Page 2 of Dark Rebel’s Reckoning (The Children Of The Gods #93)

2

KIAN

K ian shifted his gaze from the proposal he was reviewing to glance at the clock at the corner of his laptop screen, but only a couple of minutes had passed since he'd checked it last.

Yamanu had already notified him that the team had boarded the helicopters, but it had been only to say that everyone made it out okay and that they had Kyra. The rest of the details would have to wait until they arrived at the airport in Turkey.

It shouldn't be long now.

Kian was anxious to hear about the mission, and his mind kept wandering, making it difficult to concentrate on the acquisition proposal he was trying to digest in the meantime.

When his office door opened, he smelled the cappuccino first and Syssi's perfume next. Her favorite was a nothing-special Lanc?me fragrance available in every department store, and even though he'd gotten her some of the fanciest and most expensive perfumes in the world, the simple stuff was still her go-to scent.

"No news yet?" She put one cup before him and sat down with the other in hand.

"They got Kyra, and everyone is okay, but that's all I know. I'm waiting to hear the rest of the details."

"So am I." She took a sip of her cappuccino. "I'm amazed that Kyra was really where the vision showed me she would be. It doesn't happen often that my foretelling is so accurate. I'm curious to find out how she got there and whether she's immortal like we suspect."

Kyra had looked as young as her daughter in Syssi's vision, but the news segment playing in the background had indicated that what she was being shown had been of a recent event, and not from the past when Kyra was young. But since the woman's face was covered in bruises, Syssi couldn't be sure it was her. On the other hand, the doctor looked the same as he had in another vision that had seemed to be from the past.

Kian took another sip of his cappuccino before putting the cup down. "You know I trust your visions."

She smiled. "I know, but it was still going out on a limb, and it involved sending a team halfway around the world to search for her."

Syssi's modesty never failed to amaze him. She was a powerful seer who had provided crucial information at critical times, and yet she was still surprised at what he was willing to do based on her visions.

Kian reached for her hand across the desk. "The frequency of the visions indicated urgency, and the stakes were higher than just finding Jasmine's mother, either as a potential Dormant or already an immortal. The Fates directed you, showing you what we needed to locate her, and hopefully, Kyra will point the way to finding Khiann. After all, your visions about her started when you beseeched the universe to show you whether Khiann was still alive and buried in stasis somewhere in the Arabian Desert. If she's really the key to finding him, then it was all well worth the effort. I'm just glad that the gamble paid off and we found her."

She gave his hand a gentle squeeze. "Thank you for your unwavering belief in me. I can't wait to hear all the details and find all the missing puzzle pieces."

Kian glanced at the clock again. "It shouldn't be long now."

For several moments, they sipped on their cappuccinos in companionable silence, and then his phone finally rang.

Kian accepted the call and pressed the speaker button so Syssi wouldn't have to strain to hear Yamanu on the other side.

"Go ahead. I'm here with Syssi, and we are both eager to hear your report."

"We've got Kyra, as I said before, but we also took five other females. Are you ready for a bit of shocking news?"

Kian exchanged glances with Syssi and mouthed, "Five more?" He then turned to Yamanu. "We are listening."

"First, I want to tell you that you were right about Kyra, and she's immortal. She looks like she's Jasmine's age. Regrettably, she's in no shape to tell us what happened to her."

Kian frowned. "What's wrong with her?"

"She's been drugged. As an immortal, she should have burned through the sedative or whatever else they pumped into her by now, but she's still loopy. The other immortal female is in a similar state, and we are worried about them."

"What other immortal female?" Syssi asked.

"That's the shocking news I mentioned. The girl that Max kept talking about, the one who caused the rift between him and Din. Her name is Fenella, and he found her locked up in the same place. In fact, it was Kyra who insisted we free the prisoner in cell twelve, and that was where we found Fenella. Kyra must have realized that Fenella was like her. Aside from both being immortal, they also look a lot alike."

"Wow." Syssi leaned back. "That's indeed shocking. Now, I'm not sure which one the Fates wanted us to find. Maybe Fenella is the key to finding Khiann, especially if she resembles Jasmine and Kyra. Maybe she's the one I was supposed to see."

"There is more," Yamanu said. "We rescued four young women in addition to Kyra and Fenella. They are human, and they've also been drugged, but not as badly as the two immortals. Max thinks they might be Dormants and that the doctor was trying to turn them, or I should say rather the Doomer who called himself a doctor. I'm willing to bet that he has no medical training. Max put him in stasis, and we have him with us. Once we revive him, we will know more."

