by Dee, Bonnie
“Unfortunately, I think you’re correct,” Brenna interjected. “The Book states each Talisman is prophesied to arise at the brink of a series of disasters. They will meet their Protector/Consort at that time. After that the Book is silent about what happens. We’re not sure if any or all of the disasters are averted—it’s as if the Book itself is waiting to see what happens next.”
“I hate to tell you this, but Lily and I were pushed to our limits. Of course, we started behind the curve. By the time I reached her, she’d almost killed herself attempting to dissipate the energy. We’ll definitely need all the power we can get if the next disaster is bigger.” Carr shuddered to think if this event had been precipitated within the San Andreas Fault system or anywhere in the Ring of Fire.
“I didn’t want to mention this with that bastard Miller within earshot, but the astral connection involved more than sharing my protective energy.” At the two curious stares, Carr added, “We had astral sex—a modified approach to the Consort aspect of the prophecy since I was almost two thousand miles away at the time.” He shook his head and sighed. “Lily was a trooper … but has already pretty much decided astral plane sex is as close as she wants to get to the physical act. It worked in this instance, but as you say, it’s just the beginning. I’m pretty sure physical sex will be needed to keep up both our energy levels to take down killer quakes.”
“Birds-and-bees approach to energy,” muttered Donovan. “Damn, who would’ve thought all those lessons we had as adolescents would prove probative.”
“I’ll talk to her.” Brenna leaned her head against her husband’s arm. “She has to be scared to death.”
“I’ll keep you in reserve, ma’am,” Carr shot her a polite smile. “I’d like to think I can sweet-talk my own mate into bed without someone reminding her of her duty. By the way, this conversation never took place.”
Brenna and Donovan nodded. “We might not have much time,” the KOTE leader reminded him.
“I realize it. But I won’t have Lily harassed—or rushed—or embarrassed by talking to strangers. We just have to hope the attraction between a Talisman and her fated mate is stronger than the memory of a bastard and his attempted violation of her.”
“The gods help us all,” whispered Donovan.
Chapter Seven
Darcy plotted as the human assigned to return him to San Francisco and house arrest led him to a KOTE Learjet. He couldn’t go to San Francisco. He had to get Lily. His father had spoken with Algernon Brody—and Brody wanted Lily at his country house. Not gonna happen. Lily was his.
Lily. He licked his lips at the mental image of how she looked, partially nude, under him. Damn, she had luscious breasts and a mouth-watering ass. Who’d have thought delectable, little Lily Redfern would be his golden ticket to ultimate power?
Eyeing his guard, Darcy knew he could take him. No mere human, no matter how well trained, was a match for a Protector. “Hold up there, human.” Darcy shrugged the man’s hand from his arm. “I need to use the john.”
“The name’s Mark Winbolt—not human. You can call me Mr. Winbolt.” Shoving Darcy toward the airfield’s headquarters, he said, “Go on, but hurry it up. I want to get in the air as soon as we can. A storm’s brewing.”
Yeah, his father had shared that knowledge with him. He turned and looked to the west. Roiling crescents of cumulonimbus clouds stretched across the horizon like a curtain. The local sky was getting darker, tinged with a sickly green color. The smell of ozone and a strong cool wind indicated that, indeed, a storm was brewing—and a bad one at that. No one was flying into that mess. But he could get ahead of it flying east. The sooner he retrieved Lily and headed north toward Canada and a friend’s cottage, the better.
“Too bad Donovan didn’t think to bring some Air Keepers,” sneered Darcy. He turned to enter the building.
As Winbolt stared into the west at the ominous sky, Darcy made his move. A high back kick to the side of the human’s chin, and the man was down. His erstwhile guard moaned and attempted to get up. He lifted Winbolt’s shoulders and dragged him behind some bushes where he applied just enough pressure to the man’s carotid to put him out for a while.
Straightening up, he looked around. No one seemed to notice him or his actions. Between the brewing storm, the water threatening to overrun the flood plain in which the airfield was situated, and the minor quakes the Earth Keepers attempted to subdue, everyone was occupied.
