Psychic Visions 08-Now You See Her... (5 page)

She turned to stare at the man she’d outfoxed twice. “No money and no phone until recently.”

She felt his startled response but was already turning back to Stefan, her gaze locking on his, wishing she could read him. She’d never seen him before, but he was a legend. She knew others had insight into his character, but it wasn’t the same as knowing for sure herself.

“I didn’t betray you,” Stefan said quietly. “I wouldn’t.”

And damn if his energy didn’t match his words. Strong, clean, unwavering in a beautiful white. He was sincere. Her shoulders slumped. “If not you, who?”

He reached over and picked up her hand. “Anyone know where you were going to be?”

“Simone. She helped me set up the meet. But she wouldn’t have betrayed me. She couldn’t. But…” she turned a horrified gasp to Stefan, “someone might have coerced her. She told me there’d been an intruder and to run.” Her lower lip trembled. “The only way that information would have left Simone’s lips is if she couldn’t hold out any longer. That would mean she’s dead.”

“Call her.” Stefan held out her cell phone. “Find out if she’s okay.”

Hating to use her phone again if it was bugged, she said, “Let me use your phone, just in case.”

He held it out. She snatched it up and quickly dialed. After several rings she realized there wasn’t going to be a response. “No answer.” She stared at the phone then hopped off the bed on the side away from Stefan, only to find him still holding her hand. She tried to tug it free. “I have to go. See if she’s okay.”

“You can’t,” Stefan said.

“You don’t understand. Simone is all I have in this world. If that bastard got a hold of her, there’s no knowing what he’d do.”

“I’ll have someone check on her,” he said calmly. “You will stay here where you are safe.”

“What? Are you nuts?” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “How can I be safe here?”

“Because I’ve got the room under surveillance,” he said. “Woven in energy strands. You will be safe here.”

“Your watchdog got in, so why couldn’t this other guy? He works energy too,” she said scornfully. “Or did you think just anyone could take me down?”

“Not at all. But he has his weakness too.”

Stefan stood up. “Rest. Sleep. Recharge. I’ll call you on your cell phone when I have news about Simone.”

“Take me with you, damn it.”

“No.” He walked through the doorway and she raced after him.

Until she reached the opened doorway and hit some kind of force field. There were shocks and little blasts of light and she bounced back.

“Shit,” she cried out. “That hurt.”

Stefan already several steps away turned to smile at her. “That’s okay. Now that you know, you won’t do it again.”

He motioned to Dean to walk through. “I need to speak with you.”

*

Dean hadn’t seen
anything like that invisible wall the woman had slammed into, but then he hadn’t ever seen a woman go invisible. And just for thinking this, he needed another mental health check-up himself.

He still wasn’t sure what he’d seen, but he knew the man waiting for him had the answers. At least he hoped he did.

Taking a deep breath, reminding himself he trusted the man who’d saved his son, he walked through the doorway. He felt nothing. Frowning, he turned back to see Tia standing on the other side glaring at him as if he were to blame. She rubbed her arms for a long moment before her shoulders took a downward slide and she turned back to her bed.

He hated to see her spirit take a beating like that. She’d been a spitfire up to now. Except someone she cared about was in trouble, she was a prisoner and someone apparently had the upper hand in this business. He’d bet on Stefan any day. In fact, he already had.

“Stefan, what the hell is going on?”

“Tia is special,” Stefan said. “As you could see.”

“Did she really disappear?” he asked incredulously. “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”

“She doesn’t disappear as much as she plays with energy and can make it look like she’s not actually there. But, in fact, she is.”

“So when I thought she’d escaped on me, she was actually still in the room?” It was the only answer that made any sense and even that explanation didn’t hold up for long.

“More or less. I don’t know all she can do. Not sure she does either. Often with these weird energy abilities, the person doesn’t know until they are actually in a situation where they are forced to push the limits of their abilities and then they find out something new about themselves.”

Dean nodded as if he understood. Like hell he did. “So now what?”

“When are you off tonight?”

Dean glanced at his watch. “As soon as my replacement shows up.”

“Are you heading home then or would you be interested in checking out Simone’s situation for me?”

“For you, I will. For her, no.” He nodded at the woman now sitting cross-legged on her bed glaring at the two of them.

“Don’t feel bad at having been fooled by her. She’s developed her abilities out of a need to protect herself. She’s been hunted for a long time. Survival is something we all understand.”

Oh crap. He studied Tia. “Someone is really after her?”

“Potentially, more than one someone. That’s why I need to know if Simone is safe.” Stefan’s voice dropped. “Or if she’s involved.”

Dean turned to him in surprise. “I wondered at that possibility. I’m surprised it didn’t occur to her.”

“She’ll avoid thinking it. She’s alone in the world. She’s got no support system, and she’s been on the run for a long time. She’s survived and for that, she’s done amazingly well.”