Syssi shook her head. "I saw the so-called doctor in my visions, but I didn't see Fenella and the additional four women."

"Tell us about the mission," Kian said.

"It was rough, boss. We encountered heavy resistance, and as I said, the so-called doctor was a Doomer, just as Syssi suspected. Drova and I were both shot at one point. I'm fine and she's recovering, but that complicated things for the team. I couldn't shroud the attack and Drova couldn't compel because she also lost her loudspeaker. She managed to compel those who were within earshot of her, but after getting injured she couldn't concentrate enough to produce compulsion. Max did a great job, the Kra-ell were magnificent, Jasmine was a trooper, and Ell-rom helped as much as he could. Given the fucked-up start of the mission, it has all ended well. We planted explosives and burned down the entire compound to boot."

"How many Doomers did you encounter?" Kian asked.

"At least eight in addition to the doctor. Max thinks he's one of Navuh's commanders, but we didn't recognize him as one of Navuh's adopted sons, so perhaps he recently climbed up the ranks. He's an evil piece of shit, given what he was doing to these women, even more so than the average Doomer. Reminds me of Sebastian."

The sadist who had tortured Carol had been dealt with by Dalhu, himself a former Doomer, which was poetic in a way, and Carol had not only recovered but had also turned her life around. Yet Kian's fangs still elongated at the mere mention of the vermin's name.

He pushed the thought aside, clearing his mind as best he could to deal with the situation at hand.

"Syssi had a vision about Kyra's captivity, so we expected she'd be in bad shape." Kian rubbed his jaw to loosen the tightness. "But given your description, it seems that the sedation was specifically formulated for immortals, so we might be dealing with a new kind of drug. Bridget will want to run tests."

"I hope they will improve during the flight back home," Yamanu said. "The four human girls are in better condition physically —they can at least walk with support—but they're traumatized. The question is, what do we do with them?"

Kian pinched the bridge of his nose. "Naturally, we can't leave them behind if there's even a small chance that they're Dormants. Bring them back. I'll have Julian meet you at the airstrip to check them and the Doomer for trackers. If they're clean, we will take them to the keep."

"The keep?" Yamanu sounded incredulous. "We can't take them there. We have Doomers and pedophiles in the dungeon."

Kian chuckled. "You should know that I would never put six traumatized women in the dungeon. I meant to bring them to the penthouses and the Doomer to the dungeon. Kyra can come to the village, but I want to find out what the deal is with the other five before I allow them in here."

"Of course," Yamanu said. "They need clothing. The poor things are all wearing tattered shifts and nothing else. We wrapped them in blankets so they wouldn't freeze on the way. I can call Mey and ask her to arrange for clothing and all the other things women need, and she can accompany Julian to the airstrip so the ladies can change there. The sooner they have decent clothes, the sooner they will start to heal, at least psychologically."

That was something that would've never occurred to Kian, but Yamanu's emotional intelligence far exceeded his.

"I'll talk to Mey," Syssi said. "I'll help her with the shopping."

Regarding his wife's gentle and kind face, Kian realized that the women would benefit from being greeted by someone like her. Mey was also a kind and considerate soul despite her stint as a Mossad agent. "I think it would be a good idea for the two of you to go with Julian. The females will feel less threatened if they see other women greeting them when they arrive. I'll also tell Julian to take one of the nurses with him. Maybe both."

"I'd love to help in any way I can," Syssi said.

Kian nodded. "Anything else?" he asked Yamanu.

"No, that's a wrap," the Guardian said. "I just wanted to call you before we are airborne in case you didn't want us to take the other girls. We can talk more once we are in the air."

"Call me if there is any change in their condition."

"I will."

"Safe travels." Kian ended the call and placed his phone face down on the desk.

"Five more women—one of them a likely immortal," Syssi mused. "And none of my visions hinted at that, unless I was shown Fenella and thought that it was Kyra because they look alike."

"That's possible." Kian let out a sigh. "The Fates want to keep us on our toes."

She chewed on her lower lip. "I don't like that they were all so heavily drugged. I'm worried about what was done to them."

"I'm worried as well," Kian admitted. "I'll call Julian and tell him to get the van with the portable scanner ready. We have about eighteen hours until they land at the airstrip. That's plenty of time and not enough. There is a lot of prep to be done."

Syssi pushed to her feet. "I'll call Mey, but you should also call William and have him prepare earpieces for the girls who don't speak English. He needs to program them with Farsi and Kurdish."

"Good idea. I'll do that right away."