Witch Of The Federation III (Federal Histories Book 3)

by Michael Anderle

  Jocelyn’s reinforcements currently fought to hold the door as well as to clear a way to reach it. There were at least five enemies between her and her goal.

  “I thought you said she was snug,” their host complained.

  “I said she was as snug as we could make her. I guess someone pushed the blanket off,” Amy retorted, ducked under a fist that apparently intended to take her head off, and fired at point-blank range into the torso of her assailant.

  “I will kick your ass when we get you back,” Tracy threatened, blocked a dagger with the blaster, and slugged the guy who wielded it.

  “Tell it to someone who cares,” Ms E retorted and fired at the guy in front of her before she swung the blaster clear and directed a volley at the team that followed her across the road. “Next time, I get to bring my own toys.”

  “Next time, you get a bigger protection detail.”

  She had no idea what to say to that, but she was busy. Two more had stepped forward to take the place of the guy she’d shot, and the other team had made it across the road. Why they didn’t simply stand there and shoot her, she didn’t know, but she decided it wasn’t the time to look a gift horse in the mouth.

  “There’s no time, anyway,” she muttered as she registered the first faint whine of sirens.

  Ms E shot the next two but had the blaster blown out of her hand. Given that the shot was probably supposed to take her head off, she decided not to complain. Now, she had to find another gun. A fist caught her in the back and she yelped and took a swift step to the side.

  Dammit. She’d hoped to reach the two girls, not get cut off from them. They’d have stood a better chance fighting back to back.

  She managed to disable her assailant and was able to see Amy shoot two and gut a third. The guard put a bullet through the man’s head as she turned to shoot one of those closest to her boss. Three more began to retreat toward the parked flitters.

  Furious at the thought that they might escape, she snatched the weapon from the unconscious man nearby and aimed at one, but Tracy covered the distance between herself and the closest. She held two blades Elizabeth didn’t remember her carrying earlier and she made a note to ask her about them after.

  Blasters tracked the woman’s movement and she raised her own newly acquired sidearm to eliminate the threat. Amy shouted a warning and everyone seemed to fire at once. Tracy tumbled mid-leap and blood spouted from her throat.

  “No!” Elizabeth’s shot felled the shooter and she shifted her aim to the second, while Amy took the third.

  She’d lost track of the remaining thugs, however—and it cost her dearly.

  A shot caught her in the thigh and she stumbled. The blade meant for her kidney struck higher in her back, and a second strike caught her in the gut. She landed hard in the same moment that Amy fired twice more and terminated the last of their assailants.

  Jocelyn’s warning jolted through their comms. “Get down!”

  Well, that part is basically guaranteed, Elizabeth thought and tried to retain focus on her surroundings. The world had suddenly become oddly slippery.

  A sky car descended and lights flashed as dark figures dropped out of it.

  There’s nothing quite like arriving in the nick of too late, she thought while part of her admired the sleek beast that landed in the middle of the road. Who said enforcement didn’t get cool toys?

  No one, apparently—much like no one had said they were subtle.

  “Did we get here in time?” one asked in the same moment that another said, “This one’s dead.”

  A tear slid down her cheek and she wondered where it had come from.

  “Hey. Stay right there.”

  I’m not going anywhere. She tilted her head in time to see Amy slide to a stop beside her. It hurt when the guard lifted her head, shouting, “Medic! Goddammit, I need a medic over here!”

  Ms E caught sight of Tracy’s body as it was lifted into a body bag.

  Well, sonuvabitch.

  Another tear slid down her cheek.

  “Hey. You’re okay,” Amy reassured her and she coughed.

  It was supposed to have been another laugh but it hurt too much. She closed her eyes and another tear escaped.

  “Stay away from the light.” The woman shook her. “Stay away from it, you hear me?”

  She opened her eyes as a medic swept her with a torch.

  “Well, stop shining it in my eyes, then.”

  “Oh, you’re so funny—so goddamned funny!” Amy’s breath caught in a sob.

