Phoenix Inheritance (26 page)

Chapter Thirteen

A powerful shove threw Daz out of the telepathic link and knocked him physically backwards. He lost hold of Renee's hand. His head slammed into the chair behind him.

“Fuck. Charlie? Renee? What the hell? Beth, what's going on in there?”

But she didn't answer.

Beth sat upright, her body stiff, her hand with a death grip on Renee's arm. All he could see were the whites of Beth's eyes. Something fucked-up was going on telepathically, but if he disturbed Beth, he might make it worse.

“Renee?” Daz set his hand on Renee's shoulder. Like Beth, her eyes had rolled back in her head. Her arms were curled around Charlie. His son was curled into a little ball around Odin, who was making the most pathetic mewing sounds Daz had ever heard.

If he pulled them away from Beth, would he make whatever was going on worse or better?

He had no idea how to save the people he loved.

Charlie screamed. Renee slumped over. Beth moaned and collapsed sideways. Odin skittered back to the cat carrier. Charlie fell into Daz's arms, sobbing.

He held his son with one hand and leaned over Renee, desperately searching for a pulse.

“Mom!” Tears ran down Charlie's face. He grabbed Renee's arm. “Mom!” He started shaking her to no avail and screaming “Mom” over and over.

Daz enclosed his hysterical son from behind and pulled him tight. “Charlie, I have to check her. I can help but you have to give me room.”

Charlie's thrashing worsened. He was losing it. Daz pulled his hands together and held them tight.

“Mom's dead. It's my fault. Mom's dead!”

“She's not! Stop fighting me and I can help her!”

What the hell had happened inside that link?

Charlie whimpered. He stopped thrashing and curled into a fetal position, leaving Daz free to check on Renee. Dammit, he couldn't find a pulse on her wrist. Shit. He went for the artery in her throat next, feeling with two fingers. Be there, he thought. Be there.

Renee.

“Mom,” Charlie whispered through his tears. “Mom.” He rocked back and forth, rhythmically.

Nothing, nothing, wait…yes! The pulse was light and weak but it was there.

“Charlie, she's alive but she's hurt. She's alive.”

“Mom's alive, Mom's alive.” Charlie continued rocking. “I have to calm down. I have to calm down. I have to calm down.”

Tears stained his son's cheek. Daz's heart broke. He bent over Renee, to make sure she was still breathing. Yes, he felt breath on his check. He put his ear to her chest. Definite heartbeat. He pulled her into his arms. “Renee,” he whispered into her ear.

But she was limp and unmoving.

Charlie stared at him through his tears. “You can help her?”

“Yes.” Lie. Daz had no idea what the fuck had happened, never mind how to fix it. He reached over and shook Beth. Was she in the same shape, nearly comatose?

He needed Alec here, now. He needed med techs. He needed to know what just happened.

Beth moaned and blinked her eyes.

“Beth, I need help here.”

Beth waved a hand at him but didn't seem able to speak. Something obviously had happened inside the cat's memories, something dangerous. He could ask Charlie, but his son was barely holding it together as it was.

He put his hand flat on Renee's chest, right over the Blackhawk logo of her T-shirt, to reassure himself her heart was still beating.

She
lived
.

“Is she…is she…” Charlie stammered out. He stopped rocking.

“She's alive.” Daz put his hand on his son's shoulder. “And she needs your help.”

“How?”

“Pick up that phone near the door. Someone will answer. Tell whoever's on the other end to get Alec and medical personal here ASAP.”

He thought Charlie might freeze or refuse but instead, the kid obeyed instantly, running for the phone. Daz pulled Renee into his arms, murmuring to her, hoping she would hear him, hoping she would wake up and look at him.
Please look at me. I love you.
I can't fail you again.

In the background, he heard Charlie talking to someone.

He wouldn't give in to the tears that threatened. Charlie was scared enough already. He didn't need his dad losing it too.

“Renee, wake up. I love you. Charlie loves you. We need you. Wake up.”

“They're coming. They said they were coming.” Charlie rushed back to them. “Mom.” He took her hand and brought it against his chest. “Mom.” He was crying again. Daz was about to lose it himself.

