“You don’t want to know.” Beth slipped her hand into his grasp and squeezed against him. Her mental voice sounded not so much angry as depressed. He put his arm around her. She shivered, so he concentrated for a second and warmed her clothes. She sighed happily.
They’d had hardly any time to really be with each other. The beach in Maine, that kiss that healed her headache. First chance, as soon as they got out of here, they’d take the time to really be together.
“Yes, soon, Alec.”
On the ground floor, they stepped out of the elevator. He kept hold of Beth’s hand. Even when she wasn’t speaking telepathically, he could feel her in the back of his mind, a soft caress at some deep mental level. It didn’t feel the least bit intrusive.
Beth gave him the telepathic equivalent of a hug.
Daz pulled an iPhone from his pocket and they walked down the hallway, to the exit.
“I’m going to text the rest of the team, have them meet us outside,” Daz said. “We’ll leave together.”
“You have a contract, Commander,” Lansing said.
“Yeah, and it didn’t include kidnapping a woman and helping to keep Alec a prisoner,” Daz said. “Sue me. See how far you get in court.”
They stepped outside. The lights were on in the parking lot but the full moon made them almost unnecessary. “We’ll take the van,” Alec said.
“What about him?” Daz pointed at Lansing.
Drake moved the muzzle of the .22 from his captive’s head to his heart. “Alive, he’ll always be a threat to both of you.”
“No,” Beth said.
Alec squeezed her hand, torn.
“Your father’s right,” he said. “Lansing’s got some wacked-out plan to use psychics to control the world. And he’s got the money and power to back it up.”
“We can’t help any of that right this second.”
“You want him to take other kids and do to them what he did to me?”
“You can’t save children by staining your own hands with blood…”
“…Look what murder has done to Philip. You see what he is. Do you want to be like him? He doesn’t want that for you or me, I know it.”
“Let the bastard go.” Alec flicked his fingers, calling the TK, and knocked Drake back from his prisoner.
Drake scowled. “This is a mistake.”
“Team’s coming,” Daz said. “Fast.”
Alec nodded.
“You’ll come back, Alec. This is what you are,” Lansing said. “You’ll be lost without it.”
Alec shook his head. For the first time, the man who had controlled his life seemed old, shrunken in size. Irrelevant.
“I’ll decide what I am.”
“Not with the girl controlling you. Obviously, she has more power than you know. And Drake has an agenda.”
“He wanted to save his daughter,” Alec said. “Simple.”
“You’re the simple one, being led around by what’s below your waist. She wants you to be some fool with a house and a job. You’ll hate it.”
“Team’s assembling.” Daz pointed to the other nine members of F-Team, in full battle gear, headed in their direction.
Alec turned to Lansing. “You blew it, old man. You had a chance with me. You could have been a real father to me, like Drake is to his daughter. You could have put my safety and my life above all. Instead you shoved me into war games before I was twelve, drugged me and lied through your teeth when it suited you.”
“It was necessary. You’ll realize that.”
Alec jabbed a finger into Lansing’s breastbone. “I could have cared about you. Now, we’re done. Come near me after this and I’ll cremate you.”
Alec’s impulse to kill the man faded. Lansing had no power over him anymore.
Beth tugged at his elbow. “I want to get the hell out of here. Now.”
The sound of chopper blades cutting through air stopped the conversation. Alec looked up. Lights shone down overhead from an approaching helicopter.
Not just a chopper, a Blackhawk and probably armed. And they had no place to run in the open air.
“You did this.” Alec grabbed Lansing by the shirt.
Lansing shook his head. “It’s not mine.”
“Bullshit.” Alec had to yell over the sound of copter blades.
“He’s telling the truth, Alec. Whoever is inside is thinking about Lansing, something urgent, but he doesn’t work for Lansing.”
Alec let go of the shirt and raised his hands, marshaling the TK. He tried to grab the chopper blades but they moved too fast and had too much power behind them. He could break them but not control them. He could knock the copter from the sky or blow up the gas tank but that would destroy it and everyone on board.
