“I don’t know where that came from.”
“I would love to fill you with my seed, cher.”
Her chest tightened and she pushed him away, though not with any real force. She rolled so that her back faced him. “Let’s talk about it another time. I’m tired, Jess. I can’t think.”
Warm, moist lips pressed against the back of her neck and shoulder as his arms banded around her and pulled her in tight. “Whenever you want. I’ll be here.”
Chapter Eleven
How could he sleep? No way, not after the way she’d broadcast that thought of sex without a condom. Did that mean she was thinking about having babies with him? At once he was giddy with excitement and swamped with terror.
He really should try to sleep.
An hour later he still watched Rain’s face in the shadowy light from the bathroom. He listened to her slow, steady breathing. Every once in a while a high-pitched sigh pushed from her full, bowed lips. What was the sigh for? He had an intense desire to poke around in the pretty head and find out, but he’d made a promise and he would not break his word.
In his entire life, he’d never been so consumed by another person. He loved Rain. How was it possible to have fallen so completely? Even more amazing, she loved him too. His cock stood at half-mast for the entire night, fitted perfectly against her curved ass. Her head rested against his biceps. It should have become uncomfortable after a while, but he never wanted to let her go.
The idea of her going into danger knotted his stomach. Then he thought about how fantastic she’d been with a small percentage of her training complete, and the way she’d stood up to Kane and Tessa. He knew she’d been born to be in law enforcement. Protecting was her nature. She would always stand on the side of right.
The last time he glanced at the clock, it had read four in the morning. At five thirty he shook Rain gently. “Time to get up, cher. We have a big day.”
As if she were a cat, she reached above her head, arched her back and stretched long. What he wouldn’t give for an extra hour to delight in her body. He wanted to kiss every curve, explore every angle. It would have to wait.
Within the hour they would be expected to be downstairs and on their way to rescue Bradly Breckenridge’s son from a mental hospital.
The Alexandria Mental Health Facility looked as if it had stood on the property since the city had first been developed in the mid-eighteenth century. Ivy covered the red brick, and white columns stood sentinel on either side of the front entrance.
Rain did not block their psi senses, but he knew she was prepared to block any and all people once any danger became apparent. Jess made the guards think they heard a noise elsewhere and the five agents from the Psi Alliance walked inside the facility just after the doors opened for the day.
The nurse at the front desk asked who they were and they said doctors touring the facility. She was particularly weak-minded and Jess easily convinced her it was true. She would even remember seeing them all wearing white lab coats rather than the black swat gear they actually wore.
As charming as the building was on the outside, the inside had been stripped of any character. Flat gray walls and floors painted in a darker shade of the same gray. Every hallway lined with bare light bulbs covered only by steel cages. White doors with numbers on the right side of each. Each door had a small window with a metal grate between two pieces of glass. Jess noted nothing personal of any kind as they traversed the halls toward room 2032. FBI Agent Blake had supplied them with the room number, though Jess was confident that he could have gotten the information from the desk nurse if it had been necessary.
“I think we have company,” Joshua said. They each had a weapon, but they were going to try not to draw them inside the hospital. The idea was to get the kid and get out.
“Who?” Tessa’s voice was soft, but confident.
“I think it’s Breckenridge. He entered just behind us.”
“Maybe he’s just visiting.” Rain’s voice didn’t seem nearly as confident as her words implied.
Jess backed up and let his colleagues continue. He would check on the senator and see what he was up to.
“You’re here early, senator.” It was the front desk nurse’s voice.
Jess couldn’t risk being seen, but he listened from around the corner.
“Have the medications I requested been administered to my son?” Disdain seeped from every word. In spite of the nurse’s attempt to be cordial, the senator sounded stern and annoyed.
“Let me just check for you.”
Jess heard the ticking of computer keys echo in the empty entrance hall.
“Everything was given to Troy this morning, sir. Do you want me to call an orderly to accompany you?”
“Don’t be an idiot. I can see my own son without any of those guard dogs. He would never harm me.”
Jess’ gut tightened. Was the patient dangerous?
“If you say so, senator, but he did break your wrist just a month ago.”
“He was upset and his medication wasn’t quite right. He’ll be fine now.”
“If you say so.”
“Are you afraid of him, nurse? Maybe it’s time you had a reassignment.” Breckenridge’s voice brimmed with malice.
To the nurse’s credit, her tone remained completely even and unaffected. “Not at all, sir. He never attacks anyone other than you. When you’re not here, he’s a model patient and always has been.”
Jess tucked that information away and headed toward the room. By the time he got there, Joshua and Kane were exiting room 2032. They had the arms of an enormous man slung over each of their shoulders and practically carried the listless guy.
“That’s Troy Breckenridge?” Jess couldn’t hide his surprise. For some reason he expected a frail twenty-three-year-old, not a giant as big as Will.
Whatever the drugs were that the senator demanded be administered, they were working. The bottoms of Troy’s feet barely made contact with the floor. He tried to walk, but mostly he was dragged.
“This is the guy,” Tessa said.
“Yeah? Well, his father is here and evidently our young man gets a bit testy with dear old dad from time to time.”