“You hold tight to her, Charlie. That will help.” Maybe it would. Daz put his arm around his stricken son. He kept a tight grip around Renee with the other arm.

What the hell is going on?

Alec burst into the room, followed by a medical team with a gurney. He lifted Beth off the floor and into his arms. “Counselor,” he whispered.

She stirred and gripped his hand.

Two doctors surrounded Daz and Charlie. Behind them bounded Thor and Loki.

“We have to take her vitals,” one of them said. “You need to let her go.” Daz recognized the doctor as the man who'd treated Renee's shoulder yesterday.

“I'm not letting go of my mom,” Charlie said.

“Neither of us will,” Daz said. “But let's move over and give them room.”

This was a telepathic thing and that meant touching Renee, keeping in contact with her, might help. So they held her hand together while the doctors checked her vitals.

Thor licked Renee's face. Even her beloved dog didn't cause a reaction. Loki settled at Renee's feet, whining. Daz knew exactly how Loki felt.

“What happened?” Alec asked in a quiet voice.

“I don't know,” Daz said through gritted teeth. “We went into Odin's memories and got a good visual of the mean man from the cat but then something went—”

“The mean man attacked us!” Charlie yelled. “He tried to take me away, but Mom stopped him. He tried to kill her by tossing her over the cliff, but Mom dragged him over with her. I hope he's dead.” His tears flowed freely. “I hope he's dead. I hate him. I hate him, I hate him.”

So do I, kid
, Daz thought.

“So this was a mental attack triggered by something in Odin's memories?” Alec asked, looking down at Beth.

Beth nodded.

“How do we fix it, Beth?” Daz asked. They had to fix it.

Beth didn't answer.

“We need to get both of them to the med unit so we can stabilize their vitals until we know what we're dealing with,” the doctor said.

Daz stood with Renee in his arms. “Let's go.”

“I'm coming with you,” Charlie announced.

“Damn straight, kid. You tell the dogs to follow too,” Daz said.

“They'd come anyway,” Charlie said. “They're really, really worried about her. Thor said I had to be calm for her.” He stared at the floor. “Odin is scared too. He said he didn't do it. He doesn't know what happened. He's sorry. He's really sorry. He thinks we're going to hurt him.”

“You tell him we won't,” Alec said. “But that he needs to stay in the carrier for now for his safety and ours.”

“He wouldn't leave it anyway,” Charlie said. “He's too scared.”

Charlie held on to his mom's hand as they rushed to the medical facility. Daz laid Renee on a hospital bed while the doctors hooked her up to monitors and an IV. He closed his eyes in relief when the monitors clearly showed a steady heartbeat and strong vitals. He pointed that out to Charlie.

“That's from her?” Charlie asked.

“Yeah, that's her heartbeat.”

“Okay.” Charlie's face went white. “But why won't she wake up?”

“When Beth feels better, she'll help her wake up.”

Charlie nodded but his face was pasty white. He glanced around, saw the bathroom and ran into it. Daz went after him. If Charlie was collapsing too…

Charlie threw up into the toilet. Daz knelt down and held on to him as he kept throwing up, over and over.
Right there with you, kid.
He wanted to tell Charlie everything would be okay. He wished he could.

Charlie stopped heaving. Daz flushed the toilet. He hugged his son.

“I'm sorry,” Charlie whispered, his voice hoarse, his body shaking.

“There's nothing to be sorry about. Nothing.” Daz could hardly talk himself. “Want some water to wash out your mouth?”

Charlie nodded. Daz helped him get a cup from the sink and drink. He had to hold it. Charlie's hand was trembling. “I want Mom.”

“Me too. We'll go right back to her.” Daz wiped off his son's face, then his own.

He carried Charlie over to the bed. His son curled up next to his mother. Thor and Loki paced around near the foot of the bed.

Daz stroked Charlie's hair.
I cannot do this without you, Renee. We need you.

“How is she?” Daz asked the doctors.

“Vitals are normal,” the doctor said. “Whatever's wrong isn't physical.”

Daz nodded, his throat suddenly too dry for speech. He glanced over at Alec and Beth. They were sitting together on another bed, Beth still in Alec's arms. Whatever happened, they were going to need Beth to fix it. If she could.

