AWOL

by Traci Harding

  ‘Hold on.’ He paused from his work and motioned Ringbalin around to have a look. ‘Didn’t we rescue this kid last time we pulled a prison break here?’

  Ringbalin recognised Fari. ‘Yes, we did.’

  ‘So why is he still listed as a psychic captive?’ Trance posed.

  ‘Balin,’ Taren announced their arrival.

  ‘Boss, thank heavens.’ Ringbalin breathed a huge sigh of relief to see her, motioning to Trance.

  ‘Trance? What are you doing here?’ Her attention shifted his way.

  ‘Nope, not here,’ Reggie’s deep, droll voice advised, as most of the team circled around behind his chair to see what he was up to.

  ‘This is Reggie.’ Ringbalin did the introductions, as he’d obviously been the only person to enquire after the spirit’s true identity.

  ‘You found Fari.’ Jazmay read the file on the hacker’s screen. ‘They are keeping him in the same cell block we were in before. I know where that is.’ She looked to Taren, seeking permission to go.

  ‘One second,’ Taren begged her patience. ‘Are there any other children in psychic containment here?’

  Trance did a quick search. ‘Nope.’

  ‘I thought as much.’ Taren suspected Prochazka would be keeping Thurraya’s presence a secret.

  ‘I’ll go with Jaz and Yasper to get Fari out,’ Zeven volunteered. ‘With any luck they might have thrown them in together.’

  ‘Me too.’ Aurora joined her husband.

  ‘There are three sets of guards to get through and the third guard post has monitors that observe the first two … they will see you coming,’ Taren warned.

  ‘Then we’ll take out the third station first,’ Zeven suggested. ‘You’ve been there, Jaz?’

  Jazmay nodded.

  ‘Let’s rumble.’ Zeven rallied his troops.

  The four of them stood back to back, all touching each other, with their new weapons drawn and Jazmay teleported them to their target area.

  Double the guard meant Fari’s rescue team were met by four Valoureans at the third guard door that led into psychic containment block C. One blast from Kalayna’s new weapon ensured none of them could use any form of psychic attack on them, and with a thought Zeven knocked them all unconscious.

  Jazmay wasted no time retrieving the keys from the slumbering guard and, raising the unconscious guard up to the eye scanner, she unlocked the door to the psychic containment area and an alarm sounded.

  ‘Go find him!’ Zeven urged Jazmay and Aurora, as he and Yasper turned towards the outer guard doors and prepared for the onslaught.

  ‘Perhaps we should have taken out the other two guard stations first,’ Zeven noted.

  ‘Hindsight is a bitch,’ Yasper uttered, as the outer doors to the second guard post opened and the four Valoureans therein came running at them.

  ‘Fari!’ Jazmay called as she ran from cell to cell, peering through the small window in each door in search of her son. ‘Damn it all!’ Jazmay kicked the door of the last cell. ‘He’s not here!’

  ‘He must be!’ Yasper was frustrated as he knocked out the remaining Valoureans from the last onslaught.

  ‘We should leave,’ Zeven suggested, as the alarm switched off, and it became all too calm and quiet.

  ‘Not until I find a conscious Valourean who can tell me where my son is.’ Jazmay stormed determinedly past them towards the last set of guard doors, and Zeven and the rest of the team pursued her.

  The doors parted without any prompting from them and it was General Prochazka’s lieutenant who confronted them.

  ‘You bitch!’ Jazmay flew at her.

  But Yasper pulled her back, noting that the lieutenant stood alone, weapons holstered; the Valourean guard was unconscious around her.

  ‘If you are looking for your boy, I know where he is. Follow me,’ she advised with a smile.

  ‘Straight into a trap!’ Jazmay was not as eager to steam ahead now.

  At the sound of a force moving towards them, Zeven raised all the unconscious Valoureans up to stand at their posts, before a large battalion of Valoureans rounded the corner to confront them.

  Jazmay reached for her weapon, but again Yasper stayed her hand.

  ‘Wait,’ he whispered, as the lieutenant halted the group.

  ‘False alarm,’ she told them. ‘These people are with me. Return to your posts.’

  Some of the women appeared a little hesitant to walk away when they’d been expecting a fight.

  ‘General’s business!’ The lieutenant encouraged them all to disperse, whereupon the Valoureans did an about-face and left. ‘This way,’ she invited politely.

