Chapter Forty
“We’ve sent scouts to Yonnie Six but there’s no sign of Two or of Lord X.” Commander Sylvan told Trin and Thrace a few days later as they sat with some friends in his living area. “Six, the former Dark Kindred warrior who now lives among us, speculated that they might have gone to a secret lab he knew of—one of Two’s old hiding places. He went to check it out although Mei-Li, his Earth bride, was very much against it.”
“She’s pregnant so she couldn’t go with him,” Becca, who was there with Far and Truth said.
“What did Six find out?” Stavros asked.
“We don’t know yet—he is supposed to report in to us at any time.” Sylvan sighed and looked at Thrace. “Can you remember anything else about the vision he showed you? It must be important if the information was given to him in a Seeing.”
Thrace shrugged unhappily. “I’ve told you every detail I could remember. I believe the girl resides on Earth but what part of it, I don’t know. I do know the younglings in her care called her ‘Brooks’ but I wasn’t sure if it was a name or a title of respect.”
“It’s a fairly common last name,” Charlie, who was also there with Stavros said.
“She may be dead by now if Two set a member of the Verrak on her,” her mate said soberly. “They are utterly relentless.”
“Because they take a vow to kill their target or kill themselves if they fail,” Truth pointed out. “Anyone who took such a vow would be relentless—if they wanted to live.”
“I don’t get it,” Charlie said, frowning. “Are these Verrak a race of alien assassins from some horrible planet where everyone is trained to kill from birth or something?”
“Nothing so clear cut as that,” Far answered. “Or they would be much easier to spot. In fact, anyone, male or female, regardless of race or species may choose to join—if they make it through the rigorous training process.”
“What happens if they don’t?” Becca asked.
“I bet I know.” Charlie drew a finger across her throat meaningfully.
“Yes, the penalty for failing the process at any point is death. As is the penalty for failure to assassinate a chosen target,” Far said. “In fact, some say that only those who wish to die would join the Verrak in the first place. They are warriors looking for a death worthy of them—whether by their own hand or another’s.” He frowned. “They usually take only the most dangerous targets. I wonder what it is about this female that enticed a Verrak to take her contract?”
“Maybe she’s special in some way,” Becca said. “You know, other than the whole, mother-of-the-new race kind of thing. What would be the benefits of a Havoc/Human/Kindred race anyway?”
“Longevity for one,” Sylvan said thoughtfully. “The Havoc live much longer than we Kindred do. And they can pass their prolonged life on to their mates.”
“But the Kindred are willing to bond with their mates and form a permanent union,” Thrace pointed out. “That’s not usual in my people at all—although it might be if they knew what they were missing.” He looked at Trin and winked. She blushed and nudged his shoulder with her own.
“Adding the Kindred back into the mix might also enable dream sharing again which makes finding the right mate much easier,” Far said.
“But…what do humans bring to the party?” Charlie asked. “We’re not big or strong or long-lived compared to either the Havoc or the Kindred.”
“No, but your DNA meshes better with ours than any other trade partner we’ve ever found,” Sylvan said seriously. “Adding human genetic material will enable the other good traits to breed true and produce exceptionally healthy children.”
“What it boils down to is we have to find that poor girl Two put a hit on,” Charlie exclaimed. “After all, she might not be dead yet and it sounds like she’s pretty important to the future of the Kindred race—if this Seeing is anything to go by.”
“It is,” Thrace assured her gravely. “The Lud’oms are able to See only three times in their lives but their Seeings are incredibly accurate and very detailed. I’m inclined to believe Two was telling the truth in his own twisted way.”
“Then we have to find her—but how?” Becca asked. “I mean, it sounds like she was some kind of an elementary school teacher but we can’t go checking every single school on Earth!”
Charlie sighed. “If only we knew the name of it…”
“Wait…” Thrace sat up straighter in his chair. “There was some kind of lettering on the wall of the place she was in. I couldn’t read it because it was in a tongue I didn’t know—or one I couldn’t read, anyway though I understood her speech well enough.”
“It’s the same with Kindred,” Far said. “We pick up new languages almost immediately but it takes a bit of study to get the written part of any new tongue down pat.”
“What if there was a way to see the words?”
The new voice, coming from the doorway that led to Sylvan’s sleeping chamber belonged to his mate, Sophia. She had been putting their twins down for a nap when the meeting started.
“What way, talana?” Sylvan asked.
“Nadiah of course. She’s right here in the next room—lying down with Kara and Kaleb. She can see into Thrace’s memories and read the words. Of course…” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Any priestess could do it but Nadiah is much less invasive. And she knows every language in the universe because she’s the Mouthpiece of the Goddess.”
“A very good thought.” Sylvan drew her close and kissed her affectionately. “Would you get Nadiah for us now?” He looked at Thrace. “That is, if you’ll agree to the process?”
Thrace shifted uncomfortably.
“Would she only look at one specific memory? Or would she have to scan everything in my past?”
“You don’t have to worry about Nadiah—she’s wonderful.” Trin pressed his hand gently. “She won’t look at anything you don’t want her to.”
“Well…” Thrace hesitated but at last nodded. “All right. I’ll do it.”
“I’ll get her.” Sophia went back into the sleeping chamber and came back a moment later with the blonde haired priestess who looked sleepy and tousled.
“Sorry…” She yawned. “I was trying to get Kara and Kaleb down for their nap and I sort of fell asleep myself in the process.”
“That’s quite all right, Nadiah.” Sylvan smiled. “You know Sophia and I appreciate the help.”
