The Darkness Beyond Part 19

She was huffing pretty hard now. "Seriously? I'd rather neither of us got caught up in a swordfight."

He abruptly slowed his steps and looked back at her. "If I'm going too fast, say something. Why don't you wait here while I scout up ahead. Once I know it's clear sailing, I'll wave to you."

She didn't want to agree, but she definitely needed a moment to catch up on her oxygen supply. "Go ahead. I'll be fine."

Before he left her, he pulled out an automatic and handed it to her. "Don't hesitate to use this if you need to. I know you don't want to kill anyone, but trust me. These crazies won't hesitate to return the favor."

The metal surface of the gun was cold and smooth to the touch, and the grip fit her hand as if it had been custom-made for her. She hated that. Despite her self-defense training, she had no desire to use lethal force against anyone. Could she bring herself to even pull the trigger? For both their sakes, she hoped so.

D.J. disappeared around a bend in the trail. He'd told her to wait for him to signal, but she found herself creeping forward, hating that she couldn't see him anymore. She was on the brink of charging after him when he reappeared and waved.

Relieved, she picked up her pace. He was alternating between watching the valley below and the trail above as he waited for her.

"See anything?"

"Not yet. The dust in this place covers up trails pretty quickly, but I haven't seen any clear sign of anyone having gone up the trail recently."

"Clear sign? Does that mean you might have seen something?"

He shrugged. "It's hard to say. I saw some footprints pointed in that direction, but they didn't keep going."

That made sense. "Maybe they're from when Jeban backtracked to see if someone was following them. Us, I mean."

"I hope that's it." D.J. continued to stare up the trail. "But if it is Jeban's buddy between us and the cave, there's no telling what he has planned. Regardless, we either need to get into the cave so we can cross into our world or we need to retrieve the supplies I left stashed up there."

He pointed back across the valley. "My friend Barak is from this world. He said there's another crossing point beyond that second ridge of hills across the valley. He also sent word to his Kalith friend Berk to be on the lookout for us."

"Can these guys be trusted?"

"Barak, absolutely, and Berk is a Sworn Guardian, which means a lot in this world. He's worked with us a couple of times and hasn't screwed us over yet. If he ever does-"

D.J. flexed his right hand on the pommel of his sword; his left held a gun that was the big brother to the one he'd given her. His stance positively shouted G.o.d help anyone who crossed him.

It was hard to see her gentle lover from the night before as the hard-edged man standing beside her now. The metamorphosis disturbed her on several levels, even though she'd seen this same side of him right before he'd killed Jeban. The question was, which was the real D.J., the killer or the lover? His seamless change from one to the other bothered her more than she cared to admit.

"Let's keep going. As I remember it, there aren't any good hiding spots for some distance up the trail."

With an increasing sense of dread, she nodded and started walking. She just wished she knew if they were headed for salvation or slaughter.

Chapter 16.

Devlin set a cold can of pop down on the desk along with a sandwich and a bag of chips.

"Here, Cody, take a break and eat. We try not to starve our people if we can help it. Are you and Cullen hitting it off okay?"

Cody grinned. "Oh, yeah. He's already taught me a few new tricks."

As he unwrapped his sandwich, he looked up at the clock. G.o.d, where had the time gone? Devlin had met him and Trahern at the local airport sometime in the early morning hours. They'd dropped the other man off, and then Devlin had taken Cody to his house. After they'd each grabbed a few hours of sleep, he'd brought Cody to Paladin headquarters in the Seattle Underground. Almost seven hours had pa.s.sed since then.

The Paladin leader perched himself on the corner of the desk. "So how's the hunt going? Any progress?"

Cody nodded as he washed a bite of his sandwich down with a swig of pop. "D.J. had already found an e-mail someone sent Reggie offering to meet up with her in Portland. Whoever it was promised to answer her questions about the Regents and the Paladins."

"Which means it's an inside job."

"Yeah, that's what D.J. thought, and Cullen agrees. We've been tracking the e-mail back to its origin. As far as we can tell, it came from-"

Cullen finished the sentence for him as he walked back over to the desk. "Headquarters in St. Louis. I swear, we'd be better off nuking the whole d.a.m.n building."

Devlin grinned at his friend. "Tell you what, I'll light the fuse if you two build the bomb."

A female voice entered the conversation. "Mind if I give my dad enough warning to get away from ground zero?"

Both Cullen and Devlin winced as a woman about the same size as Reggie joined them.

Devlin turned to face her. "Sorry, Sasha. You know we don't mean it."

