Intuition (The Path to Redemption Series Book 2)

by Kimbra Swain

  “Passing out on top of you?” he asked.

  “Ha! My file on you did not say comedian in life and death situations,” I said to him.

  “You need to update the file then,” he half-smiled. Ashley and I helped him up. We practically dragged him to the bedroom. He fell on to the bed with a thump. “I tell you what, the service in this place sucks.” He quipped.

  “I’ll report your complaint to the boss,” Ashley said, smiling at him. We both knew that he would be fine now. He just needed to rest from the blood loss.

  He waved his arm a little like he was going to say something else and passed out. I clicked off the lights and stood in the doorway listening to his breathing. Ashley was in the other room cleaning up the blood and shirt. I went and helped her.

  “Did you see the scars? Did you run a check through the justice system?”

  “I always do that. I found nothing. He has no record,” she said.

  After we cleaned up, I went into my room, and she followed me. I started pulling off the dress. It would have to be destroyed because it was covered in his blood. “Let me shower.” She nodded and sat down on the bed with a magazine. I washed all the blood off and thought about how surprising Mr. Castille had turned out to be. After drying off, I put on a long tee shirt and shorts.

  “Well, what do you think?” Ashley said.

  I smiled at her, “Can I keep him?” I missed having some girl talk that was not business related. “He cleaned up very nicely.”

  “I thought you might say that,” she giggled.

  “He stood up between me and whoever was shooting at us, like it was no big deal,” I said. “His immediate instinct was to protect me. I’ve never seen anything like it. Are we sure he’s human?”

  “Yes, as far as I can tell he is,” she said.

  “Thank you, Ashley. We might finally have our proxy. If he doesn’t cut and run once all the events of last night sinks in.”

  “He won’t,” she said. “I’m going downstairs to bed. You okay up here, alone with him?”

  “Yeah, I think. I’m fine,” I replied. “Ashley, what was the premonition?”

  “I saw you together. I saw him save your life,” she said.

  After walking with her to the door, I listened into his room. His breathing was steady and strong. To his sleeping form, I said, “Welcome to the Agency, Lukas Castille.”

  Laying back on the bed, I realized how tired I was. Abigail hadn’t come up yet, and I supposed that if she worked things out with Lukas, she wouldn’t sleep here at all. I decided not to wait any longer and took off my shirt to lay down. Suddenly I felt her panic and her voice sounded like it was in a tunnel, “Help.”

  I ran down the stairs, and Ashley was leaving the kitchen with a glass of milk.

  “Where is she?” I yelled.

  “We thought she was with you?” Ashley said.

  “I thought she was with Lukas,” I said.

  Lukas came from down the hallway out of one of the bedrooms. “Where is she?” he asked.

  I stopped, took a deep breath and pulled on the spirit world. Stepping inside I saw a faint light toward the pool. Running toward the light through the walls, I shifted back right next to her. She was laying back on a lawn chair, and blood poured out of the right side of her chest.

  “Help!” I screamed. I pulled her shirt off and held it over the wound. I heard her heartbeat, but it was just pumping blood out of her body through the hole. “Damn it, Abby! Why are you out here?” I noticed the wards ended at the outer wall of the house. The crew came running off the patio. Lukas got there first.

  “Get her inside,” he demanded. “You hold the wound, and I’ll carry her.” I nodded and held on tight as we walked quickly to the house. He sat her down on the dining room table. Ichiro came up the steps and into the dining room. Ashley and Cassidy stood in the corner.

  “Move, let me see,” Ichiro said. I pulled back from the wound, and it started to gush blood again. “Okay, pressure again please.”

  I pressed down on the wound again. Lukas looked at the twins. “Go. See what you can find.” They both went out the back door into the darkness.

  “Ashley, please get a basin of water and some rags,” Ichiro asked. She nodded and pulled Cassidy into the kitchen with her. “Vince, go downstairs, and bring a couple of those bright flashlights up.”

  Vince went running down the steps.

  “Abby, are you there?”

  “I’m shot.”

  “Madre de Dios, she’s talking to me,” I said to all of them. “Yes, Ichiro is working on it. You stay with me, okay?”

