Dark Spy’s Mission

by I. T. Lucas

  The source was about to explode.

  Was he heading toward the club? Arwel waited to see if the guy would cross to the other side.

  Even if he had dark deeds on his mind, there wasn’t much Arwel could do about it. Intentions, even murderous ones, were not a crime.

  Only acting upon them was.

  “I feel nefarious intentions,” Michael muttered. “Someone is planning to do harm. A human male.”

  “He is right behind us.”

  “Should we do something about it?”

  “Only if he goes into the club. Intentions don’t qualify as a crime, and we are not the police.”

  Except, when the guy got off the sidewalk and started for the other side of the street, legal or even moral considerations went out the window.

  His mate was in that club, and Arwel wasn’t going to wait for this bomb to explode anywhere near Jin.

  As the guy handed the bouncer what was probably a cash bribe, Arwel opened the driver’s side door. “Wait here.”

  “I’m coming with you,” Ewan said.

  He didn’t need help to handle one human. And if the guy had a bomb under his coat and was planning to murder countless people while committing suicide, Arwel didn’t want anyone else to get hurt.

  “Both of you stay in the car, and that’s an order.”

  Sensing the human’s determination, Arwel yelled into the earpiece, “Take cover. A gunman just came in.”

  Running toward the entrance, he didn’t bother with thralling. Arwel barreled past the bouncer, threw the door open, and leaped just as the guy pulled out a gun.

  Sailing over people’s heads, he landed on the shooter, tackling him to the ground.

  Except, he wasn’t fast enough.

  The gun fired.

  The panic gripping Arwel was like nothing he had experienced before, and if not for his training dictating his moves, he might have first looked up to check on his mate.

  Instead, he went for the gun, wrenched it out of the guy’s hand, at the same time delivering a blow to his head and knocking him out cold or possibly killing him.

  The screaming started a split second later, followed by a stampede.

  He couldn’t see Jin from where he was, and with the panicked humans all around him, there was no chance of him feeling her either.

  It took him another split second to remember that he had an earpiece. “Is everyone okay?”

  “Jacki and I are hiding behind the bar.”

  Arwel felt faint with relief.

  “I’m trying to get to you,” Kri said. “Damn humans are like a stampeding herd of scared buffalos.”

  67

  Kalugal

  Kalugal hadn’t seen the shooter come in, and he hadn’t felt his intentions either. He wasn’t close enough. Besides, with so many humans around, lusting, envying, plotting, it would have been impossible to isolate one who was crazier than the rest even if he was standing right next to him.

  What had alerted Kalugal and made him look over his shoulder, were the blonde’s widening eyes and her sudden flare of fear.

  He watched the scene unfolding before his eyes as if it was going in slow motion.

  One second the shooter was pulling out his gun, and the next a man was sailing in the air over the crowd, his trajectory on a collision course with the guy.

  As he landed on the shooter, the gun went off, but not into any of the humans. Somehow the flyboy had managed to knock the gunman’s hand up, and the bullet hit the ceiling and went right through the plaster, getting lodged in it.

  The screaming started a heartbeat after the shot, which was about how long it had taken the flyboy to get the gun away from the nutcase and knock him out cold.

  Unless the guy was an Olympic champion, his speed and power were inhuman.

  With people screaming and rushing out, Kalugal could no longer see him, but he was almost certain that Flyboy was an immortal.

  Was he one of his father’s men?

  Sent to protect him?

  For a brief moment, Kalugal entertained the absurd notion that his father had known where he had been the entire time and had men watching over him.

  Right. More like watching him and reporting back. And the only reason they hadn’t attempted to capture him yet was that they were waiting for an opportune moment to catch him by surprise and knock him out before he had a chance to compel them.

  Then again, his father might have sent immune warriors after him. Just as there were immune humans, Kalugal had no doubt that there were immune immortals.

  Except, Navuh wasn’t supposed to know that Kalugal could compel immortals, not unless his mother had revealed his secret.

  Was it possible that she had betrayed him?

  Regrettably, he couldn’t discount that possibility. Areana loved Navuh and thinking that Kalugal was safely out of his reach, she might have told him about his son inheriting the ability to compel immortals.

  Whatever the case was, he had to find out. Which meant interrogating that immortal.

  “Freeze!” Kalugal shouted over the crowd, infusing his voice with compulsion. “No one move! And no one utter a sound.”

  The ruckus stopped as if it had never begun.

  Moving the blonde aside, Kalugal glanced at Rufsur. His second, who had been on the dance floor right next to him when it had all started, was now frozen like everyone else. “Except for you, Rufsur. You can move.”

  As Kalugal headed toward where he’d seen Flyboy land, he noticed a woman standing behind the bar who wasn’t frozen like the others. Her eyes peeled wide, she gaped at him, and then ducked behind the bar again.

  Damn immune.

  She looked familiar. Had he seen her before? Perhaps he’d noticed her in his peripheral vision. But why she would register at all baffled him. From one to ten, she was barely a six, and he was being generous.

  It didn’t matter. No one was going to believe her anyway. They’d think the shock had made her see things.

