by SGD Singh
Jax wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. “Oh, shut up.”
Kelakha kissed her again, his lips urgent against hers, and when Jax could hardly breathe, he held her tight against his chest. Jax luxuriated in the touch of his warm skin against her cheek, under her palms, her fingers, her arms. The sound of the ocean mixed with the sound of the palm trees dancing in the wind.
Kelakha ran a ringed hand through her hair and sighed.
“We have to get through this,” he whispered. “Promise me you'll be careful. Promise me… Promise me you'll stay alive.”
Jax squeezed her arms around his waist as hard as she could, closing her eyes. “I promise.”
Days we wish would last forever, turn out to be only moments. Jax kissed Kelakha one last time, then left the beach to begin gathering a team together.
She found Kai, Kenda, and Koko asleep in a row of hammocks outside Kenda's bungalow. She crept silently toward them and took hold of the ropes holding Kai. She flipped him over into the sand, where he made a very satisfying noise, which woke up his brothers.
“The fuck, Jax?” Kai groaned. “You have serious issues, man.”
Kenda mumbled, “I told you putting that iguana in her bathroom was a bad idea.”
“Vacation's over,” Jax announced, raising a finger. “Asha has given us a mission. We're to protect the world's civilian leaders, and prevent global famine.”
All three of them groaned.
Jax grinned. “It will involve Uma and Chakori implementing our orders, and getting to watch powerful politicians pretty much crap themselves in the Sahara safe house.”
The three brothers were on their feet in an instant, slapping each other's hands.
“Excellent,” Kenda said.
“Three days is about my limit without Underworlder encounters, anyway,” Koko said. “My weapons begin to feel starved.”
“Oh, good,” Jax told him. “You can be the one to call Uma.”
Chapter 17
Lexi and Nidhan stood aside as Ranya climbed the steps to the airplane. Lexi noticed the clothes she'd gotten the Witch were too loose, and tried to ignore the twinge of sympathy she felt when she saw Ranya's protruding shoulder blades.
Silas spoke quietly to Aquila, then moved to follow Ranya up the stairs. Nidhan stepped forward to follow them.
“Goodbye Nidhan,” Silas said without turning, and Nidhan froze mid-step.
Here we go.
“Wait, what?” He blinked. “I'm not going?” He turned to Lexi. “Are you going?” He turned to Asha, and Lexi mouthed fix this behind his back.
Asha indicated Aquila, then smiled like the proudest sister and wife there ever was. “You two have a different mission.”
Nidhan narrowed his eyes. “What exactly is your mission anyway?”
“Oh, us?” Lexi studied her nails. “Making sure Ranya heals in peace while Silas has meetings about this global famine thing.”
Asha shook her head at Lexi from behind Nidhan.
He crossed his arms and looked more suspicious. “Silas is leaving Ranya alone with you?”
“What?” Lexi tried to look offended, but knew it didn't work. “I'm just as capable of following orders as the next Guard.”
“And speaking of following orders,” Asha said, rescuing Lexi. “You are ordered to join Aquila.”
“And do what, exactly?”
“It's top secret,” Asha said. “I really couldn't say at this time.”
“Is that so?” Nidhan crossed his massive arms. “Let me get this straight. I'm supposed to go quietly with Aquila and follow mysterious orders on a need-to-know basis, something like that?”
“Something exactly like that, yes,” Asha said, her tone grave. Aquila winked at Nidhan.
He looked from Lexi to Asha, then back at Lexi. “Is this some kind of joke? You guys are acting really weird.”
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Lexi hopped up a couple stairs so that she was eye-level with Nidhan, and kissed him before he could make another protest. His strong arms wrapped around her even as his eyes widened in surprise, and then they closed as he pulled her closer. Lexi fought to keep her thoughts coherent as her legs melted beneath her.
Aquila cleared his throat loudly, and Lexi took a reluctant step away from Nidhan, missing the warmth of his embrace already. “Nope. No joke,” she said, climbing the rest of the stairs. “Hope you boys have fun.”