“Great,” Kane said.
Joshua passed his side of Troy over to Jess. The kid had to weigh two hundred fifty pounds. Jess grunted under the dead weight.
“Rain, you’d better block Troy for now.”
Jess could see that she didn’t like the idea, but she didn’t argue with Joshua. “I’ll be blocking Jess and Kane as well. They’re too close to Troy for me to separate the effect of the block.”
“I understand.”
Breckenridge turned the corner and stomped down the hall. “What do you understand and where the hell do you think you’re going with my son?”
“You’re up early, senator. Were you going to have a visit with Troy or just use him for something? Is that why you had him drugged up good and early?”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about and you sure as hell don’t know what you’re dealing with. You think you’re stealing an asset, but he’s a monster. He’ll kill you as soon as he gets the chance. He can crush your bones more easily than an aluminum can and he won’t think twice about doing it either.”
A low sound emanated from Troy. It was a kind of growl, but if he was angry about his father’s words, the drugs he’d been given kept the emotion in check.
Joshua turned toward Rain and lifted an eyebrow.
“He seems quite passive.”
“Maybe it’s only your bones Troy is after, senator.” Joshua looked from the senator’s eyes down to his casted wrist.
Breckenridge widened his eyes and one of the bulbs in the hallway popped and exploded glass all over the slick floor. “Lakeland, I’m warning you, if you leave now, I won’t report this. Don’t test my power. I will crush you and your little organization.”
Tessa moved to stand in front of Rain, effectively protecting her and Troy. �
�It seems in spite of Senator Breckenridge’s claims to hate all things psychic, he has a bit of a gift himself.”
“So it would seem.” Joshua opened his palm so their foe could see the electricity popping from his skin. “I assure you, we are going to take Troy out of here today. Though not for the reasons you assume. But I’ll tell you what, senator, once Troy is himself and all the drugs are out of his system, if he wants to come home to daddy, we’ll deliver him to you without delay. Until then, he’s coming with us.”
Jess saw pure fear in Bradly Breckenridge’s eyes. He was definitely afraid of his son and the idea of a drug-free Troy had him shaking in his seven-hundred-dollar Italian shoes. The senator was more afraid of the boy than he was of Joshua. Most people were terrified of a guy who could shoot electricity from his fingertips. His son must have really had it in for him. It begged the question, why? “Kane, you think you can hold him up for a few minutes?”
Kane nodded. Jess moved forward and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rain slide Troy’s arm over her shoulders. He had to get away from her blockade, so he moved closer to Joshua and Breckenridge.
As soon as he was five feet away from Rain his psi senses slipped back into place. It was comforting to have them back and disturbing to be blocked, as if he’d lost the use of his eyesight or hearing. He focused on the older Breckenridge. “Senator, what have you been using your son for?”
The senator fought the impulse to tell the truth. His face strained with the effort.
Jess pushed harder. “Why do you have to keep him drugged?”
“He’s dangerous. I already told you that. Look at what he did to me.” The senator’s mind was strong, but not strong enough.
“Has he ever hurt anyone else?”
Breckenridge’s breathing was labored. “No.”
“What do you use him for?”
“He finds you fucking monsters.” Sweat broke out on the senator’s unnaturally red face. His efforts to keep Jess from bending his mind were likely raising his blood pressure to unhealthy levels.
Jess knew his eyes must be as wide as Joshua’s. “A dowser.”
“I think that’s enough,” Joshua said.
“What about Will?”
“If the senator strokes out in this hallway, we’ll have a lot to answer for. We’ll find Will another way.”
Jess released his hold and stepped back to take Troy’s weight from Rain.
“I’ll have you arrested for kidnapping.”
“I don’t think so. If you so much as breathe a word to the police or the media, I will make sure the public knows exactly how you’ve treated your own son. Using him and keeping him drugged so that he wouldn’t interfere with your political goals. Not to mention that I’m fairly sure you’ve done some kidnapping of your own. You wouldn’t care to tell us where Will Starkey is, would you?”
“I have no knowledge of anyone with that name. Besides, no one will believe you. I’m a United States senator.”
“And I have the ear of the president. I suggest you tell the media you’ve had Troy moved to another facility for his own good and leave it at that.”
Breckenridge looked as if he might pop a vein in his temple, but he said nothing. They had won the round. They moved toward the elevator as a group, leaving the senator behind. Troy stumbled and it was a struggle for Jess and Kane to keep the dead weight from pulling them down, but they managed to make it out of the hospital.
Once again, Jess used his mind to manipulate the front desk nurse and the security guards.
They had parked the cars just outside the gates, which meant they still had to cross an open courtyard. They would be seen by someone. It was unavoidable. Patients would likely be waking. Someone would look out the window or drive past the hospital.
“That didn’t take you long.” FBI Agent Blake stepped out from behind a shade tree and into their path. “When I saw the senator enter, I was sure you would come out empty-handed.”
The expression on Joshua’s face was halfway between a grin and a grimace. “You still don’t know me that well, Blake.”
The relationship between the Lakelands and Blake was tenuous. Yet there was an odd sense of trust between them. Jess didn’t know all the details, but the FBI agent had been essential in them getting out of the Troth Banta incident alive, so the guy was okay in his book.
