The older man moaned and his eyelids fluttered, but didn't open. He mumbled Jenni's name and Camille jumped up. Jenni! She ran up the stairs, knowing she'd find no one up there. Gary had been looking into the backseat at someone and Camille had a feeling she knew exactly who he'd been looking at. The door to Jenni's room was busted as if someone had kicked it open. Had Jenni locked herself inside? Camille rushed into Jenni's room to find the usually immaculate space, a shambles. The bedspread was gone, the sheets were twisted on the bed. The knick-knacks on the dresser lay on their sides or were scattered on the floor around it. The bedside table drawer hung open, Jenni's tablet in it.
Camille picked up the tablet. Her friend wouldn't have left it here, she'd have had it with her when she left to meet Camille. She'd probably had it in her hand as she walked through the dining room with her purse when Jeremy and the others in the black car had arrived. They'd probably come in through the garage and surprised her. She'd rushed up here, locked the door, and...what?
Camille turned on the tablet and entered her friend's password. The yellow page of the notebook program appeared, two sentences, the last unfinished, filled the top of the page.
They've come for me. Don't trust Jeremy!
Camille sat on the bed, tears streaming down her face, unsure what to do. Where would they have taken her? The Shine Rehab Reservation in Arapaho, two hours away? Camille rushed out of the room and down the stairs, slowing as she noticed Dr. Pham pushing himself up to a sitting position. She sat beside him on the couch.
"Keep this pressed to your head. It'll help with the swelling."
The old man took the cold pack from her and leaned back against the couch, resting the back of his head on it. "Jenni?" His voice sounded tired.
"They took her." Camille leaned forward. "Dr. Pham, did they say anything to indicate where they might be taking her?"
Dr. Pham shook his head. "No, but they said Brother Corey will be only too happy to take credit for her acquisition with the Reverend, whatever that means."
"Brother Corey?" Camille shot to her feet. Brother Corey had been her dad's boss. She didn't think it was just a coincidence.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Camille tapped her foot as Michael parked his truck down a neighborhood side street a short distance from the church. He’d pulled up in his truck just as she’d stepped out of the Phams’ house. She’d wanted so badly to call Jeremy, but Jenni’s note had said not to trust him. Was Jeremy part of this with his brother? Had telling him their plans to leave prompted the abduction?
Knowing she couldn’t do this alone and realizing secrets wouldn’t do her any good, she had told Michael everything except what Jenni had said about trusting Jeremy. She didn’t want to believe that he’d be involved. They decided that the church was the most likely place Gary would have taken Jenni and headed straight here.
The black car was nowhere to be seen, but Camille wasn't surprised. Behind the over-sized gray building, a huge garage housed the church's vehicles. The black car, no doubt, sat inside it.
"Do you think she's in there?" Michael asked, his voice low as if he thought they'd hear them from here.
Camille nodded, studying the building that had once housed a big box hardware store. "This place is huge and has plenty of empty rooms where they could hide her until they are ordered to move her someplace more permanent. And they could slip her inside through the garage without anyone seeing them."
"How do we get inside?"
She opened the truck's door and climbed out. "It's a church. The doors are always open during the day."
Michael walked around the truck to stand beside her. "So we're just going to walk inside?"
Camille let a small smile lift the corners of her lips. "Unfortunately, I don't have the ability to teleport us."
Michael glanced at her, eyebrows lifted. "There's a Shine that does?"
She shrugged. "I don't have any idea, really, but wouldn't it be razor if there was?"
A red convertible pulled into the parking lot, holding three men and a woman. Camille recognized them as the worship leader and his team. Their ticket in. She closed her eyes and relaxed control of her Shine, allowing it to broadcast her order to keep them invisible. The voices of the worship team exiting the shiny red convertible reached her ears.
When she was sure the command reached as far as her mind could broadcast, she opened her eyes and stepped forward, brushing Michael's arm.
He glanced down, and then swung around. "Camille?"
