JUMP (The Senses)

by Cindy Paterson

  Commitment issues were a hitch. He understood her apprehension about becoming too close to anyone. Shit, her mother dies and then her father blows his brains out. Even though she was going full steam ahead with him, he sensed her hesitation, that inkling of dread that weighed heavy on them both.

  He’d never leave her, at least not willingly, and if fate decided that he’d leave this earth then she was strong enough to stand alone. She wasn’t her father. She’d survived torture and drowning, for Christ’s sake.

  He sighed as he twisted the gold bands on his wrists. Who was he kidding? Being sent to Rest was imminent. Danielle had every right to be tentative about jumping with both feet into a relationship with him. Fifty years in exile—that was if they didn’t execute him—unable to communicate with her, touch her, smell the sweet scent of her skin. It was too long, even for an immortal to live without passion, love. A sharp pain clutched his chest at the thought of another in Danielle’s arms. A grumble emerged from his throat.

  “What’s up?” Danielle asked, coming up beside him and taking his hand in hers.

  Nothing much, just thinking of another man in your arms. “You should rest,” he said with too much force in his voice. He squeezed her hand and kissed the tip of her nose, which was already scrunching up. He had to curb that habit.

  He was uneasy with the whole situation. Waiting. Uncertain where the hell Kilter was or what he was doing. The guy was blocking Danielle from his mind because she’d tried several times to reach him with no response. Either he was dead or was blocking her.

  She managed to contact Ryker, but he’d not heard of anything regarding Kilter. He guessed that was good news.

  “Lie down with me,” Danielle said.

  Keir was talking to Anstice on his cell, and Jedrik and Delara looked far from catching some shuteye. Lying down for a few hours with Danielle in his arms sounded like heaven.

  She pulled him towards the adjoining door. “I’m tired and I need your lips on my skin,” Danielle whispered.

  Balen groaned. He’d like nothing better than to taste her tantalizing curves. He glanced over at Keir as Danielle opened the door.

  “Your woman needs you,” Keir said. “If I had Anstice here, I’d be locking the door and taking advantage.”

  “Wake us in two hours,” Balen said.

  Danielle tugged on his arm and he followed her into the adjoining room, shutting the door behind them.

  She guided him to the bed and he allowed it, knowing that this was what she wanted, how she wanted it. To be the controller, the leader even though it went against his nature. But he was learning to accept it and like how she was the aggressive one. He’d never had that before.

  She pushed him down on the bed and then followed to lie on top of him. She grabbed his arms and placed them above his head. The gold bands rubbed his wrists, reminding him that he wasn’t free to be with this woman. Before he left he might have to let her go.

  “Balen.” Danielle kissed his chin and then along his cheek and across his nose. “Forget what lies ahead. We have each other now.” She ran her finger across his lowered brows. “Are you getting bored with me? Because if you are—” She raised her brows and bit her lower lip impishly as she began to leave him.

  He closed the dangerous thoughts in his mind and splayed his hands around her hips to keep her in place. “I don’t take well to teasing, my love.”

  She smiled and wriggled her body to settle between his legs. “Oh, that’s too bad.” She slid her finger down his neck and over his chest, then lower and lower until she had him cupped in her hand through his jeans. “Because I’m so into teasing and, well—” she shrugged as she undid his button flies, “—I wouldn’t want to disappoint the man I adore if he couldn’t take what I dished out.”

  Balen groaned as her hand slid inside his jeans. “Goddamn it, woman.” He was so stiff that he thought he’d explode in her hand.

  She stopped. “We have a couple hours. What about if we have a little contest. Who can be teased the longest without losing control? Are you up for that, or is that too much for you to handle?”

  He knew what she was up to. Danielle read him well like no other. He was as strung up as violin strings and needed to relax. The funny thing was he didn’t think relaxing was going to play a huge part in the next two hours.

  ****

  He was livid. They’d spent sixteen hours hiding in the bloody air duct and still men were searching the premises. He guessed the little toothpick was more important than he’d anticipated. The funny thing was that if a worker went AWOL it was thought that she went home or quit her job. These guys were racing around like she was the goddamn Queen of England.

