Cross Waves, page 23
He tumbled from the car, landing on the ground on all fours. Fire. He was on fire. Dark energy poured from his body. The grass under his hands and feet faded and disappeared.
He stood and wrapped his arms around his middle as if the motion could keep the dark energy contained. “Where are you?” he roared. “Answer me!”
He could not let the dark rule. It had no mind, no feelings. It craved light. Hers. It could find Geneva, but it could not save her from him. Only he could do that. “Answer me. By God, Geneva, answer me now.”
Jesus, he’d never been so helpless in his life. In his mind, a tunnel formed, disappeared, reappeared. A woman screamed.
“Rolf, Rolf!”
Rolf hovered at the edge of the portal, sensing the cloying presence of the hacker like a poison in Geneva’s mind. He almost lost it. Her pain. His pain. He couldn’t tell them apart. On and on and on Geneva screamed in his head, calling to him, an endless cry for help.
The dark side of his nature demanded he answer the call. Commanded him to enter and destroy. But it’s what his enemy wanted, wasn’t it? To let the dark consume him? To enter her mind and stamp out every bit of light?
This was what they all believed of him. His comrades in the CMU, Peter, Cynthia, Gemcatcher. That the dark would overpower his control. That he was or would soon become a hardened psychopath. Why disappoint them?
He gritted his teeth. Because Geneva believed in him. Not a speck of fear constrained her love and admiration. She believed in his goodness. Believed he would rescue her. Believed in his strength to contain the dark forces that drove him. She loved him without condition. He would not fail her now.
For her, he could do it. He would do it. He’d conquer the dark. He’d find a way to save her and himself.
He filled his lungs with air. He managed a logical thought. How had the hacker broken into Geneva’s mind without Rolf knowing?
The truth exploded in Rolf’s consciousness with all the force of a nuclear weapon, dazzling in its audacity. God, the hacker had tricked them both by using dark energy—his. Because the hacker was Gemcatcher. That had to be it. He had access to the crystals and the knowledge of how to use them.
Rolf straightened, the darkness once again contained. If Gemcatcher was the hacker, why had he not tunneled through the portal and into Rolf’s mind before Geneva eliminated the mind link? Any normal hacker would have used the portal to seize control. But Gemcatcher hadn’t. Why?
Unless—Rolf frowned. Unless Gemcatcher wasn’t an experienced mind hacker? Maybe he wasn’t a mind hacker at all. He wouldn’t need to be one. He had the crystals filled with dark energy. But how had he activated them?
Another thought struck, a second atomic bomb, leaving destruction in its wake. Kaitlyn. She had done it. She was a trainer. She’d assisted Gemcatcher. Why hadn’t he put it together before now? Gemcatcher hadn’t believed Rolf was capable of controlling the dark energy long enough to figure it out. Hell, not surprising. Rolf hadn’t trusted himself.
Kaitlyn had hated Geneva the moment she understood Rolf’s need of her. Was insanely jealous, especially after she learned Rolf and Geneva would share a hotel room. Kaitlyn must have contacted Gemcatcher and made a bargain with Rolf as the prize.
So Kaitlyn gave Gemcatcher safe passage into Geneva’s mind. Of course, she did. That’s why Gemcatcher didn’t need to be nearby. With a trainer establishing a portal and his energy in the crystals, Gemcatcher could be any number of places. That also explained why Geneva hadn’t sensed psychic energy coming from the factory.
Now Gemcatcher had seized control of Geneva’s mind. He used her as bait to lure Rolf into a trap. Once Gemcatcher had both of them under his control, he’d kill them. He’d probably told Kaitlyn he’d hand Rolf over to become her little plaything, ensuring her cooperation. Except Gemcatcher had no intention of handing him over to anyone. No, there was no way Gemcatcher planned to keep either Geneva or Rolf alive. He wanted them dead. If they remained alive, Gemcatcher’s identity could be discovered, and both he and Cynthia could be captured and imprisoned.
Rolf opened his eyes and looked toward the driver’s seat. He was careful to avoid glancing toward the back lest the sight of Geneva excite the darkness. Where had Kaitlyn disappeared to? Had she gone into hiding? She’d be somewhere close. She’d have to be for Gemcatcher to control Geneva.
