Between HeVan and Hell (4 page)

She concentrated on that while she
used her necklace. She didn’t notice the golden aura that started
to surround her as she pulled on her Nam-Nin power. When she felt
the pull, she let go. They all leaned over to see where it landed.
Grace was…at the mall?

Just then she heard a ringing coming
from her purse. It was one of the burner cells she’d bought after
she met the guys.

“Hello?” she said.

“Hey, Professor,” said Becky. “I’m
glad you’re there. I’m meeting Grace at the mall, and she’s got a
huge problem with her undercover assignment. She needs Jalen to
come into the City and pose as her boyfriend slash fiancé. The
detective she was going to work with had his cover blown. So what
do you say, can he help?”

“Oh, Becky, I’m so glad you called.
I’ve been so worried. She’s okay right now? Never mind. I know
she’s okay. I’d know if something were really wrong with her. Yes,
Jalen says Miranda saw her picture. She was here for dinner last
night, and Grace is a perfect match for Jalen and his brothers.
He’s here right now asking if he can go and help Grace,” said
Addie.

“Well, Your Highness, did you give
your permission? He’s your Royal Guard, after all.”

“Of course I did, Becky. How can you
even ask? Arjun made me choose a Royal Guard. I never thought I
needed them. He insisted, so I went along with it and chose Jalen,
Justyn and Jett because I knew them already. You know I don’t need
guards here on Earth.”

“I know. I just needed to be sure.
Hold on a second,” said Becky.

Addie could hear Becky typing in the
background. After a few minutes, Becky came back on the
line.

“Okay. I went into the property
records and made it look like Jalen owns Grace’s condo instead of
Grace. I waylaid some of the Big and Tall clothing you’ve been
ordering to the condo so Jalen will have clothes there. It will
arrive tomorrow.”

They could hear a few more clicks and
she continued, “I’m going to leave now and meet Grace at the mall
before I go to my first client meeting. Jalen needs to get into
town and get into Grace’s condo. He should probably buy a car and
pay cash. That way there’s no trace and he’ll need it anyway going
forward. Then he needs to call Grace’s cell, find out where she is,
and pick her up. She’ll explain from there. Oh, and her undercover
name is Grace Kelsey, it was easier to keep her first
name.”

“There’s one big problem with that;
Jalen doesn’t know how to drive. I’ve only taught Rune.”

At Jalen’s cough, she turned
around.

“Lady Addie,” he began sheepishly, “we
felt that in case of an emergency, we should all know how to drive
your vehicle. We’ve been practicing at night, when we patrolled the
area,” confessed Jalen.

“We also downloaded all the laws to
the nano-patches and watched several visual training guides on your
TV,” he added.

“Never mind, Becky, it seems the guys
have been keeping secrets from me. So we’re good for the driving.
Wait a minute! Hold on, Becky.”

She turned back to Jalen. “What about
your wings? You can’t have them bursting out at the wrong moment in
the middle of Chicago.”

“It’s alright, Addie. My
back only started to itch when I saw this picture. I should have
five or six light cycles - I mean days - before I will need to
complete the
Joining
. And even then, we must all be together for our wings to
emerge for the
Joining
Flight
.”

She gave him a smile and picked up the
phone again.

“Did you hear that? We’re good to go.
We’ll drive him into the City and drop him off at Grace’s. I’ll
check him in with building security,” said Addie.

“No need. Building security has been
temporarily replaced. We can’t have someone mentioning Grace is a
cop. And since her partner’s cover was blown, I had to come up with
an alternate address pretty quickly. Jalen is expected; just give
him the keys. Grace made me promise to keep you out of the
City.”

“What? Why that overprotective, little
vixen! So I’m not allowed to go into Chicago now?” asked
Addie.

Before Becky could answer, she heard
one of the guys over the phone.

