Jordan narrowed her eyes and sent a mental shove at Manny’s chest. It was scarcely more than a thump, but she knew her irises would flash silver as she used her power, and that would be all the warning he needed. She was right; he shut up quickly.
“Geez, okay, I was just kidding.”
“Well, it’s not funny.” Jordan kept her voice low as they passed some of the other workers. “What if someone hears you?”
“Hey, it’s no big secret that you’ve got the hots for her, Gray. Every guy out here knows that gorgeous roommate of yours has got you wrapped around her little finger.”
“That’s not what I mean, and you know it.” Jordan gestured toward the large sign posted nearby, which proclaimed the construction site as a forthcoming project of Wingate Industries, Inc. “You know what he’ll do if he finds out.”
“All right, all right.” Manny ducked under part of the framing and reached into a heavy tool box. He tossed her a hammer, his aim off by quite a bit, but Jordan caught it anyway.
When he grinned, she rolled her eyes. “Let’s just get to work.”
By midmorning Jordan had shed her jacket and long-sleeved shirt and was down to just her tank top and coveralls. She could have used her telekinetic ability to make the work easier: the loads lighter to lift, the hammer strikes more forceful. But exertion was good for her. Her powers were far more effective when she used them to amplify her own strength rather than just reaching out with her mind.
Besides, there was something sweetly ironic about using Wendell Wingate’s construction projects to empower herself—or rather, to empower The Whisper. She’d sought a position on this construction crew in the hopes of getting close to the corrupt corporate development tycoon. With incredible wealth and power at his disposal, Wendell Wingate controlled nearly all of Twilight City through a regime of intimidation and terror. The fire at the apartment complex the night before was likely retaliation for the owner’s refusal to pay Wingate’s “security fee.”
Wingate had the police and the mayor on his private payroll, and The Whisper was the only force left in the city who could actually protect its citizens. Jordan fought back, donning the sleek silver bodysuit and mask and using her telekinetic abilities to thwart Wingate’s schemes. She’d become a hero to the citizens of Twilight—and a much-hated adversary to Wingate Industries. Wingate would like nothing better than to get his hands on her, which was why Manny, her best friend since childhood, was the only person who knew The Whisper’s true identity.
Her anonymity kept her alive, but there were times when the secrecy was nearly unbearable. Especially when it came to Dana Davis. Beautiful, brilliant, sassy Dana. Jordan hadn’t anticipated what a problem it would be, sharing living space with someone she had fallen so hard for and could never, ever be with. The danger of her extracurricular activities negated any possibility of meaningful relationships. Before Dana had entered her life, Jordan had always accepted that just fine. Now, though, it seemed torturously unfair.
A loud screech of metal broke into her thoughts, and she looked up to see one of the chains that dangled from a crane to support a twenty-ton steel beam snap. Panicked shouts rang out as one end of the beam tilted downward, its immense weight easily breaking the remaining supports. Manny was standing directly beneath the crane, seemingly frozen in place as the enormous metal girder hurtled toward him.
“Manny, look out!” Jordan was more than a hundred feet away and she’d never physically reach him in time. Reflexively, she flung one hand upward, stopping the heavy beam in midair for a split second. With the other arm she made a sweeping motion that knocked Manny nearly five feet sideways. She released the beam quickly, and it crashed to the ground so hard she could feel the earth vibrate under her feet. Panting, Jordan ran to her friend’s side.
“You okay?”
“Yeah. Think so,” Manny wheezed.
Concerned team members surrounded them, all wanting to know what had happened. Jordan looked around nervously, hoping everything had transpired so fast that no one noticed what she had done.
*
In his penthouse office downtown, Wendell Wingate took an urgent call from his construction foreman. “This had better be important.”
“Oh, it is, sir. You have security footage of the Hampton project? Something just happened that you’re definitely gonna want to see.”
Wingate played the security video in slow motion on the big screen mounted against the far wall, taking in every detail as the support chains broke and a steel beam dropped from the crane. Workers scattered, but one of them, a woman, ran toward the plummeting girder. She threw out hers arms and almost imperceptibly, the falling beam stopped moving as the man standing beneath it was shoved violently out of the way, as if propelled by some invisible hand.
