Vengeance Borne (35 page)

Micah walked at Jacquelyn’s side in silence and focused his attention instead on the lake to his right, a sudden breeze creating ripples on the water that glistened gold under the noon sun. If he didn’t find something to distract him from her, he’d be worthless. He needed every ounce of concentration to get a bead on the feelings he’d have to identify and separate. Love, excitement, anticipation, even a little worry churned around him like the fall breeze, pelting his insides with scraps of private emotion.

“Feel anything fishy?” Jacquelyn asked as they walked.

“Not yet. This has got to be the most easy-going town in America. Before I knew what this—thing—I could do was, I always felt anxious. Angry, sad, frustrated.” He laughed. “Turned on a couple of times. I thought there was something wrong with me, some kind of internal wiring that was all screwed up. The only time I felt normal was when I drove off in my RV. I guess that’s because there was no one around for me to feel.”

“I bet you wish you’d kept on driving, don’t you?”

Micah stopped and Jacquelyn turned to look at him, her brow furrowed. “Not for a second.” He stepped close to her. “I’ve never done anything so right.”

Jacquelyn broke from his gaze and looked down at the concrete sidewalk. A ripple of emotion zinged through Micah’s stomach, almost unrecognizable. She turned away, her pace just a little quicker as she headed down the street. “We’re almost there,” she said as he caught up. “Better hurry if we want a table.”

Micah followed Jacquelyn into Sinkers Sub Shop, a silver Gulf Stream trailer converted into a permanent building. But it did sort of look like a submarine and Micah laughed.

“What?” Jacquelyn asked.

“When we were driving around, you said you were the sub, I was the sonar. Now we’re really in a sub.”

Jacquelyn gave him a dubious look and shook her head. “Heh, funny.”

Okay, so maybe he was only one who saw the humor in it. But above the cash register hung a periscope and Micah had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from doubling over with laughter. Truth be told, he didn’t even think it was that funny.

Trilling giggles floated out from the kitchen and Micah focused, a sense of delight bubbling up from his stomach. The girl in the kitchen was happy. Joyful, really, and the source of Micah’s own uncontrollable laughter.

He left Jacquelyn to order for them and found a table in a far corner, a place where he could put his back to the wall. It would be easier to scope people out if he didn’t have to monitor a full circle of feelings. He’d never been much of a people watcher, but here in this tiny bullet of a restaurant he sat and studied each patron: women in suits and heels with bank name tags, a girl in a polo shirt with one of the local hotel’s logo embroidered on the chest, men in loafers and some in work boots dusty and cracked with age. McCall had it all, white and blue collar, stay at home moms and dads, business owners, and they seemed to get along just fine. There didn’t appear to be a class division in this town. The guy in the business suit didn’t feel contempt for the tire shop guy in front of him. Instead, he smiled and asked how his kids were doing before he commented on the unseasonably warm weather.

“What are you smiling about?” Jacquelyn set down two paper-wrapped sandwiches and two empty paper cups.

“I’m not picking up on anything dark or evil. It’s almost creepy how happy everyone is.”

Jacquelyn pushed a cup across the table to him. “Not everyone,” she muttered and unwrapped her sandwich.

He just couldn’t win with her. Not now, anyway. An unmanned soda machine sat at the other end of the restaurant and he took his cup, leaving her to stew. Micah waited his turn, letting a couple of high school-aged kids in front of him. The bell rang above the door, and the kids finished filling their cups before he pressed his own against the ice machine. A pang of lust raced through his stomach and then lower, stirring his body in way that made him feel both uncomfortable and repulsed. Ice spilled over the edge of his cup onto the floor sliding in every direction possible. He turned around to locate the source of the arousal that nearly knocked the breath right out of him.

A guy. He’d seen him before, though he couldn’t place where, walked toward Jacquelyn. He wore blue duty pants, like a cop, but then he noticed the logo on the man’s sweatshirt, a Maltese cross with bugles jutting out from the center. Fireman, maybe.

“Are you done?” a woman asked as she waited for her turn at the soda fountain.

