by Leigh, Jena
“What?” he said. “No. Why?”
“Monty, when did you last hear from Grayson?” Nate asked into the phone.
“Around four,” he said. “I’ve been trying his cell since he didn’t show at ten. Tried his hotel, too. They said he checked out a couple hours ago. If he ain’t at the cabin, where’d he go?”
“I don’t know,” said Nate. “Listen, stay in DC another night, just in case.”
“Alright, kid,” he said.
“And Monty?”
“Yeah, kid?”
“Call me if you hear anything.”
“Sure thing.”
Nate ended the call.
“What’s going on?” asked Declan.
“Put a shirt on and round up the others,” said Nate. “We’re going to DC.”
— 15 —
The seven of them stood crowded together in the narrow hallway of the apartment complex.
“This is a bad idea,” said Kenzie.
“Like we have a choice?” said Declan.
“If you’d just let us come with you, this wouldn’t be a problem,” said Brian.
Kenzie shook her head. “Not gonna happen, kid,” she said. “You’ll be safe here until we get back.”
The hallway fell quiet.
“Is someone gonna knock on that door?” asked Cassie. “Or are we just going to stand out here in the hall all night and listen to Connor’s freakishly heavy breathing?”
“Hey!” said Connor.
“Go ahead and knock, Decks,” said Nate.
“How come Kenzie gets to go and I don’t?” asked Brian.
“Because I’ll be able to pick up on your dad’s thoughts if he’s around and we’ll be able to find him more easily,” Kenzie replied.
“You’re our fearless leader, Nate,” said Declan. “You knock on the damn door.”
“Yeah and he’s your cousin,” Nate countered.
Brian craned his neck to peer up at Nathaniel. “I thought you guys were friends.”
Nate shrugged. “Oklahoma,” he said, as though the word were explanation enough.
“Oh, right,” said Brian. “Forgot.”
Cassie shared a look with Alex. Her friend simply shrugged in reply.
Boys.
Deciding that all the men present were not only idiots, but chickens as well, Cassie sighed, stepped forward, and raised a hand to knock on the door. She didn’t get the chance.
The door swung open.
Cassie stepped back.
Looming over her in the doorway was a guy who appeared to be in his early twenties. Definitely not the elderly grandmother–type she’d been expecting after Declan had so infuriatingly used the word “babysitter” earlier.
She was also quick to note that the man staring down at her was built like a god, with wavy, dirty-blond hair that came to his shoulders and eyes the color of jade.
Cassie was starting to wonder if all the guys in this new world of Alex’s were destined to be so ridiculously attractive.
When the powers that be were handing out mutant abilities, they must have decided to throw in perfect physiques and soulful eyes to go along with each of them.
It appeared to be a package deal.
“Down, girl,” Kenzie whispered in her ear.
“What the hell are you four doing in Newport?” he asked. “Does Grayson know you’re here?”
“Hello, Aiden,” said Nate.
“Nate,” said Aiden. “You want to tell me why there’s a party going on in my hallway?”
The ruggedly handsome blonde appraised the group. When his scrutiny fell on Alex, his eyes widened almost imperceptibly and his gaze flickered toward Nathaniel. Cassie watched as Nate subtly shook his head “no” in answer to Aiden’s silent question.
What was all that about?
“We need a favor,” said Declan, cutting to the point.
“Has hell already frozen over?” Aiden asked, his voice droll. “I must have missed the memo.”
“You know we wouldn’t be here if we had another option,” said Nate.
“Do you remember what happened the last time I tried to help you?” He leaned heavily against the doorjamb. “There’s still bullet holes the size of dinner plates in the sides of Norma Jean.”
Bullet holes? And what, exactly, had become of this Norma Jean person?
“Norma Jean’s his truck,” Kenzie explained in another whisper. “He named it after Marilyn Monroe. Aiden sort of has a thing for blondes.”
A thing for blondes, huh?
“Grayson’s missing and Carson Brandt…” Nate trailed off.
Cassie shivered. She’d spent the entire night trying to think about something—anything—other than that name.
If she didn’t think about it, it hadn’t happened.
“Well, he’s been giving us some trouble,” Nate finished. “We were hoping Brian and a couple of norms could stay here with you. Just until we find the boss.”
“You have a supernatural hit man after you and you came to my apartment?” He didn’t look happy.
To be honest, if a bunch of people showed up at Cassie’s door with someone like Brandt after them, she wouldn’t be too happy about it either.
That man had more than a few screws loose.
She wrung her hands as though the motion might somehow wipe clean the memories of that afternoon.
Of the cold cloth drenched with chloroform that had covered her mouth and nose. Of waking up alone in the pitch-black trunk of a car. Of the sweltering heat and the dank smell of mildew which permeated the long-abandoned warehouse. Of Brandt and the fire he toyed with as he sat for hours, just watching her.
He hadn’t touched her.
He hadn’t needed to.
His presence and that flame had been enough of a threat.
When Cassie finally stepped foot on the dock and saw Alex waiting for her at the other end, she’d been both hopeful and terrified. Part of her had wanted her friend to stay away—far away—but the rest of her knew that it would have marked the end of her usefulness to Brandt.
