by Dale Mayer
So maybe she was doing better. Good for her.
Or maybe that was bad. He wasn’t sure.
This place was enough to give him the creeps.
He turned to leave when the hair on the back of his head rose. Instinctively, he spun around, his hand to the gun holstered at his side. “Who’s there?”
Silence. Taking a deep breath he checked the room to make sure nothing had changed. It was small. His gaze slipped past the bed, then hit the brakes and jammed into reverse.
The bed was empty.
What the hell?
He spun around in a panic. Where was she? She had just been there. He raced to the bathroom, the door was ajar but he pushed it wide, not taking his gaze off the bedroom. He glanced inside the bathroom. It was empty. He could see the shower and the door flattened to the wall. She wasn’t in either hiding spot.
With narrowed eyes and his hand already pulling out his cell phone, he did a quick sweep of the room, under the bed, opening all closets.
But the room was empty.
She’d disappeared.
Where the hell had she gone? And how?
*
The Bastard walked into the hospital and smiled at the night admissions clerk. Harried from too much work and long days, the woman barely gave him a glance.
Perfect. He’d been counting on that. Now to find out where the bitch was staying. And who was paying the horrific bill. That’s who he wanted.
Someone was backing her. Someone was protecting her. Without that assistance he’d have caught his prey a long time ago.
The elevator was up ahead. What he needed was a distraction to get into the computer system and find out what bed she was in.
As he walked toward the elevator, it opened in front of him and an obese male, his loose shirttails flapping in the wind, raced out to the front counter and snapped at the poor woman at the desk, “This isn’t acceptable. She needs better food here. She –”
He didn’t bother to listen to the rest. He probably wouldn’t get a better chance. He opened the door leading into the offices and stopped at the first computer that was on. Bringing up the registration, he typed in her name.
Nothing.
He frowned. Why? If not her name, then what name? He tried several variations and still came up blank. He heard loud voices coming toward him. There was no time. He’d just have to walk through the damn hospital and find her himself.
In order to do that, he’d have to change into something slightly less…obvious.
Chapter 3
Tia studied the man in front of her. He’d gone from relaxed guard to cop instantly. Shit. A guard she could get past – no problem. Most were lazy shifty eyed guys looking for an easy buck.
This guy? Hell no. He’d gone from slightly stiff and unhappy, but aware, to cop mode as soon as he’d realized she’d disappeared. Was he a damn cop?
His glance had gone over her, intent, assessing, but not seeing her. When she realized that, she’d relaxed slightly. He couldn’t see energy. Perfect. Now to make sure no one else around her could either.
“Stefan, she’s gone.” Cold and abrupt. The guard made no excuses. “I turned around and she’d disappeared.”
Crap. He was working with Stefan. And who knew where Stefan stood? She didn’t know him, only what she’d heard, and considering the last memory she could access, she didn’t trust him. She sidled up to the door and peered around it. It was closed and she could hardly open it in front of him. But there was no way she was going to stay here and wait for Stefan to show up.
Stefan would be able to see her.
“No. I saw her then turned around and the bed was empty.” He shook his head, listening to something Stefan said. “The door hasn’t opened since I entered and it’s closed now.”
Double shit.
Still holding the phone to his ear, he spun around. “No, she’s not hiding in the room,” he said in exasperation. “I’ve done this a time or two. When I say the room is empty and she’s gone – I mean the damn room is empty and she is gone!”
Tia snickered. And damn if he didn’t spin around and stare right at her. Oh shit. She froze and gazed back at him, terrified to breathe in case he heard it. He still held the phone in his hand as he studied the area where she stood.
But there was no awareness in his eyes. Nothing to say he understood she was there.
“No. I’ll be here.” He nodded a couple of times, his face hard and cold. “Absolutely.”
He closed his phone and put it away then walked to the doorway, crossed his arms in front of his chest and stood in front of the closed door.
Blocking her exit.
She slid back around the corner of the wall and took a deep breath. What was she going to do now? Damn it, Stefan. What was he up to?
Was she a prisoner?
If so, why?
She slid back over to the bed and stood undecided. She had to do this at the right moment – or else.
Only the guard never closed his damn eyes.
Hard footsteps walked down the hallway toward them. She groaned. His gaze swiveled in her direction. She glared at him. How could he hear her? That was something she hadn’t expected. No one did that. Why did he have super spidey hearing? Like how freaking inconvenient for her.
The guard turned to look out the small window in the door. Perfect. She slid under the covers and curled up in a ball, sleeping.
Or at least pretending to sleep.
The door opened.
“Stefan,” the guard said, relief pouring through his voice. “Am I glad to see you.”
“I was in the hospital already, so good timing. Now let’s see what we have here, Dean.”
“Right.” The cop’s voice turned businesslike. “I haven’t left the door like you asked. I was outside. Came in, did my check, and before I was done, she was gone. I swear the door was closed. But somehow she’s gone missing. See, the bedding –”
He stopped. Then exploded. “What the hell?” She couldn’t see him from her position but mentally she could picture him standing and pointing in her direction. At least now she knew his name. Dean.
