Carmine appeared to think for a moment as he paced. He stopped and nodded to the man nearest Rebecca, who then lowered his gun and took hold of her arms and pinned them behind her. Rebecca yelped.
“You know,” began Carmine thoughtfully, “if she’s the B.I.B., I don’t think she’s gonna let me shoot her.” He gestured to another of his men who put his gun in Rebecca’s face. “And if she isn’t, I don’t think you’re gonna want me to be killing her. Care to test my theory?” he asked, getting in my face. “I’m gonna have them pull the trigger in a minute. If she’s the B.I.B., let’s see her outrun a bullet from an inch away.”
“Don’t do that. She’s not the B.I.B.; she’s totally innocent!” I begged them.
“Well then, my friend, I’m not leaving empty-handed. If she’s not the B.I.B., you, my friend, know where the B.I.B. is. Tell me, or we pull the trigger and find out for sure.”
I hoped desperately that the B.I.B. was about to crash through the door and dispose of these mugs. Allie, where are you? I wondered. I wanted anyone to be in charge of saving us, anyone but myself. “No, no wait!” I pleaded.
Carmine appeared disgusted. “What kind of man are you?” he asked, putting his gun to my head. “You’re gonna let me kill her when you could save her? Tell me, or we do you both, right now!” He gave me a minute to respond. When all I could do was stammer and plead, he nodded to his gunman. “Maybe watching her die will make you remember.”
The gunman showed no hesitation and pulled the trigger—or should I say, tried to pull the trigger. Carmine’s gun wouldn’t budge either, or his gun would have gone off in my face. Thank goodness Rebecca had talked to her mechanical friends and told them to freeze.
As Carmine ripped the strap off his shoulder and prepared to hit me with his gun—and I prepared to ward off the blow—Rebecca went limp in the thug’s arms, her eyes turned black, and translucent, vaporous clouds began to form around Carmine and the three thugs nearest him. An instant of surprise and awe flashed across their faces before they faded and disappeared with the clouds, leaving only black stains on the floor and a stench in the air.
With no gunman left to hold her up, Rebecca fell to the ground as I caught Carmine’s falling gun, drew back the bolt, and pointed it in the direction of the remaining henchmen. It was my best, and only, James Bond move of the night, but I found the front door open and heard the sounds of the henchmen’s boots as they beat feet. As the escapees exited my apartment building, I heard more voices, yelling, and the sounds of fighting. Was another group outside waiting for us? Was it the B.I.B. come to stop them? I only had a second to wonder.
I slammed and locked the door, then ran over to Rebecca. Her eyes began to clear, and she started to make erratic movements with her arms and legs. She seemed drained of all energy. When her eyes were bright again, I sat her up. “You okay?”
She appeared dazed and uncertain of where she was. She looked around the room to the black marks and assault rifles that marked where men had been. “Where’d….what…” Then a look of terror covered her face. “I killed them, didn’t I? I killed them all!”
I wrapped her in my arms. “No! You saved us! You saved me! They were going to kill us, whether you stopped their guns from working or not.”
Rebecca’s lips began to quake and tears formed in her eyes.
“There’s no time!” I tried to shake her. “There’s no time for this! We have to go!” I dragged her to her feet. “Come on,” I said, as I grabbed for her bag with one arm while cradling her in the other. She was still sobbing as we walked down the hall, down the stairs, and into the basement. Above us, I could hear the shuffling of feet running into my apartment. I quickly led her to the old door.
I was right; it hadn’t been opened for some time. But I was wrong in thinking I was going to open it. Three pushes and a shoulder-butt later, I was convinced that it wasn’t going to move. I looked Rebecca in her tear-filled eyes. “Rebecca, Rebecca, focus. Can you open this door?” I shook her by the shoulders. “Open this door or we’re gonna die! There’s more of them! They’ll find us here!”
She shook her head. “What does it matter who kills me? I’m a killer myself!”
I shook her again until she looked up at me. “You’re no killer, you pizza-eating pain in the ass. You saved my butt, and now I’ve got to get you out of here. I need your help.”
