Walker, page 2
If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. I’m not forcing you into anything, despite what your paranoia might suggest.
Walker groaned. “I didn’t used to be paranoid.”
No, and I think that comes on as a side effect of our abilities too, Terkel suggested, his tone gentle. Nobody understands us quite like the rest of us.
“And yet do they even understand?” Walker asked curiously. “I mean, how could they? Even though you’re inside my head, you still don’t know who I am, what I am, and how I’m operating.”
No, but I can sure see an awful lot more of that now, Terkel admitted, with a chuckle. I know you’re operating very well, but you’re kind of disconnected, as if you haven’t fully integrated back from whatever injury you had going on in your world. Anyway, this is a discussion for another time. For now, just get to the airport and pick up Calum. He’s a good guy, and he won’t scare so easily.
And, with that, Terkel was gone.
*
Ashley Henkell spun around in a circle once again, looking for those unseen eyes that she knew were searching for her, hunting her, and yet she had no idea who it was, or why. She just instinctively knew that she was in danger, but that danger was coming from a direction she didn’t understand. It was a source she didn’t recognize, and that made her situation seem even more precarious.
She’d always avoided help from family and friends because nobody seemed to really understand who and what she was. As much as she tried to explain, her family never really got it, and now she was living in a more isolated situation than normal, waiting for this one man to show up for his appointment, but he was already two days late.
She knew something was wrong; she just didn’t know what. It definitely had to do with her, and, while she didn’t know why, it had given her an edginess that was hard to relax around.
Given the choice, she would be long gone. Maybe travel to the Maldives or to visit friends. Maybe do something crazy and go anyplace where millions of people would be, instead of this calm and almost isolated existence she currently found herself in. This had been her preferred existence, until the shit hit the fan, and she had become a target. Somehow, even though she didn’t know any of the details, she’d become the hunted.
When she heard a vehicle drive slowly by, she stopped at the window and stared out, taking refuge behind the curtain. Nothing was outside, nothing that she could see, but she heard the vehicle slowly rumble on past her place.
She frowned at that, all her instincts telling her to run, to get out of the house, and to move. Then again, where would she go? Where would she run to? It was a wet and cloudy day out there. If the sun were out, and it was a bit warmer, she could certainly disappear into the woods for a few hours, but right now? If she went out and caught a cold and had no place to go, she would still have to come back and face whatever it was that had chased her away.
She didn’t really have a safe room, something she would have sworn she didn’t need—until now. Now, she could see a certain naïvety in her actions. Though, if she would have had any idea that she would experience this level of fear, she might have done things differently. Right now, all she could do was stay frozen in place and watch, knowing that the time was coming for whatever it was. She had no idea why or who, but it was charging toward her at an absolutely horrific pace.
When her phone rang not too long afterward, she stared down at it, recognizing McClintock’s number. She quickly snatched it up and in the calmest tone she could manage, she answered, “Hello.”
Almost instantly her old friend snapped, “What’s the matter?”
“Nothing, just a bit edgy today.”
After a moment of hard silence, he muttered, “That’s exactly why you shouldn’t be living out there.”
“And yet, for all of a lifetime up until now, it’s been perfectly fine,” she stated. “I’m just not sure what’s wrong with today.”
“That’s why I’m calling. It seems something is wrong in the world.”
“Something is always wrong in the world,” she argued, refusing to give in to that philosophy. “Plus, you and I both know that, if something is after me, it’ll get here, and not a whole lot I can do about it.”
“That’s not true,” he argued, his tone sharp. “It’s still up to you to look after yourself and to keep yourself safe from whatever it is that makes so much trouble in the world.”
“Yeah, but don’t we sound like a couple of crazy loons,” she muttered. “I couldn’t begin to tell you what is wrong. I just have this weird edginess.”
“I couldn’t tell you what is wrong either,” he snapped, “but I’m calling nonetheless.”
She smiled at that. “I appreciate it. Really I do, and you know that. Honestly, it hasn’t been an easy time for you, and I know that you don’t really have anything else to think about but crap stuff right now. So the fact that you realize something’s going on in my world is really appreciated.”
He snorted. “That’s a load of holy crock,” he muttered. “You know perfectly well that, if I could do something to fix this, I would be there in a heartbeat.”
“I presume that means that you can’t then,” she questioned, “fix it, I mean.”
“No, I can’t. I just don’t know why I see men coming though.”
She winced. “Yeah, I saw that too, … but I don’t know why. I don’t know who they are or where they are coming from.”
He chuckled. “That just adds to the confusion, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, it absolutely does,” she agreed. “It would be a whole lot easier if I had some way to know just what was going on, but it’s not as if we ever get those kinds of answers.”
“No, and believe me, I’ve looked,” McClintock stated. “I know my abilities are nowhere near what they used to be, but I’m not getting answers, and that concerns me. I always expect, when I reach out in your direction, that I’ll find peace and tranquility. Yet, when I reached out today, I got the exact opposite.”
