Seven Psychics Page 4

  “You’re right on time,” Mark said, pleased with my punctuality. He should have expected it based on who’d raised me. “How much can you eat?” He held a spoon ready to pile pasta onto a plain white plate.

  “I’ll tell you when to stop,” I said with a grin. I loved spaghetti bolognaise and probably ate it more often than I should. I waited until he’d spooned enough to cover the bottom of the plate before I indicated that it was enough.

  We carried our meals over to the dining table, which seemed far too large for just the two of us. He’d already poured us both a glass of water and he raised his glass after taking a seat. “To your first night with the squad,” he toasted.

  “Thanks,” I said awkwardly and raised my own glass in return. “Does this mean I’m an agent now?”

  Mark’s lips twitched with suppressed laughter. “No, but you’re a temporary and welcome addition to the team. It takes a lot of training and special skills to become one of my agents.”

  “I’m sure it does,” I said and let the matter drop when a haunted look momentarily crossed his face. God only knew what other kinds of people they had to hunt down. They were the Track and Kill Squad, and their job was to do exactly that. It occurred to me that they were basically assassins that had been hired by the government to make undesirables disappear. Their job wasn’t all that different from what my father did and what I was planning to do one day soon. Maybe I had more in common with the squad than I’d initially thought.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Six

  An annoying buzzing sound woke me the next morning. I’d had trouble falling asleep in the strange bed and had only managed to snatch a few hours of rest. Reaching out blindly, I shut the alarm off in mid-buzz. It took me a couple of minutes to dredge up the energy to turn my head and check the time. It was just after seven and it was time to get up. Enough sunlight filtered through the tinted window to guide me towards the bathroom without needing to turn on the light.

  I spent a few minutes in the bathroom making myself presentable then pulled on a pair of jeans and a white tank top. I hesitated between my two favorite leather jackets. The red one might come across as being a bit too aggressive. The light blue one was far less confrontational and seemed like the better choice. I might just be a temporary addition to the team, but I wanted to make a good first impression with the others.

  Dinner felt like it had happened days ago and I was already hungry again. At least my stomach wasn’t rumbling loudly enough to embarrass me yet.

  Wearing my sneakers rather than my boots, my footsteps were silent on the carpeted floor when I entered the coms room. A raised voice drew me to the window that overlooked the rooms below.

  “I’m just saying we don’t need some hotshot Army sniper sneaking around in the shadows. We’re fully capable of taking down the psychics on our own!” The protest came from a man standing at the end of the dining table. His feet were planted wide apart and his hands were on his hips. Clearly, he wasn’t pleased that I’d been called in as backup.

  “Boy, do I feel welcome now,” I murmured beneath my breath and headed for the stairs. After hearing the agent’s low opinion of me, hiding in my room held a certain amount of appeal, but it would also be childish. I’d have to meet the team sooner or later and I might as well get it over and done with now.

  “It’s a done deal,” Agent Steel said in a tone that brooked no argument. Sitting at the far end of the table facing the stairs, he pointed at me when I came into view. “Here comes the ‘hotshot Army sniper’ now.” His tone was dry and it was obvious he hadn’t told them anything about me. They were going to get a shock when they realized that I was only seventeen. I was perversely looking forward to the moment that they figured out that I was a minor.

  Mark was flanked by two of the agents. A girl sat on his right and a guy was on his left. Only when I reached the bottom step and moved closer did I see that they weren’t much older than me. The girl had short, spiky, tawny blonde hair and golden brown eyes. She was pretty and had a solid, muscular build. She was around my height, or maybe a couple of inches shorter. The man sitting across from her had mocha colored skin, close cropped black hair and startlingly green eyes. He wasn’t handsome in the conventional sense, but he was striking. His build was lean and muscular and he’d probably be just over six feet tall when standing. His full lips were curved upwards in amusement. I wasn’t sure if his glee was directed at me or at the fourth member of their team.

