The Chameleon Soul Mate

by Evelyn Lederman

  Alex opened the package and pulled out a lovely tunic and leggings. The tunic was somewhat transparent, in shades of blue and white. It had pearl inlays located in strategic locations. It was absolutely breathtaking. The leggings were sheer, a beautiful aqua color. She had never worn anything so daring before.

  “They purchased a number of plain tunics, as well as outfits you can go out with Tarsea and make a real impression. Men around the province will envy him.” Solfa sat back on the couch next to Starc. “This one will be perfect for tonight. Evening dress is more elaborate and varied compared to what we generally wear during the day.”

  Alex concentrated and pushed a thank you through the familial channel to her aunt and Solfa’s mother. She had never had such a gorgeous outfit before and could not wait to try it on. There was no reason in the past to have beautiful outfits, since she had never gone anywhere. She was just a little worried that she would feel a little self-conscious in the transparent tunic.

  Now that Solfa had given the gift to Alex, she was all business again. “Back to the subject at hand. Tarsea, I have already cleared you joining my team with Jeryl Jarlyn. When I make the arrest, I want you to come with us. I would like to leverage you during the interview with both subjects. I know it will be difficult because it is Chartail, but it is necessary.”

  “I was half expecting the request. The interrogation will go much better when you know what they are thinking. We can leverage the warrior link to communicate.” She could see that Tarsea was still considering this phase of the plan. “Who will be the mind control telepath in the interview?”

  Solfa considered Tarsea’s question. “There are a number we have used in the past. I am just not sure who I can trust at this point.”

  Koel sat up straighter and asked, “Have you ever leveraged my sister Tarah in the past?”

  “Yes,” replied Solfa, “I have. She is very good. I hate to ask, but can we trust her?”

  Koel never seemed to take anyone challenging his recommendations concerning his sister personally. “She came over and interviewed both Tarsea and Alex to make sure a mind control telepath could not influence them. Tarah can be trusted.”

  Solfa seemed satisfied with Koel’s answer. “We have our team and our plan. I will have intelligence officers nearby for the arrest. Tarsea, it is your call about how you want to leverage Darden and Koel. I will have Alex double covered by my agents. I imagine you will do the same.”

  “You are right,” Tarsea replied. “I will have extra eyes on Alex until she is safely back in this house.”

  There was one thing troubling Alex, especially since it was her mind reading abilities that initiated what would happen tonight.

  “What is going to happen to Chartail?” Alex knew she had to ask and she had a sinking feeling she was not going to like the answer.

  Everyone looked at her, not wanting to be the one to deliver the hard news. Naturally, it was Tarsea who stepped up to the plate.

  “Alex, two of the palace staff were killed during the attempt. Both of us were put in harm’s way because of Chartail’s actions. It is a capital crime. She will either be put to death or sent off world to the penal colony. Due to who her father is, it will probably be the penal colony.”

  “What is the penal colony like? I assume it is in a parallel world.” Alex was very anxious about Chartail’s future. She could not help feeling partly responsible for the woman’s fate. Her mind kept going back to how wonderful Chartail was at lunch today. How the woman stood up to Raine Narmouth for her.

  Tarsea yet again shared the difficult information with her. “There is an uninhabited world that could sustain life that we started leveraging to move our criminals to twenty-years ago. If someone is convicted of a crime that does not result in their execution, they are sent to that world for the rest of their lives. Because of the severity of the sentencing, we have very little crime here.” Alex was horrified with what Tarsea just said.

  “Any crime is a life sentence!” Alex said. “Is that not kind of harsh?” She still could not believe what she just heard.

  “The logistics of moving from world to world is complicated. There are no guards or administrators in the penal colony world. Once the crystal telepath opens the gate, only the criminal enters the portal. It would be too complicated to manage sentences and then bring only those that had completed their term back through the gate.” Alex tried to wrap her mind around what Darden said.

  “I thought you said you had to enter the portal to navigate. How do you know you are sending them to this penal colony world?” Alex thought she had understood how portals worked, obviously not.

  “You really listened to my explanation earlier,” Darden said. “I am impressed. We partially enter the open portal and set the navigation. Once we have a stable event horizon, we step out and send the prisoners through. As long as the event horizon on the receiving side is not breached, I can exit back in the Troyk Universe with no issues.”

  “Can’t we save her and send her through the portal to another world? You do it all the time.” Alex could feel herself starting to panic. She could not imagine Chartail surrounded by rapists and murderers with no protection.

  “Alex,” Tarsea explained, “we help people who try to change things in a peaceful manner. Generally, they are low profile individuals who are not on anyone’s immediate radar. Chartail was involved in an assassination attempt. Two innocent men are dead because of her.”

  For the second time this afternoon, Tarsea’s father spoke up. “Alex, you are not to feel guilty that your gift helped track down Chartail before she was able to devise and execute another plan. Who knows how many people could be killed in her next attempt. The girl had everything handed to her, but still took the path she did. She is not worth one tear. Do you hear me?”

