Cross Waves, page 14
“The lady? Once a day, I think. I mean, it’s hard to tell one day from the next, but it seems like once a day to bring food.” She paused. “I heard the lady call you Rolf. Is that your name?”
“Yes.”
“I like you. She likes you, too. That’s why she called you by name.”
“Is that what you think? I’m not so sure she did it out of kindness.”
“What do you mean?”
“I suspect she knew my remembering would be painful. Debilitating. She wanted me off-balance so I wouldn’t try to escape.”
“I never thought of that. Could you have escaped?”
“Maybe. If I had known what came next, I would have tried. Have you never tried to escape the dark?”
The woman moved away from him. Rolf thought maybe she wouldn’t answer. But she did. “Not in a long time. If you’re caught, they make you pay. You’re better off staying put.”
“What happened when you tried?”
The woman’s energy changed, shifted, drew inward. He grew better at reading her. Especially since she had touched him, taking away his pain. “I remembered.”
Her sadness filled him. “Your brother. The one they killed. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I’m glad I remembered him. Worth the pain.”
“That’s how I feel about…” He wouldn’t go there. Couldn’t afford the suffering the memory brought with it. Too late. “Her.” He struggled to draw breath. Steel knives sliced into his brain, and he screamed in agony.
26
Red Alert
Flames licked at the bedding beside Julia. Peter continued shouting from the cell phone. Geneva ignored him. She focused on the ball of fire, searching and finding the thread of energy at its center. Whoever had done this hadn’t counted on Geneva being in the room. It didn’t take her long to determine the pattern in her own energy waves and counteract them until the fiery flames diminished and winked out of existence.
She turned to Julia, who had been swatting at the growing flames with a wet washcloth she had retrieved from the bathroom. “Are you all right?”
“Yes.” She gasped, her big, brown eyes wide in her white face. “My God, Geneva. If you hadn’t been here, I’d have been toast.”
“What the hell’s going on?” Peter still shouted through the phone.
Geneva grabbed it from the floor where she had dropped it. “We’re okay.” She projected calm into her voice. “Looks like whoever did this was after Julia. At least now we know how he’s doing it and who’s involved.”
“What do you mean?”
Geneva held the crystal for Julia to see. “It’s the crystals. Grimshaw’s figured out how to trap my energy in them. He apparently stole my energy and trapped it in a crystal when I was in the Institution. But something went wrong, or whoever’s orchestrating this in the government got suspicious, so he let me go.
Julia stared at her, a look of horror on her face.
“Don’t you see? Grimshaw’s the Gemcatcher. That’s how he has the crystals. And now he has Rolf. We need to find Grimshaw and squeeze the truth out of him. If I don’t kill him first.”
Peter’s sigh was audible through the phone. “I’m afraid it’s impossible.”
“What do you mean?”
“Grimshaw was found in his lab at the Institution about thirty minutes ago—dead. There’s no sign of foul play. He left a note. Official word is suicide. He shot himself in the head.”
Rolf sat in a chair the woman offered and peered into the darkness. He had grown accustomed to the absence of light. Fitting.
Anger, hot and dark, moved in his gut, promising retribution on those who would harm him. Or Her. The woman he had remembered.
He clung to his control with a tenuous thread. According to legend, no matter how hard he fought the transformation, the dark energy would overtake him, causing him to lose all compassion for mankind. Death and destruction would follow to those he cared about. It was his fate. Why fight it? Why not let it fill him, strengthen him in his time of need? Despite her abilities, Cynthia could have no concept of the beast raging inside and the lengths it would go to protect itself.
He stretched his hands above his head. Ever since his companion had lain warm hands on him, his limbs did not feel so much like limp rags, either. The food in his belly helped, too. With his basic bodily necessities taken care of, Rolf could think.
He wrapped his arms across his chest and considered his options. There weren’t many. Stay here in the dark and be drained of his energy daily. Or find a way to escape. He would find a way to escape. But first, he needed to determine who or what Cynthia was and why she needed his energy.
If only he could remember. Her. He didn’t dare explore who she was, the tantalizing glimpse he’d remembered of a woman who held an important place in his life, lest the paralyzing pain return. Still, he clung to the memory like a homeless man to the first real food he’s had in weeks.
His temple throbbed—a warning. What had they drugged him with, he and the woman who sat next to him and shared his prison? Was it in the shot Cynthia gave him or maybe in their food or water?
The woman stirred next to him. She never stayed silent long. “What are you thinking?”
He turned toward her voice, although he couldn’t see a thing. “We will find a way to escape.”
“There is no way out. I’ve tried. The only exit is the one Cynthia came through, and the door is steel and locked.”
“We’ll overpower her.”
The woman made a sound of disgust. “She can’t be overpowered. You saw what she can do. There’s no escape. They’ll kill us first.”
He shook his head. “They won’t kill us. They need us.”
“They’ll separate us.” The woman’s voice trembled. She clutched his arm, her grip strong. “I can’t go back to being alone. I can’t.”
Rolf covered her hand with his own. Despite his weariness and the dark eating away at his insides, he sent her a soothing image of being home surrounded by friends. “You won’t be alone. I promise. But I do need your assistance to overcome our captors. To escape. Will you help me?”
