Henchgirl (Dakota Kekoa Book 1)

by Rita Stradling

The police-tape behind me shifted and Keanu stepped up beside me. He had been uncharacteristically unresponsive on the ride between Mele’s and his house, the moment we drove away we all had settled into a tense silence.

  Mele had not even questioned me on what happened; I guess she figured it out herself, or did not want to know.

  Keanu stayed silent, probably just too kind to say what we were all thinking—that no matter what now, Mele’s life as she knew it was ruined.

  Even if the dracon-blood wore off now, her being rejected by the water ward had been captured on camera by more than one national news station. Who knows how they would interpret that scene. Why did there have to be reporters at her house? Why did her mom have to scream like that?

  “It looks worse than I remembered,” Keanu said as he examined the ruins of his home. I did not need to sense it, to know that he was devastated by the sight, devastated and exhausted.

  I took his hand gently as we walked forward. “I’m sorry,” I said.

  “Yeah, thanks, but it will be okay,” Keanu said. “It’s just a house, you know?”

  A house is never just a house. I knew that better than anyone. However, I let him pretend it was not important.

  We walked down the driveway, zigzagging around balled up cars and fallen trees. When we reached the house, the raised foyer, living room and hallway leading to the bathroom was littered with debris but intact. It even had electricity.

  “This is the bathroom,” Keanu said, pointing to a door I had not checked all the way down the hall. Their hallways were entirely too long.

  The house felt strange, eerie, too quiet and large. The bathroom was also large, it had several closets and had a full bath, which was unusual for a bathroom that was intended for visitors and not associated with any bedroom.

  First, I checked the window to see if the latch could have just locked itself after she climbed out, like my original guess. There was no possible way, though, as the lock turned horizontally into its fixture, rather than falling vertically.

  Just to be thorough, I pulled open all the cabinets yet found only the typical bathroom towels, soaps and toilet paper. I checked the ceiling, but there were no crawl spaces out of the room. I felt around the walls for fake walls or secret doors, but there were none. Keanu looked as well, feeling around the surfaces.

  “There’s nothing here,” I whispered.

  “—but dust,” Keanu said smiling. He stood up and washed his hands.

  My hands were dusty too.

  “Want me to leave this faucet on for you?” he said just as I was at that moment wiping my hands on my pants.

  I smiled at him and said, “No, I’m good.”

  He gave me a straight-lipped smile, not looking happy. He shook his head, then said, “I need to ask, did that dragon infect Mele?”

  “No,” I said. “She’s just tainted by being covered in its blood. Tell your father she’ll be fine in a couple days…”

  “My father?” Keanu said, furrowing his brow. “Why would I tell my father anything?”

  “Because he’s the leader of the anti-anything to do with dragons, dracons, infected humans or magic of any kind coalition and he saw her get knocked out by a water ward…?”

  “Yeah, of course,” Keanu said, then sighed. He rubbed a hand through his brown hair, mussing it up. “It might take a couple of days, but I’ll tell him. Honestly, I’m worried about her.”

  “Me too,” I said. “But Wyvern isn’t a full-dragon so—”

  “Could have fooled me,” Keanu said.

  I opened the first two linen closets, seeing stacks of blankets and sheets. “He can’t be a full-dragon, he…Why is your closet locked?” I said as I yanked at the last door that would not budge.

  “That’s not a closet,” Keanu said. “My dad just had his office moved into that room. It used to be a guest room.”

  I looked back at him, exasperated.

  “Don’t give me that look.” He laughed and touched my cheek with his knuckle. “It’s locked from the other side. My dad was going to have it framed in tomorrow. And before you ask, yes, I checked it was locked last night.”

  I crouch down to look at the lock; it was likely a standard bathroom knob just turned around so it locked on the outside. The center of the knob had a small hole that almost anyone with five minutes and a paperclip could pick.

  “Does your dad usually have a good security system in his office?”

