by Jaime Rush
Rand kept the gun at his side. “What we’re involved in here is a war. Except the people we’re fighting are the ones most of the country thinks are the good guys. We can’t go to the police or the FBI or anyone in the government. We’re on our own. And it’s dangerous.”
Jerryl nodded toward his foot. “Took a piece of shrapnel in the ankle. But the Marines don’t want me back. Because I’m different. Because of the things I let slip that I knew were going to happen. I don’t know what I’m going to do. But I had gone in for the fight. Sounds like this is a battle that’s even more important. I want to meet the rest of you, get up to speed. If what I have is a psychic ability, I want to work on it, master it. Where do I sign up?”
She and Rand exchanged a glance. That was easy.
Too easy?
“Excellent, man.” Rand shook Jerryl’s hand. “The next step is to figure out our next step. Right now you’re not a target, so it’s best to keep you on the outside. We’ll get you an untraceable phone so we can communicate.”
After Lucas, Eric, and Petra had inadvertently become the Rogues, no one since had joined voluntarily. Amy, Rand, and Zoe had joined as a result of being in danger.
Their plan was to watch Jerryl for a few days and see what he did. Then they’d get him a phone and introduce him to the rest of the Rogues. No one had to explain the reason for being paranoid to her.
Trusting the wrong person could be deadly.
Amy braced her hands against the side of the building for balance and listened to the conversation. Relief flooded through her when she heard Jerryl sign on. Lucas was at the far corner. She smiled and gave him a thumbs-up. Holding on to the edge of the window, she leaned around the edge and spotted Eric at his corner. Thankfully, he was still in place. She gave him a thumbs-up, too.
The moment of triumph shattered when Lucas clutched his head, let out a groan of pain, and collapsed to the ground.
Her first panicked thought: He’s been shot!
With a fearful cry, she dropped to the ground and, ducking, ran to his side. In her peripheral vision, she saw Eric swinging his gun in arcs as he made his way over.
I don’t see blood. There’d be blood, right?
“It’s…back,” Lucas said.
No, no more of the storm of images.
His body trembled, and the veins in his temples and neck stood out. “Jerryl…I think…he’s the Ultra…enemy Ultra.”
Lucas fell, limp. She tried to revive him, but Eric grabbed her shoulder. “Did he say what I thought he did?”
“He said, ‘I think.’ We can’t shoot Jerryl if we’re not sure.”
Rage burned in his eyes as he stalked to the door, gun at the ready. “Then I’ll make sure first.”
Zoe looked up at the window when she heard Amy’s gasp. Both men stood, and Rand reached for his gun. She stood, too, her heart pounding and fingers tightening on the gun she held.
No, not when things are going smoothly for a change.
“What’s going on?” Jerryl asked.
The door burst open, and Eric charged through, his gun aimed at Jerryl. “This is the guy who got into my head!”
Amy ran through the door yelling, “Eric, don’t!”
A strong arm grabbed Zoe and spun her against a hard chest. Before she could orient herself, she felt the gun torn from her hand and pressed to her cheek. Black spots floated in front of her for a moment. When they cleared, she saw a terrified Rand and to her left, Eric pointing his gun at her—or rather at Jerryl, who was holding her, and so she was looking down the barrel, too.
“I thought you were dead.” Jerryl’s voice took on a taunting tone. “Didn’t you go a little crazy and shoot yourself? This time you’re going to shoot your buddy, Randall.”
Eric’s face paled. He began to point the gun toward Rand, his head shaking back and forth.
Zoe screamed, “No!”
Chairs fell over, and one even skidded across the floor. Her crazy energy.
Eric swung the gun toward her. It went off with a deafening explosion of sound. Her body shuddered. Warm blood gushed down the back of her shoulder. She stared at him in disbelief. He’d shot her.
Wait. No pain. He hadn’t hit her. He’d hit Jerryl. But a second later the gun was again pressed against her face.
“Here!” Eric tossed his gun to Rand.
Rand caught it and faced Jerryl. “Let her go. Your beef is with us.”
“My beef is with all of you. And you’re all going to die.” She felt Jerryl’s body tense.
