The Eyes of the Sun: The Complete Trilogy

by Christina McMullen

  “Good as new,” he said and looked over at Lucy briefly. “Better than new, actually. Lucy informs me that I might have picked up some of her abilities?”

  “That’s what Abe says. Now don’t go cutting yourself up to test this. Abe’s going to get with you tomorrow to do some monitored tests.” Evan shifted his gaze back and forth between the two of them with mild amusement. “Should I be happy or worried that neither of you has come to me with objections to your assignment?”

  Lucy gave Evan a half smile. “Matters of life and death kind of puts things in a different perspective. Andre and I have agreed to try to be mindful of our attitudes.”

  Andre nodded his agreement and added with a wink, “She brought me coffee, she can’t be that bad.”

  “That’s exactly what I want to hear!” Evan beamed. “Because your next assignment is going to be difficult for both of you, but honestly, there’s no one else I can trust with this. Andre, you’re scheduled to leave for Paris in two weeks. Lucy, I want you to go with him.”

  “What?” they both exclaimed in surprise.

  “Is that such a good idea?” Andre asked with a hesitant glance at Lucy. To his surprise, she didn’t object.

  “Yeah, is it? I’ve never been to Paris, I don’t speak French, and I thought I’m supposed to be anonymous.”

  Evan waved away their objections. “That’s exactly why you’re going. Officially, Andre, you’re out of commission. According to the report Abe filed, you suffered severe, but non-life threatening, injuries on Halloween and he recommended a few weeks out of the line of duty. Your trip is purely R&R.”

  “Okay,” Andre dragged the word out nodding slowly, “but how does Lucy fit into this plan?”

  Evan’s door opened and Lona sauntered in with a bottle of champagne and a very devious smile. “As your fiancée, of course,” Lona answered for Evan. Both were stunned into silence. Lona set the champagne on the desk and sighed dreamily, taking a seat next to Evan. “Well, that’s encouraging,” she nodded at the both of them.

  “Wh-what is?” Lucy stammered.

  “You’re both still sitting here.” Lona winked.

  “Oh.” Lucy bit her lip. “Is that an option then? Can I run screaming from the building now?”

  Evan chuckled. “It’s a perfect cover. Since Andre tends to keep his private life private, there’s really no reason he would have mentioned you before. However, in light of your recent injuries, Andre, you realize that life is short. Lucy is the woman you love and you pop the question. Actually, you popped the question last night, at least that’s what Lona announced earlier today over social media.”

  Both Lucy and Andre shot glaring looks towards Lona that she pointedly ignored.

  “Because you haven’t been released to work,” Evan continued, “you take advantage of the time off and whisk Lucy away to Paris, where you’ll of course be expected to stop into the office and show off your girl. That is where you will do some poking around. Lucy will be able to use this time to look for anything you might have missed.”

  “How do I disguise myself?” Lucy asked.

  “That’s the beauty of this plan,” Evan said with a wink. “No disguises needed, you’ll be yourself.”

  “Um, actually, that isn’t possible,” Lucy reminded him. “You had me fill out paperwork. They may not know I’m a hunter, but they know I work for your organization.”

  “Good point,” Evan acknowledged. “But that’s where I feel the need to pat myself on the back. According to the paperwork you filled out, you came to work for EJC’s legal affairs department researching patent laws. Legal affairs know nothing of the Eclipse project. As far as you know, Andre is just a communications research engineer who happens to be the nephew of the guy who signs your paychecks.”

  “You thought of everything, didn’t you?” Lucy sighed. A tentative truce was one thing, a long term assignment in a foreign country was quite another, but playing the role of Andre’s fiancée in the most romantic city on earth sounded more like an ill-fated set up for a bad sitcom.

  “I can’t take credit for the plan. It was Lona who suggested the engagement,” Evan shifted the blame smoothly. “Honestly, you’re both taking this a lot better than I expected.”

  Lucy shot Lona a look that suggested exactly what she thought of the plan and where she might shove it. Lona, in true Lona fashion, just smiled and winked. Andre shrugged, but he didn’t say anything. He looked just as uncomfortable with the plan as Lucy was. Lucy turned to him and frowned. “Come on Andre, you’ve been too quiet. Surely you have some opinion on how this totally won’t work, which will be my fault, naturally.”

