Closing the Circle (Guardians of the Pattern, Book 6)

by Jaye McKenna

  “He didn’t find us. Miko and Luka found him in Iral. Sent Miko into a tailspin. He’s pretty rattled, I think. And I don’t know what we’re going to do with Azziani. He’s on Romani Industries’ payroll. He could easily be a spy. I have no way of verifying his story.”

  The unspoken but you do was loud and clear. Cam ran a hand through his hair. “You want me to interrogate him.”

  “That’s up to you. I had Pat pull his records last night, hoping we might find some reason to hand him over to Central Processing for questioning under Veritane, but he’s clean.”

  “You do realize I’m not actually authorized to perform psionic interrogations whenever I feel like it?”

  “Didn’t think you were,” Kyn said mildly. “Wouldn’t be the first time you’ve bent the rules to protect the Institute.”

  “All right. I’ll go and talk to him. What else?”

  “You should probably check in with Miko. I sat with him last night for a bit, and Luka spent some time with him after that. He showed up for work this morning, so I’m taking that as a positive sign, but you know Miko. He doesn’t say much. And with Tarrin gone…”

  “Yeah. I know.” Cam let out a long sigh. So much for getting back to the cabin to relieve Eleni early. “I’ll stop by and see him before I leave. What about the Command Council? Any new directives?”

  “Nothing. I was expecting some resistance when I declined to have a militia unit stationed here, but there hasn’t been a word. I think they’re waiting on Senator Cottrell’s return, so we may have a little breathing room.”

  “What’s the mood here been like?”

  “Nervous. We’re going to have to make an announcement soon. Everyone’s seen that vid-clip by now, and it won’t be long before we have a bunch of pissed off search-and-rescue operatives and psi hunters straggling in. We need to figure out what we’re going to tell them.”

  Cam rubbed his face. Last night had been too damn short, and he was finding it difficult to focus. “I’ll get a general announcement out tonight,” he said. “Has there been any more mention of handing over data?”

  “Not since Neil said to expect a request for it. Miko assured me that everything’s locked down tight.”

  “Good. Have you talked to Dad lately?”

  “Yeah, he’s been in touch every day. He’s been asking about you. You should probably call him, too, when you have a minute.”

  Cam pulled his phone out of his pocket and made a note. “I will. Tonight, if I get a chance. I’ll be working most of the night, but I’ll find time to check in with him.”

  “Working at what?”

  “Kyn…”

  “Yeah, I know. You can’t say. I got it. Don’t be surprised to find a snarky message from Neil about the budget. He was bitching about it before he left. I’ve done my best with it, but…”

  “With Neil off-world, it’s hardly a priority. And if the Federation Senate decides to shut us down, it isn’t going to matter.”

  “And even if they don’t, the Aurora Senate still could,” Kyn said. “Or FedSec could decide to cut us loose.”

  Cam gave him a grim smile. “Yes, they could.”

  They stared at each other in silence before Cam finally rose and said, “If I’m going to be out of here when I need to be, I’d better go see this Rafe Azziani. Did you guys drug him?”

  “No. Luka said he reads like an empath, and not a particularly powerful one. He didn’t think he was dangerous, but I set him up in suite 101, downstairs.”

  “Good thinking.”

  “Didn’t think you’d want him loose in the residence building until we’re sure about him.”

  “Damn straight. I’ll let you know what I think after I’ve interviewed him.”

  Kyn gave him a terse nod, and Cam left his office. Out in the hallway, he paused to rub his eyes. He could have done with a lot more sleep. And a hell of a lot more coffee.

  * * *

  The door of the guest suite opened almost immediately after Cam knocked. He’d thought he’d been prepared to face Miko’s twin, but as he stared at the man standing in the open doorway, he realized that he wasn’t ready for this at all. Rafe Azziani could be Miko, but for the short black hair and the jet-black eyes.

  “You must be Rafe,” Cam said.

  “Yeah. Who are you?” Azziani’s voice wasn’t anything like the warm tenor Miko used with the voice synth. It was deep and rich, far deeper than Cam would have expected, given the man’s slight build and his androgynous features. It was a lot easier to focus on the unfamiliar voice than on his face.

