by Abby Blake
“I…um…what’s an autopsy room?” The guy glanced around the area, stepping away from the medical beds as he babbled incoherently. Considering that he had been about to murder his patient, Davin found it difficult to feel sorry for the guy. The world would be a way safer place without this monster practicing medicine.
“What the devil?” the professor asked as he glanced at the man wandering around as if he were suddenly lost.
“Take a seat, professor.” Sandra stepped closer, using her telekinesis to physically move the old man over to a chair.
Jason rushed to the bed, quickly assessed the patient’s injuries in his unique way, and smiled at them. “He’s got several blood clots that I should be able to dissolve without opening him up. Once I get him stabilized we’ll transport him back to the medical facilities at head office. We’ll be able to figure out what damage was done and go about repairing it.”
“What’s his problem?” Jason asked as he glanced at the babbling man.
“Davin erased all his medical knowledge. He knows he’s a doctor. He just can’t remember how.”
Jason gave his half brother an assessing look, but smiled easily. “Handy skill.”
Theresa wandered through the area making certain that nobody was armed and gathering anyone who wasn’t in the main ward. Most came willingly. Those who didn’t cooperate dangled in midair like life-size puppets. Her skill was quite impressive.
Davin felt a strange blast of something from Sandra, and he glanced over to see the professor moving off his chair and heading out of the room. “What the hell?” he exclaimed out loud. He tried to contact Sandra telepathically, but it seemed as if someone purposely blocked him. He moved toward the professor, but a loud static-sounding noise burst into his brain, and he found himself backing away. The professor gave him a grin, one that suggested he was behind Davin’s strange behavior. Davin wanted to grab the man, but for some reason he felt compelled to do the opposite.
And then the memory of Jenna’s file popped into his mind, and Davin realized the skill his father possessed. He could manipulate people with his thoughts, and he was doing it now to both him and Sandra. If they didn’t manage to break through this stupor, the man was liable to walk straight out the front door.
All this time Davin had believed the traitor at The Agency had enabled the professor’s escape. What if the man had just convinced someone to let him out? No prison in the world would be able to hold him. Davin was about to panic when he felt a person walk up behind him.
“Sit down, Daddy.”
The professor immediately sat on the floor, looking as confused as Davin had felt a moment ago. Davin had never been more relieved to hear Jenna’s voice in his entire life. He’d read in the professor’s memories that Jenna’s skill to persuade others had grown rapidly since being healed of bullet wounds twice by Jason. It would seem that she’d even outgrown her own father’s ability.
“That’s mission complete,” Dana sent to Sandra. “Everyone who needed arresting is arrested, and the transport and medical helicopters are on their way.” Davin was a little surprised he’d been able to intercept the private communication, but he glanced at Darrick and realized he’d heard it, too.
“Mission complete?” Sandra asked in a teasing voice. “You’ve been watching too much television, Dana.”
“Yeah, yeah, just get your ass up here so we can go home.”
“Yes, luv,” Sandra replied, her affection for her sister-in-law quite obvious.
“Bring your future husbands, too,” Dana said in a voice that made it clear she knew they were listening in. “Davies wants to have a word with them.”
She glanced over at Davin, spoke briefly to Theresa and Jason in quiet tones, and then walked over to them. “Let’s get out of here.”
Davin looked around the room. Theresa had the facility’s employees under control. Cody had arrived with Jenna, and he and Jason were dealing with the patients. And Jenna, wearing a huge grin on her face, gleefully had their father under control.
He, Darrick, and Sandra were no longer required, and so it seemed it was time to pay the piper. They may not have done anything wrong before being incarcerated by The Agency, but he didn’t think the authorities would be too impressed by his and Darrick’s escape.
Sandra moved into his embrace, wrapped her arms around his waist, and held on tight. “Whatever happens, we’ll face it together,” she said a moment before lifting up to drop a quick kiss on his lips. He nodded, glad to see his brother pressed up against Sandra’s back. None of them had any idea what the future held, so he chose the one thing he’d always wanted but never truly had.
“Let’s go home.”
