by I. T. Lucas
Dark Spy’s Mission
The Children of the Gods Book 36
I. T. Lucas
Also by I. T. Lucas
THE CHILDREN OF THE GODS ORIGINS
1: Goddess’s Choice
2: Goddess’s Hope
THE CHILDREN OF THE GODS
Dark Stranger
1: Dark Stranger The Dream
2: Dark Stranger Revealed
3: Dark Stranger Immortal
Dark Enemy
4: Dark Enemy Taken
5: Dark Enemy Captive
6: Dark Enemy Redeemed
Kri & Michael’s Story
6.5: My Dark Amazon
Dark Warrior
7: Dark Warrior Mine
8: Dark Warrior’s Promise
9: Dark Warrior’s Destiny
10: Dark Warrior’s Legacy
Dark Guardian
11: Dark Guardian Found
12: Dark Guardian Craved
13: Dark Guardian’s Mate
Dark Angel
14: Dark Angel's Obsession
15: Dark Angel's Seduction
16: Dark Angel's Surrender
Dark Operative
17: Dark Operative: A Shadow of Death
18: Dark Operative: A Glimmer of Hope
19: Dark Operative: The Dawn of Love
Dark Survivor
20: Dark Survivor Awakened
21: Dark Survivor Echoes of Love
22: Dark Survivor Reunited
Dark Widow
23: Dark Widow’s Secret
24: Dark Widow’s Curse
25: Dark Widow’s Blessing
Dark Dream
26: Dark Dream’s Temptation
27: Dark Dream’s Unraveling
28: Dark Dream’s Trap
Dark Prince
29: Dark Prince’s Enigma
30: Dark Prince’s Dilemma
31: Dark Prince’s Agenda
Dark Queen
32: Dark Queen’s Quest
33: Dark Queen’s Knight
34: Dark Queen’s Army
Dark Spy
35: Dark Spy Conscripted
36: Dark Spy’s Mission
37: Dark Spy’s Resolution
PERFECT MATCH
Perfect Match 1: Vampire’s Consort
Perfect Match 2: King’s Chosen
Perfect Match 3: Captain’s Conquest
SETS
The Children of the Gods books 1-3: Dark Stranger trilogy—Includes a bonus short story: The Fates take a Vacation
The Children of the Gods: Books 1-6—includes character lists
The Children of the Gods: Books 6.5-10—includes character lists
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Copyright © 2020 by I. T. Lucas
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:
Dark Spy’s Mission is a work of fiction!
Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any similarity to actual persons, organizations and/or events is purely coincidental.
Contents
1. Kian
2. Kalugal
3. Jin
4. Arwel
5. Jin
6. Arwel
7. Kalugal
8. Syssi
9. Kian
10. Jin
11. Arwel
12. Jin
13. Arwel
14. Jin
15. Arwel
16. Kian
17. Jin
18. Arwel
19. Jin
20. Arwel
21. Jin
22. Arwel
23. Jin
24. Arwel
25. Jin
26. Arwel
27. Kian
28. Jin
29. Kalugal
30. Arwel
31. Jin
32. Mey
33. Vlad
34. Wendy
35. Vlad
36. Wendy
37. Arwel
38. Kalugal
39. Jin
40. Kalugal
41. Jin
42. Arwel
43. Kalugal
44. Kian
45. Jin
46. Arwel
47. Jin
48. Arwel
49. Jin
50. Yamanu
51. Jin
52. Vlad
53. Jin
54. Arwel
55. Wendy
56. Jin
57. Vlad
58. Wendy
59. Kian
60. Jin
61. Kalugal
62. Arwel
63. Jin
64. Arwel
65. Jin
66. Arwel
67. Kalugal
68. Jin
69. Arwel
70. William
71. Jin
72. Kalugal
73. William
74. Jin
75. Kian
The Children of the Gods Series
The Perfect Match Series
FOR EXCLUSIVE PEEKS
1
Kian
Kian turned his office chair around and looked out the window at the wet pavement below. The rain had started about an hour ago, chasing away the café’s customers and whoever else had been enjoying the village square.
The gloomy atmosphere was not conducive to work.
Instead of analyzing the file that Shai had put on top of the stack, he would have much preferred to go home to Syssi. The sticky note his assistant had attached to the file said 'read first,' and he’d been right about the property having great potential for development. But it didn’t excite Kian as it normally would.
The problem was not with the deal, it was with the lack of motivation that had been plaguing him since he’d come back from vacation.