Her hand warmed in his. He could sense the fear pounding through her veins. She must not refuse him. He cracked the door in his mind again, giving her a taste of the connection she craved.
She shuddered. “Yes.”
Satisfaction bloomed, and he allowed her a brief glimpse of himself before shutting off his mind. He drew a slow breath, lest his next thought bring a return of the crippling pain he’d endured when he’d remembered. Her. The slim blonde in his vision. The woman he wanted above all others. His reason to stay alive—to escape. The only thing keeping him from letting the dark overtake him.
27
Watched
Pallbearers dressed in dark suits wheeled a white coffin etched in gold into the Everlasting Cemetery on Chicago’s north side. It had been four days since Grimshaw’s death, supposedly by his own hand. Four days of grueling interviews at CMU headquarters about Percy and the doctor’s deaths, frantic calls to her brothers, and desperate and useless attempts to track Rolf to wherever he was being held. Four days of a mounting emptiness and little sleep.
Hoping she’d find another clue that would lead to Rolf and to bring what little comfort she could to Percy’s family, Geneva had attended Percy’s calling hours in Cleveland yesterday, then caught an early morning flight to Chicago to attend Dr. Grimshaw’s funeral. Her gaze caught the pile of fresh soil next to the gravesite. The man who took away her childhood was about to be buried. The pristine coffin would soon be covered with black soil.
Who was responsible for Dr. Grimshaw’s death? Was Grimshaw the Gemcatcher, or was there someone else? Geneva had imagined Dr. Grimshaw dead on many occasions. He’d given her the creeps ever since she was a child, forced to endure his endless tests. She’d wished him gone. But never had she imagined his death by his own hand.
“Are you getting anything?” Julia whispered next to her. When Geneva decided to attend Grimshaw’s funeral, Julia insisted on joining her. Her nightmares had accelerated with Grimshaw’s and Percy’s deaths, and she wanted answers. Dream talents could be endlessly patient while they wrestled with the images burned into their brain nightly.
Geneva shook her head. “Rolf, where are you?”
For what could have been the hundredth time, she called to him, her psychic senses on full throttle. If he heard her, there was no acknowledgment. Grimshaw hadn’t been suicidal the last time Geneva had seen him. But his aura had been regretful. He hadn’t wanted to let Geneva go. Did the government make him? Had government men held him at gunpoint and made it look like suicide?
The reverend recited a brief prayer, his monotone voice carrying across the bowed heads of the congregation. Geneva closed her eyes and placed her mind in the center of the colors. She searched for a thread of the unique shade of green she associated with Rolf. Nothing. Of course, emotions were high in the crowd. The range of colors she saw in her mind were more intense and varied. That’s why she almost missed the flash of blue-black. There one moment and gone the next, lost within dozens of other, similar colors.
Had she imagined it? She opened her eyes to peer around the graveyard, her searching gaze zeroing in on a tall man in a dark suit some distance to the right and behind them. A hacker. She didn’t allow herself to stare, of course, but bounced off the figure, pretending she didn’t notice his interest in her and Julia. In the brief glance, she noticed a full head of black hair and a beard. Her gaze swept the remainder of the guests before landing on the preacher.
She inclined her head toward Julia and whispered. “We’re being watched.”
Julia’s spine stiffened.
The suited man’s eyes drilled holes in Geneva’s profile, but she pretended not to notice. Did he suspect her of murdering Grimshaw? Her partners in the CMU were a suspicious lot and well-aware of her abilities. Geneva would not put it past them to have her investigated. And she had been with Grimshaw before his death. Was she under suspicion for his death?
Hurt filled her chest. She’d given the last eight years of her life to the CMU. Put herself in danger over and over again. Would she ever be trusted? Could she even trust herself? And now Rolf was in grave danger, and she had no idea how to save him.
She bit her lip. Even if she saved Rolf, he would never care for her. She swallowed the large lump in her throat, threatening to detonate, spilling into the space surrounding her. “Rolf, where are you?”
“By who?” Julia interrupted her thoughts.
For a second, Geneva forgot what they discussed. Then she remembered the man in the suit. “Don’t look now, but there’s a man with black hair and beard in a dark suit about five o’clock behind and to the right. He’s watching us. I have no idea who sent him. Probably the CMU. They know my skills—what I’m capable of.”
Julia squeezed her hand. “Why would they think you killed Grimshaw? I was with you when we last saw Dr. Grimshaw, remember? I’ll testify that you left Corvey, and I was by your side the whole time.”
Green-blue energy waves rolled from Julia’s hands to hers. Geneva’s heart swelled. Words were meaningless. Plenty of people said one thing and meant another. Auras, on the other hand, never lied. Julia’s aura indicated her deep pride and faith in Geneva. “Thanks, Julia.”
Together, they watched the funeral workers lower the casket into the ground, and the assembly dispersed. They followed the rest of the guests back to their cars. All the while, Geneva did her best to ignore the intense mix of blue and black coming from the man who followed them.
Dark energy stirred in Rolf’s gut, grew and strengthened, pouring from his hands and into the crystals. One part of his mind watched. The other part hungered for violence.
