Maya Banks - Whispers in the Dark

 As ridiculous as it sounded, he could forget his present circumstances. He could forget the endless pain and suffering because holding her was like holding a ray of sunshine.

 She gave him hope when nothing else had been able to penetrate the dim world he’d descended into. And so he hung on with all the fierceness he could muster, because now that she’d found him, he wasn’t going to let her go.

“SON of a bitch, this is pissing me off.” Donovan stared down at the email message on his phone and let loose another string of expletives that had his brothers wincing.

 “What’s going on, Van?” Ethan demanded.

 Donovan looked up to where his brothers were packing gear and loading up their packs for the trek into the Afghani Mountains. There was grim acceptance of their possible fate. Each of them knew there was a good damn chance they wouldn’t come back, but there wasn’t an alternative. Not for them.

 “He’s in a cave or so the latest email says. A fucking cave. Like there aren’t a million of those in these mountains?”

 Garrett frowned. “But are there that many capable of holding prisoners? There are a few here that have been used as outposts for the Taliban.”

 “We’ll question the locals and hope to hell we can buy information,” Sam said. “Our guide should be here soon then we’ll take out.”

 Behind him, Rio stood quietly talking to his team while Steele and his team stood to the side, waiting. They were all mostly silent, their faces impassive.

 A few moments later, a young man dressed in tattered pants and shirt appeared out of the dark. He wore a Western-style hoodie, but it was thin and holes riddled the sleeves and back.

 “You are Sam Kelly?” the boy asked.

 Sam took a step forward. “Yeah, that’s me. Are you Aamil?”

 The boy nodded solemnly. “We must hurry. It is too open here. I’ll take you into the mountains.”

 “Whoa, wait a minute,” Donovan said.

 The boy turned, a slight frown on his face.

 “What do you know about caves around the Korengal Valley? A big enough cave to house prisoners.”

 Aamil swallowed nervously. “I know of a few, but they are heavily guarded. It’s too dangerous.”

 “To hell with dangerous,” Garrett said. “P.J. and Cole can take them out with their hands tied behind their backs.”

 “Glad you’re so confident in our abilities,” P.J. said dryly. “Do the rest of you plan to do anything or are Cole and I going in alone?”

 “Smart-ass,” Cole muttered.

 “I want to question the locals,” Sam said to Aamil. “I need to know where those caves are and what kind of activity is around them.”

 Aamil hesitated. “It will cost you double what we agreed upon.”

 “I don’t give a damn what it costs,” Sam growled. “Just take us there.”

 “We should go then. It’s better to travel in the dark.”

 “Fall in,” Sam called softly. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

 As they melted into the night, Donovan adjusted his rifle and stared into the darkness. He hoped to hell they weren’t getting jerked around. It pissed him off that this asshole emailing him obviously knew enough about Nathan’s family and situation to send a fucking SOS email but he couldn’t supply more than Nathan was in some cave in Korengal Valley?

 It didn’t make any goddamn sense. Why not be more specific?

 And if he knew so damn much about Nathan and had obviously talked to him, why wasn’t he doing more to help than just sending an email? For that matter, how the hell did he have the ability to send an email from here? He’d obviously talked to Nathan. Either he was one of the assholes holding Nathan captive and was helping him on the sly or…or the entire thing was a damn setup.

 The more he thought about the situation, the more he didn’t like it. Now the entire KGI organization was on the ground in Afghanistan. In the most dangerous area. No backup. No help from Resnick. No way to guarantee that any of them would get back home.

 Donovan glanced over at his brothers. They had no business coming on this mission. They had wives. Garrett had a fiancée. Sam had a daughter. They should have let Donovan come with the rest of KGI and stayed their asses at home.

 “Quit looking like you just got a hand job from a drag queen,” Garrett muttered beside him.

 “How the fuck do you know what I look like?” Donovan asked irritably. “It’s dark as shit out here.”

 “Don’t need to see you to know you have that pinched, tight-ass look on your face. You weren’t coming without us. No way we’d let Nathan rot in some goddamn cave any more than we let Rachel stay in that shithole in Colombia.”

