by I. T. Lucas
He arched a brow. “Only semi-okay?”
“Fine. I liked the kiss. But I knew that there could be nothing between us, which, by the way, hasn’t changed. There is nothing really for us to sleep on. We can’t get married.”
“Because of my immortality?”
She nodded. “Even if you eventually fall in love with me, I only have two or three decades until I get too old to still be attractive to you.”
“First of all, I’m already half in love with you. You have your reasons for holding back, and I have mine. But just so you know, I like everything about you. I love spending time with you, and when I don’t see you for more than a couple of hours, I miss you.” He rubbed his chest. “An ache starts right here, and the only way to alleviate it is to go to you.”
“Oh, Kalugal.” Her eyes softening, she lifted her hand to his cheek. “That’s so sweet, and I feel the same. But all it means is that we are setting ourselves up for a major heartache. There is no solution to the disparity in our lifespans.”
“I’ll take whatever time I can have with you. Let’s enjoy each other one day at a time while it lasts.”
It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the whole truth either. If Jacki didn’t transition, he would have to let her go to prevent precisely the heartache she was talking about.
The longer they stayed together, the more difficult the separation would be.
In fact, he was already in trouble.
Since Jacki had moved into his old office, the first thought that entered his mind upon waking up each morning was that she was right there, and it made him happier and more excited to start his day than anything in recent or distant memory.
Waking up with Jacki in his bed would be a hundred times better and losing that would be a thousand times worse.
She shifted and leaned her head against his shoulder. “I asked Jin how she’s dealing with Arwel being an immortal, and she said the same thing. Her motto is live for today and don’t think about yesterday or tomorrow.”
“Smart advice.”
Jacki shrugged. “For some. I’m not like Jin.”
“In what way?”
She chuckled. “It took her no time at all to get intimate with Arwel. She saw something she liked, and she took it. Case closed. She wasn’t thinking about forever, or about love and devotion.”
“Good for her.”
“I bet you wish that I was more like Jin.”
It was a trick question, and despite his limited relationship experience, even he knew not to fall for it.
“I don’t want to change anything about you. You are perfect the way you are.”
Except for her mortality, the statement was true.
“Are you referring to my looks or to my personality?”
“Everything.”
He liked that Jacki was reserved, and that she didn’t flirt with every eligible male, and he also liked that she was honest about her feelings. He loved that she was brave, loyal, and devoted to her friends, and he loved her curiosity and her eagerness to learn.
“Are you saying that I’m perfect?” she asked mockingly.
“Absolutely.”
“No way. There must be something that I’m missing.”
Smirking, he looked at her bare earlobe. “Diamond earrings. You are definitely missing those.” He lifted her hand and examined her fingers. “A diamond engagement ring and a professional manicure. You're missing those as well.”
3
Simmons
“Jin and Jacki’s signals disappeared again.” Elijah walked into the Director’s office.
With his sparse hair sticking out in odd directions and his dress shirt unbuttoned at the neck, the esteemed Doctor Roberts looked frazzled. Had he fallen asleep on his office couch again?
"I know." Simmons lifted a finger, signaling for his friend to remain quiet until he activated the loud fan that functioned as a noise machine to keep their conversation private.
His office was clear of surveillance, he had enough clout for that, but the adjoining offices were not, and the walls had ears.
With that done, he sat across from Roberts and braced his elbows on his knees. “They must have returned to the underground facility they’ve been hiding in.”
The signal from the trackers was weak, and it came and went. Nine days ago, Jacki and Jin had started broadcasting, then Jacki’s signal winked out for a couple of days before coming back up. Wendy and Richard had started broadcasting only about a week ago, and after Wendy’s phone call, they had stopped again.
Simmons figured that Richard and Wendy had been hiding in an underground facility for some reason. Then they had been taken to a cabin in Big Bear, and after Wendy’s call, they had been returned to the underground.
But Jacki and Jin hadn’t been with them. Last night, Jin’s signal had disappeared, and this morning Jacki’s had as well. But unlike Wendy and Richard’s, their signals had snuffed out of existence abruptly without them changing locations first, which was more troublesome.
There was no way for their hosts, or rather captors as he suspected, to locate the trackers and remove them, so that left only two other possibilities.
The first and more probable cause was interference, but then why had it been absent before?
Also, it was not likely to happen in two separate locations only several hours apart.
Jacki’s signal had been coming from an affluent town in the Bay Area, and Jin’s had been transmitting from somewhere in the Malibu mountains, but his operative had reported that there was nothing there. Jin must have been camping in the outdoors, but the operative had been too lazy to go searching on foot, saying that the area was too large and too inaccessible for one man to cover.
The other possibility was death. The nanos needed a live host to form the grid and broadcast. But that didn’t make sense. Why help the group escape and then get rid of them?
