Philip had given her what he never had.
“I love you, Dad.”
“I’m so proud of you. And don’t you ever, ever do this again.”
Nuclear airborne sex while saving the world? Well, probably it wouldn’t come up again. She smiled. “What happens now?”
He kissed the top of her head. “Mop up. I assume they’re posting guards on all parts of the ship. We can expect to see people soon in HazMat suits, taking control of the bomb. They’re going to be in for a shock.”
“Why?”
“Because they have a bomb where the explosives were detonated but the nuke wasn’t.” He smiled. “What you and Alec did is impossible. It ought to give scientists sleepless nights.”
Impossible. What she and Alec had done together defied reality. Even F-Team had been surprised and they were used to Alec in action. She curled closer into Philip. Fear, death, love and back to death, all in the space of two hours. Philip didn’t need to stop her from doing something like this. She didn’t think she could.
But Alec would, in a heartbeat, if he was needed. Where did that leave them?
“What happens to the Resource, Philip?”
He sighed. “That is a very good question.”
“Yeah, I’m wondering that too,” Alec stepped back in the container and knelt in front of her. “You still okay?” He brushed her cheek with the back of his hand. Only a small remnant of the connection between them stirred.
“I’m okay,” she said. “But I want to get out of here.”
“Working on it.” Alec nodded. “We’re secure now.”
“You have everyone in custody?” Philip asked.
“No, there was a member of the cell who jumped off the stern about thirty minutes before we arrived. One of the crew said the other terrorists were pissed but there wasn’t much they could do about it.”
Beth wondered if the missing terrorist had something to do with that spongy area that Alec felt earlier, before they boarded the container ship. She’d have to ask Philip later.
“Neither can we,” Philip said. “He must have drowned.”
“Yeah. He’s likely dead. They’re still sorting out if the crew was in on it or not. Not our job. F-Team is getting the hell out to preserve our part from going public. That’s what I came to ask your father about. Kowalski out there is giving them trouble. I don’t trust him.”
Philip raised an eyebrow. “And you trust me?”
Alec nodded.
Philip shook his head.
Beth nudged her father’s shoulder. “Just stop.”
Philip shrugged. “I’ll take care of Kowalski. He owes me. He’s afraid of me.”
“Imagine that,” Alec said.
Alec offered his hand and she took it. A slow warmth spread into her from his hand, a stronger connection than just a second ago. They belonged together, though she couldn’t see how they could combine their worlds. Today’s events had proved that Alec and F-Team were needed, but if the Resource was gone, what happened to them?
Alec put his arm around her shoulder. “Let’s go.”
Philip shook his head. “No.”
“It’s a little late to object to my being with Alec.” Her father certainly picked a strange time to play protector of her virtue.
“It’s not that. You don’t officially exist, Beth,” Philip said. “I’d rather keep it that way.”
“It’s going to be hard to claim I don’t exist when F-Team knows me, plus the guards and scientists at the Resource.”
“F-Team won’t talk. I can handle the CIA. Alec, I’m going to need your help with the Resource people.”
“What do you need?”
“The CIA will go into the facility and clear it out. They’ll handle the goon squads and any scientists that live onsite. I need to get into the records and delete anything about Beth. Also, I want to erase other information that the CIA shouldn’t have. Two people would be faster than one.”
Alec nodded. “We’ll take Gabe with us. He’s got the tech expertise.”
“Good.”
“And where am I going to be while you two do this?” She crossed her arms over her chest.
“I have an idea.” Alec motioned for someone just out of sight. Daz stepped into the container and took off his helmet.
“Did you convince the CIA agent out there to let us get the hell out?” Alec asked.
“He’s an asshole but transpo is finally on the way.”
“I want you to take Beth. Pretend she’s a team member. Keep her as far away from the spooks and the feds as possible.” Alec looked at Philip. “Uh, no offense.”
Her father shrugged again. “It’s a good plan.”
“If you like being sent away like a child,” she said.
Alec hugged her. “Mission’s over, we won. You won. Your father’s right, the less they know about you, the better. Besides, you just escaped from a prison and haven’t slept properly in who knows how long. You have to be exhausted.”
“So are you.”
“But I have to be here. You don’t.”
She was tired. No, drained was more like it. And she was being petulant for no reason, because the crisis was over and she was so empty of energy there was nothing that she could do, even if she wanted. Bed. Yes. “All right.”
“Daz, put your helmet on Beth,” Alec said. “It’ll hide her face.”
Daz took off his helmet and held it out for her inspection. She closed her hands around it but it slipped out of her grasp.
Daz caught it. “Here, I’ll do it.”
He settled the helmet over her head. That wasn’t so bad. He gave it a tap at the top and closed in on her, covering her eyes.
“I can’t see a damn thing.” She pushed it up so she could have a sliver of light.
Alec laughed. “That’s because Daz has such a big head.”
“You know it,” Daz said.
“It’s all sweaty inside,” she said.
Daz cleared his throat. “Sorry. But we’ll take care of you. You earned it.”
