Their meal was delicious, the candlelight danced wildly with each sigh of the light breeze, and the sound of the water sang its romantic song. The sunset added the perfect visual accompaniment to the best day Camille had ever had.
Jeremy caught her gaze. "What are you thinking about behind that smile?"
"I never dreamed of anything like this. You, this place, this lovely meal." Her smile slipped. "And I'm afraid it'll all be taken from me because of what I am."
His gaze serious, Jeremy slipped from his chair to kneel in front of her. "This life could end at any moment for any of us, whether Shine or not." He stroked her hair out of her face. "The trick is to not dwell on what could happen and simply enjoy it while you have it."
She blinked, willing her tears away. "You're right." She cupped his cheek. "I just love you so much. I hate that we're going to be apart for so long."
He took her hand, turned it over and kissed the palm. "I love you, Camille Leon. No matter how far apart we are, I'll love you." He pulled an open ring box from behind his back. "I don't want to let you leave without making you mine, first. Please say you'll make me the happiest man in the world. Marry me?"
Her gaze jumped from the beautiful sapphire and diamond ring to his serious blue eyes. Her heart thundered in her chest. She swallowed, feeling as though she were in a dream. Jeremy lifted an eyebrow.
She laughed. "Yes." She threw her arms around his neck. "Of course, I'll marry you. I love you, Jeremy Walker."
A rapid beeping sound sounded from inside the house just as Jeremy’s phone started to wail. The beeping sound coming from the kitchen changed tempo.
Jeremy grabbed his phone and Camille’s hand. “Someone’s tripped the primary and secondary alarms around the property.” He pulled her into the house and entered a code on the panel by the door. The wall separating the living room from the master bedroom slid open to reveal a fully stocked gun safe. He took a .40 caliber Glock, her preferred pistol, inserted the loaded magazine and slipped it into her hand. “Go downstairs to the eye chart hanging on the wall. Press the center of the D in the sixth row. You’ll hear the lock to the safe room disengage. Press C, P, then F on the 5th row to open the door. Go in and shut the door behind you. Understand?”
Camille’s scowled. “I’m not going to hide while you remain out here. Tell me how I can help.”
He pulled her roughly into his arms and kissed her hard. “Just do as I ask. I can concentrate on protecting us and our home if I know you’re safe. You’ll be able to keep an eye on me in the monitors.”
“Jeremy, no. What if something happens to you that I could have prevented?”
He rested his forehead against hers. “Please. I need you to be safe.” Their gazes clashed, his willing her to listen. The tempo of the alarm increased. “Please, Cam.”
Gritting her teeth, she kissed him hard. “Fine, but you’ll come back to me unharmed and we will discuss this idea you have that I’m some helpless female that needs protected.”
He caressed her cheek then pushed her toward the stairs. “Repeat the code for the safe room.”
Glaring at him, she turned toward the stairs and called over her shoulder. “D on the 6th row to disengage the lock. C-P-F on the 5th row to open the door. Got it.”
“I’ll join you as soon as I can.”
She paused with her hand on the stair rail. The sapphire and diamond ring caught the light. Her eyes burned. She looked over her shoulder and caught his gaze. “If anyone harms one hair on your head, I’ll gut them, then I’ll come after you.”
He grinned. “I love you too. Go.”
Nodding reluctantly, she hurried down the stairs. He’d decorated one end of the basement in an optometrist theme, complete with an antique optometrist chair in the corner and vintage phoroptor on a side table. She studied the detailed, hand-drawn chart of the human eye and knew that if she hadn’t realized she loved him before, she’d have known at this moment. He’d done this for her.
The alarm coming from the kitchen panel went silent spurring her into motion. Pressing her finger against the center of the letters on the chart in the appropriate sequence, she entered the small safe room. Monitors and an L-shaped counter lined two walls showing the property from every possible angle. A single cot took up the third wall and stretching out from the door she’d come through were shelves stocked with non-perishable food and bottled water.
