Dark Spy’s Resolution Read online

  Kalugal chuckled. “Following that logic, unless Annani found a first-generation immortal to mate with, my brother and I outrank you as well.”

  That was regrettably true, but Kian wasn’t going to provide Kalugal with any more information than he absolutely had to.

  “You, Lokan, and I are not competing for positions.”

  “That’s true. I’m not interested in your job any more than I’m interested in my father’s. So, if that’s why you sought me out and sent your warriors after me, rest assured that your clan is of no interest to me. You are not my enemy, and you are not my friend either. Can we leave it at that?”

  Albeit mistaken, that was another logical conclusion on Kalugal’s part.

  The guy was level-headed, smart, and he wasn’t easily shaken either. His cousin was a worthy opponent, of whom Kian would be wise to be wary.

  “I have no reason to fear you, Kalugal. I sought you out because your mother asked mine to find you. She is worried about you, and she misses you.”

  3

  Jin

  Kri tapped her fingers on the steering wheel. “What if the Guardians surrounding Kalugal’s place are given really good earplugs so they can’t hear him?”

  Jin’s heart fluttered with renewed hope. “That’s a very good question. His shrouds and his compulsion don’t work the same way. It seems that he needs to be heard in order for the compulsion to work. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have bothered with Arwel’s earpiece. But he can shroud himself without being heard.”

  Kri nodded. “That’s no less problematic than his compulsion. Even if he can’t compel them because they have earplugs in, he can shroud himself and his men to be invisible and waltz out of there. The Guardians are not going to see them leave.”

  “True. But if there is a camera pointed at his gate, and the watchers are all the way back in the village, his shroud is not going to affect them. They will see him and can tell the Guardians.”

  Kri cast Jin a sidelong glance. “Very clever. I need to call Magnus and have him get everyone the best earplugs he can find. Roni, our hacker, can tell Magnus what to do about installing a surveillance camera.” Kri pulled to the side and parked. “Damn. We forgot about Arwel’s phone. He has everyone’s numbers on it, and Kalugal can start calling people and compel them to do all kinds of shit.”

  “I can check if he has the phone.” Jin closed her eyes and followed the tether to Kalugal. “He is still talking with Kian. I’ll check on Jacki.” She followed the tether to her friend. “She and Arwel are whispering in each other’s ears. They are in a prison cell, but it’s not nice like the ones in the keep. It has bars instead of a door, and I can see the toilet. Gross. It doesn’t have a privacy wall or anything. It’s just there, sitting against the back wall.”

  Kri grimaced. “It’s just getting better and better, isn’t it?” She turned to her phone and scrolled through her contacts until she found the right one and placed the call. “Roni. Can you erase Arwel’s phone remotely?” A brief moment passed. “Good. I wasn’t sure he would think of it.”

  Disconnecting, Kri huffed out a breath. “Onegus has already told Roni to do that. This is a nightmare. No one's come up with an SOP for dealing with a compeller. We are so unprepared.”

  The clan had known about Kalugal’s ability for a while, and someone should have come up with a protocol before poking the bear. In hindsight, the entire operation appeared amateurish and gung-ho.

  “You said that you are going to call Magnus about my idea.”

  “Right.” This time Kri put the call on speaker. “Magnus, Jin and I have some ideas that we would like to run by you.”

  “Shoot.”

  “The Guardians surrounding Kalugal’s place should have earplugs in, maybe the noise-canceling ones, so he can’t compel them to do things. But since he can shroud himself and probably anyone else that he wants to, we need a camera installed somewhere to watch the gate, with the feed going to the village. That’s too far for his shroud to reach.”

  “Good thinking,” Magnus said. “I just need to figure out a way to communicate with my men while they are deaf.”

  “That’s easy.” Jin waved a hand. “Tell them to put their phones on vibrate and communicate via text messages.”

  “Excellent solution. Except, I’ll have to find a store that sells quality earplugs and rob it, because I can’t wait for it to open in the morning.”

  “You can leave money on the counter with a note,” Jin said.

  “I can do that. Thank you both for the excellent suggestions. You were thinking outside the box.”

  Kri lifted her hand for a high five, and Jin slapped it.

  “That’s why you need women on the force,” Kri said.

  “You won’t hear me arguing against that. But there are no candidates for the position.”

  Kri nodded. “Wonder would have made a great Guardian, but her heart is not in it.”

  Jin had no wish to become a Guardian either, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t help in other ways. “Please tell Kian that I’m fine with him trading me for Arwel.”

  “That’s not going to happen.”

  “Please, just tell him that. Trading me for Arwel before Kalugal has a chance to get him to talk will solve the most urgent problem. Later, Kian can figure out a way to get me out, either by negotiating and bargaining or by threatening.”

  The more she talked, the more convinced Jin became that this was the only solution to the clusterfuck they found themselves in. “Kalugal is not a bad man. He made sure to get the gunman out of the club so he wouldn’t shoot people when he woke up, and he told everyone who was listening to pull over before freezing them, so they wouldn’t cause accidents. He’s not heartless, and he’s not going to hurt me. I’m sure of that. Please, Magnus. I appreciate the chivalry, but it would be really stupid on Kian’s part not to use me to get Arwel and Jacki out. I beg you to convince him that this is the best option for everyone.”

