Shadow of the Coalition

by Jamie A. Waters

  Carl pressed a button to call Alec on the wall display. A moment later, the High Council leader appeared on the screen. Her heart thudded at the sight of him for the first time in weeks. She bit her lip, convinced this couldn’t be normal. It went beyond regular attraction and straight into that weird paranormal bullshit. Suggesting she join Carl to talk to him might have been a bad decision.

  Alec’s brilliant blue eyes regarded Carl coolly. “Where’s Kayla?”

  “I’m here.” Her voice came out almost as a squeak. Carl gave her a sharp look, and she tried to cover with a slight cough. If she couldn’t even manage to speak without issue, this could be a problem.

  “The ruins were a little dusty,” she offered by way of an explanation. Carl wasn’t buying it. Yeah, it sounded lame even to her. Determined to do this, she straightened her shoulders. “I’m good.”

  With a frown, he stepped aside so Alec could see her.

  She offered a little finger wave. “Hi.”

  Alec was quiet for a long moment, his eyes softening as he drank in the sight of her. The seconds crept by, and when he still didn’t say anything, Kayla felt her cheeks start to flush. Finally, he broke the silence. “Are you all right? I heard about the earthquake.”

  Kayla swallowed and rubbed the back of her neck. How could a stupid video call render her so awkward? In some ways, seeing Alec on screen was even worse than responding to the few messages he’d sent her. It made the sense of loss from their shared connection more noticeable. Thankful that at least he wasn’t standing there in person and dumping energy over her, she nodded.

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” Kayla struggled to regain some semblance of composure. Ugh, the man makes me feel like a complete idiot. ”Just a little shaking and some dust. We found something you’re going to be interested in though.”

  Alec listened quietly while she described the cavern and the underground river. By the time she finished, he had already shifted back into High Council mode. “Carl, I want you to send over the contamination report of this water source as soon as it’s complete.”

  Carl had been silent up until then, simply observing their conversation. She’d almost forgotten his presence and now, glancing over at him, she realized her mistake. There was no love lost between Carl and Alec. Cruncher let it slip that things had grown increasingly tense between the two men ever since she’d left the towers, but Carl hadn’t mentioned anything. In fact, he made it a point to avoid the topic of Alec as much as possible.

  Carl stood immobile and leaned against the desk, arms crossed over his chest. His expression was grim, but his voice remained impassive as he agreed to Alec’s request and proceeded to describe the strange aircraft. Kayla couldn’t help but admire his cool at handling the council leader.

  Alec nodded at the end of the report. “That coincides with our preliminary reports. We received notification that an unauthorized air vehicle entered OmniLab territory a short time ago. We’re conducting an investigation now. Send over whatever images you were able to collect. It could help us determine its origin. The towers and surrounding areas are being put on high alert. You should see some exploratory drones in the vicinity while we attempt to make contact.”

  Kayla bit her lip. “Could the earthquake be related to this aircraft?”

  Alec hesitated. “The seismic activity was not natural in design. That’s actually the reason I was trying to contact you. Kayla, I need to ask you to return to the towers.”

  Her eyes widened in shock. “Yeah, right. That’ll happen about the same time I manage to pull a photon generator out of my ass. I had my fill of those towers a few weeks ago. Thanks, but I’ll stay here with Carl and stick to the ruins for now.”

  Alec frowned. “I had no intention of asking you to return until you were ready. However, I have some concerns and it would be in your best interest to return. It would be better to discuss those reasons in person.”

  Kayla crossed her arms, her temper rising. Alec might run OmniLab, but she’d be damned if she was going to let anyone boss her around. “You need to do better than that. I’m not going to just pick up and run back to the towers on your say so.” Her eyes narrowed slightly. “I don’t belong to you.”

  A combination of irritation and something akin to regret flickered in his eyes but was quickly gone. “I’m concerned about your safety. In addition to this unknown aircraft and possible threat, I believe the seismic activity was a result of energy manipulation. I don’t know if you were the cause or… someone else. If you were the one responsible, you need to be trained to prevent further incidents.”

