Wind-Scarred (The Will of the Elements, Book 1) (32 page)

Sarah cleared her throat again and took
another fortifying gulp of whiskey. “About a month before your
little stunt, we went out on a routine mission.” She spoke softly,
eyes fixed on the bar, not looking at anything. “Trouble with a
fire-kissed. Tame location, one that was checked up on regularly.
We found the contact tied to a chair, electrical burns at his
temples. A bunch of the townsfolk tried to ambush us, but we fought
our way free.” Her grip on the glass tightened. “Thunder-struck hit
the skiff. We got a smoke screen up and managed to evade him. He
toasted half the town looking for us. We laid low, slipped away
after dark, and trekked back to the port.”

Ezra could hear her grinding her teeth.
“There was another blighted thunder-struck, waiting there for us,”
she spat. “He thundering knew where we were going. Tried to connect
and call for help, but he had some kind of interference running.
Rob made the plan. Mat superheated the water in our canteens then
threw them like grenades. I shot them out of the air all around the
strucking bastard. He nearly killed himself trying to fire back,
then Rob closed on him with an insulated knife. We connected to
Sanctuary and bolted for the portal. That's when the third
thunder-struck stepped out from behind a tree. He grabbed the death
spark from one we'd taken down and flattened everything. The whole
goddamn world exploded. I got knocked ten feet by the blast,
couldn't sort out my head from my ass. They said I must've been
partially grounded, which is why it hit me like a truck instead of
roasting me to my boots. Mat got me and pulled me clear. Rob never
had a chance.”

Sarah wiped angrily at her eyes, took a deep
breath and blew it out. “And that's the story, Hawkins.” She
finished her drink and glanced at Sean. He gave her an appraising
look then shrugged and filled her glass again. “So, now that I feel
nice and horrible, your turn,” she said with a smirk.

“
Oh,” Ezra squirmed uncomfortably. “Well, seven years ago, my
parents and I-”

“
Blighted hell, no!” Sarah interrupted. “I don't need your
grief. Something funny! Preferably where you look
stupid.”

Ezra blinked a few times, then grinned. “All
right then. Do you know Mitzi Parnasus?”

==

“
And so there I was, butt naked, standing in the middle of this
broken terrarium with a stick in one hand and a rock in the other,
Kirsten glaring at me as she tried to get the spider juice off her
shoe, and the cook walks in with this big pot singing, 'I make the
spicy meatballs for everyone!'”

Sarah pounded the bar as she guffawed
helplessly. “And they were spicy! They were only spicy because, ha,
ha, because-” She deteriorated into a fresh round of hooting
laughter, slapping Ezra on the back. “Hawkins, you're all right,”
Sarah slurred with the total assurance of the truly drunk. “Even
though you're a thundering stupid Legacy half-wit who's too dumb to
know when to be afraid, you're all right.”

“
Hey now,” Ezra said with mock seriousness. “I take exception
at that remark. Why, I it on good authority that I'm so afraid of
my own shadow that I have to sneak spy devices into every...” His
voice trailed off as he bolted to his feet, thoughts dodging
bubbles of drunkenness to form an idea. “Struck me,” he whispered.
“Spy devices. Why didn't I think of that?”

Ezra woke the next morning feeling great.
Well, he felt terrible, but one look at the message his inebriated
mind had managed to put together and send the night before set him
smiling bigger than he thought he could. He actually whistled as he
grabbed his gym equipment and headed out. Kirsten gave him a
calculating look, to which he replied with a wink. “Check the news
today,” he called back to her as he jogged out the door.

Gal was missing from their morning training
session, probably off on another mission. Ezra felt a brief pang of
jealousy as he joined Liza on the mat, but that was washed away by
the big girl's sudden grin. “A formal apology? What did you do,
Ezra Hawkins?”

Ezra found himself mirroring her expression.
“Just my civic duty, Miss Crawford,” he said piously. “Helping DOLT
in any little way I'm able.”

