F-Team had brought Jimmy with them back to the Resource. Jimmy’s family now had to make funeral arrangements.
I didn’t pull the trigger but it was my fault. I should be better; I should have spotted the sniper sooner.
He’d failed. Some hero he was.
Kowalski finished and stomped out, ending the briefing. Lansing appeared in the doorway as Alec filed out with F-Team. Lansing let F-Team go past but he stepped in front of Alec.
Alec clenched his jaw, anticipating another lecture.
“Director,” Daz said, “we’ve got the training exercise in thirty minutes.”
“You’ll start the exercise when Alec is available, Commander, and not before,” Lansing said. “That’s an order.”
Daz looked at Alec, then back to Lansing and nodded. “Yes, sir.”
Lansing waited until Daz was well out of earshot to speak. “He’s coddling you.”
“Daz is protecting me, like he does any team member.” Though Daz backed down to Lansing often enough. The protection had limits.
“Neither of you protected Jimmy very well.”
Alec dropped his head.
Lansing put his hands behind his back. “Casualties are part of being a soldier, Alec. Unfortunate, but expected. My primary concern, as I’ve said, is that you lost control of the fire. How often have we worked on that over the years?”
“Every day since I was three.” Alec stared at the tile floor. Around F-Team, he felt like a soldier. Around Lansing, he still felt like that fumbling three-year-old who let flames run free.
“And now you lose control?” Lansing pointed a finger into Alec’s chest. “I think it has something to do with Beth Nakamora.”
Alec pushed Lansing’s finger away. “What do you mean?” How could Beth be the problem?
“Psychologists are good at creating self-doubt. Your power works on mental ability. If doubt is created, control is lost. She created doubt in your mind.”
“Beth doesn’t make me doubt anything.” In fact, Beth seemed to almost pull the power out of him. Look at the way those papers in his room had caught fire.
“You wouldn’t notice if she did. That’s how psychologists work. I thought she’d be the solution to your issues in working with others. Yet this happened on the first mission after she started treating you.”
“One’s got nothing to do with the other. The intel was bad, the—”
“Bad intel did not make you lose yourself in the fire. And the flames were blue, Alec, not yellow. You know better than to raise their temperature like that.”
Alec met Lansing’s gaze. “She has nothing to do with it.”
“Protecting her does you credit. But she doesn’t need it. I’ve asked Ms. Nakamora to watch your training exercise today. I plan to speak to her about this matter. If I don’t like what I hear, she’s gone.”
No. “I want to keep seeing her.”
“Prove to me that you have control in the training exercise and I’ll reconsider my decision.”
Beth clutched the metal railing, looking below at the gymnasium that was now disguised as a warehouse for the training exercise. As when she’d been brought to Alec’s apartment, she’d been escorted to this location by one of the Resource security guards. She estimated they were down two levels from Alec’s apartment.
Just how big is this place? She’d passed an entrance to a wing marked restricted. There could be thousands of square feet behind that entrance. It seemed the gymnasium was only the tip of the iceberg. All this seemed overkill just for Alec. Lansing must be doing something else here or planning to do something else in the future.
F-Team filtered in from the side door. Beth wrapped her hands tighter around the railing and looked for clues in Alec’s manner. The terse CIA report that Philip had given her about the mission had given no hint of Alec’s state of mind.
If she had burned a man alive, she would have been horrified.
But to Alec, the sniper had been an enemy and burning him an acceptable response. Alec probably felt guiltier at his failure to save Jimmy.
If Alec was nervous or doubted himself, he currently gave no physical sign of it. He looked the perfect soldier save for the hair that escaped from under his helmet. He stood straight and listened intently as Daz gave orders. F-Team’s mission was to take down a sniper.
She leaned over get a better look, squinting. It was half dark down there, to simulate real conditions. The sniper’s nest was at the top of one row, about twenty feet above everything else.
Inside the nest, Lieutenant Gabriel held a paint gun at the ready, silently waiting for his “enemies” to come into view. Gabe was wearing an asbestos suit, in case Alec’s fire grew out of control again. She wondered if that precaution bothered Alec.
The team split into two. Alec stayed with Daz’s group.
Beth bit her lip. The soldiers behind Alec kept glancing at him, almost afraid. That couldn’t be normal, not the way Alec talked about how much he loved to be part of F-Team. But now, after what had happened at the docks, they were finally afraid of Alec’s fire. She hoped Alec didn’t notice.
The point of this exercise was for Alec to prove he still had control of his power. In a way, losing control might be the best thing for him. If he couldn’t be used as a weapon, the CIA would back off from the order to either kidnap or assassinate him. And Alec wouldn’t be exposed to the danger of future missions.
But failing would break Alec’s spirit. And as much as she wanted him safe, she would never wish for that.
The team crept through the warehouse. Nothing had gone wrong.
Yet.
Slowly, they worked through the rows of shelves in the mock warehouse below. If she still had her telepathy, she’d know what Alec was thinking, what he was feeling, if he was in the right state of mind. It seemed so strange to wish for it, given how often she’d been satisfied that it was gone forever.
