Whispers in the Dark (KGI #4)(89)

As if reading her mind—who the hell knows, maybe he had—his grip tightened around her wrist until she let out a cry of pain.

“If you try anything, I’ll break your arm,” he hissed. “I will make you suffer unimaginably. If you cooperate, you’ll get to see your sister again.”

Her eyes widened in fear and her stomach clenched. Was this what had happened to Grace? Did these bastards already have her?

“Where is she?” Shea demanded, ignoring the roaring in her head.

“Get in the car,” he directed as a dark sedan pulled to the curb and stopped. “Do it or I’ll make you regret the day you were born.”

“Don’t you mean created?” she said in disgust.

He shoved her forward into the open backseat and then climbed in beside her. “Drive,” he directed.

Oh God, Nathan, I hope you can hear me. The drugs they gave me, it makes using my telepathy unbearable. The pain is horrific. I can’t do this for long. They found me. They have me again. Not the same as who took me from you. Different. The ones who had me first, the ones who tortured me. Help me, please. I was in downtown Charleston, but I have no idea where they’re taking me. I’ll try to establish a link when the pain is gone.

It was too much. She grabbed her head as tears streamed down her cheeks. She rocked back and forth moaning and sobbing. Her abductor looked at her like she’d lost her mind, and then as if realizing what she’d been doing, he yanked her head up by her hair.

She saw his fist coming and didn’t even try to dodge it. At the moment she welcomed oblivion with open arms.

CHAPTER 37

AS soon as Nathan, Joe, Swanny and Donovan hit the front, where Steele was already waiting with his team, a wave of agony hit Nathan so hard that his knees buckled and he went down.

“What the f**k?” Joe demanded. He dropped down next to his brother and grasped his arm, trying to steady Nathan’s descent.

Donovan grabbed Nathan’s other arm and then bent over as he and Joe eased him to the ground.

“What’s wrong?” Donovan asked sharply. “Talk to me, Nathan. Is it Shea? You’re scaring the shit out of me here.”

“It’s Shea,” Swanny said sharply. “Something’s going on and it ain’t good.”

But Nathan wasn’t focused on his brothers. He was caught in a myriad of pain, like needles were poking into his head. The inside of his skull felt scraped and turned inside out. Dear God, was this what Shea was experiencing?

And then he heard her. So desperate, her voice cracking under the onslaught of agony.

Oh God, Nathan, I hope you can hear me. The drugs they gave me, it makes using my telepathy unbearable. The pain is horrific. I can’t do this for long. They found me. They have me again. Not the same as who took me from you. Different. The ones who had me first, the ones who tortured me. Help me, please. I was in downtown Charleston, but I have no idea where they’re taking me. I’ll try to establish a link when the pain is gone.

He roared his frustration and tried to scramble to his feet, but the lingering waves of pain—her pain—had crippled him. He couldn’t seem to be able to get anything to work right. Dear God, the horrific agony she was enduring and he was helpless. Goddamn helpless while those bastards had their hands on her again.

“Nathan, goddamn it, talk to me!” Van shouted.

“Get off me! Just get away from me. Give me a minute.”

Donovan backed off but Joe remained down, his hand locked around Nathan’s shoulder.

“Let me help you up,” Joe said in a low voice. “Then tell us what happened. We’re wasting time, man. Push through it. She needs your help. It was her, wasn’t it? Do you want me to try to get through to her?”

Joe’s words cut through the lingering pain and confusion and already Shea had faded away, gone from him, the blank void he’d grown to hate so much replacing the overwhelming torment.

His mind went quiet. So damn quiet. He preferred the agony over this blanket of silence because at least then he’d had a connection with her. He’d heard her. And now there was nothing.

He grasped Joe’s hand and hauled himself upward. For a moment he staggered and leaned into his brother. Joe wrapped his arm around Nathan’s shoulders and simply held on.

As soon as he got his bearings, he turned and stalked back into the house, leaving Joe and Donovan to call after him. He barged into the kitchen, where Resnick still sat there smoking that damn cigarette while Shea was in the hands of people who had brutalized her.

“You son of a bitch!” Nathan roared.

He knocked the cigarette from Resnick’s mouth in one punch. Resnick went sprawling to the floor and Nathan went down after him. The kitchen erupted in chaos as Resnick’s men attempted to intervene.

Sam and Garrett pulled their guns while Donovan and Joe attempted to pry Nathan from Resnick.

It took the combined efforts of Donovan, Joe and Swanny to finally get Nathan off Resnick. No one made a move to help the man from the floor. He slowly picked himself up, wincing at the injury to his arm that was still unattended. He wiped at the blood that streamed from his nose and mouth and he backed up until he leaned against the counter.

“What the f**k is wrong with you?” Resnick demanded. “You’re supposed to be out looking for Shea.”

Nathan lunged for him again and Sam placed his body between his brother and Resnick, his gaze boring into Nathan.