Deadly Intentions (19 page)

She stood back from the wall, closed her eyes and focused with all her might. Using all the force she could muster, she pushed out with her palms. Red energy sped toward the wall, bounced off then smacked into the wall behind her, bounced off that and hit the side wall.
 

Jolene ducked to avoid being hit by the stream on its way back around. To her dismay, the energy continued to reverberate around the room, getting weaker and weaker until it finally dissipated into nothing.
 

Jolene’s heart sank. It looked like breaking out wasn’t going to work.
 

Movement over by the hole caught her eye. She stared, open-mouthed as a pair of whiskers poked their way through the hole followed by a pink nose, black furry face and large, ice-blue eyes.
 

“Meow.” The cat trotted over and rubbed the side of her face on Jolene’s ankles.
 

“Well, hi there,” Jolene said, happy to have friendly company. She bent down to pet the soft jet-black fur, the anxiety that had been clutching her heart easing just a little as she was rewarded with loud purring. The cat jumped up on the bench next to her and that’s when Jolene noticed it had something in its mouth.

“Meow.” The cat dropped the object into Jolene’s lap and she stared down at it in surprise. It was the locket Mateo had ripped off her neck not even an hour before.

“Where did you get that?” She didn’t really expect the cat to answer, but she voiced the question anyway.

The cat simply blinked one ice-blue eye at her, then jumped down from the stone bench and disappeared back through the hole.

Jolene picked the locket up, noticing a clinking sound as she turned it over in her palm.
 

Something was inside, which was strange, because the locket had been empty when Mateo took it.

She glanced out through the window to make sure the hall was still empty, then opened the locket.

Her heartbeat quickened when she saw what was inside—a tiny glass vile containing two drops of red glowing liquid.

Chapter Twenty-Four

“Eliza!” Morgan rushed to her aunt’s side. “Are you okay?”

Eliza sat up, groggy but aware. “I’m okay. I just feel very weak.”

On the other side of the energy shield Luke, Jake, Cal and Buzz shuffled around nervously. “Can you open this thing back up and let us through?”

Eliza looked at them warily. The air shimmered in between them like someone had stretched plastic wrap from floor to ceiling. “I’ll try.”

She stood on wobbly legs, reaching her hand toward the shield. Morgan’s heart twisted when she noticed how burned Eliza’s hand was and realized how much pain her aunt must be in.
 

Eliza’s hand hit the shield and bounced off in a flurry of sparks, causing her to crumple backward in a groaning heap. Celeste caught her, lowering her gently to the ground.

“I’m sorry. I’m too drained to break the cypher. It might take an hour for me to work back the energy I need.” Eliza’s voice was thick with regret.

Luke paced back and forth on the other side. “Can anyone else break it?”

“I could try.” Celeste stood to approach the energy shield, but Eliza pulled her back.

“No. You need skills and practice. It could kill you otherwise.”

Luke whipped out his map. “We can’t be separated. You guys will have to stay put until we find a way around.”

Morgan felt conflicted, restless. She chewed her bottom lip, trying to decide what to do as she watched Fiona bend down and gently take Eliza’s burned hand.

“Give me the meteorite.” Fiona indicated Eliza’s other hand, which still clutched the locket.
 

Eliza opened her fist and Fiona took the locket, holding it in her palm and closing her eyes. After a few seconds, she removed the carnelian bracelet she was wearing, clutching it into the fist of her other hand and resumed her meditation.

Morgan gaped at Fiona’s hand, which looked like it was being lit from the inside. The carnelian stones inside were glowing, the amber light escaping from the spaces between her fingers.

“Here, hold this where the burn is,” Fiona handed the bracelet to Eliza who applied it gingerly to her injured hand.

On the other side of the energy shield, the guys bent over the map, picking out a route.

“We’ll go up through here, around and come back. It should lead to the other side here.” Cal traced the route with his finger.
 

“That seems like it would take a long time,” Morgan said glancing nervously at her sisters. “I don’t think we can wait. Jolene needs us now.”

