Carter (3 page)

“No. I don’t think so. At least…it was a one night stand, I had an itch, and he was there. He’s human, yes, but not much of anything else.” He asked her what she meant. “I mean he’s a loser. An ass. I never told him about Max because…well, frankly, I didn’t trust him. You know me and trust things.”

She sat up again and had to take several deep breaths before she was willing to move again. He didn’t stop her, for which she was grateful, and he even helped her to the bathroom to change. Her clothing was covered in blood, but there was nothing else for her to wear. When she came out of the bathroom, there was a woman and another man with Rider. This man she knew from the other night.

“Thomas.” He nodded and introduced her to his wife. “Linyah. I’m assuming that neither of you are human either? And you guys just happened to be around when Rider needed you? I need to go and get something.”

“Nope. We popped in.” She stared at Linyah and then at Rider. “I’m taking you to your kid. We can be back here in a few seconds, but I’m thinking if he sees you like that, he’s going to be a little upset. He will be, won’t he?”

“It’s all I have.”

Linyah just disappeared. She was standing there one second and gone the next. When she reappeared with a shirt and a pair of pants in her hands, Murph just stared at them.

“They don’t bite.” She still didn’t take them. “I swear to you that I didn’t steal them, nor did I make them do weird things. The faster you change and get ready, the sooner we can get the kid and put you back to bed.”

“It’s not that easy.” Instead of wasting energy that she didn’t have, she pulled her shirt up and over her head and dropped it. Both men turned their backs on her. “I’m reasonably sure you’ve both seen a naked woman before. What’s the big deal?”

Neither of them answered her, and she finished changing. Stupid men. It was just a flipping body. Linyah helped her pull on her boots, and by then Murph was exhausted. Linyah sat on her knees in front of her and watched her.

“I can heal you should you like it. I can make it all go away. But for now, I’d rather help you with your son.” Murph nodded. “You’ll have to let me into your mind so I can see where he is. Is that all right? It won’t hurt.”

“You can’t. I mean, normally it would be fine if it wasn’t me, but you can’t get into my head. Not and be okay. I’ll…it will hurt you.” Linyah told her she was a race of people that used their mind a great deal. “Okay, so you do this and I hurt you, which I will, what will happen to me? I mean, he’ll kick my ass, won’t he?”

“More than likely. He won’t want to, but it’s in his nature.” Thomas just smiled at her when she looked at him. “Leopards are very protective of their mates. While he won’t mean to hurt you, his cat will be nasty.”

“Yeah, no thanks. My way for now. And if you want to take a walk down Murph lane, then we’ll work something out.” Linyah stood up. “I don’t want you to heal me either. I’m fine. Just focus on going to get my son. Are we going your style of transportation or are we driving?”

“Mine.”

Murph stood up and looked at Rider. He’d done this for her. And her son. She didn’t have the words to thank him, but he nodded at her. Linyah put her hands around her waist, careful of her wound, and then asked her where they were going.

They were there before she finished the street name. The apartment building didn’t look like much, but it was the best place to hide and she knew it. As she started to enter, Linyah pulled out her gun and told her to wait. She entered before Murph did.

“Your son, he is young?” Murph told her he was eleven. “You weren’t very old then, were you? I’m very old. Thousands of years old, and…I’m babbling.”

“Yeah, so you are. And so you know, it’s kinda freaking me out a little. He’s not a killer or anything, but I appreciate the gun. He’ll…he’s pretty smart, and he’s very street smart too.”

They moved up the stairs, and she paused in front of a door. The door was open about an inch, something that would never have happened if they weren’t in trouble. Looking at Linyah, Murph tried to think how to tell her about what they might find here. “He was with two friends of mine. And if…they’d never give him up, but if something is wrong, he’ll have run. It’s what he’s been trained to do. Understand?”

“I do. But you should know that I can enter the room beyond and see if he’s there. Or if whoever you are hiding him from is there.” Murph put her hand on the wall separating her from her son. “What is it? You feel something.”

“He’s not in there and….they’re dead.” A sob took her breath away, causing her belly to hurt more. “I don’t know if he’s run or not. I told him to when there was trouble, but I don’t know where to….”

“I can find him if you let me.” She looked at the other woman. “Take me into the house and I’ll find something that he touched. I can find him that way.”

“Can you tell me…is he…will you know if he’s dead if you touch it?” She nodded and Murph nodded back. Her heart was breaking for the people who had been killed. “They were all the people in the world that I could trust. He must have found them…my father, he must have figured out where they were. But Max, he would have hidden from them if he heard something. It took me a month to find him before, and that was only practice. He’s that good.”

