Dark Spy Conscripted

by I. T. Lucas

  Looking smug, Anandur sent her an air kiss. “I love you like a sister, but you are a snob.”

  She sent him a kiss back. “No argument there. I like quality.” She wrapped her arm around Dalhu. “In everything.”

  “What about food?” Kian asked. “All we have eaten since yesterday morning is junk.”

  It was after two in the morning, and he was famished.

  “Okidu and Onidu prepared a meal in the keep’s kitchen, which has also gotten revamped by Ingrid. The woman is a miracle worker.”

  “How did she manage to get everything done so fast?”

  “She mobilized half of the Guardian force and several unfortunate civilians. The furniture, decorations, bedding, and many other items came from the unoccupied homes in the new phase, and the rest from Walmart. We used the bus to transport the stuff.”

  “Smart.”

  “Indeed. Ingrid is waiting for you in the keep, so don’t forget to compliment her.”

  “Don’t worry,” Syssi said. “We are all going to ooh and aah.”

  44

  Arwel

  As Okidu drove the bus into the clan’s parking lot in the keep, Arwel wondered whether it was smart to break from protocol when secrecy and security were at an all-time high for this mission.

  Since the clan had moved into the village, the directions had been to park in one of the high rises across the street and use the underground tunnel. They even had a golf cart they could use, so transporting the sleeping guests wouldn’t have been a problem.

  Still, if they had trackers implanted in their bodies, that security measure would have been useless anyway.

  “You are so strong,” Jin said as Arwel picked Jacki up.

  He liked the compliment but not Jin’s lack of jealousy. He was holding a sexy young woman in his arms, and it didn’t bother her one bit. “Immortals are stronger than humans.”

  “Still, you did it without even huffing out a breath, and Jacki is not a small woman.” Jin chuckled. “Just don’t ever tell her that I said so. She will be offended.”

  “No worries, I won’t.”

  She looked over her shoulder at Anandur, who was carrying Richard. “I’m glad he is asleep for this. Being carried like that would have been hard on his male ego.”

  Kian held the elevator door open for them. “I suggest that we take turns instead of trying to squeeze everyone in at once. Guests and their carriers go first.” He motioned for Arwel and Anandur to get in, then waved for Syssi, Jin, and Wonder to join them.

  Yamanu, who was carrying Wendy, got in the other elevator with Mey and several of the others.

  “I’m excited to see what Ingrid has done with the place,” Syssi said.

  She didn’t have to wait long.

  As soon as the elevator door opened, the first thing they saw was a large framed picture hanging over the wall across from it. And it wasn’t the only one. The entire corridor was lined with framed art reproductions, transforming the place from stark and dreary to almost warm. The lights were still fluorescent, and the floor was concrete, but given the limited time Ingrid had had to perform the transformation, it was impressive.

  “Nice,” Syssi said. “All we need now is a new carpet and light fixtures, and this will look like a hallway in a hotel.”

  Kian grimaced but said nothing.

  Jin glanced at the art as they walked by it, but she didn’t seem overly impressed.

  Arwel was starting to get a feeling that she really wasn’t projecting much, and that was why he wasn’t sensing her feelings, not because she didn’t have them. The question was whether it was her natural state, or she was somehow suppressing them.

  She wasn’t a blank like Turner, but her emotions were muted.

  Still, she could be just an unemotional person.

  As they reached the first redecorated cell, Syssi stopped and peeked inside while the rest of them kept going. “Come back, you have to see this.”

  Kian rolled his eyes but did as his wife asked. Naturally, everyone followed.

  It was one of the smaller cells, but Ingrid had managed to transform it into a comfortable studio apartment. There was even a couch, a narrow coffee table in front of it, and a television mounted on the wall across from it.

  “You can put Richard in here,” Kian said. “We will put Jacki in the next one.”

  “Gladly.” Anandur walked into the room, while the rest of them remained out in the corridor.

  Looking like she hadn’t slept in days, Ingrid walked out of one of the cells and came over. “So, what do you think?”

