Just One Touch

by Maya Banks

  purported to be.

  Ari’s entire body was bathed in the golden light and was lifted from the ground, where she hovered in midair six inches from where she’d lay a few moments ago.

  Jenna began to sing a soft lullaby and it was obvious she was holding the infant’s life-form to her, refusing to let her go. The notes of the song lifted hauntingly in the air and flowed through the distance until not a single person present was unaffected by the amazing event occurring right in front of them.

  “Be strong, sweet baby,” Jenna crooned. “God is with you. You are his child and he will forever grant you mercy and grace. You must fight as your mother fights and cling to the light in her womb. Never move away from that light until the time comes when you are called away. You are his chosen,” she whispered, after which she continued to hum the sweet lullaby.

  Then she closed her eyes and leaned over Ari, who’d slowly been lowered back to lie on the ground, and finally it was evident that she was finished but so exhausted by the session that she continued to lie over Ari’s body as if protecting her, still too drained to move.

  Beau ran forward just as Ari opened her eyes. “Ari?” he asked tentatively.

  Ari’s eyes filled with tears. “I don’t know how she did it, but she saved us both and I felt the presence of our child. It was so powerful. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever felt in my life. In that moment I knew everything would be all right. Please, Beau, you must see to her now. You can’t let that monster take her. I couldn’t bear it if she traded her life for me and my child.”

  Jenna roused long enough to lift her head, though it was obvious she barely had the strength to do so.

  “You must get her to the hospital to be monitored at once,” Jenna said weakly. “I did what I could to satisfy Jesus’s demand, but your child is fine and so too will Ari be. I swear it on my life.”

  “Thank you,” Beau choked out.

  Jenna looked up at the others, tears slipping down her cheeks. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. Then her gaze found Isaac’s and he nearly fell to his knees, because her expression was one of goodbye. “I’ll always love you,” she said in a low voice. “Be the reason I can endure anything. Stay alive.”

  Then Jesus appeared above her and Isaac wanted to bring down hell on him and every last minion in his devil’s army, but they were in a losing proposition and they knew it. The only ace in the hole they had was Ramie and if they did anything to fuck that up now, Jenna would die, they’d all die, and it would have been for nothing.

  “Touching. I think I may have felt a tear,” Jesus sneered. “Now get the fuck away,” he said, waving his gun as his men gathered to reinforce the threat.

  Isaac and the others had no choice but to back down as Beau cradled Ari in his arms and ran for the waiting ambulance.

  “I believe I kept my end of the bargain,” Jesus sneered at Jenna.

  She nodded tiredly. “Yes, and now I will honor mine.”

  As he turned, his men still facing down Isaac and the rest of DSS, he threw Jenna over his shoulder and strode rapidly into the distance, where a helicopter waited to fly him—and Jenna—away.

  Isaac turned as Jesus’s men began melting away and making their escape, looking desperately for Ramie.

  “Ramie!” he screamed. “God—please, Ramie, you have to help me. Can you touch something of hers so we know where to look for her? I have the light sweater she brought with her to the restaurant but left on the chair when she went to the bathroom.”

  Caleb didn’t even argue. He knew that they all owed Jenna a price they could never repay. He looked anxiously to his wife for answers, but her expression was devastated as tears sliced down her cheeks.

  She looked up at Isaac with so much regret that Isaac felt dead to his soul.

  “I can’t use my powers yet,” she said urgently, as if trying to make him understand. “All I ever know is what’s happening right here and now, and we know where they are now. They’re in a helicopter. I can’t tell the future and if I did attempt to use my powers now, I’d be too drained to use them again later, when they’d actually do us good and I could then tell you where they have her.”

  Isaac completely lost it. His men tried to hold him back, tried to calm him, but he was adrift, with no anchor and no way to find the woman who meant more to him than life itself. Having to wait for God only knew how long, while Jenna endured hell just so they could locate her and then start to mount a rescue that might be too late, was more than he could bear.

  TWENTY-NINE

  EVERY DSS agent, as well as Tori, Ramie and Gracie, gathered in Dane’s private impenetrable fortress, where he’d taken Tori for her protection. Beau and Ari were heavily guarded by Ari’s father, Gavin Rochester, a very powerful, wealthy man with a shadowy past and vast connections. He had offered his services to Beau for the rescue mission that would be mounted as soon as Ramie was able to pinpoint Jenna’s location.

