Dark Warrior (33 page)

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Authors: Rebecca York

BOOK: Dark Warrior

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“Jason. My love. Jason.”

He heard the words echo in his mind, and returned them to her.

I love you. I will always love you. No matter what happens.

As he felt her coming, he let himself go, joining her in an explosion of ecstasy that left them both limp and panting.

He gathered her in his arms, kissing her face, her hair, her jawline, wanting to memorize every tiny detail of her.

“I’ve never let a lover take charge like that,” she murmured.

“Was it okay for you?”

“You know it was.”

She nestled beside him, and as he held her, he knew their thoughts were running along parallel lines.

We could leave.

Disappear.

No one would know where we had gone.

Tessa got herself into trouble. We don’t have to rescue her.

Or the rest of the Ionians? He’s coming after them, too.

We can’t let him wipe them out.

Sophia held him more tightly, wondering what it would have been like to be a normal woman, free to choose a life with the man she loved.

Jason moved his cheek against hers, still speaking in her mind.
We don’t want to end up like my parents.

I know.

We’ll rescue Tessa and make peace with the rest of the Ionians.

If the spirit of the universe is willing.

TESSA
had excused herself for the afternoon, saying that she needed to rest. But as she lay on her bed, she kept listening for the telltale hiss of gas. What if he used it again? Then came in and started making love to her. He’d leave her drugged and sleeping.

Then she wouldn’t be able to help Sophia and . . .

She couldn’t bring herself to think too much about the Minot with her. Sophia trusted him, but what if he’d drugged her the way Garrison had drugged her?

She climbed off the bed and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Would it block the gas if he decided to use it?

Another sickening thought grabbed her. Probably he had a camera in the bedroom. What if he had one in here, too?

Would he do something so disgusting?

She didn’t know, but perhaps she should draw a bath and pretend that she wanted to relax in a tub of hot water.

SOPHIA
wasn’t hungry, but she forced herself to eat some of the Mexican food Eugenia ordered for everyone.

An hour before dark, they set out in two cars. Sophia was hoping that Eugenia was right—that their approach couldn’t be seen from the estate. If the senior Ionian had calculated wrong, Garrison and his friend could be waiting for them.

With guns? Or something worse?

The sun had set when they pulled off the road, but there was still enough light for them to make their way across the dry grass and through the scrubby vegetation toward the estate.

Jason walked cautiously, ready for the sensations he had experienced before.

He wasn’t disappointed. One minute his head was clear. In the next, he felt as though he was falling through time and space.

He didn’t know he’d actually started to fall until he felt hands on his arms holding him up and pulling him back a few yards.

“Are you all right?” Sophia asked urgently.

He dragged in a breath and let it out. “Yeah. Thanks.”

“I guess Tessa couldn’t lower the barrier,” Eugenia said.

“It’s barely dark. We should give her a few minutes,” Sophia answered.

“THAT
was an excellent dinner,” the other Minot said. The one who claimed his name was John.

At dinner, the two men had talked about the financial markets, as though they weren’t actually plotting murder.

She’d tried not to stare at the visitor. He looked even more familiar than he had earlier. She’d caught him looking at her, too, but each time he’d glanced away.

Who was he really? And what was his role in all this?

He seemed to be Rafe’s friend, but he’d told her about the gas. Did he want her for himself? Was that what was going on?

Rafe broke into her thoughts.

“Would you excuse us?”

“Of course,” she answered as one of the servants came in to clear the table. They’d dined on Beef Burgundy, which she’d hardly been able to taste. The same for the Crème Brûlée and coffee at the end of the meal.

As the two men exited the room, she focused on Rafe’s broad back, wondering if Jason could beat him in a fair fight. No, beat two of them.

And could he even get in here? She’d resolved to distract Rafe. Maybe she wasn’t going to have to do it, because Rafe was busy with his guest.

She sat at the table until they’d left. Then she walked down the hall and into the library.

Wondering how she was going to sabotage the equipment in his closet, she reached for the dial of the combination lock, just as the door behind her opened and the other man, John, walked into the room.

“What are you doing here?” he said in a hard voice.

SOPHIA,
the other Ionians, and Jason waited in the gathering darkness.

“I think she’s not coming through for us,” Eugenia whispered. “We have to go in.”

Jason turned to her, his voice urgent. “You can’t do it alone. You have no idea who or what you’ll find in there.”

“Then perhaps we should focus on getting you through the barrier,” Eugenia answered.

“How?”

“Put up a wall around you, the way we did when we discovered you at the spa.”

“Will it work?”

“I don’t know. But we have to try,” Sophia answered, struggling to control her own fear. If they got Jason in, how would he get out again? They’d have to find the machine and turn it off. Or could they all regroup and reverse this process?

“Let’s get on with it,” Jason growled. “What do you want me to do?”

“Don’t fight us,” Eugenia murmured.

He’d like to oblige, but this was the woman who had tried to kill him. At least, that’s what it had felt like at the time.