  Andre put his palms up in a defeated gesture. “It’s a brilliant plan, actually,” he said, casting Lucy an apologetic look.

  “Good. Now that we’re all in agreement, I’ll let Lona deal with the details,” Evan said.

  “What details?” Lucy asked hesitantly.

  “Engagement pictures!” Lona practically shot out of her chair with enthusiasm.

  “Why do we need pictures if you already announced it online?” Andre asked.

  “Are you kidding?” Lona gaped at Andre. “I just announce to the world that you, EJC’s most mysterious eligible bachelor, are getting married and I’m supposed to leave it at that? Yeah, that wouldn’t be suspicious. I’m totally planning your wedding, fake or not, which includes tweeting all the details, so I need details!”

  Andre shook his head and put up his hands in a futile gesture. “Fine, but if we’re leaving in two weeks, I have a lot of loose ends to tie up here, so keep that in mind.” To Evan he added, “I want to complete the hemograph application. I’ll feel a lot better about this if I can at least get it onto Lucy’s phone and mine before we leave.”

  “Agreed. You’re both off the streets for the next two weeks, so you can prepare for the trip. Now, I’ve got Mike coming in soon to plan tonight’s doozy of a meeting, so if there’s nothing else, you’re both free to go.”

  Lucy spoke up. “That reminds me. What happened with the vampire you brought in?”

  Evan sighed. “Exactly what I expected to happen. Nothing.”

  “What do you mean nothing?”

  “Exactly that, he refused to speak, except to threaten our lives. He refused to answer every question I put to him. I even brought Ida in to talk about her program and offer him sanctuary. He refused, so he died.”

  Lucy grimaced. “Wait a minute, that doesn’t make sense. I thought the whole point of the ES was immortality. He knew you were going to kill him if he didn’t answer you.”

  “He knew he was already dead,” Evan explained. “We believe that the mods we’re dealing with are low level soldiers. We also believe that these soldiers are groomed to accept that failure is not an option. Treason is genetically impossible for them.”

  “So why did you bother to capture one?” Lucy asked.

  “I’m an incurable optimist,” Evan said with a shrug. “It’s rare, but not completely unheard of for a mod to break their programming. I had to try.”

  Lucy turned to leave, surprised that Andre waited by the door for her. Outside in the hall she let out a deep breath.

  “Something wrong?” Andre asked.

  “Just disturbed. How are we supposed to get information from people who would rather die than tell us anything?”

  “Don’t worry about that,” Andre assured her. “We’re only supposed to find and close the information leak in Paris. Once we know who the information was leaked to, we may or may not go after them. In all likelihood if we do, it will be a big operation with most of the Paris hunters. You and I may not even be involved, especially if we’ve got our own escalated issues here.”

  “So what now?” Lucy asked. Evan’s pronouncement that she was off the hunting team left her at loose ends. Unlike Andre, Lucy had no projects to work on, nor did she know what preparations for the trip would entail. Two weeks of sitting around headquarters waiting sounded awful.

  “No
w, I go back to my room and finish rendering the changes to the hemograph. You’ll probably want to look up some information about Paris. I might also recommend hiding.”

  “Hiding?”

  “Lucy, have you forgotten where you work? Who do you think doesn’t know about our impromptu engagement?”

  Lucy let her head fall forward against the wall with a groan. “Any chance I can be on the next flight to France tonight?”

  “This is so exciting! I love weddings! I can’t wait to start designing your gown!” Lona gushed on and on while tossing half the contents of Lucy’s closet onto her bed. Lucy rolled her eyes and shook her head.

  “Uh, Lona, you do realize I’m not actually getting married, right?”

  “No, that’s not how we play this game,” Lona said and flipped her hair in exasperation. “If I’m supposed to be posting all the details of this engagement to all the social networks, then I have to have details to post. You should start getting excited as well. You are a woman in love!”

  Lucy pursed her lips and stifled the urge to strangle her friend. “I think you’re forgetting who my intended is.”

  “Hardly! Look, I love Miles with all my heart and soul, but any woman with a pulse is going to agree that Andre is a total hottie.”