  “It’s usually a fortress,” he said.

  “Did your dad know you guys were going to have a party?”

  Keanu laughed, “No.”

  “When did he move his office?” I asked.

  “Thursday.”

  “Why did he move it?”

  “He doesn’t tell me stuff like that,” he shrugged, “Why do you want to know?”

  “This was the only real possibility for an exit route,” I said, pointing to the door. “She must have picked the lock,” I said. My hands shook as I realized I had a real, legitimate reason to look around Senator Hale’s office. Actually, you could say that I had to snoop through Senator Hale’s office to save his son’s life.

  “Honua picked the lock?”

  “You say that you were in front of the door the whole time and she never exited?” I asked.

  “Yeah, I’m positive,” he said.

  “Then, unless there’s a trap door somewhere, she must have exited through this door,” I said.

  “Why would Honua break into my dad’s office?” Keanu asked, like the idea would never have occurred to him.

  “Did she seem scared at all to you?” I asked.

  “A little shy, maybe, but…no… she seemed happy. Why?”

  “People do weird, irrational things when they’re scared…but there could be a million explanations for why she would want to escape the party without anyone noticing.” I stood up. “Unless someone came through the office and took her…”

  I looked up into Keanu’s eyes and caught him shaking his head.

  “If you don’t agree with me you can just say so,” I said.

  Keanu shook his head again, but this time with a smile, “Dakota, you need to relax.” He gently turned me away from him and started rubbing my back.

  As much as I wanted to tell him not to patronize me, I was sore everywhere.

  “Yeah, I think those ideas about what happened to her are unlikely, but I don’t have anything better. Actually… we might be able to find out,” he said.

  “How?” I asked.

  “My dad has a security system already installed in there, I saw the men who came to install it. If Honua or anyone else went through there, it would be recorded.”

  Crud.

  Good for this mission.

  Bad for snooping.

  But… “Where are the recordings?” I rolled my head back looking up at him while he continued to work magic on my back.

  “In our security room, hopefully, it’s still standing,” Keanu said.

  Just my luck, I would have done almost anything to get into the Hale family security room yesterday, before the house was destroyed.

  “Do you want to check it out?” he asked when I did not move away from his wonderful hands.

  “In a minute,” I said.

  He chuckled, then leaned in to whisper, “You know I meant what I said to your sisters.”

  It took me a second to retrieve the information; it had felt like three days, not three hours ago. “You want to be my boyfriend?” I said as my heart picked up speed.

  He brushed his lips over my ear and whispered, “Yes.”

  A smile hijacked my lips. I was crazy because I wanted to tell him that I would be his girlfriend, but I did not. It was too complicated and I was already too…emotionally compromised. The best thing for my mission would be if I said yes, infiltrated his life more; but I could not delude myself into thinking that I could say yes just for the mission.

  I reluctantly turned out of his hands and gave him a quick kiss on the l
ips. “How about I save your life, then we can talk about going on a date,” I said, smiling up into his half-amused half-smoldering eyes.

  Keanu’s eyes were lighter than Wyvern’s, and even though Keanu was staring intently into my gaze, Wyvern’s eyes were more intense.

  And why was I thinking about Wyvern?

  “I thought we were on a date,” Keanu said.

  I stepped away from him. “If this is what you consider a date then…” I walked out of the bathroom door, shaking my head.

  He ran up behind me, grabbing my left hand, which hurt, again. “Come on, you,” he said.

  The security room was in the very back of the house and had not been destroyed. The power, on the other hand, was out in that part of the house. Also, all the video recordings were on computers that were not connected to any internet nor could be reached remotely.

  Glancing at my phone I realized it was half past four. I said, “I am supposed to be somewhere at six…but maybe if we move really quickly we can set up the computer system in the foyer? We know there was electricity out there.” The computers were all-in-one desktops, large, but thin and would not be too hard to move. “As long as we leave by five fifteen…”

  “Sorry Dakota,” Keanu said, leaning against the desk, “It will probably take me more time than that. I can usually figure out my dad’s passwords, but it might take me a while and only my dad has access to the security system. I would say we should just break into his office and check it out, but I think the cameras are still recording. I would be in deep shit if my dad caught me on tape bringing a girl into his office.”

