Rylee’s fist fell, and she grabbed hold of Leah’s collar with both hands, bringing their faces within inches.
“Please,” Leah begged. “I don’t want him to find out like this.”
She stared into Leah’s eyes, looking for something to make her certain, but the vision she had of Leah as a government agent clashed with what Leah actually said—if she was a woman trying to know the father of her child hadn’t fallen for another woman…
She didn’t want to feel this sympathy—not for Leah.
“No,” Rylee said. “You took pictures, you….”
The engine died in the driveway as they glared at one another.
“Talk,” Rylee said, her voice angry but approaching tears. “Talk faster!”
“I’m sorry,” Leah said. “I had to take pictures. I couldn’t read it.”
Footsteps approached from the side door, both women aware of each second ticking by.
Jonathan was jarred from his thoughts when he came upon the scene in the garage. He froze, seeing that Rylee had Leah by the collar, looking as though she was on the verge of violence. Neither woman looked at him, not right away, and finally, with a defeated whimper, Rylee let go, pushing the other woman away from her as she did so.
“What the hell is going on?” Jonathan asked.
The question was met with silence.
Rylee’s face softened into misery, her eyes shining, verging on tears, the strength in her posture going slack. Both women seemed unsure what to do with themselves and avoided looking at him. It took a moment, but Leah realized he was watching her. His gaze had fallen on the red mark swelling under her eye. When he lingered there, she lowered her head letting her long hair dangle in front of the bruise in an attempt to hide what had happened.
He swallowed. “Someone say something.”
Leah looked back at Rylee, her face uncertain as she watched the other woman stare at the floor. A tear ran down Rylee’s cheek. Jonathan wanted to go to her—was it the bond or honest concern? He couldn’t tell, but it hurt him to see her in tears.
“Rylee?” Jonathan mumbled.
She looked at him when she heard her name, as though she wanted to speak but was at a loss for words.
He stepped closer, his hand reaching for her face and gently wiping the tear away. “What happened?” he asked.
She looked away again, but reached up to hold his hand against her cheek. She seemed so confused, not yet ready to speak.
“Leah?” Jonathan asked, turning his eyes to her.
Half hidden by her hair, Leah’s face was troubled. She watched his hand pressed to the other woman’s cheek. Jonathan didn’t want to upset her, but didn’t see a way to show either woman tenderness without hurting the other. He was not willing to take any comfort from Rylee when she was so upset. He wanted Leah to understand this, but all he saw was hurt.
“My stuff,” Rylee finally whispered. “She went through my stuff.”
For a moment, Jonathan frowned, but felt relieved. Leah was the last person he could imagine invading someone’s privacy on purpose. She had always been respectful of boundaries. He felt that this had to be a misunderstanding.
“Rylee, I’m sure it isn’t what it looked like,” he said. “Leah wouldn’t—”
“No.” Rylee shook her head, pulling his palm from her cheek and clutching it tightly with both her hands. “Jonathan…” she whispered, her eyes pleading with him to see something. “She took pictures of my diary.”
He had to bite down, clench his teeth to keep a look of panic from crossing his face. He hadn’t even known Rylee kept a diary, would have asked her to destroy it if he had. If he was wrong, if Leah had done what Rylee claimed, then he may have seriously misread the gravity of this situation.
“Leah,” Jonathan said. “I know you wouldn’t. There has to be an explanation?”
Leah’s lips had barely parted to speak before Rylee cut her off.
“Jonathan, the two of you aren’t—” Rylee closed her eyes, her face having turned bitter. “I don’t know if she is who you think.”
For a moment, he was unsure what she meant, but when the unspoken message in Rylee’s words hit him, all the strength drained out of his face. Suddenly, there were too many fears fighting for dominance in his thoughts. Not only was Rylee accusing Leah of being in league with The Cell, but she was telling him he’d been blind to it. That his instincts had been so wrong about Leah that he’d failed to even consider the possibility. That she may feel nothing for him, having spent every moment since they met manipulating him.
