After completing a quick sweep of the rest of house, Steve joined Ken in the living room, where he’d just finished tying and gagging the four military men.
“I’ve called in some of my people. They should be here in a few minutes to collect our friends here.” Ken didn’t look anything like the blubbering loser that Steve had seen earlier. In fact, he looked a lot like the SEALs he used to work with.
“That was a nice act you put on back there.”
“Yeah, whatever gets the job done,” Ken said with a grin.
“Speaking of which… what exactly is your job? And why are you looking for me?”
Ken turned to Steve and held out his right hand. “Ken Hodges. Omega Group. Your wife sent me to collect you. Your daughter is with her.”
Steve just stood there, dumfounded, dropping the stranger’s hand mid-shake.
“I know all of this…” Ken waved his hands at the hogtied soldiers on the floor, “is a lot to take in, but we really need to go. I’ll keep an eye on our guests while you pack a few things for yourself and your daughter. It might be a while before you can get back here so make sure you get everything you need, but hurry. These guys work for one scary group and we don’t want to be here when they come looking for them.”
Steve walked stiffly up the stairs to his bedroom. He grabbed an old suitcase from the closet and threw in whatever clothes were easiest to grab. Then he went to his bathroom to get his toothbrush and deodorant. He laughed when he thought about what Myrine would have said about the way he’d just packed. He’d better take more care with Mirissa’s stuff.
Within a few minutes, Steve and Ken were walking out the door and the cleanup crew was walking in. It occurred to Steve at that moment how strange his life was. He’d taken out a military strike team in his home with some guy he’d never met. His superhero daughter, whom he’d feared was dead only a few minutes ago, was now in the care of his superhero wife, who had disappeared twelve years ago. And now he was on his way to reunite with them both. Perhaps he should have gotten a haircut, or put on some cologne, or at least nicer clothes.
“Most guys wouldn’t be smiling like that after what just happened,” said a slightly confused Ken.
“Well,” Steve said, adding a bounce to his step, “I’m not most guys.”
Chapter 17
Mirissa sat quietly for the rest of the drive to the safe house, pondering what her mother had told her. She had mistakenly thought that all of the weirdness in the last year of her life—and there’d been plenty of it—was the only weirdness she’d be dealing with. Now, according to her mother, she was the target for a really, really bad guy, and she was a super-special warrior that would lead an army in some major battle to save the world. And, oh yeah, somehow, unbeknownst to her, she had magical powers.
No big deal. Not!
Giving up on making any sense of the day’s revelations, Mirissa looked out the window and took in the beauty of the Jacksonville Beach residential neighborhood they were driving through. They were on Duval Drive, a very wealthy street located right off the beach and only a mile away from the famous Ponte Vedra golf club. The houses were huge and Mirissa could just imagine the rich people that were sauntering around inside.
Before she could ask what they were doing in this neighborhood, Mirissa’s mother pulled into the driveway of a nice ranch style house. Definitely not of the same caliber as the other houses that lined this street, but still impressive, if for no other reason than its location. There was a car already parked in the spot closest to the front door, so Myrine pulled in behind it, checking her watch.
“It looks like some of my team is already here. The others should be arriving shortly.”
“Your safe house looks like a regular home,” Mirissa said, admiring the area.
Myrine smiled and said, “The Omega Group purchased it five years ago through several layers of shell companies to hide our connection to it. Cameras and motion sensors are hidden throughout the trees and landscaping. Bulletproof glass replaced the original windows and all of the exterior doors and their frames contain solid steel lining. An escape tunnel runs from underneath a hidden hatch in the kitchen pantry floor, alongside the deep end of the pool, and exits on the other side of a rock outcropping near the beach.
“Most of the work was easily concealed as standard remodeling or landscaping work, something that happens a lot in this neighborhood. The tunnel proved to be a little more difficult. Digging so near to the ocean meant that the work could only proceed during low tide, and even then several pumps were required to remove water. Quick drying cement was sprayed on the floors, ceiling and walls immediately after digging to keep the rising tide from flooding their work. At the next low tide, the cement would be blown away at the end of the tunnel, and digging would continue. It took months to complete, but it was well worth it, because, no matter how secure the house is, the assumption has to be made that someone will figure out a way to breach it and if that happens, we need a way out.”
Mirissa grabbed the duffel from the back seat. Myrine lead her daughter to the door, stopping when she heard the telltale rumble of a motorcycle. A slight smile graced her face as she waited for the rider to pull in.
“Perfect timing,” Myrine said as Mirissa’s dream motorcycle came to a stop beside their car. It was a cherry red Ducati 1199 Panigale. A bike that, with an almost 200 horsepower engine, could outrun pretty much everything else on two or four wheels.
The driver stepped gracefully off the bike, removing the matching cherry red helmet, and Mirissa couldn’t believe her eyes.
“Asteria?”
Shaking out her long blonde hair, Asteria looked at Mirissa with a broad smile.
“Hey, girl. Glad you finally made it,” she said, walking over and giving Mirissa the hug of a long-lost friend.
“What are you doing here?” Mirissa asked as she struggled to put a puzzle together that was maddeningly missing most of its pieces.
