Unleashing the Storm (17 page)

“We
can take my truck,” she said, pointed to the blue pickup parked across the
field. “The keys are already in the ignition.”

“Let’s
go.” He took her arm and ran with her to the vehicle. But as they approached,
the pungent smell of gasoline hit him, and
fuck,
maybe the animals
weren’t growling only at him. “The gas line’s been cut.”

He
pulled Kira behind him, scanned the area and saw nothing. This was not good. If
Itor had taken the time to do that, that meant they’d done something to disable
each and every vehicle left here overnight.

“What
happens now?”

“We
go on foot,” he said.

“I’m
just going to grab my bag. Is it all right to go into the cab?” she asked.

They
wouldn’t have wired the car to blow—Kira was much too valuable for something
like that. “It’s fine. But I thought you said you weren’t sure you were going
to leave with me?”

She
pulled a bright pink backpack from the backseat of the truck. Yeah,
that
was going to camouflage well. “I always have a bag packed…just in case I have
to run.”

“That
happens often?” he asked.

“Often
enough.”

Speaking
of enough…“We’ve got to get the hell out of here and fast. I’ve got some BDUs
I’m going to ask you to change into so we can move unnoticed during the day,
but for now, keep up as best you can.”

“And
if I can’t?”

“I’ll
carry you.” He took her by the upper arm and led her into the woods behind the
refuge. He saw the tears running down her cheeks, knew there was still more
than a little resistance in her gait, but she’d just saved herself. And maybe,
somehow, she’d saved him a little too.

THURSDAY
4:30 A.M. MST

Men
with guns are bad. Tell others. Warn us.

The
coyote paced, watching Kira—but mostly Tom—with suspicion. They’d startled the
creature near a stream, and when Kira had called out with her mind, it had
nearly tripped over its own feet. Domestic and captive wild animals were rarely
surprised when they learned a human could communicate with them, but completely
wild animals sometimes reacted badly. Fortunately, of all animal species, wild
canines tended to be the most open and curious.

The
coyote sniffed the air in all directions, then turned back to Kira.
Men bad.
She felt the sentiment more than saw it—she usually needed direct contact for
images—and then he slipped into the darkness broken by the light of the full
moon.

“I
think he’ll warn us if he sees more humans.”

Tom
nodded, glanced at his watch. “Let’s take a breather. Get hydrated.”

They’d
stopped an hour or so ago to have brief but intense sex against a tree, but
after more than four hours of moving almost nonstop, she was exhausted and not
ashamed to sink down on the ground and rest. The cool Idaho night air felt good
against her sweat-dampened skin, and despite the multitude of scratches from
branches and bushes, she was glad Tom hadn’t yet insisted that she don the BDUs
he’d mentioned. She wondered how the clothes would look with her pink vegan
hiking boots.

She
gratefully took the water bottle he’d dug out of his bag. “So what happens when
we get to this agency of yours?”

She’d
been asking him questions since they left, but he hadn’t done more than grunt,
so she didn’t expect much.

To
her surprise, he looked out over the gurgling stream and said, “You’ll probably
be shown the animal facility. Then you’ll be taken to the training quarters to
be assigned trainers and a room.”

“
If
I join. Which I won’t. Ever.”

“Doesn’t
matter. Whether you join or not, that’s what’ll happen. Everything at ACRO is
strictly structured, and the training program is especially so. Anyone even
considering joining has to go through the same process, has to stay on base.
It’s for the safety of both ACRO and the recruit.”

“Great,”
she muttered. Sounded even more military than the military, and the urge to
run, to escape Tom and his agency, struck her again. If her season hadn’t
started, she would have, but leaving now meant certain death. “I still don’t
understand any of this. Like, why is Derek’s agency trying to kill me?”

He
glanced at her, and then looked away. “Because they’d rather see you dead than
in our hands.”

