Vibrations (7 page)

By the time Nick and Teddy
climbed into the car she was feeling much better. The men looked drained.

“Whew! I’m hot,” Teddy said
sounding more energetic than he looked. “This car feels pretty damn good. I
think I’m in the mood for some ice cream.”

“Teddy, you’re always in the
mood to eat,” Nick said with a grin. “What about you Whitney, ice cream sound
okay?”

She smiled and nodded. Ice
cream sounded good to her. Her body was just getting back to normal and she had
used up lots of energy in the past hour. She was ready to eat.

“Should’ve known.” Nick said.
“You and Teddy get along just great. He has to maintain his cushion, and you
have to refuel every two hours.”

“Only when you keep me busy like
this. I can actually go three or four hours between meals on a normal day.” Nick
laughed and headed for the house. There’s a great place on the way home. We
could probably buy a couple gallons and bring it home and it wouldn’t even melt
in this icebox. You cooled down enough yet?

“Oops, sorry. I turned it up
full blast. Want me to turn it down?”

“No!” yelled Teddy and Nick at
the same time.

“Not until my body temp drops
to freezing,” laughed Teddy. “I am so tired of being hot.”

They sat and ate the ice cream
in the car with the AC on full blast. Whitney let Teddy sit up front so he
could get the full effect.

Agent Hollerman was waiting at
the house when they pulled up. After Hollerman filled them in on the latest
from headquarters, they briefed him on their day. The agent drove Whitney back
to the motel and told her he’d pick her up first thing in the morning. Whitney
spent the evening typing out her report and updating her files. She knew she
wouldn’t sleep well tonight, so she got out one of the romance novels in her
suitcase and tried to forget.

If only life could be like a
romance novel. Guy meets girl, he wants her beyond belief, and they overcome
obstacles to live happily ever after. No mutilated children, no sad endings.

Nick didn’t see Whitney for
another five days. He saw her from a distance, working in the command center,
but they never seemed to be in the same place at the same time. Teddy and Nick
had spent the week interviewing anyone that was connected to the SVWC.

Nick couldn’t stop thinking
about Whitney. He didn’t know if it was the crazy stuff she could do, or they
way she made him feel. When he was out in the field, he wondered what she was
doing. That could be plain curiosity. The thoughts he had at night had nothing
to do with her gifts. When he wasn’t picturing her naked, he was wondering if
her heart was still beating. It was driving him crazy. When he did see her, it
looked like she was doing just fine. He wondered who they had found to be the
new assistant.

On Friday he got a call from
Agent Hollerman. They had found the Dolan boy. He was out in the desert just
North of where he lived. A family had been riding ATVs in the area and the dad
had found him. Agent Hollerman and Whitney were on their way, but Nick and
Teddy were closer. No one was to go near the body until the SAC arrived.

Nick was waiting with the
officers on the scene when Whitney arrived. She barely acknowledged him as she
walked down toward the body. Nick started to follow and the agent stopped him.

“Sorry Nick. We have to let
Whitney have a chance before everyone else comes in and throws all that extra
energy around. She’ll be done in a few minutes and then you can start examining
the crime scene. She knows how to be careful. She’s done this before. The
coroner is on his way.”

“Where is the new assistant?”
Nick knew Hollerman was too busy to handle that job.

“She says she’d rather go
solo,” Hollerman said shrugging his shoulders.

“And that’s fine with you?”
Nick was beginning to doubt the agents concern for his talented profiler.

“I told her we could play it by
ear for now,” he said turning back to watch Whitney.

Whitney was on her knees facing
the body, not moving. Nick watched her kneeling alone, staring at a dead boy,
and wondered what she was experiencing. Someone next to him started laughing.
“I can do that – watch. Oohhhhmmmmm. I’m communing with the dead.”

Nick turned and gave
the officer a look that stopped him cold. Whitney screamed and all eyes turned
to her. She was laying on her side now. The agent still wasn’t getting any
closer. “Not again,” he moaned to himself.

Nick ignored the agent’s orders
and started climbing down. Hollerman followed and stopped him a few feet from
the two prone figures. Nick whispered, “Are you sure she’s okay?”

