Storming His Heart

by Marie Harte

  “J.D. put a bug on Thorne.”

  “I know. But it’s on Thorne’s shirt, and we found it left behind in the room. Get your ass down to headquarters. We need to fix this, pronto.” He hung up before Rafe could answer.

  Rafe checked the time. Not quite midnight. He grabbed his keys, tucked his gun into his holster and threw on a jacket. As he drove back to work, he wondered why the hell he kept having these visions. First Storm, now her brother and Jennifer Barnes?

  He barely knew Jennifer and hated Glass with a seething passion. More questions, more delays. Shit, what would Storm do when she heard her brother had been kidnapped? He put his foot down on the accelerator, needing to be with her. Wanting to be with her.

  Except at the office, only Max, J.D. and Jurek waited for him.

  “Where’s Storm?”

  Max sighed. “She and Luc are together, don’t worry. They’re better off away from this mess. They’re aware of the situation, but there’s nothing either of them can do about it. We don’t want more of our people to go missing.”

  “No,” Rafe agreed. “Jurek? What’s next?’

  “Next we go through our files to see where the hell Glass might have taken Thorne. We know he owned a few properties downtown. One’s a warehouse that I already have our people looking into. But Glass is smart.”

  “Was smart,” Rafe corrected. “We don’t know the first thing about his brother.”

  “I think you do,” Max said. “If you interpret the visions Luc had of this man, they’re about reflections. Only Richard Glass ever existed. Two men, one identity.”

  Jurek nodded. “That makes an odd kind of sense.”

  Rafe frowned. “What? That they thought they were the same person?”

  “Yes.” Jurek looked him in the eye. “Rafe, I’m concerned. In all the time I’ve known you, you’ve never had an uncontrollable vision unless it concerned someone close to you. Yet you’re dreaming about Glass and Thorne. About Storm.”

  Max glanced from him to Jurek. “You’re still dreaming about my niece?”

  “He’s dreaming because of your niece. Isn’t that right, Rafe?”

  Rafe answered, “I don’t know. It could be.”

  “And if that’s the case, Storm is still in danger. I know you want to keep her far from this, Max. But I think she needs to be close, where we can all keep an eye on her. Glass wants Rafe, and if he’s been keeping an eye on him, like I’d imagine he has, then he knows the way to Rafe is through Storm.”

  Rafe made a decision. “I’ll go get her myself. Max, directions?”

  Max quickly wrote down the directions and handed them to him. “Bring her right here. We’ll be waiting.”

  The minute Rafe’s hands closed around the paper, another scene hit him. When he could function again, he felt Jurek’s hands on him.

  “Tell me all of it,” Jurek said and helped him into a chair.

  “He’s got her. That bastard has Storm.” The short scene came to him all too clearly, and for once, he felt Glass’s thoughts and feelings as if they were his own, the man’s excitement overwhelming his shields…

  Jennifer’s body sank in the dark water. Moonlight glinted off the still blackness, the pearly white reflection of the moon mesmerizing. Richard couldn’t look away.

  Lewis stood a few feet behind him holding Thorne Buchanan’s unconscious body draped over his shoulder. “What about him?”

  “I was going to kill him, but I’ve changed my mind. I think we can use him after all. Put him in there.” Richard motioned to a lone SUV stowed under a dilapidated garage port. They moved quietly over the broken glass and rubble beyond the short pier to the abandoned house Richard had appropriated for his needs.

  “Fuck. This guy weighs a ton,” Lewis muttered and shifted Thorne over his shoulder.

  “Dead weight normally does. I gave him enough sedative to keep him under for the better part of our trip. Now we just need to collect his sister and that prick, Savage.”

  They reached the vehicle, where Lewis tossed Buchanan into the back. “Finally.”

  Richard cast him a look of mild dislike before settling into the passenger seat.

  “Where to, boss?”

  “Drop me off at the lot so I can get my car. I’m going home. It’s time to bring all the pieces together, Lewis. Make the call.”

  Rafe clutched his head, feeling more than a pounding ache, but echoes of rage, worry and grim satisfaction.

  “The call? Who did he call?” Max’s voice was thick with worry.