  Dane was busy on the phone as well, calling in every marker he’d meticulously collected during his long years in security—and the man had an astonishing number of people that shocked the hell out of Isaac.

  Then there was Wade Sterling, Eliza’s husband, who before marrying Eliza was just as steeped in gray and questionable business practices as Gavin Rochester used to be. He unapologetically offered the full power of his resources, uncaring if DSS knew or found out about them. He kept nothing from his wife, and while she wasn’t happy to have her husband’s dirty laundry aired in front of her coworkers, she wasn’t about to interfere when Jenna’s life was at stake.

  Not after she’d done so much to save every single one of the people Eliza cared about so much and had once been willing to sacrifice everything for. She recognized a kindred spirit in Jenna and remembered well the horrific choice she’d been forced to make when she believed her teammates’—her family’s—lives were on the line.

  Tempers were edgy and emotions were running high, and an argument immediately broke out when Eliza told Dane and Wade in no uncertain terms that she was not being left out of the mission to save Jenna. Especially since Wade was going with a contingent of his best men. She’d stubbornly set her foot down and while Isaac would have normally sided with Dane and Wade when it came to Eliza’s safety, given that she still wasn’t back on full duty with DSS, at this point he was grateful to have her support. There was no one else he’d rather have at his back than this tenacious, extremely loyal woman.

  He was humbled and grateful at the outpouring of unconditional help from so many different areas when many otherwise wouldn’t be so forthcoming about exposing their connections or the gray areas of their past. But for Jenna, not a single person stood on pride, and they opened their lives to the scrutiny and knowledge of the others.

  There was trust involved in those offers, and Isaac knew that he could ask for no better men or women to support him in getting back the woman he loved with every piece of his heart and soul.

  He checked his watch, swearing in frustration. Though it had seemed a lifetime since Jesus had taken off with Isaac’s entire life in that damn helicopter, it had in fact been only a few hours. Every DSS agent and those connected with the DSS family had pooled their resources in a record amount of time and Dane was still on the phone arranging what sounded like a full-scale military operation from a highly secretive special ops group, though which branch of the armed services they served under was a mystery to Isaac. That was if they even officially existed.

  From providing highly classified stealth prototype aircrafts in the past to the partnering and coordinating with a badass black ops military team, Dane always managed to pull off the impossible and pull it right out of his ass. One of these days, Isaac was going to ask Dane exactly who the hell he was and what he did before agreeing to head up DSS for the Devereauxs, because this was not indicative of a regular civilian, coordinating a civilian operation with a civilian security service specializing in personal protection and kicking asses for a living.


  Dane had more secrets than the rest of the DSS recruits put together, and that was saying a hell of a lot given the men—and women—who’d signed on as Dane had continued to put together the best of the best to work under him at an agency that didn’t even belong to him. And that begged the question. Why did Dane work for someone else when it was so obvious he didn’t need Caleb or Beau’s backing, support or business name to operate under?

  But despite the fact that everyone knew the secret that wasn’t a secret, that Dane’s word was law when it came to DSS and Caleb and Beau were mere figureheads who deferred to him as having the final say in every situation, Dane didn’t act as though he wielded that kind of power or influence. Yes, he wanted to be kept apprised of all his men’s comings and goings, but he was never on a power trip, and he didn’t insist on taking charge and inserting himself into every situation. Only the ones he had a personal stake in. Like Lizzie’s going rogue and vigilante without her teammates, and most importantly her partner and the person she was closest to at DSS—Dane.

  Even then, to Dane’s frustration, he hadn’t been able to take the lead and had to defer to Wade Sterling, whom Dane had himself called in and unleashed on Lizzie when he knew she wasn’t being completely forthcoming with him. But for Lizzie, and what he knew to be best for her, he allowed Wade to dictate the plan of action, and Dane and the rest of DSS acted in a support capacity, something that likely still ate at Dane to this day.