Nidhan raised a hand at her, looking dazed, and she blew him another kiss before joining Silas and Ranya inside the aircraft.
Ranya sat in the recliner closest to the front, apparently trying to suck the life out of a bowl of fruit and giggling as she failed.
Lexi turned to Silas and jerked her chin at the Witch, and he shook his head, so she sat down at the back of the plane.
A moment later Asha fell into the recliner next to Lexi with a heavy sigh. “Who knew it would be so hard to convince a Tvastar to join a top-secret mission,” she said. “I blame you, you know.”
“Me? What the fuck did I do?”
“He's worried about you and doesn't want to let you out of his sight, obviously.”
Lexi snorted. “That's bullshit.”
Asha raised an eyebrow and narrowed her creepy eyes.
The plane's engines started up, and Lexi looked out the window to see Nidhan leaning over Aquila as the two of them made their way back inside. The draft from the jet gave the impression they were walking in a hurricane, and she watched Nidhan glance back once, before he disappeared into the building, and moments later Lexi felt the aircraft leave the ground.
“What did you tell him about Zaiden?”
Lexi snapped her attention back to Asha. “What do you think I told him?”
“Well, I don't think you told him Zaiden went back to Tapas days ago. I don't think you told him we're destroying the portals. Or that after we destroy the portals, you will never see your soulmate again.”
Lexi knew Asha saw the flinch of pain she tried to hide. “No. I did not tell him any of that.”
“So he thinks Zaiden's still around? Just, what? Helping with securing various Headquarters, or some crap?”
“Maybe.”
Asha looked sad, and Lexi realized her friend's creepy eyes looked ordinary. The glow was gone completely from them. “And you think once Zaiden can never return, that Nidhan will marry you?”
“I hadn't thought that far ahead.” Lexi felt her eyes fill with tears, and cursed herself. “But yeah, I guess I did think… some-thing like that.”
Asha reached a hand toward her, but Lexi moved away before Asha could heal her.
“I wouldn't expect you to understand.”
“You're right. I don't,” Asha said, and her eyes looked properly creepy again. “How do you think Nidhan will feel when he finds out we all lied to him?”
Lexi shrugged, turning to look out the window.
“He will never forgive himself for not calling Zaiden with that stupid, coma-inducing device,” Asha said. “He'll think his love for you made him blind and selfish.”
Lexi had forgotten about the weapon Zaiden gave Nidhan in Tapas. The one the Upperworlder would immediately be notified of if he used it, just like in Arizona, and she mentally kicked herself for not taking it from him. “You can't know that for sure.”
“Oh, but I do,” Asha snapped. “I absolutely do.”
Silas kept his eyes on Ranya, but called back to them. “That won't happen.”
Lexi snapped, “Is it too much to ask that you tell us what the hell is going to happen, oh, Chosen One?”
“I can't be sure at this point,” Silas said, smiling as if he had just told her she won the lottery, and Lexi raised her hands to the ceiling in exasperation. “But one thing I know for sure is that Zaiden isn't lost to us.”
“Shit, Lexi, don't look so disappointed,” Asha whispered, then added, “Poor guy.”
“Poor guy, my ass,” Lexi sneered, seriously consider
ing joining the pilot. “Can we please, please just focus on the job at hand? If that's not too much to ask.”
Ranya straightened as if waking up, and turned the dark eyes of her mask on Lexi. “I agree,” she said, her voice like a whip, filling the cabin. “All this drama is making me feel as if Mahatala parasites are sucking my brain out through my ears.”
Lexi had to remind herself that she definitely was not starting to like the Witch.
Chapter 18
Over the next two weeks, Jax barely slept as she led the effort to gather civilian world leaders from every country. Using the Guard's influence, she coordinated invitations for a top-secret meeting of United Nations ambassadors, each one accompanied by the nation's most forward-thinking mind on world hunger. They pitched the whole thing as a genius think tank for renewable energy and the planet's sustainable future, claiming it needed to be top secret for reasons that would become clear to only the highest clearance chosen.
