by Maya Banks
She nodded grimly and then echoed her agreement through their link. Where would they expect her to go? She pushed ahead, hurrying, but taking greater care not to disturb the vegetation around her. Nathan’s presence calmed her. His steady reassurance made some of the panic fade, and she was able to think more rationally.
And then fear skittered up her spine again and gripped her throat until she could barely draw a breath. Nathan. I hear them. They’re close!
Find a place to hide. Get there and hunker down. Don’t make a sound. No movement. Let them go by you.
She glanced frantically around, her gaze finally lighting on a huge redwood in the distance with a twisted, massive trunk that had a hollowed-out opening.
She lunged forward, going as quietly as she could, all but flying across the distance. Oh please, oh please, let there be a place to hide.
The tree towered over her. The base was broad and the roots extended in all directions, huge and steadying. She slid into the narrow opening, sucking in her breath, praying she would fit.
It was tight and only adrenaline gave her the strength to shove her way inside the opening in the tree. She sank back as far as she could, embracing the darkness. Things she couldn’t bear thinking about flickered across her skin. Flies, insects, creepy-ass bugs. God only knew what else shared the interior of the trunk with her. It was all she could do not to shriek as something slid down her neck and back.
Through it all Nathan hadn’t said a word, but she felt his presence, knew he was there, waiting patiently, not wanting to distract her from her goal. When she finally managed to calm herself down enough that she wouldn’t risk giving herself away, she reached back out to Nathan.
I’m inside a tree. A really big tree full of really creepy things.
Better them than the men after you.
True. I don’t hear them yet. I’m not sure what direction they went.
Just sit tight. Be very still. No sound. Do not panic. They might move right by you, but if you don’t move, they won’t find you. No matter what, you have to control your panic.
She leaned her head against the inside of the tree and flinched when she felt something crawl through her hair. It took every ounce of her discipline to remain so still when she wanted to bolt.
And then she froze. There was a sound not very far away. The creak of a stick breaking. Leaves rustling. And then even closer. Hurried footsteps.
She held her breath as sweat rolled down the sides of her neck. Her heart pounded so hard against her chest wall that she was sure it was an audible sound. She began to shake and cursed her lack of self-control.
Easy now. Be calm. I’m with you. Let them go by you. It won’t be long now.
She closed her eyes as the noises got even closer. So close that they could only be a few feet away. Her pulse raced as she waited to hear the sounds retreat as they got farther away.
But they stopped.
She crammed herself as far back into that tree as she could go, pressing against the rough surface in an effort to stop the ridiculous shaking.
They were out there. Just a few feet away. Did they know she was here? Were they preparing to pull her out?
“She couldn’t have gotten far. She was stoned on the drugs we gave her. She’s probably wandering around in circles.”
One of the other men made a sound of disagreement. “She played you, fool. She’s probably already made it into town. We have to get there immediately before she can disappear again.”
Shea held her breath again until black dots swam in her vision and her chest burned. As the sounds of them hurrying away reached her ears, she slowly let out her breath and then slumped against the tree in relief.
Wait it out. It could be a trap. Nathan’s soft warning slipped into her mind. Just stay there a few minutes. Listen for any sounds. When you crawl out, head the opposite direction they went. Then turn west to the ocean again. Be careful, Shea.
She stayed there like he directed, because she was afraid to move. She was terrified that if she left the safety of her hiding place, they’d be waiting for her. She closed her eyes, wanting, needing the rest. Holding Nathan to her was exhausting.
Get moving, Shea.
She jumped, startled by the sudden intrusion into her mind. She hadn’t realized she’d kept him so tightly bound to her. She’d thought he was slipping away, but he was there, as strong as ever, as if he were the one holding the connection and not her.
Come on, I need you moving. We need to get you someplace you’re safe and well protected.
She pushed herself from the interior of the tree, desperately trying to ignore the exhaustion creeping through her veins. Holding her breath, she slipped from the confines of her hiding place and glanced frantically in all directions for her pursuers.
