Appassionato (25 page)

Duncan spared a brief thought about the insanity of what they were about to do, then he laced his fingers together and boosted Jake until he reached the windowsill. The other man grabbed the ledge and Duncan helped guide Jake’s feet to his shoulders so he could tilt the casement window open far enough to crawl through.

It’s all clear far as I can tell
, Jake thought. Duncan held still, supporting Jake’s ankles as he worked open the window then slid through. When he popped his head back out, Duncan heaved a sigh of relief.

“Take my hand,” Jake called down and Dave stepped forward. Duncan boosted him up, then Charlie went through the small space. Emma was next.

“Don’t let me fall,” she whispered. “I hate heights.”

“I won’t, sweetheart.” Duncan kissed her quickly then lifted her up to Jake. He shivered as he felt her slim legs step onto his shoulders, willing himself not to look up under her skirt. Now was not the time. Once she was inside, Jake slung his upper body out of the window, reaching down for Duncan.

“Come on, Dave and Charlie have me. I’ll pull you up.”

Duncan nodded and grabbed on, ignoring the spark of desire he felt at the sight of Jake’s gorgeously muscled arms. He grinned as Jake caught his thought. The bonding never really left them. Duncan found it strangely comforting as he tumbled into the dark room. He could sense where Jake and Emma were through their link but couldn’t see the other two men.

“Do you think we could have a light?” Emma asked, voice low.

Duncan smiled and brought the sparks to the surface again, the sudden illumination startling Dave and Charlie.

“It’s okay. It’s just light. These won’t even burn.” Duncan reached out, instinctively sticking a spark on Jake’s sleeve. “You can cup your hand over it when you want to muffle the light.” Emma held out her arm and he stuck another spark on her. He looked at Dave and his bodyguard sighed.

“Okay, okay, here. But just for the record, this is really weird.” Dave stuck his arm out and Duncan attached a spark to his sleeve.

“Weirder than bonding with Lisa?” Charlie whispered, holding out his hand. Duncan gave him a spark and muffled a grin as Dave gave his friend the middle finger.

“Do you know where they’re holding Samantha?” Duncan asked Emma.

She frowned, concentrating. He watched her look around, slowly turning her head as though she was peering through the walls.

I am peering through the walls
, she thought, her mental voice amused.
Well, sort of.

“Hang on,” she said aloud and Duncan smiled. She looked gorgeous—hair mussed, her dress hugging the curves of her body, her sandals twinkling in the light of his energy. He felt another stab of arousal and she gasped, sensing it before he could control himself.

Jake shook a finger at Duncan. “Dude.”

Duncan held his hands up in surrender, ignoring the confused looks from Dave and Charlie.

“Do you think if I linked with you more deeply I could help?” Jake said after another minute passed.

Emma relaxed and looked at him. “It couldn’t hurt. I can see the auras, but they flare and swirl around so much I can’t really tell where they are. I know that they’re that way,” she pointed west, “but I can’t even pinpoint which floor.” She rolled her shoulders.

“Here, give me your hand. Let’s see if we can combine my new telepathy thing with your aura sensing.” Jake moved closer.

Duncan stepped forward as well. “I can probably feed your energy.”

Emma nodded and the three of them clasped hands. Dave and Charlie stood by the door, alert to any intrusion. Duncan closed his eyes and concentrated on calling up the energy that seemed to dance under his skin. It was easy.
Almost too easy
, he thought as he fed it into Emma and Jake. He linked with them, sensing Emma’s consciousness spreading out and Jake following. To Duncan, it was almost like watching a map come to life in his head as they traced the locations of the people in the building.

Ten in that room
, Emma thought.

Jake nodded.
I sense two guards outside, one of them a woman. That’s probably Ms. Brown. I can knock them out when we get closer.

Okay, eight in this room across the hall
.
I think those are the guys
, Emma sent, grimacing.

No other guards
, Jake thought in response to Emma.
I think the two up there are for both rooms. I can see five other people in the building, two in another spot on that floor and three downstairs.

Why isn’t there an even number of guys and girls?
Emma thought. Duncan felt her confusion.
These are supposed to be bonded couples.

Duncan grimaced.
I think some of the women might have died
. He felt Emma’s horror, then resignation, and wanted to kick himself.

“No, I need to think about that. Samantha told me about the two girls who weren’t doing so well, and I deliberately blocked it out of my head because I couldn’t face the thought of it. Maybe that’s why we can’t sense them,” she said out loud, dropping his and Jake’s hands. She trembled, and he wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms and protect her from all of this. The only reason he didn’t was because he knew that if he or Jake touched her, she would break down crying. He sent her comfort over their link and she smiled tremulously at him.

“Okay, the couples are being held in two rooms across the hall from each other. There are eighteen all together,” Jake explained to Dave and Charlie. He drew in the dust at his feet. “They’re on the third floor, so we have to go up the stairs. There’re two more people in a room down from them and two guards outside the cells. Three more people are on the first floor.”

“Ideally, it’d be nice if we could just knock out the two guards and release the prisoners,” Dave said, rubbing his chin.

“Yeah, except how would we get them home? We have one car. And I think some of them are in bad shape,” Emma said.

“We’re going to have to neutralize the captors somehow,” Duncan said. He looked at Jake. “If we get you close enough, could you do your mind-whammy thing, only make them pass out instead of doing a memory wipe?”

Jake grinned. “Mind-whammy? Is that what we’re calling it?”

“Shut up,” Duncan retorted, smiling despite himself. “You know what I mean.”

