“It’s too late, we have to move ahead. If you can’t capture her, she dies instead.”
Keila stilled next to him, and Jason forced his fist to unclench so he could grab her hand.
“And the man?”
The woman chuckled and moved closer to the window. Her heels clicked against the tiled floor.
“Bring him to me, and perhaps he will be useful to convince her to play along.”
Keila’s eyes flashed to his. Her jaw was set in a hard line and every muscle in her body was taut.
“Do not let her get past you again. If she can be brought in alive, by all means do so, but otherwise dispose of her. She cannot be allowed to interfere with Payton.”
Payton? He mouthed to Keila, who shrugged and then focused back up to the open window.
“If I may, Boss?”
Keila looked at Jason, eyes wide. Her grip on his hand tightened as the implication of Zero’s words sank in.
“Yes?”
“Perhaps you should consider moving up the timeline? The more time we give Keila and Emily to regroup, the more problematic they will become.”
Keila’s grip grew so tight it nearly cut off his blood supply.
The woman’s shoes clicked again and Jason held his breath, willing Keila to stay still despite the world-changing words flowing out from the window right above them.
“You just do the job you were hired to do. Capture them, kill them, whatever is necessary, but the plan does not change.”
Zero’s heavy footsteps moved out of the room and Jason pulled Keila away from their hiding place and back through the hedge. She moved with him, but didn’t make eye contact. Jason frowned. Her hand had gone cool in his and she was breathing rapidly. Oh, hell, she better not be going into any sort of shock. His training kicked in and he pulled them into a seated position, holding her hand and tilting her chin up gently to make eye contact. He gave her hand a light squeeze.
“Keila? Can you feel my hand? Look at me, Sweetheart.”
After the longest moment in Jason’s life, Keila’s eyes focused and snapped back to his. He smiled and squeezed her hand again, relief washing over him when her fingers tightened around his in response. Thank God.
Keila opened her mouth. “Those pieces of sh—”
And there was his girl. Jason grinned and cut her off with a kiss. They were still too close to the yard and he could do without another round with Meathead for a few days at least. His thrust his tongue into Keila’s mouth and it twirled with hers, tasting her as their lips moved together. After a few moments, he pulled away, dropping his hands where he’d been caressing her body, and picking up her hand again.
“We need to keep moving.”
They slunk back across the elderly woman’s yard and back to the car. As they walked, Jason watched as Keila’s shoulders pushed back and her eyes glinted with determination. Oh, yeah, his warrior girl was definitely back. She looked so beautiful and confident that he felt himself harden as he took her in. He’d had enough of denying to her what he felt. He had to know what it was like to have her, what she tasted like and—oh God—what it felt like to push inside her body. Keila was the strongest woman he’d ever met and in the space of three days, she’d completely taken his heart. He had to have her body, too, but not until it was safe. He groaned, adjusting himself, but there were more important things to take care of first. Getting into the car, Keila spoke first.
“Who the fuck is Payton?”
24
Keila’s hands trembled as she dropped Jason’s and climbed into the car. At first she’d been shocked into silence at the news of her apparent impending death, but that had quickly been replaced by a soul-searing anger. What had she ever done to Zero, to the mystery woman hiding away in Chicago’s suburbia? Not a damn thing, and yet because of her Keila had spent her life on the run, and that same life—her life—was being threatened. All as the price of being born. Her body tensed with the effort of holding the emotions; her heart pounded in her ears. She’d heard the old cliché about seeing red, and Keila had scoffed at every book or movie repeating it, but in that moment she was overwhelmed, and she closed her eyes in an attempt to block out the world.
God, it was just so fucking unfair!
Her hands formed fists, almost as if they were acting on their own, and Keila opened her eyes as she slammed her hands into the dash. Over and over again she struck at the car, until her hands hurt and hot tears leaked from her eyes.
“Hey,” Jason pulled over and left the driver’s seat. He opened her door and unbuckled her, pulling Keila into his arms. “They won’t get to you. I won’t let them.”
Keila swiped at the tears. She didn’t cry, damn it! What the hell was it about Jason that made her so fucking fragile? She shuddered as another tear slipped down her cheek. Despite the newly placed price on her head, there in his arms, she still felt protected, wanted, apparently enough for her emotions to finally let go.
“If they do come after us, then we’ll be ready. Okay?”
She nodded and took a deep breath. Okay.
“And we can do them one better. Let’s figure out who Payton is, and get there first.”
His words were a slap back to reality. Jason was right. If she allowed Zero and whoever the hell that woman was to get inside her head, then she may as well give up; they’d already won. There was no way she was making a single thing easier for those assholes. Much better to fuck up their plans right back at them until they learned she was not someone to mess with.
“So how do we start? Any idea who Payton is?”
Keila’s frustrations rose again. Jason was asking the right question, but Keila had no idea of the answer. Was she like her, like Emily? If not, then just how big was the whole thing? No, she had to be another one of them, one Keila hadn’t felt before. There was no other reason why the woman would want her so much. Maybe Emily held the key to more than what Keila already knew? She pulled out her burner phone and dialed Reece’s number. She knew for sure they had their eyes on Jason, too, and so using his phone was out of the question. Oh, sure, he’d protest, but Keila was still not risking him if at all possible.
