Cross Waves, page 7
Fear rocketed through her system. Whoever manipulated the energy was strong, and they intended to inflict damage. “I think Percy might be here, but we need to move. Now. Something’s not right.” She pushed the thought at Rolf and took off, not waiting to see if he followed.
“Wait,” he shouted behind her.
She didn’t stop running. The colors were too strong to stay still. They needed to get to Percy now. “Someone’s manipulating him. Hurry.”
Energy spheres rushed Geneva from the four corners of the room, hovering so close she could no longer see in front of her. Rolf’s energy. He must have stopped and channeled his enormous power into the room, knowing she could use it to prevent whatever was about to happen. She slowed to a jog, filled her lungs and emptied them, pulling his energy inside, slow and easy, to prevent herself from blowing the roof off the place.
Then she ran again, intent on reaching the opposite side of the building so she could intervene with whatever evil was in progress. She was too far away to determine what kind of negative energy surrounded the amber waves, but she followed the strands. She took two strides forward before her mind met with another color, a dreamy violet. Julia?
Now she ran full out. She heard a shout as she tore down the aisle. The crowd parted as if by magic. Rolf’s magic. Geneva didn’t turn to look at him, but she knew he was right behind her, using the power of his mind to force strangers to step aside, making a path for them. His efforts allowed her to move forward at a faster clip, but it forced him to slow down.
Large, brown energy balls rushed the space in front of her, buzzing and twisting in a frenzied, diabolical dance. She frowned. This wasn’t Rolf’s energy, but there was no time to analyze. She’d need all the power she could get to stop whatever was about to happen. Geneva sucked them inside. She tore through the crowd of patrons now, anxious to reach Percy and Julia and the strange energy and stop whatever was about to happen. An ache formed in her side, but she didn’t quit racing forward, almost tripping over other patrons.
There…by a cardboard box, Julia crouched in an awkward position, searching for something. Geneva twisted and sprinted, but now it was harder to make progress around the crowd of people. Rolf must have lost sight of her.
But she didn’t have time to worry because she was much closer now. Almost close enough to intervene. Julia rose from the first box and moved to the next table, where she squatted and rifled through another box.
Energy shifted and sparkled in the air, drawing Geneva’s attention to Percy, who stood on the opposite side, a considerable distance away. An odd yellow-green-brown surrounded him, blotting out the normal amber color of his aura. Someone else’s talent.
Excitement raced through her veins. Breathe.
Julia no longer dug through boxes. Instead, she talked with a tall man in a yellow security jacket. He grasped her arm and said something. Geneva moved forward, but she was still too far away to hear the conversation. The guard pointed to Julia’s backpack, and she held it out and open. The guard rifled through.
More power wafted through the room, causing the hair on the back of Geneva’s neck to stand at attention. Negative energy. She glanced at Percy. He stood close to Julia, who took a step backward. He grasped her arm and said something. He pulled a hand from his jacket pocket, a glint of metal catching the light. A knife? Geneva’s heart lurched in her chest. What was Percy doing with a knife, and why was it pointed at Julia?
Geneva pushed past the people in front of her, hypnotized by the long, skinny blade flashing in Percy’s hand. Julia appeared to be equally mesmerized, her eyes wide with horror. The object grew larger until it filled the space in front of them. Geneva ran at full speed, but there were too many people. She wouldn’t get to Julia in time. Over the noise of the crowd, a bloodcurdling scream vibrated the air.
“Percy, no, please. Help!”
Geneva flashed a glance to where the security guard stood, but the spot was empty. Where was he? Percy lurched forward, grabbing Geneva’s attention. Julia scrambled backward to avoid the sharp point of his knife. In her haste, she slipped and fell.
“Someone help me,” Julia screamed.
Percy raised the knife above his head. Fear dug grooves in Geneva’s mental armor. She pushed and prodded at the crowd, but it was no use. She needed Rolf. Where was he?
“Please help.”
Now she was almost upon Percy bent over Julia. Geneva hurtled the energy at him. The crowd parted, and Rolf rushed toward her. “No, Geneva, stop. You’ll kill him.”
Geneva glanced from Rolf back to Julia and Percy. Where were they? Where was the knife? All she could see was the security guard in the yellow jacket. She drew back on the ball of energy hurtling toward the nonexistent figures. Too late. The guard dropped to the floor. Dropped like the man who shot and killed her mother. Dropped like…dead. Oh God. Not moving. Dead. Dead. Dead.
What had she done? What the hell had she done?
A tremor shook her body. Icy fingers gripped her heart. Blood. So much blood. So much damn blood.
“She did it. Grab her!” A spectator pointed at Geneva.
A pair of long arms circled her chest, holding her in place. Geneva followed the arms into the face of a stoic security officer.
“I’ve got her.” The officer grabbed her hands behind her back and pulled out a pair of handcuffs.
“Let her go.”
The voice sounded deep and guttural, almost beastly. It took her a moment to realize the voice belonged to Rolf.
The officer’s arms dropped from hers, and instantly, another pair of more powerful arms held her. Rolf’s arms. His voiced settled in her ear, no hint of roughness.
