“You don’t suppose I might meet her?” Cassie kept her voice breezy, but the possibility of speaking to someone who could give her information made her giddy with anticipation.
“Eh, I don’ know, lass. Perhaps that’s not the best … well. How ’bout I ask her, when Hugh’s away longer?”
“Thank you, Grandda. I’d like that.” Cassie looked out the window, because she couldn’t stand the somber regret in his expression. Cassie simply had to speak to this woman who had survived four births. One was even a girl.
Jack was looking at her, he’d noticed her watching at the window. He crooked a finger, inviting her to come outside. She kissed Grandda on the cheek and went out the nearest exit after wrestling the ancient door out of the sagging doorframe. Jack got ambushed again, but it served him right for being distracted.
Up close she realized how roughly the kids played. Even the toddlers hit like linebackers. Hugh’s teenaged boy backed up several steps then charged, throwing grass divots in his wake. His shoulders crashed into Jack’s chest, and Jack gripped the boy by the arm and trussed him in a restraining hold. She heard Jack coaching the boy in low tones, gesturing with ducking and blocking, then sent him off to try the attack again. Jack parried a blow from Ben’s oldest boy, then corrected his grip on the wooden sword, showing how much better his wrist rotated through the stroke now.
She liked that, how Jack played with the little kids but took the older ones seriously by training them. They had no idea the pain they caused him, jostling and bumping his knee, but obviously Jack thought it was worth it. Doubtful Jack’s brothers would allow this if they were home. Regrettable that the kids had to wait for their parents to go away to play with their uncle. She still couldn’t imagine any grudge worth holding that jeopardized a family. What on earth had happened here, over twenty years ago?
The kids paused to stare at her. Some were afraid, probably because they’d seen her hair flying in the static as she shot blue lightning from her fingers yesterday. They didn’t know what to do about her, until Jack snatched her by the waist and tackled her to the ground. She wrestled him onto his back with her forearm pinning his throat, and the kids cheered that someone finally bested Jack. It was all the invitation they needed, and she became the next victim of a dogpile.
Cassie had several four-year-olds attached to her legs when the kids noticed a red pick-up truck roll through the gate. They groaned in unison and dispersed with impressive speed. By the time Hugh and Ben came into view, there was no sign that their children had been outside wrestling with Jack instead of studying in the hall.
Jack lay on his back with his head in Cassie’s lap, chewing on a long piece of grass when his brothers passed through the courtyard. They shot him twin looks of disdain and went inside without a word. Charming. Jack gave no indication of being affected by his brothers. His eyes dropped closed and he purred, content with her tousling his hair and scraping his scalp with her nails. He might as well enjoy the moment, because he wouldn’t be so happy once she worked on his knee — they’d planned his surgery for today.
“I think we should move our quarters inside the academy.” He turned his head in her lap so she would scratch by his ear.
“Okay. Why?”
“Just a feeling.”
Cassie shivered, then scrubbed her arms to smooth the gooseflesh. “That’s creepy, when you do that. I expect a thunder clap, or a horse scream, or something.”
“I’m going to reinforce the windows and doors today and seal off every entrance but the front and west. The boys will need to pack into one dormitory, and I want a tight perimeter of guards. Oh, and will you help me reset the alarms to detect motion and thermal output?”
“Expecting an attack?”
“Of course. Mr. X’s spies have had enough time to react to … I mean, they might know Kyros doesn’t have Henry. I almost hope they track us here, just for the chance to end this.”
“What about your family?”
“The castle and the berserkers provide good security, but not for this kind of warfare. Contracting my clan to host the academy was the stupidest idea I ever had.”
“Why did you do it then?”
“After Merodach was defeated, we supposed the threat had passed. And Kinmylies is a burden for the clan, an expensive struggle they can’t win. I thought the money would help them.”
“Did it?”
“It helped their cause and made mine worse.”
