Faye

 

Sitting alone in the window-seat of the third-floor guest room of the Lafi’s, I watched the silent, still gray mass that was the ocean in the moments before dawn. My eyes itched with exhaustion, but I couldn’t go back to sleep. It had been two days since Andrei vanished.

And two nights where I’d been plagued with nightmares.

I would see Andrei a long way off, deaf to my cries, slumped against a tree, their roots winding across him and pulling him down into the earth. His eyes remained closed, even as the roots grew tighter. No matter how I screamed or the roots wrapped around him, Andrei did not stir.

Inevitably, I’d wake myself up, twisted in the sheets and my throat raw with agony.

Pushing my messy hair out of my face, I tried to pull my mind back to the business at hand, instead of worrying about the man who was more than capable of taking care of himself.

Last night, Svetlana had coolly dropped a bombshell on me that Andrei had wanted me to go to Russia with Isla, Kesari, the twins, Tisha, Hiro, Elias, and Tulila. Apparently, he'd been pretty sure of himself that I would go. And I couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps that dinner date would have been when he tried to persuade me.

In response to Svetlana, I’d said a flat no, as had Isla and Kesari. Kai wasn’t happy, but Roy was infuriated with his stubborn girlfriend. Then there was the fact that Elias was leery about accepting Zima help. All in all, everyone was tired and grumpy with each other.

Tomorrow the burn order would go out, hopefully still altered. It seemed incredible to me that Andrei wouldn’t have checked in for at least that piece of intel.

My eyes fell closed and flashes of my nightmares came back.

Andrei is in trouble.

“Faye?” Soraya asked. She’d slipped into the room silently.

I turned to her, swallowing hard and coming to a decision. “Is Talori up? Or Keon?”

“Uh…” My friend looked bewildered. “I’m not sure. Did you still want to go for that run at sunrise?” She was fully dressed and a pang of guilt went through me.

“I can’t,” I said, my body moving on instinct. “Something – something occurred to me…”

Grabbing a sweatshirt, I pulled it over my pajamas and hurried from the room. Soraya was following me and she didn’t stop me as I knocked on the guest room door on the second floor.

Yawning, Keon opened it, already dressed and his computer lighting up the room behind him. “Hey, Faye, Soraya. Was I being too loud?”

“Do you have access to the security cameras at HQ?” I asked.

He gave me a strange look. “I mean, I should… Why?”

“Can you pull up Tuesday’s and try to figure out where Andrei went, who he talked to…” I said, biting my lip and feeling absurd. Almost childish. Yet where there’d been knee-jerk hurt was now a niggling sense of dread.

“Well, yeah, I should be able to,” Keon said. “I was going to get coffee.”

Soraya, who’d been remarkably quiet, spoke up. “I’ll get it. And I’ll bring up breakfast.”

Keon gestured me in and I sat next to him at the desk. His mouse clicked around with ease and his fingers danced across the keys. Several times he gave me a fleeting look.

“Isn’t it kind of strange we spend so much time as rookies learning how to keep out of sight of security cameras in the regular world and yet HQ is full of them?” he asked cheerily.

“Mm, well, these are special. Extra motion sensitive – all of the HQ’s around the world got them after there was that attack in Hong Kong back in the 80’s, I think… There!”

Keon had located Andrei on the feed of the hallway of the offices of the heads. My heart contracted to see him striding along, lost in thought and turning a corner. With ease, Keon managed to locate the next few clips of him moving through HQ.

“He was going back to Kesari and Roy,” I said slowly, watching as he took a right turn.

Suddenly he slowed and changed direction. Both of us sat up slightly and Keon had trouble locating him, muttering to himself. Then he found him again.

“He went to security,” Keon said, sounding baffled.

“What?” I asked. “Why would he do that?”

He shook his head and we watched as Andrei grinned, chatting up the guards on duty and I could tell by the look on his face he was after something. Or someone.

“Andrei wanted to know where someone was,” I murmured and then I sat up straight. “Ivan!”

Soraya’s voice floated into the room. “What about that punk ass?”

“Keon, please, try to see where he went next,” I urged, as Soraya handed me a coffee. “Something’s wrong, Raya, I know it. Andrei was heading back to Kesari and Roy when he swung around to security to find out something – I think where Ivan was. Which means…”

“Woah, what the hell?” Keon said, sounding irritated.

“What’s wrong?” Soraya asked, handing him a mug of coffee.

“This,” he said, gesturing at the screen, which was dark. “I guess the security for the cameras on the sublevels is different…” Keon was frowning hard. “Pretty strange though.”

My heart sank and the sense of foreboding got worse. “Can you get through?”

“I can try,” Keon said, taking a gulp of coffee and hunching over the keyboard. Thirty minutes later, however, he sat back and shook his head. “Sorry, Faye. I’d need a lot more time to crack this. Or the credentials of a Head to see it.”

