Chapter 9
A crushing pain in Savanah’s chest squeezed her lungs, closing them off to any attempt at a deep breath. Her heart pounded erratically as the man who called himself Eun Jung shoved her through the front door of a farm house.
Scottie lunged at Jung, but the guards forcefully yanked him back.
“Stupid,” Jung yelled, ramming the butt of his gun into the back of Scottie’s head. He dropped to his knees, blood trickling down the back of his neck. When they’d been ambushed two miles down the road, Scottie had done everything possible to protect her from harm, taking a beating that left him bloody and bruised.
Savanah had tried to call out to Chad, but someone with shockingly strong, and well-developed psychic abilities had managed to block her.
“Where is the rest of your team?” Jung bent over Scottie, the muzzle of his weapon pressed against his temple.
Scottie narrowed his eyes, disgust seeping from his gaze.
“Silence will just get the girl killed.” Jung waved to one of the men on the other side of the room who stomped over to where Savanah stood.
He yanked her by the hair, shoving the nose of the rifle under her chin.
She gasped. A sharp pain radiated through her head.
Scottie let out a short breath through his nose like a bull. “Three hundred yards past the junction and access road,” he said behind gritted teeth.
“How many?” Jung asked.
She continued to try to punch through the psychic block. All she needed to do was either contact someone or remote view somewhere near Chad. He’d see her, or at the very least sense her, but each time it felt like someone reached inside her throat and ripped out her lungs in one swift motion.
“Twelve men,” Scottie said.
“When will they attack?” Jung demanded.
“One hour.”
Savanah swallowed. Scottie had lied about the time of the ambush.
“What is their goal? The Americans?”
Scottie nodded.
“Get him out of here,” Jung yelled, waving his hand.
“What about her?” Scottie asked, twisting and turning his body, trying to break free of his restraints. “What are you doing with her?”
“None of you concern,” Jung said.
“She’s a civilian. My government isn’t going to cover her up. You’re fucked if you touch her.”
Jung laughed. “Ah, but you know I have no problem killing her, or you wouldn’t have given up the information so quickly.” He leaned in, sneering. “If you’re lying, neither of your deaths will be quick and easy.”
A couple of his men picked Scottie up from the ground and dragged him across the foyer and into another room. From somewhere upstairs, she heard a muffled scream. The lights flickered.
Her muscles trembled, and tears stung in her eyes.
Jung grabbed her arm and hauled off in the other direction. They passed a staircase and another gut-wrenching wail smacked her ears. A few seconds later, Scottie cried out.
“We’re going to find whoever is blocking your powers.” Jung shoved her to a sofa in the middle of a what appeared to be a family room. Old hardwood floors were partially covered with a white, shag rug. Animal antlers lined the walls.
“I don’t understand?” She blinked a few times, taking mental notes of everything in the room, including the only exit and the three windows on the far wall. The room itself wasn’t much to talk about with its brown sofa, matching chairs, and bland accent colors. A couple of the wall decorations could be used as weapons, if she could rip them down.
“Don’t play dumb with me,” Jung said, sitting in a wingback chair, lighting a pipe. “Someone is protecting your talents. Hiding them from me. When I find out who it is, I’m going to kill them.”
“What are you talking about?” She concentrated on trying to punch through the barrier, realizing that the force of the shield wasn’t projecting from the outside, blocking her from using her skills, but coating her body, keeping anyone from penetrating her senses and exposing her gifts and tapping into them. This wasn’t about blocking her, but about unlocking her.
But why?
And was it even possible?
“Preventing me from using my psychic ability only keeps me in harm’s way, so it has to be you or one of your men.”
Jung shook his head. “I want you to use your gifts. You’re special,” Jung said. “I knew that the second I sensed you coming down that road.”
At least he didn’t know she’d been in the compound. Or hoped he hadn’t sensed her there.
“So special, I had to risk having you, but the second I snatched you up, someone clamped down on your powers so quickly and precisely that even you don’t know what is going on. But whoever it is, I’m going to find him and kill him.”
Another muffled scream from upstairs.
She cringed.
“And what about whoever that is? Are they special?”
“Don’t you worry your pretty little head about them.”
“But they are why I’m here,” she said. If someone was protecting her gifts, she needed to find out who, and why, because it didn’t make sense. Keeping her from calling for help only crippled any chance of getting out alive.
Unless there was a double agent doing this to her protecting her until he could help her make her escape.
“You’re not military,” Jung said.
“No. I’m not. But I was hired by them.”
He smiled. “Because of your precious gifts.”
“I was brought in to help find the two men you have upstairs.”
“You’re only half good at your job.” Jung let out a hearty laugh, his large belly bouncing. “You found them, but you won’t be able to save them.”
She leaned back, crossing her legs, trying to act as though she wasn’t utterly terrified. “Why are you torturing them? Not a good way to extract information.”
“Who says I’m extracting information?”
“Why else would you torture someone?” If she kept him talking, she might be able to communicate with whoever was holding her abilities back, or hiding them, or whatever. She really needed to reach Chad. She knew without a doubt he’d be able to get her out of this mess.
And save his men and Scottie.
“There is a plethora of reasons. None of which I’m feeling like I want to discuss.” He took a long drag off his pipe, sending the smoke toward the ceiling. “I’ve worked for years to develop my gifts, but they halted in their growth many years ago. But you.” He shook his head. “You seem to be cultivating abilities left and right.”
“I have only two psychic abilities. One is remote viewing and the other is telepathy. I can’t communicate with everyone. Just my sister and boyfriend.” She left out that she had three sisters, and she’d been able to communicate with Brett on occasion. “I think you’re the one who is blocking me.”