“I swear she wasn’t there a few minutes ago. Until you came up the hallway this bed was empty.” He groaned. “Honest. I feel like I’m losing my mind.”
She held her laughter back in. Served him right.
“That’s all right, I feel that way a lot.” Stefan’s voice was threaded with humor. “And I believe you.”
*
Dean’s disbelieving gaze went from the full bed with a sleeping woman to the man at his side. He needed to see Dr. Loring again. Maybe the psychologist would believe him now. Or he’d have Dean committed. “How can you possibly believe me? I don’t believe me?”
Stefan’s laughter boomed freely around the room. “I can see things a little differently.”
“Right. And what the hell is there to see now that there wasn’t a little while ago.”
“Her.” Stefan walked to the bed while Dean watched. “Tia, enough pretending. You’re going to give Dean nightmares.”
Dean watched in shock as Tia sat up straight in the bed, her expression aggressive, her legs already swinging over the side ready to bolt.
“What? She wasn’t sleeping? She wasn’t out of this bed?”
“Oh, she was,” Stefan said quietly. “She was planning to run, weren’t you, Tia?”
“I want to leave – now!” The slender woman in the bed glared at him. “What happened and why am I here? And where is here?”
The questions and words slid out so fast Dean had trouble understanding what she was saying.
“Where were you when I was in here earlier?” he asked.
“You never left so there was no earlier,” she snapped, still glaring up at Stefan. “And you haven’t answered my questions.”
Stefan sat down on the side of the bed and reached for her hand. “You’re in a hospital. In the psych ward for examinations.”
Her gaze widened in sho
ck. She searched the room frantically as if looking for a way out.
And that’s when Dean noticed she was fully dressed.
“When the hell did you get clothes on and from where?” he growled. Damn he’d been played the fool by this slip of a girl, and it was pissing him off. How the hell had she done that?
“Easy.” Stefan restrained Tia. “You need to stay here for a little bit.”
“Hell no.” She twisted out of his grasp and rolled to the opposite side of the bed and bolted off before either man could get to her.
Dean grinned. He liked the spitfire for her spirit but she’d made a fool of him once. Like hell she was going to do it again. He stepped in front of her and reached out to grab her.
Only she wasn’t there.
She’d disappeared right in front of his eyes. As in here one moment and gone the next. Like, what the hell?
Chapter 4
Tia stepped sideways out of Dean’s grasp and slid toward the door. She was almost there. Almost free. Once out in the hallway she could make a run for it. Get away. She’d done it before. She could do it again.
The door slammed shut just as she reached out, and it clicked locked.
Shit. She yanked on the handle and tried to turn the lock. It wouldn’t budge. Returning her energy back to normal, she spun around and glared at Stefan. “Not fair.”
But he sat on the bed where he’d been and raised an eyebrow, his gaze only slightly amused. “If you’re going to play with energy, then I will too.”
She stomped past the guard and threw herself onto the bed, showing herself again. She couldn’t afford to waste energy. “I don’t have to do whatever you want me to do.”
“What? Stay alive?” Now there was real amusement in his tone. “All I want to do is help you. I thought we understood that already.”
“That was before you set me up.”
“How did I do that?” he asked curiously. “I planned to meet you as arranged, and when I got there you were under attack. I thought I helped then.”
She stared at him. “You didn’t send the assassin?”
“No.” His eyebrows shot up and his gaze sharpened. “Were you targeted? As in this wasn’t a random attack?”
“There was nothing random about that man. He, or one of his cohorts, has been after me for years. A decade by now. I figured you’d betrayed me.”
“Did you consider your attacker might have been tracking your phone?” Dean asked. “Your money and movements.”
She turned to stare at the man she’d outfoxed twice. “No money and no phone until recently.”
She felt his startled response but was already turning back to Stefan, her gaze locking on his, wishing she could read him. She’d never seen him before, but he was a legend. She knew others had insight into his character, but it wasn’t the same as knowing for sure herself.
“I didn’t betray you,” Stefan said quietly. “I wouldn’t.”
And damn if his energy didn’t match his words. Strong, clean, unwavering in a beautiful white. He was sincere. Her shoulders slumped. “If not you, who?”
He reached over and picked up her hand. “Anyone know where you were going to be?”
“Simone. She helped me set up the meet. But she wouldn’t have betrayed me. She couldn’t. But…” she turned a horrified gasp to Stefan, “someone might have coerced her. She told me there’d been an intruder and to run.” Her lower lip trembled. “The only way that information would have left Simone’s lips is if she couldn’t hold out any longer. That would mean she’s dead.”
“Call her.” Stefan held out her cell phone. “Find out if she’s okay.”
Hating to use her phone again if it was bugged, she said, “Let me use your phone, just in case.”
He held it out. She snatched it up and quickly dialed. After several rings she realized there wasn’t going to be a response. “No answer.” She stared at the phone then hopped off the bed on the side away from Stefan, only to find him still holding her hand. She tried to tug it free. “I have to go. See if she’s okay.”
