Beyond Eden Read online

  Without thinking, she’d run to embrace him, and he’d welcomed her with open arms. He’d explained he’d come at the behest of Clement. Clement was the head of the Integrators, the track that included those who chose to move back and forth between Eden and the Terris world.

  “There’s been talk about you up at Mountaintop,” Yani said with a smile. “They think you’re a prime candidate to be an Integrator, possibly even return to the Terris world. Clement knew we’d worked together. He called me in and asked what I thought of your potential.”

  “Oh?” she’d asked. “And what did you say?”

  “I said I thought you could be of help to a great many people.”

  Jaime discovered the Integrator track included those trained to be Messengers, Operatives, and Swords. Messengers lived full-time in the Terris world. They picked up and delivered messages to and from the Swords exiting and returning to Eden. Operatives, on the other hand, were stationed in the Terris world and were trained to intervene in situations to which they were assigned. Only the very top Operatives at any given time were hand-chosen to join the elite circle of Swords.

  Once Jaime had met Clement and the others at the school, she realized that although times of contemplation were necessary, she was a person of action. It was true that she knew the Terris world; she loved its inhabitants. She wanted to help.

  She also sensed that the deep and immediate bond still existed between Yani and herself. They had spent some wonderful weeks at Mountaintop together, although he soon returned to the Terris world on Sword duties.

  Jaime had wondered what it would be like, seeing Yani again in a Terris setting.

  Now here he was.

  The main difference between now and the first time they’d met, in Iraq, was that she recognized the smile lines in the crow’s-feet by his eyes.

  His dark brown eyes, which could hold you captive simply by force of will, were locked with hers, and again she felt nearly helpless to free herself. He was danger and safety, both at once. He was familiar yet completely unknowable. She’d come to terms with this.

  It was so good to see him, and it had been such an exhausting and difficult journey to arrive here at the safe house in Athens, that her impulse was to hug him in joy and gratitude. All right, that wasn’t her real impulse. At least, not all of it.

  But being a Sword required total sacrifice. They were not allowed to have emotional entanglements that might compromise their ability to keep the secret that was entrusted to them. Yani was a Sword. And as much as she hungered to hold him, she held sacred the pledge that he’d made.

  Which was why she was beyond shocked when he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her forcefully to him. Everything since her return had a slight feel of unreality to it, and she had fantasized this moment in her mind so many times that it felt natural to give herself over to it, to him. Yani was unknowable, unattainable, certainly untamable—and yet when his mouth captured hers, it was as if he gave himself, he shared the fire that burned so brightly within him. How many women had longed for him, and now, here he was, real, alive, not the thing of fantasy but substantial, and strong. And he wanted her. She recognized the taste of his mouth and the shape of his body as she molded into it. She lost touch with time and space and allowed her spirit to fly free into a moment when the entire world was their embrace.

  When they came up for air, finally, he didn’t release her but held her to him. She closed her eyes and again felt she was home, no matter where she was or how dangerous the circumstances. Together they could take on the world.

  “I didn’t expect to see you so soon,” was all he said.

  “There were special circumstances,” she said. “And if I wanted to keep my military commission, I had to return. Even this much time away was pushing it.”

  “So you’re back? You’re still U.S. Army?”

  She nodded.

  He stepped back and sat down, pulling a chair up beside him for her. A lock of hair had fallen out of the ponytail she’d made for her helmet, and he gently brushed it away from her face. “Your first reentry,” he said. “Tell me about it.”

  “I came back through a family of Iranian goat herders,” she said. “Besides the fact that I nearly had my head blown off flagging down an American convoy, everything’s gone pretty smoothly. I was sent to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. The way was opened for me to be here on a four-day pass. I know I’ll have more inquiries to face when I get back. But first things first.”

  “You went through Landstuhl? What was the worst of it?”

  She grimaced. “To tell the truth, the CT scan and the EEG weren’t as bad as I feared. I’m never a fan of gyn exams, but hey… and three years’ worth of catch-up vaccines, also not the best. But honestly, even though I centered myself pretty well, the worst part was knowing what I needed to do and having to wait to be released to do it. Yeah. The waiting was the worst.”

  “It always is,” he said. “But thankfully you were able to be released on leave before the bulk of your Repat/Reint process. But, I’m sure it’s been deferred, not dismissed.”

  “Thanks for the reminder. But I have been trained in what to expect; you know that.”

  “I know. But I’ve gotta say, Jaime.” He shook his head and looked concerned. “The thought of you spending three days locked with Special Ops for intensive questioning… anyway, if one of them cracks, tell him he has my complete sympathy!”

  She rolled her eyes and smacked him with a fist. “Thanks a lot,” she said, but it felt good to laugh.

  “Well, then, unless there’s anything else you need to tell me, perhaps we’d better get to it,” he said.

  Anything else to tell him. Her whole life had changed three years ago, and it had shifted again, seismically, just now. What do you talk about? Either everything or nothing. And there wasn’t time for everything.

  “I missed you,” she said. She leaned forward and kissed him again. Finally she willed herself to stop. She kept her eyes closed and centered herself. When she looked at him, he was all business, sitting casually.

