by Valerie Parv
What they’d done once, they could do again.
The car interior lit up with a tremendous explosion as the fire tornado ate a massive tree and disgorged it over the mansion. Then everything combustible went up at once. The car slewed but Harrison kept them on the road, she wasn’t sure how.
“Great driving,” she said.
“Thank you, governor.”
“Are we in touch with DeLeo?” She couldn’t see the other car through the smoke.
“They’re still with us.”
She muttered an ancient Mayat prayer of thanks.
Fighting the wheel, Harrison negotiated debris thrown at them by the tornado. In the rearview mirror she saw the driver shoot horrified glances at the burning slope above them. She didn’t blame him. But hatred for its creator seared her more than the blisters she could feel forming on her arm.
What kind of person was the Kelek captain to unleash such fury on innocent people? Shana was thankful the damage hadn’t been hurled at any of the cities in Zael’s gun sights. Losing a historic home and a few acres of forest could hardly compare with the loss of life in densely populated London or New York.
But London and New York weren’t Shana’s country, her birthplace and heritage. These mountains were sacred to her people, not to be used for target practice by an alien predator.
She clamped down on her anger, not sure how she could deal with an attacker who could do what the Kelek captain could. But she would find a way, even if what Zael might unleash next didn’t bear thinking about.
Chapter 13
“You didn’t pick the governor up?”
Akia shook her head. Her work done for the moment, she had her chair tilted back and one knee braced against the console as she drank the spiced jarma she’d had Kam fetch for her. “Too many other humans with her. I don’t want to end up with a mix of body parts muddled in with my target.”
Kam eyed her shrewdly. “It wouldn’t be because you’re having too much fun playing with her?”
“You sound like my mother when she caught me amusing myself setting fires and causing havoc in bug nests. If people are foolish enough to create opportunities for me, they have only themselves to blame if I take advantage.”
He cocked an eyebrow at her. “Just when I think you’re growing a streak of decency, you go and revert on me.”
Too self-satisfied and pleasantly high on the spicy fumes, she didn’t reprimand him. “But you love me anyway.”
He gave her an uncertain look, but she was sure – her mix of villain and temptress were what turned him on. “I’ll pick up the governor when I’m ready,” she told him, growing serious. “Have you learned what’s blanking signs of the other two from us?”
“They have a dampening field device in place.”
She settled her chair on the floor with a thump. “The humans don’t have that technology.”
“But the beacons do. Some of it must have survived the original crash.”
A development she hadn’t anticipated. Her ship had the same capability, and she’d used it to keep the beacons from tracking her activities, but she hadn’t counted on them being able to return the favor. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure of nothing except that I can’t sense the listener. I get occasional glimpses of the watcher, suggesting her device isn’t as efficient as the other one.”
“Keep an eye on her. If the field collapses, I want to know instantly.”
His wince was palpable. “This isn’t like watching a viewscreen, captain.”
Again with the title. “What’s wrong this time?”
“When the field isn’t operating, I can tune in to them and see what they’re doing. But I can’t keep a continuous fix on them, the way you can with your weather instruments.”
She let her eyes narrow. “Are you telling me you can’t do your job?”
“You know better. I’m only saying I can’t monitor them every minute. It’s too draining.”
“Then be drained,” she snapped. “I need that information.”
“To do what?” He sounded tired, but also as if he no longer cared if he brought her wrath down on his head.
Either she was letting him get too close to her, or he was trying to put distance between them. Having her do it was one thing – she had no intention of letting him make that decision. “To do whatever I choose,” she said then loaded her voice with sarcasm. “Go. Get some rest. Restore that sensitive brain of yours. I’ll need you fresh and alert when I take the next step.”
He seemed about to say more before thinking better of it. Good, the relationship was restored to where she wanted it. She enjoyed Kam’s company but she didn’t need him – she didn’t need anybody – and she didn’t want him thinking differently. With a slight but distinctly deferential nod of his head, he left the lab.
The jarma cooled in her mug as she stayed where she was. Shortly she would go to the control center and let the crew know she was still in charge there, too. Left alone too long, they tended to get sloppy and she couldn’t afford that now.
Contrary to what Kam thought, she was working to a plan. The next step would be picking up one of the beacons and forcing them to tell her where the messenger was. They must know. Dampening field or not, she would get the listener and the watcher. They couldn’t cower behind their fields indefinitely.
At a pinch, she could pick up the governor, too. If Kam was right and the human had beacon blood, Akia might be able to force the triad to get the flux to open for her ship. Then she would blaze a trail all the way to the homeworld and claim it in her son’s memory.
Her gaze flickered to a holocube of Ryn taken on his last visit to Kelek, and she sketched a salute with her mug. “Not long now,” she told his image. “Not long now.”
*
“I don’t care what Shana says, I can’t be responsible for this.” Blue eyes blazing, Garrett whirled on Amelia.
Poised on the edge of the sofa, she watched the news with professional detachment. “You’re not.”
He gestured furiously at the plasma screen taking up a good portion of his living room wall. “That says otherwise.”
