Lawked Flame (32 page)

“
I heard Ricardo married the woman who had his
son. Did you know that? Did you know he had been having an affair
with her the entire time he was married to you?”

Somebody gave him the wrong info on her. Idle
chit-chat had never been her forte. Besides, did he really think
she gave a damn about her cheating ex? She was over him and tired
of this conversation. She gave him an exaggerated yawn and watched
his skin redden. His skin had to be mighty thin for him to get
flustered so easily.

His lips turned into a smarmy grin as he placed the
clipboard he'd been holding, behind his back and rocked in place.
“You’re tougher than they knew. Good for you. It’ll make this more
fun. More challenging.” He winked at her. She noticed her brother’s
mask was firmly back in place again. Now she could look at him
without feeling sick.

“
How’d you get him to come here without
back-up?”

She started at the question. How’d he know they
didn’t have any back-up?

“
And don’t bother lying. We know you don’t
have any back-up.”

He sounded too smug for it to be a guess. Someone
must’ve said something, but whom? She couldn’t believe it was
either Clotho or Benicke, and as far as she knew, they were the
only ones who knew the plans.

“
Did you cry? Beg him to come save your daddy?
Hell, you knew your mother wasn’t here and you brought him to us
anyway. I thank you. I told them you were the weak link. All we
needed to do was tweak things just a little and it worked.” His
eyes lit as he squealed happily.

Her heart dropped at his words. The accuracy
hit home and would have brought her to her knees if she were
standing.
Ignore him. He’s just trying to
get under your skin.
Self-loathing twisted her gut.
She
had
begged Khayden. She’d
threatened to come on her own, knowing he would never allow it.
Every second, it became harder to breathe. This was all her fault.
An entire race of people depended on him and she had led him to
this.

It was all she could do to keep all emotion
from her face. Years of practice dealing with recalcitrant clients
served her well.
Never let them know what
you’re thinking
had been her motto for years. Inside,
she fought down the rising panic.

“
Do you have any idea how long we’ve tried to
get the Master Lawke alone? He’s impossible to kill, but we’ll
settle for keeping him asleep and impotent.”

Shock ricocheted through her. They’d put him asleep?
Without thinking she blurted, “Why?”

A coy smile appeared. “Finally gotcha, huh?” He
paused, obviously relishing this moment. She wondered if his vanity
was his true nature or the human mask? “Well, as I said, he’s
impossible to kill and as long as he’s alive he is a threat. That’s
a conundrum, right?”

Clearly, he did not expect her to respond since he
kept talking. “So, how to eliminate the threat permanently?” He
gazed at her, and she’d swear he was levitating he seemed so
excited. He leaned forward as though sharing a secret. “You put him
asleep and then send him through the portal. Far, far away.” His
hand touched the bubble, whether on purpose or by accident, she
didn’t know. He jumped back at the spark and smell of burning
flesh.

She grinned at his glower. Pleased she hadn’t messed
up in creating the bubble, some of her tension eased. At least they
were safe for the moment.

He pointed to the bubble's translucent wall. “This
won’t save him. We will eventually tear it down and drag his
carcass to the portal.” His voice wavered as his eyes squinted at
the bubble.

She snickered.

His head whipped around in her direction, jaw tight.
Seconds later, she heard a whirring sound. The room filled with
some type of gas. Quickly, she verified the bubble’s filtration
system was in place.

It was.

The room dimmed. Through the haze of smoke she saw
yellow-green slits move closer. Fear rose fast and swift. Squeezing
Khayden’s hand tight abated some of the terror of seeing so many
lizard creatures. Swallowing hard, she figured they planned to test
the strength of her enclosure. She scooted as close to Khayden as
she could, tightened her grip on his hand, and closed her eyes.

After clearing her mind, she imagined the bubble was
an indestructible force and sent waves of energy from her core.
Within moments, she heard screams and the rancid smell of burning
flesh. Refusing to open her eyes, she pushed the smell and the
poisons away from her enclosure. She remained in her position and
sent waves of love to Khayden. She told him things would be fine
and that she would always be here for him.

“
I see they miscalculated on you
badly.”

The familiar voice jolted her out of her
self-imposed trance. Her daddy stooped in front of her. His face
was so close her fingers itched to touch him. Her arms trembled
with the need to throw herself into the comfort of his arms. To do
so would condemn not only her, but an entire race of people to
death. Instead, she stared in awe at the similarities. Same dark
eyes, slightly crooked nose from a game of basketball with her
brothers a few years back, and his right ear with the split tip at
the bottom.

This was so unfair. They had cloned her family
and were using them to break her. Lord, she wished this thing were
her daddy. She could use his strong arms right now. She took a
moment to regroup.
He’s not Daddy. He’s
not Daddy. He’s not
… She looked at the clone again. He
may not be daddy, but he damned sure looked like him.

But he’s not
, her
mind screamed. This clone was not her father. He was her enemy who
wanted to destroy Khayden. And her. And their baby. She could not
roll over and allow that to happen. She shut her eyes tight and
thought of her unborn son. She pictured Khayden talking to her,
teaching her, loving her. In slow degrees the panic, as well as the
desire to run to her father or brother for help, receded. She was
on her own.

The clone of her father was still talking. “Laynie.
Laynie, listen. I called you to come over here to see about your
mom. You know she’s not here. But they promised me they wouldn’t
hurt you. They just want the guy who walked in here with you. Any
time you want, you can leave.” He paused and looked at Khayden.

She stiffened, ready to protect her Lawke.

“
You shoulda heard ‘em laughing and whooping
it up when he strode up in here.” He laughed. The familiar sound
tightened her throat. “What a cocky fool, huh?”

No. He wasn’t cocky, she thought, stroking Khayden’s
arm. She had been stupid. He’d tried to warn her. She had wanted to
ride in and save her dad.

