In Remote Paranoia the team is called in to investigate a pair of suspicious deaths of Order agents. The Order, in this world, is a group of aliens and supernatural beings that are called to serve the Fates by keeping specific points in time and people on the right track to their destiny. This particular cell of Order agents had recently retired.
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Chapter
Four
Frankie jabbed her heel down on Tucker’s
foot causing him to stumble back in pain. She grabbed him and tossed the large
man over her shoulder with ease. His body slammed against the blue mat so hard breath
rushed out of his lungs. She knew she was taking her frustrations over Fang’s
distance, and her sister’s betrayal, out on her friend. It was wrong. She left
him on the mat and walked over to her duffel bag for some water. “Quit taking
it easy on me, Tuck, or you’re going to get hurt,” she warned as she emptied
her water bottle. Her mind traveled back in time as she replayed the last
conversation she had with Devon about Sarah’s decision to join forces with the
Amazons.
“It’s about
intention? What’s that supposed to mean?” He asked, confusion and hurt swimming
in his eyes.
Frankie shook her
head and shrugged. “I don’t know, but I get the feeling that she was trying to
help us.” At least I pray she was trying to protect us, otherwise her treachery
made no sense.
“She betrayed us.”
Devon’s words sounded choked and riddled with emotion. It was understandable.
He was in love with her, he failed to protect her, and she left him for his
enemy.
“I have a feeling
she did what she had to in order to survive.”
Devon looked
doubtful.
“Look, I know my
sister, and she’d sacrifice her soul to protect those she cares about.” Frankie
insisted.
“And I know humans.
They’d sacrifice anything to survive. It’s the mortality factor.” His voice
sounded cold and distant.
“Sure, no one
wants to die, but I’m telling you, dumbass, she’s not a traitor.” She had a
feeling she was protesting too much, but she really liked Devon for Sarah.
“I hope you’re
right.” The fear on his face, and rigidness in his stance told her he wasn’t
sold on the idea, but the look in his eyes relayed his hope.
Hope was a nasty demon that tricked people
into believing things were going to get better. In that moment, even in this
moment, Frankie prayed ‘Hope’ was actually on their side.
“Karma wants to see you both in her
office.” Jasmine’s heavy oriental-accented voice broke into the memory and
pulled Frankie out abruptly. She didn’t wait for a response, simply turned on
her heel and left before they could ask why. Jasmine was never really a very
forthcoming colleague.
Frankie offered Tucker a weak smile,
tossed him a towel as she dried the sweat from her own body, and exited the
training room. He followed closely behind. She could feel his breath on her
neck and the warmth of his body in close proximity. Her mated, enhanced senses
also scented his perspiration and eagerness to begin another case. He had pent
up frustrations to deal with.
Frankie had no desire to do anything until
they recovered Sarah, but they’d been off duty for over a month, and it was
hard to believe Karma would keep them benched any longer. Devon was already out
of play thanks to the poison the Amazons injected into his body. He was still a
neutered vamp, and that was a handicap they couldn’t afford out in the field.
Tucker had assumed Devon’s role on the team, and Persephone, by default, also
joined them.
She sped up to avoid the scent of the man
beside her. Tucker hurried his pace to match hers just as Fang turned the
corner and joined the two. The tension between the two men was so thick it was
difficult to breath. It was like cutting through a rough chunk of steak. Even
if you did break through the tension, it wasn’t like you wanted to eat the
meat. The two were both shifters, and they were greedy. Fang had good reason to
be possessive of Frankie, but his good reason was riddled with betrayal which created
distrust.
The memory of what Fang did to her was
still raw, like an open wound that didn’t seem to heal over completely, and
seeing him was like rubbing salt in the lesion.
Fang didn’t
hesitate. He was a bit of a brute when it came to her. He took her arm in his hand and pulled her
toward him forcibly. “We need to talk.” His hands and voice were harsher than
he intended as he pulled the despondent Frankie down the hall.