"Keep your voice down." Camille rolled her eyes as Michael tentatively reached toward the sound of her voice. "Welcome to my world."
"You’re invisible." Eyes wide, a smile stretched across his face. "That's amazing."
She reached out and grabbed his arm. "No one can see either of us. Come on."
"You can make me invisible, too?"
Camille pulled him toward the worship leader. "They can still hear us. Step carefully. Don't talk. We'll follow them in so our entrance isn't noticed."
"It'd be easier if I could still see you," he whispered.
Camille stopped and he collided with her. Used to keeping her Shine tightly under her control, she nearly stopped the pulsing in her brain. Remembering her mission, she concentrated on it until she had it securely locked into place again. She'd never tried to separate who she affected with her power. Could it be done? She shook her head. The worship group was almost to the doors. Yanking Michael's arm, she rushed to catch up.
"If we get separated, we'll meet back at your truck." Camille whispered over her shoulder as the group opened the church's doors and began to file inside. The woman pulling up the rear glanced over her shoulder and shrugged. Camille squeezed Michael's hand.
They slipped inside. She pulled Michael to the side opposite the direction of the worship team. They were in a large open area. A welcome counter stood directly across from them with the doors to the children's area to the left and a wide hallway, which the worship team was traveling through, in the center. To the far right, the hospitality area stood empty and ready for the next service and the army of volunteers who would serve the many guests that walked through these doors each weekend.
Camille's father used to slip her behind the counter when she was a child and let her help serve donuts, fruit, coffee, tea, and water each morning before their usual service. She'd loved helping. Brother Corey had no business bringing the SSS into her church. She clenched her jaw. She'd get her friend back first, and then she'd make sure to somehow clue the main campus in Oklahoma City to this one's duplicity.
Tugging Michael's arm, she pulled him toward the doors to the children's area. It would be deserted this time of the week, making it the best place to hide someone. Glancing around to make sure they weren't being watched by the lady at the welcome counter, Camille opened the door and slipped through, making sure to hold it as it closed. The click as it shut echoed down the hallway. Camille cringed.
They stood in a long, wide hall lined with doors, most open, their rooms dark.
Michael brushed against her arm. "What's the plan?"
Camille shrugged, then remembered he couldn't see her. She wished she'd thought to test out her ability to pick and choose who she affected with her power.
"Check the rooms with closed doors on that side, I'll do the same on this side."
They made their way down the hallway, the click of doors opening and closing the only sound. When they came to an intersecting hall, Camille froze. Gary, accompanied by the man with the crooked nose who’d broken into her house and the woman who’d helped break into her house filed out of one of the rooms, giving Camille a glimpse of Jenni huddled in a cage.
The woman, voice devoid of warmth, pulled the door shut and turned to Gary and Crooked Nose. "Was zapping her that hard really necessary?"
Gary and Crooked Nose laughed and rolled their eyes. "Hard learned lessons are the best lessons. We don't have to worry about her trying to escape again, do we?"
The woman shrugged as they filed toward a set of clear glass doors at the end of the hallway. Camille waited three heartbeats after they disappeared out the doors before she grabbed Michael's arm and approached the room holding her friend.
"Let me go in first," Michael whispered. "We can't afford to have something happen to you, if we want out of this building."
Unease slid down Camille's back as the door knob turned in Michael's hand. They were so confident Jenni wouldn't escape, they didn't even bother to lock the door?
She tugged on Michael's arm. "Careful."
Michael eased the door open. The large room held a row of five connected rectangular cages. Jenni lay huddled near the door of the first cage, tears leaking from her closed eyes. A flat band of silver metal circled her head, an athlete’s clear mouthpiece attached to it. Jenni's jaw clamped the mouthpiece so hard, the muscles in her neck and face stood out.
Camille studied her friend. No ropes, chains, or manacles kept Jenni from standing and using her power to melt the lock on the door, yet she huddled frozen on the floor within reaching distance of the lock. Camille glared at the metal band that had something to do with her friend's incapacitation.