Emma grinned and Jake nodded. “Yeah, I think so. I’m not sure if I can do everyone at once since they’re on different floors. It was easier in the ballroom because everyone was in visible range. I don’t know if I can do it through solid things like walls.”

“And now is not the time to experiment,” Emma added as Dave nodded. Charlie looked apprehensive, but he also nodded.

“We should take out the people on the first floor first. That way the guards outside the doors can’t call for help.” Duncan took off his suit coat and dropped it on the floor. He winced as he saw how dirty it was in the room, but he knew he’d be more comfortable without it. He unhooked his cufflinks and rolled up his sleeves, trying not to stare at Jake’s bare arms as the other man did the same.
Jake is too good-looking for his own good
, Duncan thought, looking up just in time to see his lover grin at him. He rolled his eyes.

“Then we should take out the guards in the hall. It’d be better if we could neutralize the people in the room first, but I don’t think we can get in there without alerting the two in the hall.” Jake dropped his jacket on top of Duncan’s. “Are you going to be okay in those shoes?” he asked Emma.

She shrugged. “Not much I can do about it. I’m more upset at the thought that Ms. Brown is part of all this than I am about ruining my shoes. I knew she wasn’t the nicest person, but I didn’t think she was evil.”

Jake nodded in sympathy and started for the door. “I think the stairs are this way.” He gestured, and everyone followed him down the hall, trying not to make any noise. Duncan winced when the door to the stairs stuck, making a harsh noise when they forced it open. Luckily no one came to investigate.

When they reached the first floor, Duncan damped the sparks a bit as Jake carefully eased open the next door, trying to keep the old metal from squeaking. Three guys sat at a table on the opposite end of the warehouse. It looked like this floor had been used as a garage. There were tools and carts strewn haphazardly across the open space and several tables with dusty equipment sat along the walls. The men were playing cards in the light of a single fluorescent lamp inset on the wall behind them.

How are we going to get over there?
Emma asked Duncan and Jake.

We don’t have to, remember?
Jake replied. Duncan felt him drawing energy through Emma and he opened up even more so Jake would have all he needed. Dave and Charlie crouched behind them, ready to dash across the room if necessary. One of the men at the table looked up, mouth open, but before he could shout, he crumpled. Another stood up then fell down, unconscious. Duncan frowned as the man’s head hit the floor, but then Jake grunted and the last man began to sprint toward them, pulling a gun from his pocket.

This one’s giving me trouble
, Jake thought. Duncan fed Emma more energy and suddenly the man went down as though someone had cut his strings.

“That was close,” Emma whispered, shaky.

Jake nodded, looking tired. “That was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I didn’t want to hurt them. It would’ve been easier to kill them than to knock them out.” He grimaced and Duncan put his hand on Jake’s neck, rubbing the tendons that had knotted up.

“Will it be easier now that you know how to do it?”

“Yeah. I think I’ve got the knack of it,” Jake responded.

“We’d better get upstairs before anyone realizes what happened here,” Dave said.

Duncan nodded and they eased back into the stairwell. He brightened the sparks and everyone started climbing. Duncan ignored his weariness, knowing that Emma and Jake felt just as bad as he did. They were almost to the third floor when suddenly the door above slammed open and a man with a gun aimed a flashlight down the steps.

Emma flinched and fell back onto Duncan as the man squeezed off a round as soon as he spotted the intruders. Duncan’s energy instinctively flared into a shield, stretching out to cover the five of them. The bullet bounced off and hit the metal of the hand rail. Emma squeaked and he shoved her down as Charlie sprinted up the stairs.

“Charlie! No! I can’t cover you if you get too far away,” Duncan shouted but it was too late. The gunman didn’t miss. Jake groaned as Charlie went down. The gunman fired again and another bullet bounced off Duncan’s shield.

“Shit!” Emma tried to shove Duncan out of the way. “We have to get up there and help him!”

Duncan held her down. “No! You’ll get shot too. Let me try something.” He concentrated on his energy, making a hot spark flare in front of the shield, then sent it up at the man. It hit him in the chest and the man went rigid then fell down, his gun clattering over the edge of the landing. It looked like he’d shocked the man with lightning, and Duncan gagged as the smell of burnt skin penetrated the stairwell.

“I couldn’t knock him out,” Jake gasped, holding onto his head. “He had some sort of mental shield or something. I kept pushing but it was like hitting a brick wall over and over again.”

“It’s all right,” Emma said, stroking his arm. “He had a weird aura, like Eric’s. I think he was on the drug.”

Duncan slumped down on the steps, breathing heavy. Dave looked at them, then dashed up the stairs to see if Charlie would be okay. When Duncan looked up, Dave shook his head. Duncan felt a dart of grief well up, but he shoved it down ruthlessly. Someone must have heard the gunshots, and they had to be ready for anything. Sure enough, another man burst through the door a moment later. Jake looked up, face grim, and the man collapsed.

“There’s still two more up there,” Emma whispered. She looked sick and Duncan knew she felt the grief as sharply as he and Jake did. She shared their memories, after all.

“Let’s go.” Duncan heaved himself to his feet and joined Dave on the landing. “Can you sense anyone in the hall?”

Jake appeared by his side. He leaned on Duncan, rubbing his thumb into the skin of Duncan’s forearm. Duncan sent him some energy through Emma, ignoring the wave of vertigo that flickered across his vision.

“They’re in the rooms with the prisoners,” Jake gasped, letting go.