Jack’s head throbbed as he stood up and took off for the shelter. He’d made the trip down the hillside without the benefit of protection. How the man had accomplished that gave Jack pause. Were his abilities multifaceted? Or did they mirror his own?
He pulled Olivia into the shelter of pines and released the shield. “Whatever you do, stay behind these trees. He’s strong, Olivia.”
Fear bunched her features as she stared at him. Stretching up onto her tiptoes, she found his lips.
The kiss was sweet, lingering on his mouth long after she pulled back.
He had to protect her, had to keep her safe.
The grind of metal in motion drew his attention. Jack leaned out, shooting a glance toward the creek bed.
The crushed Jaguar floated two feet off the ground, slowly turning upright. He was looking for their bodies in the wreckage.
He couldn’t see him, but Jack anticipated his next action and pinned Olivia against a tree.
The car shot forward and smashed broadside into the wall of timber five feet off the ground.
Olivia’s startled shriek echoed in the woods around them and razed the last of Jack’s control.
Reaching out he forced the twisted car to the ground with their attacker’s hold still on it. Their energy fields collided, sending a shower of sparks flying.
He was strong, a fact that pushed Jack to the brink of losing control. Fear laced through him and held his emotions in check. He’d never pushed himself out of bounds, feared what would happen if he did. Could he pull back his control?
Anger churned inside of him, igniting rage in his body that emanated from his very core.
“Don’t come out, Olivia,” he warned.
Her eyes went wide as she stared up at him and he almost reached up to see if he’d turned into some sort of monster.
She brushed his arm as he stepped out from the cover of the trees and raised his hands.
Like an explosion being released, he detonated inside, sending a wall of energy up the slope, stripping the underbrush, pine needles and leaves from the trees in a rush.
There, standing exposed was the man in the black ski mask.
Rage fueled his emotions, even as his mind worked to bring them under control.
He cast a beam of energy around the stranger, roping him in its knot. He raised him ten feet off the ground and dragged him forward.
He’d remove the mask, find out who they were dealing with and crush the life out of him.
Olivia’s scream of terror blasted against his eardrums and penetrated his brain.
She hung suspended five feet to his left, held in a beam of energy coming from the masked man. But how was it possible? How was the stranger able to function from inside the bubble?
Reality jolted him, zapping through his body in waves of knowledge that terrified him.
He released the beam and watched the man fall, catching himself before he hit the ground.
In that instance of misdirection, Jack took control over Olivia, encasing her and pushing her back behind the trees. He followed her into the shelter and put her down.
“You can’t win, Jack!”
Jack stilled, employing his ability to mind sweep, reaching inside the attacker’s head for information, but he found a wall he couldn’t penetrate.
“Nice try, but it won’t work. I’m more powerful than you’ll ever be!”
For an instant, he hesitated, searching for reason in a scenario that seemed to lack one. This was an exercise in abilities. A fact-finding fight. It paid to know your enemy.
“What do you want?”
The sound of a siren in the distance and closing fast echoed from the roadway above.
He stared out at the masked attacker, watched him glance toward the road, step back and retreat toward the woods.
Again, he reached for the man’s thoughts, catching a trail this time.
They would never be safe. No one in Black’s Cove was safe…
A wave of excruciating pain hit Jack like a hammer between the eyes.
He rocked back, his stomach churning, sure his head was about to implode. He leaned against a broad tree trunk to keep from falling over.
He planned to cause Jack so much trouble he’d beg him to make the trade…. Her life for the…. The thread was lost, and Jack went to his knees.
“YOU’VE GOT A concussion and some swelling in your brain, Jack. You’re fortunate it isn’t worse.” Doctor Perkins shoved his hands in the pockets of his coat. “I’m going to keep you overnight for observation, if it’s better by morning, you can go home.”
Olivia felt her agitation ramp up along with Jack’s. What had happened to them this morning was disturbing, especially the fact that Jack had been unable to best the maniac flinging the car around like it was a toothpick.
Fear welled in her veins and spread its toxic mixture through her body. Jack was her only hope, her only defense against a power she was just beginning to understand.
“I’d like to sedate you, to keep outside impulses at a low level. Give your brain time to recover.”
“No. I don’t want to be sedated.”
“If we don’t, you’ll need to remain immobile.”
“I understand.” His mouth pulled into a grim hard line, injecting an ounce of fear into her.
“What will happen if he doesn’t obey orders?” she asked.
“He could have a stroke…. He could die. Any number of very serious results could occur.”
Olivia swallowed the lump in her throat and stared at Jack, wondering if it was possible for a protector like him to care about himself for once?
“He’ll do it and I’ll help make sure he does.”
Jack’s eyes narrowed. “I know what’s at stake. I’ll give you one night, Doctor Perkins.”
“Good.” He slipped Jack’s medical chart into the holder at the foot of the bed and left the room.
“Why so stubborn?” Olivia pulled the drape around Jack’s bed and sat down on the edge, lowering her voice to a whisper. “Does this have anything to do with him?”
Jack nodded. “No one in Black’s Cove is safe. He threatened them. This is my community. These are my people. I can’t let him hurt them.”
