Dark Spy’s Resolution Page 4

  Jacki lifted a brow. “Isn’t that the definition of immortal?”

  “The gods could live hundreds of thousands of years. That’s as immortal as it gets.”

  “What about you? The descendants are hybrids, so their genes are diluted. Does it go down to tens of thousands? Single-digit thousands?”

  He chuckled. “I don’t know. The longest living immortal is only five thousand years old, give or take a few centuries, and he is still in his prime. He is also Kalugal’s father and our clan’s arch-nemesis.”

  “I don’t understand. If Kalugal is the son of your enemy, what made you think he could be a friend? Or was that just the story you told me?”

  “Kalugal escaped his father and has lived in hiding ever since. What we don’t know is whether he considers his father an enemy. If he does, that could make him our ally by default. The enemy of my enemy is my friend sort of thing.”

  Jacki leaned her chin on her upturned knees. “What happened to the gods?”

  “Kalugal’s grandfather dropped a bomb on their assembly, killing them all. What he hadn’t expected was getting caught in the blast and dying with them.”

  “Why did he do that?”

  “Jealousy or greed or a combination of both prompted him to kill another god by beheading him. When the assembly of gods sentenced him to entombment for his crime, Mortdh’s solution was to kill them all.”

  Jacki sighed. “I wonder how Kalugal deals with a heritage like that. It must be difficult.”

  Since in Arwel’s mind all Doomers were predisposed to evil, it hadn’t occurred to him that Lokan and Kalugal were less so than others. They were the grandsons of Mortdh and the sons of Navuh.

  It didn’t get any worse than that.

  Except, they were also the grandsons of Ahn and the sons of Areana.

  Arwel didn’t know much about Annani’s father, but from what the goddess had shared about her half-sister, Areana was a gentle and benevolent soul. Carol’s impression of her had been the same.

  The question was which side was dominant.

  Arwel had a feeling it was the paternal side. “Kalugal seems like a conceited bastard. He probably wears his murderous godly heritage like a badge of honor.”

  Jacki chuckled. “He’s like a very handsome version of Doctor Evil from Austin Powers.” She waved a hand. “He’s polite, soft-spoken, and extremely intelligent.”

  Arwel arched a brow. “Isn’t it a bit early for Stockholm syndrome to set in? You’ve been a captive for less than an hour, and you had contact with your captor for less than a minute.”

  Jacki huffed. “I’m not crushing on him if that’s what you’re thinking. I’m just stating the facts.”

  10

  Kian

  “As fun as it was chatting with you, cousin, it is late. Perhaps we could continue our fascinating conversation tomorrow?”

  Like hell.

  Kalugal was eager to start questioning Arwel, and Kian was not about to allow it. To keep him on the line, he would tell Kalugal the entire history of the clan if necessary, or rather the version of it he saw fit to share.

  He glanced in Turner’s direction, but the guy was in the back of the room, still talking to Lokan. Evidently, he hadn’t gotten confirmation from Kri and Jin that they were in the air.

  It was imperative to keep Kalugal talking.

  “Using the earpiece is not very convenient. We should exchange phone numbers. Would you like to write mine down?”

  “Certainly. Go ahead.”

  After dictating the numbers, Kian asked Kalugal to repeat them. It was an obvious ploy to buy time, but he only needed a couple of minutes.

  “Is that your direct line?” Kalugal asked.

  “Yes. You can call me day or night. My phone is always with me.”

  “I feel so privileged.” Kalugal’s tone was mocking. “And now I feel obliged to do the same. Here is mine.” He rattled out the numbers.

  “Let me read it back to you.”

  As Kian enunciated each number, he glanced at Turner again and finally got the thumbs up he’d been waiting for.

  “That’s correct. Good night, Kian,” Kalugal said.

  Kian leaned back in his chair. “Before we call it a night, there is something you should know.”

  Kalugal chuckled. “I’m well aware of your men surrounding my property. They are of no consequence to me.”

  “I’m sure you are. But what you are not aware of is that one of ours has a direct mental connection to you, and she can see and hear everything you do. There is no hiding from her, and there is no way to circumvent her tether. Everything you say, hear, or see is no longer private. I’m informed of your every move.”

  There was a long moment of silence as Kalugal processed the information.

  “You are contradicting yourself, Kian. You said that you wanted to find out what I was up to. If you had such a fantastic spy working for you, you would have no need to send men to follow me.”

  “To attach the tether, she had to touch you. And for that to happen, we needed to get her to you. The plan was to do it without you noticing a thing, but as often happens, the best of plans go awry. We couldn’t have anticipated a human psychopath showing up at the club and pulling out a gun.”

  This time the moment of silence was longer.

  As the door to the war room opened, Kian turned his swivel chair around and lifted his hand to motion for whoever entered to stay quiet.

  Ella came in with her arm wrapped around Parker, who was wearing his pajamas with a coat draped over his shoulders.

  Kian had forgotten about asking for Parker to be brought over, and seeing the anxious expression on the kid’s face, he felt guilty.

