Retrieval (7 page)

Fury consumed him. Someone had hurt her. His mind was in turmoil wondering how in the hell they’d been having a conversation without the benefit of audio. The woman had some serious mojo going on.

Neither Morrissey nor Bleak had said anything after his last assertion that she was more than a mission. He’d been locked in his own struggle trying to figure out the sequence of events that led him on this mad drive. Going back over it didn’t do him any good. An hour into the drive he told the men, minus all the personal banter, about his conversation with Skylar.

“Dude, she’s obviously not telling us everything. Hell she hasn’t told us
anything
. This is some messed-up, crazy shit we’re dealing with here. Did she mention any of her sisters; where they are, anything?” Morrissey asked as they continued on the long, black stretch of highway.

“No, and I don’t think she’ll willingly give anything up.” Sebastian pounded the steering wheel. “There are too many unknowns in this thing.”

He grimaced and glanced at Morrissey in the rearview mirror.

Morrissey was usually unreadable. He was a stone-cold killer, yet when Sebastian had just spoken, the man’s face had betrayed vulnerability. Having never seen that particular look on his friend’s face made him worry. And wonder.

When Sebastian had contacted Mo, Bleak and Rover about joining this op, they’d all readily agreed. Mo faster than the other two. The man was holding something back, and Sebastian was too hot to get to Skylar to worry about it right now.

He settled in for the drive but pressed harder on the gas. The big engine shuddered then responded. Sebastian was nervous, something he hadn’t been in, well, ever.

The drive from Chicago to Des Moines would’ve normally taken three and half hours. He’d shaved off about an hour by driving like a bat out of hell.

“Rover, can you hear me, man?” Sebastian asked his communication specialist who’d remained at base.

“What’s doin’?” Rover asked.

“Do you have anything on the monitor at all?”

“Negative, some men swarmed that pretty little Dodge Charger about thirty minutes ago, ended up setting it on fire. I haven’t seen Ms. McKannon either, but I’m thinking that’s a good thing right?”

“Affirmative. We’re about ten minutes away from the scene. I need you to set up a diversion for local law enforcement and fire-rescue. I don’t want any civilians around when we get there.”

“I’m on it.”

“Hey Rove? You heard her sing, yeah?”

“Yeah, I did. It was the prettiest thing I ever heard too.”

Sebastian gave Bleak and Morrissey both a pointed look that said he wasn’t crazy after all and then concentrated on the road before him.

Chapter 6

They pulled up to a small line of cars standing still on the I-80. Emergency vehicles passed them on the opposite side of the road, and others were turning around, heading in the same direction.
Rover came through
.

Ahead of them, smoke rose from the burned husk of the Dodge. He pulled the car to a halt and got out of the SUV. He asked a man in one of the few remaining cars what happened. He tried to appear like he was a rubbernecker, but he was too intense, his words too commanding. The man said he thought the army was having some kind of training exercise because he’d seen men with rifles scouring the fields on the side of the road.

Sebastian turned around and headed back to the SUV, meeting up with the men.

“They’re looking for her hard. I need both of you to fan out and start searching the cornfield. Stagger and evade. Do not engage unless you have to. I’m going to the turnoff a quarter mile back, and it should lead me to the backside of the field.”

“Ten-four,” both men responded.

“If you find her, hit me on the links. Otherwise, maintain silence. Look before you kill. I don’t know who’s out here with us, but if they’re armed, they didn’t come to play.”

*

Getting shot really sucked. Having never been shot before, she’d been a bit unprepared for the burning, stabbing pain that had gone through her entire body when the bullet hit her side. Barely holding on now, she’d be lucky if she wasn’t caught soon. Then the bullet wouldn’t matter.

It’d been about three hours since her last communication with Sebastian. As sure as hell was hot, he was making his way toward her. She couldn’t risk sending energy out right now to try to locate him, but he was close, she didn’t doubt it. Would he protect her if he found her? Or would he turn her over and congratulate himself on his luck that another team had done what he hadn’t been able to?