He cracked the windows, grabbed his flashlight in case he needed it, and locked the car, searching the open landscape for Kaitlyn. His gaze settled on a spot in the distance, where a figure disappeared into the abandoned factory. He didn’t waste more time thinking. Who knew how much time he had before Gemcatcher decided to cut his losses and kill Geneva? Terror filled his belly, stirring the cauldron of darkness.
He ran after Kaitlyn.
41
Illusion
Rolf had ample time to study the red brick building as he ran toward its entrance. Most of the windows were missing. A lone shutter hung in one opening. Trees grew out of the roof, bushes surrounded the building, and ivy grew on its sides. The entrance he and Kaitlyn had fled through a few short weeks ago looked as dark and ominous as he remembered, like a yawning mouth wanting to swallow him whole. What had the factory produced once upon a time? Bricks, bullets, steel? The rotting exterior gave no clue.
The wail of police sirens sounded in the distance. Rolf didn’t hesitate but ducked through the dark opening and eyed the steps to the lower level. Something scurried in the darkness. A rat? Was this another trap designed to lure him back to the dark room where he’d been held prisoner? Would Cynthia be near, ready to zap his energy?
Geneva had failed to detect Cynthia’s presence, he reminded himself. Even so, he turned left instead of heading to the basement lab. Rolf imagined even a lunatic would avoid the prison where they’d been trapped.
He rounded a corner. His intuition paid off. Footsteps sounded in the distance. With Geneva in danger, he wouldn’t chance using dark energy to walk through walls. Instead, he listened, moving at a rapid pace. When the footsteps continued, he pushed with his mind. “Come to me.”
The footsteps stopped and started again.
He waited a beat. “I need you. Don’t hide from me.”
He moved toward the noise. “Why do you run? Don’t you want to be together?”
Rolf stopped, straining his ears for any sound leading to her presence. “They will kill me, you know. They can’t afford to allow me to live. I know too much and can’t be trusted not to turn them into the authorities. Is that what you want? My death?”
“No! No, never.” The footsteps stopped again.
“Come out from wherever you are hiding.”
“I…I can’t. They told me not to.”
“Since when do you listen to what they tell you? I thought you and I were friends.”
“We are! Yes, we are, Rolf. More than friends. You’re mine. They promised.”
“You can’t trust their promises, Kaitlyn. They plan to kill me. More than likely, they’ll kill you, too. Don’t hide from me. Let’s talk like we did back when it was the two of us locked in the basement. You do remember how we used to talk, don’t you?”
A rustle came from his left side. He turned, shining the flashlight in her wild eyes. He had her now.
“Oh, Rolf.” She twisted herself into his side. “You’re mine. Forget about the girl. Forget her. You don’t want her. She doesn’t understand the dark. She doesn’t appreciate the man you are.”
She entwined her hand in his, rubbing herself against him. “Not like I do.”
He squeezed her hand until she gasped. “You think I care about that? You allowed Gemcatcher entrance into her mind, dammit. Wake her. Now, before it’s too late.”
“I can’t, Rolf. The angry one has her. He’ll kill me.”
He growled deep in his throat. Dark energy leaked from his pores. He wrestled with the beast and won, pulling his energy back inside in the nick of time.
Kaitlyn twisted in his arms, entwining her hands around his shoulders. “They said you would do it. You’d go to her. They said you would try to rescue her and fail. You would be mine. Why didn’t you do what they said? Why aren’t you mine?”
He pushed at her mind again. “Because they’re liars. They thought I’d allow the dark to rule. But I don’t. They planned to kill me. They would have never handed me over to you. Aren’t you angry they lied? As they lied about harming your brother, Kyle.”
She moaned, the sound echoing through the long hallway. “They took my brother from me. He went mad.”
“Yes, I know. That’s why you should stop them. Make them pay for what they’ve done. You and I will punish them together. Allow me entrance into Geneva’s mind without Gemcatcher knowing.”
“But I can’t.”
He grabbed her hands from around his shoulders and squeezed. “Yes, Kaitlyn. You can. You’re an illusionist, aren’t you? Create an illusion he’ll believe.”
