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MAXIMUM VELOCITY Marly Mathews 149

progressing, Jane. They do not want you dying at the hands of that bastard! This is the only

way!”

Samantha followed Devlin’s voice. She pushed open the door that separated her from

Devlin and the woman named Jane. The mahogany door creaked open, breaking her

concentration for the briefest of moments. But it was enough.

Wild colors flew through her line of site. Multi-colored arrows flew toward her. In an

instant she had conjured up a shield. The arrows bounced off of her shield fell to the floor and

disappeared.

The scene in front of her changed dramatically. A catch entered her throat. She was

standing in the middle of a lavishly decorated living room. A young woman sat on a plush sofa

with a little redheaded boy playing at her feet. He had a spaceship and he was zooming it

through the air, and making the necessary accompanying noises.

The woman was quite stunning. Warmth emanated off of her, and bathed Samantha in its

afterglow.

Suddenly, the scene transformed once again. Samantha wanted to hit herself on her head.

If she hadn’t been in astral form, she might have done just that.

Intruders entered the young woman’s house without making a peep to alert her of their

presence. Samantha glanced wildly at the silencing pistols they held in their hand.

The one brute turned to his partner. “We get in. We get out. The boss don’t want any

problems. We can’t get caught by Lord Winterbourne.”

Lord Winterbourne? Who the hell was Lord Winterbourne? Could they be referring to

Devlin? So many questions, and there was no one here that could answer them. Even though

Devlin’s mind was being attacked, most of his personal history and thoughts were being cloaked

from her.

By the time Samantha returned her attention to the young woman, she had scooped the

redheaded boy up into her arms. Resolution lined the woman’s features. Samantha knew that

the woman had a plan in mind.

Samantha stepped forward to intervene when the young woman took flight. But

Samantha was helpless. The first bad ass shot the young woman in the back. She fell.

The little boy’s anguished scream filled the room. Samantha could hear Devlin’s voice.

Samantha felt sick. The woman that had just been murdered must have been Jane.

“Dear God.” Samantha moved away from the heartbreaking tableau. Then, she was

sucked out of the room.

She stood in a garden. An old fashioned English Garden. The scent of May Roses

lingered in the air.

“Dev?” Samantha whispered. She had to take care not to shatter the psychic glass within

Devlin’s mind. He was near to the breaking point as it was.

Devlin stood with his back to her.

“You have to come with me. These visions you’re having, these waking nightmares, they

aren’t real. You have to come back with me. You have to help me to help Winter.”

“Winter?” An odd look flashed across Devlin’s face as he turned back to face Samantha.

“I can’t leave Jane. Go away, Samantha.”

“Jane is dead.” Samantha winced at the anguished glint that entered Devlin’s dark blue

eyes. His shoulders slumped. “You have to snap out of this, Devlin. I’ve left my body and yours

vulnerable, while I jumped into here to save you. I need you. Much as I hate to admit it, I need

you. More to the point, Winter needs you.”

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Devlin let out a shuddering breath. He reached to caress the velvety tip of one of the

roses. “Take me to Winter. I’ll be fine. I can fight the ghosts of my past.”

“Good. I knew you were made of sterner stuff. Take my hand. We’re going to jump

back through the looking glass.”

Samantha took a deep breath, and crashed through the thin glass that the telepath had

erected in Devlin’s mind. With a teeth-jarring jolt, they were both back in the land of the living.

Devlin looked into her eyes. Then, his eyes fell to her hands that were still clutching his

shoulders.

“Samantha, you can let go now. I assure you…I’m back for the duration. Wild horses

couldn’t drag me back into that nightmare. When I find that telepath, I’m going to rip him a new

one.”

“I like your way of thinking, today, Dev. But honestly, I’ve psychically camouflaged you

from the other telepaths on board the
Snow Queen
. Don’t go sniffing out trouble if you can help

it.”

A brief silence fell between them. “How did you know how to do that?”

“I’m Charlotte’s twin. Enough said.” She put some distance between them. “This really

isn’t the time or place to go into details, Dev. I really think we should get to Winter. I’ve built

brick like shields in your mind. No telepath should be able to break through the wall easily. If

they do get you again it will be because I’m dead. As long as I have breath in my body the

energy I’ve used to build the psychic wall should keep you safe from attack.”

“I can’t believe I’m going to say this, Samantha. Thank you. Without you I’d be stuck

inside the closet of my mind. But I agree with you. Winter requires our assistance. Lead on,

good woman!”

Samantha rolled her eyes. Centering her senses, she reached out. She could feel Winter.

She gasped as razor like pinpricks brushed against her mind. She bent over and gasped for

breath. So intent was she in wiping away the horrible mind touch of the telepath that was

currently terrorizing Winter that she barely noticed when Devlin rested his hand against her

lower back. “I’ll be okay in a second. The telepath that’s attacking Winter just tried to invade

my mind.”

“He must be some telepath to have spooked and shaken you.”

Samantha stood up to her full height. She clenched her hands at her side. “Oh, he’s some

psychic alright. But I can take him. Come on, I’ve already wasted enough of our precious time.”

She bit her lip. “This way.” She pointed in the opposite direction from where they had originally

been headed.

Sweat beaded across Samantha’s brow as she ran. Keeping the probing minds of the two

telepaths at bay was proving to be one hell of a challenge. Why hadn’t Charlotte caught up with

them? Glancing down at her watch, she understood why. Only three minutes had passed since

Devlin and she had stormed onto the
Snow Queen
.

Three stinking minutes!

Samantha jumped back when a white cat darted across her path. She bumped into

Devlin. He caught her before she fell.

“Did you see that?” she gasped.

“See what?” Devlin looked to where she was pointing.