  “He will never stop looking for me,” she said.

  “They will if you’re dead,” he replied. Two men went running past the vent and down the corridor. He heard the outside door open and close. It wouldn’t be the last of them, but sundown was crawling up his ass shortly and they had to get a move on.

  “We’re leaving,” he said. “Out. Now.”

  He slid to the end of the duct and put his feet up against the grill. He gave one kick with both feet and the cover gave, flying across the hall and crashing into the adjacent wall. He’d wasted enough time and he refused to wait another night to get Ryker out. He was getting this shit done now.

  She crawled out after him and he quickly put his knife to her throat and pushed her across the hall where the camera would miss them.

  He never hesitated to kill before. Do what must be done; period. She was a liability. She had to die. But questions had to be answered first.

  “Where are they keeping Ryker?”

  “I don’t know any Ryker.”

  “The Senses, he’s in this building. Where is he?” He yanked backwards on her hair.

  “Take me with you,” she said. “I’ll take you to him, but promise you’ll take me with you.”

  Kilter was rarely surprised, but her request did just that. She roamed the halls of this place free; there were no chains or devices on her. Why would she want to leave? Was she going to try to infiltrate the Senses? Lead her friends to them? Fuck that.

  “No,” Kilter said. He didn’t do deals. It was his way or nothing.

  “Then kill me,” she said.

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m a coward and I can’t do it myself,” she said matter-of-factly.

  He turned her around so her chest was up against his own. She met his eyes and he saw the tears streaming down her cheeks. “Jesus fuckin’ Christ. Why the hell are you crying?”

  “Kilter, I’ve been trying to reach you all day. Thirty minutes until sundown and then those sensors will be turned on. Have you found Ryker?” Danielle asked.

  The woman he held remained unresponsive, almost as if she was dead already. A corpse with tears. Shit, if he didn’t need her, he’d gut her and forget about her void deep brown eyes.

  “Working on it,” he replied to Danielle.

  “I suggest you get a move on then. We’re in position.”

  “I suggest you get the fuck off my case,” Kilter shot back.

  “Why?” He had no time for this shit, yet here he was asking about her life story.

  “I hate him,” she said. She raised her hand to the knife and he let her, knowing that he could react a hell of a lot faster than she could. One move and he’d slit her throat or snap it; either way would get the job done.

  “Who?” Kilter asked. Why the fuck he cared, he had no clue, but the words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.

  “My husband.”

  Shit, she wanted to die because of a crappy marriage? Suck it up; you did it, live with it.

  She put her fingers on the blade and pushed it into her neck. A red trickle of blood slid down her skin. She pressed harder and he reacted, grabbing her arm and wrenching it behind her back. Okay, she had a death wish, all right.

  “Take me to Ryker,” he said. Threatening to end her life had no effect,
so he used another tactic—lying. “I will take you with us. But don’t come crying to me when you suddenly miss your husband.”

  The relief that emanated from her body was overwhelming. Her eyes closed, muscles relaxed and she sagged in his arms. He had no use for weeping, careless females. He pushed her away from him.

  “We have thirty minutes. Now where the fuck is he?”

  She nodded to the door next to them. “In there.”

  Kilter cursed under his breath. Across the hall from the vent, all goddamn night, and he never even felt him. Walls had to be a foot thick in steel. “Open the door.”

  She approached her hand on the code box that opened the solid steel door. “As soon as I open this door, they will know. The door is linked with a main security station, and they will—”

  “Open the door woman,” Kilter said.

  She hesitated again, and if he didn’t need the goddamn code to get through the steel, he’d make her wish come true and sever her neck. “What?” he asked.

  “If we’re caught—kill me. Promise me.”

  “God, woman, you sure have a death wish. Yeah, I’ll rip out your jugular, okay?”