  “You did an awesome job.” Syssi pulled her in for a quick hug. “I don’t know how you managed to do it in one day, basically.”

  “With a lot of help from my friends.” Ingrid peeked into the room. “And who is that?”

  “His name is Richard,” Jin said and offered Ingrid her hand. “I’m Jin, Mey’s sister. Thank you for making this place look less like a prison. I really appreciate it.”

  “You’re welcome. It was a challenge, and I’m not done yet.” Ingrid glanced at Kian. “With the boss’s approval, I would like to do more.” When he shook his head, Ingrid lifted her hand to stop his retort. “I’m mindful of the budget. Nothing fancy, I promise.”

  He nodded.

  “Thank you.” She looked at Jacki. “Let’s put this one in the next room.”

  After Yamanu had deposited his cargo in the third room, they continued to the one-bedroom where he and Mey were going to stay, but instead of going in and checking it out, Mey wanted to see Jin’s room first.

  “It’s the one right next to it,” Ingrid said.

  It was the one Arwel had stayed in when he’d been keeping an eye on Lokan, and for some reason, it pleased him that Jin was staying there.

  “I love it.” She walked in and sat on the couch. “This is comfy.” She looked up at Ingrid. “Where is Arwel going to stay?”

  “The next one over.” The designer waved her hand. “Come, I’ll show you.”

  It was one of the newly redecorated cells, but Arwel wouldn’t have cared if it had only a cot and a blanket. As long as he was right next to Jin, he was good.

  But just like the other cells in which they had deposited their guests, this was beautifully done, with a carpet on the floor, and artwork on the walls, and furniture that was very similar to what Arwel had in his home.

  Not that he counted it as such.

  It had taken him a long time to call the place he’d shared with Yamanu that, and now that he had moved in with Ben, it was going to take even longer. Ben was a nice guy, but they weren’t buddies. Not yet.

  Besides, if things turned out the way Arwel hoped they would, he wasn’t going back to that house.

  He and Jin would be moving into their own.

  45

  Jin

  The studio wasn’t as big as the one Jin had had in the government facility, but everything in it was of higher quality. The couch was so soft that it felt as if it was stuffed with feathers and down, and it probably was. The television screen hanging on the wall in front of her was at least sixty-inch, which was overkill for the small space, but since the designer had taken it from the homes in the village, the size made sense.

  But despite Ingrid’s efforts, she couldn’t hide the real purpose of the place.

  Jin had noticed the thickness of the doors and the small windows on the bottom that were there so food could be shoved through them without opening the doors. And there were no handles, which made her wonder how she was supposed to open and close her door.

  But the worst part was the lack of windows. Inside the mountain, she at least had the illusion of normalcy.

  “What’s the long face about?” Mey asked. “You don’t like it?”

  “No, I do. It’s just that I don’t like living underground, and this is even worse than where I lived for the past month.”

  Mey sat on the bed next to her and wrapped her arm around her shoulders. “It’s still not too la
te to change your mind and come to the village. You don’t have to stay here.”

  Jin glanced at Ingrid. The woman had gone to so much trouble preparing all those units that changing her mind about staying would have been a really flaky thing to do. Besides, she didn’t really have a choice.

  “I need to stay until the situation with my friends is resolved.” She smiled. “That’s okay. I’m sure we are going to have lots of fun here. We can go swimming in the pool, watch a movie in the theater, and cook things in the kitchen.” She cast Mey an apologetic glance. “I just feel bad about dragging you here with me. You don’t have to stay.”

  “Nonsense. I don’t mind the underground, and I want to be with you.” Mey looked up at Callie, who was standing outside in the corridor and looking in. “My new friends can come to visit us. Callie can give us cooking lessons. That would be fun.”

  “I’ll be happy to,” Callie said. “And perhaps Dalhu can give you drawing lessons.”

  “I can’t teach.” The big guy came to stand next to Callie and Brundar. “But I can draw your portraits if you want.”