“Anu
Libbu
, there is much to be done here.
Jalen will see that Grace comes to no harm. If you are there,
keeping you safe will have to be his first priority, even over the
well-being of his own happiness. You are our planet’s last hope. We
will not risk you, ever,” said Arjun.

Addie looked deeply into Arjun’s eyes
as he spoke to her. She picked up the phone again.

“Becky, I’m going to go
now. I need to speak to my
Ankida
. Jalen will be on the road as
soon as we can make the arrangements. Tell Grace to buy lingerie.
Bye.”

Addie didn’t wait for Becky to say
good-bye; she just hung up.

“Arjun, you and Rune and Kylan are my
heavenly hearts, too. My, Anu Libbu, sweet-talking me doesn’t mean
I’ll let you dictate my actions just because I’m Queen. I’ve been
taking care of myself all over the world in some very not-so-nice
conditions for a long time. I’m not defenseless. I’ve studied
Aikido for years. That being said, I won’t ask Jalen to split his
loyalties between my sister and me. I’m also not a moron,” she said
as she turned to Jalen.

“What about your brothers? Where are
they, anyway?” asked Addie.

“Justyn and Jett are sleeping,”
replied Jalen. “We’ve been splitting up the guard duty so one of us
is always awake.”

“Humph! That is not necessary! This is
a very safe, and somewhat dull, farming community and college town.
We roll the streets up at nine o’clock.”

Just then Suzanna entered the kitchen
and heard the last two exchanges.

“Addie, until we know that the
government accepts my report, you and the guys aren’t completely
safe. We also have to give them a reason for the signals they
picked up. Until they track that down, someone will always be
looking,” she said.

“Okay Suzanna, I take your point.”
Addie turned to Jalen.

“Jalen, you go to this club and send a
signal from there. I’ve asked you all to provide me with a huge
amount of data on your planet to be downloaded for my use. Have it
all come in while you’re on the premises of these bad guys. Let’s
put them in the frame. Of course, you should check with Grace
first. This is her first big undercover assignment, and I want her
‘to get the collar’ as they say, if that’s what she
wants.”

“You make it sound like you’re giving
her a treat,” said Suzanna.

“You just have to understand Grace.
She’s wanted to be a police officer since she was a kid. Protect
and Serve isn’t just a motto for her; she’s a cop to her very
bones. I’m determined that she comes back to HeVan with us. If she
breaks open a big case, then she’ll be leaving on a high
note.”

“You’ll convince her, won’t you,
Jalen?” she asked.

“I’ll do my best,
Beleti
Addie,” said
Jalen. “I and my brothers would prefer to return to HeVan rather
than remain here on Earth. We are needed there much
more.”

“Man, you’re just like her. You should
get along great. Well, let’s finish making these
pancakes.”

“Suzanna,” said Addie, “Is Heidi
awake? See if she wants some, okay?”

“Jalen, go and wake up your brothers.
You can’t leave without talking to them about this
anyway.”

Addie turned to her
three
Ankida
with
a big grin. “I like being Supreme Queen! I get to tell everyone
what to do!” she said, and they all laughed along with
her.

Thirty minutes later, they’d moved
breakfast to the dining room to accommodate everyone, and added
sausages and eggs to the menu to go with the pancakes. They were
about to sit down when Suzanna came in with Heidi. Boris and Bella,
Addie’s two oldest Great Danes, were still staying close to Heidi,
as if they could tell she still needed the security.

There wasn’t much talking during the
meal as it was delicious, and everyone was hungry. When the meal
was over, Arjun and Rune once again lost at ‘rock, paper, scissors’
and had to do the clean-up. Kylan sat at the table next to Addie
while they made a plan of action. Except for Addie, they were all
drinking coffee.

Addie started them off. “I
don’t like you going to the City by yourself, Jalen. You need to
take one of your brothers to help you. I haven’t been able to reach
my sister because of this assignment, so obviously she doesn’t know
I’m pregnant. Would you tell her? I’m sure you’ll think of the best
time to tell her nicely and don’t let her worry about the fact that
there are six babies, my
Ankida
will make sure I have the best care.”

