She saw the respect they all had for Lian when he made his entrance. It went both ways. That was obvious. Not to mention his affection for them all. She watched him, taking this chance to observe the man who had done all this. No suit for him today, but slacks and a short sleeve button-down. Around his left wrist was a band of black leather, about two inches in width. And a wedding ring was on his left hand.
“Good morning, my dear,” he spoke and it took her a moment to realise he was talking to her.
“Good morning, sir.” She stood, embarrassed she’d not done so sooner.
“How are you settling in?”
“You have a stunning home and I’m settling in perfectly, thank you for opening it to me.”
He flexed his fingers around the head of his cane and gave a brief nod. “My pleasure. If there is anything you need, don’t hesitate to ask.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Lian, please.”
“As you wish.”
A small grin, and he walked to the table then sat. Taylor helped Roz and a few of the children take food over and set it down. Although she was technically an outsider, they all made Taylor feel at home during the meal. The only one she didn’t see—other than Billy, who was still in Scotland—was Tiarnán.
Cale left immediately after the meal and she stayed behind to assist in cleaning up, with some of the other children and Aminta this time. Roz also left, however, she left with a smile and hug for Taylor.
“Where’s Tiarnán?” she asked.
Aminta paused in loading the dishwasher. Her dark eyes snapped around the room before returning to Taylor. “With the prisoner.”
Her heart dropped like a lead balloon. “Prisoner?” How had she forgotten Cale had mentioned they had one of the men last night? And why had it been a good thing then and now…she wasn’t sure.
“Yes. The one captured, the only one left alive from the attack last night.”
She swallowed back her follow-up questions since two kids approached them with the remainder of the breakfast dishes. Taylor had no more opportunity to ask anything, for Aminta left with the children.
Alone in the kitchen, she sighed heavily and spun in a circle. It had been a rush yet presently there was complete silence. What was she supposed to do? Perhaps she could find someone who needed her help with something. Anything.
Shoving her hands in her pockets, she began to head to the doorway leading towards the living area.
“Ready?” a woman called from behind her.
She pivoted around and found Dracen standing there, expression serious.
“Ready? For what?”
“Learning how to fight.”
A thrill skated up her spine. “Really?”
No emotion on her face, just a nod. “Let’s get to it. Unless you’ve changed your mind?”
“Oh, not at all. I just didn’t know when it was going to happen. Or if.”
“Roz told me. We’re all set up, let’s go.”
Anxious and more than a bit nervous, she trailed the woman who bore the sign of the dragon out of the door. This was it, she was going to learn how to fight. How to defend herself. How to kill.
Chapter Eleven
“Who’s Blake?” Cale demanded, sitting in a chair as he stared through the bars at the man locked behind them. “And who’s his boss?”
The man, standing in only his pants, shoved a hand through his bright red hair. “Go fuck yourself.”
“No need to do that. Tell me what I want to know.”
A sneer. “Or what? You’ll send that brooding behemoth after me? The one standing behind you?” He gripped the bars. “You can’t keep me like this.”
“We are keeping you like this. And the one behind me, he’s going to get you anyway. I was just hoping to keep it less messy. You don’t answer me, you’ll answer him.” A shrug. “Either way works for me.”
The chuckle wasn’t so smug this time. “What is this supposed to be? Good cop, bad cop?”
“Not at all. One, we’re not cops. But then you know that, don’t you?”
“You’re freaks,” he hissed. “And let me tell you, The New Order will stop you and darkness will reign again.”
“And you call us freaks,” he muttered. “If you’re so confident, why won’t you tell us what you know? If you’re truly as strong as you claim, it won’t matter if we know or not.”
“Where are the rest of my group? I see more cells. Trying to keep us separate so you can compare our stories? You can’t stop us. More will come. You will be defeated.”
He shook his head. “No need to keep you separate.”
“Why not? None of them talked.”
“Nope, they didn’t,” he agreed. “They’re all dead.”
“What?”
“You’re the only one in here because you’re the only one left alive.”
“You can’t kill people like that.”