Years of experience reporting from every kind of trouble spot kept her expression and voice level. “It says there’s a fire near where Governor Akers has her temporary headquarters, but reports say they all got out safely.”
Vision from her network’s news helicopter and reportage from newsreader Genie Holt showed fire over a good chunk of the slope where the house had stood. Firefighters had been seconded from the tsunami relief effort but were a long way from containing the conflagration, a job likely to take all night and well into the morning.
“None of the reports blames you,” she added.
“Because only a handful of people know if Shana had given us up, this wouldn’t be happening.”
“You can’t be sure. Your Kelek could have taken you and Elaine, and still unleashed this – this monster. They may already have Adam Desai.”
“I hope to God you’re wrong.” He thrust his fingers through his hair, spiking it. Being linked so casually with the Kelek rankled more than Amelia could know, although he understood her reasoning. To her, he and the Kelek were both alien to her world. If not for them, there wouldn’t be any threat.
“Go ahead and take it all on your shoulders,” she continued as if reading his mind. “If you want, I can probably find you a few more world crises you can take the blame for.”
He stopped pacing. “Shouldn’t you be back at the studio doing whatever it is you need to do?”
“I’m doing it right here,” she snapped. “Whether anyone knows it yet or not, you are the story, you and your beacon friends.”
It was the only reason she’d stuck with him. “You’re enjoying yourself, aren’t you? None of the deaths or the damage is personal.” Not the way it was to him.
Her scowl told him he’d touched a nerve. “It’s more personal to me than to you, because this is my country. But I’m traine
d to keep my feelings out of the story and report the facts.”
“Do you even have feelings?” He was taking his frustration out on her and he didn’t care. She’d made herself a target when she’d insisted on shadowing him. No law said he had to make things easy for her.
“A few more than you, I’d bet. But go ahead, wallow in self-pity.”
“I’m not wallowing, damn it.”
She lifted her hands, palms upward. “Then stop complaining and do something. And I don’t mean give yourself up to those alien terrorists.”
“They seem to hold all the cards for the time being.”
“Like they did when you hijacked the space shuttle and blew their ship out of space.”
He refrained from reminding her there had been three of them then, their powers combining to take on the Kelek. On his own, there was a limit to what he could do.
“You’re seeing yourself as helpless,” she said, coming up to him. “Isn’t it time you turned that thinking around?”
“Yes, Mother.”
She ignored the jibe. “In television, you’re trained to be resourceful, to think on your feet. Not everything goes according to the run sheet.”
In the studio he’d seen her switch gears when something went wrong, the changes so smooth her viewers had no idea anything was amiss. It impressed the hell out of him at the time.
And she was right, he had been thinking of himself as powerless. Just like his father. The thought filled him with self-loathing. Trey Luken was a drunk and a coward. Garrett had promised himself he’d be different. Yet here he was, cowering behind an electronic shield and mentally wringing his hands while things fell apart around him.
Her perfume was distracting. He scented something wild and outdoorsy, or maybe it was just her. He’d noticed she didn’t wear make-up away from the job and, close up, her skin looked flawless. Without conscious intent, he let his hands alight on her shoulders as he shaped his mouth to hers.
He hadn’t meant to kiss her and he was sure she hadn’t planned on it, because her eyes went round with surprise. But she didn’t pull away.
Accusing her of having no feelings must have provoked her to prove him wrong, because he felt the heat radiating off her as she returned his kiss. He couldn’t know if she responded purely to get her story, but found he didn’t care. His mind spun with wanting her, with needs too long denied.
They’d have to be denied a lot longer. He’d never needed a lifetime commitment to enjoy making love to a woman, provided the feeling was mutual. But the Kelek question needed resolving, and he couldn’t ignore that. Not any longer.
“You’ve made a decision,” Amelia said, her mouth inches from his own. With her arms looped around his neck, he felt her warmth on his skin.
When he took his hands off her arms, the imprint of his fingers remained, giving him a second of remorse. When this was over, he’d need to rethink where he might go with Amelia.
The thought was in her eyes, too – another surprise. He took a step back. “I have, thanks to you.”
She acknowledged the compliment with a slight curve of her mouth. “Going to share it with me?”
“Not until I’ve thought it through. Nothing personal,” he added quickly when her frown returned. “The Kelek have people known as adepts who can sense where the beacons are. That’s how they tracked us to Earth. But the one aboard Captain Zael’s ship is different.”
Amelia crossed her arms. “Different how?”
“He’s stronger, more intuitive. And I do know it’s a he. When the dampening field is off, I can feel him in my mind.” He started to pace, his thoughts gathering speed. “I can use that. Get into his mind, maybe.”
She looked startled. “You can do that?”
“Not usually, and don’t worry, I didn’t make you kiss me.”
Her fingertips went to her mouth before she realized what she was doing and let her hand drop. “It’s an interesting idea. Both the adept and the kiss.”
He felt a grin break loose. “Mind control isn’t usually something beacons do.”
“Well, that’s a relief. I thought I kissed you because I wanted to.”
He let his gaze become teasing. “You’ll never know for sure.”
“Oh, I think I will. Besides, you weren’t exactly Mr. Passive yourself.”
If she only knew he was anything but, even now. “I’m over being passive.”
