Page 80 of Border Control

‘Ignore those memories,’Law-rah says, her mental vibrations erratic. Her grip on her control turns as slippery as sweaty palms, and she adjusts her mental positioning to hold onto the secrets spilling across the mind sync. ‘Don’t look!’

‘We can’t help it,’Arik sends. In a tight band to me he snaps,‘It’s happening again, she’s losing control. We need to shield Nevare against her.’

Shame colors my mental landscape puce.‘We tried that before, it didn’t work, and it was worse when her emotions broke through.’

‘Now is not the time for experimenting!’Arik mentally scowls.‘El-len is returning. Perhaps her presence will moderate Law-rah.’

El-len’s truck bounces into view, going far faster than usual. The vehicle no sooner skids to a halt than El-len tumbles out of it, red-faced and breathless.

She flings herself in front of the restored barn, arms wide. “Stop! This is my private property.”

“It’s a breach of planning,” the male returns, a smirk playing on his lips. “You’ll get an injunction against you. It might even go to court.”

El-len pales, and I know if Ilia were here, he would charge at this male for frightening his mate with the threat of court, whatever that is. Law-rah supplies the idea of a trial for me, El-len in the dock. No!

“It won’t be that bad,” Law-rah says soothingly, but her pulse pounds with simmering rage for her friend. She’s angry at this male for trying to scare her. “It will need retrospective planning permission, which we have in hand to submit tonight.”

El-len shoots Law-rah a relieved smile, eyes shining with gratitude Nevare can feel all the way from the other side of the farm.

The male lets his camera go, and it bounces against his puny chest at the end of its tethers around his neck. “And you are…?” he drawls.

“My lawyer. Ish,” El-len explains quickly.

Law-rah internally winces at that. She doesn’t like directly lying, only concealing the truth and misdirecting others.

‘No I don’t!’she shouts at me, putting in a poor attempt at raising a shield against me.‘Please, be quiet while we sort this out!’

The Fassbender male turns his muddy brown gaze to Law-rah. “Are you her lawyer?” he asks, an undercurrent of something dangerous in his thoughts.

He’s constructing a trap for El-len, one that will catch Law-rah in its jaws.

‘Say nothing!’ I send to Law-rah and at the same time ordering Nevare to search his mind for his nefarious plan, butLaw-rah’s shield holds and she doesn’t hear me. I thump against it but it remains firm as Law-rah locks down away from me.

“I’m advising her on general issues, yes,” Law-rah replies slowly, her words muzzy and distant for me when it’s only her speaking voice.

The smug smile on his face twists his unremarkable face into a grin of triumph. Out of the other side of the car comes a short but bulky frame, a red face sporting white hair atop a crisp dark-blue suit. Another human male, this one bowed by age and the roundness of its body, something I’ve never seen on Oloria as clones don’t live to deteriorate with age.

But while the physical threat posed by this specimen seems to be miniscule, Law-rah’s shield breaks outward with a huge torrent of fear. It ratchets up so high and so fast she sweeps us all up in the mind sync, making us act as one.

A huge threat stands before Law-rah, one we can’t ignore.

‘Kill,’we intone mentally.

TWENTY

LAURA

Fuck.Fuck.Morgan’s here. What the hell is he doing here? Crushing fear seizes my lungs, smashing the air out of them in one go as if the barn’s collapsing on me.

“Well well, Lisa.” Morgan's smirk behind the neat bristles of his gray beard seems to swell in my vision. “How can Clark and Gibson possibly represent the opposition of our client, the Fassbenders?”

I'm fucked. We aren't representing Ellen, and he’ll fire me for taking clients outside my employment contract with the firm. But if I say it's pro bono, he can get me for not declaring a conflict of interest. I should have checked whether Clark and Gibson were involved, even though it's not my department.

But I have to try.

“I didn't know. Let's discuss this at the office.”

“No, Lisa, we're going to talk about it now.” Morgan’s smile gets wider, like a shark’s. He puts a hand on Terry's shoulder. “Could you excuse us for a moment?”