by I. T. Lucas
Kian nodded. “That’s not all. We will have to feed them too. Three meals a day.”
“And they will need to have the freedom to move around the underground. They are not prisoners.” Anandur scratched his head. “Well, technically they can’t leave, but we don’t want them to feel as if they are.”
Kian chuckled. “So, what are you suggesting? That we tell Ingrid to get in there and decorate the dungeon level to look like a high-end hotel?”
“That’s not a bad idea. But at the very least, the girls should be able to use the gym, the pool, and the theater. Those are all on different levels. You will have to grant them limited access to the elevators. Do you think that William can do that?”
“I’m sure he can. He will have to program their thumbprints into the system but allow them access only to those levels.”
Kian pulled out his phone and checked how far they still had to walk to the other bar. According to the map application, they would reach it in seven minutes.
“I’m going to text Onegus. He needs to get ahold of Ingrid and have her start working on the other cells.”
Anandur nodded. “The girls will also need clothes and toiletries, and whatever else females require to feel comfortable. Normally, Amanda would take care of that, but she is here with us, so Ingrid will have to do that as well.”
“Right.” Kian shook his head. “You know that saying about no good deed going unpunished?”
“What about it?”
“It never fails.”
As Anandur opened his mouth to answer, Kian lifted a hand. “Please, don’t say that the Fates are going to reward us for it. I’m sick of hearing that.”
Anandur snorted. “I don’t have to. They already have.”
Kian glanced at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Look.” Anandur motioned with his head at the middle-aged guy walking toward them. “That’s the driver.”
28
Jin
When they found Richard in a sports store, Jin tugged on Arwel’s hand. “The guy sitting over there and trying on shoes is Richard. Can Lokan remove the compulsion from him?”
Arwel turned around and pointed. “He needs to find a spot where he can materialize without anyone seeing him.”
“Can Yamanu remove the shroud from me as well? I want to talk to Richard.”
Arwel frowned. “Why? That’s not a good idea. He can’t remember seeing you here, so what’s the point? I will have to remove the memory of whatever you say to him anyway.”
“I know. But I have to find out if my feelings for him were really the result of compulsion.” She threaded her arm through Arwel’s and whispered in his ear. “I like Jacki, but I don’t trust her completely. She wanted out, and she might have used me to do it.”
Turning toward her, Arwel regarded her with those intense turquoise eyes of his. “Are you still not convinced that you were compelled?”
She nodded. “I’m coming with you, so it’s not about that. But I didn’t feel a major change after Lokan removed the compulsion. Well, except for disliking Marisol, but I didn’t like her before either. She is far from charming, and her sleazy personality bubbles to the surface no matter how much she tries to cover it up.”
“Is there anyone else from your group inside the store?”
Jin shook her head.
“Fine.” Arwel turned to where she guessed the others were and pointed at an alcove on the other side of the indoor street. “Come with me.” He took her hand and led her toward it.
Jin didn’t feel any different, but when Lokan suddenly appeared next to her, she figured that the shroud was off of both of them.
“Walk between Lokan and me so we can block you from view.”
“Okay.”
They were both taller than her, but not by much. Luckily, both men were blessed with broad backs and impressive shoulders, so they had enough bulk to offer her solid cover.
Walking behind Arwel, she held on to his belt and slouched to make herself smaller. Lokan was right at her back.
When they entered the store, she went ahead, while Lokan and Arwel stood shoulder to shoulder with their backs to her and Richard, blocking their view from outside the store.
“Hi, Richard.” She sat next to him on the stool. “Getting new shoes?”
He smiled and wrapped his arm around her. “What do you think?” He lifted his foot. “You approve?”
“They are very nice.”
Examining her feelings, she realized that what she felt toward Richard was friendship. His arm around her didn’t bother her, but it didn’t excite her either. She liked him, but she wasn’t attracted to him.
Turning toward her, he frowned. “What’s the matter? You are still tense as hell.”
She shrugged. “I’m probably getting my period. I turn into Godzilla a day or two before.” The lie tumbled effortlessly from her mouth.
Her periods were not remarkable, but her former roommate’s were epic, and Jin had channeled that.
As she’d expected, Richard affected a compassionate expression and nodded. “Poor baby. Is there anything I can do to help?” He leaned and kissed her lips.
Jin recoiled, the intimacy suddenly feeling all wrong to her.
Apparently, the compulsion had been real. That had been a very different response to Richard’s kisses. Before, she used to like them.
Frowning, Richard leaned away. “You feel odd. Is that also because of the period? I sense something more is going on.”
Since Arwel was going to thrall Richard anyway, there was no harm in telling him about the compulsion.
“I need to tell you something. What you are feeling for me is not real. I found out that Marisol is a compeller, and she’s been playing matchmaker. Did you notice that all the couples were arranged according to talent? They want us to pair up and produce babies with enhanced abilities.”
