by Cherry Adair
Three satellites out of orbit. Three satellites heading for Russia. Three satellites that could be carrying weapons of mass destruction right now. If that was the plan, then Europe as they knew it could be destroyed at the press of a remote control button.
His cell phone vibrated from the holder on his belt. Serena. He flipped it open. Lark. “Now?”
As soon as he’d ID’d the caller, he instantly went into mental battle mode. This wasn’t the best time for a Wizard Council Test, but nobody was asking him. Test Two. Although it surprised him that Lark would give him a heads up.
“That’d be cheating. Don’t be so eager, Hot Edge,” she said lightly. “Test Two will be here before you know it. Where are you?”
“T-FLAC HQ.”
“Ah, a hop and a skip away then. Gabriel wants to see you. Twenty-thirty sharp. He’s convened an emergency, psi/spec ops meeting. Levels one and two. See you there in an hour.” She disconnected as she always did when she was done giving instructions.
“Problems,” Landis guessed as Duncan put the phone away.
“Sounds like. My brother Gabriel just convened a level one and two meeting.” Landis was a three.
“Schpotistan is up,” Juanita told Duncan. Their own satellite was now in orbit thirty-six thousand kilometers above Siberia, and would reveal millimeter-scale elevation shifts across a wide area of land. What hadn’t Serena told him about what the Foundation was doing there?
“What now?” Frowning with worry, Landis slid off the edge of the desk. “Fuck! Think another one of us was killed?”
One emergency at a time, Duncan thought as he held up a hand for the other man to hold that thought. “Juanita? Hand off whatever else you were working on. Concentrate on this. I want to know if any other sats are out of their regular orbits. See if we have any more moving into place where they don’t belong. Everybody. No matter who or what their affiliation, we’ve got to identify it and track them.
“Everybody up there,” he repeated. “Including the U.S. Air Force’s DSP and SEWS.” The Air Force’s Defense Support Program, and their Satellite Early Warning System were the United States’s early warning against attacks from the bad guys, but he was leaving no stone unturned.
She didn’t glance up, nor did her fingers stop tapping on the keyboard as she absorbed the info. “There are twenty-five hundred satellites currently orbiting the Earth. Not to mention thousands of other artificial objects.”
“Only two thousand, four hundred, and ninety-seven satellites to go, then,” he told her dryly. “And put this infrared sat com view up on another screen. Closely monitor the Foundation building twenty-four/seven.”
“But I thought we agreed that Red Mantis wasn’t behind the attack on the two of you at the warehouse,” Landis said.
“My gut is telling me something different.”
Serena was one of those heat sources moving about inside that building. He might be wrong in thinking the movements of the satellites had any correlation to her project. Nevertheless, he was going to keep an eye on what was happening in Schpotistan until he was sure it wasn’t.
“I’ll need five people on my team,” Salazar agreed without expression. “Starting immediately.”
“Done. Keep me posted on even the smallest anomaly.”
“You got it.”
Duncan motioned Landis to accompany him to the elevators. “What makes you think that Gabriel’s meeting might have something to do with the wizard killings? Have you heard from Hart and Brown?” Each had formed a team and were assigned to the wizard murders. All in all T-FLAC, as well as T-FLAC/psi, had upward of fifty people searching for clues, gathering information, and bringing it back to HQ to their analysts and profilers. The fact that someone was strong enough to get past not just one, but two high-level wizards to kill them was chilling.
“Haven’t found anything yet. But we will. I guarantee you that. This feels like more than a rogue wizard gone bad to me. You?”
“Yeah,” Landis said as they entered the elevator. They could’ve teleported to the surface. But they couldn’t talk while shimmering. “We’re missing something big here. A motive would help.”
Duncan pressed the up button, and the doors slid closed, blocking out the bright lights and low hum of Op/Tech Support. “Slayings were grisly and graphic. Some sick son of a bitch is enjoying his work too fucking much. See if you can give me anything new in”—he glanced at his watch, “forty minutes.”