She sniffled, smiled and seemed to settle down. “It was sweet the way you stroked my hair.”
I was stunned and suddenly felt guilty, as I’d thought she was asleep. Then came the other surprise. Me? Sweet?
Then she looked at the door. It shook and quivered, then popped open with a screech. The stairwell outside the door was full of debris and surrounded by bushes, offering perfect cover for us. I watched as two more men dressed in black ran toward the front door. It was our chance, and we hunched over as we ran into the darkness.
Chapter 32
The Flight to Nirvana
When I saw the mess of his apartment, I knew he’d be looking for a place where no one would find him. Either that or they already had taken him away, as his car was still in the lot. Something intuitive told me he had escaped. I just felt it, but what of Rebecca? Who had made this move on him? Where was that bitch Jennifer?
Well, in this town, if you wanted to go where no one would find you or even think of looking, there was just one place to go: O’Malley’s. It’s where I had gone to disappear. I bet that he was there too.
When I entered, I turned to the old barkeep, who was drying glasses behind the bar. With his towel, he gestured at the booth where Logan an I had had our dinner and drinks that night. The booth appeared empty, but when I lifted the plastic tablecloth, there he was, sitting on the floor, surrounded by empty bottles. “Logan, you look like shit,” I said. The barkeep just shook his head, shooing away an RFD who was climbing on the bar like it was a jungle gym in a playground.
I dragged Logan out from under the table. We sat together in the booth, side by side, for greater privacy. “What happened?” I asked.
Logan sighed. “It was the mob, the new guy, Camino. They thought Rebecca was you. When they realized the mistake, they tried to make me tell them where you were. They were going to kill us both.”
I put my hands to my temples. “This is getting serious.”
He nodded. “Oh, yeah, you can say that,” he said, taking a drink from the bottom of the bottle that climbed out from under the table with him.
“Where’s Rebecca? How’d you get away?”
He looked up at the ceiling for a long moment. “She’s on her way up into the mountains. There’s a little B&B I know about. Very private and untraceable…She’ll be safe,” he said, nodding, as if in agreement with himself.
I put my hand on his shoulder. ”What happened? Where’s Camino?”
He laughed. “Gone! They’re just gone.”
“How? What do you mean?”
He finally noticed my hand on his shoulder. I let it drop. “Rebecca did it all. I was useless. She made their guns jam, then she vaporized them, poof, gone “What do you mean, gone?”
Logan gave me a serious look, as if from the grave. “Her eyes went to black and I watched Camino dissolve into the air…He had this shocked look on his face. He couldn’t believe what was happening to him. Then he and his men were gone. I’ll never forget the look on his face…or that smell.”
“Now we know she’s a killer,” I said, lowering my head.
“No, it’s not like that. She didn’t want to kill anyone. She only did it when they were about to kill us. It almost drained the life out of her. She fucking cried!”
I put my finger over my lips as we had done those nights before, “shhhing” him.. He responded by nodding and putting his finger over his lips too, but it wasn’t amusing now.
I thought for a moment. ”They’re after you too. So, if you don’t think she’s in on this, why aren’t you up in the mountains with her?”
Logan locked his
eyes on mine. “Because of you.” He raised his hand and ran it over my cheek and down my neck, following it with his lips. My mind raced, even as my neck extended to invite him. Then he looked at me and ran his hands over my shoulders like I was a work of art. In a flash, his chest was against me, and his lips were pressing mine. It was a remarkable and intense kiss. If I had let him, it would have lasted all night long. But then thoughts of those searching for me, along with images of Paige and the college boys I’d left in the hotel in Vegas flashed in my head. Despite the warmth and excitement that his contact had stirred, I pushed him back. I sat without speaking for a long time. “Guess I know why you’re here and not up in the mountains,” I said with certainty.
Finally I said, “If Camino is gone, who else is after you? Jennifer Lowe?”