Kian wondered whether the rain was affecting his mood, or his mood was making everything seem glum.
The truth was that he was tired.
He should have felt energized after the vacation, but the break in routine only made it harder to get back to it.
Not that anything about his days was routine.
There was always something going on, and it usually had absolutely nothing to do with the business conglomerate he was running.
Like the three new potential Dormants hiding in the keep, who might also be spies for the government program he’d freed them from. Then there were the ten paranormal talents that he’d left behind, which bothered his conscience.
Kian hoped to someday free them as well, but that wasn’t a sure thing.
Then there was Kalugal to worry about, a powerful immortal who might become either an ally or a foe.
Jin was the perfect spy to send after him, but she was young and inexperienced, and Kian worried about the thousand and one things that might go wrong with that plan.
That was why instead of calling it a day and going home to his wife, Kian was still in the office, waiting for Turner to arrive so they could brainstorm the plan.
Just another ordinary day in his hectic life.
How the hell was he going to add fatherhood to the mix?
Kian didn’t want to be the kind of dad whose only interactions with his child would be a good morning and a goodnight kiss.
“Good evening.” Turner walked into the office,
put his briefcase down, and removed his dripping jacket.
“Thank you for coming.” Kian pulled out a box of cigarillos from the drawer. “Do you mind accompanying me to the roof?”
“It’s raining.” Turner smoothed his hand over his wet hair. “I still expect to find a bald head when I do that. When I got out of the pavilion, I braced for my scalp to get hit by the rain. I was pleasantly surprised when my hair got soaked instead.”
“You were human and bald for much longer than you’ve been an immortal with a full head of hair. Don’t worry about getting wet, though. I have a big-ass umbrella up there.”
“Then lead the way.” Turner lifted his briefcase and put it under the chair. “I’ll leave it here.”
That was out of character for the guy. Turner was the definition of paranoid.
“I can put it in a drawer if you wish. Or hide it in the fridge.” Kian walked over to the minibar and pulled out four miniature bottles of whiskey.
Turner chuckled. “You would need to make more room in there. And what’s the deal with those miniatures? Did you pilfer them from the plane?”
“I have better taste than that. Shai got them for me. He’s always coming up with ways to make my life easier. Instead of carrying a large bottle and a couple of glasses to the roof, I can just slip several of those into my pocket. But if you want, I can move things around and stick your briefcase in the fridge.”
Turner shrugged. “I’m not worried. The only people who might be able to hack into my laptop are William and Roni, and I trust those two to stay out of my business.”
“That’s good to know. I thought that you didn’t trust anyone.”
Turner followed him out of the office. “I trust you.”
“Thank you. I’m touched.”
As Kian opened the rooftop door at the top of the stairs, he got pelted with raindrops, not because it was raining more heavily, but because it had become windy. Rushing, he and Turner took cover under the umbrella, and Kian turned on the outdoor heater.
“Every time I come up here, there is an additional improvement to the setup.” Turner sat on one of the rockers. “Did you find out who is doing this?”
“Anandur promised to snoop around, but so far no one is taking credit. The prime suspect is Shai.”
“A smart way to get a promotion or a raise.”
“Not if he does it anonymously.” Kian handed Turner one of the bottles. “Shai is just looking out for me.”
Turner unscrewed the cap and took a sip. “Are you ready to brainstorm?”
Kian nodded. “I told Jin about Kalugal, and she agreed to do it. She suggested taking Jacki along because the girl is an immune, but I don’t trust any of the three newcomers.”
“You shouldn’t. But do you have a concrete reason to mistrust them?”
“Just my gut feeling.”
Turner cradled the bottle between his palms and leaned closer to the heater. “Jin is a smart girl. We haven’t made any plans about her actually approaching Kalugal, but we need to take into consideration that he can thrall or compel her and get any information he wants out of her. I hope that you followed the same protocol with Jin as you did with the other three.”
Kian frowned. “She is Mey’s sister and a sure Dormant. It didn’t occur to me to hide the keep’s location from her. But I don’t think it’s a problem. We got there in the middle of the night, and she was half asleep. I don’t think she paid attention to where we were going.”
Turner shook his head. “You should have considered who you wanted to send her after. She knows that the keep is in downtown Los Angeles, and she knows it’s a high-rise. Kalugal could show her an aerial map, and she might be able to narrow it down for him to just several buildings.”