  “I’m shot,” she repeated. I winced. She was in shock, or far enough gone that she was confused. Lukas waited for me to say more, but I just shook my head.

  “It’s my fault. I pushed her tonight, and I shouldn't have,” he said to all of us.

  Ashley came back in the room. “Oh, shut up, she’s been shot at a thousand times. You should know that, she was shot at the first night you met her.”

  “Tadeas, this is how this works. I am going to pour water over the wound to clean it and then pull the bullet out. Any time I’m not in that wound with these tweezers, I need you to put pressure on it. Okay?”

  “Okay,” I said.

  “Lukas, hold her legs. When Vince gets back up, he can hold her shoulders down,” he said. He laid out several instruments on the table. Vince came up the steps with a large flashlight. “Give the light to Ashley.” Ashley took it and positioned herself next to me. She turned it on and shined it right where the wound was under my hands. Vince took position at Abby’s shoulders.

  “Okay, here we go,” Ichiro said, and I pulled back from the wound. Ashley handed me a towel. He dug down in her chest, and there was a lot of blood. Cassidy whimpered and went back into the kitchen. Abby strained under the pain, but she did not thrash. He pulled the tweezers out, and there was only one small piece there. I pressed down on the wound. “Crap, it shattered.”

  “You still with me?”

  “I’m shot.”

  “I know, Abby. We are trying to fix it. Please stay with me.”

  “What’s she saying?” Lukas finally asked. His sanity teetered on the edge.

  “She just keeps saying ‘I’m shot’ over and over,” I admitted.

  He groaned, and his knees buckled.

  “Hey, you suck it up,” Ashley told him. He stood back up, but the desperation showed all over his face. I knew exactly how he felt.

  Ichiro was ready to go again, so I backed off. He dug in again, and she tensed. She had less energy than the last time. Ichiro pulled the tweezers out, and there was a large piece. It looked like the rest of the bullet. “Thank God, that’s all of it,” he pulled away. I put pressure on again.

  “Abby, the bullet is out.”

  “It hurts.” At least she said something different.

  “I know. He’s still working.”

  “Can I heal it now?”

  “She asked, if she can heal it now,” I said. They all looked at me.

  “No, one more thing. I’ve got to sew up that big vein. She won’t get it healed in time, and she will bleed out,” he said. He picked up the needle and thread. His deft fingers held the vein in place and sewed with the needle at the same time. “Okay, tell her now. Keep pressure.”

  “Now Abby.”

  “Consano.” I felt her skin start to warm under my hands. Ichiro pulled my hands away after a second. We all stood and watched the wound close up and heal. Castille backed up against the wall and slumped to the floor. Cassidy came around the corner and tried to help him. He waved her off.

  “What the hell did you do?” I yelled at him.

  “Duarte, please, not now,” he mumbled.

  “Tadeas, just leave it alone for right now,” Ashley said.

  “I’m not going to leave it alone. What did you say to her to make her go outside the wards alone?” I yelled.

  “You are not helping anything,” Ashley said.

>   “Leave it, Jag. Please.”

  I turned back to her laying on the table. Her eyes were still closed. “Can I move her?”

  “Yes,” Ichiro said.

  I picked her up, took her upstairs and laid her on the bed. Ashley followed me in. “I’ve got it,” I growled at her.

  “Let me help,” she said.

  “I said, I’ve got it,” I could not hold my anger. She put her hand on my arm. I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists.

  “This happens sometimes, okay? She’s always in danger, and she survives. You should know that by now,” she said.

  “I’m not in the mood for a lesson, Ash. You forget that I’ve already watched her die once. I never want to see that again. Either help or get out.”

  She went to the dresser and pulled out one of my tee shirts. “Get these bloody clothes off her, and I’ll put something on her. We need to clean as much of the blood up as possible.”

  Abby was covered in her own blood head to toe. “Bath?”

  “Yes, that will work.”

  I went into the bathroom and turned on the water. I made sure it was warm, but not too hot. When I went back in the bedroom, Ashley had her undressed. I picked her up and sat her down in the water. I got soaked in the process.