Khayden had sensed two heartbeats when they arrived.
Maybe her dad was still alive somewhere in the building, she didn’t
know. She’d have to be satisfied knowing she’d tried to save him.
Right now, she needed to come up with a plan, because she knew the
two men in front of her were trying to distract her while they
searched for a weakness in the bubble.

First, she needed to get these two clones out of her
face. It was hard to think seeing fake reminders of her daddy and
brother in the room.

“
Why are you talking to me? You aren’t my
father and he’s not my brother. Not even close.” She rolled her
eyes dismissively before shutting them out again.
“

“You’re right of course, but are you sure he
was your dad? Or that Tina was your mom? Hmmm? I know everything
your dad knew and one thing stands out that I know you’re not aware
of.”

She tried to shut out his words, but she was
curious about what he discovered. Still she refused to change her
posture and pretended to ignore him.

“Did you know your mom used a surrogate with
you?”

Alayna froze. Her breath refused to move
through her lungs.
He’s lying
. Yet it didn’t feel like a
lie, it felt like the missing piece to the puzzle of her being a
Kee.

“Tina had some health problems, a couple of
miscarriages between the boys and you. But she wanted a little
girl, so they used a surrogate. Odd he couldn’t remember anything
about her though, that would have helped. You have Tina’s egg and
your dad fertilized it, but we’re certain the woman who carried you
added something to the mix. We’ve been trying to find out exactly
what that was and how these Kees are being created. Your father
started us on the path, now we have to find these surrogates and
fix them.”

He sounded too smug, as though he realized
he’d made a direct hit. Outwardly she didn’t respond, but her
stomach churned with the repercussions. If what he said was true,
it answered a lot of questions, but raised quite a few more. When
she got out of here, she and her mom were going to have a long
talk.

Hissing sounds filled the room. She glanced
over. Gone were the polite faces of her relatives. Instead, she saw
two old men. One white, the other Hispanic looking. She wondered if
this was their normal skin, but didn’t care enough to ask. They
spoke the same language the two Geleets had spoken at the
restaurant, and she was able to understand them. Head down, she
pretended to be otherwise occupied as she listened.

“
We need to remove him from that enclosure,
and send him through the portal. Once he is released into space,
our problems will be over. The other is already positioned to take
his place,” the white male said.

That sparked her interest.
Other? Take his place
? It was all she could do
not to look up and around for this person designated to take
Khayden’s spot. Had they cloned someone? Would the person look like
Khayden or someone else? She frowned, becoming more confused. The
men continued talking.

“
Agreed, but how? So far, we have nothing that
can penetrate the enclosure. I have never seen anything like it and
would like to study it closer.”

The other man let loose what she could only describe
as a snort. “It will fry you. Perhaps after this is over, we can
study the mechanics of such a thing.” He pointed toward the bubble
and continued watching her.

“
What will be done with the Kee? Will they
send her through the portal as well?”

The other man scratched his chin gazing at the back
wall. “I do not know.”

“
She is an interesting human and would make a
wonderful test subject,” the Hispanic said.

“
No. She would be too much trouble. They would
never settle for the other as long as she lives.”

Okay, so the other was someone the Lawkmerians would
accept, if she and Khayden were out of the picture. She only knew a
few people and would swear they were loyal to their Master.
Thinking about a coup was too much for her to deal with right now.
She pushed the information to the back of her mind to share with
Khayden much later.

Alayna looked at her watch. They had only been in
the building for fifteen minutes and already it felt like hours.
Her legs cramped and she stood to stretch them.

The two men watched her move. One with a non-sexual,
but none the less intense, gaze. The other with borderline
disgust.

One minute she was stretching, enjoying the pull of
her muscles, the next her stomach dropped. Two lizard creatures
moved speedily across the room, dragging a man she was certain was
her father.

“
Hey!” she yelled, trying to get them to stop
as they hoisted him up roughly. When they got closer, they lifted
and threw him at the bubble. She closed one eye and leaned back,
waiting to hear the sizzling of his skin.

Nothing happened.

His face bounced on the top. He slid to the hard
tiled floor and lay unmoving.

Stooping, she watched his chest, praying that
it would move.
Please, please, please God,
let it move
. It didn’t. She stared and waited. And
waited a little longer, daring to believe in the impossible. She
noted the conspicuous bright line on his ring finger from where
they had removed his wedding band. The tips of his fingers were
bloodied. There were bruises and welts all over his dark skin. His
lip was swollen to twice its normal size. One eye stared unseeing
up at the ceiling while the other appeared, normal—no, she leaned
forward and gasped. Nausea twisted in her stomach. Her hand flew to
her mouth. She gagged while staring at the concave appearance of
the eye. Those bastards had removed his eye.

A wave of dizziness assaulted her. Pain, mixed with
rage and recriminations, churned and rose steadily from the
recesses of her inner being. She screamed, releasing her anguish
and hatred. The loud wail echoed through the building. She bowed
low, holding her stomach, and continued to scream. It could’ve been
minutes or hours, she had no idea, when she heard someone calling
her name.

“
Alayna. Alayna!” Benicke stared at her
through the bubble. He stood with a caricature of Lorenzo nearby.
Heartsick, she moaned. Not again. Not another forgery of someone
she cared about. Turning, she crawled toward Khayden, wanting only
to be in his arms. He was the only real person to her right now.
She moved closer and grasped his hand, kissing his palm repeatedly.
“I’m so sorry, baby. This is all my fault. I’m so sorry. Wake up,
please wake up. I need you,” she whispered near his ear, and placed
his arm around her.

Benicke called out to her again. “Alayna. Look at
what you have done. You killed them. The Geleet are dead. Come, we
must leave now before they realize what has happened.”