Touch of Betrayal, A (29 page)

I jammed my hands in the deep robe pockets and started pacing. “When Mitch and I were at my new house…” The words stuck in my throat. He’d been alive this morning and already it seemed like years ago.

“You were at the house,” Pierce said, his tone pushing at me.

“Aukele was there. He gave me a vial of my mother’s formula, and told me it was to heal Madigan. That her cells held the poison from when Annie was dying, and that she’d become ill just before her first birthday. It’s still days away, so we probably have time to rescue the vial from the police impound lot.”

“She was fine earlier, before, ah, Burr ran you off the road. Pierce was already chasing you down, but I hadn’t left the house yet. Madigan was playing with Merlin.” He glanced at the playpen where Merlin had curled up to sleep, his head resting on one of the Maddie’s blankets.

“I have to see her. Touch her.” I said, running out of the kitchen.

Annie’s hysterical cries met me on the staircase.

THIRTY

Annie barreled down the stairs,
an inert Madigan crushed to her chest.
“She’s breathing, but it’s the toxin, I know it is. I have to call Sean. Let him know she’s…”

I pulled in a deep breath and brushed my fingers over the top of Maddie’s head. She was chilled, her skin waxy to my touch. Fragments of the poison I was so familiar with clung to her aura. “Move her outside. I’ll need all the help from nature I can get.”

Pierce and Adam must have been watching the baby monitor, because they were waiting for us at the base of the staircase. “How is she?” Adam asked, his face harrowed with worry lines.

Annie was on her way outside, her breathing loud and ragged. I followed right behind, keeping pace at a full-out run. “It’s the poison,” I shouted, yanking my phone from my pocket. I punched speed dial for Whitney.

Adam stopped in mid-stride. “I’ll head for the impound lot and get that vial.”

I stopped running, stayed him with my hand. “Not enough time.” Whitney’s line rang. And rang. Ready to give up, I nodded at Adam to go, and then took off, full speed after Annie.

Pierce grabbed me. “You’re calling Whitney to pick up the vial? Save time?”

I nodded again, pulse pounding in my throat, shivers cascading over my skin. He pried the phone from my hand. “I’ve got this. Go to Maddie.”

My brain ran though the process I’d used when I healed Annie and Parker, my bare feet slapping on the wood floor in a beat that matched the tempo of my thoughts. I could start with that basic process, using colors to balance and change the energy patterns, except Maddie’s infection wasn’t the same.

I slid to a stop at the edge of the swimming pool, sat and stuck my feet in the water. “Hand her to me, Annie.”

Her eyes were wide with panic, but she laid Maddie in my arms, keeping her hands on her daughter’s feet. I closed my eyes, did my best to push everything except pure love from my heart, and focused on Madigan’s aura. Her etheric connections were all broken, shattered, except for the silver thread connecting her to God’s realm—to infinite life. Grandfather’s words slipped into my head.
Death can be a healing.

No way was I going to lose one more person I loved. Not Maddie. Not
anyone
else. Yet there was no doubt that if I severed that thread, she’d be healed and safe in heaven. Not that I knew how to cut a life thread. Really, no one but God could do that.

The shattered fragments of Maddie’s energy field floated around her tiny body, drawing my attention. They’d faded from her usual vibrant blues and purples to a pale gray. I summoned color, beginning with a pale blue. It was the safest place to start. I’d healed both Annie and Parker with an immediate infusion of strong, healthy color; however, I didn’t dare push Madigan that quickly. She was too young, and her energy pattern too delicate.

I filled my mind, my working space, with a pastel shade of blue and gently washed it over Maddie’s body. Her aura rippled with life-giving force, except where Annie was holding on, desperation pouring from her mind, contaminating my workspace.

This wasn’t going to be easy. I held Maddie steady in a suspended state then opened my eyes and faced my soul sister. “You can’t touch her, Annie. I’m sorry.”

The tears that had been pooling in her moss green eyes spilled over her cheeks. “Can’t touch her?”

“You’re worried and it interferes with the energy pattern.”

She nodded, backing away. “I-I’ll wait ri-right here. Next to you.”

