Trance (14 page)

“We will,” Renee said. “In fact, I’ll be watching his back very seriously. Remember in school he used to hate my powers, and I’d tease him with them? You know what he told me? He had a crush on me the whole time. What do you think, T? Do you see sex in our future?”

Gage grunted.

I coughed. “I’d rather not let my mind go there, if you don’t mind.”

She giggled again, and then sobered. “You do the same, okay? Watch each other’s backs, I mean. And maybe go have sex or something, you both look tense.”

She cut the call short before I could muster a reply. I settled for staring at the blank monitor. Gage blew hard through his nose, lips twisted in a strange grimace.

“What?” I asked.

“Renee Duvall and her casual conversations. She’s unbelievable,” he said, an odd layer of annoyance in his voice.

“She keeps you on your toes.”

“Something tells me Agent McNally will, too.”

“I won’t be her poster girl for Ranger support, Gage. A few photos with schoolchildren and old folks smiling won’t erase decades of violence.”

“No, it won’t, and there’s no reason to expect it to. We have to earn back that trust and not from politicking.”

“So what, then? We keep a bus full of kids from toppling off a bridge into the river? Pull orphans from a burning building? Stop a mudslide in Malibu?”

He turned until he stood toe to toe with me and tried to act stern. Humor still peeked through. “Okay, you do realize that the unspoken rules of superheroing states that one of those events will magically occur within our immediate vicinity?”

“Well, good,” I said, flashing him a bright smile. This close I could smell a hint of shaving cream and something else. Something decidedly male and uniquely Gage. “We can get that step in our careers over and done with, and move on to more important matters.”

“Such as?”

“Picking out uniforms?”

“I’d rather wear my jeans.”

“I don’t know.” I quirked an eyebrow and gave him a once-over. “I think you’d look good in something skintight and leather.”

I expected him to laugh; I didn’t anticipate his completely blank stare. Crap. “Sorry, that wasn’t—”

Gage interrupted my retraction by cupping my chin with his free hand and lowering his head. My heart threatened to beat right out of my chest. He brushed his lips across my mouth so gently I thought he missed. Just the lightest of strokes that set my nerves on fire.

Indecision forced me to pause. Knowledge of a turning
point. He wouldn’t talk about Oregon, but he’d offer tentative kisses. Our conversations skirted deeper pain, while remaining surface and casual. If words couldn’t bring us together, maybe something else could.

Not knowing how many more “laters” I had, I captured his lips in a crushing kiss. Arms circled my waist, hands tangled in my hair. His mouth, his tongue, his intense heat and flavor and scent—all surrounded me and forced a soft moan from my throat.

He broke the kiss, but didn’t pull away. Every inch of his body seemed to vibrate. His intense, silver-flecked eyes drilled into me, trying to see past the lavender exterior. The intensity of it was overwhelming. “You frighten me, Teresa.”

Confusion overpowered my tumultuous emotions and I tensed, stifled by his tight embrace.

He must have read something in my expression. “I just meant I’ve never felt like this after knowing someone for only a couple of days. Like I’ve … I don’t know.”

I thought I did. “Like you’ve found something you didn’t know you wanted in the first place? Or is that kind of corny?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah, it’s corny?”

“No.” He traced the side of his thumb down my cheek. “The other part.”

“And you’re afraid of messing up and losing it, like you’ve lost everything else?”

His face hardened, the once-open emotions shuttering. Shutting down.

Concerned, I splayed my fingers against his chest. Felt his
heart beating there. “Sorry, I was just remembering something a shrink said to me during one of our multiple sessions dedicated to my inability to commit to a relationship.” A topic I felt awkward broaching with Gage or anyone else—one that would probably have to be broached before we went any further with … whatever it was we were doing.

“Gage, what is it about me that frightens you? I’d really like to know.” When he didn’t respond, I gave him a hint. “Is it what Dr. Seward said about my potentially dying?”

“No, that’s not it.” His body thrummed with tension. “The potentiality of your death does frighten me, Teresa. It terrifies me. But your powers are stronger than anyone else’s here, maybe stronger than anyone else active, and they’re not yours. You have them for a reason that no one knows or is sharing, and it scares me to death.”

“I’m not going to explode, Gage.” I thought of yesterday’s episode and cringed. “At least, I hope not.”

He rested his forehead against mine. Our height difference made looking up awkward, so I closed my eyes. His breath was sweet, warm, and his mouth so close. The butterflies in my stomach stirred.

“Please talk to me, Gage. About anything.”

“Teresa, I—”

Whatever statement he meant to make was cut off by an obnoxious blaring noise, filtered into the room through a loudspeaker in the ceiling. We pulled apart.

“What is that?” I asked.

The computer monitor opposite us blinked to life. Live news coverage filled the screen. Half of a large complex was
flattened, the street littered with dust and rubble and debris. The scroll at the bottom read “Inglewood Demolition Goes Wrong, Workers Trapped.”

Just a few miles from our headquarters.

“Should we let the fire department handle it?” Gage asked.

I sensed a challenge in his words. The building had done more than simply collapse. If the news reporter was correct, it had also trapped half a dozen workers beneath the rubble. It could take the fire department hours, if not days, to safely reach them. Using our powers together, we could get there faster.

“I suppose there’s no better time to introduce ourselves to the world,” I said. “Let’s call Onyx and Tempest. We’ve got our first team mission.”

F
or all of my bluster about a team mission, the scene presented enough unique challenges to tempt me into giving up before we began. The building was an abandoned apartment complex, standing on half of a city block in the shit hole that was Inglewood. Most of the neighborhood had been abandoned six years ago after a petroleum fire razed twelve square blocks to the ground. That section stood cut off by police barricades and cement K-rails. The skeletal remains of LAX were only a few miles west.

