by Lucy Kelly
“I’m so happy I have you both,” she said, hugging him, and then reaching a hand to Nyal.
“Do you think you can sleep now? We’re getting up early to drive to The Sanctuary tomorrow,” Nyal reminded her.
“Yes, you take such good care of me. I’ll only think of you both for the rest of the night. Especially if someone promises to make French toast for breakfast,” she added with a giggle.
Nyal pulled up the covers and Becky spooned him, her hands reaching around until she felt his heartbeat beneath her palm. Ishme then spooned her and he too, reached around until he slipped a hand between her breasts. Minutes later they were all sound asleep.
*****
Early the next morning, after eating the requested breakfast, they got in their van and headed north. Becky had completed new identities for a woman named Martha and her two children. Her abusive husband was now dead. Unfortunately, he had come from money and his parents, who were just as bad as their son, were attempting to take away her children.
They didn’t want the children, they had already arranged for the three and four-year-old girls to go to boarding schools. They just wanted to punish the woman they blamed for the death of their abusive, alcoholic son. Becky had made them completely clean new identities with a history going back generations.
Sarah had trained Martha to work online. They’d gotten her a job where she could work from home, and take care of her two little girls at the same time. Becky would give her a few days to learn her new identity, and then Martha and her little ones would be moving to a small town in Idaho. She could live inexpensively and raise her girls in a nice town. Becky had researched everyone in the town and believed it wouldn’t take very long before Martha met and married again. The police chief was the right age, as well as two ranchers in the area. The men in town outnumbered the women almost two to one.
Becky and Sarah were thinking of sending one or two other women out that way. They were women like Martha—strong, and recovering nicely from the guilt and shame of having been in an abusive relationship. They were ready for something better.
Becky played on her laptop while Ishme and Nyal took care of the driving. She didn’t like driving in snowy conditions. Even though it was now late March, they had been experiencing a long, cold winter this year. Finally, a couple of hours after lunch, they pulled through the gates of The Sanctuary.
““I know it’s officially spring, I just wish the weather would cooperate with the calendar. It’s freakin' April and I am so tired of snow,” said Becky as she wrapped a scarf around her neck and pulled on gloves. They stepped out of the van, and started walking up the shoveled walkway to the main building.
“The area where we grew up doesn’t have snow. So Nyal and I have been enjoying the change. However, after so many months of cold temperatures, I will admit warmer weather would be nice,” said Ishme.
“Well, I suppose we could take a vacation. I’d like to go to Disney World. The baby isn't due until September. The belly is barely even showing yet," she lied as they trudged along the path. She wasn’t ready to admit she might be carrying more than one baby. Becky was still in denial and everyone was letting her get away with it, for now. "That might bring back the morning sickness, though. We could always head south of the border. Would you like to visit Mexico…or Puerto Rico?” Becky asked.
They still hadn’t decided on a name for the baby, so Becky always referred to her as the bump or the belly. She was really happy she hadn’t gotten pregnant until she’d joined with her guys on the space station. The hospitals were going to be really crowded with the mini baby boom Addie had caused. All the doctors would have a chance to get a quick rest in before she was due.
“If Sarah and Tammy think they can handle things for a few weeks, I think we should do as Becky suggests, and take a vacation. I would like to try wind surfing,” said Nyal.
“Woo-hoo! Warm sunny beaches, here we come!” said Becky as she stepped into the lodge.
Tammy and her Ankida, Markus, were approaching the doors from the hallway and overheard Becky.
“What warm sunny beach are you heading off to? And can I come with?” asked Tammy, on a laugh, as she hugged Becky hello.
The men had learned quickly how to greet each other in the human way. Markus exchanged handclasps and one-armed hugs with Ishme and Nyal. Becky explained about her vacation plans, while Ishme and Nyal drew Markus aside and gave him an update on Becky’s health. Markus had belonged to the medical cluster on HeVan. Now he was their in-house doctor at The Sanctuary. He had taken care of Becky when she came home from her CIA assignment and continued to monitor her progress.
After listening to what they said, Markus went back to where the women were standing, and put his arm around Tammy’s waist. “So, which beach are you planning to visit?” he asked.
“We haven’t decided yet. I wanted to make sure Sarah and Tammy could cover for us. Are you planning to escape the snow this winter?” Becky asked.
“I just found out I’m pregnant a couple of weeks ago. We’re going to wait until the end of the school year―and take Leah and Laura to Disney World. I’m not due until November, so it should be fun. Luckily, no morning sickness yet,” said Tammy.
“I’m certain Markus will make sure you take care of yourself,” said Ishme, causing the women to groan.
Both of them had been putting up with overprotective males during their pregnancies.
“Tammy, I have Martha’s ID package. Do you know where I can find her?” Becky wanted to know.
“She’s either in the computer lab or in the daycare center. As soon as you emailed over her new name and social, we set her up with her new job. She spends about four hours a day in the lab right now. I coordinated with the movers to take her stuff to Idaho next month. We’ve already added in a complete office suite, like a desk computer, and everything she would need to get started,” said Tammy.