He would shoot them first, using her as a shield.
Not if she could help it. She focused on the gun. Push!
Jerryl swung the gun out and aimed at Rand, who jumped to the side. Jerryl’s arm trembled. “What the hell?”
She saw him fighting the pull while Rand moved around behind him. She took a deep breath and with a grunt of effort sent the gun flying out of Jerryl’s hand. Eric started running toward him, but stopped dead, looking behind her.
Jerryl swung around in time to find Rand aiming the gun at his head. Jerryl dragged Zoe in front of him. “Shoot me and you shoot her.”
Rand’s face reddened with fear and frustration. He couldn’t shoot without risking hitting her. Eric had, but Rand wouldn’t.
Jerryl’s eyes narrowed. “Right now I can get into Eric’s head. Soon I’ll be able to get into all of your heads.”
Without needing crutches at all, Jerryl hauled Zoe to the door and leaned out. Amy stood there, arms and expression rigid as she held the gun. She faltered when she saw Zoe and gave a helpless shake of her head.
“Set the gun down.”
Amy lowered her body as though to set it on the ground, but she twisted and threw it instead. It skidded beneath the car behind her.
Jerryl growled under his breath. He’d probably intended to grab it.
“Get out your car keys,” he said to Zoe as he walked toward the car. “Slowly.”
She pulled them out of her pocket. I can’t let him have the keys. He’ll take me to that awful man who’ll shoot me up with the Booster until I die! She eyed the creek several yards away. Yes! She threw them into the water.
“Bitches. You think you’re so smart. At least I’ll get one of you. This time.”
He hauled her backward as Rand and Eric ran out the door. She tripped, but he held her tight. That gave her an idea. She let her body go limp. It hadn’t worked with the first assassin, but Jerryl would be too vulnerable if he tried to pin her down.
He grabbed her tighter around the waist, so tight it hurt, and suddenly she felt nothing below her feet. Her stomach clenched as her body fell backward. She saw sky.
He’d stepped off the seawall!
They hit the cold water with a breathtaking splash and plunged below the surface. She twisted, kicking at his legs, but the water rendered her kicks useless. His arm was like an iron band around her stomach. He was a Marine. He could probably freaking hold his breath for an hour.
But I can’t!
His shoulder. She reached back and, claws out, grabbed where she thought the bullet went in. She heard his garbled roar of pain even below the water. His hold on her loosened enough so that she could kick him in the stomach to swim free.
He grabbed her ankle, pulling her back. She turned and kicked at him again. He tried to grab her other foot, but she jerked it free. He was holding her with his injured arm. She pulled hard and freed her foot.
Her chest tightened from lack of oxygen. She swam as fast as she could through the murky water. The glow of light played on the surface above her. She swam toward it. He was behind her. Coming for her.
Don’t look. Just swim!
She burst upward and gasped. Through waterlogged vision she saw Rand kick off his shoes and dive in. Amy and Eric came into view, running along the seawall with their guns poised. She turned behind her and looked for Jerryl. He didn’t have a hold on her, which meant they could shoot him if he surfaced.
Amy frantically waved
her over to a dock that had a ladder. “Zoe, this way!”
Rand reached her, his gaze taking her in and then looking all around them. “You all right?”
She nodded, unable to speak. Jerryl was below them. The thought paralyzed her for a moment. Coming up on her. Ready to pull her down. She kicked downward just in case, expecting to hit an arm or leg. Nothing.
“Swim toward Amy. I’ve got your back.”
Her arms felt like rubber as they thrashed through the water. The ladder seemed miles away. Fear underlay Amy’s words of encouragement: “Come on, Zoe, you can do it!”
The hell she could. She was breathless, exhausted.
Rand gave her a helpful push the last two feet to a decrepit ladder. The rung beneath the water was rotted. The one above it was cracked. Amy reached out, and Zoe grabbed her hand and stepped on the sturdier-looking rung. Once she put her weight on it, she heard a crack. It gave way, and she started falling backward. Amy’s hand squeezed hers hard as she tried to pull Zoe up. Rand’s hands cupped her behind and gave her enough of a push so that Amy could pull her the rest of the way onto the dock.
