French but for one word. “Tess.”
Tess.
The sound of the name drained the color from Renee’s face. Her
eyes widened with fear. Her body rigid, she turned and fired.
“Tess,” I whispered out loud. “He called her Tess.”
“What does that mean?” McKinley asked as I pulled my hands away.
I walked to the window, still thinking about wrenching it open in
a desperate bid to escape. I searched through my own memories. When I met
Renee, she had been someone else, she had been in her psychiatrist’s role. She
had been sent there to watch me, I had been her POI back then and I had
terrified her.
“So who are you?” she asked.
I tried not to roll my eyes, if in doubt switch the question.
“Aeron Lorelei . . . but then I thought you’d read it on the notes.”
“Is this the way it’s going to be, Aeron?” she asked, using my
first name. You’re definitely irritating them when first names are used.
“That depends on you, Tess.” I shot back.
She froze—
Then later, we had been through so much, trapped in Nan’s cabin as
we waited for the waters to recede. Renee had been pent up to the point of
popping, near enough hysterical at times.
Renee muttered and then sat in a heap on the floor. “Four walls
drive me crazy.”
I asked what happened, why she was afraid. She alluded to the fact
some folk didn’t take kindly to her covert protection.
“But they don’t know where you are . . . the people you’ve dealt
with before . . . do they?”
Renee opened the bag and pulled out a very sleek, matte black gun.
“No, no one even knows my real name.”
I looked down at the gun. “The fact I do is a problem?”
She met my eyes and then looked away. “You don’t know my name.
It’s buried beneath every layer I have.”
“Renee Black . . . Colonel Charles Black’s daughter.”
Lucky for me, she didn’t shoot me but instead explained her
worries. I’d asked about the name.
“And Tess?”
Renee looked up and smiled. “You quoted me the background of my
last job . . . I was Tess, then Tess became Serena’s sister . . . It’s how I
keep track.”
I stared out at the blue-tinted snow. The sky above a blanket of
twinkling stars. It was so peaceful, so calm but he was out there somewhere.
There was a big bank of snow clouds rolling in. More snow. Snow that had
trapped us here.
Renee had been so scared, so on edge, terrified that her past
could hurt me. The realization hit hard. Renee, she had been there, she had
lived through it. She
knew
him.
“When did you say Yannick was active last?”
“Two, maybe three years ago,” Charlie answered.
It fit. Renee had come to the institution not long after.
“Scars take time to heal and sometimes even then, they still
show,” she had told me.
“My mother said you had scars.”
Renee nodded. “Can I just say that I know what you’re going
through and I’m going to be there every step of the way?”
Scars, scars so deep, a place so dark that Nan wasn’t sure if I
would follow. Survivor’s scars.
“Evan told me that Yannick had been asking questions about Renee,”
I said. “I thought he’d said Serena but he didn’t. He didn’t mention a name.”
I spun around and marched to the
bed.
There was a watch on the floor. I bent down and picked it
up.
The blood coated
my fingertips.
“This is for you, Tess . . . Everyone will pay until you stop
running . . . I own you. I will take away these unworthy cretins from you . . .
you will learn your lesson . . . You. Are. Mine.”
My body jolted. The watch hit the floor. I was sprinting down the
hallway, McKinley and Charlie in pursuit. “Charlie, go to Martha and Earl’s . .
. protect Zack . . . please . . . don’t let him near Zack.”
“Sure . . . What did you see?”
I was in the lobby, searching around. I headed to the reception and
rifled through the doctor’s bag. “He still has the scalpel,” I told McKinley.
“It’s missing.”
“Aeron,” McKinley said. “Calm down . . . You’re scaring people.”
“He targets the people she loves. That’s why
he was in Colorado
. . . He was after her mother.” My breath was in gasps and I was
sure I was close to hyperventilating. I prayed her mom was safe. “Zack . . . if
he watched us . . . if he saw us . . . Zack.”
“I’m on my way,” Charlie said and headed out of the lobby.
“Rebecca,” I called and she hurried over. “When we leave, lock the
door and unless a woman with spiky blonde hair flashes a badge at you, don’t
open it. Promise me.”
