The Travelers: Book One (12 page)

“So what are we going to do?” Trick asked.

“Everyone’s going to get some rest and wait until Isabel is feeling better. Once she tells us what she knows, we’ll go from there,” Ty said, surprising everyone.

Carson raised his eyebrows and nodded.

“Yeah, that sounds like a plan.”

Gemma frowned, “I just got out of bed, I can’t just sit here and do nothing.”

Carson slipped a hand around her waist and quirked an eyebrow, “Who said anything about doing nothing?”

Chapter 15

The dull buzzing of his phone against the night stand woke Carson from his post-coital nap with Gemma. He gingerly reached an arm over the sleeping angel nuzzled into his side to grab it.

He glanced at the caller ID: Aaron.

“What’s up?” he answered with a whisper.

Gemma moaned and snuggled in deeper, flinging her arm over his broad chest.

“Izzy wants to talk,” he said.

Carson shifted slightly so he was sitting up and reached for the pack of cigarettes he’d given up years ago. Old habits died hard. The first morning drag still haunted him.

“Oh yeah? Has she calmed down?”

“Uh… mostly. She hates my guts, but I think she’ll be okay with you guys.”

“She’s never been a huge fan of mine either,” Carson reminded him.

“Yeah. Well, see you soon,” Aaron replied.

Carson didn’t like the terse tone Aaron had taken on with him. Something was definitely weird with him.

Gemma stirred, her soft waking groans bringing parts of him back to life.

“What was that?” she asked with a yawn and a big stretch.

It took a moment for his brain to attach meaning to her words; he was mesmerized watching her body move and still in awe that she shared it with him.

“Aaron. Izzy wants to talk.”

Gemma’s brows shot up and in a split second she was out of the bed getting dressed.

“Awesome! Let’s go!”

“Gemma…”

“Don’t you DARE try to ask me not to come!” she said as she clasped her bra and slipped into a t-shirt in record time.

“We don’t know if she’s safe to be around,” Carson said.

“Nothing you say will change my mind, Carson. If Izzy wants to talk I’m going to talk to her.”

He followed her out of the bedroom, hopping into his pants as she stomped down the hallway.

“I just think that maybe you should let me talk to her first… to check her out, you know?”

“Sorry, it’s just a chance I’m going to take.”

He groaned and followed her down the stairs.

“Hey, Car, I got something to show you,” Ty said as soon as they walked in.

“Later,” he answered.

“But it’s about the video…”

“Izzy wants to talk, are you guys coming?” Gemma asked, having zero patience for their dawdling.

Ty looked surprised, but didn’t say anything else. He could see that Carson was in no mood to talk about the past with present problems glaring him in the face.

When they pulled up to Gemma’s house, they found Aaron on the front porch shuffling his feet impatiently.

“You look like you’re in time out,” Trick teased.

“He is!” Izzy called from an open window.

Gemma’s heart leapt into her throat at the sound of her friend’s voice; she thought she would burst from the rush of joy she felt. She skipped up the stairs to the front door and ran through greeting Izzy with a big hug.

“Oh my god, I was so worried about you.”

Izzy gave her a sad smile, “Thanks for looking out.”

As the men crowded into Gemma’s tiny cottage once more, all eyes fell to Izzy in anticipation of what she had to say.

“Um, so… thanks for saving me and everything,” she stammered, failing to make eye contact with any of them.

Aaron shifted uncomfortably in the doorway. Izzy directed a pointed glare in his direction and he stilled, remaining on the other side of the door.

“I’m sure you guys have a lot of questions about everything, but I don’t know how many answers I’ll be able to give you. It’s all going to sound a little crazy anyway…”

Carson smiled, “Doubtful. We have our own crazy stuff going on,” he added, slipping a possessive hand onto Gemma’s hip.

Izzy raised her eyebrow in question, but figured it wasn’t the time or place to inquire about whatever was going on there.

“Okay,” she said with a big sigh, “so, I met this girl — Alina — who tried to explain some of it to me. There’s some kind of magic… Certain people have it, but they don’t know until they’ve met their other half. Or… something like that.”

Carson nodded, “I think we’ve figured out that much.”

Izzy’s eyebrows shot higher, “You two?”

Gemma nodded.

“Weird.”

She took another deep breath, looking at her hands in her lap before continuing.

“Well, there’s this guy… Alina’s other half… he’s not a good guy,” she faltered and Gemma stepped forward to rest a hand on her shoulder.

