“Don’t worry. I’ll come back.”
Silence was her only response as her thoughts seemed elsewhere. Yet, when she raised her gaze to his, an odd sorrow filled her eyes. “The truth is you won’t be going to Jerusalem.”
Growling, Thomas headed toward the bar, but one glance at the clock told him it was only eleven AM. Instead, he uttered a curse and went to the kitchen, searching the cupboards for something to eat, and upon finding nothing, slammed them shut. “Why would you say that?”
“Listen, Thomas.” She set her cup on the table. “I’m only telling you what I hear from God.”
Blowing out a snort, he flattened his palms on the counter.
“I know a trip like that would mean the world to you,” she said. “But I’m telling you, it’s best you stay as far away from Aali as you can.”
“Because he’s the Antichrist, right?” Thomas laughed. “He’s going to enter the Jewish temple and proclaim he is god, right?” He instantly regretted his harsh tone when Tori’s expression fell.
Sure, he’d been shocked by Premier Aali’s miraculous resurrection. Who wouldn’t be? But he’d been more shocked by Tori predicting it days before. When he questioned her, she said it had been prophesied in the Bible. But of course he didn’t possess a copy of the banned book, nor could anyone read it online. Regardless, whether it was in there or not, that was the second time she’d correctly foretold the future, which meant either she had some insider scoop with the powers that be—which no Deviant would have—or she was a fortuneteller. Not that he believed in such things. But what else could it be?
And now this—tellinghisfuture, a prediction he would dismiss outright if she hadn’t been right before.
“I’m going to Jerusalem, Tori. It’s my job. And when I get back, we’ll continue our conversations on whose god is the real god.”
One eyebrow quirked as she stared at him. “Since you’ve been doing such a good job already.”
She made him smile, and he hated that. “I’ve been distracted these past few days.” Too many thoughts of why and how and… What in the heck was going on? Not that he hadn’t enjoyed her company. He had. Immensely. Everywhere he looked, he saw another exquisite example of her artwork lying about. Drawings of his house, his pool, the beach, the sunset, and even him. She’d captured him perfectly, though he’d argued about the sad look in his eyes. Regardless, he never knew how talented she was. Then there was her humming, beautiful and sweet, it filled every crevice of his house with a sense of joy. In fact, her very presence made the place more a home than it had ever been.
He moved to sit on the couch beside her, his body reacting to their closeness and the playfulness in her eyes. How many times in the past few days had he wanted to pull her into his arms, run his fingers through her hair, inhale her sweet scent, and kiss her deeply until they both became breathless. Just like the old days when they were young and madly in love.
But then he remembered the pain she had caused him when she’d broken things off and walked out of his life, leaving his heart so completely shattered, he’d never been able to love anyone since.
“What’s up with the ink?” He gestured to her neck where the small tattoo of man’s sandaled foot crushed the head of a snake.
She ran her fingers over it, her gaze far away. “Long story. But it represents good conquering the evil in my life.”
“I don’t get it.”
“It’s from Genesis in the Bible. Jesus’s foot crushes the serpent or Satan.”
Thomas grimaced. For some reason that name made his insides squirm. “Why does everything lead back to Him?”
She took his hand in hers, the gesture dissolving his anger. “Because it does. Everything does.”
Pity replaced his anger. Then sorrow at how far gone she was.
“Listen, Thomas, I’m not kidding.” Her tone drew his eyes to hers where he saw an unusual seriousness. “You will never go back to your job again.”
???
Kyle had him. At last! He pounded his fist onto the table, startling the technician. They’d been poring over every millisecond of video from the night of the escape, searching for a sign of anything, a flash, a movement, anything that would expose the culprit. From the holding cell where Miss Griffin had been seated right before the generator blew to the minutes after the cameras came back online. There wasn’t much to look at, and after several pass-throughs, Kyle had almost given up. But then. There it was! Just a second and not even that. A flash of a red Mercedes, a leg going into a trunk, and Vice Regent Thomas Benton slamming it shut.
“I knew it!” Kyle shot his fist in the air.
“I can’t believe it,” the technician murmured. “I never thought…”
Kyle patted him on the shoulder. “It’s always the people we least suspect. Now keep this between us until I can formally arrest him.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And make me a copy of that video just in case someone tries to erase it.”
Storming out of the room, Kyle felt like he walked on air. He’d gone from a drug-hazed, miserable, impoverished loser to a sergeant in the NWU Reformation Security Force, a friend of a Tall White—a rarity among humans. And now, he would catch the biggest fish of all, a traitor among the highest levels of global power, a man just two steps away from the Global Spiritual Leader. This would propel his career even higher and faster than expected. In addition, this victory would surely erase the stigma of his relationship to one of the most wanted Deviants in the region.