  It seemed that there would be no need for Parker’s compulsion removal services, but it wasn’t a sure thing. So, even though he hated to involve the kid in the drama, he needed him to hang around until it was over.

  Okidu entered right behind the siblings, pushing a rolling cart with food and drinks, and the last arrival was Syssi, who sent him an air kiss and then joined Ella and Parker at the back of the war room.

  “I assume that you can prove this?” Kalugal asked.

  “Naturally.” Kian motioned for Turner to get closer. “What proof would you like? I’ll have my second-in-command ask her. And just in case you forgot, he is an immune.”

  “I didn’t forget. I want to know how she did it.”

  Kian repeated the question out loud. “It will take him a couple of moments to communicate with her.”

  “I’ll wait.”

  As Turner got busy texting, Kian pushed to his feet and walked to the back of the room. Taking Syssi’s hand, he mouthed, “You shouldn’t have come.”

  She kissed his cheek and handed him a bottle of water from Okidu’s cart.

  He nodded and then examined the cart’s contents.

  Syssi chuckled, and then whispered, “If you are looking for beer, it’s in the cooler on the bottom.” She pulled one out for him.

  “You are the best,” he mouthed.

  He had time for two heavenly gulps before Turner lifted his phone and motioned for Kian to pull out his right as it buzzed with an incoming message.

  It was a copy of the one Turner had received from Jin, detailing in length her encounter with Kalugal.

  “Let me read you her answer.”

  11

  Kalugal

  As Kalugal listened to Kian read the story from the girl’s perspective, he closed his eyes and replayed in his mind the events preceding the appearance of the shooter.

  In the excitement that had followed Flyboy’s amazing display of acrobatics, Kalugal had forgotten all about the girl who’d spilled her drink over him and his dance partner.

  Apparently, he hadn’t been as indifferent to Blondie’s charms as he’d thought he was. Between her ample cleavage and his irritation over her response to the spilled drink incident, he hadn’t paid much attention to the girl who’d clung on to his arm for a couple o
f seconds too long.

  Or maybe it had been his arrogance at play, assuming that the girl didn’t want to let go of him because of his magnetic masculinity, which even his shroud couldn’t hide.

  She was tall, he remembered that, and not because she had high-heeled shoes on. Assuming footwear was the cause of her stumble, he’d glanced at her feet. She’d also had a lot of badly-applied cheap makeup on, but for some reason, he’d found her attractive despite her below-average looks.

  The immune was tall as well, and she too had similarly done heavy makeup on…

  Two tall females with bad hair and bad makeup.

  Damn. How had he missed that?

  They were the same two he’d encountered the night before outside the cigar lounge.

  The tall Asian had stared at him looking stunned, and her friend had done all the talking. In hindsight, their behavior made perfect sense. The Asian was the one with the tethering talent, and the immune was there as a precaution against his compulsion.

  After failing to tether him outside the lounge, they’d changed their appearance and completed their mission in the club. If not for the shooter, he wouldn’t have noticed that anything was amiss.

  Even though recounting the events was no proof of the tether’s existence, the effort the woman had invested into putting her hand on him was convincing enough.

  Still, before starting negotiations, he needed indisputable proof.

  “Everything you are telling me could have been witnessed by hidden cameras or your spies. I need something more conclusive.”

  “Hold on. I’ll ask.”

  As Kalugal waited, he tried to imagine what proof the spy could provide. Maybe describe the room he was in?

  First, he turned his chair around, so he wasn’t facing the monitor. That really wasn't necessary since she couldn’t figure out anything from what was on the screen, but if she’d been watching earlier, she could have seen his entire lockdown protocol.

  Thankfully, no codes had been displayed, and he hadn’t been the one who had entered them. Phinas had done that.

  “She asks that you write something on a note,” Kian said. “After that, look at the note long enough to read it, but don’t show it to anyone. She will tell you what you’ve written.”

  “Does she have a name? Or are we just going to call her the spy?”

  “Her name is Jin.”

  Kalugal opened a drawer, pulled out a sheet of computer paper, and clicked on his pen. “I’m writing the note.”

  Hello, Jin. I wonder what you look like under all that ugly makeup. You looked prettier last night outside the cigar lounge.

  Holding the page in front of him for several seconds, Kalugal read the note twice and then put it down. “Well?”

  “Let me read it to you.” Kian recited word for word exactly what he had written. “Need more convincing?”

  As the last of his doubts was quashed, Kalugal felt chilled. His mind working quickly, he tried to come up with ways of working around the tether, but there were none. Regrettably, his talents didn’t include telepathy, and he had never bothered to learn Morse code, which was the only other method of communication he could think of. While his auditory and visuals were compromised, the only thing left was touch. Except, the spy’s talents might include that as well, and Kian had just failed to mention it, intentionally or not.

  “No, that will do. What do you want in exchange for removing the tether?”

  “That’s obvious. I want you to release my people.”

  Kalugal had expected that. “They must be very important for you to give up an asset like that.”

  Either that or they had information that Kian could not afford to fall into Kalugal’s hands. The immune hadn’t even known about her boyfriend’s immortality, so she probably held no value other than her immunity. The warrior was the important one. Maybe he was related to Kian?

