by Mikayla Lane
“They are definitely entertaining,” Mikal said of his siblings and their street antics.
Chance laughed and looked at him like he was crazy.
“Entertaining? It was hilarious when Declan stole your wallet as you were getting ready to pay for the coffee and then appeared to be the good Samaritan by paying for ours,” she said, remembering the look of shock on Mikal’s face when he’d found his wallet gone.
“My childhood was never boring,” Mikal said with a laugh.
“I bet it wasn’t,” Chance agreed.
Mikal squatted down on the roof and pulled Chance down beside him, making sure she was settled before sitting beside her. He was a little surprised when she laid back and stared up at the stars.
“The night is so beautiful,” she said on a whisper.
All Mikal could see was her beauty, the way her skin sparkled and shone in the moonlight.
It’s not a good time for that, he thought and lay down beside her to stare at the stars with her.
“It is beautiful,” he agreed, enjoying the evening and the company.
“What is it like? Up there among the stars?” she asked quietly, afraid to ruin the magical energy between them.
Mikal sighed, remembering when Koda had taken them all up in his ship to see the solar system.
“It was incredible. When we find Koda, I’ll take you up there with me,” he promised, wanting her to feel how he’d felt when he had been among the stars.
It had felt as if who or what he was didn’t matter. Whatever had created such magnificence hadn’t wanted anyone to feel alone or left out. There were so many other places out there with other species, other beings. That they were all a part of the whole of life was difficult to comprehend.
“I’d really like that,” Chance said, reaching over to take Mikal’s hand in hers, her eyes fixed on the sky.
They laid in silence for long minutes before Chance turned to Mikal.
“Do you think we’ll ever figure out what we really are? Or where we come from?” she asked quietly.
Mikal sighed and looked away from her to stare at the sky again.
“I know more now than I ever did. Even if it is just assumptions from human scientists who can’t be trusted,” he admitted.
“Why don’t you trust them?” she asked curiously, feeling the distrust run through his energy when he spoke of the human scientists.
“Human science and history are bought and paid for by the highest bidder. Big corporations pay them off to say their products are safe to consume or use. Drug and chemical companies are pretty bad, but the governments are the worst,” Mikal said, thinking of all the truths hidden from the unsuspecting and trusting humans.
“Why would they do that?” Chance asked, not understanding the motive for such a thing.
“Greed. Power. Control. Certain humans have their own agenda. We’ve been exposing them and fighting them as a team for decades and still haven’t found the core group that’s running it all,” Mikal admitted.
“What are they trying to control?” Chance asked, trying to understand how the outside world worked now that she lived in it.
“People. Who lives and who dies. Money. Who has it and who doesn’t. We have files and files on what they’ve been doing that you can look at,” Mikal explained.
Chance shook her head. She had more than enough to try and understand just on the basics of being free and having choices. Trying to tackle the corruption and sickness of greed and materialism would have to wait.
“Maybe when I get better at everything else,” she said with a blush.
Mikal turned to her and smiled gently.
“You’ve been doing wonderful. You learn quickly and no one would ever guess that you aren’t a native of the area,” he assured her.
Chance chuckled softly, knowing Mikal was lying. She’d almost used a street performer’s juggling pin on his own head when she thought the thrown pin had come too close to Mikal yesterday.
She’d snatched it out of the air so quickly the crowd had gasped. Mikal had caught the pin just as she’d released it at the man’s head and he had gently thrown it back to the startled performer.
When the crowd burst into clapping, Mikal had grinned broadly and made Chance bow with him before he pulled a large bill out of his pocket and threw it into a hat on the ground. The performer had bowed back while Mikal had pulled Chance down the sidewalk and away from the crowd.
“I don’t think my human interaction training was real thorough,” Chance said with a small smile.
“I think it’s hard to try and think of every possible scenario where any species is concerned—human or not. And each country, each culture is different, from the way they speak to the foods they eat. You’ve done an amazing job of adapting,” Mikal said honestly, not wanting her to be discouraged.
Chance grimaced as she thought about how naïve she’d been.
“I thought the whole world acted like they do on TV shows. Even when I was on missions, it was like I had blinders on. I went exactly where I needed to go, did what I had to do, and then focused solely on finding what I needed for my sisters,” Chance said, shaking her head at herself before continuing.
“I never paid attention to the people around me unless I had to interact with them. Even then, I never wanted to get too close or get to know someone. It was too dangerous. I wish I had paid more attention,” she said sadly.
“Why? What do you think you missed?” Mikal asked, wondering at the regret he felt in her energy.
Chance blinked back a sheen of tears.
“The smiles and friendliness. The happiness in their energy. Their concern for one another. I thought everyone was vain, self-absorbed, and pathetic like in those reality shows that follow people’s lives. I missed all the special things about them that make them so unique. I’m really glad you showed me that side of them,” she admitted.