Casually, he strolled toward the helicopter he’d used to fly the humans from the dig. The dig’s coordinates were in his head, but they were also in the computer on board the Bell jet helicopter. Might as well help himself to it to retrieve Lily. Of course, he’d provided the wrong coordinates to Callahan. Lily was his. If anyone was going to be a Protector to Lily’s Talisman, it would be him. As long as he held the Earth Talisman, the Destroyers, Algernon Brody—and KOTE—all had to dance to his tune. If they wanted to save, or destroy, Earth, they’d have to deal with him.
Darcy climbed into the ’copter and did a down-and-dirty pre-flight check. The mechanics had already refueled the bird, so all was good to go.
Lifting off, his mind and body hummed with thoughts of Lily and the final consummation of his attraction for her. He’d been hot for the aloof Earth Keeper from the day she’d first reported to the dig. Her dark hair and striking pale eyes, along with her curvaceous body, had stirred every sexual nerve in his body. But something more than her looks had called to him, there was also an untouched quality about her. He’d wanted to wipe out her innocence with raw, hard sex. He wanted her to burn for him—and him alone.
Instead, she’d rebuffed him at every opportunity.
Now that she was the Earth Talisman, he coveted her even more. He craved the power she wielded. As her Protector, he’d be reflected in her glory.
His mother would be so proud.
* * * *
Carr, Donovan and Brenna headed toward the field where the KOTE helicopters sat.
“That’s odd, the ’copter Miller used is gone,” said Donovan, stopping and searching the makeshift airfield. “Good thing we got the GPS coordinates from Miller right after he landed or we’d never be able to locate Lily.”
A moaning from some bushes near the airfield’s headquarters drew the trio’s attentions. Running toward the sound, Carr saw Mark crawling out of the shrubbery.
Donovan reached his friend first, going down on his knees to catch Mark’s body before he fell on his face on the rough, rocky ground. “What happened? Where’s Miller?” Brenna moved to kneel beside the injured man.
Carr suspected he knew the answer. He clenched his hands into fists.
Mark gasped out, “He got the … drop … on me.”
“He’s going back for Lily,” Carr said, his voice harsh with anger—and fear for Lily. “Come on, there’s no time to lose.”
Running for the fastest ’copter on the pad, Carr leapt into the pilot’s seat and did a cursory pre-flight, grunting in satisfaction when he found the tanks were full. Donovan, half-carrying Mark, reached the passenger door as he had the helo’s engines warming up.
“Move it. This bird goes in the air in five seconds whether you’re on board or not,” Carr snapped out.
Donovan’s head jerked once in acknowledgment. He practically threw Mark into the back and then hoisted himself in as Carr lifted off.
The KOTE leader buckled in while Carr took the helo through a 180-degree turn, then put on a headset and threw one to his friend in the back. Yelling over the engine roar, he said, “Buckle in, Mark.”
A few seconds later, Mark’s voice, still a bit thready and somewhat hoarse, came over the com. “I’m good. Push this bird.”
Heading east, Carr throttled up, taking the jet helicopter to its maximum cruising speed. As he flew, Donovan programmed the coordinates of Lily’s last known position into the on-board navigation system.
“Miller took a slower bird. We’ll catch him within the next few minutes,” said Carr.
Radar showed Miller’s helicopter about fifty miles ahead of them. “What happened back there?”
“He suckered me,” Mark said, stating the obvious. “He’s going back for the Earth Talisman, right?”
“Her name’s Lily—and yeah, he’s going back for my woman. That’s his final mistake as far as I’m concerned, there’ll be no Council decision on his punishment—his ass is mine.”
“I understand your concern—”
Carr cut off whatever Donovan had been going to say with a sideways glare. “No, you don’t. This connection between me and Lily has me in a fucking unstable state. I swear if he so much as fucking breathes on her the wrong way, I … will … kill … him.”
Donovan said nothing, merely nodded, but the expression on his face was grim.
Carr understood that as the current leader of KOTE—and a Spirit Talisman—the killing of another Terran was not an option Donovan would easily consider. But then, the leader of KOTE wasn’t the Protector for the one woman who could save Earth from ultimate destruction. He was. And as the holder of that position, and for as long as she needed him, Carr would eliminate anyone endangering Lily Redfern.