“I’m happy to help while I can…but you know I have to leave soon. Rast misses me and I’m lost without him, too. My mate,” she explained to Trin who looked at her quizzically. “He can’t leave First World so he’s managing without me while I visit the Mother Ship and snuggle with Kara and Kaleb.”
“You’re wonderful with the twins but right now we need a different kind of help from you,” Sylvan said. “We need the Mouthpiece of the Goddess.” Rapidly, he outlined what was going on and what they needed to see. When he was finished, Nadiah looked very grave indeed.
“The Goddess has shown me something about this—about a girl who will be very important to the Kindred race’s future. I couldn’t see much about her except that she’s not at all what she seems. Though I don’t think even she knows that. And now you say she’s been targeted for assassination?”
“I’m afraid so—Two put a member of the Verrak on her trail and Thrace saw him watching her in his vision,” Sylvan said. “But he also saw some lettering on the building. We thought it might help us find her—hopefully before it’s too late.”
“So you need me to look into his memories?” Nadiah walked over to where Thrace was sitting and held out a hand in greeting.
Hesitantly, he took it.
Nadiah smiled at him warmly.
“Hello—you must be the male Trin fell in love with.” She smiled at Trin. “And I see you’re now healed outside as well as inside.”
“I am.” Trin smiled at her. “Thanks to you and the Goddess.”
“I knew she brought you two to the Mother Ship for a reason.” Nadiah pulled her hand from Thrace’s and looked at Sylvan. “I’ve got it. She’s full figured with brownish blonde hair and blue eyes.” She frowned. “For a moment I thought I saw something else though—some change in her that was hard to define…”
“What?” Thrace was genuinely startled. “That’s exactly what she looked like and I saw the change too. But how did you know all that I saw? I never felt a thing.”
“Told you she was unobtrusive,” Sophia remarked, smiling. “She’s absolutely the best—take it from someone who’s had other people in their head rifling through their memories more than once.” She shivered. “With anyone else, it’s a horrible experience. With Nadiah—you don’t even notice it.”
“So where is the girl? Did you get the name?” Charlie asked, leaning forward.
Nadiah frowned. “The writing on the wall that Thrace saw said ‘George Washington Elementary.’ Does that mean anything to you?”
Becca groaned. “He was the first president of our country. There must be a million elementary schools named after him!”
“Still, we at least know she’s in the US,” Charlie said thoughtfully. “That narrows it down some.”
“We need to do a search of elementary schools with that name with a teacher that has the last name of Brooks,” Sylvan said. “We need to find her!”
“I’ll attend to it.” Far was already standing. “I’ll go to the main communications desk and run a comprehensive search.”
“Do that,” Sylvan said, nodding. “And while you’re at it—”
He was interrupted by a buzzing from the large viewscreen on the wall.
“Answer it quick!” Sophia exclaimed. “It’ll wake up the twins!”
“Allow call,” Sylvan said. At once an image of Six popped up on the screen.
“Oh good,” Sophie murmured. “Somebody bespeak Mei-Li and tell her that her man is fine. She was so worried she had to lay down with a headache.”
“On it.” Becca was already reaching for the thin silver wire of a Think-me in order to communicate with their friend.
Sylvan also seemed pleased. “Six, good. I asked the communications officers to patch you directly through when you called. What have you found?”
“Destruction and death.” Six sounded sober. “The lab is where Two modified all of his sniffers—canine-like creatures who were able to scent emotions. He always kept it in immaculate condition but now, well…see for yourself, Commander.”
He panned the hand-held camera across the lab showing broken glass and twisted metal along with some suspicious looking brownish-red stains.
“Is that blood?” Sylvan asked, frowning at the screen.
“It appears to be. But there is more—look.”
Six walked to a different part of the lab, his boots crunching on the scattered glass fragments. He came to a stop in front of two huge cylinders which had been broken open, though one was still half filled with greenish goo.
But it was what the cylinders contained that caught Thrace’s eye—two twisted forms, both of them clearly dead, were lying locked together, half-in, half-out of the shattered containers.
“Is that…Two?” Thrace asked.
Six nodded. “He looks much changed but yes, I believe it is him. The teeth are unmistakable.”
Two had died with a look of agony on his face—his thin lips were peeled back in a snarl that revealed his steel teeth. Beside him, with long fingers wrapped around Two’s skinny throat, lay another figure Thrace recognized.
“Lord X!” Trin exclaimed.
“Is this the scion Two made of himself?” Six asked, looking down.
“If it’s not it’s close enough to be his twin,” Trin murmured. “Look—is that a blaster hole in his chest?”
“I believe so,” Six answered her. “And look—” He lifted Two’s stiff hand with the toe of one boot. It was still gripping a blaster.
“I wonder what happened to them?” Charlie said.
“It appears that Two was trying to make some kind of transference—maybe he wanted to put his consciousness directly into his scion’s body,” Six said. “Apparently, the scion did not approve of this.”
“He didn’t want Two taking over his body so he strangled him,” Charlie said. “And then Two shot him—they must have died together.”
Becca shivered. “It’s not pretty but at least now we know Two and his scion are out of the picture.” She turned to Thrace. “That must be a load off your mind!”
“Of course.” Thrace tried to smile but for some reason, he couldn’t feel the elation he knew he ought to. There was something too easy…to convenient about the scene Six had found in the abandoned laboratory…
“Well, that’s part of the problem solved, anyway,” Trin remarked, squeezing his hand. “Now we just have to find this Brooks girl somewhere on Earth and get to her before the Verrak assassin does.”
“I’ll send a special prayer to the Goddess that you’ll find her in time,” Nadiah murmured. “But something tells me that this girl, whoever she is, has a long journey ahead of her…and she might not like what she finds along the way.”