by Debra Webb
Who was this man?
A dozen little things flashed through her mind.
The way he could practically read her mind. The way he moved…soundless, fluid. He was one with the water. One with the night.
Those silly ideas about vampires and such attempted to edge into her ruminating but she banished them.
He stilled, held her tight against him.
She heard nothing. Sensed nothing. Only the roar of blood in her ears, the desperate hammering of her heart.
He started moving forward again.
The water deepened.
She shivered as the cold enveloped her almost to her neck. The water was really deep here.
He stopped again.
This time, he tilted his head down and whispered into her ear. “How long can you hold your breath?”
Panic flared like fireworks on the Fourth of July. She wanted to rant at him. Was he kidding? Instead, she forced the trembling in her body to cease. She had to be strong. He would have a good reason for asking the question.
She lifted her mouth to his ear. “I’m not sure. A minute, maybe.” God, could she hold it that long? She’d never timed herself. She had no idea.
“They’re very close,” he murmured. “Four, possibly five. I don’t want to risk those odds.”
“You’re sure it’s not the police?” She stared into his eyes as best she could in the near total darkness, praying it was a possibility.
He moved his head slowly up and down.
His attention jerked back toward the woods behind her.
Whatever he’d heard, it must have been close because she felt the tension radiate through his strong body.
His gaze moved back down to hers and he took a deep breath.
Her eyes rounded with terror, but somehow she managed to drag in a gulp of air before he plunged beneath the water.
Aidan opened his eyes and watched her through the dark shroud of water. In moments, his vision had adjusted fully. She was afraid. She felt stiff in his arms. They needed to stay under as long as possible.
Galen’s men were close.
He needed them to survey this area, deem it clear and move on.
He’d known when he saw the bullet hole in the back of the cop’s head that this wasn’t Jerry Lester’s work. Galen had counted on her being drawn back here.
Her eyes suddenly opened wide with fear. She struggled in his hold but he held her tighter, reached out to her with his mind. Relax. Trust me.
Galen’s men were on the bank now, directly overhead. Though muffled, the amplified sounds of their approach reached Aidan’s ears well ahead of them.
Darby jerked, almost breaking free of his hold.
He pulled her hard against him. And then she did the one thing that there was no turning back from. She exhaled. He watched the bubbles move upward, break the surface.
He froze, braced for attack.
Nothing.
She struggled to free herself once more.
A sound vibrated from above, as if the enemy was once more on the move.
A few more seconds—that’s all he needed. But she wasn’t going to make it a few more seconds.
He held her tightly against him and closed his mouth over hers, used his tongue to pry her lips apart and forced the last breath he possessed into her lungs.
Even as his brain rebelled against his action, his body reacted to kissing her. The sensations devoured him like a raging lion, dragging him deeper and deeper into that place of pure need.
She stopped fighting him, fisted her fingers in his shirt and flattened her chest against his chest.
He surged upward, breaking the surface of the water without breaking the kiss.
She pulled free, gasped for air.
His struggles to draw in a breath matched hers. He’d almost waited too long.
He listened beyond her frantic gasps, beyond the uncharacteristic pounding in his chest. The enemy had moved farther north, forty or fifty meters.
Altering their course, he started back the way they had come.
She laid her cheek against his chest, her heart still fluttering like a captured bird. Her body trembled uncontrollably from the cold. He wanted to sit down on the bank and hold her in such a way to comfort her, but he couldn’t take that risk.
He pushed forward, all the while keeping his senses finely attuned to their surroundings.
A fork in the waterway presented an additional layer of separation. Instead of continuing in the direction they’d come, he took the other. Galen would expect them to attempt to make it back to the boat.
Aidan smiled. He didn’t need the boat.
He could walk all night and then some.
His training included sensory shutdown. He could go on and on without feeling pain or exhaustion if he chose. The price would be high for a short time afterwards, but he could do it…would do it if necessary.
DARBY DIDN’T KNOW how much time had passed. It felt like hours. Had to have been hours.
Aidan just kept walking with her in his arms.
He had to be exhausted.
“Wait,” she whispered, still afraid to speak out loud.
He stopped and looked down at her, his movements mechanical.
“Yes.”
“I can walk now.” She scrambled out of his arms. It wasn’t as if she would get any wetter. At least she’d stopped shaking. He’d been walking through waist-deep water for…for hours. Again, the idea that he possessed that kind of stamina amazed her.
“We should keep moving,” he suggested.
His tone sounded strangely emotionless.
She tried not to let it get to her. Her nerves were already far too raw with fear.
Her so-called gift had failed her. Here they were, lost in the swamp without any idea which way to go. She hadn’t heard the voices…the children…for hours. Not since those men had come after them.
Your life is in grave danger.
The men in the white coats…she said you would understand.
She stumbled but caught herself as the voice echoed inside her brain. Could those men after them back there have been…
Who else could it be if it wasn’t Jerry Lester, and it definitely wasn’t. She knew that with complete certainty.
