Veil of Justice, Shadows of Justice Book 3 (14 page)

"How can you say that? You're paralyzed
again." She spoke aloud, though the Paracuron limited him to
telepathy once more. "It's been days."

"
Long days
."

"They're working on something to snap you out
of it."

"
Good. Hold my hand, please
?"

"Of course." She didn't need to be an empath
to understand the request. She wanted to do anything to erase the
abuse he'd endured in the solitary. "Oh, wait," she said,
remembering the tea. "Sip this first."

When he'd downed most of the tea, she set the
cup aside and took his hand between hers, stroking his arm, slowly
and gently. His skin was pale and raw from too little light and too
much of that chemical spray he mentioned. It broke her heart to see
him so weak and fragile. He'd been invincible to her mind when
they'd met, tall and strong inside and out. He'd been pretty
formidable on the side of the road.

Thank God he was still so strong inside.

"
You're easy on the ego, keep
thinking
."

She didn't quite laugh. "Did Petra talk to
you about a cure?"

"
A little. It's not easy to reach her
lately
."

That struck Kelly as odd, but she didn't want
to press him. The details of his talents were a little beyond her
scope and she had plenty of her own distractions.

"
You should rest
."

She shook her head and some hair fell over
her eyes. He moved it back behind her ear with a thought.

She smiled at him. "That's a little creepy."
She thought his lips twitched, told herself to stop imagining
things. Reality was odd enough.

"What do you know about Noah's ark?" she
asked, diverting herself.

"
It was a floating zoo
?"

"Funny guy." She kept stroking his arm,
soothing both of them and trying to come up with another topic.

"
We had an explorer in the family. He
might've gone after it
."

"Noah's ark?"

"
You brought it up. Some of his journals
have been passed down
."

"Private collection my ass," Kelly
groused.

"
You got something against
explorers
?"

More like something against deception.
Hypocritical of her of course, but she lied to protect, not for
personal gain. But that didn't make a lot of sense. What would
Petra want with Noah?

"
You know I can hear all that,
right
?"

Kelly floundered. "Sure. Right. Umm...I
haven't seen your car."

"
Jaden gave it to Cleveland. He's a master
at restoration
."

"Oh, good." She didn't know Cleveland.

"Petra tested you how?"

"You're going places uninvited again," she
scolded, when she realized he'd followed her internal debate about
Petra and that ark map.

"
But it's my only escape
." He managed
to sound like a four year old pouting about an early bedtime.

"She made me bleed –"

"
She hurt you
?" The four year old
voice gave way to a full grown, angry pit-bull.

"Down boy. It was a scratch really. But when
my blood hit your great-great-whoever's map to Noah's ark it was
like parts of it showed up for the first time."

The hospital door burst open and Petra was
framed in the light from the hallway. "You bellowed?"

Kelly looked from sister back to brother. She
dropped Nathan's hand. "Geez, Nathan! I've been hurt worse playing
tag with my brothers." To Petra she said, "It's fine, really. I
came in here to think, but he was awake." Petra's astute gaze was
probably gathering all sorts of wrong impressions. "I'll just
go."

"She'll go," Nathan corrected her. Both women
gasped, because he'd spoken aloud. Then he turned his head, eyes
open and locked on Kelly. "And you'll stay."

Kelly tried to apologize to Petra for
Nathan's foul mood, but the door slammed closed. "Did you just shut
that door in your sister's face?"

"Lucky I didn't bump the belly."

A furious, "I heard that," sounded from the
hallway before footsteps pounded down the hall.

Kelly and Nathan laughed anyway.

"I'm thinking you won't be getting any more
tea soon."

"I'm thinking I won't be needing it."

She looked at him, wondering at yet another
change. "What's happened?"

"Just you." He winked at her.

She blinked at him.

"Seriously, Calisto. Come here so I don't
embarrass myself. I don't think I can walk yet."

Cautiously, she resumed her place at his
bedside. "Unless you're a map, I'm not the reason you're better.
And call me Kelly."

