Fred’s eyes sparkled with what I could only guess was excitement. I barely kept from breaking his nose. Played it out a few times in my mind, then smiled, and snuck a sideways glance at Pierce. He must have been all over what I’d been thinking, because he nodded. Situation diffused. I shifted my focus back to Fred. “Use your words, Fred. Surely you have some that aren’t lies.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets, took them out and shook them. “You’ll come to work for me. You’ll be assigned to our Amazon site, guarded, while you work on perfecting Xola’s formula. When you hand it over, and the efficacy of it tests out, I’ll, ah, release my control over you.” He was lying. I spotted the movement of his thumb over his finger.
I weighed my options: live with mind-numbing pain or step into my mother’s shoes. The shoes were a lousy fit. “I’m not a scientist, and I have no idea what any of the components of that formula are. So I have to ask, why me?”
He shuffled his feet. “Genetic link. You’re the only living person with any connection to that formula.”
I counted to twenty-three before Fred continued. “Other than Caitlin Connor, of course.”
My heart plummeted. Damn, they knew about Cait being my cousin, and probably about Fion Connor and Eamon Grady ingesting the formula in a twisted attempt to make a baby with…who knew what qualities and abilities? Cait would be struggling with those the rest of her life. My old fears knotted in my stomach, and I started to question my right to have children. I’d come to peace with it. Sort of. But reality continued to eat at me.
Pierce must have sensed my distress, because he pressed his hand against my lower back in silent support. I tipped my head back, and looked deep into his eyes. “Me, not Cait.” It was a simple decision.
Or maybe not so simple for Tynan. “Neither.” His tone didn’t allow for wiggle room.
Fred sneered, arrogant as hell.
“I want time with no monitoring or interference from you. If I can create the formula here and turn it over before the end of two weeks, you’ll disappear from my life and never, ever, go anywhere near Cait.”
Pierce stiffened.
Fred shook his head. “No deal. You’d be getting two weeks, and there’s nothing in it for me but a delay in the inevitable.”
Think, Everly. Think. Blood pounded in my veins. “The inevitable?” I asked, buying time.
“I ship both you and Ms. Connor to the Amazon under armed guard until you hand over every note you make on every test you run, explicit instructions for reproducing the formula, and proof that it works.”
I froze. “You’re going to test it on a living subject?”
Fred shrugged. Too much movement for the weight of his bones. He’d probably been broad-shouldered when he handled my mother. “The price of war. We’ll pick a death row inmate if it eases your conscience.”
Bile rose in my throat. I swallowed. “That scenario favors only you. Offer me a compromise.”
Tynan’s fingers dug into my back.
Fred rolled his eyes up, considered the clear, blue sky. “Two weeks, but we monitor this property. Cameras, flybys, and I’ll do unscheduled drop in visits.”
It was better than I’d hoped for.
Pierce flattened his hand, and gave me the faintest of nods. “Two weeks. Your conditions. Now, get off my land.”
He pulled an electronic device of some sort from his pocket and pushed a button on it. “Your wish is my command,” he said, bending into an elaborate bow. He shoved a business card into my hand. “Call me if you change your mind. I have the pull to get you out of tight spots just like Tap does.”
“What tight spots?”
Fred smiled, sly. “Heard The Yard wanted to charge you with trespassing on Fion Connor’s estate.”
I waved my hand at his words. “I had permission from a resident. Cait not only provided me with a map of the interior, but she also gave me the alarm code. That’s not trespassing, Fred.”
“Maybe not. Maybe so. Depends on the politics.”
A helicopter came into view, hovered, and then landed on the roof of the cottage.
And how the hell was that possible?
EIGHT
I HIKED MY SHOULDERS UP, tucked my head, and stuffed my fingers in my ears to protect myself from the buffeting wind and shuddering thwhop-thwhop drone of the helicopter. The pilot banked, and I stared after the chopper, my pissed off, pent up energy rushing to the surface as it faded to a distant, dark speck. After it disappeared, I whirled to face Pierce. “We have to find Millie and Harlan. Yesterday.”