Cynthia had returned. Even with the energy his fellow prisoner fed him, he hadn’t been able to prevent Cynthia’s ability to disarm them both. He’d never heard or seen anything like it. And Rolf had encountered a lot of unusual talents in his career. That’s one thing he’d regained. A bit of memory about his former work. And his partner. The woman with the golden hair. Geneva. He endured the next few minutes by allowing his mind to trace and retrace his precious memory of her.
Hard to believe he’d forgotten her. Her light and beauty and grace. A familiar urge to link his mind to hers stuck hard. He ached to bind them so close together they could communicate without words.
Thank God he hadn’t. She would be enduring his torment right now.
His thoughts returned to the present moment, where darkness poured from his hands, reminding him what he could never do—link her to a monster like himself. Geneva deserved more, much more than he could offer.
His heartbeat slowed and head lightened. Cynthia was a vampire, greedy for every last drop. She smiled wide, her teeth perfectly spaced and white. The only thing missing were fangs. Stealing his energy made her happy—deliriously so. Maybe this was the way it would end for him? Drained of all his energy and left to die, a shell of what he once was. He almost welcomed death.
But today wasn’t the day, because Cynthia told him to stop, and his mind obeyed her. What was in the drug she gave him that allowed her to command his obedience? He watched, detached, as if he were a spectator and not the patient. Cynthia nabbed the crystals. They glowed for an instant before disappearing in the pocket of her dress. She paused, turning to him. She ran her fingers through his hair.
Her gaze flicked once toward the large mirror and back to him. Someone stood outside the window, watching. Who was it? Someone Cynthia trusted. He must be able to see inside. Could he hear them, too?
Cynthia drew her hand back and spoke, her voice so soft he had to strain to hear her. Yes, whoever was outside could hear. That’s why Cynthia whispered. She did not want to be overheard. “We could be so good together, Rolf, you and me. Can’t you feel it?”
She paused. What did she want him to say? Being held prisoner wasn’t a turn-on. Rolf stayed silent.
Cynthia continued. “I know you want me. What if I told you that you can have me—when this is all over—when you’re free. I’ll come for you. We can be together.”
He breathed in. Cynthia smelled like sex. The dark in him grew stronger, overtaking his humanity. Why not take what Cynthia offered? It would be an easy route to freedom, wouldn’t it?
Because, his conscience argued, there was another. Another with hair the color of sunshine. Another who made him want to be better than what he was. A woman he’d protect with his last dying breath.
“Think about it.” Cynthia leaned forward, pressing her warm lips to his. He didn’t respond. She drew back. “We could be so good together.”
She started to leave but stopped and turned around. “I’ll be back.” She laughed, the sound slithering over him. “Don’t go anywhere.”
He lay there for a time after her departure, considering. It was a dangerous game he played. Could he make Cynthia believe he’d fallen for her? Already the dark energy grew powerful. So powerful, it might overtake him. Would his memory of Geneva be enough to hold it at bay?
28
Setup
“You’re becoming too attached to the subject.” Gemcatcher watched Cynthia through his dark sunglasses and dropped his menu. They’d agreed to meet for breakfast. Not unusual. When Cynthia came to town, they often met for breakfast in a different hip restaurant in D.C. to share news before the start of their busy day. This time she’d chosen a fancy café that served the best fresh-squeezed orange juice he’d tasted in some time.
“What do you mean attached?” Cynthia eyed him across the table, puzzlement written in a fine line across her forehead.
The waiter came to the table. Gemcatcher’s left eye twitched. He fought the urge to place a finger under his glasses to stop it from moving. No one could see it under his shades, he reminded himself. He hated that damn twitch. He’d be glad when all this ended, and he and Cynthia could enjoy the fruits of their labor.
The waiter delivered their orders and departed. Gemcatcher shook his head and murmured so he’d not be overheard. “I see the way you look at him.”
“I don’t know what you mean.” She stared at her scrambled eggs, ignoring him.
“Like you could devour him whole.”
Cynthia blushed. She blushed, dammit. Did she have any idea how much it pissed him off?
“You exaggerate. I—I admit I find him attractive. What woman wouldn’t? He’s got those dark, brooding looks and angel eyes.”
Now she raised one shoulder like it didn’t matter. But of course, it mattered. Everything mattered. She ought to know that by now.
She opened her mouth and words came out. Silly words. She had no idea how her words made him want to heave his plate across the table.
She stuck her chin out. “He’s built like a model. It’s hard not to check out the goods.”
He gritted his teeth. “You need to keep your head focused on the job at hand. We cannot afford any mistakes. Do you understand?”
“Yes.” Her voice came out soft and submissive as he preferred.
He nodded, shook out his white cloth napkin, smoothed it over his charcoal-gray pants. “Good. You need to do the job and get out. No flirting or touching. Got it?”
“Yes.”
Gemcatcher wasn’t fooled. The minute his back was turned, Cynthia would be all over the hacker. She had the look women get when they’re desperate for a man. He smelled it on her. When they had what they needed from Rolf, the hacker must be eliminated. Hell, Rolf was a dark one. He’d be doing a public service for the CMU.
