Royal (Terk’s Guardians #9)

Prologue

I n the kitchen, seated among some other members of his team at the huge dining table, Terkel shuffled through the paperwork before him and still smiled when Natalia handed him a large accounting binder. He shoved it back at her. “Just give me the CliffsNotes version.”

She laughed. “The CliffsNotes are in this binder,” she stated. “That satellite is damn important to us.”

“It is and it isn’t,” he replied. “The world’s a mess, and we can use two satellites owned by our generous friends, but if one of them goes down—”

“I understand,” she said, “so we need to keep working toward putting away funding for our own. So more jobs would be good.”

He rolled his eyes at that. “We also need to sustain our ability to crew these ops, without sending everybody out on these other jobs.”

“Which we seem to be doing so far, especially with the help of Levi’s and Bullard’s teams,” she noted, with a chuckle. “Other jobs are coming in, right?”

Terk nodded. “Actually, a local job is next, but I’m not too sure how to handle it yet.”

“Why is that?”

“It involves a woman with abilities, someone I’ve talked to in the past. However, she’s never been very up-front and open about joining our group. Yet she contacted me a few days ago and wants our help.”

“What kind of help, and does she have money to pay us?” He laughed.

“She does have money. She was an influencer for a long time, made millions of dollars, then disappeared from public view. When I checked in on her, she told me that she was fine, yet she was putting off this stay away energy about her.”

“What about now?” Clary asked, as she got up from the huge dining table to get more coffee and then moved closer to the discussion at hand. “It’s always fascinating when a woman’s involved.”

“Lately it seems as if a woman is always involved,” Terk stated, with a sigh. “It’s that whole Love Boat thing going on again.”

“I think you can blame Levi for that,” Clary noted, with a laugh.

“Maybe.” Terk grinned at the thought. “Anyway, her name is Janna, and her problem, at least according to her, is that somebody keeps contacting her that they need help, but she doesn’t know where they are. Now it’s gotten to the point where she can’t function.”

“Who is contacting Janna?”

“Somebody she used to know a long time ago. They were lovers for a while, and then he disappeared and went off into some military training. Something happened after that,” he explained. “I’m waiting for the file to come in. I told her I wouldn’t even look at it until I had more information, and she said she had no choice but to help as much as she could, since she knows him. Plus he’s locked on to her energy, and she hasn’t been able to shake loose of him.”

“She wants to shake loose?”

“She wants to, but I’m not exactly sure why. She’s coming in today to talk to me.”

“So, she is local?”

“She is.”

At that, Sophia walked into the kitchen with a woman at her side. The visitor was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, with a huge cardigan pulled up around her neck. She had masses of bright red hair, and she looked at Terkel expectantly.

Terkel stood up and studied her face. “Janna?”

She nodded slowly. “How can you even recognize me?” she asked bitterly. “Look at my face.”

“I see your face,” he stated, “and, yes, I’ve seen your previous photos as well. Why don’t you tell me what happened.”

She shrugged. “A fan found out where I lived and threw acid in my face,” she shared. “I went underground and away from the world for a long time, right up until I started getting these calls.”

Terk nodded. “Did you bring your information?”

She held out a folder and nodded. “This is all I have on him, all that I have recorded of his memories, and anything else I could get my hands on.”

He nodded and asked, “And you’re prepared for whatever reception you get?”

“I don’t have a choice,” she admitted. “I already know what it’s like for people to see my face and stare. If I could do anything more about it, I would, but I can’t do a whole lot else. This is what I’m left with. Meanwhile, I can’t leave him alone, so I have no choice but to come out of my safe and secluded existence and deal with it.”

“Why is that?”

She frowned and looked down at her hands.

Terkel added, “We need to know, Janna.”

“He was the father of my one and only child,” she replied, “who died of heart issues seven years ago. He didn’t know there was a child, and he didn’t know about our son’s death either. I guess I feel as if I owe him. He gave me a wonderful gift, even if it was a gift I couldn’t keep,” she added, tears in her eyes.

“Go on.”

“And now that he needs help, I can’t just walk away.”

“I get it,” Terk replied, then looked over at the others gathered at the table. “Are you guys ready to take a look at this case?” They nodded, and, almost as if he’d made an announcement over a loudspeaker, more people started to filter into the massive dining room.

Janna stared in shock as more and more people gathered. “Terkel?”

“Yeah.” He nodded, smiling with pride. “The team… grew.”

“I guess that’s a good thing?” she said doubtfully.

“It’s a great thing,” he declared, pulling out a chair for her. “Take a seat, and welcome to the family.”