  “You have a pendant for me?” he asked.

  She reached around her neck and unclasped the small necklace that hung there. Then she handed it to him. “So what do I do?” she asked. “Will you deliver it? Do I wait here for the Terris-based Operative who’s on this mission?”

  He looked at her, puzzled.

  “I’m the Terris-based Operative,” he said.

  “No,” she said. “You’re the Sword. But you know how to contact the Operative. Do I wait here?”

  “They didn’t tell you?” He looked confused for a moment, and then it came clear for him. “They didn’t tell you. Why would they?” He took her hand. For the first time since she’d met him, it seemed to Jaime that Yani was struggling for the right words.

  “I’m the Operative on this. I’m no longer a Sword.”

  “What?”

  “It was my choice,” he said. “It was a difficult decision, but after much reflection and prayer, it seemed the best way.”

  Jaime sat, stunned. So. The kiss…

  She knew that Operatives were allowed to have emotional commitments to others, get married, and have families, even. Those commitments could only be made if the Operative felt he or she could withstand the abduction, even the torture and murder, of loved ones without cracking. Since very few outsiders knew of Eden, or that there existed such people as Operatives of Eden, it was a slim chance, but one that had to be taken seriously. In fact, both Jaime and Yani had family members who had been murdered because of their connection to the place known as Eden.

  So he was now an Operative rather than a Sword. He hadn’t broken the code when he’d kissed her. This time.

  But it was such an honor to be chosen, called to be a Sword! Jaime found that she felt let down that he was no longer a member of that rarified group.

  She couldn’t even look at him when she whispered, “But why?”

  H
e didn’t answer. He took the silver rectangular pendant from her hand and stood up. “Excuse me a minute. I’ll be back.”

  He had taken his handheld reader from his pocket and started into the other room before she realized what he was doing.

  “Where are you going?”

  “What do you mean? You’ve delivered the pendant. I need to see what it says. Who I’m working with.”

  Her mouth was open in astonishment yet again. “I need to see it, too. I know most of what it says, but I have new information. And it’s likely there’s information I don’t have. We need to put our heads together and formulate a course of action.”

  Now it was his turn to be flummoxed. “Jaime. You’re a Messenger. It’s an important and dangerous calling.” The memory of Yani’s murdered sister Adara sprang to their minds as he spoke. “But you know there are only certain things—”

  “Yani. I’m not a Messenger. I’m the Eden Operative on this. I’m the one you’re working with.”

  They stared at each other.

  “You’re not the Messenger?” He couldn’t help but frame it as a question. “You can’t be the Eden Operative. I’m sorry, Jaime, but you know as well as I that you’ve only had two years of training. Two years! No one is ever given an assignment after two years, even as a Messenger. I was shocked that you could already be a Messenger.”

  She pushed the pendant into the reader that he held in his palm and hit the “on” switch. She closed his hand around it and pushed him toward the back hall. “Go see for yourself,” she said.

  February 25, 2006, 3:02 p.m.

  Main lodge, Golden Hill Ski Resort

  Klosters, Switzerland

  * * *

  Patsy Covington sat watching the light snow fall through one of the 40-foot windows in the great room of the main lodge. Both of her children were sitting across the room by the huge roaring fire, being entertained by Meghan and a young man who had taken a very sincere interest in the nanny. He was demonstrating his seriousness by helping to entertain Portia and Bartlett. Patsy couldn’t help but smile at how perfect Portia looked in her miniature version of her mother’s ski outfit. Portia even wore the headband with aplomb. What a darling girl.

  Meghan’s suitor would make it easier for Patsy to vanish for an unremarked-upon length of time to the “upper lodge” and the advanced slopes.

  Truth was, Patsy hated skiing. The only parts she liked were shopping for the cunning outfits and smelling the crackling fires in the lodges. The occasional toddy was fine, too.

  Fortunately, of course, she didn’t have to ski at the upper lodge. She didn’t have to ski anywhere. She would collect her key to the suite at the upper lodge; then she’d fly out, finish the final stage on her latest project, and return to pick up her family and fly back to the States on the same day the last victim breathed his last, so that it would appear they’d been traveling all that day.

  She didn’t usually enjoy killing people, but these particular subjects had outlived their usefulness, and every day they remained alive presented a danger to Patsy and her children. Granted, the contractor had given Patsy a generous bonus to add the final subject and to extend the final deadline. But enough was enough. In three days, finito. They would disappear.

  A thirtysomething gentleman with thick black hair and heavy rings on his fingers caught her eye from across the room. She was used to this. Viscount or baron?

  He nodded and held up a flute, filled with champagne he’d just poured from a newly opened bottle of Fleur. Viscount, she bet.

  Well, might as well make sure there was one more person who remembered her here. She smiled in response, and he picked up the bottle, along with an unused flute, and headed her way.

  February 25, 2006, 3:08 p.m.

  Safe house

  Athens, Greece

  * * *

  When he returned, his demeanor had changed. The real Yani, the Yani she’d come to know in Eden, was again submerged deeply under the veneer of business.