  Speaking of whom, the fourth agent finally deigned to turn around and face me when I was a few yards away from him. My feet stopped moving of their own accord and my gaze travelled from his chest down to his feet and back up again. Like the other two younger agents, he wore camouflage cargo pants and a white t-shirt. Muscles bulged in his arms, chest, shoulders and thighs. I could see the outline of his abs beneath the material of his shirt and my mouth abruptly went dry. There was no question of his fitness. He clearly worked out hard and often.

  My gaze finally rose to his face and I wasn’t surprised to see that he was gorgeous. He had the square jaw and sculpted cheekbones that any male model would have been envious of. His dark brown hair was cut short on the sides and was slightly longer on the top in a short Mohawk. His eyes were brown, but they were several shades lighter than my own. They were also glaring at me with something very close to contempt.

  He inspected me from head to toe in return and I knew I cut a far less impressive figure than he did. He shook his head as if he couldn’t believe what his eyes were seeing. Throwing his hands up, he turned to his boss. “You’ve gotta be kidding me! She’s just a kid. What does she weigh? Ninety pounds?” he said scornfully.

  The tawny haired girl sniggered at his belligerence then schooled her expression to neutrality when Mark frowned at her. “Alexis will be eighteen in four weeks,” he said. “She’s hardly a child and her weight is none of your business.”

  The gorgeous agent turned around again and this time I did back away a few steps when he advanced on me. “Have you ever come face to face with someone who wants you dead?” he demanded. He was maybe an inch under six feet, but he seemed much taller when looming over me.

  “Not that I’m aware of,” I replied. Although he was definitely giving off vibes along those lines right now.

  “What are you going to do if a bad guy grabs you?” he asked me as I continued to back away.

  “I-I. Um.” I couldn’t think and could only stutter as he advanced on me. Now I knew what prey felt like when they were being stalked by a hungry predator.

  “Screaming won’t save you from the kinds of people that we hunt. Running won’t get you anywhere. What could you possibly do to stop someone from ripping you apart?” he asked and reached for my arm.

  I didn’t know what his intentions were, but my training took over and my gun was suddenly pointing directly at his face. “I’d blow their brains all over the floor,” I replied calmly. My tone was steady and hid how badly I was shaking on the inside. Thankfully, my hands were steady as well and the gun didn’t waver. His eyes narrowed as he reassessed me. He thought I was just a scared kid and I’d just shown him that I was far more than that. I might be young and untried in battle, but I wasn’t a coward. I could and would pull the trigger if I felt that my life was in danger. From the way my heart was thumping, my body had already decided that it was in peril. How could anyone so hot also be so menacing?

  Dead silence reigned then the blonde girl clapped. “Bravo,” she said with a mischievous grin. “You’re going to fit right into our happy little family.” She turned to Mark. “Can we keep her? Pretty please?” Putting her hands together in a prayer position, she batted her long lashes at him.

  Impervious to her charm, Mark cut her a glance then turned his attention to the hottie. “If you’ve finished attempting to intimidate Alexis, Agent Garrett, perhaps we can all sit down to breakfast,” he said mildly.

  Fairly certain that Garrett wasn’t going to harm me, I re-holstered
my gun, stepped around him and walked over to the kitchen. They all watched me as I fixed myself a bowl of cereal. Garrett’s disapproval was apparent in the scowl that he sent in my direction. The others already had their cereal and I took a seat next to the girl.

  “I’m Kala Walker,” she offered.

  “I’m Flynn Bailey,” the mocha skinned guy said.

  “Nice to meet you,” I replied. “I’m Lexi Levine.” It was a welcome surprise to see how young they all were after thinking they’d be around Mark’s age.

  A derisive snort came from the kitchen where Agent Garrett was now fixing himself breakfast. “You sound like a comic book character.”

  Walker hiked her thumb at him. “That’s Reece. Try to ignore his surliness. It’s just his nature.”

