She shuddered.Are you saying we have to give up the lives we’ve made for ourselves in New Orleans?
For now. Until we can . . .His voice trailed off and he shrugged.I don’t know what the answer is.
They had been focused so completely on the conversation that they hadn’t noticed anyone on the road–until a man and a woman came striding toward the parking area in front of the cabin.
Rachel gasped as she recognized them.
It was Mickey and Kira. When they had escaped from the warehouse, they had kept looking for her and Jake. Maybe they’d zeroed in on their psychic energy, now that they recognized it. And their confrontation had drawn them.
The newcomers didn’t give them any warning, they simply attacked, sending a bolt of energy toward Rachel and Jake that would have knocked them over if they had been on their feet.
Rachel cried out. Jake grabbed her hand, grounding her.
He dived into the bushes taking her along.
When she started to speak inside her head, he whispered, “Don’t communicate that way unless we have to.”
She did as he asked, wondering if it would do any good.
A bolt of power landed near where they’d entered the underbrush, then another close-by. Both of them singed the leaves where they hit, but the foliage was apparently too damp to catch on fire.
In the face of the assault, Jake froze, and she did the same.
Another bolt landed, but this one was farther away, and she knew that the attackers didn’t know exactly where she and Jake had gone.
“I think it’s because they can’t zero in on us when theycan’t see us and we don’t use our powers,” Jake whispered. “And that includes speaking mind to mind.”
That was good news–until they had to fight.
They crept deeper into the underbrush along the bayou, tramping through standing water. It was strange not being able to reach for Jake’s mind, but she kept herself from doing it.
When a snake slithered in front of them, they both went stock-still.
Jake squeezed her hand as the reptile undulated out of their way, obviously as alarmed to see them as they were to see it.
Stopping about fifty yards from the picnic table where they’d been sitting, Jake cautiously eased up so that he could look through a break in the screen of bushes.
He kept his voice low. “They’re just standing in the parking lot like they don’t know what to do. Mickey took a couple of steps toward the bayou, and Kira held him back. I think they don’t like the idea of getting up close and personal with nature.”
“Can we get to the car and get out of here?” she asked.
“Maybe. But then what? Fight them again the next time they find us? They attacked as soon as they saw us. They didn’t try to negotiate or reason with us. We have to assume that their goal is to kill us.”
She nodded, hating to acknowledge that he was right. They had to stop these people from coming after them, and this was as good a place as any.
When she started to stand, Jake tried to restrain her, but she gently took his hand off her arm. “I want to get a look at them.”
He made a low sound but didn’t prevent her from easing up behind a tree trunk and peering at the couple who were arguing in the parking area.
They weren’t speaking out loud, but she knew from theirbody language that they weren’t in agreement about what to do next.
When she hunkered down beside Jake again, she murmured, “Kira’s the leader. I think we need to focus on her.”
Jake nodded. “Agreed.”
“We practiced pooling our energy when we weren’t touching. How far apart do you think we can get?”
His jaw tightened. “No more than twenty feet.”
