More Than Jamie Baker (Jamie Baker #2) (12 page)

That was not the first light I’d exploded, and it suddenly made sense why Ryan had given me a bagful of spare bulbs, but now wasn’t the time to think of such things. The tiny flash had alerted the kidnapper to my presence. He stood up, holding what looked like a shotgun, and scanned the riverbank.

I blinked out of there as fast as I could. I went upstream just a little ways and found a place to hide where I could still watch him motor upriver toward me.

The man didn’t say anything, just continued to watch the shore. He kept his gun trained on the dark woods ahead of him as the boat continued its slow journey.

I tried to think up a plan. I couldn’t just jump from the shore onto the boat and tackle the guy, even though I knew I could make the distance. The man was armed. I knew my body could take a supersized beating if it had to, but I doubted I was bulletproof.

I could zap him, but I didn’t want to risk the gun misfiring and accidentally hitting Chelsea. I just needed to wait until he put the gun down again. Then I could zap him.

He never put the gun back down—not until he was ready to get out of the boat. He motored to the shore on the opposite side of the river from me. The minute he hopped out to pull the boat out of the water I didn’t think; I just took a running jump.

My aim was perfect. I tackled him to the ground before he ever even saw me coming. He let out a jumbled string of curse words in an accent so thick I couldn’t really be sure which swears they were, but I knew they were bad.

“Hey, perv,” I greeted as we both scrambled to our feet. “Tell me something. Do you like to play games with the girls you take, or do you prefer to get straight to the killing?”

He stumbled backward, eyes wide as saucers. Even in the dark I could see the blood drain from his face. I couldn’t blame him for being afraid. I had taken Danger Mode to a whole new level. My eyes were glowing so brightly I was seeing the world through a yellow-green haze.

“Because I’m down for a game, but if you’d rather I just get straight to the killing, I suppose I could manage that.”

Not that I was going to hurt the guy no matter how much he deserved it—but hey, he didn’t know that. I had no problem giving him a taste of the dread he’d caused poor Chelsea.

The man started muttering a bunch of incoherent babble, but I’m pretty sure I heard the term
witch
. I supposed it was a fair guess. Wrong, but understandable.

“The Wicked Witch ain’t got nothin’ on me, jerk-off,” I said.

The man’s eyes darted to the rowboat where his shotgun was lying on the seat. “Oh, I don’t think so, buddy.”

The second his feet shuffled that direction, I sent a blast of lightning at the ground next to him. The man let out a scream and stumbled back. He tripped and landed on his butt.

Geez, a girl shoots one little bolt of lightning from her hands and he has to wet himself? Seriously?

Apparently, the guy was a giant coward. Part of me wanted to stay there and mess with him, but I figured Chelsea probably wasn’t in the mood to stick around.

“Sorry, Mr. Wrong Turn, this isn’t going to feel very good, but I can’t think of another way to stop you from running off before the cops can come find you.”

Quicker than he could blink, I grabbed the gun from the boat and knocked the man on the head with the back end of it. He went down like a sucker. Apparently it was as easy to knock someone unconscious as
Smallville
made it seem. Or it was when you had superstrength, anyway. The guy probably had a concussion, but that was going to be the least of his worries once I told the police where to find him.

I had to wait a minute before I was calm enough to turn off my power, but once I was no longer a walking electrical storm I found some rope in the boat and tied the kidnapper to a tree.

After I was sure he wasn’t going anywhere, I slowly approached the seven-year-old still huddled in the boat. I don’t really have any experience with little kids, but I figured it was a safe bet that she was going to be scared of me. Boy, was I ever wrong. As soon as I untied the little girl, she threw herself into my arms so fast she practically used superspeed. “Thank you!” she cried.

“Are you okay?” I asked. “Did he hurt you?”

The girl shook her head against my chest. “When I didn’t stop screaming he hit my face, but it doesn’t really hurt anymore. Just my arms and legs where the ropes were.”