  “I’ve got her. Go change and pull the bloody stuff off the bed. There are sheets in the top of the closet,” she instructed. I did as she said.

  “I’m right here. I’ll be right back.”

  “I’m okay.”

  I went in the bedroom, pulled off the wet clothes and put on dry ones. I heard a commotion downstairs. “Go see what it is. I’ve got her,” Ashley said. I rushed down the steps, and there was a man on his hands and knees in the living room. Tony had a gun to his head, and Tommy had a rifle hung over his shoulder.

  “Who is he?” I asked.

  Lukas came out of his room down the hall again. This time Cassidy was with him. He walked in and grabbed the guy’s chin. “Darius, what the hell man?”

  “Who is he?” I asked again.

  “He’s my crew leader in Malibu,” he said.

  “Shit,” I said.

  Lukas pulled him up by his collar, and the man shook in fear. “What the fuck were you thinking? Who put you up to this?” Lukas screamed at him. Cassidy stayed back in the hallway. Ichiro stood at the top of the steps. We stared in horror because another one of our own was compromised.

  “They will keep coming for her. She has to die. She has to die,” he repeated himself.

  “Who sent you!” Lukas yelled.

  “Man, you guys are so fucked,” he started laughing.

  Lukas turned and looked at Cassidy. “Is he under a spell?”

  “I, I, I don’t know,” she whimpered.

  “Look and see!” he screamed. She closed her eyes and when she opened them back up, they were bright blue with golden edges.

  “No, he isn’t,” she said.

  “You sure?” Lukas asked.

  “Yes,” she said quietly, as she walked toward Ichiro on the steps, past him and into the basement.

  “Tell me who, Darius. Or I’m going to pull your fingers off one by one,” he said.

  I pulled on the spirit world and shifted to the jaguar. I let out a deafening roar. Lukas didn’t flinch, but everyone else did.

  “I’m going to turn him loose on you, Darius,” he said.

  I bared my teeth, growled, and crouched down. “Tadeas?” her scared voice sounded in my head.

  “It’s okay. We have a situation, but Lukas and I are handling it.”

  Darius pissed on himself, and Lukas threw him on the floor disgusted. He took the gun from Tony. “One last chance Darius, who sent you?”

  “I’m dead anyway man. Just do it,” Darius cried.

  Lukas pulled the trigger. The sound was so loud I whimpered and shifted back to human. I held my ears and moved to the wall. The ringing was so loud. A large blood stain spread across the floor. “I’m sorry, Tadeas. I should have let you shift back. I’m going to get my things and go. Tell her I’ll talk to her tomorrow.”

  I rushed up the stairs to Abby. Ashley sat by her in the tub. She was clean. My eyes were red. “What was that?”

  “They found the shooter in the woods. It was Lukas’s canvas leader here in Malibu,” I said. I walked over to the tub and pulled Abby out of it. I was soaked again. Ashley dried her off and got her dressed. I changed my shirt but not the shorts.

  “He’s dead?”

  “Lukas shot him. The man wouldn’t give us any information other than Abigail had to die, and that we were fucked. Lukas is leaving, Ash. I’m not sure Abby would want him to leave,” I admitted.

  “Okay, I’ll go see what I can do. Get her covered up and warm,” she said and left.

  I turned the lights off and laid down next to Abby on the bed. My ears still hurt from the ringing. Reaching out to touch her hand, she opened her beautiful green eyes, and they were filled with concern.

  “Are you okay?” she asked me.

  “Damn, Abby, you got shot, and here you are asking about me,” I said.

  “You are hurt.”

  “No, Lukas shot a gun in the house when I was shifted. My ears are ringing.” She turned slightly toward me, “No, don’t move around, you are still healing.”

  “The wound is healed,” she said. She moved closer to me and rolled completely on her side. She brushed her hand down the side of my face. “Just relax, and the ringing will stop. I don’t have a spell for that. I need to make one up.”

  “No, it will be okay,” I rolled on my side to look at her. “Ashley is trying to stop him from leaving. It was one of his guys.”

