Veil of Justice, Shadows of Justice Book 3

by Regan Black

  The woman hiding on the back of the ambulance was an unexpected bonus. He’d anticipated long months of searching before anyone found her. What a pleasant surprise that she’d come to him. It meant his timetable could be moved up. Fortune did indeed favor the bold.

  The recent fiasco with Petra had caused him an undue amount of doubt. But the experience couldn’t be catalogued as a total loss. Though momentarily set back after trying to control Petra’s astral flights, he’d withdrawn from the failure with an additional perception that he’d put to the best possible use in recent months.

  Between this new, stolen perception and the recent task the goddess had assigned, Kristoff recognized the small woman on the back of his ambulance as the last Guardian.

  "Hope does spring eternal," he muttered with a smile.

  It would help to know more about her, but he was smart enough to deduce her immediate goal and her significance in accomplishing his own.

  Interesting that the supplements he’d added to Nathan’s food to subvert his telepathy hadn’t prevented the telepath from reaching beyond the prison walls to find her. Now he understood precisely how Nathan had lasted so long in a facility designed to drive him mad. The man’s strength had always been the unknown variable. Kristoff no longer summarily discounted the x-factor of any of his genetically engineered children.

  In a weakened mental state, the Paracuron should've had a better effect. No matter. With two doses on board, Nathan would be completely malleable. Where he’d failed with Petra, Kristoff anticipated much greater success with her brother.

  Kristoff twisted in the passenger seat to speak to Simon, who was studying Nathan with unrelenting focus. "Simon," he waited for eye contact. "There’s someone hanging on outside whom I think you’ll enjoy. Go and play now."

  The young man smiled eagerly and Kristoff returned his attention to the dark road and the plans ahead. Simon, ever-loyal and thoroughly depraved, would give the girl a proper assassin's welcome.

  * * *

  Furious, Nathan refused to surrender to the oppressive weakness. He’d given up on making his body obey, but surely he could bypass whatever was paralyzing his telepathy. Hearing Kristoff give the order, he didn't understand the impact. The name Simon hadn't been mentioned anywhere in the thick dossier the office maintained on Kristoff.

  Ignoring what he couldn't address, he pushed at the walls surrounding his mind, looking for the weak spot. There had to be a weak spot. Breaking though would tell him more about the drug Kristoff used than any lengthy warning label on a prescription bottle. Later he would put together the hows and whys. Right now he needed a solution. He needed to warn Kelly she was a target.

  * * *

  Kelly didn't need Nathan's warning. She had a perfect view of the disturbed eyes gleaming through the small window on the back door. The door latch wiggled against her belly. If she let go, the van would get away. If she hung on, she was an easy mark. The man with the strange eyes solved her dilemma by smashing the window and grabbing for her throat.

  Ducking, Kelly wrenched the door handle. Soon they were both tumbling down the packed dirt road, the ambulance door flapping like a broken hand waving good bye.

  The man with the scary eyes giggled as he rolled to his feet. The strange sound emphasized the unexpected quiet of the prison behind them. Briefly, she wondered why there weren't sirens and search parties in pursuit, and then she zeroed in on the crazed man circling her and the rippled blade in his hand.

  "Wow," she said, catching her breath. "Is that a Keris?"

  He stopped, staring at his hand as if he'd just noticed the wicked blade. "Yes."

  "It's beautiful." She shifted, and he mirrored, until Simon was between her and the prison. "Where'd you get it?"

  He blinked. "I've always had it."

  "I bet Kristoff gave it to you." Kelly reached for her dirk. "See this? He gave this to me a long time ago," she lied.

  "It's short," he said. He straightened and took a step, absorbed with the discussion. "You'd have to get in very close."

  His eager, breathless tone spooked her. She swallowed her fear and spoke carefully, "Sometimes a disadvantage becomes the advantage."

  His gaze lifted from the knife to her, his head tipped in a sweet sort of confusion. The effect was unsettling.

