“Probably.”
“Not Probably. Are.”
Liam nodded. “So at this point it doesn’t really matter what I do.”
The old man pursed his lips after taking a hot sip. “Nope. Probably not. Hunted is hunted, my friend. Doesn’t really matter why.”
“I have to get her back, Louis. I’m not leaving her.”
“You say the PD nabbed her?”
“Yea, I was there when they stormed the apartment. I didn’t want bullets flying around her condo. I let them arrest me. We were on the fortieth floor.”
“Fortieth? Jesus.”
“What?”
“She made of money like you?”
“She said she’s a nurse.”
“With a forty story up condo. Sure she is.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying, Liam, that your girlfriend isn’t showing all ‘a her cards.”
Liam’s eyebrow lifted.
“How long have you known her?”
“I’ve been watching her at the resort off and on for a few months now.”
“Like she just moved in?”
“You think she’s a plant?”
“Probably. Wouldn’t be the first time Humans have used nascent blood to attract other awakened. Oldest trick in the book.”
Liam grimaced. “And I just fell for it. Hook, line, and sinker—”
“Along with rod, reel, and boat.” Louis nodded, taking another sip from his mug.
“Then they’re using her.”
“Or she’s working for them.”
“How do I know which is which?”
“You don’t. You could be walking into a trap with an agent who’s now just as much of a goddess as you are a god.”
“I’m trained.”
“Like hell you are.”
“More trained.”
Louis nodded his agreement.
“What do I do?”
“If it were me—” Louis seemed to stare into nothing; his older lips making old-man facial expressions. “I’d check out her family. Where are they?”
“Good idea.”
“Next I’d like to know who in Tampa PD was running this little show. The Seven usually don’t deal directly with the peons; someone’s gotta be their point man.”
“The mayor?”
Louis shook his head. “Oh, God, no. Too messy this far down. Presidents; congress people, sure. Maybe a governor here and there. No, you’re looking for some unelected peon this far down. Probably some contractor. I’ve seen them use bounty-hunters before for this kind of work. That way they can just disappear if things go awry. ”
Liam nodded.
“Where would they keep her?”
“Freezer cell, somewhere. Unless she’s actually working for them, then all bets are off.”
“She’s a goddess, Louis. They are not going to let her live. Not for long.”
“No, you’re right. As long as they think they can draw you out of the woodwork with her, they’ll keep her alive. Once they have you, she’s dead.”
“They’re not going to get me.” Liam readied himself to leave.
Louis caught his hand just as he was about to stand up. “Liam—you’re smart. Real smart. But you’re also inexperienced.”
He nodded.
“This joker who nabbed your girlfriend—that trap was set for the both of you; and they screwed up. Now she’s awakened. The Seven don’t put up that—not for long.”
“Then Tampa PD may not be my only problem.”
“At this point—I’d bet real hard money on that.”
8
T ori heard the footsteps of a small group of people coming closer. Then the heavy metal door of her cell opened wide. She was surprised to see Monica with a small group of people in suits and Tampa police officers in-tow behind her. The officers were all dressed in SWAT gear and carrying really big rifles. But none of them were looking particularly aggressive. They were just standing behind her.
“Hello Tori.” she smiled.
“Monica?” She looked at the dozen or so men in suits and officers, some standing in the room while others waited in the hallway. Most of them were trying and failing not to look at her dressed only in her underwear.
“I just found out what had happened to you.” Monica extended a Nordstrom shopping bag that she was carrying. Tori took the bag. “Get dressed. We have a lot to talk about.”
“Where’s Detective Roberts?”
“You won’t need to worry about him anymore. I’ve had him relieved.”
“Relieved? I though—you were his assistant?”
“Not everything is as it seems, Tori.”
“Okay.” Now she was really confused.
“We’ll be waiting outside as soon as you’re ready.”
With everyone out of the cell and the door now closed again, Tori fished out some nice new clothes, some new shoes and even a new watch and some accessories. The clothes fit her perfectly, like they’d been made for her curves.
But now she had a lot of questions. Like what had happened to Roberts—and Liam.
* * * * *
“WHAT?! Who released her?!” Roberts’ week was going from bad to worse.
“Governments don’t always have complimentary goals, my friend. Someone in the Administration released Miss Evenson. We have no control over that, unfortunately.”
“Jesus. NOW what am I supposed to do?”
“That’s only the bad news. The ugly news is that the Administration denied our request for your funding.”
“DENIED?” Roberts raised his voice into his phone. “Gabe, what the hell!? First you spring the girl and now there’s no money? I thought you people wanted to nail this bastard?”
“We do, Roberts. Believe me. We do.”
“It doesn’t sound like it.”
“We’re not all-powerful here. We have to request the appropriation. It’s a lot of money to hire your team—evidently,” sarcasm rose in the seasoned banker’s tone. ”Someone within the Administration got wind of our request and denied the appropriation. At least for now. Trust me, the board is just as unsettled about this a you are.”
