They also lost one of the CBW personnel, a woman who had been shot in the chest. The others all survived surgery and had good chances of recovery.
Jeremy walked in and looked at them expectantly.
“We lost Tom,” Rebecca informed him. He walked over to her, and when she stood, they wrapped each other in a hug. Brenna sat down on a chair, numb. Someone pressed a cup of coffee in her hand, and when she took a sip, she discovered it was liberally laced with honey and Irish whiskey.
Through that and similar operations throughout the Eastern Seaboard, they captured over two hundred operatives and killed thirty-five. Also captured were thousands of pages of documents, dozens of computers and millions of dollars, plus sophisticated communications and espionage equipment. CBW’s operations in Washington and at the UN were completely compromised.
~~~
In West Virginia, Seamus was fielding outraged calls on secure circuits from CBW in Europe. His response to all of the calls was that inserting an agent into his household meant the gloves were off. “I can abide some affronts, Herr Frankel, but an agent inside my home? That is a breach of good manners and my hospitality, and that I will not forgive,” he told one shocked caller.
He chuckled as he hung up the phone.
“You’re having fun with this, aren’t you?” Callie gave him a disapproving look. Rory leaned back in his chair, eyes dancing with humor.
“Pulling their chains? Yes, I am. I’ve been tolerant, but look at the extent of the network they’ve built here. Hundreds of agents, weapons, listening devices, millions of dollars in resources. And then they make war on me because I signed a business alliance? Callie, when you’re presented with an opportunity to cripple your opposition, don’t hesitate. Their own actions provided us with justification. As long as we don’t push too far, the other Clans won’t blame us for taking these actions. If we’re lucky, we may end this war, and that alone is worth the risks.”
The next call an hour later was from a man who headed a CBW-affiliated Clan, but with whom Seamus had good personal relations. Gunter Schiller was a half-brother of Seamus’ deceased wife, Callie’s mother and Brenna’s grandmother. Although philosophically opposed, the two men had always liked each other, and Gunter’s attitude toward the concept of a telepathic autocracy wasn’t as extreme as many of CBW’s leaders. He’d also mellowed through the years. Comfortable with success, he was no longer keen on conquering the world.
“Seamus, you have certainly upset the cart this time. I don’t think I’ve seen anything like it since I put a stick in a beehive as a child,” Gunter chuckled. “I don’t suppose I have to worry about all those people you’re moving into England knocking down my door, do I?”
“There’s been a lot of hostile activity in South America, and my intelligence tells me it’s being pushed by European interests,” Seamus said. “My children are ending up on the wrong end of a CBW gun. It would make sense to deal with it at the source, don’t you think?”
“I guess it’s lucky for me that I don’t have any interests in South America.”
“I wouldn’t have any problem with you making a few euros off the Argentines, but I think we both agree that peaceful pursuits are usually more profitable.”
“That’s true,” Schiller said. He seemed to hesitate before continuing. “I think people are rather surprised that you would be so protective of a new business partner.”
“We take care of our friends, Gunter, and expect they’ll take care of us if need be. No one should have to worry about having a gun held to their head when they’re just trying to make an honest profit.”
“Seamus, I’d be interested in discussing that idea with you in a little more depth. I’m rather fond of profits.”
The head of the O’Donnell Clan’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline. Schiller wasn’t one of the most powerful Clans that had combined to form CBW, but Gunter was influential. Several of the other minor Clan chiefs looked to him for guidance and advice.
“Why don’t you come for a visit? You haven’t graced us with your presence in seventy years. I’d love the chance to catch up with you and introduce you to my new fiancée.”
“You have one of those too?” Gunter laughed. “Mine is a sweet girl, blonde and buxom and a head taller than I am. At my age, it’s a blessing to have someone help me remember my youth.”
“I’m engaged to a redheaded succubus myself,” Seamus replied. “It does help to maintain the delusion that I’m not quite over the hill.”
Gunter laughed again. “Are you sure you have room for us? I would think your place is overrun with soldiers and all that other bothersome stuff.”
