The Phoenix Agency_Arctic Burn

by Amy Ruttan

  Bryant’s scars on his arm pained him with the memory of just how strong her fire was.

  “If it exists, whatever it is, could you retrieve it?”

  “I’d have to visualize it. So no. I don’t think so.” She ran her hand through her hair. “It’s just speculation.”

  “Well, someone thinks it’s more than that,” he said. “Do they honestly think there really is something there? What proof do they have?”

  Lexie bit her lip. “Six years ago a powerful psychic claims he saw an alien ship on that island. He lived in Resolute to communicate with the aliens. Last month he was found…they found him…”

  “Dead,” Bryant finished for her.

  Lexie nodded, looking nervous. He wanted to pull over and comfort her, but he needed to get her to the safety of Wood Buffalo. That’s what mattered.

  They didn’t say anything else to each other on the rest of the long drive down to Fort Smith. It was dark when his truck pulled up to his double wide trailer, which sat on a wooded lot on the outskirts of town. It was just off the only road that led down through Wood Buffalo National Park to the Peace River.

  It wasn’t a well-used road.

  His Fort Smith home was well hidden and, after he unloaded the gear and groceries onto the front steps, he parked his truck in the large shed, just in case. Yet, he had a sense they were being watched.

  It felt as if there were eyes in the woods.

  Great. Maybe I have extra sensory powers now too.

  Lexie stood close to him, her arms wrapped around her. Bryant slapped his face as a mosquito bit at him.

  “You okay?” she asked, as if there were no insects pestering her.

  “Just being eaten alive. Let’s get inside before we become dinner for the bugs.”

  “Bugs don’t bother me.” She smiled and then laughed as she stepped closer to him. She reached out and touched him. He could feel that zing through his whole body.

  Her gentle touch setting him on fire.

  “What’s so funny?” he asked, trying not to think about what she was doing to him.

  “I was going to say bugs don’t bug me. I thought it was a funny play on words. I’m obviously very tired, because that was pretty pathetic.”

  He couldn’t help but smile with her. “Yeah, I gathered you were tired.”

  “Also, the bugs aren’t a problem anymore if you notice. As long as I’m here.” Then she turned away, as if embarrassed. If it was light out, maybe he could see her blush.

  He loved it when she blushed.

  “Come on, let’s get something to eat.”

  He picked up his rucksack and she grabbed the other grocery bags that had been in his truck. He didn’t want to leave food on the steps and attract wildlife. He’d get the rest of his gear after he got the food put away.

  Then they could eat. He was starving, and for more than just food. At least he could satisfy one of his cravings. The other was off limits.

  Chapter Four

  Lexie tossed and turned. It was unusually hot and dry for late August. Bryant had given up his bed for her and slept in the other room on the couch.

  Though part of her wanted him to join her.

  She didn’t want to sleep alone, but the rational part of her brain said it was for the best they were separated. That way she wouldn’t hurt him.

  She rolled over and stared at the digital clock on the nightstand.

  It was one in the morning and, even though the window was open, there was no breeze and she was melting.

  She threw back the cotton sheet covering her and pulled on one of Bryant’s tee shirts to cover herself. He promised her they’d hit the store so she could get some gear and more clothes before he took her into the bush.

  As she pulled the tee over her head, she drank in his scent. The spicy scent of male mixed with wood smoke and the forest. It had changed from before, but then she would be surprised if it didn’t. When he’d been in the Air Force, it was something different. The only thing that remained the same was the spicy scent that was essentially Bryant.

  It had been so long, and a knot formed in her throat, as she tried to fight the tears that were threatening to spill. She’d missed him.

  Missed this.

  Just leave. Don’t put him in danger.

  Bryant was always kind and generous. It’s what she loved about him. It’s what drew her to him. He was the only one who ever cared for her for what she was.

  “You’re a freak, Lexie. You should be ashamed of the evil coursing through you. You shouldn’t try to control it. You should ignore it,” her mother screamed, as she waved the letter from the Lotus Circle in her face.

  “But, Mom. I can’t control it. I hurt…” she trailed off, as she thought of Bryant.

  “I know. You ended that young man’s career and came crawling back up to Yellowknife. To do what? Stay with me? I’m done with you. I worked hard for my life after you left. How many times did we have to rebuild and start over because you burned it all away? Too many. Get out of my house!”

  Lexie shook her mother’s voice out of her head.

  Her mother was gone. Not dead, but not part of her life, and that was the best thing. And even though it killed her, maybe not having Bryant in her life was the best thing.

  You’re wrong.

  She opened the door, silently as she could, and tiptoed out. He was cramped on his sofa, sleeping on his back, naked.

  Her pulsed kicked up a notch. It was totally unexpected, but not unwelcome.

  He’s so peaceful when he’s sleeping. She’d forgotten that, and smiled to herself to see him so relaxed. His blonde hair was tousled on top of his head and even though the beard aged him, just a bit, it suited him. The urge to run her hands over him was overpowering so she crossed her arms.

  Her skin heated, the flame inside her rising, threatening to burn her. Though it never did, it just felt like it in this moment.

  Get control of yourself.