  “I’m Cameron Asada, director of the Institute for Psionic Research. My assistant, Kyn Valdari, tells me you came here looking for help.”

  “That’s right.” Azziani stepped back to let Cam in.

  Cam gestured toward the small sitting area. “You want to have a seat and tell me about it?”

  “Not really, but I know how it is. I used to work for Sergei Romani, and you got no reason to trust me.”

  Cam couldn’t stop staring at him, comparing him to Miko. Even with a scowl on his face, Rafe Azziani was gorgeous. He moved with an easy, loose-limbed grace, showing none of Miko’s caution. If Sergei Romani had considered his psionic abilities a valuable asset, Azziani had probably never had to worry about drawing the wrong kind of attention.

  Azziani plopped down on the couch, a hot mess of irritation and anxiety simmering just beneath his veneer of calm indifference.

  Cam settled himself in the armchair opposite him. “I assume Kyn’s already told you who we are and what we do?”

  “You find psions and teach them. I don’t need that kind of help. I already got a handle on the psi. But I ran out on a job, and people are going to be looking for me.”

  “People like Alan Romani,” Cam said softly.

  “Yeah. I don’t have the contacts I’d need to stay hidden or to change my identity.”

  Cam leaned back and regarded Azziani, keeping his expression carefully neutral. “Frankly, your tie to Romani Industries disturbs me. Sergei Romani was conducting illegal, unethical psionic research. Research that resulted in the deaths of a number of my people.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Azziani said softly. “I wasn’t involved in the research side of the operation. I was a tracker. I only ever went to the research center a couple of times, and that was for a tracking job. Look, I know you got no reason to believe me. If it would set your mind at ease, I’d be willing to take that truth drug. Veritane.”

  “I’m afraid it’s not that easy. Alan Romani might have access to Veritane, but I don’t. If we go that route, it would have to be done through FedSec. You’d have to offer whatever you’ve got on the Romani family. There would be records. And even if we could get you into a witness protection program, there’s no guarantee Romani wouldn’t find you. He’s got resources I can’t even begin to imagine.”

  “And he’d use ’em. Won’t be long before he realizes I’m not coming back. If he hasn’t already.”

  “There’s another way,” Cam said. “A way that would wipe every trace of Rafe Azziani off the net forever.”

  Narrowed black eyes met his. “How?”

  “That’s not something I can share until I know for certain I can trust you.”

  “I get that, but without Veritane, I don’t see how you’re ever going to know for sure.”

  “Tell me your story, Rafe. Tell me where you come from and how you came to be on Aurora. Tell me about your connection with Miko, and then we’ll talk some more about what I can do for you.” Cam adjusted his shielding pattern to allow every nuance of Rafe’s emotions to wash over him.

  Rafe shrugged. “You want the long version or the short version?”

  “I want the version that includes what kind of work you did for Romani. I want to know how you found Miko and what kind of trouble I might be bringing down on the Institute if we take you in.”

  “Fine.” Rafe huffed out a sigh. “I came from the Colonial Allianc
e. Me and Miko were part of some kind of psion breeding experiment. Our minds were connected as far back as I can remember. He was always there with me, even if I couldn’t see him. When we were six, they took him away to test the distance limits on the link. A few days after they took him, the connection between us broke. They told me he died, but they never told me how.”

  Rafe’s expression remained cool and remote, but a wave of raw, aching grief crashed through Cam, and he drew in a sharp breath.

  “When I was sixteen, my psi awakened. I got tested and trained, and eventually, I got sold to Sergei Romani. He called me his bloodhound. I meet someone once, I can find ’em again. Even if they’re off-world.”

  “How?” Cam asked.

  Rafe glanced up at him, then away. “I see threads… connections between me and the people I’ve met. I can use those threads to track them down.”

  “So that’s how you found Miko?”

  “No.” Another wave of grief pushed into Cam’s awareness. “The thread connecting me and Miko broke. I didn’t even know he was alive until I met one of Sergei’s consultants. The guy did a double-take when he saw me. Looked like he’d seen a ghost, but when I asked him about it, he wouldn’t tell me anything.”

