Riding the Storm (31 page)

"But?"

"But
their love for each other was so absorbing and extreme that everything
else—jobs, house, friends, me—came after, far after. It was all very Ron and
Nancy Reagan."

Her
parents believed their relationship couldn't be stronger or healthier, and they
were probably right, but Haley had always felt left out, and as a result had
always viewed love as a weakness. Love meant forsaking all else for the
affections of one person. No way would she fall into that trap. Her career, her
self-esteem, was too important to watch it go down the drain because of a man.
Her mother had never seen anything wrong with giving up her own career, but in
Haley's eyes, her mother had given up everything.

"So
what happened to them? You said they were dead."

His
thumbs worked on a particularly stubborn knot, and she groaned, willing to tell
him anything now. The man was good. Too good. He'd have her confessing all her
sins and even making some up if he kept up this blissful torture.

"Mom
died of cancer a year after I joined the Air Force." Haley had attended
the funeral, but her dad had refused to speak to her. Heck, she hadn't spoken
with either of them since she'd sworn in. Before she and her father could
resolve their differences, he had died, too. "My dad was gone six months
later. Doctors couldn't find a cause, but everyone who knew him said he'd died
of a broken heart." She swallowed the sudden lump in her throat. "See
what love does? It makes you weak. Kills you."

Warm
breath feathered over her scalp as Remy pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her
head. "It also gives people something to live for," he whispered.

Tears
stung her eyes. Dammit, she wasn't going to cry. She refused to let her parents
hurt her more than they already had.

"Can
we be done with the mushy stuff now?" She playfully kissed his hand and
shot for breezy. "I really am starving. Maybe we can get a to-go order
from the Denny's across the street."

He
wrapped his arms around her and pulled her even tighter against his chest. She
was completely unprepared for the depth of emotion his embrace coaxed out of
her. Never had she felt so safe. Years of loneliness vanished in an instant.

Loneliness
she hadn't even known existed.

"You
stay here," he said softly. "I'll feed you."

He
climbed out of bed and pulled on his pants and shirt, which were still wet and
caked with dirt after their escape from the bayou. He checked his weapon with
skilled, easy grace, and an inappropriate shiver wracked her body. Military men
had never been her thing, had always chafed at her inner feminist, but her deepest,
basest female instincts couldn't help but appreciate a man who could handle
himself and keep her safe.

Then
her heart, which had felt all comforted and safe, jumped to her throat as the
door flew open.

"What
the hell… ?"

Remy
had rolled himself and Haley off the bed to the floor, kept her down while he
drew his gun and pointed it toward the doorway, but it was too late. If the man
standing in the middle of the room, who'd materialized out of nowhere, had
wanted him gone, Remy would be gone.

"It's
okay, Remy. He's one of ours," Haley said. She'd shifted and pulled the
sheet down to cover herself. Remy noticed that the man at least kept his eyes
respectfully averted from Haley, but the sneer he had especially for Remy
wasn't hidden at all.

"If
I'd been the enemy, you'd have been dead, SEAL," the man growled. The guy
was his height, a little lankier, but Remy bet he'd have put up a hell of a
fight if it had come to that.

Former
military, if Remy had to guess. He wondered what the man's special skill was,
beyond appearing out of thin air.

"Christ,
Ender, you've got to stop doing that." Another tall man appeared in the
open doorway. His dark hair was long, nearly to his shoulders, and he closed
the door behind him. "Are you all right, Haley?"

"I'm
fine. But I'd like to get dressed," she said. "If you could all give
me some privacy for a second so I could get to the bathroom, that would be
great."

Remy
watched the two men turn away and then shifted his attention over to Haley. Who
looked back at him. "You didn't say I couldn't look," he said in a
low voice, and the man named Ender snorted.

Haley
mouthed,
Be nice
…
they're two of ACRO's best
, and then shut
herself in the bathroom. When Remy brought his attention back to the men Haley
thought so highly of, they were already facing him. "You must be
Remy," the dark-haired man said. "I'm Wyatt Kennedy, and this is
Ender."

"Ender?"
Remy asked.

"Yes,
Little Remy," Ender said, and it was Remy's turn to growl.

"Come
on, guys—this isn't the time for a cock-block contest," Wyatt, said.
"We've got work to do, and not a hell of a lot of time."

Remy
checked his watch and nodded. "What's your plan?"

"You
mean you didn't come up with anything while you were waiting?" Ender
asked. "Oh, right, you were too busy—"

"Ender,
come on," Wyatt stopped him. "His old man's in trouble."

Ender
sighed, loudly. Then he turned and started rifling through the bag he'd brought
in, unpacking a laptop and assorted weapons.

"Aren't
you better off doing that in your own room?" Remy asked.

"This
is our room," Ender stated.

"No
way. You two aren't staying here," Remy said.

Ender
growled. "You don't tell me where to stay, SEAL."

"Remy,
man, we can't risk leaving you two alone," Wyatt explained, stepping in
between Remy and Ender.

"I've
done all right so far." Remy fought the urge to bare his teeth at Ender.

"Yeah,
you have," Wyatt said, putting a hand on his shoulder, as if to calm Remy
down. It worked, momentarily. "But that's not good enough now."

"You
have no idea what you're up against," Ender added.

"And
you're going to explain it to me?"

"Those
are my orders." Ender frowned as if he disliked both the orders themselves
and being ordered. Remy got that all too well.

"What
now?" he asked.

"Now
we work. Unless you need sleep." Ender said it as if sleep were for the
weak. On that, Remy couldn't help but agree. Without another word, Ender pulled
his weapon and walked out of the room.

"Where's
he going?"