Nathan disagreed, but kept it to himself.
He'd poked around in her head and recognized the unsettling effects
of recent events. "I've been trying to quarantine the drug, I guess
it's working."

"Maybe." Her dark eyes were wide and
uncertain. "The tea couldn't hurt though. I don't like this
regression."

"That makes two of us. Talk later?" He tugged
on her fingers, smirking at his success when she landed on her
elbows, nearly nose to nose with him. "I haven't thanked you for
breaking me out."

"You d –"

He cut her off with another tug, this one
mental, that put her lips on his. Oh, god, he'd wanted this – just
this. Her soft, warm mouth open for him to taste and learn. She was
new to kissing, he didn't have to raid her mind to know it, and he
found her inexperience enticing. He lingered on the fullness of her
bottom lip, nipped it lightly, and when she gasped just a little he
capitalized, stroking her tongue with his.

He heard the doorknob turn and threw the
lock, preventing the interruption.

When a furious pounding made Kelly jump, he
swore softly and contemplated removing the person to the street.
Except he wasn't sure of the dimensions or his strength and
wouldn't risk a pointless injury.

Beside him, Kelly traced her lovely mouth
with a fingertip, her face flushed and full of wonder.

Oh, but he would get even with whoever was
interrupting them. On a sigh, he opened the door, unfortunately
just as Jaden put her boot to the knob and she fell into the room
inelegantly, spitting like a cobra.

"You jerk," she said, regaining her
balance.

"Sorry about that." Nathan shifted, sitting
up to meet the onslaught with as much dignity as he could muster.
"Can't see through doors, you know. How can we help you?"

"Petra said you're improving again." She
glanced at Kelly. "The private nurse helps?"

Nathan knew he deserved a set down, but he'd
rather avoid it. "I'll apologize to her. Call it a sibling
thing."

"Yeah, well I suppose I get that." Jaden
relaxed a fraction. "How soon until you're independently
mobile?"

"I'm not sure. I haven't stopped the drug as
much as compartmentalize it."

"Research shows the half-life is one week
without consistent dosing."

Nathan nodded, knowing it was Kristoff's
estranged niece Lorine who was working diligently on a cure. He
didn't know why Jaden was being deliberately vague around Kelly,
but he followed suit for now. "Physical weakness must make me more
susceptible. Kristoff said something to that effect when he pulled
me out of the hole."

"Ah." Jaden shuffled her feet, then jerked
her chin to the open door. "I'll go pass that on."

"Thanks."

She turned away, tossing the last order over
her shoulder at Kelly. "Petra's found something you need to
see."

Nathan didn't like the way Kelly leaped up to
follow Jaden – as if she wanted to get away from him.

* * *

Nathan was sitting in the chair next to the
god-forsaken hospital bed moving things about the room with his
mind. He'd made it through an embarrassingly short shower and his
legs felt too rubbery to stand, but he damned sure didn't want to
lie around anymore. He wanted a gym, a steak, an hour alone with
Kristoff, and Kelly. Not necessarily in that order.

He was thinking of Kelly, aka Calisto, when
he felt his sister approaching. More tea, no doubt. He dropped the
various items floating through the air into their rightful places
and pushed Kelly to the back of his mind.

Resigned, he didn't bother to put on a smile
when Petra knocked lightly and pushed open the door. "Will this be
as vile as the last one?" he demanded. "I only shut a door in your
face. Surely we're even by now."

She smiled her irritatingly serene smile just
to aggravate him. "You made a crack about my belly too."

There was that. He took the cup she held out
to him and sniffed cautiously. This one smelled rather flowery, but
the last one had smelled minty and tasted foul. He would've
preferred a cup of Slick Micky's best.

"Tomorrow, if you're still up and about,
we'll try the full-caff."

"As stimulants go, it's the best." Seeing
Petra's thoughtful frown, he charged on. "I know why you didn't
start with that. Any word on where the list came from?"

"None." Petra sat on the bed, but couldn't
seem to get comfortable. "Although Lorine recognizes the inherent
properties of the herbals, she doesn't have any better ideas."

"She's probably more effective breaking down
the Paracuron."

