Apostate

by Frankie Robertson

  “You’ll kill us both anyway.”

  “Maybe. But if you don’t do as I say, I’ll shoot him without hesitation. Even if you succeed in killing me afterward, you’ll know for the rest of your miserable existence that a righteous U’dahmi died because of you.” Three kept his aim steady and his eyes on his target, and Kellan knew Three would pull the trigger if he did anything other than comply.

  With excruciating slowness, Kellan lowered his wakizashi to the glass desk.

  “The floor,” Three insisted. Drop it on the floor.”

  Ezra remained still, his hands held out to his sides.

  In a blur, a white throwing knife suddenly appeared in Three’s stomach. With a jerk and a startled gasp, Three grasped for the blade and fired. The shot blasted Kellan’s sensitive hearing but he was free of the spell. Ezra jumped aside as Kellan leapt forward, thrusting his sword between the traitor’s ribs. He screamed and crumpled to the floor, sliding off the bloody steel. Kellan rounded the desk, prepared to end him, but Ezra put out a hand.

  “Wait. Don’t end his life yet.” He knelt beside Three and placed his hands on either side of the other man’s head. Blood dripped from his arm.

  “You’re bleeding.”

  “You can do first aid later. This is more important.” Ezra focused his attention on Three, initiating a psychic interrogation.

  Kellan had to agree. They needed to know everything the quisling had done and who he was in bed with. From Ezra’s tone, Kellan doubted he’d be none too gentle about it, either.

  Tasha peeked around the edge of the door, then rushed into the room. “You’re alive! Oh thank God! Are you hurt?”

  Kellan held his sword out of the way so she wouldn’t run onto it. Fear and anger and relief bloomed in his chest but he jammed his emotions into a mental closet and slammed the door. This wasn’t the time or place to vent his feelings at her being here—putting herself at risk. He held out a hand to keep her from embracing him. “The job’s not done.” He picked up Three’s gun and held it out. “Do you know how to use this?”

  Tasha’s exuberance abruptly slid away. She nodded. He handed the weapon to her, pleased to see she checked the safety and kept it pointed away from him and Ezra. “Good. Watch the hallway in case that shot brings the bodyguard.”

  A few minutes later, Ezra slumped back on his heels, leaving a bloody handprint on the side of Three’s face. “Finish it. I have what I need.”

  Just as Kellan thrust his sword into Three’s heart he heard the click of a lock and a door opening. A shockwave rolled through the ether as Three’s essence disintegrated. Ezra groaned and fell to his side.

  In the hallway, Tasha gasped. “What was that?”

  “Stay sharp!”

  Kellan pulled his blade free and leapt for the hallway, but before he got there two shots reverberated through the house.

  “Tasha!”

  He’d fought before and seen brothers in arms die. But he’d never felt a surge of fear like this. In the dim light of the corridor, Tasha lay on her back, still as death. Another figure slumped against a wall twenty feet away. He wanted to go to her, but his training drove him to clear the threat first.

  “Tasha! Are you all right?” He called out to her as he ran to the man. She shouldn’t have felt Three’s death as profoundly as a Celestial or an U’dahmi would, but then she wasn’t a typical Fey. He prayed that was why she’d fallen, and not because she’d been shot.

  Kellan kicked the gun away and knelt beside the man. He was conscious and struggling for air. Blood from a wound in his upper right chest saturated his dark shirt. His lung was probably collapsed. Merde. The jerk needed help right now.

  And he still had some fight in him. He grabbed Kellan’s wrist and aimed a second gun he’d concealed beneath his leg at Kellan’s belly, but he was slow by U’dahmi standards, and Kellan easily knocked the gun aside and twisted it free. Before the man could react Kellan forced him to sleep.

  He still hadn’t heard anything from Tasha.

  “Tasha! Talk to me!”

  “I’m okay,” she gasped.

  She didn’t sound okay. He wouldn’t believe it until he’d seen for himself.

  He glared at the injured man beside him. Rage almost stayed his hand. This asshole had shot at Tasha. Had tried to kill her. Had done the job he’d been hired to do—defend his employer from intruders.