“Yet, you can trespass on someone else’s property with the intent of killing them and whoever gets in your way?” His tone became hard as he thought of Taylor in danger again. “Not to mention, you’re trying to plunge the world back into chaos.”
“You’re lying.” He didn’t appear as confident now.
Cale laced his fingers behind his head and rocked back in the chair so only the back two legs were on the floor. “For what reason? You want to see the bodies? I can bring in photos.”
“Why didn’t you kill me?”
He hooked his thumb in Tiarnán’s direction. “He wouldn’t let me. Said I had to keep one alive for questioning. Personally, I didn’t care.” He rolled his shoulders. “Don’t think that puts you in a safe position, for he wants to kill you as well.”
“Do your worst. I won’t spill anything.”
Cale sniffed and put the legs back down then rose. “Very well.”
The man scratched at his neck. “Very well what?”
“You don’t want to talk and I have no stomach for torture. I’m done here.”
Tiarnán stepped forward.
“He, on the other hand, has no qualms about it.”
“You kill me, you won’t know what you want to know.”
Cale’s grin turned feral. “This is your mistake, thinking you have the upper hand.” He stepped closer to the bars, where he could reach through and touch the bastard if he so desired. “Just because I said I had no stomach for torture doesn’t mean I’m an idiot. And I see no reason to keep you alive because you may say something down the road. Like you said, more will be coming.”
The prisoner’s pale skin whitened even more. He moved his jaw and Cale crossed his arms. “Checking for that cyanide pill? It’s no longer there. You don’t get the option of checking out early. If we want to keep you alive, we will. If we want you dead, you’re dead. You have no say in anything anymore.” He checked his wrist. “I’ve wasted enough time here. Good luck.”
“You will die, you hear me, you fucking bastard? You’ll die.”
“Not before you,” he tossed over his shoulder as he left the room and headed for the stairs.
Cale took them two at a time. He truly wasn’t into beating someone. He would do what was necessary to keep Taylor and his family safe, but if he didn’t have to do it, he would just prefer not be there. It never seemed to bother Tiarnán. Or Dracen.
He wanted to find Taylor and hold her close. Allow her scent to calm him. Prove to himself she was okay. But he couldn’t, he had things to do. Stepping through the sliding doors leading to the ops room, he smiled at Edmond who sat at the computer.
“What do you have?” he asked, sitting in a chair and wheeling it closer to the man.
Edmond’s dark skin shone beneath the fluorescent lights as his long fingers flew over the keys. “I’ve inputted all the images from last night’s intruders and have names for each and every one. Including the one who’s still alive.”
His British accent was thick and made Cale smile. Always had. No matter how long Edmond stayed here, he never lost it.
“Okay, so who are they?” Cale questioned.
“Tiarnán, Edmond has identified the men. Do you want to come see the information?”
“No. I’m getting some myself. Will be up later on to compare what was divulged.”
“Fine.”
Cale shook his head but couldn’t drum up any sympathy for the man in the cell. He’d come looking to harm them. They were merely protecting their own.
As Edmond scrolled through the list, Cale shook his head over the range of people recruited. Rich, poor, all ethnic backgrounds and religions.
“I want to know who each of these people know, family and friends. Work acquaintances, everything. If they shared a latte one Sunday afternoon, I want the name of that person they shared it with. Somewhere, somehow there has to be a link connecting all these people. And when you find it, then we can go find this Blake person and perhaps move up the ladder of command.”
Edmond nodded. “I’m on it already. Everything’s being checked, cross checked and double checked.”
“Thanks, Edmond.”
“It’s what I’m here for.”
“And you do it so well.”
“You know I love my technology.”
“Very true, my man. Very true.”
“Oh, before I forget”—he shoved away from his station and went to a different console—“I found this in the backpack, and the pendant, as well as the chain, are getting brighter. I don’t recall gold ever shinning like this.”
An image popped up in 3D over the desk and Cale moved his chair again so he could see it.
“It’s like another link. For the necklace?” He didn’t recognise it. “What’s the symbol?”