“You can’t,” Stefan said.
“You don’t understand. Simone is all I have in this world. If that bastard got a hold of her, there’s no knowing what he’d do.”
“I’ll have someone check on her,” he said calmly. “You will stay here where you are safe.”
“What? Are you nuts?” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “How can I be safe here?”
“Because I’ve got the room under surveillance,” he said. “Woven in energy strands. You will be safe here.”
“Your watchdog got in, so why couldn’t this other guy? He works energy too,” she said scornfully. “Or did you think just anyone could take me down?”
“Not at all. But he has his weakness too.”
Stefan stood up. “Rest. Sleep. Recharge. I’ll call you on your cell phone when I have news about Simone.”
“Take me with you, damn it.”
“No.” He walked through the doorway and she raced after him.
Until she reached the opened doorway and hit some kind of force field. There were shocks and little blasts of light and she bounced back.
“Shit,” she cried out. “That hurt.”
Stefan already several steps away turned to smile at her. “That’s okay. Now that you know, you won’t do it again.”
He motioned to Dean to walk through. “I need to speak with you.”
*
Dean hadn’t seen anything like that invisible wall the woman had slammed into, but then he hadn’t ever seen a woman go invisible. And just for thinking this, he needed another mental health check-up himself.
He still wasn’t sure what he’d seen, but he knew the man waiting for him had the answers. At least he hoped he did.
Taking a deep breath, reminding himself he trusted the man who’d saved his son, he walked through the doorway. He felt nothing. Frowning, he turned back to see Tia standing on the other side glaring at him as if he were to blame. She rubbed her arms for a long moment before her shoulders took a downward slide and she turned back to her bed.
He hated to see her spirit take a beating like that. She’d been a spitfire up to now. Except someone she cared about was in trouble, she was a prisoner and someone apparently had the upper hand in this business. He’d bet on Stefan any day. In fact, he already had.
“Stefan, what the hell is going on?”
“Tia is special,” Stefan said. “As you could see.”
“Did she really disappear?” he asked incredulously. “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”
“She doesn’t disappear as much as she plays with energy and can make it look like she’s not actually there. But, in fact, she is.”
“So when I thought she’d escaped on me, she was actually still in the room?” It was the only answer that made any sense and even that explanation didn’t hold up for long.
“More or less. I don’t know all she can do. Not sure she does either. Often with these weird energy abilities, the person doesn’t know until they are actually in a situation where they are forced to push the limits of their abilities and then they find out something new about themselves.”
Dean nodded as if he understood. Like hell he did. “So now what?”
“When are you off tonight?”
Dean glanced at his watch. “As soon as my replacement shows up.”
“Are you heading home then or would you be interested in checking out Simone’s situation for me?”
“For you, I will. For her, no.” He nodded at the woman now sitting cross-legged on her bed glaring at the two of them.
“Don’t feel bad at having been fooled by her. She’s developed her abilities out of a need to protect herself. She’s been hunted for a long time. Survival is something we all understand.”
Oh crap. He studied Tia. “Someone is really after her?”
“Potentially, more than one someone. That’s why I need to know if Simone is safe.” Stefan’s voi
ce dropped. “Or if she’s involved.”
Dean turned to him in surprise. “I wondered at that possibility. I’m surprised it didn’t occur to her.”
“She’ll avoid thinking it. She’s alone in the world. She’s got no support system, and she’s been on the run for a long time. She’s survived and for that, she’s done amazingly well.”
Dean hated to hear she’d had such a tough life. Everyone deserved to have someone.
“I’ll go,” he said abruptly. “At least we can make sure this Simone is okay. Finding out if she’s involved will likely take much longer.”
“Maybe.” Stefan turned as if to leave. “First things first.”
“And you have her address, I presume?”
“Yep, managed to read Tia’s mind when she was worrying about how to find out if Simone was safe as she dialed the phone.” Stefan reached into his pocket and pulled out a small notepad. He quickly jotted the address down. “Here.”
Dean took the paper and read the address. He knew the area. Not a slum but definitely in the lower income part of town. “She might have sold Tia out.”
“Yes,” Stefan said. “She might have.”
Chapter 5
She wasn’t going to stay. No way. Stefan might be a little better on the energy stuff than she was – that doorway thing he did was freaking awesome. She needed to learn that trick. The easiest way was to learn how to diffuse it. Now that she had no cop standing guard, maybe she could try. She’d watched the cop and Stefan walk through his energy field. Could hear their muted voices matching the retreating footsteps.
He hadn’t let her out but had let others in and out.
Like, what the hell? She was the one who needed to be safe. Not to be kept safe.
Of course that was a fine distinction and maybe only one in the eyes of the beholder. But how did that difference matter to energy? She studied the doorway, wishing she could see the colors better. Color edged the wood and hinges, but was fuzzy. It wasn’t clear enough to see what Stefan had done.
It was effective though.