NOCB 070 - Time Raiders - Delilah Devlin - The Warrior's Touch Read Free Page B

assigned in the region.
    The wood-framed building had plastered, whitewashed walls. Murals covered the larger ones, and built-in niches displayed small sculptures of gods. Mini shrines, as far as he could tell.
    They backtracked through the hall, which servants, male and female, were currently putting to rights. A Greek man brushed past them, weaving on his feet.
    “So how’d you manage it?” Caleb asked softly.
    Fari raised her chin, pride glowing in her eyes. “I showed my stuff.”
    “Stuff?”
    “A little kung fu.”
    “Not exactly true to the era,” he murmured.
    She lifted one shoulder. “But effective. Told the queen that Mongols from the East taught me the moves. She’s impressed. Wants me to instruct her guards in hand-to-hand.”
    “Is that wise?”
    “I won’t teach them anything too identifiable. Can’t have embroidered cloths showing up in the kurgans with Amazons in kung fu stances. Let’s head to the second floor.”
    At the bottom of the stairs, he paused. “So what’s your plan if we’re seen?”
    She climbed up the first step and tilted her head. “Who says anyone will see us?”
    Caleb narrowed his glance. “What exactly is your talent? General Ashton mentioned that you flare? What’s that?”
    “It’s best to show you what I can do, Caleb. Somehow I don’t think you believe anything unless you experience it for yourself. Am I right?”
    He gave a grunt, figuring that his psychological profile must have been among the documents she’d reviewed. He ignored an inward wince at what else she might have learned about him. While he’d found many high value targets, his commanders weren’t always happy about the personal risks he took. Still, results trumped caution. Or they had until he’d walked into an ambush and gotten the soldier on point killed and himself seriously wounded.
    Following her up the steps, he said, “You wondering why I refused the cure, too?”
    At the top, she turned to face him. “Unless you’re into pain, I don’t get why you wouldn’t take advantage of Professor Carswell’s offer.”
    Caleb’s face tightened. It wasn’t something he liked talking about. “Seemed like cheating. Taking the easy way out.”
    “Because someone else died during that mission?” she asked, her expression softening.
    Caleb shook his head. “Didn’t feel right,” he said, keeping his tone dead even, “erasing the injury from my body when someone else didn’t walk away.”
    Fari touched his arm. “I get that,” she whispered. “I do. Soldier long enough, we all lose friends.”
    Standing so close, breathing in her fresh scent, he felt the urge to bend toward her. “Yeah?” Before he could follow through on the inappropriate urge, footsteps approached, the steady stomp of someone marching. “Quick, we need to hide.”
    Fari’s mouth curved. “I’ve got it handled, cowboy.”
    “How?”
    She pressed him back against the wall, then flattened herself beside him. Suddenly, the corridor in front of them was blocked by a barrier. Although light from the torches on the opposite side shone through, he and Fari seemed to be wedged between the new wall and the old. The female guard strode past, within inches of them, without slowing.
    “What the…?” He reached up, to find his hand passing through the wall. “That’s flaring?” he whispered.
    “Yeah. I can hide you from sight, create a vision of something that isn’t there. But if you make any noises, that wall doesn’t do a bit of good.”
    “Could have warned me,” he growled.
    Her lips stretched into a grin. “And miss your expression?”
    The wall fell away.
    “Your turn. What do you see?” she asked, her expression so intent that he blew out a breath.
    Then, drawing the next, he slowed his heart rate and let his eyelids drift halfway down as he searched the hallway for faint impressions.
    Shadows, lit green, like figures caught in night vision goggles, walked the hall, forward and back. The oldest were