Playing With Fire (tales of an extra ordinary girl)

by Gena Showalter

  Tires squealed. People raced in every direction, their expressions panicked.

  “Let’s go.” I bounded out of the car, Tanner close behind me. “He said to meet him behind the Dumpster on the west side.” But, uh, which way was west? I’d always had a hard time with directions. Did the sun rise or set in the west?

  “This way.” Tanner pointed.

  My gaze followed his finger and lit on a dark blue bin at the far side of the grocery store. “Come on.” I grabbed his hand and we were off, heading in the same direction as the frantic crowd.

  There were more cars in the lot than I’d anticipated, and I didn’t know who to avoid. At least my hair was hidden under a baseball cap. I tried to stay in the shadows as much as possible, but no matter what I did, I felt exposed. Vulnerable. Finally we reached our destination, and I pressed my back against the cool metal.

  Smoke was beginning to thicken the air, burning my lungs and throat. I coughed. My eyes watered.

  “Shit! Not again.” Tanner pushed on my shoulders, forcing me to the dirty, trash-laden ground. “Lie down. Stay as low as you can and cover your nose with your shirt.”

  I did as he commanded and was thankful to discover the air was thinner, cleaner when filtered through the cotton. My coughing subsided. Only a few minutes passed before Rome sprinted around the corner, stopping abruptly. His gaze narrowed when he spied me lying prone.

  “What’s wrong with her?” he asked Tanner.

  “Smoke got to her.”

  Rome reached down and hefted me up over his shoulder, fireman-style. Without protest, I let him carry me. A coughing fit from me would slow us down considerably.

  “This way,” Rome said. “We’re good to go, but I want you to stay behind me.”

  Tanner moved to the rear. In the distance I heard the wail of fire truck sirens. We entered a field behind the store, careful to avoid security lights. We raced across it. Well, the boys did. I was just along for the (bumpy) ride.

  When we reached the beginning of a gated community, Rome gently lowered me. His hands cupped my jaw, and our gazes locked. “You okay?”

  I allowed the shirt to fall from my nose, and inhaled deeply. The air was sweet and clean. The cords in my throat relaxed, and the irritating tickling sensation subsided. “I’m good.”

  “Okay. We’ve got a public street on one side of us and a fence that peeks into rich people’s backyards on the other. Try to look casual, at ease. Belle, you’re going to hold my hand. Tanner, stay beside Belle. We’re a family out for a nighttime stroll. Nothing more.”

  He didn’t wait for our reply, but gripped my hand in his and leapt into motion, leading us closer to Dr. Roberts’s house. Tanner quickened his step until he paced at my side. “If we’re staying in the shadows,” he asked under his breath, “why do we need to look casual?”

  “There are people who can see in the shadows, not to mention a little thing called night vision goggles. If we’re spotted, I want people to think we have nothing to hide.”

  “Won’t they shoot first and ask questions later?” I asked.

  Rome gave my hand a squeeze. “Hopefully, they won’t expect us to come out in the open. Anyway, there’s really no place for us to hide.”

  “Thanks for that,” Tanner said drily. “You could have lied, at least. How the hell am I supposed to act casual now?”

  Yes, it was hard to act as if we had nothing to hide when we were each loaded with weapons. Did I forget to mention that part? Rome hadn’t wanted us to rely solely on our superpowers-and let’s face it, an empath like Tanner couldn’t slay a bad guy by understanding he was angry. Rome hadn’t wanted us to rely solely on his weapons, either, in case we became separated. So he’d given me and Tanner each a Taser, a flashlight and several knives, which were now strapped to our thighs, waists and wrists.

  I wasn’t sure I’d have the balls to actually stab anyone. Fry them or ice them, maybe, even though I still wasn’t one hundred percent comfortable with the fact that I’d already deep-fried a few people (bad guys though they were). But there was something so personal about stabbing someone.

  I guess we’d see if I could do it (on purpose) when the time came.

  A car honked in the distance, startling me. I gasped and jumped about a foot in the air.

  “Easy,” Rome said.

  I drew in a steadying breath, trying to relax. I kept my attention straight ahead, absorbing Rome ’s strength and assurance.

  “At the next street, we’re going to turn left,” he said.