Not seeing or hearing them, she turned and hurried in the opposite direction.
Impressions from Nathan confused her. He was thinking about a jet and flight plans, how his family was going to worry and think he’d finally, truly gone over the edge. But the overriding thought that bombarded her on every level was his determination to get to her. To protect her.
That gave her the strength to forge ahead.
After thirty minutes of keeping up an exhausting pace, she came to an abrupt halt. She strained to hear. Faint but it was there. The sound of the ocean. And then a vehicle, louder and closer.
Nathan, I’m close to the highway or at least a roadway. And the ocean. I can hear it.
Okay, I don’t want you on the highway. I don’t want you visible. You can parallel it and follow it into a town. You need to be in a place where they wouldn’t have such an easy time coming after you. But you also have to stay low.
She didn’t offer that she had no money, no identification. Nothing. Everything she had was in her pursuers’ hands. Anxiety ate at her. She worried for Grace. Worried that she would be unable to maintain the block that would prevent Grace from sensing the danger that Shea was in. If Grace knew, if she even suspected, she’d swoop in like an avenging angel and then they’d have her. Shea wouldn’t allow it.
She topped a slight rise and there was the highway, curving around the edge of the ocean. She picked up her pace, careful to remain beyond the cover of the trees as she followed the highway north.
Traffic increased the farther north she walked. She was beyond exhaustion and had no recollection of the miles she’d already traveled. She concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other and remaining upright.
Then in the distance she saw a road sign and her breathing sped up. Finally she would be able to tell where she was. Something to tell Nathan. He could come for her.
Her pulse rocketed and she broke into a near run, her focus on being able to read that sign.
She nearly tripped over a fallen log and stumbled to regain her footing. Finally she was close enough to see the sign.
Crescent City city limits.
Crescent City, she said to Nathan. I’m in Crescent City, California.
Already on my way, baby. Find a place, lie low. I’ll be there as fast as I can.
CHAPTER 14
“WE’VE got a serious problem,” Sam said.
The Kelly family was gathered in the living room of Marlene and Frank’s home. Marlene wrung her hands repeatedly despite Frank trying his best to calm her.
Ethan sat between Rachel and Sophie while Sarah stood across the room next to Garrett. Donovan and Joe were positioned by the fireplace, arms crossed over their chests, and Swanny stood alone, bewilderment and worry etched into his tired features.
Marlene had tried to foist baby Charlotte onto Rusty so the teenager would be removed from the conversation, but Rusty had flatly refused to leave the room. She was upset and thought that her inviting Nathan to her graduation had prompted his meltdown.
They all looked to Sam for information, but he wasn’t sure they were prepared for this.
“Nathan took off in one of the Kelly jets an hour ago.”
Not
surprisingly, the entire room erupted in chaos. Donovan put two fingers to his mouth and emitted a shrill whistle then he held up his arms for quiet.
“What do you mean took off? As in had the pilot fly him somewhere?”
Sam shook his head, knowing Donovan already suspected what Sam was about to say. “No, he flew himself.”
“Christ,” Garrett muttered.
Joe swore. “What the fuck is he thinking?”
“Do we know where he went?” Ethan asked.
Sam ran a hand through his hair. Fuck, but he was tired. “He filed flight plans for Crescent City, California. Is that where he’ll end up? Who knows? Who the hell knows what he’s thinking right now? Anyone have any idea what’s in Crescent City?”
“This is crazy,” Joe said. “I thought…Hell, I don’t know what I thought. One minute he and Van are laughing and horsing around. The next, he’s on a plane to Crescent City? I think it’s time the gloves come off. He obviously needs help beyond whatever self-healing bullshit he’s attempting.”
“Cut him some slack. He’s fighting for what’s left of his sanity,” Swanny cut in.
Everyone turned to Swanny in surprise. He was a man of few words. Sam couldn’t remember him ever willingly volunteering information. He was a “speak only when spoken to” person and sometimes not even then.