  “Who?” Cam asked. “Who was he?”

  “Draven. I don’t know if that’s his first name, his last name, or what — it’s the only name I ever heard anyone call him. Dangerous guy. He was an executioner for the Sapphire Guild on Alpha before he came to Earth to work for Sergei. He’s the reason I came to Aurora. I was tracking him.”

  That got Cam’s attention. “Alan Romani sent you to hunt Draven down?”

  But Rafe shook his head. “No. Alan already knew where he was. Draven got hurt in the… in an accident at the Lyra Research Center. Psi hurt, like he couldn’t shield. When he came around after we pulled him from the wreckage, he was screaming and screaming, even on pain meds. Nobody could figure out what was wrong with him. They were all set to ship him up to the station for a psych evaluation, but I told Alan that would probably kill him. So Alan had him packed up in a cryo-tube and shipped to Alpha. Said he had someone out there who had a healer who could fix broken psi.”

  “DeMira,” Cam murmured.

  “Yeah, that was it. Nikolai DeMira. He was Sergei’s cousin, or something. I figured I’d find Draven there, on Alpha, and that’s where his thread led me. As soon as Alan gave me an off-world assignment, I took off looking for him.”

  “Did you find him?”

  “No. He must have left Alpha just before I got there. I tracked him here.” Rafe’s eyes unfocused for a moment. “He’s not far from here. North, I think. I could find him, but I don’t need to now. I was only looking for him because I thought he could at least confirm that Miko was alive, and maybe give me a lead. But Miko found me before I could get to him.” Rafe stared down at the floor. “Thought if I could just find Miko, everything would go back to the way it was, but… he doesn’t even remember me.”

  Cam ran a hand through his hair. “Okay, Rafe, here’s what we’re going to do. I don’t have Veritane on hand, and I can’t get it, but I can do a psionic interrogation. If I’m satisfied that you don’t pose a risk to my people, we’ll take you in and help you disappear.”

  Rafe regarded him with narrowed eyes, and though not a flicker of it showed on his face, Cam couldn’t help but sense the desperate hope flaring inside him. “And see Miko again?”

  “That’ll be up to Miko,” Cam said slowly. “But if he wants to see you, then yes, you can see him again.”

  A long silence followed while Rafe considered Cam’s offer. Finally, he nodded. “Go ahead. Take whatever you want. I’m not lying. The only thing that matters right now is Miko.”

  “You’ll need to thin down your shield.”

  Rafe nodded, and Cam sensed the lowering of his defenses, along with a black wave of fear and uncertainty.

  Poking around in another person’s mind was never pleasant, but Rafe’s mind was worse than most, coated with thick layers of loss, loneliness, and grief. The pain was almost suffocating in its intensity, and it looked as if time had done nothing to dull it.

  The memories were easy to find — close to the surface and sharp with longing.

  Miko — a child-Miko Cam barely recognized, with his dark hair and laughing black eyes — was part of every one of them.

  Until he wasn’t.

  Every memory after that was edged in black, soaked in grief and emptiness.

  And Rafe’s most recent memories were a painful amalgam of desperate hopes and shattered dreams. He’d finally found the brother he’d been yearning for his whole life, only to learn that Miko had no memory of him.

  As for his relationship with the Romani operation, Rafe had told the absolute truth. Cam sensed no deception. Rafe hadn’t exactly been happy working for Romani, but it had been a job, and he’d lived comfortably on a generous salary. It had been enough, until he’d learned that Miko might be alive somewhere. After that, every waking moment had been consumed by the burning need to find his brother, his missing half. It was the only thing that mattered to him.

  Cam pulled out of Rafe’s mind with more than a little relief. “You can reshield. I… I believe you. We can give you a job and a safe place to stay. I’ll have one of our instructors come down and give you the tour, help you get settled in an apartment.”

  “Thank you,” Rafe said. “And Miko?”

  “I’ll talk to Miko, too. Whether you see him or not depends on what he wants.”

