Echoes in Eternity (The Pella Series Book 1) (6 page)

             
“
Aquila!
” gasps Anthony reverentially.

             
“
Aquila
, indeed!” nods Henry. “My apologies for doubting you, sir,” he adds in his southern gentleman tone.“ There’s one on each wrist, but...” he says looking up and asks, worried, “...only one carries the golden thunderbolts in his talons. What’s the meaning of it?”

             
Anthony answers it before I do, “the eagle is ready to fight against all enemies!”

             
“Only one is ready to fight. The other one seems wounded...” observes Henry, and expresses the concern I didn't dare to voice. Something is indeed amiss with her, and I need to find out, immediately. 

             
“Anthony, Elissa has a job interview this afternoon in Los Angeles. I want you to find out where, and see if one of our recruiters works there. I want her to be referred to my company.”

He opens his smart phone and reads through her background search after I'd located her here in Montecito, telling me what I already know, because I’ve read it a thousand times, memorized it as if catching up with her, “yes, Mr. Pella,” he says, and reads something under his breath, but we can all hear his voice:

             
“Elissa Cassandra Duncan. Age: 21. 
Today!
” he says surprised looking up at me. My gaze isn't giving anything away. My mouth is shut into a thin line. Being 21 years old today means that she could now be visible to all the other trackers who are seeking her out because she will be getting some of her memories back, and she may shine like a beacon to the 
Fallen
 
Angels
. “She has received her Master's degree. I'm sure it’ll be easy to find a very appropriate position for her at the Pella Aerospace and Energy International Inc.” 

             
“Anthony, I don’t want her to have just any position!” I utter enunciating. “I want her to be interviewed as my personal assistant. Whatever job she’s applying for in Los Angeles, have her sent to our Los Angeles Headquarters. I want her to be referred to me, and to me 
alone
 to do the usual one week trial required of those who work with me closely.” 

             
“What if she refuses to work for another company other than the one she’s applied to?” 

“I am putting you in charge of her referral to me! If you are unable, incapable, or unwilling to do the task I’m assigning
you, let me know, now! Do I make myself clear Anthony?” I ask in my don’t-fuck-with-me tone. 

             
“Perfectly so, sir,” he replies chagrined. 

             
“I want her to talk to no one in that company no matter who it is...”

             
“But...” Anthony interrupts me. My gaze is on him immediately, sharp, and cold; he immediately shuts up putting his mouth in a thin line. 

             
“I don’t care if she is scheduled to be interviewed by the president, himself! She talks to no one. She is to be referred to me directly, and only to be interviewed by me!” 

             
“Yes, Mr. Pella.” 

             
“Are we taking you to the hotel sir, or the airport?” asks Henry after seeing the tension rising in me. 

“Airport. Have the jet ready,” I say and pull my t-shirt from the back of my running shorts,
putting it on.

             
Thirty minutes later, I’m sitting in my jet ready to take off. As we are en route to LAX, Anthony comes and sits before me with his iPad in his hand. My laptop is open I start re-reading Elissa’s background and her resume, devouring the content. Delilah is singing “
I Can Feel You
,” in the background. Henry listens to the lyrics quietly watching me silently.

“Hold your breath don't cry they’re coming
*Tainted* secrets *don't die* they’re coming
And if you wait for dawn to fade
You should see the dark
And as the gold defines your pain

I can feel your heart
Open from the start
I can feel your soul
Yearning to my call?
I can feel you
Hold my hand don’t hide cos they're coming
Fallen angels fly by and they’re coming
So if you wait for dawn to fade
You should see the dark” 
she croons.

Knowing that they’re indeed coming, I close my eyes for a few seconds. I can’t lose my focus.

             
 “Mr. Pella? Can we go over the schedule for the week sir?”

             
“Have you arranged for Elissa’s interview to be transferred to me?” I ask pointedly, my eyes focused on him. 

             
“Yes, I have sir. Once she gets to the...” he looks down at his iPad to check the company she’ll be interviewing with “...Global Media Monitor, she will be referred to the Pella Towers.” I nod impassively, I am anything but. I’m going to see Elissa again. I exhale a breath slowly, I didn't know I was holding. 

“Okay. Let’s go over the
schedule,” I say changing the topic.

“Firstly, may I ask whether we are taking you
to the
Centurion
or the
Castra
after landing sir?” 

             
“I better go to the
Centurion
. Both the drive and the flight will take considerably less to the Pella Towers.” The
Centurion
 is a high security luxury apartment building I own in Santa Monica overlooking the Pacific Ocean, and occupy the penthouse when I need to be downtown for early morning hours. Driving in Los Angeles traffic might take about twenty minutes, but the flight from the apartment to the Pella Towers takes no more than ten minutes. My home is located in Malibu built atop a bluff. There are no neighbors around, because they’re not allowed to build on it. But I owned the land for over two hundred years. It’s a fortress in disguise. It’s aptly named
Castra
, the Fortress. 

             
“Very well sir,” Anthony replies.

             
“Just to remind you sir, we must fly out to Marana, Arizona tomorrow for the auctions. We have twenty-eight units of passenger aircraft to sell to the highest bidder, and also twenty-two units of helicopters. We have global bidders who have been lined up months in advance. All of them have deposited the bidding fees, and each has secured tens, some of them hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for the purchases; depending on what and how many units they’re buying of course. Since you have the final say in all the transactions, sir, your presence is more than required,” he says knowing I won't want to leave town when I know Elissa is back. 

