“Her skills as a physician are an asset and her talent as a tracker invaluable to The Guard,” Second said. Her words, however, held a sliver of uncertainty that pervaded the mood of the group.
Only Diego was bold enough to speak it. “She’s unstable. She shouldn’t be treating patients, much less leading an army.”
“Han says Tanisha’s soul still carries deep guilt from a previous life. She seeks redemption, and it will tear at her until she finds it.” Kyle knew that, as a teacher, Furcho believed knowledge assisted understanding, but it wasn’t exactly an endorsement of Tan’s stability.
Michael, who’d flipped a dining chair backward, listened with his chin resting on his arms crossed atop the chair’s back. Kyle had never heard him speak when the entire group was together.
“Do not judge, for you also could be judged,” Raven said softly.
The others stared at her.
“I didn’t know you were a student of religious history,” Furcho said.
“Many truisms are much older than how history remembers them, and their meaning transcends one culture or system of beliefs,” she said.
“Treat others as you would want them to treat you,” Michael said, standing up from his chair and holding Raven’s gaze.
“Michael speaks the truth, and of Guard loyalty,” Second said firmly, meeting each of their stares. She stepped forward and held out her fist. “Stronger together.”
One by one, they stepped forward and added their hand atop Second’s fist without hesitation. Despite their freedom to speak their reservations and who they were individually, they knew their purpose in this life and any that followed. They were a unit that included Tan.
“Guard,” they chorused quietly.
Kyle withdrew her fingers gently and kissed the soft skin of Tan’s breast. She wouldn’t care if Tan was one of The Guard or not. She was simply mesmerized by the most complex and beautiful woman she’d ever met—a fierce warrior, a passionate lover, a skilled and tender physician. “I don’t want to leave this room.” She brushed her lips against Tan’s. “I don’t want to leave this here.”
Tan’s dark eyes narrowed. “I am Guard. We’ve got a job to do, Blaze. I won’t stop until I find Cyrus. And I track a lot faster alone.” One corner of her full lips hesitantly twitched into a half smile. “But you’re kind of growing on me.” She stroked her fingers along Kyle’s bare shoulder. “I’m thinking that maybe the perks of having a sidekick outweigh the inconvenience.” The smile spread across her face. “And it doesn’t hurt that you’re blazing hot…Blaze.”
Kyle grinned. “Yeah?” She liked the nickname Tan had given her.
“Yeah.” Tan tugged her down, and they moaned together as their lips met and tongues caressed. Tan’s hands were on her breasts, then dropping lower to grasp her ribs, and she was suddenly flipping in the air. “Get off me or that kid will be back and banging on the door.”
Kyle laughed and scrambled for her clothes and toiletries. “Race you to the shower.”
❖
They stepped into separate showers to curtail the temptation to linger and were in the dining room within minutes. Everyone was in high spirits. Dinner was an uncharacteristic feast of meaty chili that Tan thought was excellent use of the luxury credits she’d donated to their group. Her credits also purchased several crates of bottled ale, which were rationed one bottle per person of legal drinking age.
Zack stood as they approached his table. “Ah, our honored guests.” He cocked his head and smiled. “I trust that you are rested and all other, uh, needs satisfied?”
Tan raised an eyebrow at his insinuation. “Food and information still on the check list.”
Zack swept his arm toward three empty seats where Oni was placing full steaming bowls of the chili. Pete carried a large plate of thick soft tortillas and set it on the table, then climbed into the middle chair and smiled up at them. Kyle looked at Tan and shrugged. Tan shook her head but sat in the nearest chair as Kyle sat on the other side of Pete.
She was hungrier than she realized and wolfed down a few mouthfuls of the hot, tasty meal before looking up at Zack. “So, you have some information for me?”
Zack sat forward in his chair, his eyes gleaming. “We found your man.” He shrugged. “Well, at least we know he’s on a boat in the Gulf and sailing toward the Third Continent.” He frowned. “Turns out that one of his guards was the jerk that took advantage of—” he glanced at Pete. “He hurt somebody we know.”
“Satellite of the boat’s location?”
“Oh, yeah. He’s about 200 kilometers off the coast just east of Matamoros.”
“Then we’ll leave tonight.”
