Dark Callings (Phoenix Intelligence Agency) (4 page)

Harmony gaped, turning to him. “That is the most insulting, yet wonderful thing anyone has ever said to me. Taking out the ‘scheming’ and ‘most’. I am all the time well-intentioned with my planning.”

“Planning is a pretty way to say scheming. It is scheming,” Allure piped up.

“You’re my sister. You’re supposed to support me. Defend me.” Harmony picked up a roll and threw it across the table at her.

“I also believe in the truth. You’ve always been the schemer of the family. But I can defend you and say, unlike Pebbles, your schemes usually work.” Allure caught the roll then she took a big bite.

Harmony picked up another and aimed. Lennox grabbed it then tugged her back to her seat.

“Eat.” Lennox gave her the fork again.

“Why do you keep trying to get me to eat?” Harmony demanded.

“You’ve been taking care of everyone else today. Making sure everyone is comfortable and having a good time. But you keep neglecting yourself.”

Harmony paused, startled. Absently, she noted the conversations throughout the area had started again. She replayed the day in her mind. Realisation dawned. Lennox had been making sure she had water and sports drinks to keep hydrated, as well as checking to make sure she was okay.

A warm feeling filled her. She grinned at him. “You’ve been a mother hen, taking care of me.”

“I am not a mother hen.” He looked affronted.

Lennox stood abruptly, body rigid. He strode off, muttering too low for her to make out what he was saying. Harmony stared after him, a huge smile on her face.

“That was just wrong. Now I’m gonna have to tease him mercilessly about being a hen.” Christos’ voice made her turn to him.

“You better not,” she said firmly.

“Not for today. That’s all I can promise,” Christos stated.

“You are so bad.”

“I know.” He winked, leaning back and sipping his water.

“Who told you about the Pebbles thing?” she asked, curious.

“Vaughn.”

“Big mouth. You weren’t even in the office yesterday.” Harmony glared at her brother-in-law.

“Allure told me. It was too good not to share,” Vaughn defended.
 

“Shit. Does everyone in the agency know?” she demanded.

“Probably,” Vaughn said.

The others at their table chuckled, before they went back to chatting among themselves. Harmony split her attention between eating and Christos. His knowing and patient look made her snort rudely.

She rolled her eyes, then said grumpily, “Fine, I’ll plan the PIA Games, and even do you the favour of getting Eve to help me.”

“A favour? You were the one who wanted this event on a Wednesday, the middle of the week, and I agreed to it. With your tendency to scheme, think of this as a bigger one. So in reality, I’m the one doing you a favour.” He grinned smugly.

“And I am so grateful to you for it.”

Christos’ expression became leery and suspicious. “What do you want?”

“Money. I didn’t ask for any for this one. But to do the ‘PIA Games’”—she made the quotation marks with her fingers—“right, I’ll need funds for it. I figure you already have a budget in mind. Double it.”

Christos scowled. “You don’t even know how much I was planning to allocate for it.”

“I don’t need to know. No arguments. With Eve helping me, you know we’re going to need a big budget. She makes my supposed scheming look tame.”

Horror leached across his features, then he groaned, rubbing his hand over the back of his head. “Damn. Don’t let her do anything to my estate I can’t fix or explain.”

“Oh, I won’t let her touch your house. But the grounds around it? I can’t promise that.”

Harmony grabbed a forkful of food and popped it into her mouth. She chewed, biting back on a laugh.

“May—”

She cut him off. “Nope. No going back now. Eve will be working with me. That’s what you get for manipulating me.” She laughed in his face. Christos growled playfully.

“Stop messing with Christos. Let me take your plate,” Lennox said.

Startled, Harmony glanced at him, then back at the plate. She was shocked the plate was empty. She handed it to him. Lennox accepted it then left. Harmony enjoyed the view of his retreating frame, and the way his black shorts hugged his touchable ass.

“Don’t go after Lennox unless you mean it.” Christos was serious.

Harmony met his gaze and replied in the same tone, “He is mine.”

Christos studied her, then nodded once, sharply.

“Do you have some idea what you want to do at the games?” Christos asked.

“It’s barely been ten minutes since I found out I‘ll be working on this event.”

Christos didn’t say a word, just watched her. Harmony sighed then started sharing what she had in mind. Lennox returned, plopping another heaped plate in front her, this time with desserts. Without interrupting their conversation, Harmony accepted the fork he held out. Lennox sat and ate from his own plate. Eventually, Christos wandered off to another table. She surreptitiously watched Lennox as he ate his desserts.

“What’s going on in your head now?”

She jumped, surprised he had noticed. Harmony pushed away her plate, reaching for her water. She took a deep drink, then placed the bottle back on the table.

“Reflecting on the day.” She shrugged, gazing at the people still eating, talking and mingling.

She spotted Ebony. Her head was bent close to Cipher. She knew it was him from the brilliant purple of his hair. Ebony gestured, and Cipher nodded. They seemed to be in deep conversation. Harmony wondered what Ebony could be discussing with the man. She made a mental note to ask Ebony later.

“Who is this Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm you all keep referring to?” Lennox’s question jerked her attention to him.

Harmony stared at him, sure he was joking. His expression showed he wasn’t.

“You’ve never heard of Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm?” she asked in disbelief.

“No. I don’t recall ever meeting anyone by that name. Should I have?”

“They’re from
The Flintstones
.”

“I’ve never heard of such a place. In what dimension does this ‘Flintstones’ reside? What race of beings inhabits it?” Lennox frowned.

“It’s not a dimension. If you consider caveman a being, then that’s what they are.” Harmony chuckled.

“Ahhh…so they are a form of Homo sapiens.”

The seriousness of his tone and face made her laugh. She leant back, weak from her mirth.