  There was a long moment of silence before Magnus replied. “I’ll convey your message to Onegus and have him explain the pros and cons to Kian. But just so you know, if we do that, Arwel is never going to forgive any of us.”

  “Once this is all over, I’ll deal with Arwel. Right now, the future of everyone in the village is in jeopardy. That should be our first priority.”

  “I can’t argue with that.”

  Jin let out a relieved breath. “Thank you.”

  When Magnus ended the call, she closed her eyes and followed the tether to Jacki. Everything was still the same as it had been the last time she’d checked. They were still alone in the cell, talking in hushed voices. She listened for a few moments, but it felt awkward to spy on them, so she moved to Kalugal.

  Jin had no qualms about spying on him, not after he had taken her man and her friend and put them in a freaking prison cell with a damn toilet that was in full view of everyone passing by in the hallway outside.

  4

  Arwel

  Jacki glanced at the toilet at the back of the cell. “If you need to use the loo, I will look away,” she whispered.

  “I’m good. You go first.” Arwel closed his eyes and leaned against the wall.

  “Can you also put your hands over your ears?”

  “No problem.”

  Kalugal’s underground bunker was no keep, and the cell they were in looked like what the name implied.

  It was a prison.

  The front wall was made of bars, two narrow bunk beds were the only furniture, and the toilet had no privacy wall. There was a sink, but no shower, and there were no towels.

  Kalugal’s men had dumped him and Jacki on the bottom bunk without bothering to untie her. She had to wait for him to unfreeze first so he could release her.

  It had been cruel and unnecessary.

  Jacki was human, and being tied up for an extended length of time messed up her circulation and caused muscle spasms.

  Curiously, Jacki hadn’t asked him any questions yet. Si
nce he’d freed her from her bindings, she’d been quietly massaging the stiff muscles in her arms and legs, and other than thanking him, she hadn’t spoken at all.

  Not typical behavior for someone who had just discovered that she’d gone down the rabbit hole into a world she hadn’t known existed.

  Could it be that she’d forgotten Kalugal’s comment about Arwel being an immortal?

  Getting tied up and stuffed in the trunk of a car could mess with anyone’s head. Still, even if Jacki didn’t remember that, Kalugal almost certainly was going to repeat it at some point, which meant that he probably had no intention of ever letting Jacki go.

  No matter on which side of the divide immortals were, they had one thing in common. Keeping their existence secret from humans was necessary for their survival, and since Kalugal couldn’t thrall Jacki’s memories away, he must either plan to kill her or to keep her imprisoned for life.

  The only way things could have been worse was if Kalugal had also captured Jin.

  Thank the merciful Fates that the guy hadn’t made the connection between the girl bumping into him with what had happened shortly after that.

  Jin’s tether to Kalugal might help Kian with storming the place. If he had access to everything Kalugal said and did, he might even get from her the override code to unlock the bunker.

  As the bed sank under Jacki’s weight, Arwel opened his eyes and removed his hands from his ears. “You know that they can see you, right?” He motioned with his head toward the camera mounted near the ceiling.

  “I can’t do anything about it, so screw them.” She flipped a finger at the camera.

  “Antagonizing your captors is not a good strategy.”

  “It doesn’t matter.” Jacki kicked her shoes off, lifted her feet onto the bed, and wrapped her arms around her knees. “They are going to kill me anyway. Probably you too.”

  So, she’d figured it out.

  Smart girl.

  Except, it would have been better for her not to be so clever. As the saying went, ignorance was bliss.

  He moved closer to her and whispered in her ear. “The boss is going to get us out.”

  She arched a brow. “How?”

  “I don’t know. But between him and his brilliant right-hand man, I’m sure they will figure out something.”

  Hopefully not by bombing the place, but Arwel couldn’t discount the possibility. To keep the clan safe, Kian might decide to sacrifice them. It wouldn’t be his first choice, but if everything else failed, this might be a last resort move.

  Jacki leaned closer. “I still have Jin’s thing, so if you want to say something to her, you can pretend that you are talking to me. Anyway, they assume that we are a couple.”

  The ability to talk to Jin was the one bright spot illuminating their bleak circumstances. He just wished that the communication went both ways.

  Looking into Jacki’s blue eyes, Arwel pretended that they were Jin’s big brown ones. “I love you. Please don’t do anything stupid. Stay safe.”

  Jacki put her head on his shoulder, probably to maintain the illusion of them being a couple. “What do you think she is going to do?”

  He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Offer to trade for us.”

  “Yeah, she might do that. If I were in her shoes, that's what I would do.”

  That was bad. Jacki had known Jin longer than he had, and if she thought that Jin would offer to sacrifice herself, then she was probably right.

  “The boss would never agree to that.”

  “He might have no choice.” She lifted her head off his shoulder and looked at him. “Is Kalugal really his cousin?”

  “It doesn’t mean much to either of them.”

  “Are they also immortals like you?”

