Blaze of Secrets (Asylums for Magical Threats) (15 page)

started with something safer. “When did you start working with DEFEND?”

“Four years ago.” Cam placed her sheathed knife inside a pocket. “Uncle Alex thought it’d be the best

chance for me to find you.”

Kiarra vaguely remembered her uncle, but never placed him as a man of action. Uncle Alex had been a

man of law and letters. “He made you join DEFEND?”

Cam shook her head. “No, but in my early twenties Uncle Alex suggested it since he had some contacts

within DEFEND. I needed a change and he wanted me to go somewhere that would keep me out of trouble.

I tried out, passed the preliminary tests, and here I am.”

She wondered what kind of “trouble” Cam had gotten into. Cam was keeping something from her, but

Kiarra was in no position to push. Just hearing that someone had looked for her made Kiarra’s heart swell.

But one person was blindingly absent from Cam’s answers, so she asked, “What about our brother?”

Cam’s lips thinned into a line. “That’s another reason you need to find James Sinclair.”

“What does that have to do with Giovanni?”

“Sinclair has him.”

Kiarra’s heart skipped a beat. “What?”

“We were split up when our parents died. Uncle Alex tried to win Gio’s custody, but failed. Sinclair

wanted an heir, and Gio was the perfect solution since he wasn’t a first-born that could tarnish his

reputation.”

Kiarra was afraid to ask her next question. “Does Gio share Sinclair’s views?”

Cam leaned forward. “I believe there’s hope for him yet, but we need to get him away from Sinclair. Do

whatever Neena asks of you, but find a way to get Gio out before it’s too late, before Sinclair takes away another member of our family.”

A chill ran down her spine. “What do you mean before he takes away another member of our family?”

Cam sat back and crossed her arms over her chest. Kiarra thought she wasn’t going to answer, but

finally Cam said, “James Sinclair murdered our parents.”

Kiarra’s stomach dropped. “How?”

Cam looked Kiarra straight in the eye. “He staged their deaths to look like a car accident, but a few years ago, I found a witness who knew the truth. Renee and Arturo Melini had become liabilities with their anti-AMT actions, so Sinclair took care of it.”

“But our mom was James Sinclair’s sister. Why would he want to kill his own sister?”

Cam’s face became hard. “If there’s one thing you need to remember, it’s this: blood doesn’t necessary make a family. Ambition and power change people in unpredictable ways.”

“But our mother was his younger sister…” Cam’s face looked too much like what Kiarra remembered

of their mother, and she had to look away.

“Kiarra.” At the command in Cam’s voice, Kiarra looked back. “The man does whatever it takes to get

what he wants. Even members of the High Council are afraid of him. Our mother was just another obstacle, just like you will become one the moment he discovers you escaped from the AMT.”

You are just an obstacle to him.
Ty and his researchers might want her alive and whole, but if James Sinclair found out his first-born niece had escaped and was at large, he would do what was necessary. If he could orchestrate his own sister’s death, then Sinclair wouldn’t think twice about hurting a first-born niece he’d only met once or twice.

She was now an even bigger burden to Jaxton, Neena, and all of the others trying to protect her. “Cam, I can’t go alone with Jaxton. I don’t want him or anyone else to get hurt because of me.”

Cam put a hand on Kiarra’s shoulder and squeezed. “Neena does things for a reason. I trust her, and

whether you’ll take my word on the matter or not, I’m not going to interfere, just keep an eye on you as best as I can. Jaxton owes Neena a debt for his brother, and he’ll see it through.”

From what Kiarra had learned of Jaxton over the last few days, he would see his debt through, even if it took his life.

Still, she was tired of being helpless; she wanted her elemental fire back.

She reached out to the south, but felt nothing. Cam looked at her outstretched hand and said, “What

happened to your fire, Kiarra?”

Her instinct told her to tell Cam the truth, so she did. “The AMT messed with my DNA and took it

away.”

Cam’s face hardened, and Kiarra decided to change the topic to avoid upsetting Cam further. “Everyone

keeps saying to trust Neena, but I learned the hard way not to rely on one person when it comes to your

own safety. What if it doesn’t all work out? I can’t protect myself, let alone anyone else.”