“Becky didn’t mention it,
but she did say you’ll be going undercover as Grace’s rich
boyfriend. So I think you should also stop at the Diamond Mart and
buy her an engagement ring. That’s what we do on this planet when
we ask someone to
Join
with us. So when you see her, you go down on one knee, ask
her to marry you and when she says yes, you put the ring on the
third finger of her left hand. This one,” she said, as she held up
her bare hand and pointed to the correct finger.

“If this is the correct
custom, I will do as you ask. And I will take Jett with me. His
expertise in technology may prove useful. Will you take Heidi and
Suzanna and go back to the station until we have completed this
assignment? Or bring another group of guards here? I don’t like
leaving you unguarded,
Nam-Nin
,” said Jalen, using his own
language for calling her Supreme Queen.

When he saw her frown—before she could
speak, he quickly added, “If not for yourself, for your
children?”

Addie was not pleased that he’d
brought up the babies. She was carrying sextuplets, three sets of
twins according to Valerie, and even she knew this was going to be
a high-risk pregnancy. She thought for a minute, and then turned to
Suzanna.

“Suzanna, how long can you be out of
touch from your agency? I know you took leave, but surely you have
to check in.”

“They aren’t expecting another report
for four weeks,” said Suzanna. “Then I have to check in. They may
try and contact me in the meantime if something happens; I’m their
best tracker.”

Addie thought quietly for a few
minutes and then turned to Kylan.

“None of you would wait for a week or
longer if you felt that I was in danger. You must have a ship
standing by to take me to safety. Am I right?”

He blushed, and then said,
“
Kasharra,
we did
feel we should take precautions…” he stopped when she held up her
hand.

“I’m not angry at any of you. I’m glad
you thought of it. I may have thought of it myself if I had been
thinking clearly at the time. Send for another Fighting Cluster so
Jalen stops worrying. Justyn will be in charge of them. Send for
Gaius and Gael to come also; I want them to meet Heidi, and the
three of them can choose some land for us to buy. And also send for
Rapha; he can keep an eye on my pregnancy.”

“Addie, Gaius and Gael are at the main
ship, it would take a week for them to come. Wouldn’t it be better
to have Heidi go to them?” asked Arjun.

Addie nodded, then turned to
Heidi.

“Heidi, you have the power to make
things grow. How extensive is this power?” she asked.

Heidi looked all around the table. She
felt safe here. Bella and Boris sitting on the floor on either side
of her chair put their heads down on her knees in a show of
support, somehow knowing she needed it. For some reason she wanted
to tell these people, she felt almost compelled.

“Well, actually, there hasn’t ever
been anything I couldn’t grow. And if plants are sick or diseased,
they’re cured after I spend time with them. It’s like I will it to
happen and it does. I can feel myself doing it. Actually I’m almost
giving a part of myself to the plant. It doesn’t hurt or make me
tired. I usually feel better, more energized after working with
plants.”

“Thank you, Heidi, for telling us. You
really are a special lady. Now, I’m going to tell you something.
The reason you have those gifts is because of an ancestor of
yours.”

Addie pushed her hair off her
forehead.

“See this mark? You have a mark like
this, don’t you?”

At Heidi’s nod, she
continued.

“Suzanna here works for the
government. Like you, she has a very special gift, too. Suzanna,
would you tell us all about your gift?”

“My gift always knows the right time
and place to go to find out the truth in any given situation. By
concentrating, I can feel a part of me unfold and go to work, like
thinking hard and then the solution pops up in my brain. I then
also know where to get the proof I need to support the
solution.

“I work for the government. I’m what
you may have heard called ‘a man in black.’ I investigate UFO
sightings and other strange phenomena. I’m good at debunking hoaxes
and discovering the truth in any situation.”