  Isaac waited impatiently. With every minute that passed, he died a little more as he imagined what his angel was enduring right now. What was that cocky, victorious little bastard doing to show her what he thought of her having the audacity to bargain with him and not back down in the face of his threats? Hell, she threw his threats right back in his face like she didn’t give two fucks what he did to her, and that was what made Isaac break out into a cold sweat and panic eat holes in his gut. Because he knew the kind of man Jesus was and he knew he’d make Jenna pay for every one of those insults.

  He glanced helplessly at Ramie, who was pale and looked as though she was going to be sick. Caleb was hovering over her, holding her, kissing her, trying his best to comfort her in any way. As if feeling Isaac’s gaze, Ramie looked up, raw regret terrible in her eyes. He pleaded silently with her, knowing he was baring himself to anyone and everyone in the room in a way that a month ago would have made him crawl out of his skin in discomfort. Hell, never would he have allowed anyone to see anything but the stony stoicism he always brought to the job. But that was before Jenna. He had no pride when it came to her. There was nothing he wouldn’t do or say to have her back in his arms, safe and loved. He’d vowed not to ever ask God for another thing, but wasn’t this merely a continuation of that same prayer? That he’d never ask for more than for her to be back in his arms so he could spend the rest of his life loving her so damn much that she never had another dark cloud so much as pass over her.

  Caleb looked at Isaac, sympathy bright in his eyes. “It’s not me holding her back. It’s not even Ramie. She’s ready to go as soon as she gets the go-ahead. But there’s little point in having Ramie give us information we can’t act on. We have to have every man, every source of firepower we can pull in, be ready to go the minute Ramie gives us what we need. If we wait even a little while after she’s found Jenna, she could end up giving us faulty intel, because the bastard could move her again before we make our move and then not only are we fucked, but we tip our hand, and then we stand zero chance of having the element of surprise on our side.”

  Isaac swallowed back the knot that threatened to choke him. He wanted to scream that he knew. God damn it, he knew! But just because he knew the right way to handle the mission—any mission—it didn’t make it any fucking easier to sit here on his ass while the reason for him to live was out there, terrified, hurting, wondering if she’d ever be safe again.

  Everyone looked up when the door opened to admit Ari and a haggard-looking Beau along with Ari’s parents, Gavin and Ginger Rochester. Thankfully, Ari showed no signs that she’d ever been shot, and she smiled at the greetings and relieved hugs she received.

  Gavin’s sharp glance, however, immediately found Isaac in the throng of DSS agents, and he strode directly to where Isaac was leaning against a wall, his heart sick and every nerve, muscle and instinct ready for action. Anything but this terrible waiting game where every minute that passed meant another minute Jenna was in the hands of a twisted, sick maniac who had no qualms about making her life hell.

  “Mr. Washington, I don’t know if you remember me, but I’m Gavin Rochester, Ari’s father.”

  “Of course I remember you, sir,” Isaac said politely.

  “I never got to thank you personally for taking part in the mission to retrieve my precious daughter and save her from the monsters who killed her birth parents.”

  “I was doing my job,” Isaac said from behind clenched teeth.

  “I’ll also never be able to thank your woman, Jenna, for the sacrifice she made today to save my daughter and my grandchild. Son, there is only one other person in this world who means more to me than my only daughter and the grandchild she carries, and that’s my wife. My wife and I would be mourning both their deaths were it not for the bravest damn thing I’ve ever heard of in my life. She saved not only Ari, who may or may not have survived the wound to her abdomen, but Jenna snatched my grandchild back from the jaws of death. She fought evil for that innocent child and she kicked its ass. I wasn’t present to witness the miracle, but I’ve been told about everything that happened in exacting detail, as well as having my daughter tell me that she’d never felt anything as beautiful as Jenna’s healing light and the way she coaxed her baby to not let go and to cling to the light Jenna provided until it was that child’s time to enter the world.”

  The imposing older man looked as if his entire world had been rocked, and emotion shone brightly in his eyes. His words cracked under the weight of the love he felt for his daughter and the relief he felt for the safety of his daughter and grandchild.

  “I have dedicated all that I have, all that I own, to the mission to get back that woman, but my debt doesn’t end there. There is never anything I can do to repay the debt to the woman you love, but I vow on my life, and on the lives of my daughter and my grandchild, that if there is ever anything I can do for you or for Jenna Wilder, you’ve only to name it. You’ll never have to ask. You name it and I’ll do all that is in my considerable power and influence to ensure you have it.”

