Veil of Justice, Shadows of Justice Book 3 (15 page)

Straightening his robe, he concentrated on
each step of his jerking stride, pacing the room until he smoothed
it out to almost normal. Then he collapsed back in the chair and
called the nurse. He was ready for some real food.

* * *

Kelly was in Slick Micky's gym burning off
her confusion and anticipation when Jaden's message found her.
Following the instructions, she made her way back to suite 325 for
brunch.

She knocked, nudging the cracked door all the
way open. "Am I interrupting?"

Jaden and Petra were breakfasting in the
living room. It was a friendly, more sisterly tableau than
yesterday's kitchen lab. She hoped the feeling lasted through the
meal.

"Not at all." Petra patted the arm of the
nearest chair. "Help yourself and come sit down."

Someone had laid out sweet pastries, fresh
fruits, and toast on the sideboard with a silver coffee service.
She filled a plate and poured herself an oversized mug of Slick
Micky's fully caffeinated coffee. Her appetite had returned this
morning and after a sleepless night of making tough decisions, the
strong coffee would be a big help.

She intended to leave by noon – after saying
a proper goodbye this time.

"Wow, you've been busy," Kelly said to Petra,
digging into her food. "Thanks."

"Thank Micky's chef." Jaden snorted. "Petra
wishes she ate like this at home."

"Ignore her," Petra suggested, clicking a
remote and bringing the wall mounted monitor to life. "Forgive me,
but our, ah, encounter yesterday sparked my curiosity."

Of course it did. Kelly focused on the flavor
of the perfect combination of ripe melon in her mouth.

"When you went missing, we looked for you,
but there's not a Kelly Gadrine on file anywhere beyond five years
ago."

"Sounds about right," she admitted.

"Kelly," Petra reached, but didn't make
personal contact. "I trust you. I understand the reasons you left.
You have to trust me now. Please?"

Trust the woman who'd danced through her head
for answers Kelly wasn't ready to share? Food, even the coffee, was
pointless and Kelly set her plate on the coffee table with precise
movements, hoping her shaky nerves weren't evident. When she could
meet Petra's eyes, the woman was a study in Madonna-like serenity.
Kelly was a tempest. Inside, her anger churned with unspent grief
whipping her emotions to unprecedented levels.

She pictured herself rising, saying goodbye,
and walking out the door. Apparently she managed none of it.

"Based on the memories I glimpsed, I've done
more poking around. Not in your head," Petra assured. "The Field
museum made an acquisition when you were about five years old."

Goose bumps raced down Kelly's arms. She
pressed her lips together, regretting the untimely reminder of
Nathan's warm mouth. Lord, she felt herself blushing. She didn't
need any more emotion; she might just explode.

"Here's the picture from the records, but it
was never put on display."

Kelly looked from Petra to the monitor and
her jaw dropped. She'd lost any remote ability to dissemble when
the map box she knew so well filled the screen. Even through the
picture, she knew she was looking at the genuine article, though
she'd never be able to explain how she knew.

"Never displayed?" she managed at last. "How
can you be sure? How did you find it?"

"They requested special security. Plus, there
was my dad's connection to Burckhardt the explorer. The spelling
may have changed, but the genes haven't. We're a curious lot."

"Annoyingly so," Jaden interjected.

Kelly startled, she'd forgotten everyone
else, everything else.

Petra blanked the monitor, gaining Kelly's
focus. "Your family must've been terribly worried that you settled
so close to the very thing they tried to keep you away from."

"I never told them exactly where I was."
Thank God. She might've had different reasons initially, but she
was doubly grateful now that she'd opted to use a post office box
in a small southern Indiana town. Had her mother known where her
father had parked the original maps?

Kelly couldn't believe her mother wouldn't
have told her after the memorial services if she'd known. No, it
made more sense that her father had every intention of keeping her
away from both the copy and the original map box and out of the
family business entirely.

"How do you recognize the map box?" Jaden
asked.

