Aurora Rising (4 page)

“Hold on. I’m on my way.” She sent out as much reassurance as she could. Moving to the side, her foot came down on a piece of metal which sliced deep. She jerked in pain and her feet slipped out from under her. For a moment, she hung as precariously as Tad from a section of cable. It took two tries to get her feet back under her. Letting out a sigh, she continued until she reached a beam that extended out over the boy.

Shimmying out on the metal, she reached down only to be several inches short.

“Rori.” Panic filled the boy’s voice.

“It’s okay. I’ll get you. Look at me, Tad. I won’t let you fall.”

“I’m falling,” Tad cried.

Quickly surveying her surroundings, Rori braced her feet under a piece of piping. Tucking her nightshirt into her bottoms to keep it out of her way, she scooted to the edge of the beam. When it was at the back of her knees, she uncurled her body, until she was hanging upside down. She reached out for Tad.

“Rori!” he screamed again as he lost his grip.

Rori felt the jerk as she caught him under his arms. “It’s all right, I have you,” she assured and then gasped as the pipe her feet were locked under shifted. Her heart jumped and breath held as she feared it would give out.

“Tad, I’m going to lift you up against me. When you can, I want you to wrap your arms around me. All right?” she said quietly, trying to keep the boy calm, while pushing out with her talent.

“Yes,” the boy’s voice quivered.

“You’re doing well. Up you go.” Rori strained to lift his weight toward her. Arms curls were never what she considered something she was good at. The odd thought passed through her mind, but she shoved it away as she felt the pipe give again. She glanced toward the building debating if she could toss Tad to safety but knew she was too far out and at the wrong angle to make the attempt.

Across her senses she felt power tingle and the pipe became steady. She didn’t know what to think of it and didn’t have time to contemplate when Tad’s little arms reached out, locking around her chest.

“That’s it.” She shifted her hold so her arms were locked around his legs. “Now, I want you to climb up my body to the beam. Slow and easy. I still have hold of you.” Tad’s little body squirmed against her. Rori felt her nightshirt slide down her body, catching at her waist.

Tad reached toward the beam and Rori felt him lifted from her. “I have him.” The baritone voice showed no signs of strain. Rori tried to look up but only managed to catch a brief look of the man moving back along the beam with Tad locked in his arms.

Tightening her stomach muscles, she curled up until she could get a grip on the beam. After a moment of tricky maneuvering, she squirmed around until she was lying along the beam. She gulped several deep breaths of air, then looked at the ground far below and gulped once more. Closing her eyes, she steadied herself a second before opening them again.

On her hands and knees she moved back toward the building, aware now of the rough metal against her skin and the pain in her foot. With relief she made it to the ruined side of the building. More cautiously than before, she searched for a handhold to pull herself up when a hand appeared in front of her face.

“Here.” The same voice of the man who had taken Tad called to her. Rori raised her gaze to the form standing on a section of flooring just above her. Extending her hand up, his hand locked around hers, pulling her up as easily as he had Tad until she was standing next to him.

Forced to tilt her head up as he towered over her by at least a head, she felt oddly lightheaded, and it had nothing to do with shock or fear of what she’d just experienced, but from the man who still held her hand caught securely in his. All her senses jumped and for a moment she was afraid she really was going to burn out, but instead of dampening, her talent surged with energy wiping away the fatigue she’d felt seconds earlier.

She felt a loss when he abruptly released her hand almost like it had burned him. When he rubbed his palm against his pant leg, she wondered if maybe she was running hot and had singed him. The scope of her talent was too new to her to be sure.

“I ought to yell at you for being incredibly foolish, but since there was no way a rescue could have gotten to Tad, well done. That was amazingly brave.”

Rori followed his gaze to where Tad was locked in his mother’s arms as she cried and kissed him. For a brief instant, Dena lifted her head meeting Rori’s gaze. “Thank you.” The mother mouthed the words before pressing her face into the boy’s hair with more kisses. Rori took a moment of pleasure in the warmth of love and gratitude she felt flowing off the pair to steady her nerves before she turned back to the man.