He looked at her as if she had lost her mind. “That’s insane. It makes perfect sense for people with similar talents to be attracted to each other. The opposites attract theory is a myth.”
“Let me ask you something. Before I joined the program, who did you fancy?”
“That’s easy. Jacki. But she’s an ice queen. She never responded to me.”
“Did you feel attracted to me from the first moment or only after Marisol had a talk with you?”
“You are gorgeous, so of course I was attracted to you from the start. But I thought you weren’t interested. Marisol convinced me that you were just shy and that I should try again.”
Jin snorted. “Shy? You know me better than that. But that’s beside the point. I met someone who can remove the compulsion from you. Let him do his thing, and then you’ll know what I’m talking about.”
“Sure. Bring him over.” Richard’s tone was mocking.
Lokan turned around and leaned down to offer his hand to Richard. “I’m Logan. Everything Jin said was true. Don’t trust anything Marisol has told you, and you should be fine. You are free to feel whatever you want toward anyone you want.”
Pulling his hand away, Richard shook his head. “Oh, wow. That was intense. I feel as if a fog has lifted from my brain, and I can think clearly again. Thank you.”
That was a surprise. Why had the compulsion removal made such a profound change for Richard and a barely noticeable one for her?
Had Richard needed more convincing than she had?
That was an unflattering thought.
She patted his knee. “Good luck on finding a real girlfriend next time.”
He caught her hand. “Are you leaving?”
“Now that you are free to think for yourself, I’m sure that you don’t want us to keep dating.”
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it. You were saying goodbye to me. Are you running away?”
She nodded. “I couldn’t leave you without freeing you first. I felt so bad about how hurt you would feel if I left without a word. You are not going to remember any of this because
my other friend is going to make you forget this conversation. But your mind will remain free, and you won’t feel bad about my disappearance.”
While she’d been talking, Arwel had turned around and was now glaring at her.
“Take me with you. You can drop me off somewhere. I just want to get away.”
Arwel groaned. “We can’t. I’m sorry.”
“Please? I can pay you. I have money saved up.”
“It’s not about the money.”
29
Arwel
As soon as Jin had opened her big mouth and told Richard about the compulsion, Arwel had known that things were going to get messy. But then she had spilled the rest of the beans, telling the guy basically everything.
Thralling him to forget would be impossible, but Arwel had to try. And if that didn’t work, Lokan would have to compel him into silence.
Except, if Lokan could remove Eleanor’s compulsion, Eleanor could probably remove his, and then the entire operation was screwed. She could force Richard to talk even if under normal circumstances he would have kept his mouth shut to protect his friends.
Bottom line, it was up to Arwel, and if he failed, Kian was going to have his and Jin’s heads.
Fuck.
As mad as Arwel was at the girl for letting her mouth flap, the thought of Kian berating her enraged him. Never before had he imagined punching his boss’s condescending face until Kian apologized to Jin.
That wasn’t good.
He hadn’t exchanged more than a few sentences with her, didn’t know if she was even interested in him, and yet he was behaving like a mated man.
Probably worse. Arwel was willing to bet that Yamanu had never had even one disrespectful thought about Kian.
Taking a deep breath, he was about to reach into Richard’s head, when Jin put a hand on his forearm. “Please, Arwel. Can Richard come with us? I’m sure he can be valuable to your organization. It’s not fair to bring only girls.” She winked at him.
Damn, she had a point.
The clan females would appreciate having a Dormant man who was free for the taking. So far, the Fates had favored the clan males, and more Dormant females had been found.
The question was what Kian would have to say about it.
“I have to check with the boss.”
Richard lifted a pair of pleading eyes to him. “Tell me what I need to do in order for your boss to approve me, and I’ll do it.”
Arwel regarded the guy with suspicion.
How come they had to convince Jin to leave, and that was with her sister vouching for them, while the others were begging to be allowed to join?
Wendy’s reaction had been similar to Richard’s.
“Why do you want to leave so badly? We had to persuade Jin to come with us.”
“I didn’t want to join the program. I was engaged to be married, but thanks to fucking Marisol, I broke off with my girlfriend and signed the damn contract. I don’t want to do anything for those fuckers, and if I go back, that bitch is going to become my puppet master again.”
The vehemence in Richard’s tone hadn’t been faked. His resentment towards Eleanor and the others in charge of the program was so intense that Arwel felt like he was getting hit with wave after wave of dark energy.
He cringed. “Okay. Calm down. I’m going to explain the situation to my boss.”
“Yeah, Richard. Tone it down a bit. Arwel is an empath, and your tirade is hurting him.”
Arwel was surprised that Jin had realized that, and he was touched that she cared.
Pulling his phone out, he typed a lengthy explanation to Kian, detailing Richard’s reasons for wanting to join them. Hopefully, that would lessen the boss’s wrath.