  “I hadn’t noticed,” Lucy stated too quickly.

  “Oh that is BS,” Lona put her hands on her hips. “You’re trying to tell me that you’re not at all attracted to Andre?”

  Lucy shrugged and looked away, unable to meet Lona’s eye. “Looks aren’t everything. I’m attracted to personalities. Nice ones.”

  “You are just as bad as he is,” Lona laughed.

  “What does that mean?” Lucy asked, her heart suddenly hammering erratically.

  “You’ll just have to figure that one out for yourself,” Lona winked. “Here, wear this.” She tossed Lucy a garment bag with the Knights in Wild Satin logo. Lucy unzipped the bag and gasped. Inside was a red silk dress with petal sleeves, a fitted bodice, and a flared, knee length skirt. A cherry blossom pattern was embroidered along the side of the skirt. Lucy fell in love with this dress on the very first day she walked into Lona’s shop. She looked at the tag and sighed.

  “It’s three sizes too small.”

  Lona laughed. “Idiot, it was three sizes too small when you first saw it. Now, not so much, try it on.” Lucy was doubtful, but unzipped the dress and slid it over her head, surprised to find that she could zip it back up without a hitch. “Perfect!” Lona exclaimed. “Now let me figure out this camera, I want a picture of Andre’s jaw hitting the floor when he sees you in that dress.”

  Lucy rolled her eyes and stalked out of the room.

  “This is so your fault,” Lucy said through gritted teeth, a wide smile plastered across her face.

  “How is that?” Andre asked, flashing a shy, close-mouthed smile for the camera. They had been posing for pictures for the better part of the last hour. Every time it appeared they were finished, Lona would find a more perfect pose, better light, or nicer scenery and they would start again. Lucy firmly suspected Lona was having a bit too much fun at her expense.

  “If you hadn’t almost died, I would have quit the moment Evan proposed this crazy plan.”

  Andre shook his head. “Like Evan would let either of us find a way out of this.”

  “True. I’d like to find a way out of this right now though, haven’t we had enough pictures taken? I don’t know what guys have to go through to get ready, but Lona grabbed me the moment I woke up. I’m starving and I didn’t even get to finish my coffee.”

  “Faint, she’ll have to let us go then.”

  Lucy half-considered Andre’s idea when Evan suddenly came storming up to them.

  “Change of plans. How soon can you be ready to leave?”

  “Um,” Lucy looked at Andre, “whenever, why?”

  Evan’s mouth was set in a firm line. “I just got around to listening to the records from Halloween. Dammit, I should have done it sooner, you were right, Lucy.”

  Andre looked confused. “What’s this about?”

  “Halloween night,” Lucy explained. “Hugh and I were split up, and I didn’t recognize the watcher who sent me into the trap.”

  “Nor did I,” Evan added. “I ran the recording through the computer and checked it against the recordings of every watcher we had, it doesn’t match anyone.” Evan clenched and unclenched his jaw, clearly upset. Lucy had never seen him lose his composure. “We’ve been compromised. I want this leak closed now. There’s a flight out tomorrow morning, I want you on it.”

  Chapter 20

  “Nervous?” Andre gave Lucy a lopsided smile that she assumed was supposed to be reassuring.

  “Why, should I be?” Lucy murmured, casually flipping through her copy of the Sky Mall catalog. They were sitting on the tarmac at Atlanta Hartsfield International, awaiting takeoff and the magical altitude where they could once again use electronic devices.

  “It’s okay to be nervous about flying.” Lucy shot him an exasperated look, but Andre continued. “You already read the whole Sky Mall on the last flight. They haven’t added any new items, you know.”

  Lucy shuddered slightly. The flight from New Orleans to Atlanta had been on a very small regional jet and she had just spent the better part of an hour practically in Andre’s lap. Fortunately, Evan had sprung for business class for the overseas leg. Her plan was to spend the next eight hours listening to music or pretending to sleep, and pointedly ignoring the proximity of the man she would soon enough be spending nearly every waking moment with. Even so, Lucy noticed with slight trepidation that she would end up climbing over Andre every time she felt the need to use the rest room. She closed the catalog with a sigh.