Cam stood up and pulled Kiarra to her feet. “I know trust takes time, so in the meantime, we need to

ease your fears and teach you a way to protect yourself.” She took out a small handgun and gave it to

Kiarra. “We have a few hours, and I’m going to show you how to use this.”

Jaxton had left Kiarra alone with Cam, confident that the two wouldn’t try to escape. While the two

sisters had their own issues to deal with, leaving Cam with Kiarra had freed up Marco. Darius had found a way to secure the shadow-shifter for transport and had left last night, so only Marco and Taka stood in front of him in the CCTV monitoring room.

He’d filled them in on the relation between Kiarra, Cam, and James Sinclair. It was time for Jaxton to

send his remaining men and new charges on assignment. They would have to scatter, but he wasn’t about to waste their talents by merely sending them into hiding. “While Kiarra and I head to Edinburgh, I need you two to take care of some business. The Four Talents have appeared and we need to find them.”

The room was quiet, each man taking in Jaxton’s words. While he knew them well enough to know

they wouldn’t think he was crazy, even he had needed a moment to digest the news earlier.

Taka crossed his arms over his chest. “Do we know who any of them are yet?”

Relief filled Jaxton at their trust in him. “Neena has confirmed the identity of the Fire Talent, but we need to find the other three.”

Taka made the leap. “It’s Kiarra, isn’t it?”

Jaxton nodded. “I know accompanying her alone to Edinburgh is risky, but I’m not about to defy

Neena’s orders.”

The men murmured their assent before Marco rubbed his hands together. “Does this mean we get to go to Chichen Itza?”

In the legends about the Four Talents, the
Feiru
High Council had always a designated meeting place for a Talent to go and leave a mark or message for the other Talents to find. The designated message center had changed over the centuries, but in the most recent legends of the Four Talents, the designated site had been Chichen Itza, the ruins of a once great Mayan city in southern Mexico.

The
Feiru
High Council no longer designated sites as message centers, but if any of the other Talents had awoken, there was a chance that one of them would leave a clue at the last known site—Chichen Itza.

“Since Marco speaks Spanish, I’ll be sending him to Chichen Itza.” Marco did a fist-pump in the air, but Jaxton put up a hand to stall Marco’s celebration. “Cam and her team will investigate the ruins while you stay out of sight and watch their backs.”

Marco’s excitement died. “Boss, you can’t be serious. We barely know anything about Camilla, and I’ve

never met her team. I doubt they’ll listen to orders from me.”

“They won’t have to because you and Cam will be on separate assignments, with overlapping but

different objectives. Basically, Cam won’t know that you’ll be shadowing her.” He hadn’t discussed it with Cam, but Jaxton had a feeling that Kiarra’s sister wouldn’t mind heading a mission. He’d checked her

records and Camilla Melini had a high mission-success rate. “I’ll go over more of the details with you

before I leave at lunchtime.”

Marco looked like he wanted to say more, but merely nodded.

“What about me?” Taka asked.

“Taka, I need you to find someone with access to the experiments inside the F-block and find out what

you can from them, especially regarding the suspected lead researcher, Dr. Ty Adams. We need to know if

they’re aware that Kiarra’s a Talent. If not her, then check to see if they know of any of the others.”

Taka nodded and said, “I have a few contacts I can reach out to who might be able to help.”

“Use only those you trust, and most of all, swear them to secrecy. I don’t want the AMT or any of

Adams’ lackeys to find out what we’re up to.” He looked at both of the men in turn. “Report progress to

Neena as often as you can. She’ll help if she’s able, but for the most part, you’re on your own this time. If anything goes horribly wrong, contact me or the others, and we’ll see what we can do to help. It doesn’t matter if we’re scattered around the world, we’re still a team.”

Taka and Marco nodded and Jaxton realized that they’d been heading toward this crossroads for quite

some time. Darius and Taka had been more than ready for missions of their own, and while Marco seemed

inexperienced, the young man had surprised him once or twice in the past.

Taka, Darius, and Marco were more than merely his team, they were his friends. Yet as much as he

wanted to help them, he would have to trust them to take care of themselves. Someone else needed his help more.