“That’s your plan?”
“It’s a start. Millie knows the formula, knows the plants I’ll need to recreate it. And with any luck, she’ll know the antidote. I have two weeks to produce both, and find a way to combine them so that damn formula will never be viable.” I breathed in, taking a quick assessment of my gut feelings. They were…fine, stable. “Oddly, I don’t have a single doubt I can do this. Must have something to do with when we shared our blood, because normally I’d be a stuttering, stammering mess.”
Pierce crossed his arms, and narrowed his eyes. “Fred isn’t looking for a null formula.”
I’d thought of that. “Nope. But that’s what he’s getting. And there has to be some way to permanently destroy at least one of the plants that’s required to make the formula a lethal substance.” I considered the inherent problems with my plan. “But finding Millie is absolutely critical because she has a bunch of knowledge, and without that I’m up a creek.”
Pierce snaked an arm around me, pulling me close. “She better the fuck know how Fred programmed you.”
I’d thought about that, too. “Um-hmm,” I mumbled into his chest, then inhaled the scent of soap and pissed off male. “Love how you smell. It’s intoxicating.”
He planted a kiss on the top of my head. “Search now. Intoxicate later.”
I leaned back, looked into his eyes. “Wait. How could a simple cottage roof support a helicopter? I’m thinking Fred has had access to the property for a long time. And it certainly explains how he got in our house without navigating the maze.”
“Lightweight chopper, but still previous access is a good bet, Belisama.”
We made our way, inch-by-inch, through the cottage. At first we focused on the structure, because a chopper landing on the roof, lightweight or not, rattled uncomfortably in my brain. It took some effort, but we finally discovered an access stairway to the roof. Pierce checked out the helipad, and sure enough the cottage had been constructed to support a lightweight aluminum chopper deck. I strolled around, touching the surface, but only picked up images of the comings and goings. “It happened fairly often, Pierce. There are some old, foggy images of Millie arriving when she was still badly burned and heavily medicated. Harlan was with her.” A chill ricocheted down my spine. “Fred moved them here. Does that mean my grandfather has been collaborating with Fred?” My voice rose to an embarrassing squeal.
Pierce shook his head. “I don’t know, Everly.” It was one of the few times I’d heard Pierce sound nervous. He palmed his cell and punched in a number. It didn’t take but a minute for him to give his team instructions to trace any and all links between Fred and Aukele.
“You, know,” I said, tapping my foot. “You’ve given your gurus an impossible task. As magical and talented as they are, they’re no match for either my grandfather or Fred, especially if they’ve been operating in a magical furtive mode.”
His grunt was unhappy. “Not expecting much. Let’s move inside.”
The cottage smelled like Millie’s eucalyptus cleaning mixture, and it was apparent she and Harlan had lived there, and that they’d left in a hurry. Clothes were scattered around the bedroom, there were unwashed breakfast dishes in the sink, the bed had tangled sheets, and there was a big pot of my favorite tomato basil soup in the refrigerator. When I discovered it, I took if out of the fridge, opened the lid, and the delicious scent of the tomatoes and herbs wafted through the room. Tears ro
lled down my cheeks. “She made this for us. My fingers are showing me they didn’t want to leave, but there isn’t a single clue about how they were taken or where they went. My best guess is that either Fred or some other horrific government person kidnapped them. Millie would never leave her home in this condition unless it was under duress.”
This time Pierce’s grunt told me he was in complete agreement.
I put the pot back into the refrigerator. “You didn’t hear a helicopter early this morning, did you?”
“No.” He sounded tense, probably because he knew what I was going to ask next.
I huffed out a labored sigh. “We need to talk about Fred, who he works for, and why he calls you Tap.”
“Got that. Home first, recon, then talk.” He lifted the Kimber from his ankle holster, handed it to me. “Don’t hesitate to shoot. Until I know what groundwork Fred and Aukele have in place, we’re on high alert.”