“I don’t see what’s so amusing,” Lennox stated.

She wiped her moist eyes and cleared her throat. “
The Flintstones
is an old cartoon that used to show on TV. Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm are fictional characters in it.”

“Why didn’t you just say so? I watch TV, usually documentaries or the History Channel. I have not heard of this ‘cartoon’ you refer to.” Lennox scowled.

“You’ve never seen a cartoon?”

“No.”

“I’m gonna introduce you to the wonders of cartoons. Starting with
The Flintstones
. This is going to be fun.” Harmony rubbed her hands together, then paused as she realised what he had said. “Wait. You only watch documentaries and the History Channel? No offence to them, but there are a lot of other shows to see on TV.”

“I’ve never checked any others out. I like certain things. I don’t see a need to change.” He shrugged.

“This isn’t change. It’s about relaxation. Sometimes a good show or movie can take your mind away from the stresses of the day. What do you do to unwind?”

“Walk around the grounds of my house, and sometimes read.” Another shrug.

“Walks can be relaxing. And reading is good. What do you read?”

“I walk to check for weaknesses for attacks. I read historical journals.”

“That’s not any fun. You seem to enjoy history. I’ll give you something historical to read. Something to relax you. You’re too tightly wound, Lennox. I’m going to corrupt you with television, walks that are fun, and reading,” she promised.

Amusement filled his face. “You are, huh?”

“Yep. There’s so much more to life than always working and searching for attacks.”

“It’s good to be prepared.”

“It is. But it’s also great to have some fun. Anyway, I’m having a few people over to the house on Friday for dinner. You’ll be here at six to help with the preparations,” she stated firmly.

“Is that an invitation or an order?”

“Whichever will get you here on Friday.”

Lennox quirked his silver eyebrow, an unfathomable look in his eyes. “I accept your invitation. Who is attending?”

“Attending is such a formal word. It’s a get-together with family.”

The stunned expression on his face made her bite back a laugh. She enjoyed seeing him off balance for a change.

“Why are you inviting me to such a thing?”

“You might not be ready to admit it yet, but you’re family. And I’m keeping you close until you face it,” she said decisively.

She stood and walked away. Harmony felt his gaze on her as she left.

She could not possibly know.
Lennox stared after Harmony as she moved away from him. He tried to think if he had somehow during the day let anything slip. In that moment, it registered he was feeling her at the edge of his consciousness. Abruptly, he closed the connection. Harmony slowed and glanced back at him sharply, frowning. Silently, he berated himself for catering to her needs. It was in his race’s nature when they were around… He didn’t let the word even form. To do so would make it much harder to keep her at a distance.

Is it really necessary?
He pushed away even contemplating pursuing her. Things were too unsettled. He couldn’t chance it. He brooded, following her with his gaze as she flitted from table to table. Harmony was so easy with everyone. She didn’t know the darkness that was out there. As a seer and an empath for the agency, she did interrogate prisoners, but to face it up close and personal, she had no idea. Harmony turned, heading back his way. He decided it was best if he left. He walked to the shadows and pulled them over him, fading from view.

Moments later, he detached from the shadows on his property. He raised his face to the setting sun. The vivid oranges, yellows and reds reminded him of Harmony. They were bright and made him want to bask in the glow. Lennox closed his eyes, longing for what he couldn’t have filling him. He lowered his head, turning and pushed the sensation away. He was of the shadows, and had no place in the light. He would remember. Since he’d promised Harmony he’d attend the dinner, he would, but from now on, he’d keep things between them business.

He did his nightly patrol, then went to his home. As he walked down the hall to his room, his steps echoed loudly in the quiet house. In his spacious bedroom, he strode over to one of the bay windows. He rested his shoulder against the side wall next to the window seat and viewed his estate. The eerie glow of the moon bathed everything he saw. He sharpened his sight and looked at the rest of his vast property. Although set up as an oasis for his needs, tonight it didn’t soothe him. The day of noise had made his place seem cold and lifeless.

You mean the day spent with Harmony and Ebony.
Ebony was similar to her mother—bright, friendly and open with people. For some reason, Ebony always sought him out whenever she came to visit her mom at work, or when he went to visit his friends and she was there. The familiarity with which she greeted him had quickly become something he looked forward to. Both mother and daughter seemed to want him around but he could not afford to be. He rolled his shoulders.

Shake it off. Forget about it and focus on what is at hand
. Lennox straightened, retracing his steps out of the room to the lower level of his house. In his home office, he booted up his computer. He linked into the Phoenix Intelligence Agency network and opened the information he had been working on earlier. He reviewed the list of places people had stated they had spotted Blagden. He memorised it, then displaced into the shadows.

* * * *

The next day, after a fruitless search for Blagden, Lennox strode into the Assassination Unit. He went to the right instead of skirting between the desks to his office. He passed the conference rooms on his right, while in the centre to his left were the low-walled cubicles of the agents. Absently, he noticed various agents working. He passed the empty desks of his team before bypassing his own office and continuing on to the
Assassination Unit training room
. Lennox frowned when he spotted Harmony’s closed door. He was tempted to open his senses to see what she was up to but he resisted and went on. Storm was in her office on the phone, her feet up on the desk. She saw him and flicked her wrist. The office door slammed.

He didn’t even waste time wondering what her issue was. Storm tended to be volatile. Thankfully, he didn’t have her as his partner. He went down the corridor next to her office and used that door instead of going to the main entrance. The door closed behind him as he moved down the narrow hall. Seconds later, he was in the training area. Lennox paused, taking in the two combatants who were fighting while they levitated mid-air. The dazzling display of power made the hairs on his body raise. He frowned. There was only one race of beings that could create such a sensation—
Zuri Maji
.