Absolute Zero (Touch of Frost)

by Rush, Lynn

  “Any sign of Andrey?” I asked.

  “You’re going to need this if you want anyone to hear you,” Nate said, handing me the molar mic portion of our little electronic set up.

  “Yeah, that would help.” I grabbed it and shoved it on. I hated the taste of metal.

  “And no, there’s no sign of Andrey,” Nate said.

  “So, it was Zach’s mom?” Georgia said, as she doused the flame in her hand and stepped to the car.

  I glanced around. Darkness began to settle in as the sun set. “Mrs. Landry, come on out,” I yelled. “You don’t want Zach to get hurt, do you?”

  She peeked around from the shed. Two more darkly dressed guys flanked her. It appeared she had them in abundance. Suddenly she lurched forward and zoomed toward us in a blur. She stopped a foot before colliding with us. Jasmine smiled behind her.

  The two guys dressed in fatigues stood dumbfounded. Nate leapt into action and grabbed Zach’s mom, one arm around the waist and one around the neck. “Start talking.”

  “Back off,” Jasmine yelled at the other army guys creeping in from the darkness surrounding us.

  Five formed a half-circle around us as we backed toward the house, holding Zach’s mom. Their guns were trained on us, and I could almost sense their itchy trigger-fingers.

  “So, you were the one behind me back in June? The faceless voice. I knew I’d recognized it, but I couldn’t place it. Plain as day, now.”

  She grunted.

  “Dr. B Landry,” Georgia said. “But you’re a secretary.”

  Another grunt.

  “You don’t work for The Center?” Nate said. “I would know you.”

  “I once did,” she said with a cough. “Not a doctor.”

  “Loosen up the grip Josiah—Nate,” Jasmine said.

  “Call your guys off, Landry.”

  The woman laughed. “They don’t answer to me.”

  Scott’s bellow cut through the dark, and I almost puked. Jasmine disappeared, but I heard a grunt in my earpiece.

  I sprayed Zach’s mom’s feet down, freezing them to the ground. Georgia sprayed a wall of fire at the Rambo guys that had encircled us. With my other hand I shot ice bullets at another five advancing.

  They crumpled to the ground. Ice must penetrate vests. I sprinted around the corner of the house and skidded to a stop. Andrey held Scott by the throat with one hand and his shiny steel weapon in the other.

  Georgia gasped. I screamed. “No!”

  Jasmine lay slumped on the ground at Andrey’s feet. Scott’s pleading eyes streamed with tears as he looked at me, then to Jasmine.

  “I vill trade.”

  I iced my hand down, felt the tug creep up my arm.

  “No. Mandy. Don’t,” Scott said.

  Andrey lifted him higher. He cocked his head in Nate’s direction and squinted. Nate stood to my left, Georgia to my right.

  “Tim, you have eagle eyes?” Nate whispered.

  “Yep.”

  I wasn’t sure what that meant, but it had to be good. At least I hoped it was.

  “You’re not an Agent for The Center?” Nate said. He stepped toward Scott and Andrey.

  I glanced around. The darkness seemed to come alive as inky figures inched our direction. Why weren’t they firing?

  “They amateurs.” Andrey shook Scott. “Ice and fire for brothaaar.”

  I stepped forward. Nate grabbed my hand. “You know where to find me,” he whispered.

  My heart stalled.

  He vanished. A blur zoomed toward Andrey and plowed into him. Scott disappeared from Andrey’s grasp, and I sprayed the ground.

  “Georgia. Fry him.” I yelled.

  Ping!

  Darts bounced off my hard body as I sprayed a fountain of ice on the ground near Andrey. Couldn’t get behind him very well, though, so he inched his way back, slipping. He must have caught a spot of solid ground, because he turned and took off.

  Georgia threw balls of fire at Andrey’s back, and he fell to the side, sliding across the skating rink I’d created. My sister turned to the side and sprayed approaching threats. I made my way to Andrey, slipping on the ice myself.

  He flipped to his stomach, then slammed his metal weapon through the thick ice. He hopped to his feet and set one foot in the hole and lunged.

  He approached me like a speeding bullet. I sprayed a stream of ice at him but he broke through it, only slowed a little. I pointed my open palms at the ground. Spray jetted out from both, and I shot up into the air.

