“I want to see if we can drive by the library.”
She came fully awake, dread slithering through her, but she knew they had to get a lead on this Belian, and fast. They circled the campus twice, maneuvering through a surprising amount of traffic, despite the hour, and finding the streets onto the campus had been blocked off. There was also a large number of police and officials in the area.
Luke gave up trying. “There’s no way we can get in there, unless we park and walk in. With all the people around, we still couldn’t get close enough, and we might raise suspicion.”
“But won’t a delay make it harder to discover anything?”
“The Belian’s energy patterns will still be strong.” He looked at her. “Remember how clearly you felt it at the shack?”
How could she forget? Just the thought made her stomach clench. “Oh, I remember.”
He returned his attention to the road. “It had probably been gone at least a week when you were there, but its psychic signature was still strong. That type of energy is like an oil spill—toxic, slimy, almost impossible to disperse. So the Belian’s energy will still be there, near the crime scene.
“Unfortunately, there will be all sorts of other energies there as well, just like you felt during the conduction—the fear and pain of the victims, the shock and grief and anger from onlookers and rescue workers. I’ll have to sift through all that to get the Belian’s psychic signature.”
“It sounds so complex.”
“Hey, I’m a complex kind of guy. You can’t accuse me of being shallow.”
Marla had to smile. Luke had a charming, good old boy sense of humor that she suspected he used to keep an even balance. “You’re full of yourself, but I agree you’re not shallow.”
“You’re pretty deep yourself, lady. Got a lot of layers there.”
She ignored the not so subtle hint that she was holding out on him. “Where are we going now?”
“Hotel. There’s nothing more we can do tonight. We’ll eat, sleep. Go after the Belian tomorrow.”
They hit an all-night Wendy’s on the edge of the campus, then headed south and found a Holiday Inn that would let them take in Bryony. Luke insisted on getting only one room for them. “The chances are very good the Belian is still in the area,” he told Marla as they grabbed their stuff from the truck and let Bryony do her thing in the small grassy area behind the hotel. “I want to keep you close.”
“How can it know we’re here?”
“It’s bound to know we’ll come after it.” He closed the truck door, beeped the lock. “Because you were able to link with it once, it might be able to sense you, especially since you can’t shield yourself.”
“Oh, now that makes me feel really safe.” She shifted the bags of food to one arm, tugged on Bryony’s leash.
“I will keep you safe.” Steel edged his voice.
She already believed that, but it was reinforced even more when Luke checked the locks on their room door and jammed a special expanding rod from the knob to the floor. Then he reached inside his jacket, removed a lethal looking semiautomatic, and placed it on the nightstand. Leaning down, he undid an ankle holster with a smaller gun and set it beside the first weapon.
Seeing the guns sent a shiver through her, although she wasn’t really surprised. “Well, you’re prepared.”
“I’m always armed.” He removed a wicked looking knife from a special sheath on his boot, placed it on the nightstand. “I just kept these out of your sight and reach until you settled down.”
“So Belians can be killed?”
“Just like Sentinels can. We have special abilities, and we’re stronger and faster than humans, but we are in human bodies. We can definitely be killed.”
Deadly serious, Luke reached into his duffel bag and pulled out Marla’s cell phone and her Beretta Tomcat. “I want to give these back to you. But I need your word you won’t try to call anyone, especially family or friends. You must understand you can’t tell anyone about this.”
He’d let her send e-mails to Julia and her parents, telling them she was using an Internet café in Mexico, and that she and Bryony were fine and having a great time. Apparently he had a number of e-mail accounts and could route them through other computers, so the e-mails couldn’t be traced.
Marla was grateful for the opportunity to assure her family, understood now why she couldn’t contact them directly. “I won’t call anyone. You have my word on it.”
He studied her, then nodded and gave her the phone. He held up the gun. “And I’d appreciate it if you don’t use this against me.”
“You know I won’t.”
“The chamber is loaded, and it’s got a full clip.” He handed it to her, and she double checked the safety, which was on. “That’s a good weapon,” he said. “Small, but the .32 caliber gives it stopping power. Do you know how to use it?”
