Power Trip: Double Helix, Book 1 (3 page)

He boxed her out with his shoulders, not wanting to make accidental contact. The distraction cost him. Metal flashed. The blonde threw herself between them. He cut the current. Was she fucking nuts?

“Stay back,” he yelled. “He’s got a weapon.” He grabbed the creep’s wrist and zapped him again. Nothing happened. The kid twisted in his grip, jabbing him in the arm with the silver rod. Red light cracked to the ground. His hand abruptly jellyfished. He looked down and saw that his coat was smoking and his forearm was broken in half, jagged edges of bone punching through the skin.

He snarled. What the fuck was that thing? It was not a gun. It had to be some sort of energy device. The woman threw herself at them again. Cal twisted so that she bounced off leather, not his skin. He had a split second to get his body in between her and the weapon. He moved, faster than he ever had in his life, but he lost his grip on the kid.

“Stop!” She grabbed his good hand. “He’s running, and you’re hurt.”

Cal jerked his hand out of her grasp and fell to his knees, unable to support his weight and control his negative charge at the same time. She sank to her knees beside him, easing him to the sidewalk.

“Don’t touch me,” he ground out, afraid to move, afraid to breathe.

She didn’t smell fried. She didn’t look fried. He rolled onto his back.

“Do you have a cell phone? Mine was in my purse and you need an ambulance.”

“Yes. Wait, no. Are you crazy?” That was all she had to say? Not thank you? He didn’t need an ambulance—a doctor, sure, but not the kind she meant. He sat up. His arm dangled, useless.

She gasped. “That’s worse than I thought. Lie back down.”

“It doesn’t hurt.”

“That’s because you’re in shock. Lie down before the bone does any more damage to your skin.”

He ignored her. Leaning to the side, he wrestled his charge under control and eased his insulated cell phone out of his pocket. He hit number one on speed dial. When the Doc answered he said, “Your services are required on Broadway and Bailey. Bring Sam—we’ve got outside involvement.” He ended the call.

“Can I borrow your cell? That asshole got my purse. I’ll call 911.”

“No need. I’ve got help coming. Don’t touch my skin, okay?” When the girls got here, he’d leave with Doc and let Sam do damage control.

“Hospital,” she insisted. “You can’t go home like that. If the pain doesn’t drive you mad, your arm will get infected. A bacterial infection can kill you.”

“You’re a doctor?”

She nodded. “I don’t even want to think about the germs that live in this neighborhood.” She held out her hand.

He ignored it. “I told you, I called my doctor. If you want to do something, you could say thank you.”

“Thank you for what?” Her jaw jutted and her brow wrinkled. “I was about to drop that creep and you got in my way. Now my purse is gone and I have to make sure you get medical attention. This is not how I wanted to spend my next few hours. I was going back to work.”

“You work at the hospital?” he asked, meaning Hudson General, just down the street. That would explain why she had been so comfortable tooling around this crappy neighborhood on her own.

“No, I work at a private lab.”

“I saw you talking to Jacob Fallon at the Lair. Is he your Dom?”

She burst out laughing. “He’s my brother.”

Since when did The Cobra have a sister?

She recovered from her laughing fit. “You need to go to the hospital. Give me your phone. Now.”

He tucked his cell into his waistband. “No.”

Did he think stuffing his phone into his pants would keep her from reaching for it? She was a doctor, for God’s sake. Audrey leaned down. “Give me your cell phone,” she repeated.

He sat motionless on the sidewalk, looking perfectly comfortable and at home, not at all in pain. He wasn’t sweating or swearing. His eyes were clear. He didn’t appear to be in shock. He was just being difficult.

“Look,” she said. “I took an oath. I can’t leave you here. You have to let me help you. Give me the phone.” Screw his whole
don’t touch me
bullshit. She yanked up his T-shirt and thrust her hand down the front of his pants.

