by Black, Regan
"You."
"Why?"
The hunter shook his head and narrowed his gaze. "You are needed. Come with me and I'll let him live."
"You're a healer, you aren't supposed to cause harm to people."
"I do whatever is necessary to preserve the line and the order."
The line? The genealogy Cali had shared flashed through her mind. Her father was behind this. Her stomach tried to turn itself inside out at the news, but she refused to show any further weakness to him. "What is your name?"
"Jacob."
Wow, that was easy. "Who do you work for?"
"The one who will restore the order."
Not as helpful. He offered his arm in a gesture so well-mannered her jaw dropped, but she refused to touch him. "I'll come with you after I've seen to him." She pointed behind her to Jameson.
"He is nothing," Jacob snarled. "You must not waste your talents."
"You've hurt him. If you're really a part of the healer community, you know I've pledged my talent to help those in need."
Jacob grimaced as if she'd spit on his perfectly shined shoes. "You've helped plenty of people today. And left more untended."
"Only to avoid suspicion. He's helped me more than you know. I can't leave him in agony."
Jacob looked over her shoulder, frowned and shrugged. "Fine."
Behind her Jameson screamed, in real agony this time. She spun around, horrified by the bloody foam at his mouth.
Jacob had dealt him a killing blow with only a thought.
"No!" Her energy surged and she held a palm sized orb of blue light toward his chest.
Jacob yanked her away before she could do anything worthwhile. With a sharp strike he hit that nerve bundle on her neck and the world went black.
Chapter 14
Jameson struggled to keep up the charade when Mira passed out. Hopefully she was just acting too, but if not, Jacob would soon understand what a poor choice he'd just made.
Whatever the hunter had done to his lungs, it was the worst pain he'd ever felt. The healing process wasn't so comfortable either and he wasn't entirely faking it when he curled up into the fetal position on the icy pavement.
He was breathing easier even as Jacob, with Mira slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, turned toward Dr. Luther's old office building.
Shit. It would break her heart if her father was behind this whole mess. He flopped onto his back and stared up at the gray winter sky. Clouds heavy with more snow crept closer. It suited his mood perfectly.
The best way he knew to bust up a cold, bleak mood was action. He smiled to himself as his strength returned. He was ready for action. Or he would be soon.
"You planning to sleep until you die of frostbite?"
Luke Conrad leaned into his line of vision, blocking his view of the sky. Jameson rolled to his feet, ready to give the enforcer a run for his money this time.
"You planning to do me a favor and fall over dead?"
"Not a chance. I'm here to help." He waved and the enforcers they'd seen earlier approached, followed by a woman. "We all are."
"I've heard that line before. It didn't end well." Jameson took a deep breath of the bracing air. He could take on three of them and win. Even without whatever she'd done to him, he wouldn't let anything prevent him from saving Mira. He bounced a couple times on his toes and urged them closer.
"I think it ended just fine for you and her. Besides, I'm fresh out of explosives."
"That's too bad, might've been fun to light you up this time."
"You're wasting time." Luke crossed his arms over his chest.
"You tossed her out when you had her. I'm not going to give you another chance to hurt her."
"It was necessary. She had to believe her dad hated her. If she'd managed to mark him with her new healing light he'd be in significant danger. He's too valuable for that."
"She's more valuable than you know."
"Orders are orders." Luke shrugged. "You about ready, Soldier?"
Yeah. He rolled his neck a couple times. He was more than ready and he'd bet his hazardous duty pay Jacob and his bastard of a boss weren't. "What do you have in mind?"
Luke smiled in a dark way that made Jameson feel better about their odds. "Let me introduce Lydia, Mira's mother."
Jameson extended his hand to an older version of Mira. Her hair was shorter and she had a few laugh lines, but those were the only clues to her life experience. "A pleasure to meet you ma'am."
"Call me Lydia. I'm so sorry if Jacob hurt you." Jameson ignored the insult Luke smothered with a cough. "Do you need help?"
