Under the Gun

by Lyn Stone

  “Go on,” she encouraged.

  He swallowed hard. “Matt and I approached the plane, verified the missiles were inside, then I called you.”

  He paused and looked as if he was gearing up to recount the rest.

  Holly put a hand on his arm. “How long after the firing stopped were you and Matt hit?”

  Will paused for a few seconds, his brow furrowed. “At least seven, maybe ten minutes. We had time to check for survivors and secure the wounded guy, look inside the plane, then call it in.”

  “But you had a warning.”

  “I saw a shadow move near the hangar. We weren’t wearing night vision equipment. You know how it screws you up if there’s a sudden flare. A flashlight can blind you and make you a target. Firing commenced. Matt threw himself at me and took us both to the ground. That’s all I remember.”

  “Okay, now what did you see in the hospital? In your mind, you saw this guy coming down the hallway.”

  “No, it wasn’t like that. I knew where he was in relation to us, I guess. I felt his intent while he was psyching himself up for the kill. Matt always said that he could grasp things like that when a subject’s emotions ran high. It was just feelings, and…glimpses of what he was seeing, I think.”

  Holly studied Will for a long minute. She was sort of surprised he was willingly describing his episode of extrasensory perception in as careful detail as he had the actual events at the airfield. “What were the visuals?”

  Will shrugged. “The weapon. I got a fix on that, unless my mind’s playing tricks. Some kind of plastic deal, I think. Featherweight. Weird looking. He was really proud of it, as if he’d made it himself. Almost laughing at how simple it was to get it past the detectors.”

  “Excellent, Will. That’s exactly what he had,” Holly said softly, encouraging him to continue. “Anything else? Try to remember.”

  He turned inward, she could tell, concentrating hard. “Anger. Contained fury, though. He had to kill me.”

  “He was afraid you’d glimpsed his face that night,” she guessed. “He had to get to you before you recovered and were able to do exactly what I’m about to do right now—match his face with an identity.”

  “How would he know that I hadn’t already done that?” Will asked. “He’d have to have a contact at the hospital, or with somebody who was keeping close track of my condition.”

  “Right. I’m sure that’s what Eric’s following up on.” She glanced at the monitor, where the first picture had materialized. “Here we go.”

  “What did he look like?” Will asked.

  “Average height. Bushy eyebrows. I’m pretty sure the hair and mustache were fake. His shoulders sloped, sort of like a no-neck athlete, you know?”

  Will sat quietly beside her as she examined the five photos Jack had sent with his first message. “Not any one of these guys,” she reported with a puff of frustration.

  She opened the next e-mail, with more files attached. “Rats. This could take forever.”

  For a long while there was no sound other than the click of the keys and her own occasional hum of disappointment.

  Then Will said, almost to himself, “If I could get something of his, something he touched… I don’t know if I can read him that way, but did he drop anything?”

  Holly thought for a minute. “Shell casings at the airport? He would have touched those while loading. The dart from the nurse’s neck?”

  Will shrugged. “I don’t know. It was just a thought, something to try, but it’s pretty far-fetched. Tell Jack to send what he’s got, just in case. Eric’s probably tried everything already, since clairvoyance is his bag. Mine is… I don’t really know what mine is,” he admitted with a grunt. “If it’s anything at all.”

  “It’s not like Joe’s snapshot images, is it?” She shook her head before he answered. “No, that’s pre-cognitive, and so are Clay’s visions, except that he has to seek them out, and then they’re too symbolic to mean much until after the fact. But yours seem to be real-time telepathy.”

  “Added to remote viewing, apparently,” he added. “Like Matt’s.”

  “Can you read me?” Holly asked. “Try it.”

  He was silent for a while, then sighed. “No. Nothing. What are you thinking?”

  “That we’ll ask Jack for the objects, anyway. It’s certainly worth a shot,” Holly said, and promptly fired off an e-mail to that effect.

  She really should encourage Will to keep trying to get in touch with his newfound ability and explore it to the max. “If it’s not too painful for you, would you tell me about Matt and how you both dealt with his perceptions?”

  “He had them and I didn’t. At least I never picked up on anything from other people. With Matt, I pretty much knew what he was thinking most of the time. We didn’t talk about it, it just was.”

  “And you never even attempted to do what he did?”

  Will shook his head. “Hell, no. He caught a lot of flack because of it when we were kids. He never denied it, though. It was part of him and he used it, just took it for granted most of the time.”

  “Maybe you suppressed your ability early on because people gave him such a hard time about it,” Holly guessed. “That would be a natural reaction.”

  “Spare me the pop psychology.”

  “That’s my bag, in case you never noticed. People actually pay me for it.”

  As usual, Will ignored her tone. “We were thoroughly analyzed by experts, believe me. Matt enjoyed confusing them. He really got into those so-called studies.”

  “Matt was a show-off,” Holly said with a smile. “You were always the quiet one.”

  “Were?”

  She patted his arm and sighed. “Yep. You realize you’ve discussed more personal stuff with me in the last few hours than you have in all the time I’ve known you? And that’s a good thing, Will.”

  “Forced proximity, I imagine. Nothing else to do.”