“Yes.” Marla thought of the hours she’d spent at a gun range, determined that the William Bennetts of the world would never again hurt her or her family. “I have a permit to carry, which I’m sure you saw when you searched my purse.”
He nodded, his gaze pinning her. “Then the question is, will you use it? Can you shoot without compunction or hesitation? Do
not
underestimate this Belian, Marla. It’s smarter and stronger than you can comprehend, and contains no trace of humanity. It will kill you in an instant, or find some way to use you to its advantage. If you’re threatened in any way, shoot it.”
She ran her fingers over the dark, cold titanium surface of her gun, chilled to the bone. “How will I know if it’s the Belian?”
He took the gun from her, set it down. Then he took her icy hands in his warm ones. The immediate sizzle of awareness sparked between them. “You’ll know,” he said quietly. “You’ll sense it, if nothing else. Trust your gut. And you should be prepared to defend yourself against
anyone
who threatens you. The law allows you to shoot, even to kill, if you feel your life is threatened. I want you to remember that.”
She nodded, and he dropped her hands and stepped away. “We’d better eat, then get some sleep. Tomorrow will be tough.”
“I can hardly wait.”
His gaze hardened, the color of his eyes taking on an icy, gray hue. “Neither can I.”
SHE’D thought it would be disconcerting sharing a room with Luke, and with the police scanner he turned on. But she was so exhausted, she felt like a zombie as she got through eating and brushing her teeth, and fell into one of the two double beds, with Bryony curling next to her. She slept deeply, awakening only when Luke called her name.
“What time is it?” she asked, staring up at him through bleary eyes.
“It’s still early. I’ve already taken Bryony outside, and I’m going to the hotel’s exercise room.” He indicated the nightstand. “There’s your gun and your cell phone. I programmed my cell number in your phone directory, under ‘A-Luke,’ so it’s the very first number. Don’t let anyone but me in, and call me if you hear or see anything suspicious. Otherwise, I’ll be back in an hour.”
She glanced at the clock radio, saw it was seven. Only four hours of sleep. Not nearly enough. But she found she couldn’t go back to sleep. Muttering under her breath about Sentinels with super stamina, she made a pot of coffee and stumbled into the bathroom to shower, taking the gun and cell phone with her.
She was dressed and watching the news updates on the bombing when Luke returned, wearing a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt stained with sweat. Bryony jumped out of Marla’s lap and ran to greet him. The poodle even stood on her hind legs and did a pirouette.
“Would you look at that?” Marla said. “She’s decided she likes you.”
Luke bent down to pet Bry, scratched her tummy when she rolled onto her back. “She really needed to go out this morning, so I guess she’s grateful I took her. Besides, they all come around, sooner or later.”
Marla rolled her eyes. “Sure they do.”
But when she looked back at the TV, the grisly images quickly sobered her. “They think there were bombs on more than one floor. Some were the type that start fires.”
“Incendiary bombs,” he said. “Damn.”
“The explosions and the fires did a lot of damage. But only eleven people dead,” she added, and then felt appalled at her callous-sounding words. “That came out wrong. I didn’t mean to imply that was a good thing.”
“I know what you meant.” Luke’s expression was granite. “They’re damned lucky more weren’t killed. I understand there are dozens injured, some very seriously.”
“Yes.” Heartsick, she paused to steady her voice. “Almost all of them were students.”
“I know. They were just kids.
Damn it
.” His voice vibrated with underlying rage, which Marla found reassuring. It made her feel better to know he wasn’t an automaton; instead, he was a man who usually had steel clad control of his emotions.
With jerky movements, he pulled some clothes from his duffel. “I’m going to shower. Then we’ll track down this bastard.”
He was out in ten minutes, dressed only in a pair of jeans.
Holy moly,
Marla thought, trying not to stare openly as he got out a toiletry kit and proceeded to shave at the vanity sink in the alcove. He was stunning, his muscles smooth bulges beneath golden skin—and so much skin. Broad shoulders and back tapered down to a rock hard midriff. And his abs—oh, my—they were sculpted like a work of art.