  She slipped outside and stood on the back deck. The night was silent and dark, but she could see through the dark well enough. Just another one of her powers. She walked down the stairs and sat on the bottom step. The moon hung in the sky, orange and large. When she craned her neck up, she smiled as the northern lights danced above her.

  Here, being on the sixtieth parallel, she was right under the oval. It had been a long time since she sat under the oval of the northern lights and just watched them.

  She closed her eyes and drank in their energy.

  Magnetic poles, and charged particles from the sun colliding with the atmosphere, together created a beautiful dance of lights. It was science, but there also was a magic there and she drank it all in. And when she opened her eyes, the northern lights were dancing how she imagined them to dance.

  “Save us.”

  The sound distortion cleared up, and she concentrated to hear more words.

  “Save us…save…”

  The words turned back to static and the door behind her squeaked.

  “Lexie?”

  She glanced over her shoulder to see Bryant standing just behind her. He’d pulled on his jeans, thankfully.

  “Here,” she whispered.

  He padded over, barefoot, and sat next to her. “Hey, the aurora. I never get tired of that.”

  “It’s something isn’t it?” She smiled wistfully up at it.

  It was perfection.

  “I remember the first time I saw them. I didn’t know what I was looking at, to be honest,” he chuckled and ran his hand through his hair. “I mean, you hear about them, but seeing them for the first time is a completely different thing.”

  “It is.”

  “What’re you doing out here?” he asked.

  “I couldn’t sleep.” Not that she ever really slept with her head full of sound.

  “It’s hot. That’s not usual.”

  “I know, but it’s…my head is full of noise.”

  “Noise?”

  She nodded. “It hurts
and it’s hard to sleep and yeah, I guess I’m not really used to the unusual heat.”

  “It’s what I’m used to in Texas.” He chuckled. “Wow, they’re really dancing tonight.”

  She laughed. “It’s me.”

  “You? You can control the northern lights?”

  “Sure. I can see them, visualize them, so I can manipulate them. They are energy after all.” She made them dance and bend. “I could probably manipulate them more, but I’m sure we’re not the only ones watching them tonight.”

  Bryant laughed. “Yeah, could you imagine?”

  They sat in silence watching the lights. It felt good. She’d forgotten how much being in Bryant’s presence put her at ease. How he made her feel like herself.

  Her real self.

  Not the freak that her mother made her feel like her entire life.

  “Whoa,” Bryant whispered.

  Lexie glanced up and the colors were more vibrant. Deep greens, purples and red. And she knew it was her. Knew it was her uncontrolled emotions making them erupt.

  “Sorry,” she whispered. “I lose control…”

  She didn’t want to finish that, because she remembered the last time it had happened when she was with him. It was so hard to keep control around Bryant.

  “Hey, don’t think about that.” He reached out and touched her, nudging her chin so she looked at him. His eyes sparkling in the moonlight. “I’m okay.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  “I can still fly, Lexie. Just not for the Air Force. It’s fine. I don’t miss it.”

  “Now whose lying?”

  A small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Okay, fine. But, I’m okay. You didn’t hurt me. Not really. They’re just superficial.”

  The burns were not just superficial. She could still hear his screams of agony as she burnt his flesh away.

  She pushed his hand away and stood up, walking away from the deck. Pine needles and dry grass scratching at her feet, but the ground was soft. Softer than Yellowknife, or her home out in the woods.

  There was no permafrost. It was sandy.

  She wrapped her arms around herself, holding herself tight, as she tried to drown out the sounds of Bryant screaming in her mind. The sound distortion kicked up a notch and she rubbed her temples, willing the pain away.

  “Lexie,” Bryant said, his voice sounded odd. It was off.

  She turned around and there was a man standing behind Bryant, pointing a gun at his head. Her heart skipped a beat.

  “Slowly step forward,” the man ordered. She couldn’t see his face through the ski mask he wore, and even the skin around his eyes had been darkened so he could sneak up on them unseen.

  Bryant’s jaw was clenched. His eyes were wide, but not with fear. It was as if he was waiting for a slip-up.

  Lexie complied with the man.

  “That’s good,” the man said. “Now keep coming, and I won’t put a bullet in your boyfriend here.”

  She took another step forward. “What do you want me to do?”

  “Get in the vehicle out front and I won’t hurt him.”

  She seriously doubted that.

  “Move!” the man shouted.

  Lexie closed her eyes and ignited the dry grass under the assailant’s feet. She let the fire go and it began to burn away.

  “What the…?” The masked man began to scream, moving the gun enough for Bryant to grab his forearm, twist the gun from his grip, and flip the man over his shoulder. Lexie moved the gun with her mind, and also put out the fire that had been ignited on the ground, but it had already spread to the assailant, who was now writhing in agony.

  Even though the grass fire was out and wouldn’t harm Bryant, Lexie still burned the other man.

  She was angry.

  She was losing what little amount of control she could manage. The flames were growing inside her, ready to erupt.

  “I’m burning!” He was howling in the night.

  “Lexie!” Bryant shouted. “We have to get him help.”

  “He was going to kill you!” She shouted over the screams.

  “I’m alive.”