He found himself unwilling to acknowledge the accusation, not wanting to feel the doubt it brought. He wished someone other than him would say something, but both women were watching him, waiting to see which way he would lean.
He closed his eyes.
“Leah?” he whispered.
“Cede,” Heyer said. “Will you speak to me?”
Left alone now in his prison, he sat with his back against one of the rock walls. His knees were bent in front of him, holding him in place while his head rested against the stone. The wall on the other side of the room shimmered, and the alien face of his mother looked back at him from her chamber.
“Yes,” she said.
“You’ve been with my brother since before I can remember,” he said. “When did he go mad?”
“On what matter is it that you question your brother’s sanity?” Cede asked.
Heyer shook his head. “He has taken it upon himself to either enslave or annihilate an entire race.”
“His conclusions are not groundless; there is precedent for his concerns,” Cede said. “Malkier is favoring caution.”
Heyer remembered what he had said to Jonathan, ‘I do not believe my brother would threaten my home world using prejudice as his justification…’
“He is favoring his hatred.”
Cede did not see the statement as requiring a response—it was not a request or a question. As she did not interact with biological beings under the pretenses of an emotional kinship, Heyer’s words left the room in silence.
“Do you know—are you allowed to tell me… when will they enter the gates?” Heyer asked.
“Yes, sir. The human known as Grant Morgan entered the gate of Echoes the Borealis a few moments ago. I have already rejected multiple requests by my counterpart on Earth to redirect to alternate nodes,” Cede replied. “Malkier reached the gateway of the human female. He will follow shortly.”
“So soon?” Heyer asked.
“Malkier had always intended to leave once he had ensured you would not be able to intervene.”
Heyer reached into his pocket, relieved to feel the beacon solidify in his hands. He had feared its discovery while he was unconscious. Knowing now that Grant had already entered the gates, he closed his eyes—the means to circumvent his brother’s plans were shrinking rapidly.
“You know, my brother, he was right about one thing,” Heyer said. “I never shared our technology with Mankind, because I was afraid of what they might do with it.”
“It is not an irrational fear, sir.”
Heyer drew in a long breath, then opened his eyes to stare at the face of his mother. “Cede, if you ever see my brother again, I want you to tell him something,” he said as he activated the beacon. “He was never going to keep me out of this. War with Earth—it always meant war with me…” He paused, swallowing before he spoke. “So I want you to let him know that I intend to give Mankind every advantage in my power. And I will be waiting for him.”
“Sir, you can certainly give this message yourself when…”
Cede stopped mid-sentence. Heyer was gone.
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
THE LONGER LEAH remained silent, the more Jonathan felt doubt unhinging him.
“Leah,” he whispered. “Say something.”
She closed her eyes, a look of defeat on her face. “I read her diary,” she said. “I needed to know.”
Jonathan didn’t want
to believe her, even as she confessed—the action contradicted everything he was drawn to in her.
“I couldn’t do it,” Leah said, “Just sit around wondering if the two of you were…” She shook her head, seemed unwilling to finish the sentence. “At least now I know.”
Jonathan flinched, narrowing his eyes as he pondered her words. It felt as though they weren’t talking about the same crime—that she had accused him of something.
“Now you know what?” Jonathan asked.
She glared at him at first, but her face softened the longer she stared, growing more conflicted as she tried to discern if his question was honest.
“I’ve never lied to you,” Jonathan said. “So what are you accusing me of?”
Leah blinked at him with uncertainty, struggling to read his face before she responded. “The diary, Rylee said—”
“Don’t,” Rylee whispered. “You’ve no right.” Her voice had been so quiet, her eyes suddenly pleading with Leah for mercy.
The garage door suddenly swung open.
An elephant might as well have crashed through one of the walls, Jonathan and both women were so startled by the interruption. Hayden entered, followed by Collin, both holding Frappuccinos and grinning with complete ignorance of what they had walked in on.
“Hey folks,” Hayden said. “Did you know…” He stopped short as he took in the scene.
“Uh,” Collin said. “Everything okay?”