Except, it might have been done in retaliation for Wendy’s call. Their captors might have concluded that the trainees were not worth the risk of keeping. Which, with the exception of Jin, was true. Her talent was priceless.
“They could be dead,” Roberts echoed his thoughts. “Perhaps the people who helped them escape realized that they’d let a Trojan horse into their community, and they decided to destroy it before it did that to them.”
“I doubt it. Jin is too valuable. They might have gotten rid of the other three, but not her.”
She was the only one he actually wanted to get back. The others had interesting talents, but they were all pretty useless. Wendy’s empathic ability had limited applications, Richard’s object telepathy was weak, and Jacki’s visions were unpredictable and of little importance. The girl was a knockout, but she was either a lesbian or asexual, so she was of no use to him as a plaything either.
The three were good for only one thing, and that was combining their genetic material to produce more talented offspring.
“I need to make the damn trackers transmit a stronger signal.” Roberts smoothed a hand over his sparse hair, trying to force it to behave. “When we send the trainees on missions overseas, they will be useless.”
“Can you do that and still keep the trackers undetectable?”
Elijah shook his head. “That’s the problem. But science is advancing at breakneck speed, and miniaturization is at the forefront of that. In a year, I might be able to do that.”
“That’s too far off. Our current group of trainees will be ready for deployment beforehand, and we might need to send some of the graduates overseas.” Simmons crossed his arms over his chest. “What about the miniature drones that you’ve been working on? The drones would follow the weak signal closely, and they could broadcast a much stronger one that we can pick up from anywhere.”
“The problem with the small ones is their limited flight range. I’m trying to work out a solution where they attach themselves to moving vehicles, but that’s not going to work with aircraft.”
Simmons nodded. “We wou
ld have to send another operative with each of them to handle the drone and monitor them closely.”
Roberts snorted. “As if that’s going to prevent them from running away.”
Simmons leaned back in his chair. “Our four escapees are a special case that I don’t expect to encounter again in the future. To run, they must have had the help of someone with the ability to remove Marisol’s compulsion. Not only is it an incredibly rare talent, but to bring him or her along on the mission, their abductors also had to know about the compulsion beforehand.”
“The organization captured Marisol. That’s how they knew about it.”
“That’s not going to happen again. After the incident, Marisol agreed to report in every couple of hours and to be implanted with a proper tracker. If she gets abducted again, we will know about it much sooner and retrieve her before she reveals what she knows.”
“My trackers are proper. They are just not strong enough.” Roberts crossed his arms over his chest. “I wish we could compel our recruiter to keep her mouth shut about the program the way she compels the trainees.”
“That would be great, but unfortunately, we don’t have another compeller. Besides, Marisol is probably immune to compulsion like she is to every other kind of mind manipulation.”
Roberts grimaced. “I really don’t like that woman. But that’s neither here nor there. Now that we’ve lost their signals, what are we going to do about our missing trainees?”
“I think they moved all four into an underground facility, where they are probably incarcerated. Except, Jacki and Jin’s signal just stopped without first moving to another location, and since one was in the Bay Area and the other in Malibu, I have to assume that the organization has several underground facilities. When they move them again, the trackers will resume broadcasting.”
“And if they don’t?”
“We only have Jacki’s precise location, but my guy reported that the place was an impenetrable fortress with security cameras all over the place. He later changed his report saying that the first address he’d given me was the wrong one, but I suspect that he’s been compromised, and that someone either paid him to lie or got into his head. In any case, we could check out both addresses.”
“How are you going to pull that off? It’s not like we have a massive backup.”
Simmons chuckled. “I came up with a good cover story. While collecting information on paranormally talented people, we stumbled upon a suspected terrorist organization that plans to use paranormal abilities to sabotage our government. I’ll just forward it to Homeland Security and let them take care of the problem for us.”
“I like it. But then what?”
“Then I’ll offer to use those damn paranormally talented terrorists in our program. Naturally, they will enjoy none of the privileges our regular trainees do because they are dangerous, and we have to keep them locked up. We can’t send them out on missions, but we can use them as test subjects.”
Roberts smirked. “In our breeding experiment.”
“Bingo.”
4
Vlad
As Vlad drove into the parking garage of the building across the street from the keep, he had the urge to turn around and go home.
He wasn’t ready to face Wendy. What was he supposed to say to her? How should he act around her?
Why the hell had he agreed to spend an entire week with her in the remote mountain cabin?
Because he still had feelings for the traitor. That’s why. And because he was a fool.
Except, it was too late to chicken out.
So instead of turning around, he navigated the narrow lane spiraling down through the building’s many parking levels until he reached the lowest one, which was reserved for the clan.
Bowen and Richard were meeting him there, and he was going to hitch a ride with them to the cabin. That way, he wouldn’t have to see Wendy before or during the drive.
Perhaps inspiration would come on the way.
Vanessa should have given him some pointers, but apparently therapists were only good at talking the big talk but useless at giving actionable advice.
