Into the Light (The Admiral's Elite Book 2) (23 page)

“Hallbeck.” Michael was instantly Captain Rossi, taking command of the situation. “Take Becca back to the motel. Check on Gabrielle.”

Years of battle had Ryan on the same wavelength without hesitation. “Yes Sir.” He snapped to and his eyes sought Becca, worry springing into them, though not for her.

“Yep.” She didn’t have to hear his urgency. “I’m coming.” Sight returned, she was able to double time it to the passenger side and hop in. Her captain was gone before she turned around.

On the short drive back to the motel Becca filled Ryan in on what she’d seen before she fell and he slammed his palm into the steering wheel while uttering a stream of obscenities that would have done even her father, a career Marine, proud.

More than a little shaken, she frowned in genuine confusion. “I’m sure she’s fine, Ryan. He was alone and I didn’t smell blood or anything on him.” Distracted, she offered him some limited comfort.

Spinning to face her, fury plain on his face, Ryan backed her into her window with a thud without laying a hand on her. “How are you not getting this?” he seethed. “The light is the
thing
. It’s not just
some guy,
it’s the thing Gabs has been following.”

And I jumped into it.
She repeated in her head for the hundredth time since climbing into the truck. And just like that she had the key. It was simple; all she had to do was believe she was in danger, real danger. That was what she needed to jump into someone, or some
thing
. She’d done what Admiral Black had asked her, she’d succeeded and now her place with the unit was secured. So why was she not shouting it from the rooftops? When she had the chance to tell Michael why had she been unable to say the words? Because she’d been able to go into a
demon’s
mind. How did she explain that? Or the continued sense she had of not quite fitting in her skin? It was like someone had washed her skin and dried it on high while she’d been out; she didn’t fit anymore. Something else was in there. Then it hit her and the icy grip that took hold of her insides confirmed it. The demon had left something behind. Some part of it was inside her. Leaning back, saying nothing, she rode the rest of the way in terrified silence.

By the time they reached the motel, Ryan’s focus was entirely on what lay behind the white door his headlights shone on. Slamming her door harder than was necessary, she accepted his glare without retaliation. Unspeaking, they jogged to the door and paused only for a few seconds while Ryan used his key to let them in.

Bursting in, Ryan flicked on the light and Gabrielle shot up in bed.

“No, I can’t!”

“Gabs, it’s me. Is everything okay?”

Gripping her sheet to her mostly nude body, she held a hand over her eyes. “Dammit Ryan, turn that light off.”

The light snapped off, leaving them all temporarily blinded in the vacuum of darkness. A few seconds and the three considered each other, two flanking the now closed door and one sitting in only a sheet.

Gabrielle spoke first. “I take it town was eventful?”

“Have you been here this whole time? Have you been sleeping since we left?” Ryan remained glued to the outer edge of the room.

Pulling out the sheet and peering down, she smiled wryly. “Ah, yeah. Unless I went off gallivanting through the woods naked.” Holding a dainty, tanned ankle out for their inspection, she turned it up and down, and brought it back in. “And came back with clean feet.”

Ryan’s growl and cracking knuckles punctuated the following quiet.

“Hey Ryan, why don’t you go next door and wait for Michael. I’ll stay here.” Reaching into her pants pocket, happy she hadn’t left it in her coat currently back at the Wisconsin version of Studio 54, she extracted her key for him.

Apparently at a loss for how to deal with either one of them, Ryan took it and left without a word.

When he was gone, Becca crept forward and sat on the edge of the bed. “He’s worried about you.”

“I don’t need your advice, so if that’s what you’re here for, you can go too.”

“I’m not going to try to give you advice,” Becca assured her. “Just perspective. You did it for me once, remember?”

It had been the first time Gabrielle had been decent to her, the morning after their first mission to Russia and Becca and Michael had slept together for the first time. Gabrielle overheard a phone conversation between Black and Michael and thought Michael’s seduction had been orders. After telling Becca what she’d heard, the next day, she’d told her what she
saw
. That Michael hadn’t been following orders, but had been acting on his own. He’d been upset at her accusation that he would bed her for Black. At the time Becca had been too hurt to see, but later she appreciated it. It was all perspective. She owed that in return.

She didn’t confirm or deny. Becca took the lack of objection as exactly that. “He knows there’s something going on and he’s scared for you.” She smiled. “Even
I
know there’s something going on and I barely know you.”

Gabrielle’s eyes lifted, a curious expression in them. “What do you mean you barely know me? We’ve been around each other constantly for over two months.”

“Yeah,” Becca answered cautiously, “and how many times have you taken me up on my offers to run together?” She answered herself before Gabrielle could make something up. “Never. How about training? How often have you come and trained with the rest of us? Once, maybe, when Ryan made you?” Laying a hand on the blanket by her leg, Becca’s tone softened. “You don’t want to be best friends and that’s fine. But Ryan’s working hard to figure out what’s happening to you and you’re not giving him anything. It’s counterproductive to our mission and a little cruel.” She placated the little voice in her head that accused her of doing the same, telling it this was different. This was personal and had nothing to do with the rest of them.
Coward
, it shot back.
Liar.