  “I know. I heard you tell her,” she said. “Let him go.” She moved closer and put her head on my chest. I pulled the blanket up over both of us, and we fell asleep.

  Tadeas moved during the night, and his back was to me. Even after a night’s rest, I was exhausted. The flight to Atlanta would leave soon, and we would lose several hours flying back across the country. I reached out and lightly ran my fingers up and down his back. He shivered.

  “You can do that until forever. I won’t complain,” he mumbled. I did it for a few moments more until he turned to face me.

  “Ringing gone?” I asked.

  “Yes,” he said. He wanted to know about last night.

  “I know that you want to know,” I started to say.

  “Yes, I do, but Abby, you don’t have to tell me,” he said.

  “Lukas is stuck in the past, and he almost dragged me back there with him. I needed some air, and I didn’t think about the wards. I’m sorry. He’s a distraction that I don’t need right now. That’s why I said let him go,” I said.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Very sure,” I got up out of the bed and went to the closet. I picked out a black dress and black strappy shoes. Tadeas stood at the window looking out. “We need to wear black. Mourning for Mr. Gilbert.”

  “Yeah, okay,” he said. He was deep in thought. If he wanted to tell me, he would. I went into the bathroom and shut the door. It was a simple dress and shoes, nothing flashy. I added diamond stud earrings and a necklace with a sun charm on it.

  Lukas’s network was compromised. Atlanta was compromised. The Boulder facility was too. We were in trouble. When I came out, he slipped in to get a shower. I sat down on the small couch in the corner and closed my eyes for a minute. I must have drifted to sleep, because when I opened my eyes, Tadeas finished buttoning up a crisp white shirt. There was black tie and jacket laying on the bed. I walked over and picked up the tie. When he finished with the buttons, I helped him tie it.

  “Thank you,” he said softly. I teased him about learning to do it, but it was becoming a ritual for us, and I loved it. He put one hand over mine as I finished tightening the knot. His hands were warm and comforting. He squeezed lightly and leaned in to kiss my forehead. I thought back to the times he’d done that since we became partners, especially on the island. A gesture of af
fection, but overt, I needed that touch of attention.

  Before he put on his jacket, he put on the shoulder rig and placed one of the guns in it. The other he slid into an ankle holster. He put on the jacket and held his hand out to me, escorting me downstairs. Ashley and Ichiro were there waiting on us. She had my briefcase.

  “You look pale. You should eat before you go,” she said.

  “Just call and have something on the plane,” I said. “Where is Cassidy?”

  “She’s downstairs with Vincent watching the check-ins. Tommy and Tony will ride with you to the airport. Tony is going with you to Atlanta,” she said.

  “Lukas come back?” I asked.

  “No,” she said. “The car is waiting. Stay in touch, okay? You take care of her.”

  “You know I will,” Tadeas said. He opened the front door, and the twins were waiting beside a black Bentley Continental GT with black tinted windows. Tadeas held the car door for me, then circled to the other side. The twins were alert and got in last. We drove down to Santa Monica Municipal Airport where one of the Agency’s planes waited on us. There was also a black limo idling near the plane. Tadeas and the twins exited the car and watched all sides. Tadeas opened the door for me, and I stepped out on the tarmac. We walked hand in hand toward the plane. Then I heard Lukas’s voice call my name.

  “Abby, please, may I speak to you for just a moment?” Lukas called from the limo.

  Tadeas squeezed my hand. I looked at him. “He might have important information,” he said, “Get in the car with him. Don’t stand out here on the tarmac. It’s safer in the car.”

  “What about you?”

  “I’m fine. Go, hurry.”

  I reluctantly walked over and got in the limo with Lukas Castille. Tony moved over to shut the door for me after I got in. He stood right next to the door. Tadeas waited at the steps to the plane.

  “I know you are in a hurry, but I wanted to update you on what I’ve found out. It appears several entities that I cannot identify came into Malibu two days ago. They held Darius’ family hostage. He came out to the safe house and waited from a distance to take a shot at you. According to our security footage, they killed his wife and mother right after he left the house,” he paused. “I killed him. His family was held hostage and killed. And I killed him.”