  “Should we look at it together?” she asked. “As I said, I have some new information.”

  He clutched the reader tightly. She noticed his jaw was set in a firm line. He said, not in a pleasant voice, “I want you off this assignment.”

  “What?”

  “As you know, included with the information on the pendant is the name of the Operative who is your backup, should something happen to you. In this case, that Operative is based in Athens, right here—and happens to be much more seasoned than you are.”

  “I’ve been assigned to this! And nothing has happened to me.”

  “You were just blindfolded and kidnapped off the street in broad daylight!”

  “I knew it was you!”

  “It’s not personal. You’re not ready. You would put yourself, and me, and all those we’re trying to save at risk. There’s no reason for that. I don’t care who you are, Jaime Ingridsdotter!”

  She flinched at the sound of her Eden name being used in an accusatory manner. “Listen to what you’re saying. You’re implying that Clement can be influenced by such considerations? You know as well as I do how impossible that thought is! How can you think he would even consider such a thing?” she demanded. This wasn’t at all what she had envisioned it would be like, starting on her first official assignment.

  They locked eyes. Her return gaze was as strong as his. She said, “I’m not quitting. And if you force me off, which I know you have the right to do as senior Operative, I will make sure Clement knows exactly what happened. And you can explain how you second-guessed his decision.”

  Yani looked away for the briefest moment.

  He sighed. “All right. If you’re here, there must be a reason. However, we’re going to be clear from the start who is the senior Operative, and whose orders must be obeyed, without hesitation or question. Got it?”

  Somehow, in the last five minutes, their relationship had shifted. The fact that it had was gut-wrenching, and she fought to understand what had happened and why. But she was military—and one thing she understood was chain of command. She understood what he was saying to her. He was giving her operating procedure and defining their working relationship. She could accept it or she could get off the assignment.

  She centered herself as she’d been taught. She remembered who he was, how many years of experience he had, how he was the best—the very best—at what he did. He’d been an Operative for years before he’d been chosen to become a Sword. He’d earned his position. He’d earned her respect. Perhaps more than anyone else on earth, he’d earned her respect.

  Jaime replied, “It’s long been a dream of mine to work with you. I understand that you may not feel the same way about me. But I will do everything in my power not to let you down. And yes, I understand and respect your seniority.”

  Yani replied, “All right. Let’s look at the information on the pendant, and you tell me what you know.”

  They sat together on the small sofa and looked together at the background on the assignment. Jaime had been familiar with most of it, having been briefed before she’d left Eden. It gave specific dates and places of each kidnapping but had been filed before Daniel Derry had been abducted.

  Those kidnapped were listed:

  Jimi Afzal, 26, son of Ankar and Mary Afzal, from London

  Ryan Stevens, 12, adopted son of Rebekah and Troy Stevens, Warwick, New York

  An Bao, 11⁄2, daughter of Mei Ling and Ming Zhou, Henan Province, China

  Inaba Mikelti, 25, daughter of Anya and Paul Mikelti, taken from an AIDS hospice she ran in Africa

  Jaime brought out her notebook to update Yani on the information she’d gotten from Abe Derry the day before. First, she updated the list, adding:

  Daniel Derry, 15, son of Abraham and Eirene Derry, taken from Pentagon City Mall, Virginia

  Jaime explained that it was Abe who had put together that the kidnap victims were the children of seven of the gardeners—including himself and Eirene—who had transitioned to t
he Terris world during the same door opening, twenty-four years earlier.

  “It was he who figured out that the only other member of the group who has not had a child kidnapped, as far as we know, was a scientist by the name of Jorgen Edders,” Jaime said. “It seems like our first course of action would be to find him. Athens was his last known address.”

  “Let’s see,” Yani said, typing the code that denoted his top-level clearance into the handheld reader. It took only a moment for the information to pop up. “Dr. Edders is dead,” he said.

  “Dead? When? Any children?”

  “No, never married, no children. Died August 18, 2004, in the Dolphin Nursing Facility, right here in Athens. He’d been a professor in the Department of Genetics and Biotechnology at the University of Athens for twenty years.”

  “So, are we to assume that because he is dead, and had no children to be kidnapped, that’s a blind alley?”

  “No,” said Yani thoughtfully. “Someone might go to the trouble to kidnap their own child as a ruse, but it seems unlikely. I can’t imagine any of the parents of the victims are involved, although I will put your backup to work on it. But I believe our first line of inquiry should be about Edders and the people with whom he worked.”

  “Did he have friends or even romances?” Jaime asked. “If he had no children, what became of his personal effects?”

  “Those seem like questions worth asking,” Yani said. “How about it? Did you ever feel like Jorgen Edders was like an uncle to you?”

  As a matter of course, every gardener listed a niece named Mary Gardener and a nephew named Michael Gardener on any papers they filled out, in case there was an emergency and someone from home needed to become involved in their affairs.

  “Why, I had a flash of that feeling just moments ago.”

  “Fine. I’ll visit the university where he worked. You head for the nursing home. Let me get directions. We’ll go separately, but we’ll stay in communication. And let’s try to get there while it’s still visiting hours.”