Ah, she got it. Ben seemed upset that Jack hardly ever came home, that he didn’t do his share of farming and building. He was jealous of Jack’s perceived wealth. He sniped about Jack’s affiliation with Kyros and the SEAL team. So Ben was bitter about being left home to labor on a crumbling castle while Jack went off to find fame and fortune. Of course that wasn’t accurate, but Cassie would bet that’s how Ben saw it. It didn’t help that Ainsley had listened enraptured to Jack’s war stories last night over dinner. Ben’s eyes should have burned holes through Jack’s skull from across the dining hall.
“Do you think Mr. X would attack your family to get to you?”
“I’m planning on it.”
“Are they aware of the threat?”
“Kyros talked to Hugh, but I need to go over it with him.” Jack sat up and raked a hand through his hair. “Cass, I won’t lie, I’m real anxious. I can’t stand waiting around for something bad to happen. But what else can I do? Lock everyone inside a cage and wait for the battle to come to me?”
He plopped back into her lap and rolled to hide his face. “Even if that made logistical sense, I wouldn’t bet a rusty dime my family would listen to me.”
“Then let’s move the students. Remove the danger to your clan and bring the fight on your terms. It’s been done before.”
“I’d need Kyros and Lyssa to do it. They’d have to call in at least a half-dozen other agents to help, maybe more. After what happened at Torrey Pines, it’s clear we should expect anything.” Jack sighed through his teeth and cursed. “Damn I hate this, feeling like something is off.”
He said that, and her own instincts crawled. Experience had taught her that Jack’s gut feelings were never wrong. And neither were hers.
Chapter 21
“Bet I can kiss you on the lips without touching you.
Aw, damn, guess I lost.”
—Jack MacGunn, King of the Bad Pick-Up Line
A month passed with no one being shot by the sniper. That was because Jack behaved like a tyrant, imposing rules limiting activity outdoors, reinforcing windows and doorways, requiring security detail on deliveries … which didn’t win any favors with his family, but he kept them alive. They didn’t see the reports he did — about how Network agents worldwide hunted down every lead, took casualties, and finally an Edinburgh agent reported local movement.
Jack expected action, but every day he woke peacefully made him aware that other men were doing the work meant for him. Jack was finished with Kyros’ wait-and-see strategy. Time for a bit of recon, but not with the ethics police breathing down his neck. Cassie didn’t understand the classic means-and-ends relationship.
At lunchtime for their six-week anniversary, Jack stuffed Cassie with five helpings of strawberries and cream, after a bit of naughty business with both the strawberries and the cream. Then she said she wanted a milkshake. Actually, she’d said, Jack I can’t stop thinking about eating a chocolate mint Oreo milkshake, and if I don’t get one soon, I’m going to strangle you.
He wasn’t sure if it was a pregnancy craving or if she was sulking over not being immortal. When he was her age, even the thought of anything with sucrose, preservatives, or shortening turned his stomach. The few times he experimented, it made him ill like food poisoning.
He rounded up ingredients for the milkshake and searched a hundred places in the kitchen for a blender. She sighed in pleasur
e as she licked it off the spoon, and he felt a little jealous. Jack put her to bed for a nap and she slept like a baby. No convulsions. Cassie had bigger problems than not being an immortal extra-sentient, but still, thinking about it felt like evisceration. He knew he would be like animals in the wild who don’t survive after their mate is killed. He’d never been afraid to die, but he’d never had so much to lose.
Jack had work to do now.
He gave her a quick kiss, and when she puckered her lips in her sleep, he was tempted to stay and tease her. Without permission his hand trailed down her side, and in his mind he already had her naked.
Jack cursed under his breath. One month and she’d turned him into a pansy-eating lover boy. Good thing his team wasn’t here to see this.
Her scent lingered in his head long after he left her asleep in bed. Jack pulled Henry out of class, ignoring the dirty look the professor shot him. Jack took Henry to the library and placed a broken handheld video game player on a table, bait as well as a bribe. Incentive sounded better. Jack scanned the room to make sure the clerk was still across the room at his desk, out of earshot.
“Hey, Cheese. How’s it goin’? Do ye like it here?”
