StrategicSurrender (10 page)

Both she, Hayden and Joshua had confided everything to their
mentor, he knew good and well Josh and she had both read a page each. Yet it
quickly dawned on her they had not read more, certainly not the full
manuscript. Joshua replied first. He cleared his throat noisily before speaking
clearly so his voice could ring out around the room.

“No sir. I did not read the full manuscript,” he said. Kiera
blinked and licked her lips nervously. Hayden’s hand grazed hers lightly as he
lifted a finger to scratch at a supposed itch on his nose. That fleeting
contact of warmth gave her strength. Hayden’s eyes were filled with love and
pride as they glanced at each other. Kiera held her head high, straightened her
spine and looked around the crowd of Tribunal members as she replied clearly
and confidently.

“Neither did I, sir. I did
not
read the full
manuscript,” she answered firmly.

“There,” Morgan replied with a small, secretive smile to
them both before turning back to face the Tribunal. “As you have heard—and as
our good clerk who is studying our every word with her magical abilities will
tell us—my protégés have told you the truth. The knowledge is gone, destroyed
and lost to us forever. As a Tribunal elder I gave them the power to protect
the knowledge within those pages and by using their judgment they did as they
saw best.”

“But how are we to recover the ritual?” wailed one witch
from near the back.

Kiera blinked, unable to believe what her ears had heard.
Had they not listened to a thing Morgan had spoken to them of? The evil and
malicious magic seeped into the manuscript’s ink and papers? The life-shattering
ramifications of potential time manipulation magic? Which part of “can tear the
essential fabric of time and destroy life as we know it” didn’t they
comprehend?

“There is no recovering the ritual,” Kiera shouted, her
anger and fear boiling up inside her. Hayden uttered a tiny gasp but
considering Kiera was not struck down dead by a lightning bolt, her terror and
rage gave her previously unknown courage to try to get their point across.

“Do you think we did this lightly?” she shouted furiously.
“Do you think we just idly decided to destroy something of the Tribunal’s
possession? Hell no! We all three were—for a couple of
very
uncomfortable hours at least—in the presence of an incredibly evil document. It
reeked
of black magic, of pain and suffering, greed and disharmony. You
know my coworker and I are both Strategists. Well, we both independently
assessed the folder and there was
no
way it would bring anything but
pain, death and bloodshed in its wake. There was no right answer except to
destroy it. You could hide it until someone was tortured or maimed and forced
to give over its hiding place. You could bury it until someone unearthed it.
Burning it and scattering the ashes was the
only
solution. And I am
sorry, but I stand by our decision.”

Kiera took a wobbling breath as her anger ran its course and
nearly fled there and then. Morgan touched her shoulder for comfort and met her
eyes. His own shone with pride and a warmth suffused Kiera’s chest.

“Well said,” he murmured softly enough only she, Hayden and
Josh could possibly have heard him. With that he turned back around to face the
Tribunal and raised his hands as once again a dozen or more of those gathered
began to speak at once.

“I do not object to our discussing this further,” Morgan
shouted over the top of all those speaking. “But I believe these three have
suitably answered for their actions. We should continue our conversation
without them and let them return to their work.”

A number of shouted suggestions came forward but after a
moment the consensus of letting them leave the Tribunal chamber was reluctantly
agreed upon. Kiera kept her back ramrod straight and her head high as she
walked out of the room, even though her stomach churned uncomfortably and her
legs were shaking so hard she could barely believe she managed to walk the
length of the room at all.

The large, heavy wooden doors slammed shut behind them and they
released audible sighs of huge, pent-up relief.

“Let’s never do that again,” Josh joked weakly. Kiera nodded
vehemently.

“I can promise it doesn’t appear to get easier with
practice,” Hayden replied equally strained. Kiera took his hand and wove her
fingers amongst his. Standing on tiptoes, she kissed him briefly but no less
passionately.

“That’s the last time I let you talk me into something so
crazy,” she insisted. “Let’s do something fun next time we want to be reckless.
Skinny dipping at the harbor and getting arrested or maybe performing some
other lewd public acts of affection. Let’s not cross swords with the Tribunal
again.”