"No thank you, ma'am. Lydia," he amended before she could correct him. "May I ask why you're here?" He wasn't sure of the answer he hoped for, beyond a truthful one.
"Was the miraculous trek through Mercy Medical your idea?"
"Yes."
"It was a good one. The Five caught wind of Mira's healing tour this morning. When they sent enforcers," she pointed to the men flanking her. "I made sure they understood what we're dealing with."
"What are we dealing with? Jacob is powerful, but he answers to someone."
"Yes, he does." Temper lit Lydia's deep blue eyes. "And we'd best get in there and help her take him down." She turned to Luke. "Has there been any word on the serum my husband created?"
"It breaks down too quickly to be effective. A vaccine is nearly complete in case someone from Montalbano's group succeeds in correcting the built in error."
Jameson said, "According to Callahan Montalbano is in custody."
"Good. That should appease the Five." Lydia looked around, focused on the old clinic where Jacob had hauled Mira. "I like these contacts. Are we ready at all points?"
Jameson clamped his jaw shut to keep it from hitting the floor. Mira's mother had the presence and poise of an experienced covert agent. "He's cornered, which means he'll be more dangerous. It may take all of us to keep him from running.
"You're with me," she told Jameson. "We'll go in the front. The rest of you, cover the exits as planned."
Jameson wanted to ask what she expected to find, but she marched like a general leading the battle charge and he figured it didn't matter. Whoever was pulling Jacob's strings, he would know soon enough and Lydia's team appeared to be ready for anything.
Mira was alert only moments after Jacob tossed her over his shoulder. She let herself hang limp while she listened for any opportunity to gain an advantage.
Her heart ached at the possibility of Jameson suffering, but she had to hope he'd been right about being nearly invincible. It was the 'nearly' that bothered her. Which injury would be the one that weakened him too much?
From her vantage point she could see where they'd been and the packed snow that indicated several people had been by recently. Jacob was carrying her down to her dad's old office.
The thought that she might soon face him and force him to answer for his outrageous choices, threatened to bring on a wave of tears.
She couldn't cry, she had to be proactive. As Jacob shifted her a bit, she managed to toss the office key she still carried into the snow.
She thought of Jameson and his utter belief in her dad. He was right, she could assume the worst, or she could believe the best. As Jacob hauled her down the steps to the door, she tried to hold on to just a smidge of Jameson's faith and trust.
"Ah, Jacob. Well done, my boy."
Mira didn't recognize the voice, but it sent a chill through her. She heard the unmistakable sound of the old lock tumbling back into place.
"I do believe she's awake. Put her on her feet, gently."
Jacob did as his boss asked. There was a dizzying moment when the excess blood rushed out of her head, but then she was steady and staring at a man who looked too much like her father.
She spotted the differences next, primarily in the eyes. This man had no kindness in him, no compassion at all.
A thousand questions danced in her head, but she bit them all back, refusing
to give this manipulative person any hint about what surprised her the most about being here.
"Miranda Luther." His smile was sharp and greedy. "It is a pleasure to meet you at last. As equals, that is." He turned to his hunter. "Give her some water won't you?"
"No, thank you. I'm fine." She would not help them drug her and make it easier for them to control her.
"Well, then I suppose the pleasantries aren't welcome either. Though I am surprised. I would have thought your mother would have raised you with better manners. Especially for family."
Mira refused to take the bait. He looked enough like her father there must be some blood relation, but she couldn't let it matter right now. She didn't remember any notation of a brother on the family tree, but to be fair, she was feeling enough fear to muddy her memory. Resigned and uncertain, she stared at a spot just over his head, much as she'd done at the inquiry.
"Yes, that utter stillness is an admirable ploy. The Five gave you high marks for steadiness."
She refused to react, though it required significant effort.
"I wonder if I could even convince them to deliberate after your run of miracles this morning?"