A few hours later, Kiarra stood in the front hallway and faced her sister, trying to find the words to say goodbye.

Cam had spent the short time they’d had together teaching Kiarra the basics of handgun operation and

safety. The task had given both women something to talk about. In a reverse from their childhood, Kiarra had been the one asking Cam a million questions; her younger sister now knew more about the world than

Kiarra did.

And while she knew that going to Edinburgh with Jaxton and helping DEFEND was what needed to be

done, a small part of her wanted to be selfish. After all this time, she wanted to stay and get to know her sister.

Marco strutted out from the shadows, taking Kiarra’s hand with a flourish and kissing it. She didn’t

even realize how she didn’t shy away from his touch.

Marco straightened with an exaggerated look of heartbreak on his face and said, “Our time together has

been too short, but rest assured that I will keep an ear out for both you and your sister, just to make sure you’re both safe. The world can’t afford to lose two smart, sexy beauties such as yourselves.”

Cam looked bored and the expression made Kiarra smile. She may not know Marco that well, but he

had a natural talent for lightening a situation. “I think Cam can take care of herself. I’m more worried about you.”

“Me?”

Kiarra’s smile widened. She’d heard that Cam and Marco were being sent to the jungles of Latin

America, on separate missions. “I think that without a challenge like my sister, your ego will inflate to uncontrollable proportions. And smart, sexy women don’t like that.”

Marco laughed. “I really hope Jaxton doesn’t scare you off.”

Kiarra heard a grunt behind her before Jaxton said, “Hurry it up. Do you want to waste your time saying

goodbye to Marco or to your sister? You have three minutes until we leave.”

A quick glance and Kiarra saw Jaxton was grumpy. Or irritated. Either way, she wasn’t going to let it

ruin her time with her sister. “We’ll leave when I’m done, not before.”

Before Jaxton could reply, Cam touched Kiarra’s elbow, garnering her attention. “No, he’s right. Taka

left a few hours ago to try and draw away any nearby AMT enforcers, but the longer you stick around, the greater the chance they’ll figure out Taka was a decoy.”

“Cam…”

Cam shook her head. “Save it. We’ll see each other soon enough. Just remember what I taught you, and

try not to get captured. I don’t want to wait another fifteen years to see my sister.”

Kiarra nodded, afraid that if she opened her mouth, she’d start to cry.

She started to turn away but Cam grabbed her hand and squeezed. She murmured, “Be safe, Kiarra,”

before letting go and heading up the stairs.

Willing herself not to think about Cam, Kiarra focused on putting her things into the car and helping

Jaxton and Marco load Garrett into the back seat. They’d drugged Garrett unconscious again, and Kiarra

could tell Jaxton didn’t like it—he was being terse and disagreeable with her.

When they finally drove away, she stared out the window, watching the green forest go by in a blur,

pointedly ignoring Jaxton.

Yet her thoughts kept drifting to what Cam had told her about their brother. She shouldn’t feel guilty

about it, but for some reason, she felt awful about withholding the information about Gio from Jaxton.

Cam had said nothing about keeping the information a secret, but Kiarra’s gut told her to wait. If she

told Jaxton about her brother now, he would mostly likely order her to forget about Gio until they’d

finished their mission with James Sinclair. But by then, it might be too late. The longer it took to find Sinclair and get the information Jaxton was looking for, the higher the chance that Gio would be heavily involved with Sinclair’s operations. Especially since Cam had said that Sinclair treated Gio as his heir.

If there was any chance of Kiarra persuading her brother to change sides, it had to be sooner rather than later.

Kiarra felt Jaxton’s eyes on her and she looked over to see him staring. “What?” she asked.

He focused his eyes back on the road and said nothing. He checked the rearview mirror, and again.

Kiarra looked over her shoulder at Garrett, slumped in his seat, and felt her heart constrict a little. The sight couldn’t be an easy one for Jaxton.

After being reunited with Cam, Kiarra had an inkling of what it was like to want to protect a sibling. “It must be killing you to give up your brother so soon, after all the time you spent looking for him.”

Jaxton’s grip on the steering wheel tightened. “I have complete faith in Amma.”