by Tracey Ward
I smile, shaking my head. “No. What do they say?”
“They’re comics. He draws them himself. They’re funny and weird, but sweet sometimes. And not sweet other times.”
“They’re swirty?”
“They’re what?” she laughs.
“Sweet and dirty.”
“Yeah. That’s exactly what they are. That’s what he is. Swirty.”
“What happens in them?”
“It’s a running story about a girl with superpowers,” she gestures to herself with an ‘obviously’ expression on her face, “and a detective who’s smarter and better looking than everyone else in the world. That comes up almost every episode. Women can’t resist him.”
“Not even the girl?”
“Only the girl, but it’s because she’s physically blind. She sees his soul, not his body, and it’s not as impressive as his face, he’s really embarrassed and ashamed by it. He doesn’t like what she sees, but she does. She likes him. And every time they fight a crime together, she sees him a little clearer. She sees something new and better in him. And she likes him a little more.”
“What about him? How does he feel?”
Jonnie smiles slightly, looking out the window to where Campbell and Brody are digging a hole in her yard. He’s laughing and shoveling, his hair glowing golden in the sunlight. His face square and handsome. But I don’t think that’s how she’s looking at him. I think she’s seeing inside him. Smiling at the soul of him.
“He’s learning to love himself through her eyes.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
NICK
Alex jumps onto the end of the bed, rocking my book almost out of my hands. “I want to look for Jokinen again. Right now.”
I frown at her. “Jonnie is asleep.”
“You can do it with me.”
“Since when?”
“Since I learned how to do it by myself. Jonnie has been going with me the last few times, not actually helping me. Not boosting me, but you could. It seems stupid that we haven’t tried together yet.”
“It’s not stupid. She’s the expert.”
“Yeah, but you’re my battery.” She reaches over to playfully poke me in the side. “Come on. Let me lick you.”
I laugh, marking my place and sliding my book onto the nightstand. Giving her my full attention. “That will never stop sounding dirty.”
“I hope not.”
“Are you sure you want to try with me? You were scared to push your limits before, but with me and my strength, it could take you even farther than you’ve gone with Jonnie.”
“That’s the point, right?”
“Right, but doesn’t that scare you?”
She looks deflated, like I burst her bubble. “Are you trying to scare me?”
“No, of course not.”
“Then knock it off.”
“I’m trying to be the voice of reason here. I don’t want you to do something impulsive that you’ll regret.”
Her shoulders slump farther, her face falling into a pout. “I regret bringing this up with you.”
I grin, reaching for her. Pulling on her hands until she tumbles into my lap, her chest falling against mine. “If you want me to be your battery, I’ll be your battery,” I promise, low and intimate. “And you can lick me all you want.”
She smiles all the way into her eyes. “So romantic.”
“I do what I can.”
“So you’ll help me?”
“Of course I’ll help you.”
“Right now?”
“Right now. Unless you want to make out for a little bit first.”
“I do, but I don’t, but thank you.”
I hesitate. “I’m confused. Was that a no?”
“Lot of that going around lately.”
“What?”
“Nothing. Yes,” she kisses me quickly, “I want to make out with you, but no,” she sits up straight so her lips are out of my reach, “I don’t want to make out right now, but thank you for the offer.”
“You’re welcome?”
“This is good though,” she tells me, blowing past my confusion and disappointment. I get over it quickly myself when she straddles my waist, moving my hands to her sides where I can feel her bare skin between her shirt and her shorts. When I’m touching her how she wants, she puts her hands on my neck, her palms warm against my skin. “Will this work for you?”
“Depends on what we’re doing. In a lot of ways, yeah, this is really good for me.”
She smiles enduringly. “For feeding me a power boost. Will this work?”
I let a little of my strength flow into her. I let it tickle into her sides, throb in the pulse in my neck under her palms. “You tell me.”
“It’s good,” she says quietly. A little breathlessly. “A little more.”
I give her what she wants. I watch her eyes light up as it seeps into her, fueling her. I feel the vibration of her own ability in the air around us, mingling with my strength, and it’s exciting on a lot of levels. Levels that I shouldn’t be reaching right now. Levels that I need to think about Walter’s naked butt in the base showers to come back down from. Baseball. Anything about baseball. Accidentally touching my mom’s underwear in the dryer when I was reaching for my socks.
And, buzz sufficiently killed.
Alex closes her eyes, breathing evenly. She doesn’t tell me that I have to mediate too, so I don’t because I’d rather not. I’d rather watch her work. Watch her dive into her abilities and beyond them, stretching her legs in ways I never dreamed she would. And she’s doing it without me pushing her. She’s getting more confident. Braver. Stronger. And the fact that I’ve had any kind of hand in that transformation is one the proudest accomplishments of my spectacular life.
I keep a constant flow of energy coming to her, adding a little more every few minutes. Her expression never changes. She doesn’t look afraid or worried. She’s completely serene, floating through the void without fear like a pro. Like a goddess untethered by the world trying to hold her down.
We sit like that, with her in my lap and under my hands, until my legs go numb. Until the light outside starts to dim. I hear people moving around downstairs in the kitchen. Food being made. Dishes being done. My stomach growls impatiently, but I hold still and I wait for her to come back.
