Dream Shadow (26 page)

The odds were stacking higher against them. None of the clothing was working, and Grace was feeling the pinch of time. She had one last possibility. Jacobs had spent the night with Beth. It was very possible that she could pull the link off of him. It would however exhaust the man for the next eight hours. Her C.O. would not receive that information kindly. There was simply no other choice.

Jacobs was watching her from the tent doorway. He knew her methods well and he was already shaking his head when she locked gazes with him.

Grace stood up and faced off with Jacobs.

“I can’t do it, Grace,” he insisted. “You’re my operative. I’m not letting you go without me.”

“You have to, because I don’t think we can live with ourselves if we don’t.”

Brice reappeared dressed for the woods, which only intensified her need to bring Jacobs into agreement. She locked gazes with him.

“It’s one of us or nothing, Jacobs, because I can’t get a link any other way.” She scanned the tent once more but it was cold. Regret appeared in Jacobs’s eyes and she feared it would be there for the rest of his life if she didn’t convince him. “Trust me, Jacobs. Let me take point on this one.”

He closed his eyes and shook his head. “That’s hitting low, Gracie.”

“To ask you to give me the same thing you’ve always expected from me? You know, if I survive this one, there are going to be some changes. Starting with Turvel. I won’t work for him anymore.”

“He’s our C.O..”

“No, Jacobs, as Brice pointed out to me, he’s your C.O.,” she shot back. “And his name is on our list of suspects. How much am I worth on the black market these days? More than his retirement? Because he sure as hell doesn’t have a core of integrity. Not with the way he let Fredricks’s run this unit.”

A particularly foul curse came out of Jacobs’s mouth. “You’re right. I’ll contact the general. But you’re going to have to deal with Anson until I come around.”

Brice stood behind Jacobs and placed a solid hand on his shoulder to stop him.

“Come around…from what?”

Grace felt her focus shift to Brice. She wasn’t used to explaining her tactics, but she needed to adjust that thinking. Brice needed a quick introduction to backing her up. Classified didn’t mean dirt under the current circumstances.

“I need a piece of property to get a link from, but nothing here is working.”

“So she wants to use me,” Jacobs offered dryly.

Brice’s eyebrows drew into a frown. “You can pull it from another person?”

Grace felt a tiny smile lift her lips. She was the best because pulling a link off another human wasn’t simple. “Sometimes. When it’s someone my target has been intimate with, the odds are excellent.”

Jacobs ducked under the tent pole and sat down on the cot. He let another curse slip out of his mouth as he braced himself.

Brice stepped closer and looked at him. Jacobs sent him a half grin. “This is going to knock me flat for hours.”

Brice understood in an instant. “I’ll keep her in sight, Major.”

“You’d better.” He handed Brice the tracking unit.

Jacobs gave him a last hard look before Grace knelt on the ground between his knees. Grace needed to get under the anger that was boiling inside him right at the moment. Brice moved into the tent as well, but Grace couldn’t concern herself with him right now. She had faith that he could handle her. That would have to be enough. Bringing her mind back to focus on Jacobs, Grace raised her hands but stopped when she saw him tense.

“Jacobs, I’d appreciate it if you would try not to hit me.”

Her C.O. gripped the edge of the cot and set his jaw.

Grace closed her eyes, bringing herself into focus. The link was here. She needed to disregard Jacobs completely. She was going to cause him pain. Grace firmly shut the door to her emotions. It was time to work.

Her emerald eyes opened as her hands flattened out onto Jacobs’s chest. The man jerked with the contact.

Brice watched, fascinated, as she slowly roamed her hands over Jacobs’s chest. It resembled retracing the path of some lover’s hands. Slowly, they traveled across his shoulders to rest on his biceps. Her eyes fixed and dilated. She had found what she was searching for. Brice jumped as Jacobs’s body jerked and one huge hand swung up at her head. Brice caught it and wrenched it back. Unfortunately, just as Beth had discovered the day before, he was now linked into the current. Brice couldn’t make himself let Jacobs go. The pain was intense and mind numbing. Grace released her hold on Jacobs and both men fell into oblivion.

She paid them absolutely no mind.

The picture was becoming more focused by the second. Just like a camera lens, Grace forced it to pinpoint accuracy. Yes, she had it now. Every detail—they were walking. The forest and the trail were clear. She stayed with the vision, leaving the tent the exact way that they had through the slit in the back.

They were moving quickly, so she needed to move faster. Nothing crossed her mind but the vision and getting herself to it. Miles melted behind her as darkness fell. Nothing interfered. Her body could not get her attention. Nothing but the vision called to her. She was close, very close. She stopped as she found her target. Only then did the link dissipate and allow her to think beyond the focus needed to track. Her body was exhausted and she stood on shaking legs as she faced Beth.

Her body collapsed to the forest floor as the dark clouds pressed in on her. The chilling cold came even as she brutally tried to force it back. By sheer force of will, she opened her eyes. The man that leaned over her brought horror to her mind. The smile on his face was twisted with evil as he delighted in watching her struggle. His identity burst upon her brain seconds before the darkness claimed her—Colonel Stephen Fredricks.

Brice came to before Jacobs did. It was the noise from the final battle of the weekend that woke him. He tried to get to his feet but his mind was groggy and his legs unsteady. Brice rubbed his stinging eyes and tried again. This time he made it to his feet. He didn’t need to look. He knew Grace was long gone. Jacobs was still out cold.

After trying to wake him but failing, Brice left him. He had to mobilize a search immediately. It took an hour for Brice to get everything going. Every resource that the county had was moving. He just prayed that it was enough. He regretted the way it had all come down, but Brice wouldn’t have changed his actions. If Jacobs had hit Grace then she more than likely wouldn’t have gotten her link. He would rather believe that the two women were out there together than Beth out there alone. Grace had more ability to protect herself than most men he knew.