  Lexie broke the connection and the man stopped screaming, but he was badly burned.

  “We need to get him to town. Hand him over to the RCMP.” Bryant said to Lexie, kneeling next to their attacker.

  “Kill me. I’m a dead man anyway,” the man said.

  “Why did you come alone?” Bryant asked.

  “Others are coming. I was the forward scout. I picked up your trail after you went through Enterprise and thought I could take you, easily, by myself.” The man panted through his pain.

  Bryant stood up and walked out of earshot of the injured assailant. “We have to get him to the hospital and I’m going to call Mike and let him know one of your attackers is residing in the Fort Smith hospital. Maybe he can tell me more about this.”

  “Mike?”

  “Phoenix Agency.”

  “I can’t be here when the Phoenix Agency comes,” Lexie said, panicking.

  “Why?”

  “I’m not going with them.”

  “They want to help you,” Bryant said, confused.

  “No one can help me, Bryant. When will you understand that?” She shook her head. “I’m evil.”

  Damn her mother.

  He knew Lexie had suffered a toxic childhood, but didn’t really know the extent of the damage.

  She thought of herself as evil when evil was the furthest thing from the truth.

  “Evil would mean leaving this man to die in pain. We’re not going to do that,” he said.

  “I agree,” she whispered. “But we’re not going to be here when the Phoenix Agency comes. I don’t need their help.”

  He wanted to tell her that she did. That the Phoenix Agency was offering her protection in the States at a safe house, but she was too worked up to hear him. As she paced, her hands were glowing and above her the northern lights danced and lit in vibrant bursts.

  He had to get her to calm down.

  “You need to follow in the man’s car, do you think you can do that? And I’ll take this idiot in my truck.”

  Lexie nodded. “We’ll take him to the hospital.”

  “And then we’ll dump his car. Maybe down by the boat launch.”

  “Tomorrow we’ll head to the bush?” she asked.

  “After we get you gear and supplies.”

  “Okay. Let me get some pants on.”

  Bryant nodded. He watched her disappear into the trailer. It didn’t take her long to come back and she watched the assailant while he got his truck. Mike would be able to handle this assailant and he would wipe the man’s memory.

  By the time Mike got here, he and Lexie would be deep in the interior of Wood Buffalo, where Bryant could keep her safe and convince her to trust the Phoenix Agency.

  Lexie used her telekinesis to lift the injured man into the back of the pickup truck and covered him with a blanket. The masked man was unconscious, also thanks to Lexie.

  Bryant knew the doctors at the hospital, and even if the local RCMP were called in, they wouldn’t question him hard about defending his home from an intruder. Lexie would remain outside in the other vehicle.

  No one needed to know she was there.

  The drive into town seemed to take an eternity and he kept checking his rearview window to make sure that Lexie was still there. That she was following him and wouldn’t take off into the night.

  Lexie parked a street away and he drove up to the emergency room entrance. And, as he expected, once he explained what happened to the triage nurses the RCMP was called and, also like he expected, he was questioned briefly and they let him go.

  Mike would know how to navigate through the RCMP and the hospital to get to the assailant, but at least he was out of Bryant’s hands for now.

  He drove his truck down the darkened street and Lexie flashed her lights, following him through the town down the winding road to the boat launch on the S
lave River. She parked the car, locking the keys inside.

  “I wiped for fingerprints,” she said, as if reading his thoughts.

  “Good.”

  She climbed into the truck beside him. “How did it go?”

  “As I thought. I’m well known to the local RCMP and they trust me. I was in the military and I’ve pitched in a few times to help them during emergency drills when I’m in town. They know John Doe was an intruder and he was armed. I turned in his firearm and informed Mike of his presence. They’ll be here in a day.”

  “And we’ll be gone?” she asked nervously.

  “Yes. I keep my word, Lexie. You know that.”

  It was her that didn’t keep her word, like when she promised she’d never leave. He’d promised he would never leave too, but Lexie had been the first to go.

  The words struck a chord, he could see it in her face, and he felt bad about the jab.

  “Let’s go back to my place and get some sleep.”

  “I’ll take the couch,” she said.

  He shook his head. “No way. You’re taking my bed.”

  “Then we’ll share it.”

  His pulse hitched up a notch and his cock hardened at the thought of sharing a bed with her. It had only been one time and, though he had been burned, it had been worth it, because he hadn’t been able to sleep with another woman since her.

  He’d had many offers, but he only wanted Lexie.

  It had been so long since he had slipped inside her tight little pussy, but it had been the stuff of dreams these last five years.

  “I don’t think that’s wise,” Bryant said, clearing his throat.

  “Right,” she said. “But we’re adults. Nothing has to happen, Bryant. You have a queen sized bed. We can sleep next to each other.”

  Bryant groaned. He could control himself.

  He had to.

  It was obvious she didn’t want him anymore. Even if his blood still burned for her body, her heart, and her soul.

  It was going to be a long night.

  Chapter Five

  Soft.

  That was the first thing that came to mind when Bryant came out of the groggy depths of his slumber. He reached out to touch Lexie. She was still sleeping, or at least he assumed so by her even breathing and the way her body was curled up next to his.