  “Reece Garrett? Sounds like a video game character,” I said in retaliation to his jibe. My name had been the cause of a lot of teasing over the years, but I’d mostly learned to ignore the taunts. That didn’t mean I would take the ridicule from just anyone. I had to show the team that they couldn’t walk all over me just because I was younger than they were.

  Agent Steel waited for Garrett to take a seat across from me before speaking. “As I’ve already told you, Alexis will be with the team temporarily until we put down this threat. Her skills will only be utilized in the event of an emergency.”

  Reece paused with his spoon halfway to his mouth and flicked a glance at me across the table. “Do you really expect a child to be able to shoot someone in cold blood?”

  Was he deliberately trying to bait me? I answered him myself rather than waiting for Mark to speak for me. “From what I understand, I won’t have to shoot anyone if you do your job properly.”

  Flynn unsuccessfully tried to hide his laugh behind a fake cough. “Yeah, she won’t have any trouble fitting in,” he said when he’d mastered his hilarity.

  I was surprised to be accepted so readily by most of the squad when I usually had so much trouble fitting in anywhere. Only one member of the team clearly didn’t want me there and Garrett was making no secret of his displeasure at my presence. Eating his cereal quickly, he pushed his bowl away, crossed his arms and stared at me. He was doing his best to intimidate me and it was working. I only managed to finish half of my meal before I gave up on it.

  “If you’re only seventeen then you can’t be enlisted in the Army yet,” Reece declared. “How can you possibly be the best sniper that our country has to offer?”

  “I’m not the best,” I replied honestly. “My father is, but he’s overseas at the moment.”

  “Your father is Philip Levine?” Garrett ignored my nod and turned to his boss for confirmation. It didn’t surprise me that they’d heard of my father. He was well known in law enforcement circles.

  “I asked around and I was told by people that I trust that Alexis is every bit as talented as Philip,” Mark confirmed. “I saw her in action myself when I picked her up from Texas yesterday. She has the skills that we need, if it comes down to that.” The look that passed between them all was bordering on grave.

  “Maybe we should all see her in action,” Walker said. “So we can judge how good she is for ourselves.” She slid a meaningful look towards Garrett and rolled her eyes at his continued belligerence. I didn’t normally get along with other girls, for reasons that I wasn’t sure of, but I already liked Kala. She was warm and friendly instead of cold and aloof as I’d expected.

  “Do you mind giving the team a demonstration?” Agent Steel asked.

  Well used to having an audience when practicing my skills, I shook my head. It was rare that I didn’t have someone’s eyes on me when I had a gun in my hands. “I don’t mind. Not if it will put everyone’s minds at ease.” I cut a look at Garrett, but refrained from copying Kala and rolling my eyes. He was already less than impressed with me and I didn’t want to antagonize him any further. “Do you have an outdoor range?”

  “Of course. We also have an indoor range,” Mark replied.

  Dumping the remains of my cereal into the garbage disposal, I waited for my turn to place my dishes in the dishwasher. The squad members might not be soldiers, but they were neat and tidy and automatically cleaned up after themselves.

  Trudging up the stairs, I returned to my room long enough to grab my backpack. I left most of the ammo on the floor of my closet and took only a small amount with me to lighten the load. By far the smallest person in the team, I didn’t want to highlight how weak I was in comparison to the rest of them. From their physiques and general self-confidence, I suspected that they were all trained in hand to hand combat. That was something I hadn’t had training in yet and would receive once I enlisted.

  The others were waiting for me at the base of the stairs when I descended. Mark opened the door to the main hallway and turned left. The corridor was long and we walked past several doors on both sides. None of the doors had signs to indicate what lay behind them and each room required a palm scan to access it. We stopped at a door roughly halfway along the hallway and Mark stepped inside for a few moments. I only caught a glimpse of the interior before he returned with a pair of binoculars. I was pretty sure it was the indoor gun range.

