Accused (Ganzfield) (25 page)

—haven’t been to confession in more than a year—

—Sean’s parents should’ve come—

—if the Feds attack now, he could perform last rites and—

—so hot she could charm me anytime—

—wonder if the Pope would think firestarting was a sign of the devil—

Sienna startled awake when the priest sprinkled water on her and Drew thought out the hot-spot on the hem of her christening dress.

Shh… it’s okay, Sunshine.
I filled my silent words with a strong sense of calm. Sienna settled into watching everything with wide, blue eyes and nebulous thoughts that were heading in the direction of hunger. She made a spot in the drapes start to smoke a bit, but Drew thought it out before Father Rufus noticed.

The priest lit a candle that represented the Light of Christ, and Sienna’s eyes followed the flame. Once the ceremony ended, Father Rufus extinguished it, but it flared back up immediately. The priest dunked the silver-handled candle thingie onto the wick again. It flared up a second time and he frowned.
Is this one of those trick candles?

I pressed my lips together.
Drew? Sienna’s the one doing that.

Drew grinned and focused on fire suppression. The baby’s attention stayed on the candle for another few seconds, but when it failed to ignite again, she lost interest and looked away.

Rachel’s mom recorded the date in the family Bible, giving anxious looks at her new granddaughter’s proximity to the century-old heirloom.
Remote viewing, telepathy, firestarting—what else will Sienna be able to do? I wonder if she got any of my healing ability. Does Rachel have a fire-safe box to store the baptismal certificate? I really should put this Bible back in the car.

I stifled a snort.
Geez, most families only have to worry about babies drooling on the nice things.

We had pieces of a little white cake in the dining hall, and then Rachel and Drew took Sienna out of the wooden building and back down to Rachel’s house. Williamson headed back to his office and I followed Father Rufus out onto the porch, making sure he didn’t see or hear anything that Cecelia needed to charm away before he left with the Fontaines.

Rachel’s dad brought the car around to pick up Father Rufus.

Cecelia raised her chin as she met my eyes. “Anything I need to tell him?”

I shook my head.
His memories are clear.

She took a seat in the car.
They really should send a car to bring me back. I shouldn’t have to walk back here through all the wet snow and mud after I charm the Feds to forget the car again. At least I can do that without getting near the ones who started shooting those darts; the ones up front can hear me through the gate.

I felt Trevor’s intentions to scoop me up a second before his arms closed around me.
Ready to go home, Mrs. Laurence?

I smiled.
Oh, yeah.

CHAPTER 15

All hell’s breaking loose. Get out here, now!

I’d just finished slipping back into jeans and a sweater when I felt Seth’s mental summons. He’d moved closer to the church to convey his message, but then turned back to the gate, reluctant to allow the Feds to think without his supervision.

Trevor’s gaze met mine and we hurried into boots and coats.

By the way, they’ve got you bugged.
Seth told me, as soon as we got back into his range. I still couldn’t hear any thoughts from them—I really hated having such a short mental range.

Then Seth’s words registered and cold splashed across my heart.
What? Bugged?

Trevor inhaled sharply.

I snorted as the absurdity hit me.
Your tax dollars at work—bugging mute people.
What a waste of a bug.

Yeah, the whole not-talking thing threw them. They’ve been picking up nothing but footsteps and toilet flushes. I think the transmitter’s in your purse.

How did they—?
Oh. It’d been returned by the so-called “Triple-A” guy. Sneaky.
But why’re they thinking about it now? If the bug’s been in my purse for a month, what changed?

They’re trying to figure out how we’re overriding their surveillance gear. The guy watching the remote feed called in to find out about the car full of people that came and went today. Of course that confused the hell out of the agents here at the gate since they had no memory of a car full of people.

I took a shuddering breath. Yeah, I could see how the Feds might find that alarming.

The General’s now flying in to personally assess the situation. He’ll be here in a few hours. But Maddie… Hunter’s WITH the group at the gate now. And from the sound of his thoughts, he’s pretty sure he’s about to get a chance to try and break you again—along with the rest of us. But he’s really focused on you; it’s pretty sick.

