Authors: Rebecca York
Dark Warrior (31 page)
“I wasn’t expecting you,” she managed to say.
“Are you feeling all right? You look . . . upset.”
“I guess I’m still recovering from the trip,” she said, wondering if that sounded too lame.
“I’m going to show my friend around the compound.”
“Okay.”
“We can all have breakfast together later. Perhaps you should rest now.”
“That’s a good idea.”
He stood looking at her for a long moment, then he turned and left her alone.
As soon as he was gone, she got out of bed, crossed the room, and listened at the door, hearing voices in the hall. When they faded away, she pulled on sweat clothes and hurried down the hall to the library where the two men had been talking the night before.
One thing she’d discovered: the servants stayed out of the way as much as possible, which was lucky for her.
After glancing over her shoulder, she entered the room and looked around. Could she find some proof of his plans? Proof that she could show her sisters—if she could get off this estate.
A door at the far side led to a small private bathroom. She gave it a quick once over, then began opening drawers and cabinets.
But it seemed Rafe wasn’t going to leave evidence lying around. She was about to leave the room when she heard footsteps in the hall. With her heart pounding, she looked for a place to hide. Her only choice was behind the draperies.
SOPHIA
dressed while Jason connected to the motel’s wireless network and Googled Rafe Garrison.
dressed while Jason connected to the motel’s wireless network and Googled Rafe Garrison.
“What can you find?” she called from the bathroom.
“He didn’t make any attempt to hide his identity. He’s very well off, with an interest in a score of companies. And . . . wait for it, he lives on an estate above Santa Barbara, California.”
“You found all that online?”
“Yes. Which means the place must be well defended.”
He skimmed more of the sites with references to Rafe Garrison. He was a darkly handsome man who looked to be about Jason’s age. But there was no more information that would help them deal with the guy.
TESSA
stood behind the draperies, praying that Rafe wouldn’t hear the pounding of her heart.
stood behind the draperies, praying that Rafe wouldn’t hear the pounding of her heart.
As he crossed to the far side of the room, she cautiously moved the fabric aside so she could see out through a narrow slit.
He opened a cabinet. Behind it was another door with a combination lock.
When he turned the dial on the combination, she was at the right angle to see which numbers he stopped on. Starting with fifteen, then spinning to the right to nineteen. Then left, twice around to seventeen.
While she silently repeated the numbers, he opened the double doors, and checked some equipment. Something electronic.
He closed the door, and she eased the curtain back into place, praying he wouldn’t discover her. Instead he went into his private bathroom and closed the door.
Taking the opportunity he’d given her, she leaped from her hiding place and dashed across the room, making for the door to the hall.
JASON
and Sophia came down to the lobby, where the staff had set out coffee and baked goods. They both poured coffee and ate some muffins.
and Sophia came down to the lobby, where the staff had set out coffee and baked goods. They both poured coffee and ate some muffins.
As they drove out of town, Jason said, “We should make some plans.”
“We’ve got to find his place first.”
“Then what? We’ve got two bad guys to neutralize.”
“Minot rely on their strength and cunning. They’re not going to expect a mental assault,” she said.
“You mean like what Cynthia did to us at the cabin?” She nodded.
“You think we can fight them that way?”
“I don’t see any alternative. If Tessa joins us—that will be extra power.”
He wanted to say it wasn’t enough. Particularly since he’d never tried to stop anyone with a blast of mental energy. But he didn’t have any other brilliant suggestions. He’d beaten Rafe Garrison in a fight before, but who knew what the guy might have available on his own territory. And that didn’t take the other one into consideration. Another Minot had joined Garrison. Obviously for his own reasons. Could they use him? Turn him against Garrison? But how would they get to him?
And what had the Ionians done to him to make him angry enough to kill them?
They made good time, with only a couple of quick stops, arriving in Santa Barbara around eleven.
“We could get another room, lie down, and try to contact Tessa,” Sophia said.
“Or just drive north into the hills. Toward his house.”
“Okay.”
They headed for San Marcos Pass. Soon after that, development grew sparse, probably because the steeply sloped mountains would make building difficult.
According to the GPS, they were making for a place called Los Olivos that must be out in the middle of nowhere.
The farther they got into the brown landscape, the edgier he felt.
“The scenery’s got some desert qualities,” Sophia observed.
He tried to think about the vegetation, but his senses were tuned to danger he couldn’t yet see.
To distract himself, he answered, “Some of the same plants that don’t need much water. Even sycamore trees.”
They were high on a mountain road when Jason rounded a curve. Suddenly he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see. Couldn’t control the car.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-THREE
THIRTY-THREE
SOPHIA SCREAMED AS the Ford veered across the blacktop, headed for the shoulder, then toward a steep drop-off.
“Jason! Jason!”
He was inert in the driver’s seat, and her only option was to lunge across him and grab the wheel.
Although it was almost impossible to steer from that position, she pulled them back onto the blacktop seconds before the wheels reached the side of the cliff.
But they were still going much too fast. As she struggled to control the car, she tried to move Jason’s leg away from the accelerator. The limb felt like lead, pressing down far too hard on the gas.
Because she knew their lives depended on slowing the car, she kicked desperately at his foot and finally succeeded in dislodging it.
If she could only move the seat back, she could get into a better position, but the controls were on the wrong side, and she had to keep her eyes on the road.
She tried to hug the side away from the cliff as they careened downhill, but the car was picking up speed on its own.
