by I. T. Lucas
“How are we going to do it?” Jacki asked. “We can’t go in together because we are all tall and we will attract attention. Especially you, Kri. You are pretty, and with those boots and that leather jacket, you look like a badass. Guys will look at you. Jin and I look like a couple of suburban housewives.”
Kri didn’t bother to deny it. “We can use that to our advantage. I’ll go in first and strut around, maybe flirt loudly with some guys, make a scene and start a fight. Everyone will be looking at me while Jacki enters quietly. Jin, you will come in last.”
Imagining Kri knocking guys over and making a scene, Jin shook her head. “Isn’t a bar fight too much?”
Kri shrugged. “I’ll play it by ear.”
“You need to tether me,” Jacki said.
“We have earpieces. You can just tell me who he is and where he is standing. That way Kri will know as well.”
“I know what he looks like because I saw the picture of who he shrouds himself as.” Kri glanced at Jacki through the rearview mirror. “But he might decide to change the shroud for some reason, and then we will need you to find him.”
Jin nodded. “That could easily happen if Kalugal sees someone he’s been with already and doesn’t want her to recognize him while he is hitting on someone else.”
“You know what I find really bizarre?” Jacki said.
“What?” Jin tensed, hoping it wasn’t about the two gangs she’d made up to cover for Kri’s mistake.
“The pictures the guys snap of Kalugal. If he is not in the area, actively manipulating your minds, how come you still see his shroud in those and not his real face?”
“Good question.” Jin glanced at Kri. “Maybe the suggestion he plants in our heads stays there. That makes him even more powerful than what we’ve suspected.”
Kri nodded. “Compulsion is a very rare talent. Kalugal must combine it with his shrouds. That’s why they hold. I don’t know Lokan well, so I’m not sure if he can do that as well, but I would be very surprised if he can.”
“I still think that you need to tether me. Shit can happen, the earpieces can malfunction, the reception in the club might be lousy, and Kalugal’s men might invade the house and take William hostage. Even a power outage can mess things up. The tether is the most secure connection.”
“As unlikely as those scenarios are, you are right about the tether.” Jin turned toward the backseat. “Give me your hand.”
Jacki shook it. “Done?”
“Yes.”
Ten minutes into the drive, Arwel spoke in their earpieces. “Kalugal and his guy just parked at a club. I’m sending you the address.”
As the churning in Jin’s belly turned from mild to intense, she rubbed a hand over it. “How do I keep from throwing up?”
Kri put a hand on her thigh. “You are not going to puke. You are going to get in there, get a drink, zero in on our boy, and bump into him. He’ll be too busy watching me to notice you approach him.”
“Are you still planning on starting a fight?”
“I’ll wait to see how you are doing. If you hesitate, I’ll go up to a random chick and start accusing her of stealing my boyfriend.”
Jacki chuckled. “A catfight will attract everyone’s attention.”
“Yeah, I’ll pretend to be drunk. As soon as you tether Kalugal, let me know and I’ll apologize, saying that it was a case of mistaken identity.”
“Who will leave the club first?” Jacki asked.
“Jin, then you, and lastly, me. I’m not going to leave until I know that both of you are safe.”
64
Arwel
As Kri turned into the club’s parking lot, Magnus entered behind her, while Arwel continued driving to the nearest intersection and turned around.
After parking across the street from the club’s entrance, he called the Guardians who’d followed Kalugal to the club. “You can leave.”
“Good luck,” Chester said. “If you need us, we will be in a pub five minutes away from here.”
“Thanks. I won’t say no to additional backup.”
“We are too close,” Michael said. “And this is a loading zone. Maybe you should park a little farther down the street.”
“I want to be where I can see the door.”
“Then backtrack a little. Everyone going in will wonder about three dudes who are just sitting in their car.”
“It’s fine. The windows are tinted, and even if they can see us, people will assume that we are waiting for someone.”
Michael shrugged. “You’re the boss.”
The club had two egress points. One in the front and one in the back.
To get in, club-goers had to go through the front door and get cleared by the bouncer. But to leave, they could also use the back door to the parking lot, which Magnus and Gregor were watching.
The additional three Guardians Arwel had requested would be arriving shortly, and he debated whether to assign them to guard the back or park farther down the street like Michael had suggested. They were a precaution, so maybe it was better for them to stay out of sight. Together with the two at the pub, Jin had a total of ten Guardians ready to jump in if needed.
The problem was that all of them were useless against Kalugal’s compulsion.
As Kri rounded the corner and sauntered toward the entrance, the bouncer gave her a thorough once-over and opened the door with a slight dip of his head.
A few minutes later, Jacki came around, but instead of walking straight in, she glanced around, probably to check where they were parked.
Arwel groaned. That was such an amateur move. He’d thought that not acknowledging their escorts was self-explanatory, so he hadn’t bothered warning the girls against it.
The mistake was his, not Jacki’s. She was a newbie with no training, and what was obvious to him was not necessarily obvious to her.