“Hello?” Reece’s gruff voice answered as though the order to go to war might be on the other end.
“Reece, how are you doing? Are you and Emily okay?”
Reece laughed coldly in reply. “What do you care? You just show up, make all our problems worse, and then disappear. What do you want, Keila?”
Keila squeezed her eyes closed at Reece’s accusation. A lump formed in her throat and she swallowed it away. She’d had reasons for staying away, damn it! Good reasons. It was bad enough she’d already put Emily on Zero’s radar. Keila felt a squeeze on her thigh and looked over at Jason. Still driving, he looked over at her quickly but the eye contact they made was enough. It was as if the man had a built-in radar for her emotions. Concern and love—shit really, love??—filled his eyes and communicated everything Keila needed in three short seconds. She leaned over and placed her hand on Jason’s shoulder, returning the gesture of support, then focused back on the phone in her hand. She was done running. It was time to stand up for herself, to everyone.
“I’ve been protecting you, you spectacular moron. Emily was already on their radar, whether I showed up or not. Be glad I got there first and we’re all still alive enough for you to hate me.”
Keila stopped talking and almost held the phone away from her ear in anticipation, but instead of the litany of swear words she’d been expecting, Reece was silent. She spoke again.
“Can I just talk to Emily, please.”
Silence again, and then came the blessed scratchy sound of someone placing their hand over the phone and a muffled Reece calling for Emily. Keila pushed her hurt away. It wasn’t going to get the job done, and besides, she knew more than anyone the shock and then anger that came with having your world suddenly change into something else entirely, right in front of your eyes. It had happened to her as a child, then a te
enager, and then again not ten minutes before. The person hunting her all along wasn’t some faceless corporation, or a clone of Zero with no more ambition than smash and destroy. No, it was a woman, and by the sound of her voice, one not much older than Keila herself. She’d spent years working out who she was, how to survive on her own, for it to all change in an instant. It was as if her whole life was contained in a box, and someone had just picked it up and shaken it—hard—sending Keila and everything she thought she knew flying along with it.
You’ll figure it out. You always do. There is no other option.
And with that thought, things shifted once again. The playing field may look drastically altered, true, but Keila was well and truly still in the game. She wasn’t giving up, not by a long shot. She had a life to protect, and people that mattered to her—Jason, Emily, and even Reece, if she was honest with herself. He was Emily’s someone, and in that moment Keila understood just what Emily would do to stay with Reece. She smiled up at the tall, sexy man sitting next to her, her heart bursting with the emotion of it all. Loss, love, compassion. In the space of a few days, he’d had shown her a lifetime’s worth. Reece’s protection of Emily, Emily’s refusal to go anywhere without him? It was nothing more or less than the emotions flooding through Keila every time she locked eyes with Jason. By saving her life he had become her heart, and she would fight the world for him, for both of them.
“Hello?” the hesitation was clear in Emily’s voice.
Keila finally let go of the breath she hadn’t even realized she was holding. “Oh, thank God you’re okay.”
“We’re safe, but where have you been? I’ve been so worried. You just disappeared.”
“I’m sorry. I was protecting you. Zero has been on my tail and I refused to lead him back to you again.”
“Any ideas when I’ll be able to return to my life?”
Keila sighed. That was the hard bit. “Probably never. But I do have news. I’ll contact you soon to arrange a safe place to meet.”
“What on earth am I supposed to do in the meantime?”
“Get out of town.”
“But—”
“I’m serious. Reece should know what to do, even if he is a grumpy bastard. Pack and get him to take you someplace nice for awhile. I’ll be in touch when the danger dies down.”
“I just got my own life, Keila. How can I leave it all behind?”
A wave of compassion hit Keila. For her it had been long ago—the first time, anyway—but she knew the pain and confusion that came with having to give up everything you knew.
“I know it hurts, Emily, it sucks bad and it’s not fair. But I’m working on something, I promise. I’m already risking myself and I refuse to risk you, too. You’re my responsibility, even if you don’t want to be.”
There was no response, then Keila swore she heard a snuffle through the phone. Crap. Had she made Emily cry?
“I’m sorry, Keila. I’ve only been at this for a few months. I forget that this has been your entire life. I hate it, but every time I think of Juan, and Reece lying there covered in blood. . . .” Emily trailed off.
“Emily, I’m sorry, for all of it.”
“No, you’re right,” Emily spoke again and there was steel in her voice. “This is worth the risk, for all of us. When you know what you need me to do, call me immediately. This is my fight as much as yours now.”
Keila felt wetness in the corner of her eyes. Was she ever going to stop crying? She swallowed and then replied.
“Okay. You bet I’ll be calling the instant we’re ready to go. We’re going to take these assholes down.”
Keila ended the call with a smile on her face. Her chest was still tight, but she could breathe through it. She had a plan, and for the first time in her life, help. She was going to be okay; they all were. She smiled grimly. Either that or she’d die trying.
25
“So I’m wondering,” Jason asked. “How exactly do you do it? How did you find Emily?”