They eased over to Jenni's cage. Reaching through the bars, Camille whispered. "Hold perfectly still, I'm going to try to get this thing off of you."
Jenni's eyes popped open, a keening sound in her throat as she jerked her head away from Camille's voice and loosened her jaw. "Don't."
Camille froze. Jenni's body arched, her eyes rolling back in her head as the hairs on Camille's arm lifted. The band was some type of electrical device. But what triggered it?
Michael swore as Jenni's body relaxed, more tears leaking from her eyes. Her friend breathed noisily through her nose and through her teeth clenched on the mouthpiece.
"How is it triggered?" she asked Jenni who simply squeezed her eyes shut, a slight tremor in her body.
"How do we get it off of her?" Michael asked. "It seems to be triggered by movement."
Camille studied the device. "It's triggered by her movement, but someone had to put it on her and will eventually have to pull it off."
Jenni's eyes popped open again. She shook her head. Her body arched, her heels drumming the floor.
Michael cursed again. "We have to get it off of her."
As Jenni's body relaxed, Camille reached for the device. Camille's fingers touched the metal band and her hand went numb as an electrical current ran under her skin like a stream of hot, thick water threatening to burst her veins. Stars exploded in her mind as the current hit her brain like a lightning bolt, freezing every muscle in place. Michael's eyes widened, his mouth moving, but Camille's eyes rolled up in her head as her body reflexively jerked back and crumpled on the floor.
When the current stopped, Camille lay panting on the floor, every muscle in her body bruised. Before she could reassure Michael that she was okay, the door banged open behind them. Camille slowly turned her head as Michael jumped to his feet and spun around. Gary, Crooked Nose, and the woman stood in the door, guns pointed at them. With a sinking heart, she realized the electricity hitting her brain had frozen her occipital lobe causing her Shine to stop working
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Gary and Crooked Nose shoved Michael into the middle cage, while the woman moved Camille into a third cage and placed another of the bands on her head. She glared at Gary until her burning eyes forced her to blink. Electricity shot through her, making her heart swell in her chest and threatened to beat a hole through her sternum. When the thick water sensation once again subsided, Camille locked her muscles in place afraid to open her eyes, afraid to even breathe very deeply for fear the movement of her lungs would set it off again.
Michael rattled the bars of his cage. "You have to get those off of them. Their hearts are going to be seriously damaged if they're electrocuted too many more times."
Gary's voice shot across the room. "I wouldn't have pegged you for a Shine puppet, Saunders. You're a God fearing man. Don't you realize what abominations these Shine are? Join us. Tell us what you know of the Ohm. God will shower you with blessings for your loyalty and faithfulness against these daughters of Satan."
Michael snorted. "You're insane, Walker. God gave these women these gifts. Like the rest of the SSS, you're just jealous you weren't chosen."
"You'll burn in hell for that, heretic, and the Reverend will make you pay before you get there." Camille recognized the raspy voice of Crooked Nose as he yelled at Michael.
"Both of you shut up." the woman yelled. "The Reverend will enjoy getting every secret of the Ohm and its location out of you. You'll wish you'd never left the safety of the California desert and your Shine masters."
"You and your Reverend will both be disappointed then, because I don't know what an Ohm is and I've never even been to the California desert," Michael growled through clenched teeth.
She heard surprise in Gary’s voice. "Why would you help two Shines if you weren't a puppet of the Shine Resistance?"
Michael gave a bark of humorless laughter. "Because it's the right thing to do. Unlike you, I'm not afraid of what I don't understand."
They moved away from the cages. She heard footsteps pause. "Whether you know of the Ohm and its location or not, it's too late for you. You really shouldn't have involved yourself."
The door closed and a thick tension descended on the room as both Jenni and Camille held themselves frozen, their shallow breathing loud in the silence.
Michael shifted closer to her in his cage. "Camille, if you can hear and understand me, hold your breath for a second. Camille complied and Michael sighed. "If I can get out of here, I can go get my dad. Can you use your Shine on me again?"
