by Rob Horner
But maybe his sympathy could be used to bring him back in line.
Walking out of the house, Travers stopped the lieutenant before he could get in the car. “Look, Lieutenant, I know our methods seem harsh, but I want you to understand that first, I have no intention of harming an innocent.”
“You threated to kill Sherry’s mother,” Lieutenant Barnes stated flatly.
“I’m trying to impress upon the subjects the severity of their situation. The mother is in no danger.”
Lieutenant Barnes’ face showed his disbelief.
“She’s served her function. Later tonight or tomorrow morning, as soon as I can requisition the transfer, she’ll be taken to our special facility where her memory will be scrubbed free of everything that’s happened. Within a week she’ll be back home, safe and sound. Does that make you feel any better?”
“And what about the subjects?”
“What do you think?” Travers asked sardonically. “They’ll go back to the laboratory where they were created.”
“Laboratory? What do you mean, ‘created?’”
Shit. He hadn’t meant to say that.
“Listen, figure of speech,” Travers said, thinking fast. “Simple truth is, I don’t know what’ll happen to them. I just know we have to get them back.”
Buck tried to make his face appear open with this last statement, hoping the lieutenant didn’t question further.
After a moment, Travers continued, “We’re going to go back to your surveillance building and start trying to trace their route. If we can find them that way, we’ll go retrieve them.”
“And if we can’t find them tonight,” the Lieutenant asked.
“We’ll have Victoria’s number forwarded, so we’ll be ready to accept Sherry’s call tomorrow. Then we just have to talk them in.”
Lieutenant Barnes finally started to turn away, ready to climb into the Durango’s front seat. Victoria Galer was already scrunched in between Agents Black and Kirkson in the back.
“Besides,” Agent Travers couldn’t resist adding, “you don’t really think I’d operate without a contingency plan, do you?”
The shocked look on Barnes’ face told Travers his words had been understood all too well. Yet still the man asked, “What do you mean?”
Smiling, Agent Travers answered, “They’ve both been fitted with an electronic ‘neutralizer.’ If they somehow manage to keep away from us, we’ll be able to drop them with a simple radio signal from anywhere in the world.”
“So relax, they’re not going to cause me, or you, any lasting trouble. If they do—” he made a slicing motion with his hand across his throat, “they’ll be dead before they even realize something is wrong with them.”
Laughing softly, Agent Travers walked past the horrified lieutenant, climbing into the driver’s seat.
Chapter 17
Together
1
Neither Travis nor Sherry noticed the blinding lines of blue and green that filled the air about them as their kiss mounted in passion. Their eyes were closed, their minds awash in sensation. Travis felt/heard Sherry’s impressions of his kiss even as his lips worked against hers. She made minute corrections to her technique as his fleeting thoughts told her what he found most pleasurable. Yet neither was aware of any conscious changing in response to the other’s thoughts.
They couldn’t help but notice a growing power between them as they drew closer and closer to one another, their desires mounting, perhaps fueled by their power, perhaps fueling the power, so the feeling of indomitable strength grew even as their kiss deepened.
Travis’s hands began to wander, caressing Sherry’s back, reaching up to stroke the nape of her neck. She arched her back in response to his touch, her reaction—and her mental sigh—informed him his touch was pleasurable. Placing her hands against his chest, Sherry exerted a slight pressure. That, coupled with her mental decision to force him back onto the bed, caused Travis to fall slowly backward, until Sherry was laying half atop him, her lips still pressed to his, hands free now to return his caresses.
Though they had promised not to speak through their thought-connection, they found it impossible to keep their overflowing emotions and sensations from leaking into each other. And perhaps that was for the best, since it only aided them in doing what the other wanted, in making of themselves the perfect match one for the other.
Travis’s hands found every secret spot on Sherry’s body, teasing to perfection, so her body was a cauldron of desire, ready to burst with each new caress, each new touch of mouth on skin. It was more than just his touch; it was the scent of his cologne, the underlying scent of the skin of his neck that was all him. It was the feel of his hair under her fingers, the soft skin of his arms, the rougher texture of his hands.
Sherry moved in ways that excited Travis beyond his wildest fantasies, her hands sliding his clothing from his lean and muscular frame, reaching lower until she grasped him and slowly, gently stoking his fire to even greater heights. She couldn’t recall a time in her life when she’d felt such a bond with any man, such a desire to be possessed. The power of these feelings might have been alarming, except she knew he felt the same way.
Even as he slid her jeans over her hips, followed immediately by her white panties, she thought of nothing more than the anticipated and imminent union of their bodies, and how perfect it would feel.
When Sherry rose from the bed to retrieve the box of condoms, it did nothing to diminish the magic of the moment or decrease the sense of power they shared. Without having to say anything, Travis understood. She trusted him but was afraid of starting a future that might never be.
The lights, Sherry thought absently as she climbed back into bed with him, nothing more than a fleeting thought, a brief idea of having the room a little darker, a little more intimate.