Mikal looked a little stunned.
“You learned human interaction by watching some trashy attention ponies on TV?” he had to ask.
“Ponies? No, there were no ponies. All of them had families in them, but none of them acted the way yours does. The females showed their bodies for attention all the time and spent tons of money changing the way they look,” Chance corrected.
Mikal wasn’t sure if he should laugh or cry at the woeful image Chance must have had of the human race.
“Real people, real humans, are nothing like the garbage they put on TV. Those people aren’t real. Every part of them is bought and paid for, from their fake poofy lips to their fat sucked hips. Real humans care about more than just amassing wealth and flaunting it to the world,” Mikal said, thinking of all the incredible humans he’d met in his travels, people he’d lay his life down for. For some of them, he had.
“Yeah, I figured that out pretty quickly in the city the last few days. Finding out the one family had DNA on file to create one of us for spare parts definitely opened my eyes. How are we supposed to let Charlie or the others out there in the world when it’s so confusing?” she worried.
Mikal sighed heavily. This was exactly why he’d never thought of having a family of his own. He had no idea how he could protect one when the world was so messed up. But then he thought of his siblings and how they had all turned out, and he couldn’t help but think that he could handle the responsibility.
“We teach them everything we can. We prepare them as best as we can, and we pick them up when they fall. You wanted them to be free, but they never will be until you let them go. The have to make their own choices and find where they want to fit in the world,” Mikal said gently, knowing inside that he was right.
Chance shivered as a cool breeze rushed over them and she automatically curled into Mikal’s side to block it. He was so wonderfully warm that she cuddled closer and almost sighed when he put his arm around her and turned his body to shield her completely from the wind.
“Do you need to go inside?” Mikal asked, concerned that she was
getting too cold.
Chance gave a gentle shake of her head before tucking it under his chin.
“No, you’re like a heater, and I’m fine now. I like it here . . . under the stars,” Chance said, hoping they could stay like this a little longer.
“I like it too,” Mikal said with a soft sigh as he squeezed her tighter to him.
“Do you think we’ll ever find the people behind what’s been done to us?” Chance asked.
Mikal sighed and closed his eyes, wishing that they could have spent at least a little more time thinking of nothing more serious than the stars and coolness of the night.
“I have every reason to believe we will. They may be really good at hiding their connections to one another, but we’re just as determined to find them,” he said honestly.
“I want to be a part of bringing them down,” Chance said with determination.
Mikal nodded. He did as well and was hoping they found something before Grai did because he wouldn’t leave anything for Mikal and Chance to take care of. They’d gone through thousands of pages of records and information on the DNA donors on the list they’d gotten from the lab, but they’d still found no connection to anyone capable of being part of the labs.
They all knew that they were missing the crucial puzzle piece that would give them the picture they needed.
Chance snorted.
“I should have just asked my targets who would want them dead. They might have been able to help figure it out,” she said.
Mikal jerked into a sitting position and looked down at Chance.
“What did you say?” he asked.
Chance looked at him curiously but answered his question.
“I said that I should have asked my targets who would want them dead and why,” she said.
Mikal stood and paced the roof near Chance.
“Do you remember the names of the people you killed?” he stopped pacing and asked, hating to bring up something he knew might be painful for her.
Chance looked up and snorted.
“Yeah, all three of them. I remember the names of the others too,” she said.
“What others?” Mikal asked in confusion. He had assumed that she’d killed many more than three and was surprised at the low number.
Chance could tell by the change in Mikal’s energy that they were getting ready to go inside, and she held her hand out for him to help her stand. When he pulled her to her feet, Chance dusted off her backside as she answered him.
“I was sent to kill dozens but . . . I couldn’t do it. My first kill was supposed to be a father of four. Just a scientist. As far as I could find out, the guy had never done anything wrong in his life,” Chance said looking out at the city.
Mikal was stunned but had to know more.
“What happened?” he asked.
Chance looked down at her feet for a moment before looking up at him.
“I couldn’t do it. I was there, with the blade in my hand. But I couldn’t do it. I knew they would kill me if I didn’t provide proof that he was dead, and when I explained it to him, he helped me figure out how to fake his death. I found some cadaver bodies, switched them with his family and blew the house up,” she admitted.
“What happened to him and his family?” Mikal asked incredulously.
Chance shrugged.
“We found a guy that could get us some fake identification, and I helped them get out of the country. I still used the ID guy up until I finally decided to escape. I used him to get the ID’s for me and my sisters,” she said.
“Then why kill three?” Mikal had to know.
“I had every intention of saving them,” Chance said with a sigh before she continued. “I went to talk to one and caught him raping a seven year old boy. Another had beaten his wife and children so much they lived in terror of him. The other . . . he drugged and raped women then gave them to his friends to finish off.”