  “Okay, we’ll just have to come back tomorrow,” I said even though the idea was annoying. I really just wanted to suggest we bring the computers to my house, but saying that would sound too invasive.

  “I can’t, I have stuff to do all day tomorrow. I guess… we could just take the computer with us,” Keanu said.

  “Where?” I asked, determinedly not looking at him and focusing on the best way to unplug the cords.

  “Well Mele’s house is out. Could we go to your house?” he asked.

  “Yeah, but I have to go eat dinner with my grandfather at six. You and Mele could stay for as long as you want though… I do have electricity.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” he said.

  “I could even have my uncle Bobby help you,” I put in, as casually as I could manage, “he’s a whiz with computers.”

  “You don’t need to bother your uncle, I could probably do it,” Keanu said.

  “He’ll be happy to help.” That was a huge understatement. I forced myself to look over and smile at him naturally. I did not even jump for joy. I was about to have Senator Hale’s security recordings from his office and possibly his whole residence at my fingertips. “I’ll just text Bobby and tell him to meet us at my house.”

  And then I was going to make Bobby kiss my feet.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “I wish you would have let me at least dry your hair,” Clara said as she leaned back from the front seat of Glacier’s van. She tugged a strand of my wet hair.

  “Shoot,” I said, staring down at Bobby’s text, “They figured out the login code but all the files are encrypted and the video log is locked.”

  “Is there a firewall installed?” Glacier asked from the driver seat.

  I texted Glacier’s question then after a second received a response from Bobby and read, “Yes.”

  “Have him disable it, then he can connect to your wireless network and Carol can decrypt and copy the files remotely,” Glacier said.

  I texted the message: ‘firewall, wireless, Aunt Carol.’

  ‘Aye, Aye,’ he texted back.

  “Maybe I could put your hair up so you stop dripping on your dress,” Clara said.

  “Who cares,” I said, “I still don’t get why I’m wearing a dress to go eat dinner with grandfather at his house.”

  I stared down at my phone waiting for Bobby to report in that he connected to my Aunt Carol. If my Aunt Carol, my grandfather’s head of technology and security, was helping she would have the files not only decrypted, but probably organized in the order of most interesting by the time we returned from dinner.

  “We’re not just eating with grandfather,” Clara said, “We’re eating with his guests too.”

  I almost dropped my phone. “What?” I said too loudly in the minivan’s confined space. “Why did no one tell me? We’re eating with the dragon?”

  “No,” Glacier said, “He’s in the Waibibi volcano.”

  Meaning he was re-heating and he had not taken the portal home yet.

  “I’m sorry,” Clara said, “I tried to tell you, but I could not get you away from the humans.”

  “Give your sister a break, she convinced you to shower, I’m sure that wasn’t easy,” Glacier said very seriously though his soul was sparking with amusement.

  “Oh wow, Glacier, you made a funny,” I said, determinedly staring at my phone. “Well, this sucks.” I guess Wyvern was not just being annoying when he told me he would see me in a couple of hours.

  “It’ll be fine, sweetheart, just put your hair up, I can do it in a twist if you like,” Clara said.

  Because Clara was Clara, I said, “Thanks that would help a lot.” I paused, “Glacier can I ask you something? Have you ever heard of a half-dragon infecting someone?”

  “That’s impossible,” he said with authority.

  “That’s what I thought,” I said, “But Mele was doused in Wyvern’s blood and she was rejected by two different water wards, even fourteen hours later and after she showered.”

  Glacier said nothing, but his soul buzzed with tension.