  Working fast, Kellan pushed healing into the guard, closing off the loss of blood and the hole in his lung. Now he’d live long enough to get human medical care. The hospital would report the gunshot wound and the police would ask questions. The guard would have answers—just not accurate ones. He slipped into the man’s sleeping mind and changed his memories of their faces. Now he’d describe two male home intruders whose faces were covered with balaclavas and spoke Japanese. Maybe the cops would think Brown got cross-wise with the Yakuza. It didn’t matter, as long as they weren’t looking for him and Tasha.

  He rose to go to Tasha and a wave of dizziness forced him to brace against the wall. Fighting Three’s spell, a healing, and a mental manipulation were taking their toll. He needed to feed but he didn’t have time for that now.

  He ran back to Tasha.

  “I’m okay,” she repeated as he ran his hands over her, searching for wounds. “But I feel like someone took a sledgehammer to me.”

  Kellan’s gaze flew to her chest and his blood ran cold. A bullet was lodged in the vest right over her heart. He owed Jared a debt for supplying the body armor. Her sternum might be bruised, but she was alive.

  She grunted as he helped her to her feet.

  “Nice throw, by the way,” he said to distract her from the pain. “I don’t remember the knife being part of your gear.”

  “It wasn’t. I made it out of a floor tile.” She pointed at a pile of grit where a large tile used to be.

  “That was fast.”

  “Three was going to shoot you. I was motivated.” She changed the subject as he shepherded her into the office. “What was that sonic boom thing?”

  “Three is gone. That’s what happens when a Celestial dies.” Kellan eased her down onto the sofa. “Rest there for a minute while I check on Ezra.”

  Tasha caught his sleeve. “How are you?”

  “I’m fine, thanks for asking,” Ezra croaked.

  Kellan wiped his blade clean on Three’s leg and sheathed it before kneeling beside the other U’dahmi to examine his wound.

  “If I never feel that again it will be too soon. How are you unaffected?”

  “Interesting to find you here.” Kellan changed the subject.

  “I was checking out a tip I got from an anonymous source,” Ezra replied in a dry tone.

  “And Three just let you walk through the front door?” Kellan ripped the sleeve off Ezra’s shirt.

  “Why not? I’m here to investigate Jasper’s attempt on his life.”

  Kellan shook his head. It must be nice. Ezra’s job as an Examiner gave him access even to Councilmembers. He was silent for a moment as he examined the wound. Blood flowed freely from where the shot had gone through Ezra’s bicep. The bullet had lodged in the wall opposite the door to the hall—not far from where Tasha had been standing. She could have been killed twice over if the the bullets had caught her wrong. He swallowed hard and shoved the thought away. He couldn’t dwell on that now.

  In a subdued tone, he answered Ezra’s earlier question. “I have an amulet that protects me. Enforcers might not be willing to do their job if they got turned inside out every time they executed a rogue. But I’m not unaffected.” Executing rogue U’dahmi was an Enforcer’s job. It was necessary for the security of all of them. He accepted the need for it, but that didn’t mean it was easy.

  “I see that.” Ezra tried to sit up.

  Kellan put a hand on the other man’s chest. “Stay down for a minute.” Ezra would need the services of a Guardian to heal the nerves and muscle fibers. Kellan had been a Lightbringer before becoming an U’dahmi,
but he could stop the flow of blood. He positioned his hands over the entrance and exit wounds and focused his will on closing torn vessels.

  Ezra groaned. “Shit, that hurts!”

  “Three’s passing or my pitiful healing skills?”

  “Both. I’ve never been so close to an U’dahmi death.”

  “Count your blessings.”

  The expression on Ezra’s face was understanding. “I do. Help me up.” He held out a hand.

  The soft sound of a door opening and crepe-soled boots entering the house had Kellan lunging for Three’s gun instead and aiming it at the door to the room. Whoever was coming was trying to be quiet—so not the cops. More security guards? Smith and Barnes? Three’s wards must have fallen when he did. One set of footsteps halted at the end of the hall where the bodyguard lay, the other stopped outside the office door.

  A helmeted head did a quick peek into the room and withdrew. “Matthews?” Smith called.

  Kellan relaxed. “All clear.”