  “How do you know I wasn’t looking for your Christmas present?” she asked with a sarcastic smile. “No, Andre flying doesn’t scare me. The idea of upheaving my life and diving headlong into dangerously unknown territory for the second time in, oh, four months might have me a little on edge. Is this a problem for you?”

  “It could be,” he said seriously, turning his head to look her in the eye. “We’re on our own over there, Lucy. I’m going to need your trust, and I’m going to need to trust you.”

  “I know, Andre,” Lucy sighed, “and I’m not going to let you down. But for the next eight hours or so, I just want to lean this seat back, close my eyes and forget about work, forget about things that go bump in the night, and forget about you.”

  Andre smirked. “Forget about me after I put that big ol’ rock on your finger? I’m wounded, darling.”

  Lucy looked down at the two-karat monstrosity on her right hand. “It is kinda tacky isn’t it?”

  “I’ll be sure to tell Lona you said so,” Andre teased. “Isn’t that what all the girls want though? A big tacky ring to show off and make each other jealous?”

  Lucy made a disgusted noise. “It’ll do what it’s supposed to, I guess. But trust me, if I ever get married, I’m demanding a ring that won’t drag my whole arm down, not to mention won’t cost as much as a small yacht.”

  The monitor at the front of the cabin flashed that it was now okay to use electronic devices and Andre reached for his laptop. “I pity your future husband, Lucy.”

  Lucy unpacked her mp3 player and jammed the ear buds into her ears. “You should.” She raised her eyebrows, leaning her seat back. “At least pity the poor fool who’s about to pretend he is. Good night, Andre.”

  After a solid hour of navigating their way through baggage claim, customs, and the near mile walk from their terminal to the rail station, Lucy slumped wearily against the train window. She watched with sleep heavy eyes as empty fields gave way to suburbs and finally afforded her a view of the Parisian cityscape, which disappeared almost as suddenly as it appeared when the train plunged underground. Within minutes, Andre was leading her off the train and into the morning rush hour madness of Gare Du Nord. Lucy was eternally grateful when he steered her out of the flow of co
mmuters and toward a coffee vendor, where he rattled off an order in rapid-fire French.

  “You’re joking right?” Lucy gaped at the tiny cup Andre handed her.

  “It’s espresso, Lucy, four shots and milk, more than enough caffeine to shake off jet lag.” She eyed the cup skeptically, but Andre just rolled his eyes at her. “I should have known culture shock would start with coffee.”

  “I thought Paris was all about sipping coffee in cafés?”

  “Sipping is the key word here. We don’t treat it like cheap booze at Mardi Gras. Trust me, you’ll leave Paris craving a good espresso.”

  She took a tentative sip, stunned, but not at all displeased with the strong, earthy, and somewhat smoky flavor. Even with the frothed milk, Lucy felt the fog in her brain start to clear. “It’s good. Don’t tell Ida I said that.”

  As Lucy followed Andre to the correct platform to catch their train, she was glad she had snagged a map. Although she considered herself savvy in the ways of urban public transportation, not even the New York City subway system had prepared her for the Paris Metro. The map showed more lines than there were colors in the traditional rainbow, including four shades of green and three distinct purples. They boarded the number five, which Lucy’s map showed as bright orange. They emerged three stops later. Blinking as her eyes became accustomed to the bright daylight once again, Lucy took her first real look at Paris and laughed.

  “What’s so funny?” Andre asked with slight annoyance.

  Lucy gestured across the street. “McDonalds, KFC, I don’t know what Quick is, but I see a picture of burgers and fries. I distinctly remember someone bragging to me about Paris cuisine. Now, who was that again? Oh that’s right, you.”

  Andre sighed warily. “Ye of little faith. You’ll also notice several hotels. This is a tourist area, so the gastronomic choices are simply to accommodate your, err, discriminating American tastes.”

  “Nice burn,” Lucy remarked dryly. “And after I politely neglected to tell Ida I saw a Starbucks cup in your room. So are we staying in one of these hotels?”

  “No,” Andre shook his head, “we’re staying at my apartment. It’s just a few blocks from here and there’s a boulangerie, a bakery, on the way, so we can pick up a few items until we have time to do some shopping. Unless of course, you’d like some mcnuggets.”