Dawn of a Dark Knight (21 page)

“What? I don’t understand.”

“Let’s try it. I’ll help you the first time, darling.”

“I’m scared.”

“I’m right here. Have I ever let anything we’ve learned about hurt you?”

“No.”

“Be brave, then. Face your fears. You’ve got to learn how to use this against them.” He removed the dropper from the top of the vial and allowed one drop to fall onto her lips.

“Uck!” She spat and wiped at her mouth. “It’s terrible. It hurts.” She woke up with the sensation of thousands of snakes hissing and entwining around her body. She screamed and screamed until it all disappeared.

“I want Mommy.” She burst into tears.

Her father hugged her tight. “Shhhh. We’re not going to tell Mommy about this.” Her father held her tight as she sobbed. “I told you I wouldn’t let it hurt you. You forgot to concentrate. We must do this again until you understand how to do this without panic.”

“Does it make everyone hurt?” she hiccupped through the question.

“Everyone but magi. They’re immune to dark magik.”

“Can I be a magi? I don’t want to do that again.”

“No, you cannot. And it’s
magus
. Magi is plural. We will practice so it won’t be like that again.”

****

With only a few seconds before she would pass out, she searched for a security camera. After quickly signaling to the camera in the corner of the ceiling, she backed against the counter as Marla approached. She knocked the spray bottle away. Another spritz might be a toxic dose. Then she concentrated on Ashor as darkness closed in.

Chapter Nineteen

Ashor triggered the complicated inner lock of the door to seal it closed before falling into the central seat at the semicircular medieval table. He massaged his forehead.

“Been a while since we had a Monday meeting.” Ashor traced an intricate green wood inlay of Middle English gibberish with a forefinger. He glanced up to find six stares on him.

“What’s the deal with Dr. Hardy?” asked V as he poured himself a shot of vodka.

Kira’s voice flitted into Ashor’s mind, as if a caress with a hint of desperation.
Kira? What’s wrong?

Nothing came back after a few seconds. His heart thumped fast. He slammed his lids closed to block out the guys who gazed his way expectantly. And tried again:
Kira, where are you?

Silence. Her essence seemed…far away? As if she was no longer on the estate. She left?

“Gotta go.” Ashor bolted upright and cursed as his thumbnail splintered while unlocking the door.

The bedroom in which he’d left her was empty, the bed unused. He tore downstairs to the concealed underground rooms, scanning through several levels of new, irritating security devices Scott had put in place.

Scott typed madly on his computer, but didn’t acknowledge him when he entered, which pissed him off.

“Where is she?”

Scott jumped out of his chair. He squeaked out, “Who?”

“Kira. Where is she?”

“Haven’t seen her.”

“What the hell are you doing down here, then? Jacking off? Find her on the surveillance cameras.” Ashor made no attempt to keep the lethal aggression rushing through his bloodstream out of his tone.

Ethan and Eric crowded the doorway.

Scott typed madly for a few minutes, reviewing images from many locations and then said, “Ah-ha!” He pointed to the image of the kitchen projected on one of the eight flat-panels mounted on the wall. They watched in silence as Kira borrowed a cell phone from Marla and the successive attack. Kira collapsed and Marla patted her down, removing every extraneous item. An outside cam showed Marla stuffing Kira into the trunk of her car.

“What kind of spray causes that?” Scott asked.

“Ethan, go look in the kitchen for the canister she knocked out of Marla’s hand.” Ashor commanded without breaking eye contact from the monitor.

He stared at the now frozen image of Marla dragging Kira from the house.
The bitch will pay.
Rage struck his brain with spikes of fury. The
kem-seki
pushed. He punched the fax conveniently beside him, effectively shattering the plastic machine. Blood dribbled from cuts on his hand, but he didn’t feel their sting.
How could this happen in his house?

As he swiveled, Eric shoved him against the wall of shelves housing old surveillance videos and miscellaneous technical gear.
What the hell?

“Chill, Ashor. We’ll get her back.”

Ashor pushed their locked bodies away from the shelving unit and elbowed Eric’s stomach. “I am—”

Eric threw a neck-popping punch into his left cheek, throwing him back against the shelves.

“Snap the fuck out,” Eric said as he threw his body into Ashor and braced his arm against Ashor’s neck.

