by Lark Brennan
After a few seconds of silence he took for the ship’s reply, Lex called to them, “Thanks. See you guys around.” She cleared her throat. “Thought they’d never leave.”
“Guano?” he asked.
“Sombrero’s uninhabited except for about a million birds. I told them one of my team went ashore to gather guano samples.”
“I talked to A,” he said. “Any sign of the laser?”
She brought him up to speed on the Argos and why they’d come to Sombrero, including the conversation she’d overheard between Bodie and Oxley. “I told Bodie to hold tight until I called back. He’s probably doing some techie thing in that bunker waiting on me.”
While she talked, Mark searched his database for “Oxley, Princeton.” Results came instantly. Hard worker, ambitious, smart but not brilliant. Ordinaire, therefore controllable. The guy had worked for a division of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency before dropping out of sight nearly three years ago—not long after Jack Wilson’s death. Dissemblers infiltrated most of the government’s covert operations so Cowan’s defection to the dark side was a logical progression.
“Bodie needs to find that laser,” Mark said. “When he figures out where it is, contact me and I’ll send in Protectors to seize it.”
“Like a military operation? How do you plan to keep a conflict on that scale under the radar? No. We’ve come this far, we’ll go in.”
“This is too big for you, and Bodie isn’t equipped to fight Dissemblers.”
“So we’re supposed to watch from the sidelines? Bodie will recognize the laser if he sees it. You have to send us with the team at least.”
“No, and that’s a direct order.”
Her silence vibrated with rebellion. “I’m a Protector, too, and First Order Durand. Are you telling me I’m not strong enough to face these Dissemblers?”
“Finding the laser is dangerous enough. You’ll do as ordered, is that clear?”
The plane bumped down on the runway, jolting his shoulder and sending a bolt of pain through his body. He grunted and gritted his teeth.
“Is that clear, Lex?” he repeated before he realized the line was dead.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Sorry about that,” Lex muttered and tossed her ComDev on the passenger seat. There was no way she was going to tell Bodie to find the laser so a swat team of Protectors could steal it from him. They were going to find it together and bring it back together. If Mark didn’t like it, he could fire her.
She started the electric motors that controlled the propellers on Silverbelle’s pontoons and headed for the dock. Tying up might be tricky with the current and surge jostling the seaplane, but she’d managed worse and the dock looked sturdy. As she glided toward the structure, Bodie appeared at the top of the stairs.
“Be careful,” he shouted down to her.
Like she hadn’t figured that out. The seaplane bobbed in the waves a few yards from the pier, its wing coming precariously close to banging on the wooden platform. If she could get the front of the pontoon close enough, he could come aboard without having to risk another swim. He clamored down the metal steps and stuffed the waterproof bags into the net dive bag as he crossed the dock.
“How close do I have to get for you to jump?” she called to him.
“Six feet? Closer would be better.”
“Get ready.” She took a deep breath, eased forward and prayed the plane wouldn’t be tossed into the platform. The surge lifted the stern, then the bow, rocking the plane so violently the front propellers popped out of the water. For a split second she lost the ability to steer.
The seaplane shuddered with the impact of Bodie’s 240 pounds landing on the pontoon. “Go,” he shouted.
She slammed the propellers into reverse and backed into open water while he side-stepped to the passenger door and climbed in.
“Nice driving,” he said. “I wasn’t looking forward to the swim back out.”
“So what did I miss?”
He fixed her with an odd stare. “What makes you think you missed anything?”
His tone held an edge. Something was wrong. “You went on shore and I didn’t. What was in that bunker? Who is this Oxley guy? Did you find anything that could lead us to the laser?”
He glanced away and she recognized the stubborn set of his mouth. She wasn’t going to let him hold out information on her. She turned on the electric propellers on the pontoon and steered Silverbelle away from the dock.
“Bodie, we can stay here all day but I’m not taking off until you fill me in. Your choice.”
“You tell me something first.”
“Okay…”
“What kind of psychic abilities does Mark have? Besides raising me from the dead?”
Shit. “One of the most basic rules of the Durand is that no one is permitted to reveal anyone else’s abilities, even to other Protectors. We only know what we witness, need to know, or are told by the person himself or herself.”
“I need to know.”
“Why are you asking me this now?”
“Answer my question. How hard is that?”
Impossible. “I don’t have the authority to discuss Mark. You’ll have to ask him yourself.”
His laugh rang with bitterness. “But that confidentiality only goes one way, doesn’t it? He told you everything there was to know about me, didn’t he?”
“No, actually. He told me he thought you could help find the whales and said you were in Fat Dog. That’s it. He didn’t tell me you were a revenant, or about any of your history together.
“Oh, and he said you were a genius,” she added. “He didn’t mention you were also an unreasonable son-of-a-bitch.”
“Better unreasonable than a liar.”
“I never lied to you!”
“Lies of omission. Same thing.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Mark has been reading my mind and controlling my thoughts ever since we met. Want to deny it?”