Something pulled tight across my chest and I stumbled for a moment before Trevor steadied me. I felt a flare of tight anger within him as he met my eyes.
What’s Hunter going to do?
Whatever it was couldn’t be good.

The remote camera feed was his idea. He just set it up in the past couple of days. The Feds at the gate didn’t know about it—which meant we didn’t know—or we’d never have done the charm thing to them. But it finally gave him a way to prove to the General’s people that we’re more than just happy campers out here. Now he’s gotten some judge to issue a warrant and he’s talking to the Agent-in-Charge about it.

I began to pick up the conversation in the vehicle outside the gate. The sickly-familiar contact with Hunter’s mind stood out among the others—the twisted certainty that his plan was the best thing for God and America made my jaw begin to quiver.

“They’re extremely dangerous. And the fact that they’ve outsmarted your surveillance is proof of the danger they pose.”
Colonel Hunter seemed to punch each word out as he spoke.
“We need to act now. I have authorization. The reinforcements will arrive within ninety minutes. We’ll go in as soon as they get here.”
The remoteness of Ganzfield annoyed him—normally it wouldn’t take these people so long to get on-scene.

The Agent-in-Charge kept his eyes on Hunter as he shook his head.
“I have my orders. We’re waiting for the General.”

“Agent Rudolph, I didn’t want to do this.”

Liar!
My throat tightened into a silent growl. Hunter’s internal smirk sent a wave of nausea through my gut. He handed an envelope to Rudolph, who opened it with trepidation and began to read.

Seth and I didn’t need to wait for Rudolph to get to the part where he was ordered to defer to Colonel Hunter. Hunter was already thinking it with smug righteousness.
Finally, we’ll be able to implement the operation. Armored vehicles. Heavily armed men. Helicopters.

Oh, God. Helicopters.

I couldn’t breathe. The plan he’d wanted to implement all along was about to happen—and now he’d added antagonist darts to his arsenal.

Oh, no.
Trevor’s sick realization hit as he followed along with me.

Seth’s pale fear lit his thoughts and rude, scatological terms filled his head.

Hunter reviewed the list of our abilities that Belinda had compiled—the one Isaiah had sent him. The records were incomplete, but still damaging.
The firestarters seem like more trouble than they’re worth. The tactical advantages to being able to burn things like that are limited, and they’d be a major pain to keep locked up.

So he didn’t intend to leave any of the sparks alive.

Trevor’s grip tightened white on my hand.

I want the blonde girl who fooled the agents today. She might be like the lawyer I saw that day in court—the one who stopped me cold with his voice. How many more of them are there? The telepaths could be useful—both the Dunn women and the two Williamsons. That healing ability’s intriguing, but tactically non-essential. I want the telekinetic one, though. We’ll try to take as many as possible with the darts. This time, though, the operation stays off the radar—no paper trail. They’re not really humans, anyway, so they don’t need humane treatment.

My heart thudded too loudly in my ears. I couldn’t seem to get enough air. If our plan didn’t work, anyone who survived would simply disappear into Hunter’s underground facility—no mercy, no rights, no records of being detained.

We only have ninety minutes.
Icy yellow fear skittered down my arms, leaving a trail of goosebumps in its wake.
Seth! Call Williamson!

He grabbed the radio at his side.

I shut my eyes and concentrated on the mind of Agent Rudolph. I floated a thought to him, lightly enough he wouldn’t suspect it wasn’t his own.
I need to see the warrant.

“I need to see the warrant,”
he said to Hunter.

Hunter presented it with a sudden, jerking motion, as though threatening the agent with the folded papers.

I felt him scan the form. The warrant had been signed by Eduardo Lopez, Federal Judge on the First Circuit. The papers looked authentic and in order to Agent Rudolph. I didn’t need to float another thought to get the rest.

—remote compound may be a training facility for a large cell of domestic terrorists… possibly developing weapons of mass destruction… consider everyone in the compound to be armed and dangerous… authorized to use lethal force.