“Steady now. You were targeted with illusion energy. Julia and Percy are not here.”
12
Escape
So it happened. She’d hurt someone, maybe killed him. An innocent civilian. A security guard, who had been knocked cold and carted out on a stretcher, blood dripping from his forehead onto the floor. Like the last time, but she was no longer four years old. They would—should—punish her.
Geneva shivered, but not from the air conditioner pumping out frigid air in the convention center. She hadn’t meant to harm him. She’d thought she was saving Julia from Percy, but that hadn’t been real. It had all been a horrifying illusion.
Rolf’s arms enfolded her into a hard chest and welcome heat. The familiar scent of leather and pine surrounded her.
“I killed him.”
“No, you didn’t. He’ll recover. We gotta get out of here.”
“I can’t just leave him.” Her legs trembled, and she might have stumbled if Rolf didn’t keep her upright.
“A facial wound, that’s all. See the EMT over there?”
Geneva peeked over Rolf’s shoulder to spy a man leaning over the stretcher. “Yes.”
“He’s already ascertained it’s not serious.”
“You hacked into his mind?” At a distance, hackers needed a partner—a trainer like herself—to enter the mind, but not when they were physically close to a target.
Rolf nodded. “Now will you come with me?”
“What about the police? They’ll have questions.”
“Don’t worry about the police. I’ll handle them.”
“Rolf, we’re not above the law. If I’ve injured this man, the CMU will know it. They’ll want me evaluated. You heard Peter. They’re concerned about my latest test results.”
“What happened here isn’t your fault. I told you it was an illusion. They won’t hold you accountable.”
“Maybe not, but I know the truth. This man has a family, maybe children.”
“Geneva, we need to leave now.”
In the end, it wasn’t Rolf’s justification that made up her mind to leave the convention center. It was the red color rolling off him in waves and the unusual dark splotches that kept flashing in and out of his aura. He was having difficulty controlling his energy.
“All right,” she said and turned to face the security officer, who towered over her. Rolf’s earlier command had worn off. He held a pair of handcuffs in one hand. “Ma’am, you’re under arrest.”
“Excuse me, Officer,” Rolf said, the dark light around him intensifying. “She’s coming with me.”
The officer glared at Rolf, but before he could argue, power erupted into the air. For a moment, Geneva thought Rolf’s mental command wasn’t going to work this time. But then the officer’s eyes drooped, and his expression went slack, and he nodded. “Right.”
They didn’t waste any more time then. The thought Rolf implanted under such circumstances would only last so long, and if other officers showed up, even if he used her energy, he wouldn’t be able to hack all of them at the same time. He grabbed one of her hands and practically dragged her back through the cluster of people and out the front doors.
“Rolf, please, I need to catch my breath.”
“Do it at the car. We have to call Peter and explain the situation. Then we need to find Julia and Percy. What just happened in there was a targeted attack. Whoever set the illusion wanted you to lose control.”
Despite Rolf’s punishing pace, she managed to follow him to their rental car. It took her a second to catch her breath, and in that time, he managed to start the engine and call Peter. He put the phone on speaker so he could drive and then peeled out of the parking lot.
“Have you found Julia?” Peter’s voice sounded calm. Normal. He didn’t yet know what had taken place.
“Not yet. Someone knew we would visit the gem show. They used illusion energy on Geneva.” The red halo surrounding Rolf grew until it covered him.
“Is she okay?”
“She’s fine. She’s sitting next to me. You’re on speaker…there’s been a small accident.”
“I don’t like your term, small. That usually means someone screwed up royally. What happened?”
So much for Peter’s calm voice. Geneva could imagine him sitting up straight and tapping his fingers on his desk.
“I thought Percy had a knife and threatened Julia—an illusion,” she said. “It was only a security guard, and he didn’t have a knife. Percy and Julia weren’t actually there, but their energy was, I swear it.”
“You killed the guard?” Now Peter’s tone sounded worried.
“No.”
“Well, that’s a major relief. Why didn’t you start with that first?”
“An injury only. A scratch. It will heal,” Rolf said.
“Geneva, it’s unlike you to mistake someone’s energy. You’ll need to get checked out at Corvey.”
Her stomach did a triple somersault. The Corvey Institution in Chicago was where the CMU brought drained talents and burnt-out hackers to be evaluated for continued service. Her heart pounded, and no amount of deep breaths would settle it. She’d spent time at the Institution as a small child—a nightmare she preferred to forget.
“No.” Rolf growled the word.
Something in his voice had her turning to look at him fully. He stared straight ahead so she couldn’t see into his eyes, but a muscle in his jaw jumped, and the color coming from him was more a grey shadow than red. Where was the customary green color in his aura? Weird.
“Geneva can’t risk using her talent if she’s having trouble maintaining control. Corvey is the best place for her.”
“She’s not going there.”
There was the growl again. His voice vibrated with animal-like intensity—this time, she imagined the rattle of a snake before it struck. Instinctively, she placed a hand on his arm. His skin was hot, his muscles taut. Maybe he was getting sick?
“Give me a good reason why not,” Peter said.