Wingate replayed the scene and zoomed in on the image. Closer…closer…and a little to the left…there. He sat forward in his chair and advanced the tape frame by frame, holding focus tight on the woman’s face. She mouthed words, one at a time, and then suddenly, her eyes changed. In one frame they were dark, and in the next…
“It’s her,” he snarled. “Under my nose the whole time.”
He snatched up the phone and punched a button. “Get me everything, and I mean everything, we have on this Jordan Gray. I want to know where she lives, who her friends are, what she had for breakfast. Now!” He slammed the phone back down and stared at the screen again. “I’ve got you at last, Whisper.”
*
Jordan’s keys clanked as she wearily unlocked the apartment door. Why did she ever let Manny and the guys convince her to go out after work? It always resulted in loud, drunken carousing that ended far too late for her taste, even when they all knew they’d be getting up before dawn the next morning. But after today’s near-disastrous accident, it hadn’t seemed right to deny her friend the chance to buy her a drink.
She pushed the door open and fumbled for the light switch. Her mouth fell open. “What the—?”
The living room was a mess: papers scattered everywhere, one armchair upended, the sofa upholstery slashed, sharp bits of china and glass littering the carpet. Dana’s laptop lay in one corner, the screen cracked and flickering.
“Oh God.” She raced into the apartment. “Dana!”
She spied a piece of paper on the breakfast bar and grabbed it, her hands trembling.
Whisper—Be at Wingate Tower at midnight, or the woman dies.
Jordan slowly crumpled the paper. He knew. Wingate knew who she was, and he had Dana.
Closing her eyes, she extended her arms and rose from the floor. Fabric rustled and her work clothes disappeared. Her silver bodysuit materialized from its hiding place and quickly slid around her body like a shimmering second skin. Boots leapt from the closet to encase her feet, lacing and tying themselves securely. The hood came up around her face, covering her neck and hair, and a shining silver mask floated into her palm.
Jordan turned to the window, which threw itself open, curtains blowing in the sudden night breeze. She lifted the mask to her face and The Whisper soared out the open window and into the sky.
The doors to the main lobby were unlocked and Jordan glided into the building silently, scanning for any sign of movement. Wingate Tower was a work of architectural brilliance. From where Jordan stood in the center of the ornately patterned lobby, she could see all the way up to the glass paneled roof. Every one of the thirty floors wrapped around this central core, with the office spaces fronted by huge glass windows to allow light to filter in from above. The building was entirely dark save for one glowing ring of light at the very top—the penthouse office. It shone like the tip of a lighthouse, beckoning to her, and Jordan gritted her teeth. Wingate was calling her—taunting her with the fact that he had something she wanted.
Anger, and a sharp prick of fear, heated her insides. Never before had her battle with Wingate Industries been this personal, or this dangerous to someone she cared about. If she lived through this, she promise
d herself, Wingate would never, ever get such an opportunity again.
She soared upward, through the faintly glittering glass tunnel, and the shining ring of the penthouse above grew closer and closer. At last she reached the top, and there he was, sitting smugly at his mahogany desk behind a huge wall of glass. Two masked men stood to his left with Dana between them. One pressed a knife to her throat.
Jordan struck at the huge window that separated them, putting all her physical and telekinetic strength into the blow, and the window splintered in a shower of crystalline fragments. The impact sent cracks rippling all the way around the circular corridor, until every window seemed etched with spiderwebs. She flew into Wingate’s office and surged toward him, but he calmly held up a hand. Dana’s whimper stopped Jordan in midair.
She touched down on the thick office carpet as a tiny rivulet of blood trickled down Dana’s neck, courtesy of the blade beneath her chin. Jordan froze, glaring at Wingate, her blood boiling at the terror contracting Dana’s pretty features.
