Brain Storm (A Taylor Morrison Novel Book 1)

by Cat Gilbert

  “It’s incredibly strong if you direct it at me. This afternoon, you were angry at me. Then you were scared. It was . . ” He paused, searching for words. “I don’t know, like a sensory overload. I don’t understand it. I’ve never seen it before, but that’s the best way I can think of to explain it.”

  “So that’s why you know when I am starting to freak. That’s when you tell me to calm down.” He nodded.

  “Why are you nervous now?” I gestured toward his tapping fingers.

  “I’m not,” he answered, with a half laugh. “You are.”

  I SAT IN the car while he met his contact. We had gone to a park on the lake for the meeting. Mac had phoned ahead to let him know what we needed and e-mailed digital photos of Jonas, Trinity and Mama D to him to use on the ID’s. The rush job had cost extra, a lot extra, but if he was as good as Mac claimed, it was well worth it. While I was waiting I had time to think about what Mac had said and the pieces starting fitting together. It made sense in an insane sort of way. One thing I knew for sure. I needed to quit second guessing myself and stop being suspicious of every move he made.

  He opened the door and tossed the packet of ID’s to me as he slid behind the wheel. I stopped him before he could put the van into drive, though. If we were going to be together on this, I needed to set some ground rules.

  “Mac, why didn’t you tell me about this before?” It may have sounded a lot like my other questions, but my attitude was different. This time I was curious, not angry and accusing. I needed to know how he thought, how he worked. The best way to do that was to find out how he reasoned things out.

  “There wasn’t a good time. You were a bundle of emotions, all of them threatening to erupt at any minute. You’d had a lot of stuff coming at you and it didn’t seem like a good time to throw something else on the fire.”

  He put the van into drive, but kept his foot on the brake. I could tell he was debating with himself and I tried to stay relaxed as I waited for him to decide what to do.

  “That’s not all of it though. The main reason I didn’t say anything was because this is something between you and me. I don’t understand it, but there’s a bond between us. I don’t know what’s going to happen or how this is going to end, but I think the fewer people that know about it, the better. That includes Jonas and Trinity.”

  He was telling the truth. I knew it, could sense it. I didn’t like the idea of keeping secrets from Jonas and Trinity, but I had to agree with him. The less they knew, the safer they were. At least for now.

  Mac waited while I weighed things in my mind. He knew the minute I had decided, as he nodded at me, and put the van in motion. He might not be able to read my mind, but being able to sense my emotions so strongly was pretty close. After all, he’d had seven years to practice.

  I reached down and snagged the envelope before it could slide under the seat. We were due at the mall to pick everyone up in 10 minutes and we were barely going to make it on time. As we sped back to the highway, I opted to worry about whether anyone had recognized them and if they were all safe rather than the fact that I had just colluded with Mac to keep secrets from the people I loved and trusted.

  WE PULLED INTO the parking lot with one minute to spare, and relief poured through me when I spied Mama D coming through the glass doors. Right behind her were Trinity and Jonas, both of the them loaded down with bags.

  “Good grief.” Mac threw the van into park as soon as he saw the bags, hopping out to open the back for Jonas as he threw me a horrified look. He had vastly underestimated Trinity’s shopping prowess. I had to laugh when I got out to help them stow the bags. Trinity was practically dancing around, while Mama D was proudly wriggling her fingers in front of me, waiting for me to notice her new acrylic nails.

  I made the appropriate complements, assuring her several times, that they were in fact, the perfect color, the shape was wonderful and the length, just right. Reassured, Mama D, finally got into the van and sat there, quietly wiggling her fingers, watching the light bounce off the shiny red polish. I looked at Trinity and she threw me a smile and a wink, obviously enjoying herself. I couldn’t be sure, but from the way Mama D was acting, she’d never had her nails done before. Scrubbing floors and doing laundry wasn’t really part of a good hand care regimen.

  Jonas pushed past me and latched onto the front door handle.

  “I have to sit up here now. I need some man time,” he informed me, just before he hopped into the seat and slammed the door closed.

