Daughter of Destiny (4 page)

Sitting back, he picked up his coffee cup. Jenny Wright, their assistant, had left two Krispy Kreme doughnuts on a plate on his desk. Not that he needed them, but he did enjoy them. “Well, yes…”

“Annie's mother is a medicine woman for the Apache nation. Annie's now training to become one herself. That's how this knowledge is passed down from one generation to the next.”

“Ah, yes. I remember Annie showing me the rainbow medicine necklace that was passed on to her,” Morgan said.

“Exactly. That necklace is hundreds of years old and possesses magical qualities, if you will, that help others. Annie's family are caretakers of it. Jason was helped by it. You saw it with your own two eyes.”

“If I hadn't, I wouldn't have believed it,” Morgan growled, tapping his fingers on the brief. “I
still
have a tough time believe it, Mike, but Jason
is
better. He's nearly fully recovered….”

“We've never really sat down and talked about this aspect of life, Morgan, but you know I'm Quechua Indian and come from a medicine family myself.”

Nodding, Morgan said, “Yeah…I guess I just overlook that part of you.”

“And I understand why,” Mike told him, his voice low and earnest. “I live in a world of magic, Morgan. I don't go around talking about it, but I live it daily. Metaphysics is just as real as you and me sitting here talking to one another right now. You're used to dealing with the third-dimensional world. My mother, who was a medicine woman, taught me about the
other
dimensions. We live in
a complex universe, Morgan. Most people aren't aware of the other dimensions, but those who are sensitive or psychic often tap into them.” He spread his hands. “Without years of training, though, people don't know how to access these other dimensions. I've learned to turn on my psychic equipment when I need it, and turn it off when I don't.”

Houston smiled dryly. “I still have to live the bulk of my life here—” he pointed to the floor “—in what we call the here and now. My abilities don't hinder me, they only enhance who and what I am, for the benefit of all who live here in the third-dimensional world. Real time, in military terms.”

Morgan shook his head. “It all sounds so crazy, Mike, so far-fetched.”

“I know. Anyone who connects with the other dimensions without proper training can get into a lot of trouble with it, too. People in mental hospitals who hear voices and see things we don't—they fall into that category. Psychosis can occur. What they're seeing and hearing is in other dimensions—the good, the bad and the ugly all mixed into one. The problem with the mentally ill is that they don't know how to screen it out or shut it down. I was trained to do so. Open it up and shut it down, and stay sane in the process.”

Morgan grinned at him. “You're one of the sanest people I've ever encountered, Mike, and you know it.”

“Sure I do. But this is another side of me, Morgan, one I've purposely cloaked so you aren't aware of it—you and most people. I know other individuals who are trained like myself, and none of us go around advertising the fact. Usu
ally, we work behind the scenes, quietly doing what we do. The universe is made up of energy. You might say we've been instructed in how to utilize and work with this energy. Metaphysics means seeing into the unseen. Seeing that which isn't physical. That's all.”

“Well,” Morgan muttered, “if Annie's necklace hadn't been a crucial part of Jason's return to health I'd have already told you that this mission was dead in the water.”

“Understandable, boss.”

Sighing, Morgan picked up the brief and frowned. “This woman, Kai Alseoun, has a BCD from the Navy, and we're going to fund her trek across the globe to find a quartz crystal mask and bring it back to the Quallah Reservation in North Carolina?”

“That's it in a nutshell, yes.”

“I like your idea of forming a department in Perseus for this.” Morgan stared at him. “I have a gut feeling this isn't going to be the only mission requiring metaphysical skills that we'll fund. I see there are two more totems to find for the Cherokee people.”

Mike gave him a sour grin. “With your permission, I'd like to call our new branch Medusa. You know, the woman with snakes in her hair who is pictured on the hero Perseus's shield? According to some interpretations of Greek mythology, Medusa's skill was described as being able to freeze men who looked into her face. The real truth was that Medusa was an enlightened being, a woman of immense power and a healer of incredible repute. I would like to name our new department in her honor, recognizing that women are powerful, and supporting them in this way.”

Shrugging, Morgan said, “Fine with me. And you're running this bureau, Mike. Not me. I really don't understand your secret world of metaphysics, but with Jason's recovery, I'm not going to say it doesn't exist. I
do
believe in miracles.”

“Well,” Mike murmured, “you may think of metaphysics like that. It can be miraculous in the right hands. But if the prana—the energy that the universe is made up of—falls into the wrong hands, it can be turned on us and harm us just as much as it can do us good in the hands of the right people.”

Morgan signed the brief, which would give Mike authorization to put the mission into action. Handing it over, he said, “Keep me out of the loop on Medusa, okay? I have my hands full dealing with third-dimensional things.” And he grinned.

Smiling, Mike said, “Yes, sir, not a problem. Let me work up a template for Medusa, a yearly budget and so on, and I'll get it back to you within a month. In the meantime, we'll fund Kai's mission out of Perseus.”

“Sounds good to me. Oh, and one thing I insist on, Mike, is that you send out teams of two on each mission. One man, one woman. That's what we do at Perseus, and it works well. So no deviation from that procedure, okay?”

“Not a problem,” Mike assured him, standing. “In fact, I have just the man for this mission with Kai.”

“Excellent. Okay, you've got your work cut out for you. I really don't want the CIA to know about Medusa. This is
our
secret.”

“Fine, but you know the CIA has its own psychic department?”

“Oh, I've heard rumors….”

“Yeah, it's true. They use remote viewing, a psychic skill some people possess. But for now, I have no problem keeping Medusa a secret.”