Jung shook his head. “Tsk. Tsk. Blocking you would prevent me from harnessing your gifts, using them to achieve my goals.”
“How do you harness my gifts, other than forcing me to use them?” This she really needed to hear.
“Every time a true psychic uses their gifts, they emote an energy like an aura. Someone who can see and interpret those auras can help others recreate them, giving them new powers. We’re also developing techniques to synthetically create the auras, so all a person would have to do is drink a cocktail and next thing you know, they can read minds.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Nothing is impossible,” Jung said.
She arched a brow. “Is that what you’re doing with the men upstairs?”
“You’re persistent. I like that.”
One of the guards walked into the room. “Sir, I need to speak with you for a moment.”
“Excuse me,” Jung said as he breezed by; his musky cologne closed her throat, cutting off her ability to take a decent breath.
“Okay, whoever is messing with my abilities, make yourself known.”
She tapped her toe impatiently against the carpet.
“Blocking me only prevents me from helping the men being tortured.” She knew Jung could be lying, since the entire idea of harnessing power was absurd, but she had to try to plead her case. If this person was American, or on her side, she needed to make them understand they were only making matters worse.
“I will make myself known when Chad gets here, and things are safe,” an unfamiliar male voice rang out. “Until then, I’m locking your powers. You’ll know when it’s safe to use them.”
A warm tingle spread across her body like a fleece blanket on a cool night. “Who are you? How do you know about Chad?”
Suddenly, a chill crept into her bones.
“Wait. Don’t go,” she pleaded, but she knew whoever had spoken to her was gone.
Chad slammed the Jeep into park, jumping from the vehicle, barely snagging the keys as he bolted across the unpaved, makeshift road. If Brett hadn’t devised a game plan by now, Chad was going in both barrels loaded.
A dozen men, plus Brett, stood around a table under a tarp. The sun had peeking through the thick jungle trees as the sun began its decent, giving way to the night sky.
“Welcome to the party,” Brett said, extending a hand.
“What’s the plan?” He took a spot next to Brett at the head of the table.
“The house is protected from other psychics using their power. Not sure how or by who, but none of these men can penetrate it.”
“I can,” Chad said, studying the layout of the house. He’d only seen it from the outside.
“So can I.” Brett cocked his head. “Which makes me wonder if whoever is doing this is trying to draw us in.”
“Yeah, but why?” Chad scratched the back of his head.
“That’s the million-dollar question, and I’ve got plan to get the answer,” Brett said.
“What’s that?” All Chad wanted to do was beat down the door and get Savanah. He should have never let her go. Staying in the view would have prevented her from being captured. She would have been safer alone in the cabin.
“I’m going to remote view. If I can remove an object from a different plane, I can bring one in.”
“Have you ever done that, sir?” one of the men asked.
“Brought one in? No. But I know I can.”
“That’s dangerous, sir,” another man chimed in.
“So is ambushing a North Korean hostile camp in hostile territory, on an unsanctioned mission,” Brett said, pressing his hands on the table. “None of you men have to do this. You are free to go.”
“We’ve got nowhere else to be right now,” one man said.
“Scottie’s in there,” another man said.
“So, what do you want to bring in?” Chad asked.
“For starters, we bring Scottie a handgun.” Brett tapped the drawing of the house. “He’s being held in the dining room. Tied to a table. Beaten up pretty bad, but still very alert.”
“You viewed the house? Savanah?” Chad asked, staring at Brett. The idea that he was Chad’s brother slammed into his heart, exploding his pulse into a wild frenzy. Brett had the same eyes. The shape of their nose was identical. They way in which Brett leaned over the table, identical to Chad. The similarities too much to ignore.
“She’s unharmed.”
“How long ago?”
“Snapped back about five minutes before you arrived.” Brett placed a comforting hand on Chad’s shoulder, giving it a slight squeeze.
“So, a gun, and maybe a knife, too, for Scottie,” Chad said.
“And instructions for Savanah once the raid starts.”
“Just exactly how do you plan on getting these items in the hands of Scottie and Savanah without being detected?”
“Remember when I took your knife off the desk?”
“Yeah. It disappeared, sort of. I mean I still saw it, only more as a hologram than an object.” It was hard to believe that happened less than a week ago. Chad’s life had changed drastically in that moment. He could no longer deny who and what he was. Then Savanah came waltzing back into his life, making him want all those things he’d done his best to bury.
“The same has to old true for the opposite,” Brett said.
“But the object will come in plain view once you leave it, and in order to hide it on the person you’re giving it to, you’ll have to cross organic material.”
“I know, which will probably make me useless for a bit when I snap back, but I can stay in the view and guide you until we have our men and Savanah out of there.”
“I’m in,” Chad said, taking a deep calming breath, doing his best to restore his heartbeat to something remotely normal. He needed to keep his head in the game and focus on the mission.
“I’ll start my view. Once I have the objects in place, I’ll signal you.”
“How will you do that, sir?” one of the men asked.
“Telepathically to me,” Chad said.
“In a view? That’s not possible,” the same man said.
“It is for us,” Chad said, staring at Brett. “One of the perks of being brothers.” By the time Chad had turned eight, he figured he’d never see a blood relative ever, much less a brother. Three brothers, actually.
One of which he knew without a doubt was Hunter.
We need to get Hunter and Savanah out of there, Chad projected to Brett. I know he’s one of our other brothers.
Brett nodded. Maybe he knows who the fourth is.
Chad opted to keep his vision to himself about who the fourth brother could be. He’d have that conversation after they saved the one brother who needed them right now.
And the woman he loved.