Dom hung up the phone as Brody came back through the door. “Captain said he’d be here shortly. He’s sent some sort of specialist on ahead of him.” He tried to remember the name. “I don’t know what they’re going to do. It’s too dark to see shit out there now!”
Brody nodded as he squatted down by the items still scattered on the floor. “We got everything. Do we try to lift anything off of this stuff?” Using his pen, he moved a tomato a few inches on the floor. “I really doubt they manhandled the groceries.”
Dom picked up the camera and went over. He held it out. “Just take pictures of it and then we’ll get it picked up.” Brody nodded and started to take the pictures. Dom stood there and tried not to glance at his watch again. Time was not going to bring her back. “Jennah? Honey, can y
Jennah had no idea how long she’d been lying there. There was no sound coming from outside of her darkened prison. There was no noise inside it either, she thought with relief flooding through her. At least she knew she was in this place alone and without rodent companionship. Her head ached and her eyes were hurting from straining to focus on something in the dark. She had come to several realizations while lying there. She couldn’t reach Dom—for whatever reason she couldn’t figure out. This brought her to the conclusion she could be here for a long time and that blind people were amazingly strong and brave to live in darkness like this all the time.With no watch—she snarled; they’d even taken her damn watch—she had no idea how long she had searched around her own private hell. If there was a way in and out of here, she hadn’t found any evidence of it. Just as she hadn’t fo
Someone tapped his shoulder. He turned and cleared his vision to look at Tess.“Can she touch one of the assailants?”“What?” He frowned at her and then glanced to Brody.She closed her eyes and then glared at him. “Please, there isn’t time to explain. If she can touch one of them while the two of you are connected—I can make it so we can see him. Maybe even both of the assailants, I’m not sure. Please, detective Palmer—trust me!”He turned, and the look on Brody’s face said what he was feeling. She was nuts! But, a small chance at anything helpful was worth it. What did he have to lose? “I’ll ask.” Shaking his head, he looked back to a spot on the table and reached for Jennah again. “Jennah, can you touch one of them?”“Them? The bozos that grabbed me?”
Jennah looked from the one holding snow on his nose to the one she now knew as Lester. “Am I just to sit here?” She kept her voice soft and non-threatening.Lester turned and looked at her from the window ledge he was leaning on. “I thought you’d be happy to have some light and be out of the hole.”“Oh, I am. Thank you.” She kept her hands clasped in her lap, even though she wanted to break his nose, as well. “Speaking about that, I wondered ...” She tried to look hopeful. “If I do have to go back down there, could you leave it open a bit, or propped up, or something? Just to let a bit of air circulate down there?” The other one snorted and then winced and cradled his nose again.Lester smirked. “It’s pretty rank down there, huh?” She nodded. He looked at the other man who sat there glaring at her and shrugge
“Hey, beautiful.”Jennah smiled. “Hey.” She looked around her and recognized her own bedroom. As much as she wanted to believe she was tucked up in her own bed, her conscious side knew better. They were in a dream. “Aren’t you supposed to be rescuing me?”His chuckle filled her mind and vibrated through her whole body. “That is the plan. I wanted to let you get some rest before I disturbed it.”She smiled and rolled over on the pillow. “You’re allowed to disturb me anytime you want. How much rest have you gotten?”His touch burned a trail down her back. She tried to snuggle back into it, but he wasn’t really there. She didn’t understand it. Usually, when they were in a dream together she could touch him. The only thing she could think of was he wasn’t truly asleep. “An hour, or as long as it took to fall asleep and be h
Shaking his head to clear the fog, Dom looked around and figured they’d landed where they wanted to be, in the grungy bathroom. Tess released his arm and held her hand over her lips. He nodded. She held up the transmitter and then pointed toward the window.He nodded again. She jerked her head toward the shower stall and it was then that the sound registered. “Jennah.”“You’re here? Just give me two seconds—this water feels too good to not grab a quick rinse.”He grinned and pulled his jacket off, and then his t-shirt quickly followed. Tess turned back from the window after securing the transmitter and raised her eyebrows at him as he undid his belt. He held his hand over his lips, much the same way she had done to him, and jerked his head toward the door. With a skeptical look on her face, she went over to the door and turned her back to him.