  As Kalugal crouched next to Flyboy, the small hairs on the back of his neck tingled, confirming what he’d suspected. The guy was an immortal.

  “Did my father send you? You can answer yes or no.”

  “No.”

  Noticing something sticking out of the guy’s ear, Kalugal leaned closer and moved his hair aside, exposing it.

  “What do we have here?”

  He pulled the earpiece out. Obviously, Flyboy wasn’t alone, and damage control was required.

  Kalugal needed to buy himself time to get away without anyone following him. Activating the device, he put it in his own ear. “Everyone listening, stop talking, texting and any other form of communication. Don’t move unless you are driving. If you are, pull to the side of the road and then sit in the vehicle until I tell you to move.”

  That should do it without causing too much trouble.

  For a moment, he debated whether to unfreeze the immortal and tell him to follow, or just lift him up and carry him to the car.

  In case the guy tried to resist the compulsion or work around it by dragging his feet, it was better to just carry him.

  “Rufsur. Pick him up and carry him to the car. Put him in the trunk.”

  “He’s not going to fit. It’s too small.”

  “Then put him in the back seat.”

  “Yes, boss.”

  As his second-in-command heaved the dead weight over his shoulder, Kalugal checked the shooter. The nutcase was still out cold, but regrettably not dead.

  He might wake up and start shooting again. Kalugal could take the gun, but the dude might have more hidden under his clothes. It would be quicker to tie him up than search him for more weapons.

  Pulling out his belt, Kalugal tied the guy’s hands behind his back.

  With that done, he got up and looked in the direction he’d seen the immune, but she was still hiding behind the bar.

  Good.

  He took out the earpiece and put it in his pocket.

  “Listen up, ev
eryone,” Kalugal yelled to be heard over the music that was still blaring from the loudspeakers. “You are going to forget what you’ve seen, and in half an hour, you will resume dancing. You’ll remember watching a Coldplay concert on the screen in the back.”

  At the start of the evening, Rufsur had fixed the surveillance cameras, putting them on a loop, so none of what had happened was going to show up on the recording.

  With the thrall taking care of the humans’ memories of the incident, the only remaining evidence other than the gunman would be the bullet lodged in the ceiling, which no one was going to notice.

  Looking down at the shooter, he wondered what to do with him. The best thing would be to throw him into the dumpster out back, but Kalugal had sent Rufsur with the immortal, which meant that he would have to take the trash out himself.

  The things he had to do to protect a bunch of insignificant humans.

  With a sigh, he wrapped his hand in his shirttail, picked up the gun, and put it in his pocket.

  Grabbing the gunman by the belt he’d tied around his wrists, he dragged the piece of human trash out the back door, where he encountered two more males frozen mid-stride.

  When the small hairs on the back of his neck started tingling, he took another look at the males. The males could only move their eyes, and the expression in them was more angry than terrified.

  They knew what was going on.

  He smiled at them. “I apologize for the temporary inconvenience, but don’t worry. I’m going to release you as soon as I’m safely away with your friend.”

  If looks could kill, he would already be dead. Thankfully, he’d never heard of an immortal possessing that power.

  Had any of the gods?

  His father was the only one who could answer that question, but since he couldn’t call Navuh and ask, it was another mystery Kalugal hoped he could solve through research into the past.

  Heaving the shooter up, he tossed him in the dumpster. The gun was next. Pulling it out of his pocket using his shirt again, he tossed it inside as well.

  With that done, Kalugal turned to assess the two immortals. They didn’t look like his father’s men. Fair-skinned and light-haired, they looked European. But then many years had gone by since he’d left the island, and his father might have been breeding the Dormants with European men, producing warriors who could more easily blend into the population in the Western countries.

  But Flyboy had said that he hadn’t been sent by Navuh. Maybe they were Annani’s men?

  And if so, had they been looking for him, or had it been a coincidence?

  He would soon find out.

  68

  Jin

  The moment Arwel had shouted in their earpieces, Jacki climbed on top of the bar and pulled Jin behind her.

  “What are you doing?” the barman yelled at them. “Get down.”

  “That is what we are doing,” Jin yelled back. “Everyone, duck!”

  She and Jacki jumped behind the counter and crouched down.

  The two barmen did the same. “What’s going on?” the closest one asked.

  “A shooter,” Jacki said.

  A moment later, a gun went off and then the screaming started.

  As Jin lifted her head to check if anyone had gotten hurt, Jacki grabbed her shirt and pulled her back down. “It might not be safe yet.”

  “I disabled the gunman,” Arwel said in their earpieces.

  Jin started pushing to her feet again when she was stopped by one shouted word.

  “Freeze!” Somehow the voice overpowered the screaming and the music. It was loud, clear, and infused with command. “No one move! And no one utter a sound.”

  Immediately, the screaming stopped as if someone had waved a magic wand. Not the music, though. It kept blasting from the loudspeakers.

  But that wasn’t all. As Jin tried to get back down, she realized that she couldn’t move and was stuck in a mid-crouch.

  She couldn’t talk either.

  As the implications sank in, an involuntary shiver seized her. The command had been a compulsion, issued by Kalugal.

