Invasion of Justice (Shadows of Justice) Read online

  "Belief in what?"

  He wanted to laugh. Of course she wouldn't make this easy. "Belief in the unseen. I may not understand it all, but I believe in you."

  "I've been positively awful to you."

  "Not all the time." He waggled his brows. When her mouth curved into a reluctant smile, the soul he'd thought long gone, lit up. "Kristoff's been sparking your temper?"

  "On several occasions, yes, but you do a fine job of irritating me all on your own."

  "Good. I'd hate to eliminate the bastard if you'll just end up quiet and refined for the rest of our lives."

  "Our lives?"

  He lowered his mouth to hers in a slow, languid kiss that left him rock hard and unsteady. When their lips parted, they rested, foreheads touching. If she refused him his life would end right here. He'd continue to go through the motions, but having experienced the fullness she could offer he wouldn't be able to call it living.

  "You're just a big sap."

  "Petra? Did you say something?"

  "Yes. I called you a sap." She gave him a quizzical look, smoothing her hands across his shoulders. "What did you think I said?"

  "I was just making sure it was you."

  It took her a minute to catch on. "You're hearing voices?" She pulled back. "Whose?"

  "Nate," he admitted on a sigh.

  She actually stamped her foot and tried to spin away from him. When he caught her arm, changing her momentum, she slammed into him. Tears spilled over her lashes and he couldn't understand where he'd gone wrong.

  "You went wrong when you lied." The words came out in a choked sob.

  He wished she'd stop crying.

  "Wish all you want, I'll cry until I'm ready to stop." She tried again to get away.

  "Petra, calm down and listen to yourself. I've never lied to you. Me hearing Nathan's got nothing to do with us."

  "It does if he's running interference. Doesn't anybody get it? This is as good as I get. Empathy and auras, that's all."

  Now who's lying? He only thought the words, he didn't speak them aloud.

  "I do not lie." She gasped, clapping a hand over her mouth. "When did you learn to project like that?"

  He wrapped his arms around her and drew her close. "I don't even know what that means. This is all you, baby."

  Her head dropped to his chest and her body began to convulse. Laughter, he realized, as the happy sound lifted to his ears.

  "I've never had telepathy with anyone but Nathan."

  He rolled his eyes. "This isn't turning into the 'you're like a brother to me' speech is it?"

  "Not on your life." She brought his face close and fused her mouth to his. "So where to, Gideon?"

  He looked over her head and scanned the crowd, then the glittering city behind her. "Wherever you can best recharge for tomorrow."

  She didn't hesitate. "That's wherever you are."

  Gideon marveled at the turn of events and refused to think about anything but the exact moment they were living in. Keeping her by his side, they wound through the crowd and back into the city. Tonight he could, and would, take care of her.

  Tomorrow would take care of itself.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. –Martin Luther King, Jr.

  She awoke to the sound of birds and wished she could halt the sun creeping over the horizon. Nestled in Gideon's embrace, the world was perfect.

  It didn't have a prayer of staying that way if Kristoff escaped. She'd seen it in her last flight through Petra, felt it in the blackness inside Kristoff himself. The man was greedy for more, more of everything, even what he already had in abundance. He wanted all of Petra's secrets–those locked in the city's past and wound into her own DNA. If she failed, he'd have a wave of power to ride indefinitely.

  She couldn't fail.

  Gideon's breathing changed ever so slightly and she knew he was awake, too. It seemed neither of them could keep time from slipping toward the meeting in Jackson Park.

  "Good morning," she whispered into his neck.

  His fingers trailed along her spine, but he didn't speak. She didn't need to hear him telepathically to know his thoughts mirrored hers.

  "I feel better. Thank you."

  "You'll be okay, right?" He sat up, drawing her legs across his lap so she straddled him. "Swear to me you know what you're doing."

