“Are you out of your crazy-ringed mind?” shouted Jimmy. “My daughter is not one of you, and over my dead body is she staying here!”
Grier’s gun shifted from Inker to Vanda, and Jenna bit her lip. Vanda was the figurehead of power here, but Inker and Floyd Roran worried her the most. From the little she had seen and heard, they valued Kendra’s life the least.
Kendra suddenly pulled her hand from Jenna’s and walked forward into the muddy stretch between the two groups. Jenna started forward after her only to feel the knife bite into her neck. She stopped abruptly, clenching her hands into fists. Other guards moved toward Kendra, but she stopped in the center of the clearing and held up both hands.
“Stop it!” she yelled.
Vanda waved the guards hastily back. No doubt she remembered that just as many Rorans as Armada soldiers had been endangered earlier by Kendra’s unusual storm.
“You let my mommy go right now!” she said with a stamp of her foot.
The guard holding Jenna didn’t relax at all. Vanda held out a conciliatory hand.
“Child, we don’t want to hurt your mother,” she said gently.
Kendra looked pointedly at the guard, and Jenna edged forward hopefully, but his grip still didn’t loosen.
“You are a Speaker, Kendra,” Vanda said. “You have a very special gift. If you wish, we will allow both your mother and father to stay here with you.”
Jimmy opened his mouth to argue, but Jenna shook her head just slightly, and he caught her signal. Kendra had the best hope of getting them free from this situation without anyone getting hurt. Part of her wished that Jimmy would just grab Kendra and run for it—Kendra was so close to him now—but that would mean leaving her behind, and she knew Jimmy would never do that. Not when she still had that sharp warning pressed against her neck.
“What does a Speaker do?” Kendra asked, crossing her arms against her chest.
“A Speaker tells us the will of The Planet.” Vanda casually stepped closer to Kendra, and Jenna swallowed her fear.
“Tell us what The Planet wants us to do!” interjected Blackrock eagerly. “Speak to your isithunzi!”
“You mean Dina?” Kendra asked, cocking her head to the side.
“Yes. Your shadow. Your connection with The Planet.” Jenna saw Floyd Roran’s eyes tighten just a bit. Then his face smoothed and became impassive again. He didn’t like the idea of Kendra having a connection with the planet at all. Did he see her as a threat? They were running out of time. Come on, Kendra, Jenna urged mentally. You can do this.
“Dina says you should keep living your lives however you want. And she says to let me and my mommy go home.”
Inker Roran snorted. “Oh yes. The Planet just wants her devoted, faithful followers who have sacrificed so much to continue to scratch out an existence in the jungle. I believe that one. Some Speaker.”
Kendra stamped her foot again. “That’s what she said. Now let us go!”
“Child, we can’t . . .” Vanda began, but suddenly the wind picked up and the air seemed to get heavy and thick. Vanda’s hair began to lift ominously.
Torben darted in front of Vanda and raised both arms.
“The Council hereby accepts the recommendation of the Speaker!” His nervous voice rang through the clearing. “We now declare that Speaker Forrest, as well as her family and friends, are free to depart and ask only that they do so peacefully.”
Vanda’s mouth dropped open. Inker Roran’s spear dropped unheeded to his shoulder. Blackrock seemed stunned into silence. But still the guard at Jenna’s back didn’t release his hold on her. Then Floyd Roran stepped forward.
“As Arhat of the Guardians, I concur with Councilor Torben’s declaration,” he announced.
Finally, the guard dropped his knife. Jenna rushed forward and reached Kendra just before Jimmy threw his arms around them both. “Let’s get you out of here,” he said, “before they change their minds.”
“Wait! What about Kip?” Kendra’s voice was panicky. “He’s hurt! We can’t leave him here!”
“Not to mention the six Armada soldiers locked in a hut,” Jenna added. “We can’t leave innocent soldiers here—and if they aren’t innocent, well, the Armada just might want to know who they were working for.”
Kendra turned back to Vanda.
“Dina has something else to say to the village,” she said confidently. Her mouth crooked up in just the tiniest smile.