“At least,” Logan answered, “There were three, four, five cars following me at the end. Everyone thinks I know how to find you. Camino’s men were fighting with someone else as they ran away. It’s like sharks with blood in the water now.”
“Sorry I got you into this mess.”
He laughed out loud. “I’ve got no one to blame but myself. You didn’t ask for any of this. It was me. That’s right; it was me…I’m not proud of putting you at risk with my website, but other than that, you know, Allie, I wouldn’t change a thing, not a fucking thing!”
I put my fingers to my lips, but it still wasn’t funny.
Logan took my hands in his, and the electric warmth spread all over again. “Allie, I wanted to find you, and now I have. I wouldn’t change that for anything.”
What a sweet…deluded, drunken man, I thought. Why was I giving Logan such a hard time, pushing him away every time he tried to get close? He seemed sincere, and after all, I was the one who had marked him in the first place. But what was the use, if he was just another man I would break? His touch felt different, though, electric…and that kiss…
* * *
With my bravado and razor-sharp reasoning that night, I ultimately convinced the B.I.B. that I knew someone who we could trust, someone who could help us. We sat in the booth while the RFDs flew by in a tragic Chair-idiot race.
“His name is Dr. Jones. He lives nearby. You must have seen him on TV.”
“Not really.”
“I was with him the first night we met…right over there,” I said pointing to the Jones-and-Logan memorial table.
“That creepy little guy?”
“Yeah, that’s him.”
“How is he going to help?”
“He is the foremost expert on you Super Born women. He knows all about where you came from, and the epsilon particles that made you the way you are.”
“Epsilon?”
“It’s a long story. Let’s just say, he knows what’s going on, and he has the connections, money, and resources to protect us, all of us. He’s our best chance.”
“I don’t know. I know you’re your friends and everything, but I think there’s something weird about that guy.”
“You can say that again. I’m not asking you to trust him, just trust meHe just lives a few miles away. I don’t know who’s watching my car. Why don’t you fly us over there. No one could follow us then.”
Okay, maybe it wasn’t my razor-sharp reasoning, but eventually Allie agreed. She slipped into the ladies room and returned wearing the black jumpsuit and mask she always wore while flying.
I was beginning to sober up by the time we reached the tiny parking lot behind O’Malley’s. Suddenly, the thought of being hundreds of feet in the air was overwhelming the sense of excitement I’d felt when I came up with the idea. The thought made me queasy—or maybe it was the chili fries I’d eaten earlier.
“You sure you’re ready for this? You look sick,” Allie commented .
I nodded, beginning to taste the chili fries for a second time in the back of my throat. I moved up beside her and prepared for the worst.
Allie circled her arm around me and grabbed ahold of my shoulder, then launched us into the dark night sky. The initial jolt was a challenge, but after that—and some deep, deep breaths—I felt the sense of coolness take over. There was something like a magnetic force holding us together, so I had no fear of falling or being blown away by the air that rushed past us. After a dangerous day, the air was cool, and the vision of lights for miles around amazing. I couldn’t tell if it was the feeling of flying or warmth radiating from Allie that felt so good. Then it dawned on me how much I trusted her.
I pointed out rough directions to Jones’s apartment, but found myself distracted by the same thrilling warmth I’d felt earlier, in the bar. It radiated from her touch, captivating my entire body in seconds. I remember looking at Allie—her body seemed radiant, like molten silver. (Then I realized the glow had extended itself to me.—it felt like warm, liquid electricity flowing back and forth over me. We were both bathed in the same moonlit glimmer and warm dizzying sensation.
I smiled, thinking how amazing this was, and looked over at Allie’s face to see if she was feeling the same. Her eyes were closed, her mouth opened, and I thought I heard her moan as my hands began gliding over her. For certain we weren’t flying a beeline for Jones’s place anymore, maybe a S-line or something. And we weren’t always upright as we had been, whether that was intentional or not—she flew us in rolling turns, exhilarating climbs, and dizzying dives like a roller coaster.