  As they were led into the private quarters of the Qusay’s guard, Zeven was a little concerned. ‘Are you sure we are going the right way?’

  ‘Relax.’ Their escort opened the doors and they entered to find the halls completely vacated. ‘Your timing could not have been more perfect,’ the lieutenant explained. ‘With the palace on high alert, all hands are on deck and not in here.’

  They came to a door that read ‘Lieutenant Paturi’ and opening the door she led inside.

  ‘Hey, Sovee.’ Fari waved from the bed where he was seated watching television, and playing with a kitten. ‘What is going on out there?’ The boy spotted his parents following her in. ‘Mum! Dad!’ He rose and sprang into Jazmay’s waiting embrace.

  ‘Are you all right?’ Jazmay looked him over, tearing up to find him appearing so well, as she vanished the restraint from his ankle.

  ‘’Course I am.’ Fari wiped her tears away, appearing confused as to why she was so upset. ‘I’ve been here with your friend, Sovee, since the Valoureans took you from our cell. It’s been pretty fun, except she made me do schoolwork.’

  Jazmay looked to the lieutenant, who smiled sincerely. ‘I didn’t forget.’

  ‘How did you get away with this?’ Yasper’s mind boggled.

  ‘There is a lot you can get away with when you are in charge.’ The lieutenant was getting teary herself. ‘He’s really amazing, I’m going to miss him.’

  ‘No, you’re not,’ Jazmay breathed through her emotion. ‘Because you’re coming with us. Prochazka will have your head for this.’

  The lieutenant shook her head to disagree. ‘Not if we take her out.’

  ‘There was another child,’ Aurora couldn’t wait any longer to enquire. ‘A little girl, have you seen her?’

  ‘Not a little girl,’ she advised, motioning to the kitten that was trying to climb its way up Zeven’s leg.

  ‘Thurraya?’ Zeven lifted the animal up and noting the restraint around its neck, he realised it might well be. ‘That’s why we couldn’t find her.’ With a thought he got rid of the restraint and gave her a cuddle. The kitten began purring madly, and butting its head up against his.

  ‘Our daughter is a cat?’ Aurora was mortified as Zeven passed the kitten over. ‘For how long?’

  ‘About an hour.’ Zeven wasn’t worried, she only had to be near Jazmay, another shifter, and she would resume her normal form. ‘We should get back to the others.’

  ‘Don’t you think we should take the children straight back to AMIE?’ Aurora asked. ‘There’s a revolution about to go down here; we don’t want them in the middle of that.’

  ‘Back on the ship there is minimal crew, minimal protection, I say they are better off with us.’ Zeven put it to them all, and Yasper and Jazmay nodded to agree. Aurora, still unsure, went with the majority.

  What Zeven couldn’t say was that he knew from living through these instances before that Thurraya had a vital role to play in dispersing the curses at the heart of all this trouble. That was going to be far more harrowing for Aurora than her daughter’s kidnapping.

  Behind the monitor, observing the throne room where Satomi lay in a pool of blood under Valourean guard, the rest of the crew were debating how they were going to get to her, and a diversion seemed the best option. Without knowing if Prochazka’s spy had stolen the blueprints for
their prototype a direct assault could have debilitating consequences — a more cautious approach was required.

  ‘I cannot prevent the power being cut to the vault from this workstation,’ Reggie advised via Trance. ‘But that complex does have internal backup generators that will kick in if the power goes out … those will have to be shut down manually, so if we can fortify that area, we could hinder the shut-down process.’ He looked to Taren. ‘The walls of the complex and the control room are made of Osmium —’

  ‘So you cannot teleport in there,’ Taren concluded. ‘Makes sense, if the only way out of that vault for any soul is via the portal of the Phemoray, which they are not here to create.’

  ‘In and out on foot is the only way for you living folk. If we can lock it from the inside,’ Reggie posed, ‘that should secure the vault.’

  ‘I can rewire the doors,’ Kalayna volunteered.

  ‘Once I’m inside,’ Reggie added, ‘I can probably switch the system over to the generators before the Valoureans shut off the power, to ensure there is no break in the power supply, as that could prove fatal for all inside.’

  ‘This system was designed and built by the Phemoray,’ Telmo pointed out. ‘I very much doubt you will have seen anything like it before.’