52. Return to the QE
Back in Omphalos, Jimmy carried a sleeping Kendra in his arms off the ship, and Jenna trudged behind him, her body physically exhausted and her mind racing. She had spent most of the flight catching up with Jimmy on everything that had happened. It was morning on this side of the world, but she wanted nothing more than to collapse into bed and sleep for a week.
But first she needed to hold her babies. Jimmy had left them in the care of her father when he came with the ship to find her. So when she reached the bottom of the ramp to see her father standing with Lev Quintan and his guards, she darted around Jimmy and threw her arms around her father.
“Where are Erik and Berry?” she asked anxiously after her father had squeezed her tightly for a brief moment.
“They are with your mother at Mark’s,” her father said. “She got in from Tarentino Bay earlier this morning.”
Jenna let out a deep breath, and some of the anxiety leaked away. Jimmy had told her—reluctantly—that Erik had thrown a full-fledged tantrum and Berry had wailed like a mourner when he’d left them with her father to come to Zoria. If there was anyone who could help the kids feel safe, it was her mother. And if they were staying with Uncle Mark on the Armada Academy grounds, they were probably as safe there as they would be anywhere in the world.
Her most pressing concern mollified, her thoughts turned to Lilah. During the flight back from Zoria, Jimmy had told her of Lilah and Zane’s attempt to ransom Berry and Erik and Lilah’s courageous flight with Erik in the heart of the Red Zone. She listened in horror as Jimmy recounted Lilah’s comm and how he had found her in a Red Zone house just in time to watch her fall from the upper story.
“I want to see Lilah before we go to Uncle Mark’s,” she said.
“She’s here in the QE infirmary,” Lev Quintan said. “She is probably sleeping, but we will take you there if you wish.”
Her father frowned but didn’t say anything. Jenna smothered a smile. It probably galled him to have to be at the Quintan Edge in the first place. But he would have to suffer it a little longer. She wasn’t leaving without checking on Lilah, not to mention that it would give her a chance to make sure that they were taking care of Kip. The Quintan medtechs had moved him off the ship first and hurried him straight to the infirmary. There was still hope that they could save his arm. Kip himself had been unconscious—the leader of the Quintan rescue squad had slapped a trank patch on him as soon as they’d seen how severe his injuries were. He was lucky to be alive at all, especially since a mud poultice of some kind had seemed to be the extent of the Rorans’ medical treatment for him.
A sudden disturbance caught her attention, and Jenna turned back to the ship just in time to see Grier leading the first of the captured Armada soldiers down off the ship.
“How many soldiers are there?” her father asked.
“Six,” Jenna answered flatly. She still couldn’t understand it. Soldiers—Armada soldiers—who had been willing to violate their oaths, essentially participating in her kidnapping. But what other explanation was there?
“Will they talk?” Lev Quintan stared at the soldiers with barely concealed loathing as the group marched down the ramp behind Grier. “You’ll need some kind of evidence against Admiral Leckey, more than Zane’s word.”
Jimmy raised his brows. “Zane’s word was enough to convince you to send the ship back to Zoria. His story was enough to even convince me to
leave my children and get on that ship.”
Jenna wondered about that. What exactly had Zane said? What had changed Jimmy’s mind? Would Jenna have trusted Zane like that, knowing Zane’s past?
Of course, Zane had just rescued Berry. That was a point in his favor.
“Leckey is one of the top Armada brass on Zenith,” Lev reminded. “It will take more than the testimony of an ex-nanospeed addict to convince the Security Council.”
“They’ll talk.” Her father’s voice was cold and certain. “Leckey is my problem.” Going to the Security Council to convince them that a fellow admiral was guilty of kidnapping, possibly even worse crimes, was going to be a political minefield. But she shivered at the look on her father’s face. Admiral Leckey had no idea what was coming his way. “What concerns me even more,” continued her father, “was that Leckey wasn’t the one who engineered the original kidnapping. Who was behind that, Mr. Quintan?”