The girl sat back, wiped her tearstained face, and showed me her wrists. There were angry red lines where the ropes had rubbed her skin raw. Seeing the marks, I had to once again focus on my energy or I would have lost control.

It was the little girl’s voice that brought me out of my rage. “Where are your wings?” she asked.

When I looked at her she was watching me with a mixture of awe and confusion.

“Wings?” I asked.

She nodded. “I know what you are. Mommy always says I should pray to Jesus when I’m scared, so that’s what I did and he sent you to help me.”

I smiled. “You are a very brave girl, Chelsea.”

Chelsea threw her tiny arms around my neck again. “Because I had my angel here to save me.”

“I’m not an angel.”

“But I saw you come from the sky.”

It took me a second to understand what she was talking about. “Oh! No, I didn’t come from the sky. I ran here, but I was on the other side of the river, so I jumped.”

Chelsea cast her gaze across the river and her eyes went wide. “You jumped all the way over the river?”

I laughed again. “I did.” When Chelsea looked confused again I said, “I’m a very special girl, but I’m not an angel.”

“She’s a witch!”

Chelsea and I both jumped at the sound of her kidnapper’s voice. Chelsea stiffened in my arms and clung to me, but she didn’t cry. She had to be the bravest kid on the planet.

I got to my feet, holding her tightly to me, and glared at the evil man. “I’m not a witch, either,” I told Chelsea, “but that man is very bad and he’s going to be in a lot of trouble. He’s never going to hurt you again, okay?”

Chelsea had her face buried in my neck, and when she nodded I felt the wetness of tears. “Come on, sweetheart,” I whispered. “Let’s get you back to your mommy and daddy. Hold on tight and keep your eyes closed. I’m going to run very fast and I don’t want you to get dizzy.”

Chelsea nodded against me again and her grip tightened.

Before I took off, I glared at the man again and gave him a few parting words.

“I’ll send the police for you. I would say I hope they find you before the bears do, but…” I shrugged. “I’m not sure that’s true.”

I didn’t stick around for his reply.

In just a few minutes I heard the sounds of men and dogs crunching through the forest. I stopped in a small clearing, where I was out in the open and started calling for help. I didn’t want to just pop up next to some nervous, trigger-happy cop with a kidnapped girl in my arms.

“Hello?” I called. “Is anybody out there? Help us!”

The police were on us in seconds. They were surprised to see me, but once it was clear I wasn’t a threat they were only concerned. “This is Chelsea,” I said to the guy who seemed to be in charge. “She’s got rope burns on her wrists and ankles, but other than that she’s okay. She’s the bravest girl I’ve ever met.”

Chelsea sat up straighter in my arms at the praise.

“And who are you?” the officer asked.

“She’s my guardian angel,” Chelsea answered.

The guy smiled at her and opened his mouth to ask me again, but I stopped him. “The creep you’re looking for is tied to a tree a long ways up the river. His boat is sitting on the shore. You can’t miss it. I’m sure it’ll have all the evidence you need. I’d bet he’s even got some kind of psycho killer love nest shanty somewhere close by. You might want to hurry before he finds some way to wriggle out of the ropes. I tied the knots pretty tight, but I’m not a boy scout or anything.”

The cop was at a loss for words. “The guy…But how did you…Who…Where…”

I rolled my yellow eyes and gave Chelsea a hug. “I have to go now, okay? But these are the police. They will take you to your parents. You’re safe now.”

Chelsea squeezed me. “Can’t you take me to them? I don’t want you to leave.”

“I’m sorry. I have to. I have to stay a secret, and the police will want to ask me questions. You’re safe now, though. I promise.”

Chelsea nodded and reluctantly climbed out of my arms. “Thank you for saving me.”

“You’re welcome, Chelsea. You be a good girl now, okay? No more wandering away from your parents.”

Chelsea nodded and stepped back. The police officer recognized that I was about to bolt and tried to stop me, but Chelsea ran to him and grabbed on to his legs. “Can I go to my parents now?”

