Part 26 (1/2)

”Eden?” Shock and happiness and relief mingled in his tone. ”My G.o.d, Eden, tell me it's you. You've been gone three days without a word. We lost your signal, and I thought-”

”I'm fine, but I don't have a lot of time.” Three days had pa.s.sed, yet only one had pa.s.sed on Targon. ”Have you spoken to Lucius? Has he checked in?”

”Last he checked in, he told me you had been abducted as planned and he was going in to buy you. After that, we never heard from him again. We've been searching for him but haven't caught a trace. We had your location locked, and even checked there. Nothing. What's going on?”

”Jonathan Parker shot him.”

”Is he de-”

”No!” I shouted. I still wasn't ready to consider the possibility. ”I think EenLi has him now and means to sell him as a slave. There are five women, too, meant to be put up for sale. Has EenLi been spotted at all?”

”No, but Jonathan Parker was found dead.”

”I know. I killed him. Michael,” I said, my voice shaky. ”I need you.”

”Where the h.e.l.l are you, sweetie? I'll be there as fast as I can.”

”Where am I?” I demanded of the man at the foot of the stairs. My urgency made me sound fierce, lethal.

His already pale face went white at my renewed attention, and he gaggled out a few unintelligible sounds.

”Tell me where I am,” I said gently. ”Please. I'm not going to hurt you.”

My gentleness lifted him out of his terror-filled shock. ”New Mon-montana,” he stuttered.

”New Montana,” I told Michael. ”Can you get my signal now?”

”Let's see.” A moment pa.s.sed, the sound of his breathing and the clicking of computer keys the only sound. ”Got you now,” he said with satisfaction. ”We'll get you home, baby, we'll get you home.”

”No. I need you to take me back to New Dallas. Back to the house they kept me in. EenLi is still here, I know it, and that means Lucius is here, too. They might still be inside. We've got to save him, Michael. The others, too.”

”We will,” he said, hearing my panic. ”We will. I promise you.”

The sound of police sirens penetrated the background. Their blue and red lights soon followed. ”Just get here as fast as you can,” I said and left the house the same way I'd come.

Chapter.

26.

You enlisted the aid of a Targon?” Michael growled.

His familiar voice boomed from the headphones covering my ears and was like a soothing spell from a voodoo priest. I gazed out the experimental hovercraft's window, drinking in the dark, almost velvet sky and diamond-glistening stars. The vehicle's engine was small and quiet, emitting only a slight hum as the twenty-three-million-dollar machine soared through the air.

I'd already explained to him how the solar flare worked, and about the necklace. I told him about EenLi's man having an electro-gun. He had listened in stony silence. I wasn't sure how I felt that the first thing he'd reacted to was my involvement with the Targon.

”Do you realize,” he continued, speaking into his small black mouthpiece, ”that the Targon king, whatever the h.e.l.l his name is, could right now be warning EenLi about you? Your cover could be completely blown.”

My coverwas blown, but I didn't point that out. ”Saving Lucius matters. Saving the women matters. Nothing else.” And after Devyn's vow, I didn't think he'd betray me. That vow had seemed so...official. So life-threatening, just as he'd claimed. ”Maybe Devyn has told EenLi I'm here and after him, maybe he hasn't. Either way, I'm hunting him down.”

Michael expelled a frustrated breath through his teeth. ”All right,” he said. ”I'll let you go to the building, but you're taking Ren and Marko with you. They'll-”

”No. I go alone.” I was willing to use the Targon. He had powers that could work to my advantage. I wouldn't be taking humans-especially not Michael's agents. After seeing EenLi with that electro-gun, I knew there was a very real possibility Michael had a leak. I couldn't risk EenLi going underground again.

I explained this to Michael, but he shook his head. ”EenLi and I worked on that gun together. There isn't a leak. You're taking my men, and that's final.”

Maybe there wasn't a leak. I still wasn't willing to risk it. ”I guess that means I quit.” At last I turned and faced him. His expression was hard, resolute. I think he had more gray hair than the last time I'd seen him. ”Now try and give orders.”

Something cold and hard glistened in his eyes-a glint that had never been directed at me before. ”You're willing to give up your place within the agency, to give up everything you and I have worked toward, just to save Lucius on your own?”

”That's right,” I answered without hesitation. ”It's safest that way.”

”Well, guess what? The man you so desperately want to save, the government didn't pay him to be your partner.I paid him to keep you safe. Me personally. And he failed.”

”Excuse me?”

”Hewas to keep you from EenLi and kill him himself.He was to protect you and bring you home unscathed. He did none of those things. He failed.”

My stomach clenched as his words sunk in and brought a memory to the forefront of my mind. Once, when I'd first met Lucius, he'd said something about being paid by Michael. At the time, I'd thought nothing of it, that it had been a slip of the tongue. A mix of shock and anger poured through me.

Lucius should have told me. He'd had plenty of opportunities while we were in bed together. I didn't like that he'd lied to me. Still, that didn't change how I felt about him. I'd punish him for lying, of course, but first I'd save his life.

”You want me to be mad at him, and I am. But I'm also mad at you. You paid him, Michael. Do you really trust me so little?” My voice was quiet. Hurt. ”Do you really see me as so incapable?”

When he realized the darkest heat of my anger wasn't directed at Lucius, but at him, he experienced his own wave of shock. ”I love you. I'll do whatever I have to do to keep you safe. Please. Take a few of my men with you.”

That was it. That was all he had to say to me. Sadness beat through me. ”I know you love me, Michael, but I see now that you'll never see me the way I want-need-you to. As a woman of strength and courage-a woman who can successfully complete any task. The way Lucius sees me,” I said, and realized it was true. He'd told me he was proud of me, that I'd done a good job.He'd released me into the lion's den, so to speak, and trusted me to find my way out.

”My resignation stands,” I said. ”I go alone.”

His nostrils flared and his cheeks flushed, obvious signs he was angry at my lack of capitulation. ”If you're no longer an agent, you have no business going after Lucius. I'll take you home. You need the rest, anyway.”

”Take me to New Dallas,” I snapped, ”or I swear to G.o.d I'll join EenLi and become his right-hand woman.” I'd do it, too. I'd do whatever was necessary for Lucius and the women. ”When I was a little girl, you used to count to three when I refused to do your bidding. And if you made it to three and I didn't act, I'd be punished. Not that you'd ever see the punishment through.”

”Don't be this way, Eden.”

”One.”

”Please. Just let it go.”

”Two.”

”Why are you doing this?”

”Thre-”

”Fine.” Michael's lips thinned, but he nodded stiffly. ”I'll take you to New Dallas. I'll send you straight into the heart of danger alone.” He knew I never made empty threats. ”Just don't cry foul when I send my guys after you. You've been warned.” Motions stiff, he punched a b.u.t.ton on the side of his headset, switching his communication link to the pilot.