by I. T. Lucas
And since he was doing it in his toneless, expressionless, robot-like manner, he was cracking people up without even trying.
Good times.
But as it was often the case, life or the damn Fates couldn’t let a guy enjoy a peaceful, content moment for too long. Something always had to go wrong.
Like a woman-child who was too tempting to say no to, and when he finally succumbed, giving her a kiss to trump all kisses, she’d moaned another man’s name in his mouth.
If Anandur could find that Esag dude, he could challenge him to a fight over Wonder. When Anandur turned on the charm, no other dude stood a chance. Unless said dude was missing in action, and the only place he could be found was in Wonder’s head.
Fighting phantoms was a losing proposition because they were as perfect as their host wanted them to be. They never screwed up to prove themselves unworthy.
“Dalhu, what're you doing here?” Brundar asked.
“I’m going with you on the mission.” Dalhu sat on Anandur’s other side. “I haven’t seen any action since the monastery, and I’m getting twitchy.”
Anandur quirked a brow. “You haven’t trained for months. What makes you think you’re ready for action?”
Dalhu pushed back up to his feet and stretched his body to its full height. The guy was huge even compared to Anandur. A smirk lifting one corner of his lips, he crooked a finger at Anandur. “Let’s get on the mat, and I’ll show you exactly how ready I am.”
With a big grin stretching his face, Anandur stood up. “You’re on.” The ex-Doomer was a formidable foe, but Anandur was the undefeated wrestling champion. This was exactly the kind of challenge he needed to release the frustrated energy swirling around his gut and slowly poisoning him from the inside.
Regrettably, Kian had chosen that moment to arrive. “Sit down, gentlemen.”
Anandur pointed a finger at Dalhu. “After we come back from the mission.”
“You’re on.”
Kian waited until all eyes were on him. “I just got off the phone with Onegus. Turner’s guys completed their reconnaissance, and we have the final numbers.”
He clicked the monitor on. “This is the apartment building the Doomers are using as their quarters. There are a total of twenty-two of them. Six operate the warehouse and are in charge of the thirty-one humans they have doing slave work for them. Fifteen are in the field, selling the drugs mainly in clubs. They take turns working in the warehouse. The last one is their commanding officer, a guy named Gommed. Ring a bell, Dalhu?”
The ex-Doomer shook his head. “Nope.”
“Makes sense,” Bhathian said. “They are never going to get caught because they can thrall their customers and the security people in the clubs to forget them.”
“Nah,” Arwel said. “A good dealer forms relationships with his clients. They need the humans to remember them. Otherwise, they will go and buy from someone else. The Doomers are not the only game in town.”
“Then they thrall the security and the police,” Bhathian acquiesced. “That’s enough to keep them doing business with impunity.”
“Right.” Kian frowned. “What I would like to know is whether this is a pilot program and more are coming in the future, or do they already have warehouses like that spread out all over. The Brotherhood works on a large scale; if there is one location, there are others, or there are going to be.”
“Depends who runs it,” Dalhu said. “And I don’t mean the commanding officer in the field. If he is the only one in charge, then there are more distribution centers like this one. But if one of the head honchos is in charge, then this is a test run.”
“That’s what I thought,” Kian said. “Turner’s team didn’t report anyone other than that Gommed guy, so we have to assume there are more. We will have to question the Doomers we catch.”
“Won’t work,” Dalhu said. “The only one who might know about other centers is their commanding officer, though he probably doesn’t. And if he does, you should assume that he is under compulsion not to reveal anything of importance.”
“Don’t you know it for sure?” Anandur asked. “Didn’t they do it to you?”
“I suspect that they did, but I have no recollection of it. What I remember, however, is that my thought process became clearer the longer my mission was. Which made me think that I had been put under compulsion, but that it had weakened over time.”
Anandur thought back to his time in the facility. “The Doomers I was locked up with talked quite freely, but then they thought I was one of them.”
Dalhu shook his head. “The simple soldiers know so little that no one bothers with them.”
That had been Anandur’s impression too. “What about my buddy Grud? Did Turner’s guys mention him?”
“No, and it’s not important," Kian said. “The other two Doomers that Wonder caught gave us the names of their comrades. But having the names gives us no advantage.”
Arwel lifted his finger. “What are we going to do with the humans?”
“That’s a good question. I’m still trying to come up with the answer. As far as we can ascertain, those working in packaging are illegal immigrants. We can try to send them back to their families with some money to tide them over. Even if they remember anything, the most they can suspect is being drugged or hypnotized. But if the damage to their brains is so severe that they don’t remember where they are from, then we have a problem.”
“What about the others? I assume they have chemists manufacturing the drugs?” Yamanu asked.
“The chemists are a different story. I don’t believe they were thralled like the others because that would’ve been counterproductive. They needed their brains functioning well. We need to find out if they were bribed or coerced by threatening their families.”
Bhathian leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “So we round them up and ship them to the airstrip?”
“No. The San Francisco airport is small and private, but it’s not exclusively ours. Someone might wonder why a bunch of zombie-looking humans is being herded through it. We are going to transport them via bus. Shai is working on renting a place near the sanctuary so Vanessa can hop between the two.”
