The Lost Night (14 page)

They were standing in the clearing at the back of what was left of the house. The fierce fire was rapidly burning itself out. The rain was still coming down in heavy sheets, drowning what was left of the blaze. Harry was grim-faced and his eyes were psi-hot.

He had secured the two gunmen, hand and foot, and stashed them in the old woodshed. The small windowless outbuilding at the edge of the clearing had not been touched by the fire.

“It’s better this way,” he said. “Trust me.”

“I am not going to spend the rest of the night alone in your car,” she said.

“I don’t have time to explain, Rachel. Hell, I don’t even know how to explain. All
I can tell you is that what’s happening to me is a side effect of my talent. It will wear off in a few hours. Now get into the damn car and stop arguing. I don’t have much time left.”

“You’re experiencing some major after-burn, that’s all. It happens sometimes when a dark-end talent goes too far out on the spectrum. This can’t be the first time you’ve been through this.”

“No, but it shouldn’t have happened this time. The fact that it’s kicking in so hard makes me think it’s going to be worse than usual. You do not want to be anywhere in the vicinity when the burn peaks, believe me.”

“If you think I’m going to let you wander around in the woods in this condition and in this weather, with the Preserve only a few yards away, you really are out of your mind. We will both spend the night in the SUV.”

“No.” There was a flat finality in his voice. “I need to find a place to wait out the fever. You’ll be safe inside the car. I won’t be far away. I’ll keep an eye on you.”

Rachel jacked up her senses and took another look at the heat in his aura. The silver lightning and the shadows were hot and getting hotter, but there was no instability.

“What are you so worried about?” she asked. “Psi-fever isn’t contagious.”

“My kind of post-burn fever is different. I’m not worried that you’ll catch anything from me. That’s not the problem.”

“The problem is that we’re standing out here in the rain, arguing. We can finish this conversation inside the SUV.”

“There’s nothing to discuss.”

“Oh, yes, there is.” She raised one arm and aimed
a finger at the SUV. “You’re going to get into the damn car.”

“No.”

“Yes. Harry, listen to me. I can deal with your fever. Balancing auras is what I do, remember?”

“My aura is different,” he growled. “That’s why my fever is different.”

“Powerful, yes, and there are some unusual currents coming from the far end of the spectrum, but nothing I can’t handle.”

“How?”

“I’d really rather do this somewhere out of the rain, but since you’re going to be stubborn—”

She heightened her talent so that she could view the whole spectrum of his aura. The currents were hot and blazing, but she was quite certain she could deal with the over-rezzed frequencies.

Bracing herself for the jolt she knew was coming, she pushed a little energy through her charms, reached out, and took Harry’s hand. He flinched, as if the shock of physical contact had jarred him more than it did her. She didn’t know what he was experiencing but she found herself warding off waves of glacial-cold energy. For a few heartbeats she was completely disoriented. The horrible, mindless panic she had experienced earlier threatened to return, but she steadied her senses quickly and went to work.

She was vaguely aware of Darwina chortling a cheerful farewell. The dust bunny bounded down to the ground with Amberella and disappeared into the trees.

Rachel pulled hard on her talent
and her Academy training and pulsed the necessary counterpoint waves into the flood tide of Harry’s graveyard-cold energy. The charms on her bracelet brightened like molten silver. The crystals glowed, creating a sparkling rainbow of ultralight.

The flood tide of coffin ice receded quickly and resumed its normal pattern.

Harry’s fingers tightened convulsively around hers. He stared at her with eyes that were still a little hot.

“What the hell did you just do to me?” he asked. His voice was rough and a little hoarse.

“What I was trained to do,” she said. “I rebalanced your aura. You should start feeling more in control now.”

He looked down at their clasped fingers, uncomprehending.

“Yes,” he said.

“Now can we get into the car?”

He took a deep breath and scrubbed rain off his face. “Will the effects last?”

“Yes.” She hesitated. “All I did was push a psychic reset button to return your frequencies to normal. You would have gotten there on your own in time but I speeded up the cooling process. Does this kind of thing happen to you a lot?”