  Tanner ran a hand through his hair, looking anything but casual. “How do you know the way?”

  Rome shrugged, and I think he answered just to keep us distracted. “A while ago, Lexis had to pretend to be Dr. Roberts’s friend. She told you that, right? Our boss wanted the formula for himself. I followed her each time she came here, making sure she was safe.”

  Oh, that he would always look after me like that. What a tantalizing thought. Oh, that he still looked after Lexis like that. What a… not so tantalizing thought.

  We had to stop and hide behind bushes for a bit as a black SUV slowly prowled the street, followed by a car filled with shouting teenagers. Thankfully, no one spotted us.

  “Well,” Tanner said, “I think we should have slammed the car through the security fence and into the house, run in, grabbed what we needed and hauled ass.”

  Rome ’s brows arched into his hairline, and he shook his head. “And risk destroying our getaway vehicle, not to mention wiping out any possible paper trail?”

  “We could have driven two cars,” I suggested. “One to smash and one to drive away.”

  “Now that’s a plan, Viper.”

  “What about the destruction of files or information about the formula?” Rome didn’t give us a chance to answer, grumbling, “You two are ruining my concentration.” He released my hand and wound his arm around my waist, drawing me closer. “I’m supposed to be on the lookout for the people who want to kill us. I swear, this is why I never work with amateurs.”

  The reminder sobered us, and silence reigned until we came to a section of the fence Rome approved. I glanced uneasily at the tall iron bars that stretched skyward, pointing sharp tips toward the heavens.

  “This it?” Tanner asked, his voice shaking.

  Rome nodded. “This is it. More shadows. No dogs around. And we’re not too far from the doctor’s house.”

  The shadows were darker here. Thicker. Consuming the small enclosure. I swallowed. Yes, this was it and there would be no turning back now. Several pines stretched toward the gate, but they weren’t close enough for us to climb.

  “You ready, Belle?” Rome faced me. I couldn’t make out his features very well, only the occasional flash of white teeth. But I drew comfort from his presence.

  I nodded, realized he might not be able to see me, and said, “Ready.” God, I was nervous. I did not want to be the weak link that let this team down.

  “Then get us past it.”

  Breathing in and out slowly, precisely, I squared my shoulders and turned to the gate. I held out one of my hands, palm out. The wind, I was learning, was the hardest element for me to call. It required a combination of feelings. An emotional cocktail, if you will, of fear (check), desperation (check), and, as I’d figured out during the day’s training session, some type of affection. Love worked, though I didn’t know why.

  All I knew was that it was hard to maintain such a sweet, positive emotion while drawing from the other two, the negatives.

  As before, in the clearing, I allowed images of my dad to spill across my mind. My heart swelled with love for him. To strengthen the emotion, I allowed Rome to enter the picture, envisioning the two men slapping each other on the back. I didn’t want to-God, I didn’t-but I forced the images to twist. To darken. To become a nightmare I never wanted to come true.

  “Whatever you’re doing, it’s working,” Tanner said proudly. “I can feel a tornado forming inside you.”

  In m
y mind, I saw the two men I held so dear being hurt. Gunned down. Bullets whizzed and popped with startling realism. I saw both men flinch in pain. Saw blood escape from their many wounds.

  “Yes, yes,” Tanner praised. “It’s getting stronger.”

  Rome cupped the back of my neck and massaged. “Good girl. You’re doing great.”

  Around me, a fierce wind began to blow. My hair whipped from the ball cap and slapped at my cheeks. The trees danced, leaves swaying. Twigs and dirt swirled up from the ground, whirling round and round. I closed my eyes, saw myself running toward the fallen men, screaming their names.

  “The wind is too strong, Viper.” Concern laced Tanner’s voice. He was suddenly shoved into the bars. “It’s going to blow us away.”

  “Give some to me,” Rome said.

  I visualized the fierceness of my emotions traveling out of me and into Rome, giving him pieces of the positive, pieces of the negative. He tensed the moment they hit him, and hissed in a breath.

  Instantly, the churning sea inside me calmed. The emotions were still there, but they were manageable. The violence of the wind eased slightly.

  “That’s it,” he said. “I’ve got it.”