  Smith came around the doorjamb with his weapon held low and surveyed the room. “Anyone else in the house?”

  Ezra shook his head. ”It’s clear.”

  “Casualties?”

  “The target is dead. This one’s got a through and through. I’ve done first aid on him and on the hostile in the hall.”

  Kellan stood and then pulled Ezra to his feet. He wobbled, not quite steady on his feet.

  “Sit,” Kellan guided him to the opposite end of the sofa from Tasha. She was breathing better now, thank goodness, and she wasn’t collapsing into unconsciousness from her earlier efforts. “How are you feeling?”

  “Like I ran a marathon and a bear is sitting on my chest, but otherwise, fine.”

  Smith looked sharply at Tasha, holstered his weapon, and dropped to a knee in front of her. “That’s pretty normal for taking a round to the vest, ma’am.” He placed two fingers on her wrist. “I’m just going to take your pulse.”

  “That man—the one I shot—is he going to be okay?”

  Smith’s expression was sympathetic as he keyed his mic. “Sit-rep on the tango in the hall.”

  Barnes's voice came back, “Disarmed, restrained, and unconscious. GSW upper torso. No active bleeding. Vitals strong.”

  Tasha visibly relaxed, and Kellan mentally kicked himself for not anticipating that she’d be worried about the man she’d shot. He could have allayed her concern before this.

  Kellan turned back to Ezra and touched his hand under the pretense of taking his pulse. **What did you extract from Three’s mind?**

  **Enough to convince the Council to grant a retroactive Order of Execution for Three. They’ll be annoyed with you for not bringing this matter to them first, though.**

  **I had no way of knowing how many of them might be involved.** And he hadn’t wanted to be mentally examined and reveal the existence of the cohabiters.

  Ezra nodded. **I’ll be sure to make that clear. He was acting alone, by the way.**

  **And they’ll have to send an Enforcer after Three’s partner. He or she had to know what he was up to and be in agreement with it. Otherwise, they would have reported him.**

  **You could do it, but they’ll have to assign you a new partner, first.**

  Kellan shook his head. **I’ll choose my own partner from now on, thank you. And I’m resigning as an Enforcer, effective immediately. You can tell them that, too.**

  Ezra cast a speculative eye on him. **There’s an opening on the Council now. They could use someone with your perspective.**

  Kellan reared back, horrified. **Hell, no! You can fill it. In fact, you should do it. They need someone of your integrity.**

  Ezra shrugged, then winced at the ill-considered movement.

  “We should go, sir,” Smith said. “I doubt the neighbors heard the shots. We did because we were on alert and know what to listen for, but you never know. Someone may have called the cops.”

  “He’s right. We should get out of here,” Kellan agreed, then silently explained the false memory he’d implanted in the guard,

  Ezra nodded. **I’ll text for a clean-up crew to eradicate any evidence that doesn’t support that story before human authorities discover tonight’s work.**

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Smith and Barnes took turns driving the Suburban. Ezra slept in the back while Tasha snoozed leaning against Kellan’s shoulder. Kellan spent most of the trip going over what had happened and wondering how much they’d learn from Three’s computer and phone which they’d confiscated. Stopping for gas was a welcome break from his thoughts. Jared’s men argued all three of them into downing a bottle of sports drink when they stopped for gas in Cordes Junction. Ezra for blood loss, Tasha and him for energy. That allowed them all three of them to walk into the house under their own power when they arrived at Jared and Cassie’s home mid-morning.

  He’d called ahead, so Gideon was waiting in Jared’s great room to see to Ezra’s wound. But when they were introduced, Ezra pulled back and glared at Kellan. “I know too many U’dahmi secrets to allow a Celestial access to my mind and body.”

  “Who am I going to tell? Didn’t Kellan tell you? The Firsts aren’t talking to me right now. I defied a command from Michael.”

  Ezra’s eyes widened. “You’re Apostate?”

  Gideon grimaced. “To hear them tell it. I prefer ‘independent operator.’ But they can’t be too mad; Raphael didn’t take my powers from me. May I heal your arm?”