“Fine, I'll let you handle this entirely. I'm sure Kai Alseoun will be very happy to hear her quest funds have been granted.”

 

Kai could barely believe her ears as she sat in front of Mike Houston's desk that afternoon. Not only had Medusa been created as a new bureau of Perseus, but her mission to Australia was a go and would become the template for the newly created department. Pride filled her for a moment. Something good had already come from her fall from grace.

As Mike finished telling her about the bottom lines, he added, “Perseus has a standing S.O.P.—standard operating procedure—Kai. For any mission that originates through us, we put one man and one woman on each team. Morgan wants it done with anything coming out of Medusa as well. That means you'll have a male partner.”

“Hey, no way!” She jumped to her feet. “What makes you think I need a man on this mission? I don't! This is unacceptable!”

Mike held her blazing blue eyes. “This isn't up for discussion, Kai. You either agree to have a male partner or this mission will never get off the ground.”

Trying to temper her reaction, Kai rasped, “Where in the
world
are you going to find a man besides you who knows anything about Native Americans or metaphysics on such short notice?”

Mike saw Kai clench her fists at her sides as she leaned forward, probably to try and intimidate him. Sinking back in his chair, he refused to be drawn into her emotional drama over this point. He knew she had a lot of ugly emotions to sort out about men in light of her recent experience with Thorval and, Mike sensed, even more because of her relationship with her alcoholic father. The emotional wounds he had inflicted were clearly still raw and bleeding. But not all men were like her father, and at twenty-four years old, Kai was still too young to fully comprehend these weighty issues in order to make distinctions among men. Mike didn't take her reactions personally.

“You know, Kai, the first thing you have to do is
trust
me,” he murmured. He watched as she took a step back, her eyes flaring. Softening his voice further, he said, “From what you've shared with me earlier, I know your father wounded you. He hurt you deeply. You're of medicine lineage and one thing you must know is that all medicine people must heal their wounded side, whether it's their female half, the left side of the body, or their male half, the right side. They must make the effort to heal and then integrate. Otherwise, none of the skills and knowledge that have been passed down to them will surface. Without integration, it just doesn't happen. You're angry with your father. As a result, you're projecting that most men aren't worth much.” He held her stare. “They aren't all bad, Kai. Not every man in your life has been unkind or negative toward you.” Mike opened his hands. “Look at me. I'm a positive male in your life. So is Morgan Trayhern. He approved this mission for you. And I'm sure there were men in your squadron who respected you, too.”

“You won't ever find a man that could help me on this special mission! I'm better off going alone!” Kai declared. She was wrestling with emotions that writhed like a tangle of angry snakes within her.

“I've located just such a man, Kai.”

Disbelief made her voice raw. “That's impossible.”

“There's one,” Mike told her mildly. Sitting up, he opened another folder on his desk and drew out a colored photo. “Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jake Stands Alone Carter. You know him. You grew up with him. When you left the res at nine years old, you two parted. You might not know that, a decade later, he went on to join the U.S. Army, and now he's an Apache helicopter combat pilot who was recently stationed in Afghanistan. His mother was a medicine person. He trained with her father for a while before he made the decision to go out into the world, join the military. Jake knows a lot more than you do about energy and Cherokee spirituality. That is why he'll be your partner, Kai. He can educate you, help you deal with what you don't know. He should be a great asset to this mission.”

Stunned, Kai took the photo. With her heart pounding in her chest, she stared down at the picture. It was of Jake…but how he'd changed from the ten-year-old she'd known on the res! His face was square, copper-colored with high cheekbones, and those golden-brown eyes of his seemed to look into her heart. Jake was in his official class A green uniform, his beret on his head, a look of pride on his unsmiling features.

Oh! Kai uttered a sound and sat down before her knees buckled beneath her. Her head was suddenly swimming
with hundreds of questions and snippets of memories spent with Jake when she was growing up, and she had to take several deep breaths. He had been one of her protectors besides her Grams that lived fifteen miles away. She could run to him when she needed a safe haven, and he'd always been there for her. Somehow, he would instinctively know when she was hurting, and they would meet at their secret place, at a huge old beech tree high up on the mountain. Kai never understood how Jake knew when she needed to see him. Occasionally he didn't show up, but most of the time he'd be there waiting, and she came to rely on him.

Kai would run up to the beech tree, tears threatening to come, but she'd never shed them. No, she'd gulp them back down until she reached that five-hundred-year-old tree. And Jake would be standing there in his ragged jeans and faded cotton T-shirt, his eyes huge and filled with concern. How many times had she burst into tears when she saw him there? Jake would open his spindly arms and she would throw herself into them, pressing her face against his thin shoulder as she sobbed—sometimes so hard she couldn't talk for minutes at a time.

Bitterness swam through Kai as she grappled with the demons of her past. Gripping the photo of Jake in her trembling hand, she felt her heart open side. A wave of warmth, like a ribbon of peach-colored light along the horizon at dawn, flowed gently through her. The feeling scared her, yet didn't really surprise her. She had tried to explain away her “puppy love” of Jake for all these years. Kai had told herself that the feelings she'd had for the young boy with golden eyes that shone with pure adoration for her was sim
ply a childhood love that would never go anywhere or amount to anything. “You can't do this to me!” she cried. “You can't….”

Mike sat very still. Kai was struggling with a mountain of grief, rage, hurt and need, he knew. “I had no choice, Kai. Morgan isn't going to clear this mission unless you have a male partner. I did a little investigating and came up with Carter. He's the right person to be at your side. He was someone you trusted.”

“
Then!
Not
now!
” She threw the photo down on the desk. “This sucks! I don't even know if I can do this alone, much less with
him!
”