* * * *
The meeting with Davies was probably one of the most confusing of Darrick’s life. Not only were they free to leave and live their lives in peace, but the man had offered them both jobs. With the professor out of business, the traitor in The Agency exposed, and the threat those men had both presented essentially neutralized, their purpose would be a little more altruistic than that of previous agent responsibilities.
Most of their new tasks would be in helping the people they’d rescued assimilate back into society. As Davies explained what he envisioned for them in the future, Sandra’s grin grew wider. “I assume you’ll be staying on as well,” Davies said to Sandra. She nodded. Most of The Agency’s employees were being transferred back into mainstream federal law enforcement agencies, but it seemed Sandra was happy to stay put despite her exemplary work history. Well, all except for that little footnote about helping prisoners escape…
“You let us escape,” Darrick blurted out as several things began clicking into place in his mind.
Davies smiled but didn’t deny it.
“Why?”
His new boss looked like he wasn’t going to answer, but then he relaxed, leaned back in his chair, and gave them a friendly smile. “Because it was the only future I saw that included the professor and Gordon Jenkins both being arrested. I wanted to shut things down for good and that was the only way it was going to work.”
“Seriously?” Sandra asked. “You couldn’t have warned me?”
“Well, I could have,” he said, seeming amused. “But in that future you missed out on loving these two.”
Sandra blushed but smiled at her boss. “So how far can you see into the future anyway?”
“Not much further,” he said quietly. “I’ve asked Jason to remove the tumor in the next couple of days. Without his help I won’t live out the month.”
“Tumor? That’s how you were able to see so far into the future? Shit, boss, you should have gotten the surgery. What if you’d died?”
Davies seemed amused, but tapped his temple instead of answering out loud. Obviously he’d seen that future, too.
“Go home, Sandra. I’ve already done the paperwork to put the safe house you’ve been living in up for sale. If you hurry, I could probably get you an employee discount.”
Darrick grinned as all the possibilities of the future opened up in his mind. He and Davin had more than enough money put away to buy the house if that’s where Sandra wanted to make their home. But first thing tomorrow they were going to buy a ring. He’d promised her a lifetime of love, and that’s exactly what she was going to get.
“Congratulations,” Davies said as he stood up and offered his hand. “I’ll see you at the wedding.”
Epilogue
Two years later…
“Ready to go?” Darrick asked as he entered Sandra’s office.
“Just about,” she said absently as she scribbled on the paper in front of her. He stepped around the boxes that were stacked haphazardly and moved to his wife’s side.
“I thought all the reports had been filed.”
“They have. I’m just writing a personal reference for my secretary. She’s been transferred to the FBI, so she doesn’t really need it, but I want to make certain she knows how much I appreciated how hard she’s been working t
hese past couple months.”
Darrick nodded his approval. “Does it feel strange that this is your last day as a federal agent?”
“A little.” He could sense her sadness as she figuratively closed the chapter on the last decade of her life, but he could also feel the excitement she held for what was essentially an unknown future.
“You’ve done an amazing job,” he said as pride for his wife and everything she’d achieved in the past couple of years swelled through him. Davies had stepped down from the top job over a year ago and had handed the reins of The Agency over to Sandra. Despite Sandra arguing that there were people better qualified, Davies had quietly assured her that, even though he could no longer see that far into the future, he had absolutely no doubt in her ability to finish the task.
Now that it was complete and the dozens of traumatized victims they’d rescued were living fairly normal lives supported by people with similar skills, there was no longer a need for The Agency to continue. Most of the agents with extrasensory skills were already scattered amongst other law enforcement agencies. Caleb, Ethan, and Theresa had been set up as a special response team so that if any problem with a person with unusual abilities became a threat, they were called to assist anywhere in the country.
“Okay, done,” Sandra said as she signed the handwritten reference and tucked it into an envelope. “Time to go home.”
“We’re ready to go,” Darrick sent to his brother. Davin sent back an affirmative reply that was the equivalent of a secretive grin.
Darrick helped his wife through the maze of boxes and led her down the hallway to the break room. She glanced at him suspiciously when he stopped there, but she opened the door and smiled at the people waiting inside.