Now here they were, hours later, still running from him.
All the way to Newport, apparently.
Cassie attempted to distract herself from that line of thought by trying to remember what state Newport was in. This whole jumping-as-a-mode-of-transportation thing was going to take some getting used to.
“Can you help us or not?” asked Declan.
Aiden’s green eyes raked over the group in another silent assessment. Cassie didn’t miss the fact that his gaze seemed to linger on her just a bit longer than anyone else.
“Fine,” he said, stepping back to give them room to walk inside. “But if my place gets torched over this, Grayson’s footing the bill.”
* * *
Alex couldn’t help but feel guilty.
“Are you sure the others will be safe with Aiden?” she asked.
Leaving her best friend and her former love alone in Oregon while Brandt was still on the loose really didn’t seem like such a great idea.
“Hon,” said Kenzie, putting an arm around her shoulders as they stood on the lamp-lit sidewalk that lined the deserted street. “There’s no safer place for them right now than with Aiden. Trust me on this one.”
She wondered what it was about Aiden that had Kenzie so confident in his ability to protect them.
Then again, he was her cousin. Bearing that in mind, the odds were good that Aiden was a Variant, too.
“You’re sure this is the right parking garage?” Declan was staring up at the massive concrete structure looking less than pleased. “It’s huge. This is going to take us forever to search.”
“Yeah. This is the same one he used the last time we stayed at the Plaza,” said Nate. “And you know Grayson.”
“Creature of habit,” Declan agreed. “Okay, guys, start walking.”
Their trip to the Plaza had been a bust. Grayson’s room had already been cleaned and no one on the night shift could remem
ber having seen him. That’s when Nate came up with the idea of searching for his rental car. It was a long shot, but they had no other leads left to pursue.
“What are we looking for again?” asked Kenzie as they made their way inside the garage at ground level.
“According to the guy at the rental agency, his car was a black BMW 6 Series Coupé,” said Nate.
“And the guy tries to lecture me about flying under the radar,” Declan mumbled. “Could he have picked a more conspicuous car?”
“Sure,” said Nate. “He could have sprung for the convertible.”
Declan sighed and stopped walking. “You know what? This will go a lot faster if we split up. Alex and I will start at the top and work our way back down. Call us if you find it.”
Before anyone could speak a word in protest or suggest a better plan, Declan took Alex by the hand.
“Now I don’t want you to freak,” he said slowly, his tone patronizing. “But I’m going to teleport us to the elevators. See the elevators? They’re right over there. So you should probably prepare yourself.”
“You’re hilarious,” said Alex. “You know, Declan, sometimes you can be a real—”
They jumped.
“Jackass,” she finished.
“Hey,” he said as he punched the button to call the elevator. “I was just giving you a heads up like you asked me to. No need to get pissy.”
“If my brother keeps acting like an idiot,” Kenzie called from the other side of the garage, “you have my express permission to smack him upside the head!”
“And you have my permission to kick his ass,” Nate added.
“What, seriously?” Declan muttered. “Everybody’s ganging up on me today.”
The elevator to their left dinged and the doors slid open. Alex and Declan walked inside. As the reflective metal doors of the lift slid shut, Alex thought she heard something.
Whispers. Voices. Louder and louder and then… Silence.
She looked up at Declan. “What was that?”
“What was what?”
“That sound,” she said. “All those people talking. Is there a speaker in here or something?”
“No,” he said, bemused. “You feeling alright, Lex? No offense, but you really look like crap.”
Alex caught sight of her reflection in the mirrors that lined the walls of the car. Dark circles were forming under her eyes and her skin glistened a sickly gray in the unforgiving glow of the fluorescent lights. To be honest, she didn’t feel much better than she looked.
Ever since they’d arrived in DC her head had been pounding.
“I’m fine,” Alex said as the doors opened. She wasn’t about to let sleep deprivation and a headache stop her from assisting in the search for Grayson. He’d gone missing while trying to help her and she felt just as responsible for his disappearance as she had for Cassie’s kidnapping. She started walking. “Come on.”
Declan followed from a short ways behind her. As they rounded the corner to the next level down, the voices returned.
The whispers escalated to shouts and as the noise grew to a fever pitch, Alex covered her ears reflexively.
Silence.
“Okay, that’s it,” she said, whipping around. “Tell me you heard it that time!”
Declan nearly stumbled into her as she came to an abrupt halt in the middle of his path. He looked down at her, his brow furrowed. “Alex, no one said anything. In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re alone up here.”
Alex glanced about in confusion.
Declan walked around her and continued on to the next level. “Let’s go, Alex. That car’s not going to find itself.”
Resigned, Alex continued to help Declan look for Grayson’s rental car through another two levels. As they rounded yet another bend, Alex spotted Kenzie and Nate twenty feet away, standing on the passenger’s side of a black sports car.
“Is that it?” Declan called.
Kenzie looked up, a worried frown on her face. “Grayson’s briefcase is on the floorboard of the passenger side. And on the driver’s side there’s…” she couldn’t finish.