“Oh. No. Sorry.” Micah turned his back on Jacquelyn in an effort to keep up appearances though what he really wanted to do was run across the restaurant and tackle the bastard walking up to her. God, why did he have to pick the slowest soda in the bunch? It was pouring out like frozen sludge rather than liquid and with each passing second, the feeling of attraction intensified, coupled now with a dangerous anger. Could this be their guy? And he was headed straight for Jacquelyn, the only person in the world Micah gave a shit about protecting. Should he forget the soda? Make a scene? Or play it cool the way he knew she’d want him to?
Hurry UP you slow fucking Mountain Dew
!

The cup was three-quarters full, the other fourth nothing but fizzy green foam. Good enough. He slapped on a plastic lid and jammed a straw into the opening. He sidestepped the waiting line of soda drinkers, fighting the urge to launch himself across the restaurant. If the guy walking toward Jacquelyn had been harboring Furies, she would want him to be cautious—and pay attention. Her back was turned, did she sense the guy approaching? No time to worry about it, she could take care of herself. She’d proven it to him more than once.

As he walked the impossibly slow path back to their table, Micah concentrated on blocking the emotions of the other patrons. He dismissed their easy-going, warm and fuzzy feelings, and instead centered his focus on the man in the navy blue pullover. Whoever he was, he wanted Jacquelyn. The need, so strong, burned in Micah’s gut, desire spilling across his skin like warm honey. He felt the other man’s jealousy, too, but it paled in comparison to the want. Singular in thought, this man had no other objective than to have her, and Micah felt uncomfortable in his own skin because of it. Perverse. Dirty. And…violent?

Ten more steps to the table, and their mystery man stood just behind her, hovering and almost breathing down her neck. How could she not sense him standing there? Five steps turned to two as Micah lengthened his stride, purposely bumping into the fireman as he placed his hands on the back of Jacquelyn’s chair.

“Oh, hey. Excuse me, man.” Micah practically trembled from the amount of control it took to hold the emotions swirling within him in check. His need to protect overwhelmed him, and he wrapped both hands around his cup, just to keep them from acting on their own. “Jacquelyn, did you want something to drink?” Micah used what he hoped was a possessive tone. “I can get it for you.”

Rounding the table, Micah took his seat, his eyes locked on the man’s face. His cheeks were flushed, his gaze narrow as he looked down at the top of Jacquelyn’s head and then back up at Micah. The fireman’s Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat, and the muscle at his jaw clenched and released, clenched and released, before he turned on a heel and stalked toward the door without saying a word.

“What’s going on?” Jacquelyn was too damned calm for Micah’s peace of mind. “I think, maybe, I shouldn’t have had you put such a whammy on me, Micah. I mean, I knew someone was behind me, but I’m so damned numb, I couldn’t even care enough to turn around and see who it was.”

“I don’t know him.” Micah searched her face for some kind of reaction. Jacquelyn was right, he’d managed to suck her dry of every base feeling, including caution, fear and simple curiosity.
Shit
. “He could’ve been our guy. I know I’ve seen him somewhere, but I can’t remember from where. Damn. I shouldn’t have taken so much from you, Jacquelyn. You can’t even feel enough to be cautious and I felt like I was going to choke on the violence and desire coming off that guy.”

Jacquelyn sent out a beacon of apathy that made Micah’s stomach turn with nervous energy. “Look on the bright side. If I’d turned around, it might have shifted his emotional focus. You probably have a clearer sense of his emotions now and if I’d engaged him in conversation, it might have muddled or changed what you felt. At least we know our guy’s a guy, right?”

Micah cocked his head to one side. “Was there ever any doubt?”

“Sure. The host can just as easily be a woman. Actually, women are sometimes easier marks because we allow ourselves to give into our emotions.”

Micah fiddled with his straw, averting his gaze. Some women were ruled by their emotions, but obviously not all of them. Jacquelyn was a walking testament to that.

“What did you feel?” she asked.