Donovan’s arms dropped and he stepped forward, his focus solely on Swanny. “Do you know something, Swanny? One of the last things Nathan said to me was that before he could commit to KGI he had to do something. He wouldn’t tell me what. Clammed up tight when I pressed. Next thing I know, he freaks out and hops a jet to California?”
Swanny lowered his head and grasped the back of his neck. He looked indecisive, as if he wasn’t sure whether to betray his loyalty to Nathan. Sam understood that. He did. But fuck it. Nathan was his brother and he needed help whether the stubborn son of a bitch wanted it or not.
“Tell us, Swanny. Whatever you know. Now isn’t the time to hold out. Nathan could be in trouble. We aren’t going to let him go off half-cocked.”
Swanny stared up at Sam. “You don’t understand. How could you? We were in the worst sort of hell. We weren’t living day to day or even hour to hour. We survived minute by excruciating minute. The next day was an eternity away and we didn’t want it. Death wasn’t the enemy. It was our salvation. Our hope. Because only then would we be able to escape our reality.”
Sam’s gut clenched. His mom let out a soft cry of distress and turned her face into Frank’s chest. Tears glimmered in Rusty’s eyes and Rachel looked haunted by past demons. Demons Nathan had firsthand knowledge of now.
Garrett’s and Ethan’s expressions were grim. Every member of the family was pained by the heart-wrenching words that faltered from Swanny’s lips.
Sam knew Nathan had suffered. Maybe he’d never know the extent or what Nathan had been chipped away to by the animals who held him. But he knew his brother suffered because he saw the pain and the isolation in Nathan’s eyes every single day since his return.
“Is there more, Swanny?” Donovan asked in a quiet voice.
Swanny looked agonized. His jaw clenched and he glanced at all of Nathan’s family, member by member, as if weighing whether or not to tell.
Sam took a step toward the man who meant so much to Nathan. Whom Nathan had protected, demanded that he be tended to before Nathan himself.
“Swanny, we want to help him, but we can’t if we don’t know everything. You aren’t betraying him. You have to know that.”
“I could be condemning him in your eyes,” Swanny said gruffly.
“Never,” Garrett ground out. “I don’t care what you tell us. He’s our brother. That doesn’t change just because he’s been changed.”
To Sam’s surprise, Rachel rose from the couch where she sat with Ethan. Her eyes were troubled and her hands shook as she stepped toward Swanny. Then she touched his arm, her expression understanding.
“It’s about her, isn’t it?”
Relief swamped over Swanny’s face. He all but sagged. “He talked to you about her?”
There was hope in his voice that if Nathan had shared whatever it was with Rachel, then it wasn’t solely Swanny’s burden to keep his secrets.
Rachel nodded. “He said she talked to him. That she sent Donovan the email telling him where to find you and Nathan.”
Donovan’s head shot up, and he was about to explode with questions, but Sam flung his hand out to silence his brother, his expression fierce. Donovan’s lips tightened but he settled back and didn’t interrupt.
“Did he…Did he tell you everything?” Swanny hedged.
“I’m sure he didn’t. He was very closed-mouthed about it all. But you aren’t betraying him, Swanny. No more than I betray him by relating all he told me. We’re his family and we love him. We only want to help. Not condemn. It doesn’t matter to us what’s happened, or whether he thinks he’s crazy. We know he’s not. But he needs our help.”
Sweet, loving Rachel. It was like watching beauty tame a wild beast.
“Swanny, whatever it is you tell us, we’re not going to condemn, judge or otherwise decide anything about Nathan other than we want to make damn sure he’s safe and has the help he needs,” Sam said. He eyeballed his brothers, making sure they understood the implied command.