How could two old men be causing so dang much trouble? We made our way to the house in record time and in silence, both lost in our own thoughts. Pierce locked me inside, then headed out to search every inch of the property. I didn’t even try to tag along, mostly because I was positive Pierce wouldn’t find anything or anyone, but also because I needed some alone time.
Even though Fred implied he “owned” Millie and Harlan, I knew it wasn’t true. They’d grown up in the Huna tradition with my grandparents, so whatever brainwashing techniques Fred tried would have failed. And all three of them would have been able to convince him he’d been successful. I’d seen firsthand that Grandfather could pull off any persona he chose without a hitch, ergo so could Millie and Harlan. And that meant they’d probably left clues for me.
To find them, I’d need complete quiet, no interruptions, and especially no male hormones screwing with my brain.
It would have been better if Pierce and I had talked through the Tap issue before I started searching the house, but exploring the outer property was equally critical, and as he’d said before he left, we’d get it done faster if we divided the load.
I sat in the middle of the great room floor, legs tucked into a half-lotus, and breathed into my center, grounding, becoming one with nature and with my new home. It didn’t go well. Images filtered across my internal monitor, but they were vague and unhelpful. Millie had been keeping the house clean, vacuumed, and she’d rearranged furniture when a new piece arrived.
And then I got hit with an image I couldn’t ignore—Millie dusting a huge sage green ceramic bowl that sat on top of an enclosed bookcase. It looked exactly like one I’d admired at a North Shore art gallery, and I’d commented to Annie that I wanted it, but she’d…oh, holy crap! She’d told me to wait. To be sure because it was a major purchase.
Jumping up, I ran to the bookcase.
And there it was! How had I missed seeing it? I stretched onto tiptoes, but couldn’t reach it so I shoved the coffee table over, stood on it and lifted the bowl down. Heavy. Weighed a damn ton. I carefully set it on the coffee table. There wasn’t a single doubt it was the same bowl. Corroborating images poured onto my internal screen of Annie and me touching it, caressing all the smooth places. They were like magic under our fingers then, and even now, I couldn’t stop touching it. How in the freaking hell did…whoever…know to purchase it? Annie? Couldn’t be. She was obviously surprised yesterday when she showed me the info on the property. She could’ve told Aukele about it. Maybe. But they rarely saw each other.
It just didn’t fit. And my Grandfather had given me a different sort of present—a puka shell, and a tiny green piece of sea glass that I always carried. I stuffed my hand in my pocket to finger the shell and glass. They meant as much to me as the diamond belly jewel Pierce had given to me. All of them carried powerful energy. When I rubbed the diamond a rush of energy exploded in my chest, and for a one clarifying second I was positive I was meant to finish what my mother had started.
But first I needed a trail to follow.
I lifted my phone from my back pocket, and hit speed dial for Annie. It took her two rings to answer and she was breathing like she’d run ten miles. No reason to make her talk, so I jumped right in. “The bowl we found at that art gallery? The green one?”
Deep breathing. “Uh-huh.”
“It’s in my living room,” I shouted into the phone, then calmed enough to hear her gulp something. Probably water. “Are you okay, Annie?”
Another gulp. “Rough about of morning sickness, then Maddie ran wild outside and I had to scale the back wall to catch her. Kid has suction cups for feet. Just got her confined to her playroom when you called.”
I felt for Annie, really I did, but I was a bit jealous too. “Want me to come get the little angel?”
“Sean’s on his way home, so I’m going to take a rain check on that. Now what is it about the bowl? And how’d it get in your living room? We’re the only two people who…surely you don’t think I was in your house before yesterday. Hold on. You do, or you wouldn’t sound like a woman on the verge of crazy. I have no idea how it got there, Everly. Better fill me in on what else has been going on. Besides great sex.”
Heat rushed through me. “Yeah, that.” I headed for the kitchen to get my own drink of cold water, talking while I walked. “Fred was here.”
“Well, shit. Hang on.” There was a long pause. “Okay. I’m sitting. Spill it.”
It took me a while to fill her in on the Fred-slash-Harlan and Millie situation. Long enough that I started to wonder where Pierce had gotten to. “How long would it take you to recon this property. Not the whole thing, just for, say, a mile radius around the house?”
