Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
What was that?
That’s the alarm I set when we came in. Someone’s here. Stay against the wall and move back to the office.
Sudden dread coursed through her as she peered into the darkened warehouse. Mickey had arranged the meeting, but he was here way early. Like her and Jake he was being cautious, or maybe he’d come prepared to set something up.
She was almost to the door of the office when Jake stepped out, easing the door closed before walking quietly toward her. She inched toward him, and he reached for her hand and pressed his shoulder against hers. He was carrying her purse in his free hand, and he gave it to her.
She knew it was because that was where she’d put her gun.
When Jake gave her a meaningful look, she slung the strap of the purse across her chest, then opened it so she could see the revolver, feeling like she’d stepped into a scene in a cop show.
The weapon should have made her feel safer.
Instead, she felt a kind of raw exposure that she couldn’t explain.
It was kind of like when she and Jake had been playing around.
They’d been focusing on physical sensations and sending silent messages.
Somehow she felt like the guy who’d come in was probing on the same wavelength.
He’d stayed out of sight. Now he walked to the middle of the floor. He was medium height, with blond hair. From where they were standing, they couldn’t see his eyes, but his posture was relaxed as he thrust his hands into the pockets of his jeans.
He looked around, then called, “Come out. I know you’re up there.”
“We’ll stay here,” Jake called back.
The guy shrugged.
“And you are. . . ?” Jake asked.
“Mickey Delaney. And you are Jake Harper and Rachel Gregory.”
“How do you know?”
“You got into some trouble when a woman named Evelyn Morgan was killed.”
Jake remained silent, and Rachel took her cue from him.
“What did she tell you?” Mickey asked.
“Nothing. We didn’t get a chance to talk to her.”
“Who killed her?”
“I’d like to know. You said you had information for us. All you’re doing is asking questions about Evelyn Morgan,” Jake said. “What do you have to say that you couldn’t say over the phone?”
“I think the two of you have recently discovered a talent that you didn’t have before.”
Jake didn’t acknowledge the observation.
“Don’t be modest about it. I’m sure you’re enjoying it.”
“What kind of talent?” Jake asked.
“Mind to mind communication.”
Rachel caught her breath.
“How do you know?” Jake asked.
“Because I have it too,” the guy said.
“Where did it come from?”
Mickey shrugged. “I was hoping you had some insights.”
“I was hoping you did,” Jake countered.
“You got it when the two of you . . . hooked up,” Mickey said.
“What about it?”
“What can you do?”
Don’t even think about it, Jake said to Rachel.
“You first,” Jake said.
“I thought you’d want to brag about your new abilities.”
“This isn’t getting us anywhere,” Jake said. “Either tell us what you want or get the hell out of here.”
“You’re giving orders?”
It wasn’t Mickey who spoke. A woman stepped from behind the float with the king and queen and looked up at them.
“This is my partner, Kira,” Mickey said.
She was a pretty, petite blond with long wavy hair and nicely proportioned figure, the kind of woman who would be attractive to a lot of men. But there was a hardness in her face that told him that anyone who got involved with her would be sorry. Like maybe Mickey.
She was dressed in jeans, a tee shirt and running shoes, but she was probably just as comfortable in high heels and a tight skirt.
“Did you come to give us lessons?” Jake asked with an edge to his voice.
“Not likely.”
Kira raised her hand and a bolt of lightning shot toward them, landing on the metal surface of the steps directly in front of their feet.
Jake and Rachel were already pressed against the wall of the office in back of them. The connection between them had been at its strongest. It weakened when they jumped apart.
Jake cursed, scrabbling for Rachel’s mind, struggling to tell her what he wanted.
But she was on his wavelength. She leaped back toward him and reached for his hand, grabbing on to him as he strove to find new resources inside himself.
Imitating what the other couple had done, he sent a bolt of energy back toward the floor where the man and woman stood.
It fell far short. And it was much less powerful than what the people below had conjured up.
Kira laughed. “Is that the best you can do?”
“Why are you doing this?” Rachel shouted.
“Because we’re the only ones who can have this power.”
“How are we hurting you?” Rachel asked.
“By your existence.”
As they talked, Jake tried to summon an attack with more power. Before he could do it, another bolt shot up at them. It hit Jake’s leg, and he felt his muscles spasm, sending searing pain shooting through the limb.