“I’ll explain everything,” Myrine interrupted, “once everyone is here.”
Entering the house, Asteria made her way directly to the large living room, throwing her black leather jacket over the back of an armchair, and plopping herself down on the white, overstuffed, sectional sofa. She grabbed a complicated looking remote and turned on the sixty-inch flat screen TV that was mounted above the fireplace. The sounds of the laugh track from the Big Bang Theory rerun that was playing wafted out of the surround sound speakers strategically placed throughout the room.
Mirissa followed her mother into a kitchen that Wolfgang Puck would be comfortable in. Standing beside a stainless steel refrigerator that looked big enough to hold food for an entire football team, Jackie Barns, AKA Barbie, finished off the last bite of a sandwich before nodding a greeting to Mirissa. Two men that had been standing off to the side broke off their conversation and came over to introduce themselves.
“I’m Carter,” the one that looked Native American said. “It’s nice to finally meet you.” Carter was about an inch taller than Mirissa and had long straight black hair pulled back into a ponytail. His dark eyes narrowed as he gave her the once over.
Mirissa shook his hand, then the other guy, a shorter Asian man who introduced himself as Han, captured her attention. His hair was short, cropped close to his head, and he had an easy smile that immediately put her at ease.
“Where is everyone else?” Myrine asked without preamble.
Jackie answered in her usual no-nonsense tone. “Julian and his team are up and running at Safe House Alpha and are continuing their work there. Myrick is still gathering supplies but should be here within a couple of hours. Orano and Beck are en route from Greece, but they won’t arrive until sometime after midnight. Phoenix should be arriving shortly after that. Ken is on his way right now with your husband and should be here in about fifteen minutes. They ran into a little trouble, but nothing they couldn’t handle.”
Mirissa snapped back to attention after drifting off during Jackie’s rep
ort of team members she didn’t know. “Trouble? What happened? Is Dad all right?”
“Don’t worry,” Jackie reassured her. “They came across some unexpected visitors at your house, but they handled it. The clean-up crew is there now.”
Mirissa didn’t know whether to feel relieved or angry. She was tired of being kept in the dark about things that obviously affected her and was reaching the limit of her already stretched patience. At least, with Greco, she always knew what was going on. He wasn’t a great conversationalist, sure, but he hadn’t kept secrets from her, and he would never make her feel like an outsider.
“I need to talk to Greco,” Mirissa said.
“Greco?” Myrine’s eyebrows shot up in shock. “Your Guardian is Greco? What the hell were they thinking?”
Great, Mirissa thought, something else she didn’t know. An exasperated huff escaped her as she stared down her mother. “Yes, Greco is my Guardian. What of it?”
“It’s, uh, nothing, sweetheart.” Myrine tried to recover. “It’s just that… never mind. We can talk about that later. For now we have more important things to do.”
Mirissa’s tenuous hold over her temper broke like a cracked dam during flood season. She felt the heat rising in her cheeks and for a moment her vision blurred. Her fists, clenched tightly at her sides since hearing about the “trouble” her father had run in to, began to shake. Her ring heated to the point of being painful and started to grow, wrapping its snake around her arm. When the head reached her shoulder, its red eyes glowed brightly and Mirissa’s vision changed instantly. The room, blurry only a moment before, took on a focus like she had never seen before. It was as though her eyes suddenly became high definition receivers and there was nothing that she couldn’t see. It was amazing.
Myrine’s face appeared only inches from her own, holding her shoulders asking her to calm down. Mirissa could see every tiny speck of color in her mother’s eyes, every pore in her skin. Sweat was starting to form on Myrine’s brow and she showed, for the second time that day, real fear.
Mirissa tried to get herself under control, but her mind and body were on full alert. This must be what a shot of adrenalin feels like, she thought.
“Center yourself,” Myrine commanded.
She took a few long, deep breaths, trying to rein in whatever it was that was happening to her. Her heart was pounding in her chest and her skin tingled with electricity. Get control of yourself.
The glassware and dishes started shaking in their cupboards while a picture frame hanging above the sink came crashing down. The walls around her seemed to expand and contract with every breath she took and the air in the room filled with the electricity flowing from her.
Terror consumed Mirissa as she looked from one person to the next, hoping to find an answer, but only seeing fear. The tiny hairs on their arms were standing on end, and Carter, a smiling, statuesque man only moments before, was hunched over and howling with his fists in his hair. She was hurting him, but she couldn’t stop. Han put his arm around his friend’s shoulders, but Carter reared up and threw him into the wall. When Han hit, instead of bouncing off and falling to the floor, he went right through it. Not breaking through from the force of Carter’s throw, but flying through, as though the wall didn’t even exist. One minute he was in the room and the next he wasn’t, and the wall was still fully intact.
Mirissa clenched her eyes closed, trying to shut out what she was seeing and feeling and gain some control. She heard the front door open and close, then a moment later Greco came crashing into the kitchen. He put his hands on her cheeks and spoke softly, his face only inches away from hers.
“You’re okay, I’m right here. There is no threat, Mirissa. You are among friends. Let the power drain from you. You don’t need it right now.”