“You know, it could just be me,” she suggested, with a sigh. “I don’t understand why I’m edgy or what the hell is going on, but rest assured that I’m working to control it.”
“Maybe instead of trying to control it, you should lean into it. Slide into that feeling and sort out what’s happening, so maybe we can both get some rest.”
She snorted. “You can get rest anytime.”
“Yeah, and, if something happens to you,” he snapped, “how will that make me feel?”
“You’ve done what you can do by warning me,” she told him gently, “so the rest will be whatever it’ll be.”
“Don’t talk like that,” he declared. “I hate it when you get fatalistic.”
She sighed. “I don’t really know any other way to be.”
“You could though, if you wanted to,” he snapped. “You could come in and be with people again.”
“I’ve spent a long time on my own,” she shared.
“That’s been your choice,” he muttered, “but you don’t have to stay out there.”
“No, I don’t. However, sometimes it just feels that I don’t really have another option.”
“And that is all gibberish from your own head,” he muttered. “Anyway, I can’t stay on the phone. You know what you have to do,” he said, and, with that, he ended the call.
She looked down at the phone, wondering if he really meant to say it in that way, because she really didn’t know what she had to do. She just knew that something was shifting, and, while she didn’t know in what direction, she suspected it would come to a head very, very soon.
With that thought in her consciousness, she looked around and quickly gathered her wallet, checking to be sure she had her ID, some cash, and credit cards, then stuffed it into her pocket. Grabbing her hiking boots and a good walking coat and stick, she stepped out the door.
She didn’t know what she was running from, but something out there was coming her way, and she wasn’t at all sure she wanted to meet up with them just yet.
Chapter 2
Ashley had been outside for an hour, walking the fields and seeking the peace and quiet that had been so elusive all day. When she realized that home was her logical next stop, she turned and headed steadily back in the direction of her small house. As she came across the road, intent on walking a slightly smoother return path, a vehicle drove past, with two men seated in the front.
She frowned at the energy, but the vehicle went by too quickly for her to see anything, yet something was there. She pondered who they were and watched as they pulled into the turnoff that would take them to her road. By watching across the field, she saw them head in a steady and relentless path to her home.
Sure enough, they pulled up out front.
She froze out in the field, wondering whether she should be heading in to talk to them or not, only to realize that it wouldn’t make much difference, since these men would just keep coming back until she did. She had no idea who they were or what drove them, but something did. … Something was odd about one of them too.
No.
She froze at that correction and shook her head. No, something was odd about both of them. They were both the odd ones out in a way. Yet they were together. She picked up the pace, and, as one of men stepped back after knocking on her door, she called out to them. One of the men lifted a hand in acknowledgment, so she slowed her pace, until she walked right up to them.
As she got closer to her house, she watched their energy, studying it, looking for that danger she’d been sensing, yet finding nothing of the sort. That worried her more than anything. She was expecting them to be the reason for her unease, and yet they seemed … She didn’t want to say harmless because nothing was harmless about them. They were both incredibly powerful men. However, she didn’t even know if they understood just how much power they were wielding in a subconscious way.
One of them did seem to be awfully sure of himself. She wasn’t so sure about the other one. He just glared at her, as if wanting to be anywhere else.
She sighed, as she looked at him. “So, what’s this one? Another unwilling psychic?”
He froze at that, and the other man rumbled with laughter.
She smiled at the friendly one. “I’m Ashley. Who are you?”
He looked at her and in a gentle tone replied, “I’m Calum. Nice to meet you.”
She looked back at the other man and nodded at him, trying an easing tone with him this time. “I suppose I shouldn’t piss you off right from the beginning.”
He shrugged. “You spoke the truth. I can hardly argue with that.”
“That’s a step forward,” she muttered, as she opened up the door to her small home and let them in. “Do you want to explain why you’ve come?” She dug right in, thinking there was no need to beat around the bush.
“You mean, you can’t tell?” Calum asked, with a note of amusement.
She turned to him and replied, “I can tell some things, but that’s not exactly where I like to spend my energy. I’m a healer. My energy is reserved for that.”
“That’s exactly why we’re here.” The second man spoke this time. “I am Walker, and we’re looking for somebody who’s gone missing.”
She studied him and then knew right away. “Oh, Frank, of course. He was due in two days ago and never showed up. I don’t know him personally, and I didn’t know if it was maybe a case of cold feet on his part.”
“That would be one possible explanation,” Calum agreed, with a nod. “His sister is worried.”
At that, Ashley sighed. “I hope you don’t mind if I put on the teakettle.” Then she walked over to her kitchen, just a small area that was more than enough for her, but, with these two huge men in her house, it seemed not nearly enough, and suddenly her space looked too small. The one with angst in his temperament was looking at her with an odd expression.
She refused to acknowledge the energy arcing between them. She’d felt that once before, and, up until now, no good had come of it. She couldn’t understand why he was even here to begin with, when it was so obvious he didn’t want to be. She put on the teakettle, then turned to look at Walker. “Do you know either of them, the brother or the sister?”
