Whispers in the Dark (KGI #4)(14)

Let it go. I’m okay. Getting ready to move again.

You just moved.

How the hell do you know that?

While you’re working so hard not to see or hear me, I can read you easily, or at least what you aren’t closely guarding. What happened in Colorado? Why did you leave Kansas?

Fuck.

I heard that.

I had a narrow miss in Kansas and I don’t want to stay in any one place for a while. It made me jumpy.

Grace swore. Damn it, Shea. Enough of this being apart bullshit. We’re safer together. Why can’t you get it through your head that I don’t need you to protect me? I’m bigger and stronger than you are. Could you even kill someone if you had to?

Yes.

Grace went silent as the forceful word slipped from Shea’s mind into Grace’s.

Hell yeah, she could kill someone. Maybe she’d been known as the sweet younger sister. The baby. The coddled one in the family.

That was all in the past. Seeing your parents murdered and fearing for your sister’s safety had a way of hardening even the softest heart. She’d changed a lot in the last year. She’d learned to protect herself, and she had no compunction about doing whatever was necessary to make sure nothing happened to her or to Grace.

I don’t like what this has done to you, Shea.

The sadness in Grace’s voice left a shadow in Shea’s mind.

You are all I have left, Grace. I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure you’re safe. I’ve learned a lot in this past year. I might surprise you in the butt-kicking department now.

Grace laughed but it was strained and sad. Just don’t be so intent on saving the world that you f**k up and get yourself caught. Don’t think for even a minute I won’t do everything I can to keep you safe.

I won’t. Be careful, Grace. I love you.

I love you too, sis. Be safe. While you’re out trying to save me and whoever else you’re suffering for, I’m doing some investigating into the ass**les who killed Mom and Dad.

Fear bolted through Shea’s chest, squeezing until she was breathless. Don’t. Grace, you have to be careful. We have no idea what they’re capable of. What if it’s some secret government agency?

You’ve been watching too many over-the-top television thrillers. I suspect this is some private organization, one of those crazy-ass cult-type things. If it was the government, don’t you think we would have been found by now? They’re being way too careful, like they’re as worried about being caught as we are.

Damn it, Grace, just leave it alone. Stay low.

Until when? You want to run forever? When are we going to come up with a solution? Your solution is to run and keep me safe by refusing contact, fearing you’ll know where I am and the information can be tortured out of you. Well, f**k that. We aren’t doing anything to solve the problem. We’re running like two sissies and waiting. For what? For Superman to swoop down and save us? How can we solve anything if we don’t know who is after us? When we know who, then we’ll know who we can and can’t trust.

Shea blew out her breath in frustration. I get it, okay? But here’s what you’re not considering. Say you find out it’s some private off-their-rocker group who know what we are and what we can do and they want us for their own nefarious purposes. So you figure this out and go to the police or the government or whoever.

What’s to stop them from deciding they want to exploit you? You could very well be trading one enemy for another, and if it is some private half-ass group who’s afraid of discovery, then good. That gives us an advantage. But if we go to the authorities and they decide they want to use us, what the hell do we do then?

Grace sighed. Damn it, I hate when you start making sense. That’s supposed to be my job as the older sister. Still, it doesn’t hurt to learn as much as we can about these ass**les. We have to trust someone at some point, right? Or do we plan to spend the rest of our lives running?

Shea closed her eyes. I hope not. We’ll figure something out.

Grace touched Shea’s cheek and then pulled her into a fierce hug. We’ll beat this, Shea.

For once it was Grace offering comfort and encouragement.

CHAPTER 7

THERE was something to be said for big cities, but they still made her nervous. After ditching her car after the near miss in Kansas City, she’d decided to go with something a little more rugged. Just in case. Four-wheel drive. Something that could handle rough terrain if it came to that.

She’d really wanted to stay in Colorado, lose herself in some remote mountain area, but if she was tracked there, her escape possibilities were slim. And she knew little to nothing about roughing it. Her idea of camping was a nice hotel with room service and a spa.

Until Nathan was rescued and no longer needed her, she absolutely had to keep to areas that swallowed people up. Afterward, she could hopefully find a place that was quiet, big enough that she wouldn’t garner too many questions but small enough that she would know if her pursuers showed up.

And yeah, she’d prefer a place with an actual roof, working utilities and a bathroom so she wasn’t forced to do her thing behind a bush.

She’d start in California. Work her way up the coast, closer to where it all began. Maybe Grace was right in that they needed more information. If she could eventually get back to her parents’ house undetected, she could access the surveillance footage from when her parents were killed. Maybe by then it wouldn’t hurt quite so much. Maybe the distance would enable her to view the act with a critical eye.