Black Orchid (13 page)

“Report.”

Nate
stood before Maddox, who was seated at his desk. He burned with frustration.
It’d been a week since that night with Adelaide. A week of time completely
wasted. At least that’s how he felt. He’d gotten nowhere. But today, hopefully,
he could take a step in a better direction.

Maddox
stared at him expectantly, his fingers steepled. His computer was turned off,
and there wasn’t a paper in sight on his immaculate desk.

“I
gain her trust more and more every day, sir. The mission is going well.”

“And
yet you do not feel she is ready for the next phase? If I have Adelaide, I have
a better chance at getting Lila. What’s the holdup?”

“She
doesn’t trust me completely yet, sir. She’s holding back. For example, she has
yet to say anything about our attack on her and Ellie. But I’m close.”

Maddox
gave him a hard stare as he slowly stood up. “Get closer faster.”

Nate
wanted to gulp under the force of Maddox’s will but managed a nod instead.
“Yes, sir.”

“Or
we’ll use her for a different kind of leverage against her family.”

“Understood.”
Nate kept his grimace hidden.

“Speaking
of her family, keep her away from them tonight. Consider yourself warned.”

Nate
frowned. “What’s happening tonight, sir?”

“You’re
dismissed.” Maddox waved a hand at the door.

“Yes,
sir.”

Report
complete, Nate made his way through the maze of underground corridors to the
intelligence offices. Brusquely, he knocked on the door before entering. Nate
hadn’t been in this room before. It reminded him of the movies. Up on the walls
were several large monitors and multiple rows of computers with analysts at
each station.

Looking
around, Nate addressed the man in charge, someone unfamiliar to him. “Maddox
would like Sheila to report to him immediately.”

He’d
spent several days waiting to see Sheila. He’d hoped that after she approached
him at dinner that night that she’d try and talk to him again. But she hadn’t,
and Nate had given up on waiting and decided to take action. Even if it meant
jumping through a few hoops.

The
man nodded. “Sheila!”

The
young woman stood from her spot on the other side of the room. Her eyes widened
when she saw Nate, but she walked out the door with him calmly.

“Maddox
doesn’t want to see me, does he?” she muttered, looking over her shoulder back
down the hall.

“No.”

“Then
follow me.”

Nate
shook his head. “Can’t. The cameras. We should only be seen together briefly.”

Sheila
winked. “Intelligence officer, remember? I’ve paid attention. I know some of
the holes.”

She
led him on a winding path. They didn’t see a single soul as they went. Odd. He
gave her a look out of the corner of his eye, wondering if she was dependable.
Based on some comments and expectations, he had a vague idea about what she
could do.

Finally,
they stopped at the back end of an unfinished tunnel. They were all alone,
surrounded only by rough rock walls and the chill of silence.

“So
you do remember me?” she asked.

“Not
quite as you described, but yes. Do you remember anything else? Other than me?”

Sheila’s
expression grew distant as she searched through clouded memories. “Someone
named Maggie. Someone yanking me out of a bedroom. Corin, I believe, our
teleporter.” She blinked and then shook her head. “What do you think it means?”

“I
know exactly what it means. You are Vyusher, based on the few memories I have
of you, but you’ve been brainwashed into thinking you’re with Maddox.”

Sheila
pursed her lips but didn’t look shocked. “Well, ain’t that a bitch? I thought
it might be something like that.” She backed up a step, her eyes suddenly wary.
“Or is this some kind of test?”

Nate
held up his hands. “No test. They did something similar to me, although I
suspect they employed a different method.”

“What,
multiple ways to brainwash people?” she asked with a frown.

Nate
thought he heard a sound and moved around Sheila to check down the corridor.
Satisfied no one was there, he added, “This is Maddox we’re talking about.”

“I
guess so. Redundancy plans and experimentation do seem to be his thing.”

“And
secrecy. If people are pulled into the fold in different ways, then it makes it
harder for them to compare if they start questioning things.”

