by A Caprice
Increased heart rate. Flushed skin. Dilated pupils. His eyes went to the water carafe that had been waiting for them when they sat down then to his empty glass and to hers, half full.
The back of his throat burned, and he swallowed down his panic. He reached for his phone with one hand and her arm with the other. “We’re going. Now.” He started dialing the number for his backup while pulling her out of the booth. His thumb paused over the screen when he turned and saw every patron in the back room standing and pointing a weapon at them.
A voice oozed from the staircase behind him. “How nice of you to join me for dinner. And as you can tell, the appetizers were on me.”
Andie started giggling. When her knees gave out and Chase held her close to his body, she laughed even harder.
God damnit it all to hell. Vega had dosed them with Heaven.
Chase’s palms went damp. He’d been stripped of his powers.
He and Andie were sitting ducks.
Chapter Nine
The ceiling was melting. Little melty drops of rainbow color that would drip then bounce off the floor with a cheerful plop. Like big, bouncy Skittles. Ooh, Skittles sounded really good right now.
She felt the hard ridge of Chase’s tense muscles pressing against her side. He really needed to chill. Maybe she could help him with that. Her big man was always languid and docile after he came. The way the blood was pumping through her veins, nothing sounded better than sitting back on their table, pulling him between her legs, and letting him work out his tension with her body. The audience surrounding them made it naughty and thrilling.
Wait, why was there an audience around them? Her mind tried to grasp on to something important, but it wiggled away from her like a water snake.
She tipped her head and stared at the people. The man five feet in front of them stood out from the crowd. There was an aura of power around him, a hardness in his dark eyes. If it wasn’t for the waves of cotton candy pink hair that rippled from his head, he would have looked frightening as hell.
Another giggle escaped her lips, and Andie clapped a hand to her mouth. She hated gigglers but couldn’t seem to stop herself.
The soft rumble of Chase’s body against hers told her he was saying something. She looked up at his lips and tried to concentrate. What was he saying? Cops were outside? And that he should let us go?
Go? Go where? Why would anyone want to leave this wonderful place with the drippy ceilings and the wonderful smells and the circus animal cookies come to life? Unless they were going somewhere more fun.
“Ooh, can we go to a carnival? Or the state fair? I don’t think they’re here yet, but I’m sure they’ll open for us.” That didn’t make sense, even to her own ears, but it didn’t matter. This floaty place she was in, where tingles hummed over her skin and nothing seemed impossible, was perfect. Her own bit of heaven.
Heaven. Wait. She was supposed to do something about heaven. What the heck was it?
Dark eyes raked over her. “Yes, we’ll go somewhere fun, my dear.” The man with the dead eyes and candy hair held out his hand, but the arm banded around her waist closed in like a steel vise.
“She’s not going anywhere.” Chase’s voice was low, rough. Sexy as hell. She caught herself trying to straddle his thigh and flushed. Why the fuck was she so horny? Something wasn’t right. But did that matter?
“You have little choice in the matter,” the man said.
Vega. That’s who he was. She was here to follow Vega. Well, she might as well go with him. It would make surveillance so much easier to just hitch a ride with your subject. She giggled again at such an easy solution to law enforcement problems.
The gun Vega pointed at Chase stopped her insipid laughter. She noticed everyone else was also holding guns on them.
Normally, that wouldn’t be good. She should be scared, preparing to fight back. But why bother? “Can we go on a rollercoaster? I feel like flying.”
“Of course.” Vega walked forward and pressed the barrel of the pistol against her breastbone. The cool metal tickled her skin. Chase dropped his arm from her waist and caressed her butt.
Andie pursed her lips. Feeling her up in a roomful of people seemed strange for him, but she’d go with it.
Vega cocked his head, and three of the larger men in the room stepped close. Vega wrapped his hand around her elbow and pulled her away from Chase’s warmth.
