Barak had no intentions of coming out the loser. He used every step of the ha’kai he could to keep Penn off balance while at the same time avoiding Penn’s down and dirty street fighting tactics.
Barak slammed a fist into Penn’s stomach at the same time Penn managed to land a thundering blow to Barak’s jaw. The coppery taste of his own blood filled Barak’s mouth. He spit as he wrapped his hands around Penn’s throat and squeezed. Only the realization that Lacey would hate him forever kept him from shutting off Penn’s breathing permanently, and he settled for rendering the man speechless long enough to make him listen.
“If you want to draw another breath, Paladin, you’d better listen. I’m the stuff your nightmares are made of. Keep messing with me, and I’ll make that hand wound feel like a paper cut.” He eased off the pressure.
The embarrassed fury in the man’s eyes spoke volumes. “Get…off…me…now!” His words were as ragged as his breathing.
Barak eased back enough to let Penn regain some of his dignity, but he stayed close enough to keep Penn under control. When Penn didn’t immediately start swinging punches, Barak backed away completely. They glared at each other, neither one wanting to be the first to blink. Penn lost. Barak’s smile showed lots of teeth and no humor.
“Paladin, you have every reason to hate me, but I don’t give a damn. I plan on building myself a life here. Interfere with those plans and you’ll die. Again. Permanently.” He bit out each word with as much venom as he could.
Penn’s nostrils flared, and his eyes narrowed in cold fury. “Your kind has already tried and failed. Come after me, and we’ll see which one of us walks away.”
Barak stood up. “Right now, I’m walking away. Then I’m going to be coming right back.” He held up Penn’s gun. “And I’ll have this. You even look at me wrong, you dumb bastard, and I won’t hesitate to pull the trigger.”
Penn wasn’t about to cower. “I’ve got more where that one came from.”
“A bullet is a cheap way to kill. A blade shows the true test of a warrior. Anytime you want to face me, let me know.
Then he walked away, wondering each step of the way if a bullet would tear through his back to explode in his chest. Even so, he maintained a steady pace, refusing to show weakness in front of his sworn enemy. By the time he turned the corner down the street, it felt as if he’d been running for hours rather than strolling the length of a city block.
He slipped the gun in the back of his belt and tugged his jacket down to cover it. For the time being, his only problem was deciding where to have lunch. Then he caught a look at himself in a nearby window. He had dark red splotches of dried blood on both his face and shirt. If anyone saw him, they’d be more likely to call the police than take his order.
He scrubbed at his chin with his hand, hoping he’d gotten the worst of it off. Lacey would have a fit if he showed up looking like this. The last thing he wanted was for her to have to choose between him and her brother, especially when he knew whose side she’d take.
He headed for his apartment to change clothes. Luckily, most of his clothing was black, which meant it was unlikely that Lacey would notice if he’d changed shirts. If she did ask any questions, he would tell her part of the truth—he’d spilled something on his shirt.
Several blocks later, he pulled his keys from his pocket before heading up the stairway to his small apartment. He preferred not to linger in the hallway any longer than necessary. To date, none of his neighbors had objected to his living in the building. The increasing immigrant population in the country had been making headlines lately, but he made a point to be polite and quiet, having no desire to draw attention to himself.
The dim interior of his apartment soothed his eyes. He was slowly adjusting to the brightness of this world, but too much of it gave him headaches. Because of his alien physiology, Dr. Young was leery of giving him any of the normal human painkillers until she had more time to figure out what effects they might have on him.
Although her intentions were good, he feared any information she accumulated might find its way into the Regents’ database. That was the last thing he wanted. Worldwide, the Paladins would exploit any weaknesses she might uncover, using them as weapons against his people. As much as he respected Laurel, he didn’t trust her with his secrets.
It made for a lonely way to live. After splashing blessedly cool water on his face, he dried off and grabbed another black shirt out of his closet. If he hurried, he might just be able to get something to go at the small grocery store down the street. A salad coupled with a power drink should hold him for the rest of the afternoon.