  Thankfully, Jacki wasn’t affected, and she pulled Jin down, making her land unceremoniously on her ass. “We are majorly screwed,” she whispered. “I’m the only one the compulsion doesn’t work on.”

  Panic seizing her lungs, Jin wanted to tell Jacki to check on Arwel, but all she could do was blink, which she did rapidly, hoping her friend would understand.

  The tether worked only one way, and Jacki wasn’t an empath. But she got the message.

  Slowly, she pushed up to her feet and then immediately ducked back down. “Damn. He looked right at me. He’s crouching next to Arwel, who is lying on top of the gunman, immobilized just like everyone else.”

  Where were the other Guardians? Were they affected by the compulsion as well?

  Her answer came a moment later, delivered by Kalugal’s calm voice straight into her earpiece. “Everyone listening, stop talking, texting, and any other form of communication. Don’t move unless you are driving. If you are, pull over to the side of the road and then sit in the vehicle until I tell you to move.”

  Kalugal had just eliminated her last hope.

  Help was not coming.

  But at least he’d made sure they wouldn’t cause accidents by freezing inside moving vehicles.

  Trying to force her hand to move, Jin struggled against the compulsion, but disobeying the command proved impossible.

  As hot tears started rolling down her cheeks, Jacki wiped them away with her sleeve. “Don’t cry,” she said quietly. “You won’t be able to blow your nose. I can wipe the snot but not blow for you.”

  She was trying to cheer Jin up, but it wasn’t working.

  The situation was desperate.

  Arwel was at Kalugal’s mercy, and no one was coming to help them.

  “Wait, maybe you can blow your nose. He just said not to move. Smart guy. He must have a lot of experience with compulsion to make his wording so precise.”

  Jin didn’t want to hear about Kalugal’s brilliance. She wanted Jacki to do something, anything.

  “Rufsur,” Jin heard him call his man. “Pick him up and carry him to the car. Put him in the trunk.”

  “He’s not going to fit. It’s too small.”

  “Then put him in the back seat.”

  “Yes, boss.”

  The him could only be Arwel.

  Blinking rapidly, she signaled her distress to Jacki the only way she could.

  “Okay, I got it. I’ll take another look.”

  Jacki pushed up slowly, only as much as she needed to peek over the bar. “The other guy is carrying Arwel out, and Kal is tying up the gunman.” She ducked back down. “I don’t know what to do. The pepper spray is in my purse and I dropped it when I climbed on the bar. Maybe I can use a big bottle to hurl at his head?”

  Since Jin could see through Jacki’s eyes, the spoken update wasn’t necessary, but she had no way of reminding Jacki of the tether. The only response she could give her was to widen her eyes.

  “I guess it’s no. I didn’t think so.”

  “Listen up, everyone,” Kalugal said. “You are going to forget what you’ve seen, and in half an hour, you will resume dancing. You’ll remember watching a Coldplay concert on the screen in the back.”

  “He is so smart.” Jacki started pushing up again. “Maybe I can somehow get the shooter’s gun.”

  Through her friend’s eyes, Jin saw Kalugal drag the gunman toward the back exit.

  He was leaving.

  If Jacki didn’t do something soon, Kalugal would drive away with Arwel.

  Communicating the urgency by darting her eyes from side to side, she hoped Jacki would understand.

  Except, how could she possibly overpower two immortal males and free Arwel?

  It was hopeless.

  69

  Arwel

  As Arwel was lifted and swung over the immortal’s shoulder, he had never in his entire
life felt so helpless.

  They passed by Magnus and Gregor, who had been frozen mid-stride. Only their eyes moved, and they reflected the same desperation that Arwel felt.

  He was at Kalugal’s mercy, his fellow Guardians were just as frozen as he was, and his only possible savior was Jacki, a human girl who could do nothing to help him.

  He was screwed, and so was the entire clan.

  Arwel was privy to almost everything there was to know, including the village’s location. Hopefully, Kian would immediately implement the lockdown protocol to secure the place.

  The one good thing was that Arwel didn’t know the override codes. They were computer-generated daily, one set going to Onegus and the other to Kian. Both were needed to override the shutdown and access the village.

  If only he had a suicide capsule in his tooth like the spies in the movies, he could have killed himself to save the clan. But no one had imagined a scenario in which a head Guardian would be captured by an immortal who could compel him to do anything he wanted.

  “Look on the bright side,” Rufsur said. “You are getting a ride in a Ferrari. I’m afraid it’s going to be a little cramped in the back seat, but at least I don’t have to stuff you in the trunk.”

  He opened the door with a key, moved the chair forward, and dumped Arwel on the tiny back seat. It took some maneuvering, and the guy had to fold Arwel’s legs all the way up to his chin before dropping the driver’s seat back down.

  “I keep telling Kalugal that this car is a joke, but he loves his expensive toys.”

  Sitting on the driver’s seat with his legs outside the car, Rufsur looked at Arwel. “I hope you are not in pain, my friend.”

  What a surprisingly amiable fellow.

  Except, Arwel was under no illusions. When it came time for torture, Rufsur would not hesitate for a moment.

  There would be no need for that because Kalugal could compel him to talk, but he might decide to do it for the fun of it.