Second squeezed his shoulder and nodded before dropping her hand. “Tan, tell me what you know.”
“The doctor’s wife and daughters are safe, but we had two believer casualties. We think Zack’s people were able to clean up after us—the bodies are being incinerated—without any other believers being alerted.” She deferred to Zack. “I’ll let him report what his people dug up.”
“We tracked Cyrus and two of his men to the coast,” he said. “We know he hired a private yacht to sail him to Galveston, but a hurricane is crossing the Gulf that’s probably going to sink him or force him to put in somewhere much more south, probably on the Tamaulipas coast.”
“What do you know about the boat and crew?” Second asked. “Do they have a chance in a hurricane?”
“The yacht is big—eighty-four feet, and the captain and crew come from generations of sailors. Several d-weather models give them at least a thirty-percent chance of survival at sea. Better if they reach shore before the outer bands catch them.”
“Excellent work,” Second said. “Tan, can you contact Jael? I think we need a change of plans.”
Tan closed her eyes—not that she needed to, but Zack’s curious stare was distracting.
Jael.
Here, Tan.
Can you review my thoughts from the past few minutes?
I’m fine, thank you. Alyssa’s fine. How are you and Kyle? You haven’t damaged her, have you?
Tan chuckled at Jael’s teasing admonishment, forgetting for a moment that Second and Zack were watching her.
“I didn’t think she was telepathic,” Zack said.
“Tan isn’t, but First Warrior Jael is the most powerful telepath of this lifetime, as far as we know. She can get into anyone’s head—well, anyone but mine.”
“Not yours?”
“She can when I consciously open to her, but it’s much more taxing, especially at a distance. That’s my secondary gift. Tan also trusts that Jael will review only the thoughts she’s given permission to probe. You apparently haven’t earned that same trust from her.”
Tan?
Sorry, distracted by the conversation around me.
Review complete. Tell Second I’m listening with you. She wants to change plans?
“You want to change our plans?”
Second acknowledged the indication to proceed. “I think it’s imperative that we immediately pursue Cyrus. If the yacht sinks, our time frame to recover his body so his soul can be properly released this time will be narrow. If he makes it to shore, our chances of intercepting him will be greater if we can find him before he has a chance to melt back into the population.”
Tan shrugged. “Kyle and I will leave within the hour.”
“Phyrrhos is heavily pregnant. More than we anticipated,” Second said. “I doubt she can carry both of you very far.”
Tan scratched at her scalp. She needed a trim. The smooth sides of her Mohawk hairstyle were filling in with soft, tight fuzz. “She’s been acting weird, too.”
May I?
Tan hesitated.
Only those memories of Phyrrhos, Tan. What’s between you and Kyle is only for you.
Sounds like you’ve already seen enough to satisfy your curiosity.
They’d once been mutually dependent, filling each other’s physical needs because neither was capable of soul-bonding. Then Jael found Alyssa, and Tan still fell pitifully short.
Tan. No. You know I wouldn’t. Alyssa can’t see, but she feels. It was unintentional. Every day, her gift grows stronger. She was gathering some things at the clinic to be laundered. She had a jacket Kyle left in the storeroom, then a lab coat you’d left on a hook in your office. That’s when she felt your bond, as she held both in her hands. She could feel it from here. She says it’s good, and I’ve learned not to argue with her.
I don’t know, Jael.
Faint laughter filled her head.
Neither did I, my friend. If it’s meant to be, then it will happen no matter what you think you want. Now, Phyrrhos?
Yes, of course.
Jael’s review took only a blink.
I suspect Kyle’s bonding with the foal in utero.
Is that possible? I wondered, but I’ve never heard of such a thing.
And I’ve never witnessed this shield gift I’m hearing about.
Tan didn’t respond. She trusted Jael hadn’t culled that information from her thoughts without permission. Toni had likely revealed herself to someone else who told Jael about her gift.
