by Vicky Savage
Canto visibly blanches. My lie has the desired effect.
“You remember Lieutenant Hunter don’t you? The guy from Demonstadt? Used to hunt and kill men for a living? He took great satisfaction in dispatching your hired assassin.”
“This is preposterous,” Canto sputters. “I didn’t hire that Garugian. If he said I did, he was lying. It’s the word of a dead Garugian against the Director of IUGA. Who do you think will be believed? Now get out!” He points to the door.
“Sit down, Director! You haven’t heard the second part of my message.” I hold the palm of my hand toward his chest and concentrate on releasing a small jolt of energy. Instantly he’s thrown backward into his chair, and it rolls across the floor colliding roughly with the credenza.
Fear flickers across his eyes. “What did you just do?”
“Nothing compared to what I can do.” I lift my hand to the Chinese vase sitting on the credenza to his right, and I pulse a little shock wave across the room. The vase shatters sending chunks of porcelain flying through the air. He ducks as the shards bounce off his shoulders.
“What the hell are you doing? That was a priceless Ming dynasty vase.” He brushes pieces of porcelain from his suit.
My eye is caught by a framed photo of Canto’s wife and children on his desk top. “And this must be your family.” I hold out my hand, and the photo moves smoothly across the room to me. “Very nice.”
“Leave my family out of this, Beckett. If you’re not here to kill me, just say your piece and get the hell out. I don’t have time for your parlor tricks.”
“The second part of my message is from Lieutenant Hunter.” I say. “It seems he’s grown quite fond of me since I joined the Transcender community. I’m like the sister he never had.”
“How touching.” He curls his lip at me. “And I care because …?”
“Urick wants me to tell you this: If anything unpleasant should happen to me or any of my loved ones, including my dog, anything at all—an unexplained accident, a tainted piece of food, even a bad case of the sniffles—he knows where to find you, and your wife, Irene and your daughters, Lydia and Rebecca. In fact, he wants you to know that he has all of your imprints, and he promises that there is no place on this earth or any other where you or your family can hide from him. Believe me, Director, he’s good at hunting people, and he was especially taken with your daughters.”
Canto’s jaw clenches. “This is outrageous. Security cameras are recording everything you say. All I need do is give this recording to the international media and you’ll be finished. You and your Lieutenant.”
“I know all about your security, Director, but I don’t believe you’ll turn anything over to the media, because, if you do, we’ll respond by releasing the recording of the Garugian confessing that he was paid by you to murder me,” I bluff. “But mostly I don’t think you’ll do it because of Urick’s message. His promise applies to this situation also.”
His eyes turn to slits while he contemplates this. “Are you really that ruthless, Miss Beckett?”
“No, Director, I’m not. But Urick and his men are. Don’t doubt that for a moment. I’m only warning you because I wouldn’t want anything unpleasant to happen to these lovely girls.” I hold up the photograph.
“You people are the lowest kind of filth.” Spittle collects on his lips and he swipes at it with the back of his hand. “You’d stoop to threatening children?”
“I believe your oldest daughter is just about my age. You had no similar compunctions about threatening me. Misfortunes come in threes, Director. That’s the third time you’ve tried to kill me. Three strikes and you’re out.”
“What is it you want from me?”
“I’ll tell you precisely what I want. I want you to swear on the lives of your wife and daughters that you’ll call off the Garugians and that you will never again attempt to harm me or any of my loved ones. Nor will you hire anyone to attempt to harm us. I want you to abide by the letter of the IGC Court’s ruling and clear out of Arumel, but most of all I want you to promise that I’ll never have to lay eyes on you again.”
“And if I don’t do as you wish, you will harm my family?” A vein throbs furiously at his temple.
“I prefer to keep things positive. If you do as I ask, you’ll be able to sleep serenely at night. Otherwise … I can’t be held responsible for what might happen. I’m afraid I have no control over Lieutenant Hunter and the others.” I shove the photo across the desk to him. “I offer you what you stole from me, Canto, the chance to choose your own destiny. What’s it going to be?”
He collapses into his chair looking old and defeated. “Miss Beckett,” he says quietly. “This agency has operated for hundreds of years, ensuring that destiny unfolds for the highest possible good of the public. You can’t imagine what harm you’re doing by attempting to dismantle this venerated organization.”
“I know exactly what I’m doing. IUGA has become a corrupt tool for making rich men grow richer. If the agency ever served a valuable purpose, it’s been completely obliterated by the greed and self-interest of its operators. It has to go.”
He gazes at me with watery eyes. “I will agree to your terms, Miss Beckett. I swear on the lives of my wife and children that neither I nor anyone under my direction, including the Garugians, will attempt to harm you and yours again. I further swear to abide by all of the terms of the IGC order. Please, just stay away from my family.”