“A Head?” Soraya asked sharply. “That is odd…”

My coffee had long grown cold and I set it aside as I stood up. “We need to go see Drax.”

“You’re serious?” Soraya spluttered, staring over Keon’s head at me.

“I’ve been having nightmares about Andrei,” I murmured, not meeting her gaze, knowing I sounded insane. “I think some intuition is trying to tell me something. He wouldn’t have taken off on us like that. Not now, with everything happening.”

“I mean, honey, he wanted you to get out of the country, maybe he thought this would piss you off enough to do so,” Soraya said, though she sounded unconvinced. “Although I had nightmares about you, who’s to question our connections as shifters…?”

“Exactly. Andrei lose the chance to use his prodigious flattery on me? Never,” I said. “I’m getting dressed and taking a shower. Keon, meet me downstairs in twenty. Soraya, if you’re coming, great. Either way, wake up Svetlana. She needs to come, too.”

Without waiting for her response, I ran out of the room and upstairs.

To my surprise, when I got downstairs, Keon, Soraya, and Svetlana were not the only people waiting. Roy, Dez, and Baltsaros were there as well.

“If you're leaving this house, you need backup,” Dez said before I could get a word in.

“You’re not going to stop me?” I asked, amused.

Balt chuckled. “I think we all know that would not work.”

I looked at Svetlana and she smiled at me. “Do not worry, I can get us into Drax’s place. And I think you are right about my brother… I should have given him the benefit of the doubt.”

“If Andrei Zima is in trouble, we are all in trouble,” Balt muttered as we went out the door.

I bit my lip, not wanting to admit that I’d been thinking along those very same lines.

The ride to Drax’s house did not take too long. He lived on the edge of Malibu and Santa Monica. Though he’d been almost out the door, heading to HQ, Svetlana had managed to persuade him to wait for us. According to her, he’d grumbled about being late, but agreed in the end.

“With Drax, you always have to know your angle,” Svetlana said with a firm nod.

It was taking a huge risk to trust Drax with the secret that I was alive, but I was sure that Andrei was going to tell him anyway.

I remembered how he’d looked at me and said, I have proof.

Living proof.

Still, my heart was acting strangely as I tugged up my hoodie, parking the SUV at a modest looking house on the ocean. It was a quiet neighborhood of retirees. We all glanced at each other in surprise and amusement. His house was a small, beach bungalow with several pink flamingos out front. I would have expected eccentric old ladies to live there, not a Head of the Order.

At the door, Drax quickly ushered us in and raised his eyebrows. “Quite the entourage, Svetlana,” he commented. “Security?”

“Not for me,” she said, glancing my way.

Drax looked at me and I pulled back my hood. Never had I seen a more comical look on the Head's face, between baffled astonishment, relief, and happiness. Then he let out a bark of a laugh.

“This is what Zima was hinting at,” he muttered. “I wonder why…” To my surprise, Drax held out a hand and I shook it, watching as his face worked. “Glad you’re not dead, kid.”

“Thanks,” I said, bemused.

“Yeah, yeah,” he said gruffly, then looked around and sighed. “Why do I got a feelin’ you’re about to lay some bad news on me?”

“Drax, did you send Andrei on assignment?” I asked immediately.

His eyebrows joined together over his nose and he gave me a flat look. “Knight, I think I should be asking the questions here. And you know I cannot give you that information.”

“He’s missing,” I said and Drax blinked, then grinned at me.

“C’mon kid, Zima?” He shook his head. “Disappears all the time. Anyone could have sent him on assignment.”

“But you’re the only one who knew he was back,” I pressed. “He saw you the other day and he was supposed to come back with Roy and Kesari. But he never showed up. And the last time we saw him on the security feed, he was going down to the sublevels.”

Drax’s frown deepened. “How do you know that? You hacking in?” he barked, looking over at Keon now. “I get that times are strange, but–”

“We need your credentials for the sublevel security cameras,” I interjected.

Behind me, I could hear my friends fidgeting as Drax swelled to his full height. But then he gave me a strange look and he glanced at Keon. “That shouldn’t be the case,” he said brusquely.

“It is sir,” Keon spoke up.

He growled, ruminating for a moment and then barked out, “Sit!”

We shuffled around his living room, finding seats. It was furnished in the taste of an old retired couple, with seashell print couches, seahorse lamps, and other pastel oceanic themes. I saw Roy hiding a grin, while Soraya looked mildly scandalized.

At that moment, an elderly woman and a young woman with short black hair walked in, carrying trays of water. Drax’s face changed from a scowl to a smile instantly.

“You didn’t have to do that, Ma,” he said, his voice oddly gentle. “Or you, Lea.”

“I know it must be important if it’s keeping you from work,” the younger woman replied, giving him a broad smile and then nodding at us. “Hello. I’m the secret wife.”