“
Lieutenant Jeffries demoted and brought up on charges of
reckless endangerment and fraud,” Liza shook her head, eyes
gleaming. “We write the news, and DOLT isn't telling us anything
else. So, off the record...”

“
Well...” Ezra began stretching to limber up. “Theoretically, a
conscientious citizen may have realized that the composition of
matter around a wormhole is very important. Said citizen may have
used the quantum tunneling capabilities of the wormhole algorithm
generators in the Sanctuary Center to map the fermions around the
power conduit that caused the portal network crash from a few weeks
ago. Being an industrious little worker, he may have reverse
engineered several key minutes of data into a video. And it's
possible that a certain, unnamed DOLT detective was seen tripping
over the conduit in question, kicking it a few times, then storming
off.”

“
And I imagine this citizen felt obligated to share this
potentially embarrassing information with DOLT at his earliest
convenience?”

“
Conscientious citizen, remember? I've also heard that some
enterprising troublemaker managed to get his hands on the footage
and released it on the neural net...” Ezra pulled up his net
interface and posted a copy of the incriminating video in response
to the most recent 'Jeffries for commissioner' campaign ad,
“...now.” He smiled smugly as Liza's eyes went wide and she made a
hurried call to her father.

Several breathless minutes later, Liza shook
her head and said, “You can't just drop something huge on my head
like that, Ezra. News is what we Crawfords do. It's... it's like if
I suddenly discovered a wormhole... thingy... and told you about
it. You just wouldn't be able to help yourself.”

“
My
sincere apologies, Miss Crawford,” Ezra bared his teeth in a wicked
smile. “Now, you were teaching me to defend myself?”

==

The two friends were on their way back to
the Legacy section of Sanctuary when a pair of shadows fell over
their path. “Stop right there,” a strident voice called out.

Ezra groaned. “Lieutenant Jeffries. Oh, I'm
sorry. I guess it's just officer now, isn't it.” He gave Jeffries a
cocky grin. “Trip over anything good lately?”

“
Ezra, I don't think you should-”

Jeffries cut Liza off with a snort. “Funny.
You think you've got me kid? You have no idea.” The man was
practically trembling with anger. He took a deep breath, then
smiled unpleasantly at Ezra. “Wilson,” he said casually to the
brick of a man standing next to him, also in DOLT uniform. “How
would you characterize the good Mr. Hawkins' behavior?”

“
Belligerent and confrontational, sir,” the other man growled,
pig-like eyes gleaming evilly. “Looks like he's going for a
weapon.”

“
Is that so?” Jeffries turned to look at the other officer with
deliberate casualness and, without warning, whirled and punched
Ezra in the gut. “You think you've won, you Legacy piece of trash?”
he spat as Ezra fell to the ground clutching his stomach. Jeffries
lashed out with a savage kick, clipping Ezra's shoulder. “You're
nothing, you hear me!”

Liza stood with her hands to her mouth in
horror. “Officer, please, this is-”

The other DOLT, Wilson, imposed himself
between her and Jeffries. “Careful there, ma'am.” He leered at her,
evil little eyes dancing. “You're acting a little belligerent and
confrontational yourself.” One meaty hand grabbed Liza's wrist.

Her eyes narrowed, and she whirled into
action. She pulled Wilson into a throw, sweeping his legs out from
under him and leaping to follow the movement. Her full weight came
down, focused onto her elbow, driving into his sternum just as his
back slammed to the ground. Liza bounded up from the fallen man,
arms whirling. Jeffries never saw her coming. A hand locked in at
his shoulder, another by his knee, and suddenly the former
detective was airborne, twirling through a brief flight that
terminated in a vicious landing.

“
Oh my,” Liza whispered quietly, staring down at the two
officers of the law she had felled in horror.

“
Blighted hell,” Ezra wheezed, forgetting to check his
language. He staggered to his feet and grabbed Liza's hand. “We
have to move, come on.” They left the two men groaning on the
ground, fleeing to the safety of the Legacy estates.