But then he was inside of her, and she was so overcome with instant pleasure she didn’t notice the dimming of the overhead light, as it responded to her vagrant wish.
Travis did note the surge of power flowing from their bodies at this most intimate of connections, and a small part of his mind followed the outflow and filed away an idea. But then the tightness of Sherry’s body pulled his attention fully back to her and to the pleasurable sensations surrounding him with a forcefulness that drove all other thoughts from his mind.
Eyes closed, Sherry fell within their bond, her mind opening in a strange new way. There was a connection between them, something more than attraction, more than this beautiful compatibility, more than any words could express. It was almost complete, this union, almost perfect. And even though Travis’s movements caused pleasure like she’d never experienced, that feeling of almost jarred.
That she should be satisfied with what was already happening wasn’t enough; there was a barrier to their complete joining. What good were five senses, or even six, if there was a seventh that wasn’t engaged?
Travis was shocked when Sherry suddenly scooted back. She immediately leaned forward, locking his lips with hers again, as her hands reached between them. She yanked the condom off, dropping it to the side of the bed. Before he could utter a word of protest or question her decision, she pulled him back to her, guided him back to where she wanted him to be.
And the barrier was gone.
First their minds and now their bodies were joined in perfect union. Dangerous or not, this was how they were supposed to be.
With slow but building passion they moved together on the bed, so linked that the slightest change in position or rhythm was instantly mirrored, so similar in intention, wanting nothing more than to please each other, that each motion was perfection in and of itself.
Sherry felt a merging, a reconnection, deep inside, as something within her wed itself to Travis. Lost in the pleasure of the moment, she couldn’t further explore that feeling. Instead, as their pleasure built, their lips met more often, silent words of promise and love flowing from one mind to another.
Hands not n
eeded for leverage found other ways to please; arms pulled tighter, so their bodies remained pressed together, only their hips parting, and only for the briefest of seconds. Soft sounds of pleasure, heard and felt through multiple senses, quickly gave way to louder noises.
With eyes closed, neither Sherry not Travis saw the dimming and brightening of the lights in the room. As their motions increased, their combined power caused surges in the blue lines surrounding them, like waves pushed outward by an underwater earthquake, forcing the lights brighter and brighter. And as Travis cried out Sherry’s name, exploding deep within her even as she spasmed around him, the overhead light destroyed itself with one final surge of brilliance; the ancillary lights on nightstand, over the tub, and in the bathroom shut off, casting the hotel room into darkness.
As their pleasure began to ebb, Travis and Sherry opened their eyes, their minds filled with all the meaning of their enhanced bond, their as-yet unvoiced love, and their growing understanding of the powers flowing through them.
2
Slowly, Travis and Sherry fell from their ecstatic heights, separating to lie side by side on the large bed.
“What just happened?” Sherry asked after a comfortable silence had enveloped them for several long minutes.
“We had the best sex of our lives?” Travis answered playfully.
Laughing, Sherry aimed a gentle slap at his thigh. “That’s not what I was talking about.”
“Oh? What then?”
“With the lights.”
“I don’t know,” Travis replied honestly, though he had some ideas.
“I can tell from the buzzing in my head that you have some ideas,” Sherry said.
“I thought we weren’t going to do that,” Travis protested, though his voice still indicated his good humor.
“I didn’t do anything,” Sherry said, moving slowly across the mattress, drawing Travis’s attention to the whisper of her skin against his.
“If you keep doing that, we won’t get any answers for a while.”
“Keep doing what?” she asked innocently, letting her hand slide teasingly up his thigh.
Laughing, Travis grabbed her hand. Drawing her back to his side, he said, “This,” and covered her mouth with his.
“I didn’t do that,” Sherry protested once she could speak again. “Though I’m not complaining that you did.”
Taking the hint, Travis kissed her again, and it was several long minutes more before either could speak.
“Now then, about the lights?” Sherry asked.
“Can’t that wait until after?” Travis said plaintively.
“There won’t be an after if you don’t answer me.”
“Empty threats,” Travis chided gently. But he did answer her. “It seemed like we were able to control them with our power. At first they just dimmed…”
“I wished for that,” Sherry murmured.
“I know. I heard you,” Travis replied. “And something within us made it happen, you know? But after that we kind of lost control, as we…um—”
“Lost control?” Sherry supplied, smiling.
Chuckling, Travis said, “Yeah. I can only guess that our…um…excitement cause the light bulb to blow out.”
“Is that even possible?”
“Is any of this?”
“Good point,” Sherry conceded.
“And a useful one,” Travis added, beginning to relate to Sherry the ideas he’d been mulling over since she’d left to make her phone call.
“Do you really think we can use our…um…powers like that?” she asked once he’d finished.
“I don’t know, but I can’t see any other options open to us.”
“If we do anything,” Sherry said, thinking as she spoke, “it’ll have to be before noon tomorrow.”