“Why?
Why am I so important that it’s better to kill me than let another agency have
me? Because if anyone thinks I’ll train animals for war or some crap, there’s
no way.”

“That’s
not what we want you for.”

When
he didn’t offer any more in the way of explanation, she sighed. “So what’ll
happen when we get to ACRO and I need you? How will that work? Do they know
about my situation? Will they understand?”

His
fingers tightened around his water bottle, and she scented a note of irritation
coming from him. Maybe she was asking too many questions, but dammit, this was
her life.

“It
won’t be me, Kira.”

“Oh.”

She
snapped her mouth shut, both hurt and embarrassed. Of course she shouldn’t have
expected Tom to be there for her later, but…

Idiot.
I’m such a freakin’ idiot.

Her
face burned, and she was suddenly grateful for the early morning shadows. And
why did his answer bother her anyway? Why should she feel even a small measure
of hurt? Tom had made it clear that his job was to get her out of here alive.
Nothing more. His life would probably improve considerably once she was out of
his hair and rolling around with someone else.

Oh,
God. What if…? “Will there be someone? They won’t let me die, right? Not after
all this.”

Her
voice had gone shaky and high-pitched and she didn’t care, because panic had
set in. Panic that she’d have to mate with someone—maybe multiple
someones—she’d trust even less than Tom. Panic that she might have no control
over getting what she needed when she needed it.

The
memory of the jail cell two years ago was still too fresh in her mind.

Tom
didn’t look at her. “ACRO has people who can deal specifically with your
situation.”

“People
who just have sex? What kind of crazy operation do you work for?”

“Trust
me, it’ll make sense soon.” He finally swung his gaze around to her. “And the
Medical Division might even be able to come up with some sort of cure. A way to
deal with your spring fever without sex.”

“Really?”
Her heart soared before she could bring it back down to earth, where it
wouldn’t shatter from the inevitable fall. “They could do that?”

“Maybe.
I don’t know.”

For a
moment, she let herself dream of life after a cure. She’d long ago given up on
any hope that she’d have a normal existence, but if Tom’s agency could give her
that…

“I’d
be able to do so many things,” she breathed. “I could have friends. Maybe a
family. Oh! And sex during the entire year.”

Tom
frowned. “You don’t have sex except during your fever?”

She
shook her head. “I learned a long time ago that my situation doesn’t bode well
for relationships. As soon as my season starts, women turn on me because their
boyfriends and husbands paw at me. And whatever guy I’m dating thinks my sex
drive is cool for a couple of days, but then, when he can’t keep up…well, let’s
just say it isn’t pretty.”

Not
pretty at all. During the years she’d been on her own, she’d had her vehicles
and houses vandalized, painted with the words
slut
and
whore,
had
been threatened, attacked, refused service in stores and restaurants, and much
more than she’d ever shared with anyone.

“All
of my relationships end in a lot of pain.” Usually, though, the pain was
one-sided. All hers.

“Why
relationships, then? Why not just screw around? Have fun?”

“Because
I screw around with strangers enough during the spring. With all the weirdos
out there, why risk danger more than I have to? And the last thing I want to do
is make people think I’m more of a whore than they already do.”

“No
one at ACRO will think you’re a whore.”

“No
matter how many men are sent to service me?” she asked quietly, and she caught
another whiff of irritation.

He
stood abruptly, dug some water purification tablets out of his bag and added
one to each of their bottles. “We need to move out.” He took the bottles,
sauntered to the stream and filled them.

“You
didn’t answer me.”

He
tucked the bottles back into his bag. “No matter how many,” he said tightly.
Then he hefted his bag and hers onto his shoulder and held out a hand to help
her off the ground. “Now, let’s go.

THE
EARLY MORNING IDAHO DARKNESS posed no problem for Ryan, not when he was
thousands of miles away and looking through the eyes of an excedosapien with
natural night vision. The I-Agent, Jarrod Warren, spoke softly into his
headset, letting Ryan know his every move.

