The Darkness Beyond (21 page)

He was funny, considerate, and on top of all that good stuff, he was a warrior. She tried not to think about all the horrific violence she'd witnessed the past few days, but she suspected when it came to D.J., it was more than just his job. It was an integral part of his makeup.

Yes, she understood that he'd killed Jeban to save her, but he'd shown absolutely no regret then or since. Kolar had brought the mountainside down on his own head, but D.J. had nearly killed him, too. No one wielded a sword with such proficiency without years of practice.

To be fair, part of what bothered her wasn't even D.J.'s reaction, but her own. She was secretly glad those two men were dead, not to mention the one back in the warehouse. In all three cases, it had come down to her life in exchange for theirs. A fair bargain as far as she was concerned. How was she going to live with feeling that way? Right now, with the continuing threat of more attacks, she was doing her best to hold everything at bay.

But when they got back home, she feared it would all come crashing down on her. Somehow she'd have to put the whole experience into perspective and come to terms with all that had happened. She had to believe she could. After all, what choice did she have? It wasn't as if she could go to a therapist and talk about murderous aliens, let alone about being trapped in their world.

Eventually the memories would fade, but not if she continued to see D.J. He'd be a constant reminder.

As if sensing her staring at him, D.J. glanced back at her. “You doing okay? Need a break?”

“I'm fine,” she lied.

He started to say something, but then he stopped to stare back at the way they'd come, frowning big time. She tried to pick out whatever had caught his attention, but it was either too far away or she was too short to see it clearly.

“What's wrong?”

“I thought I saw some movement on the trail behind us, but it's gone now. Either I imagined it or maybe it was just an animal that's gone to ground. It's probably nothing.”

Then he abruptly turned around and moved off at a faster pace than before. Yeah, right, it was nothing. He'd seen something all right. She ran a few steps to catch up with him, but made no effort to slow him down.

“What did you see? And don't bother lying to me. I can tell.”

His expression was grim. “There's a sizable dust cloud down near the bottom of the trail right before it hits the valley floor. Like I said, maybe it's nothing, or it could be those guys coming after us full-speed ahead. Either way, it doesn't change our plan. We keep moving toward the other side of the valley as fast as your little legs can get there.”

He sounded as if he was teasing her, and she hoped he was. Just last night he'd been singing in praise of those very same legs, especially when they were wrapped around him with her heels digging into his ass.

Rather than belabor the point, wasting breath she really couldn't spare, she kicked it up another notch and breezed right by him. Her small victory didn't last for long, thanks to the thin air and his long legs.

He planted those big feet of his right in her path and wouldn't let her go another step. “Reggie, what the hell are you trying to do?”

“I was walking. I didn't want my little legs to keep you from getting where you wanted to go. Now get out of my way.”

He didn't move an inch. Neither did she. Stubborn deserved stubborn. She smiled when he broke first.

“Reggie, we don't have time for this.”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I'm not the one blocking the path. If you'll kindly get out of my way, I'll start walking again. You can do what you want.”

He cocked his head to one side as he looked down at her. “It's not walking we don't have time for.”

“Then what?”

“This.”

In an instant, she went from standing on her own two feet to have them dangling in the air while D.J. kissed her as if his life depended on it. Oh, yeah, this was what she'd been missing since they'd broken camp and started this never-ending hike across hell.

His kiss tasted so unbelievably good. Hot and all male. Then abruptly he broke it off and slowly set her back down. His dark eyes reflected a mix of emotions, the chief one being either anger or frustration. She understood that last one.

Then he looked past her. “That dust cloud is definitely moving this way. Let's go.”

Her heart did a stutter step or two as she hurried after him. But whether it was in response to D.J.'s kiss or to the aliens in fast pursuit behind them, she simply didn't know.

D.J. scanned the landscape in front of them, turning occasionally to see if the bastards behind them were closing the gap. So far he and Reggie had been able to maintain a steady pace and were making good progress on their way to the hills ahead. He'd feel a helluva lot better about the situation if he actually knew where they were headed. Barak's directions had been pretty vague.

It was all well and good to know there was a stretch of barrier that could be used to return home, but they couldn't afford the time to wander aimlessly hoping to get lucky and stumble across it. This entire mission was a fucked-up mess. Well, not all of it, but the whole rescue part of it sure wasn't playing out the way he'd hoped.

What was Reggie thinking about so hard? Most of the time she just kept picking them up and putting them down even though she had to be exhausted. But every so often, he sensed her staring a hole right through his back. Was it anger or passion that had her pretty eyes sparkling, full of emotion?