  She pressed the code and the steel door unbolted. She entered first and Kilter followed. He was unprepared for what he saw. Ryker lay unconscious, hooked up to a million monitors, tubes, needles. An intravenous bag filled with some clear fluid dripped into his right arm. Another was filled with his blood. Three straps held him to a table, one on his neck, another around his chest and the last on his calves.

  “As soon as any of these are disconnected, they will come. My guess, one minute.” She stared down at Ryker, expression calm and accepting at what was being done to him. Cold bitch.

  He began disconnecting the tubes and needles. Monitors began to beep a loud warning bell. “Just don’t stand there, get this shit off him,” Kilter demanded.

  She was methodical as she helped him, but he did notice her avoid touching Ryker’s skin. “Afraid of catching a disease, babe?” Kilter said.

  She ignored him and he cut the straps with his knife and then picked Ryker up and threw him over his shoulder. “Let’s go.” Without waiting for the woman, he ran from the room.

  “Danielle, we’re clear. Take the amulet . . . unwrap it and put it around your neck. Place it between your palms when I tell you. Don’t you dare question me. Just do it, and for fucks sake no matter what happens, don’t let it go or Ryker’s dead.”

  He heard footsteps running up from the basement.

  “The roof. Get me there.”

  She nodded and went ahead of him to a door at the end of the corridor. She pressed in another code and then a click. She pushed the steel door open and started running up the stairs.

  Ryker was still unconscious and his limp body felt like an ice cube, however his heart pumped slow and steady, and his respiration was stable. Kilter followed her up five flights of stairs until they reached another door. She repeated the process, punching in a code and then pushed open the door. The sunlight came pouring into the stairwell.

  “You better have that bloody amulet ready. When I say, think of Ryker and Hannah. Understand? Nothing else. No other fuckin’ thoughts.”

  He sure as hell hoped the bloody thing worked, or they were in some serious shit. Becoming a lab rat was not his idea of a good day.

  Hannah, you better have loved this guy.

  Footsteps—a herd of them. It was now or never. He went through the door and ran across the rooftop, the woman close at his heels. He stood at the edge of the building.

  Shouting. The click of guns being cocked.

  The door was opening.

  Kilter heaved Ryker off his shoulder.

  “Now!” he shouted to Danielle.

  He released his hold, and Ryker’s limp form fell over the edge of the building. He watched. Waiting for it to happen. If he believed in praying, now would be the time, but he didn’t so. Instead he swore a few curses.

  And then it happened—halfway to Ryker’s body landing as a pile of broken bones on the unforgiving ground, he saw the image.

  Hannah. Her arms wrapping around his body, encasing him, protecting him with her celestial form. An aura of blue light swirling around them, circling like a shield, as Hannah lowered Ryker to the ground, her translucent form holding him as if he were a feather.

  Her finger grazed his lips and then over his eyelids; the softest touch, like he was made of crystal. One tear slid down her pale left cheek and landed on Ryker’s neck, seeping into his skin and vanishing.

  “Get him out of here, Hannah,” Kilter said, uncertain if she was capable of hearing him.

  Hannah peered upwards and her gaze met his. She smiled with a slight nod and then wrapped her arms around Ryker and floated off the ground, his body vanishing within her embrace. In a flash of brilliant light, they were gone.

  Well, it worked. Guess Hannah did love him. Now for his disappearing act, which had nothing mystical about it. Jump and run like hell.

  A shift of gravel beside him reminded him that the woman was still beside him. She was staring over the edge of the building, her mouth gaping open and her skin a sickly white.

  “He . . . that woman . . . she’s gone with . . . he just . . .”

  “Let her go,” a deep, raw voice said from behind him.

  He slowly turned with a sardonic grin on his face. He was surrounded by at least eight men and eight guns. Nice. He liked a challenge. At least no CWOs as of yet.

  Her feet moved closer to him and closer to the edge of the roof, heels hanging over and her face a mask of intent.

  “No,” he growled in a low voice. “You jump, you won’t die. You’ll break both legs and be in a hell of a lot of pain.” Bitch wanted to die, well, he had no intention of giving her that wish. She would have to suffer and survive what she had gotten herself into.

