Mikal (Second Wave Book 3) (18 page)

Chance sat near Dree, unconsciously gripping Dree’s small hand tightly as she listened to how they were going to get Mikal back. With Charlie safely in the care of Amun, Lauren, and her other sisters, there was no in way hell anyone was going to stop her from going to get the father of her child.

She’d promised Charlie that she was going to bring her daddy back to them, and she was damn sure going to make it happen. She hadn’t been hit by one of the darts with the drug in it and could shift. That alone could get her in places the others couldn’t go.

“Please tell me that you are still OK?” Chance asked Mikal through the private mental connection they shared.

She almost smiled when she heard him chuckle in her mind. If the situation weren’t so horrible, she probably would have.

“I am doing very well. From what this idiot has told me, he was fired from his cushy federal job because he’s the ass who shot at my father and caused the collapse of the Silver Bridge. Apparently, he was supposed to tell someone that he’d hit something, and he lied so no one inspected the bridge. If they had, those people may not have died,” Mikal told her.

“That doesn’t tell me how you are,” Chance retorted in irritation, hoping he wasn’t avoiding telling her because they were hurting him.

“I’m doing well, just like I told you, baby. Don’t worry, my dad will get me out of here, and these idiots will be sorry for about four seconds before they’re dead,” Mikal assured her. His confidence in Grai and his siblings vibrated through his energy to her.

Chance looked between both of the men called father to the man she . . .
what do I feel for him?
she wondered briefly.
The man I love,
she thought.

She had no idea when he’d gotten so deeply under her skin, but she couldn’t deny the intense feelings she had for him.

It certainly explained why she was so terrified for him and determined to bring him back to her and Charlie. Unsure how he felt about her, Chance refused to say anything about it to him—not then anyway. She kept her tone light as she responded.

“Is there anything else you need me to tell Grai? We’re in the conference room planning your retrieval now,” she said.

There was silence for a few seconds before he answered.

“No, nothing has changed since I last spoke with him. Is Charlie all right? She has to be so scared,” he said sadly.

Mikal had hoped to give his daughter a fun day. The kind of day that human children had all the time at places just like that around the world. Instead, Charlie’s first day out had turned into a nightmare.

Chance had to stop herself from laughing out loud at how Charlie had reacted when they’d gotten back.

“Our daughter wants to go with us to get her daddy back. She was fighting so hard to help that Amun had to give her a calming agent to help her sleep,” Chance said, smiling at how brave their little girl had been.

Mikal sighed in relief.

“I was so afraid she’d shut herself off with her sisters,” he admitted, glad that he’d been wrong and proud of his little girl at the same time.

Chance smiled sadly.

“No, she wants to go back to the park. Only this time she’s demanded that her aunts and uncles kill all the bad people first so they don’t ruin her day with her daddy and mommy,” Chance said, repeating what had happened with their daughter in the medlab when they’d returned.

Mikal couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of his adorable little girl standing with her little hands on her hips telling a rapt audience of his siblings and friends how she wanted things done next time.

“They all probably agreed that they would,” he said with a grin, doubting that any of them would be able to tell the little girl no.

“Amun said something about Grai renting a park for a day next time, and Lauren said that would probably be a great idea and that we should think of doing something like that for all of the hybrid children,” Chance said, feeling Mikal’s interest perk at the idea.

“We really need to consider that. I need to go right now, baby. I’m trying to learn what I can from these idiots while they’re in the mood to talk and still alive,” Mikal said, needing to sever the connection with her quickly.

“Don’t do anything stupid,” she warned before she felt the connection sever and she turned her attention back to the planning.

*****

Mikal severed the connection with Chance just as he leaned into the blow coming at his face. He was getting really tired of being this old fool’s punching bag, but the guy was a fountain of information, and Angel hit harder so he put up with it.

“So, let me get this straight. You fled to Canada after you killed 46 people on that bridge and lost your job through your incompetence. You happened to see me on the street the other day and you think to yourself, ‘gee, I’m a moron, let me see if they’ll give me my 50-year-old job back if I catch the Mothman’ muah haha,” Mikal mocked, noting the grins on the faces of the mercenaries sent to help in his capture.

Mikal didn’t bother to duck the angry, glancing fist the older man threw at the top of his head. Instead he laughed, continuing to keep the man and his hastily thrown together group as off balance and distracted as he could.

“I did this to get my honor back!” the man screamed at Mikal, causing Mikal to laugh again.