He was hot. His abdomen felt charged with heat. He couldn’t have a fever yet, could he? He bent at the waist, trying to scoot away from her, but she moved forward. His motion trapped her hand against his stomach. Her hand tingled pleasantly. Without thinking, she flattened her palm on his hard abdominal muscles. She heard a low hum.

She swallowed. He wasn’t trying to get away from her anymore. Slowly, she raised her eyes. His pupils were dilated, the electric blue of his irises creating an eerie ring around them. Sweat beaded his upper lip and she had an insane urge to lick it.

His lips moved.

“What?” she asked, feeling dazed.

“A little lower, Doc.” He thrust his hips toward her hand.

The outraged shriek that broke from her lips was entirely unintentional. He grinned as she fished his phone out of his pants. It was the first time she had seen him smile. Christ, he was stunning. That she even thought about that fact made her angrier.

She pushed a button on the phone and discovered it was locked. She dropped it in his lap. Screw it. She was going to leave his uncooperative ass on the sidewalk and go back to Jake for help. If this idiot got rolled into the street by homeless people who thought his ridiculous leather coat would make a good tent, so be it.

A black car pulled up next to them. She pushed herself to her feet, relieved she wouldn’t have to abandon him, even if he was one of the most infuriating humans on the planet. She waited at the curb, on edge, hoping whoever emerged had a cell phone.

The passenger door opened and a pair of crystal-beaded high heels emerged, then long, bare legs. A woman got out of the car. Her dress was a short slip of silver sequins, and it hugged her tiny waist and dipped low over her breasts. By the time Audrey’s eyes landed on the woman’s sleek auburn hair, pale green eyes and perfect skin, she felt like swearing.

She gritted her teeth. This sort of woman made her feel plain and drab, especially tonight in her lab rat clothes, but this wasn’t about her. She needed a damn cell phone. She took a step toward the car. “Excuse me.”

A man was coming around the front of the car. Wait, it wasn’t a man, it was a woman with close-cropped hair, wearing a tuxedo. A thick watch gleamed on her wrist. Audrey couldn’t decide if she was handsome or cute. Both?

Matrix man spoke from the sidewalk. “About time.”

The two women stood over him, shaking their heads. “No appreciation, as usual.”

Audrey stepped forward. “He needs to go to the hospital. By ambulance, preferably,” she insisted. “Otherwise, he’ll have to wait in the ER. Do you have a cell phone?”

“We’ll take it from here.” The sparkling woman kicked off her shoes, dropped to her bare knees on the sidewalk and bent over his broken arm, giving Audrey a good look at the tattoo on her back, a snake coiled around a staff. The other woman held out her hand to Audrey. “I’m Sam.”

“Audrey Fallon.” Audrey automatically took her hand. She felt a tug, but not in her fingers, in her mind. She pulled her hand away, resisting the urge to stick her tongue out at the woman, which is what she always did to Jake when he tried to whammy her.

Sam continued to stare at her. Audrey stared back, deciding she didn’t have to be polite either. It was eerie how much the tuxedo and the hair made her look masculine. Or was it the confident way she held her body? Her voice had been pitched low too. Audrey felt her mind shift to look at her as a man. Handsome, she decided.

Sam looked at Matrix man. “You didn’t mention talent.”

“I didn’t know.” He shook his head slowly. “She touched me, Sam. I am wired beyond belief, and she touched me, touched my skin.”

“Interesting.” Sam and the doctor looked at each other.

“She’s also Jake’s sister.”

The doctor sat back on her heels. “Even more interesting. He’s been holding out on us?”

“Seems so.” He shifted on the sidewalk. “You gonna fix me up or what?”

“You don’t want your little champion here to take you to the hospital and set the bone?” the sparkly doctor asked.

What was wrong with these people? Couldn’t they see his broken arm waving like a crooked white flag? “I’m a geneticist, not an orthopedist. He needs surgery. Are you going to call an ambulance? Otherwise, I’ll just run over to the Lair and use my brother’s phone.” She pointed down the street.

They ignored her.

Sam squatted next to him. “The Doc’s about to do her thing. Want me to distract you?”