I wanted to hug her, but didn’t dare shift my attention away from Madigan. Closing my eyes, I drifted back into the healing space, and bathed my surrogate niece with another layer of pale blue. This time it worked. The chaotic energy fragments calmed slightly. I breathed a gentle sigh of relief. One layer down, who knew how many to go?

I’d worked through five shades of blue, increasing the depth of the hue on each pass, when Maddie suddenly faded, her skin chilling against my hands. Despair flooded my heart. I couldn’t lose this child. Simply. Couldn’t. I had to tell Annie there were complications. But, maybe one more thing first. I could immerse her in the full blue-violet spectrum of colors. It would be dangerous…
Damn
, I needed that vial of formula, and Adam wasn’t going to make it in time.

My eyes fluttered open. I had to look at Annie when I told her. Whoa. The pool shimmered in front of me, the rich blue highlighted with twinkling lights that changed the colors from light turquoise to deep purple. I jumped in, covering Maddie’s nose and mouth just before the water closed over us. When we popped to the surface, Annie stood in front of me, dripping and furious. “What are you doing? You could have killed her.” She reached for Maddie.

I ducked us under the water again, filling my mind with love, blocking her nose and mouth with my hand, and using the power of the water to smother Madigan. Not literally, but she had to stop breathing long enough for her energy pattern to detect the difference.

When we surfaced, Annie was beating on my back with her fists. I whirled to face her. “Clear your mind of everything except how much you love Maddie. Don’t think. Just feel that love. She needs
you
now. Your love. Your presence.”

Annie nodded, eyes wide and scared. I handed Madigan to her. “She’s in a suspended state. Be gentle—and remember, only love. There’s no room for doubt or worry. It will kill her.” I’d intended to scare Annie enough that she’d believe me. It worked. Her face cleared and a smile lit her eyes. It was wobbly, but she’d found the love and was radiating from her.

I helped them out of the pool and prayed Adam would make it back in time. I couldn’t let Maddie live in a suspended state for an indefinite period of time…and I had no idea how long was too long.

The thwacking of a helicopter rotor cut into my worry. Annie and I both stared, watching as it came closer and closer, finally hovering at the far end of the swimming pool. There wasn’t enough room to land without taking out a storage building and large area of landscaping.

Whitney appeared in the helicopter door, hair slicked back, a helmet covering her head. She backed out of the doorway, right leg, left leg until she stood on the top rail of the landing bars. And then she eased down, right leg, right hand, left leg, left hand, finally kneeling on the lowest rail. Hanging on with her forearms, she dropped her legs to hang in the air, and Pierce rushed to grab her, supporting her as she jumped to the ground. They both gave the pilot a thumbs-up, and he took off, leaving a profound quiet behind.

I ran to meet them, my heart pounding with hope. Whitney yanked a padded envelope from the breast pocket of her cargo vest and handed it to me, her face creased with worry lines. “Got it. Am I in time?”

“Yeah, I think you are. Just.”

Annie stood, a bewildered, manic glitter in her eyes. I rushed to her, tearing open the envelope. The second I closed my hand around the vial, energy poured into me. I popped off the top. “Hold her mouth open, Annie. We have to help her with this.”

I wanted to pour it in, but Maddie couldn’t swallow in her suspended condition. I covered the end of the vial with my fingertip, shook it to get the formula on my finger, and then rubbed it on her tongue. By the third fingertip full, her body had started to warm. Halfway through the vial, her cheeks were pink and she wiggled her little toes against my arm. Her aura shimmered bright blue, and purple was beginning to seep into the edges.

Happy tears blinded me. I swiped them away so I could see, and then poured a thimble-size dollop of the thick liquid on her tongue. She swallowed. Another one. Her eyes fluttered open. Two more and the vial was empty.

Maddie smiled at her mommy.

I collapsed by the side of the pool and buried my face in my hands.

Two hours, a long shower,
and deep meditation session later, I joined the group in Annie’s great room. Adam, Whitney, me, and even Pierce, took turns holding a sleeping Madigan. No one considered taking her upstairs to bed. We passed the bottle of Jameson’s around and started to talk through the events of the past few days, days that had changed my life irrevocably.