Dom stomped back over his tracks for the third time. If he didn’t hear from her in the next few minutes, he was going in regardless! Brody looked at him from the tree he stood leaning against.“You need to take it down a notch, Dom, your hostility is smothering all the oxygen in this area.”Dom glared at him and then looked down at the snow. “I’m trying. She should have contacted me by now.” Tess came through the trees and headed toward him. She looked tired. “You’re sure you’re rested enough to be in on this?”She frowned and ignored his question. “We have an SUV headed this way.” She kept the phone against her ear and looked at him.He nodded. “Jennah, we’ve got someone heading your way.”“I’m still in the hole.”“As soon as he’s inside, let me kn
Jennah stayed low in the snow. The trees were more than enough cover, but she was cold and starting to feel tired. She glanced over at Brody, who was looking at her.“You okay?”She nodded and looked back toward the cabin. “Where are they?”“In the bush. They’re heading somewhere. We just don’t know where.”She looked back at the cabin. “Where are your vehicles?” She turned to see him pointing in the opposite direction. “Okay.” She started to stand.He jumped up. “Where are you going?”She motioned toward the warden’s SUV. “I’m going to disable that so we can go get the car and go help.”He shook his head and cursed under his breath as he felt for the mic on his collar. “Tess, are you still on the west side.” He looked back toward the cab
Jennah watched Dom’s feet under the curtain that hung around the bed she’d been put in when they’d reached the hospital. She gave it five more minutes, and if the doctor or nurse didn’t go out and tell him she was all right, he was going to get even more agitated than he was.As if on cue, the curtain flew back and he stood there looking larger than life. The doctor looked up from the pages he’d been writing on, a very apprehensive look in his eyes. Jennah hid a smile behind her hand and met Dom’s eyes. “You’re scaring the medical professional that is checking everything but my shoe size.” “I don’t care. I have been standing on the other side of that damn curtain for almost an hour!” He returned his serious eyes back to the doctor.The doctor straightened away from the counter and turned to look at Dom. “Mister Pa
It took Tess a moment to pull away from Brody’s kiss when she realized she’d brought them to the backyard instead of inside the house. “You had me all distracted and I didn’t focus hard enough.” Putting his arm around her, he pulled her against him and turned them towards the door. “Oh I’d say you were focused on the right thing.” Unzipping the vest, Brody shrugged out of it as soon as they entered the house. Tess kicked off her heels and sighed in relief to be free of them. Before she could turn around he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, cuddling her against his warm body. “Can I bribe you to wear those shoes again, later?” Tilting her head she closed her eyes as his mouth moved over the side of her neck. “I believe it’s illegal to bribe a police officer.” “Mmm, I’ll take my chances.” “Oh, good you’re back.” Jennah moved slowly into the room. Tes
Brody zipped the vest and pointed at the screen. “Get me to there and I’ll hoof it around get in behind the car.”“Got it.” Grayson announced as he accelerated and went barrelling down into the ditch the second they cleared the road barriers.“Smithy, you’re on scope. Anyone so much as breathes on Tess and you take them down a peg.” He growled into the com.“Won’t take my eyes off her.” The sniper in the group responded.“Colonel and I are in position. His men on are the ship with the containers and surrounding the yard.” Joslee reported. “I got your ass covered, Dom, whenever you’re ready.”Brody grabbed the door handle. “No one fires until Tess is clear.” He knew it didn’t need to be said, but he wasn’t taking any chances with her life.As he hit the ground for the second time tha
Tess couldn’t have turned around and looked behind if she had a chance; she was sandwiched between the Councilman and one of his goons. When the earpiece attached to her earring had gone dead, she could only hope that Brody got her signal. Chewing on the inside of her cheek, she cautiously looked at the man sitting beside her. He hadn’t uttered one word since they’d gotten in the car. The driver kept looking at her in the mirror and she tried to avoid making eye contact with him as well.When the car turned a corner in a rush speed, the councilman’s weight hit her. The only reason they would speed up had to mean they were being followed. She knew Dom well enough to know if he was the one driving there was no way this driver was going to be able to lose him—the man had chased down a perp on foot more than once; in a vehicle he was a demon. All she had to do was hold it together until backup got here.