No country wanted to be left out, so no one argued, even the three countries not represented in the U.N.
That meant 196 ambassadors and another 196 engineers, scientists, geologists, and people with IQs above 160. Many of the ambassadors insisted on bringing aides, and some countries chose to send a senior officer instead of the official ambassador. Which meant more background checks for Jax.
In the end, there were 588 civilians in total. With flights of no more than twenty passengers, including five Guard members, she also had to arrange for thirty-seven private flights with the kind of high security checks that normal airport security would never consider. Like, “Is the passenger possessed by Revenants?” or “Is the passenger even human?”
While she and her team worked out every detail for the civilians, and made sure there were no leaks or outside communication once they left their homes to travel, the Infernal Guard began the evacuation of every Headquarters across the planet, knowing that once the portals were destroyed, each structure would fall, just like Headquarters in Punjab. Guard members salvaged all of the weapons and what supplies they could, but countless irreplaceable pieces of art would have to be left, only to be destroyed.
Only Central Headquarters remained occupied. Thirty Jodha remained to serve as security for Asha, Silas, and Ranya, ready to stop any Underworlders who might try to prevent the destruction of the portals between realms.
The remaining members of the Infernal Guard were instruc-ted to convene in the underground safe house in Northern Africa, where they would assist—most of them reluctantly—with the civilian leaders, and where, Silas assured them, everyone would be safe until after the new year.
When Jax studied the blueprints, she had been astounded by the safe house's gargantuan size and complexity. It was more like an underground city than a house, fully equipped with everything two thousand humans would need to keep them alive for at least a year.
Kai told her that he and his brothers had been there once with their father on a routine check to make sure everything was still in working condition. Apparently, the Headquarters took turns sending a team out twice a year to do a sweep of the place.
“It's not impressive in person,” he told her, “unless you like bare cement floors, cold water, food packets, and tiny cots under low ceilings.”
Jax looked up from her wall of computer screens. “You do realize you're talking to someone who has been homeless,” she said.
Kai tossed his long hair off his shoulder, and studied his nails.
“I hope you keep your bitching to yourself once we get there.” Jax turned back to the screen in front of her. “Especially if it's gonna involve how you miss bubble baths and down comforters.”
Kai had spun her chair around, and grinned. “Oh, they have down comforters.”
Jax was pretty sure she had flipped him off at that point.
After Uma and Chakori relayed orders to the Guard who would accompany each flight of civilians, and Jax set up the security checks for every passenger, it was time to pack up the computers and drive to the “closed” Air Force base to meet their own plane.
Seven of them—Kai, Kenda, Koko, Uma, her husband Dhevan, Chakori, and Jax—would travel with representatives of the United States, Canada, and Mexico. They would pick up more civilian representatives from Germany and Belgium in Hamburg, refuel, then fly south to the safe house.
Jax checked and rechecked her computer gear as Kenda stood over her, waiting to carry it into the plane.
“Look at this asshole,” Kai mumbled, and Jax looked up. “Didn't we tell them not to bring anything? We said specifically and very clearly, bring nothing with you.”
Kenda shook his head. “Doesn't bode too well for their ability to be great thinkers, does it?”
They watched a man in his fifties, dressed in an expensive suit, as he rolled two suitcases behind him. A younger man struggled at a respectful distance behind him, with yet another suitcase. They walked to the edge of the holy water moat that surrounded the plane's platform, and stopped.
Koko, who leaned on the jet's stairs, said around bites of a sandwich, “At least the third guy gets the idea. Check out this dude.”
A man who looked no older than thirty approached the water, wearing only a T-shirt and shorts. He kicked off his flip-flops and, without looking at the other men, waded through the water and approached the makeshift changing room.
“Bet that's the resident genius,” Kai said.
