Siren's Surrender (19 page)

Planting her feet firmly, Gwen struck back with all her might. They two women were on another plane, one not of the body, but of the mind.

The lab began to blur as swirling lines of pure energy snapped and crackled between them. Focusing through her third eye, Gwen could see that Chiara was getting tangled in the energy ropes she sent out.

The vicious Mer screamed ferociously, hurling back bolts of pure lightning at Gwen. The prospect of losing her soul-stone clearly terrified her. She was going to scratch, claw, kick, and scream to the bloody end.

The solidity beneath Gwen’s feet began to thin. She felt her body quiver under the intense pressure, sliding toward the floor. A searing fire raced through her chest, exploding like a sun gone nova.

A vague thought filled her mind.
I’m losing
. . .

Out of nowhere, Addison stepped between them. Towering and in command, her soul-stone blazed at her throat. Eyes widening in disbelief, Gwen saw the stone around Doma Chiara’s neck commence to glowing hotter than a live coal.

Eyes filling with horror, Chiara screeched in pain and rage, writhing against the intense flare of agony Addison had inflicted. Body flexing in an arch against the hard metal table, she collapsed into a dead heap. The soul-stone around her neck winked out, a useless dead black thing.

Ignoring the flashes of pain beating at her temples, Gwen stumbled toward Addison. The two sisters sagged into each other’s arms.

Addison gasped, fighting hard to calm her breathing. “Damn, that was one intense ride.”

Remembering to breathe, Gwen sucked in a lungful of welcome oxygen. Her vision cleared, bringing the room around her back into focus. Everyone’s eyes were round with disbelief.

After a few minutes, everyone resumed normal activity. Doctors hurried to Chiara’s side, checking her vital signs. “She’s still alive,” one physician announced. “Though I would have sworn for a moment we lost her.”

“Uh, ho,” Dennis Thompson muttered. “What the hell will we do if—” He sped off without finishing the thought, exiting the laboratory without a glance back. For a fat man, he moved pretty damn fast.

Addison broke out of her hold. “Quit hugging on me, will you? I can stand up just fine.” Leaning forward, she pressed her hands to her knees, taking several deep breaths. “Man, that was freaking intense.”

Blake Whittaker stepped toward her. “You okay?” His look was one of sincere concern.

Waving him back, Addison nodded. “Yeah. Just give me a minute, will you?”

Whittaker obeyed with a nod. He turned to Gwen. “What about you?”

Skin alive with lingering electricity, she rubbed her hands over her arms. There was no way the people around them would have been aware of the intense psychic firefight they’d just engaged in with Doma Chiara. “I think I’ll survive.” What she didn’t say was that she felt like a battery totally drained of its charge. Right now she wasn’t strong enough to flick at a fly.

He returned a crooked, shaky smile. “What the hell just happened here?”

Gwen put one hand to her temple, fighting a little wave of dizziness. She couldn’t tell whether it was from her recent psi-fight or because Whittaker was standing so damn close.

“Telepathic showdown,” she said, forcing a weak smile. “We won. We just need to make sure we get Chiara’s soul-stone.”

Pulling herself back up to her full height, Addison squared her shoulders. “And I’ll take care of that right now.” A little unsteady on her feet, she wobbled toward the unconscious Chiara. Her fingers curled around the Mer’s deadened stone. Addison snapped it off her neck with a decisive gesture. “She won’t give you any more trouble now.” She handed the stone over to one of the astonished doctors.

Unable to pull her gaze away from her younger sister, Gwen inhaled a breath. Although she had believed she would be able to beat Chiara, she was wrong. Had Addison not stepped in, Chiara might have come out the winner. She realized then she’d been mistaken about Addison’s abilities. Of the three of them, the youngest Lonike girl might prove to be the most formidable.

Head still swimming with dizziness, Gwen let her hand drop. “If you don’t mind, I think I’ve had enough for today. Is there somewhere I can lie down a while?”

Blake Whittaker stepped up. “Of course. If you’ll come with me, I’ll show you where you’ll be staying.”