“Jason,” she called again. “Jason!”
He was slumped against the seat back, and when he didn’t respond, fear leaped inside her. Had all their mental bonding given him a stroke or something? She’d never heard of anything like that with her sisters, but maybe it was different with a man.
Fighting her panic, she kept trying to control the vehicle. When she saw a road leading off to the side, she yanked at the wheel, changing their direction.
As they turned a corner, she saw that they were heading straight toward a huge rock, but she managed to maneuver around it.
The road wound back the way they’d come. When they’d traveled about five hundred yards, she felt Jason’s body jerk.
“What the hell?”
“Thank the universe,” she gasped. “Slow us down. I’ll keep steering.”
He did as she asked, moving his foot onto the brake, decreasing the forward momentum of the car with a series of jerky motions.
Finally they came to a stop in a little valley shaded by gnarled trees with leaves that looked something like oaks but smaller.
He pulled off the road and sprawled in the seat with his eyes closed. They were both panting.
When she’d caught her breath, she turned to him, studying his face. His skin was pale and covered with a sheen of perspiration. “Are you all right?”
“I think so.” He swiped a sleeve across his face, breathing in and out slowly.
“Rest for a minute.”
As he sat with his eyes closed, she found his hand and squeezed. “That was scary.”
It was reassuring when he squeezed back.
She tightened her grip on his hand. “What happened?”
“I don’t know. Something . . . hit me. One minute I was okay and the next I was . . . out of it.”
“Was it something like when Cynthia and the others attacked us?”
“Similar, I guess. But not exactly.” He laughed. “Stronger. If that’s possible.”
“You said Minot didn’t use . . . psychic powers.”
“Yeah. I never heard of it. Except what my parents were doing together.” He stared off into space, and she thought he was trying to give her a better description of what had happened to him. Finally, he said, “Tessa told us something.”
“That could explain what happened to you?”
“Maybe. When she talked about the other Minot who was coming to join him, she said the other guy couldn’t come in unless Garrison lowered some sort of barrier. Maybe something he was generating with electrical equipment ?”
“You think
that
was it?” She sucked in a sharp breath as the implications sank in. “You think he knows we’re here?”
that
was it?” She sucked in a sharp breath as the implications sank in. “You think he knows we’re here?”
Jason considered the question. “Not necessarily. I think he’s got defenses against Minot around his property, and we came up against them. I think I only glanced against it, so hopefully it didn’t trip any alarms.”
Sophia finished for him. “But we can’t get onto the property.”
“Maybe Tessa can help us.”
“How?”
“By turning it off.”
“Assuming that she could figure out where it is—and somehow distract him. Then get away and shut it down.”
Sophia stared at him. “I guess that’s a lot for her to manage,” she said slowly.
“All we can do is lay it out for her.”
“After we figure out where his property starts.” He looked back the way they’d come. “There must be some kind of line. I’m going to try moving in closer again and see if I can figure it out.”
She gripped his arm. “You can’t do
that
again.”
that
again.”
“I have to know the parameters.”
She kept her hold on him. “If you didn’t trip an alarm this time, you could do it the next. You think it’s a good idea for him to figure out we’ve come to rescue Tessa?”
He gave her an apologetic look. “No. I guess I’m not thinking too clearly.”
TESSA
hurried back down the hall to the bedroom wing. As she rounded the corner, she almost collided with the other Minot, the one who was working with Rafe. He had stepped out of Rafe’s room and stopped short when he saw her.
hurried back down the hall to the bedroom wing. As she rounded the corner, she almost collided with the other Minot, the one who was working with Rafe. He had stepped out of Rafe’s room and stopped short when he saw her.
For a long moment, they stood staring at each other.
She didn’t dare ask what he was doing.
He was the one who spoke in a low voice. “There’s a canister of gas in his dressing room closet. With a tube going to your room.”
She dragged in a breath, wondering if she had heard him correctly.
“What is it?” she managed to say.
“We can only speculate.”
“Why are you telling me?” she whispered.
“So you’ll have all the facts.”
Before she could ask another question, he walked quickly down the hall and around the corner.
Forcing herself to move, she stepped into her own room and closed the door.
A canister of gas. For what?
With a sick feeling, she crossed to the wall between the two rooms and began to run her hand over the vertical surface. Just under a wall sconce, she found a small hole that was camouflaged by the wallpaper pattern.
She thought back, trying to remember her reactions when Rafe had come in and awakened her after they’d arrived here.
She’d wanted him, but she hadn’t felt like herself. Now she had a good idea why.
Sitting down on the side of the bed, she lowered her face into her hands, knowing she was in worse trouble than she’d imagined. She’d thought she was making her own decisions. Apparently, he’d been worried that she wouldn’t make the correct ones—at least as he saw them.
Her chest tightened as she thought about how it had been when they’d made love. She’d touched his mind, and she’d been thrilled to do it.
Now she acknowledged the hesitation on his part. Maybe if he’d embraced the connection, things would be different. Instead, he’d pulled back because that wasn’t what he really wanted. He’d known all along that he’d have to hide his true intentions from her.
He’d been kind to her. Considerate even. But the longer she stayed with him, the more she understood that he was just putting on a show of civilized behavior.
She clenched and unclenched her fists. She had to get out of here, and she couldn’t do it by herself. But could she act like she didn’t suspect a thing until Sophia arrived? If she arrived.
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