“Well, I’m not learning the lessons very well.”
“You’ve had no help. There are ways to accelerate your learning curve, greatly. But there are risks.”
“What, like a Cliff-Notes or something?”
“Sort of.”
When she touched his cheek, he nearly lost his breath. In the next instant, he leaned, but more or less fell, into her and found her lips with his. She was willing.
Things escalated quickly, and before he could think about it, he was pulling her shirt up over her head and working on the clasp of her bra while she was opening his pants.
He moved to the button on her jeans and together they worked them off. The kiss was deep, frantic, and passionate beyond any he had ever experienced.
Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was something more, but an animal fervor had taken hold of them both. He did not fight it. He just let go and gave into their entangled nakedness.
It all had a very otherworldly quality. He could feel her push him back into the couch and slide on top of his lap. He could feel her breath on his neck, bodies so close, so tight, they formed a seal that air could hardly pass through. He could feel the rhythm and the approaching moment when they would both explode. But something above all that was happening. Something beyond the flesh, beyond the rushing blood, something above it all carried them to heights that would seem impossible.
In the fever of it all, Jordan could feel his body warming, tightening and she gripped him so hard he felt like his skin was going to tear off under her nails and fingers. But they didn’t stop, they didn’t slow, and in one final thrust of flesh, he could feel his entire body, every molecule, explode. A series of flashes went off in his vision, then, a spinning blackness, and he lost consciousness.
Chapter Twenty-One
Kayci felt the warmth on her face as the sun sliced through the ratty plastic blinds and spilled into the room like a splayed halo. Her head was still spinning a bit as she blinked away the sting of morning from her eyes. At first thought, it was the alcohol, but then she remembered why she was naked on the couch.
She looked over at Jordan. He was still sleeping, no blankets either, but he’d managed to cover himself somewhat with her jeans.
Sluggishly, she gathered her T-shirt and headed to the bathroom. She felt odd, not exactly hung over, but odd. After a few steps, her legs steadied, and she regained her bearings. She cleared up from whatever that weird feeling was. Then she knew what it was.
How could she have been so stupid? Did she forget? No, she knew exactly what she was doing.
She balled her clothes in the sink and reached in to turn the shower on. This place was her brother’s too. It was just an old doublewide trailer. Josh never spent all his money in one place. Rather than buy one five-hundred thousand dollar house, he would buy five one-hundred thousand dollar houses. It was the same thing with the cars. He refused to buy one fifty thousand-dollar car when he could buy five ten thousand dollar cars. He believed being all over the grid was better than being off the grid. If someone were going to look for him, they would have to exhaust five locations if you included his two time-shares in Miami and Seattle.
The water was nice, and the steam of the shower cleared her head. She’d put Jordan in danger, and she had to make it right. It was too late now to pretend he was a dupe. They would see through that lie, especially Nathan. He was the only man on the planet who could find her when she didn’t want to be found.
She cranked off the water and stepped out of the tub. The guilt in the mirror was easier to look at with the steam frosting. She knew what the sex had meant to Nathan years ago. He’d been using her for his experiments. Even though that is not why she had sex with Jordan, a part of her wondered if that was the truth. Nathan had used her, but she did benefit. Jordan would too.
All she could do was hope she’d done the right thing. She needed Jordan’s help, and was banking that the elevation would be enough to make him useful.
Her motivation was not solely self-centered. Kayci wanted to help Jordan too. He’d been seeking answers for so long. Had she been sober and not so attracted to him, she would’ve thought better of it. Sex was a powerful tool but also a dangerous one in her world. Giving in to the alcohol last night might prove to be a mistake. She might have given Jordan too much too soon. There was also a chance she’d made it much easier for Nathan and the group to find her if she couldn’t teach Jordan to control himself. Nathan would see his wild signature.
She could only hope she was right about Jordan and that he was more gifted than they knew. After all, eighteen years of gestation was unprecedented. She’d never heard of anything like that. If she was wrong, she’d made a huge mistake.
***
Jordan heard a familiar purr and his eyes slowly opened. Stormy was on the top of the couch, huge orange eyes looking at him.
He reached up to pet the cat and his arms felt like they were a hundred pounds. He managed to get upright with some effort. Looking at the bottle of Jack Daniels, Jordan knew he’d drank too much.
Stretching and yawning he managed to get to his feet and pull on his clothes. Exactly what had happened last night was not clear.
As he walked to the kitchen, things became strange, like he was in a dream again. It almost made him wonder if he was still sleeping. He looked back to the couch, blinked twice, and rubbed the grit from his eyes.
The couch was empty. He half expected to see his body still there. He leaned on the counter, holding himself up as his knees went weak. His breath was thin and he felt like something was seriously wrong, but in the next instant it passed.
After righting himself, he turned to the fridge and opened the door, hoping to find something to drink. “Jackpot.” He reached in and wrapped his fingers around an unopened bottle of orange juice.
With a swift twist, he opened the plastic jug and began to slug back a full third of the half-gallon container. Jordan could drink copious amounts of pure orange juice, and this orange-flavored beverage qualified as a viable substitute. After another long swig, he capped the bottle and put it away.