Thirty-five of which he’d use to pay Serena a visit in Siberia.
Serena shut the common room door behind her and stepped into the frigid hall. She immediately missed the warmth and camaraderie within and was just glad that she’d remembered her coat for the short walk to where Joanna was busy working in the computer lab, too busy to even meet them all for food. It felt good to stretch her legs, she thought as her breath plumed in front of her.
Her skin prickled and she slowed her steps.
There’d been no noise, but she knew Duncan was behind her. And it wasn’t her wizard “radar” alone that alerted her to his presence, but an acute sensitivity to the man himself. Her body tensed with immediate desire. Anyone walking out of one of the doors leading off this corridor could see them. She didn’t care.
She turned her head and felt her smile bloom from deep inside seeing Duncan a few feet away. God, he looked wonderful. He’d changed into jeans and a T-shirt that showed off his masculine torso and turned casual into deliciously sexy.
A puff of white air escaped from her mouth and it amused her no end. It was too freaking cold in the unheated corridor to be this hot. But just looking at this man made her feel hot and shivery all over.
He probably wasn’t even chilled without a coat, and she enjoyed the view. They’d only parted in Germany a few hours ago, yet seeing him now made her heart knock, and an aching longing well up deep inside her.
How foolish to feel tongue-tied after all these years. Especially after, or perhaps because of, what they’d recently shared. It was wrong, and she knew it, which would explain her incredible response to him. If Nairne had felt this way about Magnus five hundred years ago it was no wonder she’d cursed the man after he’d dumped her.
“Hi,” she managed in a husky voice, vividly remembering the feel of his hands on her skin.
Unsmiling, Duncan had no problem with communication. His eyes, despite the brilliant overhead lighting, were pools of shadow as he closed the space between them and thrust his fingers into her hair. Cupping her skull, he tilted her face up to his.
“What’s in there?” He jerked his chin toward a nearby door.
“Janit—”
The supply closet smelled faintly of industrial-strength cleaner, and was cool and dark. Duncan’s lips were hot and hungry. Her immediate response was a sigh of pure pleasure as his mouth opened over hers. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she stood up on her toes to get even closer to the delicious heat of him. Vaguely she noticed the disappearance of her thick coat, but she wasn’t cold. Not in Duncan’s arms. Sweet shivers rippled across her skin as he made love to her mouth with a ferocity that felt almost like desperation. Serena knew the feeling.
He sucked on her tongue, mimicking a far more intimate act. Her pulse hammered through her veins as he palmed her breast through her cashmere sweater. Her nipples were already hard and aching for his touch, and when he gently squeezed one between his fingers, she moaned. She felt a tremor of intense desire going through his large body as her tongue glided around his. More. More. More. She rubbed her hips against the hardness of his erection as she sampled the fascinating textures inside his mouth, the serrations of his teeth, the slick wetness of his tongue, the sensual softness on the other side of his lips.
Serena feasted on his mouth like a starving woman, while Duncan slid his hands down her hips and around to cup her behind in the hard grip of his fingers. He lifted her slightly, rubbing her against his erection a lot harder than she’d been doing moments before.
Wet, di
zzy with lust, she whimpered. The taste, the texture, the smell of him, made her want to climb his body and beg him to take her right there in the janitor’s closet. Standing up. In the pitch dark. Without a lock on the door. In a room anyone could walk into at any moment. She didn’t care. Her body was melting like hot honey and he was all she could think about. She wanted Duncan to back her against a wall, dematerialize her clothes, and ram into her body. Hard. Over and over and over until they melted to the floor in a puddle of lust. And then she wanted to climb on top of him, and do it all over again. And even then she knew she’d never get enough of him.
Feeling the staccato beat of his heart against her breast, Serena came up for a gasp of air. Every cell in her body pulsed and throbbed with need. “I want you,” she whispered roughly against his damp mouth. “Here. Now.”
“Hold that thought, sweetheart,” he said regretfully, his voice thick. “I’m not taking you in a broom closet.”