When she saw the car, Jacki smiled but thankfully didn’t wave, and only then headed toward the club’s entrance.
More than ten minutes passed before Jin rounded the corner, huddling into her coat and not looking left or right while hurrying toward the door.
Was it an act? Or was she really cold?
If it was an act, it was a good one because he had the urge to grab his coat and rush to cover her with it.
When the door closed behind her, Arwel’s gut twisted with worry.
He tried to reason with himself that Kalugal had only one man with him, and if needed, Kri could take care of the guy, but the problem was Kalugal himself.
They were all defenseless against his compulsion. If anything went wrong and he became aware of Jin and her intentions, they were all royally screwed.
Even if every Guardian on the force was there as backup, it would not make a difference. Kalugal could walk out of there with Jin in tow and no one would be able to stop him.
Given his powers, it was a wonder that the guy had only used them to make money. He could’ve taken over the damn White House if he wanted.
Thank the merciful Fates for immunes. That was probably the only reason Kalugal hadn’t done anything crazy. He must have encountered some over the years and figured that he shouldn’t risk it. With the right kind of bullet and a carefully aimed shot to the head or the heart, one immune sharpshooter could incapacitate Kalugal long enough for his teammates to finish the job by either decapitating him or removing his heart.
“You are stressing the hell out of me,” Michael murmured. “Relax.”
“My mate is in there.”
“So is mine, but I know Kri can handle any situation. I’ve only seen her in action once, and it was awe-inspiring. She took out seven armed humans in seconds.”
“I’m not worried about humans. I just wish we had several immune Guardians. As it is, we are defenseless against Kalugal. He could walk right past us or command us to follow him into his bunker.”
“Maybe some of the Guardians are immune,” Ewan said. “We were never tested.”
“We should
have been.” Arwel turned to the Guardian. “Annani could have tested us.”
“Too late for that,” Michael said. “Besides, I think you are all worrying too much. Worst case scenario, we can negotiate with him. After all, we have an ace up our sleeve.”
Arwel arched a brow. “What?”
“His brother.”
“We don’t actually have him. He is his own man.”
“Semantics. He is not going to refuse to help. Carol would castrate him.”
Arwel’s lips twitched in an involuntary smile. “I’m not sure about the castrating part, but she might threaten him with bodily harm. The question is whether Lokan can override Kalugal’s compulsion. If he can, we have nothing to worry about because he compelled us to refuse Kalugal’s commands.”
Michael shrugged. “What we can be pretty sure of is that Lokan is immune. If Navuh’s compulsion didn’t affect him, Kalugal’s most likely will not either, and he can negotiate for us.”
It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing. Arwel had kept up a confident façade in front of Jin, but the truth was that he was terrified for her.
Closing his eyes, he let his awareness spread wide. If anything went wrong, he would feel it.
65
Jin
As Jin entered the club, she didn’t try to find Kalugal right away. Her eyes went searching for Kri first. The Guardian was her safety net, and just knowing that she was there, watching over her, diminished her anxiety by at least half.
She found her leaning against one of the supporting pillars and holding a bottle of beer in her hand.
No glass for the badass.
The woman was formidable, and not only physically. She had a warrior’s attitude, which meant that she wouldn’t hesitate to jump in and do whatever she could to help Jin.
“Look to your right,” Jacki said in her earpiece. “Do you see the girl with the pink miniskirt?”
Afraid to move her lips, Jin nodded, hoping Jacki could see her.
“The guy she is plastered against is Kalugal.”
Closing her eyes, Jin followed the tether to Jacki and looked at the couple through her friend’s eyes.
Still, all she saw was the shroud and not Kalugal's real face.
“Can you see the real him?” Jacki asked.
It was weird to hear her in the earpiece and through the tether at the same time.
Jin shook her head.
“So Kri was right. He manipulates everyone around him to see only his shroud, and it sticks no matter what medium is used to look at him.”
Jin nodded, then searched for Jacki, figuring her likely position by her viewing angle.
She was sitting on a barstool, holding a large drink in front of her face to hide her moving lips as best she could.
With so many people crowding the space getting to the bar wasn’t easy, especially since Jin didn’t want to shove people out of the way and attract attention.
It took her what seemed like forever to get there, and then she had to wait for the barman to take her order.
Everything was taking too long. What if Kalugal left, and she missed her opportunity once more?
The thing was, she had a script to follow, one that she’d rehearsed over and over again. If she deviated from it, she might freeze again.
When the barman finally handed her the large mojito she’d ordered, Jin took it and turned around, fearing that Kalugal would no longer be where she’d last seen him on the dance floor.
Thank God, he was in the same spot with the same blonde girl clinging to him.
Drink in hand, Jin ambled toward the couple. Swaying to the music, she inched toward them the same way she’d practiced at home.
Kri was right. With enough repetition, it almost felt natural, and Jin managed to keep her anxiety at a low simmer, not letting it flare up.
She didn’t go straight at them. Instead, she went a little to the left, then a little to the right, never facing them but keeping track of them in her peripheral vision.