He never heard the shower stop, but when he turned around Kayci was standing in front of him, casually drying her hair with a yellow towel.
“G’morning,” she said. “Shower is free.” Then she walked over to the couch.
Jordan watched her walk across the room. She looked incredible in nothing but a short white T-shirt and panties. He struggled to pull his vision away and headed to the shower.
Sex was one thing, but what he was feeling was not right. They’d drank, had sex, end of story. But that wasn’t the end of the story, and Jordan knew it. There was no point lying to himself. He was falling for her. Everything was so mixed up in his head. Everything he’d learned, everything he’d felt. It was all too much too soon.
After dressing, he walked into the scarily dated kitchen.
“There’s coffee.” She pointed to the counter, but he walked past to the living area.
“Thanks, but I already had a half-gallon of juice.” Jordan sat down on the couch next to her and started lacing his sneakers. “So what’s the plan?”
“Not sure. I’m going through these hard drives one-by-one, but so far I’m not finding what I need.”
“What’re you looking for?”
“The piggy bank data.”
“Right, right…the piggy bank.” Jordan looked up from his shoes to her. “What was that again? And please don’t give me the cryptic answer.”
“It’s overflow money from the program. There’s always too much money in these programs. If the government gives you one dollar and you only spend twenty cents, the next year, you only get twenty cents. So to make certain you keep getting that dollar, you spend it. In most cases, the unit chiefs never spend it. They take off the top what they don’t use and they set up a piggybank, and sometimes they grow really big. If they get big enough, they become tempting for a spy to take it all and run. We call it jackaling. In our case, my bo
ss put the three keys into three hands, so not one of us could take it and run. They want my key.”
“I don’t know what’s scarier, the fact it happens at all, or the fact it happens so much you have a name for it. I guess everyone has their rainy day money.”
“Yeah, and now that the hurricane has hit, everyone wants their cut.”
“Sounds like your boss decided he wanted it all.”
“That’s what I thought too, but it looks like they just didn’t want me to have any, probably because they know I won’t steal. I’m a good agent, and I’d find work in another unit. I love being a spy, and I wouldn’t throw my career away.” She met his gaze and looked away. “I guess there has to be a patsy in every good plan.”
“Guess so.”
“We need to stay ahead of them. If we can get some cash, we can get out of the country.”
“We?” Jordan did a double take. “Don’t you mean you?”
She looked at him. “What do you mean?”
“As soon as you get your freedom, you’re done with me.” Jordan was not sure why he was suddenly afraid.
Kayci looked at him and shook her head slowly. “Jordan, I’m not going to leave you hanging out to dry.”
“You say that now.”
“You don’t trust me?”
“How could I?”
She flexed her jaw and huffed. “Jordan, I don’t do that,” she motioned toward the couch, “with everyone. I like you.”
Jordan looked at her and could not deny how beautifully expressive her eyes were. He was feeling mixed up inside. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I wanted it too.”
Kayci slid over to him and took his hand. “Listen, it happened fast, it was powerful. And in your head you feel mixed up because there was some gain for both of us. Because of our talents, being together is ultimately more complicated. We share a frequency. You feel like I used you, but you can’t explain that feeling or understand what I might have gained.”
Jordan studied her face and nodded.
She continued. “The benefits are a side effect but not the reason, Jordan. I wanted you whether you were a psychic that might help me reach another level or not.”
Jordan pursed his lips in question. “How does that work? Do you have to sleep with every psychic to find out?”
Kayci laughed. “No, I’m not some psychic slut. It only matters if you share the same natural frequency. And even then, the chemistry has to be right, just like any other relationship. The frequency alone is not enough. There has to be more.”
“You were hurt that way, weren’t you?” Jordan knew.
Kayci nodded and somberly said, “He used me. I was afraid that subconsciously I’d used you. But when I really searched my feelings I knew that I do care for you.”
Jordan gripped her hand. “You didn’t use me.” She was a tough spy, but she could be as vulnerable as any woman. Jordan saw that vulnerability at a deeper level than he’d seen in her before.
With jarring surprise, she pushed away from him and stood. “We have to go.”
Jordan shot to his feet, sensing the urgency.
In a matter of minutes, they’d locked down the house and were speeding down the long driveway to the main road.
“We had to get out of there. They’re coming. They’re here. I can feel them triangulating. I didn’t want them to find the house.” She sped the Explorer up the winding country road.
“They found you psychically?” Jordan asked but somehow knew the answer.
“Where can we go?” Kayci turned the corner too fast, and the tires moaned in protest.
“Back to my rental. They might not expect that.”
“Maybe…we need time. I’ve got to find that account information. It’s in this bag somewhere, but I need a couple hours.”
“Is there a way to block them from finding you?”
“Only temporarily, I’m working on that right now. They triangulate. I can block, but they can reacquire in a matter of minutes or hours. Right now, since we’re moving, they won’t find us. It’s harder to lock on to a moving frequency. You can tell it’s in the area, but you can’t get a GPS-type fix.” She navigated the Explorer at a speed only slightly too fast for the road. “The man that’s chasing me, his name his Nathan Pratt, and he shares my frequency.”