They entered the apartment.

The first body that they encountered was that of her friend Rachel. She’d been shot twice in the head and her blood was still red, not the rusty color of old blood. Linyah handed her a gun that was lying about a foot from Rachel and asked her if she could use it. Thomas appeared in the hall just behind them with another man, both of them armed. With a nod, they moved deeper into the room.

The living room was where they found Connie. She, too, had been shot, once in the chest and once in the head. Her body looked like she’d gotten in a few punches, too. Her knuckles were raw and her lip was bleeding. Linyah leaned down and touched her finger to her mouth and then stood up. Murph knew she had just gotten the scent of the man who had hit her friend.

Max’s room was at the back of the apartment, hidden away from the rest of the rooms by way of a blank wall. There wasn’t a door to it from the living room, but from the bathroom linen closet. It was really the next apartment over, and she had cut an opening in the wall to hide him from anyone that entered.

Someone had found his room; it was a shambles. Books were strewn all over the room, and his bed had been shot. Bullet holes also marred the wall above it and the closet. His computer was broken—stepped on, it looked like—and then left in a mess on the floor. She didn’t even bother looking where he might be hiding in the room, knowing that he was long gone. Or at least she hoped he’d left on his own. Leaning over, she searched the rubble for something to give Linyah and came up with a brush. But before she handed it to her, she looked her in the eyes.

“You have no idea how much I’m trusting you right now. If you harm him, give him up, I will hunt you down with my dying breath and kill you. No matter what it takes, do you understand that?” Linyah nodded. “He’s all I have in the world. And I will kill for him. I have killed for him.”

“I won’t hurt him or you. This I will promise you.”

Murph didn’t want to do it, but she really had no choice. She was getting weaker, and they all knew it. Handing Linyah the brush, she put out her hand to grab onto her when she felt that she was doing the wrong thing. Trust even now was hard to give to someone. But she was standing there alone a second later.

She looked at Thomas and the other man, and before she could ask them what the hell had just happened, the door to the apartment blew open and she was tossed back. The last thing she remembered was that her son was gone from her.

Chapter 3

Max saw the woman. She was standing there like she knew where he was but was giving him the chance to come out and see her. He didn’t want to, but he thought the woman might be able to help him. When she turned her body toward him, Max reached out and touched her mind.

Your mother sent me.
He didn’t answer her because he didn’t trust that what she said was true.
She’s been to the apartment, and your friends, Connie and Rachel, are dead. Did you get hurt too?

No.
He watched her when she nodded
. Where is my mom if you know so much about it? She would have been here if she sent you.

She’s been shot.
He had figured that out on his own. The cop that had been in the apartment had said that they’d killed her. The man…his name was Snyder…worked for someone other than his grandda. But Max had a feeling that they were full of poop
. She’s still hurt and with my husband Thomas. He was to take her back to the hospital to recoup, but something happened right after I left and he and my brother-in-law are hurt now too. Can you come with me? She’ll feel better if she knows you’re there with her.

Look, lady, I don’t know if you realize this or not, but I’m not your average kid. I’m pretty smart too. Mom says I have enough street smarts to run an underground company, but she said I need to use this stuff for good, not evil.
The woman laughed.
So in order for me to go with you, even if I want to, you’re going to have to answer a few questions for me.

She grinned.
You’re a great deal like her. Are you aware of that? Stubborn and full of snot. I’m betting that you play a mean game of chess too. But if we could do this quickly, I’d very much like to get back with my mate and family. And I’m sure you would as well.

As a matter of fact, he did play a good game of chess but didn’t tell her that. He wanted to go to his mother too. There were several questions he had for this woman. First and foremost, was his mom really okay?

Shot in the belly once. She’s been beaten up a lot too. But nothing that won’t heal. She called a friend of hers to come and get her. Well, she told him she was dying and he found her before she could.
The woman leaned against the wall.
What’s the next question there, kid?

Max. Max Murphy. This friend of hers, what’s his name? There is only one person in the world she said that she trusted, and you should know his name.
He hoped in a way that she’d not know. To be able to run and run far was appealing to him. Like his mom, he had little trust for people.

Rider Lanning. They went to college together
. Max nodded. One down and one to go.
My name is Linyah Lanning. I’m married to Rider’s brother Thomas. I’m a Genjar, in case you’re wondering
.

