Brendan jerked upright in his chair at the sound of the front door slamming open, blinking sleep from his eyes even as his hand automatically went for the sidearm that he should have been wearing. Instead, the gun lay on the coffee table four feet away. He hadn\u2019t meant to fall asleep in the easy chair near the fireplace, but it had happened anyway.<\/p>\n
If it had been anyone other than Alana and Ezra, there might have been trouble.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?\u201d Brendan asked, scrubbing his hand over his eyes and falling back into his chair.<\/p>\n
Ezra shut the door as Alana collapsed onto the couch, her face white, pinched in pain. \u201cWhere\u2019s Lindsay?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt Rachel\u2019s with her parents, digging through old records and books, looking for more old alliances we might be able to take advantage of before this is over. Why?\u201d He swallowed hard as his throat tightened. \u201cWhat\u2019s going on?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cD\u2019Arcy threatened you,\u201d Ezra said, slumping against the door.<\/p>\n
\u201cThreatened me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was down by the beach clearing my head.\u201d Alana shook her head, blinking rapidly, as if something had gotten in her eyes. \u201cD\u2019Arcy caught up with me down there. He\u2014I\u2014Brendan, he wants to hand you over to Chinasia.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTell me something I didn\u2019t already know,\u201d Brendan said, swallowing the bile that crept up into his throat. \u201cIt\u2019d get me out of the way. One less layer of protection for Lindsay and a way into the good graces of Chinasia Corp.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bastard wanted her to help,\u201d Ezra snarled. His eyes were dark with anger, his jaw tight and teeth grinding.<\/p>\n
Breath hissed out of Alana and she shuddered. \u201cI have never wanted to be so sick and have never wanted to murder someone so much as I did when I realized what he was suggesting. Just the thought that I would do that to Lindsay…\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did you say to him?\u201d Brendan asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI made an enemy today,\u201d Alana said, her voice flat. \u201cDoes that answer your question?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was never our friend,\u201d Brendan whispered. He covered his face with his hands, stomach roiling as his heart began to beat faster, almost too fast. \u201cDamn. Damn, damn.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are we going to do?\u201d Ezra asked, finally stepping away from the door and seating himself next to Alana. He wrapped an arm around her, drawing her tight against his side.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere weren\u2019t any witnesses to the conversation, were there?\u201d Brendan already knew the answer.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s nothing we can do. D\u2019Arcy gambled, but he still holds too many cards.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYou already know there wasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI was hoping to be wrong.\u201d Brendan managed a weak, wry smile. He shook his head slowly. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing we can do. He\u2019s won this round. We\u2019ll just have to be ready for round two.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAre we going to tell Lindsay?\u201d Ezra asked, looking between them.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019ll just upset her,\u201d Brendan said. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing she can do.\u201d She\u2019ll be pissed as hell\u2014pissed at D\u2019Arcy, maybe enough to make her reckless. But if we don\u2019t tell her, she\u2019ll be pissed at us and maybe not as on guard as she should be.<\/em> He sighed, rubbing his forehead. \u201cBut she needs to know in case he tries something. He\u2019s probably got something up his sleeve where she\u2019s concerned, too.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s afraid of her,\u201d Alana said in a whisper.<\/p>\n \u201cI know,\u201d Brendan said. \u201cHe\u2019s afraid of anyone psychic, truth be known, he just tries to hide it\u2014badly, but he tries.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Morgause family never had problems with psychics before his generation,\u201d Ezra murmured. \u201cI wonder why he\u2019s different from everyone else in his line.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDoesn\u2019t matter,\u201d Brendan said. \u201cEither way, we have to deal with him and his being the way he is. There\u2019s no other choice for us.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe could kill him.\u201d Alana\u2019s voice was almost too quiet to hear as she stared at a spot somewhere deep in the ground beneath the coffee table. \u201cThat would solve a lot of problems.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd bring up new ones,\u201d Brendan said, his stomach twisting uncomfortably. \u201cAlana, we can\u2019t just kill him.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy the hell not?\u201d she whispered. \u201cTreason, Brendan. He\u2019s plotting treason against us all. He will tear the Foundation apart brick by brick with what he\u2019s doing. He\u2019ll gift-wrap us and hand us over to the congloms and he\u2019ll think that he was right to bloody well do it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not going to let\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLet it happen?\u201d Her chin came up and she stared at him, rage smoldering in her eyes. \u201cWhat are we going to do to stop it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d Brendan said, jaw tightening painfully. \u201cBut we\u2019ll figure it out. Trust me on that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLana\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t tell me to calm down,\u201d she snapped, glaring at Ezra. \u201cDon\u2019t even start. If there is one thing that I am more than welcome to get riled up about it\u2019s this. He\u2019s going to tear everything apart and pretend that he\u2019s saving the Foundation and the colony and all he\u2019ll really be doing is destroying the legacy that Sarah Farragut and Ryland LeSarte and their allies built when the Foundation began. D\u2019Arcy will pretend it\u2019s all for our own good and we\u2019ll be damned lucky if we see the blows coming before they land, before we start to see the cracks. We have to figure this out and stop him dead in his tracks or we\u2019re all screwed.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo do we tell Rachel?\u201d Brendan watched Alana process the question, a maelstrom of emotion flicking through her eyes as she considered her answer.<\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d she finally said. \u201cNo, this is the three of us\u2014the four of us after you tell Lindsay.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFrederick Rose could help,\u201d Brendan said quietly.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll cross that bridge when we get there,\u201d Alana said with a grimace. \u201cRight now, it needs to stay between us. I\u2019m not so sure Rose wouldn\u2019t let it slip to his wife or to Rachel or Marshal Windsor. Better to keep it in-house for now.\u201d<\/p>\n In house. A strange way to put it.<\/em> Brendan shivered.<\/p>\n Things were, in fact, far worse than he\u2019d ever thought they could be, his wife\u2019s visions nonwithstanding. Things weren\u2019t supposed to be this way.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, he didn\u2019t control the world they lived in and things typically didn\u2019t turn out the way they were supposed<\/em> to. They just happened, for good or for ill, and they had to figure out what to do in the aftermath.<\/p>\n This was just another storm, and they\u2019d have to find a way to make it through alive.<\/p>\n Somehow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Brendan jerked upright in his chair at the sound of the front door slamming open, blinking sleep from his eyes even as his hand automatically went for the sidearm that he should have been wearing. Instead, the gun lay on … Continue reading