“And the chemists?” Yamanu asked.
“We’ll run them through our probes, meaning Edna and Andrew.”
44
Wonder
“One roast beef sandwich and one tuna melt,” Carol repeated the order for Wonder’s sake. “Did you get it?”
“I did. Coming right up.”
She’d been scatterbrained all day, forgetting the orders as soon as she’d heard them. Most of the time she caught herself staring into the distance as if the answers to her problems could be found in the treetops.
It bothered her tremendously that she hadn’t had the chance to wish Anandur good luck on his mission or to talk to him about what had happened last night.
After the restless night she’d had, she overslept, waking up after he and the other senior Guardians had left for San Francisco.
Not that there was anything she could say to make things right between them. Not unless she wanted to use Gertrude’s suggestion and make up a lie.
Then there was the worry. He hadn’t shared any details about the raid with her, so she didn’t know whether he was going to be in any real danger.
“Do you think I should call him?”
“I assume that by him, you mean Anandur.”
“Who else?” It’s not like she could call Esag. All she had was a name and a vague image of a tall, smiling guy, that and the tight feeling in her chest whenever she said his name in her head.
“Calling or texting the Guardians during a mission is prohibited. Besides, their numbers are temporarily blocked, and they can’t receive or even see calls from civilians. Only Kian and Onegus can call them.”
“But they can call out, right?” Wonder stuffed the tuna sandwich inside the panini maker.
“It’s likely. The raid won
’t happen until late at night. They might be allowed to make calls before that.”
Wonder used tongs to take out the tuna melt, placed it on a plate, added a scoop of potato salad and a pickle, then handed it to Carol who took the order to the table.
“Start making two cappuccinos,” she told Wonder as she came back. “I saw Amanda and Syssi heading here.”
On their way back home, the two stopped by the café almost every day. It was so cool how well the sisters-in-law got along, carpooling to and from the university where they worked together. It seemed like the two were spending more time with each other than with their respective mates.
Wonder couldn’t help but feel a little envious. She would’ve loved having a best friend who never tired of her company and vice versa.
“Wonder, darling.” Amanda sauntered behind the counter as if she owned the café and pulled her into her arms. “How did it go last night?” She leaned to whisper in her ear. “Did you get what you wanted?”
Wonder sighed. “Let’s just say that I’ve gotten more than I bargained for.”
Amanda frowned. “Really? What happened? Anandur is a sweetheart. There is no way he did something he wasn’t supposed to.”
Why did everyone automatically assume it was the guy’s fault? Wonder had seen enough bitchy and underhanded moves in the club to realize that often it was the girl’s fault and not the guy’s.
“I need to finish making your cappuccino. Anything you’d like to eat?”
Amanda smacked her lips. “Goat cheese and roasted red peppers melt. Usually, I wait to eat with Dalhu, but he went with the Guardians to San Francisco and won’t be back until tomorrow.” She turned around to her sister-in-law. “Syssi, do you want a sandwich?”
“I’ll have the same one you’re having.”
Wonder pulled out two more slices of bread. “Is Kian gone too?”
“No, he’s here. But he is going to spend most of his time in the war room until the mission is over. Our butler is going to bring him his meals there.”
As Wonder made the sandwiches, she remembered Anandur mentioning that Dalhu was an ex-Doomer. She hadn’t met the guy yet, but Anandur seemed to like him.
“Is Dalhu going on the mission as a consultant?” Wonder handed Amanda the two cappuccinos.
“No, my Dalhu needs to flex his muscles a bit. He’s been holding a paintbrush for far too long. He’s going to fight with the guys.” She took the cups and sauntered away to where Syssi was sitting at a table. “Why don’t you join us, girls? We can have a fab gossip session.”
Amanda didn’t sound worried at all. Was it because she knew Dalhu was a formidable warrior, or was it because the mission was not dangerous?
Carol glanced around the café and then lifted her wrist to look at her watch. “It’s ten minutes to six. We can get away with closing a little early. Whoever comes now can use the vending machines.” She flipped the sign to ‘closed’ and grabbed a can of cola from the fridge. “Can I get you something?”
“I’ll take one of these too.” Wonder took the two sandwiches out of the griddle, put them on plates and brought them to the table.
Amanda lifted her sandwich. “I’m waiting to hear the story, entertain me while I’m eating.”
Wonder cast a sidelong glance at Syssi. Did she know about her and Anandur too? Probably. At this rate pretty soon every immortal in the village would know.
“Can this stay between us, please? It’s bad enough that Trudy and Hilde know. Don’t tell anyone else, will you?”
Amanda made the zipping motion over her lips.
“I promise,” Syssi said.
Carol shrugged. “I didn’t tell anyone.”
“Talk, girl. I don’t have all night.” Amanda winked. “Well, actually I do. It’s not like I have any plans for later. But I have no patience.”