  Relegated to the back seat, I climbed in and managed to wedge myself past Trinity and Mama D into the far rear seat.

  “You did actually get the things on the list, right?” I asked while trying to shift a pile of bags out of the way.

  “Yes, we did and a few extras besides. There were sales. Big sales,” Trinity assured me as Jonas groaned from the front seat.

  Trinity reached up and flicked her ear, giving a nod in his direction. I leaned around her to get a look at Jonas and see what was going on. He turned his head to talk to Mac and I caught sight of the big diamond earring he was now sporting. Once she knew I had spotted it, Trinity grabbed my arm and jerked it around in glee while Mama D sat grinning from ear to ear.

  “Wait until you see the clothes we got him. No one will recognize him.” They both burst into gales of laughter and I heard Jonas snort as he turned to look out the window.

  I shook my head in disbelief. If these two had been like this all afternoon, it was no wonder Jonas needed some man time in the front. At least they were having fun instead of being scared to death and Jonas looked like he’d survived being the target of their fun, but I was sure there was a limit as to how much abuse he could take.

  I caught Mac’s eye in the rear view and made some eating motions. He caught on and giving me a nod, turned onto Highway 7 in search of food. He’d hadn’t gone two blocks before he shot left across the traffic and up the small service road into a lot where he pulled in to park. Looking up I spotted the Whole Hog Cafe about the same time Jonas opened his door, flooding the van with the heavenly aroma of southern barbecue. By the time he had slid the back door open and was helping Mama D out, my tastebuds were on full alert and my stomach was rumbling. I fought my way out of the bags and caught sight of Jonas herding Trinity and Mama D through the front doors of the cafe. I paused for a second before stepping out of the van to watch as the door closed behind them.

  Jonas might have complained about the shopping, but it had been a good thing. The feeling of unease that had gripped me since the confrontation earlier lessened considerably. Jonas may have agreed to stick around, but I knew that he couldn’t be a follower, waiting to see what happened next. No matter how valuable his experience and opinion were to me, Jonas needed to have a job, needed to know his role. Apparently, he’d found his place and it was taking care of Trinity and Mama D.

  “It’s a good thing.” Mac’s voice came at my shoulder, echoing my thoughts. I turned to see him watching the door as I had been, seconds earlier.

  “Just so you know, Mac, in case you didn’t already,” I said as I hopped out of the van, “that still freaks me out. Tell me again, how you can’t read my mind.”

  He slammed the van door shut. “I can’t read your mind. I felt you relax some and I’m not blind. I saw what you saw and I can put two and two together. Especially when I feel the same way. I haven’t known Jonas long, but I don’t think he’s the sort to stick around if he feels useless. He needs to serve and protect, and he’s found some victims who need him. It’s a good thing.”

  I flinched at the word ‘victims’, but really, that’s what they were when I thought about it. I just didn’t like thinking about it. He was right about one thing though. It was a good thing, because I was pretty sure that sooner or later, we were going to have to separate in order to keep them safe. Knowing Jonas had chosen his role and would be there to protect them, made that knowledge a little easier to accept.

  The evening had turned out to
be long, but uneventful. I had been a little worried about just walking into a public restaurant, given the fact that our faces had been flashed on the news but Hot Springs was a long way from Little Rock, not in miles, but in community. Either the customers hadn’t watched the news or were too busy eating to care, but we managed to put away more than our fair share of pulled pork, brisket, cole slaw and beans without attracting any undue attention.

  We picked up everything else on our list at Wal-Mart and headed back on the long drive to the cabin. It was after 9:00 by the time we pulled in and after nodding off several times on the way back, I was ready for a hot shower and bed. After we unloaded the van and sorted out the bags, I made my excuses and gathered up my things, heading for the bathroom. The hot shower did wonderful things to the tight muscles in my neck and back. By the time I slipped under the covers my bones felt like jelly. I was asleep before my head even hit the pillow.

