The Protectors Series Bundle (A superhero romance anthology) (40 page)

Symone reached for the hand, and he expected her to fry the sucker. But then she hesitated. She sought out Cassie with her eyes and asked, “What do I do?”

Cassie’s set her jaw. Even though Seth held her back, she managed to look like she was commanding an army of rag-tag superheroes. “Leave him be, he’ll never get through something that size.”

And she was right. Alex finally worked the wormhole so it fit snugly around the unseen assailants disembodied arm. The young boy squeezed his eyes tight, and the portal closed, leaving the hand on this side. Garrett could only imagine the howling that must have taken place back at the clearing.

As soon as the portal was closed, Seth came forward with Cassie. “How the fuck did they find you guys again? We’re not safe leaving the compound at this point.”

Cassie crossed her arms over her chest. “We all know that’s not an option. Otherwise this might as well be a prison.” She eyed Garrett and Michael. “Are you sure neither of you have implant chips?”

Garrett shook his head as he crossed his arms. “Symone fried us both. More Michael than me. But if my tracking chip was working, they’d have caught us at the compound.”

She nodded. “If you don’t mind. I’d like the doctor to do a full scan. We can’t keep escaping by the seat of our pants.”

He watched as Symone went around to Michael’s side of the car. “I think I might know who’s giving away our location.”

A shiver stole up Garrett’s neck. He didn’t like where the conversation was going. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying, I think Reaper has been using him somehow to get to all of us.”

Garrett started to shake his head, not liking the direction of conversation. “How?”

“For the same reason he went after Alex’s brother. There has to be something to about your genetic bond that makes you easy to find for Michael. And as long as Peter has a way of tracking Michael or controlling him, then he has a way of finding his way to you. If I look at the enhancer we swiped from the compound, I might be able to figure out a way to reverse engineer it so we can find Peter.”

Jansen blinked at Symone. “You think you can do this?”

She nodded. “I’ll need to play with the device and look into Michael’s memories too. But if I can make it work, we’ll be on the offensive at last.”

Chapter Twenty-four

Symone was so used to working with Jansen that she didn’t even notice his presence anymore.

“So, I guess you guys will go off on your own or something?”

She paused her soldering for a moment and let her head hang low. Discussing Garrett with Jansen felt awkward. He might have been gracious at the motel, but it still didn’t feel right.

“Jansen, I—”

“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.” His voice went suddenly gruff. “You’ll want some alone time.” He paused, contemplative. “It must be lonely not being able to touch anyone. No one here knows what it’s like to be that isolated.”

She dropped the motherboard of the device and whirled around on her chair to face him. If they were going to do this, she could face him like an adult. “That’s not why I’m with him. “

He frowned, turning his painfully beautiful face into a harsh mask of Adonis.

“It’s part of it, but it’s more than that. He understands me.”

He cleared his throat and leaned back in his chair. “And I don’t?”

She lowered her voice. “It’s not about comparisons. But you do treat me like I need to be protected. Like I’m fragile. You’re over-protective like a mentor. And I care about you deeply. But we both know it wasn’t ever going to happen. You said it yourself.”

His normally full lips thinned. “It just irks me that he’s putting you in danger.”

She ignored the annoyance in his body language. “Jansen, you deserve someone who’s going to love you and be able to touch you, who you view as an equal. I will forever be grateful that you pulled me out of that hellhole. But gratitude isn’t love.”

He winced, and she wished she could take it back because she did love him. Just not enough to torture them both because they couldn’t be together.

“And you think sex is?”

Icicles formed on each word. He was angry and jealous, and she couldn’t do anything about that.

“I’ve love you like a mentor and a friend. And I hope one day you can yank your head out of your ass long enough to see that you don’t love me the way you think you do and can be my friend again. My Jansen.”

He was silent as she spun back around to get back to work, and for a long moment she thought he’d left, he was so still. But she heard the soldering on the table behind her, and she knew he hadn’t left her. As angry as he was with her. He wouldn’t leave. She hoped what she said was true, that someday soon he found someone who could love him back the way he deserved. Because this little family set up was going to make for some awkward dinner arrangements.

***

Two hours after they’d arrived, Garrett hovered over Symone. Could he really let her risk his life? “Are you sure this is safe?” Garrett laid a hand on hers as he picked up the device. “What if there’s some kind of reverse reaction, and you kill yourself, or worse, he gets control of you?”

“You can relax. Jansen is the best in the business, and he rigged it for me. I built the software pieces to utilize my other power. I can get a read from Michael while Reeser is trying to get a read on us. I’ll be able to pick something up on their location.” She shrugged. “That’s the theory, anyway.”

Garrett knew it was futile to lower his voice, since nearly everyone in the room could literally hear a pin drop from a half a mile away, but he did it anyway. “Symone, don’t do this. I’ll offer myself up to Reaper. He can study me till the cows come home. Whatever it takes to keep you safe.”

“Offer yourself up, and we have a temporary solution. Find out where asshole is, and we have a full term solution.”

He gnashed his teeth together. She had a point. But what she was doing was risky not only for herself, but for Michael. After a CT Scan, Lisa had determined that there was some kind of foreign object on his medulla that caused the long gaps in memory as well as the erratic behavior and the passing out. She could perform the surgery to remove it, but she would rather a brain surgeon do so.

Cassie and Seth wanted Symone to try her hand at reaching Peter. While Symone and some of the team went on the attack, Cassie and Seth would take the boy to a neuro specialist who’d worked with Cassie’s father. Cassie could wipe or manipulate the doctor into hiding their visit.