It took some doing, but Brice got Jacobs to come around. The man came up swinging. He muttered a curse as his senses cleared.

“I forgot to tell you not to touch me.”

Brice handed the man his gun and simply nodded.

“Let’s go. My helicopter is waiting.”

Jacobs was deep in thought on the way back to the airfield. Grace’s suspicions of an information leak were well founded. Turvel was the only one with enough current information to have set this whole thing up. The problem was the man was his C.O. He needed a support unit as well. If Turvel was involved, it could be a death warrant for any man that came out on this mission. Jacobs needed to find a good bunch of witnesses that could back him and his men up if it came down to the wire.

There really was only one choice. There were only three units that operated under Colonel Turvel that also happened to have the same makeup as Jacobs’s. Major Gennaro’s operative was a male, but Major Lorance’s unit was dealing with another female psychic. Her abilities were very different from Grace’s. Lorance’s operative was nicknamed the truth finder. She could sniff a traitor out in a split second.

Major Lorance had made contact with Jacobs just a couple of weeks after he’d been given command of the unit with Grace as his operative. It was the only time he’d ever come close to disobeying his orders. Major Lorance had fifteen years more experience and Jacobs felt inclined to hear the man out. Neither of their units officially existed and they both reported to Colonel Turvel. Major Lorance had made an excellent point to Jacobs. They could back each other up if something like this ever happened.

It looked like that time had arrived.

The clouds drifted and Grace saw the eye of the storm. She brutally thrust herself up into it. She had something pressing to do. She forced her cloudy mind to remember. Beth. She had been looking for Beth. Forcing her eyes open, she took in her dim surroundings.

She was lying on a hard floor. Not dirt, but rough wood planking. It was some kind of cabin, maybe twenty feet by thirty feet. She was freezing. A single wool blanket was covering her body, but the cabin was cold and dim. It was the kind of dim light that came with dark rain clouds. The slight sound of rain reached her ears.

Sweet Jesus. Fredricks was behind this. It all made sense. He knew her too well and had played her and Jacobs along like a couple of puppets. Now she understood the anger. It had been aimed at her. Dread tightened her gut because she didn’t see Beth. Now that Fredricks had her, it was very possible that he had already shot the other woman. Fredricks and Jacobs detested each other. Grace knew that he would delight in causing the death of someone he thought Jacobs cared for.

The question now was what did the man want with Grace? It had to be more than revenge. It took resources to set something like this in motion. Fredricks had to have others helping him. More than likely soldiers either current or retired. That kind of help didn’t come without high compensation. There were always men who were willing to betray their country, but they didn’t come cheap.

She’d already suspected what was happening. Fredricks had sold Grace. The federal government had trained Grace to be an operative for them and their interests. The only thing that they truly gave her in return was protection from some of the more twisted people who inhabited the world. Ruthless people who would pay a great deal of money to have a trained psychic under their control. There had been offers made right in front of her. The first few had truly worried her. But she’d finally realized that she was much more valuable to the government in their hands.

Grace watched the only door in the cabin. Fredricks had planned it down to the last detail. So why was she still in Benton County? Moving Grace while she was helpless would have been the ideal plan. Thunder rumbled in the distance. If the transportation was by air it was possible that the storm was interfering with the pick-up. Helicopters would have had to drop below the cloud cover and be visible. That was more of a break than Grace could have hoped for.

One she needed to take advantage of.

The door exploded inward and booted feet scuffed the rough floor as several people came into the structure. Grace snapped her eyes closed. The longer they thought she was out of it the better. Information was the only thing that could help her at the moment. Her time was limited before the fatigue would force her to sleep once again. Fredricks had never really taken enough notice of her habits to realize she awakened in the middle of her recovery. It was the only card she had to play at the moment.

“Get moving, bitch. I want dinner.”

Bitch? Grace couldn’t risk a look, but she hoped that meant that Beth was in the cabin and alive. The rattle of a gas stove drifted to Grace’s ears. Slight sounds of pots and dishes followed.

Footsteps came close to her and Grace forced herself to remain still. A hand gripped her face, roughly turning it up. A filthy word escaped from Fredricks’s mouth before he released her.

Grace waited. If Fredricks would leave then maybe she could speak to Beth. Time crawled by and Grace knew her window was quickly coming to a close. A knock sounded on the door and Fredricks bellowed for whomever it was to come in.

“Sorry, sir, but the client is on the horn. Says he’s not dropping his birds down in this storm. He wants to change the pick-up point.”

“I’ll be right there.”

Grace snapped her eyes open the second the door closed. She hadn’t realized that she was handcuffed but pushed herself to a seated position despite the restraints. Beth turned as she noticed the movement. Her blue eyes were large and round. She started to speak, but Grace firmly shook her head. Beth clamped her mouth shut and turned the gas off before hurrying over to kneel beside Grace.

“Thank God. I’ve been so worried…”

“Shh. Listen, Beth. Just listen. Whatever you do, listen to every word they say. We need information to get out of this. I’m going to fall asleep again, but don’t worry. When I wake up, I’ll get you out of this. Just survive. Whatever they want, do it. Names are important. Remember every one you can. But don’t talk. Don’t ask questions. Just listen. Look whipped.”

Grace reached out and clasped the other woman’s hands. She looked better than Grace could have hoped for. She had a bruise on her right cheek and a collection of scratches and scrapes. Her eyes were large but not panicked. She was holding up well under the circumstances. Grace gave a jerk of her head to get Beth to return to the stove. Beth obeyed and Grace lowered herself back to the hard floor. Now if God could give them just a little more help. Maybe she could get Beth out of this alive.