“She usually doesn’t pass out
at the scene, but I think she’s fine. I don’t want to step in until I’m sure
she’s done.”

“Maybe it’s been too much for
her this time. Has she ever been involved in a violent case with crimes
committed so closely together?

“She’ll be fine,” the
agent snapped.

Nick watched Whitney. She
appeared to be breathing but he saw no other movement. After five more minutes
he couldn’t stand it and rushed over to her. Hollerman tried to hold him back
but he shoved him away.

“Whitney, Whitney can you hear
me?” He spoke softly and didn’t touch her. The agent tried to pull him away
again.

“I think we’ve waited long
enough!” Nick growled. They turned as she moaned. Nick crouched down and spoke
again.

“Whitney, do you need help?

“Ummm.”

Not sure if that was a yes,
Nick asked her to try to say the word help if she needed it. When she mouthed
the word, Nick scooped her up in his arms and headed to his car.

“Where are you taking her?”

“To the hospital.”

“No Nick. They could do more
harm. Trust me. Take her back to her place and I’ll catch up with you as soon
as I finish securing the scene.”

Nick spoke to Whitney the whole
time as he drove to his house. He kept his eyes half on the road and half on
her chest to be sure she kept breathing. Once he got her in the house he
started to panic.

“Don’t stop breathing. Don’t
stop breathing. Please heart, don’t stop.”

She lay quietly for about
twenty minutes and then her chest suddenly went still. He checked the window hoping
to see the agent’s car. When Hollerman had called, Nick told him to meet at his
house. He stared at his watch as the seconds ticked by. How many minutes could
he wait. Suddenly he noticed her chest rising and falling. He fell into the
chair. “I am not doing this again. This can’t be good for her. It’s sure as
hell not good for me.”

Once he was confident she was sleeping,
he went outside to wait. He reached for another cigarette even though he hadn’t
had one for the past three days. He put the cigarette to his lips, but threw it
down in disgust. He could barely control his anger by the time Agent Hollerman arrived.
His first urge was to punch the man calmly getting out of his car.

“Do you enjoy putting me
through this? Why didn’t you come with us?” Nick’s voice held a dangerous edge
but the agent seemed oblivious.

“I had to finish there. You did
fine. See, she’s sleeping now. Besides, I can’t do anything different from you.
I haven’t worked with her that much, I just know what’s in her file. This is
normal. She just needs someone that can be trusted to stay with her during all
this. Just in case she needs something. And to be sure she doesn’t hurt herself
later when she’s still weak.”

“Look, you guys might think
this is all perfect operating procedure, but I don’t. She shouldn’t have to go
through this. There must be another way.”

“She uses her gift the best she
can to help us. It’s her choice. It’s not an exact science. She could help us
solve this and then it would be worth it, wouldn’t it?”

“Easy for you to say.”

“Can she stay here for the
night? She doesn’t look like she’ll be up to taking care of herself, and I’d
like to get back to the scene. Our CSI team is on it now and they may have
something. By the way, no shoes again. Must be what our unsub takes to remember
his victims.”

Nick spun away and stepped back
inside slamming the door in the agent’s face. He quickly glanced at Whitney
realizing he could have startled her awake. Thankfully she was still sleeping.
His heart was beating so wildly he was afraid he was the one that would have
the heart attack. Were the FBI agents that much more hardened than the Phoenix police? No one seemed to care what was happening to the psychic as long as she had
a chance to solve the case.

When Whitney woke up, Nick gave
her sips of water, but she didn’t seem able to take much else. She fell asleep
again and didn’t move for hours. Finally, just as the sun was going down,
Whitney started to wake up.

“Hey.” She said shakily as she
tried to sit up on the couch.

“Hey.” Nick walked over and sat
beside her. Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I think so. How’d I end
up here?”

“You passed out and I drove you
back here. Agent Hollerman put me in charge of keeping you safe again. Hope
you’re not getting sick of me yet.”

“I’m sorry you got stuck with
‘babysitting’ again.”

Nick grinned sheepishly. She
knew what he had been thinking the last time this happened.

