Oracle Saving (The Phoenix Files Book 3)

by Morgan Kelley

He was ready.

  All day, he’d looked forward to their game of cat and mouse. He’d listened to the rumors, and he knew all about where they were, what they were doing, and who they were talking to around Happy.

  It was easy in a small town.

  People gossiped.

  Well, he was going to make sure he really made it difficult for them to figure out the truth.

  Oracle wouldn’t catch him.

  Her little helpers would fail.

  Then he would be back in the shadows until a new year when he made his victorious return for five more.

  He knew the pretty young thing was slipping into slumber.

  “Are you ready, Oracle?”

  His laughter told the tale.

  He didn’t really care.

  He was ready.

  That’s all that mattered.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Saturday Morning

  Lucian and Avalon fought hard. The second he began having flashes of her dream, Avalon slipped into his mind to reach the woman. As she was sound asleep in the safety of her own bed, her memories were in another bed in another part of her life.

  Only she wasn’t alone.

  She was being sexually assaulted.

  Locked in that moment, she was living it all over again. The killer, sick and twisted, was forcing her to experience the most horrific nightmare in her life.

  It wasn’t only her fear.

  It was an open festering wound in her heart and soul, and she couldn’t protect herself from living it all over again.

  She wasn’t the only one suffering.

  It sucked for all of them.

  Lucian stayed in the dream, trying to focus on anything he could. He was trying to pick up little tidbits of what was happening as Avalon did battle with the asshole trying to scare the victim to death.

  Her cool, calming voice offered a little reprieve, and for a while, they thought they might actually win this one against the evil.

  Then he really turned on the fear.

  The killer had only been playing with the victim, and them. He made the rapist stalk her. He kept putting thoughts into her head that she was never safe. She would always have to see him. That it was going to happen again and again, until she ended her life.

  That’s when Avalon began losing the woman to the darkness. It was like she couldn’t hold on. The control she’d battled so hard for was slipping away, and she was helpless to stop it.

  Oracle was losing another victim.

  She begged the woman not to believe him.

  She tried everything she could to persuade her that they would be okay.

  That’s when the gun appeared.

  He urged her on.

  He cajoled her to do it. He may be controlling the dream, but in this one, he was going to give her some choice.

  Live or die.

  He already knew which she would choose.

  When the voice told her to do it, she picked up the gun, and pointed it at her head.

  “I don’t want to do this anymore,” she said, sobbing out the words.

  There was no time left.

  Just as she pulled the trigger, Avalon pushed herself out of the woman’s mind, and took Lucian with her.

  She knew they couldn’t be there if they wanted to live.

  Avalon knew the woman wouldn’t survive her dream death. Already, her heart was strained, she was amped up on ‘fight or flight’ hormones, and her mind wanted out of the nightmare.

  They both heard the shot.

  And her scream.

  As they sat up from the couch with a start, Nate and Bishop were watching them. They were covered in perspiration and breathing heavily.

  “She’s dead, isn’t she?” Nate asked.

  Avalon closed her eyes. “He talked her into ending her life in her dream. She shot herself.”

  “Maybe she’s still alive,” Bishop offered. “Maybe she survived.”

  They both shook their heads.

  They felt the darkness take her. The second her stress levels spiked, they knew the woman’s heart wouldn’t hold out. She hadn’t a chance against the evil. The bastard knew it too.

  “She’s gone,” Lucian stated.

  “Son of a bitch! We can’t keep playing this game,” Bishop stated. “Roxy is on that list, and we’re almost at five.”

  They were all aware.

  This poor woman was number four, and time was quickly running out. Bishop didn’t want to lose her best friend, and the team didn’t want Jagger to lose his wife and child.

  He’d be an unstoppable killing machine. They knew he’d lose it and go rogue.

  Then who would stop him?

  What they didn’t know is if Roxy was five, or if she was going to be the final one to screw with Oracle.

  That scared Bishop.

  Fate hadn’t let that little detail slip, keeping Avalon in the dark. She couldn’t see who was next, and that worried her. All she knew was in the end, Jagger would die.

  Would it be by the killer’s hand?

  Or his own?

  This maniac was strong enough to talk a woman into dying in her dreams. Was that the way he’d take Jagger out?

  She was frazzled.

  Something was coming.

  Lucian sipped some water. His hand was shaking, and his nose was bleeding again.

  When his wife began catering to him, he patted her hand. He was damn grateful to have her in his life. He was also thankful that he had a woman who accepted this was part of who he was. Any other woman would run, and he couldn’t blame them.

  “I’ll be okay, Bish, baby. That dream, while horrifying, wasn’t draining. He didn’t make us work for it as hard. He wasn’t playing with us. This was all about her. It felt vicious.”

  Avalon agreed.

  “He’s ending them as quickly as possible. He’s not messing around,” Avalon admitted. “It felt like revenge.”

  Lucian seconded that sentiment. “I think this is personal to him.”

  That didn’t help them.

  It could possibly be very personal, but unless they had a direction to take it, they couldn’t investigate every person’s grudge in the town.