  “No, it’s more than that. Different,” Holly argued. “You and I have been on secluded ops before with plenty of time and opportunity for conversation, and you hardly said anything at all about yourself.”

  “Maybe you never let me get a word in,” he teased, then sobered a little. “I think I get what you’re trying to say. Maybe I’m even reading you a little right now. You’re worried I’m taking on Matt’s characteristics. Trying to be him now that he’s gone. I was his shadow for so long and now the substance of us is gone.”

  “No, that’s wrong, Will. You’re obviously not reading my mind but projecting your own worry. Matt was not the substance. You were two separate and very valuable individuals. You might have looked identical, but you were so different from each other. Maybe you don’t see it that way, but I always have,” Holly assured him. “We chose you for the Sextant team. Just you.”

  “Only because of the language thing.”

  “No, not entirely. You do have a super background in Middle Eastern languages, but Matt had Russian.”

  Will shrugged, looking slightly uncomfortable.

  “No! Don’t tell me. You subbed for him in class. Will, that was cheating!”

  “No, we never switched. He…we thought about it, but that would have put him at a big disadvantage if he’d ever had to use it. I only…well, sort of tutored him.”

  She sat up straight and stared at him in surprise. “You speak Russian? You never listed that!”

  He shrugged again. “I never formally studied it. Not in class. I might have had to justify that if I’d put it on my résumé.”

  “Yeah, and it would have made Matt’s list of creds look even slimmer than yours, right?”

  She slid her arm around his waist and laid her head on his shoulder. “Don’t ever sell yourself short, Will. You were never Matt’s shadow. You were his support. You were his anchor, his rudder.”

  Will laughed. “His sail, too? If you knew how much both of us hated boats, you’d come up with another analogy.”

  He rested his head against her
s and patted the hand she had placed on his arm. “But I see what you’re saying and I appreciate the thought. Matt would have laughed his butt off at this whole conversation.”

  “I bet he would. But you ought to listen to me.”

  “I always listen to you,” he said softly. “It’s one of the great joys of my life, listening to you, even when you don’t make a lick of sense.”

  They laughed together. Holly felt his steady warmth flow through her like a balm. It amazed her how they could be together this way with nothing sexual happening at all, and yet feel empowered with the energy of it.

  “You should go back to work,” he said, lifting his head away from hers and disengaging. “I’m getting maudlin here. Must be the drugs.” But they both knew he hadn’t taken so much as an aspirin all day long.

  He stood, catching his foot on the leg of the computer desk and cursing under his breath. She barely stopped herself from reaching out and giving him a hand. That fierce independence of his needed to assert itself, and she needed to help it do so more than he needed her in mom mode.

  He recovered his balance and braced his hand on the edge of the desk. “If you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll make myself scarce for a while.”

  “Going out to run a few laps?” she quipped to hide her disappointment.

  “Sure, why not? Need me to pick up anything while I’m out? Be sure you describe it by feel.”

  Holly groaned. “He made a joke! A blind joke, too! Red letter day in the life of Mr. Solemnity.”

  “Point me to the door,” Will said with a disgusted shake of his head. “Now I’m all turned around.”

  “Go to your two o’clock and straight ahead,” she suggested.

  “Walk me into the wall and I’ll trade you in on a guide dog,” he warned.

  “Two jokes in one day. That qualifies as a stand-up routine.”

  “Get to work, Holly,” he ordered with a backward wave. “One of us needs to be earning our pay.”

  “Slave driver.”

  She clicked the keys, pretending to be busy as she watched him make his way to the open door.

  He veered a tad off course and touched the wall, then slid his hands along it in both directions until he found the door frame.

  Her fingers continued making noise on the keyboard. A tear leaked out and she quickly dashed it away.

  What if his blindness became permanent? She wanted so much to hold him, to protect him, but he would never accept that. Not now. He would see any offer she made as pity.

  The awful thing was, she did feel sorry for him and couldn’t deny that she did. She knew how she would hate it if he, or anyone else, ever felt that way about her.

  Damn, she almost wished she were the one out there running down leads, and someone else had been assigned to watch Will’s back.

  She didn’t really mean that, Holly admitted as soon as she thought it. She couldn’t be anywhere right now but exactly where she was. Even if Jack relieved her and ordered her to go, she couldn’t leave Will in anyone else’s care.

  With a heavy sigh and a heavier heart, she turned to the computer and began scanning faces for the features of his would-be assassin.

  Chapter 4

  None of the photos looked remotely like the shooter in the hospital. Holly ran them through the shredder and called Jack with the bad news. There would be others, he promised. The search had hardly begun.

  Time for a break. She went to the old wardrobe and thumbed through the generous stacks of clothing bought specifically for witnesses who might arrive here without luggage.

  She doffed the sweats she had put on that morning, and found herself a tank top and shorts. Then she headed for the room with the exercise equipment, hoping to sweat off some of the tension.

  The sound of sliding weight cables reached her before she got there. Grayson must be working out.

  Uh-oh, not Grayson. That was so not him.

  The sight of Will made her freeze in the doorway. He was wearing only a pair of knit running shorts, lying on his back, gripping the bar on the pulley, straining every muscle as he slowly drew it down to his chest.