When she was a little girl, she’d watched her dad shave, but he’d just been her daddy—tall, slender, dignified, and in a long terry cloth robe. Luke was over six feet of pure, rugged male, and displaying a good portion of bare physique. Watching him shave was a far different experience.
She was intrigued, stimulated, flat-out turned on by the man. Not that he appeared to feel anything for her, outside the Atlantian attraction stuff. Why should he? The guy was so sexy, he could snap his fingers and have anyone he wanted, which wouldn’t include a dowdy, plump accountant with crazy hair and silly eyeglasses, and no experience in the seduction department.
One of life’s ironic twists,
she thought. She’d finally found a man with whom she might be able and willing to have sex, and he was forbidden by his so-called laws to do the horizontal mambo with her. So he couldn’t touch her, even if he wanted to.
Blowing out a frustrated sigh, she rose to straighten the room and put her gun and phone in her purse. “Are we going to check out?”
“No.” He watched her from the mirror. “We’ll stay in Austin until we’re able to determine if the Belian has moved on. This one seems to jump around.”
Marla wondered briefly when she’d be able to return to her life, and if she’d be back at work next week. But it seemed she was in for the duration; she could hardly refuse to help Luke catch the Belian. Yet the whole thing still had a surreal feel to it, and there were times she wondered if she were dreaming.
Luke finished shaving and dressing, arming himself with the two guns and the knife. Then they had breakfast at the hotel restaurant, and Marla watched him put away enough food to feed a third-world army. Apparently nothing, not even death and destruction, dented the Sentinel appetite.
It was ten by the time they reached the perimeter of the University of Texas. They parked on Guadalupe Street and walked east toward the campus. Luke placed his hand on his chest, over the pendant beneath his sweater. He didn’t speak out loud, but Marla sensed the energy swirling around them. Shielding was good, even if it didn’t appear to be one hundred percent effective with her.
Luke’s cell phone rang just as he lowered his hand, and he answered it. “Hello, Adam . . . Yes, we’re almost on the campus. Should be there in five or ten minutes . . . Oh, is he? All right, I’ll be looking for him . . . You know I will . . . Walk in Light.” He closed the phone.
“Who’s Adam?” Marla asked.
“He’s my boss, for lack of a better word.” Luke took her elbow as they cut around one of the barricades.
“You have a boss? There’s a Sentinel hierarchy?”
“Sure there is. You don’t have to look so surprised. We’re well organized. We have to be, to work among humans without drawing attention to ourselves.”
“You’ll have to tell me about it one of these days.” Trying not to be distracted by the electricity humming from Luke’s touch, Marla noted there were a lot of students milling around the campus.
She guessed that, short of the university closing for the day, classes would go on as usual. She and Luke were dressed casually in jeans and sweaters, but they were both too old to be pegged as students. She hoped they didn’t look too conspicuous.
Tension wound through her as they turned on the street where the library had been. Even a block away, she could smell the smoke, the heavy stench of scorched debris intermingled with horror. The street was closed to through traffic, completely barricaded with eight-foot mesh strung between poles, so that even pedestrians couldn’t get close. All she could see were the upper levels of the building, and the blown out windows.
She thought she felt dark tendrils of evil, but she was so on edge, that could be her imagination. Yet the air felt thick and oppressive. Maybe she was picking up residual energies from last night’s onlookers.
They were forced to turn on a side street going away from the library. “Damn,” Luke muttered. “I’m going to have to come back tonight and climb over one of those fences. I’ve got to get close enough to get a reading on the Belian’s energy.”
“Let’s circle around the dorm and see if we can get any closer on the other side,” Marla suggested.
“Good idea.”
They started around, and then realized they could go into the building because it was a huge public dorm, with shops and food courts on the ground level. They walked through the throngs of students, looking for an exit that would bring them closer to the library.
Marla felt a tinge of something dark and heavy, more pronounced than it had been outside. “Do you feel anything?”
