Hathor Legacy: Burn (31 page)

Dropping his hand from her throat, he grasped her shoulders and slammed her into the wall. She could hear Dakar groan from the bed. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement as the Elder tried to get up.

Nadira dug her fingers into Mikal's shoulders, her nails pier
cing his skin through his light jacket. If he could connect with her, he'd use the strength he was siphoning from Dakar to try to overcome her.

"We're both descended from the First Families. We have a duty to Hathor." Mikal grunted and pressed himself against her.

His energy was bombarding her, hitting her shields like a shower of sparks. All his effort was focused on forcing her to open her mind to him. Once he could get to the core of her, he could start to overwhelm her.

Tentacles of energy reached into her, trying to find places to a
ttach and build a connection.

How long before he started to drain her energy as he was drai
ning Dakar's? Once he did that, she wouldn't have anything more to hold him off. He'd use her life force to build his own strength, and turn that against her.

But she couldn't let that happen. She had to fight him with ev
erything she had, or end up like Dakar.

He placed his hands on either side of her face, staring into her eyes as though he could will her to stop fighting and let him take possession of her.

"Let me go!" She cried out as they struggled. If he could continue to get her to use up her energy defending herself, while he took Dakar's, he would win. She'd be too exhausted to stop him. Only this time she wouldn't be able to undermine him as she'd done before. It would be too late. He'd be in control of her and would force to do what he wanted.

Sweat broke out and dripped into her eyes. Adrenaline fueled her now, but for how long? Her heart was hammering so loud she was sure he could hear it. She had to use everything she had, every ounce of her power to stop him.

Gasping, she could feel her shields on the cusp of buckling as exhaustion and terror chipped away at her strength. Sensing a weakness in her protections, he drew more energy from Dakar and used it to thrust harder. By forcing her to use her energy to shield against him, he was draining her. If she could distract him, break his concentration, she might have a chance.

"Nadira!" Dakar's voice was a dry rasp.

She knew he was trying to assist her, but he couldn't. Not with Mikal draining him at the same time.

"When Dakar dies, I'll become the Elder above the others," M
ikal said, his voice becoming strained as he continued to push through. "You'll join with me. We'll be together as we should've been."

He positioned himself so that he could cover her mouth with his own, his body pressing against hers as he prepared to engulf her.

But from deep within her, just as she was reaching the point of exhaustion, she felt Jon's consciousness responding, supporting her and giving her strength to keep Mikal at bay.

"You don't control me!" she screamed. Gripping him, she brought her knee up and aimed it at his groin.

Mikal fell backwards, just missing the bed. On his knees, he held himself and let out a string of curses. Flustered, his face red with fury, he got to his feet and took a swipe at her.

She grabbed the vase from Dakar's bedside table and swung it. It made contact with Mikal's head and smashed into pieces, sen
ding flowers and water flying with shards of glass. Holding his head, Mikal staggered and fell back down to the floor.

"Nadira--call security! Hurry!" Dakar's body shook as he reached out to her.

She ran past Mikal. But before she could get to the door, he grabbed her leg, gathering the hem of her pants in his hand.

Nadira hit the stone floor on her knees. Biting her lips, she kept her focus off the pain of the impact. Mikal was tugging at her, dragging her back to him. She turned and kicked at him, bringing the heel of her shoe down on his forehead. He cried out as blood spurted from the wound.

"Let me go!" She continued to kick, but he kept his hold on her, hanging on as she dragged herself closer to the doorway.

A door slammed downstairs. "Mikal! Where are you?" It was a woman's voice.

"You will do as I say!" Mikal got on his knees and moved so fast she had no time to react. Straddling her back, he tried to pin her to the floor. Unable to kick him, she bucked and smashed her head into his.

"Aaaahhh!" Mikal cried out and released her. She struggled to her feet and ran out the door.

Skipping most of the stairs on the way down, she landed on the bottom tread and came face-to-face with Talia.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Watch out!" Nadira pushed the woman aside and swung around just as Mikal came down the stairs. The time for defending herself was over. Now it was time to attack. Drawing on all her energy, she hurled an energy blast in his direction.

It hit him and sent him flying back against the stairs. He smashed into the wall with a low groan. Just as Mikal slid down, she heard Dakar's cry from upstairs.

"What have you done?" Talia screamed, poised to lunge for her.

"Make one move and it'll be your last," Nadira said.

"You won't kill another Guardian!" Talia was defiant, trying to make up for the deficit in their heights by making herself as tall as she could.