Second is waiting, I’m sure. Ask that hardhead to open up and I’ll include the young man, too. I can feel him probing. Not bad, but he’s got a lot to learn.
Tan tapped her temple.
“Go ahead,” Second said, acknowledging the signal to join Jael’s part of the conversation.
“Then I’m to track Cyrus on my own from here?” That should have been good news. It was what she’d initially demanded, but she was suddenly reluctant to leave Kyle behind.
“No,” Second said. “We still need Kyle at hand to keep our options open. Titan can carry two of us. Instead of shipping those fire rocks, we’ll each carry a quarter load. Phyrrhos should be able to handle that.”
“Will this disrupt the plans in Brasília?” Tan asked.
Michael can hold the camp while I join Furcho, Diego and Raven. Something’s off down there. Shipments aren’t leaving the warehouse, but we didn’t see any guards like on the train.
Hooves clattered against the roof, and Phyrrhos arrived with a grinning Kyle and a breathless Pete on board. Time to wrap this up.
Report your location at sunrise.
Tan and Second spoke in unison out of long habit. “As you command, First Warrior.”
“That was star-tastic,” Zack said. “It was like she was standing here. She was in all of our heads at once. How does she do that?”
“Maybe you’ll get the chance to ask her once we get this Cyrus business all straightened out,” Second said, smiling. “Hate to chat and fly, but we need to get as far up the coast as we can tonight.”
Tan was ready. She needed some Phyrrhos time, and then she needed some Kyle time. She didn’t care if Second was along or not. She’d bedded in plenty of barracks with no privacy, so she always just turned her back to the soldiers trysting in the next bunk. She shouldered her pack, but a sharp tug stopped her. Pete’s face was flushed, his eyes shining. She knelt to his level. “I don’t have much time, but how’d you like flying, buddy?”
“It was amazing. Thank you for sharing your family with me.”
She blinked at him. “My family?”
“Kyle, Phyrrhos, and Sunfire.”
“Uh, right. They’re not exactly—” She stared into his young face so full of joy and awe. Family meant a lot to these network kids, because theirs had rejected most of them. “You’re welcome, Pete. Thank you for sharing your family with me and Kyle.”
“My family?”
“Sure. Families come in all shapes and forms. A network just like this one was my first family. Then I bonded with Phyrrhos, and The Guard became another family to me.”
“And now you have Kyle and Sunfire, too. I see.”
It would be silly to get into a discussion with a kid about whether Kyle and a foal that wasn’t born yet were actually family to her. “So, the network here is probably just your first family. You’ll have more, too, like me. But right now, you have Zack, Haley, Oni, and the rest.”
“Zack takes good care of me.” His face was serious now.
“You do everything he says because, as of tonight, this network is officially part of The Collective’s Dragon Horse Army.”
“Really, Tan?”
She stood. “That’s Captain Tan to you, soldier.” She thumped her right fist to her left shoulder in salute and waited while he straightened and snapped a return salute. “Carry on, Private Pete.”
“Yes, ma’am, Captain Tan.”
She turned on her heel and went to Kyle, who was strokin
g Phyrrhos’ distended abdomen while she watched her exchange with Pete.
“You’re really good with kids.” Kyle smiled at her. “They just don’t know how scary you can be.”
“I like kids. Most haven’t learned to be dung wipes yet. If they do get out of line, all you have to do is bark a little bit.” Tan conjured up her best scowl. “I only bite adults.”
On the pretense of measuring Phyrrhos’ girth with her arms, Kyle bent forward, bringing her face close to Tan’s. “I like it when you bite me.”
Tan’s breath caught as a shudder ran through her belly. “Thank the stars you’re riding with Second, or we’d surely be joining the thousand-mile-high club tonight, and I’m not at all sure Phyrrhos would appreciate it.”
Kyle grinned and quickly brushed her lips against Tan’s. Before she could protest such a public display, she was staring at Kyle’s back as she sauntered toward Titan and the Second Warrior, who had discreetly turned away.
