Into the Fire

by Victoria Smith

  “He will live. Understand? He has to.” He dropped the boot he held to the floor. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming here?”

  “You know why.”

  Olivia checked Matt while she absorbed Luke’s nuances and tried to figure out why he was so angry. It wasn’t her, not really. She finally looked at him, his eyes locking with hers. A recognition that went beyond sexual slammed through her. Her body responded immediately. He blinked, his eyes still blank, breaking the spell. He turned his attention to his brother.

  “Can you help him?”

  “I already have, and I will continue to. Most of it is up to him.” She leveled him with a hard glance. “There was a lot of internal damage. It’ll take time.”

  Luke stood beside her to see the wound. Olivia had to shield herself from the intensity of his energy. He finally nodded, moving away as if he felt the flow of need as strongly as she did. His attention burned her skin as he leaned against the wall and watched her cut away the rest of the bloody T-shirt and unbutton his brother’s jeans.

  Matt had the same intense passion, though it lay dormant due to the injuries.

  “Did Jillian leave?” she asked, wiping a cool cloth over Matt’s warming brow.

  “Yeah. She took her group across the border.”

  “Any news?”

  “A woman was found shot between the eyes on Johnson’s mountain.”

  “Not Jillian?”

  “Probably not.”

  “What happened to him?” She already knew a knife had done the damage. She tossed the cloth into the bowl, watching the water slosh over the sides.

  “He was stupid and tried to save my life. That blade was meant for me.” Luke’s hands were fisted at his sides.

  “No wonder you’re carrying around so much guilt.”

  “My fault if he dies. I’m the one who didn’t pay attention. He was helping me.” Luke kicked the edge of the nightstand, the water splashing out of the bowl.

  “He’s your brother. I’m pretty sure that’s his job.” She smiled to cover the sadness at her own brother’s fate.

  “Whatever.”

  “Where were you when this happened?”

  “The compound. We got sixty-five people out and gathered a ton of evidence to send to Midland.”

  “Good. That place is a nightmare.” She shook her head, trying not to let her sorrow take over.

  “Jenner went underground. The poisonings are growing in frequency, too. On the way here, I passed two people dead in the street. They’re not picking up the bodies as often as they used to. The water supply is a mess.”

  “I’d heard that.” I also heard the resistance has moved their plans forward because of random attacks on citizens.”

  His head whipped up. “When did you hear that? I only just put the call out on the way here.”

  “About an hour before you showed up. My, or I should say my Aunt Jane’s, antidote contact told me. We’re supposed to prepare for an all-out siege. Jenner says it’s necessary to decontaminate the systems. For our own good, of course.”

  “When?”

  “Within two weeks. All power sources will be compromised and so will the water supply.”

  “Do you know how much I would pay for information like that?”

  She shook her head. “I’m not in the business of trading information. I’m telling you because you should know.”

  He gaped at her. “Jane’s your aunt?”

  “Was.” Olivia told Luke the whole story, including how she’d inherited this cabin before her marriage disintegrated.

  “So, you came here expecting the place to be deserted, and she was still here. Was she waiting for you?”

  “Yeah. She told me Kenneth is Dan’s son. Then, she died.” Olivia picked up the basin of bloody water.

  “I’m sorry.” He touched her arm.

  “It doesn’t matter. She was ready to go. Had been ready to go. She said my abilities have grown. I don’t know what she meant. The only thing different is the premonitions that tell me when someone’s coming and what physical condition they’re in.” Olivia took the basin into the bathroom and dumped it, trying to ignore the crush in her chest at being close to Luke again.

  ~ ~ ~

  Jillian kissed Theo’s cheek one more time. He wiped it off with a grimace. “Sissy, stop.” Leaving was harder than she thought it would be. Theo was already having the time of his life. He’d flourished in the short while they’d been here. He smiled bigger, ate more, and sang nonstop.