  Isaac swallowed back the tears that threatened to completely unhinge him and crack the iron grip he was holding on his composure.

  “All I want, all I will ever want, is to have her back,” Isaac whispered hoarsely. “I love her more than anything and there’s nothing I won’t do to have her back where she belongs and I swear to God, as long as I live, I will never let her go again.”

  Gavin put a comforting hand on Isaac’s shoulder and squeezed. “We’ll get her back, son. I’ve been through what you’re going through. I thought I’d lose my wife and my daughter and was helpless to do a damn thing to prevent it. But you and your men changed that. You and your teammates gave me back my family and as God is my witness, I’ll get you back the missing piece of your soul just as I was once missing that same piece of my soul and had it returned to me. With the resources we have at our fingertips? Look around you, son. No one stands a fucking chance against the full power of our connections and more importantly, the iron will of every single DSS agent in this room. You aren’t alone in this. There’s not a single person in this room who won’t die to get that young woman back after all she’s done for those the people in this room hold dearest to their hearts.”

  “Thank you, sir. I appreciate that more than you’ll ever know.”

  “Be thinking about your wedding and where you want to go afterward,” Gavin said, in an abrupt change of subject, one that had Isaac reeling as he imagined the beauty of the day when he’d make Jenna his under the eyes of God an
d the law. “If you’re anything like me, all you’ll want to do is marry her as fast as humanly possible and then leave for a very extended, very isolated honeymoon where the only concern you’ll have is seeing to your new wife’s every need.”

  Isaac nodded, unable to speak for fear of breaking down.

  “I can make that happen. You just say the word. Security will be taken care of. No one will get within a mile of you and Jenna and your every need or wish will be catered to.”

  “Thanks for the offer,” Isaac finally managed to choke out. “I may have to take you up on that. But first, I just want her back.”

  “Listen up,” Dane called from across the room.

  Isaac surged forward. Thank fuck the man was finally off the goddamn phone. Dane made eye contact with Isaac as Isaac pushed his way through so he was standing closest to Dane. Dane nodded at him, his expression tight and his eyes hard and utterly focused.

  “We’re going to get her back, Isaac,” Dane said quietly. “Fucking Jaysus will never know what hit him.”

  Then he glanced across the room to Caleb and nodded. “It’s time,” he said grimly.

  Isaac’s pulse sped up and he had to swallow back the urge to vomit as his nerves assaulted him.

  “As soon as Ramie can give us information identifying the location where she’s being held, then we move out,” Dane announced. “They no longer outnumber us nor do they have not one, but two black ops groups who about came in their fatigues when I offered up Jaysus on a silver platter and all they had to do was go in with us and kick some fucking ass.”

  A chorus of “hell yeahs” and cheers echoed through the room until Isaac’s ears rang with them. But this wasn’t over. Not by a long shot. They still had no idea where Jenna was. What if Ramie wasn’t able to see? Her gift wasn’t infallible. But she was their only chance. Because it didn’t matter how much firepower and muscle they had behind them or that every single man and woman involved in the mission had vowed to bring Jenna back at all costs. If they couldn’t find her, then all the might and resolve in the world was utterly useless.

  THIRTY

  WITH half a dozen groups of men, including two military black ops groups, waiting nearby for the command to move out once Jenna’s location had been ascertained, the mood inside had gone silent and tense as all focus was directed on Ramie.

  Knowing well how devastating the process was on her and how vulnerable she was during and in the aftermath, Caleb quietly conveyed his wishes to Dane that only he, Isaac and Dane be present during Ramie’s ordeal.

  “I understand, Caleb, and normally you know I’d agree to keep the people around Ramie to a minimum, but in this case, I think we should include Gavin and Wade Sterling, as both men are familiar with the underworld where Jesus operates and it’s possible they would clue in on things Ramie says better than we would. I also think Eliza should be present in support of Ramie,” he concluded quietly.

  Caleb nodded, closing his eyes. “I understand. I hate it but I get it. And Ramie will understand as well. Hell, she wouldn’t care if the whole room was present. It’s me who’s so protective of her and tries to shield her from as much scrutiny as possible when she’s at her most vulnerable.”