Mirissa opened her eyes and saw Greco staring at her. She breathed deeply, in time with her guardian, focusing solely on his gaze, and felt her heart slow down. The electricity in her skin dulled and then disappeared completely. The dishes were no longer quaking; her vision returned to normal and the snake slowly unwound itself from her arm before finding its resting place on her now normal-sized ring.
“I’m sorry,” Mirissa said. “I don’t know what happened.” She looked at Carter and found him stretching his neck, tilting his head from side to side. His fingers slowly unclenched and the veins in his neck receded. Whatever she had done to him, there didn’t appear to be any permanent damage.
The sliding glass door that led to the pool area in the back yard opened and Han walked through into the kitchen, smiling as though nothing unusual had happened.
Chapter 18
“What was that all about?” Mirissa was sitting cross-legged beside Asteria on the sectional sofa where they had taken her after her episode.
Greco pulled one of the armchairs forward so he was seated directly in front of her. “I see you finally connected with your ring. I’m sorry I wasn’t here to guide you through it.”
“I don’t understand. I’ve never felt anything like that before. It was as though every one of my senses was magnified and I was radiating… I don’t know what.” Mirissa knew she wasn’t describing it properly, but words just didn’t do the experience justice.
“You’re evolving, sweetheart.” Myrine moved to sit at her side and reached out to hold her hand. “This is part of who you are, part of the power I told you about earlier. This kind of evolution should take time, years even, to manifest itself, but your ring is taking you through it much quicker than I had anticipated. It must have a reason.”
“So, this happens to you, too?” Mirissa asked, feeling a little less isolated at the prospect.
“No. All Amazons have a connection to their rings. It’s what allows us to go to Tritonia and how the ring becomes a weapon and protects us. For you, the connection is much deeper. It is a part of you and it’s helping you become the warrior you are destined to be.”
“But what about Carter and Han? I did something to them.”
Myrine gave a sympathetic smile to her daughter and explained. “No, sweetheart, you didn’t do anything to them. This isn’t exactly how I’d planned on introducing you to all of this, but basically, your power unleashed theirs. You see, they, like many of our group, are preternatural beings—humans with exceptional abilities. Carter is a werewolf; he can shape shift into a wolf whenever he chooses. Han can change his molecular structure to allow him to pass through solid objects. We all have special abilities and we use them to fight evil.”
“Really? So, what can Barbie do?” Mirissa asked.
“Jackie,” Myrine stressed the name, “is one of our government liaisons. She and Ken are highly trained operatives and they play a large role in our missions, but neither of them have preternatural abilities.”
Mirissa gave her mother a puzzled look, and Myrine continued. “Amazons have been fighting Kakodaemons for over two thousand years. But, as I told you earlier, Kakos aren’t the only threat out there. There are a number of other beings in this world that are just as lethal, and there are also a number of other beings like us that fight them. For thousands of years, we fought our demons, so to speak, separately, without even knowing each other existed. That all changed a little over a decade ago when a demi-god named Daedric came on to the scene. He united many of the preternatural forces of evil, and now he leads them like a general would his army.”
“So,” Mirissa said, “when the bad guys joined forces, all of you did, too.”
“Basically, yes. The Director of the CIA, Robert Finley, approached me shortly after I left you and your father. He was surprisingly well informed about the Amazons and our plight against the Kakos. He told me about the other groups like ours and about the evils they fought. He also told me about Daedric. Intelligence agencies worldwide had been keeping an eye on the preternaturals in their respective countries, and when Daedric took over, they knew something had to be done. No government, not even ours, has the ability to fight a demi-god and his army, so t
hey hatched a plan.
“For the first time in history, all of the major world governments came together to build a new agency—one that worked outside of the confines of any government but had the funding and support of all of them. I was recruited to build that agency. With Director Finley’s help, and that of his counterparts worldwide, representatives from various preternatural groups throughout the world that fought for good were brought together to form Omega Group.”
When the front door opened this time, it was Ken who entered, followed by Mirissa’s father. She immediately jumped up from the couch, momentarily putting all thoughts of magical beings and secret government agencies aside, and rushed over to put her arms around him. Steve held her tight for several minutes and whispered, “Thank God you’re all right.”
“You, too,” Mirissa said. “Is Henry OK?”
Steve chuckled before answering. He looked her in the eye, placed his hands on either side of her face and said, “Yes, sweetheart. Henry is just fine.” Then he looked over her shoulder and into the eyes of the woman he loved.
Mirissa could feel the tension in her father’s body and knew immediately what was causing it. Despite her desperate need to be in his arms, she pulled away to allow him to go to her mother.
The silence in the room was deafening. One by one the other occupants of the house found something that they needed to do in another room, until it was just the three of them—Mirissa’s family.
Steve walked slowly toward Myrine, as though he feared her an apparition that could dissipate at any moment. Their eyes were locked on to each other and a myriad of emotions played across their faces—longing, fear, sadness, and a whole lot of love. When they were toe-to-toe, Steve swept his wife up into his arms and kissed her with a passion that Mirissa had only read about in the trashy romance novels she secretly loved.
Crossfire (Book 1) (The Omega Group) Page 8