“Why?” Travis said immediately. Then, a moment later, he added, “Oh, that’s right.”
“Yeah.”
Sherry was silent for several minutes then, fighting against tears of helplessness which overwhelmed her before and now threatened again. “Will we…you know…be able to help her?”
“We have to,” Travis replied. “If we don’t at least try, then I’ll never be able to live with myself.”
“We could always…you know…turn ourselves in.”
Travis’s initial reaction was shock that she would suggest such a thing. Then he forced himself to remember that it was her mother they were discussing. “Only as a last resort,” he responded.
“And what about your other idea?” she asked softly.
“You mean with the license plates?”
She nodded in the darkness, her head moving across his chest.
“I’ll go take care of that tonight.”
“Now,” she insisted softly.
Feeling her insecurity and knowing anything he could do to reassure her would be appreciated, Travis didn’t argue. “All right,” he said, “I’ll go take care of it now.”
“And while you’re gone,” Sherry said, reluctantly moving aside so that Travis could rise, “I’ll take a shower.”
“That’s not fair,” Travis protested, rising and turning on the twin lights that rode the wall on either side of the mahogany dresser. “I wanted to take one with you.”
“That’s for later,” Sherry replied, a mischievous smile on her features.
“You could come with me,” he offered.
“Nope, a lady needs to be clean so her man will love her,” she said.
“I already do,” Travis said softly. Sherry wasn’t sure if she’d heard it with her ears or her mind, though her heart raced as the thought and emotion came to her.
“I…you do?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh…Travis.”
“I know, I know…it’s too sudden, right?” He pulled his pants on viciously, already regretting his uncharacteristic lack of patience. But her next words calmed him.
“I…it’s wonderful, Travis, because I love you, too.”
“Thank God,” Travis exclaimed, returning to the bed and pulling Sherry into his arms. Not even the feel of her soft skin, or the gentle pressure of her bare breasts against his chest, could turn his mind from the raw emotion surging through him.
They held each other, their minds racing with the possibilities of emotions their hearts readily accepted. Finally, with very few words, Travis released his hold on her and rose to finish dressing. “I’ll hurry back,” he said, moving to the hotel room door.
“You’d better,” Sherry replied.
3
Travis hurried from the suite, down the hall to the elevator. The music was an instrumental version of a Sheryl Crow song, which Travis could relate to. Once he finished this little job, he could go back to having a little fun. The ride to the parking garage, one level below the lobby, seemed to take forever. At least no one else got onto the elevator, slowing it down with repeated stops and starts. Just as the music moved into the second chorus, the door opened, and he stepped into the garage. Pulling his keys from his pocket, Travis walked to the left, where Sherry said she’d parked.
This area of the garage happened to fall between overhead lights, so while it wasn’t dark, his car wasn’t under a spotlight. Opening the hatch, he found and removed a long-handled flat-blade screwdriver from his tool bag. Dropping down behind the car, he used the screwdriver to remove his rear license plate. Hurrying around to the front of the vehicle, he removed the second plate. Rising, he turned to survey the parking garage, trying to decide if he dared place the plates on a car in the same area.
If the all-encompassing and indefinable they were indeed out looking for him, they’d probably check only those cars matching his. Therefore, so long as he chose a vehicle far enough away from his own and as different as night from day, he should be all right. Besides, he couldn’t very well go strolling along the street with a screwdriver and two license plates in his hands.
As he looked at various vehicles, he tried to stay along the wall where the light was dim
mest. The overhead fluorescents glowed from the center of the garage, barely penetrating the perimeter. Past the elevator entrance and almost to where another ramp led down to a second underground level, he located a large, white Jeep Grand Cherokee with Vermont plates. Quickly, feeling more worried by the second that someone would catch him, Travis swapped his plates with those on the Jeep.
Walking fast, he returned to his car and placed the Vermont plates on the Focus. He stashed the screwdriver back in the tool bag and hurriedly shut the hatch, locking the vehicle with his key fob. Pocketing the keys, Travis returned to the elevator.
She was still in the tub, the wrap-around curtain pulled closed and the overhead shower running, when Travis returned to the room. Though he enjoyed watching her translucent silhouette through the curtain, he quickly undressed and joined her in the warm water. The shower lasted another five minutes, by which time they’d decided the jacuzzi would be better for what they wanted to do. Careful to turn the lights off before they began, Sherry and Travis proceeded to discover all they could about each other.
Sunday
Morning
Chapter 18
Brian
1
Shuddering, Brian Jennings lurched out of sleep, right hand groping for the ringing telephone on his nightstand. He blessed its noise though, because it prevented him from delving deeper into the familiar nightmare, a plague for the past five years.
Almost dropping the iPhone as he pulled it to his head, barely managing the flick of the thumb to answer the call, Brian kept his hold, though his voice was shaky as he said, “Hello?”
“Brian?”
“Yeah. I…who’s this?”