Silence. Another gulp of water. “Depends on what I’m looking for. Pierce probably wants to be sure you’re safe and not under surveillance. That would probably take a few hours if I hustled.”
I wasn’t wearing a watch, but the sun was higher in the sky, and that meant I’d been sitting in meditation for over an hour. How long had it taken me to panic over the bowl and phone Annie? Twenty minutes? A half hour? I squelched the worry knotting my stomach. Pierce was fine. He hadn’t been gone that long. “He’s okay then. I probably shouldn’t go out looking for him.”
“I hope that was a statement, El, and not a question. Stay in the house and let him do what he’s trained to do.” A loud crash echoed through the phone line. “Maddie. Gotta go.”
I ended the call with a huge smile. Annie’s daughter had turned into a very lively child, and that was one of the best gifts ever. She’d come so close to dying… I pushed the memory away. Wait. Pushed the memory away. If I could do that, why couldn’t I pull out memories from my childhood? Same technique, only reversed. I reached for the spot on the right side of my neck where the pain usually centered. Couldn’t quite touch it with my right hand, so I switched hands, and hiked my left elbow up, giving it an extra shove with my right hand. Still couldn’t reach. Well, damn. When the pain hit, it usually started much lower than my neck, more in the no-man’s-land around my shoulder blade where I simply couldn’t reach. I’d always grabbed for my neck to stop the painful stabs because I could reach them there, and because the deeper the agony spread into my neck and head, the worse it got. Why had I not paid more attention to this phenomenon earlier?
There was nothing more to be gained from touching the bowl, so I put it back on the shelf, took Grandfather’s gifts out of my pocket, and sat cross-legged in front of the coffee table. Spreading them in front of me, I arranged them into different configurations. I’d hardly thought about them until today, just carried them around like I did my keys or phone.
There were no special memories connected to any of the pieces, except that he’d given them to me during the time I was so lonely, while I waited for Pierce to get back from his last mission. They’d helped to ease the loneliness, and it had become an absent-minded habit to stuff them in my pockets when I got dressed. A niggle twitched in the back of my mind. Aukele didn’t do much of anything without a reason, so what was I sup
posed to do with these? My internal monitor was a total blank, so I shrugged my thoughts aside, stood and dropped the booty into my pocket.
And Pierce strode through the front door, gave me the once-over. “You okay?”
I nodded. “Let’s walk.”
He didn’t question me, just held the door open. I started toward the path we’d taken earlier, but he caught my elbow and steered me through a narrow opening in the trees. “This way. Time to show you the surprise.”
“Surprise? Now? When someone’s been in the house? Well, Fred obviously, but I mean someone who knows what I’ve been doing. Saying.” Hearing the words stopped me cold. “Well, freaking hell.”
He grinned. “What happened to flippydoodles?”
“I’m always careful around Maddie, but she’s not here.” I waved my hand, brushing his question aside. “This is important. Critical. Someone’s bugged me.”
Another grin. “Besides me, you mean?”
“Yes, besides you. You haven’t done anything like that for a while. There’s a ceramic bowl in the house—”
“Green, sits on top of the bookcase.” He tugged on my hand, dragging me behind him.
“Yeah. How’d you know? Did you buy it?” Relief spread through me. Of course. That made perfect sense. “I texted you a picture when Annie and I found it.”
He shot me a sideways glance. “Same bowl?”
My stomach bottomed out. “You didn’t buy it, then?”
“I haven’t exactly been on island for a while.” His voice held that special, careful tone people use when they’re almost lying, but not quite.
I resisted stamping my foot. “If Annie didn’t buy it, and neither of us did, don’t you see, that means someone was following, and, or, listening to me while Annie and I shopped. Or maybe there’s a tap on my phone since I texted you. And what does exactly on island mean? You rarely use ly words.”
I yanked my hand free and scrambled for my phone. “Shit,” I whispered. “What if they’re listening to us?”
a Touch of Intrigue Page 7