“Will the dragon horse come here to get you?” Pete nearly bounced in his seat. “I want to see him. Kyle said maybe you’d take me for a ride.”
Kyle looked up from her food with an exaggerated expression of surprise. “I did?”
Pete ducked his head. “Okay. Maybe she didn’t.” He looked up at Tan, his eyes big and pleading. “But it would be the best thing in the world for a little boy whose family deserted him.”
Everyone at the table stilled, and Tan knew her mouth was hanging open at the blatant play for sympathy. Then Kyle barked a laugh and Tan joined her. Tan laughed until she was wiping tears from her cheeks. Sun, she hadn’t laughed like that since…well, since she was a kid.
“That performance has to be worth at least a short ride,” Kyle said, still grinning.
“Maybe.” Tan held up her finger to belay Pete’s victory cheer. “Her, my dragon horse, is a her. And she’s pregnant and very moody. We’ll have to see which way her mood is swinging tonight. Okay?”
Pete nodded vigorously.
“But only a very short ride, because we’ve got to be on our way,” Kyle said.
“You might want to hold up, hoss,” Zack said. “You’re not the only one hot on this man’s tail.”
Tan was instantly alert. “Someone else is tracking him?”
“A category-two hurricane. It’s looking like his boat might never make it to shore. Nature could solve your problem for you.”
Tan glanced at Kyle. She seemed to be contemplating the geometric design on the tablecloth and chewing her bottom lip.
“Can’t trust the weather,” Tan said mildly. “So we won’t count on that.” She stood and reached around Pete to lay her hand on Kyle’s back. “Ready to roll, Blaze? Phyrrhos is already tap-dancing on the roof.”
Pete looked up. “You can hear her?”
Tan watched Kyle carefully. She stood, seemed to shake herself from her thoughts, then smiled and nodded. Tan turned her attention back to the boy, but part of her remained tuned to Kyle. “I can feel her, Pete, because we’re bonded.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah. Wow. Come on. You can carry my pack for me.”
❖
Normally, Tan wouldn’t let a bunch of strangers anywhere near Phyrrhos. She could be as temperamental as Bero, even when she wasn’t pregnant. But the feelings flowing through their bond were happy and affectionate. Were Phyrrhos’ pregnancy feelings inflating her own feelings toward Kyle? The thought brought a mixture of relief and disappointment, but she didn’t have time to decipher it and wasn’t sure she wanted to sort it out.
Still, she was sure it was safe to take a small group up to meet her. After all, this network had helped them, and she intended to talk to Jael about engaging the other networks of gifted that spidered across the continents to be their eyes and ears against The Natural Order. Cyrus had a growing grid of believers. Why shouldn’t they have their own embedded in the communities?
Tan pushed through the entrance to the rooftop but motioned for Zack, Pete, Haley, Oni, and Kyle to wait by the door until she checked with Phyrrhos. She’d only taken four or five steps when Phyrrhos ambled over, casually stretching first one and then the other of her wings as she walked. Her red eyes glowed in the half-light of the city as she pressed her forehead to Tan’s. She showed Tan some conf
using pictures of Specter and the black stallion from the wild herd. Tan wrote it off to hormones. Then a clear picture formed of Second aboard Titan, his powerful shoulders flexing as his wings pumped to keep altitude while carrying the extra weight of two heavy bags of fire rocks. Tan stepped back and scanned the skyline. Second was coming. They were flying slower but would be here soon.
She ran her hand over Phyrrhos’ swelling belly. It’d grown noticeably larger even in the past twenty-four hours. The foal moved under her hand, and she jerked back. She must be mistaken. She thought she’d glimpsed a mental image. But that was impossible.
“Everything okay?” Kyle’s voice was low and soft. Tan hadn’t heard her approach.
“Yeah. It just surprised me when it moved.”
Phyrrhos made a low rumbling noise and brought her wings forward in an uncharacteristic move that embraced both Kyle and Tan and drew them to her in an odd dragon hug. When she released them, she proceeded to examine Kyle from head to toe, snuffling noisily from her hair, down her neck to her armpits, and—reddening Kyle’s face and ears—lower to a thorough scenting of her crotch, then all the way to her feet. Finally, she resumed the rumbling noise and began to bathe Kyle’s neck and cheek with her tongue.