Time to scan the horizon again. He blinked twice and even leaned forward to get a better look. The twin to the dust cloud behind them had just appeared at the base of the hills they'd been aiming for. So far their luck had been running bad, worse, or totally fucked. Guess which this was.

“Reggie, we've got to get off the trail right now.”

The only question was which direction offered the best shelter. On the left, the stream seemed to roughly follow the trail heading toward the hills. The ground to the right was more rugged thanks to large expanses of rocks, making it harder to traverse but also harder for their enemies to track them.

If he had to face off with these bastards, he'd much prefer to be standing at the barrier and swinging his favorite ax. At least there the goal was clear: stand with his brothers-in-arms to keep the enemy from getting anywhere near the rest of humanity.

Here, the slightest mistake in his calculations could end in death—or worse—for both him and Reggie. He might survive a lethal wound. She wouldn't.

He picked the rougher terrain to the right. The going would be more difficult than if they took to the water, but they'd stand a better chance the Others would lose their trail on the harder ground.

In addition, it was higher than the trail. Hopefully it would afford them a clearer picture of what they were walking into. He waited until they reached a stretch of trail that was rockier so that their footprints didn't show before veering off the trail.

The ground climbed steadily the farther off the trail they got, to the point that he was huffing and puffing almost as badly as Reggie. After they'd safely traversed a particularly steep incline, the ground flattened out for some distance. At the far side, a small creek trickled through the grass. Perfect. If they stayed low and quiet, no one should be able to spot them.

“We'll stop here to catch our breath.”

Once again Reggie didn't say a word. She simply dropped to the ground and started tugging off her boots. He started to tell her that they weren't stopping that long, but then he saw the blood. Damn it all to hell, why hadn't she told him that she was getting blisters?

Because she knew it didn't matter. Hurt or not, they had to keep going. At least he could doctor her feet for her before they had to start walking again. He set down his packs and started digging through them for the first-aid kit.

“Let's get those cleaned up for you.”

“I can take care of myself,” she said but without any real heat.

“I know you can.” And he did. “But this one time, why don't you let me help?”

She laid back in the grass and put her feet in the creek to let the water wash them clean. “All right, but next time we get stuck in an alien world, I get to be the hero.”

“Fair enough.”

Damn, he loved her spunk. Might even love her. And wasn't that a hell of a shocker?

T
odd gripped the phone in a stranglehold, wishing his hand was wrapped around Ray's throat instead.

“I don't give a flying fuck who you think is after you! I told you not to call me again. Ever. Now forget you ever knew my number or even my name.”

Todd slammed the phone down in the cradle, fighting the urge to jerk the damn thing from the wall and heave it out the window. With his luck, it would land on somebody and they'd sue him.

Well, only if they could find him. Good luck with that.

It would be nice to believe that it was Ray's pain medication making the stupid bastard so damn paranoid. For sure, it was making him careless enough to call Todd's direct line. Last night he'd even left a rambling message on Todd's home number. It had been pure luck that he'd been able to erase it before his wife heard it.

Unfortunately, Todd had a horrible feeling that Ray was right, and the Paladins were in fact breathing down the man's neck. Drugged or not, Ray had always had a sixth sense when it came to saving his own ass. If those sword jockeys did get their paws on the coward, he'd cave in a heartbeat, and they'd be beating on Todd's door in the time it took to drive from Ray's house to his.

He could kick himself for not emptying his safety deposit box on the way home just in case everything went south. Now he'd have to wait until morning to access his stash of money and passports. After that, he'd fly out of town under his real name.

Then he'd become Justin Camp.

It wouldn't be enough to head to a country the U.S. didn't have an extradition treaty with because there were Paladins stationed all over the globe. He had a sick feeling they'd have the attitude that a threat to any of them was a threat to all of them. If Devlin Bane put out an all-call on Todd, those deadly bastards would come after him with weapons drawn no matter where he went.

Again, but only if they found him. In the next two days Todd Bedford would simply cease to exist.

He'd already told his wife he was leaving town on business. She was too caught up in her little charities to notice if he packed more clothes than usual. How long would it take her to figure out that he wasn't coming back? He wished he could be a fly on the wall when she realized her meal ticket had been canceled.

Prince that he was, he wouldn't completely clean out their bank accounts, but only because he was afraid it would send up too many red flags. She'd have enough to live on until she got a divorce and found some other poor bastard to support her.

For now, though, he had to maintain appearances. They were scheduled to have dinner with one of the Regents tonight.

With luck, by tomorrow evening he'd be winging his way to someplace with sunny beaches and beautiful women. As long as he concentrated on the good things maybe he wouldn't worry so much about waking up with a sword at his throat.