Surprisingly, she just laughed. "Oh, yeah, you do. However, I a.s.sume you have good reasons since you called me here to meet you."

When she spotted Cody, she came around the desk and held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Sasha. I don't believe we've met."

He looked to Devlin for guidance, who nodded. "I'm Cody. I'm, uh, new here."

Cullen and Devlin immediately moved to flank him. Hopefully it was a gesture of support. What was it about this woman that had both men acting so weird?

She raised her eyebrows at their action. "Nice to meet you, Cody. I wasn't aware that we had a new recruit."

Okay, what was he supposed to say to that? Luckily, Devlin stepped in.

"He's actually more of a consultant at this point. He's been working on a special project with Trahern and Cullen."

"Really? Am I to a.s.sume this special project is why I'm here?"

Devlin nodded. "Why don't you come into my office so Cullen and Cody can get back to work? I promise to explain everything."

"Good idea. I'd rather hear what's going on from you than be blindsided by St. Louis." She turned her attention to Cullen. "Would you let Larem know where I am and bring him up to speed on the situation with D.J.?"

"Sure thing."

She smiled at Cody again. "It was nice to meet you. I hope to see more of you."

Cody waited until she and Devlin disappeared into the Paladin's office before asking Cullen, "Okay, so, who is she? And who is Larem?"

Why did that name sound familiar?

"Sasha is the Regents' representative in our area, and her father serves on the Board of Regents back in Missouri. Larem is, uh-"

"Standing right behind you."

Cody jumped about a foot at the deep voice coming from over his shoulder. That was the first shock. The second was that Larem had the same distinctive look as Barak. His hair was long and dark but mixed with silver. His pale eyes were sort of freaky, too, but he was an alien after all. The whole idea of people coming and going from another world was beyond weird, although the Paladins he'd met so far obviously had no problem with it.

To be polite, he rose to his feet and held out his hand. "Hi, I'm Cody."

"I've heard good things about you, Cody." Larem gave his hand a firm shake and then stepped back. "Trahern said you're handling all the stuff that's been thrown at you with the strength of a Paladin."

"I'm trying."

Then Cody got a clear look at Larem's companion. Holy h.e.l.l, was that a white wolf? Probably not, but that was one huge, scary animal. When the dog started forward, Cody instinctively backed away. Unfortunately, the desk prevented him from putting any real distance between himself and the dog.

Larem caught his pet by the collar. "Chance, that's enough. That sandwich belongs to Cody."

The dog shot his owner a disappointed look and sat down with a big sigh. Okay, so maybe Chance wasn't all that scary after all.

Evidently satisfied that the dog was going to behave, Larem turned his attention to Cullen. "I a.s.sume it's too soon to have heard anything back from D.J. and his lady."

Cody wasn't sure how he felt about their a.s.sumption that Reggie somehow belonged to D.J. Yeah, it turned out that she'd been playing cybergames with the man for a couple of months, but she'd met him in person only a few days ago. How did that translate into D.J. having any claim to her?

Cullen was shaking his head. "Lonzo checked in earlier to say that Barak took the barrier down first thing this morning, but there was no sign of D.J. as of yet. They'll try again tonight. How about Berk? Was Hunter able to get word to him?"

Larem's pale eyes stared into Cody's briefly, as if unsure about how much to say in front of him. "Hunter left a message in the usual place. It's not Berk's regular day to make contact, but he sometimes checks in more often than that. Hunter will let him know what's going on. I'm sure the Sworn Guardian will a.s.sist D.J. in any way that he can."

It was so hard to trust strangers to keep Reggie safe. Cody sat back down at the desk using the excuse of finis.h.i.+ng his sandwich to avoid more conversation. Aware that a pair of brown eyes watched his every move, he broke off a corner of his sandwich and held it out to Chance. The dog's tail wagged wildly as he gulped down Cody's offering.

Chance plopped his big head on Cody's lap with a contented sigh. As Cody brushed his hand over the dog's fur, it finally hit him where he'd heard Larem's name before. He'd been the one to lend his father's sword to D.J.

He kept Chance happy with ear scratches while he waited for a lull in the conversation. "That was your sword that D.J. took with him."

"Chance, will you quit that?" Larem glared at his dog, who'd gone back to eyeing Cody's sandwich, before answering. "Yes, it is my family's sword. I thought D.J. might prefer a weapon that wouldn't immediately brand him as human."

"He was glad to have it. He said he was honored."