I study his eyes for a long moment. “You’ve got yourself a deal, Canto.”
“Do I have your word?” he says.
“Yes.”
He lumbers out of his chair. “I know you will find this difficult to believe, but I held no personal ill will toward you, Miss Beckett. My actions were prompted by my belief that IUGA’s work is crucial to the orderly functioning of the galaxy. I felt I needed to save the agency at all costs for the good of the whole.”
“Director, I hate to be the one to deliver the bad news, but IUGA never really was the overseer of destiny in this galaxy. Destiny has always and will always unfold exactly the way it’s supposed to, with or without IUGA’s interference.
His voice grows thick with emotion. “I’ll never believe that all our good work was for naught.”
“What you believe doesn’t matter anymore. The history books will decide how IUGA is viewed by future generations. Don’t expect to go down as a hero. In fact, I’d go home now and hug my wife and kids if I were you. Goodbye, Director.” Zzzt.
Landing back in my living room, I’m surprised to find Narowyn on the sofa waiting with Urick. They both get to their feet.
“Jaden, are you all right?” Narowyn asks, rising from her seat. “Urick tells me you went to see Director Canto.”
“I’m fine. Everything went as well as could be expected.”
“Tell us what happened,” she says. “Did he agree to speak with you?”
“I didn’t give him much choice, but let’s just say we arrived at an understanding. I don’t believe he or anyone else from IUGA will bother me again. At least he gave me his word on it.”
“That’s quite remarkable,” she says. “How did you get him to agree? Were you forced to bribe or threaten him?”
“I’m sorry, Narowyn, but the details of our agreement are confidential—between the Director and me. You’ll just have to trust me on this.”
Her eyes flare as she contemplates whether to pull rank on me. She glances at Urick. His face remains impassive.
“Very well,” she says at last. “It was your life at stake this afternoon. Just tell me whether I should expect a visit from the local police this evening.”
I smile. “No. Canto won’t involve the police. In fact, I think he’s gone home to be with his family for a while.” I shoot a look Urick’s way. “How about some tea? Would anybody like tea? It’s been a hell of a day.”
I sleep remarkably well in light of my unsettling day, and awake in the morning with two goals in mind—visiting Callie
and spending the evening with Ryder Blackthorn. The swelling in my face has gone down considerably. I call the veterinary hospital, and they report that Callie is doing well. I arrange a time to see her this morning. Then I plan the rest of my day around figuring out what I’m going to wear, buying fresh flowers for my apartment, and selecting tonight’s music.
Ryder arrives at my door at six forty-five carrying a bag of delicious smelling food in one hand and a black guitar case in the other.
“I know I’m early,” he says, grinning, “but I’ve been looking forward to seeing you all day.”
A wave of warmth floods through me at his words. “Come in.” I take the food from his hand and set it on the kitchen counter. “Are you starving or do you want to sit first?”
“Let’s sit. You look great, by the way. But tell me how you’re feeling and what’s going on with the whole IUGA thing.”
I light scented candles on my mantle and coffee table, and we sit in my living room while I tell him about my surprise visit to Director Canto. He listens with rapt attention as I relate all the important details. When I tell him how I delivered Urick’s message to the Director, his eyes widen, and he shakes his head. A small piece of me worries that he might think me callous for threatening Canto’s family in that way, but when I finish with the story, his eyes shine.
“That was brilliant, Jade. You found his weak spot and played him perfectly. Bravo.”
“You gave me the idea. I’m so used to doing things by the rules. You helped me realize that’s not going to work if the other side is making up its own rules.”
“Do you feel confident he’ll keep his word to you? I mean, confident enough for you to stick around Arumel for a while?”
“From the look on Canto’s face, I have no doubt he’ll keep his word. Urick can be a pretty intimidating guy. Canto knows all about his background and what he’s capable of. I’m just grateful he let me use his name. The director wasn’t at all impressed with my mighty powers. He called them parlor tricks.”
He laughs. “It’s not a bad thing that people don’t fear you, Jade. I would like to meet this Urick character, though. I owe him a debt of gratitude. He must care for you a great deal.”
“He was one of my first friends in Arumel. Anyway, those food aromas from the kitchen are making my stomach growl. Shall we eat?”
We fill our plates with seasoned rice and vegetables and some kind of fried cornbread. The food is spicy and filling. For dessert, we share a slice of chocolate cheesecake and some fresh berries Ralston brought over earlier. When we’re finished we stack our plates in the sink, and I press Ryder to play his guitar for me.
I take a seat on my floor while he perches on my couch and strums a few bars. The melody is hauntingly beautiful. Then he closes his eyes and begins to sing. His voice is surprisingly strong and unexpectedly good.
If we could travel back in time, I’d recreate this perfect day.