Once again, she
was being man-handled by the overbearing were-bear. One part of her wanted his
attention. She couldn’t fight off the chemical attraction, but the intelligent side
of her knew better. Being drug away was the wake-up call she needed. Frankie
dug her heels into the ground, but it did little good since the floors were
grey concrete. “Let go of me!” She hissed, and when she started fighting back,
he tossed her over his shoulder with minimal effort. When she started slamming
her fists into his solid back, he spanked her. That made her pause for a moment
as she processed his actions. “Did you just...spank me?”
He slipped into an
abandoned office, dropped her unceremoniously on the couch, and then locked the
door so they wouldn’t be disturbed. He was so angry, she could feel the boiling
heat radiating off his body. His glare cut her to the bone as he tried to put
his emotions in check. She didn’t like seeing him this way. Something in her
subconscious warned her he was dangerous when he was upset.
The warning voice
in her head did little to calm her, instead, she saw red. He kept pushing and
he’d pushed too far this time. She stood up. “How dare you!” Her fist aimed for
his face, but he stopped her first punch and managed to stop her second as
well.
“You may be well
trained, Francesca, but I trained you.” The bitterness in his voice cut her
open like a gutted fish and forced her to settle down. She’d never heard him
speak to her with such anger, and knowing what he was, she knew better than to
poke the bear more than necessary. The saying you can catch more bears with
honey rang true to her in that moment.
His voice and
words softened when he saw fear in her green eyes. “Please, Frankie, I just
want to talk.” He released her fisted hands.
“I don’t want to
talk to you.” She crossed her arms over her chest and took a step back. They
were alone and he was too close for comfort. “You really need to take a
socializing class. Your actions are inexcusable.”
He offered a shy,
mischievous grin. “Social etiquette has never been a strong point for me.”
“Ya, think?”
“Why do you hate
me so much?” He gave her a sincere, hurtful look, one that almost shook her to
the core.
“I…I don’t hate
you. I just hate the things you do sometimes.” The sadness in his eyes made her
attitude soften. For some reason, despite her annoyance at the man, she took
pity on him.
“My mother told me
that hate is probably one of the worst words a person can use to describe
something.”
“Your mother is
right.” Frankie unfolded her arms. “Maybe I should say I dislike the things you
do, but I really don’t appreciate being thrown over your shoulder like a sack
of potatoes, and I won’t tolerate being spanked. I’m in my mid-twenties, not a
child.”
“Asking for a new
partner without trying to work things out with your current partner is slightly
childish.”
“You heard that?
It’s not polite to eavesdrop.” She balked.
He shrugged. “I’m
not polite according to you.” He mumbled the last part.
He moved forward a
few steps so he was invading her personal space. She took a step back, and he
clamped his hand around her forearms and pulled her back toward him. “Please
don’t do that.”
“What? Let me go,
Fang!”
“Not until I tell
you what happened to you in the hospital.”
Frankie’s eyes
grew wide. “Okay, what happened?” It was the secret she’d been trying to
uncover since she woke up. She didn’t know why, but she needed to know what
they did to her.
“First you need to
understand why. You were going to die, and I couldn’t let that happen to you. I
don’t know if you realize this, but there is chemistry between us.”
Frankie laughed. “Uh,
no, there isn’t.”
He tilted his head
and looked deep into her eyes, like he was examining her soul. “Do I need to
kiss you again to prove it?”
“Keep those lips
away from me.”
He moved closer,
his lips inches from hers. “Why do you deny yourself the pleasures I can show
you?”
“I don’t know how
else I can make it any clearer. I’m. Not. Interested.” She did it, she dared to
poke the bear’s chest.
“When you stop
lying to me, and perhaps to yourself, things will be a lot better between us.
Even now, your heart speeds up as my lips inch closer to yours. Your green eyes
grow dark with desire. You moisten your lips in anticipation and your scent is
honey mixed with musk. The words you speak do not match your body’s response.”
“You’re also
describing fear.” Frankie pointed out.
His face fell, and
he dropped his grip on her arms. “I don’t wish to make you afraid me.” He took
a step back, and Frankie felt guilt over her words. He was so literal and
blunt, and he put her on the defense. It was hard to believe that her words
could cut him, but they did.
“I’m sorry, Fang.
I’m not afraid of you.”
His brown eyes lit
up with hope. “Good, because what I need to tell you could change everything
between us.”