“We found them in Zoria, Admiral. A group led by a woman named Shiz, apparently the same outfit hired to destroy the gate all those years ago.” Lev’s voice was calm, but Jenna dug her fingers into Jimmy’s arm. The same guys who had blown up the gate had kidnapped her and the kids and ransomed them?
Would it ever be over?
“It appears from our initial questioning of Shiz’s former employees that Shiz had a long-standing plan to disrupt Quintan-Forrest Enterprises,” Lev explained.
Jimmy shifted Kendra in his arms. “You mean they wanted to find a way to turn my dad against you. If you two were no longer partners, the business would go down the drain, gate or no gate.”
“That’s one way of putting it,” Lev said. “Making money from auctioning off your family was just a side benefit.”
Jenna felt sick. Even completely cutting themselves off from the Quintans still hadn’t kept them safe.
“Can we guarantee they won’t try again?” Her father spoke without taking his eyes from Leckey’s soldiers, who were being transferred directly into the Armada ship waiting on the other side of the helipad. Armada MP’s—presumably ones her father trusted, not from the base outside Omphalos—were taking custody of them.
Lev’s lip curled. “Trust me. We will make sure she does not try again.”
Jenna slid closer to Jimmy. Sometimes it was better not to ask.
●●●
Though at first Jimmy had insisted on accompanying Jenna to the infirmary, she finally convinced him to wait for her in the upstairs lobby. Kendra was heavy, and his arms were getting tired, but Jenna couldn’t trust her daughter to anyone else. Her father had left with the captured Leckey soldiers, and Lev had returned to security, stating only that he still had some prisoners of his own to check on. He left his personal assistant, Ivan, to take them to Lilah. Jimmy had been reluctant to let Jenna out of sight, but he finally relented when Grier offered to accompany Jenna. At that, Jimmy sank down into one of the lobby couches with a sigh, readjusting Kendra’s head so she rested on the couch arm. Jenna bent down to kiss him, and he murmured, “With that Shiz infiltrating Quintan Security, I don’t trust anyone here anymore. I expect Lev is going to buy up the entire market of Arueban truth serum trying to clean it up. But Grier will keep you safe.”
Jenna periodically glanced back at the massive bodyguard following her as Ivan led her down to the infirmary. He insisted on checking the lift before they got on, and he cleared the landing before they got off. His face was completely blank, but his eyes scanned the doors to the patient rooms as if he expected an attack at any moment. It actually calmed her a little to see him so vigilant.
She wondered if she would ever feel safe again.
Then they reached Lilah’s room, and all thoughts of her own safety fled. When they entered the medical suite, the slumped figure in the chair next to the bed bolted upright. As soon as he saw Jenna with Ivan and Grier flanking her, Zane’s eyes lit up, and a wide smile stretched his face.
“Jenna! You’re safe!” He pulled himself to his feet, wincing a bit.
“Hi, Zane,” Jenna greeted in return, but then her eyes were on her best friend lying motionless on the bed. Lilah’s face was pale and all her braids had been trimmed short, but she was breathing deeply, her chest visibly rising and falling. Jenna rushed over, reaching out to take Lilah’s hand before stopping short.
“How is she?” She twisted her hands together nervously.
“Sleeping on her own, finally. But go ahead and wake her,” Zane said.
Jenna shook her head. “No, not if she’s resting. I just wanted to see her for myself.” Jimmy had explained on their way home about Lilah’s paralysis as well as Damon’s death. Lilah had already been through so much. Would it be too much to cope with, even for a fighter like Lilah?
“No, really, wake her,” Zane insisted. “She would want to know that you and your daughter are safe. She’s been worried sick.”
Jenna gently placed her hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Lilah?” she said. No response. She raised her voice. “Lilah?”
Lilah’s eyes fluttered open, and she stared blankly at Jenna’s face for a moment. “I’m dead?” Lilah croaked.
“Not yet,” Jenna said. She took Lilah’s hand.
“You’re not dead?” Lilah frowned as if she couldn’t quite fit Jenna’s presence into reality.
