Mind Over Matter Page 6

  “Anna!” He ran to her, suddenly afraid that he’d killed her. His moment of distraction cost him as she threw out her arm and her eyes glowed golden. Tiny pieces of rock peppered him, and he shouted in pain as he threw himself aside to avoid it. He sent a few back at her, but she’d taken cover behind a large wooden box that looked like an old pigeon coop.

  They traded a few more volleys of trash before he admitted that they were too evenly matched. No matter what they threw at each other, it didn’t seem to matter.

  “Don’t make me hurt you, baby!” he called to her. He could feel blood running down his face from the rocks she’d thrown, and he couldn’t help but recognize that she was pulling her punches. It was obvious that she didn’t want to hurt him.

  “Go away, Bryan,” her weary voice sobbed. “I just want to be left in peace.”

  “I told you I can’t do that,” he returned, crawling across the roof to where he heard her voice. It was at times like this that he sorely regretted not having a talent of his own.

  “You can,” she said softly from behind him. “You just won’t.”

  He jumped to his feet and whirled around, but he was too late. A long piece of antenna flew at him, knocking him to the ground. With a groaning twisting of metal, it wrapped around him.

  He struggled but he couldn’t budge the bent metal. Without the use of her power, which was now dormant, he couldn’t do anything. He seethed in frustration as he watched her kneel next to him, cradling her arm against herself. Her pain-glazed eyes moved over him as they filled with tears. Then she shocked him by leaning over and using her T-shirt hem to wipe the blood from his face.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I was afraid, and I couldn’t think of any other way to protect myself.”

  “Anna,” he began hoarsely.

  “Please Bryan.” She put her fingers against his lips. “I know what you think of me.” Her wounded eyes looked down at him. “What you think I am. But I need you to know. What they say about me is wrong. I didn’t murder that little boy. I tried to save him.” More tears dripped down her face. “But I was too young, and I wasn’t strong enough. I couldn’t hold the car and the truck. I’ll never forgive myself for that.”

  She stared off into the distance and her lips trembled, as she caressed his arm unknowingly. “I lost everything that day. In less than a minute, my whole life changed. I lost my family, my childhood, and even my name. I’ve been running ever since, just existing. I just want to be left alone.”

  His throat was tight when he answered. “Even if that’s true, the law says you have to be registered, Anna. We can’t let rogues run around. It’s dangerous.”

  She shook her head sadly. “You have no idea how many of us there are, Bryan. If we wanted to, we could take over the government, but we’re a peaceful people. We’re trying to change it, by working within the system.”

  He stared at her unbelievingly. “You’re crazy.”

  Her eyes darkened even more. “You’ve been programmed to believe that if we’re unregistered we’re dangerous, but let me ask you Bryan. You said you weren’t using me, that you didn’t know what I was. During the whole time that you knew me, were you ever afraid of me? I was a rogue then, just as I am now. The only thing that’s changed, Bryan is you knowing what I am.”

  She touched his face gently. “I hear others coming, so I have to go. But know this Bryan--I don’t lie. Everything I’ve said is the truth.” She sniffed.

  “You know what hurts the most? I was going to tell you about myself tonight. I knew there was someone after me, and I was leaving the city.” She gave a choked sob. “Funny, huh? I didn’t want to go without you. You, the man who I should be most afraid of, turn out to be the one man I’ll never forget.”

  She bent and kissed him gently. “Goodbye, Bryan.”

  Chapter Eight

  After that Shanna didn’t feel anything for a long, long time. She was numb from the pain of her broken arm as well as the agony of knowing that the man she loved wanted to destroy her.

  She’d left the rooftop and gone straight to the bus station, hopping on the first available bus. Her survival instincts were on automatic as she went from bus to bus, knowing that the only way to keep safe was to keep moving.

  She did nothing, just riding for hour upon hour, staring out the window, refusing to think or feel. She huddled in her seat, cradling her arm, wondering if anything was worth the pain she was in now.

