Seven Psychics Page 12

  “Not this time,” I replied, much to everyone’s relief.

  Mark took out his cell phone and called the Cleanup Crew. He arranged for them to meet us a short distance away from the park. Garrett took off just as sirens wailed in the distance. We stopped on a quiet side street a few blocks away. The dark gray van of the Crew soon pulled up behind us. With silent nods of greeting, the same two men opened the back door of the SUV and removed the body. I had no idea what they did with the corpses. Took them to a secret lab to be experimented on for all I knew.

  “Five down,” Flynn said with a self-satisfied smile.

  “Two to go,” Walker added. They leaned past me to high five each other.

  “Wrath and Lust aren’t going to be as easy to catch,” Mark half-turned to warn us.

  “You think the others were easy?” I said incredulously.

  “We’ve hunted things that were a lot harder to pin down than these guys,” Bailey told me. I noted that he said ‘things’ rather than ‘people’ and hoped it was just a figure of speech. Right from the first moment that I’d met the squad, I knew there was something different about them. Their strangeness had become easier to understand with Agent Steel’s explanation of genetic engineering, yet I sensed there was more to them than that. I just didn’t know what it was. After seeing what they’d done to Greed, I wasn’t sure I wanted to know their secrets. Before they’d torn her apart, the telepath had called them creatures and monsters, as if she knew far more about them than I did.

  As Mark predicted, Wrath and Lust were far better at covering their tracks than the five deceased members of their band. Their victims had been few and far between so far, but even they couldn’t help but use their gifts from time to time. Unfortunately, they were far more intelligent than their fallen comrades. Neither of them seemed to stick around for long to watch the chaos unfold once their victims had been discovered by the police.

  A couple of days passed and Mark heard of an occurrence of extreme violence that had resulted in a death. Murder was unfortunately common in every large city, but this one was highly suspicious and had raised a flag with Mark’s informant. He hadn’t told us much about the incident, but he wouldn’t have dragged us back to the city without good reason.

  Agent Steel motioned for us all to stay in the SUV when Reece pulled up near yet another business that had been cordoned off with crime scene tape. He crossed the road and flashed his badge at one of the police officers. I pushed the earbud into my ear to listen in.

  “What’s the situation?” Mark asked briskly. The agency that he worked for might be dubious, but his authority was beyond question.

  “A woman went mad a couple of hours ago for no apparent reason. She walked inside the grocery store and attacked someone at random. She clawed another person’s eyes out and choked her to death before she was restrained,” the cop responded. “She’s been taken to the hospital for psychiatric evaluation. Why are the feds interested in this case?”

  “There have been a lot of strange occurrences happening in the city lately,” Mark replied. “I’ve been sent to investigate anything that seems out of the ordinary.”

  The cop shrugged his shoulders and stuck his thumbs in his belt. “This is just another whack job going off her nut. There’s nothing strange about it.”

  It was chilling that he didn’t find it strange for someone to claw another person’s eyes out then choke them to death. It made me wonder what other horrors he’d seen in his line of work.

  Mark returned to the SUV and his agents departed to hunt for the target. Wrath was long gone and we spent the entire day hunting for him only to come up empty. He’d seen us coming and had made sure to be far away before we’d arrived.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Eighteen

  Several more days passed with no further incidents. I wasn’t the only one itching for some kind of action by then. Breakfast was strained and Kala and Reece snapped at each other until Mark had ordered them to find something constructive to do. Kala disappeared to the indoor gun range and Garrett took out his frustration on the gym equipment. Flynn kept his distance from them both, opting to stay in his room. The whole team was growing more and more irritable with each day that passed.

  I followed Bailey’s lead and spent the morning holed up in my room reading. Hunger finally drove me out at lunchtime. Leaving my room with the intention of heading downstairs to make a sandwich, I heard Reece in the coms room and slowed to a stop. I didn’t mean to spy on him, but I also didn’t want to intrude on his conversation.