Kaitlyn Girard was one heck of a trainer, Geneva thought, in the brief moment of clarity before the senator inflicted another bout of torture. She breathed in and did her best to calm her racing heart. To conserve her energy.
Trainers were anesthesiologists administering a potent drug. They had to channel the exact amount of energy needed to hack into a mind. Too much and the target would be aware and eject the hacker, possibly killing them in the process. Too little and the hacker would be trapped in a mind forever until their physical body wasted away. In these cases, it was not uncommon for the trainer to be sucked inside the target’s mind, too.
Kaitlyn managed to eject the proper amount of energy into the mix to allow Senator Torra entrance into Geneva’s head. Geneva recognized Kaitlyn’s energy the minute the senator hacked into her mind. And he wasn’t budging, no matter how much Geneva tried to make him leave. All she got for her efforts were a splitting headache and less oxygen. Seemed the senator’s favorite form of torture was cutting off her air supply. When Rolf failed to enter her mind using dark energy, the senator made sure she suffered for it.
Geneva lost track of how long or often she screamed for Rolf to come. In real time, perhaps a few minutes. But it could have been hours. No matter how long or often she screamed his name, he never answered her call. The senator paced.
“Where is he? He should be here by now.”
“He’ll come.” Geneva wasn’t at all sure that was true. But she needed to sound convincing, or the senator might decide to cut his losses and wipe her mind. If that happened, she’d end up in a coma, unlikely to recover.
“I underestimated him. He’s not as enthralled with you as I thought.”
“He loves me. He’ll come. I know he will.”
The senator stopped walking. “No. I don’t believe it. He would be here by now. Makes for an interesting dilemma.”
“No, please. Give him another minute.”
The senator moved toward her, his face tight with tension. “Time’s up.” His hands reached for her neck. Of course, Geneva knew he didn’t reach for her. Her mind created pictures so her brain could process what was taking place inside her physical body. The senator cut off the part of her brain controlling her air supply. This was it. This was how she would go out.
Odd, now the moment of her death was upon her, all Geneva could feel was calm. She’d fight. Of course, she’d fight. She twisted her head from side to side and placed her hands over his to loosen his grasp. His hands didn’t budge. Her windpipe constricted and closed. White spots appeared in front of her eyes. Her vision narrowed and shrank. That’s why she didn’t see the dark shape next to her until the last second.
The senator released her neck, and she gasped for air through her bruised throat. “Rolf, look out,” she croaked. She doubted whether Rolf could hear her.
Too late. The senator pointed a wicked looking shotgun toward Rolf. His eyes were twin mirrors of evil, calculating his next move. “I knew it was a matter of time before you’d appear, Dark Master.”
Rolf glanced her way. His eyes appeared cold and blank. He’d looked at her like this once before, she recalled, in the coffee shop. Of course, it had been an illusion. She let out a gasp, reining the thought in before it could expand and alert the senator. He was so focused on Rolf, he failed to notice her agitation.
The senator fired his gun. The sound bounced off the surrounding hills. A giant red spot appeared on Rolf’s chest. He toppled to the ground.
Oh God. It looked real. Not an illusion at all. A piercing scream echoed over the cliff. Her scream.
The senator stood over Rolf, the shotgun near his dark head. Before he fired, he flicked a glance Geneva’s way to make sure she watched, a look of glee on his face. He returned his attention to his victim. “Goodbye, Rolf Jorgensen. I can’t say I’ll miss you.”
“Good, since you won’t have to.”
The voice. The voice didn’t come from the fallen man on the ground, who faded and disappeared. No, the voice came from behind the senator, calm and in control, no speck of dark energy present.
Rolf thrust a powerful arm around the senator’s neck. The senator let out a gurgle. That was all he could manage.
Rolf was speaking, spitting out words like bullets. “The great Senator Torra. I should have guessed you were the mysterious Gemcatcher. How does it feel not to be able to breathe, you coward?”
The senator’s eyes widened, his face a mottled red.
“Not good? I didn’t think so.”
Rolf turned to Geneva, his gaze raking over her body. Looking for signs of damage? He lifted his gaze to her face. “Do you think he’s trying to tell us something?”