“Don’t. I’m not sure that’s an enemy.”
“If they’re trying to save Lansing, they are. How many inside?”
“Three. Two pilots and someone else. They’re not thinking about attacking us. They want to talk to Lansing.”
With his TK, Alec nudged Daz to get his attention. Daz turned. Alec held up three fingers and pointed to the Blackhawk. Daz nodded. F-Team surrounded Lansing, preventing escape. Drake had once again moved to Beth’s side. He moved pretty damn fast for someone who’d been almost dead fifteen minutes ago. That needed an explanation. Soon.
The Blackhawk touched down. The blades stopped rotating.
A man dressed in a suit stepped out of a side door. Kowalski, the Resource’s CIA contact. “Lansing, what the hell kind of show are you running? You have your men ready but—”
“The Resource is busy right now, Kowalski,” Drake said. “Leave a message and we’ll get back to you.”
Alec grinned.
Kowalski turned on Drake. “You’re not supposed to be here, asshole.” He looked them over. “Forget it. I don’t want to know what’s going on. What I want is F-Team deployed. We’ve located Demeter’s group. They’re close to Manhattan and probably ready to detonate the bomb. We need to hit them first.”
“Bullshit,” Alec said.
Beth grabbed his forearm. “He’s telling the truth. Demeter has his group on a container ship just outside New York harbor. They could detonate the bomb anytime now.” Her face grew paler.
“Straight dope?” Daz stepped forward, looking at Beth. She nodded.
Daz took a deep breath and lowered his rifle. “Shit.” He looked around and shrugged. “Demeter has lousy timing.” He pointed to several team members. “You three, get our ship assault gear, including grappling hooks.” He turned to Alec and tossed him a set of keys. “You take the girl and Drake and get the hell out of here. Nice knowing you, Firefly.”
Alec caught the keys. For all the weight they carried, they shouldn’t have felt so light. He put them in Beth’s hand. “Take your father and go.”
“Because you’re going with F-Team.”
“I have to,” he said. “I’ll find you after. Or have your father find me. He’s good at that.”
She shook her head. He felt her mood telepathically: resigned, worried and determined.
“No.”
He set his hands on her shoulders and searched her face. “What did you say?”
She tossed the keys to the ground. “I’m going with you.”
Chapter Twenty-One
“No,” Alec and Philip said in unison.
“Yes.” She shut out their mental cries. “I have to go. Every time Alec and I touch, he has access to more power. I don’t want him to fail because I’m not there. And I can help with my telepathy.”
“You’re not trained,” Alec said.
“I did fine just now. I’m going.” Beth crossed her arms over her chest. It was a good thing he couldn’t read her mind because he would never agree if he knew how scared she was.
Their thoughts battered her, angry and insistent. Philip was ready to knock her out and take her to safety. She was tempted to let him. The gun fight in Maine had been enough battle for a lifetime.
�
��I’m going.” She pushed down her fear. “You either take me or I’m going to make you stay behind, Alec.”
“You can’t—”
“I can. Remember what I did to the guards?”
Alec swore. The blacktop at his feet started to melt. He stepped to the side.
“If you’re coming, Firefly, we need to go, fast,” Daz said.
Alec clenched his teeth. “She’s coming with us.”
Daz raised his eyebrows. “Are you nuts? I’m not taking a civilian on this.”
“Yes, you are, Commander Montoya.” She stared at him, sending the command to him, telepathically, several times over.
“Fuck, back off, shrink.” Daz shook his head, as if trying to clear his brain. “You want in so bad, you win. You better be up to it.” Daz spoke into his phone, calling for another set of body armor.
“I’m glad she’s your girl, not mine, Firefly,” Daz said.
“Why?”
“Because she’s going to win every argument you ever have.”
She smiled. Alec scowled.