Jordan could tell from her tone, or perhaps it was his own ability working, but he knew they’d shared more than a frequency. He knew this man was the one who had hurt her.
“There’s an old farmhouse we could go to,” Jordan suggested.
“I need an Internet connection to send the data once I get it.”
“Then go back to my rental. We should be able to see them coming.”
“We might. It’s remote.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Kayci’s mind was alive with action. The greater part drove the SUV, but a very special section fought a literal war of subterfuge against Nathan Pratt. She could feel him tying to lock on to her frequency. Once he did, it would be too late to elude them.
Nathan’s signature was very strong, which told Kayci he was close. In her mind, she could feel them coming, screaming at her like a fire truck. She could throw them off for a few hours, which might be all the time she needed.
She glanced over at Jordan. If he were on par with her, Nathan would never be able to get a lock. Jordan could run more than enough interference if only he could channel it. But he was way too raw, and there was just no way to know how long it would take to get to that next level. If there was a way to get WiFi in the truck, they could drive around endlessly, but that wasn’t possible without a satellite connection, which she didn’t have at the moment.
They were running out of time.
***
Jordan looked out the front window of his empty house. The place wasn’t secure, but it was all they had. Kayci agreed it was the best place. It was sort of “the in plain sight philosophy”. “Is there any way to know how much time we have?” Jordan turned and walked over to the couch.
“None. It’s such a delicate game, misdirection and false leads are the norm, you have to play it by ear. It’s all very fluid.”
Jordan started feeling sick again. His knees went weak, and his head started spinning. He reached out and put his hands on the kitchen counter.
“Are you okay?”
“Just a spell. I had one earlier and thought it was low blood sugar or something, but this one was worse.”
“They’ll pass. Your brain has been repressing your ability for a long time. We’ve broken the dam, and now there’s going to be flood.”
Jordan took a deep breath. The ship was righted again. He did not like the feeling the spells gave him. But there were stranger things going on in his mind right now to deal with.
Something was buzzing in his brain. His eyes started to twitch, and he tried but could not speak. His tongue felt fat, his throat tight. He couldn’t get his vision back to the kitchen. Interrupted by lines and shapes he could not decipher, he was feeling motion sick. He was about to vomit when he felt the floor rush up at him. He felt the hit take him to blackness.
***
Kayci saw him falling to the floor from the corner of her eye, but there was no time to stop it. She jumped up as the hollow crack of his skull hit the tile. “Oh, God,” she uttered as she knelt down to him.
There was blood trickling from just above his left eye. She roseand went to the sink, twisted the cold faucet, and plucked a plastic cup from the stack near the stove. She filled the cup with water and went back to Jordan.
She began to pour a small amount of water on the back of his neck until he came to. Rubbing the back of his neck, she coaxed, “Jordan, c’mon, babe, wake up.” She poured more water on his neck.
His fingers twitched, then his hands probed the flood, and he was able to push himself up on his elbows. “Whoa” he looked up at her. “What the hell is happening to me?”
“You went down hard.” Kayci helped him up and over to the couch
.
She bent over him and dabbed the cut with her sleeve. The white cuff of her knit shirt absorbed the red streak, leaving very little blood behind. “You’re okay, just a little gash.”
She stood upright and turned away toward the fridge. Jordan had left a six-pack of orange soda in there as he always did for the next resident. She thought it was just about the dumbest thing she’d ever heard when he’d explained it, but now it seemed smart.
Walking back to the couch, she cracked the seal on the soda and held her arm out to Jordan. “Here, you need carbs.”
Jordan steadied himself, reached out for the can, and took a long drink. “Thanks.”
“Your body is going to burn a lot of calories over the next few days. You need to make sure you’re hydrated and keep up the food intake.” Kayci spun and sat on the couch. Her hands moved right to the keyboard, and she started typing.
“I’ve never passed out before.” There was a shudder in his voice.
“Hopefully you won’t again. Most people only have one spell, three at the most.”
“What’s happening?”
She didn’t look up from the laptop. “When we did what we did, it caused…changes. The moment you helped me out of the street, when you touched my hand, the changes started. You felt them. When we had sex, it opened a permanent channel between us.”
“A network link,” Jordan said.
She slid her eyes away from the laptop and faced him. “It’s a link that can only be broken by death. It’s a lot of responsibility. You’re going to feel compelled to act a certain way. But always trust your instincts. They’ll guide you to make the right choices. Never forget who you are. You’ve undergone changes, but you’re still you. Nothing can change that. We now share something we can’t turn off.” She leaned back and rolled her eyes in disgust with herself. “The more I think about it, the more I feel irresponsible for sleeping with you. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t take it back even if I could. I wish it had been under different circumstances, one where I wouldn’t have to hit you with all this at once. If we stick together, we’ll be okay, we’ll get through this.”
Savior Frequency (Frequency Series Book 1) Page 10