“Let her go,” she commanded in the harsh whisper that had inspired her name. Wingate smiled and beckoned to another man who emerged from the shadows behind him. “I see even a glimmer of silver in those eyes, Whisper, and she dies.”
The masked man closed in on her and abruptly punched her in the stomach, quickly following up with a second blow to her face. The strikes were sharp and powerful, but Jordan didn’t dare use her powers to block them. Not when Dana was at risk.
She couldn’t use her powers, but Wingate hadn’t said she couldn’t fight back at all. She retaliated with a fist to the masked man’s jaw, careful to use only her natural strength. He reeled backward, and she lunged at him. Something heavy hit her in the back, and she fell to her knees. A second masked man joined the fight and kicked her solidly in the gut. She fell forward onto her hands, gasping for air. She tasted blood on her lower lip as she painfully straightened. Without her powers, she was not strong or fast enough to protect herself against two opponents at once.
Wingate laughed. “You have a choice, Whisper. Your life, or hers.”
His men leveled handguns at her. Dana was still held at knifepoint. She looked terrified, her breath coming in frightened gulps.
“What’s to stop you from killing her after I’m dead?” Jordan snarled.
“I guess you’ll just have to take my word for it,” Wingate said smugly.
“You leave me no choice,” Jordan said. Wingate would never let Dana live, not after all Dana had witnessed tonight.
“No!” Dana thrashed in her captors’ arms.
“Dana, don’t move!” Jordan commanded, then raised her hands in surrender.
“Kill her!” Wingate ordered.
As the men fired, Jordan closed her eyes. She had only milliseconds to push a burst of energy from her palms, deflecting the bullets at precise angles, hoping against hope that her hurried mental calculations were correct. Dana screamed, men grunted, and Wingate howled in fury. Jordan opened her eyes.
The men holding Dana had collapsed, each one struck by a bullet meant for The Whisper. Dana appeared shaken but very much alive, the knife lying harmlessly at her feet.
Wingate gestured furiously at the two remaining men. “Don’t just stand there, you morons, kill them both! Now!”
But now that the threat to Dana was gone, Jordan didn’t bother to hide her telltale silver irises as she stretched out her hands toward the gunmen and closed her fists. The guns in their hands crumpled, like paper wadded into balls, and they dropped them with anxious yelps. Both men turned and ran, leaving their boss to face The Whisper’s wrath alone. She turned her attention to him then, power crackling fiercely around her entire body, fueled by her rage.
Wingate backed away as Jordan stalked closer. “You’ve won this time, Whisper, but—”
In his haste, he failed to notice that he was standing just in front of the shattered office window. He took just one step too many; his heel dropped over the window edge and he lost his balance. For a split second his arms flailed uselessly in an attempt to right himself, and with a look of shock, he dropped out of sight.
Without thinking, Jordan dashed to the window and reached down for him, but it was too late. Wingate struck the lobby floor with a faint thump.
Dana appeared at her side and looked down at the motionless body lying far below. “Did you—?”
Jordan shook her head. “No. He fell. I couldn’t stop it.”
“Fine by me.” Dana raised a hand to the cut at her throat. “Bastard.”
“Are you all right?”
Dana nodded. “Thanks to you.”
Jordan caught the adoration in Dana’s voice and shifted uncomfortably. “You should get home.”
Dana ran a hand lightly up Jordan’s arm. “Will you take me?”
Jordan struggled to suppress the shiver that went through her at Dana’s touch. Frivolity is recklessness, she reminded herself feebly. Her powers were almost tapped; it had taken every last bit of her concentration to redirect those bullets so quickly and with such precision. Still, Dana was watching her with such hope, such admiration…such desire. Jordan’s stomach clenched. “All right.”
With an expectant look, Dana slid her hands up Jordan’s shoulders and around her neck. Dana’s chest rose and fell rapidly and Jordan felt each hot, electrified breath on her own lips. With a gentle pulse of energy, she lifted Dana from the floor and into her arms. Now Dana’s face was so close to her own, her deep blue eyes gazing hungrily into her masked ones and her body nestled snugly against the silver bodysuit. Every inch of Jordan’s skin tingled.