A sliver of disappointment stabbed into Andie that Chase had let her go. Spending the evening with her sexy giant sounded like a lot more fun than hanging with the brooding man pulling her to a back door.
“Take care of him,” Vega said as they left. “Make sure there’s nothing left to be identified.”
Before the door shut closed between them, she locked eyes with Chase and shuddered from the pain she saw. She wanted to comfort him, tell him everything would be okay. That the night was going to be amazing. Her mind assured her of that.
A deepening pit in her stomach warned her otherwise. She settled in the back of a dark Lincoln Continental. What should she listen to? Her head or her gut? It was too bad Chase couldn’t shoot lightning bolts from his hands and get away from those goons. She could use his advice right about now.
Vega stretched out in the seat next to her. He took her hand, and her stomach churned. “Having a good time, Andrea?” Her mouth opened and closed with no sound, and a smile ripped across his face. “Of course you are.” He squeezed her hand. “Don’t worry, my dear. I’ll give you another lovely dose after we’ve talked a bit. Then you’ll go to the grave with the biggest smile on your face you’ve ever had.”
That didn’t sound so bad. She relaxed into the leather seat and enjoyed the ride.
***
Chase smothered a growl as a gun poked into his kidney again. Out of all the men trying to herd him out the back of the restaurant, the guy behind him was the one he was going to pound the hardest. The incessant poking was really pissing him off.
The idiots hadn’t tried to restrain him, just prodded him toward the exit with their guns. Maybe they thought their firepower was sufficient restraint. Or that with his power stripped, he wasn’t a threat. A stupid assumption, given that he had several inches over these scumbags and could bench press three-fifty on a bad day.
His palms felt empty without their reassuring tingle from his power. His breaths came short, fast. His chest ached.
His power was gone.
Gone, and with it his best chance at rescuing Andie.
The loss itself wasn’t as devastating as he thought it would be. He loved his talent. Loved all the good he could do with it. But that loss was a distant second to what he would feel if he didn’t get Andie back.
He could survive without being a paranormal. Become a normal cop again with his ranger to come home to.
He wouldn’t survive if he lost her.
He forced his hands to remain unclenched as he let himself be led to the door. Every second away from Andie was a dagger to his heart. What the hell did that sick bastard want with her? If Vega just wanted her dead he wouldn’t have separated them.
Thoughts of Vega causing her pain, of him…touching her, tore through his mind. He swallowed hard and forced back the bitter taste of bile.
If Vega hurt her in any way, Chase was going to tear his head off his shoulders with his bare hands.
They approached the door and he double-checked that no hydraulics were attached to it. Nothing. Just a standard swing door that opened outward.
The men at his sides fell back to fit through the exit. One man preceded Chase through the opening.
Chase stepped onto pavement, caught a glimpse of a small parking lot full of SUVs, before grabbing the door and smashing it into the face of the man coming up behind him.
The asshole let out a satisfying howl that Chase enjoyed for only a second before spinning around to grab the gun hand of the man in front of him. With a vicious twist, he torqued the man’s w
rist so the gun pointed in the air and threw the man against the door they had just stepped through.
The scumbag might have been only five ten or so, but he fought hard. Chase caught a knee to his floating rib and a jab to his throat that had him gasping for breath, but he never released his grip on the man.
The door was pushed open an inch from the inside before Chase threw his weight into the man pinned against it, snapping it shut. He slammed the man’s hand against the wall, hoping to get him to drop the weapon, or better yet, fire a shot in the air that his backup would hear. Nothing but grunts and the muffled shouts of the men behind the door broke the silence.
Chase blocked another punch aimed at his throat and head-butted the fucker. The blow made the dirtbag’s head bounce off the door, and he sagged in Chase’s grip.
Chase shifted his grip and looked for something to block the door. He only had seconds before men would be sent to go out the front and come around the building.
A shot tore through the night and he and the man he held flinched from the loud report. Another shot and another jerk from the scum he held up.
Shit. Those weren’t flinches. Vega’s men were shooting through the door and had hit their own guy.