The aircraft auctions I have to attend tomorrow give me an idea for the week long trial. 

             
“Anthony, what time are we supposed to leave tomorrow?” 

             
He consults the calendar on his iPad again. “We are leaving at 11:30 a.m., sir,” he replies.

“Perfect!” I reply. This might be the opportunity I need.
 

             
When we reach the tarmac, Turk Stacy is waiting by with my heavily tinted Mercedes Guardian. 

“I'm not taking the car Turk. I need to get to the Centurion quickly. I'm taking the helicopter.”
 

             
“Are you flying her sir?” he asks. 

             
“No. Henry will.” 

“Yes,
sir.” he says. 

             
“I want three of the Conquest Knights to be flown to Marana for tomorrow. Make sure they’re transferred today,” I order.” Go ahead of me today with the cargo, and take Joseph, Paul and Desertwalker.”

“Desertwalker?” he asks shocked.

“Yes.”

“You found her then,
sir?” he asks anxious. I nod looking ahead.

             
I take the speediest shower I’ve taken in such a long time. I wear my navy blue Brioni suit with crisp white shirt. I put my AP initialed cuff-links on. For the first time in a long time, I can’t decide whether I want to have an open collar, or have a woven silk navy blue tie. But Elissa always liked running her hands over my chest hair. Couldn't I give her a hint of that? Then I get a wicked idea, and the decision is made.

“Henry, let’s go!”

              “Alexander,” he says nodding, and when he sees me he does a double take, blinks and smiles. “Well, my friend, if I wasn’t straight as an arrow, I’d say you are positively glowing! But, it might be the Southern gentleman in me talking. Anthony has been waiting at the rooftop by the helicopter.” I shake my head and I don’t respond.

As Henry is clearing us for the take-off, my mind is occupied with Elissa. I’m preparing the usual questions, but add some extras to learn more about her. Get to know Ellie. The way she is now.

              When I enter my office on the thirtieth floor of the Pella Towers, my office staff is waiting for me standing.

             
“Good afternoon, Mr. Pella,” James, one of my assistants in the Los Angeles office greets me.

“Good afternoon,
sir,” Melissa gushes tucking an unseen strand of red hair of her professionally made bun behind her ear. “I’ll bring in your coffee immediately, sir,” she says. I nod.

“James, bring in the list for the upcoming appointments for this afternoon,” I say and he scrambles to get his iPad, and rushes to catch up to me, and opens my door into my office.

I make my way to my seat, and turn it around behind me and gaze out to Downtown Los Angeles for thirty seconds. James clears his throat.

“You have three appointments scheduled for this afternoon, sir.”

             
“Cancel all my appointments except Elissa Duncan’s.“

“But,
sir, Mr. Hudson is a Boeing executive, and we've scheduled this appointment a month ago since you were out of the country. It would take weeks to re...” he doesn’t finish his sentence when I turn to give my pointed stare at him.

             
“Reschedule Mr. Hudson,” he says and makes an exaggeratedly writing gesture with his stylus on his iPad, avoiding my glacial stare. Melissa walks in with my coffee in her hand, her heels clicking on my marble floors.

             
"Is there anything else I can get for you sir?" she asks.

             
"I don’t want any interruptions, any distractions, phone calls or any reminders, nothing until Miss Duncan leaves. Is that clear?" I ask to both in a tone with finality.

             
"Perfectly clear, sir," they both reply.

             
"What time is Miss Duncan due?"

             
"She is scheduled to be here in seventeen minutes, Mr. Pella," James replies.

             
"Show her in immediately," I say dismissing them and they quickly scuttle out like rats from a sinking ship but not before they both quickly, surreptitiously eye me admiringly. Fuck! Both of them? I don't want to know!

             
I close my eyes as minutes stretch before her arrival. The way she reacted to me, the way she looked at me... I play the image in my head over and over again. I have missed that. James' disembodied voice is on the intercom:

             
"Mr. Pella. Miss Duncan is here for her interview, sir."

             
My heart lurches and I take a deep breath. "Send her in," I reply coolly. There's a knock on my door, and Elissa walks in wearing a black tiered V-neck dress stopping above her knee with her hair in a beautiful chignon emphasizing her long neck. She's wearing black high heels with a red clutch purse in her hand. I rise from my seat slowly, my usual economy in my movements is intact. I make my way around my desk and when I turn the corner to face her, she is a mere six feet away from me.

"Mr. Pella, I'm..." she says extending her hand as she walks towards me and the moment she realizes who she's addressing, she looks dumbstruck, falling speechless, and her feet falters as if she’s not used to walking in high heels and stumbles right into me. I quickly catch and hold her in my arms for a second time today.

              "Miss Duncan, are you alright?" I whisper close to her ear in a husky voice. Then I set her straight, still holding her bare arms right below her shoulders.

             
"Alex? Mr. Pella? You’re Mr. Pella?" she stutters blinking as I’m still holding onto her shoulders.

"Yes," I say in a soft voice, managing to look mildly surprised for her benefit. “I’m Alex Pella,” I say and her intoxicating proximity is extremely arousing. "What a pleasant coincidence, Ellie," I say, and to her surprise taking her hand, I lead her to a chair, "I could never forgive myself if you fall again,” I say in a serious tone, and point at a chair before my desk, “please, won’t you have a seat?" I request in a gentle but unmistakably commanding tone. She blinks twice, and wordlessly sinks into the chair with her mouth agape.