  With my free hand, I motioned for the wind to churn at our feet. After only a moment’s hesitation, it obeyed. We were lifted an inch or so in the air, the force of the moving current creating a solid foundation beneath us.

  “Higher,” I whispered. We rose sharply, and I almost dropped my hand to my side. Almost commanded the wind to leave.

  “Steady,” Rome said.

  “Are you concentrating?” Tanner said. “I don’t think you’re concentrating.”

  “I’m concentrating!”

  “You’re doing good, baby.” Rome slapped Tanner upside the head. “Can you get us over the wall, Belle?”

  To do that, I needed to make the wind swirl. What should I do, what should I do? I twirled my finger in a circle, mimicking a whirlwind, but that didn’t help. I closed my eyes and visualized it, but-no, wait! The wind began to rotate. Up, up we went.

  My stomach twisted in progression with the wind, but I kept my mind on the chaos. Besides, if I opened my eyes and looked down, I might vomit or scream or any number of other things. I wasn’t afraid of heights, far from it, but my God, we had nothing but air holding us up. Wind, which was invisible. I only hoped there were no onlookers.

  The top spike of the fence suddenly scraped the bottom of my boot. I gasped, but managed to keep my mind on the task at hand. My finger never stopped twirling.

  “We cleared it,” Rome said.

  Happiness flooded me. I’d done it. I’d done it!

  “Uh, celebrating a little too early,” Tanner said, a split second before the wind ceased and we tumbled to the ground.

  I hit with a hard smack. My feet absorbed most of the shock, but my body vibrated painfully. My teeth rattled, almost slicing into my tongue. Tanner humphed and rolled to his side. Rome landed perfectly, without sound, without bouncing. Just thump, he was crouched on his feet.

  Damn cat reflexes.

  For several prolonged seconds, I sucked air back into my lungs. “Oopsie,” I said between pants. “My bad.”

  “We’ll practice the landing next time.” Rome tugged me to my feet, then did the same for Tanner. “Let’s move out.”

  Once again we were in motion, remaining close to the fence, striding along its shadowed edge. We didn’t try to pretend nonchalance this time. We simply stayed out of sight as much as possible. I was so ready for this night to be over, and would have sold my soul for a little of Lexis’s psychic ability. If I knew what was going to happen before it actually happened, well, I could make sure Rome and Tanner emerged unscathed.

  Row after row of sprawling homes came into view. Lights gleamed from the streets, from garages, from gardens. “ Rome,” I said uncertainly.

  “Just keep your back to the fence.”

  When we rounded a corner, he stopped. Crouched. I glanced at Tanner, Tanner glanced at me and we both crouched beside Rome.

  “That’s Dr. Roberts’s home.” He motioned to a pretty Victorian with an unkempt yard and overgrown bushes. Wraparound porch. Hanging wind chimes. Blue shutters.

  I experienced a tiny flutter of shock. This beautiful mansion housed the man who’d made me what I am. No lights were on inside it. I guess I should have asked if Dr. Roberts had a family here we needed to worry about awakening.

  “Is anyone there?” Tanner asked.

  Rome didn’t answer. Instead, his gaze slowly scanned left and right, searching, intense. Minutes passed. Insects chirped.

  Finally Rome whispered, “See that black SUV?” He pointed to the right, to a car parked in a driveway several homes away from Dr. Roberts’s.

  “Yes.”

  “Definitely belongs to Vincent’s men. Be careful. No telling what kind of scrim agents he has inside.”

  “How can you tell?” I studied it, but it looked like every other expensive car in the neighborhood.

  “One, I know Vincent well enough to be sure he’d keep men here to watch for Dr. Roberts. Two, his agents are still inside the car. If you look closely, you can see the exhaust fumes. I’m betting they’ve been turning it on and off for the air conditioner. Plus, I can smell the amount of coffee they’ve consumed.”

  Ugh. Coffee. After what had been done to my grande mocha latte, I’d probably never want to drink the stuff again.

  Tanner pressed deeper into the darkness, his gaze darting nervously. “What should we do?”

  “Belle, do you think you can make it rain? A hard-ass storm just like we talked about at the cabin?”

