Keep Me Safe (Slow Burn #1)(72)

Dane and Beau swung around to see Caleb on his knees, his face drawn in a black rage, blood streaming from his nose and over his mouth. It was a macabre sight but not as gruesome as the video footage of Ramie being systematically carved up by an unwilling hand.

Caleb’s face was stony, his features rigid, his eyes glazed over with a faraway look to them.

“I think he just went after the bastard,” Dane murmured.

THIRTY-FIVE

CALEB was pale and sweaty, his hands shaking, his head throbbing from the effort of trying to trace the mental pathway back to the killer.

Realization was slick and oily with fear. His head pounded, his heart broken into a million pieces.

“Dear God,” he whispered. “It was him. Goddamn it! That f**ker used me to get to her.”

“What the f**k is going on, Caleb?” Dane shouted.

“He bumped into me on the street. I didn’t think a thing of it. How could I have? Psychic links are hokey bullshit. He set me up. He established the link when he grabbed my arm and then he used me to turn off parts of the surveillance system so he could get in to plant the bomb. He used me to torment Ramie and hand her over to him on a silver platter,” Caleb choked out, grief consuming him.

Eliza, Dane and Beau stared at Caleb in abject horror. Then Eliza stepped forward, her expression determined as she got down on her knees in front of Caleb. She framed his face in her hands and shook him fiercely.

“You have to find her, Caleb. If the killer established a link to you then you have a link to him as well. Just like Ramie had. It will enable you to see into the killer’s mind and through his eyes.”

“I can’t do what Ramie does,” Caleb said in frustration. “I’m not psychic like her.”

“You’re not doing anything,” Eliza said impatiently. “The killer is. All you have to do is use the already established pathway into his mind.”

“Do it, Caleb. What have you got to lose?” Beau said tersely. “If we don’t get Ramie back, you’ll go to jail for her murder. Time is of the essence. We may already be too late.”

“Don’t goddamn say that!” Caleb roared. “We aren’t too late. We can’t be too late.”

He closed his eyes and tried to shut down everything around him. Frustrated by his inability to trace any sort of pathway back to the killer, he rammed his fist into the floor.

Eliza slid her cool hand over Caleb’s shoulder and squeezed. “You’re trying too hard,” she said softly. “Relax and let it happen. Think only about finding Ramie and then open your mind.”

He huffed breath in and out, rage blowing like a firestorm inside him. The realization of just what he’d done, unwittingly or not, sickened him. It was a burden he’d bear for the rest of his life. That one night would haunt him forever.

He tried to relax, focusing on Ramie’s image. Her smile. Her beauty and resilience. She deserved better than a weakling who could be bent to another’s will.

There was a brief moment of peace and then he was assaulted by a bombardment of images. Ramie bruised and bloodied, arms tied over her head, legs spread-eagled and tied to posts thrusting upward from the floor.

The killer taunted her, demanding that she beg for mercy. She remained quiet, her eyes defiant as she stared him down. The killer flew into a rage, kicking and lashing out at Ramie, her body jerking from the multiple blows.

Then she lifted her gaze, hatred glittering in the depths of her eyes.

“Go to hell,” she said through swollen lips, blood spitting from her mouth with the effort.

Caleb curled his fingers into tight fists until his nails dug into the skin of his palms. Baby, no. Do whatever it takes to stay alive, even if it means surrendering. Please, stay alive for me. I’ll come for you. I don’t care how long it takes, I’ll find you.

Tears burned the edges of his eyes and carved a path down his cheeks.

Knowing the sight of her distracted him from his main purpose, he reluctantly blocked her out, focusing his entire energy on her captor. Images blurred and raced chaotically through his mind. Caleb’s view of the inside of the killer’s mind was a view of insanity. Utter derangement. Evil emanated from him in waves.

His head ached vilely but he pressed on, determined not to give up until he knew where Ramie was being held. He’d free her if it was the last thing he did, and then he’d get as far away from her as possible. Never would she live in fear of him again.

The barrage of images abruptly stopped and silence blanketed the pathway between Caleb and Ramie’s tormentor. Caleb floated, detached from the immediate surroundings of a maniac. He leaned forward, anticipation making him eager.

Caleb had managed to push through into the killer’s subconscious. He was in.

He absorbed the knowledge as if they were actual memories of his and not the killer’s. It was an eerily spooky sensation to be inside the head of another, to see the world as they saw it.

His head popped back, pain snapping him back to himself. Back to Eliza, Dane and Beau, who all stood staring while Eliza popped him again in the face to get his attention.

“Snap out of it!” Eliza yelled. “Get your ass back here and tell us where to find Ramie.”

The edges of his consciousness began to fade and grow dark. He panicked for a moment because back there was where Ramie was and he didn’t want to leave her alone. She had to be terrified, no hope of anyone coming for her after what Caleb had done to her.