Sheila
shivered. “Smart. And very disturbing.”

“But
uncontrollable sometimes. I don’t think they were originally targeting me. I
think they were trying for Ellie Jenner.”

“Why
do you say that?”

Nate
shrugged. “Conversation I overheard.” He gave her a hard look. “The question
is, what do we do now?”

Sheila
quickly glanced over her shoulder. “I won’t lie. My first instinct is to get
the hell away from here.”

“I
don’t blame you.”

“But
you didn’t have to come back. You have an easy escape plan since you apparently
get to leave the base. I’ve seen Corin take you in and out. So why’d you
return?”

Nate
clenched his hands at his side. “A couple of reasons I won’t go into. But I can
do more harm from the inside, and maybe along the way I can help a few people
who were duped, like us. Besides,” his expression turned serious, “they owe me
for what they took from me.”

Sheila
crossed her arms. Nate watched her internal battle quietly, letting her make
her own decision. After a moment she said, “My power does make me uniquely
perfect to play double agent.”

“Oh?”

“I’m
a tracker. A good one.”

Nate’s
eyebrows shot up. Trackers were rare. No wonder Maddox had wanted her.

“And
I claimed more holes in my vision than there really are,” she continued.

“I’m
not sure what that means?”

“It
means that I can choose what I tell them and how much. Like the night he sent
Evan’s team to attack two ‘people’ in Colorado.”

Realization
dawned. “You knew it was Ellie and Adelaide in the field? And assumed they’d be
able to defend themselves.”

Sheila
picked at her fingernails. “I plead the fifth.”

Nate
chuckled. “Nice work. How’d you know that Adelaide would do what she did?”

“I
didn’t. But with Ellie there, I figured they could handle themselves. Maddox
was starting to suspect me, and I needed to give him something beefy to throw
him off.”

“Maddox
was Vyusher, though. Doesn’t he know your capabilities?”

“Yes.
But when I woke up from whatever they did to me, my powers weren’t working the
same. I had to relearn them a bit. I just haven’t let them know how much I’ve
gotten back yet.”

“You
were suspicious even then?” Nate felt a fresh wave of regret roll through him.
It was a horrible, crushing feeling. He’d denied his
te’sorthene
, but
Sheila had been able to resist enough to hold back. What was wrong with him?

“I
don’t trust anyone. Besides, I’ve been through something similar once before.
When Gideon was our leader.” Sheila’s lips clamped shut as if she’d said more
than she’d wanted to.

Nate
vaguely remembered bits and pieces about how Gideon had forced his people to do
horrendous things and made them believe it was their own idea. He didn’t need
to pry further. “I need you to trust me now.”

She
sighed, running a hand through her hair. “Okay. I’ll trust you until you give
me a reason not to.”

“That
won’t happen,” Nate assured her.

He
reached out a hand to lay it on her shoulder, but she jerked back. “Forgive me,
but wasn’t Adelaide your
te’sorthene
?”

Nate
clenched his jaw as sharp pain stabbed through him. Betrayal of that kind just
wasn’t part of his nature. Or so he’d once thought.

Sheila
winced at his expression. “Sorry to poke at a sore spot. But I think you see
where I’m going. If you can do that to her, then someone like me, who is a
casual acquaintance at best, doesn’t have much hope if Maddox gets inside your
mind again.”

The
fact that he couldn’t deny her logic just fueled his desire for revenge that
much more. “Fair enough. I won’t take offense when you question things.”

Sheila
gave him a long, considering look. “All right. I’m in. What’s the plan?”

“You
said that a relationship with the wolf pack was missing?”
Griffin’s voice
interrupted Adelaide’s thoughts.

To
keep up with their pretense and to get Nate some time inside Maddox’s base,
different family members were regularly coming to Adelaide’s Outback retreat.
This was Griffin’s first time visiting.

“Yes.”