"Try me." Nadira glared at her. It would be so easy to give her some of what she'd done to Jonathan. So simple to reach into her mind and crush her with the same pain.

She heard heavy footsteps outside. The door flew open and the security force spilled into the house. Captain Dias came in first, followed by Jonathan and five other officers.

His face flushed, Jon ran to her and gathered her into his arms. "Damn it, Nadira! Why did you leave by yourself?" But then he caught sight of Talia, and his eyes narrowed. "What happened here? I..." His voice trailed off as he saw Mikal on the stairs.

"Sentry Leader, I told you not to leave the house." Captain Dias motioned to her officers. Two of them took positions on either side of Talia, the others headed over to Mikal.

Jonathan looked from Mikal to her. "What happened to you?" He stepped back so that he could look her up and down. "What the hell happened here?"

No doubt she looked like she'd been in a fight. "It was Mikal all along. He was controlling Dakar!"

The officers helped Mikal to his feet and led him into the living area. Looking at him, she got an idea of how hard they'd been struggling. Not only was his face bleeding where she kicked him, but his jacket was torn, and his shirt was hanging out over his pants.

When he saw Jonathan, he blinked several times, like he wasn't sure he was seeing clearly. "You again! She actually joined with you. You're a disgusting Fragile and I should've let Talia finish you!"

He'd barely got the words out before Jonathan punched him in the face. The contact was so loud that Nadira thought Jon had br
oken his hand. Mikal staggered back and would've dropped to the floor if the officers hadn't caught him.

"Jonathan!" Nadira went over and grabbed his arm as he wound up for another swing. But he wasn't going to be stopped so easily. Pulling away from her, he hit Mikal again. This time they both went down, Jon continuing to pummel him, and Mikal struggling to hold him off.

"Mr. Keel!" Dias and her officers attempted to separate them, but weren't very successful.

"Jonathan!" Nadira moved out of the way as they rolled past her, a blur of arms and legs and fists.

Finally, two of the officers managed to detach Jon's hands from Mikal's neck. Pulling him off, they dragged him to the opposite corner of the room.

"That bastard attacked her!" Jon strained against the officers, trying to yank himself away. But this time they held on.

"That's enough, Mr. Keel." Captain Dias motioned to the officers holding Mikal. "Take him out to the transport."

They walked him out, stopping to let Mikal get his footing. Seeing another opportunity, Jonathan charged towards Mikal, dragging the officers with him.

"Mr. Keel! That's it!" Dias grabbed Jon's arms and wrestled him back, her strength rather surprising for someone who only came up to Jon's shoulders.

"Take that one too." She pointed to Talia. "And if either of them tries anything, take out your stunners and shoot them." The officers released Jon and escorted Talia outside.

"Captain, Dakar's upstairs. He needs a medic," Nadira said. "And call Jen Montaigne and tell her what happened here."

"Yes, Sentry Leader. I'll call the medi-evac first," Dias replied, patting the com device on her pocket.

"They're Guardians. Suppose they overcome your guards?" Jonathan asked.

"They have orders to shoot first and figure it out later," Dias replied.

"Mikal's weakened, Jon. He was using Dakar's power. I hit him with a blast." Nadira relaxed against him. Every part of her body was aching. It felt like she'd been run over multiple times by a transport.

Jonathan wrapped him arms around her. "Did he force himself on you? I felt something, another energy trying to come between us."

"He tried, but I stopped him."

"Why did you leave by yourself?" Jonathan asked, his voice shaking with anger. "Are you sure you're all right?"

"Yes, Jon. I'm all right now." But she knew he could feel her trembling against him as her body reacted to what she'd just been through. Though she'd kept Mikal from overcoming her, his energy was still reverberating through her awareness.

"When I saw you were gone, I told Dias that you were in da
nger. I felt it." Jonathan squeezed her to him. "Luckily, she didn't need a lot of convincing."

"I knew you would come," she whispered.

"Well, you exposed Mikal, and I got to punch him, so it all worked out."

38
Aftermath

Two days later, Jonathan visited Karin at the medi-evac. When he walked into her private room, he was relieved to see her looking much better than she had at the house.

"How do I look?" she asked.

"Great. How do you feel?" Jonathan sat down next to Karin's bed. There was a graft on her arm that was already blending into her skin, and the dark bruises on her face and arms were fading.

"I feel like I was beat up and trapped in a burning house, how else?" Karin smirked, reaching over to grab a cup from the table built into the bedside. "But it's actually not so bad here. I've never been to a medi-evac before. I was expecting it to be more pedestrian."