  TWENTY-ONE

  THE SOUND OF Trinity’s scream had me bolting up and on my feet so fast, it made me dizzy. My gun was in my hand and at the ready, as I eased the bedroom door open and slipped into the empty hallway and listened. Whatever was happening was coming from the kitchen and I was heading toward her when I sensed someone suddenly behind me. I spun, gun leveled and ready, as the bathroom door flew open to reveal Jonas, dripping wet, and half dressed, but well armed. I gave him a nod as he slipped in behind me and we made our way quickly down the hallway and through the living room. I paused at the doorway to kitchen and looked to Jonas for the plan. He motioned for me to go low and gave the count. We rounded the corner in a blur of motion, our guns leveled and ready.

  Trinity stopped mid-scream, frozen in place. Mama D was at the stove, cooking and didn’t even look up. Suddenly the back door flew open and I shifted to cover the opening only to pull up as Mac wheeled around the doorjamb, coming in low, gun first..

  I did a quick scan and saw there were only the five of us standing there. Whatever Trinity had been screaming about, it wasn’t because she was being attacked. The fright we had given her when Jonas and I had charged around the corner with our guns was forgotten as she laid eyes on Mac.

  “I don’t believe you did this,” she said, hissing through her teeth, as she advanced on him, waving what looked like a charge card above her head. I straightened up, lowering my gun, confused and not a little put out. My knees were pretty shaky and my stomach felt like I’d been punched.

  “What’s the problem, Trinity?” Mac was backing away as she bore down on him. Mama D had stopped cooking and was watching now along with Jonas and me.

  “CANDY JONES?” She spit out the words like they were poison. “You expect me to go through the rest of my life with a name like Candy?”

  “It’s not Candy, it’s Candice.” Somehow he kept his tone calm as he held up his hands to ward her off. “Look, it’s not forever, Trinity. You can pick another name if you want, but later, when we have more time. For now you’re Candice. It’s important that you accept that. We all need to watch ourselves in public. The last thing we need is to confirm someone’s suspicions by calling each other by our real names.”

  “Oh, like we even know your real name,” she snapped out, defiant and ready for a fight.

  “Enough!” I went from being scared to angry in record time. The back door slammed shut, breaking three of the blackened panes of glass, causing Mac to look over at me in warning and Trinity to look at me in fear. I saw it and I didn’t care. This whole debacle was about her new identity? She had scared Jonas and me out of our wits because she didn’t like her name?

  Jonas shoved past me and grabbed Trinity by the arm. He threw what was left of the back door open and drug her out of the cabin, slamming the door closed behind him. We watched in silence as the last pane of glass fell out and burst upon the floor.

  “Well, how about that,” Mama D muttered before turning back to the stove like nothing had happened. Mac stood quietly across the room, waiting for me to pull myself together. I walked over to the table and sat my gun down in disgust. Hooking a foot around a chair rung, I pulled it under me and sat down. Mac bent to collect the larger pieces of glass from the floor, while Mama D hummed a little gospel at the stove.

  I propped my elbows on the table and rubbed my face, running my hands over my head in frustration. I felt like tearing my hair out, but settled for just balling my fists into it instead.

  I loved Trinity. God knows how much I loved her. Her passion and zest for life was one of the things that I loved the most about her. Maybe it was because of losing my parents so early in life, or maybe I was just born that way, but I’d always kept my emotions bottled up inside. I made a good investigator because I could stay detached, and focused, keeping my emotions at bay. Or at least that was how it used to work.

  Trinity, on the other hand, let her emotions flow out like a river. Her passion swayed juries, her obvious compassion touching hearts. Now the very thing that made her so special, so unique, was the very thing that had me on edge. The excitement and passion that Trinity had brought into my life before, was something that I couldn’t afford to have there now. Every time I lost control, it had something to do with the people I cared about. Last night I had been afraid we would have to separate to protect the people I loved from the people who were after me, but that wasn’t turning out to the be the main reason, I thought, as my eyes wandered to the light streaming in through the broken window panes on the door. We needed to separate so I could have time to get a handle on this thing. Learn to control it, before someone got hurt. It wasn’t a question of loving them enough to let them go. It was a matter of loving them too much to let them stay.