“Honor?” Mikal asked, turning his head to look behind the chair he was cuffed to so he could show the idiot his smiling face before he turned to the handful of mercenaries standing around him.

“Do any of you really believe that after 50 years he wants his honor back? After heartlessly killing 46 people at Christmas because he refused to admit he fired on that bridge?” Mikal asked.

He watched several of the men snort, snicker, and shake their heads. The others kept silent, watching the exchange between Mikal and the older man with amusement and interest.

Mikal dodged the next punch easily as the old man tottered and nearly fell while trying to deliver it.

“How the hell did an impotent fool like you convince these poor bastards to listen to you?” Mikal asked condescendingly as he chuckled, keeping the old man simmering in anger.

“I got video of you on my phone!” the old man yelled as one of the mercenaries narrowed his eyes at Mikal.

“And they just came running for you? I doubt it. Your lack of honor and desperation couldn’t command that kind of respect in your best fantasies,” Mikal sneered, watching the man turn a nasty shade of red/purple.

The old man sputtered for a moment and was getting ready to reply when the narrow eyed mercenary stepped forward and pushed the old man out of the room.

“I think that’s enough of the show and tell,” the mercenary said as he glared at Mikal.

Mikal chuckled and flexed his fists against the zip ties that bound him to the chair at his wrists and ankles.

“Afraid of something?” Mikal asked the cautious man.

“No, I’m not. But I’ve learned to be a little more distrusting than most,” the mercenary said as he leaned against the wall and watched Mikal carefully.

Mikal wiped the smile from his face as he sifted the mercenary’s energy. This wasn’t a guy that he wanted to anger the way he had the older man. There was a thread of darkness in that one that made him much more dangerous than the others around him, and Mikal knew he had to tread carefully.

“When are they coming to pick us up?” Mikal asked.

The mercenary shook his head, his eyes darting around nervously as if expecting someone.

“I’m not the chatty kind, so shut up,” he said.

“Yeah, that’s easily said by the guy who
isn’t
tied up and bored,” Mikal said quietly.

Mikal noted a twitch in the man’s lip, but Mikal let the matter lie and contacted his father.

“Dad, they’re expecting something. The mercenary in here with me is a pretty nervous guy,” Mikal warned.

Chapter Eighteen

Grai looked around the hangar as his team prepared to go get his son from Plum Island. He made eye contact with Traze, David, Blade and Decano before nodding his head, setting in motion the plan he’d formulated before they got there.

The four moved silently among his children and the Tezarians before moving into position to await Grai’s order. With a nod of Grai’s head, Blade moved to Indrid Cold and he attempted to use compulsion on him.

Indrid turned quickly and jerked his arm away from Blade’s touch.

“What are you doing?” Indrid asked suspiciously, noting that his energy felt strange when the man touched him.

“Sorry,” Blade said and moved away, shaking his head at Grai as he did.

Grai sighed. He’d been hoping that Blade would be able to use his compulsion ability on Indrid, and it hadn’t worked. Now he was going to have to be more drastic. This time, he nodded at Decano, who moved behind Indrid and acted quickly.

“What the hell?” Indrid demanded as he jerked his hand to where he’d been injected.

Indrid started to stagger and Amun moved to his side to catch him before he hit the ground. Indrid looked at Grai with anger and fear.

“Why?” he asked as his legs began to buckle.

Chance looked at Grai and felt the regret in his energy as he looked at Mikal’s biological father, but she knew why Grai had done it, and she went over to Indrid to help ease his mind.

“Mikal told me they think that they have captured you. A guard who was after you that night on the bridge is the one who mistook Mikal for you and set up his capture. If they see you, you’ll be telling them that there are two of you. If you stay here, they will never know that you and Mikal are two different people,” she said gently.

Indrid roared in rage.

“No! I have to get him! He’s my son!” Indrid said as his legs gave out and he collapsed to the floor.

Grai moved forward and knelt in front of Indrid.

“You will help him better by staying here and remaining safe. You dishonor his attempts to protect his father by going. Let your son do this for you, and I promise you on my life that I will bring him back to you. To all of us,” Grai vowed.

It was the last thing Indrid heard before he passed out in Amun’s arms.

In a flash of movement Chance didn’t see until it was too late, Grai stood and jabbed the needle into her arm and held her as the drug began to take effect.

“No! I need to help! I can get inside!” Chance screamed as her head began to swim and her legs began to fold beneath her.