Tan was stunned. Phyrrhos had only shown irritation toward other humans. She was respectful of The Guard but ignored any others. What was that hugging thing? And that new noise she was making—was she…purring? Kyle shot her a helpless look as she tried to discreetly dodge Phyrrhos’ ministrations. Tan only crossed her arms over her chest and raised a challenging eyebrow. Phyrrhos never purred for her or went all mushy like that. Not that she’d want to have a neck and face full of dragon slobber. But that was her bonded lavishing attention on another pyro.
“Urk.” Tan barely heard the swoosh of the great wing as it circled behind her to slam her against Phyrrhos’ side in a rib-crushing hug. She could feel the foal moving again in Phyrrhos’ belly. It was very active. “Okay, okay. I love you, too. But let me go. You’re crushing me.”
Phyrrhos released her and abandoned her attention to Kyle as Titan’s hooves sounded against the rooftop. He held his wings extended until Second dismounted with her two heavy sacks, then folded them to his body and obediently waited while Second dumped out a small pile of fire rocks from one sack as his reward.
Second smiled as she approached. “I brought you some extra dragon rations.” She returned Tan’s salute and Kyle’s hesitant one. “We got your report, and I figured your friends here can ship these rocks forward when you know where you’re going. Jael, by the way, is very interested in hearing more about this network you have and how they can help The Collective cause.”
“Thanks. I can introduce you to some of them now.” Tan waved to summon the small group gathered by the stairway. They walked in a careful arc outside of Phyrrhos’ reach as she extended her head, red eyes pulsing and nostrils flaring to check their scent. Apparently finding them of little interest, she swung around to press her side against Kyle and rest her forehead against Tan’s shoulder. “This is Zack, telepath and leader of the network here. Also Haley, her bondmate Oni, and this young man is Pete. He’s an empath, like the First Advocate.” She gestured to Second. “This is Danielle, Second Warrior of The Guard.”
“Only my mother still calls me Danielle. I go by Second,” she said, bumping her fist with each of theirs in the common greeting of their generation.
A rude nip at her sleeve nearly tugged Tan off balance. “And this is the beautiful Phyrrhos, my bonded.” The introduction earned her a slobbery brush of dragon lips against her cheek.
Second laughed. “Pregnancy sure has changed her personality.”
“You’re telling me,” Tan grumbled. Dung, that dragon breath reeked of sulfur.
“Can I pet her?” Pete asked, shuffling cautiously to the front of the group.
“Let me ask.” She pressed her forehead to Phyrrhos’ while Second explained how warrior and dragon horse communicated.
“Neat,” Pete said, his eyes wide.
When Tan drew back, Phyrrhos thrust her face inches from Pete’s. He froze. Her head was almost as large as he was tall. Two ridges of hard spikes ran down her forehead in a V-shape, and her dark eyes had red elliptical pupils that pulsed as she examined him. Her ears worked back and forth.
“She says you can touch her if you want,” Tan said.
Pete extended his hand to carefully feel one ridge of spikes, then trailed his fingers down her flat forehead between the ridges. “She’s beautiful and scary at the same time,” he said. “And she’s got really big teeth.”
Tan squatted to his eye level and dragged over one of the bags Second had dropped nearby. She dug a fire rock from one and held it up. “They eat these rocks to enhance their fire-breathing ability. The big teeth are to grind up the rocks, not eat people or other animals. They become regular horses during the day and eat stuff other horses eat.” She handed the rock to him. “Here. You can feed it to her.”
Pete took the rock and held it out to Phyrrhos, who neatly plucked it from his hand. Pete grimaced at the grinding and cracking sounds as she pulverized the rock into bits. “Yuck. That must be why her breath stinks like rotten eggs.” He jumped when Phyrrhos snorted little blue flames from her nostrils.
Tan laughed. “Careful. You don’t want to insult her. She’s being very sweet now, but pregnant females can have huge mood swings.”
Pete looked up at Phyrrhos. “I think she’s the most beautiful dragon horse I’ve ever seen.”