She went to ask but I gripped her by the shoulders. “Swear it to
me, right now.”
She nodded. “Of course.”
McKinley set off after me as I headed out of the doors. “Aeron,”
he snapped, pulling me around to look at him. “What is going on?”
The doors locked shut behind me. Mark hurried up the street. “Get
inside!”
He frowned. “Aeron, Charlie just went tearing into Martha’s,
people are worried.”
Small towns cared. They would come out, what Yannick would want.
“Get everyone inside. Tell them it’s an emergency . . .
Please
.”
My voice broke under the strain. Renee was in Yannick’s path. “Don’t ask me to
explain . . . just get to safety.”
Mark searched my eyes. He nodded once and ran up the street,
telling folk that there was gas. They had to stay indoors.
“Have you loaded your gun?” I asked McKinley.
McKinley scowled at me. “You just freaked out the whole damn—”
“Have you loaded your gun?” I sounded like Frei—short, sharp,
assertive.
Thank cotton he listened.
“Of course I did.”
“Good, because the only thing standing between Renee and that
lunatic,” I turned to look at the station, “is Hal.”
The vision of the badge in cold fingers rocketed through my mind
and shattered my heart. The poor guy wouldn’t stand a chance. The realization
made McKinley’s eyes drop to the ground and he cleared his throat.
“Time to make your decision, James. You trust what you’ve been
shown and risk humiliation if I’m wrong.” I pointed to the open door of the
station. It was too inviting, it looked like the mouth of a bear trap. “Or you
trust your logic and you risk a massacre.”
He pulled out his gun.
Then a soul-wrenching scream cut through the night air.
Chapter 25
BRAD STUMBLED AS he used Grace and Marie to help him up the
station steps. He was feeling like he could take on anyone. Who cared if
perfect Sheriff Weedy had a gun. He laughed. He could take him on no problem.
Sheriff Weedy would never fire anyhow—the guy was lame, weak, pathetic.
“Brad, I want to go home,” Grace muttered, trying to free herself
from his grasp.
Brad gripped her tighter, her willowy arm unable to break his
strength. Yes, he was a man, she would do exactly what he wanted.
“Brad,” she whined. “Let go!”
She slapped him across the face and it made him laugh. Marie broke
free and ran toward the station as he slammed Grace up against the wall, making
her squeal.
“You’ll do as you’re damn told.” She turned her face away from him
as he leaned in. “Now look what your stupid friend has gone and done,” he
snarled. “I’ll have to show Hal just how to fire his gun.”
“You’re drunk,” Grace spat.
He felt a sharp pain rip through him, bringing him crashing to his
knees. Tears filled his eyes. Right in the jewels. Grace ran off into the
station as he hauled himself to his feet.
“Stupid dumb bitch.” He headed up the steps after her. “I’ll make
you pay for that.”
“No closer, Jewel,” Hal said. His pistol was drawn, protecting
Marie and Grace who hid behind him. “Go on home.”
Brad spat at him and Hal flinched. “I will leave when I have her.”
Hal scowled. “Where I come from a man knows how to treat a lady.”
Brad howled with laughter. This idiot was even worse than he
thought. He dashed forward and shoulder charged into Hal. The gun flew out of
Hal’s hand. Hal smashed into the wall.
“You are nobody.” His spittle flew into Hal’s face. “You only have
this badge ’cause they felt sorry for you.”
He gripped hold of the deputy’s badge and ripped it from Hal’s
jacket. “You need to learn your place, hillbilly—”
His voice disappeared from him. White hot agony hit the side of
his neck. Had Hal hit him? Brad squinted as Hal’s face turned red. He lifted
his hand to clutch the side of his neck. His blood, he stared down at his
hands, he was bleeding.
Someone screamed. Hal pulled off his jacket and pressed it next to
Brad’s neck only for another voice to permeate the deafening howling.
Brad dropped to his knees. Hal fought with some man. The man the
Ice Queen had shot. Hal’s head hit the wall. Grace bolted. Brad collapsed into
the crimson warmth pooling on the floor.
The Ice Queen was to blame. She should have shot the bastard in
the head.