“Hold on,” she managed to say, then stepped through the broken window. They hovered for a moment as she sent another kinetic blast toward the glass ceiling above. Dana cuddled close to Jordan’s neck as they soared upward through the shimmering, falling shards. Outside, the night air was cool and the blare of approaching police sirens sounded far below them.
“When they find your blood in Wingate’s office they’ll want to question you,” Jordan warned.
“Let them,” Dana replied vehemently. “I’m going to call them myself as soon as I get home. You should see what they did to my apartment! My roommate’s gonna be so pissed.”
Jordan would have smiled, but she couldn’t waste the strength. She was already straining to keep the two of them flying. But the exertion was well worth it. She relished the feel of Dana clasped tightly against her, her mere proximity making Jordan’s heart thud erratically. As exhausted as she was, and as much as she knew it was going to cost her tomorrow, she didn’t care. She would make these priceless minutes with Dana in her arms last as long as she could.
Finally Jordan touched down on the apartment balcony. Reluctantly, she set Dana down.
“How did you know where I live?” Dana asked
Jordan couldn’t think of a suitable explanation, as mentally she chastised herself for her slip. She couldn’t reply, but Dana didn’t seem concerned by her silence. She gently touched Jordan’s swollen lip. “You’re bleeding.”
Dana’s fingers sent a little electric jolt through Jordan’s body, tightening her stomach and thrumming abruptly between her legs. Jordan caught her breath and dropped to the balcony floor.
“My God, are you all right?” Dana cried, her eyes widening.
“Fine. Just tired.” Jordan struggled to stand again, but instead just managed to flop awkwardly onto her side.
“Stay right there.” Dana disappeared into the apartment, and when she returned, she held a cup of water. Kneeling, she offered it to Jordan with a worried expression.
Jordan drained the cup and handed it back. This time she was able to make it to her feet, albeit unsteadily. “I should go.”
“Not yet. Please?” Dana backed Jordan against the balcony railing, getting so close that their hips pressed firmly together. When Dana’s leg slid, ever so casually, between Jordan’s thighs, she closed her eyes.
“Whisper…you’re shaking.” Dana’
s tone was a mixture of wonder and arousal, and Jordan fought to suppress a groan. But when Dana’s hands came up and tugged at her mask, Jordan caught her wrists.
“Stop. You can’t.”
Dana kissed her. Jordan was utterly unprepared for the heat of Dana’s mouth, for the sweet, soft lips devouring hers. She gasped when Dana licked lightly at her lower lip, drawing it slightly into her mouth and releasing it in a slow, tantalizing caress when she pulled back. Jordan stared at her, unable to breathe, her pulse pounding in her ears. Again Dana reached for her mask, and though Jordan stiffened, she was now powerless to stop her. The kiss had left her head ringing, and nothing else mattered…nothing but tasting those lips again.
“Shh, it’s all right,” Dana murmured, removing Whisper’s mask. “Oh my God. Jordan?”
The shock on Dana’s face brought Jordan immediately back to her senses. What had she done? Jordan pulled away from Dana and tried to levitate from the balcony, but only managed to get a few inches above the ground before her powers gave out and she dropped again. Embarrassed, off balance, Jordan slipped past Dana into the apartment.
“I’m…I’m sorry,” Jordan mumbled, keeping her head down as she headed for the front door. “I’m just gonna—”
“Wait! Jordan, wait!” Dana caught Jordan’s wrist. She pulled back the silver hood and brushed her fingers through Jordan’s short dark hair, tugging little pieces back into place around her ears. She ran her fingers down Jordan’s neck and across her collarbone. “I should have known.”
Feeling hot and queasy, Jordan repeated again, “I’m sorry.” She should get out, run, but she had nowhere to go.
“You saved my life.” Dana met her eyes intently. “Twice.”
“Yeah.” Jordan didn’t know what else to say. She couldn’t tell Dana what she felt, could she?
Radclyffe & Stacia Seaman - Romantic Interludes 2 - Secrets Page 8