“He’s tracking down magical people that haven’t found their other half and… he’s draining them, I guess. I don’t know, it’s all really blurry.”

“But that doesn’t really explain why people are going nuts,” Trick chimed in.

Izzy frowned; trying to pull the memories to the surface made her head swim.

“It’s called the frenzy. Or, that’s what Alina called it. This magic is too much for normal people, she said. It’s like a really powerful drug. That’s why he’s draining people, he’s learned to harness the stuff and dose it out to people to keep them under his control.”

Ty sank into an armchair with his head in his hands.

“Do you know how crazy this all is?”

Izzy’s face darkened, “I told you. I’m not making this shit up though.”

Carson intervened, “We know you’re not. What do you know about this guy?”

Her eyes lost their focus, as if she were watching something far in the distance.

“Not a lot. He…” her voice cracked and she dropped her head for a minute before lifting her gaze to meet Gemma’s.

“He’s done some really awful things to her. You have to help her.”

Gemma nodded; her heart clenched at the pain in Izzy’s voice. Whatever this man did to Izzy’s friend Alina must be truly atrocious. Whether it was a part of the original plan or not, Gemma knew they had to help this other woman.

“Look, it sucks that all of this is happening, but our only goal was to find you and bring you home safe. We can’t go out rescuing every sad stray out there,” Carson said.

Gemma took a step back from him, her fierce gaze challenging him.

“If Alina knows more about what is going on here, we’re going to get her out of there. We were given these powers for a reason Carson,” she said firmly with her hands on her hips.

Izzy smirked, impressed that she’d been able to rub off on Gemma a little bit.

“This guy sounds like bad news. We need to kick his ass before this goes any further,” Dez added drawing surprised looks all around.

“I agree,” Ty said.

“We don’t know anything about this chick. It could all be a trap,” said Aaron.

Carson appreciated the back-up, but he knew he didn’t want to draw Gemma or Izzy’s ire. He certainly didn’t want to be subjected to both of them against him.

“All right. We’ll try to save your friend. You need to tell us everything you know about where you were, the people there, everything, okay?” Carson asked.

Izzy’s jaw tightened, but she saw the way Gemma looked at her brother and knew that she had to try to cut him some slack, for Gemma’s sake if nothing else.

“Okay, I’ll do my best,” she said.

Chapter 16

After a few hours of intense grilling and plotting, the boys thought that they had a fairly solid plan laid out for their assault on the warehouse.

“So, Carson will go in as a distraction. Ty will follow as scout. Dez and Trick are the muscle and I’m going in for the extraction,” said Aaron.

“Why does Carson have to be the distraction?” Gemma asked.

“Because I’m the only one that can cross-over. I need to be able to draw the shadows away from Alina,” he said.

Gemma nibbled on her lip, still not liking the idea of Carson taking on all of those shades on his own.

“Hey, you were the one that said we were given these abilities for a reason,” he reminded, his hand cupping her cheek.

He stroked her face with the rough pad of his thumb and she couldn’t help but lean into his warmth.

“We don’t know what this guy is capable of…”

“I know,” he said, “but this is really the only way. I’ll be okay.”

“What am I supposed to do?” Izzy asked.

“Stay here with Gemma,” Carson answered.

Isabel’s mouth opened for a snappy retort, but she bit it back. Gemma couldn’t be left alone; they at least agreed on that much.

“So, we’ll go get our shit together and meet you there?” Aaron said to Carson.

“Wait, I want to see it!” Trick jumped in enthusiastically.

“See what?” asked Ty.

“Carson turning into a wolf! Duh!”

Gemma frowned, “Well, I don’t know if you’ll be able to—”

She was stopped by Carson’s hand on her shoulder.

“It’s fine. Because of you, I’m stronger than ever.”

She nodded and took him into her bedroom.

He laid down and pulled her in for a brief kiss.

She rested her forehead against his, tears welling in her eyes once more.

“Just come back to me, okay?”

“Always,” he said before closing his eyes and sinking into the bed.

Gemma emerged from her bedroom with the massive silvery wolf-dog at her side.

“Holy shit!” Trick exclaimed. “He’s fucking
huge
.”

Carson’s back, even on four legs, was level with Trick’s waist.

“You’re not scared, are you?” Dez teased, his deep voice reverberating through the tiny room.

Trick glared at him from the corner of his eye, “No, of course not. It’s still Carson, right?” He asked, his eyes going to Gemma.

She nodded and gave Carson a hearty scratch behind the ears. He shook his whole body and licked her hand before padding over to his friends.