“Whoever did this has Julia and Percy. We have to act quickly, and I need Geneva to find them. Their lives depend on it.”
Something loosened in Geneva’s chest, and she realized she’d been holding her breath for most of the conversation. Rolf wanted her with him. His weird reaction was because he needed her. To find his sister and Percy, not because he cared about her.
“Geneva, what do you have to say?”
Now Rolf did glance her way. The look in his eyes was filled with such intensity. There was fear there, yes, but there was something more, like her answer decided whether he lived or died. Crazy.
She blinked and cleared her throat. “I’m fine. I want to stay with Rolf and find Julia and Percy.”
There was a pause, and Geneva’s pulse raced as she waited for Peter’s decision.
“All right. You’ll stay on the case for now. But it’s risky. The entire program depends on your ability to keep a low profile. We don’t want this reaching the media. If you’re having any problems at all, you need to tell us. We’ll get you help. Understood?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Good. Let me remind you we can’t afford mistakes. If there’s one more incident, it won’t matter if it’s an accident. The decision of where you go won’t be mine to make.”
13
Cabin
Rolf ended the call with Peter, but he didn’t speak or acknowledge her, just continued driving, staring at the road ahead of him. At first, Geneva was too preoccupied with reconstructing the accident and wondering if she could have prevented it to care. But after they’d been driving north for a long while, she realized they’d passed Sedona and hadn’t gotten off the exit for Flagstaff.
“What are we doing?”
He glanced her way long enough for her to register the distant look in his eyes. “Giving you time to recover.”
“I’m fine. Where are we headed?”
“A place I know. You’ll be safe there.”
“Safe? We need to find Julia and Percy.”
“We will.”
Geneva sighed. Sometimes she thought Rolf was deliberately dense. “Why would you think they’re in Flagstaff?”
“I don’t.”
Irritation burned a pathway through her veins. “Enough with the secrecy, already. I’ll try and trace them.”
“There’s no need.”
“Why not?” Did he think they’d magically appear?
“A hunch. I’ll tell you more once we get there.”
She sighed and looked out the window, as Rolf pulled into a long driveway with a rustic little A-frame log cabin at the end. The front was all windows. Someone had chopped firewood and stored it under either side of the small porch. A hot tub sat off to the side. Any other time, she would have appreciated its quaintness, but not while her best friend was still missing. “Does anyone live here? It looks empty.”
He parked the car in front of the porch. “It’s empty. But it’s stocked with food, and there are linens and towels in the closet. C’mon, let’s get inside.”
It didn’t take them long to walk up the short steps and open the keypad at the front door. The inside had all the charm of the outside. A table with bench seating sat in one corner. In the other, a couch and overstuffed recliner were clustered around a coffee table in front of a stone fireplace. A marble chess game sat on the coffee table. She placed her hand on a fluffy white blanket draped on the back of the recliner. If they weren’t so desperate to find Julia, she’d like nothing better than to curl inside its warmth and nap. “This place is nice.”
She turned to see Rolf shut the door and flick on a lamp. “Yes.”
If she didn’t know better, she’d almost think he enjoyed having her here. But she did know better. “Who’s the owner?”
“Me.”
Somehow she’d guessed it as soon as she spied the chess pieces on the coffee table. Rolf was an avid chess player. “I’m not going to ask when you bought a cabin in Flagstaff.”
“I bought it a few years ago. Julia’s not the only one who likes to come to Arizona.”
“Why are we here, Rolf?” She focused on his aura. It seemed normal, but a whisper of red signaled he was on edge.
“We’re waiting.”
“Do you really think whoever has Julia and Percy is just going to show up here?”
He smiled, and the sight was so unexpected for a moment she couldn’t breathe. “Yes, I do.”
She narrowed her gaze, but that didn’t stop him from moving toward her.
“What…what are you doing?” Her pulse pounded, and heat raced up her spine.
He grabbed her hand and tugged her toward the recliner. “Getting you comfortable.” He pushed her gently down onto the recliner, then grabbed the blanket and tucked it around her. Did his hands linger a moment too long? The unexpected gesture nearly had her melting.
She narrowed her gaze. Had he read her mind earlier? Is that why he covered her in the blanket? Or maybe it was her own wishful thinking. She drew her energy inward.
He took the couch opposite, stretching his long legs in front of him.
She leaned forward. “Rolf, why do you think Julia and Percy’s kidnappers will follow us to this remote cabin?”
He rubbed the back of his neck and then ran a hand through his dark locks. He looked tired. Apparently, neither of them had gotten enough sleep last night.
“I think they want you. Or more accurately, they want your talent.”
She tried to speak, but her voice cracked, so she whispered. “Why?”
“Whoever’s behind the attacks knows your ability is off the charts. That makes your talent a very valuable commodity on the black market. If they can store it in their crystals, they’ll have buyers—lots of them.”
She clutched her hands in her lap. “You think they can force me to give it to them?”
“Yes. But first, they’ll have to kidnap you. And to do that, they’ll need to get through me.”
“Is that why they kidnapped Percy and Julia, then? For their energy?”