“Be right back.” He patted Charlie's shoulder. “You watch over Mom for a minute.”

“I won't leave her. I won't,” Charlie said.

“I know.”

Beth opened her eyes as Daz approached. He swallowed hard, to make sure his voice still worked.

“What happened?” His words came out as a mere whisper.

Beth took a drink from a water bottle Alec provided. “There was a mental trap somehow placed in Odin's mind,” she said. “Once we got close enough to the memories of the mean man, it clicked into place. The trap, represented by the mean man, latched on to Charlie. I'm thinking it was a way to prepare Charlie for a physical kidnapping by somehow gaining control of his mind.”

“That's fucking possible?” Daz asked.

“It happened, so it's possible. This is the first time I've seen something like it. Whoever did it has to be a damn powerful telepath. It wasn't your dead intruder. It must have been who he was communicating with.”

“Rasputin,” Daz said.

“No, not him, not directly,” Beth said. “Renee seemed to recognize the figure at the end and she doesn't know Rasputin. But…”

“But what? How the hell did she get this way?”

Beth grabbed his hand. “I'll show you.”

Images flashed into his brain of the man grabbing Charlie, of Renee fighting back, refusing to give up, even in the snowstorm, even when the man was about to toss her over a cliff.

“When she hit the bottom, it all ended,” Beth said. “The backlash tossed me out of Renee's mind and I'm guessing that it did the same to Charlie. I want to go back inside her mind to get answers but I'm too weak right now. I could make it worse. I need to be stronger to do it. I'm sorry, Daz, I'm so sorry.”

Alec squeezed her hand. “It's not your fault.”

“No,” Daz said, “it's not. It's the enemy's fault. But you can fix it when you're stronger?” He stared over at Charlie, clutching his motionless mom. “Please tell me you can.” Daz's voice broke.

“I'm going to do everything I can to fix it. That's why I'm staying next to Alec. He's helping me recover faster and I'm going to need the power boost I get when we're together when I go back in Renee's head.”

“How long?” Daz whispered.

Beth closed her eyes and shook her head. “I'm not sure.”

“Well, when? Minutes, days, hours?” Daz flexed his fist, wishing he had something,
someone
to hit. “Because for all we know, she's trapped inside some hell in her own mind.”

“Hours, I think.” Beth clutched his arm. “I'm sorry, I want to help sooner but if I do this wrong, we could lose her.”

“I understand.” And he did. But that didn't make this any better. Daz went back to Renee. Charlie sat up.

“Dad, I just remembered.”

“What?”

“The mean man. I thought his voice sounded familiar. Mom did too.” Charlie lowered his voice. “I know who it is.”

“Who?” Daz whispered.

“It's my teacher. Mr. Lamoreux. And he seemed so nice.” Charlie frowned. “I'm never trusting anyone who seems that nice again.”

“This was done by your
teacher
?” Oh, hell, that explained how these people had gotten close to his son. “You're sure? You have to be sure on this one, Charlie.”

Charlie jutted his chin forward. “I'm sure.”

Daz rolled his shoulders. “Okay.” Now, he had a target. A goal. Someone to make pay for this. “Your job, Charlie, is to stay here with Mom and help her get better.”

“What your job?” Charlie asked.

“I'm going to get the man who hurt you, hurt Odin, and hurt your mom. And he's going to tell us how to fix her.”

“But he hurt Mom! What if he hurts you too?”

“He won't hurt me.”

“But he's mean and powerful and—” Charlie stared at the floor.

“And I'm just a guy without powers,” Daz finished for him. “But you know who else is an ordinary guy?”

“Who?”

“Batman.”

Chapter Fourteen

Daz left Charlie in care of the doctors and, oddly, Philip Drake, with a final assist by Thor, who had again calmed Charlie. Daz knew Drake would keep his family safe. He hadn't expected Drake to get along with Charlie. When Daz left, the two of them were sitting together in the medical facility, drawing superhero costumes together. Thor had been curled at Charlie's feet.

Daz went to the supply room to load up. Normally, he'd gather F-Team to go with him but most of them were out helping with storm recovery. Time was something he didn't have. Beth thought the backlash from Renee taking her enemy over the edge of the cliff might have incapacitated him too. Every second lost in capturing him meant time the telepath could use to recover.