Joshua towered over Blake, yet the agent never appeared the least bit afraid of him or any of the psychics he encountered. It earned him respect. “What are you going to do with him?”
Joshua frowned. “Keep him safe until he can take care of himself.”
Agent Blake didn’t look that surprised. “I’ll check in with you in a few days and see how the kid is doing.”
“What are you doing here?” Tessa asked the question every one of them wanted to know.
Blake shrugged. “I figure this place is lined with surveillance cameras.”
Tessa stepped closer. She was tall for a woman and Blake had to crane his neck to look her in the eye. Still he didn’t flinch. Jess couldn’t help it, he admired the guy.
She said, “Not to protect us.”
The short burst of laughter was more scoff than laugh. “Not a chance, sweetheart. I’m in the business of protecting this country. I’m going to keep those tapes nice and safe so that if the good senator decides to make a bid for the presidency…”
In spite of the Lakelands’ feelings, Jess liked Blake. He was a clever, fearless bastard.
Blake’s smirk said it all as he walked around them and headed toward the hospital’s front entrance.
Rain never let her barrier down as she climbed in the car after Troy. Tessa started the engine and as soon as Joshua got in, they were on the move.
Jess stood with Kane and watched them pull away from the gate. Then the two men ran toward the second car. They didn’t follow too closely. Breckenridge would probably try to find them. There was only one place to go. They headed toward the airport.
“It’s not easy, but you get used to it.” Kane pulled into the left lane.
“What are you talking about?”
The younger of the two Lakeland brothers was rough around the edges. He’d been a bounty hunter. In fact his wife Lena had been his mark. That’s how the two had met. He shrugged. “Watching them walk into danger. You’ll always want to protect her and you’ll have to accept that sometimes you can’t. It sucks, but it’s just the way it is with strong women.”
“She says I’m a Neanderthal.”
Kane let out a sharp, short laugh. “Yeah, I can see that. As I said, you get used to it. But you’re never going to like it.”
“Does your wife put herself in danger much? I know she’s powerful, but does she go out in the field much?”
“No. I’m lucky. She reads the future and advises. When we had the kids, we were both going to embrace a less dangerous lifestyle.” He shrugged.
“I guess that plan didn’t work out.”
“We believe in what Joshua and Tessa are doing. I don’t know where this Alliance will lead, but Lena and I both want to give our support. The government needs to be kept in check where psi abilities are concerned. It’s been too easy for them to exploit us in the past.”
Jess gave it some thought. He’d been about twelve when his parents had been convinced that he needed special training. After that, his childhood had been no picnic. What if things could be different for others? “Maybe saving the Breckenridge kid is the beginning of something. I’m all for keeping America safe, but I wouldn’t mind doing something about the way psi recruiting is done. From what I’ve heard your childhood wasn’t great either. And neither of our stories can compare with what this kid has gone through.”
Kane was already nodding before Jess finished talking. Of course he’d probably read most of the thought before it had been spoken. Jess was used to being around psychics. Most gifted telepaths couldn’t help hearing a few sentences before the words actually made it out of the speaker’s mouth. It
didn’t faze Jess. “Something to talk about for sure.”
* * * * *
The private jet touched down in Nevada. The dirt road made for a bumpy landing but it wasn’t the first time they’d used the road to get to Adianca’s house. The ancient shaman and healer stepped out of a black Hummer. The man with her was familiar. They had met Jon in the summer. He had helped them defend against Banta. As soon as they stepped down from the plane, Rain hugged Jon.
It seemed to Jess the hug lasted a bit longer than was necessary. He bit down hard on the inside of his cheek to keep from being an idiot. He and Kane dragged Troy along and put him in the car. Whatever they gave the kid must have been pretty powerful. He hadn’t said a word or even acknowledged that they were there.
Adianca’s dark Native American skin was wrinkled and weathered from more than eighty years of sunlight. She climbed into the back of the Hummer with Jon’s help. The large vehicle accommodated them all and Jon drove them to the log cabin where Adianca lived and guided the spiritual lives of those who were in need.
The old woman took Troy’s hand. For the first time, Troy looked as if he noticed a change in his environment. He stared down at his hand and the smaller, darker one within.
A knot formed in Jess’ stomach. They knew almost nothing about Troy Breckenridge, and what they did know was not good. He could crush the old woman and from what his father said, he wouldn’t have to touch her to do it.
“Do not worry, Jess McMean. He is not a danger. You have done the right thing bringing him here. He needs rest and comfort. This boy has had neither one in his life. He will not harm me.”
Jess acknowledged the shaman with a nod, but he didn’t lower his guard and he noticed that Rain continued to keep her block in place.
It only took ten minutes to arrive at the log cabin where Adianca lived apart from the other residents of the reservation. She had food on the stove and the entire cabin was scented with onions and sage. The simple great room with the kitchen in the back corner, long farm table and living area set with soft couches and chairs made for a comfortable home. The smell of food immediately had Jess thinking of his own family and how his mother always had a pot on the stove.
Training Rain Page 16