“Hey, you defended our decision really well in there,” Josh
added. “I’ve never seen you stand up so courageously before. You really rocked
their world.”

“Sure I did,” Kiera snorted and pressed a hand to her flat
belly. “Right before I nearly peed my panties in fear. I just got a bit mad and
spouted my mouth off. It’s happened before and likely will happen again one
day.”

“Should we wait for Morgan?” Hayden asked as he cast a
worried glance to the closed wooden doors. Engraved with all manner of birds
and wildlife, the ornate door was a genuine piece of art. The wood was so
thick, however, not even a whisper of sound permeated through. Kiera shook her
dark curls before smoothing down her suit skirt and shirt to dry her damp
palms.

“No, we have no idea how long they will be,” she replied.
“Plus it will look kind of weird for us to be here, waiting, when they all
leave when they have basically dismissed us. Let’s head back to the office like
Morgan suggested.”

Hayden and Kiera walked hand in hand while Josh pulled out
his new cell phone and started adding in the speed dial numbers from heart.
Kiera had to quicken her pace a little to match strides with Hayden’s long
legs. At just over five feet four her frame was petite and curvy in all the
right places, but her legs were lamentably short. More than once in her life
Kiera would have killed for a long pair of supermodel runway calves and thighs.

“I’m telling you, I don’t think I ever want to come back to
this building,” Hayden said as they returned their temporary passes to the
security guard out front. Crossing the lobby, Hayden gallantly held the door
open for Kiera to leave first. Hayden followed her but retained his hold on the
handle so it wouldn’t slam in Josh’s face.

“Thanks, man,” Josh replied with still half his focus on
updating his address book.

“Welcome,” Hayden replied and again they set out down the
sidewalk.

“I guess that sort of thing doesn’t get any easier, does
it?” Kiera replied shrewdly. Hayden shrugged but shook his head.

“Not really, and most of those members will never forget a
thing,” Hayden answered with only a small hint of bitterness in his voice. “I
might have been cleared, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to trust me or
think well of me. I thought I could just ignore it all. Maybe I still can, I
don’t know. But it certainly doesn’t make for easy idle conversation with
anyone who knows what’s gone on recently.”

Kiera smiled sadly and squeezed Hayden’s hand.

“Well I think you’re marvelous, does that count?” she said
hopefully. Hayden sent her a charming, warm grin.

“It means a lot, more than you could ever know,” he assured
her. The two of them both tilted their faces to catch a few rays of sunshine as
they walked down the street. After a moment’s silent contemplation Kiera
finally opened her eyes and returned her gaze to her lover.

“I’ve walked past here a hundred or more times during my
lunchtime walks,” she admitted. “Half of those times I’ve paused out front here
and debated with myself whether I should try and get a peek at the inside. Now
I know and while I’m impressed with the décor and restrained elegance of the
interior, nothing short of another summons could drag me back here.”

Hayden laughed softly and Josh caught up with them, pressing
the power down button of his cell and slipping it into his pocket before
glancing from Kiera to Hayden and back to her again.

“If I had a leg to stand on I’d say you two were sickeningly
cute together,” Josh said with good humor. Kiera snorted and flipped him the
finger.

“Considering I can’t even keep track of the witches in your
life you most certainly do not have a leg to stand on,” Kiera replied in good
humor. “Lucky for you your boyish charm and long-standing friendship toward me
requires that I take your teasing and comments with a measure of grace.”

Josh laughed at her and Kiera cast a quick glance to Hayden
who appeared amused and not offended by their banter.

“You’ll be good to my coworker, Foxworth,” Josh warned half
seriously. Kiera frowned for a moment and tried to work out whether her friend
was joking or giving her lover a genuine caution. “You might be Special Ops but
I can still beat your ass if it came to it. Kiera could well be my one and only
true female friend.”

