Kian shook his head. “I can’t believe that you, of all people, are thinking seriously about including Eleanor in a mission. She’s immoral, unreliable, and shifty. She would just use the opportunity to run, and if it requires her to sacrifice Kri, she would do that without batting an eyelid.”
“I’m not sure that you are right. Kri vouches for her, and she is no fool. Perhaps this is the perfect opportunity to test Eleanor. They are not going in without backup. I will have several commando units surrounding the compound, and if anything goes wrong, I’ll send them in. Kri and Eleanor’s job is to try to get the girl out peacefully and without resistance, but if that doesn’t work, I have no problem using force.”
“Your human commandos will be powerless against Eleanor. She could compel them to let her through. And we can’t even send her in with the cuff. She could just walk out of there and disappear. I can’t risk having an immortal with questionable morals roaming free.”
“I understand your concern, but I want you to give it some more thought. If Eleanor proves loyal to the clan, she could be an important asset on future missions. She seems to possess the right attributes for becoming a Guardian, and she is a strong compeller.”
If it were anyone other than Turner, the answer would have been a flat-out no. But Turner was a super careful guy, and if he thought that Eleanor was worth the risk, then Kian was going to give it some serious thought.
“I’ll think about it. In the meantime, you need to come up with a contingency backup plan in case she bolts.”
“Naturally. All I need is several more Guardians to join my commando teams. She can’t compel them, and they will be able to stop her."
Kian chuckled. “You must really think she’s valuable. That’s a lot of resources for what is supposedly a simple mission.”
“It is, but if it makes you feel any better, you can regard it as a rescue mission. The cult is not trafficking its members, but the sexual exploitation is rampant.”
“You are right. That puts a different spin on things.”
“So, do I have your permission to use Eleanor?”
“If you secure Guardian backup with explicit instructions of not letting her escape, then yes. I’m rather curious to see the results of this experiment.”
46
Kalugal
“This terrace is lovely.” Kalugal pulled a chair out for Annani and another one for Jacki. “How come we are only discovering it now?”
Syssi sat next to Jacki. “It only seems as if a lot of time has passed since we arrived at the castle. But it’s only been six days, and a lot has happened.”
Jacki sighed. “It has been fun, especially the horseback riding and the picnics by the lake, but I’m just getting over my jet lag, and we have only four days left.” She turned to Kalugal. “We should plan another honeymoon, one that doesn’t involve a drastic change in time zones.”
“Your wish is my command, my love.” He looked at Syssi. “Perhaps I’ll take your husband up on his offer to vacation in the clan’s hotel in Hawaii. That’s only a three-hour time zone difference.”
Excitement dancing in her eyes, Syssi straightened in her chair. “We should all go.”
“Right.” Anandur chuckled. “As if Kian can take another vacation.”
“He can work from the hotel.” She turned to Amanda. “Does Hilo University have a neuroscience department?”
“It doesn’t, but we can do some testing on the general student population. Who knows? We might get lucky and find someone with strong paranormal talent. I should have resigned myself to the fact that I’m not going to find more Dormants that way, but I can’t. I’m still hopeful.”
“Speaking of Dormants.” Syssi turned back to Kalugal. “What’s going on with the government program? Did your men find any interesting prospects?”
“So far, none. We checked all the names on every list that Edwards provided us with, and there wasn’t even one who was worth further investigating.”
“Are you sure? Maybe your men were too quick to dismiss them?”
Kalugal shook his head. “Edwards hasn’t recruited any of them either, so he must have arrived at the same conclusion.”
As the doors to the terrace opened, Kalugal turned expecting Kian, but instead of his cousin coming out with a bag full of cigars, two of Annani’s three butlers came out holding trays loaded with drinks and desserts.
Amanda leaned sideways to allow the Odus access to the table. “I hope you remembered to tell them to make Syssi’s and mine nonalcoholic.”
“Of course.” Annani waved a hand in the direction of the other butler. “Oshidu has your drinks.”
“And I have ours.” Kian stepped out onto the terrace holding a bottle of whiskey in one hand and a cigar box in the other. “But to smoke, we will need to sit away from the ladies.”
“I’m not pregnant,” Callie said. “And I like the smell of cigar smoke.”
Jacki shifted in her chair. “I’m not pregnant either, and usually cigar smoke doesn’t bother me, but for some reason, even thinking about it makes me nauseous.”
Amanda narrowed her eyes at her. “Are you sure that you’re not pregnant? You are also unusually tired, and as an immortal, you shouldn’t be so strongly affected by jet lag. You should have gotten over it the first day like the rest of us.”
Kalugal’s heart skipped a beat. It would be a miracle, but it was too much to hope for. He was a rational man, and the probability of Jacki conceiving while she was still transitioning was so miniscule as to be nonexistent.
Well, he was rational most of the time.
Bringing David along had been a serious departure from logic, and yet his hunch had proven right. Hopefully, it wouldn’t cost David his life.
“I wish.” Jacki sighed. “But what are the chances of that? I’m not even fully transitioned yet. There is no way my body is ready for pregnancy.”
“Just in case, you should get checked,” Syssi said. “Luckily, Bridget is here. You can go to her.”
“Yeah.” Jacki’s lips twisted in a sad smile. “I wouldn’t call it lucky. Bridget is here because David is in trouble.”
“He should be getting better soon,” Annani said. “He just needs to find his way back to us.”
“Bridget joked that Mark’s ghost helped Turner find his way back.” Syssi put her glass down and reached for a cookie. “Perhaps she was serious, and he really did.” She glanced at Kalugal. “Can Lokan dream walk into David’s mind and help him come back to us?”
“Lokan’s talent doesn’t work that way,” Kian answered for him. “He needs to know the person to be able to do that. In that regard, his talent is similar to Jin’s. He creates a connection that he can later follow, but only in dreamscape. But if memory serves me right, he can’t dream share with males.”
“Hmm.” Amanda tapped a finger over her lower lip. “I think that he can, but he’s not comfortable doing that. He might be blocking the ability subconsciously. It’s also possible that he wasn’t a hundred percent honest with us.” She smiled at Kian. “At the time, it would have raised red flags, which he was smart to avoid.”