Chapter Fourteen
“It’s not that serious, is it?”
Alyssa looked up from her d-tablet. “Just trying to figure out why I’ve treated fifteen people today with sore throats, stuffy heads, and a fever.”
Jael ignored the smile that was a reflex to her presence, dropping her mental shields to get a full measure of her bondmate’s concern. But even she wasn’t prepared for the rapid-fire churn of Alyssa’s thoughts.
I have no idea where to begin. The symptoms are so general. I have no clue as to how dangerous this could be, or how contagious. Should I quarantine? Stars, I need Tan here. No, I need a historian, not a physician or a medical analyzer.
“Alyssa.” Agitation, laced with urgency, filled Jael, and she knew the emotions were not her own but projected by Alyssa. “Hey, deep breath.”
“The disruption of supply shipments isn’t just leaving people hungry. It’s endangering the health of everyone, Jael.”
Jael circled behind to grasp Alyssa’s slender shoulders.
“There are so many illnesses we haven’t treated in years because preventatives have been routinely distributed in the bottled vitamin water that goes out worldwide,” Alyssa said.
Jael warmed her hands a bit and began a firm but gentle massage of the tense muscles.
“I have no idea which infection I should be fighting.” Alyssa dropped her chin to her chest. “Stars, that feels good.”
They were silent for a long moment while Jael massaged and mentally projected their favorite escape—the field of vibrant wildflowers on her mountain, basking under a brilliant-blue summer sky. Alyssa sighed, and Jael felt a bit of their distress drain away.
“I’m not a historian, but I have memory of several fairly recent lives. Describe the symptoms for me.”
“Headache, body aches, head cold, coughing, sore throat, and fever. From the med scans, it appears to be a virus.”
“Sounds like the flu to me.”
“Flu?”
“Yeah. It was fairly common in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. I remember yearly inoculations for it. It was mostly just annoying, but there were always some fatalities every year—mostly very old people, babies, or people with already compromised immune systems.” She closed her eyes, reaching farther back. “But before they had the right medicines to treat it, a lot of people died.”
“We might not have the medicines we need available now either. We might need to quarantine, or your whole army could come down with it.”
Jael stilled her hands. Dung. The memory was strong now—the stench and misery of hospitals filled with so many soldiers suffering and dying the weary medical staff barely had a path between the makeshift beds to maneuver. It was the fall of 1918, and more men were dying of influenza than on the battlefields of World War I.
Michael, report to the clinic office.
“I’ll take care of that and leave the medicine part to you. If you need to consult with Tan, I can link you telepathically. I don’t want to risk messaging her in case Cyrus has someone monitoring the d-net.”
“Reporting.” Michael stood in the door. He shrugged when Jael looked up. “I was in the building, calibrating some equipment.”
Toni edged past him and looked to Alyssa for permission to enter the small office they shared. Entrance granted, she quietly went to her desk and began syncing information on her tablet with the clinic’s intranet.
“Issue an urgent order.”
Michael lifted his left arm and tapped the controls on his IC, then nodded for her to begin.
“This is First Warrior Jael. Tonight’s training exercises have been canceled. Troops are immediately confined to barracks until further notice. Dinner and every meal until the confinement is lifted will be served at the barracks. Barrack commanders are to query each warrior and make a list of anyone reporting the following symptoms: headache, sore throat, body aches, chills, diarrhea, or fever. Anyone reporting those symptoms should go immediately to the clinic. Also, a second list should be made of any warrior who has been in close contact with someone from another barrack who displayed any of those symptoms. Your lists should be forwarded to Lieutenant Michael.”
Michael ended the transmission. “Jael?”
“It could be an overreaction, but our army is small and our time-frame to act short. We can’t afford to spend weeks nursing a fever and runny noses. I want two units healthy and ready to leave for Brasília on short notice. We need to isolate the source of this virus.”
“C Barrack.”
