”

  “Exactly. And considering your back was injured during the crash, I won’t be taking any chances with you.”

  “I want to argue with you, but I really can’t.”

  “You could barely tread water. I’m expecting I’ll be carrying you by the time we’re done here.”

  Walking went better than I expected, but every step hurt, and I slowed us down. Once in the forest, Geoff taught me how to slink between trees, which involved constantly stopping and watching for any movement in the trees before moving on. In the small pack of tools Geoff had taken from the car, he had a compass, which he used to determine which direction we needed to go. I assumed the rest of the tools were useful, although I had no idea what anything was beyond the compass and the pocket knife.

  Once he had me thoroughly lost, Geoff pointed at a gully cutting through the forest, which offered a lot of cover. “You can thank me later, but we won’t be going down there.”

  “I’m going to thank you now, actually. Thank you.”

  “This is a landmark, and only Texans typically know of it. This fills during flooding, and it channels water to the river from the lake when the lake floods. It’s one of our common rendezvous points. After Her Royal Highness’s storm, beneath the brush and overhand, there’s water down there, which would make it a dangerous hiding spot at best.”

  I couldn’t see or hear the water. “Seems calm down there.”

  “It is; while the rainfall was heavy, it receded pretty quickly and didn’t cause much damage. It turned out to be a good respite from potential drought conditions now that the rains have stopped. There’s a better spot to view the water that way. It’s as good a place as any to wait.”

  “You’re the boss. I’m just the dead weight, with an emphasis on not actually dead. Thank you for preventing a serious case of dead.”

  “You’re doing just fine. Most people would have panicked in the car. I was prepared to knock you out and revive once we reached the surface, but you followed orders to the letter. That puts you ahead of most principals who are learning how to cope with RPS agents in emergency situations.”

  “Please never use the words ‘knock you out’ and ‘revive once we reached the surface’ again when it comes to me being underwater,” I replied in a strained voice. “Please.”

  Geoff chuckled. “I’ll try to avoid that. We try to avoid underwater situations as often as possible. Had I had any choice in the matter, I would’ve just struck the truck with lightning before he’d gotten a chance to hit us in the first place, but he set up that crash very well.”

  “Driving behind us like he was going with the flow of traffic until we reached a bridge?”

  “Exactly. He drove like he wasn’t a threat, and so I disregarded him when I should’ve been paying more attention. My mistake—and almost a very costly mistake.”

  “I think it’s safe to say he’s the one who made the costliest mistake.”

  Geoff led me to a stretch of forest with thick underbrush, and as promised, I could see the water flowing through the gully. He pointed at nearby a log. “Sit on the ground and rest your back on the log. Should there be any incidents, make yourself as small of a target as possible; you’re not going to be able to keep mobile enough to evade anyone, so that’s your best bet.”

  Sitting hurt, and my breath hissed through my clenched teeth. “I don’t know what I did to my back, but I’m very sorry.”

  “With the number of times you fell off your black? Could be one of a hundred things. But in the car accident? The car hit the water with a lot of force. My back aches, and I didn’t have any issues going into the water. We’re both going to be run through the wringer at the RPS center, but you’re going to be the one they’ll focus on. I’ll probably emerge with a few strained muscles and whiplash.”

  “What’s the good news?”

  “You didn’t break your back.”

  “I’m just going to stop complaining now.”

  Geoff chuckled and sat on the log while keeping an eye on the forest. “You should hear most learning the ropes with the RPS for the first time. Mostly, they just complain, and when a real incident happens, they’re too shocked to do anything anyway. You’re ahead of the curve. You did as told when told.”

  “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

  “It usually is.”

  “What’s the probability the German RPS will try to finish the job?”

  “I couldn’t tell you that; it’s entirely possible that the agent I killed was a plant. Many RPS teams supplement with locals who speak the language; they usually keep a list of individuals in each kingdom with clean records and appropriate training to add to the security team. Texas doesn’t do that as it’s too much of a security risk, although Texas does employ translators from abroad when someone from the RPS doesn’t speak the right language.”

  “At what point do I get to make suggestions for the RPS to consider?”

  “Go ahead and make all the suggestions you want.”

  “Hire more people who speak the right la
nguages.”

  Geoff laughed. “I’ll make certain my superiors are aware of your opinion.”

  “Now we just sit here and wait?”

  “Exactly. Once the Texas RPS figures out what happened, they’ll send agents from her Royal Highness’s detail to here, which is a rendezvous point for the lake. The rendezvous point is rotated to try to keep it secure. If all goes well, you’ll be headed to the RPS clinic within an hour, under heavy guard.”

  “And Jessica is going to be angry.”

  Geoff glanced up at the sky. “I think she already is.”

  I stared up through the trees to discover the innocent white clouds had turned a great deal darker since we’d been in the river. “Think the farmers are going to still be happy with her after this blow?”

  “It’ll be a light shower at worst. She used most of her power during her flare. They’ll like her just fine. The RPS teams, however, won’t be too happy having to conduct a mission in the rain.”

  “I’ll call us even. I took a swim today, and I can’t even tread water that well.”

  “Sounds like a plan to me. Just keep yourself together until we’re at the clinic. At that point, you’ll be so drugged on painkillers you won’t know which end is up to make sure Her Royal Highness doesn’t try to blow Texas down.”

  “Someone needs to tell her she shouldn’t flip out just because I got into trouble again.”

  “I wish you the best of luck with that one, sir.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  A light rain started within twenty minutes, according to Geoff’s watch, which somehow still worked. An hour after hauling me out of the river, the Texas RPS showed up, and they weren’t alone. Someone needed to tell Jessica princesses probably shouldn’t participate in the rescue missions, although I would have to recruit someone else to do the scolding.

  I considered hiding under the log, but I determined it would take far too much effort.

  “Where is he, Geoff?” Jessica demanded.

  “I’m hiding and it hurts too much to lift my arm to wave at you.”

  Jessica scrambled over the log and peered down at me. “You’re soaked.”