  They’d talked about the deaths he’d experienced, and Jillian hoped she’d helped put things into perspective for him. His main worry was Olivia and how she was doing. Jillian had told him he could ask Olivia herself when he saw her again. The promise had seemed to help. Maybe. It was hard to say. Theo held things inside for a long time.

  “Be good.” Jillian kissed his forehead.

  “Stop that, Sissy. I will be good.” He wiped his head.

  “I know you will, buddy. I’ll come for you as soon as I can. Do you remember why you’re here?” She stepped back.

  “Because it’s not safe anymore. Because you need to go places where I might get hurt. Because you want me to not worry people are thinking bad stuff about me.” He hugged her.

  “Right. Good job. I love you, buddy.”

  “Love you, too, Sissy. You’ll be right back, right?” His smile had lessened a fraction, and he gripped her hand tightly.

  “I will be back, only not for a little while. But, I will come for you as soon as I can. Aunt Marci will help you, okay? And you help her around here. Help take care of the tomatoes and the baby animals. Okay?” She fought the overwhelming urge to cry.

  He nodded vigorously and squeezed her hand. “I like Aunt Marci. She’s nice. She knows all my songs.”

  “That’s because she taught them to me.”

  “Good. They are very good songs.” He allowed her to hug him, holding her longer than she expected.

  The tears swelled again, but she swallowed them back. She couldn’t let him see her cry. There’d be plenty of time for her tears once she was on the road. He let go of her, fat tears running down his face. Aunt Marci put her arm around his shoulder. Jillian picked up her backpack and walked away, turning once to wave over her shoulder before getting into the truck waiting to take her as close to the border as possible. She nodded to Marci’s foreman, Kevin, but didn’t speak as he turned onto the main road.

  “You should probably try to get some sleep,” he said.

  Jillian nodded, drifting off almost immediately and waking in the parking lot of a gas station. Something had awakened her, but she couldn’t figure out what. Her pack had shifted, and she reached down to set it up before looking in and checking out the bed of the truck. Everything seemed the same—the blue tarp covering what she assumed was firewood and the bicycle missing a wheel. Her attention shifted when a young family walked by and waved at her as they laughed and joked with each other.

  Things were so much different in this sector. She wondered why she was even bothering to go back home. Staying here would be easy, but it wouldn’t help the people living in oppression and fear.

  Kevin smiled as he got back in the truck, but neither spoke. There was too much, and yet not enough, to say. She knew he thought she was nuts for going back.

  Telling herself Matt was at the bottom of her list of reasons was a lie. She didn’t want to dwell on it, but they deserved a chance to find out what might be between them. Jillian had a feeling there could be much more than she was ready for, but that didn’t scare her so much anymore. Maybe it was because Theo loved Matt, and Matt was everything she thought a man should be. She rolled her eyes at her reflection in the window. What a sap.

  “You be careful,” Kevin said, stopping the truck at the edge of a field of wildflowers. “Are you sure you have to go?”

  “I’m sure. Everyone deserves a chance to be free. And I’m always careful.” She raised her knife, sticking it in her boot be
fore picking up her backpack.

  He nodded and sighed, dropping his head to the steering wheel as she got out. “I hate to ask you because I know you have enough to do, but could you check on my folks?” He handed her a slip of paper.

  Jillian didn’t recognize the name, but she knew the street. She didn’t tell him most of the houses on the block had burned. That didn’t mean his parents weren’t still alive. It didn’t mean they were, either.

  “I’ll do my best, okay?” She would, but her hopes weren’t high.

  “Good enough.” He checked his watch. “Word is they’ve doubled the border patrols. Last night they killed four and caught twenty trying to cross.”

  That wasn’t good news, though she almost laughed at how the patrols would react to her crossing into the sector. The problem would be convincing them she wasn’t defecting once she got back inside. She’d worry about that later. She had at least a two-hour trek on foot and during that time she had to travel as inconspicuously as possible.

  She paused, dropping to her knees in the high flowers as a tendril of probing entered her awareness. She’d felt like she was being followed since she started. Someone was trying to contact her, but the connection was muddied and tainted. She glanced around. She couldn’t tell where the prying came from.