A hell of a lot more than you, apparently
. He needed to learn how to regulate his abilities, keep from sucking her into complete and total apathy. “Attraction. Like creepy stalker attraction. And a little jealousy. Anger, too.”

“Hmmm.”

Okay, this was too much. “Violence. Jacquelyn, this guy…it’s pretty clear to me that he wanted you.”

“Me?” She gave him a disbelieving look. “What did he look like?”

“Fireman, I think. Blue duty pants, blue sweatshirt with a fire department logo.”

Jacquelyn took a bite of her sandwich, chewing thoughtfully as she stared out the window. Micah wanted to tear the damn sub right out of her hands and chuck it at her. Numb was no improvement over emotional distress. “It’s probably just Wes,” she said. “He’s Finn’s best friend. He was the EMT on duty yesterday, too. He was pretty devastated when he showed up to take Finn to the hospital. Barely held it together, actually. It’s funny, sometimes I think he was more upset over our breakup than we were. We used to all hang out together a lot.”

“Was he broken up enough to ask a pack of Furies for help?” Man, talk about taking friendship to an extreme. If what Jacquelyn said held any water at all, this Wes had more invested in Jacquelyn and Finn’s relationship than the average best buddy would. And wasn’t that just a little creepy.

“Maybe. Maybe not. We should keep an eye on him.”

Uh, ya think
? “Do you know where we can find him if we need to?”

Jacquelyn gave him a look like he’d lost his mind. “Yeah. At the fire station.”

“Right.”
Duh, Micah
. “I’m pretty sure he might be the one. Do you think we should follow him?”

“No. I think for the time being we’re safe. He’s on shift if he’s dressed in his uniform, and he’d have to be alone to be with
them.
” She took a bite of her sandwich and washed it down with a swig from Micah’s Mountain Dew. “He’s the only non-Sentry member who knows what Finn and I do. I thought it was a mistake to tell him, but Finn and Wes tell each other pretty much everything. He’s constantly bugging me to take him out on a hunt. Honestly, though, Wes has been giving off an unusually intense vibe lately. But I’ve been on edge for so long, I could have been reading him completely wrong. I can’t possibly imagine he’d be the person behind the Furies’ attacks.”

“Maybe not, but we don’t know that for sure. Was he connected to the other victims?”

“Sure. Willie was Finn’s boss. I’m sure Finn bitched to him about Willie all the time. And Wes was a regular at the coffee shop, so he probably saw Bree as much as I did if not more. And Finn—” Jacquelyn stopped abruptly and Micah had the impression she was on the cusp of feeling something, but the sensation faded quickly and she snapped back into zombie mode. “Well, he’s Finn’s best friend. But like I said earlier, everyone pretty much knows everyone around here. It could be anybody.”

“Kind of like finding a needle in a haystack, huh?”

“More like finding a needle in a needlestack.”

Then what the hell were they doing? Chasing their tails, running in circles? He really wanted to strangle something, or someone, right now. “Is this just a wasted effort, then?”

“Of course not. This is just as much training as reconnaissance. You know how you always think Trish is reading your mind?”

“Yes. It’s annoying as hell.”

“Well,” Jacquelyn took another sip from his Mountain Dew, “even though she swears she can’t read minds, she can to an extent, at least. Finn told me about it once. He said that if the person’s mind is open, like if they were deep in thought, he could get flashes of what they’re thinking. You can do that too, Micah.”

“You think?”

“I know. What I don’t know is how to make it happen. But I think if you concentrate, watch for people who seem to be off in la-la land, you could do it. That’s how we’re going to find this bastard.”

“And you don’t think this Wes could be that bastard?”

Jacquelyn shrugged. “Could be. But he and Finn were like brothers. I just can’t believe that he’d…” She paused and looked away. “We’ll just have to wait and see.” Jacquelyn stared out the window, lost in her own musings. Micah tried to focus, to worm his way into her thoughts the way Trish had done to him.

“I said you should try it on
them
.” Jacquelyn jutted her chin toward the crowds of lunch-goers. “Not on me. Eat your sandwich. We need to get out of here.”