“We’ll find space for you, Mein Herr. After all, you’re family. You know, Callie isn’t that tall, gawky teenager anymore. Your niece has grown into a beautiful woman with a family of her own.”
“My, how things do change in seventy years. I would enjoy seeing her. How should I make arrangements?”
He gave Schiller Callie’s phone number.
“Gunter, tell your contacts that O’Donnell won’t be an aggressor, but we will react. For myself, I’d enjoy a vacation in Switzerland with my new lady sometime. One where I don’t have to bring a regiment for protection. If people are civilized, we’ll be civilized.”
He hung up and sent Callie a spear, Your Uncle Gunter will be calling about arrangements to come visit. He’s bringing a woman, and I assume the standard security troop. He said he’d like to catch up, see what a beautiful woman his niece has grown into, and perhaps discuss the concepts behind our new alliance with Vargas.
Schiller wants to explore an alliance?
Seamus recalled the exact conversation and transmitted it to her.
Hell, I’ll give him my room if I can’t find any other space.
~~~
CHAPTER 21
We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance. -
Harrison Ford
“Rebecca? How are you doing, my love?”
“Carlos! It’s so good to hear your voice,” Rebecca said into the telephone. Brenna smiled and quietly left the room.
“It’s over, Rebecca. The Brazilians have contacted us about a cease-fire. CBW is pulling their troops out of South America and the Consortium wants to negotiate a peace treaty.”
“Thank the Goddess,” Rebecca breathed. Brenna! It’s over! The war is over! “When will I get to see you?”
“I’ll be coming back to DC next month,” Carlos said. “I need to help clean up the mess, but as soon as I can, I’ll be there. I’ve missed you so much.”
~~~
Collin? Brenna sent. Carlos called Rebecca. Is it true that it’s over?
Yes, my love. I’ll be coming home as soon as we can negotiate the cease fire and hopefully a peace treaty.
And you’re ok? You haven’t been wounded or anything?
I’m fine. How’s the leg?
Brenna took a deep breath. She hadn’t told Collin about the confrontation with Tilly, but of course he would have been informed. It’s doing okay, she told him, I really don’t notice it anymore. Dorothy says I need to wear flats for another month or so, but I’m swimming and it’s getting stronger.
That’s good.
I love you too, Collin.
~~~
Before the war started, Brenna and Rebecca had promised their friend Rosie Thompson that they would visit her in San Francisco. Rosie was carrying Collin’s baby, a girl who would be a succubus. With nothing to do but wait on their men to come home, they decided to make the trip.
Their leased jet descended into San Francisco. Brenna had never been there before, and Rebecca was excited to return to the city where she’d grown up. She pointed out landmarks until they dropped too low to see any more.
Noel Campbell, O’Donnell’s West Coast regional director, came out personally to pick them up and take them to the O’Donnell compound. When they arrived, a very pregnant R
osie waddled out to meet them.
Rosie Thompson was a forty-one year old native of the valley in West Virginia. Before accepting the position as head of food service operations in San Francisco, she had worked in the kitchen at the manor. Among her accomplishments were computerizing inventory and ordering for the food service operation and setting a record for having sex at a Solstice Ball. Less than five feet tall, blonde, pretty and vivacious, she was an S-carrier with a severe case of energy imbalance. Since puberty, Rosie had been compelled to have sex at least five to six times a day. Almost every man in the valley within ten years of her age had lost his virginity to Rosie.
Her lover Robbie had moved to San Francisco with her, and they planned to marry in June, but Collin was the father of the child she carried. This was by design and with Brenna’s and Robbie’s blessings. She was now more than eight months along and looked like a beach ball.
She took them to Fisherman’s Wharf that afternoon and treated them to dinner.
“So how do you like being pregnant?” Brenna was fascinated with babies and the whole process of pregnancy.
“I love it,” Rosie said with a bright smile. “I’ve never felt so good in my life. And do you know something? It’s fixed my problem.”
“You’re kidding.” Rebecca’s fork stopped halfway to her mouth. “Your energies are in balance?”