Jonathan found he wasn’t sure if he should ask them to leave or beg them to stay. “A misunderstanding,” he said, turning to Leah. “Maybe we should talk about this later.”
Leah gave a nod of agreement, though she didn’t look as though she actually wanted to continue the conversation—more like she wanted Collin and Hayden to be her excuse to exit before anything else was said.
Rylee huffed in audible disapproval and turned away. “I’m out of here,” she said.
“You don’t need to leave,” Leah said. “I’m going.”
“Don’t!” Rylee stopped to point a finger at the other woman. “Just—don’t speak to me!”
Collin and Hayden tensed at the raw anger in Rylee’s voice. They looked about themselves as if they were unsure if they should inch toward the living room door or back the way they came. Rylee picked her pack up off the garage floor, throwing it onto the countertop beside Jonathan’s cigar box. He started to panic, seeing her stuffing her possessions into the bag, unsure if she was preparing to leave for good.
“Rylee?” Jonathan said. “Are you coming back?”
She paused, looking at him over her shoulder. He wasn’t sure if it was pity or betrayal on her face before she spoke. “I got the memo, Tibbs,” she said, turning away to continue gathering her items. “I can’t stay here, should have already left. Might as well get on with it.”
The way she said it, the expression on her face. She knew—and she knew he hadn’t told her. He stepped forward, not knowing what he was about to say, reaching out for her with his hand.
“I hadn’t decided any—”
A familiar twitch in his chest stopped his words as she turned back to him and waited for the rest of his interrupted thought. The hand he held out for her quivered as he felt the control over his muscles begin to fail.
“Ah, hell,” Jonathan managed to say. Then he crumpled to the floor.
CHAPTER SIXTY
THURSDAY| OCTOBER 14, 2005 | 8:15 AM | SEATTLE
WHEN SOUND RETURNED, he first heard the rain, still falling on the roof of the garage. The peace of it short lived before Collin’s confused voice broke in.
“What… ” Collin trailed off. “She just… where?”
He heard the familiar gasp of his roommates as his chest ignited. Opening his eyes, he saw Leah kneeling beside him and his roommates, wide-eyed, mouths hanging open. As his thoughts became lucid, panic barreled in on him. He knew what it would mean if he was activated while Rylee remained in proximity. Mr. Clean had been unable to redirect an inbound Ferox—had been forced to bring him into The Never. There was only one reason that Jonathan could imagine Mr. Clean would take this action without warning him—Malkier had ordered his A.I. on the Feroxian plane to refuse.
“We’re out of time,” he whispered.
He shut his eyes, his jaw clenching with self-contempt. He had already feared what he was setting in motion with all of his delays and uncertainty. Jonathan had waited too long, hadn’t sent Rylee away, hadn’t been willing to let her go.
He allowed himself this one moment of honesty. To feel the responsibility of it, to ignore hopes and denials that he was wrong. He’d failed to act and now the time to direct his fate had passed. Heyer had trusted him to do his part, to put off the war as long as possible. He hadn’t listened, hadn’t wanted to—he let it come to them.
“Not a leader. Just a damn fool” Jonathan whispered.
That was all the time he had for self-pity, the only acknowledgment it would get from him. He drew in a long breath through gritted teeth.
Get your feet on the floor, he thought.
Jonathan was immediately aware of the silence as he stood. His roommates reaction to his activation was off somehow, more confusion on their faces than ever before. Leah was no longer kneeling beside him—Hayden and Collin looked to him, and back to where Leah now stood, staring at the spot where Rylee had been standing. A spot that was now empty.
Leah’s face was trembling in fear when she turned to look at him. Her lip fell open and she struggled to speak. “Where … Jonathan, where did she go?” she asked.
A panic struck him, but was quickly suppressed. The way she seemed to have disappeared—the only explanation he knew of was being killed within The Never. That didn’t make any sense to him, though—if she had ceased to be before he had been activated, she would have disappeared before his eyes. It would have happened before he dropped to the floor. That, and he didn’t feel it, seemed to know she was okay. The bond—nothing felt different. He looked back at Leah, his face nearly as perplexed as her own.