Oh, crap!
They planned to send well over a hundred people in against us—and we had less than an hour and a half to prepare.

You got what you need?
Trevor’s wide eyes met mine and I nodded. He gathered me in his arms and pushed off with his ability to race us back to the main building.

What’s happening?
Williamson threw anxiety with every silent word.
Seth couldn’t go into detail. The radio’s not secure.

We’ve got less than ninety minutes, Jon. More than a hundred people coming—guns, armored vehicles, and helicopters. We need to make sure the weapons are stowed—ALL of them. If the Feds see us armed, they’ll open fire for sure. They’ve been told we’re terrorists and they’ve… they’ve been authorized to kill.

Then let’s get the Kevlar to the people going out to the gates.

Trevor grabbed a phone. Drew picked up at Rachel’s house. “Drew, it’s happening.
Not
a drill. Get everyone moving. We need you at the front gate. Can Harrison stay with Rachel and the baby?”

Ah, hell
! We hadn’t remembered to assign a spark to stay with her. One of the groups would be short-handed.

“Just a sec.” Drew covered the mouthpiece. “Rachel says to leave her alone with Sienna. She’ll move the flammable stuff out of range.”

I felt my hackles rise at the… the wrongness of leaving the baby unprotected. I shook my head. No.
Rachel’s not going to be able to protect the baby alone. Tell Drew that Harrison will be safer with Rachel than at the front gate with us. Hunter’s not interested in keeping sparks alive.
Harrison was just sixteen, and Drew was protective of his younger brother.

I shook my head. Just sixteen, huh? I only had a year on him. Why did I feel so much older?

Trevor frowned. “Maddie heard the plan. They’re… they’re not planning on taking the sparks alive, and the rest of us… Hunter’s got some sick plans for the rest of us.”

“Hold on.” His voice faded as he turned away from the phone. “Yeah, Rachel’s gonna come up to the main building. There’ll be a group of sparks there who can keep Sienna from torching anything, and Rachel can keep them updated about the two groups at the gates. And no way Harrison’s gonna leave us short-handed.”

I heard Harrison in the background. “You got that right.”

We met up in front of the main building. Everyone wore extra winter gear: thick coats, hats, gloves, and boots. We didn’t know how long we’d need to be out defending our home. Seth still listened at the front gate. Ann and Zack had already headed out to cover the back.

—bad idea to leave the weapons locked up. It’s like fighting with one hand tied beh—

—do I have time to call my mom? I might never get anoth—

—I shall fear no evil, for Thou art with—

—this had better work or we’re all screwed—

—bring it on! We can take—

—maybe I should’ve left with Ty when I had the chance—

Williamson passed out the Kevlar, but there weren’t enough vests to go around.

The healers and charms need them most
, I told him.

He nodded
. And you and Ann. Seth’s already got one of the vests up in the gatehouse.

Give mine to someone else. Trevor will be with me.
My guy came complete with his own force field.
And you’ll need one.

Williamson shook his head.
I’ll take my chances. I’m not taking that protection away from one of these kids.

Oh.
Williamson didn’t consider me “one of the kids.” In his mind, I was more like a lieutenant. I’d consider getting all mushy about that later—we had work to do now.

“Keep her safe, Trevor,” Williamson said, as our teams split to go to the two gates.

Trevor nodded. “You know I will.”

I took a quick moment and flashed a mental hug to Williamson. After a startled second, he nodded and returned it.

No one spoke as our group moved off the driveway and into the woods, keeping ourselves hidden from the front gate. Pockets of snow remained in the evergreens’ blue shade and the pulp of damp leaves was quiet under our feet. The afternoon sun hung low in the west; it would slide sideways for another hour or so before it dipped behind the mountains. The attack would come at twilight.

Twilight.

Ooh, I’d loved those books. I’d become obsessed when I’d first discovered them, reading them over and over. Maybe Trevor would like to read them with me after all this was over. Dammit! Focus! Lethal attack coming through the gates in less than an hour.