  A brother, perhaps?

  No one knew who Annani’s children were, and how many she had, but given the gods’ low fertility rate, she couldn’t have more than two. Since she had most likely mated with humans, she must have had at least one daughter to continue her line, and Kian had proclaimed himself as her son.

  “Every member of my clan is important. Unlike your father, who doesn’t care about the individual cogs in his war machine, I value each and every one of my people. We are a family.”

  They were a tight-knit community because there weren’t as many of them, but Kalugal saw no reason to point it out. At this stage of the game, Kian had the winning card, and antagonizing him was not going to work in Kalugal’s favor.

  “That’s admirable. Unlike my father, I also value my men. You and I have that in common.” Pointing out similarities was always a good strategy. People, humans and immortals alike, were more positively predisposed toward those who they thought were like them. “What about the immune, though? Is she a member of your clan?”

  With the love the clan had been showing humanity from its very start, it was possible that they had some living among them.

  “She is not a member of my clan, but after she has graciously agreed to help us, I’m not going to abandon her.”

  Kalugal had a feeling that Kian was not just spouting those things to flaunt his benevolence. The guy believed in what he was saying.

  Nevertheless, the sanctimonious verbiage grated on Kalugal’s nerves because its purpose was to demonstrate Kian’s moral superiority.

  “So, her immunity has no bearing on her value to you?”

  “Of course it does. But I would do the same for any human who risked herself to save one of mine.”

  “I must admit that I was impressed by her heroics. She must truly love your clansman to do something as stupid as that. Then again, he must love her too. He exposed his inhuman abilities to protect her.”

  “My warrior protected his team members, which is his job. And I assume that the immune acted out of desperation because she was the only one who was able to move.”

  “Then I’m even more impressed. The woman fought like a wildcat.”

  “Did you hurt her?” Kian’s voice turned into a growl.

  “Relax. She is fine. We handled her with utmost care.”

  “I was told that you stuffed her into the trunk of your car, bound and gagged.”

  “Regrettably, I had no choice. She was screaming rape, scratching and kicking, and there was nowhere else I could put her in my Ferrari. Your warrior was too big to fit in the trunk.”

  12

  Kian

  Kian stifled a chuckle. As critical as the situation was, it lifted his mood to imagine Jacki raising hell and fighting two immortals who were doing their best to subdue her without hurting her.

  Even though she wasn’t a member of the clan, not yet, he was damn proud of the girl. If she transitioned, Jacki should join the Guardian training program. She sure had the right spirit.

  “Do we have a deal then? You will release my people, and I’ll tell Jin to release the tether.”

  “I’ll sleep on it.”

  Right, as if Kian was going to buy that.

  “If you're thinking about sending one of your guys to interrogate either of the two, you should know that Jin has them both tethered. If either is questioned, I will know, and the deal will be off. You’ll be forever stuck with me as your shadow, and I’ll do my damndest to thwart your every move.”

  “Let’s assume for a moment that I believe you, but naturally, I would like proof of that as well. I wonder, though. What does your warrior know that you are so afraid of me discovering? Were you planning on capturing me and selling me to my father? Maybe in exchange for one of yours that he’s holding prisoner?”

  Kian could understand Kalugal’s suspicions.

  He was imagining the worst possible scenarios from his perspective, which was the prudent thing to do.

  “You have one hell of an imagination. But my reason is simpler than that. My clan’s survival depends on our ability to hide. Your father’s a
rmy outnumbers ours, and we can’t afford him discovering our location. That’s the big secret that I’m trying to protect, not any plot against you. In fact, I’m okay with you asking my guy whether we had any plans to capture you, or sell you, or harm you in any way. But I’m not okay with you asking about anything of strategic importance to my clan.”

  “I believe you because I’m in the same situation. After we solve our little problem, I’ll be forced to relocate.” Kalugal sighed. “It will be a shame. I like it here.”

  “We don’t mean you harm, Kalugal. As long as you don’t engage in trafficking, we won’t bother you.”

  “Trafficking? What on earth makes you think I would ever do something as despicable as that?”

  “That’s your father's latest business endeavor.”

  “I don’t believe that. Navuh wouldn’t stoop so low.”

  “You’d be surprised. There isn’t much work left in the world for his mercenary army, and he’s looking for other sources of revenue. It also gives his men something to do. Restless soldiers might start thinking, and he can’t allow that.”

  For a long moment, Kalugal was silent. Out of all the fascinating new things he had learned from Kian, his father's involvement in trafficking seemed to rattle him the most.

  Should Kian mention the drugs as well?

  “That’s regrettable,” Kalugal said. “I don’t have much love for my father, nor do I approve of his methods, but until now, I respected him. I can no longer do that.”

  That was somewhat hypocritical of Kalugal. Even before his escape, he must have been aware of the influx of females to the island who had been conscripted into prostitution. Navuh had been paying traffickers to deliver the women. The only difference was that now the middlemen had been cut out, and the warriors had taken their place.