Dean hated to hear she’d had such a tough life. Everyone deserved to have someone.

“I’ll go,” he said abruptly. “At least we can make sure this Simone is okay. Finding out if she’s involved will likely take much longer.”

“Maybe.” Stefan turned as if to leave. “First things first.”

“And you have her address, I presume?”

“Yep, managed to read Tia’s mind when she was worrying about how to find out if Simone was safe as she dialed the phone.” Stefan reached into his pocket and pulled out a small notepad. He quickly jotted the address down. “Here.”

Dean took the paper and read the address. He knew the area. Not a slum but definitely in the lower income part of town. “She might have sold Tia out.”

“Yes,” Stefan said. “She might have.”

S
he wasn’t going
to stay. No way. Stefan might be a little better on the energy stuff than she was – that doorway thing he did was freaking awesome. She needed to learn that trick. The easiest way was to learn how to diffuse it. Now that she had no cop standing guard, maybe she could try. She’d watched the cop and Stefan walk through his energy field. Could hear their muted voices matching the retreating footsteps.

He hadn’t let her out but had let others in
and
out.

Like, what the hell? She was the one who needed to be safe. Not to be
kept
safe.

Of course that was a fine distinction and maybe only one in the eyes of the beholder. But how did that difference matter to energy? She studied the doorway, wishing she could see the colors better. Color edged the wood and hinges, but was fuzzy. It wasn’t clear enough to see what Stefan had done.

It was effective though.

A nurse came to the door. “How are we feeling this morning?”

Tia glared at her. What the hell was with the
we
? Was the nurse locked up in a mental ward? No. Only Tia was. So what the hell kind of answer did she expect?

Then she brightened. There was food here, hospital food. It likely sucked big time, but it was food and she’d be on the run soon enough. She needed sustenance.

She smiled at the woman, noting the relief on her face that Tia might actually be reasonable, and said, “I’m hungry. Could I get something to eat please?”

“Oh dear. It’s hours until breakfast.” The nurse looked doubtful. “The doctor says you’re only allowed clear liquids on first awakening.”

“Exactly,” Tia said in a plaintive voice. “And I’m hungry now. Toast? Jam? Juice? A muffin?” she appealed to the nurse. She couldn’t remember when she’d eaten last. “Surely there’s something I could have.”

On cue her stomach rumbled loudly enough for the woman to hear.

“Oh goodness. You are hungry.”

“I don’t think I’ve eaten in a long time,” Tia added thoughtfully. And that was no lie.

“I’ll contact the doctor and see what he suggests.” The nurse bustled off.

Tia didn’t remember if there’d been food at Simone’s to eat or not. Seemed like she’d been running for days.

After eating she needed to see what was going on at this hospital. There was a guard changing soon or had it already happened? If it was coming up she might get out then. Stefan didn’t know all her tricks.

She hoped.

She walked to the window and looked out to see if there were balconies or decks outside. Something she could access from where she stood. Nothing. She checked out the bathroom – same thing.

By her bed, she grabbed up her phone and checked the GPS. She had no idea where she was, but damn she needed to find out.

She paced her room as her phone and her mind tried to sort out the mess. She had to find Simone and fast. Make sure her friend was okay. To do that she had to get the hell out of here.

Just when she figured out she was still in the Portland area, she heard a commotion outside. She closed the bathroom door to make it look like she was there. Then she raced to the wall behind the door and waited for the nurse to enter pushing the cart ahead of her. Perfect.

Here was her chance. She slipped into her camouflage mode, allowing her to blend into her surroundings, and slipped outside. There was a shock from Stefan’s energy guard, but she’d taken advantage of the metal from the cart disrupting the energy.

The hallway was empty.

She had no idea why, but she wasn’t going to waste the opportunity. The elevators were straight ahead, the stairs to the left. No one needed to tell her twice.

She was gone.

*

Dean walked out
to the parking lot and stared up at the early morning sky. He rolled his shoulders and gently massaged his neck. He shouldn’t be knotted up, but the things he’d seen tonight…well, the two halves of his brain weren’t agreeing on just what he had seen, resulting in massive stress to his neck.

He yawned. Greg had shown up on time and after giving him a quick rundown of the evening, leaving out the oddities, Dean had warned him to only open the door for the nurse and then close it immediately behind her as she came and went. Given the hour there should only be one more check at rounds. But he needed to be alert as the hospital was getting busier.

Who knew how they’d keep track of Tia for the rest of the day?

Thankfully that wasn’t his problem.

His old truck was parked at the far end of the lot. The few minutes of fresh air were invigorating. He needed that considering he still had a job to do. Stefan’s request, given the odd situation, was reasonable. He wouldn’t want to call the cops and try to explain what or why either. At least not at this point. He knew Stefan worked alongside the cops all over the world. So some must be used to him and his unusual requests.