Mind Game (GhostWalkers, #2)(65)

“I’m staying with Jesse,” Dahlia said quietly. “I’m not leaving him like this.”

“You’re coming with me,” Nicolas stated, his bronzed features settling into harsh, implacable lines. “Calhoun is either going to live or he’s going to die, but staying here and sacrificing your life isn’t going to change his fate. Get on your feet Dahlia, or I’m carrying you out of here.”

She had never heard Nicolas use that particular tone before. She could hear the sirens getting closer and closer. “I can take going to jail,” she said.

“You won’t go to jail, Dahlia, you’ll die,” Nicolas said. He took several steps toward the door, simply dragging her smaller body with him. “Think with your brain, not your heart. Someone took a shot through the window at you in the safe house. Who knew about the safe house? It was a member of the NCIS, it had to be. The people you work for. Are you going to believe that was an accident? They weren’t sent there to kill you, I read that in the team leader’s mind. They were supposed to go in soft, going in to see what had gone wrong. They should have been checking to see who was in the house, get you out safely, and protect you until they caught whoever was responsible, yet someone got trigger-happy.” He shifted his pack to his other hand and kept moving. Dahlia was coming with him, slower than he would have liked, but listening rather than fighting him. “Who knew about the sanitarium? The others couldn’t have followed you there. They arrived before you. Someone had to have tipped them off.”

“What about Jesse? If what you’re implying is true, he could be in danger as well.” But she was picking up the pace, knowing what he said made sense. Too much sense. Someone had betrayed Jesse Calhoun and sent the wolves after Dahlia. It was why everything about the mission had gone wrong. Someone Jesse trusted had tipped off the enemy. Nicolas couldn’t fight off the police any more than she could, and Calhoun would die if they took him with them.

“Lily’s sending the GhostWalkers in to protect him. I laid it out for her when I called her. She knows he needs protection, and she has the military contacts to make certain he’ll get it. No one’s going to kill him in front of the cops. They’ll be planning to make their try at the hospital, but they won’t have the chance. Lily’s got a helicopter standing by for him. He’ll get the best care possible. Either what we did will work and he’ll hold until they get to him, or it won’t, but we gave him a chance. That’s all we can do for him.” He caught her shirt and tugged her away from the entrance. “Not that way. Go through the window on the river side. We’re going to have to go into the river. They’ll put a spotter in the air so we’ll have to get completely out of this area.”

She switched directions immediately, hesitating only a moment when she had to step over a body before going to the window. The glass was shattered and she went through the opening, uncaring of the few remaining shards. As many times as Nicolas had viewed the tapes of Dahlia, he still found her physical abilities astounding. She somersaulted through the narrow opening, landed on her feet, and hit the ground running, heading for the river. She was small enough that it was nearly impossible to see her in the darker shadows once she gained the river’s edge.

Pandemonium broke out in the driveway as police cars and an ambulance screamed to a halt. In the distance, Nicolas could hear the helicopter. He moved as fast as he dared across the open space until he gained the river. The police would search the water. It wasn’t a refuge. Dahlia hadn’t waited for him, but was already making her escape, not wanting the new rush of energy to overtake her as the police, pumped with adrenaline, searched the area.

The current was strong and fast moving and Nicolas worried about Dahlia’s smaller body being carried away from him. He caught up with her, reaching out to snag her shirt as the current took them downstream. She kept her legs tucked and floated in silence without looking at him, but he could feel the way her body trembled and shuddered continually.

Nicolas couldn’t help the surge of triumph invading his mind. He was certain they had managed to save Jesse Calhoun’s life. There was no real way of knowing until Lily had a chance to inform him of Calhoun’s condition, but he’d felt the power moving through him into Calhoun. Even if it only happened that one time, it was worth everything to him. His fist tightened in Dahlia’s shirt. She’d made it happen. It had been Dahlia who opened the flood-gates to allow him to utilize the healing power he’d been born with. Dahlia had handed him his lifelong dream and didn’t seem to realize the significance of what she’d done. She took psychic energy for granted because she’d known no other way of life. He’d struggled from his boyhood vision through an adult nightmare, and she had just made all of it worthwhile.

Dahlia.

I’m cold.

Everything in him stilled. It was the first complaint Nicolas heard her make. There was no whining in her tone, just a simple statement of fact, but it alarmed him.

We’ll be out of this soon. I’ve got us a place to spend the night. It even has hot water.

He stayed very close to her as they floated part of the way, allowing the river to carry them downstream faster. When the current began to increase in strength, Nicolas caught at Dahlia and dragged her smaller body to the edge of the river, staying in among the reeds and rocks. She didn’t resist him or try to pull away from him. That was nearly as alarming as her complaint.