The dream halted, changed.He sank back down into sleep, but his fingers curled through hers and held on.Rowan sighed.
It’s official.I am going to do whatever I can to make them pay.Not just for Daddy and for Hilary, but for Justin too.They could have killed him.And Boomer and Eleanor, and Bobby and Annika… and everyone.Sigma’s evil, and they have to be stopped.And if I have this talent, this gift, I have to use it to stop them.So tomorrow, I start training.
The resolve took place right under her breastbone, in the same place she had buried the truth about her talent since she was five years old.That resolve had carried her through years of learning to be invisible, hanging on grimly while other people’s emotions buffeted her from every side, carried her through the wrenching grief of her mother’s death and the inevitable heartbreak of her father’s relentless aging.
Okay.Her fingers tightened in Justin’s sleeping hand.No more messing around.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-FIVE
“Would you look at that,”Henderson said.
“Makes you want to sing, don’t it.”Delgado’s mouth twitched into a half-smile.
Below the observation deck, the shooting gallery resounded with gunfire.Three of the twelve lanes were taken—two by members of Annika’s team, and the third by Rowan and Brew.
Rowan nodded at something Brew said, lifted the Glock in one clean motion, and squeezed off six more shots in a row.Then she glanced at Brew, smiling.The tall man hit the button to bring the target to their booth, and then gently clapped her on the shoulder.She must have done well.
Brew was a patient, careful teacher.
“I don’t know what you did,” Henderson continued, “but good work.Kate tells me she’s never seen such intense focus from a trainee.And Catherine tells me she’s doing all right on the decks.Knows enough to get out of the fuckin’ way,I believe was Cath’s estimation of her skill.”
Justin shrugged.“Rowan’s doing it all.Not me.”
“How did you convince her to take classes again?She’s up for graduation.Kate says there’s nothing more she needs except field experience.”The old man leaned against a concrete pillar, watching as Brew clipped another target in and hit the button.Rowan, her fingers moving quickly, reloaded.
Delgado’s mouth was dry.He shifted slightly to ease his sore shoulder.He’d run a new batch of recruits through a training course last weekend and taken a stray amateur shot; Rowan had been invaluable during the entire class.“I didn’t ‘convince’ her.I just kind of put the question to her in terms she could understand.”
Admit it, Delgado.You have no idea what suddenly made her snap out of it, unless it was tumbling into bed with you.Have I infected her with my own anger?
“Well, whatever you did, it’s working.Yoshi’s got a kit all ready for her.How’s she coming along in combat training?”
“Okay.”He watched her lift the gun, take her stance habitually, felt the fierce one-pointed concentration spreading from her.The observation deck was far above the lanes, and bulletproof.He could see everything going on down there, but still, he was nervous.The thought of her around that much live fire made his spine go cold.“She still flinches.I don’t think she’s ready.”
“If she’s not ready now, she won’t ever be.”Henderson’s gaze was on him.“You’re not letting your emotional involvement jeopardize her training, are you?”
“Of course not.”I’m lying, call me on it.I don’t want her out there, General.Not even with a whole team’s worth of backup.“Fuck it.Look, I want her on standby.Permanently.”
“Reason?”Henderson’s iron-gray eyebrow arched, thin mouth quirking.
“If she goes out, I’ll have to spend half my time worrying about her,” Delgado admitted.“Adding her to the team will diminish my capability.”The words felt odd in his mouth.He would never have admitted this if he had to look straight at the old man.
They both watched as Rowan fired a few more times, just like a pro, her stance braced but easy.He would have been proud of her skill, except that every day brought her closer to becoming a full-fledged operative.
“I don’t believe that.”
“You want to hang someone’s life on it?”Delgado shifted his weight, his eyes dropping down to follow Rowan as she checked the gun and racked it.She and Brew went about cleaning up the booth.Brewster made a comment and she laughed, the sound echoing sharply off the gallery’s walls.“I’d like her on standby.”
“Overruled,” Henderson said.“I’m sorry, Del.She’s good for the team, and you’ve never cracked under pressure before.You’ll do fine.”
“As long as you’re aware I’m going to be looking out for her.”
“How would that be any different than Zeke and Cath?This isn’t Sigma, Del.We don’t split up budding relationships.”
“It’s not budding anymore.”He saw Brewster touch her shoulder as they headed for the safe zone.
She didn’t flinch.Instead, she laughed, covering her mouth.Even through the safety glasses and earpieces she was gorgeous.Today she wore a blue tank top with a picture of a Buddha, borrowed from Catherine, and a pair of worn jeans.Now that he knew what her skin felt like against his fingers, knew what it was like to sink into her and feel the clean depths of her mind closing over him, her body tightening around him as she cried out softly, arching her back, it was even more difficult to keep his mind on his work.
Or anything else, for that matter.