Although Larem didn't exactly smile, there was a softening in his solemn expression that made Cody think he was pleased.

"I know you are concerned about your friend, but D.J. will do everything possible to bring her back safely."

To hide his worry, Cody went back to petting the dog. "I'll just be glad when Reggie is back on this side of the barrier."

Cullen patted Cody on the shoulder. "With that in mind, we'd better get back to the hunt. Where were we?"

The Paladin knew exactly where they'd left off, but Cody appreciated the excuse to concentrate on something he could actually help with. It was hard to sit still though. He picked up a pencil and began tapping it on the desk in counterpoint to the rhythm of his foot kicking the leg of his chair.

After a few seconds, Cullen shook his head and grinned. "It's easy to see why you and D.J. hit it off. That man has more pent-up energy than any three people combined, but you run a close second."

"My bad." Cody dropped the pencil back on the desk and tried to stay still. "Seriously, the only reason Reggie can stand to share a cubicle with me is because she's almost as bad. When I'm bothering her too much, she throws one of her desk toys at me."

He'd been eyeing the collection of toys on a nearby desk. "I'm guessing those belong to D.J."

Larem picked up one of the b.a.l.l.s and tossed it to Cody. "You guessed right. I see he's gotten new ones since the last time I was here."

He actually smiled. "Chance stole a couple of the b.a.l.l.s and chewed them up. D.J. pretended to be mad about it, but then gave him two more to play with."

The Kalith's cell phone rang. After a brief conversation, he clipped Chance's leash back on his collar.

"It seems like Sasha's meeting with Devlin is going to take longer than expected. I'm going to make a coffee run. Cody, would you like to take a walk with me and Chance?"

Cody looked to Cullen for permission, who spoke without looking away from the computer. "Go ahead and go. Bring me back one, too. Larem knows what I like."

"Okay. Be back in a few."

As Cody followed Larem and Chance to the door, he had to smile. Who knew aliens liked lattes?

The dust hung in the air and clumped on D.J.'s sweaty skin, making the day feel even hotter. His head felt like it was mounted on a swivel as he tried to keep one eye on the trail in front of them and one on Reggie. She'd yet to complain, but breathing the thin air was harder on her than it was for him, no doubt thanks to his mixed DNA.

He forced himself to slow down despite the growing sense of urgency that had him wanting to hoof it up the hillside full-speed ahead. It wasn't fair to Reggie with her shorter legs. Besides, if things did suddenly go to h.e.l.l, he wanted her to have enough stamina to make a quick run for cover.

When the path leveled off a little, he stopped by a cl.u.s.ter of scrubby trees that would afford them a little shade and at least minimal cover. He pulled a bottle from his pack and took a long swallow.

Reggie reached him a few seconds later, looking tired and a bit frazzled. He smiled at her. "I thought you might like a short break. G.o.d knows I could use one."

She sank down on a nearby rock and shuffled through the Kalith bag she'd taken for water and a granola bar. While she caught her breath and refueled, D.J. returned to the edge of the path and stared back down the hillside. What-or who-was out there setting off all his alarms?

He wandered the trail for a short distance in each direction, trying to find a vantage point that gave him a clearer view of what lay ahead. Nothing. Not even a bird or a bug or any kind of local fauna moving around, just the rolling gra.s.sland in the valley below and the stunted trees jutting out of the hillside.

Reggie joined him. "What's wrong? Well, other than the obvious, us being stuck in Kalithia."

She squeezed his hand and looked up at him with a smile. He couldn't believe it. A little thing like her, she had to be exhausted, yet she was supporting him. He hoped like h.e.l.l that the time she'd spent with him last night hadn't added a whole new layer of complications for her.

It sure had for him. No matter what happened from this point on, the memories of what they'd shared would be a bright, s.h.i.+ning moment in the endless bloodbath of his life. Reggie deserved better.

The kindest thing he could do would be to take her back home, make sure the a.s.sholes within the organization left her alone, and let her get back to her real life. That's exactly what he planned on doing, even if the mere thought of letting her disappear from his life made him want to scream.

He forced himself to step away from her, staring down into the valley as a pretext.

"No sign of anyone following us yet."

She shaded her eyes and surveyed their surroundings. "That's a good thing. Maybe our luck has taken a turn for the better."

"Let's get moving before it changes back. I'll check the trail ahead again. Just give me a second."

He walked away before she could say anything, but he felt her confusion. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her feelings, but her life depended on their making it back across the barrier. Each step away from her felt as if he was walking through sludge.

Focus, d.a.m.n it!