Garrett was supposed to follow Seth and Cassie. But his body and brain couldn’t let Symone go on her own without a fight. Granted she wouldn’t be alone. She’d have Alex and Jansen, but it made him uncomfortable none the less. His worst fear was that something would go wrong, that he’d lose Symone, and Peter would still be free to roam the world and free to find Michael. Garrett needed to be sure the bastard was dead himself.

Kneeling by his brother, he whispered, “Cassie and Seth will see you’re safe. I’m going to go with Cassie to get Peter. I promise when we’re done, he’ll never come near you again. You have my word.”

Michael searched his gaze, then nodded. Placing his hand into his brother’s, they clutched each other. Michael’s voice was soft. “Kill that bastard. I want to go home.”

“Done deal.”

Chapter Twenty-five

Symone ignored the pain at the base of her skull and focused all her energy on Michael. Just like Garrett had taught her, she calmed her mind and imagined she was touching him. No anger, no fear, just peace. In her mind’s eye, she could see the dial of the power turn way down, until it was nothing more than a low buzz.

Reaching for Michel, she said, “Take my hand. It’s okay, I won’t hurt you.”

Michael frowned. Turmoil swam in his eyes as he looked at his brother, but as he tentatively placed his hand in Symone’s, he jerked at first and everyone in the room rushed in to crowd them. But Garrett backed them off once Michael didn’t go in to convulsions and instead looked at their joined hands in awe.

“It feels—” He shook his head. “This is the best I’ve felt since I left Aunt Caroline’s.”

Garrett smirked. “Don’t get used to the euphoria kid. Let her work her magic.”

Symone knew she needed to work quickly. No telling when Peter would reassert himself in Michael’s brain. And if the two of them cohabitated, it could kill the kid. She sifted through his memories and the dark spots. From the moment he’d left his aunt’s place, his only thought had been Garrett. She saw his arrival at Tracker base and how he’d trusted Reaper. But she also saw the distrust there. The uncertainty.

It wasn’t until she sifted through two days of innocuous content that she found what she was looking for. After his final treatment with the serum, Michael had gone into another fire of hell, just like all of them. He just didn’t remember. But the interesting thing was, once he’d started the full transformation, Reeser had gone into his room and attached a miniature version of his tracking device to the base of the kid’s skull.

She shuddered as the memories tingled her consciousness. For an instant, she could see what Peter saw. How he saw through the eyes of his victim. He’d tested it out on poor Michael while he’d been burning. Through Michael’s and through Peter’s eyes she could see the room he was kept in. She shuddered, eager to get out of the cohabitation.

The link with Peter was temporarily broken, but over the course of the week when Peter had him, Peter had experimented on the range and long term effect. Presumably Peter had implanted the additional device for remote access. Peter had taken the same device she wore now and used it for a direct line into Michael.

Understanding now, she searched Michael’s fugue states more intently. They weren’t the black holes of information that she’d thought when she first looked. In each of the fugue states, Michael had been controlled by something else. Peter taking the reins. The good news was he could only do it for a limited time.

This poor kid. Letting go of Michael’s hand she searched his face. Just because she’d gone into his memories didn’t mean he’d relived them. At least that made her feel better. He still had a blissful nirvana.

Turning to Lisa, she said, “You’ve got to get that thing out of his skull. It’s what Reaper’s using to control him.”

Garrett let the expletives fly, and Symone stood. She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “I also know how he’s been tracking us, or rather how his tracking power works. Cassie, you know how you said when you were running, he always seemed to find you?”

Cassie nodded. “Yeah. Like his Trackers always had an inside line on us.”

Symone shook her head. “He had an inside line to you. Maybe because you’re his sister, but for a limited time, he can actually see what we see, or you and Michael. You, because you’re so close to him, and Michael because of this device.”

Seth’s stream of cursing was lower than Garrett’s but just as effective. “Can they see us through him or Cassie now?”

She shook her head. “No. Morgan blocks his access. Peter’s not draining his energy; Michael’s gotten better since we’ve been here.”

Garrett’s brows drew over his eyes, shading the beautiful navy color. “How is there any good news in this situation?”

“Thanks to your brother paying attention, I know where Peter is.”

Chapter Twenty-six

Symone knew the strategy. She’d come up with part of the plan. She was fine with their scheme.

But she didn’t like it that Jansen and Garrett were along for the ride.

Garrett had entrusted his brother to Cassie and Seth and come with her. She didn’t like the automatic warming in her chest. She didn’t want to need him, but it was too late for that now. She liked having him around. But the thought of losing him killed her.

As for Jansen, she was always worried about him. He was only human. He could get hurt, and despite their conversation, he was close to her heart. Alex joined them on the lawn.

“I guess it’s me and the boys tonight.” Symone said as she laid out the sketches of Peter’s location. “Okay, according to Seth, he sees something happening in the basement.” She circled the position on the map. “He’s blocked but sees it. We’ll set explosives here.”

Garrett’s brows knit. “Didn’t you guys try that before?”

Jansen snickered. “If at first you don’t succeed, fry the fucker again.”

Almost automatically, Garrett muttered a soft “Hoo-yah.” And Jansen smiled at the Marine call out.

Symone breathed a sigh of relief. At least Jansen wouldn’t be trying to shank Garrett on the mission. That was progress, right?

“Okay, once everything goes to hell, they’re going to throw everything at us. We don’t have Morgan, so we won’t be cloaked. But we do have Alex, so that’s an element of surprise.” Symone turned toward Alex. “You know the deal. Stay out of sight. Open your portals, shove the fuckers into Siberia, then get out of sight. We don’t need them snatching you.”

He rolled his eyes, but nodded. “Got it, Mom.”

“Garrett, you and I are going after Peter. Once I get my hands on him, it’ll be lights out.”

He studied her, and she knew he was trying to get on her frequency and read her. She shifted her gaze from his. “What did you and Cassie discuss? What are we going to do with him?”