The man tracking her followed in that direction too, but he was dodging behind vehicles and columns, just as she had been. He wasn’t taking the bait that easily. He suddenly turned and started shooting in her direction, sweeping a wide path of bullets that bounced and rained around her.
Helen crouched lower, trying to make herself as small as possible.Thatwas no small firearm. It was something a lot bigger with powerful, and a two-and-a-half-foot cement column wasn’t going to be much protection, especially if she betrayed her location. Obviously, her hostile had decided that the darkness meant he hadn’t the time to play cat and mouse, deducing Security would be on the way down here soon. But heck, Jed wanted her to cover him, didn’t he? She hoped he got to Weber because she didn’t think Security was going to be fooled by a short-circuited blackout any more, not with this racket.
She took a deep breath and started running to the back wall, rolling and tumbling, still using the columns for protection, as sprays of gunfire followed her. He was coming after her in earnest, the staccato rat-tat-tat stopping and starting as he searched for her moving shadow.
Bait. She had only a few minutes left before the authorities showed up. He was right behind her now, confident because she wouldn’t have anywhere else to run once she reached the back wall. Her timing had to be just right. The main radiators to heat the building should be right ahead. She needed him to aim in that direction.
One more column. Her hostile would think this was it, and he’d move in for the kill. Helen darted right, then cut left. Bullets hit the pipes and sparks flew, burning her arms as she launched into the air, across the hood of one vehicle, and slid under.
Metallic pops reverberated as the damaged radiators exploded from the gunfire. She heard the powerful whoosh of compressed steam and hot water gushing out. A horrific scream echoed in the darkness. She scrunched her face at the sound. That couldn’t have felt good.
“Elena.”
She rolled out the other side of the car, her body hitting a pair of shoes. She found herself pulled onto her feet. The roar of rushing steam drowned out Jed’s words. He started running, her hand still in his, so she had no choice but to follow. She didn’t have time to look back at the man who had been targeting her.
They reached the elevator just as the lights started to come back on. Elena blinked, trying to focus. The elevator doors opened and she found herself pushed gently inside.
“Up, follow de Clerq’s instructions, and back to the hotel,” Jed ordered.
Helen looked at him. His nice suit was torn and dirty, as if he’d been rolling on a bit of floor himself. There was blood on his hands. The look in his eyes made her shiver—cold and aloof. Unemotional. The eyes of a killer.
She nodded. “Weber?”
“He’s okay. But he and I have some explaining to do. I don’t want to explain right now. I’ll see you back at the hotel soon.”
She could hear shouts heading down the walkway where she’d come from. “I’m okay,” she answered his unspoken question as she ran her hand lightly up one bloodied arm. “Scrapes.”
There was no outward response at all from Jed. “Good decoy. Too much noise,” he said, pressed the button for the second floor and stepped back, letting the doors close.
“Wait a minute! That wasn’t me—” the doors cut off the rest of her sentence “—using a machine gun!” she finished, and stamped her foot. “Damn it, he always gets the last word.”
Later, back at the hotel, Helen watched Jed giving directives to operatives left and right as he changed back into his jeans and shirt. After making sure she wasn’t really injured, he hadn’t exchanged more than a few words with her before being swarmed by calls from different agencies. She watched, fascinated as he morphed seamlessly from the cold assassin she’d seen in the underground garage to negotiator, and then to the voice of authority, telling someone somewhere what to do with some kind of information the head of Deutsche International had passed on to him. Through it all, his silver eyes watched her like a hawk, following her as she walked around the room. She knew she was acting a tad bit too restless, but she couldn’t stop herself. He was emanating the most beautiful glow and if she didn’t move around, she would be unable to resist the sudden urge to touch him, to feel all that energy calling to her. What were these bubbly things she kept seeing when she concentrated on a person? Was it the serum? If so, besides overriding her pain and exhaustion, what was it enhancing? And why did she herself glow too?
“Jed, vid-feed from Diamond. He’s with Hawk McMillan.”
“Be right there.” Jed turned to her and said, “If Diamond has secured the trigger, we’ll fly back to Center immediately. I want you examined by Dr. Kirkland ASAP.”
Helen cocked her head. He was just too serious. “Won’t you prefer another day near Lake Matka?” she teased. “I’m not sleepy at all, so the brain entrainment machine’s going to be useless. I can think of other ways to use up all this serum-enhanced energy.”
The corner of his lips lifted slightly but his light eyes were still watchful. “I’ll find a way to tire you out.” He caressed her face with the back of his hand. “Food. Drink.”
She gave a mock salute and watched him go. Damn, but she loved watching his ass in those faded jeans.
NOOO! THE BITCH HADkilled his monitors! They were his only connection to the serum! He hadn’t ever considered the danger of his job, that he or his handlers might die. What would become of him?
Jonah hadn’t dared go closer to the dead body. He never liked the energy that still clung to the recently deceased. He followed one man, then another, trying to figure what to do next.
Despair raged through him. He didn’t even know how to get back to the States. Alone. In the darkness.No serum.The thought of being left all by himself brought him into near panic. He willed himself to calm down. There was nobody monitoring his physical body back in the room and he couldn’t afford a cardiac arrest right now.
He heard English. American English. Turning, he saw two men conversing in low voices. Definitely American. Following them was easy, of course, and listening in made his blood boil. It was that bitch from COMCEN again, interfering with his life. He continued following them until they reached a hotel room, knowing he would find her there.
The sight of her made him angrier than ever. She was looking down, studying something in her hand, a small frown crinkling her forehead. She held it up to the light and it was a vial, the kind of medical glass container that held drugs to be drawn out through a syringe. He was very familiar with them because his handlers had carried them for his second dosages.
Jonah glared with hatred at the source of all his trouble. The bitch caused this. If he were to be stranded out here, with no serum, so should she. She was going down too.
He wasn’t sure what he was doing but he understood his abilities a lot better now. It all made sense. Remote viewers gauged sights and sounds, recording them in an objective way, but he’d managed to cross the invisible line with his special talents. He could see more than that when he remote viewed. Somehow he’d found a way to “record” energy. He recalled the one whose “painful” energy he’d inadvertently taken by mistake—what if he crashed into the bitch now and returned that unwanted gift? What if he took everything from her and left her in pain? Could he do that? He didn’t know how, but he was even more powerful now, wasn’t he? They’d told him that some remote viewers could be trained to kill. He didn’t know how, but he would find a way to damage her.
He’d always known he was far better than the other candidates and he could prove it by trying something new on the one personwhom they had deemed better than him. And look at all that glorious sexy glow coming from her. What a goldmine.