  Uh oh. That doesn’t sound good. A feeling of unease crept over her. “What the hell are you talking about, Alec?”

  “When you were in the ruins, did you channel energy?”

  She glanced at Carl, whose eyes had widened with alarm. Oops. Busted. Resisting the urge to squirm, she admitted, “Um, yeah. I didn’t do anything that would make the earth shake though. I didn’t think that was even possible. You said my talent was finding missing or lost objects.” The last part was said almost accusingly. Although, technically, it could be argued that she had managed to find a missing or lost water source. Shit. If the earthquake led her to find the river, maybe the two really were linked.

  Alec nodded as though that explained something. “That’s only part of your talent. That particular ability emerged when you were a child. Other talents can develop as you go through puberty and become an adult. We didn’t have an opportunity to explore your range of abilities before you left the towers.”

  Other talents? Kayla jerked her head up, locking eyes with his startling blue ones. She could almost feel the pull toward him through their shared connection. On some level, she desperately wanted to return and feel the exquisite sensations of sharing energy again, but there was no way in hell she was going to let herself be controlled through this bond.

  Until she managed to figure out more about this aspect of herself, Kayla couldn’t risk putting herself in another situation like she had the last time she went to the towers. Alec’s father had managed to subdue her a little too easily, not to mention her uncharacteristic reactions every time Alec shared energy with her. Maybe she could try to access OmniLab’s databases to see if they had any information that might help. Obviously, her attempts at exploring this energy phenomenon on her own were proving rather disastrous.

  As though he could tell what she was thinking from there, his calm façade dropped briefly. “Kayla, you can’t keep avoiding this. You’re not just channeling your own energy anymore. Through the bond we established, your abilities have been amplified. Whether or not the earthquake was your intention, it’s likely you were the one who inadvertently triggered it. If not...” His voice trailed off, and he took a deep breath before continuing. “Regardless, you need to learn how to harness your skills and abilities. If you come back, I can teach you. It’s not safe for you to remain there without any training.”

  Kayla shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest. “Forget it. I’m not ready to come back yet. I won’t use my energy anymore. I managed just fine for years without it. If I go back, you’ll get all up in my head again. That’s not going to happen. I don’t belong to you, and I sure as hell don’t belong to OmniLab.”

  Alec looked at her in exasperation. “You’re the most hard-headed, willful, and frustrating woman I’ve ever met.”

  She rolled her eyes. She’d been called far worse, and that was on a good day. “You need to get out more then. If that’s all, I’ve got a sample to go check.”

  Without waiting for a reply, Kayla hopped off the desk and strode out of the room. There was no point in arguing with him. It might be foolish to ignore the warning, but considering her unwanted imprisonment during her last visit to the towers, she wasn’t willing to risk it. If she knew for sure she could trust him, things might be different. Annoyed that the excitement of finding the underground river was now shadowed by Alec’s words, Kayla scowled and headed toward the tech r
oom.

  Chapter Two

  Kayla strode into the tech room to find Veridian and Cruncher hunched over one of the computer terminals. Veridian glanced up when she entered and raised an eyebrow at her expression. “You look like you want to hit something or someone. What’s wrong?”

  She glowered at him and slumped down in an empty chair. “Alec wants me to go back to the towers.”

  Cruncher snorted. “You think? The guy’s been pissing Carl off more than usual lately. He’s had to start giving him our daily scavenging schedules and coordinates. Not to mention he’s been tied into our communication systems. It’s making Xantham twitchy.”

  “He what?” Kayla jerked upright in the chair. This was news to her. “He’s been monitoring us?”

  “Yup,” Cruncher said with an amused expression. “I guess since you won’t talk to him, he has no way of keeping tabs on you. He just about flipped out when the earthquake happened. Never thought I’d see the High Council leader lose his cool like that. Carl thought he was going to run straight out of those towers and head here himself.”