She gave up the pretense, scowling at him and letting her hands ball into fists. She felt the blue light squeezing around her clenched fingers. Jameson would storm in here any moment and she had to be ready to support him. "What do you want with me?"
"Is that any way to speak to family? Don't you remember your dear Uncle Henry? You were just a child and your father let me do my research away from prying eyes as much as possible, but surely there's something rattling around in the recesses of your mind." He smiled fondly at whatever he was remembering. "You always liked candy canes at Christmas. I used to keep them for you in my desk drawer. Is that still the case?"
It was, but she wasn't in the mood to dance down memory lane.
"Miranda, you can be certain I only have your best interests at heart. Your parents would never take the chances I knew were necessary to make you great."
Teeth gritted against useless arguments, she hissed, "What do you want?"
The man leaned forward, both hands resting atop his cane, confirming her sense that he used it as a prop. Or a weapon.
"Only the world, my dear. As it was meant to be."
She struggled for calm as he leered at her. He clearly thought of her as an object, a tool to be used where and how he wished. Her stomach cramped with dread. She was the 'shiny new toy' just as Cali had suggested.
"The healer orders have lived in fear of persecution for far too long. We have a gift, a power the world needs so desperately and we squander it. You, my dear, can give the others hope even as we rise to our rightful power.
"Healers should have a say in how and what we give to those in need. With you leading a team of radiant healers, we can reclaim that control."
"There are more like me?"
"There can be." He nodded at a point behind her. Jacob, she assumed.
A shock of pain lanced through her spine, followed immediately by a sense of nothingness as she lost both motor control and feeling in her legs. She watched, helpless, as that damned cane tipped her over.
"This morning you healed a young boy facing a similar condition. Can you heal yourself?"
She wasn't sure she wanted to. A healer was most vulnerable when they turned their gift inward. Thinking of Jameson and his unwavering belief in her new self, she did her damnedest to fool this power hungry bastard and his lackey.
She generated a thin shell of light around herself, letting her eyes drift close as if she were dumb enough and desperate enough to obey.
The order to Jacob came a moment later. "Draw her blood, and take hair and skin samples too."
Hell, no. While it was a minor victory to know she'd fooled them, she wasn't about to give them anything for free.
She kept her eyes closed, letting Jacob get close enough to swab her arm with alcohol. She nearly laughed over his misplaced consideration.
When he touched her to guide the needle into her vein, she did the only thing that made sense. She pulsed the nasty spinal injury she'd isolated into a ball of light in her hand and slapped it to his head.
He screamed and fell backward as she let instinct take over. It didn't keep him down long and as they faced off, both of them struggling to stay upright, the man behind them cackled with delight.
She'd known Jacob wasn't an ordinary enforcer, but he knew how to wield pain as a sword in a way she didn't understand. Fighting off his advances, she couldn't gather her thoughts enough to sort out quite how her healing gift might help her escape.
Using basic self defense moves she'd learned in the Army, she barely stayed out of his reach. "You gave that cop a heart attack," she said, as her own heart seized.
Jacob's evil smile chilled her and she revised her assessment that he was merely a pawn in this game. Whatever he might have been, he was enjoying this particular moment too much.
Testing a theory, she gripped his arm and gave him a taste of the healing power inside her. His face transformed on a momentary, blissful high. While he was distracted, she pulsed a bit of energy into his nervous system, as she'd done so many times to sedate a patient. It was working. Her heart was recovering when her uncle landed a vicious blow to her sternum with the cane.
The room erupted in chaos, but Mira couldn't hear the shouting. She crumpled, still clinging to Jacob, still trying to sedate him even as he struggled against her efforts.
"Don't touch them!"
Her vision was hazing, but she thought that was her father's voice.
Jameson ignored Dr. Luther's command and Lydia's warning as he slid in as close to Mira as he dared. It just wasn't in him to let her suffer. Mira was locked with Jacob in an invisible battle he wasn't sure either of them could win. Her blue light, where she held the enforcer, was flickering.