At the grocery, at the last minute, he grabbed a second bottle. He had serious doubts that Penn would accept the peace offering, but he felt an unexpected need to try.
Trahern stretched his long legs out in front of Devlin’s desk. “So did your pet have anything interesting to say about the bags?”
Devlin glared at his friend. He was getting sick and tired of his buddies yanking his chain about Barak. But if they were teasing him now, it was nothing compared to what they’d do if he rose to the bait. “No,” he said calmly. “Barak did admit they were made in his world and that they were used to carry small personal items.”
“Think he knows more than he’s telling us?”
“Since we don’t know jack, I’d have to say yes to that.” Frustration tied Devlin’s stomach in knots. “I let him take a couple, just in case he could tell us more after studying them. I don’t hold out much hope for that.”
Trahern’s eyes turned a shade colder. “Do you think he crossed over to get his share of the money out of the stones?”
Devlin shrugged. “I wish I knew. He couldn’t have known that we wouldn’t kill him, no matter what Laurel wanted. Even if we didn’t gut him down in the tunnel, accidents happen all the time.”
Trahern’s smile was cold. “And if it becomes necessary, they still can. But as near as I can tell, so far he’s walked the straight and narrow since we let him live. A couple of minor run-ins with a few of the young recruits, but that’s to be expected. By all reports, he’s a hard worker and keeps to himself most of the time.”
Devlin pinched the bridge of his nose, wishing this never-ending headache would just go away. “Yeah, seems that way to me, too, but I wish we knew more about him and why he crossed over. Even if he’s not part of the smuggling ring himself, I’m betting he knows more about the stones than he’s letting on.”
“We could always persuade him to talk to us.” Trahern turned his attention to the collection of knives and swords that hung on Devlin’s wall. “I’m sure it wouldn’t take us long to convince him.”
“Maybe not, but I suspect Brenna and Laurel would have our guts for garters.”
They would, too. He’d never thought to see the day that he and Trahern would have women who knew what they were, and loved them anyway. Trahern had been that close to crossing the line into madness before Brenna had dragged him back from the edge.
“I’ll give Jarvis another call to see if his crew has found any more of the blue stones. He won’t risk sending me the one he has—not that I blame him. He did promise me a copy of any information he was able to find out about the damn thing. I expected to hear from him before now.”
Trahern frowned. “Why don’t you let me ask him for you? He might be more likely to respond to me.”
Devlin managed a small smile. “I’d appreciate it. Col. Kincade has demanded another revised schedule, and of course he wants it yesterday. I don’t know what was wrong with the last schedule I sent him, and the way the barrier’s been acting, there’s no use in trying to plan on anything anyway. Just as soon as I post a schedule, the mountain blows and everything goes to hell.”
There wasn’t much sympathy in Trahern’s quick grin before he managed to hide it. Everyone in the organization hated Col. Kincade, but especially the Paladins. It was hard to tell if the man was incompetent or if he really didn’t give a damn about thos
e whose lives he controlled.
Trahern stood, stretched his arms over his head, and yawned. “I’d better get going before I fall over. Keep your fingers crossed that the mountain decides to behave herself for a couple of days.”
“Go get some sleep. Calling Jarvis can wait until tomorrow.”
“I’ll let you know what he says.”
Devlin watched his friend walk out the door. The barrier had acted like a yo-yo the night before, so it wasn’t surprising that Trahern looked like hell. But it was good to see him acting more like his old self, a feat due to the reappearance of Brenna Nichols in Trahern’s life. He was a lucky man. They both were.
There was a soft knock at the door just as Devlin started looking over the schedule for Kincade. Any distraction would be a welcome reprieve. “Come in.”
A familiar face peeked into the room. “Am I interrupting anything important?” Laurel didn’t wait for an answer. Slipping inside the room, she locked the door behind her.