  She wanted to. Oh, how she wanted it to be that simple. She toyed with the dark hair dusting his chest, studied the rise and fall of his breath, anything to hide her lack of a real plan. She couldn't give a definite answer because she didn't know exactly what Kristoff would ask of her. "I have an outline, but I won't know until I get there how it will work." She leaned forward and traced his ear with her tongue.

  "Can't you treat it like a crime scene?" he asked, apparently oblivious to her ministrations in the light of day.

  "Sure. That's a great idea. Can you make love to me again?"

  He hesitated and she was afraid he'd insist on further discussion. Then he smiled, slow and sexy, and granted her the reprieve she needed.

  When they reached Jackson Park, Jaden and Brian were already waiting for them. Hugging her sister, Petra tried to relax. "Just the two of you?" she asked, hoping the kids were somewhere far away and safe from Kristoff.

  Brian nodded. "The Commandant's working surveillance with Quinn, who didn't find any tunnels."

  "Bet he's disappointed," Petra said, disappointed herself that the children were still so close. She couldn't let it weigh on her. She had to trust her rather eclectic team. Taking Gideon's hand, she turned to stare at Kristoff's building. "Katie and Cleveland?" she asked.

  Jaden hesitated. "They went to find Kelly."

  "What's happened?" Petra asked, catching the shadow crossing Jaden's face.

  "Nothing, really. They just haven't found her yet."

  Petra put all the effort she could spare into sounding calm. "Oh, they will. She's a real godsend. I need to give her a raise."

  "You can take care of that once we have Kristoff wrapped up," Gideon said.

  Petra turned once more to the building and the door she knew would be unlocked just for her. "I need to go."

  "He must be watching. We'll stay here," Jaden murmured.

  Petra hesitated, searching for the right words, in case they were her last.

  "If you're not sure, we'll find another way," Brian offered with resolute confidence.

  She appreciated his effort. "No. I can finish this."

  "Yes you can," Gideon whispered in her ear.

  She wanted to curl into him and forget both the wonderful dreams and the horrific nightmares. But forgetting would cost her too much. She'd forget her new sister, forget how to free her brother and worse–she'd forget everything she found with Gideon.

  Petra stood her ground, apart from this unique team, ready to battle for them, for their future.

  "Tell us how to help," Jaden said, stepping close to her side.

  Petra took her hand and felt the powerful connection between them. "Move in when you hear the alarms," she said to Jaden and Brian, then her gaze locked on Gideon. "And please be here when I get back."

  Petra walked into the building alone. At the antique elevator she pulled the gate closed and pressed the button for the eighth floor where she could feel Kristoff waiting.

  She took advantage of the slow ascent to boost her defenses. She deepened her breathing and brought her racing heart down to a sedate tempo. She had to make Kristoff believe she'd accepted his offer. With so much at stake, she couldn't fail.

  The lift stopped, and the gate rolled back. An unseen force tugged at her, drawing her down the hall and into a sickening, over-decorated apartment. The room was the opposite extreme from the cold metallic ensemble of yesterday. Knowing he'd designed it to throw her off, Petra kept her mind in neutral.

  "Welcome, my girl," Kristoff said, coming into view. "You'll not be so
rry in the least."

  "If I doubted, I wouldn't be here." He looked younger today. Was his latest project the fountain of youth? Is that what she was here to find?

  "Meet my lieutenants." He gestured to the massive sentries flanking him.

  Petra nodded. She needed only one glance at their cold, black eyes to know their hearts were darker still. "Shall we start?"

  "At last! Someone as eager as me!" He laughed with an eerie sound that resembled splintering glass. "Or do you fear the pain?"

  She wanted badly to show him who should fear what, but forced the thoughts away. Play the game, follow the plan and soon the world would be short one greedy egomaniac.

  "Pain I can manage."

  Kristoff closed the distance in one swift step and gripped her nape tightly in his fingers. "Then we will celebrate the pain together." His eyes bored into hers as he ordered the lieutenants away. "Come now. Let's explore this new world we will create."