  “He’s the one who saved my life,” Kellan said. “No harm has come to the U’dahmi because of it. More harm has been done by one of our own Council members than by Gideon.”

  “That is so.” Ezra nodded slowly. “Very well. I accept your generous offer.”

  Jared gestured toward the wing of guest rooms. “Use the second room on the right. You can shower and wash the blood off after. And help yourself to one of the clean t-shirts in the dresser.”

  Ezra still looked a little shaky from blood loss, but he hesitated and addressed Kellan with a penetrating gaze. “Perhaps you might reconsider your position, as I have. The Council needs someone like you. You’d shake up their old ways of thinking.”

  Kellan barked a short bitter laugh. “No, no, no. I haven’t the patience for that kind of work. It’s you they need. You’ll be able to slide new ideas to them without them even noticing—assuming you have any new ideas.”

  Ezra glared at him, but the corner of his mouth curled up. “Then, at least reconsider remaining an Enforcer.”

  Kellan shook his head. “I won’t. And I won’t submit to interrogation again, by you or any other Examiner. You can judge me by my actions. The secrets I hold pose no danger to the U’dahmi and are no business of the Council.”

  “Very well,” Ezra acquiesced. He started to turn toward the Guardian, but then paused again. “You still need to report the outcome of your last assignment.”

  “I determined very quickly no possession had taken place. I suspect Jasper found the same, but kept the case open so he’d have time to investigate Three.” It was the truth, if not the whole truth. And it was all Ezra was going to get.

  As Ezra and Gideon disappeared down the hallway, Jared turned to Kellan. “Morgan called this morning to give me a heads-up. The FBI is taking over the investigation into the Landry car bombing because of his interstate and international business connections. They haven’t ruled out terrorism, either. They’ve got him in protective custody.”

  Kellan nodded. “When I was crawling through Szegedy’s mind, I saw that Landry manages his real estate holdings in SoCal. A man can’t serve two masters—especially when those masters are as lethal as the Golden Path and The Lion. Since Landry has ties to the Golden Path, then dollars to donuts so does Szegedy.”

  “I’ll pass the real estate info on to Morgan. He won’t insist on knowing where it came from and he can suggest the FBI look into it. Maybe they can use that to leverage Landry into giving up intel on both The Lion and Altesse,” Jared said. “M
aybe we can put a spoke in the Golden Path’s European wheel.”

  “I wouldn’t count on it being too helpful. Altesse is careful and Landry’s knowledge is limited.” Kellan gazed at Tasha dozing with her head in Ana’s lap.

  “She used to snuggle up like this when we were kids. We’d be watching some old movie, eating popcorn, and she’d just start to fade. My leg would fall asleep, but I didn’t want to wake her.” Ana said softly. “Is she all right?”

  “She will be. She just needs rest.” Kellan yawned. He’d been awake over thirty hours. “And so do I.” He scooped her into his arms and headed toward the room where he’d stayed before. “Don’t wait on dinner for us.”

  Tasha smiled as she awoke to the sound of Grace’s chirpy voice recounting the plot of an animated movie. The setting sun glowed faintly through the blinds and Kellan’s warm body was spooned closely around hers, his hand cupping her breast. It was a perfect moment.

  A man’s voice replied to the little girl. Tasha listened harder. Was that Ezra? She never would have imagined the stern U’dahmi listening patiently to the small girl’s story.

  **He’s raised many children over the years. He’s actually quite a softy when it comes to the little ones.**

  **Your mind was so quiet, I didn’t realize you were awake.**

  **I didn’t want to disturb your sleep–you really needed it.**

  They lay together peacefully for several minutes. Tasha savored the experience, memorizing it. She felt safe and cared for, satisfied with what she’d accomplished, and for once they weren’t arguing about anything.

  **What happened last night? You didn’t go back to Smith and Barnes.** Kellan’s tone was curious, rather than irate or accusatory.

  **The Darklings attacked. Shadow Guy decided we’d both be safer if I left, so he shoved me out.**

  **There’s more to that story, isn’t there?**

  **A little, but that’s the gist of it. And you should be glad I was there. I had your back. If I hadn’t thrown that knife—**

  **Thank you.** Kellan cut her off before she could work up to a good rant.