  “What can you tell us about the dream?” Nate asked, grabbing some paper and moving toward his woman. It was going to be about picking their brains to get some details.

  She rested her head on his lap and closed her eyes to think back to what had happened.

  “She was assaulted by someone she knew.”

  Lucian agreed. “It was date rape. I saw flashes of drinks, a bar, and lights. There was laughter, and then her bedroom. She said no, and he wouldn’t stop.”

  Believe it or not, that was helpful.

  Nate made notes.

  “When did it happen?” Bishop asked, as she rubbed the tension from her husband’s shoulders.

  “It wasn’t that long ago,” Avalon offered. “We’re talking a decade at the most. It felt recent. The fear was fresh, as was the wound.”

  Lucian had felt it too. “I think she sees him all the time. I think she was living in fear each and every day, and that’s why it was so easy to kill her. She wanted to escape.”

  “I think you’re right.”

  They listened.

  “Her name was Tanya Ware, and she works in the center of town,” Avalon stated. “I think the post office, but I may be wrong. It was really hard to focus on anything but what he was doing to her.”

  She shuddered.

  Nate stroked her face as he tried to comfort her. He could only imagine what they saw.

  Hearing it was bad enough.

  Lucian confirmed it. “I saw the uniform in one of the flashes of fear. She does work for the post office.”

  Nate kept making notes as they talked it out.

  Avalon had connected with the woman’s mind, so she was the one who continued, “She never told the police. As he was raping her in the dream, he kept asking her whom she told. She kept denying it over and over agai
n.”

  “Did she tell anyone?” Nate asked.

  “Yes. I just don’t know who. I couldn’t get into her mind any further to get that answer. He had her blocked.”

  Lucian opened his eyes. “We can’t find the body on this one,” he offered. “If we do it’s going to really look bad.”

  Yeah, Nate already knew that.

  They were screwed.

  If they magically popped up on one more body scene, the sheriff was going to blow their cover. He didn’t doubt it for a second, and they couldn’t have that happen. They needed anonymity now more than ever.

  He was dead.

  Maura was dead.

  Luke was dead.

  Avalon was dead.

  This was one hell of a predicament.

  If anything popped up in the news and it got back to DC, they were screwed.

  Generally, in law enforcement, the person who finds the body was usually the number one suspect until proven otherwise. No one wanted to point the local law at the team.

  “It could take days for the body to be found,” Bishop offered. “It’s Saturday. If she wasn’t working today…”

  He was aware.

  “From here on out, we lay low. If we’re made, everything Elizabeth has done was worth nothing. She burned down her own childhood getaway for no reason. I don’t want to even know where she got the bodies.”

  “They were unclaimed people from the morgue. The FBI van took them,” Avalon admitted. “No one will miss them.”

  “I said I didn’t want to know,” he repeated, shaking his head. He knew better to say something like that in front of Oracle. “It was rhetorical. We’re going to work on that later, Avi.”

  “Oh, well, I’m off my game. You’ll have to forgive me,” Avalon admitted. “I just spent three hours in the mind of a dead woman and a crazy.”

  “We can call it in to the sheriff,” Bishop admitted. “One of us has to have a phone no one can trace.”

  Nate thought about it.

  That might be the best thing to do. They didn’t want Tanya stuck in her house until Monday. She deserved peace, even if she didn’t have it in life.

  “I just wish I knew why these women,” Avalon whispered. “There has to be a reason.”

  “Could it seriously be random?”

  Bishop knew what she was going to have to do today. She was going to have to sit down to research if any of the five originally murdered women matched up with any of the new victims.

  At least she’d get to sit around with her pirate husband. There was always that perk.

  “He kept saying one thing that makes me wonder,” stated Lucian.

  “What?” Nate asked.

  “He kept saying ‘you deserved it. You’re a whore. You kept asking for it’.”

  Avalon hadn’t heard it. She was too busy trying to focus on Tanya to save her. Lucian would have heard more from the killer. He saw what the victim saw. Avalon simply felt it all.

  “This whole thing sucks,” Bishop offered.

  When there was a knock on the door, Nate went to see who it was. It was Luke, and he was carrying a box of donuts and some coffees.

  “What did I miss?” he asked, handing them each a coffee so they could get that morning boost.

  Their faces said it all.

  “That bad, huh?” he asked.

  “Yeah, that bad.”

  Luke opened the box of donuts, giving Avalon the first choice. He knew she was using Lucian’s eyes, simply because she was grinning at the sugary goodness in the box. He’d gotten her a pink frosted one with sprinkles and stuffed with more sugar.

  He liked to spoil her—especially when his wife wasn’t around to kick his ass. She was like a kid sister that you knew had a rough childhood. Luke was a huge offender when it came to giving her the things she deserved in life.

  “Maura is going to kill you for pumping her full of caffeine and sugar,” Nate warned.

  “We can keep this our little secret,” he said, winking at the woman. “I mean that. We really need to. Maura scares the hell out of me,” he teased.

  “After what I saw and just lived through,” Avalon stated, “I need it.”

  They didn’t doubt that in the least.

