Mercedes’ voice whispered through his mind, untangling the ugly twists of self-recriminations that threatened to drown him as the ceiling and lights flashed overhead as they moved.It’s not yourfault.
You don’tknowthat.
Telepathy was different than speaking, and Cillian wasn’t here to take out Sean’s failure to remain quiet onAlexei.
That’s right. Cillian is gone andyou’resafe.
He used to think that safety was found in Alexei’s arms, but after what they’d gone through, Sean doubted Alexei would ever want to see him again. Who would want to be with someone who had watched them be tortured, beencomplicitin said torture? It might not have been his hand harming Alexei, but it had been his actions and decisions that had spurredCillianon.
“It’s against regulations for you to be here, ma’am,” he heard someone say. “He’syourson.”
“Exactly. He’s my son. If you think I’m walking out of this OR while Sean is on the table, then I hate to disappoint you, because you will have to drag me out of here in handcuffs if you want me gone. Now prep the regen tank while Iscrubup.”
Gentle fingers stroked his hair back in a way Sean remembered from childhood. It was enough for him to open his eye and blink painfully up at the face of his mother haloed by the operating room’s bright lights. She looked pale-faced and furious, mouth pressed into a thin white line, but as soon as she saw he was looking at her, Naomismiled.
“This nice young lady right over here is going to put you to sleep, honey. I’ll be here when youwakeup.”
Sean wanted to tell herno, to tell her tohelp Alexei first, but he never felt the slide of the needle in his arm or the cannula that was slipped under his nose, mindful of his bruised and swollen mouth, pouring blackness through his veinsandmind.
* * *
Jamie rammedthe butt of his rifle into the face of a Sons of Adam fighter hard enough to crack his jaw and split skin. The man, who’d been wielding a knife and stabbing people indiscriminately as they ran, went down hard. Jamie put a bullet in the guy’s chest and kept moving. He had the Parkman Bandstand in his sights, but the space around it was empty. The absence of any security personnel or even campaign figures worried him. Hell, he didn’t even see anyone from the press running around. Jamie needed more eyes than he had on thesurroundingarea.
“Tank,Ineed—”
Jamie cut himself off as Tessa appeared out of thin air beside him, along with her partner, and the entirety of Delta Team. Corporal Noah Bailey nodded at Jamie. Delta Team’s captain was a former Marine he had excellent workingrelationswith.
“Get everyone calmed down, Petra,”Noahsaid.
Claudia Wilkinson, code named Petra and Delta Team’s empath, pressed a hand to the side of her head, scowling. “I need some cover. There’s a lot of people I need toinfluence.”
Jamie pointed in the direction of the bandstand. “We put protections up for the senator around the bandstand. You should be safe enough insideit.Echo?”
“On it,” Tessa replied, taking Claudia by the arm and teleporting awaywithher.
“Should’ve asked her to put one of us on a roof for overwatch,”Noahsaid.
“I have Icarus covering us in the air. Can you try to locate the senator for me?” Jamieasked.
“Give me a couple ofseconds.”
Noah disappeared in a blur, racing away at a speed no one could catch. Jamie let him search the area in favor of moving farther into the crowd. “Tank, I need thatupdate.”
“Not seeing anyone with suicide vests. It’s been hard to scan everyone in general, but the crowd seems to be calming down now,” Donovan reported overcomms.
“Delta Team is on thefield.”
“Thatexplainsit.”
An empath could control and influence emotions, though they couldn’t read thoughts. Still, their power was almost as tightly legislated as telepaths. Jamie had seen what an empath could do, the way they could ruin a person’s life with just a simple, emotional suggestion that ate away at them. Nikolaas Jansen had built an entire business off his power, partnering with the Pavluhkins to destroy lives. Jamie didn’t know how many people Claudia could calm down at once, but Jamie hoped it was enough to help bring the crowd undercontrol.
Noah skidded to a stop near Jamie, the wind of his passage blowing across everyone. “Senator isn’t on thefield.”
“Goddamn it,” Jamie said as he switched out of the encrypted comms being used by their teams in the field to call out on his private line. The connection was picked up after only one ring. “Whereareyou?”
“We’re being escorted to police headquarters,” Richard replied, sounding more than a little breathless. His father’s words came out short and clipped, a sure sign he was trying to stay calm in the face of danger. In the back of his mind, Jamie wondered if his father finally understood just how wrong his decision to go forward with the campaign rallyhadbeen.
Jamie immediately opened an uplink with headquarters and drew his father into his call. “I need the senator’s location. Trace him throughmyline.”
