Walker, page 1
Walker
Terk’s Guardians, Book 5
Dale Mayer
Books in This Series:
Radar, Book 1
Legend, Book 2
Bojan, Book 3
Langdon, Book 4
Walker, Book 5
Reid, Book 6
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
About This Book
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Epilogue
About Reid
Author’s Note
About the Author
Copyright Page
About This Book
Having precog abilities didn’t guarantee having answers, but it did mean Walker knew when trouble was in a specific area. In this case it was Finland and involved someone associated with Levi and a friend to Walker. So he wants in on this job – even if Levi doesn’t have a job there. Yet. However, a quick phone call to Terk confirms Walker’s suspicions. And he’s already on the move.
Ashley’s life should have eased up with her move to Finland, but that same wariness creeping back in her life made her feel hunted once again. A strong healer, she helped those who showed up on her doorstep, telling them that she believed the healing energy brought them to her.
However, she’d long ago learned that not everyone who showed up at her house wanted the best for her. So, when Walker shows up, she’s not sure what to believe, but it’s quickly all too clear that her life is in danger.
Should she trust Walker? No, but she has to make a choice, and the wrong one could kill her …
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Prologue
Riff sat across the table and stared at Terk, the others quietly watching. “So, what? Did you get anywhere?”
“It’s still in progress,” Tasha noted, from his side. “It’s not been all that easy to find information.”
“That’s because we’re sitting here,” Riff snapped, “doing nothing.”
“It’s true that we are here, and sitting, but we’re certainly not doing nothing,” Terk clarified. “You also know that things happen in their own time.”
Riff glared at him. “Sounds like an excuse to me.”
At that, Terk shot him a look and took a breath. “Come on, Riff. It’s not an excuse, and you and I both know it.”
“Yes, but I’m damn impatient.”
“I know, with good cause. We’re also getting a lot of phone calls from Angela.”
Riff frowned at that and looked off in the distance.
“What’s the relationship between you two?”
“Complex,” he snapped.
At that, several people around the table laughed.
“Yeah, that’s something we’ve all dealt with,” Terk shared, with a smile. “It doesn’t necessarily wash though.”
“Fine,” Riff grumbled. “I’ll wait a little bit longer.”
“And Angela?” Celia asked, patting her belly. “She seems to think she will be needed.”
Riff winced.
“If she is, you would be the best bet to contact her,” Terk suggested to Riff, but Riff seemed to want to be anywhere but here. “I understand that she’s very, very good at what she does.”
“Is she like us?” Cara asked, looking at Riff intently. He gave her a reluctant nod. “She’s a healer then?” Cara and Clary looked over at Riff with interest.
“We can always use more healers.” Clary liked that prospect.
“You don’t want her,” Riff declared.
“Why is that?” she asked.
“She’ll organize your life away,” he replied, with a wave of his hand. “She’ll get in your face, and you won’t know whether you’re coming or going.”
At that, Cara nodded slowly. “I see.”
“No, you don’t see,” Riff snapped, glaring. “You don’t see anything.”
“Yeah, I do,” she argued. “I think we should probably meet her.” She turned to Terk.
Terk studied Riff. “It’s probably a good idea, even if it’s not today. Maybe in a few days or even a couple weeks.”
“That’s possible,” Cara noted, with a nod as she assessed the room. “It’s probably good timing, but we don’t want her too early.”
“No, we don’t, and, if she knows when to come, it won’t matter what you say,” Riff declared, looking at her. “She’ll be here regardless, and, when you see her, you’ll know you’re heading for trouble.”
“Trouble or just the timing of things?” Cara asked.
Riff shrugged. “I see her, and it means trouble, so who knows. It depends on the relationship you have with her,” he muttered.
At that, Cara could hardly hide her smile.
Terk looked around the room, recognizing what the others also recognized, but what Riff was desperately trying not to. Terk realized there would be yet another relationship happening, but it just wasn’t time yet.
Terk’s phone rang, and he looked down at the screen to see who was calling. “Hey, Levi. How’s life?”
“Everything is fine here, but maybe I should ask you how it’s going on your end.”
Terk assessed it for a moment, then replied, “I would have said all is tickety-boo over here, at least for the moment. How about you?”
“Nope, all good on our side,” Levi replied.
“So … why are you calling then?”
“What? Can’t a friend just call?”
“Yep, you sure can. But what’s up?”
Levi hesitated. “Somebody contacted me about some work, and, in my research, we came up with something that’s a bit off,” he shared. “I’m wondering if he is one of yours.”
“One of mine? That would be interesting. Why? You don’t need him?”
“I could use him, yeah, but I was wondering if anybody wanted to join in and see, … you know, maybe test this guy out and confirm whether he’s one of yours or I can hire him over at my end. I always feel guilty keeping the psychic ones.”