“Her name is Shea,” Swanny finally said. “I know nothing about her other than she talked to Nathan while we were held captive. According to Nathan, she took his pain for him. She even endured a torture session, shielding it and taking it for him. Don’t ask me how. I don’t know. It all sounds like bullshit, right? But Nathan took more torture than any of us. They worked harder on him. And when they finally decided they couldn’t break him, they used him to try to break me. Only Nathan got us out of there. I was injured. I was bleeding internally. I couldn’t breathe and I knew I was going to get us both killed. I asked him to leave me. He put his hands on me, and I swear to God, he did something to heal me.”
The looks on his brothers’ faces ranged from incredulity, to doubt, to “What is this dude smoking?” Sam shook his head in warning again. Hell yeah, it sounded crazy. He couldn’t even wrap his head around it. But the important thing was that Nathan believed it. Swanny believed it. And now Nathan had gone off after his imaginary woman?
“He thinks she’s in trouble. He’s had episodes…Weird shit. Like maybe she was trying to talk to him again. I think it’s what happened today, what pushed him over the edge. I don’t know, but I’d bet everything I own that he’s gone to Crescent City because he thinks that’s where Shea is.”
“Oh Jesus,” Joe muttered. “This can’t be good.”
“What will you do, Sam?” Marlene asked.
He glanced at his mom and dad, saw the worry in their eyes, the helplessness that they couldn’t seem to get through to Nathan.
He dragged in a breath because his first instinct was to take all the manpower KGI had behind it, haul ass to Crescent City and take care of business. As much as he wanted to do it, and knew it was what his brothers wanted to, he knew it wasn’t what they should do. And it was killing him.
“What did Nathan say to you exactly, Van?” Sam asked. “Earlier when you talked to him about KGI.”
“He said he had every intention of joining but that there was something he had to do—on his own—before he could commit. I tried to offer help. I tried to pry it out of him. He wasn’t giving details.”
Christ, but this was complicated. He wouldn’t send Garrett. Garrett would want to go, would insist on going. But he should stay behind with Sarah. The two had already sacrificed much in deference to Nathan. Sam wasn’t going to drag Garrett away now, especially when he had no idea what they were in for.
He glanced up at Rachel. Rachel, who seemed to know exactly what Sam grappled with. Her gaze was determined. Direct. It told him to send Ethan. It demanded that he send Ethan.
She would want the best for Nathan. She’d been very protective of him s
ince he’d come back, and maybe it was good for Rachel to have someone to protect, since she still needed so much shielding herself.
“I think Ethan and Van should go,” Sam finally said. It pissed him off to stand down from this one, but how could he convince Garrett to stay if he wasn’t willing to do it himself?
“Wait just a goddamn minute,” Joe exploded. “I’m not staying here. Fuck that.”
“Joe!” Marlene reprimanded. Her scowl was fierce as she stared her younger son down.
“Sorry, Ma,” he mumbled. “But it is bullshit and Sam knows it. I don’t need his permission to go after my brother.”
For once, Garrett was the voice of reason.
“I think Sam’s right,” Garrett said. “I think Ethan and Van should go and the rest of us should stay here. They’ll call us in if it turns out to be something they need us for. Joe, right now Nathan doesn’t need you on his back. I get what you’re trying to do. I get that you’re frustrated. I know you and Nathan are closer than the rest of us are. But that added pressure isn’t going to help Nathan. It’s just going to push him further away and isolate him all the more. Let Ethan and Van check it out and report back. Then we’ll make a decision as to whether anything further should be done.”
“He’s not crazy!” Rusty burst out. “If he says he talked to this woman, I believe him. He wouldn’t make up something like that.”
Marlene pulled her into her arms. “No one thinks he’s crazy, baby. We’re all worried about him. That’s all. And we want to help. Ethan and Donovan will handle it right.”
Swanny looked up at Sam, determination gleaming in the shadowed depths. “I know I’m not part of your team, but I want to go. I need to do this for him. He refused to leave me. I’m not going to leave him.”
Sam glanced at Donovan, and Donovan nodded.
“Okay, you’re in, Swanny. Right now, you’re the only one Nathan’s talking to, so maybe you can figure out what the hell is going on.”
