was the triskele, as she’d suggested.
The same waitress who’d served them earlier approached the doppelganger with the wariness of a sheep serving a wolf.
Laughing, the fake Shay swatted her bottom. “Nice ass.” The words were a drunken slur.
As the girl backed away, his twin pulled her into his lap and began fondling her. Stark terror pinched the girl’s face. Patrons in the cafe turned their heads.
Bile rose in Shay’s throat. Why was everyone ignoring this?
“What the hell is wrong with those people?” he muttered.
“They’re enchanted,” Kelly said. “They don’t care about anything. It’s as if everything they cared about has been erased from memory. Including their own values.”
The frightened waitress pushed at his chest as his twin slid his hands beneath her skirt.
“If he takes her into the back, I’m going to be sick.” Kelly bit a knuckle.
Shay shook his head. “All he cares about is screwing her. And he thinks he’s my exact duplicate. That’s not me.”
She glanced at him. “No, it’s not. But you once were obsessed with women. Your reputation was well-known even among Arcanes. Oh, you had too much honor to do that,” she said, flicking a hand at his twin. “But all the servants talked about Master Samuel sneaking lovers out of the mansion when dawn broke.”
Guilt pricked his conscience. “House gossip. Rumors.”
“That’s what I said, until I cleaned your room and found boxes of condoms in your closet.”
No condemnation, just resignation. Stricken, he stared at the mirror image of himself, remembering his twin’s mocking words. Kelly was right. And he still was a womanizer. Everyone knew it, from his tight unit to the support staff on ST 21.
It sickened him to see tears rolling down the young waitress’s cheeks as the fake Shay nuzzled her neck.
Shame gnawed through him. “He’s got my DNA stamped into his body. He’s like me. He uses women for sex and then moves on.”
“Did you ever force a woman?”
“No!”
“This one seems intent on it. And that’s not you, Sam. You may have been a womanizer, but you’re no bastard. If you were, I’d never have become your lover.”
“Why did you?”
Her soft gaze met his. “Because I believed in you, not your reputation. It wasn’t the sex. It was your kindness, your generous nature and your compassion for others. You always treated everyone, even the lowest servant, with great respect. And you saw me as a woman, not an Arcane.”
She looked at him tenderly, as if touching the broken pieces inside him, willing them to mend. Too overwhelmed by her deep faith in him, he could not speak. Reaching up, he caressed her cheek with a finger.
Then he dropped his hand and glanced at the restaurant.
“We’ve got to get him away from her. I have an idea.”
Two streets away, he turned onto a deserted street. Shay scanned the area and saw an abandoned hotel. He picked the lock and opened the door. A waft of stale air greeted him. The lobby smelled of mildew. Shay ran a finger over the dusty front counter. How long had this village been enchanted?
“How fast can you run?” he asked.
“I’m a good sprinter.”
“You don’t have to go far. Go back to the restaurant, lead him here and I’ll be waiting.”
“I can outrun him, but not if he calls on his Arcane magick,” Kelly said.
“He’s too damn drunk to remember how to use his powers.”
“Ah. I guess...it’s a good thing you know him so well.”
Guilelessly she looked at him. Sam’s heart kicked hard. So pretty, and honest. Honesty was something he valued, because in his job, he sometimes had to lie.
“If he looks like he’s going to use magick, start screaming. No one will care but me.”
“Be careful.” Kelly touched his arm.
He hesitated, desperately wanting to kiss her and hold her against him as he had before. Shay nodded, watching her jog back.
Hovering by the doorway, he cupped his pistol and waited.
A few minutes later he heard the sound of footsteps in the street running fast. “Tag, you’re it,” she sang out.
Shay pointed his Sig and aimed.
“Can’t you run faster, you drunk monkey? Twenty feet behind me, and you’re ready to fall over.”
She’d given her pursuer’s position.
Kelly hooked a right and ran toward Shay. His twin was on her heels. Seeing Shay, Kelly dropped and rolled clear. Shay fired at his twin’s left thigh.
The Mage screamed and released a string of curses Shay knew too well as he clutched his leg and fell down.
Shay dragged him into the hotel lobby and searched his quarry. Kelly ran inside and shut and locked the door.
“Draw the curtains,” he ordered. He trained his gun on the fake Shay. “Where the hell are those kids?”
“I don’t know.” His twin was cursing as blood seeped between the fingers pressed against his leg. “Goddammit, that hurts, you bastard.”
Placing a foot on the man’s groin, he aimed the pistol at his other leg. “A shattered kneecap hurts worse. First, another bullet in your thigh, right into the muscle. Then a kneecap. I’ve got time and ammo. Tell me where the children are.”
Panic flared in the man’s hazel gaze. Shay felt disoriented, as if looking into a mirror image of himself.
“You’ve got ten seconds. Nine, eight, seven...”
“They aren’t here,” the twin burst out. “They’re not even in the country!”
Behind him, Kelly gasped.
“Where. Are. They?”
“The master refused to tell me. My orders were to find you both and kill you but not damage your body too much. Her, it didn’t matter.” Shay’s twin pointed to Kelly.
Frustration and anger snaked through him. “Are they in the United States?”
No answer. Shay fired a bullet into his other thigh. The man screamed. Kelly paled but remained silent.
“Yes, but I don’t know where! Only the master knows.”
“Who set us up at the LZ? The admiral? Curt?”
“I’m just like you. I’ll never tell.”
Holding on to his fraying temper, Shay shook his head. “You’re too weak to pull this off alone. No matter how much you look like me, you’re not.”
“Fuck you.”
Shay retained his cool. No way would this bastard get under his skin. But the man’s expression shifted and turned crafty. A chill snaked down his spine. He knew the expression, knew what it meant. Had used it on the enemy before to interrogate. Find the weak spots...
“I may look like you, but I’m stronger. I’d never let a stupid yearly tradition weaken me. Sentimental rubbish.”
Shay went still.
“The one time of year when the big, bad navy SEAL turns to mush.” The other tilted his head as if listening. “I can hear the Christmas carols playing now. The favorites, of course. So pathetic. A ritual for rotting corpses.”