And it wasn’t the police…surely they would have called out to them, warned that the police were in pursuit.
She’d dreamed about the men in the white coats all her life.
It had to be them.
She glanced at the silent man at her side.
Could he possibly have any idea just how bad this was?
Yes.
She blinked. Startled by the answer that echoed in her skull.
Of course he knew. That’s why he’d almost drowned them both back there in an attempt to keep them safe.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly, still a little afraid of being overhead. For all she knew, Lester could be lurking around the next bend in the waterway.
Aidan paused, looked down at her. “Why are you sorry?”
She turned her hands palms up. “For dragging you into this mess. I’m sure you had no idea what this was going to turn into when you were assigned to support this case.”
Even in the dark, she could see the energy burning in those dark eyes. “No apology is necessary. I’m here because it’s my job.”
He started forward again but she just stood there staring at his broad back.
He was here because it was his job?
She stormed after him as best she could in water up to her belly button. The drag of the water slowed her dramatic display of outrage considerably. She grabbed him by the arm and turned him around. Which would have been impossible had he not allowed her to do so.
“I guess that aqua erotic kiss back there was your job, too?”
He looked confused for about two seconds. “No,” he admitted. “It was about self-indulgence. But necessary to survival.”
She told herself that his admission was a compliment,
while a tiny part of her still wondered about his sudden mechanical actions, his monotone. “I guess I can accept that,” she allowed when he continued to look at her as if he expected a response.
She sloshed forward with renewed determination. She didn’t know where the hell they were going or why they were still walking through the water. But then, she was no FBI agent. He surely had some plan…some reason.
“You wished for a different explanation?”
She faced him once more. “What?” Confusion joined the other barrage of emotions churning inside her.
“You wanted me to provide an explanation different from the one I gave you.”
How could he do that? Know what she was thinking.
Well, if he already knew what she was thinking, she might as well just say what she really thought.
“Actually,” she braced her hands on her hips, “I was hoping you’d say you kissed me because you just couldn’t resist locking your lips with mine. Or that you were so completely captivated by my beauty beneath the murky swamp water that you just couldn’t stop yourself.”
His fingers were in her hair before the words stopped echoing around them. He kissed her hard, his mouth unyielding, promising whatever she was willing to accept. She melted against him, felt every incredibly hard ridge and contour. His body was magnificent. When she thought about the fact that this man had carried her for hours…had given her the very breath from his lips to keep her safe…she wanted to weep. Instead, she kissed him back.
He pulled away all too soon, his breath surprisingly uneven. Her heart stumbled at the realization that she’d actually gotten to him this time. Shaken him.
“We have to keep moving,” he murmured against her lips.
She nodded.
He started forward once more and she followed, thoroughly contented. A smile lifted the corners of her mouth. They had something here…something special. It wasn’t just his job.
The light that exploded in her frontal lobe caught her completely off guard. She grabbed her head in her hands and doubled over with the intensity of it.
Take us home.
She straightened, the breath whooshing out of her lungs.
The children.
Please…take us home.
She turned around in the water, tried to see through the dark.
Where?
Aidan was watching her. Worried.
“They’re here,” she murmured. They’re here…somewhere.
Here.
So close.
She surged forward, moving past Aidan. He followed, giving her space. Somehow understanding.
“I’m coming,” she muttered.
Darby pushed through the water, not caring how much noise she made. She was getting closer. Almost there.
She stumbled. Fell face-first into the water this time.
Dammit.
She grappled to catch herself, flailed her arms, grabbed for something—anything—but it was no use. She went down. She scrambled onto the bank at the same time that Aidan’s arms went around her waist.
He seemed to be moving slower now.
But who wouldn’t.
“I’ve gotta get out of this water,” she said, exhausted. She clawed at the bank to pull herself upward. Her fingers wrapped around something hard—a root or stick.
It glowed eerily white against the grays and browns of the bank.
Long, thin.
A…bone.
Before the scream could escape her throat, Aidan had turned her away from the horrific sight and pulled her to him.
Her anguish was muffled against his chest.
Take us home.
Chapter Ten
Spotlights pierced the night.
The sound of radios crackling, a helicopter flying overhead and crime scene investigators wading through the muck created an unnatural cacophony amid the wild swamp setting.
Light and shadow bounced off each other, filtering through the heavy moss and highlighting gnarled cypress. The glassy surface of the water stood eerily still, holding its secrets unseen within its black depths.
Aidan shut out the noise and scene developing around the discovery of skeletal remains and focused on the dark unmoving silence beyond. Galen’s men were somewhere in this swamp. Perhaps Galen himself. A rush of knowing went through him. Yes. Galen was here. Watching, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
It didn’t surprise Aidan that he’d found himself new followers. A man like that could always sway support for his cause. Nothing short of death would stop him.