In spite of the pain, a small smile played about her lips as she remembered their banter. He’d held his own with her, and she’d been close to turning the Charger around and hightailing it back to him.

Only the thought of her sisters had kept her from doing so. She was the strongest—the one who could truly protect them. They were all tough bitches, but none of them had the power she had. The type of forces she could control she wouldn’t wish on anybody, especially her sisters.

But all the power she held wouldn’t help them if she weren’t actually with them. She could do some things remotely, but preventing a kill would be difficult. And being down with a bullet in her side wasn’t going to help any of them.

She hadn’t been lying to Sebastian. She’d been unable to do anything but run after getting out of the Charger. The men following her, a team of about twelve, hadn’t made it to her position. She’d had a slight head start.

Once her feet had touched the rich soil of the cornfield, energy had rushed through her, filling depleted reserves. The earth always returned what was taken from her. While she was nowhere near full strength, she’d been able to create a slight depression in the soil. She’d lain down and dirt had sifted over her. The great corn stalks around her had folded over her, creating a canopy of sorts, shielding her.

To the naked eye, her safe haven appeared to be nothing more than small patch of under grown or broken corn. To a more discerning gaze, it would be a dead spot on the landscape that would signal her location.

She really hoped the soldiers searching for her weren’t discerning.

She needed to get the bullet out but had no idea if she could get it done without a surgical knife. It was a foreign object, therefore not meant to reside within her. The bullet itself was a deterrent to energy flow. Anything not natural could be ejected, probably with intense pain, but this would allow her to heal the wound and any damage done to her internal organs.

To do this she had to draw on her sisters, and that meant all of them were left wide open for attack from anyone who had them in their sites.

She could only pray that God was with them all as she used the last of her dwindling energy to call them. She calmed herself, breathing deeply as her body shuddered with pain. Sending out streaming tendrils of her consciousness she felt the warmth of a returning answer.

She’d located them.

“Kinsey?”
she ventured within her mind, trying to establish the link through the second strongest of them.

“Skylar?” a deep, concerned voice responded. A voice way too deep to be her sister’s.

It was so unexpected that she lost control for a second, drawn out of her seeking as consciousness slammed her back inside of her body. Wind stirred the field of corn around her, and black crows cawed and took flight.

Her father’s operatives were going to notice that for sure.

Sebastian!
How in the name of all that’s holy had she triggered on him instead of the women she’d shared a womb with. They either had a mega-strong connection, or he was really close.

At this point, either would work for her.
Sometimes life gave you lemons.
Even though I’m not thirsty, I’m gonna suck those bitches down.

She attempted to lock onto his location. He was much closer than she’d hoped, and she zeroed in on him. His intense desire to find her communicated in his posture and his single relaying thought:
“Have to
get to her
.
”
She had a link to him that shimmered silver before snapping fully into place. It was a band that tangled with and branded her heart, immersed itself in her soul.
Unbelievable.

“Sebastian?”
she asked him, pushing her thoughts through the link. She didn’t have the energy to call out. It wouldn’t be wise anyway with the other men looking for her.

“Son of a bitch, Sky. Don’t do that shit to me. Where are you?” he demanded in a low tone that clearly said he expected her to tell him.

“Really close. Listen, you don’t have to speak, just think really loud and I’ll get it. It’s like magic, only better.”
She took a couple of breaths, pushed the pain deep.
“Pay attention for a second. I don’t know how long I can hold this link. I’m going to give you a visual in just a second. After I show you where I am, I’ll fade out. If you don’t find me and they do, kill me. Do you understand, Sebastian? You have to kill me. I’ll be out with no way to protect myself. You’ll have to shoot to kill. Don’t hesitate”

“No. I’m coming. Show me where you are, and I’ll be there. They’re not going to get you.”

His thoughts came through crystal clear. Good man.

“No! I need your word. You’ll do it if they make it to me first Bastian, and you need recover my body—they can’t have my body. Promise me, damn it.”