“No. No way. It’s too dangerous. We’re not letting you girls get hurt.” Luke gave her his sternest look, but Morgan’s mind was made up … she just hoped her sisters thought the same thing. If they didn’t she was willing to go on her own.

“Sorry, Luke, we don’t have any time to waste,” Morgan said. “Besides we can take care of ourselves, remember?”

Next to her, Fiona was pulling a wobbly Eliza to her feet.
 

“You girls go on without me. I’ll slow you down,” Eliza pleaded.

Morgan held up her hand. “No way. You’re family and we don’t leave family behind.”

The smile on Eliza’s face warmed Morgan’s heart, but she didn’t have time to feel all warm and fuzzy—they had to get going before it was too late to help Jolene.

She looked into Luke’s concerned, gray eyes.
 

“I don’t like it, Morgan,” he said. “How will you know where to go if
we
have the map?”

“We have the hologram in the locket and I can use my intuition.” Morgan’s heart ached as she turned away from him. She didn’t want to be separated from
him
either, but she knew it could be bad for Jolene if she didn’t get going—like
now
!
 

She turned and started down the tunnel without looking back, afraid she might change her mind if she did.
 

“Wait! How will we know where to meet?” Luke yelled after her.

“Don’t worry, I’ll figure it out,” Morgan shouted over her shoulder without turning.

Morgan could hear Fiona and Celeste coming up behind her. She half-turned to see them supporting Eliza between them. Eliza looked a little unsteady, but was walking with minimal support. Behind her sisters, Morgan could see the worried looks on the guys’ faces as they stared after them. Her stomach tightened and she looked forward again and quickened her pace.

“I think they’re going to be mad at us,” Fiona, who was also looking behind them, said.

“Well, too bad. We have to find Jolene and if that means we split up then so be it,” Morgan replied.
 

“Of course you’re right,” Celeste said. “It’s just too bad that
they
have the guns and Tasers.”

***

Loud voices at the end of the hall pulled Jolene out of a fitful sleep.
 

Had it been two hours already?
 

She stared at the vial in her hand.
 

Should she drink it?

The liquid in the vial looked like the liquid in Bly’s beaker … the elixir that was supposed to enhance paranormal powers. She could sure use some enhancing … and the cat had reminded her of Belladonna. What did she have to lose?

She downed the bitter liquid in one gulp, grimacing as it burned her throat. She got up quickly and shoved the vial into the hole in the corner, then ran back to the bench and tried to pretend she was just waking up.

No sooner had she lain down than she heard Mateo outside the door. “I’ll get her.”

Jolene could already feel the power surging through her, but something told her not to tip her hand just yet. She’d gain the advantage if Mateo and Thick Neck thought she was too weak to fight. Much better to let her powers increase while she waited for the perfect moment.

The door clicked open and Mateo came into the room toward her, his eyes darting to her neck.
 

The locket!
 

Her hands flew up to hide it. She couldn’t believe how stupid she’d been to put it back on. How would she explain it being back on her neck?

His eyes jerked up from the locket and met hers, but instead of anger, she saw something else. Satisfaction? Understanding? She wasn’t sure what, and equally unsure of how to interpret the strange feeling deep inside her.

He nodded and then grabbed her arm, yanking her up from the bench, but not as roughly as before.
 

“Time to go,” he said as he pushed her to where Thick Neck was standing just outside the room. He grabbed her other arm and the two of them dragged her down the hall while she focused on pretending like she was too weak to walk.
 

They passed the dark corridor and she wondered if she should try to break away and make a run for it now or wait. Her instincts told her she should wait until she was in the lab. If she had a chance to incapacitate Bly, then he wouldn’t be able to order his minions to follow her … and the less people following, the better her chances.

She let them shove her into the elevator and they rode it up to the lab.

The elevator doors whooshed open to reveal Bly standing beside the stainless steel chair. He looked at Jolene slumped between Thick Neck and Mateo, his mouth quirking into a malevolent smile.
 

“I hope you are well rested,” he leered.
 