  “You know there are a lot of things about Wyvern that are… too powerful,” I said, “He changed into a full-dragon, and oh, my gods, the shape and size of his soul when he was not containing it—”

  “Drop it, that’s an order,” Glacier said.

  I was momentarily so stunned I said nothing. After a few long seconds where Glacier’s tension continued to rise, I said, “Drop what?”

  “You’re line of thinking,” he responded.

  “You’re ordering me not to think?” I said, half-laughing with disbelief.

  “About this, yes, I am. If I could, I would order you to avoid anything to do with Wyvern Manderson, thinking included, but father says that’s impossible now after your escapade.”

  “Maybe, if you guys had kept me in the loop instead of making me feel like you were all turning your backs on me, I wouldn’t have gone on my little escapade.”

  I felt a strong pulse of guilt and hurt emit from Glacier’s soul and I immediately felt like a jerk; I would have gone on the escapade regardless, I might have gone about it a little differently, but I would have still left to find Honua.

  The rest of the ride was spent in a tense silence. The entire time I was kicking myself for letting the subject of Wyvern’s quantity of power drop. Glacier knew something, had practically told me there was something to know, something big. Bringing the subject back up, though, would only cement him in his silence. He ordered me not to think about it, the idea made me want to laugh again; that was the stupidest order he had ever given me, by far.

  Clara, never one to rock the boat, honored the tension and stayed silent all the way up to our grandfather’s estate.

  Glacier punched in his code and waved to the outer gate guard.

  I waved as well, because I was sure I knew the guard but I did not feel like making the effort of finding out which one he was. The concrete wall slid open smoothly for all its weight, and we started up the driveway.

  My grandfather had spared every expense on the aesthetics in his home. Long six-inch wide, windows spaced every few feet apart were the only feature that prevented his home from looking like a six story concrete block.

  Three concrete walls circled the house, but only the first one had been closed. The interior of the house was as cold and functional. Once, when I told my
grandfather that he should fire his decorator, he responded with, “Decorations and baubles are only worthwhile when they earn me money.”

  It was not that he did not use his fortress-looking home to earn him money; he just invited clients or guests here strategically. It told me a lot about his feelings toward his ‘guests’ that he would host them at his house.

  When we parked in the lot on the side of the house, Clara climbed in the back with me quickly twisting up my hair. She pulled what seemed like a hundred hairpins out of her purse, and stuck them in my hair.

  The worst part of this whole situation was I had information to share with both my grandfather and Wyvern, but I would not be able to because they would be there together. It would be so much easier if I could just let my grandfather in on my investigation. I thought again about Glacier’s orders not to question Wyvern’s immense power level. If my grandfather knew I was getting involved in Wyvern’s life, he would likely lock me up in his jail in the basement. And that was not an exaggeration, my grandfather had cells in his basement for exactly that type of use, he just rarely needed to use them.

  “Beautiful,” Clara said, separating a few strands to fall around my face.

  “We need to go,” Glacier said, waiting by the minivan door.

  My phone beeped and I read the text which showed a smiling face emoticon followed by, ‘Keanu leaving now with computers, too bad, there was nothing I could do to decrypt them, oh well. He says he needs to return them before anyone notices.’

  I stared at my phone, hopefully that stupid smiley face was code for Aunt Carol had access to the files; for some reason Bobby wanted Keanu to think that we could not decrypt the files before he returned the computers.

  I wrote: ‘text when you can tell me what happened?’

  “Turn your phone off,” Glacier said.

  “What, why?” I said.

  Glacier did not answer, just stared at me expectantly. The tension was so high in his soul, it made me feel edgy.

  I did as he said, turning my phone on silent and then off, silent, so I could turn it back on without it beeping. Sighing, I climbed out of the van after Clara.

  Clara, as always, looked breathtaking. We were both dressed in knee-length cocktail dresses that my mother had bought us without my knowledge, likely out of our rent money. Mine was green and Clara’s gold, hopefully not real gold, knowing my mother, it was a possibility.