“About the Kelek?”
“About anything.” Let her read into that what she would. Later would have to do for them, if there was a them. And if there was a later. The Kelek captain wasn’t giving up.
Neither was he.
*
“Captain, I can sense the beacon. The dampening field has failed.”
They were in her control center, everything humming smoothly since her arrival. Storm was in equatorial orbit a hundred and sixty kilometers above the earth. Creating the fire tornado had drained the ship’s power reserves, but not as badly as when she’d unleashed the tsunami. Watching the gauges return to normal with infuriating slowness reminded her that her personal power was limited, too. In many ways, total destruction was easier than the pinpoint havoc she was causing. Kam’s urgency came as a welcome disruption to her thoughts.
“Which one?”
“The woman, the watcher.”
“Give me her location.”
Kam identified the place and she relayed the coordinates to Gath Damon at the geoengineering console.
She returned her attention to Kam. “Is she alone?”
“There’s a man with her but he isn’t a beacon. They’re far enough apart that you should be able to get a fix on her.”
“Good, good.” Things were going her way at last. She’d switched the key systems from her geoengineering lab to the control center and now tapped in a sequence. Time to find out whether the changes she’d made to the cargo net were up to the job.
Chapter 14
“There’s no need for you to hang around. Unloading will take a while yet.”
“I’m comfortable enough.”
Outside the tranquility of the VIP lounge, activity centered on Timo’s plane. He’d insisted she wait for him inside, despite the mildness of the tropical evening. How long it would stay mild depended on the Kelek captain’s next move. The possibilities gave Elaine the shivers.
On approach, they’d over flown the coast around Black Tree and the foreshores of Reve. From above, the surgical nature of the Kelek-created tsunami was all too evident. An unwilling observer, Elaine had watched the destruction with her preterhuman vision. Seen through her human eyes, the reality was, if possible, more bloodcurdling.
The alien captain wasn’t behaving predictably. It was as if Akia Zael were – toying with them was the only way Elaine could pinpoint the suspicion.
The viciousness of the fire tornado took her breath away. When she’d looked, she’d found Shana back in the capital, second-degree burns to her arm the only serious damage. Her security chief was being kept in the hospital for observation after Shana had pulled her out from under a large tree brought down by the firestorm. The attack on Shana wasn’t unexpected. Having issued the ultimatum, Zael couldn’t let it pass without responding. But Elaine couldn’t shake her certainty that something more personal was going on here.
None of it made her feel any better. She and the other beacons were the reason her adopted home and the people she cared most about were under threat. When she’d contacted Garrett from the plane, he’d agreed unhappily that their existence had drawn the adept and his ship to this planet. Now it was up to them to deal with the consequences.
She turned her vision inward to the slender device she’d activated before leaving Maui. Tucked in her purse, her copy of the original dampening field was basic at best. Guided by her alien sight into its workings, Adam had done what he could to duplicate the technology but with limited success. From Adam, such a confession was like Einstein admitting relativity was beyond him. The thought forced
a smile from her.
The field couldn’t be felt or seen, a slight vibration the only sign the device was active. It had worked when tested. Whether or not it was effective in real-world conditions was another matter.
“You look all in. Why don’t you go to the hotel and I’ll join you as soon as we’re done here,” Timo suggested.
Even a beacon had limits, she accepted. A pregnant beacon anyway. Her alien vision had become worryingly erratic, probably reflecting her changing hormones. She gave Timo a weak smile. “If you’re sure?”
“I’m sure.” They could have stayed at her house on the slopes of Mount Ekin, but the penthouse Timo kept at the Firebird Hotel was closer, so he’d insisted. He also knew she’d be waited on there, she guessed, not averse to the prospect.
Her reluctance to leave his side stretched between them, arguing with her need for rest.
She touched the back of her hand to his face. “Don’t be too long.”
“I won’t. I’ve told Pali to go with you.”
She smiled. Since the incident with ESIN, she and Pali had become good friends. But conscience made her ask, “Won’t you need him here?”
Timo gestured to the small army swarming around the Global. “We’re not exactly short-handed.”
“We’re lucky Zael didn’t target the airport.”
“Black Tree made a more appealing target,” he agreed. “She’s made sure the shuttle won’t lift off again anytime soon.”
The orbiter itself was intact, the damage mainly to the infrastructure. Not that Elaine had any crazy ideas of tackling the Kelek in their own element this time around. Her brief glimpse of the alien ship when they’d lowered their shields to attack Atai had almost paralyzed her with fear.
She couldn’t help remembering Garrett’s assault on the first Kelek ship. Ignorance really could be bliss, she thought. Would they have gone after the ship if they’d known how hugely outgunned they were?
Probably, she acknowledged, with a silent sigh. Whether a slaver ship was worse than one capable of setting their own planet against them was moot. But they’d been compelled to act this time. Exactly what they could do was another question entirely. What did she know of battle tactics? In his former role with the United Nations, Timo had a fair arsenal of diplomacy at his disposal and she’d learned a lot from him. This situation would tax even his skills. She suspected it would challenge even Adam’s formidable brain to find a way through.