With that chilling thought, he poured himself another stiff scotch. It was hard to swallow around the solid lump of fear in his throat, but he drank it anyway.

If the terrain didn't get easier to cross, they might have to give up and head back to the trail they'd been following earlier. With all the damn boulders and vertical drop-offs, they'd walked twice as far to get half the distance. If D.J.'s legs were aching this much, he could only imagine how Reggie was feeling, but she kept trucking right along.

He slowed down a bit, hoping she wouldn't notice. The last time he'd tried to accommodate her shorter gait, she'd ripped into him but good. She sure was a fierce little thing, the kind of woman who'd make some lucky guy one hell of a life partner.

Okay, Reggie with another man was an image he didn't want to think about. Especially her getting naked with someone else, even if it was some nice guy who lived a normal life. Hell, no, he'd gut the bastard before he'd let him touch her. D.J.'s hand had strayed to the pommel of his sword and pulled it halfway out of the scabbard. He shoved it back in and jerked his hand back to his side.

Unfortunately, Reggie had noticed.

“D.J., what's wrong? Did you see something?”

Damn it, D.J., get your head in the game.

“Uh, no. Just checking my weapons.”

That was his story and he was sticking to it. At least Reggie seemed to accept his explanation. He stopped and waited for her.

“Why don't you take a break while I see what's over that next rise?”

It was a testament to how tired she was that she simply nodded and leaned against a nearby rock with a heavy sigh. When he looked back from the cover of the trees, she was sipping her water, her face a study in pain. Damn, maybe they should stop for the night even though they still had hours of dim sunshine in which to travel.

He'd been slowly working their way back toward the trail for the past hour. If he could determine where the Others were, it might be worth the risk to use the trail long enough to reach the hills. They'd definitely make better time that way.

It took him about fifteen minutes to reach a point where he could see the trail below. For the moment, there was no one in sight, not even the telltale sign of dust floating in the air. He retreated down the slope and took off running back to Reggie. He'd been gone longer than he'd meant to and didn't want to worry her.

She was just where he'd left her. That was the good news.

The bad news? She wasn't alone.

There was one thing this whole experience had taught Reggie and that was the taste of fear. She suspected that D.J.'s need to scout ahead was an excuse to let her sit for a while. She'd been too tired to argue the point; a couple of minutes of not having to move had sounded too good to pass up. After a long drink of water, she'd closed her eyes to give them a brief rest. Really, that's all she'd meant to do.

Evidently her exhaustion beat out her good intentions. She had no idea how long she'd actually slept, but she'd been jerked out of a deep sleep by someone kicking her foot.

She'd woken up furious and ready to rip into D.J. for his heavy-handed technique. Unfortunately, the man standing in front of her wasn't D.J. Heck, he wasn't even human. Her throat immediately closed up, preventing her from screaming for help. She just hoped that D.J. wasn't walking back into an ambush.

Her captor made no move to touch her once he was satisfied she was awake. Was he waiting for his buddies to catch up with him before the party started? God, she didn't want to think about it.

Then he actually smiled at her. “Reggie? D.J.?”

His accent was so heavy that it took her a second to recognize her own name. How did he know who she was?

“I'm Reggie,” she said, pointing at herself since he seemed to be waiting for a response.

“D.J.?” he said again, making it sound like a question.

Did she out her friend or claim ignorance? It wouldn't exactly be a lie since she really didn't know where he was at the moment. He'd already been gone far longer than she'd expected him to be.

She settled for a shrug, holding her hands out palms up. She had no idea how well nonverbal communication translated from one world to the next. Under other circumstances, she would've found that idea fascinating, but right now, not so much.

But her taciturn companion evidently understood because he nodded and moved a short distance away. As soon as he did, she scrambled to her feet. When he started back toward her, she froze in place. She'd never outrun him, but she felt less like a prisoner standing up. Maybe it was stupid to feel that way, but there it was.

This Kalith was a definite puzzle. He was dressed in a manner similar to that of the others she'd seen, but there were differences, too. She'd guess he was younger, but that wasn't it. He stood ramrod straight, almost military in his stance. His clothing was uniformly dark except for an ornate insignia sewn to the front of his tunic.

He didn't seem inclined to talk, so she didn't try. Maybe he didn't speak English. He shifted slightly, his attention riveted on the other side of the clearing. What had he heard or seen that had him on full alert?
Please,
God, don't let D.J. come charging into an ambush.
Maybe she could distract this guy.

She hesitated, but the Kalith's attention remained fully focused on that same spot. He held his weapon by his side, not exactly a threat but definitely ready to act if necessary. When he took a step forward, she bolted and ran in the opposite direction.