Geneva didn’t know if Rolf expected an answer. But she gave him a thumbs-up sign because it was all she could manage. In response, Rolf let up on the senator’s windpipe.
“Please, please.”
“Please, what? Please don’t kill you? Show you mercy you wouldn’t have shown to either one of us?” Black light encircled Rolf’s broad form.
Oh God. Rolf wouldn’t make it. After all this time, the dark would win—was winning.
Rolf turned to her, his face a grim mask of anger, revenge, murder? He raised a brow. “What? He deserves to die for what he did to you, doesn’t he?”
“Yes.” She kept her tone steady. “But you’d be like him then, wouldn’t you?” Her voice cracked. She could no longer control the tremor in it. She found herself doing something she never thought she would. Begging to save an evil man’s life. Not for the sake of the evil man, no. But for the sake of Rolf, who would not survive the killing whole. His soul would be crushed in the process. “Please, Rolf. Don’t do it. Don’t let the dark win.”
Rolf stared, his eyes devoid of emotion. Her heart sprang a leak, drowning her hopes for a bright future.
She’d lost, hadn’t she? Rolf would kill the senator. The dark side of his nature demanded it. He’d kill and be killed. Nothing she could do. Unless—she straightened—unless she ejected him and the senator from her mind. She could do it, couldn’t she? The senator no longer had control. He couldn’t stop her. Rolf was so intent on killing the senator, he’d not yet assumed control. But Rolf and the senator would be killed when she ejected them. Unless she projected the proper amount of energy—enough to close the portal but not enough to inflict damage as they transitioned back to their physical bodies.
Rolf had focused his attention on the senator. She had a few seconds. She’d run out of time. Deep breath in, a snap as the portal disconnected, a shout, and total darkness.
42
Rescue
Her brothers found her first. Geneva opened her eyes to see relief and something else in theirs. Fear? She lay stretched across the back seat of the rental car. Rolf and Kaitlyn were nowhere in sight.
“Where is he? Where’s Rolf?” Nate asked.
“I’m not sure.” Her voice came out in a whisper.
“Was he here? Did he do this to you?” Danny asked.
She attempted to rise. Why was she so weak? “Not Rolf. I will find him. Please, let me go.”
“You’re going nowhere.” Nate pushed her back against the seat, his expression grim. “You’re in no condition. We need to get you to a hospital. Then we need to find the son of a bitch and strangle him.”
Geneva managed to raise her head. The tiny movement radiated pain through her skull. “Not Rolf. Gemcatcher. Senator Torra. Dead. Make sure.”
“What are you saying? We’ll find Jorgensen. I promise. The son of a bitch is a dark master. He deserves to die for how he’s mistreated you.”
“No.” She gasped, a thousand arrows splitting her skull. She flattened her hands against her ears as if it might stop the ringing. “You—you don’t understand. Gemcatcher, it’s Senator Torra. He’s stealing our energy. Stores it in synthetic crystals to sell. He stole Rolf’s energy. Used it to hack—” a wretched dry cough interrupted her speech— “into my mind. He almost killed me. Rolf saved me.”
The brothers exchanged glances. Streaks of navy bounced between them.
“We can see what he did,” Danny said. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll find him. Don’t worry.”
Geneva gazed into Danny’s gray eyes, so much like her own. “You don’t believe me. You think Rolf—” Another spasm of coughing interrupted her words.
“That’s enough. You’ve suffered a shock,” Nate said. “The ambulance is here. They’re going to take you to the Cleveland Clinic.”
Beyond Nate’s head, Geneva could see flashing lights from the ambulance parked nearby. The driver had turned off the siren.
Nate tried to pull out of the car to let the crew inside, but she grabbed a hold of his shirt with what remained of her strength and twisted.
“Listen, listen to me.”
“Geneva…”
“Please. Rolf could be hurt or worse. He’s a good man. He rescued me from Senator Torra. Stood between me and death. He hasn’t turned. He won’t as long as I’m alive. Give him a chance. Go after Senator Torra.” Tears glistened in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. “Promise me. Promise me you’ll save him.”
