Truth Behind the Mask Read online

  “They had to. I have been courting you properly for the past two years. I showed them how serious I was.”

  “I’m only eighteen. What if they can still take Pagan—”

  “No one will take her from us,” Rogue interrupted her. “We’re both old enough to look after her. If they have to assign me as legal guardian, then so be it. I will fight with all I am to make sure that this child stays with you…and me.” Rogue ran a hand over Pagan’s soft hair. “We’ll make our own family. It’s something I have dreamed of.”

  Melina smiled softly. “Big bad you wanting a family?”

  “You, of all people, know I’m not so big or bad.”

  Melina’s eyes twinkled. “True, but you carry it off so well I’d hate to ruin the illusion.” She smiled at Rogue. “I can’t believe you just announced to the whole of the Council that you and I are going to be married.”

  Rogue shrugged. “We’ve talked about it. I just thought I’d warn them they would have a fight on their hands if they tried to take my family away from me.” Rogue’s head was swiftly pulled down to receive a very passionate kiss that, given their surroundings, caused many whispers to rebound off the exalted walls. Once released, Rogue tapped Pagan on the arm to gain her attention. She signed something rapidly. Pagan’s eyes lit up, and she wriggled excitedly in Melina’s arms. Melina stared at her sister.

  “What did Rogue say?” she mouthed carefully to Pagan’s smiling face.

  “We’re going for pizza!” Pagan crowed loudly, unmindful at that tender age of propriety and reverence, blissfully unaware at what had just happened in the Council chambers.

  *

  Rogue was amazed at how swiftly Pagan had gotten used to utilizing her other senses to make up for the one she had lost. Pagan had never been fitted for a hearing aid because the doctors said that her hearing was so negligible that it was pointless. With Melina and Rogue’s help, she had learned sign language and how to read lips. The rebuilding on the lighthouse proceeded quickly, and Rogue’s security business was born. They moved out of the lighthouse to a comfortable apartment built above the main shop front and offices. Melina finished her schooling, trained in accounting, and helped Rogue run her business. By day, Rogue and Melina set to keeping Chastilian secure with their security plans and alarms. By night, they had a wholly different method for doing exactly the same thing.

  Rogue’s laboratory was a mass of technology with endless shelves full of wires and machine parts. Pagan was often found with her, sitting on a high stool pushed close to one of the tables that ran along the wall of the lighthouse tower. Rogue had brought all her equipment to the lighthouse and commandeered the very top of the building to house her apparatus. Pagan had spent many a long hour watching Rogue twist dials and work with electricity as she fashioned gadgets and gizmos that aided the Sentinels on their nightly sweeps. Now eight years old, Pagan was growing up fast and proving to be strong and highly intelligent. She watched Rogue closely, learning from her example.

  “What are you doing now?” she asked, twisting a spare piece of wire between her fingertips.

  Rogue finished what she was working on, then lifted her head so Pagan could see her face. “I’m trying to boost the range for this communicator. I want to see if I can have the Sighted hear what the Sentinel hears.” She turned the diode a little and smiled with satisfaction as it set neatly into place.

  “Mel’s a Sighted,” Pagan said.

  “Yes, she is. She commands those screens and sees all.”

  “Do you feel safe knowing she’s watching you when you go out in the dark?” Pagan asked, innocently referring to the fact Rogue had taken over her parents’ Sentinel role.

  “I feel very safe. It’s almost like she is beside me wherever I go,” Rogue said. She snapped the casing into place and fiddled with a tiny set of dials on the earpiece. She frowned a little.

  “What’s wrong? You’ve gone all frowny,” Pagan asked, leaning closer to watch Rogue’s fingers setting up the dials.

  “I may have the settings wrong,” Rogue admitted. “I won’t know until I hook it up to the computer and we can see the tones across the screens. Then, maybe, I can fine-tune it.” Rogue held the small earpiece out for Pagan to look at. “What do you think? Does it look okay? I’m going for a different style this time.”

  “I like the colors.” Pagan turned the black and silver earpiece over carefully in her hands. “How does it fit?”