Slipping her feet from her shoes, she curled up on the chair in front of the monitors and placed the Glock on the counter. Closing her eyes, she released the tight grip she kept on her Shine. When the pulsing began at the base of her skull, she pushed out with her mind hiding Jeremy from the intruders. A red light flashed against her eyelids. She focused on the monitors. A man dressed in black fatigues moved silently through the trees toward the house. She searched the screens for Jeremy.
“Where are you, baby?” she muttered.
Suddenly the man dropped to the ground, his body convulsing. The intruder’s body suddenly relaxed and Jeremy materialized on a tree branch above him. Camille gasped. The intruder lay catching his breath, his eyes carefully searching the trees around him. When the intruder’s gaze passed over Jeremy without seeing him, Jeremy looked up into the camera focused on that sector and smiled.
“Like I could sit here and do nothing,” she muttered.
As if he’d heard her, Jeremy winked at the camera. Camille growled. He was definitely getting a piece of her mind when this was over.
Jeremy reached over to the branch on his right and shook it. The intruder whipped a gun from the holder at his waist and shot toward the branch. Before he could get off another shot, the intruder’s body began convulsing again. Camille saw the remote in Jeremy’s hand. The man’s body relaxed.
“Move again, and I’ll turn up the setting,” Jeremy warned the man, who searched the tree above him and nodded. “Why are you here?” The man pressed his lips together. Jeremy sighed. “Fine. Have it your way.”
Jeremy messed with something on the remote then hit the button again. The man’s body bowed off the ground, his teeth clenched tight. Camille cringed, understanding exactly how the electricity felt flowing through the man’s body. Jeremy released the button and the intruder relaxed, his harsh breathing the only sound.
“You’ve intruded on the romantic weekend I have planned with my fiancé. I’m perfectly capable of ending your life and hiding your body where no one will ever find it.” Jeremy lowered his voice. “Why are you here?”
“I’ve been hired to gather information on you and your fiancé. I was told I was spying on a simple Agent and a potential Shine with a low level defensive ability, not a damn highly trained soldier,” the intruder muttered with a scowl.
“Who hired you?”
The man shrugged. “I imagine you understand how it works. I receive details of the job and half my fee, then the rest when I complete the job.”
The man’s body bowed up off the ground again. Camille clenched her fists so tight that her nails cut crescent shapes into her palm. She wanted to look away, but knew Jeremy did this to protect her.
“Who hired you?”
The man glared toward Jeremy’s voice. “I only know they’re foreign. The money came from a European bank and the instructions were made by someone who doesn’t speak English as their first language.
Jeremy studied the man. “What kind of information did this employer want?”
“Pictures of the woman, her bolt hole, and the extent of your involvement.”
Jeremy looked up at the camera. “She’s mine. Report back to your employer that I’ll send the next person that comes after her back in pieces.” Jeremy pulled a dart gun from its holster at his waist and shot the intruder in the chest. The man slapped his hand over the dart, but before he could do more than swear a blue streak, his eyelids fell closed and he lost consciousness.
“Go get our bags from the master bedroom, Camille and return to the safe room. I’m going to dump him at the point wher
e he entered the property then I’ll join you.”
CHAPTER SIX
Camille marked the last answer and hit FINISH on the tablet’s screen. After making sure her questions had been submitted, she stood and handed the tablet to the test monitor. Turning to leave the room, she scanned the bent heads of her team. They’d had to come in to the GEIV headquarters in Vegas for the final exam before they could leave for Russia.
She pushed through the doors and leaned against the wall to wait for the others. Pulling her personal tablet from her shoulder bag, she sent a message to Jeremy.
Test finished. Just waiting on the others. Any news on our spy?
Jeremy’s response was immediate.
He came into the U.S. using a German VISA. The tablet I took off him contacted Johnson. It’s my fault they found you.
Camille quickly replied. No. This was bound to happen. You had no way of knowing they’d returned early. Capturing a Shine is worth a lot of money, you know this. Please don’t blame yourself.
If anything happens to you, I’ll never forgive myself. I can’t live without you, Cam. Don’t trust anyone.