  “There’s still plenty of time,” Garrett was saying. “We can make it to Denver and be back before moonrise.” His mention of moonrise reminded me that I’d been a part of the team for an entire month now. The past four weeks had flown by far too quickly. It was supposed to be a special day for me, but no one had remembered what day it was. I wasn’t about to remind them now that one of the psychics seemed to have resurfaced again.

  “It’s too risky,” Mark replied in a low voice. “I can’t endanger the lives of the people that we’re sworn to protect.”

  Garrett’s reply was frustrated. “Just let us see if we can catch her trail and try to narrow down where she has her lair. If we don’t pick it up after a couple of hours, we’ll head straight back.” So, it was Lust that had broken cover this time.

  Agent Steel was silent while he made his decision. “Fine, but I’m going with you. I don’t want another repeat of what happened to Greed.”

  “What about Alexis? You’re not going to bring her along, are you?” Garrett’s tone hinted that he’d be pissed if I accompanied the team. My self-esteem slipped down a notch at his obvious belief that they’d be better off without me tagging along to slow them down.

  “She’ll stay here where she’ll be safe.”

  “Good. She has no business being a part of this hunt.”

  Even knowing how little Garrett thought of me, I felt another stab of hurt. Not for the first time, I felt as if I was being kept in the dark. I was just an outsider who was with them only temporarily and would soon be gone once the final two targets had been eliminated. Trying not to feel bitter, I tiptoed back to my door and made more noise opening and closing it so they wouldn’t think I was trying to sneak up on them.

  Mark was alone when I stepped into the coms room and he gestured for me to join him at the computer table. “I’ve just received a call about another possible victim of Lust,” he explained. “We’re heading to Denver to check it out and I want you to stay behind this time.”

  Kala appeared in the stairwell and flicked me a sympathetic look as she darted down the hallway towards her room. As always, she’d overheard our conversation.

  “I know,” I grumbled. “I’m safer here. I wouldn’t want Lust getting her claws into me.”

  “No,” he said grimly. “You really wouldn’t.”

  Mark didn’t explain his reasons for not including me, but I knew why he didn’t want me tagging along this time. It was well known that I was an innocent. It was mortifying that Reece knew I was a virgin, even though I wasn’t ashamed of it. He was only two years older than me, but he was far more experienced. Kala had let slip that Garrett had turned twenty only a couple of months ago. It didn’t really make much difference if he was two, five or ten years older than me. He’d made it very clear that he had no romantic interest in me whatsoever.

  Studying my mulish expression, Mark touched a button on the computer. It came to life beneath his hands and he accessed a file and sent it to one of the wall monitors. “I want you to read through these reports while we’re gone. Maybe then you’ll have a better understanding of why I’m so reluctant to put you in unnecessary danger. Garrett might sometimes seem as if he doesn’t care, but that isn’t the case at all. Like the rest of us, he just wants you to be safe.”

  Unwillingly thrilled by his pronouncement, I nodded in acquiescence. He knew Reece far better than I did and he had no reason to lie to me. Could it be possible that
Garrett didn’t despise me as much as he pretended to? I knew it was stupid to get my hopes up, but it was hard not to even though he’d already told me he wasn’t interested in me. The heart was a fickle thing and it was impossible to control.

  Kala emerged from the hallway wearing an outfit that would enable her to blend into the civilian population. She seemed far more hyper than usual and flashed a grin at me. “See ya later,” she said with a wink and disappeared down the stairs.

  Blinking hard, I wondered if my mind was playing tricks on me. I could have sworn Walker’s eye teeth were longer and sharper than usual.