Taking time to get a good look, she realized he wasn’t much older than her. Muscles rippled over his bare chest as he folded his arms across it, studying her with the same intensity she studied him.

Again her breath caught. He was handsome. His dark hair was cut short. His intense eyes were such a light brown they almost looked like molten gold, even washed out in the emergency lights. She shook her head to clear away the odd thoughts. Still, her eyes drifted down the tawny skin of his chest. The muscles were well developed from exercise and work, with a good dose of heredity thrown in. He’d pulled on pants and athletic shoes before he’d come to help.

A cool breeze brushed her heated skin, and she became aware she was standing there in just her nightwear that hardly covered her body. “Oh.” She wrapped her arms around herself, realizing the room was also filled with other people, most dressed in security or rescue gear though there were several others who had obviously been pulled from their beds.

A smile broke over the man’s chiseled features and his eyebrows cocked up. He started to make a comment as Rori shifted, putting weight on her injured foot. There was no stopping her outcry and whatever he was going to say died on his lips as his attention dropped down the length of her legs to where the blood seeped on the ground.

“You’re hurt.”

Before she could react, he swept her off the ground into his arms. Heat from his skin was blessedly warm to her, but she didn’t get time to enjoy it as he was already striding across the ruined room into the hall where more people lingered.

“Quade, we need a medic.” He walked up to a man with a medical insignia on his sleeve. The medic motioned to stretchers waiting along the wall. Gently she was lowered to it. The minute she was down, the medic lifted her foot to look at it then motioned to someone else, and she was being whisked away, barely able to catch a last glimpse of the man.

***

The minute Keyen released her he wanted the woman back in his arms. He watched the med-techs take her away and wished he could go after her, but he was needed. Forcing himself, he turned and reentered the apartment.

He stopped and studied the damage. The outer wall of the two apartments had been sheared away. Luckily, the blast hadn’t gone deeper. Then again, studying the area, it hadn’t been designed to. It was a controlled blast from a well-placed explosive device. What he couldn’t understand is why.

He looked around at what was left of Tad’s small bedroom and into the bedroom on the other side. Except for the missing outside wall and part of the wall between the bedrooms, the room was almost entirely intact. According to the information he’d pulled up, the residence was supposed to be empty. Keyen eyed the blankets on the bed that looked to be messed up by someone sleeping in it, not the explosion.

One of the visiting dignitaries, the thought crossed his mind, but he didn’t have time to continue with it as the security chief called him out of his contemplation.

“Keyen, can you give us a hand here?”

Keyen eyed the bed a second longer before he turned to Macey, the building specialist. “What do you need?” He moved to the men standing close to the opening.

“See that chunk of loose material. We were wondering if you could steady it while we bring the lift closer, then free it so we don’t have to worry about it breaking off and falling.

Keyen nodded. “Ready?”

“Yeah, March is standing by.” Macey motioned to the large hover lift.

“Okay.” Keyen stepped a little closer to the edge and concentrated on the slab of concrete which hung precariously by a single cable that ran through it. At a meter wide and several long, Keyen knew it easily weighed ten times his weight but it didn’t matter to his mind. Keeping the movements gradual, Keyen raised the piece with his mind as though it was attached to a crane. Getting it level, he held it in position while the driver of the hover lift moved expertly under it. Once in position, Keyen lowered the section of debris carefully letting the lift adjust to the weight. Two men on the back of the lift hurried to secure the piece as Keyen released it from his mind.

“You want me to break the cable?” Keyen asked the building specialist.

“If you can that’d be great.”

Keyen concentrated again, this time focusing in on the braided cable. Using the thought of what could have happened to little Tad to fuel his mental torch, he directed intense heat on the spot, pulling it from deep within him. A second later, the end of the cable snapped releasing the chunk.

“Wow.” One of the men beside him exclaimed.

Keyen turned, experiencing a second of lightheadedness, he pushed it way and smiled. He understood the reaction. As far as he knew, he was the only one who could do that. There were pyro-talents, able to make fire, but even they had limitations. Being able to melt through something like that was a whole different thing and took a lot of power and control.

“Thanks,” Macey reached out to shake his hand. “You saved us the rest of the night trying to get that secure, plus a considerable amount of risk.”