After thirty minutes, the vibration in the room spikes. The power I’m feeding her rebounds back to me, pushing my hands from her sides. Her hold on my neck falls away as her eyes snap open.
“I found him,” she breathes excitedly. “I saw him. I was him.”
I sit up straight, my grip on her tightening. “Where is he?”
“On a train. He had his private car attached to a commuter. It just left Safi on the coast headed toward Marrakesh.”
“Is he going to his hotel?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
I sit up straight to kiss her deeply. When I pull back, I hold her face in my hands, smiling proudly. “You are incredible, do you know that?”
She laughs, giddy and girlish. “I’m starting to wonder, yeah.”
“Can you get me to that train?”
“You want to go now? While he’s on the train?”
“This is what we’ve been waiting for. This could be the night we end everything. Why wouldn’t we go now?”
Worry shadows her face, darkening her eyes. Worry for me, for her, for everyone in the house. For the people on the train with this guy. For the man himself. Alex isn’t a killer. Neither am I, but I’m a pragmatist. I see the problem and I see the solution, and if one is justified by the other, I can live with that.
“Think of the women he’s holding with Naidu,” I remind her quietly, my eyes holding hers. “Think of the people in the towns that they’ve raided to line his pockets. Think of the people like us out there that will never be safe, never be free. Not until he’s stopped, for good, because no jail will hold him. Not a man like this with the money and connections he has.”
<
br /> She closes her eyes, nodding shakily. “I know. I know,” she whispers.
“You won’t be the one to do it. I promise. I’ll take care of this. I just need you to get me there.”
Alex opens her eyes. Tears shine like glass on their surface, but her jaw is set firm. Resolved. “We’ll do it together. We’ll save ourselves together because we’re stronger that way.”
I hold up my hands, my fingers splayed wide. “Together?”
She grins, putting her palms to mine. Lacing our fingers together. “Let’s get this done. Once and for all.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
MAX
Light flares overhead, burning bright against my closed eyelids. I groan angrily, scrunching my face up against it.
“Wake up,” Carver commands excitedly. “We’ve got him.”
My eyes snap open. I’m instantly awake, a cool trick you learn in basic when a drill sergeant is barking at you that you’re late before you even started. When you’re a PJ and the call comes in that there are wounded and the chopper is leaving in five. Put on your pants and get out the door. No complaints.
“Where is he?” I ask, jumping out of bed and into action.
In the bed on the other side of the room, Beck grumbles in his sleep, rolling over to put his back to the light.
“On a train to Marrakesh. Alex thinks we can intercept him.”
“This is it?”
Carver grins darkly. “This is it.”
He darts from the room as I pull my pants up over my boxers. I grab a shirt off the back of the chair by the door as I sprint out after him. “We didn’t plan for a train,” I remind him.
“We’ll have to improvise.”
“How could anything go wrong with that?”
Jonnie’s door cracks open at the end of the hall. She pokes her head out as we sprint past, her eyes puffy and tired. “What’s going on?” she mumbles.
I pause to take her face in my hands, kissing her forehead soundly. “Alex found him. We’re moving on Jokinen tonight.”
Her jaw drops open, either from the shock of the kiss or the news. I’m going to assume it’s the kiss. That it’s me. “Right now?”
“Right now!” I shout, running after Carver down the stairs.
Jonnie runs close at my heels.
Within five minutes, the entire house is in the living room. Everyone but Naomi and Trina, who’s on watch with her in the bunker.
“This is it,” Carver announces to the house. “We don’t have a lot of time to go into the details, which is fine because we don’t have a lot of details, but we have enough to intercept Jokinen. We can put an end to him. Tonight.”
“Who’s going?” Liam asks, his face severe.
“Myself, Alex, Campbell, Beck. Everyone else, wait here, but be ready. I don’t know what’s going to happen and if things go south, you might need to run again. It’d be better if you were prepared for that. This is going to be a three-part operation. First, we take out Jokinen. Second, we’ll Slip to the base and free the prisoners. Third, blow it to the sky. That’ll be the end of Naidu and his army.” Nick shakes out his wrist, checking his watch. “It’s time to go. Our window is small and it’s closing.”
Carver, Beck, and I step forward to circle around Alex. All of us, even Alex, are strapped. I’ve never seen her carry before but Carver must have pushed the issue. He’s worried about her defending herself against a bunch of blood thirsty mercenaries. It makes me glad Jonnie is staying here.
“Max,” she calls tremulously from behind me.
I turn to look at her, surprised by the amount of emotion in her voice. In her eyes.
I’m surprised by what it does to me inside.
“You didn’t ask me.”
“I didn’t—” I pause, realizing what she’s saying. I lick my lips, my heart leaping wildly into my throat. “Today?”
She smiles shakily. “Yes.”
I push through the people in the kitchen. I take her face in my hands the way I did in the hall. I watch a single solitary pearl of emotion escape her eye, run down her cheek, and burst wet against my thumb. And I kiss her. I kiss her slowly. With feeling. With meaning I’ve never ascribed to a kiss before. I don’t press an advantage or wonder what door this will open for me. I stay in the moment with her and I kiss her the way I’ve dreamed of kissing her for the last two months.