  “Georgia, coming at you.”

  Andrey slid right beneath me.

  My sister whirled around, hands blazing, and showered him with flame. He flopped to the ground twitching. I landed with a crack and skated to him. I doused the flamed but froze the lower half of his body to the ice rink we stood on.

  “Stay close to him.” I bolted toward Jasmine. “Jasmine, you okay?”

  She groaned.

  “Tim. Martin. You got something that’ll hold Andrey? Nate wanted him alive if possible.”

  “On it,” Tim said.

  I glanced at Georgia. She nodded toward the trees, the direction Nate took Scott. “Go.”

  I felt so out of control with so many things happening at once. Zach’s mom frozen on the other side of the house. Andrey here. Nate and Scott gone.

  My heart cracked against my ribs. Please let Scott be okay. To grab someone going as fast as Nate was could be bad. Around the house, I counted the trees and darted toward our meeting point.

  Scott lay on the ground, but Nate was nowhere to be found. I skidded to my knees next to my unconscious brother. Blood dribbled from his ear and the side of his mouth. I shook him. “Scott!” I glanced around the darkness. “Nate?”

  Shuffling beside me drew my attention. A dark figure approached. I held my hand up and froze him solid. I touched Scott’s shoulder and the next second he was encased in my healing ice. I stood, searching the black void around me. Icing down with a thick armor, I stepped forward.

  To my left, two more goons approached and bullets pinged off my shields. The trade offer must have shifted into a kill on sight order.

  I forged onward, my ice bullets slicing through them. “Nate?” I squinted through the darkness, hoping to find any sign of him. Something caught the front of my foot and pitched me forward. I landed on my stomach, then turned to see what had tripped me up.

  It was Nate’s leg.

  Chapter 38

  “Nate!” I screamed as I scrambled toward him.

  He didn’t even flinch when I yelled his name, and I yelled loud because it stung my throat.

  “Oh. God.” I pressed my hands against his chest and shook him. “Nate.”

  His head bobbed side-to-side as I moved him. A circle of blood stained his white shirt at his shoulder, two more in his side and another his leg. I scanned the darkness. All seemed quiet.

  “Tim. Status,” I yelled, as I cooled my hands down.

  “Enemy retreating. Few stragglers.”

  I straddled Nate’s limp body, cooled my hands even more and rested them on his chest.

  “Nate’s down,” I screamed into my molar mic. “Oh my God. Nate’s down hard.”

  I cupped the sides of his face. My nails flickered, and my ice bled out from my fingertips, covering his smooth skin. “Come on, Nate.” I couldn’t feel him breathing beneath me. His chest wasn’t moving.

  Tears stung my eyes and tugged at my skin as they froze to my face.

  “Please, heal. Just heal.” I leaned forward and pressed my cheek against his. “Please. Nate.”

  The ice crackled around me, fusing us together. Thicker ice than I’d ever produced in a healing cocoon. Something pinged against the shelter, but a flash of orange followed shortly after. Georgia’s flame no doubt.

  “Oh, God.” I heard Georgia say through my earpiece.

  “Nate’s down,” I said again. “He’s not breathing. Georgia, he’s not breathing.”

  “I’m here, Mandy,” G
eorgia said. “Just keep healing him. You can do it. I’ll watch over you.”

  “Please, Nate.” Tears stung. Orange lights flashed around me. “Come on.”

  “Oh my G—” Tim’s voice said in my earpiece.

  “Get back. Just stay back,” Georgia said. “Tim, where’s Andrey?”

  “Drugged with enough to knock out a horse. Landry, too.”

  “Zach?” Georgia asked.

  “Safe. Martin’s got him. He’s asking for Mandy, though,” Tim said.

  “Shut up!” I yelled into my mouthpiece. I needed to concentrate. I squeezed my eyes closed and focused on the piece of metal in my ear hoping to short it out.

  Either it worked, or everyone stopped talking, because a peaceful silence washed over me.

  “Come on, Nate. You can’t leave me. Remember, you said you’d always take care of me.” I squeezed him tighter. More crackling. I zeroed in on the circles of blood I’d seen on his clothing. Heal. Please heal.

