Training Rain

by A. S. Fenichel

  The soldier leaned over her, nearly climbing into the same seat as he dipped his head to taste her full lips.

  Jess’ fingers were balled so tight they began to cramp. If he’d made a mistake… No, she could handle this. Trust her.

  Jess absently put his gun on the table. His other hand clutched the back of her seat. His body descended slowly and nearly touched hers.

  The familiar crackle of electricity sounded in the airplane cockpit. The merc stumbled backward and Rain moved forward with him, holding the Taser’s head flush against his neck. He jerked several more times and collapsed on the floor.

  A wave of extreme pride washed over Jess. “Great job.”

  She winked, pulled the knife out of the sheath on the soldier’s belt and cut Jess’ restraint. “Now what?”

  Jess took the Taser, found an extra battery in the compartment where Rain had gotten it and slapped the new charge into place.

  “See if he has any more restraints on him and secure him to something. Check him for additional weapons. I’ll take care of the pilot.”

  He stepped toward the door. This would have to be quick.

  “Wait, can you fly this thing?” Her expression, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, was comical.

  He grinned back at her. He wondered if she noticed the hesitation in his smile. If she did, she kept it to herself and worked to immobilize the merc.

  A second later, his full attention was on the door. He opened it. The pilot was relaxed, watching the instruments while the autopilot flew the plane. His mouth opened as if to ask a question of his partner and Jess put the Taser to the side of his neck. His body went rigid and he collapsed. Jess dropped the weapon and unbuckled the inert body of the pilot before dragging him out of the cockpit and pulling two handguns off him.

  Rain came forward with additional plastic restraints and helped secure the pilot to the table base.

  She stood up and wiped her hands on her jeans as if she was soiled from touching the enemy. Jess wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her tight against him. “You were amazing.”

  Her arms wrapped tightly around his back. “Thanks. I’m glad you know this plane and all the things Will has hidden here.”

  “There’s probably a full arsenal in the pantry. Will’s a bit of nut when it comes to collecting firearms.”

  Gently, she pulled away from him and he reluctantly released her. “I can go and check that out, but can you land this plane?”

  She hadn’t missed his hesitation. “I’m going to be honest with you. I’m not the greatest pilot and I’ve never flown anything this fancy.”

  “So that’s what, a maybe? I’m not that keen on jumping out of a perfectly good airplane.”

  Neither was he. Plus, he had a feeling that they were headed for a pretty populated area and when this aircraft plummeted to the ground it would not be good. Maybe he could adjust the autopilot to dump someplace out in the Atlantic. “I’m going to try to call Tessa and see if Joshua can talk us down.”

  If it were possible, her eyes got even wider. She released her breath slowly. “Okay. You go call for help and I’ll see if we can put up a fight when and if you get us down from here.”

  “You’re calmer than I expected.” In fact he’d begun to wonder if she understood the seriousness of the situation.

  Leaning forward, she gave him a quick kiss. “I have faith in you. Besides, I expected to be killed back in Yellowstone. What’s one more emergency after what we’ve done in the last forty-eight hours?”

  “Does this mean I’m forgiven?”

  “Of course not.” She grinned, belying her words. “But if we’re going to die in the next few minutes, I’d better stop being pissed off at you.”

  Jess sat in the pilot’s seat and strapped in. The digital flight deck blinked colorfully in front of him. The plane was state of the art with touch-screen navigation, traffic and 3-D surface views. He was out of his league. Worst-case scenario, he knew where the parachutes were. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed.

  “Where are you?” Tessa practically screamed over the phone.

  He pulled the microphone away from his ear. “At the moment I’m in Will’s airplane, but I don’t know where Will is.” He checked the navigation screen and looked out the window at mountains and clouds. “I’d say we’re over North Carolina heading toward Washington D.C.”

  “What happened?” He could hear the concern underneath her all-business demeanor.

  “Rain and I were scheduled to meet Will at a small Louisiana airport. When we got there Will was nowhere to be found and two mercs surprised us. We managed to immobilize the enemy, but…”

  “But you can’t land that plane.” She finished for him. They’d worked together for years. Tessa knew his strengths and his weaknesses.

  “Have you heard from Will?”

  “No. I’ll put Piper on finding him.”

  “Good. Start with a small airport just north of New Orleans. That’s where he was heading the last time we saw him. Since the mercenaries stole his plane, I assume he made it that far.”

  “Will do. How’s Rain?”

  Rain stepped into the cockpit and climbed into the copilot’s seat. Her cheeks were flushed with healthy color and her eyes were bright and alert. He was in big trouble. “She’s fine, better than fine.”

  “Joshua is in a meeting. Hang tight. I’m going to pull him out and then I’ll connect you.” Without another word, the other end of the phone went silent.

  Jess put the phone on the console and pressed the speakerphone button. He looked at Rain. “What did you find?”

  She shook her head. “You’re right. Will is a gun nut. This plane is armed for bear.”

  “And our guests?”

  “Starting to stir, but they’ll be hard-pressed to move more than an inch or two. This looks like a pretty fancy video game.”