Wonder took a deep breath. “The long and the short of it is that Anandur kissed me and I said another guy’s name. Apparently, I’ve been in love with someone named Esag.” She grimaced. “What a bad timing for a memory to resurface. I was enjoying the best kiss imaginable, and then poof; all the effort of dressing up and looking nice so Anandur would notice that I’m all grown up was gone up in smoke. I ruined it for us before it ever began.”
“Was Anandur mad?” Syssi asked.
Amanda rolled her eyes. “No, he was so happy he went dancing naked in the woods. What kind of question is that? Of course, he got mad. Who wouldn't?”
Syssi waved a hand. “You’re obsessed with that dancing naked in the woods idea. Just do it already and stop talking about it.”
Baffled, Wonder looked from one woman to the other. What were they talking about?
Carol leaned over to whisper in her ear. “Ignore them. They’re being silly.”
Oh. So it was some kind of a private joke.
Amanda smirked. “Only if you join me, darling. We need seven beautiful women to perform the ritual. Are you game, Wonder?”
“Keep ignoring them,” Carol said.
“Maybe some other time. I’m too anxious to go dancing, in the nude or otherwise.”
“Right.” Amanda put her half-eaten sandwich down and wrapped it in a napkin. “I say forget about that Esag guy whoever he is and concentrate on Anandur. You are obviously into him, and he is into you. What was in the past, should stay in the past.”
That was actually not bad advice, even if it was somewhat simplistic. Sometimes it was better not to overthink things and just go with one’s gut.
“You should talk to Vanessa,” Syssi offered. “Now that you’ve gotten one memory back, she might help you retrieve the others.”
“I don’t have her number.”
Syssi pulled out her phone and found the contact. “What’s your number? I can text you the contact information.”
As Wonder dictated the numbers and Syssi sent the contact over, Amanda tapped her long-nailed fingers on the table impatiently.
“Vanessa is too busy now to schlep over here. Kri is going to the monastery tomorrow for the bi-weekly self-defense classes she’s giving the girls. She can take you with her.”
“Didn’t she go with the guys on the mission?” Wonder asked.
Carol shook her head. “I told you that Kian doesn't allow it.”
“You did. But you also said that she could do other things, like calming down the humans.”
“True, but I think what she does with the girls is more important. She is helping them gain confidence. After what they’ve been through, that’s crucial.”
Wonder couldn’t argue with that. Carol’s comment reminded her of her old roommates' haunted eyes. Gods only knew what those two girls had been through. Maybe the shelter should offer self-defense classes as well.
If she ever went back there, Wonder might volunteer to do that. She wasn’t anywhere near Kri’s skill level, but somehow she knew how to street fight, which should be enough.
45
Ruth
“Jackson, can I have a word with you in the kitchen?” Ruth asked as soon as he entered the café. He’d been supposed to be there hours ago.
“I’m sorry about coming in late. Carol and I were brainstorming ideas and time flew by.”
“That’s okay. I just wanted to ask if you can cover for me for the rest of the day? I need to leave early.”
“Sure, no problem.” He frowned. “What’s up? Everything okay?”
“I’m going to the village.” She motioned for him to follow her outside the back door and closed it behind them. “One of the Guardians is giving me a lift.”
Jackson glanced left and then right, making sure that the alley behind the café was free of eavesdroppers. “You should get your own modified car. It doesn't matter that you don’t live there yet. Kian will gladly hook you up with one.”
“I know. But the idea of a self-driving car scares me.”
“They are perfectly safe.”
“Yeah, until they aren’t. Computers malfunction, Jackson. It might
not happen often, but it’s not such a remote possibility.”
“There are plenty of safety features incorporated into our cars. You have nothing to worry about. If you want, you can stop by William’s, and he will explain everything. Trust me, after you hear him out, you will request a modified car right away.”
She waved a hand. “If I have time after my meeting with Bridget I will.”
“What are you seeing Bridget about?”
This time Ruth glanced both ways to make sure they were alone, then stepped closer to Jackson and whispered, ”It’s about Nick. I want to ask her things about the transition process for guys. I don’t know much about it.”
Jackson grinned. “Congratulations.” He clapped her on the back. “So you’re finally ready for the next step?”
Ruth felt her cheeks getting hot. The next step Jackson was talking about had already been taken, but she wasn’t about to share that information with him. Her relatives were way too nosy for her liking.
“If by the next step you mean that I'm finally sure Nick is the one for me, then yes, I’m ready for the next step.”
An even wider grin split Jackson’s face. “I’m glad. When are you going to break the news to him?”
“That’s what I need to talk to Bridget about. I need her advice on how and when to do it. Especially since we suspect that he might be difficult to thrall. What if he’s an immune, and then we find out that he is not a Dormant? How are we going to erase the memory of the experiment from his mind if we can’t access it?”
The smile evaporated from Jackson’s face. “You’re right.” He pushed his bangs back. “I suspected he would be hard to thrall when I brought him to the wedding. I didn’t even try to do it, getting him drunk instead. Now I regret not testing him to see if it was even possible.”
“You can still do it.” Ruth perked up as an idea started forming in her head. “We can test him. I’m not good enough to thrall someone who is naturally resistant. But maybe you are? How is your thralling, is it strong?”