“Okay?” Her voice
was guarded.
“You were about to
die.”
“I know.” The
mutated strain of the Ebola virus had caused complete organ failure. The only
way to survive was to eat human organs to replace those that had shut down, and
she was not going to do that. The memory made her shudder.
“And it was my
fault.”
“No, it wasn’t.”
Not entirely his fault. The brute was constantly arguing with her about her
safety in the field, and he was too preoccupied with his anger that he hadn’t
put the child infected with the virus in the car before laying into her with
his words. The girl was hungry and started gnawing on Frankie’s hand. She
clamped down so tightly that the only way to get her to release the appendage
was to kill her. Frankie closed her eyes against the memory of Fang breaking
the girl’s neck. She’d never seen someone die in front of her like that, and
she was still a bit traumatized by the tragedy. Fang had been suspended for a
week while they investigated his actions, and he was returned to duty once they
determined he was protecting his team in the line of duty. It didn’t make the
picture of the girl’s death any easier.
“We all knew you
weren’t ready for field work, but we needed you because of--
Just being near
him made her emotions go haywire. She needed to get away, and didn’t want to
hear it anymore. “Look, Fang, I get it. You all injected me with some sort of
paranormal healing serum. What I really want to know is if it’s going to fade.”
“The strength?”
Fang tried to catch up to her questioning. Changing gears mid-conversation
wasn’t always easy.
Frankie nodded.
“And the enhanced senses.”
“No, you’ll always
have those things no matter what you do.”
Frankie took a
deep breath. “I’ve thought a lot about this, and assuming that is what you all
did to me, I’m… okay with it.”
“You are?”
She didn’t know it
then, but there was far more to it. “Well, kind of, as long as I know what is
happening to me and understand all the things connected to it. I mean, it makes
me a stronger agent. I just hate being kept in the dark with people I’m
supposed to trust keeping secrets from me. Are there any nasty side effects?”
Oh, boy, there were nasty side effects.
She didn’t learn the whole truth from him. It was a banshee that revealed the
curse he put on her. The bear didn’t even have the guts to tell her they were
mated. She supposed that was what hurt the most about the whole situation. That,
and the tiny fact that when she was near him they were hot for each other
beyond belief. There was a thin line between love and hate, especially where
mates were concerned.
Mentally, she knew what he did saved her
life. He risked his own life to keep her breathing, and gave up any chance of
ever finding a mate by bonding with her to save her from dying. Intellectually,
she should try and make things work with him, but all the lies he told after
the fact created muddy water under that bridge. She couldn’t trust her body
near him. The only part of her that she did trust around him was her mind and the
ability to make decisions for herself. Besides, who could make a lifelong commitment
to a man they barely knew? A Neanderthal brute that had difficulty even having
a simple conversation.
It made her guilty whenever she allowed
those thoughts to mull around in her mind. He was raised more bear than human.
Holding his childhood against him was immature, but it was yet another point
against the man. The were-bear was not what she envisioned for her mate.
“Tucker, can we have a minute?” Fang
stepped in front of Frankie halting her entrance Karma’s office.
Tucker’s warm, brown eyes gravitated to
Frankie, and she nodded ‘okay’ before he entered the office leaving them alone
in the hallway.
Fang took a step forward and Frankie
stepped back. “This insistence on keeping us apart is killing me, Frankie.” His
blue eyes pleaded with her for a little understanding.
She stepped back again, and felt the cool
wall seep into her spine. “I need time, Fang. If there is any chance for us in
the future, you need to give me space.”
He did the exact opposite with another
step putting him closer to her than before. “I get what you’re saying, I do,
but we’re partners, and we were becoming friends. Can’t we try and kindle that
friendship?”
“We are friends,” she responded without
thinking. Her body’s chemical reaction to the man was kicking in. Her desire to
wrap her arms around his neck and kiss his lips was overwhelming her thought
process. “But, I can’t give you more until I find my sister. Sarah has to be my
priority right now.”
“You’ve got to know she’s mine, too.
What’s important to you is important to me.”
Her eyes snapped fire. “And that’s why you
altered my chemical makeup without consulting me first.”
He looked hopeless. “Are you never going
to forgive me for saving your life?”