  Rogue removed the magnifying lenses she had been wearing. The unusual pair of glasses had been keeping Pagan silently amused while she had watched Rogue work. She walked around the table to join Pagan.

  “Like this.” Rogue slipped the much-too-large communications device into Pagan’s ear.

  Pagan sat very still as it filled up most of her ear. She touched where it was positioned and her little fingers caught at the dials.

  Rogue was working at switching on the computer screens she needed to test frequency and range. She typed in the codes to start her experiment running. A pattern emerged on one monitor, a series of peaks and lows ran across the screen. She typed in some variants, her back toward Pagan as she calculated what she needed. Then she turned back around and watched as Pagan continued to touch the aid in her ear. Rogue was aware it was too bulky and cumbersome for her. She watched as Pagan trailed her fingertip over the dials set on the earpiece. The computer behind her beeped and Rogue turned back to her findings. She typed in more equations and codes and tuned in her dials. For a long, silent half hour Rogue tapped in her calculations while Pagan watched the screens with rapt fascination.

  “What was that?” Pagan asked suddenly.

  Rogue turned to face her. “What was what?” She was concerned by the look of fear on Pagan’s face.

  “There! Can’t you hear it?” Pagan whipped her head around, and the overlarge device slipped from her ear. Pagan held it in her hand as she stared at a point in the room behind her.

  Rogue looked to where Pagan was staring. She frowned, moved forward to go investigate, then she realized what Pagan had said.

  Can’t you hear it?

  Rogue moved into Pagan’s eye line. “Did you hear something?” she asked, half fearful and half astounded.

  Pagan opened her hand from around the communicator. “I think I did,” she said quietly. “Like a whisper. It made my ear tickle inside.”

  “Put it back in,” Rogue instructed and Pagan complied.

  They both waited a moment. Rogue repeated what she had previously punched into her computer. Pagan instantly reacted.

  “There it is again!” she said, holding the earpiece more firmly, straining to decipher what was happening.

  Rogue typed something else in, her face deliberately away from Pagan’s sight.

  “What’s your favorite ice cream? Who’s your favorite cartoon character? What’s your favorite color?” Rogue asked aloud, clattering on her keyboard, praying to all the deities that what she had done might be the key to unlocking Pagan’s hearing.

  “Blue,” Pagan replied and then just stared as Rogue faced her and they both came to the same conclusion.

  “You heard me!”

  “I heard you!”

  Pagan’s bottom lip began to quiver with emotion, and Rogue gathered her up in her arms. “It’s going to be okay. We can work on this together.”

  “I want Mel,” Pagan said.

  “Let’s get her up here right now,” Rogue said and leaned over with Pagan still firmly attached to her to press an intercom to call Melina.

  “I heard you, but you sounded far away and muffled. Am I getting better now?” Pagan sniffled, pulling back a little to see Rogue’s face.

  “I don’t think so, sweetheart,” Rogue said, “but I think this earpiece might have triggered something left in your senses that might let you hear some things. I’ll have to work on this for you.”

  Rogue removed the earpiece again and looked it over intently, her mind working overtime on calculations and ideas. She heard
someone inside the lighthouse and handed Pagan the earpiece back. They shared a conspiratorial look.

  Melina came into the room and smiled at them both. “You called?” Her eyes instantly fell on the brightly lit screens. “Have you gotten the communicator working?”

  Rogue nodded. “In a way, yes, just not how I expected it.” She moved to turn Melina’s back to Pagan. Melina gave her a very strange look. “Tell me what’s for dinner tonight.”

  “Rogue, honey, you could have just called down and asked me what I was ordering in for supper!”

  “Tell me, nice and slowly,” Rogue said. At Melina’s look, Rogue softly added, “Humor me, please.”

  “I was thinking about ordering in the chicken bucket, with fries and an extra two corn on the cobs for Pagan,” Melina began and stopped when she heard a little voice behind her falteringly repeat every word. Melina twisted around and stared at Pagan.

  “Rogue’s comlink thing helps me hear stuff!” Pagan told her with a big, toothy grin.