Devlin’s mood improved immediately, especially after spying the bag in her hand. “What’s that?”
“Your dinner.”
She set the bag on his desk, then sauntered around to his side of the desk, unbuttoning her lab coat. She wasn’t wearing much under it, and the scraps of lace looked damn good on her. Laurel’s smile had all of his blood pooling low in his body as she straddled his lap. “Do you want me to be the appetizer or dessert?”
“Both—I seem to have worked up a big appetite.”
Laurel trailed her hands down his shoulders. “I missed you last night.”
He held her close. “I missed you, too. It was a tough one.” He tugged her closer for a deep kiss as she rocked against him.
Then he lifted her up onto the edge of his desk after sweeping the stacks of papers onto the floor. Kincade’s schedule floated to the ground, where Devlin planned on leaving it until all of his appetites were satisfied.
“I would go with you.” Barak kept his voice respectful but firm.
Lacey had just made the unexpected announcement that she needed to set up equipment in the labyrinth that wound along the fault lines and near the volcanoes in the region. Her intent was to compare readings at various distances from the most active of the local volcanoes, Mount St. Helens. The tunnels below Seattle were the logical place for her to place her seismographs.
They were also the last place a woman should be wandering in alone, and she should have known that. Paladins were the best-trained warriors in the world, and they routinely died in those same tunnels whenever the barrier went down. Lacey would be helpless against the onslaught of Barak’s crazed kin when they crossed the barrier with swords in hand and murder in their eyes.
At the very least, she needed someone to guard her back. But since she hadn’t asked permission to use the tunnels in the first place, she wasn’t about to approach any of the Paladins, knowing they’d turn her down flat.
She set down her toolkit and glared at him. “I don’t need a babysitter. I’ll only be gone a couple of hours tops. You can stay here and monitor the readings. If they start going haywire, call me. I’ll have my cell with me.”
He moved to block her way. “Cell phones don’t work near the barrier.” He didn’t know that for a fact, but he suspected it was true. Besides, he wanted time down in the tunnels, and this might be his only chance.
Her blue eyes met his gray ones head-on. “Devlin will have my head if I take you down there with me.”
“And your brother will have mine if you get hurt—or worse—and I could have prevented it.”
“Not even Penn could blame you if I screw up.”
Barak arched an eyebrow and waited for her to admit the fallacy behind her logic. Penn blamed Barak for breathing the same air she did. If he let her go into a dangerous situation alone, the Paladin would take great pleasure in carving Barak into small pieces. And Trahern and Devlin would likely help him.
She picked up her kit again and moved to step around him. “I’m going. Get out of my way.”
“No.”
“Barak, step out of my way or find another job.”
Barak had seen the stubborn tilt to her chin on her brother’s face too many times to not know that she was going to fight rather than surrender, even if it meant risking her life.
Too bad. He stood in front of the door, ready to do battle if necessary. “Take me with you or I’ll call Devlin. Or better yet, your brother.”
Lacey didn’t accept defeat easily. “I don’t see you sporting any weapons. What are you going to do if we run into some of your friends? Glare them to death? At least I carry a gun.”
“You can’t use a gun near the barrier. Which entrance to the tunnels do you plan to use?”
“The one under the Regents’ headquarters.”
“Fine. We’ll stop in the gym for me to pick up a sword.” Practice swords weren’t meant to be used in actual combat, but it was the best he was going to come up with.
He knew he’d won when she held out her toolkit. “Fine. You can carry this and I’ll get the other stuff.”
So far, so good. She and Barak had managed to bluff their way into headquarters, lift a sword, and reach the staircase down to the records room without being challenged. Barak had taken a lot of time to pick a weapon out of the rack, but when she’d complained, he’d pointed out that their lives might very well depend on his choice.
The barrier near where she planned to set up shop had a long history of stability. However, there was no guarantee it would continue that way, especially after a rogue guard had done his best to bring it down permanently. The Regents had tried without success to keep that little bit of information secret, especially with Barak as living proof that something had gone horribly wrong.