Grai shook his head sadly as he made sure she didn’t hit the floor.

“No, you can’t. All your presence would do is upset him and make him worry more for your safety than his own. You know this. When you awaken, he will be back in your arms,” Grai said softly as he watched her beautiful white eyes close and her body go limp.

Chris and the others began to back away from Grai’s team, all wondering who would be next. They refused to be left out of bringing their brother home.

Grai noticed their actions and chuckled before addressing his children and the Tezarians.

“You have no need to panic; they were the only ones who do not need to be on this mission. We can’t lose any of their people back to those bastards. The rest of you decide among yourselves who is staying and who is going. We can’t take all of you,” he said before he turned his attention back to loading their gear.

Chris cursed softly as he looked at his 22 siblings, all ready to go and get their brother. The Tezarians stood at the ready as well. Chris wasn’t sure how he was going to pick between them.

Siggy and Dante stepped back from the line of siblings.

“We’ll stay back and try hacking into the systems, find another way inside,” Siggy said to Chris’s relief.

“We can jam their communications too,” Dante added.

Several other siblings considered their skill set and stepped back from the group, but there were still too many of them, and Chris ran a frustrated hand over his face.

Grai looked over at his son and quirked an eyebrow, waiting for him to pick his team.

Chris considered each of their strengths and weaknesses and pointed at those he thought would be the best assets to the mission. When he pointed at Dree, Liam immediately stepped in front of her and gave a sharp shake of his head.

Chris looked at him curiously for a moment before nodding. Seconds later Liam pulled Dree back from the others and they began arguing privately with one another.

Chris quickly replaced the two of them, and moments later his extraction team was complete. The rest would be divided among the backup teams or assigned to stay behind and protect the vulnerable females, Chance and Indrid.

Grai ordered everyone to board the multiple air and watercraft they needed for the mission before he sent a message to his son.

“We’re on our way, son. Stay strong. We’re coming,” Grai said, his energy vibrating with determination.

*****

Mikal’s gaze never wavered from the wary mercenary who hadn’t left his side since they’d moved him to a new room. Mikal noted that the man was obviously in charge and was much more intuitive than he’d expected. The mercenary knew something was wrong. Something was coming. He just didn’t know enough about how to tap into that energy to use it to his advantage. For that Mikal was grateful.

“Dad, the leader moved me. I’m still in the same building; they just moved me to a basement area where they kept the animals. And apparently people too. I’m tied to a chair in the middle of an iron cage around 20 feet from the door,” Mikal told his father through the Shengari’.

“That’s good, son. Are you being guarded?” Grai asked as he entered the transport behind his team and signaled Deacon to take off.

Mikal stopped himself from chuckling aloud and drawing the attention of the ever-wary mercenary.

“I must be special. Their leader is the only one down here with me. I counted at least 15 different mercenaries upstairs and six others that didn’t come inside the building at all,” Mikal said, giving his father as much information as he could.

“If Siggy and Dante can’t bypass the electronic doors we’re blowing them. So be ready, son,” Grai warned.

“Dad, is Chance OK? I can’t reach her,” Mikal asked, even though he suspected why she was silent.

“I had her and your father knocked out. It was the only way to keep them from coming for you,” Grai said without a trace of guilt.

Mikal breathed out a heavy sigh of relief.

“Thank you, Father,” he said simply, beyond relieved that neither of them would be in danger of being recaptured.

“Anything for you, son. You know that,” Grai said.

Seconds later Mikal heard the crackle of the mercenary’s radio and the incoherent rambling coming through from several different people. Gunfire erupted above them, and screaming drifted down through the open door to the floor above.

“Everyone stop shouting and someone tell me what’s going on!” the man demanded into the radio as he glared at Mikal.

As the silence stretched on into minutes, the mercenary cursed just as a voice came through the radio.

“This is where you choose to die quickly . . . or not,” a cold, hard voice said, causing shivers of fear to run up the mercenary’s spine.

If Mikal hadn’t known the voice, he’d probably have been just as frightened as the mercenary. He ran to shut and lock the door between them and the floor above, and he stood beside it trying to control his breathing as he checked his weapon and ammunition.

“It doesn’t have to be like this,” Mikal said, hoping to end this quickly.

“Shut up!” the mercenary said through gritted teeth.

“You don’t have to die. You can walk away,” Mikal said, while he relayed the man’s position to his father.

