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Having control of the situation made Duncan relax. Only what now? Should he end the current trance or continue as he was?
And just as he was about to disturb the link enough so that he could wake up and talk things over with Luken and maybe even Endelle, a vision was on him.
A battle at the palace.
~ ~ ~
Endelle felt better. She’d talked to Thorne for fifteen minutes and the exchange had done her a boatload of good. She’d never felt amorous toward Thorne, though her relationship with him had been long and complex. But when he’d broken the mind-link, something inside her had ached beyond expression and to a lesser degree, now that time had passed, still did.
But Thorne was a powerful, commanding man and maybe because of that, the burden of her rule always felt a little bit lighter after being with him.
Returning to her suite and glancing down at Duncan, however, the feel-good of the moment ended abruptly. Duncan hadn’t moved exactly, but something rolled off him, making her tense up and every instinct she had start screaming.
“Has he shifted position at all?” she asked Rachel.
“No, not a bit, but something has changed.”
“You can feel it, too?”
“Yes,” Rachel said, rising to her feet. “Like maybe he’s breaking free of the trance again.”
At the same moment, she heard Luken’s voice as he called to Thorne. Luken was back and Thorne was still here. Thank the Creator for that; she felt better knowing that both men were in the palace.
Her heart now beat furiously in her chest.
Something fucked up was going on.
She moved into the Command Center and saw that Luken had brought three men with them, still in their battle uniforms.
She knew each of them because they belonged to Duncan’s squad. She crossed quickly to join them, but when Luken started to introduce the men, she cut him off. “Never mind that. Duncan’s still in a trance but I can tell something’s headed our way since every nerve in my body is shouting at me.”
Luken glanced past her shoulder. “Where’s Duncan now?”
“On my couch.” She waved at Thorne, calling to him, “You’d better get your ass over here.”
Thorne set his clipboard down and headed straight for her. When he arrived, he crossed his arms over his chest. “What’s going on?”
“I’m not sure, but I think it has to do with the Third Earth grid.”
Luken frowned. “Where the hell is Merl?”
“Taking a nap on my bed.”
“Well you’d better tell ‘the princess’ he should get his ass out here.”
“I’m here.” Merl headed in their direction, his chin down as he moved, his gaze shifting from side-to-side. To everyone’s surprise, he wore a uniform, similar to the What-Bees, black leather kilt and all. Very much a warrior. “What’s going on, because there’s a vibe in the palace that has my Third Earth nerves worked into a frenzy.”
Endelle shook her head. “We’re not sure.”
Merl nodded. “I think you’d be wise to get some wrecking guns over here on the double. This feels like the grid to me, like the palace has been targeted. Not sure I can say why, it just does.”
“I’m on it,” Luken said. “Merl, while I’m gone, get these men up to speed.” He gestured quickly to each. “Owen, Alex, Joshua. I’ll be right back.” He spoke into his shoulder com as he moved, shouting orders to the warriors on duty at Militia HQ.
Thorne said, “Endelle, do you have reason to expect an attack here?”
Endelle felt a terrible pressure on her chest. “I don’t know, probably. Like I told you a few minutes ago, Yolanthe is after Rachel and Rachel is in my sitting room. So, how about you move your personnel out of here and take as much of this equipment with you as you can. Those guns will destroy everything.”
Thorne turned and started shouting orders for everyone to get to Apache Junction Two and to take the hard drives with them. Within seconds, the dozen or so computer towers were being loaded onto a cart and wheeled in the direction of the landing platforms. Each member of the Command Center team tucked a laptop under his or her arm and hurried toward the platforms as well.