  She didn't dare speak for fear her defenses would crumble. He led her to a chaise, too similar to the one in her office. How long had it been since she'd left that comfortable security? Although she knew what must be done, she couldn't help but miss the blissful ignorance of that time.

  The music began and she set her mind to the task. His voice urged her up into flight and she worked to savor the rush instead of pull away from it. Following Kristoff's instruction, she flew toward the genetics lab in Annapolis.

  She pushed aside the gruesome memory of Simon's murderous actions. Finding the files Kristoff wanted, she funneled the information back to him. Her innermost self knew with these details from the Navy's Paracuron research, if Kristoff escaped, the world could be his in a very short time. The mind-control effect of juicing seemed mild when she considered the addition of a paralytic agent to the mix.

  Her focus was forced to shift as he sent her further from his building and her body. She felt her spiritual tether stretching. Searching for a way to undermine him, she flew on in the direction he ordered.

  "Do you see the city?"

  "Yes," she murmured.

  "Do you recognize it?"

  "Yes."

  So here she would search for the elusive wisdom Kristoff sought. The ancient Rose-red city of Petra lay at her feet, just as it had all her life in her dreams. The glorious stone striations shone gold and red in the fading light and she soaked up the unique perfection of nature blending with human design.

  "Find the records," Kristoff ordered.

  "Which records?"

  "For the waters of life."

  She obeyed, flying through the magnificent façade known as the Treasury and letting her consciousness search the expanse carefully, though she knew it would be fruitless. She reached for the stone and hoped there would be a day when she could experience a real, physical bond with the remnants here.

  "Anything?" he snapped.

  "No."

  "Move on to El Deir."

  She did, affecting a first-timer's awe of the size and scope of the ruins. The number of lives devoted to turning a functional city of trade into pure art was astounding. Though the years had not been kind, eroding away the finest of their work, Petra felt her soul celebrate their triumph.

  When the pain ripped through her, hazing her vision and snapping that invisible tether to her body, she couldn't utter the smallest cry. Kristoff held her in a cold, vicious grip. She'd known he'd do this, but like the ancient city, the reality exceeded expectations. "You need to let me go."

  "Never. We're in this together."

  She cringed to hear his voice in her very soul, mingling purposes and intentions. It grated against her senses and her values, but other than death, she knew of no cure. "You're risking everything and jeopardizing the goal itself. Release me."

  "I designed you, remember? You're strong. You can, and will, support us both. Come now, let's find those records."

  Her spirit felt weighed down with the added pressure of Kristoff, but she managed to carry them both toward the western mountain and El Deir.

  He wouldn't let her linger over the remarkable beauty and contrasts. Somehow, if she lived, she would return and atone for the crime they were about to commit against history and faith.

  They swept over the courtyard and into the empty, cavernous square chamber. His spiritual hold on her tightened as they explored the worn symbols and faded paint.

  "Where is it?" he burst impatiently. "There is no marker. There is no indicator at all!"

  Petra's head swam and she readied herself for some tricky mental maneuvering. "What marker?"

  "Miriam's tomb! They say her song lingers in the earth itself. They'd never bury the sister of Moses and not leave a marker."

  "Try this way," Petra said. Heading straight back, they entered the lone chamber in the monument. Quickly, she guided them through and into the arched niche where the body should rest.

  Amidst the crumbling stucco columns, Petra found a plain wooden box and hovered before it.

  "Open it! What are you waiting for?"

  "I can't open it. We're not physically here."

  "You opened the files!" His anger surged up from him and poured over her. She felt slimy and dark and wanted nothing more than to escape this man and his madness.

  "Find a way!" he roared.

  She funneled his fury and reshaped it into a shrill alarm, willing it to reach Gideon or Jaden, or hopefully both.

  Tapping the last of her strength, she remained calm in the face of his escalating temper. "You didn't design me with telekinesis. I can't open it. I can only show you what you want to see."

  As expected, he seized on her words. "Go inside then. Take me inside and show me."

  She hesitated.

  "That is what I want to see," he insisted.

