The Guardians
Freedom’s Children
Chapter 2
AFTER the warmth of being in the ballroom with hundreds of other people, the drop in temperature in the Cuomo Convention Center’s back halls was a relief. Kevin Strong breathed in slowly and deeply, belying the way his heart pounded in his chest. He was taller than his twin sister, but they shared the same angular features, dark hair, and violet eyes.
You expected this, he reminded himself. You knew there was a good chance you’d probably wind up arrested on charges of treason. Kevin had hoped it wouldn’t come to that. He’d hoped that there would be enough confusion and astonishment over Ambassador Kedis’s unexpected arrival at the Gala and their brother Lon’s resurrection from the dead that no one would immediately make the connection to him and Lilia, but he had known it was a possibility.
He hadn’t expected to be arrested by Guardians.
Shortly after Lon introduced Kedis to the crowd in the ballroom, three men—one clad in a tuxedo and the other two in security uniforms—had quietly confronted Kevin. They placed him under arrest and spirited him out of the ballroom. He didn’t know any of them.
A muscle tightened in his jaw. Outside of my family, the only Guardian I know here tonight is Alan Birch—and he went after Lilia on purpose.
“In here.” The tallest of his three escorts stopped in front of a numbered door and opened it to reveal a dimly lit conference room.
Kevin glanced between them. “What are we doing here?”
The man didn’t answer, but held out a hand. “Comlink.”
Reluctantly, Kevin fished it from his breast pocket and dropped the device into the tall man’s outstretched hand. “I’d better get this back.”
“Talk to Alan Birch,” the shortest man said, before he and his companions shoved Kevin none-too-gently through the door.
Kevin started to turn around, started to demand to know exactly why he was being held here—
—and that was when the tallest man shot him in the side.
A brief—but intense—explosion of pain radiated out from the spot; Kevin barely had time to react before the conference room door slid shut, leaving him alone, wide-eyed and stunned. Astonished, he looked down at his black jacket-clad side. He shot me. If I hadn’t been wearing stealth armor…
He had no idea what weapon the man had used; he hadn’t seen it clearly enough. And, he fingered his jacket, it didn’t leave a hole, so it wasn’t a laser bolt. His forehead crinkled in a frown. What was the point of that?
Kevin started to open a channel to his sister, but nothing happened. He tried again; still, nothing. For a split-second, his heart stopped beating. Lilia wasn’t answering—and she should have. Her mental voice should have flooded his mind, they should be debating their next move.
Various scenarios raced through his mind—everything from Lilia lying dead in a room somewhere to her lying on the floor unconscious because of Birch—but Kevin forced them back. Drawing a deep breath, he tamped his panic down. There has to be a logical explanation for why she’s not responding—and one that doesn’t involve her being hurt.
Birch wouldn’t dare break the law—not with their grandfather a Sta’Gloan Representative sitting on the Triumvirate. That was too bold, even for him.
Okay, then. There had to be another explanation. Kevin attempted to Nancom his older brothers instead, but, again, nothing happened. He stilled, a seed of suspicion sprouting in his mind, rapidly taking deep root. Wait a minute…
Focusing on the nanites that comprised his stealth-mode armor beneath his tuxedo, he tried to dematerialize them back into the pores of his skin.
Nothing happened.
Swallowing heavily, Kevin pulled out a chair from the conference table and sank heavily into it. This…this is not good. Somebody’s figured out how to weaponize freezing a Guardian’s nanites.
He shook his head, staring blankly at the no doubt locked door. No wonder they didn’t restrain me. They knew I wouldn’t be able to do anything.
If he had never experienced anything like this before, Kevin knew he probably would have flipped out. To have control of his nanites ripped away, to be cut off from all of the Nancom connections he had…it was definitely disconcerting. Probably also part of the purpose, he thought grimly. You don’t realize how much you rely on this stuff until it’s gone.
As it was, he and Lilia both had an edge over most Guardians and knew how to handle that loss.
Kevin glanced down at his watch. Only thing to do now is wait for somebody to come collect us.
That could take a while. In the meantime…
The room was hot and stuffy, like its connection to the rest of the convention center’s heating and cooling system had been shut off, and beads of sweat had already broken out on Kevin’s forehead. He loosened his tie and shed his jacket, before settling down in his chair again and shoving another chair out from the table to prop his feet up on. Might as well be comfortable.
His stomach was in knots, but he kept his expression nonchalant. Can’t wait to see how this is all going to play out.
He and Lilia had taken a huge gamble…he just hoped they weren’t about to lose everything.
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The Guardians: Freedom’s Children is © 2018 by E.R. Paskey
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