With sunlight streaming through your hair,
you’d kiss me that same way.
I know you’re scared and so am I.
But please don’t let this be goodbye.
Give our hearts a chance to fly.
Stay with me awhile.
Please, please stay with me awhile.
I promise I can make you smile.
Just stay with me awhile.
He hums for bit, and then he stops playing and looks over at me tentatively. “Sorry, it’s not finished yet.”
It takes me a second to catch my breath. “Wow, what you’ve got so far is amazing. Did you write that for your wife?”
His eyes hold mine. “I wrote it last night.”
I can’t find the right words to express how happy I am that he has come into my life, so I lift the guitar from his hands and prop it against the couch before climbing into his lap. I nestle deeply against his chest hoping that somehow this overwhelming emotion will flow from my heart directly into his, letting him know how I feel.
He clings to me and whispers into my hair, “Please don’t go.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” I say. “My life is here, now.” As the words leave my lips my spirits, the universe, and the entire galaxy feel a little lighter, as if destiny is smiling on me tonight.
EPILOGUE
TEN YEARS LATER
Barefoot and shirtless, Ryder stands in the middle of our bedroom rocking an air guitar to a tune only he hears. I pause quietly at the door for a moment, admiring the way the muscles ripple across his back with each imaginary strum. And what he does for a pair of blue jeans is, well … thought provoking.
“Nice moves Clapton,” I say, “but it’s time for you to get ready. I don’t want to be late for my own swearing in.”
He flips the hair out of his eyes and grins, only half-embarrassed at being caught performing his rock and roll fantasy. “Sorry. Am I holding us up?”
“Nah, you’re okay. Nobody’s here yet—not even Ralston, and he’s always twenty minutes early. I’m just a little nervous.” More accurately, it feels like a hamster is running laps on an exercise wheel inside my stomach.
“Are Eleanor and John riding over with us?” he asks.
“No they’re going with your parents. I’ve ordered an air taxi, though, since we’ll have Ralston, Gil, Eve, and Asher.”
“No Nila?”
“She’s working security, so she won’t be able to sit with the rest of you. We’ll see her at the reception after the ceremony.”
He comes to me and runs his hands along my arms. “I like your new dress.”
“Thanks. Would you mind zipping me the rest of the way?”
I turn my back to him and sweep my hair aside. Instead of pulling the zipper up he glides it down, pressing velvety kisses along my spine and sending delicious chills down my back.
“Does this calm you?” His breath is warm and moist against my skin.
“It does exactly the opposite of calm me. And we really will be late if you keep doing that.”
“It’s just that you are so devastatingly sexy.”
I swing around, alarmed. “It isn’t the dress is it?”
“No, no. The dress is appropriately conservative. It’s what’s underneath that’s so distracting.” He circles my waist with his arms.
“Well, you’re the only one in Arumel who knows what’s underneath, so I guess we’re safe. But how are you doing with all this, Ry? Are you nervous about it?”
“You mean about the fact that my wife is about to become one of the most powerful women on the planet?”
I cover my face with my hands. “Oh god, when you put it that way it sounds totally ridiculous.”
“Ridiculously hot.” He wraps his arms around me. “I think it’s kind of a turn-on.”
“Be serious for a minute. Do you wish we lived a … quieter existence?”
“Never. We’d be bored silly. And actually, I’m very happy that you won’t be going out on exploration anymore. We’ll have more time together.”
I smile up at him. “Now we can start the family we’ve always talked about.”
He arches an eyebrow. “You mean like right now?”
“Nice try, buddy.” I duck out of his arms. “Have you even thought about what you’re wearing today?”
“Why don’t you pick out something for me? You’re better at that than I am.”
I scan the room for my earrings, and spotting them on the dressing table, I hold out my hand. They glide smoothly across the room and into my waiting palm.
“You know it still kind of weirds me out when you do that,” he says.
“I think you’d be accustomed to it by now.”
“Oh, I suppose it has its uses. How about getting my phone for me from downstairs?”
“No phone. Shower.” I point sternly to the bathroom. “I’ll dig out a suit for you.”
He sits on the bed and pulls me down beside him. “In a minute. I wondered if you saw this morning’s news?”
“About Director Canto, you mea
n?”
“Uh huh.”
“They say he died quietly in his sleep. Too peaceful a death for someone who caused so much misery in life, if you ask me.”
“He did keep his word to you these past ten years.”
“Under no small threat,” I point out. “Urick visited him every year on the anniversary of the Garugian attack to remind him of our deal.”
“Yes, well Canto’s had a few other things to occupy his time lately. I don’t see how IUGA continues to function now with all the controversy swirling around it.”
“Brought about in large part by Blackthorn Production’s exposé on the agency’s manipulating destiny for its own purposes.” I brush the errant lock of hair from his forehead.