“Be patient,” she’d said. “Don’t keep your anger bottled up inside you,” she’d advised. “Be a good listener.”
How was he supposed to be patient and at the same time not keep the lid on his anger? It was either one or the other. And what did she mean by being patient? Should he say nothing and just listen?
What if Wendy didn’t say anything either?
He could have called Bhathian, who was much better at giving useful advice, but Vlad was sick of everyone butting into his personal life.
Besides, he needed to figure things out for himself, and if things got really awkward between him and Wendy he could just spend his days hiking and not come back until nightfall.
The problem with that was his mother, who was joining them on Sunday. In case things didn’t work out between her and Richard either, she might need him there as a buffer.
Watching his mother with the guy, or any man for that matter, would be difficult and would add an additional layer of discomfort. If the jerk misbehaved or wasn’t taken with her right away, Vlad was going to blow.
There was a limit to how much he could keep boiling inside of him.
He had suggested that they introduce Stella as his sister, but she and Vanessa had come up with a different story to explain his mom’s youthful looks. She was thirty-five years old, had Vlad at sixteen, and looked young because she took good care of her skin.
It was a lame story, but it wasn’t up to him.
As the door marked storage opened, Bowen came out with Richard in tow, and Vlad popped the trunk. After taking his duffel bag and guitar case out, he walked over to the two.
“Vlad, my man.” Richard pulled him into a bro hug. “I’m glad that you’re coming with us, but I’m surprised that you’re willing to give Wendy another chance. If it were me, I doubt I would be able to forgive her after the stunt she pulled. You are a better man than me.”
Bowen nodded in agreement. “Vanessa must have forced your hand.”
Ignoring their remarks, Vlad walked over to Bowen’s car. “Can you open the trunk?”
The Guardian clicked the remote, the thing opened, and Vlad dropped his things inside.
Once the three of them were seated, Richard turned around and lifted his arm. “I got a shiny new bracelet. Apparently, my friends and I are emitting transmissions. Bridget thinks that we were implanted with miniature trackers that didn’t activate until recently. That’s why she didn’t detect them.”
“I didn’t know that was even possible.” Vlad pushed his hair out of his face. “When and how was it discovered?”
Backing out from the parking spot, Bowen glanced at him. “The security guys noticed a truck making rounds near our community, and Kalugal’s men noticed the same thing next to his place. William tested Jin again, and this time she was emitting a signal, so he made cuffs for all of them to disrupt it.”
“Why not just remove the trackers?”
“Because Bridget doesn’t know where they are in our bodies, and she doesn’t want to cut us up.” Richard put his arm down and turned to face the front.
Bowen pulled up to the gate and waited for it to retract. “What it means, though, is that Wendy took a risk for nothing. They knew where she and the others were the entire time.”
“But she didn’t know that.” Vlad crossed his arms over his chest. “So, it doesn’t lessen her betrayal.”
“I’m with you on that,” Richard said. “I don’t understand why she would do such a thing, though. Maybe they were holding something over her?”
“Perhaps she didn’t like being a fugitive,” Bowen suggested. “It’s not an easy life, and she is just a young girl. Not everyone is brave.”
Richard cast the guardian an incredulous look. “Don’t tell me that you are softening toward her.”
Bowen shrugged. “Following Vanessa’s advice, I’m c
hoosing to reserve judgment.”
5
Wendy
Wendy lifted her hand and looked at the metal cuff that Bowen had slapped on her wrist.
It wasn’t ugly. It kind of looked like a bracelet, and it wasn’t heavy either. But she didn’t believe Bowen’s story about the supposed trackers she and Richard had in their bodies.
First of all, there was no way the CT scan and the ultrasound hadn’t discovered them, and secondly, she would have known if she had gone through a surgical procedure to put them in.
There would have been a scar or a tenderness in the incision area.
Obviously, the cuffs themselves contained trackers, and the reason she and Richard had them on was so they could be located if they tried to run.
It wasn’t a coincidence that they’d gotten them right before leaving for the cabin. Also, the cuffs were impossible to remove. She would even have to shower with it on.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out what they were for. Those were prisoner cuffs, similar to the ones used for house arrests.
Whatever. It wasn’t as if she could do anything about it, and she couldn’t blame Kian for not trusting her. Richard was innocent, but he was deemed guilty by association.
“Does the cabin have a hot tub?” she asked just to break the silence.
Leon shook his head. “I don’t think so. But Kian keeps upgrading the place, so who knows, maybe he added one since the last time I was there.”
“What is there to do?”
“Nothing much other than hiking and spending time with friends.”
As if she had any.
Everyone hated her.
Why was Vlad even coming? Had the therapist bribed him or coerced him somehow?
What had she offered him to convince him to come?
It was going to be a nightmare.
Whatever. She could always tune the world out by watching anime.
“Does the cabin have a television?”