Touched by Darkness (26 page)

house as soon as I can get there."

She clicked off and stared dumbly at the phone, the

blood roaring in her ears. Her chest was so tight,

she couldn't breathe. For a moment she thought she

might black out. But her son needed her. She threw

down the receiver and ran around the desk to

retrieve her purse. Her hands shaking, she dug out

her cell phone, punched the directory pad and

scrolled through the numbers. Where was it? There!

Damien
M. Thank God he had put in his number,

because she wasn't sure she could find his card

right now, much less dial the number.

She hit Send and listened to the rings, rocking back

and forth, terror rolling through her in sickening

waves. Alex, her baby, her child, her life. He was

all right.
He had to be.

"Morgan."

"Alex is missing. Damien, he's
gone!"

"Tell me what happened." As always, he sounded

calm, while her world had just tilted off its axis.

"He wasn't at school when Luz went to pick him

up, and the bus driver said he never got on the bus."

"Have you checked with his friends? Maybe he's

with one of them. Or maybe he found another way

home."

"No, he didn't. He's not at the house, and Luz called

his friends. No one has seen him."

"So he's missing from school."

"What does it matter? He's gone! My son is gone!"

Her voice broke, and she forced a ragged breath.

"Kara, you have to stay calm, and help me figure

this out. I need to know where Alex was when he

disappeared."

Adrenaline and fear had her both jittery and

sluggish, making it hard to think. "He was— He

must have been at school. I dropped him off this

morning."

"Call the school and confirm whether or not he was

there all day. Then call me back."

"I think he was..." A memory nagged at the edge of

her mind, and then she remembered what Luz had

said. "Oh, wait, I know he was. Michael Thornton

told Luz that Alex walked out with him after school

and went toward the bus."

"That's what I needed to know. I'm headed to the

school now."

"I'll meet you there."

"No. Your emotional state will affect my tracking.

Contact the police and make sure they issue an

Amber Alert."

Tracking? An Amber Alert?
The reality of the

situation lanced through her like a spear. Thoughts

of child predators—and worse—ran through her

head. Alex knew better than to go anywhere with a

stranger but if it was someone he knew... "Do you

think the Belian—"

"I don't know what to think yet. Let me do my job,

Kara. Call the police, then go to the house."

"But—"

"Just do it. That's the best way to help Alex."

He disconnected with his usual abruptness. Anger

flared through her, but she welcomed it, preferring

it over the debilitating fear. She knew Damien was

her best hope for finding her son. And his plan—as

terrifying as the implications were—was sound.

She fumbled in her desk for her Rolodex, picked up

her phone, and called the police station.

#

Damien parked in front of the school and turned off

the car. He placed his hand over the quartz crystal

resting beneath his shirt and centered himself,

initiated the flow of power through his chakras. As

he got out, he let his senses flare. Immediately, he

hit a wall of darkness and depravity that signaled

Belian energy.
Damn!

For a moment, fear and concern for Alex gripped

him. He was beginning to bond with the boy, to feel

affection toward him. The thought of the child in

the hands of the Belian sent rage and other

unfamiliar emotions through him.

Stop it,
he told himself. He could not afford to form

emotional attachments to the boy, or to let his

feelings affect his judgment. Emotions could get

him killed, and wouldn't save Alex. He must remain

calm, objective.

He flared his senses again, saw the choppy, murky

images created by a shielded Belian. He saw the

psychic replay of the children coming out of the

school, obviously leaving for the day, as they had

jackets and backpacks and books, the bus and

waiting cars edging the peripheral.

The vision jolted, moving across the kids, as if

searching; the Belian must have been looking for

someone. The focus appeared to be on the children

rather that the adults who were present, raising the

concern that the Belian had indeed picked up Alex

broadcasting. But did it know Alex was the

broadcaster?

The visual scan continued, and Alex walked out of

the school, beside a pale, blond-haired boy. The

scan swept past Alex, slowed, and started back in

his direction. But before it came back to him, the

vision blurred, faded to gray. Something must have

caught the Belian's attention, broken its

concentration.

Damien tried to pick up the ethereal trail again, but

hit a psychic blockade—another indicator of the

power and cleverness of this Belian. There was no

way to tell if it had fixated on Alex or not, and what

had happened after that.
God damn it!

Senses fully alert, Damien walked along the

sidewalk to where the children had been getting on

the bus or in cars. Then he walked to the other end

of the loading area. No other vibrations or twinges.

Frustated, he turned and started back. Outside of

the initial psychic trace from the Belian, there was

nothing. It was as if he were operating in a void.

A very slight wisp of energy brushed his mind; a

faint stirring of something—or someone. He

reached out mentally, carefully, broadcasting only

through the higher chakras.
"Alex? Can you hear

me? If you can, try to send me an answer, like a

thought, but keep your shields up."

He waited, got nothing. He tried again.
"Alex?

Where are you?"

The dead silence felt like a weight dragging him

down. He had absolutely no idea where to look

next, except to drive along River Road and hope he

saw the misshapen oak tree he'd seen during the

conduction—and what were the odds of that? His

failure to keep the boy safe burned in his gut as he

turned toward his car.

