Chapter 13 #2
He moved his hand over the middle of the table to call up the embedded interface.
On it, he typed a couple of instructions which turned on the vidscreen.
Seconds later I stared in complete shock as he played the feed from the Conference Center’s surveillance cameras.
A soft gasp escaped me when it clearly displayed a blurred wave emanating from Kayog as he leaned against the wall near the back exit of the center.
Immediately, every single person visible on screen collapsed, unconscious.
Tears pricked my eyes, and I pressed a palm to my chest as I watched him stumble half drunkenly towards the entrance.
Seeing the targeted kinetic attack against the masked men, followed by the second, even more powerful blast that knocked out everyone else—myself included—right before he passed out left me speechless.
I stared numbly at the screen, long after it had gone dark, too stunned to speak or even form any coherent thought.
“Did you know he could do that?” Colin asked, his tone curious but devoid of any accusatory edge.
I shook my head. “No, absolutely not. I mean, I saw his eyes and his hands glow the day of that incident on the campus, but…”
My voice trailed off as my brain struggled to make sense of any of this.
“This makes me wonder what else he’s hiding from you,” Colin mused aloud.
I bristled at that comment. “Despite how this may seem right now, I’m convinced Kayog isn’t hiding anything from me. I don’t think he even knows he can do that or understands what abilities he possesses.”
Colin gave me a dubious look. “Really?”
I nodded firmly. “Didn’t you look at his face in that video?
Judging by the way he was walking, Kayog was dazed, bloodied, and in obvious excruciating pain.
After I heavily insisted, he gave me a glimpse of what it’s like to feel emotions the way he does.
I nearly passed out from the pain and the chaos.
And that was what he deemed a low and bearable level for him while in the partial shelter of his bunker house. ”
Colin frowned and pursed his lips as he weighed my words. In that instant, I realized that what I would say during this ‘conversation’ could seriously impact Kayog’s fate. He was trying to assess how much of a threat my mate was, and therefore how he was to be handled.
“The level of panic in the convention center after that explosion went off would have been pure agony for him. What I saw on this video was a male who had gone into survival mode. This chaos was literally killing him. His instincts kicked in to protect himself before he suffered irreparable damage. As far as I know, he’s never been exposed to a situation as bad as this. ”
To my utter relief, Colin nodded slowly. “Yes, the priestess Isobel said as much. But he still struck four hundred and twenty-six people, some of them high-ranking foreign officials. They want a culprit to answer for this.”
My stomach twisted with fear. But I clamped down on it. Now was the time to call upon my experience and the negotiation training I had benefited from.
“How severe were their injuries?” I challenged.
He slightly recoiled and gave me a confused look. “What does that have to do with anything? That’s not the point.”
“Yes, it is!” I exclaimed. “How serious were their injuries?”
He shrugged, still baffled but indulged me. “They will fully recover.”
“So it’s not that serious,” I said triumphantly.
Colin gave me an outraged look. “People were still hurt!”
“Kayog stopped a terrorist attack and potentially prevented multiple deaths and grievous injuries,” I argued. “I doubt that the masked people who set off that explosion were carrying Tasers as weapons. They were there to cause serious harm. You can easily spin a tale that will protect Kayog.”
He narrowed his eyes at me, his expression hardening slightly. “Are you asking me to falsely blame the attackers for everyone getting knocked unconscious?”
I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “They set off two explosions, not a psychic blast. Whatever they used, the forensic team will not be able to justify how the guests were affected by them. However, no one expected this type of attack there. With enough digging, I’m certain the investigators will discover that the explosions triggered a chain reaction with something in the Convention Center.
The Enforcers’ science department should have no problem coming up with an explanation as to how certain chemicals in the bombs reacted in an unusual fashion with some of the foreign materials used to build the center. ”
“You forget the surveillance videos,” Colin said mockingly.
I shrugged. “Unfortunately, they were severely damaged by the explosion and the unexpected blasts they triggered.”
“What about all the witnesses?”
I waved a disdainful hand. “The flashing lights they saw in front of Kayog was just a manifestation of the anomaly—an early warning of the true blast that would follow. My poor mate sadly happened to be standing in the exact area that the blast went off, which both explains why it seemed to emanate from him and why he was the only person bleeding that way.”
