Broken Wings (16 page)

Yes, she did. Josh was right. He'd
always been a good friend to Raea, because he cared about her.
Whether or not he had hoped to be more didn't matter. Josh was
trying to help in his own way.

"It's not likely," Elis
said.

"But it is possible."

Elis nodded. Anything was
possible.

"Then that's all that
matters."

"Hey! Elis!" Nare's voice came from
downstairs. "Josh! You two ready? Evelyn wants to get there early.
Elis, are you going?"

He met Josh's questioning look. The
data had subsided with the discussion about Raea. His head no
longer hurt as much, although the stream of bits still raced
through the background.

Josh's smile returned. "Come on. Come
with us."

"I don't pray to your God, or any
deity."

Josh blinked and sat up straighter.
"Seriously? But you always go with Mrs. Johnson."

"I drive, and keep her company.
It's…interesting. That's all."

"Oh. I always thought…" Josh sighed
and stood up. "Nevermind. I guess you're not coming?"

"I don't know." Elis didn't want to,
but with his head still full of data, he needed a break from the
computer. He'd been on it all day, partly because he didn't want to
think about what might have happened.

Now his stomach gurgled its objection.
He needed food and he needed a shower. After that, he would be
ready, but not now. It might be possible, and he would be with
friends. Debbie, Evelyn, and even Josh were the closest he had to
friends on that world. They were all going.

"Hey!" Nare stood in the doorway of
his room with her arms crossed. "They're not waiting all day. Are
you going or not?"

"If Evelyn doesn't mind, I'll catch up
after I eat and clean up." They prayed for Raea because they
believed it would help. If there was even the remotest chance it
might work, he wouldn't turn it down. And he couldn't stand the
thought of being alone in the house with Nare.

"All right." Nare's eyes shifted.
"Josh?"

"Ah…" He stared at Elis.

What did Josh want him to say? Elis
was going.

"I'll wait and go with Elis…if you
don't mind."

Elis shrugged.

"Suit yourself. Maybe you can knock
some sense into Mister Grumpy." Nare vanished a moment
later.

Anger flared, until Josh passed him to
the door.

"I'll wait downstairs."

Elis said nothing. Josh could keep
Nare company for now. She wouldn't go to church. If for no other
reason, getting out of the house gave him time away from
her.

He hurried to shower and dressed in a
plain, dark green long-sleeved shirt and black pants, and the
fingerless gloves he always wore in public to hide the Starburst
marks. After a quick meal, and his hair still wet but combed
aside—as useless as that would be—he left with Josh.

By the time they reached the church,
his hair hung over his face. Raea always said he should cut it
shorter. If she ever returned, he might do it just for
her.

They were early. The foyer was quiet,
while the steady chant of the rosary drifted from the open wooden
doors of the sanctuary. An air of quiet reverence hung over the
whole building, as if to make any sound would cause some great
cataclysm. Josh excused himself to join Debbie and
Evelyn.

Paul stood outside his office a few
feet down a short hall from the bright foyer. He wore his usual
black clothes and white collar and visited with two men. The young
priest caught Elis's eye and motioned for him to join
them.

"Elis." Paul hushed his
voice.

The two men watched him. The taller
man wore a sweater of horizontal black stripes on red, his dark
hair parted precisely off-center. The other man had thinning brown
hair exposing a patch of near baldness that shone in the light from
the office. Though stocky, he gave no less an impression of
physical strength and watched Elis's approach with an intense
interest that sent a note of caution through Elis's head. Or maybe
he was being paranoid, as Raea might say, although he had a good
reason for it.

Elis stopped next to Paul.

"Mister Torres and Mister Stein." Paul
motioned to each in turn.

Each man acknowledged him with a curt
nod.

"This is Elis Jasheir, the young man I
mentioned," Paul said. "He can probably answer your questions
better than me. He's close to Miss Dahlrich."

What questions? What about Raea? Elis
studied them—the way the taller, black-haired man stood rigid, his
hands clasped before him, an unwavering gaze; his slightly shorter
companion with his hands in his pockets and more
relaxed.

The taller man, the one Paul
identified as Mister Torres, spoke first. "We're following up on an
incident here—or, rather, a series of incidents—involving Miss
Dahlrich, approximately four weeks ago. Father Davison was just
telling us that she sometimes shows up at church and that you two
are now dating?"

"Correct." Or were dating, but he
wouldn't tell them.

"Is Miss Dahlrich with you? We were
told that she sometimes attends this church."

"I'm sorry. I can't help you with
that."

The two men exchanged looks. Mister
Stein passed a hand over his hair, or the little that remained. "Is
she, ah, home? Can we talk to her?"

Suspicions overpowered the data still
circling his head, shoving it further to the background. He
wouldn't help them if he could. "No." Why did they want to talk to
Raea? What were they after?

"Do you know where she is?"

Elis hesitated. He knew where she was,
but their question implied more. They wanted something. Even if
Raea was home, he wouldn't let them near her. No one else would
hurt her.

A horrible thought struck. What if
they were Shirukan or working with the Shirukan?

Mister Torres's eyebrow lifted
slightly. "Something happened to her."

They were sharp, but Elis wouldn't
give them the truth. His patience had reached its end. "What do you
want with Raea?"

"We only want to talk with
her."

No one ever wanted to talk to Raea
without gaining something from her. "Who are you? Who sent
you?"