  ‘And you have?’ Reggie obviously felt that Telmo appeared a little young to have garnered much experience.

  ‘You’d be surprised what I’ve seen in my travels,’ Telmo replied with a grin.

  ‘I know the system rather intimately.’ Jalila came forward. ‘And my sister is in that vault.’

  ‘All four of you go,’ Taren gave Telmo, Kalayna, Trance and Jalila leave. ‘Leave this monitor.’ Taren materialised in her hand a compact, state-of-the-art workstation and handed it to Trance. He appeared delighted with his new toy.

  ‘I know the way,’ Jalila said.

  ‘You’ll need this.’ Taren conjured up a copy of the ring Jalila had once used to open the complex, an item that had been taken from her when she was incarcerated.

  ‘Much obliged.’ Telmo claimed the item from her.

  ‘What are you going to do about the guard?’ Taren wondered, as none of the trio were really warriors. ‘When they see Jalila —’

  ‘They won’t suspect a thing, I promise you. I have a few new tricks up my sleeve,’ Telmo asserted, ‘I don’t expect any trouble.’

  ‘This is all taking too long!’ Mythric was at his wit’s end.

  ‘Until Ringbalin is back to himself, there is no point going in.’ Taren discouraged her uncle from doing anything rash.

  Ringbalin was seated in front of a dying plant that Taren had conjured up for him, focusing his energy on making it heal. ‘Nothing is happening!’

  ‘Don’t stress,’ Lucian advised. ‘Find a happy place and then try.’

  ‘I’ve tried already.’ Ringbalin’s failed attempts were driving him to tears.

  ‘I think I may be able to help.’ Jalila broke from the group she was about to depart with.

  ‘Not another delay?’ Mythric objected.

  ‘This won’t take long.’ The telepathist kneeled beside Ringbalin’s chair and looked him in the eye. ‘I have spent the past three years in your greenhouse, and I can tell you there is more blooming in there than meets the eye.’ Jalila placed a palm against his forehead and Ringbalin was overwhelmed, but lost his compulsion to pull away and completely surrendered.

  ‘What the —’ Mythric was about to protest, but Taren’s frown dissuaded him.

  When she removed her hand, Jalila pulled back, biting her lip, hopeful.

  Ringbalin opened his eyes, appearing sedated. But given a moment to process, he was suddenly amazed. ‘She really said all those things?’ he asked Jalila, who nodded, brows raised to confirm.

  ‘But I wasn’t even there to influence her!’ Ringbalin’s excitement suddenly snowballed.

  ‘That’s right.’ Jalila grinned.

  ‘So that means … she —’ Ringbalin choked on the revelation.

  ‘You got it.’ Jalila winked, stood, and backed up to motion to the plant. ‘You might want to try that again.’

  ‘Oh, my goodness!’ The young man could barely contain his excitement and cupped his hands around the failing sapling. It greened within moments. ‘I’m back!’

  ‘Thank our lucky stars!’ Taren looked to Jalila and smiled in gratitude for a good deed well played.

  Jalila shrugged off her sacrifice. ‘There’s plenty more fish in the sea.’ Her mournful intonation betrayed her true feelings on the matter, and she returned to her team.

  Taren felt they both knew Ringbalin was one of a kind.

  ‘Be careful out there,’ Taren warned. ‘We still don’t know where Prochazka is.’

  ‘Duly noted,’ Telmo concurred. ‘We shall be cautious.’ He joined hands with his team and the four of them disappeared.

  ‘Okay, Ringbalin is operational.’ Mythric appealed, ‘Can we go in now?’

  Taren opened her mouth to reply, when Zeven and his crew reappeared with Prochazka’s lieutenant in tow.

  ‘Have you lost your mind?’ Mythric objected to the Valourean’s presence.

  ‘She’s on our side,’ Jazmay declared, putting Fari down.

  ‘Thank goodness you found him!’ Taren was pleased to see the boy.

  ‘Prochazka’s ship has returned,’ advised the Valourean newcomer. ‘She has sent Valoureans to shut down power in the vault and ordered me to clean up the mess in the throne room.’

  ‘Mess?’ Mythric, offended, grabbed the Valourean by the arm and hauled her over to the workstation, so she could see for herself what that mess was.

  Upon laying sight on the dead woman, she gasped. ‘That is the Princess Satomi? But how can that be? Where is the Qusay-Sabah Clarona?’