Kelly only shook her head. Everything was all
folding in on her, she felt smaller, compressed and fragile. What
started as her personal investigation, her quest, had diverted to a
prison break, and now just seemed like chaos on top of turmoil. For
a woman who valued order and tradition, it was a serious personal
test when information wouldn't fall into line.

Petra touched her, but she obviously wasn't
running open since neither of them passed out. "We can help you
find justice for your family."

Kelly pinched her brow. "You saw that
too?"

"Your grief is all over your aura." She sat
back. "Except when you're with Nathan."

Kelly's face went hot. Though her olive skin
would hide some of the effect, Petra surely caught the blush.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but your family was
entrusted with the protection of the map box generations ago."

"Yes." She was grateful to get back on
topic.

"The box was initially found in the city of
Petra, in Jordan?"

"So the legend goes."

"That's the same box Kristoff sent me after
the day you disappeared."

Kelly's head snapped up. "But the box has
been –"

"Don't tell her!" Jaden leaped to her feet.
"Don't tell anyone. If your family managed to stay off the radar
this long, don't blow everything."

"But you said you saw…"

"Not everything. Only the stuff on the
surface." Petra frowned at her. "That was enough."

"It's too much." Shame and shock swamped her.
She had blown everything. "I thought I could deal. I can't."

"You have to." Jaden was behind Kelly, her
fingers kneading Kelly's shoulders. "Kristoff wants that box. He
nearly killed Petra to get it. Makes sense he jumped your family
–"

"But how would he know about them? No one
knows about the G – about us."

"How doesn't matter once the deed's done."
Jaden gave her a shake. "You were trained in mental and physical
disciplines, right? Lived a secluded life, family first, traditions
out the wahzoo?"

Kelly let her head flop back on the chair
with a thud. "Yes. To all of it."

"Tell me your first thought when you got to
the scene." Jaden put herself directly in front of Kelly. "After
the shock, I mean. What did you do?"

"I sent the rest of them to safety and did
what I could to secure the area."

"Why?"

"Because when whoever attacked realizes they
stole a fake, they'll come back."

Jaden nodded. "That's exactly right. You hang
on to that training, to who you are, to what you know. Now. How
long did you stay on scene?"

"Only a day or two. I'd planned to stay
longer, to analyze the scene for clues. And wait and see who
returned, but Nathan needed help."

"And thank you again for giving it," Petra
said.

Jaden shot her a look and jumped right back
on point. "Any reason to go back now?"

"No." Her first life was over. Everything her
family had known and built was probably lost, if not destroyed.
They would restart from the safe house. It stung to be the last of
her generation of guardians. To have such a total failure occur on
her watch, no matter that she hadn't been there personally.

So much was riding on her shoulders. She
rolled them to keep from slouching.

"That's it," Jaden coached. "One breath at a
time. You've been through a lot, but hang tough. We can make this
right."

"Justice is her middle name," said a deep
voice.

Kelly looked up, surprised to see Brian and
Gideon hovering behind Petra. She hadn't heard them come in. With
skills as lacking as hers, it was no wonder her father kicked her
out. Embarrassment heated her face all over again.

"First thing, unless you disagree," Jaden
said, her gaze darting to Petra, "recover the original map box
before Kristoff learns it's been right here in his backyard the
whole time."

Petra nodded, lips tight.

Kelly looked at each of the four determined
faces, unwilling to trust her voice, she simply nodded her
agreement. Her family wouldn't be safe, the treasures wouldn't be
safe, until the map box was safe again.

It seemed she'd inadvertently completed her
first order of business to find the original map box. She could
almost hear her father groaning that she was their only hope. Her
planned goodbyes would wait – she was definitely staying awhile
longer.

* * *

Kristoff stood in his private lab, grateful
to be back and safe after near capture in that god-forsaken
desolation of Kansas. This was a mere fraction of what had been
within his control just months ago, but the experiments and the
feedback kept him calm in the face of such chaos.

