Energized (28 page)

Mona whimpered as she crawled back to the angel's body. One day, he'd make that bitch beg for all those times she'd locked him up and tortured him when he'd been too weak to fight back. And he'd make her suffer for taking away his love.

“Come here.” Michael's mother pulled him close and roughly bound the finger with a piece of torn T-shirt without bothering to straighten the damaged bone. The agony had his stomach twisting with the repressed need to vomit.

“You are never to do that nasty thing again. Not with any boy. Do you hear me? You'll help me clean up the mess.” Mother gestured to the dead body. “Then we'll never talk about this again. Don't look at me like that. I did him a favor. He wasn't right. I was merciful. I set him free from his torturous life.”

She bent over and kissed Michael between the brows. “Go and get a shovel, Michael.”

Mona still wept in the corner. Maybe their mother should have set his bitch sister free too. Pausing beside the mirrored closet, Michael stared down at her.

“What are you looking at, freak?” Mona wailed and pressed a kiss to the angel's forehead. Red lipstick stained his skin.

And just like that, Michael knew who he really was.

Oh, he was still Michael to the world, even mostly to himself.

But somewhere inside a small part of his heart, Mercy had just been born.

And she had a mission.

N
IALL
HELD
ON
to the chicken bar with one hand. Ryan took the corner to the restaurant so fast, Niall swore two wheels left the ground. The giant barely uttered a word, but he could've probably given race car driver Jimmie Johnson a run for his money.

The truck slid into the parking lot of the Cat. His place looked like it had been bombed. Niall didn't wait for the complete stop but was out and running.

“Hannah!” he called out, racing to what had been the kitchen entrance.

Her scream pierced the parking lot and arrowed straight into his chest.

Ryan the giant grabbed him in a bear hug and pulled him to a stop. “You can't go in there.”

“Hannah's in there. Call the paramedics, she's alive in there right now.” He pushed the giant away. “I've been in combat. Survived bombings, you can't keep me out.”

“Where's the gas line?” Ryan asked.

“Around the side.”

Ryan nodded, then dialed 911 and ran to shut off the gas.

In seconds, Ryan was back and talking to EMS.

Niall dug his way through what had once been his back door.

The kitchen was in shambles. Black smoke poured out and floated to the sky. Somewhere nearby, sirens erupted. He had to hurry. Digging away pieces of building, soot, and debris, he called out to Hannah. She didn't answer.

“Do you hear anything?” Ryan asked.

“No, but Hannah's in there somewhere.” And she'd better fucking be alive. There was no
or else
. No alternative. She had to be alive or he might as well have died with her.

“Fuck me,” Ryan said in what had to be the most emotional response the giant had ever uttered.

Niall turned to see what had elicited such a reaction. Shelley, her skirt torn, and holding her arm at an odd angle, stumbled into view.

“Where's Hannah?” she asked, sliding to the ground.

As if to answer the universal question, Hannah emitted a long, piercing scream.

Niall dug faster. Ryan dropped to his knees and joined in. When they'd dug out a hole barely big enough to squeeze through, Niall stuck his head in.

Thick smoke clouded the room. Metal racks had twisted and bent at odd angles, virtually blocking entry to the kitchen.

Hannah's pink braid stuck out from the office door. She lay on her back. “Hannah!” Niall called out, but if she heard him, she didn't respond.

“Dig faster!” Niall said, shoving his shoulders into the tunnel they'd created. “I can see her.”

He pulled out of the hole. Together with Ryan and Shelley, who only used one arm, they dug until the space was wide enough for him to squeeze through.

Niall wriggled into the hole, keeping his eyes on Hannah. “Fuck! She's going into a seizure. Help me get this shit out of the way!”

Niall spotted an opening in the twisted metal barely big
enough to squeeze into, but it would get him straight to Hannah.

“Ryan, can you hold this up?” Niall pointed to the snaking wire rack.

Around him, metal shifted over, then up, giving him room to army crawl toward her. Ash and debris floated around him like sooty snowflakes, but he kept going.

At the edges of his mind, Afghanistan resurfaced. Other screams. Other walls caving in. Others dying around him.

Not this fucking time. Hannah was right in front of him. Right there. He'd be goddamned fucked if he let her die now.

The opening swam in his vision. His throat tightened. His heart pounded painfully against his ribs, but he kept going. Shards of broken metal snagged his clothes, scraped his shoulders, his skin. The metal enclosure seemed to grow tighter and still he kept going deeper into the tunnel toward her. With each inch gained, more of Hannah's face came into view. She was awake. Her eyes were wide, vacant. Her mouth open in a silent cry. Tears tracked down the sides of her face, saturating her hair.

“Hannah, I'm coming,” he said, gaining another two inches. “Hold on, love. Just hold on. Do you hear me?”

The metal overhead shook and screeched as if about to tumble. Niall kept his gaze focused on Hannah and held his breath.

“Got it. Keep going,” Ryan called from somewhere above.

Niall wriggled a hand forward and touched Hannah's cold, clammy hand. “I'm here, love. Can you hear me?”

She didn't answer. Her body vibrated as if she were being shocked.

The metal. Ryan was touching it. God, it had to be sending her into sensory overload.

“Ryan, prop up the shelf with your shoulder but don't let your skin touch it. You're connected to her. Break the connection.” Niall searched for injury. Her ankle bled freely. A few inches above that a thin spike speared her pant leg. He wanted to yank it but was afraid of causing more damage.

“I'm out,” Ryan called back.

Behind him sirens roared, signaling the arrival of EMS.

Hannah still shook and wept, her eyes still vacant.

“Do you see Michael?” Niall swiveled his head, but only saw crisscrossing metal. “Is he touching the racks?”

“I don't know. I can't search for him without letting go here,” Ryan answered.

