Blood Finale (God Wars #5) (12 page)

"What?" Thurlow pushed me behind him, forgetting for a moment that I far outranked him, now.

"Don't get your panties in a knot, Lissa," the cowl was pulled back, revealing Charles as he really was—dark-haired and gray-eyed.

"What the bloody hell?" Merrill was off the sofa and staring at Charles—just as Thurlow and I were.

"Did you reach Griffin?" Charles ignored Merrill and asked his question of Amara.

"He is coming," she said, allowing Merrill to help her rise.

"Good. I need to see the old goat as well." Charles made himself comfortable by sitting on the edge of my desk.

"You were about to explain about Thurlow?" I said, crossing arms over my chest in a sudden fit of anger.

"I remade him," Charles shrugged. "Got anything to eat? I've had a busy day."

"Where are the other two?" I demanded.

"Ashe," he raised a hand. "Bree," he tapped his chest.

"I take it you're the One, then?" Merrill said.

"Take it any way you like," Charles said before waving the other hand and causing a tray of food to appear next to him. "This is good," he lifted a roast-beef sandwich and bit into it. It wasn't difficult to see he'd raided my kitchen with power.

All of us gaped as the One sat on the desk in my private study, consuming a roast-beef sandwich, potato salad and tea. When Griffin arrived, Charles licked a crumb off a finger, glared at Griffin and Griffin cowered.

* * *

Du'Ferias—present

Reah's Journal

"I thought the jungles at the edge of SouthStar were bad," Keith Caldwell stared at the mass of tangled vines, trees, brush and tropical flowers surrounding us. Tybus and Aurelius had shields up, keeping vermin and insects away, but I felt they wouldn't bother us anyway—they recognized us, whether humanoids did or not.

"Will we be able to travel through this mess, without using power?" Tybus pulled me into his arms and placed a kiss atop my head. I'd be lying if I said his touch didn't send a thrill through me, because it did.

He'd watched as I fed the baby earlier in the morning, and held her while I dressed for the jungles we'd be traversing to reach Hordace Cayetes' compound. I worried about leaving her behind, but Lexsi was in good hands. Edward always chose well when we hired anyone, but these—several women from SouthStar volunteered to watch her.

Tilting my head up, I offered Tybus a smile. He took advantage by leaning down to kiss me. There would be no subterfuge with this man. No withholding of information, as Teeg had done. I wanted to melt against him. We had no time for that.

"Kay, what do you recall about Cayetes' compound?" Tybus let me go—he'd come to the same realization I had—that our relationship must be put on hold while we concentrated on our mission.

"The buildings were in a clearing, higher than the surrounding trees," Kay said. "Because it rained a lot. I remember the smell, too, at times, like we were near a river or something."

"Here." Aurelius lifted a hand and formed a map from energy. It floated amidst us and depicted a wide, winding river that traversed the jungles of Du'Ferias. He added a three-dimensional, topical aspect and we all searched for higher ground near the Gul'ib River.

"Possible here," Jett pointed out. "And here." Both places were practically surrounded by the river, it curved so deeply around a circular portion of jungle. That left only a narrow space to drive land vehicles in and out, leaving the area easily defensible.

"We'll check both. How close do you think we might get without alerting them to our presence?" Edward asked.

"That depends on whether there are any waiting who outrank us, or worse," Kevis rumbled, examining the map carefully. "I just had mindspeech with Dad. He says to be careful—he asked Li'Neruh Rath to join the conversation, and he agreed. We all know what happened with Lissa and the others on Baetrah's edge."

We did know. While Li'Neruh could have defeated the one named Quislus, the General arrived and attempted to destroy all those present. Kifirin was already dead by that time, and I had mixed feelings about that. Now that I knew Quislus had influenced much of what had occurred, my anger with Kifirin had deflated greatly.

"Then let's land here by mist," Aurelius suggested, pointing to a likely spot near the first target, "keep our shields tightly about us and allow Farzi, Nenzi and Philip's animals to lead us in."

"I'm worried that they may already know that Hordace is dead," Kay sighed. "And that we may be too late, no matter what."

"We'll still be tracking them, even if the worst comes to pass," Edward soothed. "If we can't save all the children, we'll at least save those in the future."

"Don't forget, we can bend time," Kevis pointed out. "I don't have a problem doing that, if lives will be saved."

"Then let's do this," Kay said. "For Ashe and Breanne. For us. For those waiting for us to rescue them."

I knew without asking that she'd waited for someone to rescue her as well. I wanted to weep because it hadn't happened.

"Turning to mist now," Tybus said, and soon we were flying over the jungles of Du'Ferias as invisible, untraceable mist.

* * *

Lissa's Journal

"I don't give a damn whether you like it or not. He was your healer and it's the least you can do. Refuse and I'll have your power, here and now. It's as simple as that."

I'll admit, I'd never seen this side of Charles. He was always so accommodating—the one I'd known in the past. This one was telling my biological father—plainly—that he'd cooperate or he'd lose what he had.

"Look, I only know what foods he preferred, what sort of fabrics for his clothing, his preferences for housing, that kind of thing," Griffin complained. "I ought to—I fabricated enough of those things for him through the years."

"Griffin, do this," Amara snapped at him. "You may know more than you think," she added.

"I'll do it. You're right—I don't have to like it," Griffin offered a curt nod to Charles.

"The moment they find Saxom is the moment you can go back to wherever you were hiding and feeling sorry for yourself," Charles said and disappeared.

"Then let's go," Griffin muttered.

Merrill kissed Amara's cheek, nodded to me and he and I transported an unwilling Griffin to Fresno in the past.