“You’re right. I wasn’t thinking. It was late, and the other three were sleeping, so I didn’t even bother with going to the building across the street first and using the tunnel. I told Okidu to go straight to the clan’s parking level in the keep.” Kian pulled out a cigarillo and lit it. “You are worried about the worst-case scenario that is not going to happen. All Jin needs to do is touch Kalugal once. He’ll think nothing of it. Just a random human girl touching his arm for a brief moment won’t even register.”
Turner chuckled. “And how long do you think she is going to stay human?”
“That’s a good point. I think something is going on between her and Arwel. I need to have a talk with him.”
That wasn’t a conversation Kian was looking forward to. The Guardian’s sex life shouldn’t be anyone else’s business. Except, it was when it could induce Jin’s transition prematurely.
Perhaps Bridget could do that? Coming from the doctor, it would be less embarrassing.
“I hope that you are not too late.” Turner crossed his legs. “The rumor machine has it that they are already together.”
“They only met two days ago.”
Turner arched a brow. “And your point is?”
“What have you heard?”
“Bridget was gushing about how happy she is that Arwel has found a mate, and how deserving he is. I guess she heard something. Don’t forget that Jin is a millennial, Kian. She is not a damsel of yesteryear who expects her first time to be on her wedding night.”
“Right.”
The current generation of young humans was as casual about sex as the immortals had always been.
“I will talk to him.”
Turner nodded. “When you send Jin after Kalugal, you should give her a substantial Guardian backup. The problem is that they can’t be anywhere near her when she approaches him. I wish I could go with her, but, unfortunately, this is not going to be a quick one-day mission, and I have several projects I’m working on that require my presence. Weeks might pass before Kalugal is spotted in a place appropriate for Jin’s tethering.”
Kian hadn’t considered Turner accompanying Jin, but he was starting to realize that he should have. Not only was the guy a blank as far as projecting emotions, but he was also an immune. The question was whether he was immune to Kalugal’s mind tricks as well.
Annani was the only one who could test immortals for immunity, and he should have asked her to check Turner’s.
Taking another puff, Kian leaned closer to the heater. “If Kalugal realizes that Jin has information he can use and decides to take her, Guardians are going to be useless because he can thrall and compel other immortals. Our only chance is her tethering the guy without him noticing it.”
Turner put the empty miniature bottle on the side table. “I don’t like depending on luck.”
“Neither do I. Regrettably, you can’t go with Jin. Still, I should have asked Annani to test your immunity to mind manipulation as an immortal. Other than Navuh and Kalugal, she is the only one who can do it to other immortals.”
“I’m pretty sure that I’m still immune. I wasn’t susceptible as a human, so there is no reason to think that I am as an immortal. What about Jacki?”
Kian shrugged. “I don’t see how she could be helpful. Even if she is immune to Kalugal’s compulsion, it’s not like she could prevent him from abducting Jin. She could raise the alarm, but Kalugal would just compel the Guardians to do nothing about it.”
“You could put a tracker on her.”
“What for? We know where he would take her. What would we do? Storm the place?”
“As a last resort, yes.”
2
Kalugal
“Welcome home, Professor Gunter.” The immigration officer returned Kalugal’s passport.
“Thank you, young man.” Kalugal pushed his wire-rimmed glasses up his nose and smiled. “Have a pleasant rest of your day.”
When disguising himself to look like an old man, the thing to remember was to talk and walk accordingly. He affected a heavy German accent, hunched his shoulders, and walked slowly.
Unfortunately, when traveling through airports a shroud was not enough. He had to put on the old, distinguished gentleman disguise as well
. There were cameras everywhere, and the security personnel was actually watching, especially those travelers returning from places like Egypt and Iraq, both of which Kalugal visited often.
The cameras saw what was really there, not what he was projecting into the minds of the humans around him. Those sitting in the security office might be miles away, which was too far for his mind to reach.
He was continually working on improving the range, as well as the precision, but the skill was far from perfected. And then there were the rare immunes whose minds were not susceptible to manipulation.
“Professor Gunter, over here!” Rufsur waved at him.
His second-in-command was standing among the other limousine drivers, holding up a cardboard sign, and trying hard not to laugh.
Pushing the cart with his luggage, Kalugal ambled up to him. “After all these years, you still find this funny?”
Rufsur shook his head, took the cart from him, and started walking toward the exit. “I think that, while you are wearing the disguise, you actually turn into the old professor. You’ve developed a split personality.”