"He'll
reset the perimeter alarms. They work on normal enemies," Wyatt explained.
"Not on people like us."

"Is
he always like that?" Remy asked.

"Pretty
much."

"How
the hell do you stand it?"

"He's
not that much different than you and me, truth be told, Remy. Besides, I owe
the guy. He's the one who rescued me and brought me into ACRO five years
ago."

"What
were you doing before that? "

"I
was with the teams," Wyatt said, and Remy suddenly knew that his old man
was going to be all right, after all.

Haley
stood in the bathroom, cheeks burning at having been caught naked in bed.
Worse, she had nothing but towels to wear.

After
she and Remy had checked into the hotel, she'd tried to contact the Triad
again, but her head had nearly exploded, so she'd broken down and called Dev
while Remy did whatever SEALs do outside. Then she'd showered, used the
opportunity to wash her clothes, and now her garments dripped from where they
hung draped over the rusted shower rod.

"Haley?"
Remy tapped softly on the door. "Your buddies brought us some
clothes."

"My
heroes."

She
took the khaki BDU pants and black T-shirt from Remy, grateful for ACRO's
foresight. Or second sight. Didn't matter. Important body parts would be
covered.

Once
dressed, she dragged her fingers through her hair and stepped out of the
bathroom, to find the three men overpowering the small room with their
presence. Ender had turned his chair so he could prop his long legs up on the
window ledge, the laptop balanced at his knees. He looked relaxed, like he was
surfing the web for pleasure, but she wasn't fooled. She didn't know him well,
but Ender's reputation more than preceded him, and she knew he had deadly aim.

All
three men were deadly, with or without their special abilities. Even with
Wyatt's riotous personality, she didn't mistake for a second the danger that
lay beneath that demeanor.

Remy
sat next to Wyatt at the table, maps of the area scattered between them. Remy
looked up first, smiled, although his eyes held a more serious glint than they
had earlier.

He
was in mission-mode. A shiver of pure, female appreciation skittered through
her, and once again, she wondered when her preferences in men had gone from
suits and ties to cammies and combat boots. One thing was certain, after this,
there would be no going back to corporate casual.

Wyatt
turned to her, his lean, lanky body screaming with excess energy and a surplus
of sensuality. Rumor had it that in addition to telekinesis, he had the power
to seduce anyone, female
or
male, without even trying. Haley believed
it, had in the past fallen victim to the same sexual yearning other women
claimed to feel in his presence, but now, thankfully, she felt nothing.

"Haley,
did those bastards show you anything besides Red Rover Road? Anything that can
help us pinpoint a likely location for Itor to set up shop?"

Her
head throbbed at the reminder of the heinous violation. "I saw a
countryside. Marshy fields and barbed-wire fencing." She plopped down on
the bed and grabbed the med kit Remy had left out after bandaging her feet.
"And a three-way intersection… I think the crossroad is called something
like Washington." A red haze of pain obscured the memory, and she sighed.
"I'm sorry. I can't be sure."

"It's
okay. We'll find it." Remy ran his finger over the map. "Could it be
Washout? I've got a Washout Road bisecting Red Rover about twenty miles outside
the city limits."

"Good
call," Wyatt said, tracing the map point with a pencil.

She
rolled up her pants legs and dabbed antiseptic on her shin cuts while Wyatt dug
through a pile of maps and charts and pulled out a satellite photo.
"There're a shitload of isolated farmhouses and crap in the area."

Cursing,
Ender dug his cell out of his jeans' pocket. "I'll call Resources. I can't
get anything on my computer."

"What
are you talking about?" Haley asked, feeling a little useless.

"We
need property and rental records. If we can get a list of houses that have been
rented recently, it could help us locate Itor's local base of operations."

Remy
shook his head. "It's hard to believe they could be so easy to lose in the
bayou but that well set up here."

"Believe
it, SEAL." Ender stood, paced while he spoke to someone on the phone.

Wyatt
leaned back in his chair and kicked his booted feet up on the air-conditioning
unit beneath the window. "Don't understimate them," he said to Remy,
"Even if they fucked up in the bayou. Haley, what kind of operatives are
we looking at? Did you see anything?"

"I
only saw two men. One of them was telekinetic."

"Telekinetic
how?"

Remy
rubbed the back of his head as though he could still feel the blow when he hit
the tree. "Asshole picked me up and tossed me about twenty feet."

Wyatt
scowled, and Remy glanced between him and Haley. "Why? What's up? Are
there different kinds of telekinesis?"

"Most
telekinetics are like you and me. We can affect
things
. You rearrange
the weather. I can toss inanimate objects around." To prove his point,
Wyatt sent one of Haley's boots sailing over Ender's head and into the door,
which earned him a dirty look and a return trip of the boot thrown with a deft
arm.

"That
could come in handy," Remy said.

"Yeah,
it does. But I can't directly affect living things."

"Why
not?"

"Humans
and animals are protected by auras that naturally shield telekinetic energy. It
takes a special talent to bypass the aura. Those who can, can either affect a
body on the outside, like what happened to you, or they can affect the inside.
Stop a heart from beating or cause a stroke." His expression grew grim.
"You don't want to meet up with one of the latter."

The
map in Remy's hand crumpled in his fist. "Was it someone like that who
hurt Haley?"

Concern
softened Wyatt's dark eyes when they flickered over her. "No. That fucker
is a special brand of psychic. There's only a handful of them in the world.
Thing is, they can't just mind-rape anyone at the drop of a hat. They have to
possess deep, intimate details about the person."

She
hadn't known about that limitation to the mind-rape power. Hadn't wanted to
think on any of it too much—had let Remy and his magical methods of persuasion
in bed distract her from the fact that someone had used her mind—and her
past—against her.