I’ve heard of you. You’re…your race is supposed to be gone
.” She didn’t say anything and he only nodded.
My mom has a mark on her body. It’s a sigil. Do you know what it is?

The woman closed her eyes and didn’t move. When she looked at him again, he could see the shock on her face. It almost scared him into running before she finally spoke.

Do you have one too?
He nodded, not sure now that he wanted to go with her even if she did know the right answers.
The sigil is on her right side, high and just under her hairline where it’s not that noticeable unless she has her hair pulled up in a ponytail. Which she rarely does. Max, do you have any idea what it means to be marked like this?

No. And neither does she.
Linyah nodded and took a step toward him, and broke the connection to speak to her directly. “I’m not saying I’ll go with you, but you answered the questions right.”

“I’m going to take you to your mom. And if you aren’t happy with what I am showing you, you do know how to get away from us, right?” Max nodded again. “Good boy. I won’t hurt you, young Max. I’m in awe of you. You and your mother are very special to my race.”

“Yeah, heard that crap before.” Max wanted to touch the woman, to form a connection to her so he could see just how trustworthy she was. But instead, he sat down on the bench near where he’d been hiding and thought about his mom. “She’s a good person, a great mom, but I worry about her all the time.”

“She worried for Rider too. I heard that she tossed him on his ass when he was messing around in class.” Max had heard that as well. But it didn’t mean anything. “This power that you and your mom share, do you know all the things you can do with it? What you can use to get away from me should you need to?”

“I can kill you by taking your head from your shoulders.” Linyah nodded. “I’ve never killed anyone on purpose before. I hurt someone once, but that was an emergency. It was him or me, and I liked me a good deal better.”

Linyah laughed. “I should like to take you back now. Your mother won’t rest, so they can’t fix her until she’s sure you’re all right. I pissed her off a great deal by not taking her with me to get you. But she was too weak and had I brought her, she would have…more than likely she would have died.”

Max stood up and looked around. There were so many people out around them, yet they ignored them for the most part. But there were two men across the street that had been there for several minutes, and he was beginning to think they were there for him. When he looked at Linyah, she was staring at them as well.

“Max, it’s time you and I left.” He nodded and took her outstretched hand. Before he could blink, he was standing in a hallway and there were nurses and doctors running up and down the hall. “She’s in there, but you can’t just go in there and surprise her. She’s in a lot of pain and she’ll try her best to hold you. Do you understand?”

“Yes. You want me to be the one who holds her back.” Linyah nodded. “There is a lot of people in there with her. I know that they’re trying to help her, but she is scared. We don’t have a lot of friends, and there are too many in there.”

Linyah told him she’d take care of it, and he walked in behind her. His mom was there, and she was sobbing. He felt his own tears fill his eyes. Crying was okay, she’d always told him, and if anyone told him he was not supposed to cry for any reason, he was to kick their asses. He sure did love his mom.

“Mom?” The entire room seemed to have gone silent. But he didn’t care. She was looking at him now and that was all that mattered. As he moved to the bed slowly, he started talking to her. “They can’t help you if you’re squalling like a big baby. Why don’t you let them fix you up so I can hold you? I sure was afraid when you weren’t there.”

“I was shot.” He nodded and was standing close enough that she could touch him now, and he let her, holding her hand to his face like she always did. “I was so afraid myself. I should never have left you there. I should have…we should have run when we had the chance.”

“We did run, Mom, and we got nowhere. You know that.” She nodded and pulled him to her chest. He let her hold him until her arms fell from his body. Looking at the doctor standing there, he was ready to leap at him and hurt him when an arm grabbed him around the waist and pulled him back.

“My name is Rider. Rider Lanning. And that is Doctor Hudson. Danny to his friends. Don’t hurt him.” Max leaned back into the man’s chest that held him, feeling safe for the first time since Connie had sounded the alarm.

“What did he do to her?” He told him that they’d knocked her out, and since drugs didn’t last long in her system, they had to work fast. Rider let him down on the floor and took his hand. They moved into the hall and let the doctor’s work on his mom.

“How old are you?” Max told him what his mother said all the time. “Yeah, your mom was like that too. Too old for her age. But being an old eleven is better than you think. Murph is a great person. I’ve missed her.”

“She missed you too. You’re the only person she ever talked about and had that funny look in her eyes. Like she would trust you above everyone else.” Rider nodded. “Will she be okay? I can’t…I don’t have anyone else.”

“You and she have us now.” Max nodded. “I bet you’re hungry. Do you want to go down to the cafeteria and have some lunch? My mom is down there with my sister-in-law, Hannah. They’ll love you.”