Camille looked up and scanned the students and faculty going in and out of the GEIV building. Spotting the door to the ladies’ room just down the hall, she typed in a reply.
I’ll be fine. Take care of yourself. Love you.
Sophia came out of the test room as she was stuffing the tablet into her bag. “Come with me to the bathroom.”
Sophia fell into step beside her. “What’s up?”
“Our guy entered the U.S. under a German passport and hasn’t left yet. Making us vanish out in the hall where someone could be watching seems like a bad idea.”
Sophia nodded and looked around. “True.”
Two steps from the bathroom door, a man paused in front of them and turned, blowing something in their faces. Camille tried to jerk back, but her body didn’t obey her brain.
The man draped an arm around her and Sophia’s shoulders. “You’re both going to remain quiet and walk straight ahead and out the door at the end of the hall. You’ll climb in the back of the waiting SUV and buckle yourself in.”
Camille started walking, happy to go with— Who was she going with? Her conscious, buried under the cotton, screamed for her to stop. She’d always listened to that voice, but she realized the cotton was trying to keep her from hearing it. She strained to hear what the screaming voice was saying. Her conscious screamed for her to fight the compulsion of the drug the man had blown in her face.
Camille fought the bands of thin cotton tightening around her mind. When the result was a raging headache, she quite fighting and tried to think. V had been working with them on finding ways around the compulsion of her Shine. Remembering the lessons, she remembered the man had only said be quiet, not silent. Her feet continued down the hall, but she was able to turn her head toward the man she recognized as the intruder from Tahoe.
“What did you blow at us?”
The man’s eyes widened. “Impressive, Miss Leon. I’ve never met anyone able to manipulate the effects of the Devil’s Breath.”
Camille met the man’s admiring gaze. “What is Devil’s Breath?”
“An ingenious drug developed in Colombia. It messes with memory, destroys inhibition, and basically makes you my puppet for the duration that it’s active in your system. All without appearing to have any outward effect.” He studied her with a calculation gaze. “Extraordinary. I’ve never had a two sided conversation with someone under its influence.”
Camille struggled to keep her mind clear. “Where are you taking us?”
“I’ve been following your trail from Texas. It was very inconvenient of you to end my association with Mr. Lochmier. It cost me quite a lot of money. Thankfully, he wasn’t my only contact. Imagine my surprise when one of your fiancé’s subordinates called to say he’d seen you. I noticed you have a knack for finding others like yourself and I just knew you’d lead me to my biggest payout yet.”
Camille’s horror punched through the drug’s hold on her and her voice rose. “You’re the one Lochmier sold girls to? The sex slave trafficker?”
His eyebrows lowered. “You will keep your voice down, Miss Leon.” The cotton tightened around her mind. He held her gaze, smiling as she struggled against the drug’s hold. “I don’t sell them as sex slaves. They are forced into a much bigger and more important cause. Did you think your American Government was the only one interested in those like you?”
Camille looked into his cold gaze. “Who do you work for?”
The man smiled. “Go through the doors, Miss Leon. You and your lovely companion will buckle yourselves into the backseat of the silver SUV waiting in the first parking space.”
Camille pushed through the door, the voice of her consciousness lost behind the layers of thin cotton wrapped around her mind. Sophia reached the SUV first, opened the door and slid into the back seat.
Camille was climbing in beside her, their abductor already in the driver’s seat with the SUV started, when Karen’s familiar voice called out behind her. “Cam, what’re you doing?”
“Wave to your friend and tell her you’ll see her later, then close the door, Miss Leon.”
Camille waved. “See you later.” She closed the door.
Their abductor sped out of the parking lot as Karen turned and ran back into the GEIV building. Camille pushed against the cotton wrapped around her head. Tiny beads of water dripped down the SUV’s windows. Camille lifted her finger and caught a drop on her fingertip. Instantly, a tiny bolt of lightning arched out of the drop into her hand.
She yanked her hand to her chest. “Ouch.”
Her consciousness screamed for her to fight.
