Safe at Last (Slow Burn #3)

Several things came to her at once. Voices. Random echoes. It overwhelmed her and she clamped her hands over her ears as if to somehow shut out the barrage of thoughts around her. Oh God. She wasn’t crazy. It was coming back.

She closed her eyes tightly, because given a choice between the two, she would have preferred to be crazy.





TWENTY-EIGHT


GRACIE paced the interior of the safe house, tension growing increasingly more difficult to bear. Her palms were sweaty, her pulse raced and her respirations were rapid and light, making her dizzy.

Where was Eliza?

They’d split off several hours ago as they’d left the clinic. Eliza had stated she needed to retrieve her laptop from her home, run by the office to do some digging and then she would be back at guard duty at the safe house. She anticipated an hour and a half, two at the most. That had been four hours ago.

Gracie had a very sick feeling that she wasn’t crazy. That she had recovered some of her powers and that everything she’d “heard” in the doctor’s office was indeed directed at Eliza.

She glanced Isaac’s way. He’d been given guard duty in Eliza’s absence. He didn’t seem unruffled or worried in the least. Wade, however, wore a grim expression and seemed deep in thought. Was he worried like Gracie was? Or was he contemplating something altogether different?

There was at least one other DSS agent outside the house. Where, she wasn’t sure. But she knew he was carefully watching the house. It should make her feel safe, but she couldn’t rid herself of the horrible feeling that she was no longer even a target and that the focus had now been shifted to Eliza.

What if she was already in the hands of the people who’d abducted and beaten Gracie, and by account, had also taken and done grievous harm to Ari, Beau Devereaux’s wife?

Her pacing sped up and she turned quick turns, walking back and forth in a short line, her mind trying to come up with a possible solution. If she just blurted out to Isaac that she used to be able to read minds, but then couldn’t—but oh wait, now all of a sudden she seemed to be regaining her power, and oh, by the way, I think Eliza is in great danger—he’d think she was a raving lunatic.

Not to mention if she got them all hot and bothered and focused on Eliza and something did happen, Gracie would be responsible.

And yet the growing dread wouldn’t leave her. It only swelled until her chest was constricted and she could barely draw breath. The images of Eliza had horrified her. Was that what she was enduring even now?

She shook her head. She couldn’t—wouldn’t—simply shake this off. Eliza had been kind to her, had put her life on the line to protect someone she didn’t even know. She was loyal to Gracie because, in her words, Gracie was important to Zack, thus it made Gracie important to the rest of DSS. Gracie wouldn’t reward such selflessness by remaining silent out of fear of being wrong or thought a lunatic.

An idea popped into her head, so crazy and ridiculous that it was absolutely . . . brilliant. Her breath hitched in excitement. Of course! She knew exactly how it could be determined if Eliza had been kidnapped, if she was suffering. And they certainly had the tools to mount a full-scale assault and take out every single person responsible for the harm that had come to DSS, as well as take out anyone associated with them.

And it had nothing to do with a single DSS agent. No, the real power and skill for this operation was in the women who’d married DSS agents: Ramie, who could discern Eliza’s location by simply touching an object belonging to Eliza; and Ari, whose powers were enormous and not even fully tapped yet. There was no telling just what she was capable of, but she’d already taken on these men once, and annihilated an entire compound in the process. And Gracie . . . Her powers weren’t as awe-inspiring or as helpful as Ramie’s and Ari’s, but she could read minds, and if there was pertinent information to be had, a way to bring about the complete end to this madness, then she could be of some small help.

Her gaze leapt to Isaac. From all Eliza had imparted, getting to Ramie was as hopeless as getting into Fort Knox undetected. She bit her teeth into her lip and then glanced Wade’s way. Wade’s allegiance wasn’t with DSS. It was with her. It was why he was here. And . . . Gracie knew in her heart, though she chose to deny it, Wade was not always a good man. He was steeped in shadows and had connections no ordinary man should ever have.

But she’d never questioned him. In truth, she didn’t want the answers. She preferred to live in ignorant bliss and consider him the friend he’d indeed become.

Wade turned as if sensing her gaze and his eyes sharpened as he stared at her. Then he glanced Isaac’s way, as if knowing Gracie had something on her mind she wouldn’t want the DSS agent to hear.

He headed toward Gracie and tucked his hand underneath her elbow and gently guided her into the bedroom he occupied, leaving Isaac alone in the living room. He didn’t shut the door. It would likely arouse suspicion, but he took Gracie into the bathroom, to the farthest point away from others.