Not bothering to watch the man’s eyes glaze over, he dropped the body at the foot of the door and threw himself to the side. He pushed a garbage can in front of the door as a third shot blasted, bright light funneling out of the three holes.
He took that as his cue and hauled ass out of the parking lot. Headlights bounced over him as a car tore into the lot and screeched to a halt in front of him. One of the ranger’s vehicles.
Shouts sounded from the restaurant as he jumped behind the sedan. The front doors of the car swung open and the rangers positioned themselves, guns drawn. A volley of gunfire exploded. More cars rushed into the lot. A cop handed Chase a back-up pistol when Chase gestured for a weapon.
The gunfight ended almost as quickly as it had begun. Vega’s men weren’t stupid when it came to protecting their own lives. When blue-flashing lights blocked the exits to the restaurant, they put down their weapons and lay face-down on the ground, arms spread. These men were obviously used to the arrest procedure and probably trusted Vega’s attorneys to get them off with a light sentence.
They were probably right.
“Where’s Ranger Sellers?” one of the cops asked.
Chase reloaded his borrowed weapon and stuck it in his waistband. “Vega’s got her.”
The man looked at him grimly. “I’ll get one of them to tell us where he’s taken her.”
“Don’t bother. Give me a phone.” Chase stared the man down when he looked at him incredulously. “Give me your damn phone.”
The man handed it over with a scowl. Chase ignored it and dialed the number he knew by heart. “C.J., it’s McGovern. I need a location on my cell phone. Right fucking now.”
Chapter Ten
Andie bent her knees and pushed off from the nearest desk, her wheeled office chair careening over the thin carpet. Her arms duct-taped behind the chair’s back, she was unable to balance herself and was about to tip over when a rough hand grabbed her neck and shoved her upright.
“Stop doing that,” Vega’s henchman said and pushed her back to the computer Vega and his IT man were working on. “She’s doing it again, boss.”
Vega didn’t look up from the computer screen. “Will you two knock it off,” he said, sounding like an exasperated father. “If she does it again, just break her fingers.” Okay, that sounded less like a dad and more like the psychotic killer he was. With the drug wearing off, broken bones didn’t sound like they would be fun.
Thank God the drug was wearing off. She suspected that she might have told Vega some of the passwords needed for him to access the Texas Rangers’ database. He had sounded so earnest when he’d said he wanted to learn how far her investigation had progressed, and she’d just wanted everyone around her to be as happy as she’d been.
As the effects of NU-216 waned, her anger grew. Anger that she hadn’t had the foresight to think that Vega could call ahead to a restaurant he obviously had an association with and set them up. Anger that even though she’d only had a few sips of drugged water she’d spilled any secret in her head without a second thought. And anger that the cocky, delusional Chase might be…
Her heart stuttered painfully. Well, she wasn’t going to think about that possibility. But she kept that anger hidden and acted as though Heaven still fogged her mind.
Was Chase delusional? She thought she remembered him claiming to have supernatural abilities before the drug dropped a veil over her mind. “What did you mean by abominations?” She forced out a giggle. “Abominations. That’s a funny word. Bo-bomma fo-fanna nations,” she sang.
“Shut up.” Vega leaned back in his executive chair, the hinges creaking. “I didn’t realize my drug made people so annoying.”
“Well, just tell me what you meant and I won’t annoy you.” She pushed at the ground and twirled her seat around.
“I’m surprised your lover didn’t tell you himself. They’re all so smug and proud of their abilities. But I know them for the freaks they are.”
“Abilities…like shooting electricity out of their hands? ’Cause that would be awesome.”
Vega arched an eyebrow. “So, Agent McGovern has told you a little about himself. Yes, his freak show is he can create electricity to use as a weapon.” He looked her up and down. “You should be thanking me for ridding you of that piece of garbage.”
