Chapter 12

Alja woke the next morning to find her schedule for the day changed. Her first appointment had been set to meet – surprise, surprise – Kaleb Krychek himself again at the gym. The situation got rapidly more precarious and it had been her own making. Considered again in the bright light of the day their renewed nightly encounter was nothing but surreal and probably just fueling any suspicions Kaleb already had about her. But she couldn't help it. He shattered all her control simply by being in the vicinity.

It hit her again when she entered the training room and found him already warming up at a big sandbag. He was wearing all black just like her, dressed in long flowing martial arts pants and a close-fitting T-shirt that revealed the hard, muscled lines of a body honed to perfection. She also noticed a tight bandage on one of his forearms, although he didn't seem hurt. On the contrary, he moved with lethal speed and grace. His body was even more appealing than his appearance in the suits had promised. She felt something in the lower regions of her abdomen come alive when she watched him. She knew what the sensation meant and thought it couldn't be true. How in hell could this man incite such a response in her? He was a wall of stone: Beautifully carved, but still cold and immovable.

Focusing on the challenge ahead she pulled herself together once more and with a clipped "Good morning" she went to the mats for a short stretching routine. This had to do for a warm up. She wouldn't risk wasting any more strength. She also didn't waste any words today just wanting to get this over and try to scrape up some peace of mind. So she just inclined her head in silent consent when he asked whether she was ready.

Being on the mat with him helped a little to focus on her training, although his physical closeness still registered on a level that was completely inappropriate for a sparring session. On top of it all she had the impression he held back with her, maybe trying to figure out how she reacted. And maybe thinking she couldn't take him on. It picked on her pride. After a few rounds of circling each other with only very slight contact it annoyed her enough to go in more aggressively, putting all her concentration into the meanest moves she knew.

Of course Kaleb had trained not to use his Tk during sparring before. But it was so integral a part of his nature that it had never been completely out. And until now there hadn't been a problem with that. He had never encountered someone who could block it so thoroughly. Today he found out his movements were a fraction slower and the force he put in the impact of his hits was a little harder to fine tune. Still he was absolutely lethal. It just matched Alja's own cunning fighting style.

She fought hard, mean and dirty and she had an excellent perception of her opponent: She seemed to have sensed that he needed to adjust to the lack of Tk. As a result he felt her shields flaring in and out, alternately blocking his Tk completely or allowing him to come closer with it just to imbalance him again when he did. She came very close to scoring a hit or a kick more than once and she was damn fast. But he was faster. When she aimed the next hit he evaded her fist by a mere inch catching her hand and twisting it around in a painful wristlock.

Stupid that she hadn't anticipated it, Alja thought. But then he made a mistake, stopping at that, thinking he had her already under control. She could take more than a little pain and she still had her legs free. She had a slightly wrong angle for the intended move but was sure it'd work nonetheless with a little strain on her wrist. Bracing herself against the pain that was sure to follow she aimed a fast kick right at his head twisting out of his grip with a cartwheel in the same motion. She registered the pain without flinching and felt something tear in her wrist but she hit his temple hard with the back of her foot and was free from his grip to get away.

Now she had really taken him by surprise. She had struck him so hard he would have lost balance, if she and her shields hadn't moved out of range and allowed him to steady himself with Tk. And he felt a stinging pain spreading from the side of his head that was promising a brightly colored bruise. He immediately started to work on the hurt area with Tk. He had no Tk-Cell abilities but his skills were fine-tuned enough to slow the blood flow and avoid severe bruising that wouldn't look appropriate in a public appearance.

It took him a second to realize she still stood in a guarded position waiting for his next attack. And all of a sudden he was very aware of her breathing, or more specifically the way her breasts moved as her chest rose and fell. It was – distracting. He remembered he should concentrate, act in some way. But he wasn't sure if moving his head too fast would be a good idea right now. So he called it off. "I guess this round goes to you."

When she lowered her hands and relaxed, she instinctively touched her healthy hand to the hurt one for a moment. Long enough for him to see and draw the right conclusion. Of course she couldn't have escaped the lock without hurting herself. Why had she done something so stupid? "Why didn't you yield, when I had you in the wristlock?"

"Yielding is not an option. And my wrist is worth less than my life." The answer came prompt and clear, not a hint of pain in her voice.

"But this was a training session. Your life was not in danger."

"There are no training sessions. I have to be ready to do what it takes to survive at any time."

That was extreme, even for an Arrow, especially considering, that he could have easily snapped her wrist, had the angle been slightly different. The realization hit him like a second kick but on the mental plane.

He had hurt her. That was not acceptable.

The idea was completely irrational. She was a trained Arrow, used to much worse than a sprained wrist. But he caught himself wishing he hadn't reflexively tightened the hold on her hand, when she'd started to move.

And there it was again, a slight feeling of uneasiness – almost pain – creeping in on his mind. But it didn't come from the kick he'd caught. This sensation started deeper in his brainstem. At that moment he knew what it was that had been lingering on the edge of his awareness ever since Alja had started working for him. It was a sensation that he hadn't encountered for such a long time he had almost forgotten what it was: the awareness to a threat to his conditioning. The small warning signs of his mind against emotion, known as dissonance. And she was the reason for these warnings. That was dangerous. His Silence could never be allowed to fail. He had made sure of that by all means until today. Almost without conscious thought he scanned for the finest cracks in the Protocol and started to repair them. It wouldn't be enough. He needed to eliminate the ongoing threat Alja turned out to be.

Killing her was the first solution that leapt to his mind. It was a safe way to ensure she stopped triggering whatever it was that caused his conditioning to contact his consciousness for the first time since he was a teenager. But he wouldn't do it yet. First he had to find out whether this was a deliberate trap. If not – well, he didn't kill innocents, if not necessary. Maybe he'd find a way around killing her.

Or maybe he just wanted to find one.

"Go and get your wrist checked in the M-unit. I don't have a habit of beating up my subordinates and I neither want any rumors about physical assault on my behalf nor do I want your functioning impaired."

Congratulations you did it again! Alja cut off the sarcastic little voice in her head, having noticed something intriguing: She was sure she'd heard just a tint of anger in his voice. But reaching out with her psychic senses she felt nothing – again.

Secret personal files of the Arrow Squad

Alja Dardo:

Main designation: S cardinal

Secondary designations: Tp 2.7, Tk 1.8 (rough estimate, other Abilities not quantified

due to genetic interference)

Active service since 01.02.2073

Jax program: not implied due to genetic interference

Overall success rate: 100%

Relevant collateral damage: 7%

Current Missions: Covert elimination of Arthur Lightwing (Changeling)

14.01.2074: current mission accomplished – medical check-up – shows mild mental instability – field medic ordered her off duty for two weeks for preservation of functionality

12.02.2074: repeated medical check-up – field medic attested full recovery of mental stability – assignment to retrieve information of IceLake changeling pack, Norway – offensive action not expected