  Damn, she hadn’t forgotten.

  Arwel nodded.

  “Enemies?”

  He nodded again, but then tilted his head. “Kalugal’s father is our enemy. We don’t know whether Kalugal counts himself as one too. I guess we will find out soon.”

  Jacki leaned against the wall. “You’ve come up with a good cover story. An organization of paranormally talented people made sense to me.” She shook her head. “If you’d told me that you were immortal, I wouldn’t have believed you. Is Jin also immortal?”

  “No. But I’d rather not talk about it in here.”

  Even though they were whispering in each other’s ears, with the proper equipment their whispers could be amplified.

  “Do all immortals have paranormal talents?”

  He could answer that. “To some extent. Some are stronger than others. But our mind tricks usually work only on humans. Kalugal and his father are the only immortals we know of who can affect other immortals. That’s what makes them so powerful.”

  Annani could do that too, but that was because she was a goddess, and a powerful one.

  Jacki closed her eyes. “We are so screwed. What chance does your boss have against that?”

  “There are more of us than there are of them, and we have better weapons.” Or so he hoped. “Kalugal can’t hide inside this bunker forever, and if he thinks that this place is impenetrable, he is wrong. With the right equipment, any structure can be penetrated.”

  That had been meant for Kalugal’s ears.

  There was little chance of Kian launching a massive ordnance penetrator into a bunker located in a suburban neighborhood, but Kalugal wouldn't know that.

  5

  Turner

  While Kian kept Kalugal busy talking, Turner went into hyper mode, the gears in his brain picking up speed as he evaluated the situation, projected outcomes, and set things in motion.

  His first priority was to get Jin to a safe location.

  She, or rather the tether she had attached to Kalugal, was the best leverage they had over him. The Guardians, who in a few moments would surround his property, were more a show of strength than a tactical tool.

  Once Magnus delivered the new earplugs and had cameras installed across from the compound’s gate, they might prevent Kalugal and his men from leaving. But Turner had no doubt that the bunker they were in was well-stocked and could sustain them through a long siege.

  Except, the clan couldn’t keep the blockade up for long. They were in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the country, and even with every immortal trick in their proverbial bag, there was no way they could maintain it for more than twenty-four hours.

  In the meantime, Kalugal would learn everything there was to know about the clan.

  Jin was the key to preventing that from happening. More than Kalugal wanted to learn the clan's secrets, he wanted to keep his.

  Jin’s tether would paralyze him, preventing Kalugal from doing anything he didn’t want the clan to know.

  To get rid of that, the guy would do anything, which meant that the moment Kian pulled out that trump card, Kalugal was going to divert every resource at his disposal to locating Jin.

  Except, he wasn’t going to find her, because Turner was going to stash her in the safest and most secret location on the globe.

  The goddess’s sanctuary in Alaska.

  Since no one knew how to get there other than Annani and her Odus, Kalugal couldn’t compel anyone to reveal the sanctuary’s location.

  Turner had already arranged for a private jet to pick up Jin and Kri. The airfield was ten minutes away from their current location, and the flight to Alaska would take about four and a half hours. From there, he had no clue how long it would take them to get to Annani’s place.

  Alaska was a big state.

  It would be preferable to hold back on issuing the threat until Jin was in the sanctuary, but Turner figured that as soon as she was in the air, she would be safe from Kalugal and whoever he might deploy after her.

  Kian seemed to be doing fine, and Turner had no doubt that he could keep Kalugal talking for twenty more minutes or so before the guy lost his patience and demanded that the real negotiations start.

  After giv
ing Kri the location of the airfield, Turner still had to arrange for one of Annani’s Odus to pick them up from the private airfield outside of Anchorage.

  Thankfully, he had Alena’s phone number, which Kian had given him when she’d left for her modeling stint in New York.

  Not wanting Kian to know where he was sending Jin, Turner typed a text. He would have preferred to speak to Alena, which would have been the proper thing to do, but he didn’t want to chance Kian overhearing the conversation, and he couldn’t leave the room as long as Kalugal was on the line.

  It’s an emergency, and I don’t have time to explain. I need you to send a jet to pick up Kri and Jin from Sky airfield in Anchorage and take them to the sanctuary. They are leaving San Francisco in about fifteen minutes and will get there in about four and a half or five hours. One more thing. Don’t text or call Kian about it until I tell you it’s okay to do so. I’ll explain once I can spare a moment.

  Her return text arrived a few seconds later. Consider it done. Let us know what’s going on as soon as possible.

  He erased the exchange from his phone and typed a new message for Kian.

  Keep Kalugal talking for at least fifteen more minutes before telling him about Jin’s tether.

  After reading it, Kian nodded and gave him the thumbs up.

  Next order of business was to evacuate the keep and send Yamanu to San Francisco.

  To maintain the siege, they needed to shroud the Guardians’ presence from the human neighbors, or better yet, have Yamanu thrall them into leaving their homes for the entire day.

  He also needed to get offensive weapons for the Guardians that could penetrate an underground bunker. The delivery of a mobile command center for William and attack drones for the force had already been arranged.