  “You don’t understand,” she said.

  “Do I care?” With one swift movement he hooked his arm around her neck and pulled her in front of him, knife at her throat. Use or be used.

  Chances of making it out of here were close to nil. He knew that going in. His capabilities were good, but not that good when faced with this kind of firepower. Odds were a bullet would do him in because, sure as hell, being taken alive was not on his list of things to do. The important thing was Ryker was out. Debt paid in full.

  Her voice interrupted his thoughts. It was a soft whisper that caressed his skin and dug into his heart like a pitchfork. When he saw her eyes, he saw bewilderment, the unease at what he was planning.

  “Your promise,” she said.

  “Yeah, well, if you knew me you wouldn’t trust a fuckin’ thing I say.” He nearly apologized when he saw the truth hit her. It was as if he had slapped her across the face. He hadn’t expected such a reaction. The fear racing through her veins as he felt every vessel pumping, muscles constricting and then . . . then there were her eyes. Nothing could describe the horror he saw in them, dark shades of hazel brown glistening with tears reflecting with the sinking sun.

  The guards approached cautiously, guns cocked and aimed directly at his heart—well, hers too, because she was still being used as a shield. He heard the door burst open again and a tall, lithe man came walking out. The guards parted like the Red Sea.

  So, this was the King of the Piranhas.

  “Well, well, well, what do we have here?” The man stood with a wide stance, arms crossed and a pompous expression. Dickhead. The fucker made a tsking sound, shaking his head like he was scolding a five-year-old for not making his bed. “What have you been up to, wife?”

  Kilter felt her flinch. Okay, even this woman didn’t deserve to be married to this jerk.

  “Kilter? Delara and Jedrik are at the North wall. Get out now,” Danielle shouted.

  Piranha King reached out his hand, palm up. “Come here, Rayne.”

  Kilter tightened his grip and whispered into her ear. “Yeah, I’d divorce him, babe.”

  “You hav
e no escape,” the pretentious tight-ass said. “Surrender and you will live.”

  “Fuck you,” Kilter growled.

  An arrow soared through the air and hit the guard on the left of the anal-retentive husband. Jedrik was right on time. The guards crouched for cover looking in every direction, guns aimed and ready but with no target. Kilter made his move and shoved Rayne forward into the distracted guards and then turned and jumped.

  Bullets went wild and he wondered if the woman had gotten her wish after all.

  He landed in the grass on his feet and then rolled his body to the edge of the building for cover. Two more arrows came whizzing above and he heard shouts and the scrambling of feet on the rooftop.

  “Get going, hero,” Jedrik said. “Two above you, the rest have taken to the stairs. Bingo, one above you. Get moving, just been spotted.”

  He took one step to make a dash across the grass to the North wall when he faltered. A woman’s scream rose into the air. Shivers coursed down his spine and his heart literally stopped for seconds. For once in his miserable life he knew he’d been wrong. That one scream said it all.

  Ice shifted through his veins and a fury encased his mind. Sweet Jesus, he’d just left that woman in the hands of a madman.

  Bullets came whizzing past his head and he slammed his back against the building. It was a hell of a run to the wall, especially with bullets chasing after him. He liked a challenge, but he’d rather be killed by a GQ than a bloody human with bullets. So undignified.

  He ran. Arrows whizzed past his head one after the other as the guards made it to ground level and were chasing after him. A bullet slammed him in the back of his shoulder and he stumbled. Twenty yards. Fifteen yards. He saw Jedrik lying on top of the wall, his hand outstretched and ready to assist him.

  Ten yards. A searing pain exploded into his leg and it gave out on him. He fell to the ground with a grunt. He heard Jedrik’s curse mixed with the footsteps gaining on him. Obviously, they were either bad shots, or they were ordered to keep him alive because he should be dead right now.

  He gritted his teeth as he climbed to his unsteady feet and held his leg, forcing it to work. Another bullet hit his good calf, and his legs gave out completely.