  He flinched beneath me. I pulled my cheek away from his, slightly. The back of my head clunked against a wall of ice. Couldn’t move much in the cocoon. “Nate?” White billows of breath shot out from my mouth. What warmed my heart more was that I saw them coming from his mouth as well. He was breathing again.

  His eyelids fluttered, and beneath his ice-coated eyelashes, I saw his sweet, brown eyes. “Nate? Can you hear me?”

  He turned his head slightly. His bottom jaw twitched, and his teeth chattered. “Mandy,” he whispered. I buried my head in his neck and heard ice crackle as his arms wove around my waist.

  I pulled the ice back. “Oh, my gosh, Nate. I thought you were dead.”

  “I think I was for a second there.”

  Tears stung my eyes as I continued to pull the ice back in. Chunks fell against my skin. A wave of warmth flowed over me, and from the corner of my eye, I saw Georgia’s glowing face. She was helping me along.

  The color returned to his cheeks. His lips were their normal full, red color, not pasty and dark like when I found him.

  His body rattled beneath mine, and he turned his head to the side and coughed. I hopped off him and patted his back. The dirt and twigs of the forest floor clung to his shirt. I lifted the fabric to see his side, where the blood had ringed, and I saw only smooth skin.

  I ran my hand over his flesh.

  He coughed again, then rolled to all fours. I checked his shoulder next, only blood remained on the damp shirt. No puncture any more.

  “Is he okay?” Georgia asked.

  “I think so.” I glanced up at her. “That was close. Where’s Scott?”

  “I’m here,” he said, and stood next to Georgia.

  “You okay?” I asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Good. We should get inside, huh?”

  “Tim and Jasmine took Landry and Andrey to the shed,” Georgia said.

  “I’ll get Nate inside and cleaned up. Can you warm him up some more, though? He feels so cold.”

  Georgia rested her hand on his back, and a wave of warmth flowed out from her glowing skin. He coughed again then looked up. I crawled around to his face. “Are you okay?”

  He nodded.

  Scott’s arm slid around my shoulder, and he pulled me close. “Thanks, sis.”

  I rested my head on his shoulder. “Stay by Georgia and Jasmine if I’m not around okay? I can’t have anyone taking you again.”

  “Got it.” He stood and turned to Georgia. “Come on, let’s go check on things.”

  Georgia nodded and walked away, holding Scott’s hand. I turned my focus back to Nate. He sat up and looked at me. “Since when did they stop using dart guns?”

  I laughed. I wasn’t sure how I could laugh, but I did. He yanked me close to him and wove his arms around my waist. “You saved me.”

  “You said you’d take care of me. Had to hold you to your word.” I kissed his lips. “Can you walk?”

  “Yep.” I helped him up, and he didn’t let go of my hand once he was steady on his feet. “Where’s Andrey?”

  “I think Tim pegged him with a dart or something. He said he had enough to out a horse.”

  “I had Tim eagle eye with a tranq gun hoping to get a clear shot. He’s pretty handy with a gun.”

  “X-ray vision and all.”

  “Zach’s mom?” Nate led me through the trees. “Is Zach in on all this?”

  “He seemed surprised as anyone. But when I was at the hotel-from-hell, there was that faceless voice. It matches hers.”

  “We got her, right?”

  “Yep.”

  “Zach must be devastated,” Nate said, as we broke through the tree line and stepped onto the sidewalk near the shed.

  “We’ll talk about that later. Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “Besides being a little damp, I feel great. That felt amazing what you did to me there.” Nate stopped me. “I had no idea you were so powerful.”

  “It intensifies when someone I care about is in trouble.”

  “You’re so much more powerful than your mother, Mandy.”

  I shivered. “So I hear. That’s why I must be killed, according to Andrey. Can’t have someone like me roaming around, I guess.”

  He curled some of my hair behind my ear. “That’s why, after we find out all we can from Andrey and this Mrs. Landry, we need to kill you and Georgia off.”

  I closed my eyes and leaned into his touch. “You’re right, Nate. We need to die.”

  Chapter 39

  “Your security is seriously lacking, Jasmine.” I heard Nate say as I approached the kitchen. “You almost got Mandy killed tonight.”