  ‘In the vault,’ Taren enlightened.

  The lieutenant’s eyes boggled. ‘But the general is completely devoted to Phemoria. Why would she do this?’

  ‘Where is she now?’ Lucian felt was the more pertinent question.

  ‘She said she had some other business to attend, but would not expand on those details,’ Lieutenant Paturi relayed.

  ‘And all the curses will be with her,’ Taren uttered aside to the captain. ‘If she combines —’

  ‘No one of us is going to be able to take on Prochazka and three curses.’ The captain knew her too well. ‘Let’s deal with one crisis at a time.’

  ‘What’s with the feral?’ Swithin pointed to the kitten Aurora was struggling to keep in her arms.

  ‘That’s my daughter, if you don’t mind,’ Zeven bantered, as the kitten got its way and jumped to the floor to go scampering off to Khalid.

  To avoid the kitten clawing its way up his trousers, Khalid picked her up and she settled in his arms.

  ‘That’s it!’ Mythric moved to retrieve his granddaughter, who hissed at his intention.

  ‘Leave her!’ Zeven demanded. ‘She’s safer with him than anyone.’

  Mythric turned on Zeven, and had Ringbalin not stepped in between the two, Taren would have had an all-in brawl on her hands; but the healer was generating so much good will, the men both took a step back.

  ‘Satomi.’ He reminded them both of where they should be focusing their energy.

  Taren changed into the attire of a Valourean with a thought, along with heavy make-up to aid disguising her appearance and Jazmay followed suit.

  ‘Has Prochazka said anything to you about a new weapon?’ Taren queried.

  ‘No, nothing,’ the lieutenant claimed.

  ‘That could be a lie.’ Swithin was dubious.

  ‘Well, we don’t have time to doubt her, so don’t get shot,’ the captain suggested, ‘or pull weapons at all if you don’t have to.’

  Taren and her team nodded to confirm, and fell in behind the lieutenant as she headed to the doors that led to the courtroom of the Qusay of Phemoria.

  The captain headed over to view the live feed from the courtroom on the monitor. ‘Let’s just hope
that they can get Satomi back here with a minimum of fuss, or we’ll be seeing a whole lot more Valourean uniforms.’

  Telmo’s company were alarmed to find themselves standing before a huge, elaborate set of ancient vault-like doors with nowhere to hide as ten Valoureans turned their sights their way.

  ‘This is his idea of being cautious?’

  Telmo picked up on Jalila’s distress; clearly she felt overexposed. ‘Don’t mind us,’ instructed Telmo, projecting the suggestion that he was General Prochazka to the guards. ‘Eyes front and centre, if you please.’

  When the guards immediately responded to Telmo’s instruction, Kalayna and Trance were both gobsmacked, but Jalila as a telepathist picked up on his game and smiled, knowing the guards saw them as fellow Valoureans.

  ‘I need to learn that trick,’ commented Reggie as they proceeded to the door unobstructed. The hacktivist had stayed in possession of Trance’s body for the mission, as the moment he vacated, Trance would lose consciousness.

  ‘Just call him General,’ Jalila uttered aside quietly to Trance, as they proceeded to the door. ‘That’s who they think he is right now.’

  ‘Skills!’ Reggie admitted he was impressed as Telmo observed the locking mechanism on the vault.

  ‘An impressionist too; you have many talents.’ Jalila’s sights turned to Telmo, who was rather more rugged-looking than Ringbalin, but rather like him.

  ‘When I first learned, it was known as a glamour,’ he advised pulling out the ring Taren had given him and inserting the signet head into the centre of the ornate lock. He turned it clockwise and a loud chink made Kalayna and Trance flinch, as they still felt rather exposed.

  ‘Relax, will you please,’ he said.

  When Telmo removed the ring, the large metal doors of the vault opened inwards to a grandiose, vaulted stone arched hallway.

  ‘Oh my fucking stars,’ uttered Reggie, as pools of oil at the bases of each pillared arch burst into flame in consecutive order, all the way down the long hall.

  Kalayna looked to Telmo and Jalila, completely lost for words.

  But eager to have a steel door between them and the Qusay’s guard, Telmo took hold of her arm and guided Kalayna quickly inside after Reggie and Jalila. Once the ring he was holding entered the hallway the doors began to close.