  “And you’re stealing all my laughs…” Her voice slurred.

  “Miss…I need you to move, miss.” The medic’s voice was gruff. “We need to get her out of here.”

  Her bodyguard moved and lowered her boss’ head to the ground.

  The medic took her place. He wasn’t dressed as a cabana boy but he still looked surprisingly good. “Stay with me, ma’am.”

  Sure, why not? She honestly had no plans to go anywhere.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  White walls rose around her and white sheets covered her. The weighty silence that surrounded her was broken only by the muted beeping of the monitors. With only the constant company of the machine, Ms E slept alone.

  Muffled sounds seeped from beyond the door, while the beeping continued its steady, reassuring beat. Soft voices murmured—Amy’s faint but recognizable tones and the familiar deep resonance of someone else. She drifted deeper into her cocoon.

  Outside, Amy looked up when Lars approached. He carried two cups of coffee and studied her pale face and the dark rings under each eye.

  She managed a shaky smile as he handed her a cup.

  “Shouldn’t you be resting?”

  With both hands wrapped around the cup, she took comfort from the warmth of the coffee within. She shook her head. “I can’t. I’m the only one left.”

  Her voice caught and she lowered her head and took a hasty sip.

  “It wasn’t your fault.”

  Instinctively, she raised her head but left the protest unspoken. There really was no answer to that. The man was right, of course. It didn’t stop her from owning the blame, though. “I should have parked it better.” She lowered her head for another sip.

  “You parked it away from a crowd of innocents who would have been slaughtered to provide them cover. Where you were, there was only you.”

  “And anyone else waiting in a car. I’m sure there were chauffeurs.”

  “There were.”

  She jerked her head up and he met her gaze.

  “They all made it out okay, although there are a few who’ll need a few months to get their nerve back.”

  “If they ever do.”

  He shrugged. “If they don’t, they’re in the wrong line of work. Driving for the rich and famous isn’t a job for non-coms.”

  “Says you.”

  “We both know I’m right.”

  “Modest, too.”

  Lars placed a hand on her shoulder. “It’s not your fault,” he repeated and shook his head gently with every word.

  “Trace is still dead.”

  “Yes, and I’m sorry.”

  “She needs a bigger protection detail,” Amy continued, and they both knew who she was talking about.

  “Yes, she does.”

  “And she needs—” She stopped when his earpiece crackled. “What is it?”

  “Steph’s on her way.”

  Her hand shook.

  “She’s not mad at you,” he told her, “but she’s coming in hot and heavy, so we’re gonna have to try to keep—”

  Ding.

  The elevator’s clear chime stopped him in his tracks.

  “She’s here.” He squeezed the bodyguard’s shoulder. “She’s not mad at you, okay?”

  Amy managed a shaky nod and looked for somewhere to put her cup. Lars took it and dropped both brews swiftly into a nearby bin. “We’ll be fine.”

  She wished she could be sure of that but tried to bel
ieve him anyway. What he said was not reassuring.

  “Oh, goddammit.”

  When she looked up and followed his gaze to where Stephanie strode down the hall, it wasn’t Stephanie. Not as she knew the girl, anyway. This Stephanie was someone… No, something different.

  “The Morgana…” she whispered.

  It was difficult, seeing the change, but she was glad she’d been warned. She simply hadn’t believed it until now. Lars nodded and swallowed twice as he assessed the scene.

  The Morgana had arrived, and she was not alone. She argued with a doctor—or, rather, the doctor argued with her.

  “She shouldn’t be disturbed,” the man protested.

  Her voice was cold. “I’ll be the judge of that.”

  He tried again. “She needs her rest.”

  “I will see to her needs.”

  “I am her doctor. I will see to her needs.”

  At his words, she stopped. He halted beside her and breathed a slight sigh of relief as if he thought he’d finally convinced her.

  He has no idea, Amy thought as the woman turned to face him.