***
One second we were flying to meet this friend of his, and the next I felt a serene sensation of warmth, a pulsation that sharpened my senses yet left me calm yet completely at attention to everything around me. Just the touch of his hands sent shivers radiating throughout my body. It was insane. Part of me welcomed it, and let it totally arouse me, but another part of me resisted the temptation, remembering Jason staggering away from me. I couldn’t let that happen.
***
The warm feeling of connection with Allie continued to grow, unrestrained. Her sighs became louder—she was clearly on the verge of surrendering to the feeling to which I had long before gleefully succumbed. But something in her made her resist. In an effort to remain in control, she set us down on top of a buildings more than once, making an excuse, and letting go of me to walk around the rooftop, shaking her arms until the molten silver glow disappeared from her skin. Only then would we renew our flight—until the radiance would again take over and make her land again. I realized she was afraid of hurting me, the way she had other men. But there was no reluctance in me.
By the third rooftop, I knew her resistance was at its end. I watched her circle away from me, mumbling to herself. I felt no need to pressure her. The energy from her touch had me floating in a calm, sensuous high, unlike I’d ever felt before.
***
This wasn’t happening! The years of being a mother had taught me self -reliance and control. I lived my life for my daughter. No one had ever broken down and entered the walls I had taken years to build to protect us, to protect me.. There had been men, and there had been sex but there had never been an Allie that really opened herself up to a man, and certainly not like this. So how could I surrender to this feeling, to him? How could I let him control me like this, without knowing where he would take me? These feelings were so crazy, yet delicious. Part of me needed to just stop this right now, and part of me just wanted to throw open my arms and let all those defenses come tumbling down.
***
Finally, Allie walked back to stand before me, with tears forming in the corners of her eyes. “How are you doing this to me?” she said, then broke down and repeated in a soft, vulnerable tone of voice, “How are you doing this to me?”
I moved in and put my hands on her shoulders. They began to glow, and our eyes locked in an intimate connection that put an end to any walls between us. “What I’d like to know is how are you doing this to me? Maybe we’re doing this to each other. I knew the first minute I saw you that there was something special between us. There’s a reason for all of this.I never felt anything
like this. Have you?” She shook her head, too emotion-filled to speak. My response was to join our lips, sending both our faces into a molten glow.
We kissed long, wet, and hard, a reward that was well worth the price of admission. As I ran my hands over her cheeks and then down along her sides, the molten silver glow intensified wherever my hands traveled. Her waist and hips became awash in it. When I moved my hands back up and over her breast, the glow followed. The feeling of being one with her was the most amazing thing I had ever experienced, and I couldn’t get enough of it.
I pulled away slightly, watching the intimacy between us play out in one another’s eyes. I held her gaze as I slowly lowered the zipper of her jumpsuit and slipped my hands inside. I watched her mouth open and moan as my glowing hands roamed below her waist, making her shiver, which sent a pulse of energy back into me…if you know what I mean.
Her lips were too inviting and vulnerable to resist, so I maintained a soft control over them. She moaned several times in my mouth, ending with a long, loud one, just as her knees went weak. I held her tightly as her head dropped onto my shoulder with the scream of her release. It made me buckle in release myself, my head dropping onto her shoulder.
We kept that moaning, heaving embrace of climax going for over a minute, probably longer—our sense of time was gone with that first convulsing, intertwined orgasm we shared. Finally it subsided, and we fell to the roof, struggling to breathe. It was an odd feeling—I had climaxed more powerfully than I ever had before, from just a touch and the connection we had. I knew then that no matter what happened, there would always be this intimate bond between us.
“You okay?” I asked, after a long moment
Allie nodded. “Forget about me. How are you?.”
“You haven’t broken me yet.”
“No, but just give me a minute.”
“Forget those other chumps you’ve been with. It’s just you and me, and this is how we are together.”
“Oh really?” she laughed, breathing between words. Then she seemed to slip into thought, “Those superwomen are all hitting on you, and if weren’t for my mark, who knows…What have you got that they’re after?”
Super Born: Seduction of Being Page 26
