Keepers of the Lost Garden (The Lost Garden Trilogy Book 2) by K.T. Tomb Read Free Book Online Page B

National Guard. They have no scheduled maneuvers in the area.”
    “Scientific expeditions?”
    “It’s much too large.”
    Myora stared at the massive screen. So, they were coming. Her dreams had been accurate after all. She hated when that happened.
    “Mother Daughter?”
    “Yes.”
    “There’s one other thing. This just came in this morning, perhaps twenty minutes ago. Faxed over from our contact at Tehran Customs.”
    Their contacts believed the Daughters were, in fact, a branch of the Iranian secret police. With enough bribes and favors, they were often rewarded with such information. The younger Daughter handed Myora a faxed image of a very beautiful woman. The woman, of course, was Sulina, under the guise of Sulna Obvesky. It was a photo on her passport. She looked resolute and stoic as ever. She never changed. None of them did. Myora’s heart went out briefly to her oldest Daughter.
    Do not do this, Sulina , thought Myora.
    But Sulina was no Daughter of hers. She hadn’t been for thousands of years.
    “Men are coming,” said Myora, her back still to Shala. “And they are being led by Sulina. Alert the others.”

 
    Chapter Five
     
    He woke, gasping.
    As he had been doing all night.
    He was covered in sweat, but that was nothing new. Shirtless, he sat up and looked at the nightstand clock. 7:39 a.m. He had only four hours of sleep, but that had been enough. He had become accustomed to very little sleep.
    Even the four hours had been too much.
    Next to him, out like a light, with her long black and white hair spread like a geisha’s fan over her pillow, was Jess. Her face was turned to him. She was wearing a robe and it was mostly open. He found himself staring, aroused. She looked so beautiful and for once, sweet and harmless. That was only the illusion of sleep. The warrior in her was still there, but buried under her slumbering.
    He closed her robe with a sigh. She didn’t move or stir. Perhaps immortals fell into a deeper sleep. He didn’t know.
    The dream had come again, but this time, he had recognized the raven-haired beauty as Jess and she recognized him. In his dream, they had been too late. He had wielded the flaming sword too late and the world lay in waste. In fact, the plague that had swept across the Earth, ravaging all of life, had finally found him. He had sunk to his knees as he watched the boils appear on his arms. His fingers dropped off from his palms.
    That’s when he woke up.
    In a cold sweat.
    He needed a shower.
    Their flight didn’t leave for another three hours, so he allowed the hot jet of water to wash over his body. Oddly enough, even after the long night he had, his body was not sore and actually felt quite refreshed.
    He wondered if the little bit of oil he had absorbed had anything to do with that and decided that it probably did.
    I’m thirty-five now . Just playing an afternoon of basketball will often leave you sore for days, let alone fighting for your life against the undead.
    And against one hell of an Amazon hellcat of a warrior in Jess.
    He toweled himself off and stepped over to the phone. Jess had moved, only slightly, while he breathed over the bangs of her white birth-marked hair.
    He could watch her all day.
    Instead, he tore himself away again from her beauty and picked up the phone and dialed a familiar number.
    The line picked up on the second ring, followed by a series of fumbling. Then a very groggy voice said, “You have any fucking idea what time it is?”
    Knight lowered his voice. “Quit bitching. I need your help.”
    Geronimo Bismark, owner of the voice on the other end of the line, groaned. “Damn it, Knight! Couldn’t you need my help in, say, three hours?”
    “No. In three hours, you and I and someone else will be on a flight to Iran, with a layover in Germany.”
    “I’m not hearing this! I am not hearing this! Tell me I’m dreaming!”
    “You’re not dreaming. This is real and I need your help.”
    A pause. Knight looked over at