“A cat. There was a white cat just there.”

“No. I didn’t see anything.”

Samantha sighed. She really needed to get a grip. “Come on. We can’t waste any time.”

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“You do realize you are taking us to one of the theaters that Winter has on her ship, don’t

you?”

“No, I didn’t. I never studied the layout of this ship. It’s too damn big to recall

everything.”

Devlin snorted. “Well, don’t worry. I know this ship like the back of my hand. I know

you’re a wee bit challenged when it comes to directions, so I’ll help you when I can.” He flashed

her a cheeky grin.

She narrowed her gaze at him. “Don’t taunt me, Devlin. I could go and do the tango in

your head.”

“You wouldn’t dare. You didn’t like being inside my mind anymore than I liked having

you there.”

They sped into the theater. It looked like a theater taken straight out of the Golden

Victorian Age.

“Beautiful,” She gasped.

“Samantha, watch out!” Devlin’s booming voice nearly jarred her senses. Didn’t he

know that she’d amplified all of her senses including her sixth sense? If he weren’t careful, his

powerful voice would render her deaf.

She spun around just in time to dash out of the way. A knife went sailing past her hand.

“Phew. That was a close call.” She fell into a crouch.

“Samantha, go. Get to Winter; I can deal with these little shits. I don’t need you to help

me.”

“Fine. I’m on it. Just make certain they go down, and you don’t fall down and go boom

instead.”

“Oh, ye of little faith.” Devlin rolled his eyes.

Samantha could feel the dragging influence of a telepath. The telepath was male. Not

only was he a telepath, but also he was a psychic vampire. Worse, he was aware of his ability to

leach the energy from another individual. He took a psychotic pleasure out of feeding. A white

crop of hair peeked out from behind one of the curtains that lined the stage. Samantha’s heart

stopped.

Ice daggers flowed through her veins. “NO!” She stumbled backward. She drew in a

ragged breath.

Anger replaced her fear. Now was the time for her to take her vengeance. The man that

had killed her father was just within her reach. Taking another shattering breath, she lunged

forward. This was it. This was the day when it would all end. Without even realizing what she

was doing, she conjured several glowing psychic orbs. They spun toward her father’s killer. She

stopped dead in her tracks. She’d never centered her psychic energy into glowing psi balls

before. If they converged on her father’s killer, she’d be able to take him out.

A scream ripped through the grand room and echoed off of the walls. The resulting

empathic and psychic wave that emanated from the scream broke Samantha’s concentration.

The psi balls exploded before they could connect with her father’s killer. She was thrown

backwards from the concussive blast her psychokinetic energy created.

“Winter!” Devlin’s worried voice met Samantha’s ears. Still, shaking her head from the

effects of the blast, Samantha looked up. There, on one of the many catwalks stood Winter.

Suddenly, the meaning behind the white cat came to Samantha. T he cat had been a clairvoyant

sign.

She wanted to go after her father’s killer. But Devlin would never make it to save

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Winter. In the state Winter was in, it was only a matter of time before she would plunge to her

death. Samantha had two choices. The thing was, she had to make the RIGHT choice.

Closing her eyes, she swore beneath her breath. “Forgive me.”

Then, without a further glance in her father’s killer’s direction, she turned on her jet pack

and flew up to where Winter stood.

“Winter, take my hand,” she urged. Samantha shut off her jet pack and planted her feet

firmly on the thin strip of metal that was the catwalk.

“No. Get away from me! You won’t take me. I’ll fight you!” Winter didn’t know what

she was saying. The telepath triggered some sort of living nightmare within her.

“Winter, it’s Samantha. Take my hand, please!”

She considered going into Winter’s mind as she had forayed into Devlin’s, but she could

do more damage to Winter than good. Samantha could sense the shields that her father’s killer

had placed in Winter’s mind. Winter would have to be checked out thoroughly by Charlotte to

make sure that the telepath hadn’t placed any hypnotic time bombs in Winter’s mind.

“You stay away from me.” Winter took a step backward, flailing her arms out to ward off

Samantha. When she went to place her left foot down her foot missed. Winter swayed.

Samantha reached out for Winter. Samantha’s fingers brushed against Winter’s hand. But she

hadn’t gotten a firm grip on her.

Winter let out a blood-curdling scream, and she fell.

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Chapter Thirty-One

Without even thinking, Samantha turned on her jet pack. It made a weird sputtering

noise and the engine conked out.

“No, this can’t be happening.” She shook her head. Her shitty luck just kept on getting

worse. Oh, what she wouldn’t give for a green-garbed leprechaun at the moment. Instead, she

activated the backup engine on her jetpack. It whirred to life.

She zoomed down to meet Winter. But Winter was falling too fast. She’d never make it

on time, especially since her jet pack wasn’t working at its optimal performance.

She had to conjure her powers. They burst forth in a bright flash of light. The light flash

nearly blinded Samantha. She looked between her blackened vision, which was spotted with

white orbs.

“
Samantha! Please save Winter,”
Devlin’s mental touch made Samantha smile.

“
I’m getting to it”
’ Samantha mentally intoned.

Samantha raised her hands. Winter’s momentum slowed down. She hovered toward the

ground. Winter’s cries died out. Now, Winter seemed almost lulled. Samantha had worked

some of her mental magic.

Devlin came skidding toward them. The theater darkened.

“I could do with a bit of light, couldn’t you?” Charlotte asked, making Samantha’s heart

hammer. Charlotte had just skidded into the theater obviously having taken out her own

attackers. Charlotte’s eyebrow arched and several of the antique chandeliers came to life.

“Jewel.” Devlin fell to his knees beside Winter’s lifeless form. Samantha allowed him to