  “It is.”

  “So what do we do?”

  He loved that she talked about them as if they were a team. He couldn’t help basking in the fact that in a dangerous situation she had risked opening her mind and that leap of faith had saved them. Well, so far. “We wait for Joshua to tell me how to get us on the ground in one piece.”

  She didn’t say anything for a long time, only quietly scrutinized the colorful panels and screens in front of them. “How long do you think we can stay up here?”

  The minutes ticked by. Jess checked the fuel and luckily they had enough to stay in the air for hours. “Quite a while.”

  “Will Tessa be able to get Josh?”

  “Probably.”

  “Will he be able to get us on the ground?”

  He sucked in a deep breath and reached across to take her hand. “Maybe.”

  She turned and looked at him. “You told me you loved me.”

  A knot formed in the middle of his chest that had nothing to do with their impending doom and everything to do with her change of subject. “I do love you, Rain.”

  Her grip on his hand tightened. “Then you’d better get us on the ground so you can prove it, because I love you too.”

  He knew he was grinning like an idiot, but he couldn’t help it. He never thought something so sentimental could make him so happy. He wanted to jump up and down. Managing to keep his seat, he lifted her hand and kissed it.

  She hadn’t put her jacket back on. The sleeveless cotton tee-shirt she wore allowed the very edge of black and red ink to peek out just at the back of the arm hole. “Tell me about your tattoo?”

  She followed the direction of his stare. “What do you want to know?”

  He didn’t want to think about what might happen if he had to try to land the sophisticated plane on his own. Better to talk about other things. “When did you get it?”

  She glanced down at the Garmin navigational screen for a long second and then back at him. “I was seventeen. For most of my life I’d been able to communicate with animals. I’d been on and off the street for a few years and the guy I was with too
k me to a tattoo competition. I saw an artist inking a black and red Haida-style tattoo. It intrigued me so I spent the day hanging out at his booth. After the competition, I tracked him down and worked out a deal for my art.”

  Jess couldn’t help cringing at what kind of trade she’d made. She must have noticed.

  “It wasn’t what you think. The artist was a nice guy. I agreed to serve as his model for a big open house his shop was having. I just had to let a lot of people gawk at me while I was getting it done. I was totally zoned out from the adrenaline and really didn’t care who saw my back.”

  He’d meant it when he told her he didn’t care about her past and still it was a relief. For a moment the life of a tattoo artist in Los Angeles hung in the balance. “What does it mean?”

  “Do you really want to talk about this now?” There was an airy quality to her voice.

  He wondered if she was afraid of dying or if it was something else. “Would you rather talk about our current situation?”

  Her attention turned once again to the digital monitors of the navigation system. “Not really.”

  “Good, because I want to know about you and I get the impression that the ink on your back tells a lot of that story.”

  How could he know so much? She wanted him to know her. It was the first time in her life she really wanted another human being to know who she was beyond what she could do. “The overall design of the buffalo is a symbol of how sacred life is. I was pretty messed up during the time I had the tattoo done, but I still knew the life I was wasting was precious. When I got older, I was amazed that the younger me had the same sensibilities.”

  Jess watched her, only turning away now and then to glance at the horizon on the screen in front of him. “People don’t change, really. Maybe they go off track or lose their way now and then, but the essence of each of us never really changes.”

  “That’s what Adianca says. Do you really believe that?”

  “I do and Adianca knew you would come around to the person you were meant to be. That’s why she saved you.”

  “I guess.” Rain stared out the window at the cloudy nothing that washed passed the glass.

  “What about the animals that make up the buffalo? Do they have special meanings?”

  It was so strange. She was probably going to die, but she had never felt so calm in her life. All the things that had happened to her over the course of the past few weeks should have freaked her out. She should be huddled in a corner crying, but all she wanted was to be with the man beside her. If they were going to die, she would die happy. That was more than she had ever expected. She had a fleeting thought that Jess might be bending her mind, but she dismissed the notion. He had promised never again and she believed him. Besides, now that she knew his accent thickening to deep Cajun was a sign he was bending, he couldn’t fool her. “The feathers that make up the horns are symbols of healing. The eagle woven into the top part of the head means freedom and the falcons along the side stand for leadership. There are a few other smaller symbols threaded throughout. I can walk you through it one day when you can see the tattoo.”

  “And the figure in the center with the long teeth.”

  “The wolf.”

  “What does he stand for?”

  She turned her head and the look in his eyes was so intense she wondered if she would ever be able to look away. “The wolf is a symbol of passion.”

  The sound of someone clearing his throat broke them out of the intimate conversation. Joshua’s voice came in loud and clear from the cell phone’s speaker. “I don’t mean to interrupt.”

  A huge smile spread across Jess’ face. Rain’s cheeks warmed and she knew she was blushing. How long had Joshua Lakeland been listening?”

  “Good to hear your voice, Josh. Do you think you can talk me through a landing in this flying computer?”

  “No problem, buddy.”