Sweat trickled down her temple and between her breasts as her heart pounded in her chest. She could make him invisible, but he'd still be stuck in that cage. Trusting that he knew what he was doing, she braced herself for the jolt of electricity afraid the pulsing of her occipital lobe would send electricity coursing through her once again. She sighed when it didn’t.
She pushed the command that no one would see Michael as far as she could, a headache pounding at her temples. All she could do was wait and hope that she didn't get zapped again before Michael escaped and could get to his father for help.
The sound of the door opening sent her heart into overdrive. She forced herself to keep taking noisy, shallow breaths through her nose. A shout filled the room as Crooked Nose realized the middle cage was empty.
"He escaped." She heard him pull on the door to Michael's cage. "And the door is still locked."
The sound of the lock disengaging nearly made her forget and open her eyes, but she locked every muscle and stayed still. The cage's door opened and Crooked Nose muttered as he inspected the cell for how Michael could have escaped.
Gary's voice sounded from the room's door. "We need to search the building. He's here somewhere."
Crooked Nose's boots echoed on the tile floor as he followed the woman and Gary out of the room, the door slamming behind him. Silence descended on the room, the sounds of Jenni and Camille's shallow breaths the only sound. Camille strained her ears, listening for Michael.
"Thank you, Camille," Michael whispered. "I'll be back with help."
The quiet swishing sound of cloth was the only evidence that Michael moved across the room. The sound paused as he must have stopped to listen. The door opened with a rush of air, then a soft click as it closed. Jenni and Camille continued to breathe shallowly, both praying Michael would return before Gary decided to move them.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Every muscle in Camille's body hurt from staying still so long. A spot on her left leg threatened to drive her insane if she didn't get to scratch it soon. Her muscles trembled and sweat dampened the back of her shirt. They'd been in here, frozen and alone, for what felt like hours.
Camille screamed her frustration silently in her mind. She felt trapped in a deprivation tank behind the darkness of he
r closed eyelids, with only her and Jenni's shallow breathing for company. She'd spent the last hour counting Jenni's breaths. At thirty-six hundred breaths, the exact number of seconds in an hour, she'd stopped and stilled her Shine, hoping Michael had time to get out.
The door of the room opened and she silently sighed. Finally. A wave of cinnamon scented air filled her nose as two sets of footsteps moved into the room, their steps different than either the woman or Crooked Nose. Camille waited, but no one spoke. Her heart rate picked up. Who could it be? The footsteps moved toward Jenni's cage as another set of footsteps, boots by the sound, clicked across the tile from the door.
Pages rustled. "Jennifer Pham, twenty-two, has lived in Sentinel her entire life. She was taken to an Asian doctor in Oklahoma City at the age of twelve after she cooled a fever in a dog brought to her father's veterinary clinic with the touch of her hand. The doctor's records also noted that she'd placed her hands on her father and increased his body temperature when he mentioned being cool, nearly giving him a heat stroke prompting the trip to the doctor," Jeremy’s familiar voice reported.
Camille jerked and cried out as the skin on her neck burned, then a wave of electricity zipped through her body like thick molasses, swelling her veins, filling her heart to bursting. When the current subsided, tears leaked from Camille's eyes. Her heart, thumping rapidly, sat bruised in her chest. The trembling in her muscles increased as she breathed shallowly, desperate for a deep breath to ease the pounding headache from lack of oxygen.
The unknown set of footsteps moved toward her cage, followed by Jeremy's boots. "Camille Leon, twenty-three, has lived in Sentinel her entire life. Close friends with Miss Pham, we only recently learned from the thumb drive Drew and Eve retrieved that she has Shine ability, though we still don't know what her Shine might be."
The voice belonging to the unknown footsteps was warm and filled with approval. "Excellent job, Mr. Walker. You prove that my regard is well placed."
Shine: Season One (Shine Season Book 1) Page 50