a Touch of Intrigue by L. j. Charles

my fingers inmy ears to protect myself from the buffeting wind and shuddering thwhop-thwhop drone of the helicopter. The pilot banked, and I stared after the chopper, my pissed off, pent up energy rushing to the surface as it faded to a distant, dark speck. After it disappeared, I whirled to face Pierce. “We have to find Millie and Harlan. Yesterday.”
    “That’s your plan?”
    “It’s a start. Millie knows the formula, knows the plants I’ll need to recreate it. And with any luck, she’ll know the antidote. I have two weeks to produce both, and find a way to combine them so that damn formula will never be viable.” I breathed in, taking a quick assessment of my gut feelings. They were…fine, stable. “Oddly, I don’t have a single doubt I can do this. Must have something to do with when we shared our blood, because normally I’d be a stuttering, stammering mess.”
    Pierce crossed his arms, and narrowed his eyes. “Fred isn’t looking for a null formula.”
    I’d thought of that. “Nope. But that’s what he’s getting. And there has to be some way to permanently destroy at least one of the plants that’s required to make the formula a lethal substance.” I considered the inherent problems with my plan. “But finding Millie is absolutely critical because she has a bunch of knowledge, and without that I’m up a creek.”
    Pierce snaked an arm around me, pulling me close. “She better the fuck know how Fred programmed you.”
    I’d thought about that, too. “Um-hmm,” I mumbled into his chest, then inhaled the scent of soap and pissed off male. “Love how you smell. It’s intoxicating.”
    He planted a kiss on the top of my head. “Search now. Intoxicate later.”
    I leaned back, looked into his eyes. “Wait. How could a simple cottage roof support a helicopter? I’m thinking Fred has had access to the property for a long time. And it certainly explains how he got in our house without navigating the maze.”
    “Lightweight chopper, but still previous access is a good bet, Belisama.”
    We made our way, inch-by-inch, through the cottage. At first we focused on the structure, because a chopper landing on the roof, lightweight or not, rattled uncomfortably in my brain. It took some effort, but we finally discovered an access stairway to the roof. Pierce checked out the helipad, and sure enough the cottage had been constructed to support a lightweight aluminum chopper deck. I strolled around, touching the surface, but only picked up images of the comings and goings. “It happened fairly often, Pierce. There are some old, foggy images of Millie arriving when she was still badly burned and heavily medicated. Harlan was with her.” A chill ricocheted down my spine. “Fred moved them here. Does that mean my grandfather has been collaborating with Fred?” My voice rose to an embarrassing squeal.
    Pierce shook his head. “I don’t know, Everly.” It was one of the few times I’d heard Pierce sound nervous. He palmed his cell and punched in a number. It didn’t take but a minute for him to give his team instructions to trace any and all links between Fred and Aukele.
    “You, know,” I said, tapping my foot. “You’ve given your gurus an impossible task. As magical and talented as they are, they’re no match for either my grandfather or Fred, especially if they’ve been operating in a magical furtive mode.”
    His grunt was unhappy. “Not expecting much. Let’s move inside.”
    The cottage smelled like Millie’s eucalyptus cleaning mixture, and it was apparent she and Harlan had lived there, and that they’d left in a hurry. Clothes were scattered around the bedroom, there were unwashed breakfast dishes in the sink, the bed had tangled sheets, and there was a big pot of my favorite tomato basil soup in the refrigerator. When I discovered it, I took if out of the fridge, opened the lid, and the delicious scent of the tomatoes and herbs wafted through the room. Tears rolled down my cheeks.