  As soon as Jess released her hand, she wondered if she would ever feel his touch again. Their boss sounded confident on the other end of the phone. He told Jess how to change the navigation and where to direct the plane. They were going to head to a small airport in Virginia. Joshua, Tessa and his brother Kane were already on their way and would be there before they were ready to land. The instructions sounded easy enough. The computer did most of the work until the last few minutes.

  Joshua continued to give a steady flow of instructions in the same calm voice throughout the remainder of the flight. Jess didn’t appear the least bit worried as he followed each direction to the letter and they began their descent toward the earth.

  Pain shot through Rain’s fingers. They were cramping and she realized it was due to the grip she maintained on the armrests. She relaxed her fingers and took a deep breath.

  The runway stretched out in front of them. It was a very small runway. “Is that going to be long enough?”

  Joshua answered, “It will be close, but you can make it.”

  She snapped her head around and she glared at the phone where it still sat on the console in front of Jess. He reached over and squeezed her hand. She watched him as he smiled and sent a message to her as he had when he wanted her to Taser the mercenary. His mind spoke much more softly this time.

  I love you.

  She nodded, wishing for the first time that she had the ability to answer in the same way.

  Of course she didn’t, but he smiled as if he heard her thoughts anyway. Maybe he had in the way he’d heard her the night in Yellowstone when she’d been in a panic. Her entire body rang with her love for this man, so perhaps he had heard her.

  The contact had been only a second, but it was exactly what she needed to believe that everything would be all right.

  The ground grew larger in the window, Joshua’s voice continued to give instruction and praise over the phone and Jess focused completely on the screens in front of him. The wheels touched down and the plane bounced once and twice before the landing gear finally gripped the tarmac and they rushed down the runway, slowing with every passing yard.

  In front of her, a snow-covered field warned of the end of the runway. They could not have been more than a foot away when Jess finally managed to stop the plane. Rain let her breath out in one long gust and the ache in her lungs eased.

  “Great job,” Joshua said from the phone speaker. “Stay right there, we’re coming to you.”

  The click of a disconnecting cell phone was all the prompt Rain needed. She jumped out of the copilot’s seat and just as Jess was shutting down the engines, she grabbed him around the neck, covering his cheek with kisses.

  “You are amazing. I can’t believe we’re not dead.”

  A full, round laugh filled the small space. “And you seemed so confident in me a few minutes ago. Now I know that was all a ruse.”

  “There was no sense in shaking your confidence.”

  He turned his head and took her lips with his as his hand came around and gripped the back of her head and his tongue plunged inside her waiting mouth. The impact of the kiss shot directly to her womb and her pussy clenched with desire.

  Breaking the kiss, he gave her nose a quick peck. “You’d better open the door and lower the stairs. I can see our friends from here and they’ll be here in a few seconds.”

  She glanced out the window and confirmed that a vehicle was approaching. “Got it.”

  Grabbing the two guns she’d procured from the storehouse of weapons onboard, she did as Jess had instructed. As soon as the steps were down, Joshua Lakeland, his brother Kane and Tessa were all at the bottom with their own weapons at the ready.

  Chapter Ten

  “So you’re telling me that bastard has a psychic son and he still wants to destroy everything psi?” Kane Lakeland paced the room. His dark hair was sticking up from running his fingers through the thick mass. He looked as if he was a caged animal though they had only been inside the small conference room for an hour while Rain and Jess were debriefed.

  Rain loved how they told thei
r story together. In a short time they had become a team. Jess would tell part of the story and then she would slip in and tell the next, each one knowing where to start and when to stop. There was something poetic about the process.

  Jess continued, “I think it’s because of his son that he’s so anti-psi.”

  “Do you think the younger Breckenridge is like Banta?” A shiver ran down Rain’s spine. The idea of something as evil as Banta made her want to rethink her choices. No, she would not second-guess herself. She had saved Jess’ life. In fact she had done it more than once. She was an asset.

  Tessa leaned against the wall. They had secured a small executive suite at the W Hotel. It had its own conference room, kitchenette and two bedrooms as well as a large living room and dining room. “Joshua, you should call Blake and see what he knows about the Breckenridge boy.”

  The head of the Psi Alliance groaned aloud. Blake was an FBI agent who had given the Psi Agency support in the past, but everyone knew there was bad blood between Blake and the Lakeland brothers. Tessa stared him down.

  Rain knew they were likely communicating through telepathy. Adianca had told her the two were deeply linked. It was that link that had saved them. A wave of jealousy surprised her. Did she want that kind of connection? Could she stand to have someone in her head all the time even if it was Jess?

  Joshua was the most powerful psychic in the world, but Tessa must have won the argument. He lowered his head and left the room, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket.

  Kane mumbled, “I hate that guy.”

  “Yes, we all know how you and your brother feel about Agent Blake, but he’s saved our lives on more than one occasion. So ease up.” Tessa rolled her eyes and pushed off the wall. She stared Kane down with her hands on her hips.

  He didn’t exactly cower, but he did change the subject. “Jess, you said the kid is in an institution. If he’s not a complete whack job, we might be able to use him.”