The Mind Keepers (The Mind Readers) (8 page)

“I dreamt of Maddox again.”

Cameron was silent for a moment.
“You mean you visited him?”

I nodded. “I think so.”

She jumped to her feet and paced
the room. I could practically see her mind spinning. She was as freaked out by
the prospect as I was. “I knew it. I knew you could travel.” She spun around to
face me. “What happened? Tell me everything.”

The question caught me off guard,
and I flushed. I wasn’t used to sharing personal things, and there were some
majorly personal things in that vision or dream or whatever it had been. “I…we…”

“Never mind.” She shook her
head, knowing how much I hated to talk. “But did he say anything important?”

I took in a deep, trembling
breath and managed to walk to the window. It was late evening. The sun had moved
behind the tree-line. The yard looked dark and cold, lonely. “He helped.”

Cameron paused next to me, the
light from the waning sun highlighting her face. I realized in that moment that
I found comfort in her presence. She was my sister. My only family, really. If
anything happened to her…

“Helped?”
 

I rubbed my aching forehead. “After
I’d started dating him, S.P.I. caught me a second time. All along I thought he
had led them to me. He claims that he was the one who helped me escape.”

Cameron frowned. “I hate to say
it, but he could be lying.”

I quirked a brow, surprised by
her cynicism.

“What?” She frowned. “I’m not as
trusting as you think.”

Yeah, I wasn’t going to respond
to that. Instead, I looked out the window onto an overgrown backyard. The
swing-set could barely be seen through the weeds. Had they played there often?
A shimmer of energy swept through the yard, rustling the grass and leaves on
the trees, and I wondered briefly if it was the ghostly energy of one of my siblings.

“Nora?”

“Lyndsey told me that she’s the
reason I was captured. That S.P.I. actually followed her to Savannah.”

“Oh.” Cameron sank onto the
chair where our aunt had been sitting moments before. Neither of us said
anything. I continued to stare out the window as Cameron merely sat in that
chair. “So he helped you escape, just like Lewis helped me escape the island in
Maine.”

Oddly, I wasn’t thinking about
Maddox, but I was wondering if my sister and brother had had fun in that
backyard. Had they invented games, used their imagination, dreamt of a better
world and a better family, as I had? Why? Why were they gone when I was still
here? Luck? Fate?
 

I sensed Lewis right before he
appeared in the doorway.

“It doesn’t change the fact that
he stayed with S.P.I.,” I said softly. “Even after knowing what they had done
to me, how they tortured me…he stayed.”

“So what if we don’t go there just
to help Maddox,” Lewis said.

Cameron stood. “What do you
mean?”
 

“You know I don’t trust him.” He
moved into the room, crossing his arms over his chest. “In fact, if it was up
to me, we’d leave him to rot.”

Exactly what I’d always thought,
so why did his words rub me the wrong way now? I sighed and rested my forehead
against the peeling window frame. He’d still betrayed me by staying. I wasn’t
the sort of woman who forgave and forgot after a few flowery words.

“Lewis—” Cameron warned, ever
the peacekeeper.

“Hear me out.”

I turned toward him, interested,
despite myself. “All right, what’s your plan, Captain America?”

He settled on the edge of the
bed. “What if we go there not only to save Maddox, but to take down the system
once and for all?”
 

Chapter
6

“Just to make it clear, I have a
bad feeling about this,” Aunt Lyndsey murmured as we hiked through the woods. In
her cargo pants, military-style boots and jacket, she looked like a female
version of Rambo. We’d even smeared black paint across our faces to make sure
our pale skin didn’t reflect in the light.

I had a feeling too, a feeling
that she could kill just as easily and efficiently as any assassin. Heck, I
kind of respected her toughness, her lack of emotion and weakness. I’d been
that way until Mom had died. I’d been strong, unbreakable—or so I’d thought.
After all, I’d survived torture twice. Now I felt like I was constantly tumbling
around and around in a dryer, no idea which way was up or down.

I shook my head, releasing a
breath of air through pursed lips. I was determined to maintain control. And so
I pretty much ignored her as we hiked, as I’d been ignoring her most of the
day. She might not agree with our plan, but she was outnumbered in votes. Besides,
this was our party she was crashing.