Alec was probably calm. This tense, dangerous game was nothing new to him. Would he believe her if she told him that this kind of upbringing tended to breed paranoia and could create a kind of post-traumatic stress disorder? No, probably not.
Quiet footsteps echoed behind her. She refused to look up. It was likely one of the Resource guards, watching her.
“Find the exercise interesting, Ms. Nakamora?”
Lansing? She turned. His big hands closed around the railing like large deadly paws. Paws that could easily cover her tiny neck and squeeze the life out of her. No one would ever find her body in this cavernous facility.
“Alec looks to be in his element,” she said. Neutral. Stay neutral.
“An element of which you disapprove.” Lansing kept his attention on the action below.
“It helps if the soldier has a choice about fighting.” She turned her face away from Lansing. How much did he know? Philip said last night that his greatest fear was that Lansing did know who she really was and he’d allowed her back into the Resource to grab her.
She’d come today anyway. Philip had been livid.
Below, Daz gestured to his group. The team surrounded Alec as they rushed from one aisle to the next to get closer to the sniper. Gabe unsuccessfully fired a round of paint balls at them.
“Dammit, boy,” Lansing said.
“What do you mean?” The team looked like they were doing fine to her. No one hit so far.
Lansing shook his head. “They’re going too slow. This should be a quick, easy exercise. Montoya is being protective and overly careful. He should have put Alec in charge of the second team.” He turned to her. “And he’s not the only one coddling Alec.”
She bit the inside of her cheek, trying to control her anger. “Alec lost a friend for the first time. He burned someone to death for the first time. He failed on a mission for the first time. It’s perfectly appropriate that he needs help to recover.” She put her hands behind her back, hiding clenched fists. Had she gone too far? Avoid a direct confrontation, Philip had said. He’d nearly been ready to tos
s her in a closet and throw away the key to keep her from coming today. Instead, he’d taken other precautions.
“I sent Alec from my residence at a young age in order to toughen him up for his role in life. And I hired Montoya to teach Alec command, not protect him. Alec must stand up for himself and not wallow in failure.”
“Acknowledging an emotion is not the same as wallowing in it.”
Alec used to live with Lansing? Alec hadn’t mentioned where he’d lived before he was twelve and moved into that room on the lower levels of the Resource. She’d assumed he’d been raised mostly in a laboratory or a safe room to protect himself and others from his fire until he learned control. But, thinking on it, there were shadows of a strong bond left in both Alec and Lansing that only continuous close proximity would explain. Alec definitely wanted to please his remote father figure, while simultaneously resenting him. A classic father/son paradigm.
“Emotions need to be channeled to the right goals, not used as leverage to stop fighting.” Lansing’s dark brown eyes narrowed and his lips turned into a thin line. He straightened and stepped closer, his large frame throwing her entire body into shadow.
“Fighting is not always the right goal.” She turned to face him, keeping one hand on the railing for balance. Here we go. I hope you weren’t right, Philip.
Below, F-Team regrouped. Unexpectedly, Alec glanced up and made eye contact with her. Startled, all she could do was nod. His curt nod back showed more tension than she liked. Alec turned back to Daz.
“Ms. Nakamora, his life depends on training for when he’s in combat. You’re distracting him.”
“You invited me to watch.”
“I wanted to assess you. The CIA said they needed someone to help Alec integrate better with outside agents. I don’t think they’d approve of you wanting him off combat duty completely. You’re a lousy therapist if you want Alec to give this up. He lives for this.”
“Because he doesn’t know another way.”
“You have an agenda of your own and it’s not to help Alec. I’m looking into it. Carefully.”
Looking into it?
Lansing turned his back on her and stared down at the mock warehouse again. She swallowed, her legs too leaden to move. What had Lansing found? Perhaps he was probing her, trying to find out what she knew. Better to say nothing.
She craned her neck to see what was happening below. The team rushed the sniper’s nest from different directions. Alec stayed in the rear of Daz’s group, hanging back from the line of fire.
The sniper fired. She tensed and flinched, as if the shots were directed at her. But the paintball stopped dead in midair and fell to the floor.
Excellent!
No fire. That was only Alec’s TK and appropriately used. Alec seemed to be focusing better than she was. She also noticed that at this distance, she couldn’t sense Alec’s power as she usually did during their sessions. Interesting.
The sniper fired more shots, in quick succession. Alec mimicked catching the paintballs with his outstretched hands. The projectiles stopped in midair, changed direction, and splatted harmlessly into the far wall. Alec was playing catch. She shook her head, almost grinning.
Then Daz went down to one knee, swearing, a paintball smudge bright yellow against his green uniform. Oh, hell, one of them had gotten through Alec’s guard. Her grin faded.
Alec raised his hands, locked them at the elbows and shouted something. The paintballs coming at him burst into flames.
Uh-oh. The whole point of this exercise was for Alec to hold control and not use his fire. Alec, calm down.
F-Team scattered, avoiding the fiery paintballs. This would only reinforce their newfound fear of Alec’s power. The boxes around the sniper erupted into flames. Alec dropped to one knee, breathing heavily. The flames engulfing the boxes grew higher, covering the top of the nest.