She pushed the helmet up an inch more and stared at him. She didn’t need telepathy to read the approval there. “Okay.”
The smell of breakfast—eggs, bacon, toast—woke her. It took a moment for her to remember that she was finally, against all odds, back in her own bed. Safe. Alive, despite crazed immortals and nuclear bombs.
But who was in her kitchen? Philip? She concentrated, curious if her telepathy had returned with enough strength to pick up thoughts.
It worked. But it wasn’t her father in the kitchen.
It was Alec.
She looked down at her filthy clothes—Alec’s borrowed clothes—covered in the sweat and grime from yesterday. I am not going out there to him like this. Alec might not care. She cared. She wasn’t going to show her face until she washed up.
The shower felt normal, even down to the lack of water pressure, which made her relax because it was so familiar. Her own shampoos and conditioner, her own body wash. Perfect. She closed her eyes and let the hot water run over her, ignoring the sting of the cuts on her feet from yesterday. She looked at her hand. No sign of the gash that Alec had repaired. No, most of the changes were on the inside. She turned off the water and took time to appreciate the soft towels.
Philip had apologized for not helping her with her telepathy, he’d felt awful that he hadn’t given her everything she needed. But she liked this life, she liked her apartment, she liked her work. Her father had given her everything she asked for.
Alec had given her what she hadn’t known she wanted.
She kicked the dirty clothes to the side and took care dressing in her favorite pants and blouse. She took out the red patterned scarf that she’d worn during her first meeting with Alec. If she wore it now, what did it mean? Who knew. It matched the blouse. She tied it around her neck.
There, that was more like herself, whoever “herself” was at this point.
She opened the door to her bedroom. Motown
music was playing in her living room. Your love keeps lifting me higher…
She smiled and bowed in the direction of the Buddha in her cabinet.
Alec was puttering around the kitchen, looking very domestic. All he needed was an apron. Over a bare chest, preferably. Bruises decorated the right side of his face but they didn’t seem to be bothering him.
“Hey, counselor.” He picked her up and hugged her. He’d cleaned up and shaved, though he was wearing his customary jeans and dark T-shirt. “You look great. You smell great.”
She blinked. “So do you. What possessed you to cook breakfast?”
He grinned and put her down. “I watched you in Maine, remember? It didn’t look that hard. Sit down and I’ll fix you a plate.”
She sat in her breakfast nook and watched Alec. He seemed no worse for wear after yesterday. In fact, he seemed energized. He would be. Or maybe he was trying to avoid thinking about Lansing’s death. She could read him and find out. She decided not to.
“Where’s Daz?” F-Team’s leader had driven her home, then insisted on staying to make sure she remained safe.
“Gabe took him home after dropping me off.”
“Where’s Philip?”
“Off doing whatever he does. Does he vanish like that often?”
“Routinely. When he reappears, he usually has presents for me.” There was no sense worrying about her father. She’d hear from him when he was ready.
“So Drake’s kinda like Santa Claus.”
“If Santa carried daggers and packed heat.”
Alec laughed and served her scrambled eggs, bacon and toast with orange juice. He sat across from her.
“Aren’t you going to eat?”
“I did, already. Had to make sure the food came out edible.”
She took a moderate portion of the egg. Warm. Fluffy. Good! “It’s perfect.” The bacon especially, crunchy but not burnt.
“Well, I used my TK to get the temp just right.”
“Could you do that before?”
“Before us, you mean?” He drank down a full glass of orange juice. “Yeah. But I need you to jack me up to the power level I had yesterday. I tried to fly this morning. I could only hover a few inches above the ground.” He put his elbows on the table and leaned forward, close to her. “What about you, counselor? You okay?”
“I don’t know.” She scraped up the last of the eggs and walked to her counter to measure out loose tea for brewing. “I think I’ll be happy if I never have to go on a mission like that again.”
“Why? You regret what we did?”
She almost rolled her eyes. Of course, he’d focus on their lovemaking. “Alec, I hated seeing anyone die. And with the telepathy, I felt them die. Just like I felt you during our, ah, flight.”
“I didn’t realize the memory would linger.”
“Death cries are so potent that they imprint on my memories. I heard my captors dying for years in my sleep after my first kidnapping. I thought I was dying too.”
“That sucks. Did you hear them last night?”
“No, I slept like a log.”
“Good.”
“I think the death memories are why my telepathy went latent after Philip rescued me.” She picked up her teakettle and filled it with water. “I was only eight, and I didn’t know how to shield my mind from them.”
“And it freaked you out.” Alec took the kettle from her and put his hand underneath it.
“Freaked out doesn’t begin to cover it. So I think my telepathy shut down as a protective measure.”
The kettle started whistling.
“Showoff.”
“Yep.” He poured the boiling water in the teapot for her. “That’s why you lost composure yesterday, when those men died during the assault?”
“Exactly. But you were connected to me, then, and your calmness prevented me from shutting down again. At least, that’s what I think happened. Maybe their deaths didn’t get imprinted in my memories like the ones from my childhood. I hope so. I guess I’ll find out. There’s so much that I don’t understand about my telepathy.”