30
Kian
“You are turning red.” Anandur peered over Kian’s shoulder at the phone’s screen.
“I’m ready to blow.”
At this rate, they were going to take everyone despite having found the driver and thralling him to forget that Jin, Jacki, and Wendy had been on the bus that morning.
“Relax. At least we got the driver.”
After Kian had stopped him to ask for directions and thralled him, they followed the guy back to the bus to remove the tracker. He had gone inside and, taking advantage of the long bench at the rear, had gone to sleep.
That was most fortunate because now they had to thrall him again to forget Richard.
“Not only do I have to thrall that man again, but the team also has to go back and thrall the other recruits again. And when they go back, there will be another one who will resist and want to join us and then another, and we will end up with everyone coming with us.”
Anandur shrugged. “That wouldn’t be so bad. More Dormants to go around, and more special talents to take advantage of. If they are willing, of course. I don’t want them to think that we are anything like Eleanor and her bosses.”
“You are such a fucking optimist, Anandur. Frankly, I’m sick of you trying to push me into taking all of them. As it is, four out of fourteen is going to trigger a massive manhunt, which was precisely what I wanted to avoid.”
“There isn’t much difference between three and four. Besides, what can you do? If you off the guy, it will still be one more recruit missing.”
Anandur was joking, but Kian wasn’t amused, especially since he was still not sure that he was doing the right thing by leaving ten of the talents behind.
The kids bugged him the most, and he’d been wracking his brain how he could take them and return them to their families. He would have to compensate them for the earning potential lost, and he would also need to relocate them and give them new identities. And after all that, the government was most likely going to find them again because they wouldn’t be careful enough, and because it was really difficult to hide an entire family from Uncle Sam.
The first option was still the best.
He was going to wait for those kids to reach adulthood and then approach them. They would probably get new fake identities, but if he had pictures of them, William could find them with his facial recognition software.
With input from four people, Tim could draw amazingly accurate portraits of the ten remaining recruits.
Better yet, the team could snap photos of them.
He typed a text to Arwel, telling him to do just that and to go back and thrall the others to forget Richard. Hopefully, that was the last complication for the day.
Still peering over his shoulder, Anandur approved. “Good thinking. I wonder why none of us has thought of it before.”
“I’m sure Turner did but thought that it went without saying.”
“Perhaps you should call him and ask him for advice.”
“It has crossed my mind, but what is he going to tell me? It’s not like we have a choice.”
“Right. But since we are already taking four, maybe he will suggest taking everyone?”
Kian pinned him with a glare that had absolutely no effect on the big oaf. “You are still pushing and you’re getting on my nerves.”
“I like to examine all options. That’s all.”
Just to get Anandur to finally shut up about taking all fourteen recruits, Kian typed a long message to Turner, explaining the situation and what he thought was the best way of handling it.
The answer surprised him. I’m crossing my fingers that no more will join. Stick to the original plan and take only those you must. You cannot and should not take everyone.
“Ha.” Kian shoved the phone in Anandur’s face. “Is that going to finally shut you up?”
The Guardian shrugged. “Turner has his opinion, and I have mine.”
Seeing the jolly red giant crestfallen, Kian heaved a sigh and clapped Anandur on the back. “This is not the end. Eventually, we are going to get them all, or rather those who turn out to be Dormants. We will approach the older ones as soon as they finish the program and start going out on missions, and the younger ones as soon as they turn eighteen.”<
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That seemed to cheer Anandur up. “I wonder if the facial recognition program would work on the kids. Their faces are going to change.”
“I’ll have to ask William. But in any case, I’m sure that Tim can draw a portrait adjusted for age.” He chuckled. “I’m the champion of new technologies, and yet when I thought about taking their pictures, the first option I came up with was having Tim draw their portraits. Only a moment later, I realized that we can tell the team to snap photos while Arwel is thralling them.”
Anandur draped his arm around Kian’s shoulders. “We are a couple of old-timers, my friend.”
“Tell me about it. This year I’m celebrating my bi-millennial birthday. Not that it’s such a great reason for celebration. It just reminds me of how old I am.”
Anandur grinned. “You are so full of shit, Kian. This will be the best year of your life. You are going to become a father.”
31
Arwel
With Richard also covered by Yamanu’s shroud, neither he nor Jin could see each other or the rest of the group. Only Arwel remained visible so he could communicate with both of them.
The problem was that Richard and Jin solved the invisibility problem by walking with their arms around each other.
Yamanu hadn’t added the sense of touch to his shroud, and Arwel was contemplating asking him to do that. Even though Jin and Richard’s feelings for one another were limited to friendship, watching them walk together like a couple of lovers was driving Arwel nuts.
Perhaps he should just try to avoid looking at them.
He had to calm down.