  “Of course, you can teach, darling.” Amanda walked in and sat on Jin’s other side. “You can show them how to use charcoals and how to blend. That’s good enough. It won’t make them artists, but it will give them the tools to start practicing. Right, Jin?”

  “Sure. I can learn how to sketch my design ideas.”

  Amanda leaned closer as if she wanted to tell Jin a secret. “Do you know that Dalhu and I stayed in here?” She smirked. “Kian wasn’t overly thrilled with my choice of mate. You see, Dalhu used to be a Doomer.”

  “A what?”

  Amanda looked at Mey and then at Yamanu. “You didn’t tell Jin anything yet?”

  “We did,” Mey scrunched her nose. “But we kind of skipped around a lot, and some things got left out.”

  Amanda sighed. “Never mind that then. What’s important is that Dalhu and I stayed in the larger apartment, and then other couples stayed in there too for different reasons. So even though this is a dungeon, there is a lot of love in these walls.”

  Mey let out a relieved breath. “Good. I was afraid of hearing echoes of torture.”

  “No one has ever been tortured in any of these rooms,” Arwel said. “And it’s not just a dungeon, it’s also an emergency shelter. You and your friends are not prisoners here. You can move around the underground facility freely.”

  Jin looked at the door. “There are no handles, how are we supposed to get out? Just leave them open?”

  “The doors are very heavy, and even if they had handles, they would be difficult to move. They are controlled with an application. I’m sure that our tech guy brought phones for you and your friends with the application already installed on them. In fact, we should find William.”

  “We also need to eat,” Amanda said. “I heard there is food in the kitchen.”

  “Shouldn’t we wait for the others to wake up?” Jin asked. “They are probably hungry too.”

  “Right.” Yamanu pushed away from the wall he’d been leaning against. “I should wake them up.”

  46

  Kian

  “I’m hungry,” Syssi said. “Should we wait for the others or head to the kitchen?”

  It had been a long day, and all Kian wanted to do was take Syssi home, draw her a bath, and hope that she was up for some lazy lovemaking.

  Regrettably, that wasn’t on the menu for tonight. By the time they got home, she would be asleep, and he would probably have to carry her to bed, undress her, and tuck her in.

  “I need to wait for William, but you go ahead. I don’t want you to wait. When you’re hungry, you should eat.”

  “Wasn’t Bridget supposed to be here as well?” Syssi asked.

  “She is in her old clinic, getting ready to check our guests for bugs.”

  Syssi grimaced. “How about we leave all that for after we eat? I know that you are hungry too.”

  “Not a bad idea. But we should wake the three sleeping beauties first.”

  “Just not with kisses.” Syssi affected a stern expression. “Especially not Jacki.”

  He laughed, then leaned to plant a soft kiss on her lush lips. “I have eyes only for you, my love.”

  “Yeah, but you still have eyes, and you are a guy. All men look when they see an attractive female. Even you.”

  “Damn eyes.” He covered them with his hands for a moment. “But seriously. It’s an instinct, and it means nothing. No one other than you stirs anything in me.”

  She cupped his cheek. “I know. I was just teasing. Let’s wake them up and go to eat.”

  “Who do you want me to wake first?” Yamanu asked.

  “Let’s start with Richard.” Kian headed toward the guy’s room. “For some reason, that guy worries me the most.”

  “Why?” Yamanu followed him inside.

  “I don’t know. Something about him feels insincere.”

  “You should bring Edna to probe him.”

  “Already arranged for tomorrow afternoon.”

  “Are you going to use Andrew as well?”

  Kian shrugged. “I haven’t decided yet. It depends on what Edna has to say.”

  The sound of something being wheeled had Kian turn his head and look out into the corridor.

  “Don’t wake him up yet.” Bridget walked in, pulling some kind of medical contraption behind her. “I want to check him for trackers first.”

  “What is this thing?” Kian waved a hand at the equipment.

  “It’s a mobile ultrasound.”

  “How long is it going to take?”