And, anyway, going in alone might be for the best. If Lamoreux could attack through a cat's memories, he might be able to turn the team against itself. One person with the right weapons was the only way to take out this guy. One person with the right approach that attacked his weakness.

Time to level up.

If there was one thing he'd learned about psychics, it was that they needed intense concentration to be effective. That meant step one was to distract and disrupt Lamoreux, just like he'd distracted the guards in Turkey by planting the grenades.

Daz grabbed two flash-crash grenades that would stun and sometimes disable from a long range. He could go with a regular M84 flash-bang model but the flash-crash was more powerful. The only difference was the flash-crash grenades might toss out metal fragments and injure his quarry. Daz didn't care. He didn't have to worry about hostages getting in the way.

He did have to worry about animal attacks, given how the intruder had used the bear yesterday. He grabbed a circular gadget. The LRAD. What Alec had jokingly called the sound machine. Long Range Acoustic Devices were already used to keep animals off certain installations and to deal with crowds by making it too unpleasant to be near the sonic disruption. This one might mess up his opponent and keep him from manipulating any animals or people nearby.

One of the vans was already pre-rigged to hold the LRAD on its roof. Daz clipped the grenades on his belt, slung his specially fitted M1 Carbine over his back, holstered his Glock at his waist, and headed out to the parking lot to hook in the LRAD to the van.

Drake came outside just as Daz was finished and ready to go.

“You got his address?” Daz asked.

Drake handed over the slip of paper. “He could be gone already.”

“I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.”

“I could come with you.”

That was a serious offer. Drake was relentless in a fight. But, no. “You're needed here. With Beth out of commission and Alec needed to help her, you're the last, best line of defense for everyone.”

Drake nodded.

“Any change?” Daz asked.

“With Beth? She's growing stronger. With Renee? No. She's still…out.”

All the more reason to take this asshole down immediately. “Charlie?”

“He fell asleep with the dogs curled around him. Beth said it's because of the exhaustion from dealing with all the psychic feedback.”

“That's better than a meltdown, at least. Does Beth still want to wait hours to go in and help Renee?”

“She'll go in as soon as she can. You know that.”

For a split second, Drake transformed. His voice dropped an octave. His eyes narrowed and his posture changed from relaxed to battle ready.

“If you don't get him, I will,” Drake said.

“I know.”

An eye-blink later, and Drake was back to the man who'd just been playing with Charlie. The monster still lurked inside him, Daz thought. But Drake was
their
monster now.

They looked at each other for a minute in complete understanding before Drake went back inside. Daz stowed most of his gear, punched Lamoreux's address into the GPS and headed out.

This asshole lived just over the other side of the hill from Renee. No wonder he'd been able to spy on her and Charlie and send Odin out to lure Charlie away. But this time, that closeness would cost him.

Several times during the drive, Daz reminded himself that he wanted to take Lamoreux alive. They needed to see if he tracked back to Rasputin and if there were any other agents in the area. But he wanted to pound him into dust. Charlie's screams for his mother echoed in Daz's mind, over and over.

Daz slowed as he shifted gear to get up the steep hill that led to Renee's house. He turned on the side street that led to Lamoreux's address and spotted what he was looking for: an old dirt road that led to the neighborhood watering hole. Daz drove in as far as he could through the storm debris and parked. He jumped up to the roof of the van, tilted the LRAD in the right direction and set it on remote. This put him a few hundred feet from Lamoreux's property.

Daz put on the infrared goggles, grabbed his weapons and headed out through the woods. He was just below the cliff that Charlie had almost fallen down. His goggles spotted a few small animals and then a larger one inside a house.

There, right where he should be, a lone human figure. Daz crept closer. The person inside Lamoreux's house was lying on a bed. Daz checked the time. It had only been ninety minutes since the mental attack at the Institute. Maybe his quarry was still down too, like Renee. Or maybe he was exerting energy to keep her down and out. Either way, that was good news for Daz, as a distracted enemy was a weaker enemy.

But he couldn't count on that. Step by step, he drew closer, until he was at the edge of the target's yard.

“Come for more abuse, servant of the fire demon?”