  From the way he stiffened when she put her hand on his shoulder and stared into his eyes, he’d begun to have an idea—and fast. She hurried the process along, her voice eerily calm as she spoke.

  “Can you hold the guts of the universe in your hands?” she asked, and he gaped.

  “Well?” she prodded when he didn’t reply. Her voice was one of mild curiosity as if they were discussing the price of a mobile phone. “Can you?”

  “I…uh…no, I can’t,” he managed and watched her warily.

  He winced when she squeezed his shoulder and relaxed slightly as she let go.

  “Then get out of my way.” She gave him a slight push and continued past him.

  Amy stiffened as she approached and felt her mouth go dry. Up close, the Morgana was far scarier than she’d imagined. Oh, she still looked like a normal girl—the Stephanie they all knew and loved—but she was something more.

  She felt like something more—something dark and powerful and on the edge of destruction. It was all the bodyguard could do to not drop to her knees and beg forgiveness. She glanced hastily at Lars and drew courage from his steady stare.

  He said nothing and merely opened the door so the visitor could enter. Amy could well imagine her blasting it off its hinges if he hadn’t. The doctor hesitated where he’d been left and finally took a few steps toward them.

  Lars flicked a glance toward him and looked at her. He jerked his head at the door. “You should probably watch this. I’ll cover here.”

  Amy hesitated, but he jerked his head toward the door again. “Go on.”

  She didn’t wait to be asked a second time. What the Morgana would do to save her employer, she didn’t know, but she wanted to find out. He let her through and stepped across to block the doctor’s path.

  That wasn’t what had her attention, though. No, the scene that played out was all she was interested in. That frightening being had pulled the sheets away from the motionless form and tossed them into a corner of the room. She stood beside the bed and ran her hands lightly over the patient’s body while small shafts of lightning arced between her skin and Elizabeth’s.

  She scowled as the guard moved closer but didn’t let her presence distract her from what she was doing. “Apparently,” she said, clearly speaking to Elizabeth, “you underestimated those against you—or you’re allowing your focus on me to hurt you.”

  Amy flinched at the anger that accompanied that statement, but the Morgana didn’t even glance toward her. Energy sizzled over her body and arced in waves around her. Amy froze. She couldn’t make her body move any closer but she refused to back away. Despite her inherent fear, she wanted to see what would happen.

  More lightning arced and blue light flared and subsided as the energy flowed from the Morgana to wash over the wounded woman. This was followed by the impression of warmth as more energy flashed, purple this time.

  Behind her in the corridor, the guard heard a gasp and the hasty footsteps which stopped abruptly outside the door.

  “You don’t want to go in there,” Lars said and she glanced over her shoulder.

  He stood beside the door but he’d put his arm out to block the doctor’s path.

  The man opened his mouth to protest but he stood firm. “It’s for your own good, sir.”

  “And how exactly is that, young man?” The doctor snapped around to face him.

  Lars offered him a lazy smile. “Well, if you go in there, you’ll discover that you’re an infant in healing when compared to her. I’m merely trying to save your ego.”

  The medical man glanced to where the Morgana worked on Elizabeth and opened and closed his mouth like a beached fish. “But…but we can learn from this!”

  The guard nodded sagely. “Yeah, you could,” he agreed, “or you might lose your tackle if you spout something inane.”

  His gaze flitted between the big guard and his patient. “Tackle? Inane?”

  Lars sighed. “Your Johnson and something silly like ‘That’s impossible,’ might cause her to be annoyed…and she’s annoyed enough already.”

  When the doctor glanced inside the room once more, his jaw dropped. Amy followed his gaze and gaped as well.

  Elizabeth floated four feet above the bed, her hospital robe draped over her. The Morgana flipped her patient over once and held one hand steady and made two short gestures with the other. The robe tore in half and tore again before it floated to the bed.

  The dressings covering her wounds followed shortly thereafter—and the Witch ignored both.

  “This will not be allowed,” she declared, and Amy shivered.

  Her voice had grown deeper than before, darker and eminently colder.