  The corruption had to extend beyond their borders. There was no way the current administration could get away with what they were doing without having allies in other sectors. That would explain why other governments hadn’t stepped in to help when people started crossing the borders and spilling their guts about what was happening. Marci said they didn’t get a lot of information on other sectors, and there hadn’t been a border crosser knocking on her door for help in months. The last person that had gone to her had been taken to the hospital, and Marci had never seen him again.

  So much for “one nation under God.” That had been forgotten over fifty years ago when too many sought the power usually wielded by the president of the country. Chaos and death had come, along with the sectioning of the nation to “protect them from themselves.” Their sector had been named as one for the freedom of people with special abilities. What a lie that had been.

  It added up to the eventual death of every person living in the sector.

  ~ ~ ~

  Luke watched Olivia check Matt’s wound. The jealousy that filled him when she placed her hands on both sides of Matt’s face was annoying. Hell, she was healing his brother, and all he could think of was having those hands on him.

  She glanced up, assessing him. “Come here.” She took his hand and placed it on Matt’s forehead. “Be still.”

  His brother’s skin was cool, but there was an undercurrent of warmth that didn’t feel right. Matt didn’t smell right either. Luke stared at Olivia. She nodded, then motioned for him to move away.

  “Healing is taking too long. I think that blade had to have been poisoned, though I can’t detect any foreign substances in his blood.”

  “Shouldn’t you be able to?” This wasn’t supposed to be this hard. “He does smell weird. His blood. His whole being.”

  “The wound should have been fatal. There’s a lot of tissue and muscle damage. Yes, I should be able to detect the poison, but I’m not a miracle worker. You must be patient.” She pushed him back with one arm, a spark arcing between them.

  “We don’t have time for this.” He moved back in, not caring that she shot daggers at him.

  “You don’t have time for him to be dead either.” She brushed past him. “Get some sleep and let me do my job. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  Matt’s door closed with a final-sounding thud. Luke felt like he was going stir crazy, and his arm throbbed like a bitch. He took his long-sleeved shirt off and undid the makeshift bandage. The injury was infected and had been caused by the same blade used on Matt. Grabbing his duffel, he rummaged for a tube of medicated cream. That would have to do. He wasn’t bothering Olivia with this. Matt was top priority.

  Dropping down on the cot, he glanced over at Matt. His color had worsened, and a thin line of sweat had popped up across his brow. That couldn’t be good.

  Luke squeezed his brother’s arm. “Hang in there, man.”

  When he opened his eyes again, Olivia worked over Matt. Her muscle shirt showed off her tight belly when she leaned over the bed and placed one knee on the mattress. Luke groaned and rolled off the cot as Olivia backed up. Her bottom hit his back, and they tumbled onto the floor with her landing on top.

  She sucked in a deep breath, her breasts pressing against his chest. His arms had instinctively wrapped around her, and he held her tight.

  “Sorry,” he said, moving his hands to help her up.

  “I didn’t know you were awake.” She wiggled, not good for the parts directly affected by the fall, and tried to roll off.

  Glaring at him, she stopped. “Why didn’t you tell me you were injured, too?”

  She got up and stood in front of him with her hands on her hips. He shrugged. “Not important.”

  “Like hell. Get your ass into the living room, so I can see.” She pointed toward the room.

  Luke did as he was told, glad to see other emotions from Olivia than the calm sadness. He sat when she pointed to the couch, scooting over so she could sit on his left.

  She tugged at his shirt. “Take this off.”

  Her sharp intake of breath when his shirt was over his head caused him to believe it must be bad to get that kind of reaction. She’d barely made a noise when she saw Matt, and half of Matt’s guts were practically sticking out.

  “This is infected.”

  Luke noted that her breath was uneven.

  “I thought it might be,” he said, glancing at her. Her cheeks were pink, and her hands shook.