Zoe fell on the weathered boards in a heap. From her sideways angle, she saw Rand pull himself up without benefit of the rickety ladder. Eric still monitored the water, gun ready, but he clearly had no idea where Jerryl was.
Amy knelt next to her. “Are you all right?”
Zoe nodded. “Just…need…a…breath.”
“I’ve got to check on Lucas. He had another one of his storms of images and collapsed. You’ll be okay?”
“Yes, go.”
Love and fear mingled in Amy’s expression, then she ran. For a moment Zoe stared at the stark blue sky. The ache in her chest eased with each gasping breath. Rand’s face appeared above her, dripping water onto her cheeks, and she swore she saw the same combination of emotions on his face.
“I’m fine,” she said, anticipating his question. “Help me up.”
His hand clasped hers, and he pulled her to her wobbly feet. She leaned on him for a second before regaining her balance.
Eric came up to them. “Can’t find the son of a bitch anywhere.” He took one last survey of the water. “Dammit.”
“He’s good.” Rand scanned the water, too. “He knew we’d approach him, and he went along with the story. Played us. Even used crutches to make us think he wasn’t a physical threat.” He stepped closer to Eric. “But don’t you ever shoot anyone when he’s holding one of ours. You could have shot Zoe, for God’s sake.”
Eric’s face showed no regret. “But I didn’t. At least I got a shot at him. Unfortunately, it wasn’t fatal.”
“Did he get into your head again?”
“Yeah, but I reacted as soon as I heard him, pretended he had me.”
“Good job getting rid of the gun.”
Eric’s mouth tightened. “Can’t get me to shoot someone if I don’t have a weapon in my hand.” He turned to Zoe “And you…nice job pushing his gun away.”
She glowed at the compliment.
“Let’s get out of here,” Rand said.
They reached the car as Amy helped Lucas around the corner. He looked flushed and weak. “The storm of images is back.”
Eric knelt and grabbed the gun Amy had thrown beneath the car. “Your ability is back.”
“More intense than ever. It knocked me on my ass. Sorry I couldn’t help.”
“But you did. You warned us, and you were right. We almost let the enemy into our ranks. If we’d taken him back to the tomb, it would have been the end of us.”
Amy’s face was pale. “Lucas, you can’t take many more of these.”
“It’s not like I have any choice.”
Zoe could see the price of loving someone on Amy’s face. With the pain comes the joy, and with the joy comes the rain, as her granddad always said.
Rand looked at her. “You go in the car, Zoe. You’re too wet to ride the bike.”
Not to mention that he obviously didn’t want a cold, wet, shivering-with-fear person clinging to him. Or anyone clinging to him. As they walked to the car, she felt a shiver and looked behind her. She didn’t see anyone…but he was there.
CHAPTER 19
“D
ude, you sound like a porno flick,” Rand said as he pushed the chest press bar the next morning. Eric let out a long groan and let the stack clang down. “A good one, I hope.”
Lucas chuckled as he did biceps curls. “He’s always been loud.”
Rand sat up. “Speaking of women…we need to keep them out of anything like what happened yesterday.”
Lucas lifted an eyebrow. “Try telling Amy that. She’ll deck you.”
“It’s not that I think they’re less valuable or weak. They’re more vulnerable.” And if he witnessed Zoe being grabbed or held at gunpoint again, he was sure he’d have a heart attack. “Now they know we’ll drop our weapons if they can grab one of the women.”
Lucas gave him a knowing smile. “Sucks when you love ’em, doesn’t it?”
“No, it’s not that,” Rand said a bit too quickly. “But you know, seeing a woman in a position like that just rips out my chest. Should have been one of us being dragged into that water.”
Eric leaned against the preacher-curl pad. “Not you, too. God, I’m surrounded by couples. And all I’ve got are my Playboys.” He shook his head in disgust and went back to his groaning and weight work. “Didn’t I warn you that getting involved was a bad idea?”