  Mac sat a cup of coffee down in front of me, and I reached out, grateful, to take a sip. He found a broom and starting sweeping up the last of the glass. Cleaning and cooking. It all seemed so normal. It was hard to believe there’d been three of us in the room just minutes ago, with our guns drawn, looking to shoot someone.

  Finished, Mac pulled up a seat and sat down next to me to drink his own coffee as we watched Mama D turning hash browns in the skillet, still humming away.

  As the seconds ticked by, so did my anger. What had been turmoil moments before, was now almost peaceful. I didn’t know if it was because Mac could sense what I needed or if he just instinctively knew. Whatever it was, I found myself relaxing listening to Mama D, sipping on my coffee.

  The envelope with the new ID’s was sitting on the table and I reached over and grabbed it, fishing the two remaining passports out. Mac had given me my new one last night, so I already knew my new name was Samantha White. Mac hadn’t bothered with another ID. He had a drawer full of them already and besides, he didn’t die in the fire. Julian did. Trinity was right. We had no idea if Mac was really his name. I had to figure it wasn’t and surprisingly didn’t really care. It wasn’t like it mattered at this point. Flipping the passport on top open, I found the name Bryan Harrison stamped next to Jonas’ photo. Bryan with a ‘y’. He was going to love that.

  “My name is Della,” Mama D informed me, as she set a steaming plate of eggs and hash browns down in front of me. “Della Jones.”

  “Well, that worked out well. We can still call you Mama D then, can’t we?”

  She nodded happily as she refilled my cup. I set the passports back on the table and pushed them away so I could eat. Mama D was adapting to all this better than I had any right to hope for. Trinity was the one that had me worried. It wasn’t the name that bothered her. I knew that. It was what it represented. I looked over to see Mama D dishing up another plate of food for Mac.

  “Mama D, why don’t you sit down and eat? You don’t have to do all the cooking.” I said, getting to my feet to help her.

  “I already ate, child and you leave the cooking to me. Cooking helps calm my nerves and helps me think. Trinity, she has to fight it out, just like the lawyer she is. So don’t you worry. It’ll all work out, baby.” Mama D reached out to pat my hand as she refilled my cup. “Trin
ity will calm down. It’ll be fine.”

  Fortunately, she was right. When Trinity and Jonas returned, she was much calmer and surprisingly subdued. Jonas either threatened her or she was afraid of pushing me too far. I didn’t know what was worse. Trying to deal with the passions and emotions that seemed to surround her all the time, or to see her trying to tiptoe around me. I decided the best thing to do was just to get through the day We had enough problems with trying to move the gold without adding this into the mix.

  JONAS AND MAC took off right after breakfast leaving Mama D, Trinity and me to pack the bags and clean things up. As I was emptying the refrigerator and wiping down the shelves it hit me how ridiculous it was to close up the house. We were on the run and would probably never be back here again, but I couldn’t seem to help myself. No one likes to come home from a trip to the smell of sour milk and spoiled meat.

  By the time Mac and Jonas returned at noon, we had packed up and were ready to go. Jonas and Mac had taken most of the guns and what ammo that Mac had stored with them this morning, so we had everything in the van with just a couple of trips.

  We waited while Mac nailed a piece of plywood over the broken window panes. I really didn’t want to leave. The little cabin may have been close quarters for the five of us, but it was a safe place. Now we were heading to who knows where. First, though, we had to survive the afternoon without getting killed or arrested.

  TWENTY-TWO

  THE BANK WAS nearly empty when I went in. The lunch time rush was over and the afternoon crawl towards quitting time was well underway. I was first inside, my job was to take a look around and see if any of my alarms went off. If I had any doubts, I was to head back out the doors and we’d abort the job.

  I headed over to the display filled with brochures while I tried to access my instincts. This had been so much easier when I just relied on my gut. Back then, I would know immediately when I was in a bad situation. My stomach would clench, I’d feel clammy and my feet would practically itch to turn and run the other way. This was new and I wasn’t picking up anything now, except the fear that I would screw up and someone would get hurt. Or worse.