She poured milk in the bottom of a mug, added the tea and cupped her hands tight around the mug, covering the “World’s Best Daughter” logo. She drank down a long swallow. “Perfect again. Thank you.”
“Just taking care of my girl.” He leaned against the counter. “How’d you hook me into Lansing when he was dying?”
She shrugged. “We’re connected, as you might have noticed.”
He grinned.
“So I wished for you to hear Lansing and you did. And you acted as an anchor for me when he died. Otherwise, I think I might have confused his dying with mine.” She shuddered.
He hugged her. “Hey, you could stop thinking about that and go back to the whole making love in the sky thing. Unless you think we shouldn’t do it again?”
She smiled. “I didn’t say that.”
He picked her up. “Good, because I want to try it again.”
“Now?”
He kissed her and stroked her hair with his fingers. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and felt his rising excitement. Even more, she could feel his worry and how he’d wanted to fuss over her to make sure she was okay. He’d put on a show for her.
“Did it work, counselor? I never had a girlfriend before.”
“You did wonderfully. But how about a simple, normal bed this time?”
“Can I levitate you?”
“If you insist.”
He hugged her closer.
Beds. They had their uses after all. Especially one as soft as this one. He hadn’t realized some sheets and blankets felt like warm hugs.
“Alec?”
“Yes?”
“TK sex, sex in the sky, and now this,” she said. “I’m ruined for other men.”
“Good.”
“I hope so.”
That sounded too tentative for his liking. She was still skittish, even after their melding. Though the mess from yesterday had something to do with it too. Hearing men die inside one’s head. He couldn’t imagine that and he didn’t want to. God knew he’d tried not thinking about Lansing’s death. All he’d wanted to do was get through the night and get back to her.
Ringing sounded from the pocket of his jeans. His phone. Okay, borrowed from Gabe but it was his, not something given to him by Lansing. Alec waved a hand, the pants floated to him, and he answered the phone.
“Let me speak to my daughter,” Drake said.
So much for his phone. He handed it to Beth and tried to listen to the conversation through their mental connection. He was getting better at it, though he supposed the downside was that she’d have a stronger connection to his thoughts. Who cared? It made the orgasms better. Much better.
All he could tell from this conversation was that Drake was being a concerned dad.
“Yes, my hand’s fine. No, no nightmares, Philip, not like before. You’re the one who was hurt. How are you?”
A pause. “Oh, like you’d tell me if it was bad.” She sighed. “I love you too.”
Beth handed the phone to him. “Philip wants to talk you. He’s worried, still.”
That didn’t sound promising. He put the phone to his ear. “What, Drake?”
“You have questions, Alec.”
“More than I can count.” Starting with Lansing’s life, an explanation for that “true son” business, and what the hell he was going to do now. Though he suspected Drake didn’t have an answer for the last one. Live with Beth? He didn’t want to live without her. But what would he do for money? For a job?
“I have information,” Drake said. “We need a debriefing.”
“Spill. I’m listening.”
“Not over the phone. Meet me at the Resource, Lansing’s penthouse, as soon as possible.”
“Why would you want me to go there?”
“Because the CIA just swept it. It’s clean. Beth will be with you, and it’s the safest place for her right now because t
hey won’t look there again.”
He held the phone a few inches from his face. “Beth? You want to come?”
She smiled. “You couldn’t keep me away.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
The Resource was eerily quiet. Someone had turned off the power generators to the underground levels. Alec had never paid attention to the steady hum before but now that it was gone, it was impossible to ignore the silence.
The first floor looked the same. It was hard to believe they’d been fleeing in these hallways just a day ago.
“I didn’t realize until I was held here how big this place is,” Beth said. “Why?”
Alec frowned. “Lansing rented out the above-ground space as a conference center, especially for military contractors. He could promise them privacy and security. Most of the rooms on the lower levels were for training me, like the mock warehouse. We couldn’t do it in the open most of the time.”
“That’s a big investment for one person,” she said. “And there’s the science lab and the quarters for the guards on duty.” Beth shook her head. “What did he intend to do with all this space?”
“Rule the world from it, I think. He talked about finding other kids to create a whole team of us, with me as the leader. At least, that’s what he said to try to get me to stay.” Alec stopped in front of the door that led to the lower level. “My place is down these steps.”
“Do you want to go there?”
“No. After seeing what a real home looks like, it would just piss me off.”
He turned and caught her staring at him. She was studying him, analyzing him. It reminded him of their sessions together. He didn’t like it, it felt like they were going backwards, that she was withdrawing from him.
She shivered and hugged herself. “Good, because I don’t want to go down another level, either.”
Because it would remind her of being drugged and held captive. Idiot. This wasn’t about him. It was impressive that she’d even come back. Drake should have known better than to ask her to.
“Let’s go. Your father’s waiting.”
He put his arm around her, feeling the panic that she was fighting. She’d been analyzing him as a way to push aside her memories as a prisoner. His annoyance vanished.
Phoenix Rising Page 27
