Page 10 of A Lion's Heart
CHAPTER 3
There had been changes since the last time Decan had been here. Both to the physical structure of this bunker, and to the reasons why he was here.
“Where are we?” Nisa asked the moment they passed through the oval walkway.
She had already moved by him and was surveying her surroundings no doubt, while she waited for his response.
“We’re in the Florida territory. The Everglades as you mentioned earlier.”
Decan watched as she moved.
At five-feet-five inches she was neither tall nor short. Just right was the way he would put it, as the top of her head came to his chin, causing her to have to look up to him. He didn’t know why that filled him with a gust of dominance as potent as a physical blow. Her booted feet were soundless over the carpeted floor.
“This location is not on any of the tunnel maps,” she continued. “That means it’s unsanctioned. Why do you know about unsanctioned locations and the Assembly does not?”
“How do you know they don’t know?” he asked as she moved past two rows of round tables and chairs.
The eight tables lined one half of the space, while an elaborate white column shot to the ceiling. The top of the column fanned out like the top of a cone and around that cone a metal sphere held egg-shaped LED lights equal distances apart.
“If they knew, then so would I,” she replied as she stepped over to the other half of the room.
There were sectional couches on that side, three in an off white color and four in a dark orange hue. The colors matched the striped carpet and worked well with the darker beige paneled walls. They’d come in on the ground level, so the ceiling was lowest in this room, no more than ten feet high at most.
“You do not have upper level clearance,” he replied and then held up his hand because even from across the room, he knew she would respond quickly to that statement.
“You’re a Senior Guard,” he told her. “That’s level 3 clearance. As I’m sure you are aware only Lead Enforcers and FLs have level 6 clearance.”
Her lips were clamped tightly, eyes boring into him like tiny chisels. He almost grinned at how easily he could anger her. He knew all her buttons to push and continued to push them, even when it wasn’t his intent.
“Then I should not be here at all,” she snapped and folded her arms over her chest.
The stance might have seemed childish or temperamental to anyone else, but Decan knew it for what it really was. Her shield.
Nisa Reynolds loved a good puzzle. She’d excelled in tactical training because she could quickly figure out the logistics of the battle and then was able to, just as fast, configure her best odds for survival. It worked for her every time. It was that same need to unravel the mystery and come up with a solution that had led her to the installation of the holodeck—which was a control center much like the humans’ Internet, for the shifter universe. She had been able to migrate all of the databases that had been created for the shifters and generate an entire system that included maps of the tunnels, blueprints of all of the bunkers, plans for the vehicles they used, the weapons that had also been specially enhanced for them, the genetic breakdown of each tribe and so much more. The system was intricate and far more advanced than most of the shifters in Oasis. Along with that accolade, Decan had been especially impressed with the network Nisa had helped Nick Delgado design, called ViceSecure. This was the system that scanned the genetics of each shifter from the moment of their birth so that there was no way an undocumented shifter could enter Oasis because the locks on the doorways were all DNA scan protected.
“This is where you belong for the moment, Nisa,” Decan replied to her intense gaze.
He’d lost seconds just staring at her wondering how all of that intellect and ability could be so neatly and attractively stored in one shifter.
“Before you ask any more questions just remember that your father assigned me to this mission. That means I’m responsible for you. I know you don’t know me that well, but rest assured, I have no intention of letting the Assembly Leader down. So just relax, you’re safe here. Trust me.”
“I don’t trust anyone who won’t answer simple questions,” she said, but her arms fell to her side as she turned and continued to move about the room.
“Well, I see you arrived safely.”
Decan looked away from Nisa long enough to see that their host had arrived.
“We did,” Decan said with a nod and then extended his hand for a shake.
Keller Cross was six-feet two-inches tall and at least two hundred and thirty pounds. He wore dark gray pants and a shirt that barely stretched over his broad chest and large arms. His skin was a deep golden color, his eyebrows thick over imperial green cougar’s eyes. He was probably the only shifter that wore his cat’s eyes all the time.
Decan noted Keller’s glance going over his shoulder and turned to see that Nisa had come to stand right behind him.
“Keller Cross, this is Nisa Reynolds. Nisa, this is Keller Cross.”
“You’re not a rogue,” she said, her eyes keen as she watched Keller lift her hand and bring it to his lips. “We know there are some hiding down here, but your scent is clean.”
Keller smiled just as Decan reached over and removed Nisa’s hand from his. The cougar’s smile faltered only slightly as he glanced quickly at Decan and then back to Nisa.