She hurt, and the pain in her side was a cascading flame. It was painful to draw breath, and her sight was dimming, but still she perceived his sigh along the link before he said,
“I promise.”

*

His world lit up. Before he had a chance to brace, light flashed, ripping through his brain like a tsunami of white, then darkness. He staggered, went to one knee. His vision hazed and then there was nothing but an inky blackness that rivaled the depths of the sea. Behind his eyes, in the corners of his brain, a clear picture of Skylar’s location in the cornfield attached itself to his memory. His heart almost stopped when he noticed how close the other team was to finding her.

Hell, they were almost on top of her.

Tapping the link at his ear he opened the connection with Bleak and Morrissey.

“I’m moving. I’m going to throw a flash grenade to distract them and then move back toward the road. She’s three hundred yards into the field parallel to where the grenade lands. Move toward her position, but don’t touch her until I get there,” Sebastian ordered.

“Roger,” both men responded.

Sebastian took out the flash grenade, pulled the pin, and launched it. When it exploded he heard a few snippets of gunfire, then yelling as the men who’d almost been on top of her shouted orders to head toward the blast.

Good. Sometimes shit goes my way.
He headed to Sky’s location.

A
click
sounded in his ear, and Sebastian picked up his pace.

“One down,” Bleak whispered across the link, voice as cold as an arctic wind.

“Make that two,” Morrissey echoed eerily in Sebastian’s ear.

He reached the area she’d shown him. There was a slight mound five feet to his left. A few cornstalks had wilted over the mound. He went to his knees and uncovered the woman buried beneath the soil and stalks.

His heart stopped. Her face lax, her body still, he had no idea if she was dead or alive. She opened her whiskey-colored eyes, giving him a small smile. His heart stuttered back to life.

“I do,” she whispered as he picked her up and held her tightly against his chest.

“I haven’t asked yet,” he growled in a whisper as he began running toward the shoulder of the road.

“You haven’t?” Her voice was a fading murmur.

She was so damn tiny. Unfiltered rage coursed through his body when he thought of them shooting her. He wanted to stop, turn around, and go kill them all with his bare hands.

“Not yet. You’re putting the cart before the horse little lady.”

“Oh.” Exhaustion and pain littered her tone.

He held her closer. The SUV was in sight.

“Hurry up. They realized it was a diversion and are heading back our way pretty fucking quick,” Bleak said over the ear link.

“Get to the Tahoe. I’ve something real nice planned for our friends,” Morrissey promised in a wonderful imitation of the grim reaper.

“Get it done. We’ll be waiting for you,” Sebastian affirmed as they came up on the Tahoe.

He opened the rear door, still holding her against his chest. He took a deep breath. He didn’t want her to know the danger they remained in, so he picked up their banter from earlier.

“We can’t have the cart before the horse. There’s a certain way of doing things you know. I have to woo you, win you over to my side and then bam! Before you know it you’re massaging my feet and fixing my dinner,” he said in the most serious voice he could muster as he gently placed her in the back of the SUV.

“No, no, no,” she whispered, her voice thready, faint, “this is how it goes. You need to pay attention because I’m gonna pass out any second.” She coughed, it was harsh, and a droplet of blood appeared on her bottom lip. “First you show your interest, second you woo.” Another racking cough; blood now stained her entire bottom lip. “Strict rules for wooing.”

“Yeah, we’ll talk about all this wooing later. Now stop moving. I need you still. Hang with me here, we’re almost on our way,” he whispered as he got her settled and searched for the first-aid kit.

She was in shock, and he needed to get the blood flow stopped. There was no telling how much internal damage she had.
Can’t lose her.

“Third,” she continued and tried to push into a sitting position; shuddering with the effort, her voice slurred, “You have to be madly in love with me. Convince me I’m in love with you. Fourth, get the fam’s blessing. Then propose with a huge sapphire engagement ring surrounded by diamonds.”

“Really? All that? Sounds like you’ve been planning this for a while,” Sebastian drawled as he prevented her from sitting then secured her with nylon tie-downs. He had to keep her talking and conscious while he checked her out.