“Nope,” Jax told him. “That's the Canadian politician. Likes to do his homework. And pester me with emails.”
“Huh,” Koko frowned, then shouted across the water at the other two men. “You have to leave your shit there!”
The civilians just gaped at him, and he yelled louder, “Yes, all of it! Leave all that crap and let's go, people!”
“Nice one,” Kenda said.
“Let's hope Uma didn't hear you mocking her.” Kai glanced up at the plane's door. “I don't think she can tell us apart and I'm not getting my ass kicked for you.”
The two men across the water watched the third guy come out of the changing room wearing a dark suit, and they began reluctantly taking off their jackets, shoes, and ties. They hesitated one more time, then left their bags and waded into the water, shivering in the early December air.
Kai straightened and saluted as they passed him, but they only scowled. The younger man grumbled, “I am a scientist. Not some kind of barbaric swamp creature.”
“Sir! No, sir,” Kai called after him, then turned to Jax and rolled his eyes. “Because swamp creatures have definitely caused more death and destruction than scientists.”
Kenda said, “This is going to be one hell of a long flight.”
“Understatement of the century,” Koko and Jax said together.
Once all three Mexican and two Canadian civilians arrived, they went through security. Along with sacrificing every personal item, the civilians had to drink a mixture of cayenne, holy water, and turmeric, which the triplets supervised and found extremely entertaining. Jax checked their identifications personally, and then they walked through a machine that scanned their person for tracking devices.
The measures weren't foolproof. It was possible that a civilian had ingested or injected something that could be remotely activated later. But this was as much as they could do.
Finally, everyone settled onto the plane.
Uma and Chakori ignored the civilians, who watched them with wide eyes as they swept the aircraft for tracking devices and any foreign, non-Satya realm substances. When that was done, they entered the cockpit without a backward glance.
Dhevan settled into the recliner closest to the exit and fell asleep, oblivious to the attention his metal foot drew when he stretched his legs out. The grimacing demonic face carved into it seemed to wink at the civilians in the exit row lights.
Jax smiled at the civilians, relating all too well to how out of reality they must feel.
“It'll be five hours to Germany, so—”
“So ther
e won't be a meal,” Kenda finished.
“There are plenty of healthy snacks, if you get hungry.” Jax glared at Kenda, who responded by picking his teeth with a curved blade.
The civilians didn't look hungry. In fact, they all looked slightly green. Even the man who had seemed so confident in his shorts and flip-flops now seemed as if he were regretting his decision to volunteer for a top-secret meeting. As the engines roared to life, Jax could almost hear him wondering if he was about to be killed by a group of rude, fully-armed misfits who obviously didn't work for any government.
Jax still wished she could figure out a way to detect if any of the civilians were Reavers—civilians even more bloodthirsty and greedy than familiars—but Uma had told her not to worry about it, saying, “Any Reaver among the group will be on lockdown once we reach the safe house. And if a fucking Reaver can figure out how to take us down from the inside? Well, we'll deserve whatever we get.”
Jax could see Uma's point, but still would have felt better if there was a way to know the civilians' loyalties. Maybe if she were a genius, like half the people she'd run through security checks, she could have figured something out. As it was, they would just have to keep a close eye on everyone until they reached their destination. Kai, Kenda, and Koko would take turns watching the men as Jax watched her screen.
If there was a traitor on the plane, she would find him and sound the alarm.
Uma had been very clear about alarms.
“Listen to me, Jax,” she'd said, her large brown eyes flashing. “I don't give a tiny rat turd how much so-called training you think you have. If you encounter a Reaver, you do fuck all except push that little alarm button on your watch, understood? You don't even look at the scumbag. These people have a sixth sense for danger. They're like bottom-feeding Goblin sharks. Do not underestimate them. Let us deal with it.”
Jax had tried not to smile as she asked, “Is that a thing? Goblin sharks?”
Uma pointed a finger. “Don't fuck around, Jax,” she said. “Alarm button. Remember it.”