  It wasn’t until she had an altercation with a Dayton, Ohio transit cop who’d grabbed her by the sore arm when she ignored him, that she came to her senses. She had to use her power to throw him off her and that sent the alarms ringing in the bus station.

  She ran, but it had taken all her skill to lose them, and she’d known that because of her mistake, Bryan would soon be on her trail again. When she climbed on another bus in another town, she realized as her stomach growled that it had been three days since she’d eaten anything.

  Three days of wandering in pain and misery. She shook her head. Her parents would be ashamed of her. They’d prepared her better than that.

  But--she bit her lip in memory--they hadn’t taken into account a pair of ice blue eyes and a killer smile. She blinked back tears. So much for contingency plans.

  Shanna grabbed a burger in the next town, but the pain in her arm made it hard for her to keep anything down. She knew that she needed to get it looked at, but going to the hospital wasn’t an option, and she had to keep moving.

  So she set out again, ignoring the pain of her arm, trying to put as much space as possible between her and the man that had stolen her heart.

  More days went by as she crisscrossed the country trying to lose any tail she might have picked up. Her mind was so set on keeping herself moving that she ignored the fact that her arm ached like a sore tooth. Her fear of getting caught was stronger than the pain.

  She’d been on the road for a total of ten days when it ended. She had just stepped off a bus in Boulder, Colorado when she felt the presence of Psy energy. She whirled, but immediately, her body was trapped in a web of power. She tried to break free, but the movement wrenched her arm, making her scream in pain.

  “Be easy, little sister,” a gentle voice soothed in her mind. “Calm down. You’re among friends.”

  Shanna froze. Lifting her head, her eyes stared into eyes as golden as her own. “Adam? Is it you?”

  Tears rolled down his face as he caught his sister’s broken and worn body in his arms. As she fainted, he pressed his lips to her forehead. “You’re safe, Shanna. No one will hurt you ever again.”

  * * * *

  It took Bryan several days to be able to do anything without his temper blowing sky high. What he’d found out about Anna had rocked his entire world. He had difficulty believing that the sweet, loving woman he’d known was the cold-blooded murderer portrayed in her files.

  His sleep at night was broken by heated memories of her in his arms. He’d awake, his cock aching for her and then he’d swear copiously as he stumbled into a cold shower. Her surrender to him had felt so real he couldn’t help believing that what she’d said might just be true.

  It gnawed at him so much that he flew back to Washington to re-look at her file. What he found surprised him. The folder holding her file was thick with the reports of the myriad of PAPcops that had searched for her. But when he found the original report, it was only two pages long.

  There were several witness statements, all of them from mundanes who had been in the area of the incident at the time. He frowned. Where was the statement from the family she’d almost killed? Or as she claimed--saved.

  He went through the file again. The forensic reports, the witness statements, all pointed to an accident. Yet they had decided that the female Psy had committed premeditated murder.

  It wasn’t until the third time through that he found the small scrap of paper. It was just an address, but his Psy instincts roared into full gear. Tucking the unhelpful file back int
o its drawer, he flipped open his cell phone. He had a reservation to make.

  * * * *

  Bryan climbed out of his rental car and stared at the large farmhouse in front of him. It hadn’t taken a level ten investigator, but just a few phone calls to find them. This was the home of the mystery family that had been a part of the incident seven years ago. Steven and Maggie Thompson of Klamath Lake, Montana were the perfect image of an all-American family, but after the accident, they had faded into the woodwork and all but disappeared.

  He gazed around him, taking in the well-worn paint and the carefully cultivated flowers in the yard. It reminded him of his own parents’ home back in Seattle, Washington.

  Slamming the car door shut, he walked up the path and knocked carefully on the blue front door. After a few minutes he heard the sound of footsteps, and the door swung open to the smiling face of a middle-aged woman with dark hair and bright green eyes.

  “May I help you?”