A
n agent greeted the group as they left the lab, guiding them toward the familiar black sedans. Tessa and Kenneth would continue on with Dr. Novak, who wanted to get started animating Tessa’s sketches of the sea-gate as soon as possible. Addison had remained behind with Dr. Yadira to answer additional questions about Mers’ soul-stones.

That left Blake and Gwen alone. Within minutes they were speeding through the compound toward the living facilities. A few minutes later they arrived at the entrance of a small gated community.

The guard manning the gate buzzed them through. The agent behind the wheel navigated the car onto a small cul-de-sac. A series of small duplexes sat amid beautifully manicured lawns. The area was well lit and highly secure.

Gwen leaned forward, peering out the window. “It looks normal.” A note of surprise colored her tone.

Blake laughed. “Not quite what you were expecting?”

He sensed her uncertainty. She shook her head. “I’m not sure what I was expecting,” she admitted. “I imagined something like barracks, you know or—” She paused midsentence.

Sensing her hesitation, Blake gave her a little prod. Part of his job was to keep her talking, earn her trust and confidence. “What?”

She waved a hand. “Nothing, really.”

With her face half in shadow, Blake couldn’t discern her exact expression, but her tone suggested she was surprised to see they’d be living like ordinary human beings. “Come on. You were about to say something else.” He leaned back against the leather seat. “Spit it out.”

Gwen nervously folded her hands in her lap. “Well, to tell you the truth I expected something more like cages or cells,” she admitted quietly. “I had this terrible vision you guys were going to stick us someplace like a prison, you know. Lock us up and throw away the keys.”

Blake leaned close, lowering his voice. “That’s only for the ones we’re going to dissect.”

Gwen glanced at him. “I—I, oh . . . I hope not.”

He burst out laughing. “I’m teasing.”

At least he hoped he was.

She pinned him under a glare. “You’re such a dog.” She punched him on the shoulder. “You should be beaten, and liberally.”

“Hey, take it easy there.” Blake reached up, rubbing the spot she’d touched and feigning a hurt look. “You do know assaulting a federal agent is against the law.” He couldn’t help but enjoy the contact. It was good to see her loosen up.

Gwen leaned back, studying him from under a sweep of long thick lashes. A slight smile toyed at her lips. “So arrest me, then, wise guy.”

Blake reached for the handle on the door, uncomfortable with the idea that, in a way, they already had. Shifting in his seat, he stepped out of the car. The agent behind the wheel jumped out, hurrying to open Gwen’s side.

“Your luggage has already been taken to your apartment,” the driver informed them. He handed over a set of key cards. “You are assigned to number three,” he informed Gwen. The next card went to Whittaker. “And you, Agent Whittaker, are number four.”

Whittaker accepted his key card, tucking it in the breast pocket of his shirt.

Gwen raised a surprised brow. “So you’re going to be stuck here with us?”

Whittaker nodded. It had all been prearranged down to the last detail. He knew exactly what he was supposed to be doing, and why. He didn’t like it, but like any good soldier, he’d do the job and do it right.

“Pretty much. I’m the agent acting as your liaison officer with the doctors who will be performing the testing on you and your sisters.”

Gwen took a slight step back in alarm. “Testing?”

Whittaker hurried to placate her. “Routine stuff,” he assured her. “They would like to do a complete physical, as well as do some testing on your paranormal abilities.”

She frowned. “Sounds very invasive.”

“You won’t be forced to do anything you are uncomfortable with,” he said, then added, “I’ll be with you every step of the way. If you feel pressured, just let me know and I will put an immediate stop to the matter. My job is to make sure you feel secure while at this facility.”

The driver set his jaw and said nothing. Of course he knew the truth.

What Blake had just told her was a total lie, but somehow he forced himself to spit it out. As it stood, the agency’s scientists had three other living specimens on which to perform the more invasive—and painful—testing. As for what would happen to Gwen and her sisters, he wasn’t sure. Though he’d been given a higher level of clearance, there were still limitations to the information he could access. He hoped the restrictions would ease in time. For now, he’d have to live with the fact that he didn’t know what lay ahead for the Lonike girls.