  Alex got up and went to the man who was becoming the father she never had. She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a huge hug and a kiss on the cheek. A father’s love is something she never had. The past several days with Zane, she realized how much she truly missed growing up without one. She wondered if her father had an extended family in this universe like her mother did.

  Solfa came to her and took her hand. “Mom and Norri just got back and are loaded down with packages. Let us go and see what they bought you.”

  Alex followed her cousin. She would spend the afternoon opening presents and then getting ready to go out to dinner. It was the calm before the storm. She prayed everything went well tonight.

  She put on her happy face and followed her cousin to relieve her aunt and cousin of the mountain of packages they hauled into the house. Her thoughts kept going back to tonight’s operation. She could not help but to think about everything that could go wrong. What did she get herself into?

  Chapter 24

  Alex followed her cousin as they were being seated in the same restaurant where she had lunch, Chartail’s favorite restaurant. The day had not turned out as she expected, when she walked these same steps earlier. Now that they were here, she started to think of all the things she came up with this afternoon that could go wrong. She had to remind herself this was her idea.

  Rather than paying attention to the tables and how they were set, she looked at the people who occupied them. There were a number of men looking directly at Alex. She noted how their eyes traveled up and down her body. Their scrutiny of her made Alex uncomfortable. She wasn’t used to this type of attention.

  There was no question, the outfit her aunt and cousin selected for her was stunning. It hugged her body, caressing every single curve. The sheer material left very little to the imagination. You could see most of her breasts through the material. The pearl inlays covered her nipples. When Tarsea saw her earlier, he demanded Alex change clothes. Solfa managed to cool him down. Tonight was about the mission.

  She had never worn so much makeup i
n her life. It almost felt as if she was wearing a disguise. Her eyes were rimmed with dark navy liner that brought out the green of her irises. Norri did an excellent job applying blush, contouring the angles of her face. Even her hair was dressed, with a thick pearl headband. Tonight was about standing out, not blending in.

  They were seated at a table next to where she had lunch with Chartail. The table gave them an excellent vantage point of the bar, expecting Chartail and Stephano would start their evening there.

  Two pink drinks were placed in front of them. Alex gave her aunt a questioning look.

  “I ordered as we were making our way here. From what I have been able to determine so far, you will like the jerylberry cocktail.” Solfa said this out loud, rather than using either the familial or warrior channel.

  “The Prime Ruler has a drink named after him?” Alex asked her cousin through the familial link. She did not want to clutter the warrior pathway with non-mission chatter.

  “No, the berry was named long before he was born. It is a popular fruit and a popular first name.” Solfa took a sip from her drink. Alex noticed Solfa closed her eyes in appreciation of the cocktail’s flavor. Her cousin did not appear nervous about tonight’s operation.

  Alex looked around the restaurant. On the far side of the bar, she could see both Tarsea and Starc. They were conversing with a number of other men. Unlike women, men’s evening attire was the same as they wore during the day. There was nothing suspicious in how they were behaving. It appeared they were two men hanging with their friends after work.

  “Here she comes,” Starc communicated through the warrior channel. Alex glanced to the entrance and saw Chartail. She was stunning in white and gold. For once she was wearing a tunic and leggings. The tunic was similar to what Alex was wearing. What made her stand out from other women in the restaurant were the high heeled gold sandals she wore. Alex doubted that most men in the restaurant were looking at her feet.

  She walked toward the bar, her gaze not drifting from her destination. Alex had been concerned that Chartail would spot her and come over for a short chat. What could she say to the woman she had condemned to life in a penal colony?

  Chartail went up to a nondescript brown haired man who was at the bar and sat next to him. His appearance was probably why she chose him. Like Alex, the man blended into his surroundings.

  They had decided earlier that she would concentrate on Chartail’s thoughts and Tarsea would concentrate on Stephano’s. Kohl had commented that Tarsea did not want her playing in another man’s brain. One of these days Kohl was going to get a black-eye from one of his friends.

  Alex took a sip from her drink and concentrated on the blonde target at the bar. It made it easier to think of her that way, rather than the woman she had lunch with this afternoon. The same woman who stood up to Raine Narmouth for her. She was getting all sorts of static, but knew she needed to work her way through it. She needed to be patient and concentrate.

  “I am not getting anything yet from Stephano. One of the men we are drinking with confirmed that we are focusing on the correct man.” Tarsea gave a status report through the warrior link.

  “Are you all right, Alex?” Tarsea used the soul mate link to see how she was. That was really sweet of him, but she needed to concentrate.

  “I’m fine. I need my entire focus on Chartail to pick up her thoughts. Sorry, I need to cut you off.” She would make it up to him tonight when they were alone in their room.

  Alex went back to concentrating on her subject. There was still too much static. She took another sip of her drink, hoping it would help calm her nerves.

  The static changed suddenly. Alex focused on Chartail. “I cannot believe this loser thinks he can blackmail me. He was the one who messed up the mission and now he wants money. At least he took care of Hosp.”

