The Reunited

TWENTY-FOUR





SHE followed her gut.

There was a miasma of fear and horror, and that was the path she followed.

Twice, she had to duck inside a doorway as she heard people coming. When she was slipping out of the doorway a second time, she crashed into a hard male chest. Immediately, she panicked and went to head-butt him, only to have Tucker jerk his head back out of range at the very last second.

“Ease up, sugar,” he murmured, absently stroking a hand down her hair.

“F*ck me,” she said, her voice harsh. Edgy.

“Oh, will you? What do you say, when this is over?” he teased.

“Ha, ha.” As her heart continued to race, she let herself lean against him for a minute. Solid, sturdy, there. The one person she knew she could count on, thank God. Through the thin material of his T-shirt, she could feel the heat of him—the burning heat. “You’re bloody burning hot.”

He gave her a playful leer. “That’s what all the pretty girls say.”

“So damned insistent to get in here but you’ve got time to stand around flirting,” Joss said, his voice not much more than a snarl as he came around the corner.

“Piss off,” she said, turning to stare down the hall. Tucker laid his hand on her shoulder.

Joss went to say something and then he stopped, shook his head. “Five more ahead . . . they’re hurting. Somebody’s screaming.”

Dru looked at him. “I don’t hear screaming.”

“Aw, shit.”

* * *

HUDDLING up in the seat, Taige Morgan clamped her hands over her ears and whimpered as the scream echoed through her mind. Loud. Endless. No human could scream like this, not using their vocal chords, because at some point, they needed to breathe.

A hand curled over her shoulder, shaking her.

“Damn it, Taige, snap out of it,” Taylor shouted.

She groaned. Tried to push her shields up, but that scream just carried on. And on.

“If you don’t snap out of it, I’m going to use that damn Taser on you.”

“Kiss ass,” she gasped. And still the scream raged.

Shield. Had to.

One thin, shaky layer.

Then another.

Finally, by the time she was establishing a fourth, she had a little bit of peace in her mind, and she could almost hear herself thinking. Almost. “Who the hell did you put in there?”

“Vaughnne.”

“I’m going to punch her,” Taige said fervently. “I don’t know her. I don’t want to know her. But I’m going to hit her.”

“If she’s making noise, it’s because there’s trouble.”

Taige groaned, her head still ringing. “There’d better be. Or I’ll make trouble.”

Uncurling from the ball she’d drawn herself into, she sat up and stared out the window as Taylor slowed down. “I don’t like doing this with just us.”

“No time,” Taylor said, shaking his head. “Wasn’t supposed to go down this fast, and we’re running on a shoestring these days as it is. If I had more intel, I could bring in one of the regular units, but—”

“It’s just us.”

She reached down and pulled her ID from her bag. She rarely used the damn thing anymore. Somehow, though, she couldn’t just walk away from the unit entirely. Some part of her understood there would be times she knew she was needed, she guessed. Slipping the cord around her neck, she adjusted her jacket, her weapons. “It’s damn dark in there,” she murmured.

“Yes. And that’s the truck Crawford is using.”

* * *

THE screaming was about to drive Joss out of his mind until he managed to ice it down.

Yeah, yeah, the ice wasn’t good, but he’d already figured out what he needed to figure out, and if he kept hearing the screaming, he was going to go insane, and how much good would he be then?

And he needed to come through this sane, because there were about two hundred and fifty thousand questions he needed answered. Couldn’t do that if he was in the hospital getting treated for a mental breakdown.

Even through his shields, though, he heard the echo of that scream.

Nalini seemed fine.

Dru was unperturbed.

The redheaded guy looked a little off, but what did he know?

Then they came to a door, and both Dru and her guy—what were they to each other?—moved off to one side, standing close enough to touch, while the man studied Joss and Nalini with dark, stormy eyes. He angled his chin toward the door. “Damned federal op, you go in first,” he said. His gaze dropped, eyeing the vests both he and Nalini had put on before they left the SUV.

Abruptly, he was all too aware of Dru’s lack of a vest. Even the guy’s. Too vulnerable.

Bad idea, bad idea.

“You two need to leave,” he whispered.

“Oh, hell, no. Tucker, you with me?” Dru said, not even looking at Joss.

Shit. Shit. Shit—

The fervency of that scream increased and he knew there was no time. None at all.

“We go in first,” Joss said.

Tucker skimmed a hand back over his hair, sighing. “Now wasn’t that what I just said.” He snagged Dru’s arm, tugging her over.

Joss looked at Nalini. “High or low?”

“Low.”

They stared at each other. Joss took a deep breath and then shoved open the door.

And stepped into hell.

* * *

VAUGHNNE had held it as long as she could.

She hadn’t been joking when she told Joss she could turn his brain into a sieve, but it wouldn’t be a fun exercise.

She’d tried just piercing their minds, doing that to hold them at bay, but one of them had been a psychic null.

As he’d moved on her, her control had faltered and she’d slipped up. Two of them were on the ground, convulsing and bleeding from their ears. And she had the memory of how it had felt to break their brains in her mind.

F*ck—

But at least she had a gun now, one with a nightscope . . . score. There were no lights in here, save for a few small, high windows.

Holding it steady on the man she considered to blame, she smiled.

“Put it down and I won’t kill you,” he said.

Oh, yeah. Like that was going to make her feel all warm and fuzzy.

There were still two others in the room, and they were recovering from her mental attack. She launched another one, swaying a little from the toll it took. “How about you put it down and I won’t kill you?” she said.

“You’re outnumbered,” he said, shrugging. Then he glanced behind him, although how much he’d be able to see in the dim light, she didn’t know.

His partners were still incapacitated, but not for much longer.

Hurry it up, Crawford, she all but screamed to the man on the other side of the door.

The women had huddled in the corner. Not willingly. She had to use sharp mental jabs on each of them, but if they’d moved, they’d be in the way. No innocent bystanders. Now they were as out of the way as they could be. Good thing, too.

It was show time.

“Not for long.” She smiled.

She made sure to sever the connections with anybody and everybody as she turned and lunged for the other women.

Get down, Vaughnne. Get the other women down, Crawford warned.

We’re down and ready. DO IT. She held her breath . . . said a prayer.

The door swung open.

She heard a muffled curse, followed by shots.

Then silence.

Joss’s familiar, surly voice sliced the hair. “Vaughnne?”

Vaughnne sighed. Closed her eyes. It was over. She thought.

In her mind, she saw a face.

Sugar, I’m sorry I didn’t get here in time . . . rest in peace, Dayline.

A light appeared close by, too bright, paining her eyes. “Point that somewhere else, Crawford,” she groaned. A headache slammed into her as Joss crouched at her side. His eyes, harsh and unblinking, were narrowed, watchful. She didn’t care.

Her part was done.

She’d finished her job. What she’d set out to do.

End of—

Barely able to hold on to consciousness, she whispered, “Jones?”

“Getting ready to call,” he said, his voice softer, a little gentler.

Vaughnne grimaced. Couldn’t black out, not yet. What if it wasn’t safe?

Sweeping out with her mind, she felt . . . yes. “He’s coming. Close.”

With a groan, she sank into the black depths of agony.