“Make that two sets of body armor.” Philip took off his sling. “Stop looking shocked, Commander. I’m no civilian.”
“You’re a liability,” Daz said. “We could have gotten out of that shithole much faster if you hadn’t collapsed.”
“I got better,” Philip said, face blank.
Daz turned to Alec, questioning. “I’m not risking our people unless he’s good to go.”
“Beth?” Alec looked at her. “He’s hurt. You could order him to stay.”
If she lied, Philip would have to stay here. He’d be safe. And that would be as wrong as Philip forcing her to stay.
“He’s okay now,” she said. “He’s healed. Side effect of my telepathy.”
Daz shrugged. “All right, but it’s your funeral, Drake. We’re not taking time to babysit you.”
Beth turned to her father. “You should stay.”
“If you can make a choice to risk your life, then I can make the same choice to protect you.”
Which she knew. She hugged him and he squeezed back so tightly it took her breath away. He understood why she had to go. He hated it, but he understood. And she knew why he had to come. She’d known for years that she was one of Philip’s few holds on sanity. If she was gone, she suspected he wouldn’t live long after her death, even with his healing ability.
A soldier arrived with a smaller version of Alec’s body armor. She let Philip put it on her, knowing she’d fumble with the Velcro straps. It was heavier than she’d expected, and she fought to keep her knees from knocking together. It covered her butt like the guard’s jacket had. Alec hovered, worried, and she hoped she looked calm.
“I’m also coming,” Lansing announced.
That brought everyone to silence for a few seconds. Gabe, who’d been discreetly covering Lansing with a rifle, muttered a curse.
“I’d as soon take you into battle as a snake into my bed,” Daz said.
“No,” Philip said, “let him come.”
Alec frowned, looking between Daz and Philip. “Why?”
“We bring him, we can watch him,” Philip said. “We let him stay, he’ll have an army of goons and government backing to arrest us once this is over. Behind our backs, he’s a serious threat. With us, we watch him.”
“Point,” Daz said. “But he could fuck up the mission.”
“Then he’d die and he doesn’t want that, do you, Richard?” Philip said Lansing’s first name like a curse word.
Alec stared at Lansing. His foster father stared back, not flinching this time from the anger.
Beth tried to read Lansing’s thoughts but all she got was determination to come on the mission. He did want to help, for some reason.
“Alec, I can control him, if necessary.”
“You sure? We could be getting shot at when you try.”
“My father is right. If we leave him behind, we could stop the bomb and then find ourselves massacred or imprisoned by government troops. Anyway, Lansing doesn’t want to die on this mission. He won’t act against us until he’s out of danger. That, I can read clearly.”
What she didn’t tell Alec was that Philip would be waiting for just the right moment to put a bullet in Lansing’s skull. It was part of the reason Philip wanted to take him along. Lansing must guess that. It would be something else to keep him in line.
Alec nodded. “All right. Get him gear but no weapons.”
“I’m not fighting without weapons,” Lansing said.
“When we get there.”
They finished with the body armor and everyone clambered aboard the helicopter. She’d never ridden in a helicopter to a battle before. She’d never used telepathy this way before, either. She could have happily replaced those firsts with, say, first time making love to Alec in a real bed.
She tucked her head into her knees, concentrating, trying not to think about copter crashes that she’d seen on the news. In the body of the Blackhawk, Philip sat across from her. Alec sat next to her. The noise from the copter blades was overwhelming, the air practically pounding in her ears. She tried to huddle against Alec as best she could, wishing for the lost cabin in Maine. Soon, he’d said in the elevator. So much for that.
I hate this.
Lansing boarded the Blackhawk, with Gabe shadowing him. Philip pointed and Gabe settled his captive next to her father. Lansing scowled at Philip. Her father grinned menacingly.
She’d read Lansing’s sincerity at wanting to come. But she didn’t know why. She had to know why.
Once again, the telepathy made her wish real. Lansing’s surface thoughts were swirling, angry, making them difficult to comprehend. Wait, he was Philip’s father?