“Man, oh, man. Wait ’til Claire hears this. This sure wasn’t in the Book,” Mark muttered.
“I think you’d better check again, ’cause this is how my gut tells me I should react.”
“Man, oh, man,” Mark reiterated.
Donovan tapped Carr on the right forearm and pointed to the screen in front of them. Carr glanced at the radar. “He’s only five miles ahead now. At our relative speeds, we should make it to the site at least fifteen to twenty minutes ahead of him.”
“With any luck that is all the time we’ll need to find Lily and get her into the ’copter,” Donovan replied. “Mark, you okay to handle the winch?”
“Yep. Just like old times, eh, Donovan?”
Carr glanced over his shoulder and approved the manner in which Mark checked out the harness, the suspension strop, and winching equipment. “You two were in the service together?”
The ’copter vibrated. The cross winds had grown increasingly stronger. He adjusted for the changing conditions and steadied the ’copter with only a slight loss of speed.
“Let’s just hope this storm holds off until we get Lily into the ’copter,” Donovan said. “With the heat and humidity at ground level and the cold front coming in from the west, I wouldn’t be surprised to see supercells in this line of storms.”
None of the men spoke. They all knew supercells meant the possibility of tornadoes—strong ones.
A particularly vicious blast of wind had the ’copter dropping suddenly. Carr fought to bring the helo back to cruising altitude. When he had stabilized the ’copter, the three of them shared a collective sigh of relief. An uncomfortable silence settled over the inside of the helicopter, while outside the wind howled, lightning flashed, and thunder rumbled in the increasingly dark and stormy western sky.
“Donovan and I served in a lot of hot spots that most Americans never knew about.” Mark spoke, breaking the tense atmosphere. “We used helos a lot for ingress and egress.”
“Can you fly this bird? In these conditions?” Carr said.
“Both of us can. Why?” Donovan said.
“One of us has to belay down to get Lily—and stay with her if the storm keeps us from winching her into the ’copter. That’ll be my job.”
“We’ll do our best to make sure we all get out of the storm’s path in time,” Donovan said.
He knew Donovan didn’t want to leave him and Lily behind in such weather, but he had a gut feeling they’d be lucky to get him to Lily and get the ’copter away before the storm hit.
“I’ll need a survival kit, just in case. Lily might be injured. She is definitely unconscious since I haven’t been able to reach her on our mental path.”
“Mark, there should be an emergency kit under the seat next to you,” Donovan said. “If we have to leave you, we’ll get back as soon as we can.”
Carr nodded. “I know you’ll do your best.” He left unsaid that when battling the elements sometimes even a Terran’s best was not good enough.
“Did she say she was injured?” Mark leaned forward in his seat.
Carr heard Donovan calling New Madrid, asking for a weather report and requesting that Air Keepers make an attempt to weaken the storm chasing them. A lessening of the severe-weather-maker conditions could mean the difference between life and death for the three men and Lily.
“No, but she wouldn’t.” Carr grimaced at the thought of her lying in the open all alone for the past several hours. “She’s drained of energy, and from what I gleaned the short time she reconnected with me, she isn’t regenerating at the rate she normally would. That bitch of a quake tapped her out.”
Mark looked from him to Donovan, then back, a grim expression on his face. “How will she handle the next one? ’Cause there’ll be another one.” Mark then added what they were all thinking. “If I were behind this, I’d have my next disaster—like maybe some badass tornadoes—as soon as possible in order to overextend KOTE’s resources.”
“Well, you both have seen the damn Book,” Carr gritted out. “You tell me how this works.”
“It isn’t clear, Carr.” Donovan stared out the window. “We have the written prophecy—and after it, only blank space. While the quake hit in Indiana, the Book wrote the account of Lily’s and your fight to stall it.”
“And what we do have of the prophecy is cryptic,” grumbled Mark.
Donovan nodded. “Yeah. Pretty mysterious and short on details about the how, the how long, and the end results. But it definitely says the Talisman will appear when needed to stop the end of the world, beginning with the Earth Talisman.”