Our site stood within view of the empty blocks, themselves still littered with rubble long ago picked clean by thieves. Fire trucks, police cars, and emergency vehicles crowded the street, making it impossible for our copter to land. We competed for sky space with several news crews, one of which finally took notice of us when I pushed open the door and poked my purple-streaked head out.

Gage grabbed my wrist to anchor me in the copter, but I had no intention of falling.

“Hey, Tempest!” I had to shout over the roar of the copter
blades. Tempest sidled up next to me. “Think you can get us down there?”

He peered over the edge of the copter floor. “As long as you don’t mind a slight free fall.”

“Do not worry for me,” Onyx said.

Over my shoulder, Onyx peeled out of his coveralls until he sat there in only those special briefs. He closed his eyes. His skin darkened as his body shrank. Feathers sprouted. His nose lengthened, and his arms disappeared into his body. Still fascinated by his shapeshifting, I watched until he had transformed completely. The raven blinked glowing green eyes at me, and then flew out the door.

“Show-off,” Gage said.

Tempest grabbed my right hand with his left, and Gage’s left hand with his right. Before I could ask what we should do, Tempest leapt from the copter and pulled me and Gage out with him.

Terror seized me as we free-fell toward the city street, less than three hundred feet below. I squeezed Tempest’s hand, too frightened to scream. A rush of wind circled us, roaring in my ears, and our descent slowed. Grime and dirt swirled into a funnel cloud, and we floated through the center, toward the ground.

We must have made quite a sight.

I didn’t let go of Tempest’s hand until my feet hit pavement. The cyclone ended immediately, and the roar was replaced with shouting voices. Rescue workers backed away, creating a circle around us. Onyx swooped down and landed, remaining in raven form.

“Warn a girl next time,” I said.

Tempest winked.

“Who’s in charge?” I asked the nearest fireman.

He pointed toward a cluster of fire engines. “Captain Hooper. What are you?”

“The answer to your prayers,” I quipped, and then looked down at Marco. “Onyx, do a flyover and get the lay of the land.”

The raven nodded and took to the sky in a ruffle of feathers and air. I envied him the freedom to fly like that.

“You’re Rangers, aren’t you?” a female voice asked.

I turned and located the woman near an ambulance. She wore an EMT uniform badly in need of an iron. Silver glistened in her black hair, and unlike the younger men and women around her, she didn’t seem at all surprised by our arrival at the scene.

“Yes, we are,” I said.

“I knew you’d come back. Always knew someday.”

Before I could ponder if she meant me specifically, or the Rangers as a group, Gage grabbed my arm and whisked me toward the makeshift command center. I tried to remember the woman’s face, so I could seek her out later if need be, and followed the boys.

Captain Hooper was easy to find. He stood hunched over the trunk of a police car, studying several sets of building blueprints, flanked on both sides by firemen and uniformed cops. He looked up as we approached, his mouth flopping open, utter shock settling into his aged features. White hair peeked out from beneath his cap, but that didn’t diminish the air of authority in his broad shoulders and square jaw.

He recovered quickly and suspicion replaced surprise. “What are you people doing here?”

“Lending a hand, if you think we’re needed, sir.” I pulled the civility out of my ass, even though the “you people” put my defenses up. Pissing off a police captain wouldn’t do much to ingratiate us with the populace.

Hooper’s attention shifted over my shoulder to Tempest and Gage. “You all have powers that can be useful in this situation?”

“Of course. We aren’t here to waste anyone’s time. I’m Trance, this is Tempest and Cipher. And please, Captain, tell your people not to shoot at a crow flying about, he’s with us.”

“We’re police, not game hunters.”

“Just so we understand each other. Where are the workers trapped, Captain? We need to know their locations and if any of the explosives still haven’t been detonated.”

“One pack hasn’t.” A young man wearing an orange hard hat shouldered his way forward. The name embroidered on his shirt said Anderson. “The northeast corner of the building only collapsed partway. That’s where my guys were placing the last pack when everything hit the fan.”

“How many men are down there?” Gage asked.

“Five still. Two got out on their own. Said they could hear the others screaming for help as they left, but their escape route fell in. We can’t get to them.”

I glanced at blueprints that read like gibberish. “Show me.”

Anderson and Hooper led us to the edge of the rubble; they’d had the foresight to set up their base near the trapped men. Eight stories of apartment building lay on top of them. Four stories of the northeast wall survived, a totem to the destruction. Anderson pointed to a spot of freshly disturbed bricks.

“That’s where they got out,” he said.

I squeezed Gage’s elbow. Walking as close as he dared to the rubble, he squatted down, closed his eyes, and concentrated.

“What’s he doing?” Hooper asked.

“Checking to see if the workers are still alive,” I replied.

Onyx landed next to Tempest and transformed back into his human shape. It was like watching a video recording backward, as he undid what he’d done earlier. He didn’t seem to mind being clad in just those black briefs. The man had the body of an underwear model, all tapered hips and chiseled abs—even if his mottled skin made him look like an advertisement for camouflage paint.

“See anything useful?” I asked.

“There may be a way in through the rubble, twenty feet to the center,” Onyx said. “It is a rough walk. I ventured inside, and some of the support beams created a tunnel into the first level.”

“Good, thanks.”

Gage stood up and walked back, his mouth pinched. “I only heard four heartbeats. Could smell a lot of blood, and something else.” He looked at Hooper. “Is all of the gas and electricity to this block shut off?”

“Yes,” Hooper said.

“It wasn’t on before,” Anderson added. “My guys went in with flashlights and lanterns. Property hasn’t had good electrical service for two years, since the owner went bankrupt. Why do you think we’re tearing it down?”

“Onyx found a way in,” I said to Gage. “I need you with us for orientation. Tempest, can you stay out here and be my eyes and ears?”