Tan formed a mental picture for Phyrrhos of her carrying the two of them on a short ride. Phyrrhos nodded as she crunched the remnants of her fire rock. “Would you like to take a ride on her?”
“Yes!”
“I need to brief you,” Second said.
The picture that formed in Tan’s mind was of Phyrrhos carrying Kyle and Pete. Tan frowned. Then a picture of Kyle looking down and Phyrrhos descending flashed in her mind. Was she saying—? Phyrrhos swallowed the last of her fire rock and grabbed a mouthful of Kyle’s shirt, nearly jerking her off her feet.
“Phyrrhos has agreed that Kyle can go up with Pete for a short ride while Second and I confer,” Tan said slowly, trying to understand this new development.
Kyle blinked at her. “Me. By myself?”
“You can ride a horse, can’t you?” She mentally flinched at the edge in her voice, but dung, she’d only let Kyle take a tiny step inside her personal boundaries and she already was pushing her way into Tan’s only real relationship. She forced a small smile and lightened her tone. “Or should we get a safety harness?”
“I grew up in an agricultural community. I can sit a horse very well, thank you. But—” Kyle’s eyes darkened, and her expression hardened like it was before they’d opened to each other.
Tan hesitated. She wasn’t sure why, but she wanted to be honest with Kyle. She wanted to look into Kyle’s eyes and see the same. “I’m not sure how, but I think Phyrrhos is saying that she understands what you’re thinking. Not clearly, like when she and I share thoughts, but a general impression. So just think of this rooftop when you’re ready to return, if I haven’t already called her back. You’ll be fine.”
Kyle’s blue eyes cleared as her gaze held Tan’s. “You’ll fill me in later?”
“Yeah.” Tan pressed against Phyrrhos, centering herself in their bond, while Kyle carefully levered herself onto the tall mare. Then she handed Pete up to Kyle, making sure his legs were tucked securely between Kyle’s and Phyrrhos’ wings. “Hold onto her mane, Pete. It won’t hurt her. Kyle will also hold onto you.”
The boy’s eyes shone with excitement. “I’m not scared. She won’t let me fall.”
Tan winked at him and sent Phyrrhos a mental picture of a low flight around the city rooftops. Then she stepped back and watched her trot across the rooftop and right off the edge with a gentle sweep of her magnificent wings.
“Wow!” Haley stood with her arm around Oni, watching Phyrrho
s ascend into the night.
Tan gestured to a small building in the center of the rooftop that housed the mechanics of the building’s solar panels and handed each of the women a pair of night-vision binoculars from her pack. “Why don’t you guys climb up there and keep an eye on the other rooftops for me? It’s not likely, but I wouldn’t want some believer to pop up and start shooting at them from one of the other buildings. Zack needs to meet with me and Second for a few minutes.”
“Sure, Tan. No problem,” Haley said, already headed to the assigned lookout post.
Tan waited while Second finished explaining the fire rocks to Zack and transferring to his IC the encryption code for the message she would send with their location when she needed them shipped.
“It’d be easier if I could just contact her telepathically,” he groused.
Tan narrowed her eyes. This boy needed to know the ground rules up front. “You’re not wandering around in my head.”
Second’s hand on her arm stopped her. “You’ve done an amazing job establishing this underground army with no mentor, no blueprint to guide you,” she said. “Your network and those across the continents could be valuable eyes and ears for The Dragon Horse Army. In exchange, The Guard can offer mentors for your gifted—people who have spent many lifetimes exploring the possibilities of their gifts, learning the limits, and…” she glanced pointedly at Tan, “establishing the ethical boundaries.”
Zack scowled at Tan. “We’ve been fine on our own.”
Second, taller than the young man by several inches, laid her hand on his shoulder. “The Collective stands stronger together, Zack. If The Natural Order is allowed to spread, do you think they’ll embrace you and your gifted friends?”
Tan sighed. “This isn’t about a couple of hardheads like you and me, Zack. It’s about Pete, Haley, Oni, and lots of others. What would happen to them?”
Zack lifted his chin and straightened his shoulders, giving Tan a curt nod. “You’re right.” He turned to Second and imitated Tan’s earlier salute. “The San Pedro Sula network is at your service.”
Tracker and the Spy Page 18