“Yes, the hallucinations are one of the biggest inconveniences of using the Devil’s Breath.” He held his hand out to her. “Hand me your shoulder bag Miss Leon,” the man ordered.
Camille handed the bag over, unsure who he was, but happy he had spoken to her. The man lowered his window and tossed the bag out. Camille’s consciousness wailed behind the cotton, but her attention remained on the drops of water welling from the windows. They were making puddles on the floor. She knew if they touched her they would hurt her much worse than the small drop had. She pulled her feet up onto her seat and wrapped her arms around her legs. Beside her, Sophia slapped her arm. The man driving the SUV chuckled.
Camille forced herself to look away from the water drops and meet his gaze in the rearview mirror. “Why?”
“We can’t have your fiancé tracing you through your tablet. My employer isn’t due to collect you for another two hours,” he answered.
Camille looked down at her clenched hands and saw that she was spinning her engagement ring around her finger. Sirens wailed behind the SUV. She turned her head to look out the back window. A black SUV with lights flashing in the dash followed close behind them. Her heart pounded in her chest, the voice in her head getting louder. She recognized that SUV.
“Chyort voz’mi!” the man said, pulling Camille’s attention from the back window.
The man picked up a gun with a silencer from the passenger seat and laid it in his lap, then slowed the SUV and pulled over on the side of the highway. Camille returned her gaze to the back window. A familiar man climbed out of the black SUV.
Jeremy.
Their abductor swung around. “Both of you will stop breathing now. You’ll ignore anyone other than me who tells you to breathe.”
The voice in her mind screamed from behind the cotton, even as the water dripping down the windows began to flow in a constant pour. She stopped breathing. She watched the man wrap his hand around the gun in his lap and raise it toward Jeremy. Her terror punched through the cotton. She forced her hand toward her seatbelt release. The man’s finger tightened on the trigger. The seatbelt released and she threw her weight against the man’s arm as he fired the gun.
Her window shattered. She whipped her head around and met Jeremy’s hard g
aze, then her abductor slammed the SUV into drive and stomped on the gas. She raised her hand toward Jeremy as he swung around and ran back to the black SUV. Another black SUV joined the first.
Sophia began to thrash behind her. The other Shine clawed at her throat, her eyes wide and panicked. Camille realized there was no longer water pouring down the windows and she could breath. Her panic for Jeremy had broken the drug’s hold. Unwilling to waste time in case it was only temporary, she met Sophia’s gaze and squeezed her hand.
“Breathe, Sophia. Fight the drug. Your survival instincts are stronger. Use the fear to shred the cotton holding you prisoner,” she whispered, releasing her friend’s seatbelt and pulling her head and shoulders into her lap.
Sophia’s lips began to turn blue.
Camille squeezed her friend’s hand. “Fight, Sophia. You must breathe.”
Her friend clawed at her throat. Camille grabbed her hands and looked at the driver busy swerving through the thick Vegas traffic. “She’s suffocating. Please!”
The man glanced back, a grimace on his face. “Let her die.”
“No,” Camille cried. Her mind raced as she tried to find any way of convincing him to save her friend. “If you let her die, you’ll lose all possibility of getting any money for her.”
The man smiled. “You’ve completely managed to fight off the drug’s hold. Amazing.”
“Please,” Camille screamed, seeing burst blood vessels in Sophia’s right eye.
“Breath, Miss. Petrova,” the man commanded.
Sophia sucked in air, tears leaking down her face. Camille gathered her to her chest, and leaned her forehead against her friend. “Oh, thank God. Breathe, Sophia. Just breathe.”
Sirens wailed all around them. Shots rang out and one of the SUV’s tires blew out. The SUV swerved. The man released a streak of unintelligible curses. Camille grabbed the seatbelt she’d released earlier and fought to get it around both her and Sophia.
More shots. Another tire blew. The SUV careened wildly.
Camille clutched Sophia to her chest and leaned down to whisper. “I know you’re weak, but we have to get out of here. Jeremy’s in the black SUV behind us. Can you Shine?”
Shine: Season One (Shine Season Book 1) Page 101