AS WE GOT to the steps, Grace hurtled toward us. Gunshots
shattered the shop window to her right. McKinley overtook me and swept her out
of the way.
Bam.
Bam.
Two more shots rang out.
I ducked and rolled, ending up against a post holding up the front
entrance of the building.
A tiny part of my brain computed that I’d just performed a CIG
move that I couldn’t master no matter how hard I’d tried back in boot camp.
Frei would have been proud.
“Yannick Boucher,” McKinley called out, peeking around the corner.
“You are surrounded.”
I shot McKinley a look. If Yannick was really the mass murdering
lunatic we thought he was, then like heck would that lame attempt stop him.
“Grace, you okay?” I called as she buried her head into McKinley’s
shoulder. “You injured? He hit you?”
Grace peered up from McKinley’s coat and shook her head.
“Okay.” My thoughts were clearing. What would Frei do? “Grace, you
got to do James and me here a favor.”
McKinley ducked back around the corner as more shots pinged off
the wall next to his head.
“Grace, I want you to go to Martha and Earl’s,” I said. She’d be
safer there. “Charlie is with them.”
She clung onto McKinley, unwilling to let him go.
“Grace,” McKinley said, glancing back at her. “We need Charlie . .
.
please
.”
Their eyes met. He turned and slid his hand around the back of her
neck. Something unspoken passed between them. His aura warmed and he pulled her
to him and kissed her. He pulled back and she stared into his eyes, then her
aura warmed like his. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him right
back as she sank into him.
Seriously, now? I sighed. Franken-Frei didn’t have to put up with
this kinda thing.
Their auras danced like they were celebrating and I didn’t know
where the heck to look. Somehow getting dribbled on switched something inside
her and Grace’s courage seemed to ignite.
“I can do that,” she whispered. “I’ll go get him for you.”
After a moment and a couple more volleys from Yannick, Grace
hurried away up the street. McKinley gave me a wry grin.
“Can we get back to saving folks now?” I grumbled. Heck, I felt
like I’d just wandered into one of them romance novels Renee didn’t think I
knew she read.
McKinley fired a shot around the corner and I took cover to look
at what we faced. Hal was on the floor as was another guy. I tried to see who
it was but there was too much blood.
Bam.
Dust kicked off the brickwork next to my head and I ducked back
behind cover. My heart hammered so hard it hurt. Close. Too close.
“There’s somebody on the ground,” I called to McKinley.
“Grace was sobbing something about Brad.” He fired another round
and reloaded his pistol. “Marie is in there too.”
“That makes four people. The rescue crew?”
He shook his head. “Down by the avalanche site, working to clear
the road for the morning.”
I was grateful for the small mercy. “Any ideas?”
“I handle low level crime,” he said. “International nutcases are
not my staple.”
“Wonderful,” I muttered. “Any other way in?”
“Not unless you want to haul yourself up a fire escape.”
“There’s a fire escape?”
He nodded, firing again. “Second to first floor ladder froze
solid.”
I fought the urge to throw a snowball at him. “
Where
is
it?”
McKinley looked at me like he was trying to figure if I was
serious.
Damn right I was. I nodded.
“Alright. It’s round here. There’s a keypad on the door.” He
yelled the code at me and thumbed to his right.
That meant going into the line of fire again.
“Cover me?”
He nodded. “On three.”
“Forget it, just fire.” I bolted forward. McKinley let rip.
Ping.
Just behind my foot.
Ping
. In front of my foot.
Ping
. Off the lamp post next to my head.
I dived forward. Overshot. And clattered to the ground. I didn’t
stop. I slid, at speed, toward the adjacent building. I covered my head.
Crunch
.
Several parts of my body yelped in protest as I clattered into the
wall. I scrambled to my feet. Pain shot through my elbow. I stared into the
pitch black alleyway between the buildings.
“He has to run out of ammo eventually,” I said to McKinley.
“Thing is, he has a whole armory,” he called back as I headed into
the darkness. “I only have a few more clips.”
URSULA FREI BARKED orders at her men as they hiked up the run.
They had no time to wait for the men on the other side to clear the way.
Yannick would have decimated the place by then.