Huh. She’d never actually tried to explain it to anyone else before. “I call it my mental beacon, but really it’s more like a sense, a compass, that turns me in the direction of those like me. It’s almost as if they leave a trail behind, and if I get close enough to their physical location, I can see into their dreams.”
Jason laughed. “That’s actually a little creepy. Can you see my dreams?”
Was the man ever serious? Keila grinned. It was actually one of the things that had drawn her to him, not that she’d ever let him know that. Jason had the ability to make her laugh even while death was chasing them, and she’d never want him to give that up.
“Any dream you’re concerned about in particular?”
Jason waggled his eyebrows. “Well, put it this way, if you can, then it’ll cut down on a whole lot of explanation on my part.”
Keila burst out laughing, then felt her cheeks heat as the implication of his words sank in. Jason shifted down the gears and then stroked a hand along her thigh, reaching just a little higher with every pass. The heat left Keila’s cheeks and warmed other parts of her body. God, how could such a simple touch feel so damn good?
“So you can’t do that with whoever Payton is?” Jason’s question drew her focus back. They were in a car, and Jason was driving. Hmmm, but her hands were free.
Oh, for God’s sake! Wait until you get back to the apartment, at least. Answer the damn question.
“I can try, but I’d need to be at least in the same general area and know which direction to focus on. It’s part of why I move around so much. With Emily, it was easy. The news reports were obvious when you knew what lines to read between. I have nothing to go on with Payton.”
Silence filled the car after her answer, but Keila didn’t attempt to fill it. Instead she thought, shuffling through everything she knew about the girls she’d found, each one she’d tragically lost, and every other weirdo she’d encountered along the way. Not everyone who told her they were psychic truly was after all; some of them were just crackheads or lonely souls. Usually she had something to go on—a news report like Emily, or something she heard down the homeless people’s grapevine. It was amazing how much they knew about their neighborhood. Then sometimes she would just be walking down a road, or sitting in a bar, and she’d get a tingle running through her, a little spark that identified the mind passing close to hers.
Staring out the car window, she tapped her fingers along the armrest. Her mind was just so damn full with everything. Maybe if she could relax, go to a happy place—mentally, anyway. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Usually, she thought about the water. It was relaxing and quiet there, lying on a cliff watching the sunset or watching fat rain plop into an already-overflowing lake. But that time, another vision swirled through her mind: Jason. She wanted happy, and her mind pulled forth the memory of the strength of him, holding himself over her, kissing her deeply; or his arms wrapped around her, keeping her safe while she slept. It was his rich masculine scent, the warmth of his smile, and his damn refusal to let her when she was intent on walking into hell alone. Keila couldn’t hold back the smile that spread across her face.
“What are you smiling about over there?”
Keila felt the blush rise in her cheeks. “Nothing. Just trying to get all this sorted out in my head.”
Jason didn’t look convinced, but he turned his attention back to the road. Although not before she caught the hint of a smile teasing the corner of his mouth.
“So, first order of business then. We need to ditch this car.”
Keila looked over at him. “Why?”
“I may have borrowed it without asking.”
“What? You didn’t?”
Jason grinned. “Well, I know the guy, sort of, but yes. My dear, you have turned me into a felon.”
Keila dropped her head into her hands and groaned.
How could he take such a risk for you? Yeah, because running into a burning building or ambushing a pair of mercs was no
thing.
“Pull over, we’ll get the train. More anonymous than a cab.”
Jason parked, still chuckling at her reaction. True, she had more than one moment in her past where she’d had to hijack a means of transportation, but she drove looking over her shoulder the entire time and switched to something else as soon as possible. Meanwhile, Jason had been cruising along like he didn’t have a care in the world. She may project an air of supreme confidence to the world, but for most of the previous few days, her mind—and her heart—had been in utter turmoil. Jason had completely shaken up her entire being, and she envied him his calm acceptance of her world and the darkness contained within.
She remained silent as they walked to the nearest train stop and merely nodded at the CTA officer as Jason dropped a few coins for their fare. They boarded the train and Keila sat, resting her head on Jason’s shoulder. He lifted her head slightly, wrapped an arm around her, and then pulled her in to rest against his chest.
“You okay?”
Keila closed her eyes. “Just take me home.” Talking would come later; for the time being, she needed to just close her eyes and feel. Jason’s arm around her shoulders took Keila back to her safe place, and she snuggled in, feeling him drop a kiss on the top of her head.
Keila’s eyes flew open as she felt the train shudder to a stop. It felt like seconds had passed, but really it must have been more like thirty minutes at least. Jason gently pulled her to her feet and guided her down the narrow isle. A short walk later, with Jason keeping a close watch on the streets, Keila nearly sleepwalked into his apartment. She was lying on Jason’s bed with his strong arms wrapped around her and her face pressed into his chest.
“So do you want to talk about it now?”
Keila frowned. “Payton. I can’t shake the feeling that I know her somehow.” A memory teased at the corners of her brain and she tried to force it forward, but the image slipped away.
Keila (Dreamcatchers Romantic Suspense Series Book 2) Page 12