 “Yeah, I know,” Donovan said in resignation. “But I don’t have to like it. You and Sam and Ethan have families back home. You’re needed.”

 “Nathan is family and so are you. No way we’d leave either of you without as much protection as we can muster, so shut the fuck up and let’s go blow the fuck out of those goatherding motherfuckers who have Nathan.”

 Donovan cracked a smile. “Yippee ki-yay.”

 “Fuckin’ A.”

 “Sarah’s been on you about the language, huh.”

 Garrett snarled in response and then muttered a few more F bombs for good measure.

 “Yeah, you better get them all out now because when you get back home, no more F words for you.”

 “Fuck you, Van. Just fuck you.”

 SHEA spread the map out over her bed and studied the highways intently. She chewed absently at her bottom lip as she tried to decide where to go next.

 If only she knew more about the people after her and Grace. She didn’t dare go to the police. What was she supposed to tell them? That she and her sister were telepathic and some maniacs were after them but, oh by the way, I don’t know who they are.

 For all she knew, it could be the government. It could be the police or the FBI or the CIA or whoever the hell would be interested in Grace’s powers.

 What she did know was that she wasn’t going to allow them to take her or Grace and she damn sure wasn’t going to let them use her to get to Grace.

 A foreign country sounded nice if she could get out of the United States undetected. She had a passport, but of course, it was in her real name and going to an airport and getting on a plane was like holding up a neon sign that said, “Here I am! Come get me!”

 She shook her head in disgust. The only thing she could do was keep moving, at least for now. Until…until when? Without a plan. Without someone to help her, how was she ever going to feel safe again? Whom could she trust?

 The million-dollar question. The short answer was no one.

 She sat on the edge of the bed for a moment to collect her thoughts. She stared at the map again and mentally traced the path she’d traveled for the last year. The longest she’d stayed in one place was a couple of months.

 At first she and Grace had run together, but Shea had quickly surmised that the only smart thing to do was split up. They were too noticeable as a pair. Grace drew enough attention on her own. The contrast between the two sisters was striking. Shea was petite, blond, paler skinned. Grace was taller, darker skinned with long raven hair.

 The hardest part had been convincing Grace that not only did they need to split up, but that it was imperative that they not know where the other was at any time.

 Grace had been infuriated, much like Nathan had been, that Shea sought to protect her. In the end, Shea had forgone trying to make Grace see the logic behind Shea’s idea and had simply taken off.

 It had hurt her to leave her sister, but she knew that to keep both of them safe, it had to be this way.

 You do realize that thinking of me so much is just like talking to me.

 Grace’s amused voice slid through Shea’s mind, bringing a smile to Shea’s lips.

 Are you all right, Shea? I sense that some heavy shit has gone down with you, but you’re working hard to keep me from seeing what you’ve been up to. Why is that? Are you in trouble?

 Grace, I’m fine. You would know if I wasn’t.

 Grace snorted. I do know and I know that everything is not fine. What the hell is going on with you? Why are you talking to other people?

 Let it go. I’m okay. Getting ready to move again.

 You just moved.

 How the hell do you know that?

 While you’re working so hard not to see or hear me, I can read you easily, or at least what you aren’t closely guarding. What happened in Colorado? Why did you leave Kansas?

 Fuck.

 I heard that.

 I had a narrow miss in Kansas and I don’t want to stay in any one place for a while. It made me jumpy.

 Grace swore. Damn it, Shea. Enough of this being apart bullshit. We’re safer together. Why can’t you get it through your head that I don’t need you to protect me? I’m bigger and stronger than you are. Could you even kill someone if you had to?

 Yes.

 Grace went silent as the forceful word slipped from Shea’s mind into Grace’s.

 Hell yeah, she could kill someone. Maybe she’d been known as the sweet younger sister. The baby. The coddled one in the family.

 That was all in the past. Seeing your parents murdered and fearing for your sister’s safety had a way of hardening even the softest heart. She’d changed a lot in the last year. She’d learned to protect herself, and she had no compunction about doing whatever was necessary to make sure nothing happened to her or to Grace.