“You really think we can just
waltz up there?”

I clenched my jaw so tight to
keep from saying something that my teeth actually hurt.

“Got a better plan?” Cameron spit
out for me.

I grinned; thank God for small
favors. Aunt Lyndsey would make anyone’s hackles rise, even my saintly sister’s.
My aunt sure as hell didn’t worry about speaking her mind, something else we
had in common.

Still, she wasn’t as annoying as
the mosquitos that swarmed us, following in a cloud that would have been unbearable
if we hadn’t been wearing pants and long-sleeved shirts. Yep, we were like a
little army, traipsing through the underbrush, preparing to attack. The operative
word was
little
. Could we really take
an entire compound?

“I’ll head to the north end,”
Lewis said, shifting the backpack higher up on his shoulders. “Set off the grenade
and hopefully draw them to me.”

My aunt had come with her own
arsenal, and none of us had asked where she’d gotten the weapons. But then
again, she claimed we didn’t need them, that we were more powerful than anything
man-made. She apparently had never been in a gun fight with an S.P.I. agent.

“I don’t get it,” Cameron said,
shaking her head. Sweat glistened across her forehead, and I had a feeling I
looked just as stressed. But then hiking through the woods in the humid North
Carolina spring with little sleep the night before would do that to a person. “There’s
no noise, no cars, no energy.”

I didn’t miss the glance Lewis
sent her. I had a feeling they had some sort of mental communication going,
although I couldn’t prove it. I looked away, feeling as if I was intruding on a
private moment, and at the same time wondering over the envy I felt. I could
never have that bond with Maddox. He would never—could never—truly understand
me. So why had I felt such a connection with him?

I noticed Lewis frown. Most
likely he’d been lecturing her on why it was a bad idea to save Maddox. I didn’t
blame the guy, any boyfriend would be jealous of Maddox. I swiped my forehead
with the back of my hand and pushed thoughts of love and romance from my mind.

Cameron was right. There was no
energy. Weird.

“Bad feeling,” my aunt muttered.

I frowned, knowing exactly why
she was so insistent on sharing her thoughts…she wanted me back at the house. I
could tell Cameron and Lewis agreed. They didn’t think I could handle the extra
flow of energy coming through me. Maybe I wasn’t ready, but no way in hell I
was going to stay behind. I had a feeling too, a feeling I needed to be here,
although why, I wasn’t sure.

My foot sank into the muddy
creek bed while my mind wandered. “Damn.” I pulled it free, shaking the mud
loose and trekked up the small bank. It had changed in the year since I’d been
here, hoping to sway Cameron to our side. Funny, it seemed like a million years
ago when she’d been working for my father and S.P.I. “How much longer?”

Lewis lifted the GPS system that
hung from the strap on his backpack. “Quarter of a mile.”

He’d been quiet most of the
trip, unnaturally so, and I had a feeling he was worried about Cameron’s
attachment to Maddox. He should be. Maddox was sexy, and when he was out to
charm someone, they didn’t have a chance. I frowned at the thought, an
irrational flicker of jealousy springing to life. But Lewis was gorgeous and
kind, and there was something about the way he brooded silently, stoically,
that made you wonder what he was thinking. If Cameron screwed up her
relationship with him, she was an idiot. Especially if she gave it all up for a
guy who had chosen S.P.I. over us.
 

I rolled my eyes to stare at the
canopy above. I was being ridiculous. Cameron was in love with Lewis. And
Maddox…well, he was no doubt still in love with himself. I shoved aside a tree
branch a little too hard and it snapped, gaining me a glare from my aunt. Damn
it all, I had never lost my attraction to Maddox, and deep down, I still cared.
I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t. But I refused to get my heart broken again. Maybe
I’d save his sorry ass, but then I’d be on my way back to Maine.

“Keep alert,” my aunt said. “Use
your powers to search, but not too far. Sense for humans, if you can.”

I reached down for the pistol
that was usually at my side; just touching it made me feel better. But it was
gone. I’d gotten rid of it after mom’s death. Cameron didn’t want guns around
the kids.
 

“You don’t need it,” my aunt
said softly, somehow knowing. “Your powers can work better than any weapon.”