“Well, no time like the present.” She started down the steps with Barak right behind her.
“I would think the Regents would have some form of security to keep their records safe.”
“They normally do.”
But she’d managed to find out when Brenna Nichols was scheduled to be working in the environmentally controlled record room several floors below. Lacey was counting on the woman being new and unfamiliar with all the protocols. If Lacey and Barak acted as if they routinely used the record room to access the tunnels, Brenna wasn’t likely to question it. And even if she did, Lacey planned on being in the elevator going down to the tunnels before Brenna could summon help.
At the bottom of the long staircase, Lacey was relieved to see that the security pad on the wall was dark, meaning it was turned off. The door swung open easily. No one was in sight, but that didn’t mean anything. Since the lights were triggered by movement, the pool of light on the far right side of the room marked Brenna’s current location.
Lacey glanced over her shoulder at Barak, who stood behind her with his usual calm demeanor. But she wasn’t fooled for one minute by his stoic expression or his silence. The man was capable of violent outbursts when provoked. Not for the first time, she wondered why that didn’t bother her like it should. His kind was known as crazed killers: the few that escaped the tunnels went on killing sprees that spared no one, not children and especially not women. Yet, she trusted him as she did the Paladins she’d grown up around. Her gut instinct was that he wouldn’t hurt her, at least not intentionally.
“Let’s go.” She led the way into the records room, carrying her equipment and a load of butterflies in her stomach. The building plans she’d unearthed in the Regents’ computer system with some dedicated hacking showed the elevator to be in the far left corner.
Neither of them spoke as they walked through the room, the dim lights flickering on and off with their passage. The storage cabinets were too tall to allow Lacey to track Brenna’s whereabouts, but so far all she could hear were her own heartbeat pounding in her ears and the soft whisper of their footsteps.
They almost made it when Trahern stepped out from behind the last row of cabinets. He had a smear of lipstick on his chee
k, but that didn’t soften the suspicious expression on his face. She might have charmed Devlin into letting her continue on her mission, but nothing would work on Trahern if he decided that she was up to no good.
“Hi, Blake,” she tried. The use of his first name didn’t soften his expression at all. He had definitely shifted into warrior mode.
“Dr. Sebastian, what the hell are you doing in here with him?” He glared past her to Barak.
“I’m doing my job.” A less than subtle reminder that it was unlikely that he’d been assigned to guard the records.
“The only thing back here is the elevator down to the tunnels.”
“Yes. I’m on my way to set up equipment to monitor the areas that were damaged by Sergeant Purefoy. It’s important for us to know if he rendered the area more unstable.”
“And why haven’t we heard anything about this?”
“About what?” Brenna Nichols walked out from behind Trahern. When she touched his arm, he looked down at her, his gaze softening. “I thought I was the only one crazy enough to want to spend hours down here.”
Lacey held out her hand. “I’m Lacey Sebastian, Penn Sebastian’s sister. I’m a researcher in the geology lab. This is Barak q’Young.”
Brenna smiled brightly. “Barak and I have already met. How are you doing in your new home?”
“I’m well, Miss Nichols. I’m sorry we interrupted your work.”
Lacey fought the urge to giggle when Brenna blushed and linked her fingers with Trahern’s. “That’s all right. I needed a little break, but I should get back to the files.”
When she tugged on Trahern’s arm, he shook his head. “I’ll be right there. I made note of right where you left off.”
The smoldering look he gave Brenna was so full of hot promise that Lacey was surprised the smoke alarms didn’t go off. She couldn’t help being a bit jealous; no one had ever looked at her like that. Well, except for that taste of heat she’d shared with Barak on the mountain.
But then Trahern was back to being the fearsome Paladin. “Let me see your authorization to wander in the tunnels.”
In Darkness Reborn Page 7