  Melina spun around to Rogue. “How is this happening?” Tears began to fall.

  “She’s apparently hearing on a totally different frequency than what the rest of us do. I’m going to try to refine it, get her hooked up with two earpieces and not just the one.” Rogue looked at Pagan. “I promise you, Pagan, I’m going to do my best to help you hear again.”

  “I know you will.”

  Melina hugged Rogue to her tightly. “You are a genius and I love you! Thank goodness you’re our technology expert. The Sentinels are truly blessed.”

  “It had to be for a reason that I excelled in gadgetry,” Rogue said. “Maybe this is why, to help Pagan.”

  “I’m so glad you are in our life,” Melina muttered against Rogue’s cheek.

  “Are you two gonna kiss now?” Pagan asked, watching with great interest. She held the earpiece against her small ear, as if straining to hear more.

  “If we do, is that okay with you?” Rogue asked politely, daring her to disagree.

  “Sure, go ahead. It’s nice. It’s like what Mommy and Daddy would do,” Pagan replied innocently.

  “You took on a great deal more than you bargained for when you decided you wanted to court me, Ms. Ronchetti.” Melina draped her arms about Rogue’s neck.

  “It was all worth it.” Rogue leaned closer to Melina’s face. “You were worth every lonely day until I found you and then every day spent in your company until I could make you truly mine.”

  Melina blushed. “Do you really think you can help her?” She nodded toward Pagan, who was swinging her feet against the stool and laughing as she could obviously hear her boots clattering against the wood.

  “I’m going to try,” Rogue said.

  “I love you.” Melina sighed and pulled Rogue closer for a kiss.

  Pagan chuckled at them.

  “Hey, you!” Melina said, looking over at Pagan. “Can you hear me?”

  Pagan nodded. “I will hear you better too,” she said with certainty and laughed as Melina scooped her up in her arms and hugged her. Pagan looked over Melina’s shoulder to catch Rogue’s attention. “We’re going to need more wire, Rogue, because you have to remember, I have two ears. And it has to be smaller because I can’t walk around with my fingers in my ears holding the things in place!”

  “I’ll see what I can do,” Rogue said.

  Chapter Four

  The Present…

  Pagan tried desperately to ignore the silent chuckling coming from Rogue as they rode the elevator back to the lighthouse.

  “I can see you shaking,” Pagan muttered. “Stop it!”

  “I can’t believe you let him hit you,” Rogue said with a sigh as she once again surveyed Pagan’s bruised face.

  “Yeah, I purposely let the only piece of my face left uncovered run into his well-aimed fist!” Pagan growled. “It was a slow night; I obviously needed the thrill.”

  “Mel will know what you need,” Rogue assured her.

  Pagan took a step back, suddenly nervous. “I can’t let her see me like this! She’ll stop me from going out, she’ll…” She wound down her tirade at Rogue’s patient look. “She’ll think I’m weak if she sees this.” Pagan dropped her eyes from Rogue’s.

  Rogue tipped Pagan’s head back up. “She won’t think you’re weak. You have proved yourself anything but weak. She’ll be worried you are hurt.” Rogue ran a gentle finger along the swelling of Pagan’s jawline. She winced a little in reaction to Pagan’s flinch at the slightest touch. “He got in a lucky punch. You more than made up for it.”

  Pagan grinned and yelped as her smile pulled on her face. “I did, didn’t I?” She remembered how, after the one hit that she had foolishly allowed to land, the man behind the fist had never gotten up from the ground. She’d regained her balance and poise quickly and made sure he had not hit her again. Rogue had then tied him up securely after kicking him swiftly between his legs for his audacity.

  “The police were informed. They can deal with him now. He’s all theirs.” Rogue began to undo her mask.

  “Think the lady will be okay?” Pagan remembered exactly what they had come across down one of Chastilian’s endless alleyways.

  “She might learn that walking alone at night down dark streets is not the safest of choices.”

  “He was going to do more than just rob her, wasn’t he?”