  She slammed her hand down on the desk. Veridian jumped at the sound and shot Cruncher a warning look. “That bastard! I should have known. I’m tempted to go to those towers and kick his ass personally. Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

  Cruncher shrugged. “Probably to keep you from heading back to the towers and kicking some High Council ass.”

  Veridian sighed, running his hand worriedly over his frizzy brown hair. “Well, it’s not like we didn’t see this coming. Alec wasn’t exactly thrilled when you left. You have a tendency to attract the wrong sort of attention. Leo always said you sucked at keeping a low profile.”

  When she glared at him, Veridian held up his hands in surrender and grinned. “So… are you going to go back there? Or are you going to keep hiding out here?”

  “I’m not hiding,” Kayla retorted and folded her arms over her chest. Okay, maybe she was hiding. A little. Dammit. She was more transparent than she thought. “I’ll just tell Alec to mind his own business and quit checking up on me.”

  “Uh huh. Right. I’m sure that’ll work,” Veridian said, turning back to his terminal. Cruncher snorted in agreement. Neither one of them even bothered to pretend that Alec would listen to her.

  Kayla huffed, suspecting they were right. The idea that Alec watched her every move was more than a little creepy. It only reinforced her decision not to return to the towers yet. If he was this controlling when she was miles away, it didn’t bode well for when she eventually returned.

  Drumming her fingers on the desk, Kayla tried to figure out the logistics of disabling the two-way communications with OmniLab. It would serve Alec right if their contact were temporarily cut off. The lesson would do him some good and give her a little breathing room. Too bad this whole aircraft thing was happening. Cutting off communication with the towers right now probably wasn’t the best idea.

  A loud beep emanated from Cruncher’s machine and drew her attention. He studied it for a moment and leaped from his chair, knocking it to the floor with a loud crash. Grinning widely, he gestured to the screen. “Un-fucking-believable. You’ve got some crazy luck, girl. Check it out.”

  Thankful for the distraction, Kayla leaned over to take a peek. “You already finished testing the water samples?”

  “Yup. They’re clean.” Cruncher pulled her out of the chair and twirled her around. A laugh bubbled out of her at his exuberance. “We ran three separate tests, and the water’s safe. We’ve got ourselves a clean water source here.”

  She turned to look at the display more closely. The test results showed the water was completely potable with only minor contaminants. Ever since the war had rendered most of the planet uninhabitable, clean water sources were like mythical unicorns—they just didn’t exist. Even with OmniLab’s technology, traces of contaminants still remained behind. They had to use specially developed hydrating packs for regular drinking use.

  However, Kayla was a realist at heart and eyed the screen with skepticism. Things that seemed too good to be true usually were. “I don’t trust it. We can’t afford to make any mistakes on this. Aren’t there some other tests we can run to check for microbial contaminants?”

  Cruncher narrowed his eyes. “You’re too young to be so cynical. Besides, we don’t have a spectrophotometer here in camp for that sort of analysis. Although, you could always go flutter your eyes at Alec and get him to send one our way.” With a smirk, he added, “On second thought, maybe not. If you so much as crooked a finger at him, he’d probably send over a dozen, along with the techs to run them. We don’t have that kind of room with all the other crap he’s been sending us.”

  Kayla groaned and half-heartedly punched Cruncher in the arm. The former ruin rat chuckled and turned back to the display. Alec’s generosity had been over the top since she returned to Carl’s camp. Over the past several weeks, they’d received several shipments of new prototypes and state-of-the-art equipment from OmniLab. It bothered her that everyone knew OmniLab’s “generosity” was a direct result of her uncomfortable relationship with Alec.

  Before she could say anything else, someone cleared their throat behind her. Kayla spun around, surprised to find Carl had slipped into the room. His expression was troubled, and she wondered what Alec had said after she left. At her questioning look, he simply shook his head. “Find out anything?”