  She stared at the girl and looked at Elizabeth’s floating body. Remembering Lars’s warning to the doctor, she pressed her lips together to make sure she didn’t make a sound. There was no way she wanted this strange being to notice her.

  The energy that enveloped the two intensified and waves of it flowed from one to the other and back again. That wasn’t what really caught her attention, though.

  The guard stared, fascinated by the way the terrible hole in the woman’s thigh began to close and the way the blood stopped falling from her back and ceased flowing over her belly and side. Amy bit back a gasp as muscle knitted inside the thigh wound. When the hole had filled, the skin began to form above it.

  No waaay, she thought and fought hard to keep the comment inside her head. Absolutely no way.

  She dragged her gaze away from Elizabeth to look at the Morgana and noticed the woman was covered in sweat. Dark circles had formed under her arms and on her chest. Droplets gathered on her brow and rolled down her face and she shook her head to stop them from rolling into her eyes.

  As she stared, she noticed that the energy that had shimmered and sparked over the girl’s body had diminished. It seemed much less bright, and the lightning that had arced through it did so less frequently than before. She looked at the patient in time to see the thigh wound close completely and the new skin gleamed fresh and pink.

  The Morgana gave a grunt of satisfaction and flipped her hand. The nonchalant gesture saw the leads connecting the patient to the monitors fall away. As soon as they did, the devices screamed and warning lights flashed on their consoles.

  The doctor ducked under Lars’s arm and raced in. “What did you—” He halted beside the bed and gaped at the healing wounds. “Wh—

  Amy grasped him by the shirt, pulled him close, and slapped a hand over his mouth as she did so. She let him shrug her hand away from his shirt but kept the one over his mouth firmly in place. He raised his eyebrows. She felt his lips move and glared at him while she shook her head.

  He stayed silent, thankfully, and his gaze strayed to the bed as Elizabeth’s body descended slowly. It settled softly onto the mattress and the sheet was picked up and shaken before being draped back
over her.

  A faint touch of pink colored her employer’s cheeks and the guard breathed a soft sigh of relief. It was also good to see that the darkness under the woman’s eyes was lighter and that she breathed more easily.

  She quelled a sob and raised a fist to her mouth while she kept her hand firmly pressed across the doctor’s. The Morgana turned toward them.

  “Now,” she said, and her clear, cold tones sent chills over Amy’s skin. She looked up to see the pitch-black eyes focused on the doctor. “You may use your primeval ministrations on my friend.”

  With that, she swept past them and exited the room.

  Amy’s shoulders sagged with relief and the doctor breathed a ragged sigh that echoed her emotions. She took her hand very carefully away from his mouth, but he didn’t say a word. Together, they glanced toward the door.

  Lars was leaving, too. He hurried in the direction the Morgana had taken and his voice trailed behind him.

  “Todd, Steph. Todd!” They heard his boots receding as a note of pleading entered his voice. “C’mon, Steph! Codeword Todd!”

  The two startled witnesses in the room exchanged glances. They both hurried to the door and peered out.

  The large man stood in front of the Morgana as she waited for the elevator. He looked like he wanted to reach out and shake the girl and truly didn’t dare.

  “Steph?” He clicked his fingers in front of her face. “Steph? C’mon. I know you’re in there. Please come back. Don’t leave me alone with her. Please, Steph?”

  The elevator dinged and she took a step forward as she gave the guard a pointed look. He moved out of her way but stepped into the elevator alongside her.

  “Todd, Steph…” drifted back to them as the doors clicked shut.

  Having monitored the scene through the hospital’s security system, BURT now focused his full attention on the search he had running. So far, he’d gone through every communication system from the time of the explosion to the end of the firefight.

  Not that he had to pay too much attention to that end of things—he’d monitored it as soon as news of the attack had reached the press. It hadn’t taken him very long to find Jocelyn’s emergency call or to hook into the law enforcement and medical channels to monitor the progress of their arrival and rescue.