  A fine sheen of perspiration coated his entire body. Every bulge of muscle shone, even the finely sculpted thighs and calves.

  She jerked her gaze to his face for her own peace of mind. His features gleamed, too. Sweat beaded and rivulets ran off his forehead, leading her eye down to the flexing muscles of his neck.

  Her breath had stuck in her throat, but oxygen deprivation did absolutely nothing to dull her appreciation. Man, he was something else.

  Nope, he wasn’t bad at all, she thought with a grin, noting the snake-and-anchor tattoo stretching over his biceps. She knew he had gotten it during his stint in the marines.

  In belated rebellion to all that family money, he and his brother had struck out on their own the summer after their freshman year, served their three years and then returned to college, wiser, calmer and as totally independent as self-made men. Also determined to make a difference in their world. They certainly had done that.

  She admired Will so much. His dedication. His courage. His incredible mind. And there was a whole lot more of him to appreciate in addition to those inner attributes.

  Not that this was the first time she had seen him nearly naked. There was the episode in the bathtub. Also they swam together at the gym now and then. It was just that before they’d come here, she had been very careful not to risk more than an occasional glance.

  Now she might as well indulge herself. Who was to know?

  She’d seen the other guys on their team almost in the buff, as he was, but they never stopped her breath like this. She sucked in a deep draft of air and released it slowly, trying to regain her equilibrium. It was so bad of her to ogle him this way when he was lying there working out and totally unaware of it.

  “What’s the…matter? Can’t get it…in gear, Amberson?” he taunted between grunts.

  She grimaced. So he did know. How? “Uh, I was trying to decide on a machine. Lots of choices.”

  Hurriedly, she jumped on a treadmill and switched it on. “How’d you know it was me instead of our illustrious host?”

  “Smelled you,” he gasped as he let go of the bar. The weights clanged down. “Oops, sorry.”

  “You smelled me?”

  He grinned as he got up. “Yeah. That sort of peachy thing you’ve got going on.”

  A slight pause followed as he felt his way over to the stationary bike, climbed on it and began pumping. Oh, Lord, what legs.

  She looked away, glancing heavenward for help. Then he said, “But I can still detect your scent even when you aren’t wearing any. Pure Holly.”

  “I stink?” she snapped, absolutely horrified.

  He laughed. “No. It’s just my finely tuned nose and your pheromones or something.”

  “Oh là là. Griffin’s got a case on me,” she said in a singsong voice, hell-bent on diluting his observation and her reaction to it with silliness, to show him she wasn’t taking this seriously. “Griffin’s sniffing me out.”

  He laughed again, harder this time, slowing on the cycle. “Don’t do that. You’re wrecking my pace.”

  “I live to amuse. Take a break, Willie boy. You’re sweating like a pig. Probably croak with an aneurism or something.”

  She was only half joking now. He was red in the face and nearly gasping.

  So was she, but not from exertion.

  Grayson came in, a veritable road map of scars and wrinkles. Holly wondered if he had once been a prime example of manhood, as Will was now.

  He winked at her and she grinned back. Yeah, she imagined he had been. Still wasn’t bad for his age. “Hey, handsome.”

  Grayson blushed and ducked his head. “You two sure are industrious. Time to call a halt, son,” he ordered Will. “That’s enough for today.”

  Will protested for only a few seconds, then wound down to a stop. He got off the cycle and held up a hand until Grayson placed it on his should
er to lead him out.

  Thinking over what Will had said about detecting her scent, Holly inhaled deeply as he passed her treadmill.

  Goodness. Pure male, a bit more potent than usual, she decided with a gusty sigh.

  Then other senses reengaged as she watched him leave the room. His buns looked so firm beneath that soft gray knit, she could almost feel them under her palms.

  Oddly enough, she could sense he was thinking about her, too, right that minute, imagining how she looked getting sweaty and hot.

  Who exactly had a case on whom? she wondered, punching up the speed on the treadmill, trying to concentrate on the burn. It was a good thing neither of them were taking this interesting little event seriously.

  That she found Will wildly attractive came as no big revelation. She had even teased him and called him eye candy to his face a time or two.

  That the attraction might be mutual certainly was news, and not good news, either. It could ruin everything they had built together.

  Will couldn’t believe he had admitted what he had to Holly. He figured he must have some serious brain dysfunction going on. Never mind that it was all true, a guy didn’t say that kind of thing to a friend. That he recognized her scent? No, you said that to a woman you wanted to seduce. God help him if Holly had taken it that way.

  Since he couldn’t see, maybe his other senses were overcompensating. The problem with that reasoning was that he had always been able to detect her presence, even before the injury.

  It was not only her scent. Holly had a certain essence or energy surrounding her, a force field of her own that seemed to alert him whenever she was near. A great feeling every time, but not necessarily comfortable. He’d always had to work really hard not to respond to her as a man to a woman.

  Times like now, that proved entirely too great an effort. As much as she wanted and insisted on it, Will couldn’t seem to view Holly as one of the guys. Today it seemed he couldn’t even pretend anymore.