  Petra moved closer, centering all her remaining energy on the inscription above the latch. Guarding her thoughts, she imagined the inside of the box, and what images the ancient scrolls would present.

  She provided Kristoff with the maps and documentation of aqueducts, waterways and the springs that fed them. In the throes of his greed, he reached for the priceless information and she slipped out of his ethereal grasp.

  His agonized scream split the air as he realized her deception too late. His black soul collapsed into itself and disappeared.

  Free at last of the weight of his dark intentions, Petra struggled to find another anchor, listening for her music. Silence and solitude wrapped around her like a shroud. She was too far from any of her supports and too weary from sustaining the illusions.

  "Hear any alarms?" Gideon asked the group in general.

  Jaden shook her head. "Be patient."

  "Not my thing," he muttered, checking his watch for the second time in as many minutes.

  "Not hers either," Brian said softly.

  Gideon's comeback died under the sudden burst of a siren in his head. Jaden's pained face told him she heard it, too. "That's my girl," Gideon said and launched himself up the stairs to Kristoff's hideaway.

  He wasted no time with the guards, taking them both down with single shots to their knees and leaving them for the Commandant's interrogation team. He snaked an observation cable under the locked door, confirmed Petra and Kristoff were alone and then broke it down.

  Gideon circled Petra's still form and the slumped heap of Kristoff. Beneath Kristoff's white-knuckled grip, Petra's arm was bruising. Neither of them seemed aware of anything going on around them. He watched sweat bead on Petra's brow and reached to brush it away, but Jaden stopped him.

  "Don't touch her. You could blow her illusion wide open."

  Helpless, and hating it, he glared at Jaden. "Fine. But she gave the signal. You want the honors?" He pulled a hypospray of Paracuron from his pocket.

  "Not yet."

  "What the hell are we waiting for? She gave the signal," he insisted. "It's past time to wrap this up and kill the bastard."

  Jaden came between Gideon and Kristoff, and Brian moved to flank her. "Let he
r work."

  "He'll kill her if we don't move now."

  "The goal was to bring him in, alive, to break this whole thing open," Brian calmly pointed out.

  "Your goal, maybe. My goal is to bring her back alive. If that means cutting him off of her, I'll do it. He's not the anchor she needs."

  Kristoff's body lurched and his hands fell away from Petra's arm. His eyes jerked beneath his lids and his mouth fell open. Jaden grabbed the hypospray from Gideon, but before she could press it to Kristoff's neck, he transformed.

  What had been human skin turned gray and gaunt, pulling against his bones, and then shriveling away until all that remained was a heap of foul-smelling ash.

  Stunned, Brian and Jaden exchanged a look, but Gideon verbalized their thoughts. "At least we have fewer witnesses this time."

  Gideon fell to his knees to wait for Petra's return. Centered on her, the only stimuli he let in was the agonizing tick of the antique mantle clock on the shelf. "This is taking too long. Turn up the music," he ordered.

  Mozart's Requiem filled the room. "Come on baby," he whispered. "You can do it."

  He felt a gentle touch on his shoulder. "She just needs time," Jaden said. "Let's get her to the University Med Center. It's closest."

  "No. She stays here."

  Jaden's voice cracked when she tried to plead with him.

  Brian knelt beside Gideon. "We all want her back, man. She knew the risks. Kelly has the protocol Petra outlined for times like this."

  "Kelly's not here!" Gideon swiped at his damp face. Tears or sweat, he didn't care. "This isn't a normal flight. Her normal precautions don't apply. Leave us alone," he shouted as the Commandant arrived, followed by Loomis, Kincaid, and the rest of them.

  His eyes stayed on Petra. He noted her slowing respiration and knew her heart rate must be dropping, too. He thought of Nathan. Where the hell was he? Why wouldn't Mr. Chatty say something now? Petra needed her brother and Gideon needed an ally.

  Behind him he heard whispers and possible tears, but none of it was his problem, Petra's life was. Right or wrong, he refused to let her go without a fight.