“You mean they’re pissed.”
“That’s another way to say it.”
“Now what do we do?”
“Officially? Or unofficially?”
“I’m listening,” Roberts pressed the phone to his ear.
“The Reserve board is still on the hook for the stolen money, Roberts. The good news is, if you could recover it, we could fund your expenses, and then some, from the recovery—without the Administration’s involvement. What do you think?”
“You’re asking me to invest my own funds. A spec job?”
“I’ve already talked with the board. Recover what you can of the money and we’ll double your team’s fees out of the recovery—in cash.”
“Jesus. You guys must really want this bastard.”
“Do we have a deal?”
“Alright, Gabe. Your board just hired yourself a new team.”
* * * * *
“I’m really sorry about all of this, Tori. I was away on another case. I had no idea what had happened to you or what Roberts was doing.”
Both women sat in the back seat of a nice SUV as a driver moved them through town.
“Where is he now?”
“Out of the picture.” She smiled. “How are you feeling now that you’ve warmed up?”
“I feel amazing, Monica. More than amazing. What did you people do to me?”
“It’s not what we did, Tori, it’s what Mr. Sinclair did—to you.”
“You said he had a disease—?”
“I never said he had a disease. I said we didn’t want you contracting what he’s carrying. I was trying to protect you.”
“Protect me from what—what I am now? What I’ve become?”
“Exactly.”
“Just—what has happened to me, exactly?”
“You’ve become a
goddess, Tori.” Monica met eyes with her.
“A goddess?” There was the word again.
“That’s right. You can see things more sharply. New colors. Even feel other people around you.”
“I’ve noticed that.”
“It’s a blessing and a curse, Tori. Fair warning. You were told not to have sex with Mr. Sinclair. Now you’re finding out why.”
“What kind of curse?”
“There are people, out there, in the government; powerful people; ugly people, Detective Roberts kind of people, who will use you—even try to kill you.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re better than they are. Privileged. In fact, you’re beyond privileged now. You have something they want, but can never ever have.”
“Why can’t they have it?”
“It’s your genetics, Tori. We told you that Mr. Sinclair would find you. You and Sinclair have very similar genetics. Genetics that are—attracted—to each other, for lack of a better term. That’s why we chose you.”
“You mean you used me, to find Liam, and didn’t tell me about my genetics.”
“Tori—” Monica began, her tone a little more firm, “a lot of people have your genetics, just not to the degree that you do. And this isn’t some penny-ante bank robber we’re after. Treasury has been after Mr. Sinclair for nearly five years.”
“You work for the Department of the Treasury?” Tori’s eyes drew wider.
“Not directly, but I was assigned to them on this case. I actually work for the President.”
“Oh my God.” Tori’s face showed sudden surprise.
Monica nodded.
“Treasury hired our temperamental detective to work with Tampa PD when they found out that Mr. Sinclair was in the area. I was simply there to advise. Unfortunately, I’d been called away to Washington on another assignment when you and Mr. Sinclair finally met and the sting went off—badly I’m afraid. We never meant to involve you so deeply—or expose you to Mr. Sinclair’s—genetics.”
“What did he do to me?”
“You’ve been awakened, Tori. Every cell in your body has been re-encoded, rewritten, down to a subatomic level. You were asleep for a little less than a week.”
“I was?!”
“We call it an awakening coma. The body sleeps while its cellular structures are literally rebuilt from the ground up. You’re not the same woman you were a little over a week ago. Not even close.”
“Where did this come from?”
“You don’t have clearance, Tori. I can’t tell you everything that you’ve become.”
“You can’t tell me what I am?”
“No. Not yet, anyway. I have to follow the law in this situation—I’m sorry.”
“I guess I can understand that.”
“What I can tell you is the obvious—you’re smarter now; you can feel other people around you; and you’re a lot stronger and faster than others. You need to be careful; watch your strength around other people. You could hurt them, easily.”
Tori’s hand went to her mouth. She watched Monica nodding.
“Monica! What am I going to do? What will my family think?”
“Tori, some bad people are going to be after your family as soon as they find out you’re awakened. Because of your parents, and their genetics, I’ve already asked the Marshall Service to place your immediate family in witness protection. They’ll be safe now.”
“Witness protection? Oh, my God.”
Monica nodded. “I had to, Tori. At some point, other people are going to learn about you.”
“What do I do? They’ll come after me then—”
“They’ll try.” Monica smiled.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that you don’t take out a goddess very easily. It takes a small army to bring one of us down.”
“Us? Are you—?”
Monica nodded. “I’m what’s called a halfblood, a demigoddess.”
“What’s the difference?”
“Again, classified. Sorry.” Monica grimaced.
“How do I get de-classified then?” Tori scowled.
“Well, honestly, I was hoping you’d ask. How would you like to work for me; actually for the President?”