“Are you hungry yet? Did you
eat today?”

“I’m starving. We got word
about the boy this morning, so I haven’t had anything yet. What time is it?”

“Quarter to six. I’ll go see
what I can rustle up.”

Nick had guessed she’d be
hungry, so he had ordered in some Japanese food from the Ichi Bon. He carried
it out and laid out the huge feast.

“Look what I found in the
kitchen. Hope you like Japanese.”

They ate in silence. Nick hoped
that Whitney would be able to take some time before she did anything else that
sapped her energy. She was looking more tired than she had last time. He
couldn’t help glancing over at her to see how she was doing.

“Nick. I’m fine. Really. I
can’t believe I’ve done this to you again.” She looked embarrassed and annoyed.
“Agent Hollerman promised me he’d stay with me. He gets so involved in his
cases that he can’t think of anything else. He must trust you though. No one’s
ever left me alone like he has on this case.”

“He says he hasn’t worked with
you much. Maybe he just doesn’t realize how hard this is for you. He’s putting
you in danger,” Nick said, not able to keep the anger hidden.

“He has a little boy you know.
I think he’s eight now. Seems like this is hitting close to home for him.” When
Nick didn’t relax she asked, “Do you have any kids?”

“Not me. My sister has enough
for both of us. Her youngest is two and the oldest is fourteen now. Four all
together. They live up in Mesa.”

“Boys or girls?” She wanted to
distract him with conversation, but talking about kids might not be the best
idea.

“The littlest is a boy. Then
she has a four year old girl, an eight year old boy, and the fourteen year old
is a girl. She’s a scary one. Dresses pretty crazy. She’s actually a good girl.
I just can’t imagine raising a teenager.”

“Has she ever heard of the
SVWC?” Whitney asked.

“I don’t know. Shit! I never
thought to check if any of her kids were involved.” He stood and flipped his
phone open. “I think I would’ve known since they seem like they train them from
the time they are babies. I’d better call her. She’s probably heard about it on
the news already since the media has finally figured out the connection with
the SVWC and the missing children. I’ll be right back.”

Whitney stood up and
tried to get her body to move again. She felt sore, like she had fallen again.
This was getting worse. She didn’t know how much more of this she could stand.
She wasn’t being totally truthful with Nick. She’d never done anything quite
this stressful before. Even she didn’t know how much her body could take. She
was desperate to stop this lunatic, and her own fears weren’t enough to make
her call it quits.

Nick came back in the
room.“Lisa said none of her kids are in it. She thinks a little friend of
Steven’s, the eight year old, might be on one of the teams. They don’t have a
phone so I told her I would go talk to the family tomorrow morning.”

Nick reached to start picking
up the boxes of food when his hand brushed Whitney’s. He felt like he’d stuck
his finger in an outlet. “What was that?” He pulled back his hand and shook it.

Whitney looked down and blushed
a little. “I’m not sure. I’ve never felt anything exactly like that but, with
me, you never know. Probably residual energy from the overload.”

As Nick finished putting things
away he couldn’t stop thinking about it. He walked back into the living room
and sat beside Whitney. “Can I try that again?”

Whitney didn’t want him to. She
knew more than she had told him. She was attracted to Nick and for some reason
his touch had created a surge of energy. Her heart was beating faster, and her
nipples were hard and tingling. She didn’t want to cause any more problems for
him. She would never be able to have a normal relationship, so she avoided them
completely. She wasn’t about to get involved and let Nick get hurt. She
concentrated on controlling her reaction so it wouldn’t happen again.

“Go ahead,” she said quietly.
He reached over and touched her hand again. This time it wasn’t such a big
shock but he could feel something. He grabbed her hand and held it.

“You’ve been through so much
and here I am doing experiments on you. I’m sorry. It’s so new to me. Forgive
me?”

She laughed and pulled away.
“No problem. Did you bring my laptop here?”

“Hollerman brought it. Don’t
you think you should rest more before you go back over it? You were out of it
for a long time. I don’t think my heart’s up to that again.”

“Yeah, I’m a little tired.
Where am I going to sleep tonight?”