Fuck. Daz set his jaw. Lamoreux was apparently awake enough to use his telepathy. Fuck stealth. He walked into the yard, out in the open, his hand on one of the flash-crash grenades.

“Stop.”

To his horror, Daz froze.

“Our saint put some controls inside your head during your captivity. They are coming in useful, as he foresaw they would. Now toss aside those grenades.”

Rasputin still had a hold on him. Blind fury obscured Daz's vision. To his continued horror, his hand obeyed a mind not his own and tossed aside the grenades.

“Good. Come into the house. You being here saves me time. It'll give me a chance to reinforce those commands. After that, things will be much simpler.”

Level up, Daz thought. It was his only mental thought as his body, controlled by Lamoreux, walked through the open screen door and into the house. Daz set his modified M1 on the couch.

Level up, level up, level up. Keep that thought uppermost, don't let him in further.

Lamoreux came out to greet him. No wonder no one had suspected him. Guy was about ordinary height, ordinary weight and ordinary brown hair.

Level up, level up.

Lamoreux drew closer and studied him.
“Charlie looks like you. And he's more resistant to mental tampering, like you. I expected to be able to get your son to come with me easily after a week. Instead, he's become more difficult at school with each passing day.”

“So you took time off to regroup.” Renee had mentioned Charlie's regular teacher was out with a supposed broken leg.

“I have patience. My saint has foreseen my eventual victory.”

“How the hell did you get involved in all this?” Daz ground out the words between his teeth. “You're not Russian.”

“No, but my mother was. She was one of the saint's emissaries to America. Once she saw how powerful I'd become, she took me back to him for training.”

Lamoreux's eyes began to glow. Just like Rasputin's eyes. And, once again, Daz was helpless. But he couldn't fail, not this time. “You wouldn't happen to be related to the guy, would you?”

Weird, to have this conversation half out loud, half telepathic. He wouldn't have to talk out loud to Beth. She'd just hear him.

He wondered if Lamoreux was weaker than he was letting on.

Level up, level up.

“I would happen to be related to the guy, yes. And, like my saint, I recover quickly. I can't say the same for Charlie's mother, however. We're still connected and I have the upper hand.”
Lamoreux grinned.

“Fuck you.”

“You shouldn't be so worried about Charlie. I'll take good care of him. Maybe you and Renee can even stick around. You might be valuable in keeping him calm. Once my control over the three of you is complete, of course.”

Lamoreux raised his hand. Fire glowed in his palm. Daz tried to step back, to get away from that glow, but he was frozen in place. It was happening again. He was helpless to get away, helpless to save the people he cared about.

Level up, level up, level up.

He twitched his hand, to make it seem involuntary. His captor didn't notice, probably too focused on burning Daz's shoulder, reinforcing the wound made by Rasputin.

Good
. Daz twitched his wrist again. It responded again. Now. It had to be now.

Daz slammed his wrists together, activating the LRAD remote button on his wrist.

A shriek cut through the air.

The sounds made Daz's ears throb but he expected that. He'd endure.

Lamoreux couldn't. He put his hands his ears.
Yes, concentrate on your telepathy through that, you bastard
. The telepath's vise grip on Daz's mind slipped. He clenched his fist. Yes, he could move a little now. He drew back his hand and punched Lamoreux, a solid uppercut across the jaw. Lamoreux fell to his knees.

That broke the telepathic hold on Daz's mind. He grabbed the M1 and shot Lamoreux point blank in the chest with the tranqs.

Lamoreux stared at Daz. For a second, Daz wondered if the tranqs would be enough. He chambered another set. Lamoreux's eyes stopped glowing.

“You're nothing special, you're ordinary, you're…”

“I'm Batman, asshole,” Daz said over the siren's whine.

Lamoreux's mental voice faded out. He collapsed in a heap on the rug. For good measure, Daz pumped the second round of tranqs in him. If he could heal like Rasputin, he might recover from the drugs fast.
I'm not taking any chances.

Daz clicked off the LRAD and secured his captive.

He curled the comm link around his ear and tapped it for the first time. “Target secure.”

“Roger that,” Drake answered.

“Dad! Mom's awake! She's okay,” Charlie cut in. “You got him. You saved her.”

About time, Daz thought.