He frowned and shook his head. “No.”
“So, why are you here?” she asked, her tone crisp and direct. “If you don’t know them, what brings you?” He glanced over at Calum, as if for an answer, but Calum just waited, letting Walker either dig his own grave or answer the question in a way that would make sense.
Walker sighed. “Obviously you work with energy, so maybe you’ll understand when I say that I was driven to tell somebody about a problem over here,” he shared. “Now, if you’re asking for more information than that, I don’t really have it to give.”
“And it’s this young man who’s the problem?”
“He has become a problem,” Walker clarified. “I don’t know for sure. I just know that, when I contacted Levi, who is the sister’s boss, he put me in touch with Terkel, who sent Calum here over with me to sort it out.”
“So, you both made the trip on the assumption that something was wrong. Yet you have nothing to back it up?” She made the statement as if it were commonplace to have such a scenario, but she was astonished in a very pleasant way. Very few people cared about others enough to inconvenience themselves like that on a hunch, particularly when they didn’t even know the whole story.
“Something like that, yes,” Calum confirmed, with a smile. “You know, Terkel would understand.”
She stared at him and nodded. “Terkel? You mentioned him before.” Then she thought about it. “Like six feet tall, kind of raspy tone, a little bit cranky, very standoffish, and never wrong? Terkel, huh?”
At that, Calum laughed and laughed. “I really wish he could hear that description of himself, but, yes, that’s Terkel to a tee.”
She glared at him and then called out to the room around them. “Terkel, what are you up to?”
Both Calum and Walker looked at her in astonishment, but then came an odd clap like thunder, followed by an energy buzz in the room.
She looked over at her visitors. “Presumably you guys can’t project yourselves, so I’ll need to assist you in this conversation.” Then she turned around and yelled again, “Terkel, if you can show yourself, now would be the time to do it. It’ll be a lot easier for everybody involved.”
A sudden shimmer appeared in the room.
Ashley laughed. “You’re getting stronger. Good for you.”
Terkel’s tone rippled through the room, but it was a little more tired and definitely frustrated. “It would be really nice if you didn’t make life so difficult all the time.”
“Yeah? Well, it would be really nice if you didn’t make the life of other people so difficult all the time,” she snapped right back.
“For a healer, you’ve got to be one of the most irritating people I’ve ever met,” Terk muttered.
“Likewise,” she replied. “So these men came from you?”
“More or less, yes,” he confirmed. “Calum works for me. He’s part of the same team I worked with before at the CIA, only we’re private now.”
At that, one of her eyebrows shot up, but Ashley didn’t say anything, not wanting to interrupt the flow of information.
“The grumpy gentleman, that would be Walker, contacted a friend of ours over a problem in Finland. As soon as we realized that Kim’s brother had gone to see a specialized healer, I determined it was probably you and sent them there.”
“Yet, from the looks on their faces, neither of them realized you know who I am.”
“I didn’t exactly fill them in on that because, of course, I didn’t want them prejudging the situation.”
“No, but prejudging is not the same thing as providing them with complete information,” Ashley clarified smoothly. Speaking as somebody who had worked for the government until she couldn’t stomach it any longer, she continued. “You and I both know the truth of that.”
“Absolutely, and I will make my peace with them later,” Terk admitted smoothly. “In the meantime, we are trying to locate Kim’s brother.”
“If you’re talking about Frank, as I told your men, he was due to come in and see me two days ago, but he never showed.” A sense of consternation filled the air, and she nodded. “It’s not the first time it’s happened with one of my clients,” she shared, a bit of false calm settling in. “A lot of people get cold feet when they realize what they’re coming to, and, if he hadn’t been warned ahead of time, it would be even harder on him.”
Terk added, “I don’t know him and wasn’t aware that he was headed there, so I highly doubt he would have listened to me.”
“And yet you,” she said in a mocking tone, “have never been known for being subtle, so I’m surprised there would even be a question about it now.”
“If I do manage to get my hands on him,” Terk replied, “I’ll try to explain the situation a little bit better, but he didn’t ask for information. Nobody came to me, and unfortunately nobody from Levi’s side even had a glimmer of what was happening either. I just knew at the mention of a special healer in Finland that it would be you.”
“Thanks for that at least. I’ll talk to you later.” And, with a wave of her hand, Terkel disappeared.
When she turned and looked at the other two, she saw that both were beyond disconcerted. She nodded. “So, what is this really about?”
*
Seeing her energy lifeline intertwining with his, Walker was distracted and frowned at her, also not exactly sure how to proceed on locating Frank. “We’re trying to find this young man,” he repeated, “and I admit you’re the only person I know who can arrange energy quite like that.”
At that, Calum started laughing again and spoke to Ashley. “Don’t mind my rudeness, but you’re the only one I’ve ever seen dismiss Terk like that.”
She shrugged. “We’ve known each other a long time,” she shared comfortably, and then she stopped and tilted her head to the side, a bit shocked. “Good God, he’s about to become a father?”