Max went with him because he could feel his mom’s pain. He knew they were working on her, but the hurt was killing him. He moved to the elevator with Rider and stepped inside before he did. As they rode to the basement, he thought about the men who had come into the apartment.

The gunshots were loud in the small place. The alarm should have given him just over two minutes, and in that time he had to grab his bag and get out of the house. But they were in before he could get out…less than one minute after it was triggered. He knew almost immediately that it had been a set up, but he hadn’t wanted to believe it then or now.

He’d heard the first body hit the floor. Then when there was a fight, he knew that it was Connie. She’d been going to classes to learn to defend herself for years, and it had done her little good against the man who had eventually shot and killed her. Max had to get out, do just what his mom had told him to do, but he’d had to get calm first. And that had nearly got him caught.

“This is my mom, Maribel Lanning, and my sister-in-law, Hannah. This is Max Murphy, Murph’s son.”

The older woman moved over so he could sit with them, and Rider went to the counter. Max had no idea what to say to these people, so sat as quietly as he could so as not to draw attention to himself.

“Your mother is going to be just fine, young man.” He nodded at Hannah. “She’s very strong and…well, I’ve never known anyone who can curse like she does.”

“Hannah.” The older woman, Mrs. Lanning, scolded Hannah. “Of all the things to say to a young man. I’m sure your mom doesn’t normally curse like a sailor on leave when she’s not in pain.”

“You’d be surprised.” Mrs. Lanning laughed then, and then looked at Hannah when she did as well. “It’s mostly at her job. She can’t stand stupid people. And when they really mess up where she might have to shoot one of them, that really makes her cuss. One night when she thought I was asleep, she said some words that I never heard before. And then there’s my grandda. She really hates him.”

“We don’t know a great deal about your family. Just the few things that Rider told us about Murph. I never met her, of course, but she and my son were very close in college.” Max knew this but didn’t volunteer anything. So far as he knew, his mom didn’t trust them any more than she did most people. “Keeping it close to your vest, are you? Well, that’s good. You figure out if you can trust us or not, and then we’ll get to know you better.”

Rider set a burger and fries in front of him. There was a bottle of water, too, but he made sure that the seal hadn’t been broken before he took a drink. He looked up when someone cleared their throat. It was another man, and he was staring at him while he spoke to the rest of the people at the table.

“Lana and the girls are all settled in. I’m invited for dinner tonight, but I told them I had this family thing to do.” He looked over at Rider when he invited him to eat with them. “Nah, I’m going home. I have some things I need to get…who are you?”

“Max Murphy.” The man nodded and sat down. “You’re one of the Lanning men, right? One of Rider’s brothers. You look like them.”

“Thanks.” Without asking him if he could, the man cut his burger in half and took part of his fries. Max decided that if he could eat them, so would he. “I can smell her on you. Who is she?”

“My mom?” The man paused in shoving a handful of fries into his mouth. “You can smell her on me? I guess that’s good being that she’s my mom.”

The man finished his half of the burger and went up to the counter. When he returned, he had two more burgers and the biggest pile of fries Max had ever seen. He gave Max part of them and a slice of apple pie. Max was suddenly hungry too.

“I’m not going to make a big deal out of this, but I have to meet your mom. Do you know where she is?” He told the man between bites that she was in the emergency room upstairs. “And do you know who is working on her and why?”

“Yeah.” Max finished his half of the burger and was offered half of the third one that the man was eating. Declining it, he finished off the fries, then the pie. The man asked him again. “I don’t know you. I don’t know why I’m not afraid of you, but I don’t know you.”

“Carter Lanning.” Max nodded and played with his last two fries. “Doesn’t mean anything to you, I guess. But I’m Rider’s brother, as you guessed. And I work for Lanning Search and Rescue. Right now…I’ve been in a funk lately. I think you’re…you and your mom are going to make it worse.”

“Why is that?”

Carter looked at his mom, then at Rider. Max didn’t think he was going to answer him, and he was a little afraid. Reaching out, Max brushed his fingers over the man’s hand and got more than he’d bargained for. When he stood up, the man did as well.

“It’s not nice to rape a man’s mind just because you don’t get answered when you want.” Max nodded. “I’m not going to hurt either of you. Not ever. I just want to see if what I think is true.”

“Carter, what is it?”

But he didn’t answer his mom either. He just kept staring at Max. When Carter came around the table toward him, Max took a hasty step back. Carter stopped moving.