Adam kept shaking his head. “It scared the crap out of me when I couldn’t find the vial in Mitch’s truck. Took the cop in charge a good fifteen minutes to wander over and tell me Detective Boulay had stopped by almost an hour earlier. And then when I tried to call, no one answered their phones. Closest I’ve come to stroking out.”

Whitney glanced at Adam, her eyes twinkling. “Glad to be of help on this one. Although, if Pierce hadn’t called in a favor for the helicopter, I wouldn’t have made it in time.”

Annie brushed her fingers over Maddie’s cheek. “I owe you, Whitney Boulay. Anything you need, just ask. And Adam, I was hysterical. Didn’t even know my cell was ringing, and then when El and I jumped in the pool, my phone came with us. Pierce had El’s phone.”

Pierce grunted, tugged my phone out of his pocket, and tossed it to me. “Forgot about it after I got hold of you, Boulay. Glad you had hover training. Could have been tricky.”

“It was all of us,” I said, my heart thumping against my ribs. “It took a team to save Maddie, and I’m grateful, because I couldn’t bear to lose anyone else.” I trained my gaze on Adam, and focused on keeping my leaky tears from turning into uncontrollable sobbing. “I want to visit Mitch when the ME releases him. There might be something…”

Adam nodded. “I’ll take care of it. Jayne and Parker will be here soon to help you—”

My stomach pitched. I wasn’t ready to face Mitch’s sister, would rather have had the flight time to sit with Mitch, and talk to him.

Pierce bumped into my thoughts. “Got an ETA on that. Nine tomorrow morning.”

“I need to know about Xifeng. I stabbed her, and I think it would have been fatal, except—”

“She was pronounced at the scene.” Adam sighed. “I’m sorry we didn’t get there sooner. We were tracking you, but when they switched up the plans and all hell broke loose, we had to scramble.”

“And the Wah Ching? I shot one of them in the chest and wounded two others.” The pressure of holding back my tears pounded behind my eyes. How many people had I killed? Chad Burr. Xifeng. Even though she delivered her final assault, she would have died from the stomach wound, and probably within minutes.

“The HPD team that answered your nine-one-one picked up the three wounded Wah Ching. As far as I know, the chest wound didn’t die, but he’s in critical condition. When Pierce and I hit the restaurant, we took down the rest of them, and then turned them over to the HPD.”

“Xifeng only had the six in the US,” Pierce said, tapping his fingers against his thigh. “Don’t know what she had going on in Mainland China.”

“So, watch my very bruised back?”

Annie’s cheeks colored. “Sorry.”

I tipped my glass of whiskey in her direction. “You could have killed me, what with your training and all. And considering you thought I was hurting your daughter, I’m grateful it’s just a few bruises.”

My mind drifted. Did I care if they captured me? A resounding
Yes!
filled my mind. I’d decided to survive, to learn about my gifts and use them in the best way possible, and to hone my fighting skills.

I’d rationalized it. Thought it was my way of respecting my parents and Mitch. Honoring their lives was a core reason for me to survive, but now I realized I wanted to live for myself, too.

It would be a long time before I healed. In some ways my mind had started to shift through the stages of loss, even though I’d only had a few hours to wallow in denial, and I would be dealing with anger, bargaining, and depression as they crept into my daily life. The promise of acceptance floated somewhere on a distant horizon, but right now I needed to focus on helping everyone, myself included, to move past the last twenty-four hours.

“I promise to watch my back, Pierce. I don’t believe anyone could have saved Mitch. Maybe he didn’t die in a car explosion like my ESP images predicted, but there was nothing anyone could have done to prevent…what happened.” My breath hitched, and I rubbed at the pang in my chest.

“Besides, if you’d been on the spot, I wouldn’t have bragging rights about facing down a gang of Wah Ching.” It was a half-hearted attempt at humor, but we all needed to stretch into our personal healing, and if it helped my friends, my team, to stop worrying about me, it was worth the attempt.