“Okay, I’ll poke my head in and see if she’s there. I don’t want to disturb her if she’s working, but I want her to have this information so she and her girls can start learning their new backgrounds. I kept the basics the same, just changed the names and locations. That way, if anyone does a background check, they’ll understand her better when they see she had an abusive husband who died. Only it will look like it all took place in Ohio instead of Illinois,” said Becky.
“You’re a genius! I hope you realize how many lives you’re saving and changing for the better,” said Tammy, with Markus nodding his head in agreement.
“You do a lot too. In fact, you and Sarah have the harder job, the way I see it. I don’t know if I could deal with so many hurt people all the time. I’d get really depressed, I think,” said Becky.
“Actually, it’s the opposite. While we hate what happened to them, we know now that they are with us, things are going to be a thousand times better,” said Tammy.
Becky headed off to find Martha, while the rest of the group went toward the kitchen to grab a snack or some hot chocolate. Because The Sanctuary was so isolated, they had set up a schoolroom for the children currently living there. One of their first rescues was a teacher named Serena Moore. At least now, she was Serena Moore. Instead of leaving, she decided to stay and homeschool the children who were there. When they moved on, they wouldn’t be behind in their studies, in addition to moving to a new place.
Since many of the children were already behind, due to upheavals in their family life, Sarah and her Ankida helped them catch up with the use of nano-patches. They and Markus, especially, worked with any children who had learning disabilities. Markus was able to treat dyslexia and ADHD easily with Nephilim gene therapy. They had to be careful, though, as most of the residents did not know about the Nephilim or HeVan.
After finding Martha and giving her the identity packet, Becky looked for her sister, Sarah. Separated at birth, the two were identical twins. Only Becky dyed a streak of red or purple in her hair, and Sarah stuck to blonde.
Right now, Be
cky wanted to find out how things had worked out with the visiting FBI agent.
Chapter Thirteen
HeVan…
Justyn, Margan, and Trake arrived in the city of Tarsa four days after the attack on the transport. They headed straight to the city’s security building. There was very little crime on HeVan. When crimes did occur, it was the duty of the warrior cluster’s investigators to look into the matter, and bring the lawbreakers to justice. The security building housed the investigators and the local jail. It also held the city’s monitoring equipment.
As part of the planetary defense grid, each sector monitored a portion of the air space, overlapping slightly with other sectors, so there were no blind spots. With the help of orbiting scanners, the solar system where HeVan resided was kept under watch. They also had a forward defense base on their moon and another at their hyperspace gateway.
By using the city scanners, Justyn planned to pinpoint the origin of the blast that had taken out their transport. Then he would go hunting.
After parking the large transport behind the security building, the three warriors went straight inside. Passing through a security checkpoint, they were escorted to the local commander. Justyn’s rank as arbiter meant they would be seen promptly.
The local commander, Jareck, was older with graying hair and a weathered face. Either he hadn’t made use of the available gene therapies or he was indeed an Elder of their race. Justyn gave him the respect he deserved and greeted him as a junior warrior to a senior. He bowed his head once and then held his palms up while reciting the standard promise of service.
“These hands are here to serve,” Justyn said, with Margan and Trake repeating his words from just behind him.
“Well said—and, if you are here for the reason I believe you are, then I shall be pleased to have investigators of your skill,” Jareck answered.
Justyn quirked an eyebrow, asking for more information with just a look.
“There was a transport exploding over the city only a few days ago. I was informed the new Royal Arbiter and her Ankida were aboard the transport when it exploded. You can imagine my surprise when the Nam-Nin's warriors did not immediately descend upon Tarsa. Then, I received another shock when a supposed dead man walks through my door. Can you explain these unusual events?” Jareck asked with mild sarcasm.
“When the Nam-Nin joined with HeVan, her journey was guided by the spirit of Ashnin, the first Nam-Nin of HeVan. One of the gifts she received was for teleportation. She called Grace to her and while she did not join with HeVan, she was also granted gifts, including teleportation. Unfortunately, unlike her sister, she needs to be in physical contact with any person she moves. She saved me and my brother, Jett, and then went back to save her third Ankida, our brother, Jalen,” Justyn said.
The memory of it caused him to stop talking. He stood and walked over to the window.
Margan leaned forward and quietly explained how both Grace and Jalen were alive, but had teleported through the explosion and were badly injured. It was still unknown if they would live. He went on to say Justyn had claimed the right of Mok-Tar. He and his brother had pledged to second him.
Jareck stood from his desk and walked over to where Justyn was standing in front of the window.
“I once took the oath of Mok-Tar. Since I’m here, it means I won my battle. I would be honored to help you bring to justice those who would attack our arbiter, and by doing so, also attack our Nam-Nin. Let us go up to one of the review rooms. We started investigating the explosion as soon as it occurred. I’ll show you what we have discovered so far.”
