Chapter 11
BRETT LEANED AGAINST the windowsill in the conference room located in a small building on the Army Reserve, thankful that Chad allowed him to be involved in the interrogation of Dalton.
“Where is my team?” Chad said with an even tone, leaning over the table, knuckles turning white as he pressed them against the wood.
“I have no idea,” Dalton said.
“Right. Just like you didn’t know the bomb was real,” Brett said.
“How many times do I have to tell you that I didn’t have a choice. If I didn’t agree to help whoever these assholes are, they would kill my brother, and considering he wasn’t in the apartment when you sent someone there, I suspect he’s already dead.”
“Let’s start from the beginning.” Brett pushed from the windowsill and moved slowly across the room, pulling back the chair across from Dalton.
“We’ve been over this twice.” Dalton tossed his hands wide leaning back in his chair.
“Any other abilities besides being telepathic?” Brett asked, ignoring Chad's grunt from the other end of the room.
“No and before you ask, my brother has precognition, but not visions, just feelings.”
“So, how did he get hooked up with a North Korean Operative?”
“I really don’t know, other than my brother always used his power to make money, which I think is fundamentally wrong, but he’s still my brother and I wasn’t about to let him die.”
“So, you commit treason over coming to your superior officer, asking for help,” Chad said.
Dalton narrowed his eyes. “Are you kidding me? Like you’d believe anything I said about my abilities, my brother, and what the Korean’s wanted him to do.”
Brett rubbed the back of his neck. He understood Chad’s reluctance, but what he didn’t understand was why or how he could sense every emotion Chad felt, right down to the anger and resentment over his abilities. The wave of rage hit Brett so hard, he nearly succumbed to it himself.
“You do realize you will be court-martialed and spend the rest of your life in prison for treason,” Chad said. “That’s a big price to pay just because I don’t believe in psychics.”
“It’s not just my brother,” Dalton said, dropping his hands to his face. He let out a guttural sob. “They have my girlfriend and they just killed her.”
“How do you know that?” Brett asked.
“Because she’s telepathic too and I…I…” the boy dropped his head to the table and continued to cry uncontrollably.
“Fuck,” Chad said right before he stepped from the conference room, slamming the door shut.
A swirling of shame, fear, guilt, and rage prickled at Brett. He swallowed. Chad was a ticking time bomb and a cocktail for psychic disaster.
“I’m sorry, kid.” Brett squeezed his shoulder. “I know you’re hurting, but is there anything you can tell me that will help us find those missing SEAL’s.?"
Dalton lifted his head, wiping the tears away. “I’ve told you everything, but now that I have nothing to lose, I’ll do whatever it takes to catch those bastards. I know I’ll be spending my life in prison, but it doesn’t matter. Not now.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” Brett left the boy to his misery.
Once outside the conference room, he made his way down the long corridor and out the front of the building where Hazel, her sister, and Chad had gathered around a picnic table. In the distance, he saw the torn apart cabin, smoke still lingering over what was left. He’d been hired to find Savanah.
Mission complete.
But that didn’t make him feel better. Not even close.
He sat down on the bench next to Hazel, resting his hand over her thigh. “What’s the word on the Gyeon family and what happened to Kea?”
“Kea was part of a sleeper cell,” Hazel said, rubbing her temples. “His group had been activated the second the SEAL team hit South Korea. Whatever their mission was, the North Korean’s wanted to stop it.”
“I should interject here that the cell Kea was part of are all psychics,” Savanah said.
“Not surprised.” Brett let out a long breath.
“Bullshit. Utter bullshit,” Chad mumbled.
“I’m sorry we haven’t been able to locate the team.” Brett knew how much Chad felt responsible for the lost soldiers.
Chad grunted. “I’ve got men on the ground searching. Real men with real intel.”
“Don’t be a dick.” Savanah bolted from her seat and stood in front of Chad with her hands on her hips. “If you opened your mind to what we all are, we wouldn’t be in this predicament.”
