Veil of Midnight Read Online Free PDF Page B

obvious suspicious nature of the Gen One. “And I’ll need to talk to that witness too.”

    “Of course.” Yakut motioned over one of his Breed guards. “Fetch the child.”

    The tall male nodded in acknowledgment, then left to carry out the order. Yakut sat forward in his chair. “The attack occurred here in this room. I had been sitting in this very chair, reviewing a few of my accounts when the guard on watch heard a noise outside the lodge. He went to investigate, and returned to tell me that it was only raccoons that had gotten into one of the sheds out back.” Yakut shrugged. “This was hardly unusual, so I sent him out to drive the pests away. When several minutes passed and he did not come back, I knew there was trouble. By then, no doubt, the guard was already dead.”

    Nikolai nodded. “And the intruder was already inside the lodge.”

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    “Yes, he was.”

    “What about the girl—the witness?”

    “She had taken her evening meal and was resting in here with me. She’d fallen asleep on the floor near the fire, but she awoke just in time to see that my assailant was standing directly behind me. I hadn’t even heard the bastard move, he was so stealthy and quick.”

    “He was Breed,” Niko suggested.

    Yakut inclined his head in agreement. “No question, he was Breed. He was dressed like a thief, all in black, his head and face covered with a black nylon mask that left only his eyes visible, but there is no doubt in my mind that he was our kind. If I had to guess, I would say he might even have been Gen One himself based on his strength and speed. If not for the child opening her eyes and crying out a warning, I would have lost my head to him in that next instant. He brought a thin wire garrote down on me from behind the chair. Mira’s scream drew his attention away for a crucial second, and I was able to bring up my hand to block the wire from slicing across my throat. I twisted out of his range, but before I could leap on him myself or call in my guards, he escaped.”

    “Just like that, he turned tail and ran?” Nikolai asked.

    “Just like that,” Yakut replied, a slow smile teasing at the corner of his mouth. “One look at Mira, and the coward fled.”

    Niko swore under his breath. “You were damn lucky,” he said, finding it hard to reconcile that the sight of a mere child could cause such a distraction for what had to be a highly trained, expert assassin. It just didn’t make sense.

    Before he could point that out to Yakut, footsteps approached from the other end of the long room. Walking in ahead of the guard Yakut had dispatched was Renata and a delicate waif of a girl. Renata had shucked her weapons somewhere, but she strolled alongside the child protectively, her cool gaze wary as she brought Mira farther into the room.

    Nikolai couldn’t help staring at the girl’s odd attire. The pink pajamas and bunny slippers were unexpected, but it was the short black veil that covered the top of her face that he found most jarring.

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    “Renata was reading me a story,” Mira supplied, her soft voice chiming with a bright innocence that seemed so out of place in Yakut’s crude domain.

    “Is that so?” the Gen One asked, a slow reply that seemed directed more at Renata than the child. “Come closer, Mira. There is someone who wants to meet you.”

    The guard stepped back once Mira stood before Yakut, but Renata’s booted feet held steady at the girl’s side. At first Niko wondered if the child might be blind, but she moved without hesitation, walking the few remaining steps to where Yakut and Nikolai now stood.

    The small head pivoted toward Nikolai without error. She definitely was sighted. “Hello,” she said to him, and gave a polite little nod.

    “Hello,” Nikolai replied. “I heard what happened the other night. You must be very brave.”

    She shrugged, but it was impossible to read her expression when just her small nose and mouth were visible beneath the