“You remember all of their names? Before you helped them to run?” Mikal asked.
“Yeah,” Chance admitted, unsure where Mikal was going with this.
Mikal stunned Chance by gently cupping her face before planting a sweet kiss on her lips. They both looked a little surprised at the contact, and Chance could swear she saw colors bursting from their energy.
“I think you may know exactly how to find the connection here. Let’s go,” Mikal said as he held his hand out for her, trying to ignore his racing heart and the tingling of his lips from their kiss.
Shaking off the buzzing in her energy, Chance took his hand and followed him back inside the compound where they ended up in what they called the family room. When Chance first saw it, she wasn’t sure what to think of it, but she felt it would have been better to call it their playroom.
In the dead center of the compound’s lower floor was a large room the size of a small department store. There were two large-screen TVs on opposite sides of the room. Comfortable chairs and couches were scattered all around in between what she found out were pinball machines and other various games and game systems.
One side of the room was taken up by a full kitchen, bar, and dining area while another side held full male and female locker rooms and bathing facilities. Chance had been thrilled when Angel and Dree showed her the hot tub in their locker room.
They’d no sooner walked into the large room when Chris stood and turned to them.
“What’s up, bro?” Chris asked.
Chris knew his brother well enough that he felt the difference in his energy as he came down the hallway. He had no favorites among any of his siblings, but he had a deeper connection with Mikal than with most of the others.
Mikal grinned, knowing he should have expected Chris to know he had an idea before anyone else would.
“Chance knows the names of all the people she was sent to kill. If we find out who would want them dead we can find our first link to this group,” Mikal suggested.
“That’s a good idea. Give me the first name,” Siggy said as he and Dante readied their fingers above their comms.
Chance gave them the name of the scientist and watched in amazement as the men’s fingers flew across the comms before they started putting images of documents on the walls around the room.
“Start looking for connections,” Dante said without a slip in the stride of his fingers on the comm.
The siblings and the Tezarians began walking around the room, looking at the documents on the walls to see if they could find a familiar name, company, or something that would lead them to one of the bigger fish responsible for the labs and what was being done there.
Seeing nothing obvious, Chris looked at Chance.
“Give us another name,” he said.
Chance continued to give them names as Siggy and Dante put more and more information on the walls, each looking for something that connected these people to someone who would want them dead. It wasn’t long before a bigger pattern began to emerge—a frightening one that they had expected to find.
Declan whistled low as he looked at the one wall where the Siggy and Dante had put all of the documents that formed the only pattern they could find.
“Do you guys see this too?” Declan asked.
Chris walked the length of the wall, studying the information staring them in the face, no longer hidden among thousands of documents and misinformation intentionally released to throw anyone off the now-obvious trail.
“This is bigger than we can handle on our own,” Elias said.
“Oh that’s crap and you know it! This is no different than any other group of rich politicians we’ve dealt with,” Angel argued.
“There’s three presidential candidates on this list, not including a who’s who of the billionaires club!” Gun argued back.
“Most of those bastards have private security details larger than the armies of some countries,” Cole added.
Within moments the siblings had dissolved into a heated argument about whether or not they needed to call their father
or if they could handle bringing the people down on their own.
Angel put her hands on her hips and glared at her brothers.
“So what, we run to Daddy for help? Like he doesn’t have enough going on? Like Mom and the babies can spare even more time with him away? You do remember Grace, right? The newborn sister who’s barely seen her father?” she said, making a few brothers look away guiltily.
Drago pulled her back against his chest.
“That’s unfair, and you know it. If your dad finds out he wasn’t told, then we only stress him out more,” Drago said, trying to calm his agitated mate.
“How?” Angel countered.
“Because he’ll constantly worry about what we’re not telling him, and he’ll go to even more extraordinary lengths to keep us protected,” Lara said, agreeing that Grai must be told. It was far too big to keep to themselves.
The decision split the group almost down the center, and they argued the pros and cons about when to tell Grai—sooner or later—of their discovery.
After several hours, Charlie ran into the room and straight into Mikal’s open arms.
“Good morning, little sunshine,” Mikal whispered in her ear, his happiness pulsing from his energy.
“Good morning, Daddy,” Charlie whispered with a smile as she hugged Mikal’s neck tightly.
The room became silent, the arguing forgotten as they watched Mikal bond with the adorable child he’d claimed as his own. There were a few wet eyes as their happiness for their brother overcame them.
Chris made a decision he would grow to regret until his last breath.
“Why don’t you take her to that amusement park on the island? Spend a little time together, and we’ll gather what we can and then meet with Dad later,” Chris suggested.
Although Chris didn’t agree with those that thought they should handle it without Grai, no one wanted to ruin the precious moment that Mikal was having with his daughter, and no one argued.