“No, not unless I go a lot deeper into the zone and stay there for a while.”

“As you said, it was probably the result of all the wild energy blowing around out here tonight. We can discuss the para-biophysics of recent events if you like but I’d rather not do that while
we’re standing out here in the rain waiting to get struck by lightning.”

“Lightning. Good point.” Harry wrapped one hand around her wrist and started toward the SUV. “Can’t risk trying to drive you home until this storm is over. There will be trees and branches down everywhere. We’ll wait it out in the car.”

They went quickly through the downpour toward the big vehicle parked in the drive. Harry opened the front passenger door. Clutching her jacket in one hand, Rachel grasped one of the handholds and started to hop up into the cab. She paused, one foot inside the SUV, the other dangling in midair, looked toward the dark woods.

“Darwina,”
she called.

“She’ll be all right,” Harry said.

Rachel hesitated until Harry gave her an assist that was more of a gentle shove. Whatever the intent behind the push, it propelled her up into the front seat with enough force to make her bounce a little.

Harry closed the door. Rachel watched through the windshield as he loped around the front of the vehicle. He was right, she thought. Darwina could take care of herself.

Harry opened the driver’s side door and got in behind the wheel.

“Where will she go on a night like this?” Rachel asked. “Last I saw of her, she was headed for the Preserve fence.”

Rachel thought about that. “I guess she concluded that her work here was done.”

“Looks like it. You were in danger. Now you’re safe.”

“But how did she know that I was in danger tonight?”

“Beats me.” Harry shrugged out of the wet storm coat, wadded it up, and tossed it over the backseat into the cargo bay. “Like I said, the psychic bond between the two of you must be damned strong.”

“Yes, but it’s not magic. Somehow she sensed that I was in trouble before I realized—” She broke off, smiling a little. “No. She sensed that there was danger nearby at exactly the same time I did. The difference is that she took my inner alarm bell seriously. I didn’t. You’d think a good psychic would know better.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I remember looking out the window several times when the lightning flashed. On one occasion I saw what I thought were the kind of afterimages that you get when a bright light goes off in front of your eyes. At least, I told myself they were afterimages, but my intuition kicked up. I should have paid more attention. I realize now that a couple of those flashing images were actually glimpses of the firebombers in the trees.”

“You think Darwina picked up on your intuitive vibe?”

“That’s the only thing that makes sense in terms of para-physics. A flash of intuition jacks up a lot of hot energy, at least for a short period of time. That energy goes out into a person’s aura. Darwina is obviously sensitive to my aura, even over some distance.”

“Huh.”

He unfastened his shirt, stripped it off, and used the garment to dry his hair and face. Rachel was intensely aware of the fact that he was now nude to his waist. The fading firelight revealed the powerful contours of his shoulders.

They sat quietly for a time, studying the smoldering remains of the cabin through the rain-washed windshield. Rachel knew they were both decompressing, but Harry needed to come down a lot further than she did. The bio-cocktail that had been kicked up by adrenaline and the use of his high-rez talent combined with the strange energy of the fire had unleashed a lot of very hot psi. She had extinguished the after-burn, but that still left a lot of heat brewing. Nature and time would take care of it.

“What was that about?” Rachel said after a while.

“I think it’s obvious.” Harry leaned his head against the back of the seat. “Someone does not want me investigating whatever is going on in the Preserve.”

“That fire—”

“Was partially paranormal in nature,” Harry concluded. “I know.”

“I would not have thought that sort of technology would be widely available.”

“It’s not. It’s cutting-edge para-technology. The more important question is who would send a couple of kids out on a night like this with that kind of exotic explosive device?”

“One thing’s for sure, those two young men are not locals,” she said. “I didn’t recognize either of them.”

“Doesn’t mean they aren’t working with someone here on the island.”

“You do not give up on a theory easily, do you?”

“Not until a better one comes along,” Harry said.

“Well, one way or another, it appears that I’m now in the market for another bicycle,” she said.

“The Foundation will buy you a new bike. Hell, it will buy you a new car.”