“Oh my God! Monica, you’re not serious?!”
“I am serious, Tori. You’re what we call ‘enhanced’ now. There are only a handful of us working secretly for the government right now.”
“What would I be doing?”
“You would be working directly with the President. We’ll train you to go after people, like bank robbers.”
“Oh, Liam. I keep forgetting he’s a criminal.”
“Is he that attractive?” She smiled.
“Worse than attractive, Monica.”
“I know the feeling. The guy who awakened me—I wanted to do him like there was no tomorrow. I still want to whenever I’m around him.”
“Does he work for the President too?”
“He does on occasion—but he’s not part of the inner circle. He’s a little like your Liam—a bit of a rogue, a bad boy. There’s no way he’d ever pass a security clearance.”
“Why don’t you recruit Liam then? If he’s that good at robbing banks—”
“That thought has crossed my mind more than a few times in the past five years. He’s really good at avoiding us.”
“I guess great minds think alike.”
“He’s going to be trying to find you, Tori.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I know the Awakened. He’ll want to rescue you from the clutches of the ‘evil global government.’”
“Global government?”
“It’s real, Tori. I’m not going to lie to you.”
“Who are they?”
“Classified.” Both said at almost the same time. Monica nodded.
“What are you getting me into, Monica?”
“It’s what I’m getting you out of, Tori. Listen, there is an ugly, ugly group of people out there that hate us. For no other reason than we’re awakened. You keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”
“You work for people who hate you?”
“No. I work for people who use me—and I use them. It’s that simple.”
“I don’t know if I want to join you—it sounds dangerous.”
“It is dangerous, Tori. But you don’t have very many options now.”
“I can’t just go home—?”
“You can. And without my protection you’ll be dead within a week. I can almost guarantee it.”
“You can’t be serious?”
“I am serious, Tori. Look at me, you can sense I’m telling you the truth. You can’t lie to people like us.”
Tori nodded.
“Treasury and the Reserve want their money back for obvious reasons, but the Oligarchy, it doesn’t care about the money your boyfriend stole. It’s a pittance to them. It’s him they want—dead.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s powerful. Stupid,” she rolled her eyes, “but powerful. Anyone who can knock over a Federal Reserve bank and get away with it—is not someone the Oligarchy or Treasury wants running around.”
“But you just said they didn’t care about the money—”
“Tori, the bank robberies were just the tip of the iceberg of what your new boyfriend is probably capable of. He’s likely much more powerful than they are. It’s people like Liam that they don’t want just running around unchecked, uncontrolled.”
Tori’s mind worked quickly. “And Liam awakened me,” she added. “Which means I’m—” she didn’t need to finish the thought out loud.
Monica nodded. Finally, the light was beginning to dawn in Tori’s mind.
9
O pening the door of her condo, Tori’s eyes lit with surprise. Monica had told her that she’d been to her sparsely furnished home, and added a few new pieces—but Tori wasn’t expecting this! She wondered if it was even her unit. Of c
ourse it was hers, it was her keycard that had opened the door.
Gone were her previous second-hand pieces; her couch had been replaced with a new, fine-fabric sofa and matching chairs. A new fine glass coffee table and matching end tables completed the ensemble. There was new nicely framed classic art on the walls. The windows now had nice fine-wood blinds and more modern window coverings.
“Oh, my God, Monica.” Tori breathed to herself. “What did you do to my apartment?”
In the small open kitchen, on the short bar countertop, she found a hand-written note:
Please forgive the intrusion, Tori. I thought you might like your home to be a little more cozy. Hope you like the new décor. I’ll be in-touch later. —Monica
Looking around the glass-fronted cabinets, she noticed that her cheap Corel dishes were now gone, replaced with expensive square and irregular designed clear glass plates. There was new flatware in the drawers; new cups and glasses; the cupboards were all stocked with just about everything imaginable, from cans of soups, pastas, spices and cereals. Even the refrigerator had been filled with fresh produce, condiments and dairy. Tori half chuckled at the efficiency of Monica’s people.
Wandering into her small master suite she found more of the same. It was like walking into a Veranda magazine cover. The new furniture and bedding were beautiful—fine, soft and plush with a feminine touch but not too girly. There were tasteful knick-knacks here and there, more fine art on the walls, even pictures of her family. She suddenly noticed the one picture that wasn’t part of her family. She took a sudden breath seeing the 8x10 framed image—of Liam. She lifted the modern-framed photo from the dresser. She couldn’t place the background other than maybe a beach somewhere, but the image was clean, sharp and a really great pic of his shirtless pecs and dimpled smile. Tori found her fingers moving over the glass of the image. She took another deep breath as feelings rushed through her.
“God, Liam—” she mused those feelings out loud. Her womb felt warm and her clit tingled ever so softly the more she stared at him. It was like she could feel him, moving, sliding inside her again.
Siren (Awakened Chronicles Book 1) Page 4