Olivia reached out and stroked her hand down the side of Jack’s face breaking his intense mood.
He closed his eyes and turned into her palm, finding it with his lips before he gazed up at her.
“How are you going to help them if you’re dead, Jack?”
Her question turned his full attention on her. Warmth moved through her like liquid fire. His hot blue gaze left little doubt he was thinking about the way they’d spent their morning, not the last three hours.
“Do what the doc says. Kick back and relax. Let your brain heal. I’ll stay right here.” What he really needed was to relinquish control. Hand it over for just one night.
“I won’t let anything happen to you,” she promised.
He reached up and cupped her hand where it rested on his cheek. His features softened, letting go of the tension that had been obvious moments ago.
“I’ll hold you to it.” He closed his eyes.
Olivia pulled her hand back, stood up and slid a chair close to Jack’s bed.
She watched him slip into la-la land, tracing imaginary fingertips along the edge of his strong jaw. Brushing the piece of wayward hair off his forehead and joining it with the rest at his temple.
When had she given her heart away to him? When had her drive to get the story waned and turned to the desire to care for Jack Trayborne?
She leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes, uncertain of what came next and terrified how much she cared.
OLIVIA FLOATED somewhere between sleep and wakefulness.
The squeak of shoe soles on the slick white tiles of the floor dragged her awake. She raised her head, getting her bearings in the dimly lit room.
A nurse stood next to Jack’s IV pump, raised a bottle, shoved a needle into it and pulled down the plunger.
The syringe filled with clear liquid and the nurse put the bottle down on the edge of the bed next to Jack.
“What is that?” She cleared her throat.
The nurse stared unseeing in her direction and inserted the syringe’s needle into the IV line.
“Wait. What are you giving him?” Caution rattled through her.
She stood up, stepped around the end of the bed and came face to face with the unresponsive nurse.
“What did you give him?”
The discarded bottle lay on the bed. She reached for it at the same time as the nurse. Getting to it just before she did.
Potassium chloride.
Terror gelled in her veins.
She’d done a story on the drug used in lethal injections to stop the heart.
The nurse had just given Jack a megadose of the deadly liquid.
Olivia grabbed the IV tube where it was attached to the needle going into Jack’s arm and yanked it out.
The IV pump went into alarm mode.
High-pitched beeping raked over her nerves.
The annoying sound becoming louder as she pressed the call button.
Jack jolted awake and sat up. He stared down at the blood streaming from his arm where his IV had been attached.
A nurse stood at the end of his bed, her mouth agape in horror.
“Olivia?” He made eye contact with her, noting her look of relief.
“She just tried to kill you with potassium chloride.”
“I…I’d never do that.” The nurse shook her head violently. “That’s a strictly controlled drug. It wasn’t prescribed for Mr. Trayborne.”
The room filled with medical staff, all trying to assess the situation.
Doctor Perkins stepped into the room and the sea of nurses parted. “What’s going on?”
One of the nurses reached into her pocket and pulled out a packet of gauze.
Jack stretched out his right arm for her to clean and bandage the IV site.
He pulled in a deep breath and found peace in the chaos around him. Olivia stood to the left of his bed. He reached out, taking her hand. He squeezed and she squeezed back. She’d just saved his life. She’d been paying attention, been true to her vow to protect him. But what had caused the nurse to inject the lethal drug in the first place? Telepathic manipulation? No place felt safe.
“It was nothing, Doctor Perkins. A simple mistake.” Jack let loose of Olivia’s hand, pulled back the covers and climbed out of bed. “I’d like you to sign my release form.”
I can better defend myself at home, was a more precise thought, but he kept that fact to himself. He suspected the man in the ski mask who’d put him here in the first place was behind the nurse’s mistake. She’d simply been his weapon of choice.
A jolt of caution burned through him as he stared at the individuals in the room. Any one of them could be utilized at anytime. A fact that left him little choice.
“I’d like to recover at home. Miss Morgan,” he met her eye to eye, “will take excellent care of me. Make sure I’m okay.”
Jack swallowed, looking at her just long enough to feel the rage of desire flare in his veins.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to get dressed now.”
One by one, they left the cramped hospital room, but Jack could hear the nurse being redressed in the hallway outside by Doctor Perkins.
“It wasn’t her fault.” He took his clothes out of the closet while Olivia closed the door. “Her actions were manipulated telepathically.”
Olivia turned back around, stopped in her tracks by the sight of Jack standing next to the bed in his birthday suit, body all taut, hard muscle and smooth skin. Power and tenderness, intertwined.
An ache took hold inside of her, sending flames of desire sizzling along every nerve ending in her body, until she was sure she could hear the sound of blazing lust in her eardrums.
“We’re not safe here, or anywhere for that matter.” He pulled on his pants. “I want you to exercise extreme caution…” He stared back at her. “Olivia? Are you hearing me?”
“No.” She moved around the end of the bed and into his arms. What was happening between them? She needed to know. Needed to understand why being with him turned her insides to jelly. Gave her the sensation of being…cared for?