  "So, what brings you out tonight?" she asked.

  "Dr. Leo said I could hunt." Something in his eyes told her time was up. He wouldn't be distracted any longer. "He said I could hunt...you."

  "We could make it a game," she said. "More fun for you that way. What's your name?"

  "Simon."

  "Well it's good to meet you, Simon." She had to finish this fast, or lose Nathan and the ambulance entirely.

  Before Simon could back up, or attack, she gave the dirk a spin. His eyes, locked onto the blade's movement, missed the incoming kick to his groin. She put everything she had behind the move, envisioning his balls lodging somewhere up around his stomach. He collapsed in a heap at her feet.

  Kelly fished another packet of sleeping powder from her pocket. Using more than was strictly required, she blew it into his nose. Then, tucking that terrible blade into the front of his scuffed boot, she said a prayer. If God, or even her father, was listening, Simon might sever a tendon when he woke up.

  "Sweet dreams." Tossing him a salute, she jogged after the ambulance.

  * * *

  Feeling the ambulance rock beneath him, Nathan willed his muscles to respond, to act, but failed to accomplish anything. The exertion was pointless. If he couldn’t force his heart and lungs to engage beyond the absolute minimum, he certainly wasn't going to regain voluntary muscle control.

  An insistent, arrhythmic banging continued near his feet, making it impossible to pick out other sounds around him. It had to be the door. If Simon was still here, he'd close the damn thing so Nathan had to assume Simon gone, happy to obey Kristoff's order.

  If he could only see he could work with his telekinetic skills. No drug was foolproof – especially when no chemist in all of recorded history had found a way to factor in a patient's willpower.

  Willpower. Well, duh. His time in the hole had dulled him more than he realized. Let's hope it's not permanent. The abuse had reduced him to thinking like a cornered animal. Something Kristoff was surely counting on.

  Nathan relaxed completely as a plan formed in his mind. This wasn’t his first time in an ambulance. Most of them followed the same basic design and layout. Carefully, he brought a memory into focus. He used it to visualize the placement of equipment. Getting comfortable with the image, he pictured the equipment moving.

  Hearing a clatter, followed by a curse, Nathan gave himself a mental high five. He’d found the weak spot in the drug and learned he wasn't alone back here. Next, he thought of the doors, the handle configuration, and the way the latches moved and interacted.

  More cursing, a swerve, and then fresh air tickled his nose as he managed to unzip the body bag just a little. He celebrated the minor victory.

  "What the hell’s going on?" Kristoff shouted through the cab window.

  Nathan pictured the window sliding closed and it slammed obediently. If any of his facial muscles could move, he’d be smiling ear to ear.

  His paralyzed body sloshed within the bag as the ambulance dipped and heaved. Nathan wondered at the cause, but stuck to his plan. He flipped latches that held cabinets closed and sent items sailing about, slapping them against the window he'd closed on Kristoff.

  He imagined letting the air out of a tire and soon the ambulance was fishtailing. When the ambulance rumbled to a stop, several raised voices told him it wasn't nearly enough.

  "Come on back here and play!" He willed the thought to reach someone, but no one seemed affected.

  Damn. He couldn't let Kelly deal with this alone. He focused on the power locks and windows. Envisioning a memory from auto shop about standard wiring, Nathan severed the connections. The result was lots of pounding and rocking. He reveled in ano
ther small measure of success.

  "Good one. Thanks!"

  Kelly! He wanted to believe, but he didn't let down his guard. Kristoff was capable of most anything.

  "You've done great, Nathan. Now let’s get you out of here."

  Her voice sounded close, but he didn't want to hope for the impossible. He was scared it was another affect of Kristoff's drug.

  Then he felt her small hands working him free of the body bag and the straps holding him to the gurney. "Hurry," he thought. Then he realized things had gone too quiet. "Where's Kristoff?" he wondered.

  "Indisposed. We have a little time."

  How did she do that? Wait. "You can hear me?"

