AllFreeNovel
Share Us
FOURTEEN
Seraphina laid lowafter her escape. In the beginning, she worried she’d been followed or missed a tracking device they could have planted while she’d been drugged. The thought kept her on guard as she hopped from shuttle to shuttle and transferred through various colonies to disguise her trail and finally a specialist to run a full body scan on her. No tracker.
That didn’t matter. At any moment, she expected a team to burst through the door of the home she bought under a layer of names and false identities to arrest her.
Each day that past without incident was a day she breathed easier until finally accepting she’d gotten away. Using Rook’s face for the first two transport trips took her further than she expected. She had morphed into men before but Rook’s bearing and appearance commanded respect and many avoided her from his looks alone.
It hadn’t taken much to figure out she’d been held on Enotia, home of the Jutak warriors. A shiver coursed down her spine. If she was on their radar, they must have information on her.
Somehow, some mistake she’d made had allowed the pieces to be put together. It had to be her connection to the Ice Ball. That was the only time she used the Tempest persona in her efforts to eliminate Jarad’s men.
Well, she wasn’t an amateur. She’d been at this for five long years. Destroying all evidence and any connection to that identity took a tap of a button.Gone
Rook had to be one of the vaunted soldiers from the Enotian military. Why else would he have deliberately trapped her?
And itwasa trap. From the feigned seduction at the ball she was known to attend, to the sex sharing. Her throat locked. The sex sharing under pretense hurt the worst. Not the fact that he’d lied about his identity because she did the same but that he’d made herfeel. She’d believed he understood her and maybe they were more alike than on the surface would imply.
Lying in his arms, she’d exposed a part of herself she hadn’t let anyone see in years, expressed her desire to be loved and wanted. In return, his behavior and words implied a similar wish. But it had all been a part of an elaborate ruse to catch Tempest. Every word.
Firming her lips, she dug into the dirt, seeding more flower pods in the garden she’d started. A profusion of color grew in bursts around her and filled her soul with serenity, peace. Flowers and large bodies of water were her stress relievers.
She blew out a breath. This small blip didn’t derail her plans though. Rook abducting her tipped Jarad’s hand. Now she knew the politician working as a criminal had law enforcement on his side and it renewed her determination more than ever to take him down.
He’d have to come out of hiding at some point and when he did, she planned to be ready. One associate left and then Jarad. Once she killed him, she’d move on. Leave her garden oasis and this small place behind to buy something closer to water. Listen to the ocean at night as she and Coco had dreamed.
Seraphina pushed up from the ground and brushed at the dirt on her pants. Mind on her next step, she headed inside her house. The comp unit had finished running the program she’d set.
Taking a seat at the small table and grabbing a piece of fruit from the bowl to her left, she bit into it and activated the report.
Rook-No data
Location-No data
Affiliation-No data
Hmm. She hadn’t expected to get much without a last name. The Enotian government worked hard to keep any details about their Jutak warriors or their families a secret. Kudos to them. It made her job more difficult but not impossible.
Her hands hesitated over the keys before she clicked the next prompt. An itinerary of Jarad’s right hand man came up. Dates, schedule and appearances for Niehl Quai over the next several months. As usual, no mention of Jarad. Bastard was still playing a hiding game and hadn’t been seen in weeks.
Rumors of disgruntled partners and fear of him flipping to authorities were spilling onto the dark sites. It gave her a dark surge of pleasure to have had a hand in deliberately fueling some of those fires.
Her gaze caught on something and she used her pointer finger and thumb to enlarge the screen. There was one event upcoming, a function the House of Oolun always attended. Or at least a representative and it tended to be Jarad because he liked the attention and fanfare of this particular one.
If she took out Niehl, it would fulfill her commitment to ending that segment of Jarad’s criminal drug line. It wouldn’t end it completely but definitely cripple the process for years to come. And clear the way for Jarad. Her eyes narrowed. Surely Jarad would come out of hiding and show for the event. When he did, she could fulfill her promise to Coco.
Maybe the Tempest persona needed to make one last appearance before completely disappearing. She stood suddenly, the chair flying across the floor behind her as she rushed to retrieve the data stick from her room and slid it back into her comp. A few clicks and Tempest’s identity existed in the ethers again.
Her lips curled in an anticipatory smile. Jarad couldn’t stop her. The authorities couldn’t stop her.
And certainly not Rook.
One final click set things in motion. Niehl first and Jarad after. It would wrap things up beautifully. She headed to her bedroom and opened her closet. She kneeled inside and pulled at the handle flush with the special flooring. A loud hiss followed the subtle click as the hydraulics engaged and a section of the floor parted to reveal the secret storage below.
Seraphina rubbed her hands together at her treasures hidden inside. She’d taken her time and meticulously collected the expensive items here. First up, her weapon of choice. Leaning forward she took out the slim case and flicked the locks open. Three pieces snapped together to form a sniper laser made of an alloy that couldn’t be detected by top technology.
Lessons took planning and subterfuge but she’d found someone on the dark network who’d agreed to teach her how to shoot and trained her until she reached a marksman level skill rating. It was the first time she’d morphed into her Tempest persona after escaping Gloucene and living under the guise for months while she healed from the trauma of losing her friend.
She caressed the handle as she remembered how scared she’d been back then. Her fears and worries. Being lost and alone with no one to turn to. She’d survived her worst nightmare by losing her family structure twice. Such a turbulent time.