“Satisfied with what one has, the state or feeling of being contented.” Henry pounced on the little console and turned it about in his hands, trying to power it on. He seemed pleased to find the switch broken.
“Good. That’s good. Get invited to an X-Men movie marathon yet?”
The flash of enthusiasm in Henry’s expression meant he had been introduced to the Hollywood incarnation of their not-so-glorified lifestyle. Most extra-sentients tired of the joke.
“You know, Stan Lee — the creator of the original comics — was an extra-sentient.”
Henry scowled and scanned his eyes across the ceiling. “To be unfaithful in revealing or disclosing, in violation of confidence.”
“Nah. Stan was a friend of Kyros back in the sixties. The comic books were a practical joke. As far as I can tell, Kyros thinks it’s funny.”
Jack fished a tiny Philips screwdriver from his pocket and held it between his fingers, out of reach for Henry. His beady black eyes flashed with desire. He wanted to open the console and fix the unit but needed the screwdriver.
“I could use your help, Henry.”
“Then light shone from Logafell, and from that radiance there came bolts of lightning, wearing helmets at Himingvani came the valkyries, their byrnies were drenched in blood, and rays shone from their spears.”
“Whoa, take a breath, kid. Cassie is napping at the house. She doesn’t know I’m here and wouldn’t approve, so don’t rat me out, okay?”
“Many conditions chronically increase intra-abdominal pressure, and hence abdominal hernias are very frequent.”
Jack scowled. “Yeah, she’s pregnant. But what I — ”
Henry leaned over the table and argued, “Acute abdomen can be defined as severe, persistent abdominal pain of sudden onset that is likely to require surgical intervention to treat its cause.”
“Cassie’s in pain? She didn’t tell me.” As soon as the words left his mouth, he crowned himself King Jackass. Of course she wouldn’t say. “Uh, thanks for telling me. I’ll take care of her, okay? In fact, she’s resting now.”
Henry sat back in his chair, satisfied. “The most common traumatic causes of knee effusion are ligamentous, osseous and meniscal injuries, and overuse syndromes.”
“Yes, my leg is hamburger. Rub it in, why don’t you?” Jack scrubbed his face with his hands. “Look, I hate putting this on a little guy, but if there’s any intel you can give me about Krav’s operation, I need it bad.” Jack flipped the screwdriver in his fingers, flashing the lure. “They used you to bait me. Why?”
Henry looked across the ceiling several times as though tracking a moth. “Refer to the absence or insufficiency of light.”
“I know the bastards kept you in a closet. And I’m sorry they hurt you. We’ll do our best to keep all the students safe, I promise. But I need your help to do it. Please think, Henry. What did the other one say?” Jack used the term Lyssa had pulled from Henry’s mind when she’d hacked it.
Henry looked hungrily at the screwdriver, and his chin trembled.
“Okay, how ’bout you let me take a look in your mind? You have an impressive mindshield, lad. I’m proud of you. Why don’t you take it down for just a minute? Show me what I need to know, and you don’t have to find the words?” Then you can have the screwdriver, went without saying.
Henry threw his head back and keened, a feral, injured sound that hurt Jack’s ears.
“Okay! Henry, never mind. For the love of Pete stop that!”
The clerk at the desk jumped, ready to run to the rescue. Thankfully, Henry calmed.
Jack felt guilty, so he handed the tool over. Henry snatched it and went to work. In less than a minute the unit was a jumble of wires and small parts. Jack slumped in the chair and stared, defeated.
Henry began stuttering, and at first Jack thought he was muttering about the device he repaired. Jack tried not to jump up and whoop as he realized Henry was trying to quote dialog.
Jack translated as best he could with his very sketchy knowledge of Russian as Henry spoke in a low, gruff voice, “You must kill the berserker but the female bring to me, unscathed. If the Greek attack, retreat. Not engage. Avoid his mate, the flame-hair as well. You do understand, Krav?” Henry shrugged and resumed his project as though he meant, That’s all, folks.