Gabe stumbled out of his nest, half-climbing down, half-falling. His body was completely covered in fire. Stop, Alec, stop! She held her breath.
Daz snapped to his feet, grabbed a fire extinguisher from the wall, and sprayed Gabe with it. Alec rushed forward and dropped to one knee next to Gabe. He waved a hand and all the fire went out, from the flames licking at Gabe, to the boxes on the sniper’s nest, and the paintballs.
Beth let out a deep breath, leaning over the railing as far as she dared. How badly had Alec hurt his friend?
Gabe sat up, coughed, and knocked away the hands offering help. He stood on his own and glared at Alec. Alec dropped his head and backed away.
His team, the team that he loved, would be more afraid now. Like everyone who’d known about her telepathy years ago had been afraid of her, except Philip.
“He’s not lost control like that in years. Years!” Lansing pounded his fist on the railing. “You’re the only new element here. This must be because of you. It has to be.”
“Excuse me?” She backed away, looking for the exit.
“I know that you somehow shut down my surveillance in Alec’s room before the mission,” he said.
Oh, hell. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I’m going to find out what you are.” He reached for something in his pocket.
“She can’t really be CIA. They won’t protect her. I’ll take her and find out what she really is.”
The intruding thought slammed into her brain. She grabbed her head and doubled over. Where had that come from? It was Lansing’s voice but he hadn’t said it.
She’d read his mind. Her telepathy had worked for a brief second.
She didn’t know whether to cry or laugh. How typical that the first thing she heard telepathically in years was a threat. No wonder she’d hated hearing thoughts.
She closed her eyes and whispered a prayer for her mother’s spirit and those of her ancestors to protect her. She heard Lansing take another step toward her. She lifted her head and opened her eyes. Lansing leveled a gun at her, one with a strange barrel.
“Tranquilizer will keep her out for hours. And we can get to work on her.”
No escape, no escape. If only he would just put the gun down, turn around and leave her alone. Yes. That would be perfect. He should put the gun down, turn around and leave her alone.
Impossibly, Lansing lowered the gun and turned around.
Her hand fumbled for the door handle. The door opened, she slipped into the corridor outside and slammed the door shut behind her. She ran, glancing behind her, wondering when Lansing would follow her. Around a turn, she slowed to catch her breath, hope draining away.
Lansing had to know exactly where she was; he had cameras everywhere. He could follow her every move.
She slowed. Lansing must be toying with her, seeing how she’d react. A master playing with a puppet. No matter which way she went, she couldn’t get out. They’d stop her when they felt like it.
Alec.
If she found Alec, perhaps they would let her walk out, so as not to alarm him.
And maybe she could save him too.
Chapter Six
Daz took off his helmet and slapped at the yellow paint on his leg.
“Daz, I’m sorry,” Alec said. What could he say that would excuse that screw-up?
“At least you got the sniper, Firefly. In combat, that’s what counts.”
“That wasn’t the objective.” Alec looked away, back to the burned boxes. He’d failed. Again. He’d let the fire get out of control. It had felt so good too. Until he realized that Gabe was burning up.
“Look, I’m no scientist but it seems to me—” Daz leaned against the warehouse wall, “—that your fire’s hotter than it used to be, which is causing the problem. You been eating your Wheaties or something?”
“What do you mean?”
“Never seen you make fire go crazy like you did on the docks. It was fucking hot. Lots and lots of blue flame. That was new.”
“I don’t get what you’re saying.” Did Daz mean he was even more dangerous?
; “I used to train new recruits. Sometimes, the younger ones would get a growth spurt in the middle of training and the extra inches or extra strength would screw them up in hand-to-hand or on the gun range. You’ve grown several inches since we started working together. You have to be up to six-two by now. Maybe other parts of you have grown too.”
Alec frowned but his stomach unclenched. “You’re saying I’ve had a growth spurt with the fire?”
“Yep. You go to your techs, ask them to test the temp of your flames. Betcha I’m right.”
“So what? I still set Gabe on fire.” He punched the wall and hardly felt the pain. “I almost killed him.”
“That’s what he gets paid for. Anyway, ‘almost’ doesn’t count.” Daz clapped him on the back. “Ask me, a good day is when somebody doesn’t end up dead.”
Like Jimmy. “I freaked the team out. They’re scared of me now.”
Daz snorted. “You think Patton’s soldiers weren’t scared of him? Or Alexander the Great’s Macedonians?”
“F-Team isn’t scared of you.”
Daz shook his head. “Yeah, they are, Alec. You just haven’t noticed because you’re not scared of me. Having soldiers under your command a little scared of you is a good thing.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Look at how much Lansing accomplishes because his people know what the consequences of failure are. Though creating too much fear of failure causes other problems, like crushing initiative or making your people press too hard. That’s also part of this. Lansing pressures you too much.”
“I’m doing the best I can.” Alec ground his teeth.
“You’re tense and it’s part of the problem.” Daz put an arm around his shoulders. For the first time, Alec realized he and Daz were the same height. Funny, he’d always thought of Daz as taller. “Alec, look, no one can do what you do. We need you for round two with Demeter and his crew, especially if they’re planning to use that bomb.”
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