Fighting the agony, he reached for the gun in his waistband, but when his fingers closed around the metal, it turned scorching hot. He made a low sound as he dropped the weapon. It clattered to the balcony surface, then over the edge and onto the floor below.
Mickey ran to scoop it up, but Kira restrained him with a hand on his shoulder.
The little scene below had given Jake and Rachel a few moments to get away.
Head for the back exit, Jake shouted inside her mind. Go left.
Rachel started running, but she stopped when she saw he could hardly walk on the wounded leg, much less run.
You’re hurt.
Go on.
No.
She grabbed his hand, pulling him along. Another bolt hit him, and he doubled over, fighting unconsciousness. But he would not pass out. If he did, they were done for.
Fumbling in his pocket, he brought out the remote control that he’d taken from the drawer, and began pushing buttons. Below them, the figures on some of the floats began to move. The king and queen raised and lowered their arms and turned their heads. The musical instruments began to play.
Mickey and Kira whirled, as the warehouse came to life around them.
“What the hell?” Mickey spat out.
It’s a trick. Focus on them.
She hadn’t spoken aloud, but Jake caught the words that Kira silently shouted.
She gave Jake an evil look and began blasting at the balcony again. A bolt hit Jake in the stomach, knocking the breath out of him, and he knew that he couldn’t take much more.
“Help me get my shirt off.”
Rachel didn’t ask why as she helped him tear the buttons open and pull his arms from the sleeves.
When it was off, he scrabbled at his pocket and pulled out the box of matches that he’d also taken from the drawer.
I’ll do it.
As another bolt hit him, his legs gave way and he almost dropped the box.
But she grabbed them from him and struck a match, which she touched to the shirt. When it flared up, she tossed it down onto the float with the tree. The artificial leaves went up like a torch, sending a cloud of smoke into the air.
Below them, Mickey cursed and began to cough.
Jake could hear Kira coughing, too. He could no longer see them. And mercifully, the energy bolts had stopped flying up from the level below. But more floats had caught fire, and the smoke was rising, enveloping him and Rachel.
He knew he couldn’t go on. The attack had done something to him that he didn’t understand. The only thing he knew was that his body felt lifeless, and his brain was hardly any better. But when Rachel pulled on his arm, dragging him along, he tried to help her as best he could.
She reached the upper door. When she pulled it open, blessed fresh air poured in, clearing his head a little.
Jake, you’ve got to help me.
He knew that if he didn’t get away, she wouldn’t leave him, so he made a superhuman effort, shoving himself out the door. They were at the top of a long flight of steps, and he almost tumbled down headfirst.
“Can you make it down?”
“We’ll see.” Sending his thoughts to her had become impossible.
Gritting his teeth, he leaned on her like a drunken man as she guided him down the steps to the alley and back to the car.
“Keys?”
“Pocket.”
She leaned him against the side of the vehicle while she fumbled in his pocket, then pulled out the keys and shoved the right one into the lock.
When she opened the back door, he slid inside and flopped onto the seat.
He tried to hang onto consciousness, but it was too much effort. All he wanted to do was sleep. Maybe forever.
Rachel started the engine and drove away from the warehouse. Smoke was now billowing from the roof.
Had Mickey and Kira gotten away, or were they still in there?
She gritted her teeth. Did it matter? They’d lured her and Jake to the warehouse to kill them, and they’d almost succeeded.
Her heart pounded as she looked back at Jake. He was deep into unconsciousness, his mind completely shut off from her.
Still, she tried to reach him.
“Jake?”
Jake?
She kept repeating his name, trying to break through whatever barrier now separated them, but there was absolutely no response, and the lack of connection was like a punch in the gut. She’d come to depend on it, and now she didn’t know what to do without it.
But she did know she had to get Jake somewhere safe. And she couldn’t drive him far. She had to find out what was wrong with him.
A siren sounded in the distance, and she stiffened. But it wasn’t a police car chasing her. It must be fire engines racing toward the Buccaneer Crew’s burning warehouse.
Although she hated thinking of all those floats going up in smoke, burning them had been the only way for her and Jake to get away.
She kept driving, wondering where she was going until she found herself in the alley in back of Kendall Wexler’s pawnshop.
She sat with her head against the wheel, her arms embracing it for a moment. Then she got out and turned the knob on the back door of the building. It was open, and she rushed inside, making for the shop in the front.