Leah stepped toward him, new tears beginning to run down her cheek. She grabbed him by the collar of his jacket with both hands and yanked forcefully. Though he hadn’t expected it, and didn’t understand her sudden aggression, Leah might as well have been attempting to manhandle a telephone pole. She stumbled into him awkwardly, flinched in surprise as she found her face so close to his, unable to compute how it was that the physics of her actions hadn’t yielded anything close to the outcome she expected. Her breathing quickened in confusion, but whatever was causing her attempt to intimidate him physically hadn’t lost its focus.
“Where is she?” Leah asked.
Jonathan’s eyebrows furrowed, unable to understand the frightened anger she was clearly targeting on him. “I don’t know,” he whispered. “This hasn’t ever…”
He trailed off, blinking dumbfoundedly for a moment, before carefully bringing his hand up to push Leah’s clenched fists away.
Rylee had suddenly reappeared, manifesting in a manner eerily similar to Heyer’s coming and going. She lay still on the floor now, precisely where he had last seen her standing. Leah’s grasp on him went limp as she looked over her shoulder and realized what he’d seen.
Normally when Collin and Hayden saw him activated, they became a flurried mixture of fear and excitement leading to a barrage of questions. It seemed that even his roommates had a strangeness threshold. Apparently, seeing him activated, coupled with Rylee pulling an unexplained disappearing act, followed shortly after with Leah becoming uncharacteristically angry at Jonathan and accusing him of somehow having an explanation for what the hell was happening, only to have Rylee suddenly reappear unconscious on the floor, was enough to leave them frozen.
“Uh, I think Starbucks may have started putting acid in the Frappuccino mix,” Hayden whispered to Collin.
Jonathan knelt down beside Rylee. Her face was placid and calm, as though she was merely sleeping, but he suspected she was burning inside, unabl
e to move while the activation ran its course. Gently, he cradled her head in his hand and pulled the side of her shirt over one of her shoulders to see the faint blue light of her device flickering.
“How?” Leah whimpered. “I… I don’t understand.”
He had never been on the observing side of an activation—not this close—but he focused on her eyelids and waited for a sign of her returning consciousness. Finally, they fluttered, telling him she was almost back—and her eyes opened as the light of her device solidified into a constant glow. Her lips curved into a smile when he was the first thing she saw.
“Talk about crappy timing,” Rylee whispered as she reached for his face, her fingers running down his cheek as they looked at one another. “Finish what you were saying—sounded like you were working up to a really good apology.”
He frowned at her. “Sorry, Slug. I honestly don’t remember.”
Rylee gave him a crooked but playful look. “Don’t wuss out on me now Tib—” She cut off, sitting up suddenly when her eyes fell on the light beneath his T-shirt. “How are you…?” Her eyes raced around the room questioningly. “Your implant—how are you already activated?”
He frowned. “I don’t follow? I fell to the floor a moment ago,” he said. “You were packing your bag—I was looking right at you when it began, but when I came out of it, you weren’t here—”
Her hand shot up to his chest in concern. “Something’s wrong,” she said, shaking her head. “Do you feel it—the combatants?”
He hadn’t yet paid much attention to the movements of the compass in his mind, but on her prompting, he focused on the signal. “About two miles west,” he replied. “Feels close to Pioneer Square.”
He flinched then, feeling a shift in the signal’s destination.
“Dammit,” he said. “It’s already through and moving.”
“Yeah, but … there is only one,” Rylee said.
He put his hand out, and Rylee took it absentmindedly as she got to her feet. He nodded to her, confirming that he was coming to the same conclusion, a concerned expression forming on his face as he walked to the cupboard and removed the facade. Grabbing Rylee’s rattan first, he tossed it to her, before reaching for Excali-bar. His eyes fell on the chain weapon hanging beside it, and after a moment’s pause, he pulled Doomsday off its hook.
The Never Paradox (Chronicles Of Jonathan Tibbs Book 2) Page 49