  Apparently, he didn’t want to discuss it. She could respect that. Kayla sat back down and pointed to the contamination report on the screen. “Cruncher’s gotten three test results back. All of them are negative for toxicity.”

  “I would have thought that was impossible,” Carl mused, stepping behind her and leaning over to look at the data. He rested his hands on her shoulders, rubbing small circles as he read through the data. “If this is accurate, do you have any idea what this could mean?”

  Kayla nodded, resisting the urge to groan at the way his hands worked her sore muscles. His attentions made it difficult to focus on the conversation. “Mmhmm. OmniLab’s going to freak out when they get this news. We need to do further testing before we get their panties wet. I also want to find out where this river goes.”

  Carl considered her words for a moment. Her head lowered seemingly of its own volition as he hit a particularly tense spot on her neck. The man had magical fingers.

  “I heard you tell Cruncher you wanted to do some additional testing. As it happens, I need to return to the towers for a few days. I’ll take a sample directly to OmniLab and have them test it using their equipment. That would be the fastest way to get answers. I’ll also see about making arrangements for some underwater imaging devices while I’m there.”

  Kayla tensed, negating the past several minutes of work he’d done on her muscles. “You’re going back to the towers? What the hell did Alec say to you? And why didn’t you tell me he was spying on us?”

  Carl dropped his hands and glowered at Cruncher. “You told her?”

  The older man shrugged. “She needs to know, Boss.”

  Carl sighed in resignation. “It’s not what you think, Kayla. Can you come with me to my office? I need to show you something.”

  Her curiosity mounting, she followed Carl back to his office and took a seat on the edge of the desk. He sat, entered in a few commands on a small tablet terminal, and then nudged it toward her. It was an official notice from OmniLab requesting access to all of Carl’s information, including communication logs, trade agreements, and financial records. The record request went all the way back to three years ago when Carl first accepted the trader position. It was long before she’d even met Carl, much less begun working at the camp or scavenging in his district.

  Confused, Kayla looked up at Carl. “What’s this? What’s going on?”

  He sighed, leaning back in his chair, and eyed the tablet with distaste. “I probably should have told you weeks ago about Alec monitoring our camp, but I knew it would bother you. As you know, OmniLab own
s the trader camps and we’re all under contract with them. It’s unusual but not unheard of for them to demand access to our daily records and communication logs. Requests for that type of information have been rolling in since we left the towers. Granted, this level of surveillance is a bit unusual. I figured Alec wanted to make sure you were safe, and this was his way of going about it.”

  Carl gestured to the tablet and his jaw tightened. “But this new demand is something completely different. After you walked out, Alec sent this over to me. Director Borshin wants to audit all my records. They’re looking into my finances and interactions between the ruin rat camps now. They’ve asked me to return to the towers immediately so I can go through my records with them.”

  Kayla glanced down at the tablet again. “I don’t understand. Why would they want those records?”

  His expression was grim, and he didn’t respond immediately. Finally, Carl sighed and rubbed his fingers over his face as though tired from the entire ordeal. “I don’t know, Kayla. Your guess is as good as mine. Alec isn’t particularly fond of me, and my first thought was that he might be trying to replace me as a trader.”

  She stared at him in stunned shock, her grip tightening on the edge of the desk. Before she could say anything, he held up a hand. “Don’t worry. I dismissed the idea almost as soon as I had it. That tactic seems a little heavy-handed for him, regardless of our differences. In all honesty, I don’t know what he’s looking for in these records. I contacted Rand as soon as I ended the transmission with Alec. They’ve requested his camp’s records, too, but they’re not focusing on him to the same extent they’re focusing on me.”

  Kayla frowned. “But Rand’s only been a trader for a month.”

  Carl nodded. “Yes, and that might explain why they haven’t ordered him to report to the towers. Rand mentioned he spoke with Warig and Henkel earlier today, and neither one of them mentioned anything about an audit. Something about this doesn’t feel right to me. But whatever it is, I’ll handle it. I have nothing to hide.”