Laura Jo Phillips (25 page)

“I have to do it for Harlan, and for my children.  She and Harlan are cousins, but they grew up together like brother and sister.  They had no family other than each other, just like Lariah and I have no one besides each other.  It’s very important to me that we find Hope.”

 “I thought you said you didn’t know Hope,” Rob said.  

“I don’t,” Ellicia replied.  “I met Harlan several months before Hope left for Jasan, but he didn’t tell me about her until later.  She was worried about the Directorate forcing her to work for them because she has a psychic talent, so Harlan promised her he wouldn’t tell anyone about her.”

“They force women to work for them?” Clark asked with a soft growl.

“No, they absolutely do not,” Ellicia said vehemently.  “There are a lot of people who think they do, and Harlan admitted he once thought that, until he started working for the Directorate himself.  When Harlan told me about Hope I promised that I would keep her secret, and check on her myself.”

“As I said, we will keep your secret,” Jackson said.  “We want to find her at least as much as you, probably more.  But we also cannot help but be concerned about you.  Is there any way you could send us back to the apartment for whatever it is you need?”

“No, Jackson,” Ellicia replied.  “I need to do this myself.  And I’m fine. You don’t need to worry so much about me.”

Jackson nodded.  “All right Ellicia, we’ll go over there, but you are not spending the entire day there like you did yesterday.”

Ellicia rolled her eyes.  She was not used to being coddled, and she was definitely not used to being told what to do.  But she couldn’t be offended by Jackson, Clark and Rob’s concern for her.  She knew it came from a genuine place within them, and wasn’t meant to be bossy or condescending.  They were truly good men.  She knew that down to her soul, though she didn’t know how or why she knew it.

“Let’s go then,” she said, starting to push her chair back.

“Just a moment,” Jackson said quickly, “there is something we wish to discuss with you before we go.

“All right,” Ellicia said.

“When a male-set identifies their Arima, even if they have never laid eyes on her yet, they have a difficult time controlling their emotions, particularly if she is in any danger.  Prolonged stress of this type can lead to what we call a blood-rage.  And yes, it is as bad as it sounds.”

Ellicia studied Jackson, Clark and Rob carefully for a long moment.  “I don’t understand,” she said.  “You guys seem calm enough to me.  Maybe a little tense, but no more than that.  Does this mean that Hope is not really your Arima?”

“No,” Jackson replied.  “There is no doubting that.  But we have discovered that if we go further than about a mile from you, our tension and anger begins to build quickly toward a blood-rage.  As soon as we get closer to you, we become calm again.”

“Me?” Ellicia asked in surprise.  “What do I have to do with it?”

“We aren’t sure,” Jackson replied.  “We know only that we have a connection to you that we don’t understand, and you to us.  We also know that without you, we would probably go insane long before we could find our Arima.”

“Well, I guess that means you guys need to stay close to me then,” Ellicia said matter-of-factly. 

“This doesn’t bother you?” Jackson asked.  “We would understand if it did.  Especially since we have no real answers or information to explain what is happening here.”

“No, it doesn’t bother me,” Ellicia replied.  “I’m glad that you have a way to control your emotions so that you can help me find Hope.”

Jackson, Clark and Rob rose to their feet, placed their right hands to their hearts and bowed solemnly.  “We thank you for your understanding, Ellicia Daniels,” Jackson said formally.  “And for your assistance.”

Ellicia smiled and stood up as well.  “You’re welcome, but it’s not like I actually did anything so stop bowing all over the place.  Do you guys bow to Lariah like that?”

The Bearens grinned.  “Of course we do,” Jackson replied.  “I can’t say she is comfortable with it, which for some reason compels us to bow to her at every opportunity.”

“Wait until I tell Lari!” Ellicia laughed as she stepped away from her chair.  She looked down at the table covered with dishes.  “When we get back, I’ll wash up for you guys since you fed me.”

“It’s a deal,” Rob said with a big grin.

Ellicia laughed, surprising herself yet again as she followed the guys out of the apartment.  She wondered why it was that being with these three men made her feel so relaxed.  Almost happy.  As though all of her worries and fears were just...gone.  She shook her head at her own imagination as they stepped out of the elevator into the parking garage.

“I’ll drive,” Clark offered.  Ellicia handed him the ignition card and let Rob guide her into the back seat.  Usually she preferred to drive herself but it felt nice to let someone else drive for a change.  Besides, she hadn’t checked in with the Director at all since leaving his office the previous morning, and this was a good time to do that. 

She reached into her purse and fished out her vox, put it to her ear and requested the Director as Clark pulled away from the curb and merged into the morning traffic.

“Good morning, Director,” Ellicia said into the vox. 

“Good morning, Ell,” the Director said.  “Can you speak freely?”

“Yes, I’m with the Bearens now.  We checked on that woman I mentioned yesterday, and discovered that she’s missing.  We spent the day trying to find some clue as to where she went, but no luck so far.  We’re on our way back to her apartment now.  There are a few things I want to check again.”

“Do you think you’ll be able to track this woman?” the Director asked.

“Yes, I think so.  I have a couple of ideas that I want to try.  Her name is Hope Strigida,” Ellicia said. 

“Oh hell,” the Director said.  “I received a message from the Dracons this morning requesting that we check on her specifically.  Apparently she just returned from Jasan, and they think she may be special in some way.”

“I wonder why they asked about her in particular,” Ellicia said. 

“Prince Garen said that the woman who runs Bride House gave him the names of four women that she thinks might be special.  Hope Strigida is the most recent.”

“They’re right about her being special,” Ellicia said.  “When the Bearens entered her home, they instantly recognized her as their Arima.”

“Damn,” the Director said, sounding tired already though it was still early morning.  “Do what you can, Ell, but update me now and then, will you?”