Refusing to think about it, he pushed all negative thoughts out of his mind. He could keep brooding about the matter when he was supposed to be psyching himself up for seduction. Truth be told, at the moment he wasn’t in the mood. Despite his attraction to Gwen Lonike, he wouldn’t mind going to bed alone. In fact, he looked forward to it.

I can play the game later,
he told himself. It wasn’t like they weren’t going to be here tomorrow. The way things were going, it looked like he was going to be spending a lot of his tomorrows in this place.

He dismissed the driver.

The agent nodded, returned to his car, and sped off. Red taillights disappeared.

Gwen slowly rubbed her palms up and down her arms. “Thank you for telling me that.” She offered a weak smile. “I can’t tell you how terrified I’ve been of this entire thing.” She shook her head. “It’s like I’m caught in some sort of bizarre nightmare, and if I could only wake up, things would be all right again.”

Blake’s eyes followed the motion of her hands. His flagging interest perked back up. Well, maybe he could put a little effort into getting closer.

“Are you cold?”

She shook her head. “Just nervous.”

“Why don’t we go inside and get settled in?” Blake took her arm, an easy natural move. It was an act that could be interpreted as innocent, yet would allow him to gauge her willingness for physical contact.

Gwen immediately leaned closer, her body almost brushing his. They fell into matching steps.

Blake led her up a short flight of steps. An unlocked main entrance led into a small brightly lit foyer. There was a door to the left and one to the right.

Gwen glanced around. “Wonder where they’re hiding the cameras.”

Blake followed her line of vision. “Actually, there are no cameras inside the private residences. No listening devices either. Once you go through that door, you have total privacy.”

She arched one well-defined brow. “That is a surprise. I’d imagined our every move would be tracked.”

Blake gave her an amused smile. “We really don’t need to know when you eat or go to the bathroom, or if you sleep bare-assed naked.” What he didn’t add was that he was the eyes and ears of the facility. Everything he saw and heard would be meticulously recorded in the daily reports he’d have to send up the ladder.

He had a feeling he’d be jotting down a lot of boring details, a whole lot of effort for nothing. Gwen and her family had lived and functioned in the human world for a long time without detection. For all intents and purposes, these Mer had passed as peaceful, law-abiding humans all their lives.

Gwen slid her card into the reader. “Well, here goes nothing.” She stepped under the threshold.

Blake followed her in.

She snapped on a light and peered around. “It’s bigger than I thought it would be,” she murmured.

“Nicer, too,” he added, giving the place a quick visual sweep.

The single suitcase agents had packed for her sat inside the door. At the time, Gwen was still confined to the hospital, semicoherent and very much a danger to herself and those around her.

All the locals knew was that there had been a terrible accident on Little Mer Island. The incident had been declared a propane-tank leak, which had done extensive damage to the main house. Lucky was reported as a casualty. Gwen, too, was reported as being severely injured.

All in all, the heavy hand of the A51 agency had managed to draw a cloak around the unpleasant event.

Yeah, there would be whispers. But those would die down in time. Lucky’s body had already been examined by the coroner and released to his survivors for a very quiet closed-casket funeral. There really wasn’t much left to examine. The old man had literally been blasted to bits, hence the use of a convenient propane tank. Given the extensive renovations the place had undergone it wasn’t only plausible, it was possible.

Forcing his thoughts back to the present, Blake cleared his throat. “What do you think?”

Still clearly ill at ease, Gwen forced a smile. “It’ll do.”

Together, they explored the small apartment. The size was perfect for one, maybe two people. It was decorated in neutral shades of beige and white, a little blank but otherwise cozy. There were the usual amenities of bedroom and bathroom. The kitchenette was a bit on the small side, outfitted with miniature versions of normal appliances such as the fridge and stove. Cabinet space was limited, but hardly a problem for one person.

Gwen spread her hands out. “God, if circumstances were different this would be a great place.”

Blake shrugged. “They do try and make agents living on the compound comfortable.”

She offered a brief smile. “I suppose I might as well enjoy seeing where those tax dollars are spent.”