Even though she looked very different from what Kalugal saw the day before, he still might recognize her face or her smell.
She'd sprayed herself with enough perfume to knock out an elephant, but then she wasn’t dealing with an ordinary immortal. He might be able to smell her real scent under the artificial one.
Stop it!
Those thoughts were needlessly stressing her out. She was very close to him now, and he hadn’t even turned his head in her direction.
The blonde with the pink skirt must have been sent by the Fates. With her hands roaming all over Kalugal’s back, her big boobs pressed against his chest, and her ass filling his hands, she had his full attention.
As it turned out, Jin didn’t even need to fake stumbling into him.
As someone bumped into her from behind, she pitched forward, spilling her mojito all over Kalugal and the blonde and then catching his arm to stop herself from falling.
The training kicked in.
Holding on for a moment longer, she inserted a hook into his mind and attached her tether to it.
It was done in under two seconds.
“You idiot!” the blonde yelled. “Look what you have done!”
“I’m so sorry.” Jin patted Kalugal’s sleeve. “I’ll pay to have it dry cleaned. Someone bumped into me, and I lost my balance. I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Kalugal said. “Alcohol dries fast.”
Pretending to obsess about his ruined shirt, Jin kept her face down. “Are you sure? Let me at least pay for the dry cleaning.”
“Forget it. No harm done.”
“What about me?” the blonde whined. “She spilled her drink all over my new skirt.”
“It will dry out. And if not, I’ll buy you a new one.”
“Really?” Her tone turned sugary and she put her hands over his chest. “You look sexy with your shirt all wet.”
And just like that Jin was forgotten and the couple went back to necking on the dance floor.
Mission accomplished.
Almost. She still needed to check whether the tether worked, and she also couldn’t leave right after the incident.
If it had been real, she would have ordered another drink to calm her nerves, as would most girls in her situation.
As she made her way toward the bar, Jacki spoke in her earpiece, “Did you get him?”
Jin nodded.
“Then let’s get out of here.”
Jin ignored the suggestion until she reached Jacki, who was still sitting on the same stool. Squeezing between her and the guy sitting next to her, she ordered another drink.
“I have to check it out,” she said without looking at her friend. “And it would look suspicious if I leave right away.”
“You can go toward the bathrooms and continue to the back door,” Kri said in the earpiece.
Jin looked at the barman. “I’m waiting for my drink.”
“Coming right up. You’re next in line.”
Leaning against the bar, Jin closed her eyes and followed the tether to Kalugal.
The connection was loud and clear.
“You told me that your ex-boyfriend was working on something interesting,” Kalugal said.
“Yeah, he had an idea for an Alexa type device, but then Google came up with something better.”
“Did he drop it?”
“I don’t know. Why are we talking about him?”
“I’m curious about new technologies.”
“Then maybe you should hook up with him instead.”
Jin could feel a little of what Kalugal was feeling, which was annoyance and contempt.
Apparently, he wasn’t even attracted to Blondie. He only wanted to pump her for information about her ex-boyfriend.
Except, she might have been projecting her own feelings on him. It was rare for Jin to feel her targets’ emotions at all.
Except for Arwel.
The connection with him had been amazing, but then what he’d
been feeling at the time was intense.
“Let’s go,” Jacki said in her earpiece.
“I’m still waiting for that drink.” Jin smiled at the bartender so he wouldn’t get mad at her for pestering him.
Her words were meant for Jacki and Kri.
What Jin really wanted was to hear more about Blondie’s ex-boyfriend and his invention. She could try to listen while walking out, but if someone talked to her she might lose concentration and miss some of what was being said. If Kalugal was interested in the technology, then it must be something important, and it might give Kian a clue about Kalugal’s future plans.
66
Arwel
“How long has it been?” Michael lifted his phone to check the time. “Damn, not long at all. Jin only went in thirteen minutes ago. Time moves slowly when the stakes are high.”
Arwel nodded.
It felt as if he’d been spreading his mental feelers for at least an hour. Regrettably, he couldn’t get a read on any of the three women.
Kri was an immortal, Jacki had thick protective walls, and Jin didn’t project her feelings as strongly as other humans did.
Which was excellent for the mission.
Even if she got nervous, Kalugal wouldn’t pick up on the intensity. To him, it would feel like the normal emotions of a woman alone in a club. A little apprehensive and a lot hopeful.
His thoughts were interrupted when something dark and nasty registered on the edge of his awareness. Arwel opened his eyes and looked out the window.
The strength of the emotions indicated that the source was human, not immortal, but where was it coming from?
There was no one in front of the car, and the only person at the entrance to the club was the bouncer.
The darkness wasn’t coming from his direction.
As Arwel glanced at the rearview mirror, he saw a man walking toward them. His head was bowed, and he was huddled in a heavy coat, holding his arms over its front.
Was he hiding a weapon under there?
The closer the man got, the stronger Arwel felt the turmoil raging inside him. The pain and the hatred were almost too much to bear, and Arwel was only getting it secondhand.