“The only thing that would be worse than sitting here staring off into space would be if Tess let us listen in on the speeches. What could they possibly take this long to say? We need donations, please open your damn wallets.” Jennah hissed into the mics.Dom chuckled. “Patience doesn’t seem to be your strong point lately, lady.”“Trade you places, husband.”Brody shook his head and glanced at the man beside him to see an idiot’s grin on his face.“If only I could, wife.”“Talk time is winding down,” Joslee informed all.“It’s about time.” Brody muttered to Dom.“Yeah.” Dom turned back towards the building. “All eyes on Tess until we have her.”“Might take a few—the Councilman seems to be leading her all over the place, even holding her arm.”S
“Do you have visual?” Dom turned and looked at Brody, one eyebrow quirked. “You keep asking Smithy that every ten seconds and we’re going to spend all night standing out here.” Lowering the binoculars long enough to send the other man an annoyed look, Brody shrugged. “I’ve only asked twice. There are so many arriving right now; I don’t want to lose her.” “She’s moved a total of twenty steps since she and the Colonel got there Brody, relax.” He knew he was tensing up, but as hard as he tried he couldn’t seem to bring it under control. “I am,” he lied. Dom snorted. “Bullshit! You are so friggin tense my nerves are twitching—back it down a few notches or I’m going to have to send you to sit in the truck.” Taking a deep breath, Brody tried once more to reign in the emotions that were trampling him. He was ready to send himself to the truck for a time out when a voice came over the mic that ha
Brody didn’t take his eyes off Tessa as Jennah mothered him and cleaned and bandaged his shoulder. Tess was chewing her bottom lip as she read over the list of known associates of the guy they’d identified. Of course it turned out to be someone everyone knew or knew of—and taking him down was going to have to be a very precise operation. Getting close enough to the man in charge wasn’t going to be an easy thing to accomplish.Tessa lowered the pages and leaned back in the chair, closing her eyes for a few seconds. It was long enough for him to allow his eyes to travel over her without being caught. When she opened them again, he looked away and met Joslee’s glare. Lifting his eyebrows, he tried to look repentant for tormenting the man that could hear what he was thinking—which at this moment was something he couldn’t wait to be doing to Tess.The Captain came back into the room and glan
Tess tried not to think of how pissed Brody was going to be that she’d tricked him into agreeing to let her near the containers. If Gray’s little contraption worked and jammed up what was inside the container, it would be worth it. Of course the only ones that knew about it were her and Grayson—that wasn’t going to sit well with the others either. She slid along slowly on her belly on top of the cool steel container, trying to keep her body low enough to not be seen.Lifting her head, she spotted the truck coming up fast. All she had to do was somehow get from this trailer to the truck Joslee was driving like a madman. No biggie, how hard could jumping from one moving vehicle to another be? Swallowing she shuffled around so she could come down the back of the container feet first. If her ability worked, it would save a whole lot of stress, but regardless of whatever they’d done to ensure the t
Crouching down, Brody moved a little further over the knoll. “They have both containers loaded up.”Tess watched through the binoculars. “Everyone is gone but the driver of the truck and that jeep parked at the end.”Brody looked over to Joslee. He’d been filling Dom and the others in on what was happening. He shook his head. “They don’t have an ID yet.” Glaring at the truck, he clenched his jaw a few times. “Too bad we can’t get close enough to disable the truck to stall until the Captain gets it together.”Lowering the binoculars she looked at him and then back to the truck. “Tell me what to do and I’ll pop down do it and get back here.”“What if you can’t get back just like that?” He didn’t want to agree with her idea, but a part of him knew it was probably the only chance they had. They
Brody rounded the corner almost running over Tessa. Grabbing her arms, he steadied her. “Where are you running to in a hurry?” Her warm hands rested against his chest, burning him through his shirt.“Grayson called us all to the basement—you didn’t know?”He felt like he was drowning in her soft eyes. “I was working out then hopped in the shower.”“Oh.”It was hard to not do more than hold her arms when her eyes caressed him. When she reached up and brushed his damp hair back from his face, he had to remind his brain of what she had just said. “Why the basement?”Easing her hands slowly down his chest to rest by his waist, she shrugged. “I’m not sure, but he said to leave anything electronic up here.”“Let’s go see what’s up.” Hesitating for a few seconds, he reluctantly