  We continued to the end of the hallway and Mark opened the last door on the left. It led to a small alcove and an exit. The scent of pine trees, soil and clean air wafted inside when he opened the door.

  It was cool compared to the dry heat of Texas as we walked along a shady, well-worn path through the trees. Reaching a clearing after we’d walked for roughly half a mile, Agent Steel gestured towards the targets that had been set up in the distance. “I know it’s not much of a challenge for you, but it’s all we have.”

  Set at varying distances apart, the targets were different from what I was used to. They were made of bulletproof metal rather than paper and bore the scars of many practice sessions. There’d be no need for me to traipse over to replace the targets this time. The closest one was only five hundred yards away and the most distant one was fifteen hundred yards away. Mark was right, this wasn’t going to be much of a challenge for me even without the aid of an orange flag to indicate which direction the wind was coming from. The ring of trees that surrounded the range would help to block the breeze anyway.

  Reece crossed his arms and looked bored as I knelt and assembled my sniper rifle. I could feel his eyes boring into my back, judging me and finding me wanting before I’d even fired a single shot. I removed my jacket before lying down on the ground. My tank top would get dirty, but I had plenty more in my closet to choose from.

  “Which target are you going to aim for?” Kala asked as she took the binoculars that Mark offered her. He apparently felt no need to witness my skills again.

  “The fifteen hundred yard one,” I replied.

  Mark handed out foam earplugs to everyone and we tore open the small plastic bags and inserted the plugs into our ears.

  “I’m ready,” Walker said. I didn’t hear her words but read her lips instead. I turned my attention to the target, peered through the scope and pulled the trigger. A moment later, a dent appeared in its chest right where the heart would have been. I pulled out an earplug to hear Kala give an appreciative whistle as she handed the binoculars to Reece. “She’s good,” she said.

  Garrett gave a sour grunt for a response. He lifted the binoculars to his eyes and waited to be dazzled. A second shot rang out and the bullet hit the dent that I’d made on my first shot. I was the first person to aim for this particular target and mine was the only mark on it so far.

  Sharing a look with his boss, Reece reluctantly nodded his approval. “Ok, she can shoot an inanimate object. That doesn’t mean she’ll be able to gun down a living human being.”

  “Can you shoot it in the head?” Bailey asked as he took the binoculars from Garrett. Only Mark had removed an earplug while the agents spoke. The others either had fantastic hearing, or they were very skilled at lip reading.

  “Left eye or right?” I queried.

&
nbsp; “Right,” Flynn replied. He made a sound of astonishment when a bullet slammed into the target’s face right where he’d been looking. A second one accompanied it a moment later. I’d given the target two shallow eye holes spaced a couple of inches apart. My left ear was ringing from the loud reports, but hearing how the agents reacted to my demonstration was more important than sparing myself from a small amount of pain. My hearing would suffer in the short term, but it would return to normal quickly enough.

  Looking back over my shoulder, I found all four agents staring at me with varying degrees of respect. Reece’s was extremely grudging. “Satisfied?” I asked as I removed the second earplug.

  Mark sent Garrett a warning glance when the agent opened his mouth, probably to say something disparaging. “Yes. Thank you, Alexis,” he said on behalf of his team.

  I didn’t know what Reece was going to say, but I was glad he hadn’t had the chance to spit it out. I had a feeling he wouldn’t be satisfied with anything that I did. Not unless it involved me packing my bags and leaving the compound. He didn’t even know me yet, but it was painfully obvious that he already didn’t like me. I wished I could say the same about him, but it would have been a lie. For the first time in my almost eighteen years, I finally found myself physically attracted to a man. It was a pity that he didn’t return my interest at all.

  ₪₪₪

  Chapter Seven

  Agent Steel received a call as I was packing away my rifle. Checking the number before answering it, he instantly became focused. We all went quiet so we could listen in.