“Probably not.” And sadly, she knew it was
probably the truth.
He slammed his fist into the wall beside
her head. She didn’t flinch. She was used to his temper where she was involved.
“Damn it, Francesca! I beg you to give us a chance.”
“I’m trying.”
“Are you two coming?” Jasmine opened the
door and waited for them to enter, impatience written all over her face.
Saved by the
dragon. Frankie
ducked under Fang’s arms and entered the office. Fang was slow to follow, but
he did. Jasmine, Tucker, Persephone DeLuca, Devon, Karma, and two strange women
were already seated, waiting. No one looked pleased with the delay.
“Sorry.” Frankie apologized as she took a
seat next to Devon. Fang grumbled what passed for an apology from the man.
“Thank you for joining us. I need your
help on a new case.” Karma began. Our boss had two personas; the badass goddess
that doled out punishment to equal the scales of karma, and the hipster chick
that looked like a 60s throw-back when she was evaluating karmatic justice.
Lately her attire erred on the side of the
badass biker chick, and today was not different. Her skin-tight leather body
suit hugged her curves and would have made a supermodel jealous. Her long,
blonde curls were tied back in a braid that fell to the small of her back, and
her ‘one green and one blue’ eyes were lined in smoky kohl. The girl was out
for justice, and it was bad, bad, bad.
“We already have a case,” Frankie was
careful to point out. “I thought you told us finding Sarah was our priority?”
“It is,” Karma began, “but since we have
made no traction on the search in the last few weeks I need to allocate some
resources to this new case. You, Fang, and Devon will join Tucker, DeLuca, and
Jasmine on this one case.”
Devon was quick to point out, “I’m still unable
to cause pain to another living being--”
“Which is why you’re the team leader.”
Devon and the other horsemen of the apocalypse,
who happened to be vampires, were injected with a neutering serum by the very
Amazons that brainwashed Sarah in their last case. Since the serum had proven
to be irreversible he’d been placed on the bench indefinitely. For Karma to put
him in the field said a lot about the severity of the case. It was the only
reason Frankie decided to keep her mouth shut.
Tucker asked the question that was on
everyone’s mind. “What is the case?”
Karma passed out file folders to everyone
in the room. “We have a string of accidental deaths involving high powered
supernatural officials.”
Devon looked quizzically at Karma. “Accidental
deaths don’t generally fall under the purview of the PBI.”
“No, they don’t. But these are peculiar
and demand a thorough investigation.”
Karma flipped on the big screen with her
remote. Two faces appeared on the television. She shot the red laser to the
first man. Dark hair, dark skin, hazel eyes, goatee, and dangerous stare. “Jerrell
Jackson, an alpha wolf from Washington State. Parts of his body were discovered
in the wood chipper on the compound.”
Fang ran a hand through his blond hair. “Are
we sure this wasn’t murder?”
“It was labeled as an accidental death. He
was drinking the night before, somehow fell asleep in the chipper, and when the
crew came in the next morning and started the machine his body was shredded.”
“By the gods!” Fang rarely spoke in
debriefs, but this obviously had an impact on him. “Horrible way to lose an
alpha.”
“And so the local authorities concluded
that falling into a wood chipper was an accidental death?” Devon shook his
head.
“It happens,” Karma’s eyes flew to the
redheaded stranger in the room, “unfortunately.” She took a deep breath and
continued. “According to the report, Jerrell was drinking, he made the chipper
his bed, and passed out, and when the workers came in the next morning and
turned on the machine,” she swallowed hard, “…the rest is detailed in the
report.” Even Karma looked sick as she gave what little details she could.
“Come on!” Frankie blurted out. “I mean,
unbelievable.” She followed her statement of disbelief with one of astonishment
when all eyes turned toward her.
“Frankie’s right. Seems a little
impossible.” Devon backed his partner up.
Karma shrugged. “Freak accidents happen
all the time, I myself have been responsible for a few of them when karmatic
justice is delivered. Not chipper accidents, mind you.” She shuddered. “It’s a
little too gruesome for my taste, but last year alone there were fourteen
deaths by wood chippers across the country.”
“So death by freak accident.” DeLuca
rolled her eyes. “Were there any witnesses?”