  "You've been in my head for months, Nathan."

  Of course that was true, but she'd been so quiet in these last hours. Resuming the easy telepathic communication with Kelly went a long way to restoring his confidence.

  If they got out of this, he'd unravel how she kept him out so effectively. At the moment he just appreciated how she spoke aloud, treating him like the man he hoped to be again. Soon.

  "It's Paracuron."

  I figured as much. I'm going to give you something that should help counter the effect."

  "How do you know about Paracuron?"

  "Give me some credit." He felt her fingers opening his mouth, felt something cool dissolve on his tongue. It was minty – and very bizarre to notice that detail. "I learned a lot when your sister was attacked by Kristoff last spring."

  Panic lanced his chest like a bolt of lightning. Fear and dread swamped him in waves and he was helpless to express any of it. He felt like he was choking.

  "Relax, Nate." Her warm hand stroked gently across his forehead, then down around his face, to soothe tension in his neck. "Relax. You know she’s fine."

  Nathan wanted to cheer, but the moment was broken by Kristoff’s fury pouring from the cab in a string of vile threats.

  So much for the Mr. Helpful routine.

  Above him, he felt Kelly scrambling. He heard equipment scrape against the gurney, and then a loud hiss drowned out Kristoff. Finally the cab window slid shut again.

  "I used the sedative vapor. Unfortunately he’ll be just as mad after his nap. You know what they say about the nature of the beast."

  Actually, he didn’t, but he didn't care either. "I still can’t move."

  "I got that, Nate. Give that powder another minute?"

  "Where's Simon?"

  "Indisposed. By this time he might be Leavenworth's newest resident."

  "They'll know he's not me."

  "Wouldn't count on that. I looked into their records. Corrupt doesn't begin to cover it. If having Simon means they have the right head count, and don't have to report a successful escape, they might go with it."

  It sounded absurd to him, but she was so confident.

  "You know you're not holding up your end of the bargain," she said with serious irritation.

  "Wait for daybreak."

  "I’m kidding. Mostly. Hang tight one second while I move the car."

  He desperately wanted to see her after all this time communicating only telepathically. He blinked, then blinked again when his eyelids actually cooperated, revealing the ambulance roof in its messy reality. So much better than his memories!

  "Kelly!" What he'd intended as a shout came out more like an asthmatic rasp.

  No answer. He tried to quell the dread of being alone again. Though his major muscle groups were still offline, working eyelids and vocal chords were awesome. He struggled to see his fingers, determined to make them wiggle, but nothing happened. How the hell was she going to get him out of here?

  "You should leave me," he said, hearing her climb back into the ambulance. Of course, he regretted the gallantry the instant he saw her.

  She was beautiful. Her eyes, nearly black, were absolutely captivating. He could ignore the dark smudges of grime on her face and dust in her hair –

  "You'd better stop or I'll swoon."

  Whoops. He hadn't meant to be so open.

  "I'm not sure you can be anything else at the moment. Got any feeling in your legs yet?"

  He shook his head. Then realized what he'd done.

  "Is that supposed to be a smile?" she teased. "Here's the plan. I'm taking the stretcher out, dropping it and shoving you into the car."

  "Such thoughtfulness and care. Now I might swoon."

  She laughed and he marveled that she could in the midst of this ridiculous stress. He was immediately grateful for her warning as the gurney bounced and jarred him head to toe. He tried to smooth the way with his telekinesis. It was easier with his vision back, and he was soon settled in the passenger seat, feeling content. Then she stole his breath and all coherent thought when she leaned that sweet, power packed body across his chest to buckle his seatbelt.

  "I’m just strapping you down for safety while I drive us out of here."

  In the next moment, she was behind the wheel and the Mustang was roaring away. He closed his eyes, trying to hide grateful tears, and soon he was asleep.

  * * *

  "Jaden, wake up!"

  Jaden was on her feet and alert before he sister finished speaking. "You've found them." Not a question. She rolled her shoulders and lit up the map board. "Where?"

