Remember Jamie Baker (Jamie Baker #3)(89)
Men. They’re so predictable.
“You see?” I asked Major Wilks over the voices that were being raised, rather passionately. I pointed to the cell, where our prisoner was just as engaged in the debate as all of the ACEs. Only a military man would care so much.
Major Wilks observed the argument a moment, watching the superthug closely. The conversation moved on to a comparison of tattoos, and when Super T stripped off his shirt to show off the ink etched across his shoulder blades of a skull and wings with the knife and oar as crossbones that was synonymous with the Marine Corp Force Recon, Major Wilks nodded at me. “Point taken, Angel.”
“Thank you. So…?”
His brows pulled low over his eyes as he waged an internal debate. I waited him out silently; I’d already argued my side of it. Now I just needed him to give the approval. When he set his uncertain eyes on me, I stared back with complete confidence. Ryan had said I was being overconfident, and maybe I was where Donovan was concerned, but I could do this.
I knew the moment I won the battle. I saw the acceptance in Major’s eyes a split second before he barked, “Marine!”
Both Smut and the superthug automatically snapped to attention like the well-trained soldiers they were. When the superthug realized that Major Wilks was talking to him, that he’d acknowledged his military status, he grinned, completely elated. He then blanked out on us, and his vacant gaze slid to the ground. “I bet he tried to salute you,” I said when Major Wilks frowned. “He does that every time he tries to do or say something that would give away his identity.”
“But he showed us his tattoo,” Smut said.
“In a heated argument where he wasn’t thinking about it. I think the trick is to not let him think he’s giving you a clue. But it doesn’t matter. He’s one of us. He won’t fight me. Let me try to free him.”
Major Wilks nodded to Tex, who, without a word, stepped forward and unlocked the superthug’s cell. “Be careful, Angel,” he muttered as I stepped inside, and he locked the door behind me.
I gave him my most confident grin. “Always.”
The superthug’s attention was back. He’d risen from his bed when I entered his cell, and was regarding me cautiously. I took a step toward him and he stiffened. I held my hands up in surrender, trying to look as harmless as possible. “It’s okay,” I promised. “I don’t want to hurt you. I’m just going to give you a little energy. That’s okay, isn’t it?”
His eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched, but he nodded his head. I took another step and he made no move, so I took a couple more, slowly closing the distance between us. He started to hold out his hand to me, but drew it back. “You’re really going to give me your powers? You’re not trying to kill me?”
“If I wanted to kill you, I could have done it from safely outside your cell. I’m only going to give you some of my energy, and I’m trusting you not to use my powers against me. You ready?”
He nodded and held his hand out again. I clasped his strong hand and took a breath of my own. “Try to hold still for me. I’m going to concentrate on sending the energy straight to your brain so I can avoid your heart as much as possible. I’m a little nervous about it, so any sudden movements from you could startle me. That would not be good. You understand what I’m saying?”
He gave me a curt nod and said, “Do it.”
No big deal, I told myself. I give my powers to people all the time. It’s never hurt anyone before. There was no reason to doubt myself now. But it had never mattered so much before. My nerves couldn’t be helped. Not wanting to shock the poor man, I took a couple of long, deep breaths and then pushed out my energy very slowly.
The man gasped as a wave of energy climbed up his arm and headed for his brain. My energy has a warm and tingly feel. It reminds me of when I forget to use a dryer sheet and I have to pull apart my shirts when they come out of the dryer, stuck together from static cling. Imagine being wrapped in that static. It doesn’t hurt, but it’s still a surprise the first time you’re exposed to it.
I needed to send the energy straight to his head while keeping an ear out for his heartbeat. I also needed to pay attention to how much energy I was giving him. If I wasn’t careful, I could fill him too full with energy and he would lose control of it. Whenever that happened to Teddy in the past, the energy usually escaped in the form of a stray lightning bolt. Not so dangerous when you’re alone in a desert. But in a confined space full of people? Yeah, not something I wanted to try.
There was so much to keep track of at once that I closed my eyes to help me focus. As I fell into deep concentration and focused my attention directly on the man’s head, I could feel the small electrical impulses that naturally came from his brain sending signals to his body. Beyond the brainwaves, I could also feel a warm shroud covering his entire brain. It felt strange, prickly. It was easy to imagine it was a swarm of microscopic robots sending faint charges of electricity into the brain. “Bingo.”
A smile crept over my face and I locked onto that weird blanket, sending a new wave of power straight for it. “Fry, you nasty little buggers.”
The superthug began to tremble, but I didn’t dare stop the flow of energy. I could feel the warmth of the nanobots pulsing out, as if trying to fight me off, but they were losing the battle. Their warmth was fading.