* * *

Bill's Journal

I wasn't sure what was going on, but it didn't look good from my point of view. Griffin—Lissa's father—glowered, his arms crossed tightly over his chest as the rest of us were introduced to him.

"He may have vital information on Saxom," Adam said. "About personal tastes and things of that nature. As questions come up, Griffin is the one to ask and advise us. And, as Moxas is Saxom's twin, it seems logical that the two would have similar tastes."

"It's a safe bet that others are carrying in food and anything else they want," Trajan offered. "But we can place someone in the likely places, or divert security cameras. I assume that we'll have Sirenali or others we may recognize running errands for those two."

"Tell me this," Merrill began, "What kind of climate did Saxom prefer?"

"Cooler temperatures. Loves fog and mist, for some reason," Griffin shrugged uncomfortably. I could see there was a disagreement between them, but decided not to pry.

"You just described the bay area and much of the Northern California coast," Lissa said.

"That's a big area to cover," Adam said.

"Images?" I asked. After all, I'd never seen Saxom.

"Here." Griffin held out a hand and photographs appeared. I studied a photograph of Saxom that Adam passed to me. He was short—perhaps five-three or four, with dark, straight hair, hazel eyes and a straight mouth. Could they not see that it appeared cruel, that mouth? I wondered at the fact that he'd been selected as a healer for the Saa Thalarr to begin with.

"Prefers seafood," Griffin went on. "The more expensive kind. If there's a good seafood restaurant anywhere, you can bet he'll buy from there."

"He doesn't cook?"

"Very little. Hates it, actually," Griffin replied. "The few times he went on assignment with me, I did most of the cooking."

"There are hundreds of good seafood restaurants along the coast and in the bay area," Kiarra said. "He could pick and choose and still not go to the same one twice in six months."

"Then what to lure him in?" I asked.

"Something new," Lissa said. I could see that an idea was forming with her.  "Merrill—can you send Amos and Flossie Thompson to Kiarra's planet to replace Fes? If we bring him here, it will almost be like putting Reah in a high-dollar San Francisco restaurant to cook fish for them. He does it almost as perfectly as she does, and that will bring in customers by the boatload."

"I think that might work," Trajan said. "We can put him up in Breanne's house—it's still there and waiting. A few of us can stay with him and work on that front," he added. "That way, somebody will be here, waiting, if he shows up, and some of us can be there, waiting to see if he sends somebody to the restaurant for Fes' fish. Either way, we may get him."

"Who's going to the bay area?" Opal raised her hand.

"I'll certainly go, I'm probably more familiar with the area than anyone else," Jayson volunteered.

"Then let's do this," Merrill suggested. "Lissa, Gavin, Kiarra, Adam, Joey and I stay here with Griffin, the rest of you go to San Rafael. Find a really good restaurant and convince them to hire Fes. Communication should be easy enough between us, and whoever locates Saxom first, the others will come running, guaranteed."

"Good enough," I said. "If you need local resources, let me know—I can make arrangements. Keep an eye on the political temperature, too. We may need to intervene if the situation gets worse. Those killings in slums and poor areas are beginning to bother me a lot."

"Me, too," Kiarra spoke up. "I'm afraid the local police may not investigate properly, either."

"Who can we put on that?" Lissa asked.

"How about Gracie, Devin, Fox, Radomir, Lisster and Chazi?" Kiarra said. "All of them can shift and get in and out of places without being suspicious," she grinned.

"You handle that," I said. "Get them on the job fast. I'm sick of hearing how people are being targeted like this, and you can bet it'll turn into the worst kind of class war ever."

"I will come with you, then," Thurlow volunteered with a nod in my direction. He didn't want to be near Griffin and the feeling was mutual, I could tell.

Lissa?
I sent.

Yeah,
she returned.
I don't want to hear any bickering, if you want to know the truth.

Then we'll take him and put him to work
, I agreed. "I'd like to bring some of the reptanoids with us," I said aloud. "Bekzi and Perzi want to help, I think."

"You take them, we'll take Darzi and Hirzi and send Yanzi to work with Chazi," Adam agreed. "Those men are more helpful than most people might imagine, and their snakes are even more effective."

"Never hurts to have their help," Trajan drawled. "Call Winkler, Trace and Weldon if you need help, plus Martin is here in town—the updated version—let him know if you need anything."

"Let's go pack," I nodded to my group. "Who wants to go after Fes?"

"I'll get Fes and we'll meet you at Breanne's house," Trajan said.

* * *

"This is almost like old times," Jayson looked around Breanne's kitchen. "Need groceries, too."

"Then you and Opal get on that, I have some calls to answer," I said. "Plus, the President and a few congressmen want a meeting, so I may be in D.C. the rest of the day."

"Call if you need help," Opal waved before she and Jayson disappeared.

Frankly, I was worried about what I might find when I reached D.C. That's why I sent mindspeech to Hank the moment Jayson and Opal were gone. Only Thurlow remained, and he moped on the back patio, which overlooked San Rafael Bay.

Bill?
Hank returned my mindspeech immediately.

I may need a little help in Washington,
I replied
.

Worried that a few may be obsessed?

More than a few,
I responded.

I'll be in your office there in ten.

Thanks.

* * *

Hank walked into the meeting room with me an hour later. He was just as concerned as I when I told him what was happening across the country. While there were always crazies who'd take any excuse to involve themselves in murder and mayhem, this was unconscionable.

The President, Joint Chiefs, three Senators and three Representatives were already there, seated and waiting for us to arrive. A Sirenali also stood beside Senator Blake Folie's chair. Folie had always been a thorn in my side, but a Sirenali advisor made things so much worse.

Hank didn't waste time, reaching out with a hand and releasing the Sirenali's particles before Folie could whimper in protest.