Her hands are on mine, holding me to her. Asking me for more. For so much more than my lips on hers or my body in the dark. She has her eyes closed but she sees me. All of me. And she wants more of me. No one has ever asked for that before. I’ve never wanted to give it before, but as I kiss her, it’s all I can think about. All of the things I still want to say to her. To do with her. To see with her. There’s so much in this moment, in this embrace, I can’t see it all clearly. But she can. And she’ll show me what it means.
She breaks away, breathless and smiling, her eyes drilling into mine. “You’re coming back here tonight. Do you hear me? Because I’m not done with you yet. So you better take care of yourself and you get back here as soon as you can.”
I nod, running my thumbs along her cheeks. “Nothing could stop me.”
“Alive,” she clarifies.
I smile, kissing her one more time. Softly. “Don’t worry, babe. I’m too pretty to die.”
She laughs unsteadily, pushing me away. “Go.”
I go. I go to the center of the group. I take Alex’s hand as she offers it, a satisfied smile on her face, and I go with her in the Slip. I go to Morocco.
I go to kill a man.
Alex lands us in middle of the desert in the blazing sun. I immediately regret not bringing my sunglasses. We went from night to day in a heartbeat, the thirteen-hour time difference between Morocco and New Zealand making itself very known.
I raise my hand to shield my eyes, checking our surroundings. There’s a city of some kind not far to our right. Distance is tricky in the desert but I’d say it’s no more than a forty-minute walk. On our left is nothing. Miles and miles of sand as far as the eye can see. But that’s not what’s important. What we care about are the big, black train tracks cutting across the landscape like a scar in front of us.
“Nice job, SB,” I commend her.
She blinks in surprise. “Thanks.”
“I was being sarcastic.”
“I should have known.”
“What was your plan here? Are we supposed to jump on the train when it passes?”
“No.”
“It’s a passenger train, so it’s going, what? Over a hundred miles an hour?”
“I said no, Campbell,” she snaps. “I didn’t want to risk trying to Slip us onto a speeding train so I dropped us here, the exact spot that I saw him about ten minutes ago.”
“On a train going a hundred miles an hour. Do the math on how far away he is now.”
“He’d be closer if you hadn’t stopped to suck face for an hour before we left.”
“Don’t be jealous. Green’s not your color.”
Carver steps between us, putting his back to me. Handing something small to Alex. Her face lights up when she touches it.
“You do the honors,” he tells her. “For luck.”
“What is that?” Beck asks, squinting at Alex’s hands.
She holds up a white stone for us to see.
I step closer, immediately sucked in. I rarely get to see these things in action, and Carver has three left with no reason to ration them. Could make for an interesting day.
Alex runs her fingers along the stone, her eyes watching it closely. Learning it. Curving it. Teaching it and talking to it in a sort of sign language that only she and Nick understand. It’s still amazing to watch. The stone listens obediently. The solid mass molds like clay under her touch, forming intricate detail that should be impossible without tools. Windows with thin trim and wheels with tiny spokes. A perfectly shaped coupling at the front.
“It’s a train car,
” Beck mutters in muted amazement.
Alex smiles, holding it out to Carver on her palm. “We’ve come a long way since the bird, haven’t we?”
He grins as he takes it from her hand. “A long, long, long way.” He pulls another stone from his pocket, showing its black, shining surface to her. “But I think there’s something to be said for the original.”
“Aww,” she gushes. “I love it. That’s perfect. What are we doing with him?”
“I figured the bird of stone started it all. It should end it too.”
“That’s very poetic.”
“Yeah, write us a sonnet about it later,” I tell them dryly. “Meanwhile I’m sweating down into my butt crack and the train is getting farther away every second.”
“Don’t worry,” Nick chides, wrapping his hand around the white stone. “We’ll catch it.”
He shakes his hand like he’s rattling dice, his face going cold. Empty. He’s leaving himself, going inside the stone. Finally, he tosses it onto the tracks. It lands with a light clatter between the rails, almost disappearing in the sand. But then it starts to grow. It cracks and snaps loudly, like bones breaking, just like the bone ship all over again, and I wonder if all the white stones sound like that. I’ll have to ask him when his brain isn’t split in half. Now doesn’t seem like a great time.
It takes only a few seconds for the car to bloat to its full size. Carver does it quickly, snapping the train onto the tracks with his mind like a kid putting a Thomas Tank Engine on a plastic railway in his living room. Easy. Like it’s nothing.
And just like that, we have our ride.
Alex takes Nick’s hand to lead him to the train. He’s sort of half-in/half-out right now. I remember he told me that he can’t lose his connection to the stone before he’s done with it, otherwise he can’t do a thing with it ever again. It’ll be dead, like their first bird.
I’m surprised when Alex turns the handle on the door and it actually opens. The entire thing is one piece of stone. How does it have working parts? How does it have wheels and gears and glass? It makes no sense and I should know better than to try to find sense in any of it, but the logical part of my brain demands it. It wants answers to everything, and it’s hard to tell it that it will never get them. Not where Nick and Alex are concerned.