==

“
Ezra, need to practice a little early today,” Mat's voice was
rushed over their net connection. He was obviously running.
“Various and sundry things to do. Get there ASAP.”

“
Mat, I really don't have time for-”

“
No time, official business, explain later.” Mat cut the
connection.

Not now
, Ezra thought, looking over at the traumatized Liza Crawford
sitting on his bed, staring bleakly out the window.
Okay Ezra, think, you just have to get Liza home,
then you can go find out what's going on with the Guild.

“
Liza,” he said carefully. “Are you all right?”

“
Just threw them,” she murmured, “just like in practice. B-but
there were no mats, and they didn't fall right. They didn't fall
right at all.” Her eyes remained fixed on some point outside. Ezra
groaned internally. He wasn't going to get her anywhere like this.
He looked around, trying to think of something, anything. Nothing
came to him. Frustrated, Ezra kicked his desk. The workspace
containment field shifted out of place. Ezra scowled at it. It
wouldn't even have been in place to begin with if Kirsten hadn't
tried to straighten things up...

That was it. He glanced back at Liza, who
was still mumbling about how she hadn't meant to hurt anyone. With
a heart-felt sigh, Ezra opened his net connection and did something
he had never imagined doing before. He called his secretary.

“
So that's the situation,” Ezra finished giving Kirsten the
details of Jeffries's assault on he and Liza. “I need to take care
of a situation with the Guild of Sundry angle. If I don't show, the
whole thing could come crashing down around us.”

Kirsten's beautiful eyes were focused
somewhere off-screen. Behind her was the interior of a skiff, and
if the ambient sounds were any indication, she was either in the
middle of a war zone or doing some creative piloting. “Explain
again why you need to leave during what is without a doubt a rather
crucial moment for not one, but two rather important Legacy
houses.” Her voice was tight with controlled anger.

“
I
cannot.”

Kirsten shot him a glance before returning
her eyes to the road. “And you say that you have to leave
immediately?”

“
I'll be taking a wormhole directly from the house to my
destination,” Ezra said tersely as he shoved his wormhole
controller into his glider's pack. Pausing for a moment to
consider, he added the worn copy of
The
Will of the Elements
for good
measure.

“
Have you notified the Crawfords of the situation?” Kirsten's
voice was tinged with annoyance.

“
I
thought it best if you handled the diplomatic side of this debacle,
Miss O'Donnell.”

“
Debacle indeed,” she growled under her breath, turning the
skiff violently. A woman screamed. Something splattered across the
window. Ezra tried not to think about what it might have
been.

“
Kirsten,” he said softly. “Please. You're the only one I can
trust.”

She gave him a startled look, then flicked
her hair in irritation. “I'll have to come up with a plan of
action. DOLT takes the safety of their officers very seriously,
even the ones who are out of favor. Do I have your permission to
use any means necessary to bring this to bay?”

Ezra hesitated briefly, glanced at the time,
then sighed. “Of course, Miss O'Donnell. I'll leave you a blanket
approval.”

“
That should do nicely.” A feral grin lit Kirsten's beautiful
face. Ezra shivered in sudden fear of whatever scheme she was
hatching.

“
I
won't be gone any longer than necessary,” he said, pausing to look
back at Liza. “Please... take care of her.”

Ezra looked back to find Kirsten's intense
emerald eyes staring back at him, lit with an almost manic fire.
“Will that be all, Mr. Hawkins?” The connection closed before he
could respond.

That was not
disturbing
, Ezra thought to himself as he
arranged the approval Kirsten would need to access house funds or
issue statements in his name.
I should
definitely not be disturbed by that
. He
paused at his lab's door, then granted her back-door access to the
wormhole portal network, just in case that was deemed 'necessary'.
He dialed his lab's wormhole generator directly to the Guild of
Sundry, new equations for wormhole hacking and connectivity humming
through his head as he ensured that it didn't disrupt existing
connections. A connection popped up, and he jacked the power stream
for the half-second it took to step through into the
guild.