“Ewan!” she snapped, bringing one of her team running over. “You
got a lock . . . any damn thing?”
Ewan shook his head. “It’s the weather. The satellite can’t see
through all the cloud.”
“Then get a better one!”
She knew it was a stupid retort and she knew full well that
blizzard conditions rendered the things useless. She took a look at the line of
flattened trees. She had thought about climbing it and she would if it was
daylight. Not at night, in a blizzard, not even she was that gung-ho.
Her cell rang and she flipped it open, plugging her free ear from
the blasting wind. “Frei.”
“Any nearer?”
Ursula sighed at the sound of Lilia’s voice. Last thing she needed
was a worried mother breathing down her neck. “No.”
“Aeron can do this,” Lilia said. “You trained her.”
Ursula tried not to growl. Their old argument was about to start
again. “Lilia, you know why Aeron passed the course and you know why I didn’t
want her to.”
“Renee being in trouble will change that,” Lilia said. “She’ll
come through.”
“Aeron wouldn’t even fire at a freaking target.” Ursula kicked at
the snow. “You think she would pull the trigger on a person?”
“No.” Lilia sighed.
Aeron shouldn’t be in the field, she should have been somewhere in
protective custody helping from there. Aeron was too important to the mission
to be out dealing with POIs.
“You saw her yourself in hand-to-hand training,” Ursula said. “She
took an uppercut and gained a black eye yet not once would she even defend
herself.”
“She’s an empath, Ursula,” Lilia said. “To hurt another is to hurt
herself.”
“So you see my point,” Ursula said. “Yannick is a military-grade
psychopath. He delights in tearing towns apart and . . . Renee is in there.”
Even saying the words made her stomach scrunch into a knot. “We
nearly lost her the last time . . . if he gets his hands on her—”
“Not alone.”
Ursula heard the telltale whisper that said Lilia was lost in a
vision.
“. . .
bathing the snow
. . . No path in sight, no way to
find, nothing but murky smudges . . . Whispers ‘Aimed for me’ . . . ‘Who do you
think you are?’. . . ‘I didn’t see’ . . . ‘I didn’t see’ . . . ‘I didn’t see!’
Malice lurks . . . Vulture circles . . . ‘Always alone!’ . . . heart beats and
beats faster and faster . . . pebbled stone . . . nine two three bursts into
yellow-white shimmers, so blinding, so bright . . . Until daylight and love
sing through the music. Harmony of hope and light reaches out and breathes life
back into the wandering mind.”
“Lilia,” Ursula said, clearing her throat. Her hairs prickled
along her arms. “Lilia, what does that mean?”
“Nine two three,” Lilia repeated. “Chapter nine, verse twenty
three . . . ‘Everything is possible for one who believes.’”
Ursula frowned. “You quoting biblical texts at me?” She heard
calls from up on top of the mound. “It’s not your style.”
“It wasn’t my vision,” Lilia answered, her voice raspy. “Goodness,
she’s so . . . so . . . empathic.”
“What do you mean?” The team beckoned to her and she stalked over
to them. “Lilia, what do you mean?”
“When it comes to Renee,” Lilia answered. “Aeron is capable of
anything.”
“I’ll get them out.” Ursula ended the call as Ewan joined her.
“Break through,” he said. “It’s safe enough to climb it.”
“Everyone on the team follows me,” she said. “Make sure there are
med kits handy.”
“Ma’am.”
Ursula checked her gun. She’d seen worse than Yannick. She’d worked
for worse than him, but what he had done to Renee was beyond anything even her
old life would have permitted. The guy needed to be wiped from existence.
Feeling a familiar jolt of cold anger snake its way up, she
swallowed hard, steadying herself. She wasn’t that person anymore but if Lilia
thought Aeron was the only one capable of anything when it came to Renee, she
was wrong.
So was she.
Ursula put the armor-piercing rounds in her gun and loaded it. It
wasn’t CIG protocol to shoot someone like Yannick. The last time, she had
listened and watched him be incarcerated.
Look where it had gotten them.
No, this time, she wasn’t standing back and letting him walk away.
This time she’d make sure he never hurt another person again. She just hoped it
wouldn’t be too late for Renee.