“Not yet,” Jenna said again with a smile.
Lilah closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them she glared at Jenna. “Well, you have until I can get out of this bed. Then I’m gonna kill you.”
Jenna started to speak, but Lilah just picked up steam, growing louder with each word. “What possessed you to walk out on us like that? You played right into their hands! Seriously, what were you thinking?”
Jenna sighed.
“Do you know what Jimmy’s been through? Do you know what I’ve been through? You could have died!” Her voice had grown almost to a shriek.
“Lilah.”
“What?”
“I’m OK. The kids are OK.” Jenna knew what was behind the outburst. After losing both her parents and now Damon, Lilah was terrified of losing the last people who really mattered to her. And Lilah, being Lilah, dealt with fear by getting angry.
The silence stretched out for a long moment. When Lilah spoke again, her voice had dropped to almost a whisper. “You promise?”
“Yes. I’m fine, Kendra’s fine, and I have you and Zane to thank for Berry and Erik.” Jenna kept her tone upbeat, but inside her stomach lurched. Lilah was not fine—and Damon was gone forever.
“What about you?” Jenna asked tentatively. “Jimmy wasn’t able to tell me much.”
“Well, some shattered vertebrae, so walking’s out for now, but Zane went and ordered me some extra fancy implant. They promise me it will have me up and dancing again in half a year.” She exchanged smiles with Zane, and Jenna noted how Lilah’s whole expression softened when she looked at him.
That was . . . unusual. When had Lilah become friends with Zane? She watched suspiciously as Zane came around the bed and took Lilah’s other hand.
“What would the QE be without the famous Lilah Armenta’s annual concert?” he said.
And Lilah laughed. Laughed!
Right then Jenna knew Lilah was going to be just fine.
53. Reunited
When they reached Uncle Mark’s suite on the Armada Academy campus, Jimmy could see that Jenna was nearly delirious with exhaustion. She had dozed off in the Quintans’ transport, but he wasn’t sure when she had last slept before that. Kendra staggered along beside him—he kept one arm around her to keep her from stumbling as they stepped up to the front door. Lev Quintan had insisted on medical scans for both of them, which had luckily caught some nasty bugs they had picked up in Zoria and confirmed that Jenna did have a torn tendon in her shoulder, but Jenna had flatly refused to stay any longer for treatment beyond the initial nanob
ot injections. She said the pain was bearable, and she would deal with it later. Once she had checked on that guy Kip, she had simply informed the Quintans that she was leaving.
No one had argued. Ivan arranged for a transport, and Grier escorted them as far as the Academy before turning them over to the Armada soldiers on gate duty. Mark was waiting for them and got them through security with only a minimum amount of fuss.
When Mark opened the door, Marian was waiting just inside. Jenna completely lost her head at the sight of her mother and flung herself forward, hugging her desperately.
“Mom!” she managed before she suddenly burst into wracking sobs that startled Jimmy. Jenna rarely cried. But now she had her face pressed into her mother’s chest, soaking her shirt. Next to him, Kendra’s hand gripped his tighter, and Jimmy realized that Kendra was worried about her mother’s unexpected outburst. He squeezed her shoulder, and she looked up at him, her eyes wide. He smiled at her, and she relaxed just the tiniest bit. Mark offered to show Kendra where the bathroom was, and she eagerly followed him from the room. Jimmy leaned against the wall, giving Jenna some space with her mother.
Eventually, the sobs started to subside. “I—I’m sorry,” Jenna sniffled. Her mother just held her tighter.
“Jenna, hon, it’s all right,” her mother said. “Everything’s going to be all right.”
“I—I know.” Her breath hitched. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
Jimmy could practically see the shame march across her face. Nothing made Jenna feel more humiliated than to lose control of her emotions. He decided to step in and lighten the mood a bit. “Well, two weeks in the hands of kidnappers has been known to cause oceans of tears. I figure I’ll have to put up with a least a few crying bouts,” Jimmy said as he pushed off the wall.
“Jimmy!” Marian pulled back to glare at him.
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