Her nails dug into her palms. She forced a swallow past her closed up throat. “You said you created Heaven to destroy the, uh, those people. What does it do to them? Are the kids who are dying taking your drug these abominations?”
He snorted. “No, they’re just too stupid to take the right dose. My drug is perfect. It suppresses the cerebellum, the part of the brain where the freaks get their power. For normal humans who don’t have that sixth sense, it increases the activity of neurotransmitters. If you take too much of it, well, the heart can’t handle the huge dump of adrenaline that goes through your system. But don’t worry. It’s not a bad way to die.”
She spun the chair again. “But why do you care? Even if there are paranormal people out there, what’s it to you?”
He shot up and his chair hit the desk. “Because they’re not content to remain in the shadows! They’re feeling comfortable enough to start going public, and that’s just the first step. There are thousands of them out there. Thousands with abilities humans have only dreamt about. How much power do you think they’ll hold over us?” He jabbed his finger at her. “I am a hero. You won’t be around to hear it, but people will say my name with reverence.”
Andie looked at him. His face glowed with a faint sheen of perspiration and his chest was puffed out. She knew she wouldn’t be talking her way out of this. He was a fanatic. He truly believed all his bullshit and wouldn’t be swayed from his course with threats or bribes.
Her heart beat a quick tattoo, and she retested the strength of the tape binding her wrists.
Stronger than she was.
He wouldn’t let her go, but pissed off people made mistakes. And she was good at ticking people off. “Sounds like you got dumped and can’t get over it. Is that what happened, Vega? Did a woman break your heart? Was she one of these abominations?” She twisted her wrists until the tape cut off her blood flow. “You’re pathetic. A delusional, piece of crap who couldn’t get laid and is taking it out on everyone else.”
His eyes never blinked and Andie had to force herself not to look away. He made her skin crawl. “It was my wife,” he finally said. “She left me for one of these freaks. Whether it’s revenge or saving the planet, it doesn’t matter. The end result will be the same. The freaks will be gone.”
He looked at his IT guy. “I think we’ve gotten all we need out of her, yes?” The man nodded, his fingers flying over the keyboard.
Ve
ga walked to a painting on his wall and lifted it aside, uncovering a safe. He pressed his palm to the touch pad next to it, and the door popped open with a hiss. His back blocked her view and Andie couldn’t see what he removed.
Whatever it was wouldn’t be good for her. She searched for anything with an edge on the back of her chair to rub her taped wrists against but came up empty.
Vega turned back with a syringe in his hand.
Nope, not good for her at all.
“You kill a cop, you get an automatic death sentence in Texas.” A bead of sweat rolled down her spine.
He ignored her words. “The liquid form of Heaven is three times as potent as the powder. I’m going to inject so much of it into you, your mind won’t know what hit it.” He smiled. “Don’t worry. It won’t take long.” He glanced up, and the heavy hand of his lackey landed on her shoulder, holding her in place.
Chances of her getting out of this alive were slim to none, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t inflict as much damage as possible on her way out. When Vega got within distance, she kicked her booted heel into his kneecap and was rewarded with a pained shriek.
The hand left her shoulder and the arm attached to it started to wrap around her throat in a chokehold.
Widening her legs as much as possible to give her leverage, she shot up, hard and fast, the top of her head crushing into the man’s face.
He fell away with a cry and she shook her clouded head. There was no time to acknowledge pain. She wasn’t tied to her chair, but the positioning of her arms brought it up with her when she stood. She wiggled off of it with some effort then kicked the chair at the second man who came at her.
He dodged it and kept coming. She lashed out with a roundhouse kick. It struck him in the side but didn’t stop his momentum. His body crashed into hers and they both went down hard.
She couldn’t brace herself for the fall. She landed on her bound arms and felt the pop of one of her shoulders dislocating. Streaks of pain rocketed through her body.
“Hold the bitch down.” Vega limped toward them, dragging one leg behind him. A hand slapped into her face, pressing her right cheek into the scratchy carpet. A body lay across her legs.