Davin pulled her into his arms, pressed a quick kiss to her lips, and held on as a representative of everyone present stepped forward to thank her for all her hard work and dedication. By the time the young woman had finished, Sandra had tears in her eyes.
The party went on for a little while, the crowd finally thinning out until only Sandra’s, Davin’s, and Darrick’s families remained.
Darrick glanced around the area and was struck once more by how much things had changed in the past two years. He and Davin had spent years relying only on each other, of feeling isolated from the rest of the world, but thanks to the people in this room—people who’d taken their extrasensory skills and used them to help others instead of harm—they had a wife and siblings that they were both very proud of.
“What’s that smile for?” Sandra asked even though she would have been aware of every thought in his head.
“Just thinking of all the kinky things I’m going to do with you after the party.”
She laughed, sent him an image of the BDSM scene they’d been wanting to try, and then turned to look at the people in the room.
“They’re pretty amazing people. There is essentially enough skill in one family to do exactly what the professor had planned. Except, the professor forgot one thing.”
“What was that?”
“That most people are essentially good and just want to live in peace. Even the sons he had a hand in raising chose not to follow in his footsteps.”
“True,” Davin said as he stepped closer. “We also have a very good incentive to stay on the straight and narrow.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her breathless.
Darrick grabbed her the moment they came up for air and then did the same. Sandra’s knees were a little shaky by the time he let her move away from him. But he didn’t let her go far. “Have you decided what you want to do now?”
“Right now?” she asked, mischief shining brightly in her eyes.
“No, honey,” Davin said with a wide grin and a conspiratorial wink. “We already know what’s going to happen as soon as we can get away from the crowd. He meant once you’ve had a long holiday. You already turned down every state and federal agency that headhunted you, so what is it you want to do?”
The picture of the three of them decorating a nursery, Sandra with her belly so swollen she could barely reach the wall she was decorating with a row of hand-painted ducklings, slipped into his mind.
“Seriously?” Darrick asked as everything he’d ever wanted somehow landed at his feet. Surely he’d misunderstood that thought in his wife’s head. They’d already agreed on not having children. He and Davin had been disappointed when Sandra had told them she preferred to concentrate on her career, but they’d both understood and accepted her choice. They loved her and would love her forever, with or without offspring.
But now?
“I changed my mind,” she said with an embarrassed smile and a small shrug.
“Seriously?” Darrick asked again. Maybe his brain had short-circuited. He couldn’t seem to force another word past his lips. “Seriously?”
Sandra raised an eyebrow and gave him that look.
Thankfully, Davin came to his rescue. “What my brother means to say is, ‘Thank you, baby girl. Can we get started right now?’ Isn’t that right, Darrick?”
Darrick nodded. He shouldn’t be surprised at how quickly life could change, but he’d also learned change could be wonderful. “Thank you, baby girl. Can we get started right now?” he repeated dutifully.
His wife needed only one word to change all their lives forever. “Yes.”
THE END
WWW.ABBYBLAKE.WEBS.COM
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Abby Blake prefers to read or write romance over just about everything else—except maybe chocolate. Most days she can be found hurrying to do what needs to be done so that she can curl up with her laptop and her latest bunch of heroes.
Also by Abby Blake
Ménage Everlasting: Viper’s Dungeon 1:
Emma’s Education
Siren LoveXtreme Forever: A Bride for Eight Brothers 1:
Mikayla’s Men
Siren LoveXtreme Forever: A Bride for Eight Brothers 2:
Sweet Captivation
Siren LoveXtreme Forever: A Bride for Eight Brothers 3:
Wild Fascination
Siren LoveXtreme Forever: A Bride for Eight Brothers 4:
Keen Inclination
Siren LoveXtreme Forever: A Bride for Eight Brothers 5:
Hot Inspiration
Siren LoveXtreme Forever: A Bride for Eight Brothers 6:
Mikayla’s Family
Ménage Everlasting: Fire
Ménage Everlasting: Altered Destinies 1: Lost
Ménage Everlasting: Altered Destinies 2: Runner
Ménage Everlasting: Altered Destinies 3: Hidden
Ménage Everlasting: Altered Destinies 4: Stolen
Ménage Everlasting: Altered Destinies 5: Soldier
Available at
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Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com