  “Can you see where home might be?” Jurek asked. “Focus, Rafe. Richard Glass. Jonathan Glass. Home.”

  The excruciating pain made Rafe see double. “Jurek, I can’t—”

  “Come on, Rafe,” Max urged. “They’re going to take Storm there. They’ll try to hurt her, to kill her–”

  The vehicle passed signs for Lake Burton outside of Clayton. They turned onto a dirt road deep into the forest. Drifts of moonlight filtered through the overhead pines.

  “Mama called this her slice of heaven,” Richard said to Lewis. “We’re close to Atlanta too, so Uncle Winslow could buy her the pretty things she deserved.”

  They left the main highway and wound around several dirt roads before disappearing in the woods.

  The picture blurred and Rafe sensed time passing.

  The small log cabin had an open living space and kitchen. Thorne sat in the middle of the living room, his hands and feet tied to a chair, his face and chest a mass of bloodied bruises.

  Richard thrust a woman at him, her long black hair tangled around his fist. “Don’t you care what happens to your precious brother?” he asked her.

  “Fuck you.” She tried to twist out of his grip and cried out when he punched her in the stomach. She gagged but he refused to let her go. “You’re going to kill us no matter what we do.”

  “Quite right.” Glass raised a pistol and shot Thorne through the chest.

  “What about me?” Lewis asked with a leer, taken with Storm’s generous breasts, visible through her ripped shirt.

  “What about you?” Glass turned and shot Lewis between the eyes. Oblivious to Storm’s tears, he dragged her with him down the hallway to the bedroom.

  Once in the bedroom, he threw her down onto the bed. He tossed the gun aside and landed on top of her.

  “That’s it, fight me, sweetheart. Savage will go crazy when he sees what we’ve shared. I can almost feel his rage, and it’s so sweet. So right.” Glass slammed his fist against her temple, dazing her long enough to strip her naked.

  She roused quickly, but she was no match for his strength, wounded, scared and suffering the shock of her brother’s sudden death.

  Glass sneered. “You won’t deny me again, you bitch. This time, you’ll give me what you’ve been giving Jurek’s golden boy. Whatever the hell I want.” Then he settled on top of her…

  Rafe struggled to reach her, furious he couldn’t make the connection. As he came to, he saw the compress Jurek held beneath his nose.

  Rafe push the bloody rag away. “What happened?” His head felt as if it would split in two.

  “You had a seizure,” Max answered. “But you were narrating the whole time.” He paused. “So you really saw that sick bastard kill my nephew? About to rape and kill my niece?”

  Rafe knew the fear he saw in Max’s eyes. It burned in his gut like acid. “Need a phone. Call her,” he rasped.

  “No one answered.” Max turned to Jurek. “I know we have men on the way, but I need to be there. I’ll call you when I know more.”

  Jurek nodded. “Go. I’m here if and when you need me.”

  Max left in a rush and Rafe turned to his boss. “Christ. That knocked me one. Thorne’s death, Storm’s pain—it’s a future, Jurek. Not for sure, but a definite possibility if we don’t move to stop it.” He tried to rise, desperately needing to see with his own two eyes that Storm remained safe, unharmed. But his legs wouldn’t support him.

  “Easy. We’ll
take care of this. What I’m interested in now is Clayton, Georgia. Even if they don’t yet have Storm—and let’s go on the assumption they don’t—they have Thorne. We need to be a step ahead of Glass this time.”

  “Hard to do when the bastard’s psychic ability alerts him to danger.” Rafe winced as he blinked into very bright light. “Jurek, get that flashlight out of my face.”

  “Your pupils are getting smaller, thank God. You had me really worried there, Rafe.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m worried about Storm. And Thorne. And anyone else who crosses that sociopath. We need to find him.”

  “We will. J.D. and our insertion team are standing by. Let’s go.”

  Leaving Luc behind hadn’t been easy, but Storm knew it was the only way. She only regretted that she’d had to hit him so hard. He only had himself to blame. If he’d agreed to her plan and let her meet Lewis Greene in person, they could have come together. Instead, he lay at home, tied to his bed and groggy from one whopper of a frying pan to his head. At least the EMTs she’d called before she headed out would take care of him.