Edmond nodded. “Yes. The symbol means rain. Thing is, this one is pure gold. I’m talking twenty-four carat pure. Soft and malleable. And the rest of the necklace and pendant, are now that.”
Rain. He frowned. “Wait a minute. They’re changing to pure gold?”
“They’ve changed. I ran a new analysis on them this morning. All of it, pure gold. You can see the dents from the creator’s tools on them.” He waved his hands around. “I don’t know what to say. We have it as eighteen carat when it was first tested.”
“How the hell…?” Cale was dumbfounded.
“That’s not all.”
“No?”
“Not even close.” Edmond pointed to the screen before them. With a click of a button, he shrank the facial images of the men from last night and put up a split screen photo of the pendant—front and back. Correction, one was a photo still, the other was live video of each side. “Do you see it?”
He wasn’t sure how the hell he would have missed it. Cale scrubbed a hand down his face as he got to his feet and approached the image.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
“Well, kind of new to me too,” Edmond teased.
More symbols had appeared on the pendant. Front and back. The maze was still well defined, but in the centre of it, where the maze paths went around it, sat a symbol he hadn’t ever seen before, yet felt he should know what it was. The niggling belief lingered and it frustrated him he couldn’t pull the information from his brain.
Little sparks, rainbow in colour, moved along the labyrinth, hitting the different symbols then beginning again. His fingertips tingled and he had to stop himself from heading to the case and pulling it out to touch.
“When did this begin?” he asked.
“Not sure when. I didn’t have video on the item itself. Just on the case in general, but it’s not the right angle to see the back. When I checked it this morning I found it. I can only assume it had something to do with putting that last piece from the chain back within the rest of the links. As if it were the part that had been keeping it appearing as nothing more than a gold necklace.”
“If The New Order finds out about this…”
“I know. And given last night’s attack, we’re thinking we need to move the case to the wall safe as well.”
Cale sank back in the chair, fingers on his temples. “Sounds good. Do you have the urge to touch it?”
“No, not other than to inspect it and learn how the hell it’s doing what it’s doing.”
“My body constantly wants to go to it and touch. Feel.”
“Interesting,” Edmond said, fingers flying across his keyboard again. “When did that happen?”
“When you showed me the video of the live feed.”
“Makes sense, actually.”
He frowned. “How do you figure?”
“You and Taylor share rainbow sparks when…things are…heated between you, right?”
“Not only then, but sure.”
“That’s more sparks. What if it’s something that feeds your sign, your power? It would make sense you’d want more, crave more of it.”
“Hell, Edmond, you may be on to something.”
“I’m not just another pretty face, Cale.”
He laughed and his tense body relaxed slightly. “Let me know if you find anything else out. I have to go talk to Lian.”
* * * *
“You okay?” Roz questioned.
Taylor wanted nothing more than to curl up in a ball and cry. “Yes.” She managed to force the word from her mouth. It still came out sounding like a wheezing person on their last legs.
“Positive? Because from here you look like shit.”
That brought a grin to her face. “Thanks a lot.” She readjusted on the bench and wished it were padded. Or like a cloud. Zero gravity. Memory foam. Just anything other than the hard wood it was.
“Not what you thought?” Roz joined her on the bench.
“Hell, no. I spent so much time on my ass, I think I need to sit on some ice. Or heat. How does it go, ice to numb the pain and heat to melt it away? I need something—she kicked my ass all over the place.”
“Yeah, Dracen is a hard teacher.”
“Couldn’t have warned me?”
“I probably could have, but I thought to myself, if I told you, would you most likely want to back out? My answer was yes so then I went to something else. Let me think. Umm…nope.”
Roz had a point. If she’d known it would be like this, Taylor never would have said she wanted to learn. “I feel like I was in the ring with a professional boxer.”
“Well, she’s professional. Don’t think she’s a boxer, though.”
“Why do I get the feeling you’re enjoying this?”
“Because I am,” Roz whispered with a shitty ass grin. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen anyone else look that way, normally it’s me.”
“Oh…you…and here I thought we were friends.”
“We are.” A blinding smile. “Just one of us can move faster than the other.”
She whimpered. “More like one of us can’t move at all.”