Ashor kneed him in the groin. Eric fell to his ass, grabbing himself. Hundreds of discs spilled onto the floor. One disc shot off the shelf like a bullet and whacked Ashor mid-forehead. It ricocheted into Eric’s head, leaving a bloody divot.

“Shit, that hurt.” Eric gripped his head.

Scott whispered, “Dad, is he okay now?”

Ashor’s head snapped toward Scott who was doing his best to blend into the wall while cradling his laptop protectively against his chest.

Eric scowled at Ashor. “Doubt if the bastard is right in the head, but the danger is past.”

“I was fine. What the hell was that attack about?”

“You just lost it. And that’s not happening around my kid.”

“That bitch kidnapped Kira. I won’t apologize for being pissed, but no one was in danger.” Ashor turned to Scott. “Sorry if I scared you.” He wiped the blood dribbling from his forehead. “Damn, Eric. Reverting to newbie-hood? Haven’t seen your ability reverse on you like that in at least a few decades.”

“I had the stuff under control until you nut-crunched me, asshole.”

Ashor scowled.

Eric broke eye contact and muttered, “Sorry. Misread the situation.”

“Scott, what was Kira’s phone call about? You recorded it, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. I recorded it, but I didn’t listen to it yet.”

“Let’s hear it,” Ashor requested gently. They all listened to the call between Kane and Kira.

“What’s she into?” asked Scott.

“Her cousin, Markus, was trying to obtain the
Anukrati
amulet, which is why they were in New York. I can only think of one group of demented shits that want it,” said Ashor.

“Hashishins.” Eric cursed softly. “How did the amulet end up in New York?”

“Who knows. At least we have a lead on its location.”

Ethan returned holding the canister out to Ashor while scanning the chaotic mess that had occurred since he’d left. Javen and V followed.

Ashor sniffed, took a taste. He spit the familiar foul solution. “Hashishin poison. Obviously works well on non-magi.”

A voice on the intercom boomed into the security office. “This is Michael at the gate. There’s a man here that says he’s not leaving until we release his cousin, Kira. Please advise.”

Scott redirected the larger images of security cameras to focus in on a dark green SUV at the front gate. A tall, athletic guy with a blond crew cut scowled fuck-you straight into the camera.

“Can you enhance to get a closer shot of that guy?” Ethan requested.

“Told you we were missing out on a party,” Christian told Nate as they sauntered into the room.

Nate moved closer to the monitor. “Hey, that’s Kane Langford. He’s a tough son of a bitch. New recruit?”

All eyes turned to him.

Nate shrugged. “What? We went through Ranger training together. He was on the mission with me in Laos that went to shit and got me into your little unit. Never knew what happened to him, but it appears you found him.” Nate leaned forward. His fingers reached toward the screen as if the monitor was calling to him on a subconscious level.

“No!” several voices yelled simultaneously.

Scott dove from his place behind his laptop to the front of the monitor. “Stay away from my equipment.”

Nate jumped back, his face scarlet.

Scott spat, “Keep your distance. It took me two weeks—two fucking weeks—after the last time you came in here and permanently fried everything. I thought you were banned from here.”

“Nate, stay away from the electronics. Scott, chill.” Ashor pushed the intercom. “Michael, this is Ashor. Please escort Mr. Langford to the surveillance office.”

“Did anyone else make any calls out of here in the past hour, Scott?” asked Eric.

“Let me check. Yeah, I’ve got two other calls from the same cell phone. Here’s the one that took place about thirty minutes before Kira used it.”

“You phoned?”
purred Marla.

A raspy, otherworldly voice replied,
“Are you able to get into the magi residence?”

“I’m here now.”

There was a low chuckle of delight.
“Ah, such a useful girl. Did a new woman enter the estate escorted by magi?”

“Yes, about an hour ago.”

“Has she done anything unusual?”

“I swear she attacked me without moving a muscle. My head felt as if it was going to explode, but then it all disappeared as suddenly as it happened. It was really weird, but I could have imagined it.”

“How interesting. She is the one that we need. Bring her here as soon as you can. I recommend you use the spray.”

“Of course, sir.”

“Terek.” Ashor cursed. He slammed his fist on the wall above the destroyed fax causing a dramatic spray of plaster dust.