“Sure, sweetie,” he mumbled, his eyes on me. “What’s your name? What are you doing out here? How did you find the girl? You need to come with us and give your statement.”

“Sorry,” I told the guy. “Can’t really do that. Get Chelsea home, and seriously, hurry and go find that creep. I think there’re bears in these mountains and that guy deserves to rot in prison for a long time, not get eaten. My work here’s done. I gotta go.”

“No, wait!”

I gave Chelsea a wink before I shot out of there so fast I disappeared in the blink of an eye.

By the time I got back to Ryan’s dorm, the news of Chelsea’s recovery was already being reported. Ryan met me at the entrance of his building and didn’t say anything, just pulled me into his arms. I laughed, but there were sobs mixed in with it.

“Are you okay?” Ryan asked quietly.

I sniffled. My laughter died down, leaving only my tears behind. “Oh, Ryan. Thank you for talking me into doing that.”

Ryan squeezed me tighter. “It went well, then?”

“That poor little girl. You should have seen her. She was so scared, but so brave. She was so sweet, and now she’s going to be okay.”

“Because of you,” Ryan said.

I didn’t respond to that right away. I didn’t care that it was because of me. I was just glad that that creep didn’t get the chance to touch her. The thought of whatever his plans were being the last minutes of her life was enough to make me sick. But she was safe now, and that man would never do that to anyone ever again, and
that
felt good.

I wouldn’t care if anyone ever knew what I’d done. I didn’t need the glory of it all, but Ryan was right. Knowing that I had done something to help someone made a difference.

“It felt so good to be able to help instead of hurt for once. I did something useful. I have all this power and I sit on it like it’s a curse, but maybe you’re right. Maybe it’s a gift. Think of all the good I could do.”

Ryan finally pulled my face away from his chest so that he could look into my eyes. His were so warm and his smile was so bright that his nickname should have been Sunshine instead of mine.

“See?” he said. “You’re already thinking more positively.”

I rolled my eyes, but he was right. He’d given me something tonight that I never realized I’d needed so badly. He gave me a sense of hope, a purpose.

Yeah, I’d come to terms with what had happened to me. Thanks to Ryan I’d realized that I could still live my life, but the “why” had always plagued me. Why had this happened to me? Why was this my burden to bear?

Now, though? If I could use what happened to me to really make a difference in people’s lives, the “why” wouldn’t matter anymore.

“Will you tell me about it?” Ryan asked. “I watched the news the whole time you were gone. I was scared when they said she was kidnapped. Did you have trouble with the guy? Did they catch him? Was it dangerous? Were you scared?”

I shook my head. “If anything, knowing that someone had her only made me determined. I wasn’t scared at all, just angry. When I found them, he had her tied up and gagged. I didn’t even think of being scared. I didn’t lose my head like I did when Mr. E. hurt you. I was smart about it, and careful.”

My voice was filled with excitement again and I smiled at Ryan. “I can do this! I want to do this! You’re right. I know I can’t change what happened to Mike, but helping Chelsea tonight? Even if I never save anyone ever again, I saved her. One person’s life is better because of me. That’s enough to help me accept the past and move on.”

“You were right,” I said again. “I did need something better to hold on to.” I flung my arms around him and let my tears fall. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

Ryan’s hands moved to my waist and then up my back as if he couldn’t hold me tightly enough to satisfy his need. “Don’t thank me for that. You’re the one who did it, Jamie. And for the record, more than one person’s life is better because of you.”

“I know. Imagine what that girl’s parents would feel like if anything worse had happened to her.”

Ryan gave a soft laugh. “I meant
me
, Sunshine.”

I rolled my eyes. Ryan can be the biggest romantic. I am not the mushy type, and I give Ryan all kinds of crap for being cheesy, but secretly I love that he is.

“That reminds me. I am so sorry, but I accidentally exploded my necklace.”