"What will happen to her?"
"I don't know. That's the problem."
Jameson looked up at Dr. Luther, wanting to accuse him of tormenting his daughter, but seeing the agony on the man's face, his anger dried up. "The radiant healers are strong, right?"
"Yes," Dr. Luther admitted. "But her kind of power can be unpredictable. And I don't know what my brother has done, how he's changed what was inside of Jacob."
"He knows what she's facing." Jameson jerked his chin toward Luther's brother. "He wants to preserve her. Make him call off his dog."
Jameson scooted closer to Mira, terrified he'd lose her, uncertain what actions would help or harm. He watched Trina enter the office, and stared in awe as a satisfied look washed the fury from the madman's face. "What's she doing?"
Cali knelt by his side. "She casts illusions. The bastard thinks he's won."
With Mira locked with Jacob, Jameson didn't feel any relief at the sight of back up. He'd expected Callahan, but not everyone from the conference at Micky's warehouse. "What can I do?"
Cali shook her head. "Follow your instincts."
The power might be unpredictable, the blue bubble moment certainly had proved as much already, but Mira was not. She was a survivor. She was compassionate. She was a healer to the bone.
Jameson looked to Luke and saw a reflection of everything he was feeling. The man shook his head in warning. Tears streamed down Lydia's face.
"I have to try," he whispered. He would not let this warped enforcer take her away by inches. He would not sit by while her gift faded when he already felt strong as an ox again.
Running on instinct, moved by everything he felt for Mira, he seized her free hand in both of his and just let that strange energy that was theirs alone surge on a tide of his devotion to her.
The light he'd found so amusing whenever he'd held her hand since the explosion blossomed, enveloping first their linked hands, then swelling to wash over her, much as she'd done for herself in the midst of the explosion.
On a curse worthy of a sailor, Luke reached for Jacob. He missed as the power between Jameson and Mira
launched the hunter across the room, slamming his body into the wall.
Luke rushed over pressing a hypospray to Jacob's neck and cuffing him before the vicious bastard regained his senses.
But Jameson's attention was on Mira. She woke up faster than she had in Micky's infirmary. Her eyes went wide with surprise, then sparkled with happiness. "You're alive!" She reached up and linked her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder.
"You too." It was all he could say. Unpredictable? Not his Mira. He held her at arm's length where they sat on the floor. "You're okay?"
"Better than. He's gone?"
He nodded.
"And I'm not charged with anything?"
He laughed. "No. I think you're a hero."
"No, not that. I don't want to be that."
"Too bad, sweetheart." Dr. Luther offered a hand to help them up. "This won't be easy to contain, not even within our own order."
"Dad?" She got to her feet, but Jameson felt the desperation in the way she kept her hand locked with his. "You're not mad at me?"
"On the contrary." Her father reached out and let his hand fall back to his side when she hesitated. "I'm so proud of you," he whispered in a voice ragged with emotion.
"We're all proud of you." Lydia hugged her daughter close, embraced Jameson and then slid an arm around her husband's waist.
Jameson looked around at the enforcers who were staring at them with an awestruck respect. He nudged her so she would be sure to see her uncle and his hunter Jacob, being hauled away by Callahan, Nathan, and Jaden.
Mira rushed over to hug Cali. "Thank you for being here. For everything." She looked to Micky and Trina. "I can't believe you came."
"We all had a part in the take down," Cali said. "Cleveland's at the wheel, but he wanted me to say hello. You've got friends you can count on." She patted Mira's shoulder. "You'll get used to it."
"It's good to get out of the office once in awhile." Micky shrugged, but his eyes and half smile gave away the deeper emotion.
"My apologies to all of you," Dr. Luther said, joining them. "I'm so ashamed of my brother and of myself for protecting him and later ignoring the situation. Something inside him broke when his son died. As an enforcer he couldn't heal the boy.