  “Look, Nate. You’re not my teacher anymore, so shut up.”

  “Lay off, Nate,” Scott said. “She’s been doing okay.”

  “Okay is not good enough. Jasmine, do you have any idea how powerful Mandy is? And how powerful Georgia may become?”

  I stopped at the entryway and pressed my back against the wall. I sucked in a deep breath and held it.

  “I have some idea. I studied her mother, too, you know.”

  “No wonder everyone’s after her. I was almost dead out there, Jas. Dead.” A pause followed. “She brought me back.”

  “What?” Scott asked.

  “Holy shit,” Jasmine said.

  I glanced behind me. Jasmine must be too distracted to have heard me sneak up. Wonder where Georgia was?

  “Did you ever meet my mom, Nate?” Scott asked.

  “Not face-to-face. I studied her mostly through videos and her stats. They brought her in a couple of times, to the facility I stayed at, and I studied her from an observation deck or while she was unconscious, but never personally met her.”

  Silence. Someone moved, and I heard shuffling of shoes against the tile floor.

  “Just before she was killed, they grabbed her. They threatened her with Josh and Mandy’s lives. Said they’d kill her entire family if she didn’t show them her powers and let them study her.”

  “Son of a bitch,” Scott said.

  “She showed them all right. I saw it on video. I wasn’t at the facility at that time. She was on her way to me, but they stopped off at one of their mobile sites. She decimated it and disappeared. They didn’t find her again until The Center Agents found her at home in Illinois.”

  “That’s when they were killed,” Scott said.

  “But that was The Center—”

  “We call them the Coats. They’ve taken Mandy twice.”

  “While I was there, they never got her. I had no idea what she looked like other than a cute, little five-year-old girl. Some Agents—er—Coats got a photo. Your parents did a great job protecting you from the Coats. And Georgia. She was a surprise.”

  “What are we going to do?” Scott asked. “Mandy deserves better than this. She’s only nineteen and has been on the run for so long. It’s not fair.”

  “I could kill her and Georgia off, as I did for me and Tim, but we’d have to disappear.”

  “Me
aning,” Scott said.

  “She and Georgia could not come back to you and Jasmine. Unless you two died along with her, but that’s getting very obvious.”

  I stared at my feet. There they were planning life out for me again. Instead of getting mad, I almost felt relieved. They were right on. I was so tired of running. I thought Trifle was going to be the spot I could have a normal life after we demolished the hotel-from-hell.

  No such luck.

  The house suddenly vibrated, kitchen windows shattered. I fell to my butt. Some glass sliced my ankle as it ricocheted off the wall in front of me.

  “Mandy,” Nate yelled.

  I hopped to my feet and rounded the corner. From the window, I saw half of the shed raining over the ground. “Oh, my God, where’s Georgia?”

  I scrambled to the back door with Nate close behind.

  Georgia lay on the ground at least fifty-feet away from the shed. Some of her clothing was on fire, and her skin lit up like a Christmas tree. At least she made it to the grass. It was softer than the gravel driveway.

  “Georgia.” I skidded to her side. “Are you okay?”

  “What happened?” Scott squatted on the other side of her.

  “I was watching Tim question Andrey and Zach’s mom.” Tears streamed down Georgia’s face. “He—um—he asked about Mom.”

  I grabbed Georgia’s shoulder. “That used to trigger me like crazy.”

  “Tim told me to leave because I was looking like a tea kettle about to blow. I ran out, but then I heard Andrey brag about how he sliced her wrists and her throat like butter, and I lost it.” Georgia’s shoulders trembled. “Did I hurt Tim? Is he okay?”

  Jasmine jumped up and hurried to the shed. “They’re fine.”

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “A zap of fire shot out from around me. I was so mad. I felt it bubble and couldn’t stop it.”

  “I know how that feels. Can you stand?” I asked.

  She grabbed my hand and looked at me, then to Nate. “You okay?”

  He gripped my shoulder and nodded. “Mandy healed me up good.”

  “Then would you go in there and get some answers for us? I need to know where Lois is and if she’s okay. And what the hell is going on with The Center and this Andrey guy.” Georgia stomped her foot, looking past Nate. “And Zach, what the hell has your mother got to do with all this?”