Chapter 8
Chad fought the increasing stabbing pain in his temples. He didn’t know if it was because he’d forced Savanah to return to reality, leaving him inside her view, or if it was caused by whatever psychic phenomenon was happening to Hunter.
And why only Hunter?
The other SEAL being held captive, Karl Homer, seemed to be free of those things that surrounded Hunter. Savanah had fed Chad all the information she could about both SEALs. Hunter, obviously the most talented between the two, had the ability to communicate telepathically, move and manipulate objects, which was known as telekinesis, and the most interesting to Chad, something called retrocognition, or the ability to view past events.
Chad sat on a tree stump, just fifteen yards west of the small house where Hunter and Homer’s captors had set up camp. With everyone speaking Korean, he wished he could remote view an interpreter or somehow miraculously understand the language. That said, he understood enough based on their actions, that Hunter and Homer’s days, or hours, were limited.
“Where are you, Savanah?” he projected.
“Ten miles away,” she said, her voice softer and shallower than normal when she spoke to him. He figured it was because his mind was fifty miles from his body, and she was communicating from one plane to the next.
He stifled a laugh.
No one could make this kind of shit up and never in a million years did he think he’d ever embrace it so wholeheartedly.
But he did.
And not just because he loved Savanah.
But because he knew deep down his destiny was to be reunited with his brothers. He shook his head. What an odd thought to have about people he had never met and really, it was a wild story.
However, that story was his reality.
“How are you feeling?” she asked.
“I’ve been worse,” he admitted.
“I don’t like the sound of that. We know the location. Go back to your body and catch up to us here.”
“No,” he said sternly. “Once you make camp, enter the view. Then I’ll go back to my body. We can’t lose Hunter and Homer now.”
“I’ll let you know right before I run to my waterfall.”
“Talk soon.” He stood, stretching, which made him chuckle because his body sat in a hard metal chair back at the cabin. Alone. The longer he stayed disconnected, the harder it would be to snap back. He waved his hand in front of his face. His hologram was still strong, but he could tell it faded.
Just another fifteen minutes, he told himself. Then he could rejuvenate himself and work on the same plane as the action would be.
He walked the perimeter of the house, inching closer to the back. A few groans and screams echoed in the night.
He cringed.
They needed to get inside and get his men before they died.
He tried to project his thoughts to Hunter, but it felt like they literally bounced off a wall.
“Willow?”
Nothing.
Hazel hadn’t seemed to develop telepathy, but maybe his other brother had.
“Brett? Can you hear me?”
“Barely. What’s going on?” Brett’s voice tickled his brain.
“Waiting for Scottie’s team to set up and Savanah to come back into the view.”
“Why didn’t you let her stay and you go with the team?”
“I didn’t want her alone in the cabin, for one. But also, she wasn’t looking good. She crossed bodies with Hunter, and it affected her negatively.”
“Yeah, touching organic material in a view can be painful, and it depletes your energy. But man, you can’t stay much longer without losing your ability to get back.”
“She should be here any minute.” Chad moved from the back of the house to the road. Scottie and his team were setting up camp only three miles south, dangerously close, but necessary. “Then we’ll switch places. It’s only a fifty-minute drive, and Scottie will brief me while we make the trip.”
The plan thus far had been to ambush two hours after dusk, before the first changing of the guards. Scottie had managed to pull in an Army A-Team that had been stationed just a few miles away waiting orders for another mission that had been nixed just an hour ago. They had twelve men, not including Scottie, and Chad and Savanah would pull out of the view the second the action started.
“Did she tell you that we all have the same birthdate? Hunter included. And he was adopted,” Brett said.
“Do any of us know the names of our birth parents?”
“My adoption, as was Hunter’s, was closed. I never thought to look.”
“Neither have I, but I guess we should.” Chad needed to change the subject. “How is Alexis?” Just as Chad asked, screams erupted from the house. He contemplated going in, but what could he do to stop them? All it would do was remind him how utterly helpless he was at this particular moment. Being able to remote view had its advantages.
But it also had some major drawbacks.
“The pain comes in waves. She can’t pinpoint the source. The last time someone remote healed with her, it was me. I was nearly dead. Had it not been for her, I wouldn’t be here.”
“I don’t know what to make of this barrier around Hunter, other than we’re surrounded by psychics. They have people looking for viewers, but so far I’ve been able to block them.”
“Stay out there much longer, and you won’t,” Brett said. “I’m in country, and enroute to Scottie, so call on me if you need me.”
“Will do.”
The waiting had always been the worst part of any mission, and ninety-five percent of his job had always been waiting.
And half of that time, they waited for nothing. Many missions were never executed, for whatever reason.
This was an op that not only had to be completed, but it had to go off without a hitch.
Shouts from the Koreans stole his attention. Men with automatic weapons ran yelling across the yard.
Chad took off toward the road. His heart racing. When he came to the end of the dirt road that led to the house, he came to a screeching halt.
“Savanah,” he projected, staring at her with her hands over her head, and a Korean operative pointing a semi-automatic weapon at her chest.
“What happened?”
Nothing. Total silence from Savanah.
Scottie walked next to her, his gaze darting around as if he were looking for Chad.
“Brett? Are you still there?”
“Yeah. What’s up?”
“They have Savanah and Scottie.”
“Get out of the view and get to the basecamp where Scottie’s men are. I’ll jump in and keep an eye on things.”
Chad walked right up to Savanah, waving his hand out across her body. His fingers burned and immediately he felt as though he would vomit. His energy depleted, and he dropped to his knees.
He glanced up and one of the North Koreans peered into his view, staring down at him. “You’re all going to die.”