  “I have a confirmation the man sitting next to her killed Prime Hosp.” Alex shared through the warrior link. It was her first official communication through that channel.

  “Nothing yet from target number two. He keeps thinking about having sex with Chartail.” Tarsea shared with the group in disgust, again leveraging the warrior pathway. For a bare second, Alex wondered if Tarsea was jealous.

  The waiter came and set a dish of appetizers on the table. “That is all I ordered. I figured you would not be too hungry, considering. We also needed to order something so we would not draw attention to ourselves.” Solfa shared with her, as she bit into one of the items served.

  “And this dress does not draw attention to us?” Alex asked sarcastically through the familial link. Solfa’s dress was more conservative. Alex wondered what her cousin wore when she really went out for the evening.

  Her cousin smiled. “We will give them ten more minutes before I shut down the first phase of this operation. If nothing happens in the meantime, Starc come here and pick Alex up at the end of the ten minutes. Maybe the drink will relax the man’s mind.”

  Alex popped an appetizer in her mouth. She was not sure what it was. For the first time since coming to the Troyk Universe, she could not taste anything. Her stomach was doing somersaults.

  Chartail still had her back to Alex, which she found a relief. She really hoped she could get out of here before the woman spotted her. This was going to be the longest ten minutes of her life.

  The static cleared again and Alex was ready to receive another thought. “That bastard Tarsea is at the end of the bar. Too bad I could not have leveraged him, he would not have messed things up as Stephano and Gerred did. I bet he is already two timing that sweet Alexia.”

  “Chartail mentioned a Gerred. Was he one of the men who was killed during the failed attack? She also spotted Tarsea.” Alex hoped they did not have a third suspect on the loose that could put her soul mate in danger. She did not share the last part of Chartail’s thought.

  “One of the men killed during the attack was Gerred Sloan.” Solfa shared the information with the group. Alex was relieved, she exhaled the breath she had been holding.

  She looked up and saw that Raine Narmouth was being seated with some woman. Alex was not sure if he saw her. She did not want to upset the mission alerting everyone to his presence.

  “Got it! Stephano just thought about plotting with Chartail. He is now blackmailing her. Starc, head over to Alex and get her the hell out of here. Phase one is now officially over. Phase two will commence when Alex has been removed from the premises. Solfa is now on point. Koel, keep your position outside the restaurant, even after Alex and Starc leave.” Alex could almost hear the relief in her soul mate’s voice.

  She could see Starc was making his way to their table, when all hell broke loose.

  “Stefano for some reason has left his stool and it appears he plans to leave.” Tarsea let the group know. “He may have recognized one of Solfa’s men.”

  The intelligence officers at the bar went to stop Stefano from leaving and he drew a weapon. There was a scream and the communal channel was full of chatter about someone having a gun. People in the bar and the restaurant started to leave in a panic.

  People in the bar were pushing and shoving to get out. Alex could not see Starc with all the confusion and bodies appearing to be bouncing off each other.

  “Alex get out of here!” Solfa cried. “Two of my men will be nearby. Starc will no doubt connect with you outside the restaurant.” With those words her cousin went to join the chaos in the bar. Alex watched her dodge people leaving the restaurant.

  She had taken a couple of steps when she felt someone grab her arm. She looked up, expecting to see Starc, only to see Raine Narmouth. He was dragging her in the direction of the restaurant’s exit. It was the direction she wanted to go. Besides, if she tried to fight him, she may get trampled by the people behind her trying to leave the premises. Once outside, she would free herself of his presence. The crowd pus
hed her forward and Raine still had a vice like grip on her arm. His date was nowhere in sight.

  They were just short of the restaurant’s exit when Raine’s arms coiled around her. She could feel them falling, with Raine controlling the fall in order that she would take the brunt of the impact. Alex came down hard on the floor, her head hitting the tile. The wind was knocked out of her and Raine’s body pinned her to the ground.

  Raine took her head in his hands. “Sorry, baby,” he whispered in her ear, as he proceeded to pound her skull onto the floor several times. “We cannot have you calling for help through the communal pathways. It is finally time for the two of us to spend some time together.”

  Raine stood, taking Alex with him. She was somewhat disoriented and could not hear any static in her head. He stuffed a cloth napkin in her mouth and then lifted her into his arms. Smothering her against his chest, as he followed the crowd out of the restaurant. Her muffled cries were drowned out by the noise of people shouting around her. Raine had also managed to pin her arms together with one of his large hands.

  Bodies still bumped into Raine as he continued to carry her. She could sense they were still surrounded by people. She tried the various pathways she had leveraged in the past with no success. Even the soul mate pathway appeared to be impacted by the blows Raine inflicted to her head. The confusion in the restaurant must have distracted the intelligence officers that were supposed to be protecting her. She could only hope that Koel or Darden had spotted them and were on their way to rescue her.

  It felt like fewer people were scrambling against them and she started to feel foliage brushing up against her body. They must have arrived at the walking trails. If he took her on one of the paths, it would be harder for any of the team to find them.