In the days since Nathan eluded him, he'd
been sending signals out. When they proved fruitless, he sent
himself in a poor imitation of Petra's out of body skills. Nothing
generated any reply or further information, which meant he didn't
have any real answers. Nathan could be dead by now, and Kristoff
wouldn't know.

Kristoff wanted – needed – him alive.

In a spike of rage, the doctor swept an arm
across a counter and sent beakers, petri dishes, and computerized
notepads crashing to the floor. The Burkhardt children were
examples of his best work and this is how they repaid him? He'd
given them priceless abilities, given their parents
two
living treasures, and now they were rallying society against
him.

Heedless of the mess, he stomped to the next
table, where the current mutation of a Paracuron virus was growing.
His hands fisted, bits of crushed glass stuck to his skin. He moved
to trash it all.

"Hold!"

Kristoff nearly disobeyed. Nearly.

The goddess was foolish to presume she could
simply appear and demand his good behavior. Although presumptuous
and goddess surely were exchangeable terms. He faced her as an
equal – she was in his domain now.

"It is useless," he argued, unwilling to back
down. She could hardly do anything to worsen the fate he knew she
saved just for him. His ultimate failure made him desolate and he'd
rather get life over with so little to live for. "The viral was to
control him. Now I cannot even find him. He's surely dead by
now."

"He is not dead," she declared. "Tell me how
would he help you?"

Kristoff brushed away the bits of glass that
were burrowing into his skin. "His telepathy and telekinesis are
off the charts! Leading my juiced soldiers, my forces would be
invincible."

The apparition of the goddess nodded as if
she discussed military superiority every day. Maybe she did, he
didn't much care, unless it helped him meet his goals. That's how
they'd found each other and agreed on an exchange of tasks and
payments.

He'd been young, and too eager. She'd been
willing to satisfy his immediate desires. He'd traded the moment
for eternity and still could not regret it. Everything he'd ever
wanted was his – had been his – until Petra started to unravel it
all.

"You wish to get even? This is why you stay
in this hovel?"

She knew his answer, but they both understood
the illusion of free will was part of her game.

"Of course, my Queen. They have not shown
proper gratitude for my expertise, and therefore have not properly
honored you." He knew the right buttons after all this time. The
demon goddess Nin-Hur-Sag was solely focused on reclaiming her
power and cult following.

"I will help you reach the man you seek."

He waited, knowing he wouldn't like the terms
of payment.

"And you will continue your search for the
box."

Her and that blasted box. There weren't
thousands of other things to chase? Things of gold and gems and
real value? But no, she wanted some worthless set of ancient world
maps.

"Worth isn't measured equally among men," she
said in a ringing tone that required immediate obedience. "Are we
agreed?"

As if any disagreement would matter. "Yes,
Queen Nin."

"Prepare."

He hated this part, when she sifted through
him. Before his experience with Petra, it was unnerving, after when
he knew the differences, it was bone-chilling. Carefully, he
focused his mind on Nathan.

The mental connection was instant and the
pressure in Kristoff's head made him think his brain would explode.
His scientific curiosity didn't even want to linger on the how of
it, so he quickly latched onto the affected nerves, burning through
the virus trail to Nathan.

He rested in a hospital room, could've been
anywhere, but then the view switched inexplicably to Petra.

The little bitch had sensed them and snapped
her eyes closed. There was a vision of a calm sea, but just under
the surface, Kristoff caught sight of her notepad.

Nin swept them back to his hideout and his
own body.

"This place, it is close?"

"Yes, Magnificence."

"And the woman?"

"Yes, Magnificence."

They were all in Chicago. "You will find
them."

He bowed, as expected, but this time he felt
real gratitude. Then the queen was gone and he was alone once, but
now he had a plan.

Petra was in Chicago. Nathan was in Chicago.
Kristoff smiled. In Chicago there was no hiding from him. His feet
crunched across the debris littering his lab, then his fingers flew
over the keyboard as he ordered his remaining soldiers to their new
assignment.