Jael looked to Alyssa, who shrugged. They both turned to Toni, who was busily entering data into her tablet. She looked up from her work.
“All of the patients admitted to the clinic today are housed in C Barrack. But you should question Private Raynor. A female corporal from D Barrack brought him in, the big baby. I’ve heard he’s very active and multi-oriented, so you may want to find out just how many ‘friends’ he’s exposed in the past couple of days.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant Antonia.” Jael shook her head. “Your efficiency shouldn’t still surprise me.”
“Just doing my job, First Warrior.” Toni turned back to her tablet, but her mouth curled into a small smile. “Oh, and Private Raynor is in bed twenty-two, if you want to find out who he might have contaminated.”
Jael glanced at Michael.
“I’m on it,” he said.
Jael bent to kiss Alyssa’s cheek. “Mind if I steal your assistant for a bit?”
“Toni?”
“I thought we’d go feed a hungry dragon horse.”
Toni’s back stiffened, and her hand hovered over her d-tablet.
“Is that a good idea?” Alyssa frowned. “If Toni takes you to see Dark Star, Specter will find him, too.”
Jael touched the back of her hand to Alyssa’s cheek. “Do you trust me?”
Alyssa pressed into her touch. “You know I do.”
“Toni and I’ll be fine. If Specter shows, I can hold him off.” She brushed her lips against Alyssa’s and stepped over to thump Toni on the back. “And rumor tells me Toni can hold off the wild one.”
Toni dropped her chin to her chest. “I’m up to my ears in dung,” she muttered.
❖
“He hasn’t been here the past two nights,” Toni said, restlessly shifting the bucket of fire rock at her feet near the edge of the outcropping. “Maybe the other dragon horses found out he’s hanging around and ran him off. Maybe they thought he was trying to steal back his mares that bonded with our warriors.”
Jael stood, turned partially away from the tree line where Toni said Dark Star usually emerged. “Specter is top dragon and he likes to brag, so I’d know if that happened.”
“What about Bero? He can be a real butthead sometimes.”
A picture of a dark, winged form gliding down from the sky formed in her mind. Specter was watching? “He’s coming.” She closed her eyes to focus on the projected thought. Strange. Specter seemed curious rather than guarded. She was still puzzling over this oddity when a
rustle of leaves and the sound of hooves on rock alerted her to the wild stallion’s presence. The moon was rising, full and bright.
“Hey, Dark Star,” Toni crooned to the animal. “Where have you been? I was getting worried.” She walked forward slowly with the bucket of fire rocks, then dumped them onto a shallow depression in the stone. “Here you go, boy.”
Dark Star stepped out of the woods and raised his nose. Tiny spurts of flame shot from his nostrils as he took in Jael’s scent. Blue-white, Jael noted, not the cooler red-yellow his flame had been before Toni began feeding him. He still looked a little beat-up, shiny new skin covering healed burns. He didn’t seem nervous, so she faced him and took a few steps for a closer look.
The air stirred at her back.
“Jael.”
Toni’s warning was unnecessary. She knew Specter was landing lightly behind her, barely making a sound.
Toni slid to the right, positioning herself off to the side but midway between Dark Star and Specter. Alyssa had told her about Toni’s gift of shielding, but she was skeptical that she could stand against Specter’s flame.
Specter held his wings outstretched but made no move toward the wild stallion. Dark Star’s pupils pulsed like red beacons. He slowly extended his wings, matching Specter’s display.
Jael had never been this close to the wild dragon horse, and she realized for the first time that his wingspan beat Specter’s by several feet. Where Specter had a long back and lean physique made for gliding, this dragon horse had a short back for quick turns and a thickly muscled chest, shoulders, and neck for powerful wing strokes. All in all, he was a larger, more powerful animal. She should be picking up something from Specter, but for the first time since they’d bonded, he was silent to her. She tensed, flicking her eyes from one dragon horse to the other. What in blue blazes were they doing? Two dominant stallions should be screaming at each other.
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