What the hell?
“You mean that blind guy?”Delgado’s skin went cold.Please tell me I didn’t just hear that.“With the skinny-ass bodyguard?”The one that never loses his target—or he didn’t, until they set him to hunting me.I’m the only one that got away from him, and I had to nearly get killed to do it.If it wasn’t for Henderson Iwouldhave been dead.
“Yeah.”Andrews grinned like a death’s head.“I’m waiting for confirmation from the Colonel, but I think we’ll get him out here by tomorrow with that Jap watchdog.Your favorite buddy Jilssen, too.And then we’ll hunt her down like a dog.”
The grin widened when Agent Breaker didn’t respond.“Cheer up, Del.When we catch her, I might even let you have a taste.”
CHAPTER5
Rowan’s shoulder hurt,a drill burrowing into flesh—her healing talent working overtime.The only drawback to healing a lot more quickly was that all the pain compressed into a shorter time.
I’m doing well for only the second time I’ve gotten shot,she thought hazily, swimming up through a fuzzy gray blanket of shock.Her head pounded, a relentless ache curiously removed from the rest of her.
“Justin?”Her own voice, soft and slurred.
“She’s coming around.”Yoshi, sounding tired.“Rowan, just relax.We’re safe.”
“No,” she objected immediately, her voice slurred and breathless.“He was there.We have to go back.”Listen to me, I sound like I’m drugged.“He wasthere.”
“She’s saying it again.”Sound of movement, clicking of keys.“I don’t like this.They’re suspiciously quiet out there.”
Henderson sighed.“I know.Just keep digging, find the channel they’re using, and break it.I’ve got one of those feelings.”The quiet warmth of the General’s attention spread over her skin, his dry, steel-hard fingers taking her pulse.“Rowan, quit trying to get up.Just relax.We’ve got a couple hours.”
She took a deep breath, drawing in the familiarity of a safehouse—fabric softener, computer fans going full-blast, Cath’s strawberry incense, the smell of gun oil and healthy human animals.
And the crackling aroma of fear.
I’m their talisman.And I just got shot again.
Two and a half months ago, Sigma had found them again as they scrambled to salvage anything possible from the ruin of Headquarters.Yoshi’s quick thinking and Zeke’s berserker rage had saved them.Rowan had been ingloriously shot in the first few moments of the attack, spending the rest of the mad scramble bleeding and feverishly attempting to be of some use.
She opened her eyes, the electric buzz of dampers settling against skin and teeth.I never get used to that.Found herself on the cot in the comm room, with Henderson squatting right next to her.
“Hey,” he said quietly.“Welcome back.Lew’s safely on his way to Eleanor in Calgary, and we’re all in one piece.If we still had a Headquarters and infrastructure I’d court-martial you.”
“Nice to see you too,” she managed.He knew that normally, the first thing she’d be worried about was Lewis.“Water?”
He helped her sit up.Her shoulder was tightly bandaged, granting a wave of fierce hot pain.Then the old man handed her a bottle of Evian, thoughtfully twisting the top free.She took it in her left hand, tried a few deep swallows.Her stomach boiled, flipped, and decided to keep the liquid down.
She cast a practiced eye over the room—Cath’s Dr.Who scarf was gone, and so were the chairs.They were preparing to blow this town now that they had Lewis and Sigma had shown their hand.
“That was foolish, Price.”Henderson looked grave.His mouth turned down at the corners, and his gray eyes were pale and cold in a way she had rarely seen before.“They could have caught you.”
“They didn’t,” she pointed out.“Henderson, Justin was there.He helped me escape.”
“You saw him?”
“Not precisely.”Her cheeks felt hot.Was sheblushing?“He made contact, linked with me.He…”
He killed that woman woman.A Sigma psion.The other one must’ve been her handler.He had reached through Rowan, using his talent to crack a mind like an egg.
“He reached through me to kill one of the Sigs and told me how to get out of the net.He wasthere.”
Henderson sighed, reaching up to rub at his steel-colored eyes behind his spectacles.He looked tired.“Are you absolutely sure?”
Rowan’s shoulders sagged.A fresh jolt of pain tore through the right side of her body, making her vision swim and her eyes fill with reflexive tears.“Of course I’m sure.”You trusted my instincts before, General.Why not now?
“If he’s here, he’ll show up when he can.You disobeyed a direct order.”Henderson didn’t look mollified in the slightest.His eyes were sharp and his mouth was a thin line.“Don’t do that again.”