Aidan felt no qualms about delivering that ultimate fate. The man meant nothing to him. That he was the creative mind behind who and what Aidan was carried no weight. His gaze shifted to Eve—Darby—where Detective Willis and his partner were grilling her about how she came to be here.
Moving closer, Aidan monitored the conversation for questions about him. Darby would not think to mention that he had introduced himself as an agent for the FBI. Willis’s men had already likely told him that she had a friend accompanying her now. It wasn’t unusual for a woman to have a male friend. Willis wouldn’t ask. Not now. He was too focused on the discovery. Praying it would be the remains he sought so that he could put another aspect of this case to rest.
But there was still Jerry Lester.
Aidan slowly surveyed the shadowy woods around their location. He was out there. Not so far away. Aidan could feel his presence. He wanted to watch Willis’s men struggle with what he’d had to abandon in order to remain free. He wanted to watch Darby Shepard. She was his new obsession.
Maybe because she was a teacher or maybe because she’d touched his mind. Aidan couldn’t be sure. His mind was twisted…unreliable.
“I should haul you in for even being out here,” Willis threatened Darby. “I’ve got one man dead and another one missing.” He glanced at Aidan but said nothing about him. Though his dislike carried across the night, made Aidan curious.
Perhaps it was that the detective didn’t like strangers. Or maybe he sensed Aidan’s knowledge of this case and didn’t like anyone horning in on his territory. Then again, it could be Darby. Aidan noted the way the detective touched her…looked at her. He’d ensured that one of his men brought a blanket to put around her.
Aidan stayed on the edge of the fray, not wanting to draw unnecessary attention to himself and needing the distance for focus on the threat that lay beyond the events evolving here. Alerting the authorities had been simple since his cellular phone was waterproof and operated via satellite.
The first hint of dawn had lightened the sky. The coming sunrise would be a welcome benefit to the investigators scouring the scene. But for Aidan, it would present additional problems. In the dark, he maintained the advantage. He didn’t want Darby to be a sitting duck when the sun broke through the trees. He wanted her out of here before then.
“I had to come,” Darby argued with the detective. Her gaze wandered toward the place where she’d made her gruesome discovery.
“Sir, we’ve got trouble.”
Willis turned to the officer who’d just spoken. “What the hell is it now?” He slapped at a mosquito that lit on his neck.
The officer leaned close to his boss and whispered, “Two reporters have managed to find their way back here.”
Willis swore hotly, repeatedly. “Get her out of here,” he growled, then tossed a look at Aidan. “Him, too. I don’t want those reporters getting a whiff of her involvement.”
Two officers escorted Darby and Aidan farther down the waterway to an area where it widened enough for a properly equipped helicopter to land on the water’s surface. Any other landing would have been impossible in the dense woods.
When one of the officers would have led Darby into the water, Aidan reached out and pulled her back to him. He lifted her into his arms before she could question the move and carried her to the transport vehicle.
Inside, they settled in the cargo area of the craft and braced for ascension.
&nb
sp; When they’d cleared the treetops, leaving the dangers of the swamp behind, Darby looked up at him, her expression grim. “He’s still out there. They’re not going to find him.”
She was right.
Detective Willis would not find the serial killer Jerry Lester today or even tomorrow.
But the children were safe now.
“Whether they find him or not doesn’t matter.” He put his arm around her and pulled her close. “He can’t touch you now.”
DARBY PRESSED her forehead against the cool tile and allowed the hot water to pummel her flesh for a long time after she’d cleansed the river water and swamp mud from her body. She was so cold. Even the blanket or Aidan’s closeness on the journey home couldn’t ease the chill that came from within.
She didn’t have to wait for official confirmation of what she’d found. She knew the remains belonged to the missing children. Victims of that monster Jerry Lester. She scrubbed the water from her face and tried to understand the vibes she’d picked up those last few hours in the swamp.
He’d been there, she’d felt him. Sensed his sick presence all around her. At first, she’d thought it was only because of the…remains. That maybe she was picking up on his presence as connected to when he’d buried them there. But that wasn’t the case. He’d been in that swamp somewhere, not so far away, watching.
He wanted to see. Wanted to observe her discovering his buried treasure. He’d kept them to himself all this time; now he wanted the world to know that he had spoken the truth. Not that he’d had a lot of choice. The police were on to him. He couldn’t protect his secrets any longer. Apparently some had doubted his claims regarding other work. They had thought it was a mere ploy to escape the death penalty.
But he hadn’t lied and he wouldn’t escape.
He was going to die…slowly…painfully. She couldn’t see more than that, couldn’t see that, really. She felt it, though—felt it with complete certainty. Aidan knew, too, somehow.
Every time she thought she understood a little something about Aidan, he went and threw her off balance again. She’d gotten used to the way he seemed to be able to read her thoughts. Then he’d started to sense other things at the same time she did.