“What about you?” Gabrielle queried, less venomous than curious. “Michael told Ryan you had one of your visions in front of that detective and you still haven’t told anybody what you saw.” The way she said “vision” held more than a healthy dose of Gabrielle’s patented sarcasm.

Defensive at having the tables turned, Becca bristled. “That’s because I don’t
know
what I saw.” Pensive, she chewed her lower lip and thought back to her vision. It seemed like it happened years ago. She still had no idea what it meant. She’d assumed eventually she would see someone involved or get a feeling, but no luck so far and she was at a loss, feeling more useless by the minute. “I saw some guy I’ve never seen before and he was telling me I had to kill someone, only he didn’t say who. All I know is it felt like it was someone personal, you know?” She picked at the ugly blue duvet. “It hurt me to hear it. At first I thought maybe it was Michael or one of you.” She shook her head. “Only that doesn’t feel right either. I don’t know what it means.”

Her confession was met with dead air. She shouldn’t have been surprised. Sighing, she heaved her tired body up and turned toward the door. “I’m sure you’ll be fine. I’ll leave you alone.” Her hand went out to grasp the doorknob.

Gabrielle’s voice, unsteady and shaking, reached her before she opened it. “What did he look like? The one who asked?”

Closing her eyes, Becca recalled him in vivid detail. “He’s wearing a uniform but not one I recognize. Sandy brown hair, a little lighter than mine, and brown eyes. He’s got a straight nose, thin moustache like you see in old movies. There are other people there except they’re in the background and I can’t make them out. They feel familiar too, though.”

Gabrielle asked before Becca finished, “Did he have an accent?”

“Uh, yeah. French I think.”

“What do you mean, ‘think’? It’s an easy one to pick out.”

Gabrielle’s patience was obviously wearing thin and Becca was ready to be shut of her. “It was hard to make out with all the shouting and snarling.” She let herself out.

Chapter 23

“I didn’t find anything,” Michael told them again.

Ryan wasn’t content with the answer and slammed his fist into the wall. Sheetrock gave way and the cinderblock behind it cracked audibly. “How hard did you look before you came charging back to check on things
here
?”

Already at his breaking point from having been from one extreme to another and back again, Michael snapped back, “Gabs isn’t the only one this thing’s after. People are dead and unexplained shit is happening all over the place.” Pulling his electronic tether from his pocket, Michael hit a button. “I’m not waiting until morning to see what the local files say, I’m going to check in and see if the admiral can come up with anything. Why don’t you go for a walk and cool off.” Seeing the big man taking his advice and heading for the door, Michael lowered his voice. “Stay close. We don’t know if it’ll come back and I don’t want anyone going up against it alone.”

He growled something in response and jerked the door shut behind him.

Letting out the breath she didn’t know she’d been holding, Becca let herself fall back on the bed. “Do you want me here?” She inclined her head toward the device now at his ear.

Closing his eyes, he bobbed his head once before the other end picked up. “Admiral.”

He proceeded to fill him in on their evening. Becca felt herself getting heated all over again as he glossed over the situation on the dance floor. An unbidden image of him being groped and dry humped by two other women brought her jealousy surging forth.

Sensing her reaction before he saw it, Michael assured the admiral, “Nothing happened. I didn’t allow things to progress.”

The admiral’s eerie chuckle was even creepier over the telephone. “You may let your woman know more about the scenario
after
our call Michael. I don’t care what happened with the humans unless one is dead and I have to worry about damage control.”

“Yes, Sir.” His eyes remained trained on Becca a long second more before breaking away.

“And you say there were unexplained incidences of violence as well?” Admiral Black prompted.

Michael confirmed that to be true.

“Was this the first such occasion?”

Michael’s shoulders tightened. “No. I heard the manager and the bartender talking. This happened before. The police were involved this time. I would imagine they were last time as well. We’re heading to the station in the morning. We’ll search for records of any other similar occurrences in the general vicinity. I wanted to know if there was anything else we could find out in the meantime.”

Black was unresponsive. Michael waited patiently. Becca practiced swallowing her tongue and reminding herself it wasn’t Michael’s doing. He’d said no and disengaged as soon as he could. Advantages aside, it would be great when all this vampire blood wore off and she was sane again. Relatively speaking. She still had visions of the future no one understood half the time. That couldn’t ever be considered Ozzie and Harriet normal.

Finally Black’s voice was back on the line. “Has Rebecca had any unusual symptoms since arriving in town?”

Their eyes met, both were equally confused. “Sir?”

“Anything unusual. Tingling, itching, general sensations of unexplained agitation?”

Her eyes went wide and Michael nodded his head. He actually looked excited. “Yes Sir. She has been unusually agitated.”

“My skin’s been tingly,” she said softly. Her chest felt tight. Why did this have to come back to
her
, she wondered, feeling beaten. Didn’t she have enough stuff she couldn’t handle without being to blame for this too?

“Hmm.” Black was already distracted. “I will consult with someone and call back. Stay close.” He echoed Michael’s words to Ryan.