Dev's voice boomed. “Status.”

An explosion of voices and sirens filled the air, drowning out Ryan and Dev's conversation. Niall was alone with Hannah beneath the twisted metal. Both of them were trapped, but she was lost. Lost in visions and he couldn't help her.

Or could he?

“Hang on, Hannah, I'm coming for you.” Niall clutched her hand in one of his, then reached for the metal bar piercing her leg. “God, let this work. Hear me, my fairy queen. Hear me. I love you.”

*   *   *

M
ERCY'S SCREAMS WERE
relentless. Her whole life alone. Locked in one closet or another. Forced to be nothing. Forced to live in a world that was too cruel to notice the weak. She'd shown them all. Mom, Mona, everyone. It had taken years, but she'd shown them she wasn't worthless. She was Mercy.

“Hannah! Hear me,
my fairy queen!”

Mercy spun around in the mist that clung to her like a silken dress.

Niall lay on the ground, pinned beneath Iggy and Danny. Their broken bodies bloodied and Iggy's lips moving.

The world tilted. She wasn't Mercy. She was looking at Mercy.

She was Niall.

But that didn't make sense. Niall was still talking to her. How could she be Niall?

“Hannah! You've got to come back. Fight the vision, dammit! Where's my stubborn fairy queen right now?” Niall said.

He lay on the floor of the destroyed kitchen. Twisted racks coiled with black soot bent around him. Ash and pieces of ceiling tiles falling.

The image changed and he was back under the dead bodies again. Blood fell on his face like teardrops.

Back in the cage that had once been a kitchen. Sirens screaming.

“Goddamnit, woman! Fight the vision. Take mine instead. See me loving you. See us in the Cat. See me marrying you. See me looking at you. Fight the vision. You're Hannah Halloran. Say it! Say it, damn you.”

Mercy screamed and the faces of every man she'd killed filled her mind. Mother killing the gray angel. Then a parade of men Mother had killed starting with Father.

She was Mercy again. Dying. Dying. God, the awful, unrelenting pain. The loneliness. She'd show them all. Kill them all. Everyone who had ever hurt her. She'd save the ones she loved. Set them free.

“No!” Niall's voice cut through the cries like a claymore striking stone. He squeezed her hand hard enough to jolt her out of Mercy's head until she was a shadow in the mist surrounded by his voice alone. “You are Hannah Halloran. Hannah Eleanor Halloran. Say it! Come on and say it! Hannah Halloran. Don't forget who you are. A psychic artist and electrician. With a family you're only just getting to know. You love me. I love you. You're Hannah Halloran. Stay here. Stay with me.”

Hannah blinked in confusion as the cool, white mist gave way to gray darkness. She called out weakly, “Niall?”

*   *   *

H
ANNAH BLINKED OPENED
her eyes. Reality filtered in around her like the smoke that rose up to whisk her away into a vision. The first thing she heard was Niall's raspy voice.

“Hannah, come back, sweetheart. I'm right here. Tell me you hear me.” He brushed a thumb over the back of her hand. Gently, reassuringly. “A big wedding, if that's what you want. We can go anywhere you want for the honeymoon. Where do you want to go? Name the place and I'll make it happen.”

She tried to turn her head, only to realize she couldn't. Panic ballooned inside her. “Niall? What's happening?”

“Hey there, Hannah. Welcome back. Don't move, I don't want you to hurt yourself.” She couldn't see his face, but could hear the smile in his voice and feel the steady stroke of his thumb on her hand. “She's back. Someone get us the fuck out of here.”

Hannah blinked twice more before the room came into focus, even if she didn't completely understand it. “Ohmigod! Michael blew up the kitchen. Where's Shelley? She was hurt. Did you find her? How did you get in here?”

She coughed as ash and dust stirred in the air.

“It's okay. She's outside. She made it out.” He kissed her hand. “You saved her by putting her on the front porch. The kitchen took the brunt of the explosion. You'll be out of here soon. Just don't try to move.” He laughed but it sounded like he was choking back tears. That couldn't be right. “The paramedics are outside waiting to take you to the hospital. Shelley won't go without you, she said.”

“Yeah?” Her eyes misted.

“Yes.” He kissed her hand again. “How are you in here?”

“It's where you needed me. I'm here.” Niall squeezed her hand, then let go.

“No!”

“I'm right here, I won't leave you.” He squeezed her hand again, then said something she couldn't quite understand. Another reassuring kiss on her palm, then he said, “Get ready. They're going to start cutting away the racks.”

She slid her gaze down her left arm to see Niall squeezed into the cage of shelves with her. His broad shoulders pressed against the tunnel of metal. His white shirt was torn and there were bloodstains on the sleeves. “Oh, Niall, you're hurt.”

She tried to crawl to him but something held her leg. The moment she moved, pain sliced up her left leg. She screamed.

“Don't move! Just wait until they get in here.” Niall inched forward until his face pressed against her hand. “There's a wire embedded in your calf. Hold still.”

Pain was its own life force pulsing below her knee. It sucked the air from her lungs and made her eyes well with
tears. “Okay. Okay. Stay put. I got it. But you should go. I know you hate tight places. Don't torture yourself.”

“God, you really are like some fairy queen.” Niall laughed again, managed to move another inch toward her, close enough he trailed his fingers up her arm to her face. “You squared off with a serial killer, were damn near killed in an explosion, went into some psycho's head, and it's me you're worried about.”

“Oh, the restaurant, it's destroyed. Isn't it?”

“That's what I have insurance for.” His fingers brushed her lips, and he laughed again. “God, I love you.”

“I know,” she said with more than a little relief.

“Of course you do.” Tracing her jawline with two fingers he said, “Is that all I get for crawling through what's left of my kitchen for you?”

“Ah, Marine, I love you too.”