He hollered and charged after her. When she looked back, he'd sheathed his sword and was gaining ground on her quickly. That was all right. As long as he was concentrating on her, D.J. was safe. She put everything she had into getting away, but after the day she'd had, she was running on fumes. After just a few seconds, he was breathing down her neck.

Then in one fell swoop, he scooped her up in his arms. That did it. She totally lost all control, preparing to scream her lungs out, flail her arms, and kick as hard as she could. She tried to break free but nothing worked. The Kalith slapped his big hand over her mouth and just waited until she'd exhausted the last of her energy.

When she hung limp in his arms, he quietly carried her back to where she'd left her pack and gently lowered her to the ground. Once again he stepped back, holding up his hands as if asking her to stay put. Then he drew his sword again.

“D.J.,” he said, pointing across the clearing with the tip of his blade.

She held her breath and prayed he was wrong.

Once again Cullen was going to leave it up to Cody to explain their findings. It felt almost as if the Paladin was showing off his star pupil. Cody could only hope that Devlin and the rest were even half as impressed as Cullen was by what Cody had dug up on those two guys in St. Louis.

They'd gathered in Devlin's office again. Cullen distributed hard copies of the information while Devlin spoke.

“Okay, everybody, listen up. Cullen tells me that Cody here has found the nails to seal the coffin on those two assholes in St. Louis. He's going to go over the highlights with us. The good news is, Sasha has already agreed to contact her father with the report.”

Then he nodded in Cody's direction. “You're up.”

Cody started at the beginning, careful to follow Cullen's advice not to drown them all in geek speak. He stuck to the facts, starting with Ray's e-mail to Reggie and going from there. By the time he got to the part where Todd had a flight booked to Miami the next afternoon, the room was unnaturally quiet.

Not bored quiet either. Deadly quiet was more like it. Ominous, even. If he'd had any doubts about the true nature of these men, they were pretty much laid to rest now.

They all had their eyes pinned on Cody, looking pretty damn fierce. It would've been scary if he'd been the real target of their anger. All of it was directed toward the two men who'd jeopardized an innocent woman's life for their own selfish reasons. That was bad enough, but the Paladins also stood to lose one of their own if D.J. didn't make it back from Kalithia with Reggie.

Cody concluded with the last few details and then turned it over to Devlin. The big man stood and looked around the room before nodding at Cody with a brief smile.

“Okay, guys, like I said, Sasha is going to contact her father immediately. She's asked that we hold off any direct confrontation until the Regents are notified. However, I've already called Jarvis and filled him in about what's going on. He's got men on the way to keep an eye on both targets until we get the official go-ahead. Either way, Lonzo and I are on a flight to St. Louis in three hours.”

Then Devlin smiled again, but there was nothing friendly about it this time. “Jarvis has also promised that they'll take the bastards down if they try to bolt before the Regents decide to act. It's such a shame when communications break down.”

The laughter in the room was edgy and dark, but Cody found himself joining in. His first concern was getting Reggie back safely, but they also needed to make sure she stayed safe once she was home. Besides, he wanted the bastards to pay for putting her through hell, not to mention everyone else who'd been drawn into this mess.

“Any questions?”

“I've got one.” It was Trahern holding up his hand.

“Ask away.”

Trahern briefly turned his icy eyes in Cody's direction before speaking.

“I was wondering when we're going to put my young friend here on the payroll. He's earned it. The rest of us have been sitting on our collective asses while he and Cullen have done all the work.”

Now all eyes were on him. Cody expected Devlin to tell Trahern to butt out. Instead he was nodding.

“I've already spoken to Sasha about it. I was going to talk to Cody after the meeting. For now, let's just say we take care of our own.”

Okay, a whole new cotton crop popped up in Cody's throat, spreading to his lungs and making it hard to breathe and impossible to talk. Payroll? Seriously?

Devlin tossed his empty cup in the trash. “Okay, everybody out of here. It's business as usual until you hear otherwise. Cody, stay where you are.”

D.J. drew his sword and slowly started forward, fighting the urge to charge in and ask questions when the dust settled. Two things stayed his hand, the first being that the Other was making no threatening moves toward either of them at the moment. The second was that the bastard stood between him and Reggie.

“D.J.?”

Okay, how did that guy know his name? There was only one way that he could think of.

“Berk?”

The Other nodded. “Sent me.”

D.J. still hesitated, but lowered his sword slightly. “What else did he tell you?”

“Barak. Hunter. Berk. Cave. Safety. Trust.”

The Kalith repeated the words as if he'd memorized the speech without really understanding the complete meaning. Even so, it was the best news D.J. had heard in days.