“All right, we’ll check back in a little while,” Ellicia replied.

Ellicia tapped the vox to disconnect and put it back in her purse.  “Your Princes sent a message to the Director requesting that we check on Hope Strigida,” she told the Bearens. 

“Why would they do that?” Jackson wondered. 

Ellicia repeated what the Director had told her.  “Right now we need to focus on Hope, not only because she is your Arima, but also because, of the four, she is the one who returned from Jasan most recently.  I’ll need to get the names of the other three women soon and check them as well.”

Jackson frowned thoughtfully as he gazed out the window, turning the matter over in his mind.  He felt as though he had some pieces to a puzzle, but not enough to guess at what the final picture was going to be.

Clark parked the ground car in front of Hope’s building a few minutes later and they all climbed out and went inside where they rode the elevator up to Hope’s apartment.  Jackson let them in with the key, and they all filed into the living room where they stood and stared at the mural for a few moments.  There was something about it that drew Jackson, Clark and Rob.

“All right guys,” Ellicia said, pulling their attention from the mural.  “I need to check all of the table tops, sinks, and shelves, anywhere that Hope might have placed her jewelry when she wasn’t wearing it.  If you guys want to help, you can look for an earring.”

“What does it look like?” Jackson asked.

“All I know is that it has a pearl on it,” Ellicia replied.  “Harlan said that Hope’s mother gave it to her for her twelfth birthday, so I would guess it’s a small earring.  But that’s all I know.”

“I’m sorry, Ellicia,” Jackson said, looking uncomfortable, “but what does a pearl look like?”

Ellicia blinked in surprise, then smiled.  Oysters never got as far as Jasan, she supposed.  “Sorry, guys.  A pearl is usually round, and usually light colored.  Most often white, or cream.  They can also be pink, black and even blue, but white is by far the most common.”

Jackson nodded doubtfully.  “How about you just look for anything that might be jewelry?” Ellicia suggested. 

Jackson grinned with some relief.  “I think we can manage that.”

“All right, you guys start in here, and I’ll start in Hope’s bedroom.”

Jackson nodded again, and they all got to work.

Chapter
28

Earth, Los Angeles, California

Darck Winicke was proud of himself.  He had handled the
berezi
pull perfectly, if he did say so himself.  The potentials were safely ensconced at the old compound along with those bozos, Garid and Lenny.  If he wasn’t sure that the desert itself was enough to keep the women from escaping, he might have been worried about their competence.  As it was, he knew he had nothing to worry about, so as soon as he got home he celebrated with a few drinks.

By the time Darck awoke just before noon the following day, his head ached so badly it hurt to open his eyes.  He stumbled around his apartment with his eyes closed as much as possible while he tried to make himself some coffee and find something to eat.  He knocked over several items of furniture in the process but he hurt too much to care. 

After gulping several cups of hot coffee and eating some leftover food from the chiller that he was just as glad he couldn’t really see or taste, he laid down on the sofa and dozed for awhile.  When he woke up again a couple of hours later, his head still hurt, but at least he could see.  He sat up and looked around his apartment with a groan.

Neatness was never Darck’s strong suit, but the mess he was now looking at was too much even for him.  It looked like a tornado had blown through, knocking over everything but the couch and sofa.  He knew he needed to put things back to rights, but his head still hurt too much for that.  Instead he studied the mess, trying to see if there was anything that actually needed to be picked up.  After a few moments he decided that the only thing he really had to deal with was the transfer machine, which was currently lying on its side underneath a small table that had once stood next to the couch. 

After a few more minutes during which he mentally braced himself for actual physical movement, Darck stood up slowly and carefully.  His head pounded a few times, then eased up a little so he tried walking.  Moving very slowly he shuffled across the ratty debris covered carpet and slowly lowered himself to the floor next to the transfer machine. 

That caused his head to pound much harder than standing had, so he spent a few minutes with his hands clasped against his head in a futile attempt to keep it from exploding.  When the pounding eased again, he lowered his hands and opened his eyes.  He was concentrating on taking long, deep breaths in an effort to ease the pain and dizziness, so at first he didn’t really notice what he was staring at.  After a few moments, he realized he was looking at printed writing.  He didn’t know what most of it said, as it was upside down and rather small.  But, whatever it was, at the end there were several words printed in all capital letters with an exclamation point after them. 

Curious, he reached down and picked up the paper, then rotated it so that he could read it properly.  The large writing at the bottom said: MEM WIPE ONLY!  NO PULLS TILL FURTHER NOTICE! 

Darck frowned, then glanced up to the to top of the page and read the smaller print.  His heart skipped a beat, then began to race when he read the part that said Stalnek was off-world for an undetermined period of time and had personally ordered a hold on all pulls until he returned.  Darck turned the paper over, already knowing what he was going to see, though a small part of him could not help hoping that the image was new, sent after the ones he’d pulled.

“Oh, star crap,” he said softly as he gazed down at the vaguely familiar face of one of the potentials he had ordered pulled. 

Ignoring his still aching head, Darck began sifting through the rubble scattered all over the floor, searching for the other images.  He didn’t find them all, but he did find two more.  Both had the same warning on the bottom.

“How did I miss that?” he asked himself numbly.  Suddenly he remembered Lenny’s vox call immediately after he’d sent the images and orders for the pull.  So that’s what Garid meant, he realized with a rush of intense embarrassment. 

Darck sat staring at the images for several minutes, trying to force his brain to work.  There had to be a way out of this mess.  If Stalnek found out about this muck-up, he could kiss his hopes of rising to a high position among the Brethren good-bye forever.  Hell, he’d be lucky if Stalnek didn’t take his tail for this one.

Suddenly it occurred to him that Stalnek was not on Earth.  Which meant there was a chance he could fix this.  If he moved quickly enough.