Her heart stopped and her throat closed until she couldn’t breathe. Who was this Oxley that he knew all about her brother? “No, I won’t deny it and I won’t confirm it either. I can’t. Where did you hear this?”
He folded his arms across his chest. “Sorry. You don’t talk then neither do I.”
“I can’t.” A wave lifted the seaplane and she adjusted the controls to keep from burying a pontoon.
“Bullshit.”
She bit her lip and turned to look out her side window. Why did their relationship have to come down to a choice between family duty and honesty? At least with ordinaires, she’d known from the start she could never even tell them about her own abilities. With Bodie she’d shared who she was and stupidly forgotten the larger Durand factor.
She turned back to face him. “You have a shield now. No one can read your mind or emotions, control your thoughts, or project any psychic directive on you. I also gave you the means to use your ability to direct energy. If you want to blame me for doing my duty to the Protectors and my family, go ahead.”
His expression remained stony. “You expect me to forget all the ways your brother used me?”
“I expect you to work with me to find the goddamn laser before this Oxley guy uses it again.” He flinched and she took that as a good sign. “We steal it or destroy it—your choice—and then you can go on your way.”
“Steal it,” he said. “I want to see how it works before I dismantle it.”
“Fine.”
“And you don’t tell Mark what we’re doing.”
“He just called. He told me to help you find the laser so he could send Protectors for it.”
“Son of a bitch. So I’m on my own.”
“We’re on our own. I told him no Protectors. We’ll find it and you’ll decide what happens to it.”
“You told your brother no?”
She shrugged. “Not exactly. He gave me a direct order and I hung up on him.”
He ran his hand
over the top of his head. “Christ. He’ll kill us both.”
“What happened in there? What aren’t you telling me?”
“I have work to do if I’m going to locate the laser. Where’s the closest island we can set up the scanners and laptops discreetly?”
“I’m part of this, Bodie. My ass is on the line right along with yours. Either tell me what happened in that bunker, or I’ll drop you off in Road Town and let you take your chances with the authorities. Your choice.”
She squinted at the horizon to the north and spotted the Anguillan cruiser heading back in their direction. Damn. They needed to get out of there and fast. With a flick of a switch, Silverbelle’s engine came to life. “The coast guard’s on its way back. We’re going to have to fight somewhere else.”
She taxied the seaplane across the chop until it had enough speed to rise from the water. When it reached 1,500 feet, she leveled off, switched to electrical power, and considered her options. They couldn’t return to the BVI as long as the authorities were looking for Bodie.
She glanced at him in the passenger seat where he bent over his handheld sensor in rigid concentration.
“Head south,” he said. “You sure there aren’t other seaplanes in this area?”
“Pretty sure. There’s commercial service between St. Croix and St. Thomas but that’s it. Occasionally a yacht shows up with a helicopter. Why?”
“I was wondering how Oxley got off Sombrero and how far he might have gotten since the laser attack if it took an hour to dismantle and pack up the equipment.”
“In these seas, a cigarette boat could make it to Anguilla in an hour, then he could catch a plane from there,” she said. “There aren’t many commercial flights but a small private prop plane could get in and out pretty easily without calling attention.”
“So in four hours, he could be anywhere.”
“Only if the operation was well organized and heavily funded. Logistics in this part of the world tend to be a challenge which is why I have Silverbelle. If the guy’s already settled in, my educated guess would put him within one-hundred-fifty miles of Sombrero. Two-fifty max.”
“Wherever he was, it wasn’t his place. It seemed tropical, expensive, and established. A house on the beach with a lab. Definitely not a hotel.”
“Okay. That’s something to work from, I guess. Anything else you remember?”
He shifted in his seat but didn’t look at her. “After you hung up, Oxley’s boss showed up wanting to chat. I met him years ago on the train to New York when I was going to the city to meet Mark.”
Lex’s stomach dropped. “Do you know his name?”
“When we first met, he introduced himself as Narciso Valmor. Ever heard of him?” He glanced up and she felt his gaze on her.
She thought for a few seconds. “Name’s not familiar.”
“What about Tolian?”
The blood froze in her veins. Not Tolian. Anyone but Tolian. “He’s the Hi'aiti'ihi' Sentier, the Commander of the Dissemblers. Does this Valmor work for him?”
“Valmor is him, or so he said. He knew a lot about your brother and Adrien—that they’re telepaths and Mark has been using mind control on me for years. Is that true?”
“Okay. Yes, they’re telepaths but no one used you. They’re the good guys.”
He snorted. “Tolian also wants me to come work for him.”
“You can’t! He’s pure evil.”
“That’s what he said about Mark and the Durand. I’m inclined to at least keep an open mind about his offer.”
“Mark never asked you to do anything morally wrong, did he?”
Bodie shrugged. “Who knows how his people at Durand Tech altered my discoveries to his ends? He used me.”
“And Tolian massacres anyone who gets in his way—men, women, children. Imagine the worst, most powerful spells and magic a Santeria priestess can do then multiple that by a thousand. And Tolian doesn’t need props—he can do those things with his mind.”
He flinched but didn’t reply.
