Maya Banks - Whispers in the Dark

 Resnick pushed off the edge of the counter. “Now we find the fucks who have Shea and we go blow some shit up.”

 Ethan grinned. “Now we’re talking!”

TORTURE was preferable to this hell. Her sanity was slowly being eaten away.

 She was in a clear plastic tube, the sides pressed to her arms so she couldn’t move. Bands circled her ankles, her wrists and even her neck. That one was the worst of all because she fought the sensation of choking every second she was conscious.

 They’d already taken blood samples. It had all been sterile and very methodical. No one spoke to her. They treated her like she was a nameless, faceless object. Soulless. No one. Just another research project. Was this what it had been like for her and Grace in the beginning?

 What did they want from her? Tears pricked her eyelids and her vision blurred. She was a human being regardless of the circumstances of her birth.

 This wasn’t right. None of it was right. She and Grace deserved to be left alone. Running from a faceless enemy was no way to live.

 She glanced fearfully over at the monitor positioned to her left. She had to calm her thoughts. Make everything blank.

 The electrodes attached to her head monitored brain waves and activity. She’d already learned the hard way that the consequence of her trying to communicate telepathically was horrific pain, not only from the lingering effects of the drugs but from the electrical shock that speared through her body every time her brain activity increased.

 But telepathy wasn’t the only thing that would raise the level of her brain activity. She had to be careful to temper her emotions.

 She felt like the negative reinforcement rat. Eat, zap. Do the wrong thing, zap. Zap, zap, zap.

 Yeah, she was starting to lose her mind. It wouldn’t take much at all to sever her fragile grasp of reality. She was clinging by a thread, and right now it seemed a lot easier to just let go and check out.

 She hadn’t tried to contact Nathan for hours now. She could still feel the lingering pain from her last effort. The empty void in her mind was hell. The claustrophobic capsule they’d crammed her in was hell. She knew in that moment that she didn’t want to connect with Nathan. She never wanted him to know how this felt. He’d already endured so much torture, and knowing what was happening to her would send him right over the edge.

 RESNICK paced back and forth in the basement of his home that served as his office away from his headquarters in D.C. “She should have been able to communicate with you by now. Have you tried reaching out to her recently?”

 “I won’t do it again,” Nathan said fiercely. “Every time I do, I can feel her pain. It’s horrific. I won’t put her through that. I can feel her confusion, her emptiness. She’s so goddamn alone and she’s hanging on by the thinnest of threads and the pain is unimaginable. We have to give her more time.”

 “I could try,” Joe said in a low voice. “You’re too worked up, man. We need to keep her calm. If she feels what you feel, I can’t imagine what that does to her. I’m more objective. At least let me try. Maybe I’ll cause her less pain.”

 Nathan sighed, knowing his brother was probably right at least about him being too worked up. “I appreciate you trying to help, man, but this thing with Shea, it’s random. She told me she has no control over whom she can connect to.”

 Joe slowly shook his head in disagreement. “She can speak to me. I’ve heard her in my mind. Back when we first met. I felt her and then I heard her. I thought at first that I was imagining it, but yeah, it was her.”

 Nathan stared at his brother in confusion. “What?”

 “She didn’t tell you?”

 “No, she didn’t tell me. I had no idea. Why didn’t you tell me?”

 Joe held his hands up. “Whoa. It’s not like she was cheating on you with me or anything. She was afraid I’d be pissed because she could hear me and vice versa. It was the reason I asked to talk to her alone back at the house. So we could iron out a few things.”

 Nathan gripped the back of his neck and glanced at his other brothers, who were attempting not to seem interested in the current conversation. Unsuccessfully, since everyone’s eyes were glued to the twins. “I had no idea. I mean how?”

 Joe shrugged. “She thought maybe because you and I were twins and were so close. Who knows why? You said yourself it was random. She said as much too. But I told her if she ever needed anything to call for me. Maybe I can reach out to her instead. It’s worth a shot, right?”

 Indecision rolled through Nathan. The last thing he wanted to do was make her suffer more, but he also needed to find out where the hell she was. Resnick was working on it. He had every available resource allocated to finding Shea. But damn it, things were moving way too slow for Nathan’s liking.