“Well, not completely, but I can go all day now. It started getting better when I was about three months along, and it’s continued to get better. I don’t know what will happen after I deliver, but it’s been such a relief.”
Eyeing Rebecca, Brenna asked, “Thinking about getting knocked up?”
“No, but I’m wondering if being on the pill would do the same thing. It fools your body into thinking it’s pregnant, right?”
“Worth a try,” Brenna allowed. “I don’t see as how it could make it any worse.”
The three of them were walking along from the Wharf back to their car. Their protection team was being discreet and keeping their distance. Suddenly, a man stepped out from between two buildings with a gun.
“Just give me your purses and no one will get hurt.”
Rebecca and Brenna immediately braced, linking their minds and setting up a strategy for disabling him.
“What are you doing?” Rosie asked.
Confused, they looked at her, and then at the man with the gun. He stood frozen, not moving.
Rosie turned to him. “Give me the gun.” He walked over and gave it to her. “Now go find a busy street and play in traffic.” He turned and stepped off the curb, almost into the path of a car, walking off down the middle of the street. Rosie walked over to the curb and tossed the pistol in a storm drain.
“He’s a norm. All you have to do is control his mind. Wilders,” she said in disgust. “Lord, you were going to complicate things, weren’t you?” She continued down the street chuckling.
Noel came by Brenna’s room when they got back to the compound. Tired from the travel, she begged off for the night but promised she would go to dinner with him the next evening. She loved sex with Noel, but her mood that evening was more suited to a slow, gentle session with Collin and a lot of cuddling. She didn’t think that was what Noel had in mind.
Rebecca took her around the city the next day, excited to show her best friend all her favorite places. They met Lydia McCarthy for lunch.
Lydia was the Clan’s most skilled Construction Artist, an adept with the Lindstrom Gift. She had found Rebecca walking down Telegraph Avenue in Berkley one day shortly after Rebecca’s graduation from university. Approaching her and speaking to her mind to mind, she had changed Rebecca’s life forever. She was Rebecca’s primary tutor in creating constructs, and after the younger woman was transferred to West Virginia, had spent months there with her. That was before the family discovered Brenna.
Lydia was almost as tall as Rebecca, forty-six years old, slender with short unruly brown hair. Brenna had noticed before that they looked a lot alike.
After Samhain, Brenna’s precognitive Gift had been more active. Callie theorized that the experience had opened her awareness, and she was more aware of what a precog flash was. What she hadn’t told Callie was that her postcognitive Gift was also more active. It was making life more interesting, and more confusing.
When she hugged Lydia on meeting her at the restaurant, Brenna had a very clear flash of her parents, younger than she had ever known them, dancing together in the manor’s ballroom. Her mother was wearing a yellow gown and had a radiant smile, a Glow, and obviously had her Glam kicked up to at least medium. In spite of the smiles on both of their faces and the festive surroundings, the emotion Brenna felt as the onlooker was incredible sorrow.
Shocked, Brenna pushed back from Lydia, who was smiling with delight. But there was a touch of haunted sorrow in Lydia’s eyes. Brenna’s Empathy was extremely strong, and she knew she wasn’t imagining what she was feeling.
“What’s wrong?” she asked Lydia.
“Nothing. Why?” Lydia sheepishly ducked her head, looking away as Brenna searched her face. “You just look so much like Maureen. Seeing you, I can’t help but remember her.”
During lunch, seeing Rebecca and Lydia sitting side by side, animatedly chatting and laughing, Brenna noticed that Lydia kept reaching out to touch the younger woman. Lydia was a lesbian, but the touches weren’t sexual. It was more like the way Callie touched Brenna sometimes when she was feeling tender. Wanting contact, needing love, hoping for acknowledgement, but more than anything just reassuring herself that the object of the touch was real and that she was welcome. Oh hell, I’m imagining things.
Lydia spent the afternoon with them. She took them on a scenic tour across the Golden Gate Bridge and showed Brenna Sausalito, where they had ice cream. She offered to take them to Pacific Palisades, down to Half Moon Bay and over to Palo Alto the next day. Brenna enthusiastically accepted.