The helicopter jerked, taking off, and it broke her concentration. She braced her back against the metal wall and held on to Alec. He clasped her hand. She squeezed it tight. The body armor felt heavier now, more of a burden, bringing home the realization that she had no idea what she was getting into.
She glanced from her father to the Resource Director and back. There was some physical resemblance between them, mostly around the eyes and chin but they seemed too close in age to be father and son. Oh, screw it. Instead of guessing, she could find out everything.
She closed her eyes and dug deep for answers in Lansing’s mind. She wondered if he knew she was doing it. She decided she didn’t give a damn.
Images flooded her. Lansing as a soldier in the Queen’s Army—Queen Victoria’s army. Battles raged around him, friends fell and died. Images of his family, a wife and children, growing older while he remained the same age. Other images that covered the years between but they zipped by too fast for her to read carefully. She caught a glimpse of a young woman with brunette hair and high cheekbones telling Lansing that he was going to be a father and Lansing’s utter dismissal of that announcement. Damn you, Lansing. Philip hadn’t even seen his father until he’d been a full adult.
The strongest recent memory was the day Lansing had taken toddler Alec into his arms, full of optimism and plans for the future. That was normal enough, given Lansing was Alec’s father in all but name. What was abnormal were his plans for Alec. Lansing’s immortality had effectively driven him insane. The Resource Director was tired of taking orders, of hiding his true self, of other men running everything. He’d looked at Alec as the first step on the road to eventually controlling the world. Those plans started with molding Alec into a weapon without peer, one that could be pointed at heads of state or terrorists or whoever didn’t take orders from Lansing. And the Resource Director had plans to locate others with powers and train them like Alec.
Philip had been far better off without this man in his life.
What was truly creepy about Lansing was that with the mercenary and research branches of the Resource, he had enough power and influence to make his insane dreams real. Or at least real enough to cause a lot of death and destruction. Philip was right. Lansing would never give up trying to
control her or Alec.
Should she let her father kill Lansing? She suspected that she couldn’t stop him. Eventually, Philip would do it, whether she approved or not.
She opened her eyes and rested her head on Alec’s shoulder, taking a shuddering breath. Reading all that made her feel sick, almost nauseous. Mental note: Stay out of the heads of crazy people. Alec squeezed her hand. He had his head tilted to the side, looking over a report on the CIA agent’s laptop. The laptop had been set at their feet, in the space between the two rows of men.
Philip, Lansing and Daz also leaned forward, studying the same thing. They made hand gestures but how they could communicate in this noise, she had no idea. Lansing tapped his helmet and frowned, protesting something. Oh. The rest of them were listening via radios in their helmets but Lansing’s wasn’t working. She moved her head a little but couldn’t figure out how to turn her radio on.
She clutched Alec’s arm as the helicopter banked right. She could feel the vibrations down to her bones. The straps of the body armor dug into her shoulders. The metal of the floor felt cold under her butt. She must had made some sign of her discomfort because Philip raised his head and met her gaze.
“Philip, you should have told me what Lansing was to you.”
“He’s no father to me. But yes, I should have told you.”
“Are you immortal, like he is?”
“God, I hope not.”
“Why didn’t he want to train you like he trained Alec?”
“You heard him, I’m a mongrel. Not fully white. Bad blood from my mother.”
“But he was going to use me and I’m Japanese.”
“You have abilities he can use. As far as he knew then, I was powerless. Nothing to train, nothing to exploit, unlike you or Alec. He offered me a job once. But that’s different from acknowledging me as his son and giving a damn.”
“Blood doesn’t make a father. I learned that from my father.”
Philip smiled. She felt the affection pouring from him.
She smiled back. What else was there to say? She couldn’t change the past for Philip. He went back to reading the intelligence report. She connected telepathically with Alec and attempted to read the report through his eyes. The military jargon made it difficult to follow, but she tried.
Phoenix Rising Page 23