She moved her lips just far enough away to speak. His body, hard and aroused, was flush against hers. She liked it that way. “What are you doing here?” she whispered in the darkness. Arms still around his neck, she ran her fingers gently over his ear, learning the shape and texture.
He nibbled her chin. “I was just in the neighborhood.”
“On the way to where?” She smiled as his mouth trailed like a promise up her cheek. “The Arctic Circle?” She tilted her head so he could kiss the cords in her neck.
He used his teeth to scrape a sensual path up to her ear, making her shudder. “Gabriel’s.”
She could hardly breathe, let alone speak or think. “W-weren’t you already in Montana?” That was where he’d told her the headquarters of the counterterrorist organization he worked for was located.
“Had forty-five minutes to kill. Want to use them all chatting?”
Not just no. But hell no. Hard. Fast. Now. Apparently that was her new mantra. “I hope you don’t expect to just show up for a quickie whenever you feel like it,” she told him coolly, nipping his lip.
His eyebrows went up. “You mean that was an option?”
Serena kissed him before answering. Yes. “No.” She loved teasing him. She loved the repartee. She loved the challenge. She loved—having sex with him, she thought, shying away from a word that could never, ever, be in her vocabulary in the same sentence as the name Duncan Edge.
“Damn. That’s disappointing.” He brushed a lingering kiss on her mouth before withdrawing his hands. He stepped away, leaving her chilled and lost in the darkness and once again wanting his coat. “Gabriel just called a level one and two meeting,” he told her briskly.
Banking the sensual fire that was blazing inside her body, just so she could think, Serena knew that if Duncan’s older brother had called a meeting, he had good cause.
As a level one wizard, she was expected to attend. Damn. This couldn’t have come at a more inconvenient time. Something was going on with Joanna, and Serena couldn’t ignore it. The woman had lost weight, and developed circles beneath her eyes. If Joanna was on her way to a meltdown, then it was Serena’s job to stop her, no matter what. Joanna was too important to this project. As in key.
Especially since the other woman had explained how they could harness energy from a satellite to power the thermal blanket. Things were finally moving forward again. The panels of thermal material were at this moment loaded, and en route on the Siberian railroad headed for the test location ten miles away.
Serena rubbed her thumb pad over the crisp hair on Duncan’s forearm. “This isn’t a good time for me to be away, the thermal blanket will be here in a couple of hours, and there are a million things my team needs my help with. Won’t there be enough wizards in attendance to make my being there irrelevant? Could you ask him to excuse me, this once?”
Duncan touched her shoulder. “You want to be Master Wizard, don’t you? That means showing up at all the meetings. Unless you want to concede your position.”
The sensual fire snuffed out. “I didn’t say I wanted to concede. But this project is at a serious crossroads. Making this work will mean the difference between life and death for millions of people.” A mop flew off the wall. Damn it.
“I’m not belittling that, Serena.” He caught the mop in midair and sent it back to the rack on the wall. “I know how important what you’re doing is—but this meeting is important, too. Gabriel wouldn’t call it if it wasn’t. I’d like you to come. It’ll just take an hour, and I’d feel better knowing…”
Her bullshit-o-meter made a faint mental clink. “Knowing?”
“I’d just like you to come.”
This had nothing to do with sex. Nothing to do with Duncan feeling lovey-dovey and wanting her by his side. He was up to something. What?
“I wish I could.” She tried to figure his angle. Because, knowing Duncan, there was one. Either he wanted her in Montana for—? Or he wanted her away from Schpotistan. Why? Or he wanted to keep an eye on her—because? She had no clue. She magically turned on the light, wanting to read the expression on his handsome, conniving face.
She blinked into the sudden brightness. “But I can’t. I have to pick the millions over the few, and I hope the Council will understand. Send my regrets.”
“Damn it, Fury, I—”
“Have an important meeting to attend,” Lark finished for him as she suddenly materialized between them, making the small janitorial space even smaller. “Hello, Serena.”