Easy for her to say since she
actually knew how to use her abilities. The energy rushing through her wasn’t making
her all loopy and crazed with weak emotions. It was like I had a supernatural
version of PMS. I took in a deep breath and unclenched my hands, reaching out
with my senses. There, I could feel it, the pulse of energy from the life
around us. It tingled against my skin, making me incredibly aware of the liveness
of it all. Comforting. It was a calm, natural energy. Trees, birds, squirrels,
a deer or two.
 
Nothing human.

I paused for a brief moment,
letting the silence surround me. “I don’t sense anyone, I don’t think.”

“Careful,” Cameron whispered.
“They have chips that can block their thoughts.”

“Yeah, I know,” I snapped back. They
acted as if I was some sort of newbie, when I’d been doing this longer than they
had, when I’d gone through more torture than any of them. I rubbed my temples,
which brought on a wary glance from my aunt. Frustrated, I dropped my hands to
my side, quickening my steps and pulling ahead of the group. Yeah, I was
short-tempered, angrier than normal. No big deal, I could still fight. I knew
when my body needed rest, and right now was not the moment. I paused at the
crest of a small hill.

Cameron stopped next to me. “I’m
not sensing anything.”

“Fence is ahead,” Lewis said
softly, gazing through the trees. “Should I head north?”

He was right. I could see the
shimmer of light reflecting off the metal.

“No,” my aunt replied. “I can’t
sense anyone either. No one’s here, at least not close.”

Lewis shrugged off his backpack
and settled it on the ground. “I wouldn’t trust the feeling. We all know
they’re great at deception.”
 

“Agreed.” Lyndsey slowly scanned
the hills. “Keep watch, keep your senses open.”

There was nothing other than the
breeze through the leaves. Suddenly no birds chirped, no insects buzzed, everything
felt as if it had been placed on pause.

Lewis took out a pair of binoculars
from his backpack and held them close to his eyes. “I don’t understand.”

“What is it?” Cameron asked.

He handed them to Cameron. “The
fence is busted. Falling apart.”

I grabbed the binoculars from her
hands and looked. Sure enough the fence was half-destroyed. Slowly, I handed
the binoculars to Aunt Lyndsey, my heart sinking. “That sort of decay…they had
to have abandoned the camp almost immediately after Mom died.”

“It’s empty.” Cameron bolted
down the hill and up the next. “Oh my God, we’re too late.”

“Damn it, Cameron,” Lewis
snapped, rushing after her and leaving his backpack behind. “You need to be
more careful.”

“Does she always rush in like that
with no thought to her own safety?” my aunt muttered in disgust.

“Yeah,” I said softly, picking
up Lewis’ backpack. “She lets her emotions get the better of her.”

Not me, at least I never had
before. But maybe if I had I could have saved Maddox. Gone. He was gone. But
where? My aunt followed, watching them like an audience member watching a foreign
film with subtitles, as if she didn’t understand. I knew the truth at least: Lewis
wasn’t just annoyed that Cameron had rushed headlong toward the compound, but he
was angry that she was so concerned about Maddox she would endanger her life
for him.

That should have been me. I
should’ve been packing the car the other morning insisting we save Maddox. I
should have been rushing toward that compound, heedless of my own safety. So
why did I feel so numb, my legs leaden? Cameron and Lewis had managed to make
it to the fence before we caught up to them. Cameron ducked through the hole in
the wire and waited impatiently for us on the other side. The second set of
fencing wasn’t even up any longer.

“After you,” my aunt said as she
gripped the loose fencing and pulled it aside so I could easily enter.

I didn’t thank her as I ducked
low and followed Lewis and Cameron, my instincts on high alert. I was too
concerned with Maddox, too confused over the empty camp. We couldn’t be late. Maddox
was still alive, I’d just visited him last night. My attention snapped from
corner to corner, building to building. The grass was overgrown, weeds having
crawled across the gravel drive. A few abandoned jeeps were rusting in the far
corner. Where the hell was he?

“Damn,” Cameron hissed, looking
just as frustrated as I felt. “Where could he be?”

Lewis gripped her arm. “We
shouldn’t go any further. It’s not safe.”