“We? Are you kidding me? Those are my men out there and I’m responsible for them. You people are wasting my time and energy with this crap.”
“If it is such crap, then tell me how you knew there was a bomb in the cabin?” Brett asked.
“I saw it.” Chad pointed to his face with two fingers. “With my eyes.”
“It was hidden under the desk,” Brett muttered, knowing he should keep his mouth closed and not egg Chad on. Then again, Chad needed to come to terms with what he was before he destroyed himself and his career.
“I know what I saw.” Chad stood. A chopper in the distance came into view. “My commander has requested that Savanah come with me to Norfolk. Personally, I begged him not to continue using anyone from the Phoenix Agency to help find our missing team.”
“I’m not with Phoenix,” Savanah said. “So why me?”
“I should be careful what I ask for since my commander’s response was to bring you along.” Chad turned and took two steps before looking over his shoulder. “Let’s go Savanah. That chopper is for us.”
“Fucking wonderful,” Savanah muttered as she followed Chad back into the building.
Brett stared out into the vast Vermont sky. There was nothing he could do right now to help the SEAL team and nothing he could have done differently that would have saved Dalton’s girlfriend. He would have to trust that Savanah would be able to locate the team and bring them home safely, or at the very least, give their families closure.
“You okay?” Hazel asked, her tender hand running up and down his biceps.
“Not really,” he admitted. “In less than forty-eight hours my entire life… my entire existence, has changed.” He turned, catching her gaze.
“I still don’t completely buy into the collective order, but I can’t ignore some of what is going on.”
“I’m having a hard time wrapping my brain around that concept, but it's more than that.” He tilted her chin with his thumb. “When I woke up that morning all those years ago, I felt an emptiness I could never explain and one I could never fill.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out the pendant. “It wasn’t like this deep void, just a feeling I was missing something. As odd as this is going to sound, having this with me always made me feel like whatever was missing would find me eventually.”
Hazel’s lips drew to a slow smile, her brown eyes turning a deep, rich gold. “I think that is the sweetest most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me.”
“I was kind of hoping that I’d be the only one from now on saying sweet, romantic things to you.”
“Are you asking me to be exclusive?” She lifted her leg, draping it over his thighs, straddling him. “Because, you know, I’d have to think about that.”
“You’re killing me.” He curled his fingers around her hips as he pressed his lips against the center of her chest where her necklace laid against her skin.
Her hands cupped his face. “I’ve thought about it.” Her lips brushed his with the kind of intent and friction only a true love could create, which was crazy because love didn’t happen overnight.
“And?” he moved his lips to the soft swell of her neck.
“I think I’ll keep you around for a while.”
“Mmmmmmmm.” He nibbled on her earlobe while the sound of a jet approached. “Our ride is here.”
“Think we’ll be the only ones on the plane besides the pilot? I might like to join the mile-high club.”
He dropped his head to her chest. “If we’re not, it’s going to be pure hell the entire ride home.”
She stood, lacing her fingers through his as she tugged him toward the runway.
“You and your sisters should consider joining the Phoenix Agency. I think you’d bring a lot to the organization.”
“That’s an idea that could help us find your other two brothers.”
He tilted his head, arching a brow. “First, I’m not one of four. Second, you think you’ve found the third?”
She laughed. “Dumb isn’t a good look on you.”
He shook his head. “Chad isn’t my brother.” Only, he knew deep down, he and Chad were connected in a way that no one could explain. “But he’s certainly got the hots for your sister.”
“I see a lot of angry sex in their future.”
He stopped, pulling her to his chest, wrapping his arms around her waist. “And what do you see in our future?”
Her dark eyes widened. A faint gasp escaped her lips as they curled slightly at the corners. She opened her mouth, but he pressed his finger against it.
“That look told me we have a future and that’s all I needed to know.”
The End
Savanah and Chad’s story is coming 18 February 2018.