 “Let him try, man,” Swanny said in a low voice. “We have to find her before it’s too late. We have no idea what those bastards are doing to her, and if it’s like you already said and she’s hanging on by just a thread, how much more can she take?”

 Nathan glanced again at his brothers. Then at Steele and his team. Even Resnick and his team headed by the young Marine, Phillips. Everyone was tense. Ready to move at a moment’s notice. They were just waiting. Waiting for word, information, Shea’s location, so they could go in and kick ass.

 It had been hours. While Resnick had gone to work pulling out every stop in his search for information, Nathan, Swanny, Joe and Steele’s team had scoured the streets of Charleston. They’d questioned people endlessly, until finally they’d hit pay dirt when an elderly man getting off a bus had mentioned seeing a young woman in extreme distress. He’d pointed them in the direction she’d gone, and from there, they canvassed a four-block radius until they’d found one witness who’d seen her getting into a black Toyota Avalon.

 Resnick had pulled metro surveillance for that location, and sure enough, hours before, they saw a man forcing Shea into a vehicle. They’d even gotten a license plate number, which so far had yielded them exactly nothing.

 “I don’t know, Joe. It’s…hard. You’ll feel what she feels. I don’t know how to prepare you for that.”

 “Maybe not,” Joe argued. “You love her, man. You’re emotionally involved. What you feel for her and through her is magnified ten times. I like her, yeah, but I’m not in love with her. I don’t have the emotional connection to her that you have. Let me try at least. If I sense I’m causing her too much pain, I’ll break away immediately. That’s even assuming I can reach her. I don’t know how to do this shit.”

 Nathan closed his eyes and breathed deep. Joe was right about one thing. They had to at least try. Whatever pain she endured leading them to her would be worth if it they could bring her safely home.

 He’d failed to do the one thing he’d promised her. Keep her safe. It was an easy thing to promise. Something to make her feel safe. But they were just words, and he hadn’t been able to make that happen, even with the backing of KGI and his family.

 Resnick was partially right. He, and his brothers, had no idea what they were dealing with. They were only just starting to understand, and they still didn’t have the entire picture.

 Nathan put his hand on Joe’s shoulder and looked him in the eye. “Just focus on her. Think about her and remember what that pathway felt like. Then open your mind and call for her.”

 Joe took a deep breath. “Okay then. I’m going to do it.”

 Resnick stopped his pacing and moved in close to where Joe and Nathan stood with Swanny. Nathan’s lip curled in distaste, but Resnick was focused on Joe, watching as Joe drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes.

 Around them, the others leaned forward, some taking steps to get closer to Joe. There was intense curiosity but also determination on everyone’s faces. Quiet descended until the only sound that could be heard was breathing.

 Joe sucked in his breath and then exhaled long and slow. He purposely blanked his mind in preparation. He didn’t want any distractions. This was important. Nathan was suffering. Shea was suffering. If he could somehow get through to Shea, then he could help them both.

 He closed his eyes, and the rest of the room fell away. His awareness of the others became dim as he focused solely on that pathway to Shea. When he was completely relaxed and felt the sensation of familiarity, he sent out a cautious inquiry.

 Shea? Can you hear me? It’s Joe.

 He kept it short, fearful of causing her unbearable pain. He waited, his breath held, his fingers curled into tight fists.

 At first there was quiet and then he felt a slight stirring in his mind. It was unlike anything he’d ever felt before. A burst of warmth, but with that warmth came a flood of terror, panic and clawing pain.

 He flinched but held on to that pathway with every part of himself. Immediately he could see her surroundings. Felt what she felt. Experienced all she was experiencing.

 She was being held in a long, plastic tube that opened from the top. Steel bands clamped around her wrists, ankles and neck. He could feel the horrible panic over the belief that she would choke.

 Dear God. He didn’t even know what to do to try to make her feel better, to take away the awful fear that ate at her sanity.

 She closed her eyes and everything went black. He could feel her battle to remain calm.