  “It will hail,” I warned. “We won’t be able to run through it without getting hit.”

  His lips lifted in a slow smile. “That’s exactly what I want. Lots and lots of hail. Trust me. It’ll be okay. Just make the storm as fierce as you can without blowing the houses away.”

  “The weather channel is going to have a field day with this,” Tanner said drily. “I hope you both realize that. Everyone who knows about the formula will suspect Belle was here.”

  “It’s a chance we have to take.” Rome turned back to the house.

  “What about the people in the SUV?” I asked.

  “I’m going to leave them to you,” Rome stated.

  “What?” I said, surprised.

  “What?” Tanner seemed equally taken aback.

  “I’ll disable their car and knock them out.” I knew what that meant. Kill. “If one of them wakes up,” Rome continued, “you two are to take care of him.”

  Tanner and I shared a wry look. Yeah, he was really letting us take care of the bad guys in the car. We got his leftovers, if there happened to be any. Knowing Rome, there wouldn’t.

  “This is going to work out, baby, you’ll see.”

  I admit it. I love it when he calls me “baby,” and he seemed to do it more when we were in dangerous situations. “Be careful, okay?” I wrung my hands nervously. “There could be armed men in the house, too.”

  His lips twitched. “Could be? No, there are.”

  My mouth fell open. He said it so casually, as if it was perfectly normal. “Maybe we shouldn’t-”

  “Create the storm, baby, and I’ll signal when it’s safe to enter the house.”

  “You going to distract everyone with another explosion?” Tanner asked drily.

  “Hopefully not” was the only answer Rome gave.

  I wanted to protest, but didn’t. He was the expert here. He knew what he was doing. He knew how to survive. After all, he’d been doing it for a long time. Forcing my attention from him, I blinked up at the night sky. Stars twinkled from the black velvet. I didn’t ask Rome to filter for two reasons. One, once the storm erupted he needed to leave. And two, I didn’t want him to diminish my sadness in any way. The more intense it was, the more intense the storm would be.

  My emotions were already frayed from their use and abuse today, but I dragged them front
and center once more. Concentrating on all the things that saddened me, I drew forth a large wave of sorrow, plumped it with more depressing images, encouraged it to grow. It sprouted wings inside me, spreading. Spreading.

  “That’s it, Viper. Let it flow.”

  Overhead a crash of thunder boomed. Lightning bolts lit the sky, one after another. Fat droplets of rain began to descend, slowly at first, then gaining in speed and density. My chin trembled and tears flowed down my cheeks. I’d never been this sad in my life. I verged on total depression. Feelings of aloneness swamped me. Feelings of helplessness consumed me.

  “Stay safe,” Rome breathed into my ear. He kissed my lips and was gone, disappearing into the darkness like a nocturnal phantom.

  Rain pounded the ground, soon joined by the hail I’d predicted. The golf-ball-size ice smacked everything in its destructive path.

  Tanner and I huddled under a tree. Its thick branches shielded us from most of the ice, but the rain managed to slip past the leaves and soak us. I shivered with cold as I searched the streets and houses for any sign of Rome, but I couldn’t see him. The SUV stopped humming with life, I noticed, the black plumes of smoke disappearing. The rear wiper stopped in the middle of its glide.

  I didn’t see any movement in the car, though. Several more minutes passed. I didn’t see any movement outside the house, either, but suddenly I heard the growl of a jungle cat echoing off the walls and into the night.

  I gripped my stomach, hoping the puny action could prevent it from twisting painfully. Obviously, Rome had discovered his prey. He’ll be okay, he’ll be okay, he’ll be okay.

  Another growl.

  A tortured scream.

  Tiny flickers of light flashed from Dr. Roberts’s windows, as if someone-or multiple someones-were firing several rounds. The rain stopped as fear held me in its tight clasp, but I forced my sadness to return. Rain fell again.

  “He’ll be okay,” Tanner whispered, voicing my thoughts. “He has to. I mean, he’s Agent Kick-ass, isn’t he, with an impenetrable force field or some kind of shit. Right?”

  “Yes.” The word sounded broken, hollow. A tremor raked me. Two men stumbled out of the SUV, blood dripping from their necks. Both had weapons drawn.