Justyn finally turned away from the window and looked Jareck in the eyes. He saw resolution there. He had a greater belief in the success of his mission with this warrior by his side. The four of them left the office and, with Jareck leading the way, went to view the accumulated evidence.
It was very hard for Justyn to watch the explosion of his transport on the monitors, knowing both Grace and Jalen had endured part of the first initial blast. He asked the operator of the monitor to play back the recording to when the transport was first hit. They hadn’t had time to look for their attackers; they had been too busy attempting to stay alive.
Now he was able to see their transport had been hit with a low-tech explosive rocket. It hadn’t been strong enough to destroy the transport on contact, but it had done enough damage to eventually lead to the destruction of the craft.
“Have you been able to follow the trajectory of the rocket to its source?” Trake asked the question they most needed to know.
“We don’t monitor the ground so we were only able to track the rocket back until it reached the threshold of our system. However, we were able to extrapolate the launch point from the rocket’s path and felt it was launched from this area,” explained Jareck, as his operator changed the view on the monitor.
They all looked at the map showing the probable location from where the rocket was launched. Like much of HeVan, it was an unpopulated area.
“Did you send out investigators to see if any evidence could be located?” Justyn wanted to know.
“Yes, we did. We found transport tracks but they weren’t in any way unusual. They didn’t help us. We weren’t able to follow them, as the tracks ended when the transport had gone airborne,” explained Jareck.
“I would like to go out and view the area for myself,” Justyn said.
He had a few gadgets his brother, Jett, had invented which they, as arbiters, were unwilling to share at the moment. He hoped one of them would help catch his enemy.
“I’ll provide you with the coordinates,” said Jareck.
After receiving the coordinates, Justyn, Margan, and Trake went back outside to their transport. Opening the back, they let down a ramp and wheeled out their cycles. Justyn and his brothers had greatly admired the motorcycles they had seen while on Earth. They had purchased ten bikes, each from several different manufacturers. Jett had tinkered with them with the help of some of the other warriors on the ship and developed a motorcycle with a twist.
It was a combination street bike, dirt bike, and air bike. By making changes to the fabrication of the tires and suspension, they made it easy to go from on-road to off. Alterations to the engine and the addition of anti-gravity boosters enabled the bike to fly for short distances. It would make it easy to fly over small bodies of water or small valleys.
Several of the security officers stepped out to take a look at the new transports, for they had never seen anything like them before. The three of them put on their leathers, and Justyn placed what equipment he felt he might need in his saddlebags. The helmets Jett had made were equipped not only with communication devices, but also projected a heads-up display a foot in front of the rider, which could be directed by voice command. Justyn fed in the coordinates of their destination and the three of them took off with the rumbling roar of their engines.
Chapter Fourteen
Earth…
After taking Martha through her new identity history for an hour and leaving the packet of information with her, Becky made her way to the smaller conference room at the lodge. She, her sister, Sarah, and Tammy, along with their Ankida, were going to have their sixth board meeting since opening The Sanctuary.
For the first two months, they had met bi-weekly. Now they met monthly. Becky always came north for the meetings because she didn’t like talking about things having to do with the Nephilim over an internet conference call. She knew, from her experience with the CIA, how easy it was for someone to tap in to the information.
They were all seated around the conference table. Each of them had separate areas of responsibility. They all passed around reports they had put together for the others to have as backup with their individual presentations.
Becky spoke before they started. “I’m dying to know how it went with the FBI.”
Sarah filled her in on what had happened with both Josephine and her boss. What Becky found more interesting, however, was
what had happened in San Francisco. She’d heard about the shooting, of course, it was all over the news and the internet. It was great the way the Nephilim were able to step in and help and, at the same time, keep their names out of the media. Jack, Sarah’s old partner, had been a big help there.
“What’s really incredible is that Tonne and Jorne feel Aimeé March, the veterinarian they helped, is their join!” said Sarah, clapping her hands. “We told Josephine about the Nephilim, she doesn’t quite believe us. We might have to take her on an orbiting trip to prove it to her. Instead of using up the rest of her leave here, after a couple of days, when her sister couldn’t stop talking about the two men who helped her, she decided to fly out and check them out.”
“Hmm…that’s remarkable. It actually leads right into our first report. Ishme, you want to give us the news?” Becky asked.
Ishme smiled and picked up his report. He knew the information it held but felt more comfortable looking at the paper.
“Miranda has matched an additional fifty-eight joins. Since we were so successful with the comic con, we’re considering doing another event with Valerie and her books. She hasn’t told Valerie yet, but one of the joins she’s made is Valerie’s. Miranda went to the gate on the last shuttle. She wanted to make a longer transmission to HeVan, requesting the chosen men to come on the next ship.”
At this point, Becky picked up the report. “I’ve already started building identities for the men to use once they arrive. I think they should hang around here on Earth for a little while before meeting their joins. Also, the women should have a chance to join and spend time with their Ankida before they get to HeVan.” She laughed before she continued.