Their Protectors patiently followed them, and when Brenna apologized at one point for running them around so much, Jerry, the team lead, told her, “Oh hell, Brenna, this isn’t a bother at all. It’s like a day off. We’re enjoying this as much as you are.” He smiled as he licked his ice cream cone.
Noel took her to one of San Francisco’s finest restaurants that evening, and they went to his suite when they returned to the compound. Their lovemaking was passionate and fierce, as it always was with Noel. Brenna was feeling needy, and selfishly drained him about ten percent so she could feel a bit of Glow. He fell asleep soon after.
Not sleepy at all, she went back to her room and turned on her computer. Logging into a corporate database, she pulled up a record, set up a query and sent it searching. The computer beeped to notify her it had found a match almost immediately. Staring at the screen, Brenna didn’t know whether to jump for joy or cry. She set up a second search, and the results took a little longer, but her suspicions were confirmed.
When Lydia picked them up the next day, she surprised Brenna by being dressed casually but nicely. Instead of the t-shirt, baggy jeans and running shoes she had worn the previous day, she was wearing a nice blouse, designer jeans and low boots with two-inch heels. Brenna didn’t know her well, but when they’d met on previous occasions, she had always looked scruffy. She had put on a touch of makeup and tried to do something with her hair.
“Woohoo. Look at you.” Rebecca smiled. “What’s the occasion?”
“I felt like such a slob next to you two yesterday. You dress so nicely. I didn’t want you to be embarrassed to be seen with me.” She reached out and straightened Rebecca’s collar with a soft smile. “You dress so nicely nowadays. Success agrees with you.”
Touring down the coast road, showing Brenna all the sights, Lydia asked Rebecca, “So tell me more about this young man of yours. You said you’re in love, but you really didn’t tell me anything except that he’s handsome and wonderful. Is that what he does for a living?”
Brenna burst out laughing and Rebecca, coloring, joined i
n.
“Okay, I admit I’m a little besotted. It’s just so new. It’s funny to hear you call him ‘my young man’ because he’s as old as you are. And this is going to blow your mind. He’s a general in the Ecuadorian army and heir to the Vargas Clan.”
Lydia almost ran off the road, turning her wide-eyed face to Rebecca.
“Hey,” Brenna called from the back seat, “maybe you should pull over somewhere to continue this conversation. Either that, or let me drive.”
“Pull over,” Rebecca said, “but don’t let her drive.”
Lydia stopped at a gas station hanging precariously over the ocean and they got out and walked a bit.
“You’re marrying a general?” Lydia seemed bemused.
“I’m not marrying anyone. I wish people would quit saying that.”
Lydia’s reaction was startling. In a fierce voice she said, “Why doesn’t he want to marry you? Aren’t you good enough for him? What? He just wants you for a plaything?”
Rebecca reached out and placed a hand on Lydia’s shoulder. “Hey, calm down. We’re not getting married because I said no. I don’t want to get married. I don’t think he’s going to quit asking, though. I’m going down to meet his parents as soon as things are settled down there. I at least promised that much.”
“Rebecca thinks she can’t marry because she’s stuck with me,” Brenna interjected.
“What do you mean by stuck with you?”
“She’s my shadow. She thinks that if she isn’t around, I won’t be able to find the bathroom by myself, and the world will come to an end.”
Nodding, Rebecca said, “Yeah, that’s about right. Some people just shouldn’t be let out in public without a keeper, and I’ve been appointed. Goddess knows what kind of trouble she’d get into. The headlines wouldn’t be pretty. ‘Wild Succubus Runs Amok’,” she laughed.
Lydia’s eyes filled with tears. “I can’t believe this. Seamus has adopted you, the heir of another Clan is in love with you, and now you’re telling me that you’re Goddess-blessed. You’ve turned out to be more than I ever hoped.”
“You know what a shadow is?” Brenna asked.
Succubus Rising, An Urban Fantasy (The Telepathic Clans Saga) Page 21