"I'm sorry about what happened to Ron."

"I went to the house to see if I could get him to turn himself in. But people came there and started threatening him. That's when I called for help, and then they attacked us." Her hand trembled as she sipped her drink. When she finished, she set the cup back down and leaned against the pillows.

"When did you find out what he was doing?"

"For a long time I wasn't sure what he was into. His friends have never been the best people to associate with. But I overheard one of his conversations a couple of months ago, and that's when I knew what was going on."

"Why didn't you report him?" Jon asked.

"How could I? I couldn't without implicating myself. No one would've believed me or that the rest of my family didn't know." She rubbed the regen skin on her arm. "It had to be discovered by someone else on the outside who was credible."

"That's why you wanted to talk to Nadira."

"I was hoping she could look into it. But I didn't know he was trafficking Guardian trainees."  Karin reached for her cup. "That's when I realized this was more serious than setting up a Service House. He was violating company directives. "

"You asked about Mikal. Did you see him with Ron?"

"Yes, I'd seen them together at Ron's house, but I didn't know who he was. After you told me, I was afraid he was really investigating Ron. It never occurred to me they were partners." She gripped the cup with both hands. "I was afraid that if the Guardians knew what he was doing, they'd destroy my family. It almost happened during the Corporate Wars. But the leader of the Guardians, Joachim, was in a contracted relationship with a Montaigne."

"Nadira told me the story. It was the first time I'd heard about it." Omitted from his lessons on purpose, no doubt. When he'd been a child learning about Novacorp history, wars had never been mentioned.

"I told you Astarte was the frontier. You never even had a decent war." She smirked.

Karin took a gulp of her drink, keeping her gaze on her cup. Sitting there, without jewelry and makeup, there was nothing to distract from how drawn she looked. Even with sunlight pouring in through the window across from her, her skin looked sallow and washed out.

Searching for something to say to break the silence, he felt a ping of emotion hit him. Then another. He'd have to get used to this. Closing himself off, he sighed, hoping Karin wouldn't think he was tired of sitting with her.

"After Matt Bento was released from detention, he told me what he knew about Ron's business dealings. Do you think maybe Ron had something to do with the explosion at his apartment?" Jon said.

"I doubt it. I don't think Ron cared who knew what he was doing. He was reckless." Averting her eyes, she gazed at the cup. "It's all very complicated here, Jon. The company knows that people will do things against its directives, but as long as you don't get caught, it doesn't matter."

"But I want to know, why did you refer me to Lani? When we met, you wanted me to work with your brother."

"I wanted to size you up. But yes, I contacted Lani. I didn't want you involved in his business affairs. In case…in case things turned out this way," Karin said.

"You should've just come out and told me what you knew about him."

"I couldn't admit that. That's not how things are done here, Jonathan. Besides, Nadira exposed the truth. She might even get another promotion."

"I doubt she wants one." But if she spent more time in the Admin Building, that would be less time for her to be running into danger.

"Why not? Guardians are no less ambitious than anyone else," Karin said. "You do love her, don't you? You were serious about that."

"Very serious."

"It is charming, I suppose. Well, Jonathan, if you ever change your mind. There's nothing wrong with love, but one person? That's a radical idea."

"I'm not from Hathor, remember? I'm not as sophisticated." He grinned.

"I suppose we can still be friends." She reached out her hand. "Is that all right?"

"Yes, we can be friends." Jon grasped her hand and shook it.

For the first time since he'd arrived, she looked like her old self. "How are things going with the development?" she asked.

"They're back at work. They've already cleared away the debris from the fire." Talking about business would get her mind off other things. "I can tell you more about the progress, if you want."

"Yes, please do." She settled back against the pillows, squeezing them so she could get comfortable. "I could use some good news."

"Yeah, I think we both could."

*****

Standing in front of Dakar's home reminded Nadira of the last time she'd been here. Just a week ago she'd walked into this house not knowing if she'd walk out again.

When she got to the front door, it opened before she could touch the fingerpad. On the other side was a familiar face.

"Eleni!"

"The Elder's been asking for you. I hoped you'd come." She pressed her cheek against Nadira's.

Entering the living area it looked as it had on her first visit b
efore the Gathering. Flowers overflowed the vases, and nothing was there to remind her of her fight. If she didn't know better, she'd think it had just been a very bad dream.

"Ms. Montaigne was here earlier. Chair Santos is still upset that no one knew what Mikal was doing. But you saw how he attacked me at the Gathering. He always thought he was better than the rest of us."