“This is definitely crazy,” Ty said.

“Okay, we’ll freak out about the giant dog later. We have a job to do,” Aaron said.

“Yes, sir,” Trick answered with a mock salute. Aaron wasn’t amused at all.

They filed out, leaving Gemma, Carson and Izzy alone.

“So, this is why you didn’t think my story was crazy?” Izzy asked.

“Yeah,” admitted Gemma, “this just sort of…
happened
while we were looking for you.”

Carson nudged Gemma’s hand with his head.

“I know… you have to leave,” she said with a sigh, “just be careful, please.”

The wolf left the girls alone with Carson’s prone body.

“You and my brother, huh?” Izzy teased as Gemma made a fresh cup of coffee for each of them.

Gemma’s cheeks turned bright pink and she tried to hide her face in the fridge as she pulled out the milk.

“He’s such a pain in the ass, though.”

Gemma snickered and handed Izzy a mug, “Yeah, he really is,” she said with a far-off dreamy look.

“Oh, gross. You really like him, don’t you?”

Gemma smiled over the lip of her mug with a little nod.

“Yeah, I do.”

<<< >>>

Carson prowled the exterior of the warehouse, the hairs on the back of his neck bristled as he waited for his friends to join him.

Shadowy tendrils lashed out at his paws as he walked past a door. The thick vinegar haze was stronger than it had been only a few hours earlier.

Izzy’s rescue seemed to put the whole compound on red alert. Armed guards now stood inside most entrances and the air reeked of nervous energy.

The thundering heartbeats of a dozen or more men deafened Carson and made his blood boil with anticipation.

A shrill scream pierced the damp evening air.

Alina?

He couldn’t ignore the plea for help coming from inside the warehouse. He was going to have to go in without back-up.

The idea didn’t sit well with him, but another gut-wrenching shriek made up his mind for him. The rest of the guys would be okay without him. Whoever was inside being tortured may not be. If it was the woman they were coming to rescue, he couldn’t waste any time at all.

<<< >>>

The comforting weight of the M4 in Aaron’s lap distracted him from the reality of the situation they were heading into.

Desmond drove; everyone was silent. It was all too familiar to Aaron. The quiet before the storm. The calm before Hell started raining down. The eerie stillness that permeated everything as the world drew in a breath in anticipation for the chaos they were going to unleash.

He hated this part. He hated the swarm of a million hornets in his gut. He hated not knowing if all his buddies were going to make it out of this alive. He thought he’d left all of this behind half a world away, but somehow it followed him here.

He couldn’t look at any of his friends. They were all risking everything on blind loyalty. Aaron knew that he would follow Carson to the ends of the Earth, but he was surprised at how easily everyone else came to the same conclusion. He knew that there was a very real possibility that one or more of them wouldn’t walk out of this warehouse.

Part of him hoped that it would be him if it had to be someone. Part of Aaron thought that he deserved whatever came to him after everything. He deserved to be shunned to the deepest level of Hell. He never should have been the one to come home in the first place.

He wanted it though; he’d spent many a restless night getting sandblasted in the desert wishing and praying and hoping that he’d be able to come home. To make things right and to finish his unfinished business.

Now he’d screwed all of that up, too. Izzy would be happiest if she never saw him again.

His mind flitted to the fiery brunette and the heat between them. But that was all in the past.

She hated him now.

Desmond parked a couple of blocks away from the warehouse and they all climbed out of the SUV.

Ty darted ahead of the group, but came back sooner than he should have.

“Carson’s not there.”

“Son of a bitch!” Aaron hissed. He knew his foolhardy friend well enough to know that he’d decided to go it alone.

“Well, stick with the plan as best we can. Ty, try to scope out what we’re up against,” he said.

“Come on, give me some credit,” said Ty, pulling a phone from his pocket.

He brought up blueprints of the derelict building and before their very eyes, hot spots started to show up in infrared over top the layout of the warehouse.

“How’d you do that?” Trick asked, clearly impressed.

Ty shrugged, “Pre-programmed a drone with an IR camera attached. I didn’t really think it was the best idea for us to split up to begin with.”

Aaron resisted rolling his eyes. He had to remind himself that his friends were civilians. They were going to deviate from the plan. It irked him to no end that they all just decided to do whatever they wanted after they spent hours coming up with the plan, but there was nothing he could do about it. He just had to go with it.