He felt it then, another faint whisper of energy. He

froze, waited. There it was again—so soft and

distant, he wasn't sure what it was.
"Alex? Is that

you?"

"Help... me...
"

Damien turned full circle, scanning the entire area.

"Where are you?"

Despite his intense concentration, he couldn't pick

up the thought form again. Its weakness, and the

fact the sender hadn't been able to sustain it

convinced him it must have been from Alex, who

didn't yet have the power or the skill to project

clearly. But where was he?

Damien closed his eyes, used his third eye to search

for more energy trails. There! Fading swirls of

brown, orange, and blue—the murky brown

indicative of a lack of focusing skill, and the orange

indicating agitation. The blue told him it wasn't

Belian energy—he'd have seen black instead. The

swirls appeared to be coming from the main doors

of the school. He pivoted sharply and strode toward

the entrance. There, the energy felt more

pronounced.
"Are you inside the school?"

He felt a small energy surge and took that as a yes.

Now it became a question of where in the school.

And was the Belian with Alex? Damien tried the

glass door, found it locked. He focused his mental

will, felt the bolt on the other side turning. Then he

pulled open the door and went in.
"Alex, talk to me.

Tell me where you are. "

"Dark
...
Afraid
..."

Damien strode to the corridor on the right and

turned down it. He followed the energy trail,

feeling it grow stronger. Up ahead, a wizened man

in a rumpled khaki uniform and scuffed work boots

was mopping the tile floor. When he saw Damien,

his head snapped up in surprise. Before he could

react, Damien silenced him with a forceful mental

push. Knowing the man's mind would be

temporarily blanked, he moved past.

He slowed, however, as he approached a closed

door. The energy seemed strongest there. Damien

studied the door. It didn't have a window in it, and

it didn't appear to be a classroom. Some sort of

storage, maybe. And
something
was on the other

side.

Damien grasped his crystal, and called upon the

forces of Earth and water to give him strength and

focus. Then he pulled his gun from the shoulder

holster he'd strapped on after Kara called him.

Grasping the door handle, he turned it and pulled

the door open.

#

Kara watched Luz's white pickup truck drive away

and battled the all-out panic attack that lurked

inside her. Officer Ben Rains had left ten minutes

ago, after taking her statement and telling her he'd

check into activating the Amber Alert. This was the

first child disappearance for Zorro, and they had no

firsthand experience with this.

Then Luz, who had been monitoring the

progression of the labor of one of her patients via

cell phone, told Kara she couldn't stay any longer.

"I must go now,
mi comadre,
or Estella's
bebé
will

birth itself. I am so sorry. I do not want to leave,

especially with no word on my little man." Tears

glistened in her eyes as she picked up her coat and

purse. "But I am
una curandera,
and I must honor

my obligations. Another
chiquito
needs me also.

Promise you will call as soon as you hear

anything."

Kara nodded. "Yes. Yes, I will—" her voice broke,

and she turned away. "I—I'll let you know when I

hear."

"I will pray that
los espíritus buenos,
good spirits,

will watch over our little man, bring him back to

us," Luz said softly, and then left.

There was nothing for Kara to do but pace back and

forth, praying to God to bring her son safely home.

An awful, incessant pit of fear spread through her

until she could barely breathe. Horrific scenarios

kept flashing through her mind, and she couldn't

turn them off.

She felt the frantic need to do something, and

several times, started to reach for her car keys,

determined to go to the school. But each time, she

thought of Damien's words and stopped. She knew

she couldn't control her emotions right now, and

she also knew he had the best chance of tracking

Alex. She couldn't do anything to endanger his

chances.

She felt as though she was going insane as each

interminable minute crawled by. She thought of

calling Chief Greer, but had already spoken with

him twice, and once with Officer Rains.

She desperately wanted to talk to her mother and

stepfather, but didn't want to alarm them. Besides,

they didn't know the truth about Richard, or the

secret life Kara had led in Birmingham for two

years. She didn't have any close friends, having left

her old life behind when she fled to Zorro seven

years ago. One person she might have told, Doris,

was dead.

Feeling sick and dazed, Kara continued to pace and

pray. Time blurred, so she wasn't sure how long

she'd paced when her cell phone rang. Her heart

leaped, and she snatched it up. "Yes?"

"I have Alex," came Damien's deep voice. "He's

fine."

"Thank God." She sagged against the table, weak

with relief, but then doubt dug in its talons. "Are

you sure Alex is okay? You're not just saying that?"

"He's fine, Kara. I promise."

She let out the breath she'd been holding. "Where

was he?"

"Let me get him home, and then we'll figure

everything out. In the meantime, you'd better

contact the police."

"Yes, yes I will."
Alex was all right!
She could leap

tall buildings, could handle anything, even dealing

with Chief Greer. "What should I tell them?"

"That Alex missed the bus and decided to walk

home, and got sidetracked."

"Is that what really happened?" she asked

incredulously. Alex had never missed the bus, and