“Josh!” Kiera declared, surprised. She’d never heard her
friend give such a warning to a wizard before. She had indulged in a few casual
affairs in their years of working together, and Josh had never appeared the
protective sort in anything but a friendly manner. Hayden patted her shoulder
and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek.

“It’s fine, I think more of him for the loyalty he’s showing
you,” Hayden assured her in a gentle tone.

“I’ll take care of her, Delamere,” Hayden replied as he
turned to Josh. “I’m not going to break her heart or drag her into danger. I
promise you.”

“Better see to it,” Josh replied with equal parts humor and
sincerity.

Together they continued toward the Enforcers building and
turned the corner onto their street. Kiera’s attention moved from Josh to
Hayden back and forth. A part of her wondered if she should stand up for
herself, insist she didn’t need protecting by Josh or Hayden to declare
himself, but the men seemed to have reached a satisfactory conclusion they were
both happy with.

Chalking it up to yet another male oddity, Kiera took a deep
breath and firmly changed the subject.

“Do you think Morgan will be able to sort everything out
with the Tribunal?” she asked both wizards, curious about what their opinions
on the meeting they had just left would be. “A lot of the witches and wizards
seem fairly upset with us.”

“They’ll get over it,” Josh replied, seeming unconcerned.

“I don’t think we will want to run into any of the Tribunal
members any time soon,” Hayden added strongly, “but I do believe what’s done is
done. Chances are good those gathered will just waffle on and argue about it
for a few hours before Morgan will firmly point out how hopeless all that
bantering back and forth is and they will hopefully move on to something more
constructive.”

“I certainly hope so,” Kiera mused. “Maybe we should—“

The sound of tires squealing as a car rounded the corner
speeding way too fast cut off her words and automatically they paused on the
sidewalk so they could turn and watch the action. A low-slung, sleek black
sedan burned rubber as the driver appeared to
accelerate
as they ran the
red light to race down the street toward Kiera.

For a moment Kiera wondered what the rush was all about. The
car revved its engine and shot forward. Only as it came much closer did Kiera
notice the front and back windows on the side of the car facing herself and
Josh had been partially lowered. The barrel of a silenced revolver was visible
to Kiera as it aimed in her direction out the front window.

“Hayden!” she cried out instinctively, unable to tell with
the car moving so fast who it was the gun was actually directed at. “There’s a
gun.”

“Kiera, get down!” Hayden shouted almost simultaneously.

Hayden’s large, strong hands grabbed around her waist and
even as Kiera tried to get a hold on Hayden and pull him to the ground out of
danger she felt her entire body hauled without ceremony to the hard pavement.
The first thing that struck her was the stinging pain to her knees, calves and
palms. Her skin grated against the harsh surface and instantly she felt the
wounds on her body.

At first Kiera didn’t hear anything and for a wild second
she thought she had totally overreacted. But the faint
ping, ping, ping
of the bullets lodging into the brick wall behind her proved otherwise.

Lifting her head curiously, Kiera peered behind her to look
at the damage.

“Kiera, get
down
, dammit!” Hayden roared, his shout
filled with anger, frustration and fear.

Fingers grappled the back of her skull and her dark curls
were tugged slightly painfully as Hayden lowered her head. Kiera opened her
mouth to yell in return at Hayden, to insist she was fine, but a faint crackle
on the air gave her a split second’s warning.

Instinctively Kiera’s hands rose to cover her head
protectively before a blast of energy rushed over her head and singed directly
into the wall behind them. A small shriek escaped Kiera’s mouth as a green-blue
blast of electrical magic roared overhead.

The magic thankfully missed both Kiera and Hayden with only a
sizzle into the side of the building to prove anything had even occurred. Brick
dust fell over them both as the line of electrical energy slammed into the
building, tearing away a large chunk of the front surface of the structure.

The car engine revved and tires squealed once again as the
car took the next corner practically on two wheels. A fine mist of dust
continued to settle over both Kiera and Hayden and for a moment her heart
pounded so hard in her chest she wondered if she were going to have an attack.
The moment passed, and while her chest still thumped almost painfully hard
Kiera managed to catch her breath and look over to Hayden.