“We are not a couple.” Okay, he’d definitely said that a little too emphatically. “I’ve never wanted what you and Amy have. I think it’s great, for you. For other people. Someday, I’m going to hit the road, and I’m going to be alone. Me and my bike.”
Lucas regarded him thoughtfully. “I hate to tell you this, but I tried just as hard not to fall. I had noble reasons, too. Good solid reasons. Still do, for that matter. But here I am. Even when she thought I was going to die, she wouldn’t let me go. She said she’d rather have love now and lose it than not have it at all.”
“Do you believe that, too?”
Lucas paused, then nodded. “Yeah, I guess I do.”
Rand went back to his chest presses. His sexual attraction to Zoe, that was one thing. Yeah, a big thing. His mouth had tasted her flesh, her breasts, and damn, he couldn’t get that image of her half-naked in the moonlight out of his head…or other places in his body. He could chalk all of that up to his libido.
But that scene by the waterfront, when she’d forced him to face his loss…that cut deep inside him. He’d never realized how dangerous tenderness was.
Eric dropped the stack and pushed to his feet. “Lucas, your powers were gone for about a week after Petra healed you. So mine should be back in a couple of days. I want another face-off with this guy, Offspring to Offspring. If he can get into my head, then I can get into his. I’ll send him to hell. I’ll find where they are and torch the whole place. I’ll—”
Lucas held out his hand. “I’m about ready to keep you back from the action, too. You’re volatile, Eric. You talk about letting emotion get in the way of logic. Love’s not your problem, my friend; it’s rage and your thirst for revenge. You’ve gone barging into situations without thinking things through. You put us all into a bad situation at the asylum when we went in for Rand. And yesterday, we could have handled Jerryl without alerting him to our suspicions and risking Zoe.” Lucas pressed his fingers against his temples. “We need to be logical, to be…” He drifted off, his eyes vacant.
Eric curled his hand into a fist. “When the moment’s right, no one’s going to keep me from smashing them. I—” He slapped his hands together, and Lucas blinked.
“What?”
Rand said, “Dude, you faded away right in the middle of a sentence. Do you have a headache?”
Lucas seemed to realize he was rubbing his temples. “Just a dull ache.”
A fissure of fear crossed his expression. He didn’t think it was just a headache. And neither di
d Rand.
Zoe, Amy, and Petra all reached for different feminine-protection products at the department store.
Zoe rolled her eyes. “Can’t ask the guys to pick up this kind of stuff.”
Petra giggled. “They’d be all like, ‘What’s the difference between maxi and mini? And what the hell are wings?’”
Amy shook her head, laughing. “They just wouldn’t do it.”
Petra turned to Zoe. “Lucas would. If he’d take a bullet for her, you know he’d buy tampons.” Amy’s face sobered at that.
“He would probably consider both equally grievous,” Zoe said.
Petra walked over to the magazine aisle. “That’s the test of real love, you know. Or even real lust. Ask the guy to run out for pads, especially when he knows he’s not getting any.”
Zoe hooted. “Rand certainly wouldn’t. You should have seen his agony while I was buying panties.”
“He would buy tampons,” Amy said, “but he’d make a big deal about it to preserve his manhood. You should have seen the look on his face when Jerryl grabbed you. He dove into the water. I think he’d take a bullet for you, too.”
Zoe dismissed that with a wave of her hand while her heart leapt at the suggestion. “He’d do the same if any of us got grabbed. It’s a macho thing.” She walked over to the makeup center and plucked mascara from the rack.
Petra joined her, holding eight magazines in her arms. “Don’t take this personally, but you wear a little too much makeup.”
Amy threw back as she walked away, “Unlike me, who doesn’t wear enough, according to Miss Beauty Expert.”
Zoe caught her reflection in a small mirror above the shades display. “I’ve always worn this much makeup. I remember leaving for school and doing it at the bus stop so my mom wouldn’t see me.”
“You’re very pretty.” Petra appraised her. “At least, I bet you are.”
Zoe felt that need for approval rise, but she wasn’t giving up her makeup. “It feels comfortable. Natural.”
“Doesn’t look natural.” Petra wiggled her fingers like a mad scientist. “You should let me make you up sometime.”