She had to make him understand. “His mission is to create chaos through fear and violence so his Dissemblers can step in and take control. Wars, drug violence, oppression, genocide, mass murder—that’s what they do.”
He turned from her and the muscles in his clenched jaw twitched. “Where are we going?”
“Bodie, I’m telling you the truth. Look at what Oxley did to the Argos—twenty-six people gone. That was just the beginning.”
“Where are we going?” he repeated.
Railing at him wasn’t going to change his mind, only facts and hard evidence would do that. She studied the screen on the dashboard. The British Virgins were out of the question. Ahead lay Prickly Pear Cays and Anguilla, and beyond that St. Martin and St. Barts. Ideally, she preferred to take the seaplane down in protected water with a sandy beach and good anchorage. Silverbelle was far from inconspicuous, so a remote cove would work to their advantage.
“It depends on how fast you want to get there. Prickly Pear Cays is about thirty miles, Ile Tintamarre’s about forty, and St. Barts is sixty,” she said.
“Prickly Pear will do. Is it inhabited?”
“A couple beach bars for the day-trippers.”
“Fine.” He focused his attention back on his sensor screen.
She remembered the disturbance he’d felt the night before. “Last night when you sensed the odd orphic on the hill, could it have been a person?”
“A week ago I would have said no. After finding the red orphic in the dolphins, I have to say it’s possible. The problem is, how would a human absorb the energy?”
“Dissemblers use majik along with their psychic abilities to control ordinaires. You’ve seen majik yourself, so you know a powerful wielder can manipulate the physical as well as paranormal world.”
“So?”
She took a deep breath. “I sense majik and majik residue as a smell and even a taste, sort of like how you sense orphic and delphic. When a Dissembler is nearby, his energy taints the air and vibrations around him so a Protector knows when he encounters the enemy.”
She had his attention now.
“If this majik changes energy in any way, why don’t I feel it?” he asked.
“Are you sure you don’t? You can distinguish blue orphic from green or yellow or orange. Maybe we just have a different baseline perception of the same thing.”
He nodded. “Possible, I guess.”
Encouraged, she continued. “Okay. So maybe if you track subtle trails through the orphic, we can figure out where…” She almost said Tolian, then reconsidered. “Where Oxley and the laser went.”
“What do you think I’ve been doing?” he asked, then softened his tone. “You fly and I’ll do my job.”
She nodded. Her gut told her he was holding out on her and unless they worked together there wasn’t a chance in hell they’d find the laser and make it out alive.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Lex set her leather bag on the table where Bodie was already working. The sea was choppy so most of the day-trippers had passed on a boat excursion to Prickly Pear Cay today. Two hundred US dollars had secured the back section of the palm-thatched pavilion, lunch, and a heavy-duty extension cord for as long as they needed it.
“What can I do?” she asked.
“Boot up your laptop and the other monitor. I need a bigger screen and the time-lapse orphic progression to compare with current data.”
She did as he asked then settled on the bench across from him. Her ComDev buzzed—Mark’s particular buzz. Every Protector and sisterly instinct told her to answer his call but she didn’t. Glancing up, her gaze locked with Bodie’s. Neither of them moved. What seemed like an eternity later the buzzing stopped and she released the breath she’d been holding. He returned to his work and several seconds later a musical note sounded to tell her Mark had sent her a text. Did getting a message qualify as contact? She was going with no on that.
Don’t do anything
stupid.
A little late, bro. Almost everything she’d done since Bodie showed up in Road Town had been stupid. Still, she couldn’t regret any of it. And she’d stick it out with him until he had the laser and left her. She deleted the text.
• • •
Bodie tapped out a text message on his ComDev. I’m willing to negotiate. The device would obscure the source of the text while allowing Tolian to reply.
Within seconds the response came back. You and the sensor here before sunset. I’ll send transport to pick you up.
Getting on Tolian’s boat with the sensor didn’t sound very smart, but he couldn’t put Lex in any more danger. What about the cruise ship?
Up to you. There will be a demonstration. Bring me the sensor and you can pick the target.
Maybe for this test, but it was just a matter of time before a lot of people died. The only way to stop Tolian for good was to destroy the laser. Target Sombrero Island.
As you wish. Where will my boat pick you up?
North beach of Prickly Pear Cay.
2 hours. Be there.
An order or confirmation? Probably both. He plugged his ComDev into his laptop and tried to trace the origin of the texts. After a few minutes of bouncing around the world, he gave up. Maybe Durand Tech could trace the messages but he was on his own and intended to keep it that way.
“Tolian?” she asked.
“A boat will be here in two hours.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Find where the laser is before then.”
The screen in the middle of his improvised network showed the orphic energy for a radius of two-hundred-fifty miles around Sombrero Island. He had run his scans beginning the previous afternoon in time-lapse progression and studied all the fluctuations that might indicate a flow of negativity. The yellow trail between Anguilla and Sombrero had faded by dawn and other pockets of yellow and orange on land corresponded with towns and cities where he expected some degree of violence and vice.