He snorted and shook his head at me. “Well, well, Linsea. Who would have guessed such a ruthless female lurked beneath that sweet and polished exterior?”
I lifted my chin defiantly. “As you humans say, Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. No one is hurting my mate. This only happened because everyone failed him. I will not.”
“Things are not that simple, Linsea,” Colin said, tension seeping back into his voice.
“Your grandmother doesn’t know everything about Edals.
It is kept secret for a reason to avoid panicking the population or other worlds.
The doctors wanted to take him out to save the lives of everyone else in that hospital.
Those two psionic blasts only caused concussions and some cerebral bruising to the people present.
I want to believe that, even in his ‘dazed’ state as you claimed, Kayog chose not to harm anyone.
But other Edals who used that ability killed hundreds of people. ”
I recoiled. “How is that possible? I thought every previous Edal died within hours or days after their birth.”
Colin nodded. “They died from a brain aneurysm right after they killed or grievously harmed hundreds of people. You see, the handful of Edals who made it to their birth reacted so violently to the onslaught of emotions from everyone around them that they tried to eliminate the cause. They also emitted a psionic blast, except theirs was lethal. Psionic disruptors do not work on them. The minute their eyes begin to glow is when they are about to launch their attack. That’s why those doctors were desperate to eliminate Kayog.
He quite literally could have wiped out every patient, every medical staff, and every visitor in that hospital with a single thought. ”
I shuddered and hugged myself. The fear emanating from those two Temern doctors had been undeniable. I had also seen his glowing eyes before, at the campus, in the Convention Center’s camera feed, and in the hospital right before the nurse put him in stasis.
Could he have truly been on the verge of killing us all?
“I hear what you’re saying,” I said carefully. “However, he unleashed his attack twice at the Convention Center and didn’t kill anyone. He merely knocked us out to silence our emotions.”
“And that’s the only reason he’s still alive as we speak,” Colin said in a grim fashion.
“You’re being extremely naive right now if you think we can simply patch him up and send him on his way so that you both can have your happily ever after.
Assuming we’re able to fix him, what do you think is going to happen to him? ”
“Why do I feel I’m not going to like your answer?” I asked, tension filling my voice.
“Because you definitely aren’t,” he conceded in an apologetic tone. “Kayog is not only unique, but he is an anomaly with terrifying powers. As we speak, our doctors and scientists are foaming at the mouth at the prospect of studying him.”
“He’s not a lab rat!” I snapped, straightening in my chair.
“Isn’t he?” Colin challenged, raising an inquisitive eyebrow.
“In order to try to find a solution to his condition, every professional will have to poke and prod at him to understand what he is, why he is unable to shelter his mind from others, the extent of his powers, and how to rein them in. Honestly, granting him his wish to die might have been a mercy.”
“I will not allow it,” I hissed. “You are not turning him into a lab rat or some freakish experiment.”
“What are you going to do about it?” Colin asked, a hint of mockery in his voice.
“You seem to forget that I know how the system works. I can create the worst public relations nightmare for both the UPO and the Enforcers,” I replied in a frosty tone.
“We can stop you,” he retorted with a shrug.
“Can you?” I challenged.
“Of course,” he replied as if it was self-evident.
It was my turn to look at him with a taunting expression. “But after how much damage? You know once I get the ball rolling, it will wreck many things that will be nearly impossible to repair. Neither of us wants to go that route, do we?”
“Of course not,” he said in a less friendly tone.
“Then don’t force my hand,” I said sternly. “The UPO and the Enforcers have many enemies who would be delighted to help me go on a rampage.”
“Are you threatening us?” Colin asked, narrowing his eyes at me.
“I don’t do threats, only promises. You know I don’t want any of this. All I ask is that you protect my mate from the highly questionable plans that some people will entertain where he is concerned,” I said in a reasonable tone.
I highly respected Colin, and making an enemy out of him would be a huge mistake. But in order for me not to be eaten alive in this ‘negotiation’, I had to demonstrate that I wouldn’t be a pushover.