Pet nodded, fidgeting some more. "Can we
trade?"

Nathan set the tea aside, hoping she'd forget
it, and concentrated on making the move without showing his sister
how much it cost him. "I detest this bed," he grumbled, arranging
his legs. "And I'm getting damned tired of this room."

"There's the brother I've been waiting
for."

When she beamed at him he was helpless to
stay grumpy, but he tried. "So what is it you don't want to say?"
It better not have anything to do with Kelly.

"Not Kelly," she said.

He hadn't meant to set that thought loose,
but Petra continued, "I'm here about us. I'm not sure you realize
what a risk we are to each other."

"Beyond doors and bad tea?"

"Listen to me," she pleaded. "Kristoff
engineered both of us. He made plans for us our parents never
intended."

"He's an 'eeevil geeenius'," he put air
quotes around the words, just because his hands were working so
well. "He deceived hundreds of couples and more than one government
agency. Aren't you getting a little paranoid?"

"I found out more details while you
were…gone."

Her quiet intensity stopped his teasing. He
waited.

"Mom and Dad bartered for us –"

He'd barely absorbed that detail when she
dropped the real bombshell.

"–and he gave them twins three years
apart."

"Impossible." He had no other words. It was
an absurd claim. When it came to fertility drugs and testing and in
vitro was there really a difference?

Petra's voice was a faint buzzing in the
background as he worked out the implications of the news. Their
individual gifts, their strengths and weaknesses, their special
connection. It all rushed through his mind; thoughts colliding and
careening in too many directions.

"Stop!" she cried, her hands gripping her
head.

"Sorry." He hovered, wanting to touch, but
not daring. "I didn't mean to project. It just doesn't make sense.
Aren't all in vitro babies basically fraternal twins?"

"Yes and no. I've been researching." Her head
came up and her hands came down, as if she wasn't sure the distance
was safe. When it appeared her head wouldn't roll off her
shoulders, she gave him a faint smile. "In his own records he
explains it. But the short version is he took a lot more liberties
in the lab with us."

"He was expanding his own research."

She nodded. "The backdoor programming – the
bells I heard – I'm worried he's done the same with you."

"I'm not hearing things."

"No, but what if the Paracuron gives him some
control, some influence over your mind? You need to be careful,
Nathan.

"The push and pull of this paralysis worries
me. He knows you at a cellular level, what if –"

"You can't waste time worrying, Pet," he
interrupted ruthlessly. "You're thriving. Clearly you've shaken him
off."

Her eyes clouded with unspoken visions and
the small line between her brows told a different story. "You're
hearing things again?"

"No. It's not like that. I'm free, except for
this lingering unease. When I was on that last flight…with him…"
she gripped his hand, hung on tight as she continued. "He needs us
both. Whatever he put in us, he thinks he can have it back. He
means to use it for himself. Am I making sense?"

"Yes." He could admit the concept terrified
him. "How did you resist?"

She withdrew her soothing touch, leaning back
into the chair. "I didn't. Not completely. He used me. Though he
didn't get all he wanted, he got a significant piece."

"I don't understand."

"I hope you will when it matters. Don't brush
this off Nathan. You went undercover after him, but he's after
something – after you – and he'll be ruthless."

"Gee, you're such a comfort."

"It's a gift," she said, smiling. They rested
in the silence for another moment. "Tea or coffee in the
morning?"

"Definitely coffee."

"You got it."

It was a small consolation, one he latched on
to as his mind continued to whirl. Petra stood, brushed a kiss to
his cheek and left, apparently content to tilt his world on edge
and leave him to set it straight again.

His body tingled as if it wanted to slip back
into the Paracuron's hold and the needle of pain was back at his
temples. He responded with his most effective meditation technique,
creating first a strong box and then folding all of this trouble
and pain into it. Lastly he locked it and stacked it with the
others.

Then he swung himself out of bed as if he'd
never suffered a single moment of illness or debilitation. It
didn't end well and his knees would surely be bruised by morning,
not to mention the elbow that hit the bed frame. No matter. He
hauled himself upright and he intended to stay that way.