He shook his head. “I’m good.”

In spite of her irritation, Audrey was impressed that the doctor didn’t appear squeamish about getting blood on her hand or her dress as she palpated his arm. Audrey dropped down on the sidewalk next to them. “For God’s sake, be careful! There could be shards in there.”

The redhead shook her head. “He’ll be fine.”

“He’s not fine. Any second his body is going to realize something really bad has happened and he’s going to go into deep shock. We need to get him to a hospital. Please.” Why was she begging these people to help their friend? Wasn’t that why they had come?

Matrix man reached up with his good arm and took her hand, pulling her down beside him. She felt the tingle again, and fought the most bizarre urge to press closer to him. “You can call an ambulance if you want, but by the time it gets here, my arm will be good as new. The busy paramedics of Hudson have better things to do with their time.”

As he spoke, the redhead moved. Audrey blanched. She had gotten used to blood and bone and muscle in medical school, but the redhead was manipulating his broken arm, teasing the bone back under the skin into a straight line.

“Stop! You’re going to make it worse. Those muscles are swollen…”

Matrix man held both of her hands in an iron grip. “Give her a minute. I’m sick of sitting on the sidewalk in this shitty neighborhood. Want to go get a drink when she’s done?”

He was hitting on her? Her disbelief must have shown on her face because he smiled, eyes lighting with humor. “We could also skip the niceties and just go back to my place. Are you into kink?”

He was nuts. Tough as hell, but nuts. “Absolutely not. My brother is the only deviant in the family. I’m normal.” She glanced down at his arm and saw that it was straight and the skin was unbroken. It became impossible to breathe.

“No, you’re not. Are you a hypno-talent? Like your brother?”

Her jaw dropped. She shook her head. “No talent at all.”

“Right.” He rubbed his arm, flexed his hand, then used it to push himself to his feet. He held out his hand to help her up and she took it. All three of them stared at her as she stood up and self-consciously tugged her hand out of his grasp.

“Sorry, can’t do anything for your coat.” The doctor gestured at the singed leather.

Matrix man shrugged. “I have several more just like it.” Now that he was back on his feet, he towered over her again. Audrey’s mouth went dry as she tried to swallow. She shook her head to clear it. Peripherally, something gleamed on the sidewalk.

She stepped away from him. Oxygen rushed into her lungs. The gleam was her car keys. She must have flung them out of her purse when the creep grabbed her, thank God. At least she had a way home.

“I’m getting out of here,” she said.

The women smiled. “So are we. You interrupted our date.”

Matrix man bowed. “Sorry about that. Thank you, ladies.”

Sam helped the sparkling doctor to her feet, and then bent to offer her first one shoe, then the other, smiling up at her. The doctor straightened her dress and examined her arms—for blood, Audrey supposed. “You’re welcome, but I don’t want you driving just yet. Use the arm a little before you get on that motorcycle. I don’t want you going ninety on the highway and getting distracted by a stiff elbow.”

He sighed, then leaned down to air kiss her cheek. “Thank you for working your magic, my friend. I’m sorry I interrupted your date.” He tugged a pair of leather gloves out of his coat pocket and pulled one over his right hand before he held it out to Sam. When she shook it, he pulled her in for a not-quite kiss too.

“It was just a hospital function.” Sam opened the door of the sleek black car and helped her girlfriend inside.

“Take good care of him!” the doctor called to Audrey just before the door slammed.

“Nice to meet you, Audrey.” Sam gave her a friendly nod and walked around the car. In seconds, the car roared away and she was left standing on the curb as if nothing unusual had transpired.

Reality returned. Now it was time to go home and cancel all her credit cards since that creep had gotten her purse. Screw work. The mice could live without their nightly treat.

“Goodnight,” she muttered and began walking down the street.

She felt him following her.

“Go away,” she said over her shoulder.

“No way, I want to make sure you make it safely to your car.”

She kept walking. “Because you did such a stellar job of that earlier? No thanks. I was fine, you know. You shouldn’t have interfered.”