Edward by Marcus LaGrone Page A

okay?”
    “Scared, dazed, but unscathed.”  Edward cursed to himself at how long it took the
elevator to reach them.  “How bad you hurt Gillian?”
    “Me?”  Gillian looked at herself and only then did her
own injures catch up with her.  “Can't be that
bad, I didn't know anything had happened,” she offered with a feeble laugh.
    “That or shock.  Seriously ma'am,”
countered Alex.  “We'll have some of our people check you out.”
    “Door.  Let's move people!”  The crowd moved into the
elevator.  Kadu stooping to fit, while Edward ran up her
back and out the emergency safety hatch of the top of the elevator. 
A quick check and he rejoined them the way he had gone.   “Clear,
let's go up.”
    “You think they'd bomb the elevator?” asked Alex.
    “No, but I didn't think they'd bomb the car either. 
They have escalated their game, just as Kestrel feared.  Our job has just
begun.”
    Edward stared at the wall as the elevator climbed
painfully, slowly, to the penthouse.
    Kadu put her hand on Edward's shoulder, “Breathe, remember
to breathe.  You don't want to swift.”
    Edward blinked at her in mild confusion.  He wasn't
aware he hadn't been breathing but he knew Kadu wasn't about to joke about
things like that.  He nodded at her and slowly, deliberately started
breathing.
    “Is he alright?” asked Gillian more than a little confused.
    “He is frustrated.  In this situation he normally has
someone to kill,” began Kadu.  “All the adrenaline and
no place constructive to direct it.”
    The doors opened to the upper level and the team scrambled
out.  Edward lent his shoulder to support Tatiana as she stumbled. 
Kadu attended to the door while Alex sat about closing the blinds on all the
windows.
    “I want broad spectrum blinds to install in all the rooms
in the penthouse within the hour.  We also need to get full spectrum
scanners running in the rooms,” barked Kadu over the comlink.
    “You think the rooms might be bugged?” asked Alex.
    “Not unlikely.  We need to consider all
of the client's schedule to be a target,” began Kadu. “Lady Gillian, I
would like to make your calendar for the client to become privileged
data.  Do you have any problems with that?”
    Gillian nodded, “Normally I'd be pissed at you for asking,
but after what just happened, I think it may be for the best.”
    “Medic up in less than five,” barked the comlink.
    “D-tack,” replied Kadu.
    Kadu nodded to Edward and he took Tatiana over to a couch
and sat her down.  She still looked glazed and confused.  Edward sat
down beside her and held her hand.  “How are you feeling?”
    Tatiana stared blankly before slowly turning to face
Edward, “I'm okay.... I guess...”  Her voice was detached and distant.
    “Can you think of anyone that would have wanted to do
this?  Anyone at all?  Anyone
that you might not have mentioned to the police before?”
    There was a noticeable delay as if the words were slowly
bouncing around inside her head before she finally responded, “No.... no
one.... why would anyone want to hurt me?  They almost killed me!” 
The tempo of her speech started to pick up and she started to gain clarity,
“Gillian, you are hurt!”
        Gillian smiled at her, “I'll be fine
dear.  It looks worse than it is.  I think it mainly happened when I
got thrown to the ground.  I'll be okay.  I'm far more worried about
you.  You had quite a scare there and you got quite rattled.  Do we
need to get you something?”
    Tatiana tried to smile, “I'll be okay.”  She snuggled
up against Edward.  “Edward took care of me.”  Suddenly her eyes went
wide.  “The driver!  Was he okay?  He
was in the car when it went up!”
    “Initial reports indicate he will need a trip to the
hospital, but should be released in the morning,” replied Kadu.  “There
are other reports of other injuries, but they were all superficial.”
    “We got lucky,” murmured