“Not any according to the report. A good
friend of the deceased had been there, but when he left Jerrell was alive, and
when he returned in the morning he was the one to start the machine. What makes
this peculiar is the gruesomeness of the death ensured that the alpha wouldn’t
survive.” Karma clicked the remote again and the next face appeared on the
screen. “We know how to kill paranormal creatures, but the humans don’t. That
leads me to believe these killings, if they turn out to be murders, are by a
supernatural, or at the very least, preternatural with a lot of information.”
The agents cast glances at each other and
the screen, but none spoke so Karma continued. “Frankie and Fang will go to
Washington to investigate a little further.”
“Persephone and Tucker, I want you two to
take a second look at the suspicious death of Libby Good. She is a witch that
died by drowning in her bathtub.”
“Were there any defensive marks?” Persephone
DeLuca raised a dark eyebrow.
“No, and there were no bruises on the body
to indicate she was held down either.” Karma answered the next obvious
question.
The group started flipping through the
files again.
“What connects these two together?”
“They are part of the Order.” Jasmine
supplied the answer. She looked at the two strangers in the room. “So are the
two of you.”
“Very good, Jasmine.” Karma smiled warmly.
“That is why we believe one of us are next.”
The small woman with shiny, red hair and twinkling blue eyes joined the
conversation. Her voice held a soft Irish lilt.
The second woman with long black hair and
olive skin nodded. “Usually, we wouldn’t be concerned with something like this.
We’re very capable in handling our own affairs. The problem is this threat is
taking down our best operatives.”
All eyes turned to the two women. The
ginger woman offered a grin that didn’t touch her eyes. “We come to you asking
for sanctuary. Our team was disbanded a month ago. Once we’ve been retired,
we’re on our own. My name is Mackenna, but my friends call me Red. The dead on
the screen were my friends, and at one time, teammates.”
“And I’m Olivia,” the dark-haired woman
who carried a holstered sword between her shoulder blades added. These two
women looked far more dangerous than they had first appeared. Frankie didn’t
know what the Order was, but she had a feeling it wasn’t necessarily a good
thing.
“Okay, I’ll bite. What’s the Order?”
Frankie asked after a long silence stretched between them like an abandoned
highway. Both gave her the creeps.
“The Order works for the Fates, my mother
and aunts. Their job is to simply keep destiny on track for major players.”
Karma began.
“Game changers. If someone whose path
impacts large numbers of people, and the fate of nations is not on track, it is
our job to help them back on the rails, so to speak.” Red offered.
“So you manipulate fate.” Frankie now
understood why they were here. It was an odd form of nepotism.
“No one manipulates fate. It has already
been decided. We just help it along.” Olivia’s tone was stern leaving no room
for argument.
“And you think someone is trying to kill
you all?” Devon asked.
“We’re a six person team, and two of us
are dead within a month of leaving the Order. Supernaturals are hard to kill.”
Red added, “Order members are far more difficult to terminate.”
“Libby was excited to go home and learn
her heritage, not to mention she was a water witch. There is no way she could
drown. Water was her friend.” Olivia’s tone sounded odd.
“Jerrell was in love, and he was the new
alpha for Washington State. He had everything to fight for.” Red added.
“In love? With who?” DeLuca asked.
“Me.” Red answered. “He was happy.”
“Sometimes people are good at hiding how…”
Tucker used a soothing voice, like a comforting hand on the shoulder as he
began to question the witness.
Red rushed up on him, inches from his
face, “I’m not a naïve civilian. I’ve lived centuries as a Nephilim. I know how
people can hide feelings and thoughts. Don’t patronize me, boy.”
“Down, Red.” Karma commanded. “My agents
are only trying to help. If you prefer, we can let you handle your own
investigation.”
Red backed up, but the glare from her
stone-cold eyes caused Frankie to shiver. She didn’t like this angel half breed,
and would be happy when the case was over.
“I’d like Devon to run point, and Jasmine
and Dev can stay here guarding Red and Olivia while you investigate the crime
scenes. Then return here, and we’ll coordinate next steps.” Karma snapped the
screen off and sat down at her desk, dismissing them.
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