The mercenary snorted and wiped the sudden perspiration from his forehead.

“No, man, this is one of those gigs where you know the drill when you sign up for it,” he said roughly.

“You can go somewhere else, start over,” Mikal suggested as he saw a flash of movement under the door to the floor above.

The man leaned against the wall and slid to the floor, shaking his head.

“There’s nowhere to hide from them. They’d find me and kill me anyway,” he said hopelessly.

“Why would you sign up for this?” Mikal asked in frustration, puzzled by the regret and guilt pouring from the man.

The mercenary snorted and wiped his face again.

“You don’t sign up for this. You don’t know what this is until you sign. Then they spring on you what it all entails. By then . . . they own you. It’s live or die from the second you sign on that dotted line. There’s no out. There’s no hope of leaving. Not alive. The mission kills you or they do,” he said sadly.

Drago and Viper used their energy to blow the door off its hinges, sending it flying into the room, the metal grinding and scraping along the floor.

Grai strode through just as the mercenary put his arms up, leaving his rifle on the floor beside him. The man was quickly disarmed and held at gunpoint as Grai opened the door to the cell and cut the ties from Mikal’s wrists and ankles.

The moment Mikal was free, Grai pulled him into a quick hug and visually inspected him for injury.

“You are well?” Grai asked, wanting to make sure his son wasn’t hurt.

Mikal nodded and looked around Grai to the man on the floor, his head hung in defeat.

“He wasn’t bad to me,” Mikal said, knowing his father had heard the man’s confession as he waited behind the door.

Grai nodded his head as Traze motioned Mikal out of the cage and up the stairs. Knowing they had to get out of there, Mikal ran up the stairs, following his siblings while his father stayed behind.

Within minutes, Mikal was outside and being led to the extraction point for the transport. They reached the water just as Grai caught up to them. Without a word Grai ran straight to Mikal and pulled him into another tight hug.

“You ever scare me like that again, son, and I will beat the sparkle right out of your skin,” he said hoarsely, overcome with emotion.

Mikal choked on a chuckle, his emotions raw.

“Never again, Dad. Thank you,” Mikal whispered, holding Grai tight.

Grai pulled away and looked at his son, unshed tears shimmering in his eyes.

“Don’t thank me, son. I’m grateful every day to have you and your siblings in my life. Just don’t scare me like that again. Any of you,” Grai said as he looked around at the subdued faces of his other children.

Chris cleared his throat and pointed upwards.

“Deacon’s here. Let’s get the hell out of here,” he said, glad they were all going home.

As they loaded into the transport, Mikal looked around and noted someone missing.

“Where’s Ranger?” he asked, wondering where the cat was.

Grai shook his head.

“No way were we bringing the cats when we knew they experimented on animals here. I wasn’t afraid of what the cats would do so much as I was worried about what crap the humans left behind in the environment that could harm the cats,” Grai said, glad he’d made that call when he’d seen inside that building.

Mikal had been right when he’d said he thought they’d kept people there as well as animals. From what Grai had seen, the place had been used for something stronger than a regular human, and he’d ordered the removal of anything that could tell them if it had also been a lab used for the hybrids or Mikal’s people.

They landed back at the hangar to the cheers of those left behind, and Mikal scanned the crowd for Chance.

“She’s still knocked out in the medlab,” Dree said as she grinned knowingly at Mikal.

Mikal tried not to blush as Grai whistled to get everyone’s attention.

“I don’t have to tell you that you can’t stay here; it’s too dangerous for the females, Indrid, and Mikal. Until this dies down and we know what we’re facing, you all need to disappear for a little while. I will allow your suggestions of where you want to spend some quality time together,” Grai said, waiting for them to have a fit.

He was surprised when they looked at one another, contemplating where they wanted their new home base to be for a while.

“They are Hyperborean. I say we take them to the safest place on the planet,” Blade suggested. “Home.”

Mikal looked taken aback for a moment while his siblings nodded their heads, more than willing to see the infamous Base Beta. Some of the Valendran hybrids were already onsite protecting the ancient knowledge and relics discovered there.

Grai could see Mikal considering it, and he contacted Thjodhild to let her know they would be coming before turning to his son.

“Thjodhild is having a wing of the castle prepared for them. Think of what Indrid could teach all of you about that place and your history, son. You know it is the best option, and you all can work just as easily from there as you can anywhere,” Grai said.

Lara put a hand on Mikal’s arm until he looked down at her.