“You haven’t managed to keep any of those for very long yet, have you? I never thought we would have that many available, but they seem to be coming out of the woodwork.”
“I don’t know about that, but definitely a few are around. Maybe they feel a safety net is in place for them or something.”
“I wondered that too,” Terk muttered. “Anyway, what did you need for the job?”
Levi sighed. “Remember Kim?”
“Sure, and?”
“Her brother was traveling through Finland, and he’s gone missing.”
“Okay, and why do we think that’s suspicious? He’s a young single guy, right? Maybe he’s just wandered off on his own for a while.”
“He is all those things,” Levi confirmed, “and you already figured that out. Wait, hang on a second, Terk.” Levi took a moment for a side conversation. “What do you mean?” he asked someone on his end, and that was followed by some mumbling and bits and pieces of conversation that Terk couldn’t quite catch.
Frowning as he listened, Terk followed a lifeline that came up against a blank wall. “Huh.”
“What huh?” Levi asked.
Ice popped into the phone conversation. “I’m here too, Terk. Is he alive?”
“That’s …” Terk stared at the blank wall. “He was, but I’m getting a blank wall right now. I’m not sure what that means.”
At that, Cara looked over at him and explained, “If a lifeline hits a blank wall, it usually means a major injury, and he’s in between life and death, but I’m not getting that same sense.”
Terk extended a hand, and Cara and her sister Clary both grabbed on, their energies zapping through his system. He closed his eyes, feeling their combined energies working through this lifeline.
“We have a signature on him,” Terk shared, “but something definitely is off at the other end.”
“Yeah, and that’s what this guy who contacted me was getting at.”
“Explain.”
“His name is Walker, and he told me that I needed to go deal with something in Finland. At the time, I didn’t know anything about it. I felt as if he was almost pushing me in a way. He wants to work for me on this job, but I didn’t have a job there. But then Kim came forward and said her brother was in Finland. So I wondered if it was related somehow, and that’s when it came back that Kim hadn’t been able to contact her brother at all.”
Terk asked, “Levi, when you say Walker, did you mean Walker Habernack?”
“Yeah, do you know him?”
“Oh, I know him all right. He’s got some pretty good precog abilities.”
“But then why wouldn’t he have known ahead of time?”
“He’s likely contacting you because he’s seen something down the road. What does Kim have for information?”
“Her brother went over to meet some special healer in Finland, and that’s when he went missing.”
Terk looked around the table, as they all stared at each other. Terk’s gaze landed on Calum, who immediately nodded.
“I got this one.”
“Levi, Calum will meet Walker in Finland. We’ll need the details on Kim’s brother and anything else you’ve got as soon as possible.”
“You got it,” Levi said, “and, Terk, Kim’s family—”
“I know. That’s not an issue. We’ll pick up after this and see. Stay in touch. Calum will be on the way soon.” After ending the call, he looked over at Calum. “You’re sure?”
Calum nodded. “Absolutely. I’m in. When it comes to family, you know we’re always there.”
There was no arguing with that.
Chapter 1
Walker Habernack pulled up on the side of the road and reached for the map sitting in the passenger seat. He was supposed to meet Calum in another hour, but, before he raced to the airport, he wanted a chance to check out a couple addresses he had in mind.
He needed some information before he went all-in. In his mind, in his heart, he wondered just what was going on here, but again, the frustration of not knowing much was evident. He just knew something bad was about to happen. Now, if only he were lucky enough to get there in time to stop it, that would be great. But this ugly sense inside him suggested that he was probably already too late.
However, as a precog, he knew that sense of foreboding came because he was aware of what one avenue in the future could be, yet wouldn’t necessarily turn out that way. He still had time to change things.
He knew about Kim’s brother at this point; he’d been filled in. Walker also understood that Levi was considering hiring Walker. It was supposed to be about getting his feet wet with the team, and this was a test job, but Walker also knew that wouldn’t work. He hadn’t told Terk that because, whatever was going on, regardless of the bells ringing in his ears, Walker needed to be there. If only he knew why, and, because he didn’t know, he was very edgy and short-tempered.
He’d connected with Terkel, but Terk was not the easiest person to talk to either … by far. Walker almost laughed at that. If there were ever two peas in a pod, they were him and Terkel, but then probably a lot of psychics had a similar viewpoint.
Walker went way back with Terk. Even now Walker wanted something different in life and was trying to figure out how to find it. So, he was looking at Terk sideways, wondering how he’d made everything in his life suddenly happen. It was worth a long conversation, but Walker wasn’t sure if Terkel would be open enough to share details. It was also possible that he would keep the information of how he’d pulled it off to himself.