  “Let’s get to it,” Dane said. “We don’t have any more time to waste if we’re going to get to Jenna in time.”

  Everyone except those mentioned by Dane left the room to prepare to leave at a moment’s notice. The tension could be felt throughout the room and every single agent was armed to the teeth, determination etched into their expressions. Tonight, only Caleb and Beau would remain in Dane’s fortress to watch over Ari, Tori, Gracie and Ramie. The women had argued vehemently in favor of going but were shut down on all sides so forcefully, they’d had no choice but to give up the argument.

  But after the showdown between Eliza and Wade, no one dared suggest she too remain behind. She would have had the balls of every single man who suggested it. In the end, it had been Gracie who’d gotten Eliza to agree to remain behind by telling her with complete sincerity that she would feel much safer if Eliza was here to help Beau and Caleb should anyone breach the safe house.

  Wade had shot Gracie a look filled with gratitude and relief, but he’d made sure his wife hadn’t seen his silent thank you.

  Ramie sank down on one of the now vacant couches and immediately locked eyes with Isaac. “I won’t stop until I have what we need to find her. I swear it.” Then she turned to her husband, whose face was a mask of agony. “Promise me you won’t stop me, that you won’t bring me back until we have what we need. Swear it, Caleb.” Her expression was identically tortured and her fear of not being able to provide the information they so desperately needed was tangible in the air.

  Caleb merely nodded tersely and then positioned himself beside his wife. Isaac sat on her other side, while the remaining people gave her appropriate space, but remained close enough to hear and witness anything she said or experienced.

  The rest of the room fell away, and there was only Isaac and Ramie and the quiet vow he read in her eyes as he tentatively held out the sweater Jenna had been wearing earlier that day. Ramie sucked in a deep breath, staring down at it for a moment before finally taking it and wrapping her hands in the material.

  Isaac immediately moved back to give her space while Caleb closed in, hovering anxiously over his wife. Ramie’s eyes glowed brightly for a moment before she closed them and slumped forward, Caleb catching her and easing her to the floor, where she lay in a fetal position.

  Isaac stared, unable to look away, studying every nuance of Ramie’s demeanor, seeking some sign she’d connected to Jenna. Then Ramie hunched inward, grunting in pain, her arms instantly surrounding her stomach. Tears burned Isaac’s eyes as helpless fury began to eat away at his very soul.

  “You think you can so easily make a fool of me in front of my men and all those people you claim are so precious to you.”

  It was a gruff voice that sounded eerily just like Jaysus. Coming from Ramie’s mouth, it was even stranger that it held nothing of her soft, feminine tone. It was as if she was channeling the very devil himself in that moment.

  Then her head snapped back and a bruising handprint appeared on her face.

  “What the fuck?” Isaac yelled.

  He tried to lunge for Ramie, attempting in some way to protect both her and Jenna, who was miles away from the abuse being heaped upon them both. It took the combined strength of Dane, Sterling and Gavin to wrestle him away and pin him down, but he never moved his gaze from the horror that stared back at him from the floor.

  “You’re a fool to even think I’d keep my promise, especially if you don’t do exactly as I tell you at all times,” Jaysus continued, taunting Jenna through the medium of Ramie.

  “You’re the idiot,” Jenna gritted out, pain evident in her voice.

  Oh God. Isaac choked, unable to form the words he wanted to scream. Don’t anger him. Give him no reason to continue hurting you, baby. I’m coming for you. I swear to God, I’ll never give up until I have you back. Please stay alive and safe for me.

  “Do you honestly believe in your overinflated arrogance that you could ever just waltz back in and kill all those people?” Jenna said in a flat tone, devoid of emotion. “You got lucky and managed to manipulate a woman who already despised me into doing your dirty work for you. You would have never gotten within a mile of me otherwise. You’ll never be able to get to them, much less kill a single one of them. So maybe you should consider whether I’ll keep my promises, you bastard, because pissing me off isn’t the way to go about doing it.”

  “That a girl,” Dane whispered.

  Eliza’s expression was fierce with pride over Jenna’s statement, and it was