As they crept toward the building, they tried to get a bead on which hot spots were friendly and which weren’t. At the very least, they were able to find an abandoned entrance to sneak in.

Aaron was the first one to spot Carson’s hulking form on the second floor of the large open warehouse. He pointed, drawing everyone’s attention to the large dog.

Aaron wasn’t the only one that noticed him.

Carson was sniffing around, searching for any sign of the distressed woman he’d heard earlier.

A muffled cry from above caught his attention. His keen sense of hearing drew him closer to her soft whimpers.

“Grab him!” someone shouted.

Two burly men seemingly stepped out of the shadows, wrapping their massive arms around Carson’s neck.

He snarled and growled at them, trying desperately to take any piece of them that he could. They dragged him up another flight of stairs.

“You know, I’m not very happy with you, puppy. You’ve been a bad dog,” the smooth tenor crooned. 

Aaron craned his head to see who was talking.

Forty feet above them, a narrow catwalk hung above the warehouse floor. The brutes carrying Carson stepped onto the metal walkway and caused it to sway on its unsteady supports.

Aaron led the group around the perimeter of the building, hoping for a better vantage point. Most of the goons were distracted and interested in whatever was going on above their heads.

“Who is this guy?” Trick hissed, still struggling to see who they were up against.

“You stole one of my toys and I want it back,” the man speaking to Carson said again.

Carson planted his feet and drew back his lips to reveal razor sharp teeth with a snarl.

He couldn’t see his friends, but he could smell them; over the acrid stench of vinegar coming from all of the shadows, he could smell his allies.

They reached the second floor only to be ambushed by a pair of guards.

“Oh, you brought back-up? Isn’t that cute?”

The hairs on Carson’s back bristled, standing on end; his tail shot straight out, telling everyone near him to back off or face the consequences.

Dez engaged the first attacker, slamming him into the floor with a dull thud.

Trick dispatched the second with a hard hit to his Adam’s apple and a hearty shove towards the stairs.

Ty gaped up at the catwalk, oblivious to the scuffle around him.

“Preston Fucking Waters?” Ty exclaimed.

“Our bad guy is Preston Fucking Waters?” He repeated.

“Uh, sure,” Aaron answered.

“Whoever that is,” Dez muttered flexing his hand.

“You guys seriously don’t know who he is? At age sixteen he created getit.com. Eighteen months later he sold it for $60 million. He was a billionaire before he could legally drink. He’s an internet God. Preston Fucking Waters. I can’t believe it…”

“Oh… kay,” Trick said rolling his eyes.

“So we know who this guy is, but what is he trying to accomplish?” Aaron asked the group, still waiting for more goons to show up.

“Right now, it looks like he’s trying to rip our friend to shreds,” Ty answered grimly with a glance to the catwalk.

Preston Waters laughed maniacally as his limbs grew wider and stronger. Soon the weight of his heavy front arms made him fall forward onto his hands. His hips shifted and pulled forward and from his neck sprouted a formidable black mane. Before their very eyes he’d transformed into a massive lion. A terrifying creature that now had its sights set on their friend.

“Carson doesn’t look so scary next to that thing,” Trick said in an attempt to lighten the mood.

In fact, Carson looked like a normal-sized dog next to the hulking lion. The lion roared and revealed fangs as long as Trick’s forearm.

“We’ve got to save him somehow,” said Ty.

“Well let’s go!” Desmond cried, springing into action.

Aaron grabbed a fistful of his shirt and pulled him back into the huddle.

“What’re you gonna do big guy? Wrestle a fucking lion?”

Dez shrugged, “I don’t know,” he admitted.

“We can’t just go running in all willy nilly. If Izzy’s right, he’s drawing his power from that girl. We get her out and Carson has a hell of a better chance.”

Everyone agreed with Aaron’s assessment.

“But how do we get her out?” asked Ty.

He instantly regretted it.

“What?”

“You need to go up and get her,” Aaron said.

“But I thought you were in charge of extraction!” Ty protested.

Aaron frowned. He ran a hand over his face before gripping Ty’s shoulder.

“Look around,” more of Preston Waters’ henchmen were closing in around them. Trick and Desmond were already trying to fight them off when a sharp crack rang through the air: a gunshot.

“We don’t have time to debate this. You can’t hold these fuckers off, so it’s up to you to get her.”

Ty nodded. He could see the logic in Aaron’s plan, but he didn’t know if he agreed with it.

Aaron took cover from the lone shooter after shoving Ty towards the stairs. He fired back, hoping to draw out the enemy.