Adelaide
glanced over at the large, gold-colored wolf sitting in her living room. It
still took a little getting used to. It was so easy to forget that the creature
was a person until she looked into his intelligent, watchful eyes. Every time
she did, she suffered a little shiver. But her soft heart went out to him just
the same. He’d done this so that the Vyusher would accept his place at Selene’s
side. He’d done this for love.

Curious
as to whether he’d tried to fix his relationship to the Vyusher – or lack
thereof – she accessed her powers and took a peek. “No luck fixing your lack of
connection to the pack yet?” she asked.

“Ellie
has tried, but she doesn’t have your gift, and her powers… well…”

“Yeah.”
Ellie’s struggle to control her powers was apparently escalating. Alex barely
let her out of his sight these days.

“What
about letting the pack see you?”

Griffin
sat back, his tail curling around his feet.
“Selene and I have talked about
it. The concern is that they’ll reject me more if there’s no bond and I can’t
control the shift.”

Adelaide
nodded. That made sense. The wolf pack’s hive mind meant outsiders had
difficulty gaining their trust. And with Selene as their Queen, she and Griffin
were in a tough spot.

“You
want me to do something, don’t you?” she asked.

“Only
if you’re comfortable with it.”

Adelaide
gave him a sympathetic look, her heartstrings tugged at by the concept of a man
who’d risked everything for love. “Of course I’ll try.” She frowned, thinking
about exactly how she was going to attempt this feat. “I… I think it would be
best if one of the Vyusher were here with us. I need to be able to see the
wolf- pack relationship line.”

Griffin
said nothing for a moment, and in his current form, his expression was
difficult to read.

“Griffin?”
she prompted.

“Sorry.
I was thinking about whom to ask. Selene’s out on business. Only a few wolves
know about me. Really only leaves one option.”
He didn’t sound
too thrilled about it.

It
took mere moments to contact the castle to let them know whom they needed and
why. After a few minutes, Charlotte popped in with Desmond in tow. Adelaide
hadn’t seen much of the flippant metamorph since meeting him and Maggie the
night of Samuel’s prophesy.

“Hey,
munchkin,” he greeted with a grin.

Adelaide
glanced at Griffin, who gave her the wolf equivalent of a shrug. “Umm… hi.”

Desmond
walked around the small house, checking it out. He glanced over at her with
raised eyebrows and then smacked his forehead with his hand. “Sorry. I forgot
that you don’t really remember me.”

“Yeah…
sorry.”

He
smiled. “Nice digs you got here.” Then he turned toward Griffin. “So, Goofy,
we’re trying to get you into the pack so you can finally hook up with my girl,
huh?”

“Last
I checked, Selene’s my girl, Donald.”
Griffin employed his telepathy so that
both Adelaide and Desmond could hear him.

Adelaide
sniggered. Ellie had told her about Griffin and Desmond’s little funny name
thing. Apparently Desmond had started it, calling Griffin every G name but the
right one. Eventually, Griffin had responded in kind. Desmond had also once
proposed to Selene, then backed off when Griffin made his intentions clear. But
Adelaide knew something the others didn’t know, that the two men truly respected
each other and had even developed a solid friendship with an unusual level of
trust given the start to their relationship.

Desmond
clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “Well, let’s get to it. What do I
need to do?” He looked back and forth between Adelaide and Griffin.

“You
do nothing,” she said. “Just sit there while I try a few things. Let me know if
anything hurts or feels odd.” She patted the space beside her.

He
quirked an eyebrow. “Odd how?”

“I
don’t know. I’ve never tried something like this before. You may not feel
anything.”

“All
right.” Desmond moved over to the couch and flopped down.

Adelaide
took a deep breath. She already had her power turned on. She’d managed to break
Ariel’s connection to Maddox’s pack. But her attempt to reconnect her and
Nate’s relationship had failed miserably. How on earth did she force a line to
materialize where none existed?

She
saw Desmond’s link to the Vyusher as a line that just sort of faded into
nowhere since no other pack members were close by. Reaching out, she felt a
wave of relief when she was able to grasp it.