The other woman was dressed all in black, the soft fabric of her skirts fluttering around long, black, patent leather boots with impossibly high heels. She didn’t look surprised to find them in a closet.
“Hi,” Serena shifted to give Lark a little more room. “I was just—”
“Telling Hot Edge that you couldn’t make the meeting. Totally cool.” Lark glanced at Duncan through kohl-rimmed eyes. “Let’s go.”
Duncan’s mouth tightened. “Don’t interfere, Lark. Serena needs to stick close to me.”
“How sweet. But not at the moment.” Lark took his upper arm in a firm grip and they vanished.
Serena shook her head and smiled, grateful for the reprieve. “Thanks for coming, y’all,” she said mockingly. Pushing open the door, she headed in the direction she’d been going before she’d been so warmly interrupted.
She was a selfish, horrible mother, Joanna knew. Her beloved son was God only knew where, and yet here she was, plain, responsible, save-the-world Joanna, lying in bed with her lover instead of being out there herself, searching under every rock until she found her baby.
She was a poor excuse as a colleague as well. Henry was a man she respected enormously. He’d been her mentor. He was brilliant and kind, and had given her the opportunity to be an integral part of the Campbell Foundation straight out of MIT. He’d also introduced her to Serena, a woman Joanna considered a friend as well as a boss.
Yet she couldn’t even conjure up enough emotion to feel terrified for the safety of Casey, or guilty for not going to see Henry. She frowned. She didn’t even really have the enthusiasm to care that she didn’t care.
Maybe she was beyond clinical depression and the only thing to do was have more sex with Grant.
“Have you been to see your boss yet?” Grant’s question came out in a laid-back way, as satiated-sounding as she felt. He lay beside her, smoking a thin, smelly French cigarette, with the saucer he used as an ashtray balanced on his flat stomach. Joanna wanted to tell him to put the cigarette out, but it was just too much effort.
She’d had more sex in the last few months than she’d had in her entire life. “He’s in Germany,” she pointed out lazily, stroking his calf with her foot. It was early afternoon, and instead of being downstairs diligently working to pull this project together, she was up in her room. Drinking wine and having sex with her lover. Her lips curled down. What was her world coming to?
“We could teleport together,” he offered, taking a drag and blowing out a cloud of thick smoke. “I don’t want you
to go alone, darling.”
If she went alone, and somehow another wizard discovered that she’d teleported, there would be a lot of questions asked, Joanna knew. Grant would get into a great deal of trouble with the Council if it was discovered that he’d gifted her with extra powers. Halves couldn’t teleport. Besides being nervous that someone would catch her doing it, shimmering gave her a headache. It was an acquired skill.
The fact that Grant had given her the power was sweet and loving. And was another small sign of how much they loved one another. The trust they shared.
Her stomach tensed as she remembered going back in to speak with Henry, once she’d realized that she didn’t have a vital bit of technical information for the thermal blanket. Henry frequently forgot to document his work, and it was common for one of them to have to ask him for something they needed.
Just as she’d been asking Henry for the information, he’d collapsed. It had frightened her on more than one level.
The kidnappers wanted the technology for the thermal blanket in exchange for her son’s life. And by God she was going to give them what they wanted. A rare surge of emotion made her lightheaded, or maybe it was the stink of the cigarette.
“There’s nothing I can do for Henry.” She swung her legs over the side of the bed and slipped on a flannel robe. “The person I want to see is Casey.”
Grant blew out a smoke ring. “I know. Believe me, I want your son to be safe, just as much as you do.”
Her heart ached as she heard the sincerity in his voice. “The thermal blanket will be here first thing in the morning.” She crossed to a small table to pour herself another half glass of wine. Grant’s dark suit hung on the outside of her closet door. He was very particular about his clothing. She picked a speck of lint off his pale yellow shirt and said over her shoulder, “Henry would want me to be here to oversee the placement. More important, I don’t want to take the chance of missing a call.”