  It would take several hours for the team to reach Denver, track down their target, hopefully eliminate her and return. Blowing out a woeful sigh at being classified as too innocent to join the squad, I descended to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee. At least that was one thing I was old enough to indulge in. Not that I was too young for sex, it was just something I hadn’t felt compelled to do yet. I’d never been one to cave in to peer pressure. Just because half of the girls in my senior year had been sleeping with someone didn’t mean I had to be a lemming and blindly follow their example. Besides, I had zero interest in any of the boys in the tiny Texan town where I’d finished high school. Or in any of the boys in the other towns I’d lived in for the past few years for that matter.

  Taking my mug back up to the communications room, I was terrified of spilling it on the expensive equipment. I held it well away from the table as I tapped the screen and called up the first report. I enlarged the document so I could read it easily on the wall monitor. Since I’d be here for a while, I dragged one of the chairs over to the computer and took a seat.

  Before long, my hands were wrapped around the mug, seeking warmth. The telepath known as Wrath had a long and violent past. Like his cohorts, he’d been incarcerated in a mental hospital several years ago after inciting a riot that had resulted in half a dozen deaths. His photo showed an ordinary man with bland brown eyes. Only a faint spark of his insanity showed in their depths. He had the type of face that was hard to remember and would be instantly forgotten by most people. I knew I’d have a hard time remembering him. Since he’d escaped from the loony bin, he’d caused half a dozen rage related murders that Mark knew of.

  I wasn’t sure who tipped off Agent Steel each time an incident occurred. I wasn’t even sure what agency the Track and Kill Squad worked for. An emblem on the top left corner of the computer table caught my eye. I was only rarely allowed to see the computer in action and hadn’t noticed it before. Three letters in lemon yellow stood in a matching yellow circle.

  “PIA,” I whispered and wondered what it stood for. The IA most likely stood for Intelligence Agency, or possibly Investigation Agency, but I had no idea what the P stood for.

  Putting my curiosity aside, I returned to reading the files. I wasn’t a particularly fast reader and I was on my third cup of coffee before I finally opened the file that contained information on the psychic known as Lust.

  Captivated by the photo of a stunningly beautiful blonde woman with intense blue eyes, jealousy flared. She was in her mid-thirties and had a lush figure that any man would no doubt desire. Sure, she was certifiably crazy, but that didn’t stop her from being gorgeous.

  Drinking too much coffee in quick succession always drove me to the bathroom. I used that as an excuse to put off reading the details about the atrocities that the blonde performed on her victims. When I couldn’t delay any longer, I returned to the chair and started reading again.

  Lust might be as beautiful as she was evil, but she wasn’t particularly inventive. She had two favorite tricks that she rarely deviated from. One trick was to make any man that she found attractive service her seemingly insatiable sexual needs. The survivors who remembered being beneath her control reported feeling an overwhelming craving for her body. Even men that were happily married and had never cheated on their wives before had fallen victim to her charms.

  Her second trick was far, far worse in my opinion. She liked to order her puppets to find the person who they desired the least, or who desired them the least and to satiate their every desire. Obviously, it was easier for men to achieve this objective than it was for women. Men could simply overpower their victims and have their way with them. For women, it was much harder. Not all of them could entice their victims to sleep with them. Those who were doomed to fail subsequently suffered the mental meltdown that Mark had warned me about.

  Death by complete neural breakdown wasn’t pleasant. Photos of the deceased had been added to the file, including their brain scans. I didn’t have a medical degree, so the x-rays and pictures of their internal organs meant little to me. Their pained, tortured expressions depicted their agony well enough. On average, it took two to three hours for their brains to fail.

  Shivering in horror, I could see why the agents didn’t want me tagging along on this mission. I had zero experience with sex and hunting Lust was far out of my league. Checking my watch, I realized I’d spent the entire afternoon reading. It would be dark in another hour. With the full moon scheduled to rise, there would be plenty of light, but I hoped the team would return soon. I didn’t like the idea of them hunting down the final two remaining telepaths at night.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Nineteen

  After reading the reports of what Lust was capable of doing to both men and women, I hoped the squad would be able to stop her from causing any more havoc. I’d had a taste of what mind control felt like and I couldn’t imagine how horrible it would be to have your reason completely stripped away. The only good thing about the compulsion was that the victims didn’t remember any of the deeds that they’d performed. A minority remembered the order they’d been given, but not the specifics of what they’d been forced to do. The rest had no recollection of meeting the psychics at all.