"We're not at liberty to say. You have
our names. That's enough." Stein slipped his hands back into his
pants pockets and shrugged. "We need to speak to Miss Dahlrich in
person. If you see her—" He pulled one hand out and dipped into the
breast pocket of his shirt and offered a business card to Elis.
"Have her contact us. Won't you?"

Elis took the card.

"Good day." Stein flashed a quick
smile and offered his hand, which Elis clasped briefly. Torres gave
a curt nod and followed his companion from the church.

Even from the small exposure of the
Starburst on the inside of the two fingers where a trail of it
extended beyond his gloves, he would have felt it with a touch of
the resonance. He didn't need to access the resonance to know,
though. No Shirukan ever offered a hand to a Keeper. These men were
human.

What did they want with
Raea?

Elis looked down at the card. It bore
only a name—Matthew Stein—and a phone number.

He would use that information and
track down who they really were. What was one more search? It would
keep him too busy to fall into the emotional hole left by Raea's
absence.

__________

Sheep
in Wolf's Clothing

Raea stepped back from the sight that
sent shivers through her.

Leksel reached behind him to fasten a
flap on the back of his neck, his dark brown wings lowered to his
sides out of his way.

Next to her, Cris chuckled at the
older man. ["You're frightening the poor Keeper."]

Leksel's eyes could have sliced Cris
in half, but without a word, he proceeded to fasten the black,
thigh-length coat over the black flightsuit and belt it.

The precision of his manners and
sharpness of his orders clicked together with the belt at his
waist. The way he stood straighter and tightened his wings to his
back transformed him into the Shirukan with the change of
clothes.

When he suggested the idea, Raea had
no idea how well he fit the picture. This wasn't the first time
he'd worn that uniform; he had slipped into it like a second skin.
["You've done this before."]

Leksel pulled on the black gloves.
["Yes."]

Four of them stood in the room. The
others had gone out ahead of their intended path, ready to flank
the guards they hoped to encounter. Leksel had pulled the uniform
from the pack he carried, like Corsa, who now stood behind him in
the same black uniform.

Raea shuddered at the sight of the two
of them. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. ["I…don’t know if I
can do this."]

A hint of a smile cracked the hard
lines of his face.

["Don't worry."] Cris patted her
shoulder. ["Leks knows his way around the Shirukan better than
anyone. He won't let anyone hurt you."]

Easy for him to say. He wouldn't be
the one with his hands and wings secured, playing unconscious.
Rather, he'd be following in the shadows, waiting for them to do
the hard work of finding and disabling two more Shirukan to take
their uniforms.

["Ready?"] Corsa held open the
shackles with their wing binders attached to the metal wrist
loops.

["No. Isn't there another
way?"]

["Not unless we want to arouse
suspicions."]

Raea preferred Corsa's
disagreement.

["You won't be locked in,"] Leksel
said and took the shackles from Corsa.

Sure, she'd seen that in movies
before. It never worked, but at least they weren't trying to break
into any detention level. They just wanted to disarm and unclothe
two Shirukan so she and Cris would have uniforms to walk past the
guards in the shuttle bay with Leksel, steal a shuttle, and get the
hell out of Dodge, or, rather, Naviketan. She hated the sight of
those uniforms; wearing one herself would be sickening.

["You'll be all
right."]
Now
Cris
sided with Leksel?

["Why do
I
have to go? Why can't
the two of you just go out and take down two guards?"]

["If I'm carrying you, the
Crystal Keeper, any normal Shirat soldiers we encounter will call
for other Shirukan to aid us. Regular soldiers aren't
meistal
. The Shirukan have
authority over any ordinary soldier. They can absorb some of the
Starfire energy if a Crystal Keeper releases it on them. That's why
they're the elite forces. We need Shirukan uniforms."]

She still didn't like it.

A gentle rub on her shoulder from Cris
brought back the aching need for Elis's presence. If only he was
there. She trusted him. He'd know what to do. She'd barely known
these three a day or more. What day was it, anyway?

["It's all right."] Cris
spoke in a soft voice. ["I don't like it either, but this
is
the best way to get
there. Who knows how far you'll get by the time you find someone.
Besides, I'll be close behind."]

She wanted to believe him. Oh, how she
wanted to. But what if something went wrong? Her stomach wretched
into an awful mess.

["Leksel's good at this. He may not be
very nice—"]

She caught the severe glare from
Leksel to Cris.

["But he knows what he's doing."] Cris
took the shackles and held them open, ignoring the dark look.
["They won't be secure. You'll still be free to move if something
happens."]

If something happens…Thanks
for the vote of confidence.
Still, wasn't
there a better way?

This couldn't be happening, but it
was. She didn't have a choice. One way or another, she had to trust
them if she hoped to escape. Unless she wanted to just walk out and
let the Shirukan take her without a fight. Yeah, right. There was
an option.

["We don't have much time,"] Corsa
said.

["Raea?"] Cris waited with the
shackles.

She turned her back to him and let him
put one binder on her wrist and loop under her wings to secure her
other wrist with the first. The strap pinched her wings. She was
going to end up pulling out ruined feathers at some point. Not even
the microlinks that held the vanes together could withstand that
abuse. Sometimes she wished for bird feathers and a bill to preen;
pulling hurt, but at least the replacements grew in fast. ["Does it
have to be so tight?"]

Cris stepped around. ["It'll keep your
wings out of the way. Don't worry. I didn't lock them."]

Leksel took an imposing step towards
her.

She wasn’t ready for this. ["I don't
know."]

["Keep your head down and stay quiet.
You're supposed to be neutralized,"] Leksel said.