Walker had also blocked the psychic door to stop Terkel from getting into his head. Terkel was one of those guys who generally would not force it, but, if he needed something, he wouldn’t bother with niceties and then apologize afterward, which was okay in a true emergency. Still, Walker felt pressure that he didn’t normally sense, and that made him uneasy right now.
Terkel would say that was all the more reason why Walker should be talking and keeping the doors open, letting everybody know that something was here, that something was happening, so that a bigger alert system would be in place, if and when it came to needing help.
Walker didn’t know Calum but knew that he’d worked on Terkel’s team when they worked with the CIA. The fact that Terkel had gone private was something Walker was still adjusting to, but maybe it went along with Terk having a woman in his life now. That was something most of them avoided on a long-term basis, just because it was too dangerous. Too much crap was going on in the world around them, and they couldn’t really afford to have anybody tied up in it more than they were themselves.
Nobody wanted to deal with the outcome and all that pressure that came from having somebody else to look after. Even though in many cases, there was just no choice because you were already hooked into the relationship, into the emotions, and it was pretty darn hard to change it. And, if that happened to Terkel, Walker could understand it, except that Terkel was an old hand. That, in itself, told Walker that it had to be a very special woman to put Terkel on this pathway to have a family.
Walker heard the rumbling in the far recesses of his brain and shook his head. “No, Terk, not ready to talk to you yet.” When that was followed by what Walker could only describe as a half laugh, he groaned, then opened up his mind after all. “What?” Walker barked.
Well now, that’s better, Terkel replied easily. I wanted to tell you that Calum’s flight has been delayed by a good half hour.
“I would have found that out when I checked the arrivals board,” he muttered. “You didn’t need to contact me for that.”
No, but communication makes life a lot easier. How are you, by the way?
“Fine,” he grumbled. “Or I will be if this damn urging will stop dragging me down this crazy pathway.”
Terkel paused for a moment. Sometimes we can do nothing but follow through on the messages we receive.
“Doesn’t mean I like it,” Walker muttered.
No, I’m sure you don’t, Terk agreed. But, since I do know Kim, if this involves her brother, I’ll thank you ahead of time for helping her out.
Walker sighed. “The trouble is, I don’t know who is involved. I never do. I just get these pieces of information, and I thought I was doing okay with that kind of scenario. I thought I could pick and choose what to act on. Then suddenly I get something like this, where I don’t have a choice, and the messages go on and on,” he complained, his tone snappy in the emptiness of the car.
Terkel chuckled. Isn’t that the truth? Just know you’re not alone in that.
“Again, that’s all good, but it doesn’t really help.”
No, of course it doesn’t, Terk noted. You should feel better knowing that potentially something is out there for you that’ll be a help.
“No, not at all,” Walker disagreed. “This isn’t necessarily anything I want to do, and it’s gotten worse.”
Worse?
“Yes, worse, or maybe a better way to describe it is stronger, a little wider. It’s one of the reasons I keep you butted out, until I can figure out what is really going on.”
In my experience, I find that having people to talk to really helps. You can explain and explore the aspects of why that energy is changing, he pointed out, but the biggest find we have come across ourselves, in my whole team, is that our severe injuries, triggered by a massive change, also created a shift in our abilities—stronger and wider, he muttered, trying to put Walker’s own point of view in perspective.
At that, Walker frowned. “Yeah, I did have something like that. I expected it to make things easier, not worse.”
We’re finding it makes things, Terk hesitated and then added, different.
“Yeah? That’s a load of BS,” Walker muttered. “Different doesn’t mean anything.”
No, different means different, Terk stated, with a cheery tone. Like in our case, … stronger. Some changes in the style of skills, some changes in the strength, and, because we’re a large team, we have definitely seen growth in what we can do and how we can do it. If you had a team around, you would find the same thing.
“It’s a good thing I don’t then, isn’t it?” he stated easily.
Still fighting it, are you?
“It hasn’t done me any good to fight it. However, if I thought it would help, I would be fighting it a whole lot harder.”
Yeah, I haven’t found that to work out so well myself, Terkel admitted. And, if you had a team, you would find that your abilities would get a lot stronger and faster too.
“Never been much of a team player,” Walker muttered.
That’s not so. You did great with a team in the navy.
“Yeah, right up until they didn’t like what I could or couldn’t do,” he whispered harshly.
Got it, Terkel replied, his tone soft and clear. The lack of ability to accept what we do, and the parameters under which we do it, often pisses people off more than helps anything, he stated, taking a mild tone. So that much, I do understand.
Walker nodded. “What about Calum?”
He’s strong and getting stronger all the time, Terkel shared. He’ll be a good one to have at your back.
“I’m not used to having anybody at my back,” Walker declared, with that same harsh anger again.
You can only play the lone wolf for so long, before some of this starts to eat away at you, Terkel noted. Let Calum help you on this job and then talk to us afterward.
“Won’t change anything,” he muttered.