  Bryan returned the smile and flicked open his badge. “Bryan Jordan, ma’am. PAPRA investigations.”

  The smile froze on her face, and her fingers tightened on the door. “What do you want?”

  “I have a few questions regarding the accident that you were involved in seven years ago.”

  “We answered those questions back then, and no one listened to us.” The woman’s eyes sparkled angrily, and Bryan had a sudden feeling of déjà vu.

  “I know, Mrs. Thompson, and that’s why I’m here now. I’m re-opening the case, and I want to know what really happened.”

  She stared at him searchingly for a long time before she nodded and stepped aside. Bryan took a deep breath. He prayed he’d find the answers he needed.

  * * * *

  He wandered around the living room waiting, while she made tea for them. He ran his finger down the spine of an old Boy Scout manual, dog-eared and well loved. He saw a group of photos on the piano and was heading to them when she came back in the room.

  “Lemon or sugar?”

  “Uhhh, lemon,” he answered. He hated tea. As she poured, he studied her. Late forties to early fifties with a surprisingly youthful appearance, she had shadows in her eyes that he could only wonder about.

  “What did you want to ask me?” She handed him the porcelain tea cup.

  He took a polite sip, wishing desperately for a cup of coffee. “I’d like you to tell me in your own words what happened that day.”

  Her eyes darkened even further. “That poor child.”

  “The little boy who was murdered?”

  Her eyes snapped at him. “He wasn’t murdered. Not by a long shot.”

  Bryan flinched. “What happened?”

  “My family was on vacation for the first time in years. We were traveling, heading through Salt Lake City, when out of nowhere this pickup truck ran a red light.”

  “This truck is the one used to kill the boy?”

  Her eyes flashed. “Who’s telling this story, you or me?”

  She sounded enough like his mother to make his ears turn red. “Sorry,” he muttered.

  “Our car was lifted to safety and the truck went underneath us. I remember hearing a scream, and then I saw her try to stop the truck.”

  “Her?”

  “The same one who saved us. She dropped our car and went after the truck, but it was too late.”

  Bryan narrowed his eyes. “Are you telling me that she tried to prevent the truck from running over the child? She tried to save him, too?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying. But the PAPcops back then didn’t want to hear it. They were calling for her blood when all she tried to do was help.”

  He took a swallow of tea, feeling slightly sick. Anna had been telling him the truth. She might have been unregistered, but she was no murderer.

  “That poor girl was chased out of town when she did nothing wrong. It was horrible.”

  Bryan stood and paced over to the window. “She was untested, but to lift a car she had to be a ten or even higher. We could really use someone like that in PAPRA.”

  Mrs. Thompson snorted. “You think she’ll want to work for you after you’ve hounded her all these years? Please.”

  He looked at her, suddenly realizing she was probably right. Christ, he himself had tried to take her out. “This is all wrong,” he muttered. “How about the rest of your family? Can I talk to them?”

  “My husband is working.” Her pleasant face dimmed. “My children don’t live here any more.”

  He nodded, half expecting it. “Two boys and two girls, correct?”

  Her face tightened. “Two boys and one girl now.” Tears appeared in her eyes. “My oldest daughter is dead to me.”

  Bryan froze. His memory flashed back to Anna’s tearful voice. My family is all dead to me.

  “Excuse me, I need a tissue.” The weeping woman hurried from the room, while he stared after her in shock.

  How could they have missed this? He whirled around and made his way over to the piano where the pictures rested. With a shaking hand he picked up the one nearest him.

  He stared at the family in the picture. They were all smiling. He saw Maggie Thompson with her arms around a tall, dark-haired man who he assumed was Steven Thompson, but it was the others in the pictures that caught his eye.

  The resemblance was uncanny. Two young men, with their arms around one young woman. All with Anna’s dark hair and golden amber eyes. He knew without asking that he’d found her family. No wonder they hadn’t admitted it. Where there was one Psy child, there was bound to be others. Anna had abandoned her family to keep them safe. His throat tightened as emotion burned through him.