This is different.

The words echoed in his head, and he knew they came from Eugenia.
Don’t fight us
, she silently repeated, and he realized he could speak to her in his mind, the same way he spoke to Sophia.

That brought a shiver skittering over his skin. He hated being open to this woman, but it seemed he had no choice if he wanted to get into the estate.

With a silent sigh, he struggled to open himself to their attack.

Not an attack.

Whatever.

They still grasped him by the arms, and he held himself rigid, waiting for the pain of their invasion to hit him.

The pain didn’t overwhelm him, but he couldn’t call the sensations that enveloped him pleasant. He felt swaddled by layers of gauze. Along with the sense of confinement, his head seemed to be filling up with something soft and mushy, like cream cheese, maybe.

He tried to focus on that. Tried to describe the sensation to himself, but it was beyond him now.

The Ionians were doing this to him, and he wanted to shout at them to let him go.

Relax. Don’t block us. We’re trying to help. You want to get into the estate, don’t you?

It was Sophia speaking to him, and he struggled to focus on her words.

But his mind simply wasn’t working in any kind of normal fashion.

Panic seized him. It was like someone had suddenly damped down all his senses along with his ability to think coherently.

He wanted to scream, but no words came out of his mouth.

Stop!
he silently shouted.

He felt Eugenia wince, reacting to his plea.

Maybe he was hurting her. He hoped so. As soon as he thought about it, he realized she could probably hear him, and in his dimmed mind, he realized something else. If he was hurting Eugenia, he must be hurting Sophia.

He struggled not to do that again.

As they moved him forward, he seemed to come up against an invisible wall that made every cell in his brain sizzle. And he knew that whatever the women were trying wasn’t working.

Then all at once, the pain stopped.

What happened?

He thought the question came from Eugenia.

Something changed.

Maybe Tessa turned off the barrier.

Panting, he crashed to the ground, bringing down Sophia and the woman on the other side of him.

They lay in a tangled mess while he struggled to catch his breath and take stock of his faculties.

“Are we . . . on the other side?” he panted.

“Yes,” Sophia answered.

He hated lying on the ground surrounded by women who all wanted to know how he was feeling.

Gritting his teeth, he pushed himself up.

“I don’t like it,” Sophia murmured. “What if it’s a trick?”

“We have to assume we’re in the clear.”

He peered into the darkness. Garrison’s house was still hidden from view. And he couldn’t help wondering if there was some factor they hadn’t counted on.

What about servants? Bodyguards? Would they leap to Garrison’s defense or head for the hills?

When they reached the top of the rise, they saw the house.

A few dim lights burned in what must be the bedroom wing. The general living areas were more brightly lighted.

They moved silently forward. When they were still fifty yards away, Jason motioned for them to stop. Reaching for Sophia’s arm, he sent a silent message:
Wait here. Let me find out what’s happening inside.

He could see she didn’t like the plan, but Eugenia must have heard, too, because she put a restraining hand on Sophia’s other arm.

I can call to Tessa
, Sophia said.

Better not
, he answered.
Not if she’s with Garrison.

Sophia scowled at him, but she let him leave her and the other women behind a towering clump of pampas grass.

He crouched low, heading for the house.

When Jason was still about twenty yards away, a man stepped out, and Jason froze, ready to fight the guy.

But it was only one of the staff, taking a plastic bag down a flagstone path to a fenced-in area.

Jason waited until he’d left the bag of what was presumably trash, then grabbed the guy and clamped a hand over his mouth.

“I’m going to take my hand off your mouth so you can answer a question. If you call out a warning to Garrison, I’ll kill you. Nod if you understand.”

The man nodded.

“Where is Tessa Thalia?”

The man hesitated, looking frightened.

Jason yanked his arm painfully behind his back. “Where?”

“In her bedroom. With Mr. Rafe.”

A flurry of movement informed Jason that Sophia had joined him.

“I told you to wait.”

“I’m coming with you.”

Cutting his losses, Jason turned back toward the man. “Where is the bedroom?”

Before the guy could answer, they heard a scream.

“Tessa,” Sophia gasped, jumping up.

He tried to grab her, but she dodged out of his way and pelted toward the house, bent on reaching her sister.

The other women came streaming after her, and Jason knew that whatever advantage they’d hoped to gain from surprise had just been lost.

Floodlights switched on around the property as Tessa burst from a doorway and ran toward them. She was wearing a sheer nightgown, and her eyes were wild as she looked around.

Garrison was right behind her, dressed in only a pair of boxer shorts. Behind him must be the man Tessa had told them about. The Minot named John.

When Jason saw him, he gasped.

CHAPTER
THIRTY-FIVE

THE SECOND MINOT spotted Jason and stopped short.

All around them, people were moving, including the servant, who had taken off into the night.

But Jason’s focus was only on the man behind Garrison.

Not some guy named John.

His father. Paul Castle. Who was supposed to be dead.