“Which Talisman appears next?” Carr looked at the wild weather getting only wilder. “Maybe Mark isn’t all that far off with disasters piled on top of one another.”
“The Air Talisman is next.” Donovan’s lips thinned in anger—or maybe fear.
“Damn, I hate it when I’m right,” Mark said. “Whoa, there’s Miller!” He leaned between the two men and pointed.
Miller’s ’copter was less than a quarter mile in front of them. Using a vicious tailwind to his advantage, Carr buzzed by the other ’copter as if it were standing still. He could see Miller at the controls. The man glared at him and his mouth moved.
Carr snorted. “I’m betting my ancestors have just been maligned.”
“He’s not getting all he could get out of that bird,” Mark noted. “Good thing he isn’t that great a pilot, huh?”
“He’s just lucky you don’t equip KOTE birds with air-to-air missiles or I’d have taken him out miles ago.” Neither Donovan nor Mark responded to his murderously frank statement. He was sure they didn’t believe he could kill Miller in cold blood. He could, easily, and with a smile on his face while doing so.
Tamping down his rage was difficult. Fearsome anger, bordering on madness, bubbled below the surface of his skin, in his gut, and in the back of his mind. It wouldn’t take much to incite him to kill Miller—or anyone else who threatened Lily.
He had never felt like this before, but knew it had to be because of his role. So be it. The world depended on Lily—and she depended on him. Plain and simple.
* * * *
A cool, whippy breeze and the sound of thunder roused Lily from a restless sleep.
Lifting her head from the ground, she shivered as she peered through eyes gritty with sand and dirt. She was thirsty. She eyed the waterfall to her far right, wondering how she could get to it and get a drink of all that nice, clean aquifer water.
Another flash of lightning quickly followed by the crack of thunder distracted her from her quest for a drink. The sky had darkened during the time she’d slept. A powerful storm was coming.
Another loud noise vibrated over her skin. She squinted between dirt-encrusted lashes and spied a helicopter. A KOTE copter appeared above the overhang under which she
sheltered. It circled overhead. The wind generated by the rotors blew even more sand and dirt about, coating her in even more filth. She’d put up with all the dirt in the world if it meant rescue was imminent.
“Lily!” A male voice boomed out from a speaker on the helicopter.
The voice was all too familiar—and despised.
“Damn it,” she muttered, swiping dust from her face and eyes. Looked like she’d be dirty for a while longer. “Where’s my Protector, for Gaia’s sake?”
“Lily!” Darcy’s voice roared once more. “Where are you?”
So far the ’copter wasn’t in a position where Darcy could see her. She scooted farther back under the overhang and hugged the stockade’s ancient wall. If he couldn’t see her, he might go away.
An innate caution—and yes, damn it, out-and-out fear—kept her from revealing her position on the ledge. Carr was on his way. He had to be—he’d promised. And for some unknown reason, she trusted him more than she’d ever trusted anyone—man or woman.
All she had to do was hide from Darcy until the real KOTE rescue team appeared. Carr would never have sent Darcy to retrieve her. He knew what Darcy had nearly done to her. Her Protector wouldn’t be so careless of her feelings—or of her person.
Lily stroked the amulet lying on her chest. It warmed to her touch, soothing her. Where are you?
Lily! Finally! We’re coming, baby. Miller deliberately screwed up the GPS readings to mislead us.
Darcy is overhead now. Are you close?—I’m afraid. It was hard for her to admit her fear, but Darcy was not quite sane.
We’re on our way. Hide. Whatever you just did to strengthen our connection—keep doing it. I can sense your direction now.
Lily laughed, a touch of hysteria in the sound. Are you telling me that in addition to our telepathy, you have some sort of psychic GPS-connection to me?
It seems like it.
Carr’s deep baritone stroked her nerves, calming them and imparting some of his strength just as he had during the quake. Whatever you just did gave me a boost. Her eyes had finally watered enough to clear her vision. She checked out her surroundings once more and noted something she had missed in her earlier exhaustion. I think I see a cave behind a waterfall not too far from the ledge I’m sitting on. I’ll try to hide there.