  She loved him and Thorne so much. Just knowing Richard, Jonathan, or whoever the hell he was, had kidnapped her brother worried the hell out her. She had no doubt Glass would try to kill Thorne.

  Waiting in the nearly empty parking lot of the grocery store, she concentrated on not worrying about Thorne. He would be fine. She’d know it if something had happened to him. Greene’s call had come three hours ago. An exchange, Storm for Thorne. She knew they had no intention of playing fair, but she couldn’t chance Thorne’s safety. She had a plan, of sorts. She only hoped she could pull it together. So much of it depended on Lewis Greene.

  She rested against the hood of her car and tapped her foot, glancing around her. Greene had picked the perfect meeting place. The nearby diner had one patron sitting inside. The lot adjacent to it lay empty save for litter and a few overhead lights that didn’t work. And look at that, the moon chose that very moment to hide behind a few clouds and not return.

  Figured.

  Greene surprised her by attacking her from behind. She hadn’t seen or heard him approach. In seconds he nailed her to the ground. He tied her hands behind her back and looped a cloth over her eyes before turning her over onto her back.

  Shit. Glass must have told him about her power.

  “You are too fine for words,” Greene rumbled. The bruiser’s heaving breaths fanned her face, the scent of stale alcohol still there. And that she could use.

  “Lewis—”

  “Don’t talk, sugar. The boss told me you’d try to work me. If not with those pretty eyes, then with that voice. But I’m stronger and smarter than that. Hell, it took the boss a bunch of tries before he busted me. But smart guy that he is, he never turned me in. Made me his partner instead. And you, you’re my reward.”

  A sloppy kiss smashed into her mouth and ground her lips against her teeth.

  “Wait,” she tried before he mauled her again. She twisted against his bulk and spoke quickly. “Lewis. He’s using you. He’s going to kill you. Rafe saw it,” she lied.

  “Yeah, right.”

  “He’s going to kill us all. But you and I could work something out.”

  His hand settled over her belly in slow strokes.

  She contained a shudder.

  “I’m listening.”

  She’d never needed to use her talent more. Storm concentrated. She felt the swell of power and poured it into her carefully constructed words. “Together we can beat him. This isn’t a trick. I don’t know what Glass told you about me, but without my eyes, I can’t persuade you of anything.” Major lie. “I’m a smart girl. You want me? I want to live. Let’s work together and make both our wishes come true.”

  He ground against her. “Yeah, I want you. He killed the last one that was supposed to be mine. How do I know this isn’t a trick?” He panted, clearly aroused, and his lack of clear thought would be to her advantage.

  “Because I’ll give you what you want. You could take what you wanted easily. I know that. You’re strong and smart enough to do it. But how about a blowjob that will make your head spin? Free of charge to show I mean business. But first you have to untie me. Let me touch you. Come on, Lewis. You know you want to.” She pushed harder than she ever had before.

  His resistance was formidable, but so was her will to live. To her relief, Lewis slowly eased off her and helped her to stand. Then he cut through her bonds.

  She ripped the blindfold from her face and smiled up at him. “You’re so sweet. Okay, now close your eyes and feel what I’m doing to you.” She gave him a brief image of a rollicking good time and waited.

  It didn’t take long. In seconds he groaned and shivered. A wet spot darkened the front of his trousers.

  Ignoring her disgust, she continued to hold onto his mind and forced him to lead her to his vehicle. They entered together. He sat behind the wheel and she buckled in on the passenger side.

  “Start the car. Now, where to?”

  “Boss has a cabin on the lake near Clayton. A four and a half hour trip at this hour.”

  Storm would make sure they made it in four. Now to call for help.

  “We have work to do, Lewis. Remember, I held to my part of the deal. I liked it so much, I’m thinking of making us a permanent thing. Would you like that?” She pushed him again.

  “Oh yeah. You give good head, honey. And I’m lonely, you know?”

  While he rambled about his sad little life and turned west, heading out of the city, Storm dialed her uncle.

  “Storm! I’ve been going crazy not knowing where you are. Luc just called to tell me he’s got a goose egg on his head the size of a golf ball. But he’s okay.”