“Huh,”
Desmond grunted.

“Okay?”
she asked him, her concentration still focused on the strand of light in her
hands.

“Yup.
Just tingles a bit.”

Adelaide
nodded. “Griffin, come stand closer,” she instructed, not looking up. Out of
the corner of her eye, she watched him move over.

She
pulled on Desmond’s wolf-pack relationship and dragged it to Griffin. But when
she touched it to him, nothing happened. Adelaide bit her lip and tried again.
Nothing.

She
sat back with a frown. Maybe…

Reaching
out with her free hand, she grasped the thread of friendship already connecting
the two men. They both grunted this time. Adelaide tried to force the two lines
to connect. Again, nothing. Finally, she tried her only other idea and
attempted to connect the thin, white strand to the spot on Griffin near his
heart from which all the other relationships originated. .

“That
feels warm,”
Griffin’s voice echoed in her mind.

Adelaide
held still, willing the warmth to fuse the relationships. But after a good five
minutes, nothing more happened.

Shaking
her head, Adelaide let go with a deep sigh. “
I’m sorry
,” she thought to
Griffin.

He
padded over and bumped her with his shoulder.
“It’s okay. Worth a try.”

Aloud
she said, “We could try it with Ellie sometime. And I can think of other things
to try. I’m still relearning this power, after all.”

Adelaide
wanted to cry. Even in his wolfish form and trying to put a brave face on it,
Griffin’s despair was obvious.

“We’ll
get it figured out eventually, Gaston.” Desmond clapped Griffin on the
shoulder.

Griffin
nodded.
“I’ll call Charlotte to come get you.”

“Nah,
don’t bother. She’s busy shuttling folks to Maddox’s old base in Texas.”

Adelaide
glanced between the two. “What old base? Why?”

“We
discovered the location of Maddox’s forces last year and tried attacking him
there. But somehow he knew about it and attacked us the moment we showed up,”
Griffin
explained.

“We
won?” Adelaide asked, frowning.

Desmond
shook his head. “No one really won that one. But we discovered quite a bit
about Maddox.”

“Is
that when we found out he’s a dragon metamorph, like Ellie?”

“That…
and that she can’t beat him on her own when he’s in that form. He’s massive and
incredibly powerful.”

Adelaide
chewed on her lower lip. Nate was with Maddox right now. She didn’t like
thinking of the danger in which he was deliberately placing himself. She hopped
up and wandered to the window, sort of hoping to see Nate approaching already.
He hadn’t been gone that long really, but still…

“And
why are the Vyusher going there now?” she asked.

Desmond
stretched out and crossed his ankles. “Maddox abandoned that base after the
fight. We’ve been keeping an eye on it, but there’s been no activity. Although
we don’t really hope to find anything, Selene thinks it’s safe to explore and
worth the try.”

“Ah.
Makes sense, I guess.”

“So
looks like I’ll hang out here with you guys for a bit.” Desmond grinned.
“What’s on TV?”

Adelaide
grimaced. “No TV, no internet.”

“What
do you do for entertainment?”

“Well,
Digory, there’s these things called books…”
Griffin said, his tone dry.

Desmond
clasped his heart. “Was that a joke? Good on ya, buddy. I didn’t think you were
capable.”

Griffin
snorted.

Desmond
swung his gaze to Adelaide and then glanced over her shoulder to the landscape
outside. “I do hear that you have an excellent sunset view.”

Taking
the hint, Adelaide gave him a soft smile, grateful for the distraction.
Besides, the brilliant sunsets were one of her favorite parts of living here. “I’d
say that you should check it out, but we’re being careful about who might be
seen from my windows.”

Desmond
smiled. “No worries, little lady.” Then he sobered. “But living like this isn’t
living. Someone’s gotta take that bastard down.”

“Or
die trying,” Adelaide muttered, as she cast another worried glance out the
window.