Christian mumbled, “I knew there was something wrong with that woman. Externally attractive, but cold inside. Couldn’t even get a semi around her.” He looked around and caught Ethan’s eye roll. “Honestly, Eth, any woman that doesn’t get things moving, there’s something not right.”

Ethan shook his head. “You really didn’t mature beyond like, sixteen, did you? Next time I’m on the fence about a woman, I’ll ask you if she rates on the dick-meter. The real question is how she passed the security check needed for the housekeeping position and fooled all of us for three months?”

“Rick hired her. But didn’t you do her background screening, Scott?” Eric asked.

“Look, I’m not perfect. Her stuff checked out. They clearly did a good job on her background.”

If they hurt Kira, I’ll kill ’em all
, Ashor thought
.
He’d rip their limbs off and leave them to bleed out slowly. He should have trusted his instincts regarding his unusual reaction to Marla.

Javen mumbled for Ashor’s ears only, “We’ve got to get her back. I swear I’m not losing another
akhrian
to that asshole. You did have that particular little talk about her new job?”

“Let’s just say she’s not exactly thrilled about the idea.” He turned to Scott and asked loudly, “Can you find Terek’s location?”

“Sure, I always keep tabs on him. You never know when that kind of info might be useful. However, it might be more useful to track Marla.”

“How?” asked Ethan.

“I put a transponder on her car a few weeks ago.” Scott looked extremely pleased with himself.

“Here’s Mr. Langford,” Michael announced from the doorway.

Ashor nodded to dismiss Michael.

Kane scanned the six of them and Scott. His gaze returned to Ashor. Probabilities were calculated and stats cataloged. Only a hardcore soldier threw that kind of eye fuck in a complete stranger’s direction. Ashor respected that.

“Where is Kira?” Kane demanded. His jaw unhinged and he pointed. “Nathaniel Hillard? But you were killed. I saw them shoot you at least twenty times. You were declared dead.”

“I just took a different job.” Nate smiled. “How’d you trace her here?”

“She’s wearing a GPS tracker and it’s still here. So, where is she?”

Ashor replied, “She’s been taken by Hashishins. When your brother brokered that amulet deal she became a person of interest to them.”

“Someone kidnapped her from you? What kind of operation are you running?”

“Ashor Vlahos.” He held out his hand to Kane who met him in the middle with a confident grip. “You’re right. This is unacceptable. But we will get her back.”

“You’ve got to be fucking with me. Hashishins? You playing on Kira’s fears?”

Ashor shook his head. “They’re real. Scott, show Kane the tape of Kira and Marla.”

“Whatever,” Kane mumbled while watching the scene with Kira on the surveillance video, Kane held up his hand. “Back up the recording…there. Stop. Zoom in on what she’s signaling.”

“What? No way,” said Nate.

“Always has to take matters into her own hands,” mumbled Kane.

“What does that little two-fingered sign over the chest mean?” asked Ashor.

“That’s a signal that I taught her. We developed signals in our Ranger unit that we could use in photography or surveillance cameras. I figured it would be useful with Markus dragging her all over the place. He can handle himself, but he’s a magnet for disaster. That particular signal indicates she knows what she’s doing. She’s telling us not to worry.”

“How can she possibly know what she’s doing? I’m sure Terek has some little surprises planned that she couldn’t possibly anticipate,” said Ashor.

“Please tell me you didn’t say Terek.” Kane pinched the bridge of his nose. “As in Terek Nadir?”

“Is there another?”

“She’s had an irrational fear of that guy since he murdered her mother. Actually, they couldn’t pin it on him, but Kira said he did it. I believe her even though the guy had an airtight alibi for the day of the murder. My brother said based on all recent reports Terek died two years ago or something.”

Several voices in the room echoed, “What?”

Ashor recovered first. “He isn’t dead. What do you mean he killed her mother?”

“I never got all the details. She’s really tight-lipped about it. When she was eighteen, she said something went missing on this cult compound near where she and her mother lived. Terek came calling. Somehow her mother ended up dead and Kira hospitalized. Official police report says some escaped prison inmates did it.”

Ashor’s imagination swamped him with images of Terek torturing her.
All his fault.
Somehow, he’d make this right.