“There’s blood on the driver’s side door,” said Nate. “There are dents in the rental and in the car beside it. He didn’t go without a fight.”
The sentence was punctuated by a sudden thickening of the static in the air around them. Alex felt the electrical energy surrounding her abruptly spike and then disappear altogether. A strange tightening in her chest caused her to suck in a breath as her heart skipped a beat.
What on Earth was that?
The lights went out. Alex stopped in her tracks as the garage was plunged into semi-darkness, the only illumination filtering in from street-lamps outside of the garage.
A shot rang out.
Alex felt something solid slam into her and she went crashing to the pavement between Grayson’s rental and another parked car.
The “something solid” had been Declan. He was lying on top of her. Again. Only this time they hadn’t landed on something so soft as his bed.
They really had to stop meeting like this.
Declan stared down at her. “Were you hit?”
A second shot. Alex winced as the report echoed through the garage. Between the blow to her skull from the rough landing and the crack of gunfire, her head felt like it was about to split in two.
“No,” she replied.
Declan got to his knees and peered through the window of the car beside them, and then ducked down a second later as a third shot was fired. The rear window of a nearby car shattered.
“Nate? Kenzie?” he called out from his spot beside her. “You guys okay?”
“We’re good, Decks,” Nate replied.
From the sound of it, they were crouched on the opposite side of Grayson’s rental.
“Hold on,” said Declan. “Be with you in a second.”
He grabbed her wrist and closed his eyes.
Nothing happened.
“Shit!” He dropped her arm. “Well, we won’t be jumping out of here, that’s for sure.”
Alex gingerly pulled herself into a seated position, careful not to rise above the level of the car’s windows. She tried to teleport… and couldn’t.
“Why can’t we jump?” she asked, fear sinking its teeth into her. “And who’s shooting at us?”
“Both excellent questions, Alex,” said Declan, risking another glance toward the source of the gunfire. “But I’m afraid I’ll have to get back to you with the answers.”
He jerked his head back down before whoever was shooting at them could get a clear shot.
The automatic locks of the coupé released. A moment later, both of the car’s doors opened. Alex could see through to Nate and Kenzie kneeling on the other side.
“What’s the hold up?” asked Nate. “We need to get out of here.”
“Thank you, Captain Obvious,” Declan hissed. He raked a hand through his hair. “We can’t jump. Whoever it is that’s shooting at us must have set off an EM pulse. It’s why the lights went out.”
“You think it’s the Agency?” asked Nate.
“Unless you know someone else who has access to a suitcase-sized electromagnetic pulse generator,” said Declan.
“A what?” Alex asked.
“A non-nuclear EMP,” said Declan. “It’s a weapon that disables nearby electronics by sending out a pulse. The Agency managed to shrink the machine down to a portable size a few years back, and now they use them to bring in Jumpers. It’s like hitting a reset button on our abilities. Strips our powers, temporarily.”
“But why in the world would they be shooting at us?” asked Kenzie. “The Agency knows we’re not a threat!”
“Tell that to the guys with the automatic weapons, sis,” he said. “Can you hear their thoughts at all?”
She shook her head. “No. They’re blocking me. Whoever they are, they’ve had training in keeping out a telepath.”
“Hate to cut short the confab, guys, but we need to
start fighting back before they realize that they can just walk over here and gun us down,” said Nate. “Operatives might be slow, but they’re not stupid.”
There was another crack of gunfire. Alex fully expected her ears to start bleeding any time now. The pain in her head was nearly blinding.
Declan leaned heavily against the coupé’s open driver-side door. “Dammit, Nate. Why did I let you talk me into leaving the Beretta behind at the cabin?”
“How was I supposed to know that this would happen?” asked Nate.
Another shot. More shattering glass.
Alex cringed.
“What is this, Nate? The third time we’ve been shot at so far this year?” Declan’s words were laced with annoyance. “It’s April, man. Situations like this one are exactly why Grayson needs to let us carry guns.”
Nate sent them a smile over his shoulder and started edging toward the rear of the car. “Relax,” he said. “I’m the gun.”
“Yeah, yeah. You’re a badass,” said Declan. “We get it. Now hurry up and get us out of this.”
“What’s he going to do?” asked Alex. “Throw a car at them?”
“The thought had crossed my mind,” she heard Nate say from somewhere near the trunk. “Unless you have a better idea?”
Alex opened her mouth to reply and then startled everyone by crying out in agony instead.
The whispering voices from earlier had returned and were now screaming inside her mind, the bits of conversation having been joined by a flood of painfully sharp images and a roiling sea of emotions. Alex gripped the sides of her head, her own inner-voice suddenly drowning in an onslaught foreign thoughts.
And the thoughts hurt…
It took her a while to realize that the piercing scream cutting through the cacophony was her own.
Blinded by pain, Alex doubled over…
And everything went black.
— 16 —
“What happened?” Nate asked, coming into view on the other side of the car. “Why is she screaming like that?”
“I don’t know!” Declan’s hands gripped Alex’s shoulders, trying to hold her steady. The harrowing sound of her screams had set his teeth on edge. What was happening to her?