“A bike is fine. Good exercise.”

“You need a car for rainy days and other bad weather.”

“I can always get a lift or borrow a Vibe when I need something larger.”

“I’ll see to it that you get a car,” Harry said grimly.

“I can’t take a car from you.”

“Why not?”

“It’s too much of a gift.” She waved one hand. The charms jangled in a discordant fashion. “It will upset the balance.”

“We’re talking about a business expense for the Foundation; it’s not a matter of harmonic balance.”

“I can’t believe that after we both nearly got barbequed in a paranormal fire we are sitting here in our wet clothes arguing about whether your stupid Foundation will buy me a bike or a car.”

Harry turned his head to look at her. “Stupid Foundation?”

“Sorry.” She took a steadying breath. “I got carried away. Of course your Foundation isn’t stupid. How can a Foundation be stupid? It’s the people who run it who are—Oh, never mind.”

“You’re right. We should not be arguing about the car.”

“No, we should not.”

There was a short silence.

“Thanks,” Harry said after a while. He did not take his eyes off the smoldering ruins. “For the aura fix, I mean.”

“You’re welcome.” She pushed her wet hair back behind her ears. The outside temperature was still balmy, in spite of the storm, but she was getting chilled sitting in her damp clothes. “I don’t suppose you have anything I could use to dry off?”

Harry shook off his preoccupied air and switched on the interior lights. “I can’t believe you took the time to grab your jacket.”

“I went right past the coatrack on my way to the kitchen.” She paused. “The jacket cost a lot of money. I’m still paying off the credit card.”

For a moment she thought he was going to lecture her on the proper priorities to keep in mind when fleeing from a raging inferno. But in the end he evidently thought better of it.

“I keep some emergency supplies in the back. I’ll get them.” He started to open the door to go around to the back of the vehicle.

“No need for you to get drenched again,” she said quickly. “I’m smaller than you, I can crawl back to the cargo bay.”

She scrambled into the rear seat and then into the cargo area. She smiled a little at the sight of the neatly stowed emergency kit.

“You guys in the security business are prepared for anything,” she said.

“Goes with the job. There should be a couple of blankets back there.”

“Found ’em.”

“You’re soaked. Take off those wet clothes and wrap yourself up in one of the blankets.”

She stilled. The thought of undressing in such close quarters was more than a little unsettling. But the notion of spending what remained of the night in her wet clothes was not particularly appealing, either.

“What about you?” she asked.

“I’m okay. Boots are wet and so are the bottom edges of my pants but the rest of me is mostly dry.”

He leaned down and went to work removing his boots.

Rachel held one of the blankets to her throat. “Would you mind turning out the light?”

“Huh?” Harry glanced back at her, frowning. Then understanding struck. “Oh, yeah, sure. Sorry.”

He hit the switch, plunging the interior of the SUV into deep night. Outside, the fire continued to smolder, but it no longer gave off enough light to illuminate the inside of the vehicle. Satisfied that she was not going to be doing a silhouette striptease, she peeled off her wet clothes. There was a fair amount of fumbling around involved. It wasn’t easy tugging off the wet jeans while simultaneously trying to hold the blanket around herself. By the time she managed to get out of the denim she was breathing heavily and the windows were fogged up.

When she got to her underwear, she stopped, intensely conscious of the heavy silence from the front seat. She finally concluded that since the panties amounted to nothing more than a gossamer scrap of synthetic lace she might as well keep them on. They would dry faster from the heat of her body. The bra, however, had to come off. It was sticky and uncomfortable.

She draped the jacket carefully over one rear seat and then arranged the bra, shirt, and jeans alongside it. Clutching the blanket around her, she made her way forward into the other rear seat. She settled in, knees pulled up to her chin beneath the blanket.

Harry stirred in the front seat. She could see the outline of his head and shoulders when he turned to look at her.

“Are you going to stay back there?” he asked, his voice very neutral.

“More room for both of us this way,” she said quickly.

“Right.”

The rain thundered on the roof of the big vehicle. Another bolt of lightning lit up the atmosphere.