Jolene wrenched her arm from Mateo’s grasp, thinking to hit Bly with a whammy of energy first and then take out Mateo and Thick Neck while they were still trying to figure out what was going on. Except it didn’t work. Mateo’s grip on her arm tightened and she felt a rush of weakness.

Her knees buckled and, before she knew what had happened, she’d been shoved into the chair and Mateo was strapping her in.
 

Except, something was different this time … the straps weren’t biting into her skin. In fact, he wasn’t even securing them at all.
 

Jolene stared at her arms in stunned amazement, then her eyes met Mateo’s. He mouthed the words ‘play along’.
 

Jolene didn’t know whether she should trust him or not. He was one of Bly’s minions … or so it seemed. Yet, he hadn’t secured the straps and that surely counted for something. She decided to wait and see what he had in mind. A few more minutes wouldn’t hurt and she could feel herself getting stronger with each passing second.

Bly wrung his hands together in anticipation. He ripped his gaze from Jolene and turned to Mateo. “Did you amplify the output sources like you suggested?”

What did he mean by amplify?
Jolene frowned at Mateo, an uneasy feeling spreading in her chest.

“Yes, I rigged it so it will pull the maximum amount out of her … I just hope it doesn’t kill her.” Mateo glanced at Jolene.

Kill her?
 

Jolene tensed, ready to leap out of the chair on the attack until she saw Mateo shake his head slightly.
 

Had he read her mind?
 

Somehow, she knew the headshake was for her and that it meant for her to wait.
 

Had she read his mind, too?
 

She sat back in the chair and waited.

“You’ll have to wear this protective shield so you aren’t harmed.” Mateo handed a clear glass helmet to Bly. Two metal posts with a coiled copper spring between them stuck up from the top.
 

Jolene almost laughed as Bly put it on—he looked like something from a comic book.

Bly adjusted the chinstraps on the cumbersome helmet, then leered at Jolene.
 

“Hit it!” he yelled, followed by a high-pitched maniacal giggle that set Jolene’s nerves on edge.

Mateo flicked the big red switch. Jolene braced herself, but instead of feeling a painful jolt, she felt nothing.
 

Bly, on the other hand, stiffened, the color leeching out of his face, his eyes bulging.
 

“Argghhh.” He pointed at Mateo, then fell to the floor clawing at the helmet.

Jolene figured Thick Neck wasn’t known for his intelligence since he was just standing there, his face a mask of confusion as his eyes darted from Mateo to Jolene to Bly.

She bolted out of the chair, pushing her hand out at Thick Neck. A purple ball flew out of the palm of her hand and sped toward him, smashing into the center of his forehead. His eyes crossed and he fell like a mastodon that had been hit by a meteor.

“Come on!” Mateo grabbed her by the arm and headed for the elevator.

Chapter Twenty-Five

“I can walk on my own now.” Eliza shook off Fiona and Celeste. Morgan noticed her hand was almost fully healed.

“Your hand, it’s healed already!”

Eliza lifted her hand up, turning it back and forth in front of her face.
 

“I guess it is.” She handed the carnelian bracelet back to Fiona.

“I’ve used carnelian to heal before, but I’ve never had it work this fast. That meteorite locket really does enhance our powers. We’ll have to get some more meteorites, if we ever get out of here.

“Speaking of which, we better hurry,” Eliza said. “I don’t know if that energy shield breach triggered an alarm. They could be coming for us right now.”

Morgan felt a twinge. She could sense friendly energy—the energy Jolene left behind when she was taken through the tunnel. Even though it was fading, it told her which direction to go. “I think we need to take this right turn.”

They turned to the right, but only made it a few feet down the tunnel when Morgan got another twinge—this one not so friendly. She put her arm out to stop the others.

“Someone’s coming.”

“I don’t hear—”

“Shh… They’re up ahead,” Morgan whispered. Her eyes darted frantically around the tunnel for a hiding place, her stomach sinking when she didn’t find one. Her intuition was getting stronger now. Even though the guards were two hundred feet away, she knew they were there and could even tell how many people were coming. “There are five of them. We’re out numbered, but we have no choice but to fight them now.”