  “Long. I have to get him undressed, and then go over him inch by inch.”

  “Can I watch?” Ingrid entered the room.

  It was starting to get crowded in there, and Kian had no intention of waiting for Bridget to test all three sleepers. “Wouldn’t it be simpler to just stick them into the MRI?”

  “Of course. But I thought it would be better to search them while they were asleep.”

  “There is no need for that. They know that they are going to get checked, and that includes Jin. They might have been implanted without their knowledge.”

  Bridget shrugged. “It’s up to you. Anyway, I’d rather go say hello to Jin than stay here and check this man.”

  “Mind if I do it?” Ingrid asked.

  As everyone turned frowning faces at her, she laughed. “Just kidding, you people. Where is your sense of humor?”

  Kian pushed the ultrasound cart aside. “I don’t have any when my stomach is empty.”

  “Should I wake him now?” Yamanu asked.

  Kian nodded.

  The Guardian put his hand on Richard’s shoulder. “Wake up, buddy. There is chow in the kitchen,” Yamanu sing-songed in his hypnotic voice.

  As his eyes flew open, Richard sat bolt upright in bed. “How did I get here?”

  “Anandur carried you.” Yamanu patted his shoulder. “Now, let’s get up nice and easy so you don’t get dizzy and head to the kitchen.”

  Shaking his head, Richard put his legs down and then took Yamanu’s offered hand. “Why did you have to carry me? Did you guys put narcotics in my drink?”

  “Nah.” Yamanu put his arm around Richard’s middle, helping him get steady on his feet. “I sang you a lullaby, and you fell asleep like a baby.”

  Richard wasn’t a fool. Narrowing his eyes at Yamanu, he asked, “Did you hypnotize me?”

  “I did.”

  “Damn.” He looked around. “This is not bad. Who’s the decorator?”

  He’d meant it as a joke, but Ingrid answered, “That would be me.” She flashed him a bright smile and offered him her hand. “The name is Ingrid, interior designer extraordinaire.”

  He took her hand and brought it to his lips for a kiss. “A pleasure to meet you, Ingrid. I’m Richard.” He glanced at Yamanu. “I’ve noticed that no one is using their last names. Is there a reason for it?”

  “We like our anonym
ity.” Yamanu led the guy out of the room.

  “Are your first names even real?”

  “Some are, and some are not,” Kian said. “Are you okay to walk on your own? Because Yamanu needs to wake Wendy up.”

  Julian was taking care of Jacki, who he’d said was supposed to wake up any moment now. He’d slipped her a sleeping pill on the plane, which fortunately she wasn’t immune to.

  It was good to know that even immunes could be handled with medication. Not that there were many immunes, but it seemed like there was a higher percentage of them among the paranormal population.

  47

  Jin

  “Would you mind if I do it?” Jin stopped Julian as he was about to enter Jacki’s room. “She is going to be less mad if I wake her up.”

  He seemed relieved. “Sure, go ahead. She should be waking up on her own any moment now.”

  “Thanks,” Said Jin and went inside.

  “Wake up, Jacki.” She shook her friend's shoulder.

  Jacki groaned, opened her eyes, and then quickly closed them, draping her arm over her face to hide from the glaring light. “It’s too damn bright in here. And where are we?”

  “In the underground hideout.”

  “How did I get here?”

  “Arwel carried you.”

  She shook her head. “I feel groggy. Did you drug me?”

  “Not me personally.” Jin sat on the bed next to her. “I didn’t know that they were going to do that, but can you blame them? When they took you and Wendy and Richard, they exposed themselves to a huge risk. This was just a small safety measure to mitigate that.”

  “Yeah, I get it. No hard feelings.” Jacki sighed. “I’m starving. Is there anything to eat?”

  “We were just waiting for you and Wendy to wake up. Richard is already awake. So, get your ass in gear and let’s go. I’m hungry too.”

  “You said the magic words. Give me a hand?”

  Jin pushed to her feet and then pulled Jacki up. “Your flip-flops are to your right.”