“It is work,” he grunted, shooting a glare at us as we gaped at the beautiful Lea.

“So nice to see you again, Svetlana,” the older woman said, sitting down next to her. “But this is the second time you’ve been here – coming out of retirement?” She chuckled. “The Order can be almost impossible to leave in many ways. Take it from one of the first female Heads.”

Soraya choked on her water, glancing from the woman to Drax. “Are you-you're Koti?”

“You know your history,” the woman said with a chuckle. “I am at that. Told Drax not to spread it around. You’re a Lafi, right? You should know nepotism is bad enough in the Order as it is without Draxy bragging his Mama was the one and only Koti.”

Soraya and I looked at each other, then at Drax. We'd always thought he was hard on us because we were women, but in light of this, it seemed more like he was holding us to the standard his mother had set.

Wait till Piper finds out, I thought, bemused.

So, distracted by Koti and Lea, I almost forgot why we were here until Keon handed his computer to Drax. “Please, type your password in here, sir.”

With much grumbling, Drax did so and thrust it back at Keon. “Don’t go snooping, boy.”

“I won’t… I…” Keon’s face went ashen and he looked up at me. Flying across the room, I crouched by his side as Keon’s shaking hands played back the footage.

Andrei was on a sublevel I did not recognize, but I had a feeling it was near the prisons. Behind him, I saw shadows move and my fists clenched. Then he turned, stopping dead. Keon changed the angle and we could see that Rasoir was there.

“No!” I said, my hand at my throat.

Everyone else had crowded around and I heard them making noises of shock.

“TLO has infiltrated HQ?” Roy demanded.

“Probably only on the sublevel, that’s why the footage was locked… Clever,” Drax muttered.

A tranquilizer hit Andrei and he ripped it out of his shoulder. Then another one, which he also ripped out and a choking sound escaped me. Shadows were pouncing on him and he’d shifted, fighting back. Shifters of Anubis closed ranks with TLO members, at least thirty in all, firing at Andrei. He wove through them expertly, yet had to also fend off the Electi.

“No!” I cried.

“You realize this isn’t happening right now, kid?” Drax asked bluntly.

“My brother would not have gone down so easily. White Tigers are strong,” Svetlana said, her hand on my shoulder. “See how he fights? He is winning.”

She was right, but suddenly one of the traitors ripped off his mask. It was Ivan and his face was alive with malice. He shouted something at Andrei, who froze.

Taking advantage of his moment of distraction, an Electi slammed him back into the wall. Andrei tried to get up, but another slammed him down and he fell heavily to the ground.

I wasn’t the only one who cried out. My entire body was shaking.

They’re going to kill him…

Is he dead? Did they kill him?

Struggling, he couldn’t get up. Three more tranquilizer darts thudded into his shoulder and Andrei slumped down, unconscious at last. Ivan stood over him, triumphant.

“Zima gave ‘em a hell of a fight,” Drax muttered.

“He isn’t dead!” I almost shouted at him, wanting to both tear my hair out and scream.

Andrei, get up, please get up… Please be alive!

You promised me you’d always find me…

You promised me!

I watched as the TLO and the traitors cautiously approached him. Someone nudged Andrei’s boot, then two of them picked him up, carrying him away under Rasoir’s orders.

“I wish we could hear them,” I said, biting my lip.

“He’s not dead…” Keon said, zooming in and sure enough, we could see the rise and fall of his chest. “Just unconscious. And I don’t think they’re bringing him out of HQ… It looks like, yes!” Keon pointed and we watched as the men dumped him a cell a few levels down.

“The old prison level,” Drax’s mother suddenly spoke up. “Hasn’t been folks down there in years… It’s got that nasty metal that dampens shifting down there. Amaneht stone, it’s called.”

“Frost had that at the Foundry,” Roy said. “I was in there – it’s awful.”

“Yes, it is,” Koti agreed solemnly. “I was one of the ones who decided against using it back in the day. Instead, we built stronger cells. It cannot be said the Order doesn’t treat its prisoners with respect. It’s what sets us apart and I reckon it’s what this Frost woman is trying to use to tear us apart as well…”

“Are they hiding out down there, you think?” Balt asked.

“How did they get in?” Soraya demanded at the same time.

“Ma, were there tunnels down there that led outside – maybe had been sealed up?” Drax asked. “But could be reopened…”

“Well, yes, a long time ago,” Koti said. “Reckon it would be hard going and pretty dangerous if you’re thinking someone used them to get in.”

"Or out," Drax said dryly. “The Valspars. Crane. Hale Hunter.”

“Look,” Keon said in a shaky voice. “This happened about two hours ago… He’s alive, but…”

There, on the screen, standing outside of Andrei’s cell and taunting him, was the leader of the TLO, the most wanted among all the Order’s enemies, Lilian Frost.