He stepped back from her, reached down and caught her chin. Raising her face, he stared down at her, a half smile on his mouth. Did he feel it, too?
She gazed into his eyes. Their color deepened, before the smile faded.
His eyes narrowed. “I liked it, too. Hell, I more than liked it and I’d be happy to demonstrate the other techniques I have at my disposal, but you must snap out of it. Things are becoming progressively more dangerous and I don’t want to lose you. Where’s that savvy, smart-mouthed woman who puts frustration in my veins?”
“You’re right.” He was right. Her blood cooled and she stepped around the end of the bed, opening a mental and physical space between them, but anticipation lingered in her cells long after contact was broken.
Jack gritted his teeth and pulled on his shirt. Holding her in his arms had eroded more of his resistance to the mysterious emotion sluicing in his veins and making him fuzzy-headed. Before too much longer, holding her would be all he wanted to do, a fact that did little to ease the worry riding his thoughts. He needed Olivia to keep thinking, to be a participant in her own security. He could protect her, but not without her vigilance.
The man in the ski mask was growing stronger, becoming bolder with every attempt he made on their lives. But who was he and what did he want?
Buttoning the last button on his shirt, he put on his socks and shoes, snagged Olivia’s hand and headed for the exit. He needed time to think, time to dissect the circumstances surrounding them.
He pulled open the heavy door and they stepped into the hallway.
At the north end of the corridor was the nurse’s station. He needed to make sure the nurse who’d tried to inject him with potassium chloride, didn’t lose her job over an incident that was beyond her control. However, he didn’t plan to tell Doctor Perkins just how far beyond her control it had really been. Part of what made the Phantom work in Black’s Cove was his anonymity.
“Look, it’s Judy Bartholomew’s room.” Olivia took a hesitant right into room 360, spotting Judy’s husband holding baby Gracie.
Jack followed her in.
“Judy?” Olivia whispered, seeing the young mother sitting up in her hospital bed, looking as good as the day she’d first met her on Main Street and asked her about Jack Trayborne.
Olivia’s heart rebounded. She’d been so worried the young woman wouldn’t survive, wouldn’t be around to raise her sweet little girl.
“Yes.” She stared at Olivia, no sign of recognition on her face, but the moment she spotted Jack, a smile spread on her mouth. “Mr. Trayborne. It’s nice to see you again. What are you doing here?”
“I heard you were here. I happened to be here myself, so I thought I’d stop and see how you’re doing.”
“Much better, I believe, at least that’s what they tell me.” She glanced over at her husband and baby, then back at Jack. “Thank you for coming by.”
“You’re welcome.” Jack grasped Olivia’s hand and led her back out into the hallway. Judy’s husband followed.
“I’m sorry she doesn’t remember you, Miss Morgan. But the coma erased her short-term memory.”
“Do you know why she took those pills?”
Mr. Bartholomew shifted under the question, his dismay imprinted on his young face in the form of confusion that pulled his eyebrows together and grouped his features in a tight formation. “She can’t even remember taking them….” His voice broke and he looked down at Gracie. “I didn’t even know there was a problem.”
Olivia reached out and squeezed his arm. “I’m sorry. I wish there was something I could do.”
Grace pawed at her with one tiny hand and she caught the baby girl’s fingers. “It will work out. She
has so much to live for.”
“You’re right.” Mr. Bartholomew nodded. “The psychologist has been in several times…. We’re going to get through this. Thank you both for your concern.”
Her heart ached for him as he turned back into the room and Jack took her hand.
“I’m so glad she pulled through.”
Jack laced his fingers in Olivia’s and steered her down the corridor, his suspicions little more than a niggling at the moment, but bound to take a track straight to the man in the ski mask who had the power to manipulate using telepathic suggestion. Was he behind Judy’s near-death experience?
Tension twisted the muscles tight between his shoulder blades. Judy had given up the information about where to find the estate. He’d always believed that Diana and Rick had something to do with Judy’s accident, but now he wasn’t so sure.
The double glass doors at the end of the corridor near the ER slid open.
A deputy raced into the hospital with his arm around the shoulder of another officer.
“Help! Can we get some help? My partner has cobra venom in his eyes. He can’t see.”
Jack’s heart rate shot up and he sprinted to where Officer Mel Roberts stood with his injured partner.
A nurse rushed forward and led the officer to an exam room.
“The missing cobra from Diana’s shop?” Jack asked, pausing next to the upset officer who leaned forward, putting his hands on his knees.
“Yeah. We cornered it in the alley behind the shop and called animal control, but the damn thing put up one hell of a fight.”
“Where is it now?”
“Not sure. It wiggled into a crack between the two buildings. I’m afraid we can’t get to it in there.” The officer straightened.
“You know Diana’s operation. Maybe you can wrangle him out?”
Jack hesitated, mostly because Olivia was squeezing his hand so hard it hurt.
He did know the operation, he’d set it up to help the Foundation and Diana. He had an obligation to capture the dangerous cobra before anyone else got hurt.
“I’ll head over there right now.”
Chapter Eleven
“When did you become a deadly snake wrangler?”
The Phantom of Black’s Cove Page 11