  “How bad is bad?” he asked, sitting on the couch beside his partners.

  Nate replayed the entire conversation while they ate some donuts and drank their coffee.

  “Yikes. That’s shitty, Avi. I’m sorry you and Lucian had to relive it.”

  Yeah, so were they.

  Still, it was their duty, job, and mission in life. Someone had to help protect, and in this case, stop, the psychics in the world.

  Just then, Nate’s cell rang, and it was Maura.

  “I swear she has me Lojacked,” Luke joked. “She knows I’m giving her sugar and caffeine.”

  Nate laughed.

  Until he heard her voice.

  Maura had two speeds—calm and military panic mode. This was the latter. She wasn’t happy so that meant the situation was dire, and someone was in trouble.

  He only hoped it wasn’t them—for Avalon’s sake.

  “What’s going on?” Nate asked, putting the cellphone on speaker.

  “We have one hell of an issue on our hands. Right now, we have the sheriff and about six deputies moving on Jagger and Roxy’s cabin. They’re wearing Kevlar and sporting some tactical gear. They’re not messing around.”

  “Shit!” muttered Nate. “What else?”

  “Well, they don’t know I’m here…yet. I’m out of their line of sight,” she said, lowering her voice.

  This was bad.

  Really bad.

  In fact, it was the opposite of keeping out of the headlines.

  If this got out…

  “What do you want me to do?” she asked. “I already texted Jagger, and he isn’t replying.”

  Yeah, they all knew why.

  “He probably listened to me and turned his cell off. It was his wedding night.”

  “Well, from the looks of this, it’s his funeral. You had better haul ass, Nate. Get over here ASAP. I’m going to slow them down to buy you, and Jagger, some time.”

  That made Luke edgy. “Maura.”

  At the sound of his voice, she paused. “I love you. Wear Kevlar. You know how twitchy backwoods deputies can be. I don’t want holes in that sexy body of yours.”

  “Maura, watch your own ass!” he demanded.

  “Yes, dear. It’s my first day on the job. Remember, I love you,” she whispered.

  The call went dead.

  That was enough to turn Luke’s bowels to ice. He hated when his wife played commando. It freaked him the hell out.

  “We have to get over there.”

  He looked around. “Bishop, let’s go. Luke, you too. This is going to need all of us. Lucian, keep the door locked.”

  He placed a gun on the table for the man to use for protection. Normally, he wouldn’t leave Avalon alone, but one of their own was in danger.

  That took precedence.

  “I’ll keep her safe.”

  That’s all he needed to hear.

  They rushed out.

  The second they were gone, Avalon focused on him. “I have to get there. If I don’t, the sheriff is never going to buy any of this. I need to share some things with him to convince him.”

  He totally got it.

  It was like when they first met. He’d needed that harsh shot of reality to get him to believe her too.

  “You’re going to go Oracle on him, huh?

  She nodded.

  “I can drive. Let’s go,” he said, tucking the gun into the back of his jeans before grabbing a set of keys off the table.

  “Thank you, Lucian,” she said, holding out her hand. While she was using his eyes, she needed to stop. Avalon was exhausted, and she’d need every ounce of her energy going forward.

  What was coming was going to be difficult.

  “Is Nate going to be mad?” Lucian asked, as they
waited for the other vehicle to tear out of there before they headed outside.

  Avalon didn’t answer.

  She simply laughed.

  That said it all.

  Nate was going to go bat shit insane.

  * * * O R A C L E * * *

  Maura knew she didn’t have much time.

  She had to neutralize the situation and as quickly as possible, but she couldn’t kill the deputies.

  It wouldn’t be right.

  After all, they weren’t the bad guys. They were cops doing their job and the last thing they needed was for this to make the news.

  This called for silent intervention.

  Maura was going Marine on their asses.

  Focusing on the situation, she pushed everything else out of her mind but the mission at hand. She didn’t have to worry about anything but Jagger and Roxy. The fewer distractions made this easier, not more difficult.

  Avalon was safe.

  Her husband was safe.

  Now she simply had to level the playing field for the Marine inside the small cabin.

  As she sat in the tree, a young man was moving right below her. It was her lucky day. She knew what she had to do. He looked awful twitchy with his finger on the trigger of the gun.

  Yeah, it was a damn good thing that her husband wasn’t anywhere near her. He was a bullet magnet, and she didn’t want holes in him. Every time they were in a situation like this, he’d been shot.

  This cop below her wouldn’t handle being surprised well. She didn’t doubt he’d shoot first and ask questions later.

  Maura couldn’t let that happen.

  Even if Jagger wasn’t coming with them, he was her brother. She’d save his ass again and again because he’d done the same for her countless times.

  Marines left no one behind, and this was a moment just like that.

  Maura had to hope that he knew what was going on outside, but was biding his time.

  As the man was right below her, she hung upside down by her knees and flicked her fist toward his neck. Once she hit that single pressure point, the man went down without a sound.

  One down.

  She flipped out of the tree and landed on her feet. When she hit the ground, Maura pulled some police zip ties out of her cargo pants to bind his wrists.