  Then Bryan noticed the empty chair that sat next to the younger girl. In it sat an old teddy bear with one eye. He gritted his teeth as grief filled him. Even in a picture, they refused to forget her.

  * * * *

  Shanna was unconscious for twenty-four hours. Her body needed the rest so badly that the healers decided to let her sleep until she awakened on her own. It worked out for the best, since they were able to set and speed up the healing of her broken arm, as well.

  When she awoke, the first person she saw was her sister Althea. She looked just the same, only taller and even more beautiful.

  Weak tears filled her eyes. “Thea?”

  Her sister sat down next to her. “You had us worried, Shanna.” She hugged her sister and her own tears flowed.

  Shanna pulled away and stared at her. “I can’t believe it’s you. I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”

  Althea smiled. “Things have changed a lot since you took off. We’ve been trying to find you for two years.”

  “Find me?”

  Before Althea could explain, there was a commotion outside and the door flew open. Shanna’s eyes widened in surprise, before filling with more tears.

  “Ethan?”

  Her ‘little’ brother grinned and strode across the room. He had grown, filling out into a fine figure of a man. “Shanna! You scared the shit out of us.” He bent and hugged her, mindful of her bandaged arm.

  “Where’s my hug?” came a deep voice.

  Shanna peered over Ethan’s shoulder and saw Adam’s handsome face. She traded one set of arms for the other. “I can’t believe you’re all here.”

  “Believe it, sis,” grinned Ethan. “You’re looking at the new face of the resistance.”

  Her mouth dropped open. “You’re kidding me! You joined the resistance?”

  Adam shrugged. “It’s worse than that I’m afraid.” He looked up at the ceiling in embarrassment. “I’m the one in charge.”

  Chapter Nine

  Shanna was sure she’d fallen into an episode of the twilight zone. Her brother, in charge of the resistance movement? It was almost laughable. Her brain scrambled around but the only thing she could think of to say was “What does Dad say?”

  Her siblings all laughed. Ethan leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. “What do you think he says?”
>
  She stared at him wide eyed. “I have no idea.”

  Adam chuckled and sat down on the side of the bed. “He changed after you left, Shanna. He wasn’t willing to ignore what was happening any more. He felt it had cost him a daughter.”

  Shanna remembered what Althea had said earlier. “You’ve been looking for me?”

  His face was grim as he nodded. “For two long years. Damn girl, you hid yourself real well.”

  “I don’t understand. I never thought I’d see you again.”

  Ethan took her uninjured hand. “Two years after you went away, Dad got involved in the movement. Low profile, but you know how good he is at organizing things. He took Adam in with him, and then when Thea and I turned twenty, he brought us in, too.”

  “Dad and Adam had been looking for you, but you’d dropped off the face of the earth,” Althea put in. “When Ethan and I joined up, we made it our job to find you. It wasn’t until last month that we even got close.”

  “You learned Dad’s lessons real well, little sister,” Adam grinned. “But we wanted you with us. We wanted to be a family again.”

  “What happened last month?” Shanna asked.

  “We heard that your case had come up again. Some big investigator had been called in.” Adam paused when the color washed out of Shanna’s face. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded, but the memory of Bryan and his betrayal made her eyes sting with tears. “He found me,” she whispered.

  Her older brother nodded, and his amber eyes lit with heat as he touched her bandaged arm. “We know. He did that to you, didn’t he?”

  Shanna looked away. “It was an accident.”

  Her sister frowned. “He almost caught you, Shanna. It was only because you made contact with a safe house to get the latest underground news that we learned where you were.”

  “You’d already left, but we had your energy signature. And when you got into it with that cop in Dayton, we finally tracked you down.”

  Shanna’s eyes were frightened. “If you found me, so can he. He’ll follow the Psy trail, too. I have to leave.”