  “Good.” She breathed out a sigh of relief. “Uncle Max, I have a plan. I know it’s dangerous. But I can’t let Glass kill Thorne.”

  “None of us want that. But Rafe had a vision—”

  “Of a possible future. I’m on my way to Clayton, Georgia, near a lake.” She gave him the directions Lewis had given her. “I won’t let it happen.”

  “Storm, don’t do this. You’re playing into his hands.”

  “I know. But I have an ace up my sleeve. I have a new best friend. Lewis Greene.”

  “Hell.”

  “That’s right. We’re partners in crime. And we’re going to nail Glass so that he can’t hurt anyone ever again.” The time had come to save her oldest brother. Luc would have to forgive her. Because God willing, she’d save Thorne, get the bad guy and share the future with Rafe she’d dreamed about.

  Chapter Thirteen

  As they drove, Storm glanced at her traveling partner. Lewis Greene’s watery brown eyes looked back at her, a grin on his slack mouth. Her grasp on his mind continued to hold, mostly because he wanted their little partnership to be true. He hadn’t been lying. Lewis really was lonely.

  Thankfully, the longer she dwelled in his mind, the less power she needed to control him. With some people she could take complete control. Lewis, it seemed, was easier than most.

  “He wants you bad, you know,” Lewis rumbled. “And he’s not gonna be nice at all when he finds you.”

  Like she needed the reminder that Glass was a monster. Storm cleared her throat. “So, what do you know about his cabin?”

  “Not much. I was never actually inside it. But I did help lay an assload of demolitions outside, to keep away intruders.”

  “I need you to tell our friends about it. You don’t know them, but they’re going to have our backs when we face off with Glass. I don’t want to lose you, Lewis.” She smiled at him and made sure their gazes met and held when he looked over at her.

  He let out a deep breath and focused on the road when she let him go. “Um, okay, I guess. If it’ll keep us safe.”

  “Right. Remember, it’s you and me against him. For our future, Lewis.” She pressed the speed dial on her phone and her uncle immediately picked up. “Uncle Max? I need you to pass on some infor
mation for me.”

  “Girl, you’re in so much trouble when you get back. Don’t hang up on me again! Do you have any idea how worried we are? How upset Luc is? Wait until I—”

  “That has to wait. I have vital information I need to pass to whoever’s on the way.”

  Max swore. “Hold on. I’ll patch you through to Jurek’s team, who are the fastest en route to your position.”

  Jurek joined the call. “Storm? I take it things are all right.”

  “Right as rain. Kind of. My new friend Lewis Greene is partnering with me on this one. Together, he and I are going to take down Richard Glass.” She handed the phone to Lewis. “Go head, Lewis. Tell them what to look out for when they get to the cabin.”

  He nodded. The details he shared would definitely save lives. She couldn’t believe Glass had turned the area around his cabin into a minefield. Just one more instance of proof that he’d gone off the deep end.

  “What? Oh, sure, hold on,” Lewis said and handed her the phone. “Jurek wants to talk to you.”

  “Yes?”

  Instead of Jurek, Rafe yelled at her. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? You’re going to get yourself killed.”

  She grimaced. “I’m trying to help.”

  “Don’t. Stop where you are. Turn back. Storm.” His voice cracked. “Baby, please. You can’t. You’ll die. I saw it. I can’t— Please. You can’t do this. We’re almost there. Let us handle this.” He paused. “I love you.”

  She blinked in shock. A fine time for him to say the words she’d been dying to hear. “You don’t understand. Glass is going to kill Thorne if Lewis is late or I don’t show alone. I promise I’ll be careful. I have to go.” She took a deep breath and turned from Lewis to whisper a fierce, “I love you too.” Then she cleared her throat and said in a louder voice, “Just believe in me, okay? I know what I’m doing.” She snapped the phone shut.

  I hope.

  Richard studied the bound man sitting broken and unconscious in the middle of his living room. His dark hair and distinct features so reminded Richard of Storm Buchanan that it was all he could do to hold onto his patience. He wanted to rip out the bastard’s heart.