  My cell phone rang when I was re-reading the reports. It was so quiet in the coms rooms that I started hard enough to make the chair roll away from the table. Realizing what the noise was, I fumbled the phone out of my pocket. I recognized Mark’s number and knew something had to be wrong because he’d never called me before.

  I answered the phone and he spoke before I could blurt out a question. “Alexis, is Reece there?”

  The urgency in his tone made my heart speed up. I’d have seen him from my vantage point in the coms room if Garrett had entered the base. “No. Why?”

  “He went after Lust and we lost contact with him. They were both gone when we followed his trail. I found his earbud on the ground and I don’t know if he’s still with her or not.”

  Kala and Flynn were arguing somewhere in the background in hushed whispers. “You know how he feels about her,” Walker said. “Depending on the order Lust gave him, we both know there’s a chance that he’ll head straight to her.”

  Bailey’s answer was too quiet for me to hear it, but it sounded like he was agreeing with her.

  “We’re on our way back to the base,” Mark said. “We’ll be there in two hours. Stay put, and if you see Reece, I’d advise you to lock yourself in your room.” His tone was grim and he hung up before I could ask him any questions.

  Spooked by his warning, I stood and slid my phone back into my pocket. I was cramped from sitting for so long and froze in mid-stretch when I heard a noise from below. It sounded a lot like the kitchen door had just opened. It was rare that anyone used that particular exit and I tiptoed over to the window that overlooked the floor below.

  Framed in the doorway, Garret tilted his head back and met my gaze. His eyes were golden and wild and stared at me unblinkingly. There was no reason in their depths and I was alarmed to realize that he must have fallen beneath Lust’s compulsion.

  Sudden and intense fear flooded through me and I turned to run. Knowing how fast he could move when he wanted to, I doubted I’d make it all the way to my room, but I sprinted for it anyway. I burst inside my bedroom, slammed the door shut then stumbled backwards when it was pushed ope
n before I could lock it.

  Reece entered the room, closed and locked the door then turned to regard me. I’d dreamt of him looking at me with desire rather than annoyance many times, but not under these circumstances. I backed away until I hit the bed and had nowhere else to go. Garrett stalked me, moving forward slowly as if he was afraid of startling me. He seemed larger than normal and there was something almost feral in his expression. Lust had taken control of him and I knew what he’d been ordered to do. I also knew what would happen to him if he didn’t fulfil his orders.

  Moving closer until he was bare inches away from me, Reece leaned down and took a shallow breath. My hair smelled of vanilla and honey, thanks to my shampoo. Reaching out, he lifted a few strands and leaned in closer, bringing his face close to mine. Taking a handful of my hair this time, he tilted my head back and brushed his lips across my cheek.

  I’d fantasized about being in Garrett’s arms, but never in my wildest imagination did I ever believe that it might actually happen. The knowledge that it had taken the compulsion of a psychopathic psychic to force him to touch me was bitter. If he’d been in his right mind, he’d have chosen literally anyone else over me.

  His lips moved from my cheek to my jaw and I started to feel very warm inside. I knew he was doing this against his will, but what choice did I have but to go along with it? He was bigger and stronger than me and it would be useless to try to resist him. Reece’s mouth touched mine and I stopped making excuses. I’d wanted him from the first moment that I’d seen him and this would be the only chance that I’d ever have to be in his arms.

  The final shred of my resistance fled when Reece coaxed my mouth open and his tongue touched mine. Holding onto his shoulders, I pressed my body against him. He responded with a noise that was part groan, part growl and his arms momentarily became crushing. When I made a sound of protest, his grip eased and he took a step back. My reprieve didn’t last for long.