First-mission
jitters. Why Itor had sent in this rookie as secondary backup was a mystery,
but then, Itor often did things that left Ryan shaking his head. Too many
generals and not enough grunts made Itor more disorganized and more top-heavy
than ACRO, which led to conflicting orders, rescinded orders…total chaos at
times.

“Where’s
your partner?” Ryan asked, and Jarrod looked off toward a barn he hoped looked
better during the day than it did at night.

“I
don’t know. Gina was standing right there by that haystack.”

Unease
settled in Ryan’s gut, but he had no idea why. The disappearance of Jarrod’s
partner, an experienced pyrokinetic, probably meant that ACRO had arrived on
scene at the animal refuge and was cleaning up. Had they also grabbed the
animal whisperer and taken out the second Itor team? He wouldn’t know; he
wasn’t Team Two’s comms handler.

“I’m
going to find Gina,” Jarrod whispered, and Ryan sat back in his office chair,
allowing his mind to absorb the sights Jarrod took in—like the shadow in the
corner of his vision. Ryan heard a grunt, and then suddenly he was looking at
the starry sky. Jarrod groaned, blinked repeatedly until a female face
descended.

Annika?

The
blond woman smiled, and yes, it was Annika. He’d know that frosty grin
anywhere. There wasn’t a single male at ACRO who wouldn’t love to melt the
bergs that flowed through her veins.

Of
course, no one would dare try. Even those who might be willing to risk their
lives to her dangerous talents wouldn’t think of trespassing on their boss’s
territory. Everyone knew Dev and Annika had a thing, and only an idiot with a
death wish would screw with either one of them.

Annika
cocked her head and stared into Jarrod’s eyes—Ryan’s eyes—and his heart rate
doubled. The things she could do to him, pleasant and unpleasant—God, maybe at
the same time—icy sweat broke out on his forehead. He couldn’t feel what Jarrod
was feeling, but he saw what the other man saw, could feel the intensity in
Annika’s gaze.

“Where
is the animal whisperer?” she asked, her voice tinny through the headset’s
static. “Is there another team?”

“Long
gone,” Jarrod moaned, and suddenly the view went fuzzy.

Blinding
flashes of light burst behind Ryan’s eyelids. He cried out and blasted backward
in his chair. Everything went black, and he had to blink a few times to bring
his own vision back into the light.

Annika
had just shocked the shit out of Jarrod. Ryan shouldn’t feel sorry for an Itor
agent, but he did. A lot of Itor’s operatives thought they were playing for the
good guys.

Taking
a steadying breath, he pushed his intercom button. Team Two’s comms handler
answered.

“I
lost my team,” Ryan said, hoping the other man would say the same. Laughter
boomed in his ears.

“My
team is in pursuit of the animal whisperer. She’s being protected by only one
ACRO puss. We’ll have them both in a matter of hours.”

“I’ll
inform Mr. Blake.” Ryan hung up and clenched his teeth. He prayed whoever had
been charged to protect Kira was good—the best—because Team Two had experience
and not a small amount of insanity going for it.

Kira
and her agent could be in for the fight of their lives.

THURSDAY
10 A.M. EST

Creed
kicked open the door to the main conference room with one heavily booted foot
and entered, bringing with him a buzz of energy that disrupted every mind in
the room, except Dev’s, scattered their psychic senses like marbles and left
them shaking their heads to clear them.

Creed’s
physical appearance didn’t help—even to those who knew him, he came across as
more than a little shocking. A broad six feet, five inches, long dark hair tied
at the nape of his neck, and piercings that ran up his left ear, his chin, a
labret through his eyebrow, a ball through his tongue—Dev didn’t want to know
if there were any more hidden ones. Add to that the tattoos that covered the
right half of his face, neck and body giving him a yinyang appearance that
unnerved even the most jaded of ACRO operatives. Forget people from the real
world.