It was obvious now. They'd all underestimated him. "Why are you here? Is there a meeting?"

"Ms. Montaigne asked for some of the Protectors to come here and guard the Elder. Seems a bit late, if you ask me." Eleni a
cknowledged another Guardian who was standing next to the back door.

He nodded to Nadira, but didn't leave his post. Tall and stocky, he looked about as immovable as the wall he was standing in front of.

"Come upstairs." Eleni motioned for her to follow. "None of the Kasema will come here. They had to get a doctor from the medi-evac to look after him. Can you imagine? He can't even get the healers to help him."

Thoughts of Maji flashed through Nadira's mind. Where was she? Nadira had left messages, but she'd heard nothing back.

"Elder Dakar, Nadira is here. I mean, Sentry Leader Nadira is here." Eleni announced, as she walked into the bedroom.

"That's okay, you don't need to mention my title." Nadira whi
spered, patting the woman's arm as she entered the room.

The Elder was lying in bed, the covers pulled up almost to his chin. He opened his eyes and a smile spread across his lips. "N
adira. I am very glad to see you." He tried to sit up, but only made it halfway before he slid back down. He didn't look much different than he had the last time she'd seen him. His face was still sunken, and his voice was little more than a rasp.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"I'm pleased to see you weren't harmed. I wanted to help you, but I couldn't," he said. "I didn't know what Mikal was doing until it was too late. It felt like I was imprisoned, watching him use me but unable to break free."

"The headaches…that was him, wasn't it?"

"Yes. He was attacking me and I didn't realize it." Dakar closed his eyes, as he clutched the covers.

After a moment Nadira glanced over at Eleni. She shook her head and left the room.

"Elder? Elder?" What should she do now? His energy had none of the strength she'd felt from him before. Was he asleep or unconscious?

He drew in a deep breath and coughed, his body shuddering.

"I'll get someone," Nadira said, heading to the door.

"No," he said. "It will pass."

"They said on the news alert that the Elders were cleared of the conspiracy charges." She remained standing by the doorway. "And Mikal is still at the Detention Center."

"He'll stay there until the Elders can meet. They must agree to let the company punish him," Dakar replied, as he squinted his eyes at her. "My sister told me the person Mikal worked with is dead."

"Yes. Ron Duvol was killed the night I came here."

"Mikal didn't know you were joined to Mr. Keel. I kept that from him. It was difficult because he forced his way into my mind." Dakar reached over to the table next to him. "Can you help me?"

He was reaching for the glass of water. Nadira picked it up, waiting for the Elder to sit up before she handed it to him.

"If he'd known, he'd have killed him." Dakar gulped down the water, and then held out the empty glass to her. "By the time I rea
lized what he was doing, it was too late for me to stop him."

That explained why it had been a surprise to Mikal that she and Jon were joined. But still, he'd done enough damage. "He tried to force me into a connection," Nadira said.

"I feared that would happen. But he couldn't have made a permanent connection with you as long as Mr. Keel lived." Dakar sunk back down under the covers. "Mikal could've destroyed us all. He hated my father. I saw that too…too late."

"He started to take over your consciousness right after he b
ecame your assistant?"

"It was his plan all along," Dakar said. "You must move to a more secure location, Nadira. I want you protected."

"More security wouldn't have stopped Mikal. He was invited in," she said. She'd already heard from the Nova City Board about new living arrangements. Being Sentry Leader had advantages, and disadvantages. This move was one of the disadvantages.

"My sister told me that the DM of the Cold Towns was taken by security. She was working for Mikal and Ron Duvol?"

"Yes. That's what Brant was on his way to confirm. Security took her into custody and she admitted it," Nadira replied. Now if they could find out what happened to Brant. For all of her past dislike of him, she was worried that he'd never be found. "Security is still searching for Brant's aircar."

The Elder closed his eyes and said nothing for a moment, and then he opened them again and stared at her. His bluish-green eyes were strained and bloodshot. As he made contact, she could feel his weakened energy. It was like listening to a faint echo that she had to strain to hear.

Dakar nodded. "I will hope for his recovery.

"Nadira."

Eleni was standing in the doorway. "The doctor is here. She'll need to see him alone."

"Of course." When she looked down at him, his eyes were closed again. Instead of saying anything more, she followed Eleni back out to the landing.

"He's getting weaker by the day," Eleni said. "The Elder has no desire to regain his strength. I'm afraid he may never recover."

Not surprising. Nadira had felt it when she'd been in the room with him. Mikal hadn't just drained him, he'd taken away Dakar's desire to live.