  Cam left the suite as quickly as was polite and headed straight for Miko’s office.

  * * *

  As he often did when his own emotions threatened to overwhelm him, Miko sank himself into the net and focused on work. It helped sometimes, to lose himself in the maze of data structures, bots, and communication protocols that made up the Institute’s data-net.

  Today, it wasn’t helping.

  He pulled back out of the net and rubbed his temples. A headache was creeping up the back of his neck, tightening his shoulders and making it difficult to focus.

  Too many disquieting things lapped at the edges of his awareness. Rafe’s mythe-shadow, torn and crying, was always there in the background, constantly reminding him of a past he had no memory of. Draven was there too, hurting, and close enough that he had to be somewhere on Institute property, even if there wasn’t even a whisper in the net about him.

  Miko hugged himself tightly, wishing Tarrin was back. He’d been awake most of the night, the taste of Rafe’s mythe-shadow burning nearby like a hot, bitter fire. He’d finally fallen asleep near dawn, and then only because he was exhausted.

  He jerked his head up as he sensed the approach of another familiar mythe-shadow, roiling with a storm of clashing colors. There was a rap on the door, and Miko dipped into the net to unlock it. Cameron slipped in, closing the door behind him and leaning against it. His dark eyes were shadowed, and his mythe-shadow flared and spiked with tension and unresolved conflict.

  You found Draven, Miko signed.

  “I did.” Cameron rubbed his face with his hands, something Miko often saw him doing when he was tired. “He’s out at the island cabin. Eleni’s with him. He’s in bad shape, but you probably already know that.”

  I know. His thread feels like it’s unraveling. What does Eleni say?

  “When she’s not scowling and swearing at me, she says he might pull through.” Cameron searched Miko’s face. “I met Rafe,” he said softly.

  Miko turned away. He wasn’t ready to talk about Rafe yet. There was too much he still needed to sort out in his own head.

  “I’m sorry you got blindsided.”

  He didn’t turn around. Didn’t want to face anyone right now, so he dipped into the net and turned on the voice synth. “It’s not your fault. You couldn’t have known.”

  “We might have guessed, after Nick told us about him.” Cameron’s voice was full of pain, as was the mythe-shadow that brushed against Miko’
s own with its sharp, spiky colors. “Miko, he… he asked for our protection. He wants to stay here.”

  Miko turned around slowly. “He worked for Sergei Romani. Can we trust him? The Pattern is… too broken to tell me anything. I can’t even find his thread.”

  “I’ve been in his mind. We can trust him. He’s on the run from Alan Romani. I did a psionic interrogation just now to make sure he was telling the truth. He is.”

  “What if he was hiding himself? Like you can?”

  “He’s not that kind of psion. I would sense it if he was. He let down his guard for me. Completely. Let me into the core of himself. All his dreams, all his memories. He… he’s hurting. Has been for most of his life.”

  Miko caught his lower lip between his teeth, then lifted his hands and signed, He wants his brother back. But I don’t know him.

  “I know.”

  What am I supposed to do?

  “Whatever you need to do,” Cameron said simply.

  I can’t fix him… and even if I could, I don’t know if I want someone in me like that.

  “I’ve already made it clear to him that us granting him protection doesn’t give him free access to you. If you want to see him for anything beyond work, that’s your decision, and I’ll support it, whatever you choose. I’m going to get him set up with an apartment. We’ll put him as far away from you as possible. Kyn said it hurts you to be near him.”

  Yes. It hurt all the time, but after observing the depth of Rafe’s pain, Miko couldn’t find it in his heart to ask Cameron to send Rafe away.

  “Can you get started making Rafe Azziani disappear?”

  I can, but… I’ll need to talk to him before I do too much.

  “Take your time,” Cameron said gently. “There’s no rush. Clear out any record of him being on Aurora so Romani can’t track him here. That’s all you have to do for now. I’m going to encourage him to take the instructor training, work mainly on campus. If he worked as a tracker for Romani, he’s probably been around a bit, so there will always be the risk of someone recognizing his face, regardless of what his ID says.”