  “You’re a jackass. You should have told me. Was this the same knife that got your brother? Who got cut first?” She continued to probe the edges of the wound.

  “Ow. Me first.” He winced.

  Damn. It hurt a lot more than he remembered.

  “Fantastic.” She rested her hand over the wound, but she didn’t touch it.

  “How is me getting hurt fantastic?”

  “There’s some kind of poison in you. It’s probably why you’ve been acting like such a bitch. Actually, it’s not poison at all, it’s a kind of mutated bacteria. Now that I know what it is, I can treat Matt.” She squeezed his arm hard. “It’s got to be the same thing they used on Marcus.”

  “Son of a bitch. Stop.” He tried to pull his arm away.

  “Quit being a baby. There.” She trailed cool fingers down his arm. It felt like she was pushing something out of his skin. He couldn’t see it, but it smelled awful. “You’re not systemic, but Matt is. Because of where he got hit, the crap entered his bloodstream almost immediately. He has a fever.”

  “I thought so. What now?”

  “You get some rest. I have to get back to him. We should see some major improvements by morning.” She got up, apparently oblivious to the fact she only wore a white muscle shirt and a pair of light-blue panties.

  Luke leaned back onto the cushions. Energy surged through him, and his arm tingled a little, but it felt a whole lot better than a few minutes ago. Everything felt better. He glanced at the wound, surprised to see the infection cleared and the edges already closing. Except now all he could think about was how it had felt to have her touch him again and how she still smelled like sunshine.

  He stood in the doorway, watching her. Her movements were precise and determined as she worked over Matt. Luke couldn’t take his eyes off her. She glanced up at him with an unreadable expression that hit him right below the belt.

  When she finished, she stood over the bed, taking deep breaths. He waited for her, not sure why. What he should have done was try to get some sleep. What he wanted was to kiss her, to taste her. She stopped beside him, gazing up at him with wide eyes.

  “Matt’s on the mend. He should be good as new by morning.”

 
; He caught the back of her head and pulled her to him. Her mouth was warm, opening to him, and giving back what he gave.

  “Oh,” she said into his mouth.

  Luke gently grabbed her arm, closing the door behind him. Even though Matt was out of it, he didn’t want to make love to her in this room. They hit the opposite wall, a tangle of mouths, hands, and heat. She ran her hands over his still-bare chest. He cupped her buttocks, pulling her against him. Olivia gasped, twining her arms around his neck and bouncing against him to the other wall.

  “I’m sorry for being such a jackass,” he said into her mouth.

  The photographs shook when his back hit the plaster. He tugged her shirt off, tossing it on the floor, and moved his hands to her breasts. She moaned and opened the door behind him, pulling him inside with her hands at the fastener for his jeans.

  Olivia lost her footing and crashed into him, knocking the vase of flowers off the table beside the door. She laughed, and he didn’t think he’d ever heard anything so sexy. Turning, he pinned her against the door and ran his hand up her leg until he found the elastic of her panties. Olivia continued to tug at his jeans as he hooked his thumbs into the band of her underwear. Finally, she got his pants unfastened and pushed the denim down his legs with her foot. Her underwear joined them in a heap on the floor as he reached around her to latch and lock the door.

  Chapter 13

  Jillian wrapped the heat-diffusing fabric around herself and hunkered down at the base of an old oak tree. She’d been waiting for the patrols to thin out enough for her to cross back into the sector for four hours. There were no signs of them leaving, and they were too close to sneak by and try another area.

  Her eyes closed, gruesome images filling her head. She saw Matt, bloody and dying. Luke cried over him. Olivia was by his side. Opening her eyes, she allowed anger to fill her. The dreamlike images were the result of her fatigue and worry. Nothing else. Jillian hadn’t had a premonition or any kind of clairvoyance in her life.

  Part of her refused to completely dismiss what she’d seen, and the warmth of rage energized her. She watched the patrols on the other side of the wire and found a weak spot in their maneuvers. It was now or never.