  “I’d say he intended to take more than what she had in her purse,” Rogue said. “Chastilian by day is a wealthy, frenetic metropolis where the rich and lazy bask in its beauty. But by night,” Rogue leaned back against the wall of the elevator, “by night the underbelly exposes itself and hell slips out from the cracks in the pavement to roam the streets.”

  Pagan carefully took off her own mask and adjusted the hearing aids in her ears to switch off the communications she needed when out on the rooftops.

  “That’s where we come in.” She rubbed gingerly at her jaw. “I think hell got a little cocky tonight.”

  “But we can beat it back down again tomorrow night, and the night after that.” Rogue spared Pagan a look. “You’re scheduled to go back to Ammassari’s place tomorrow in between the other jobs we have lined up. You’ll be too busy to worry about your jaw.”

  Pagan let out a breath. “Then it’s a good thing I am highly skilled in the art of multitasking. Everything is finished in time for me to go battle the underbelly.”

  “That’s what I love about the Osborne sisters, super-smarts in every way.” Rogue pulled Pagan to her to place a kiss on her head. She sweetly maneuvered Pagan in front of her, almost like a shield. “Now go let your sister deal with your jaw,” she said as the door to the elevator opened and they were both faced by Melina standing there with her arms folded.

  “Am I going to have to fit you out with a cowl so you don’t get hurt?” Melina asked, her bright eyes furiously looking over Pagan’s face.

  “It’s hard enough wearing the mask. You wouldn’t believe how much they chafe sometimes.”

  “Come here. Let’s get you sorted.” Melina fussed over getting Pagan settled at a corner of the lighthouse after exchanging a welcome-back kiss with Rogue. There was a wide variety of paraphernalia set up for tending to cuts and bruises and other ailments. Melina frowned as she helped Pagan remove her armored jacket and finally got her seated. She shook her head. “Okay, Pagan Osborne, while I tend to this I need you to come up with an idea as to how you’re going to explain this away to our customers tomorrow.”

  *

  Pagan hoisted the small basket from the passenger seat of the truck and ignored Tito Ammassari’s curious stare as she smoothed down her shirt under her denim jacket and checked the creases in her trousers. She’d already run the gamut of Rogue’s comments about dressing so smartly for an outdoor estimation. “I’m here to measure your lot for the cameras you require.” She noticed his eyes never wavered from the basket. “I brought my lunch. Thought I could share it with Erith while I’m here.”

  “That child in
the offices needs a good feed. She has very little meat on her bones.”

  Pagan nodded. She had noticed the same thing yesterday. One carefully placed word with Melina, and a local shop had delivered sandwiches.

  Tito crowded a little nearer to Pagan. “We had a break-in last night.”

  Pagan’s eyes narrowed. “What was taken?”

  Tito’s arms lifted in exasperation. “My pride and joy! My own car. Now you know why I need the security your firm sells. Forget the estimates, just fit me with the best!”

  “They knew what they were doing, then,” Pagan said, scanning the car lot with its barbed walls and heavy metal gates. She nodded toward the office building. “Who was last to leave?”

  “Erith was working late in the office, so I left her with the keys and the codes to lock up. She never saw a thing. They must have waited for her to go and then broke in. I’m just thankful they didn’t do anything to her.” He nudged Pagan in her side. “Where were my protectors of the night? They say this city has ones who keep the thieves and looters at bay.”

  “That’s what we pay the police for. Have you contacted them at all?”

  Tito snorted. “They came and filled in a report. It will get filed away and lost in time. I want my vehicles kept safe by Ronchetti Security, not the police who treat me like some low-life car trader. I’ve worked hard to get where I am today. I’m not prepared to lose it.” His tirade over, Tito waved Pagan on her way. “Go. Measure the place for cameras and detectors that will tell me if a mouse dares to set foot on my property. And tell Erith to leave the phone on answering machine; it will field any calls we get. Get her out into the sunshine, feed her, and get some sun on her skin.”

  “I will,” Pagan said and took the steps a few at a time to enter the offices. Walking through the corridor, Pagan grinned as a voice carried its way toward her.

  “That van of yours barely makes a noise. I only knew of your arrival thanks to Tito’s loud voice.”