There was a subliminalsnap, as if something had broken betweem her temples, in the very center of her brain.
Rowan?
I’m here,she answered Justin’s silent whisper.
Good work.Let’s go.He tugged on her hand again.She’s so powerful.God, how did she learn how to?—
The blast of thought made her whimper, driving her teeth into her lower lip.She had gone too far, inadvertentlytouchinghim, sliding below the surface of his psyche to where the dark things in every human brain lived.In him it was something hard, cold, and fierce as an animal, but without an animal’s unconscious harmlessness.
The car door opened.“Let go.You have to let go of my hand, angel.We can’t stay here all night.”
Rowan blinked.Cold air touched her cheeks.She was perched in the passenger side of the car, Justin’s fingers still tangled with hers.She made her hand uncurl, sliding free of the borders of his mind.Her head pounded.
What did I just do?
“You linked with me,” he said softly, and brushed a strand of hair back from her face.“Get your legs in the car.We’ve got to go.They’re sweeping the hotel.We just missed them.”
Was that disbelief in his voice?Rowan numbly pulled her legs inside the car, and he shut the door, managing not to make much noise.In short order he was in the driver’s seat, and she wondered what he’d done with the suitcase.
The car’s engine roused with a swift soft purr.He pulled out of the parking space, and within fifteen minutes they were cruising smoothly on the freeway.Rowan rested her head against the seatback and wondered why her hands were shaking.
“What was that?”she whispered, and he gave her a single dark-eyed glance.
“That was two full Sigma teams.They’ve got a tracker or something.Damn.”
“I’m sorry,” Rowan offered, inadequately.
“Don’t,” he said shortly, his eyes on the road, flicking up to the rearview mirror.“It’s all right.”
Oddly enough, that made her feel better.If he said it was all right, she had no choice but to believe him.
Something dropped on her hand.Rowan looked down.It was a tear.
She scrubbed at her cheek with the back of her left hand.Stop it.Stop crying.
He handed her the tissues again.“It’s normal, angel.Sometimes I wish I still could.”
“It felt horrible.”It still does.“Whatever it was, it felthorrible.Something awful.”
“Definitely a tracker.They take remote-viewers and locators, and brainwipe them with Zed.Then they?—”
“I don’t want to know.”Rowan’s breath hitched on a sob.“Please.I don’t want to know any more.”
“Oh.”He watched the road, the rearview mirror.“I’m sorry, Rowan.”
“It’s n-n-not your f-f-fault.It’s mine.”
“I already told you—” he began, but broke off as lurid light drenched the inside of the car.“Oh,fuck.Rowan, I have to pull over.There’s a cop behind us.Stay calm, okay?”
“Oh, God.”Rowan balled the tissue up in her fist.“What if he recognizes me?”
“I can handle this, but I need you to becalm, all right?”
“All right.”Her throat ached with unshed tears and her ruined voice.
He pulled over, slowing, and the cop whizzed past them in the left lane.Delgado let out a long, harsh breath.“Isn’t that a piece of luck.Good job back there, angel.”
“I didn’t do anything.I’m useless.”