“That’s what I’m here for.”

“Still....”

Keyen accepted the thanks with a nod. “Anything else you need?”

Macey surveyed the rough edges. “Everything else looks good. We’ll wait for morning to handle the rest of the clean up and start reconstruction.”

“All right.” Keyen turned his attention to the security chief. “Caph, have you been able to figure out what happened here?”

“It wasn’t hard. There were at least two attackers on sleds. The first one came in, without setting off alarms,” he added pointedly. “He got close to the building then sent the explosive device over to the balcony. Telekinetically, I would say.”

“A talent.”

“That’s what it looks like on the monitor that caught it.” When the explosion went off, we stayed focused on that person, afraid he might plant more, but the person just kept moving around.”

“Keeping your attention.” Keyen understood where he was going.

“Yes, it was just lucky we saw the other sled. Jayes stopped in to see if one of the others could change shifts with him so we had an extra person in the control center. He hopped right on a monitor to check the damage and saw the other sled maneuvering toward the opening. He opened fire on it, driving it back, but it came in again. Jayes said it was like they were after something. He kept up firing and it peeled off and the other with it. Unfortunately, we couldn’t track them.”

Keyen studied the hole in the wall. “So what were they after?” he said more to himself but Caph answered.

“I don’t know, unless they thought it would be easier to get in down here than up on one of the secured floors but that doesn’t make sense because this was hardly subtle.”

“You’re right. They wanted something here. And as much effort as they put into the attack, it seems unlikely they hit the wrong place.” Keyen was still thinking to himself.

“Maybe a visiting dignitary?” Caph suggested.

“They’re in the visitor area.” Keyen waved it away.

“I think someone was here. Tasc ordered up a guard on this floor for the night.”

That got Keyen’s attention. He turned to face the man straight on. “You’re sure?”

“Yes. He called me directly. He said it was just for the night and only people living on this level and with a top security level clearance were allowed. You think it’s related?”

“It’s a big coincidence. I’ll get a hold of Tasc and Manning in the morning.”

“Actually, you’re supposed to meet with Manning at nine o’clock in the morning. He gave me the message because you were out helping get the boy and he didn’t want to distract you just then by opening up your link.”

Keyen nodded, his attention returning to the other room and the messed bed. He wondered who’d been there and where they were now.

***

Rori relaxed back on the exam table waiting for the medic. Her foot throbbed but it was bearable. Still it helped to focus on something to keep her thoughts from going back to what happened. She was relieved to find out that despite the amount of destruction, the cut on her foot was the most severe injury. Even Tad had come through it with only a couple scrapes and bruises.

With that knowledge, what bothered her most was the knowledge it again had been all about her. She could still feel the beckoning impulse drawing her to the edge. What she didn’t know was why her; she knew the prompter had been a man; was drawing her to the edge. Was it so he could kidnap her or push her over to her death? Either scenario chilled her. Rori thought of asking for a blanket, though she knew it wouldn’t thaw the fear. Instead, she shifted her focus to the man who had helped with Tad.

She rubbed her hand over her thigh as just the thought of him touching it had tingles going up through it. Total foolishness, she didn’t even know who he was. She guessed rescue team or security. He wasn’t built like the walking wall, but he was strong enough. He’d known the med-tech by name which didn’t mean anything.

Either way, it didn’t matter. She wasn’t there for a relationship, wasn’t ready for one. And it was definitely not the time for a life mate. Still, there was something about him that called to her more than the mental compulsion from the man on the hoversled had.

“Well, let’s see what we have since I’m already here.” A woman wearing a med-techs white smock hustled into the room. Her once dark hair was highly salted with white. There was a soothing quality that radiated out from her in strong waves that Rori figured was as natural as breathing.

The medic lifted her leg studying her foot. “Nasty little gash, isn’t it? Don’t worry, I can have that feeling better in no time.” A warm feeling spread through Rori before the woman even finished speaking, and she knew the woman was helping it heal. Rori focused on the waves of energy she felt, never before had she been able to pick out another’s talent except to feel a slight tingling, quite often when talent, certain kinds of talent specifically, were being used.