  Petra waved to Jaden's attention to the holograph. "Leavenworth. The alert you set to go off if Dad's codes were breached."

  She paused to absorb that. "You're sure it's Kelly and Nathan? Are they okay?"

  "No idea. I only know they're alive because Kristoff is after them."

  "I thought you killed Kristoff."

  Petra shook her head. "You wish. I just sidelined him."

  "You've been in contact with him all this time?"

  "Of course not," Petra snapped. "He's been hiding himself from me as well as the authorities."

  Jaden shook her head. She still didn't quite get all that her sister could do with her mind, preferring to use weapons she could see, hold and apply as needed.

  "Now I'm using the back door he built into my head against him."

  Jaden silently wished for Gideon, Petra's husband to appear. A warrior himself, he made her feel a bit more secure around Pet's odd talents for empathy and flying through space without her body.

  "You've got the worried face, Jaden."

  "I've earned it." She gave up trying to smile. "Tell me what to do." Her cell card skittered on the table. "Hang on." She glanced at the display and groaned. "Who texts these days? Except for you," she amended. Petra was nothing if not in touch with the retro side of technology. Speed Voice was so much more efficient for short messaging. Unless you didn't want to be overheard.

  On that thought, she slid her cell card through the receptor on her keyboard and set the holographic map as the monitor so Petra could keep up.

  'Sending intercept coordinates and antidote.'

  A stream of numbers poured forth, followed by an odd list of what looked like Latin. It was all laid out in white text on a black background that blanked the map from Texas to North Dakota.

  "Hit record, save, whatever," Petra scrambled for her pen and notebook and started to copy the words.

  Jaden secured the data and started to send a reply.

  "Don't."

  "Okay." Sometimes it was a little creepy that Petra could read her like that. "What do you want me to do?"

  Jaden tried to be patient, but her foot started tapping long before Pet answered.

  "Gideon's on his way with the Commandant. We'll plan an intercept. If I can find Lorine, she can start brewing an antidote for Nathan."

  "He's been poisoned?"

  Petra nodded, still making notes. "Shot with Paracuron, most likely, based on the counter agents listed."

  "Nathan plus Paracuron equals we can't stay here." Jaden did a slow circle, taking in the library her husband had set up in their reconfigured warehouse. The upper levels were home and the lower levels provided studio rooms for various martial arts and fitness inst
ruction. She had excellent security but no lab capabilities. "Slick Micky's our best option."

  "But-" Petra protested, then thought it through, agreeing with Jaden. "I'll notify Gideon. We have to move fast or Kristoff will be hardwired into him for life."

  Which meant Nathan's life would be short.

  FOUR

  A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on. Winston Churchill

  Kelly headed west, periodically checking the mirrors and craning her head to the sky. So far, no visual or audible pursuit. Maybe they’d been lucky and Simon had fed his dark urges by eviscerating Kristoff. Eliminating a genetics expert who preyed on desperate, infertile couples in order to manipulate the gene pool could only make the world a better place.

  "You’re not judge, jury or executioner," she reminded herself aloud.

  "Why not? We both know he's guilty."

  Kelly rolled her eyes. Like she needed company in her brain at the moment.

  "You're just grumpy." Thankfully, Nathan used his voice this time. "Where are we?"

  "Not sure. You haven't been out that long. We're still too close to Leavenworth to stop." She was looking for a safe place to hide and rest.

  Nathan tried to sit up, but his muscles were still useless. "What's the navigation gadget say?"

  "Nothing useful unless you can make it find the farm house I lost. There aren't a lot of paved options out here."

  He tried to keep his thoughts to himself, but he failed.

  "I did have a plan," she snapped. "It blew up in my face when they made you dead. Now stay out of my head so I can think alone."

  He didn’t like the dead concept any more than staying out of her head. "Two heads are better than one," he teased.

  "You're in good spirits for a guy who can hardly move."