“The other one ordered Krav to kidnap Cassie? Why?”
“Not within the range of one’s knowledge or experience.”
Jack hit the table with his fist, and the splintering noise earned him a scowl from the clerk. “It’s not you, Henry. I was miles off the mark. Damn it!” Suddenly it seemed ridiculous that Cassie slept unguarded in the room. He shouldn’t let her out of his sight.
As he crossed the courtyard on his way back to the hall, the red laser dot came back. It danced around on the grass, as if it was necessary to attract Jack’s attention. It climbed up his leg, circling around his bad knee in an infuriating taunt. Then it centered over his heart.
In any other circumstance, Jack would have bolted in the direction of the beam, following the trajectory. But he couldn’t run with his injured knee if his life depended on it, and he couldn’t wait another moment to find Cassie. He settled for shouting a crude curse in Gaelic involving the devil, deviant sexual behavior, and hellfire. Then he fled to Cassie’s room, praying the entire way he hadn’t already walked into a trap, that he wasn’t too late.
He threw back the door and found the bed empty and cold. He smelled her scent in the room, but faintly. He checked every inch of the suite in a panic to be sure, but she was gone. Gone.
• • •
Cassie heard a lion’s roar. Even from far away it shook the walls. She knew the voice and that furious raw-throated tone, and therefore knew she was in trouble. She shot out of her chair.
“Oh, no. Neva, that’s my exit music.”
Neva smiled, a lovely sight despite the dark circles under her eyes. “Is that yours or mine?”
Cassie shook her head. “Oh, it’s Jack, all right. I’d better stop him from ransacking th — ”
A low-pitched crash followed by the clatter of falling debris illustrated the need for haste. “Thanks again. I’ll come back later with chocolate.” Cassie ducked to kiss her sister-in-law on the forehead and dashed out the door.
She ran down the long corridors, mentally calling for Jack, but his mind was long gone, swallowed in the primitive throes of a berserker rage. He wasn’t difficult to find, she had only to follow the commotion. She skidded to a halt at the end of the west gallery and found a volatile showdown in progress.
Side by side Hugh and Ben crouched low, their arms posed in
a wrestler’s stance. They blocked the entrance to the west wing, standing between Jack and the scent he drew in deep breaths, his face upturned to the draft wafting from the gallery. He’d tracked her through the house by smell. Jack was seconds away from bowling his brothers over. He paced like a riled tiger, growling with each exhalation. He looked frightening in all his glory, a wall of pumped muscle, his face a war mask, his eyes blazing a dangerous shade of fluorescent green.
His head whipped around and he sniffed the air in her direction. His nostrils flared, and his next breath was an ear-splitting roar. Cassie sprinted the forty feet to the gallery entrance, and the exertion took its toll at the worst possible moment. She was powerless to control the searing pain that clenched her gut. She couldn’t help her agonized cry, she lost control of her legs and went down hard.
What she’d intended as a rescue turned into a disaster. Cassie rose to her knees, trying to call out to Jack, but a sharp wave of pain doubled her over. Jack lost it. Hugh and Ben thought they defended the entrance to their family’s quarters from a rabid Jack. Even two against one, he would probably kill them. He roared again and charged, the sound like thunder.
She gritted her teeth against the pain searing down her legs and called desperately to Hugh. Let him through, please. He’s looking for me. Hugh jumped, startled, but he got it. He darted aside and turned around to see Cassie on the floor. Too late for Ben to get the memo. Jack crashed into him and they rolled, a blur of fists and elbows. Hugh chased after them, shouting for their attention.
“Jack, please stop,” she called, hoping he could hear.
He froze mid-motion, about to dash Ben’s head against the floor.
He dropped Ben’s head and used a nasty Krav Maga groin strike to get out of Ben’s hold. Jack scooped her up and folded her in his lap, shielding her with his arms and ducked head. His mind was a mess. He was minutes away from being able to process words, but she tried to calm him anyway. The pain subsided and she could breathe again. “Shh, Jack, I’m fine. Calm down, baby.”
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