PRIMAL INSTINCT (6 page)

I will kill her! I will kill them both!

The general rage clouded everything, but that one thought filtered through her mind over and over.

She was crushing the foam cup of coffee still clutched in her hand. The scalding liquid spilled out, but she couldn’t force her muscles to relax their locked grip of the cup. She felt the burn almost distantly, secondary to the pain in her head that seemed to shoot daggers into her eyes.

I will kill them both!

The scream was getting louder now, and closer. Adrienne forced her eyes to open slightly, although the agony from the effort nearly caused her to black out. She looked around the coffee shop trying to find the two people the screaming voice referred to. She spotted them in the opposite corner—a man and woman, both in their mid-twenties, huddled close together. Their hands were linked, and they smiled and spoke softly to one another.

There was no doubt this was who the voice was referring to. Adrienne had no idea how far the man with the voice was from the coffee shop. She could see him storming up a hill—his anger growing with every step—but she couldn’t tell how far he was. Given the loudness of his thoughts, Adrienne didn’t think it would be very long before he arrived.

And when he did, the young couple would die.

Suddenly the volume of the enraged man lowered, and Adrienne could see him walking in through a double set of doors in a coffeehouse. Adrienne whirled her head around to see if it was this one he was entering and wilted back into her chair in relief when she saw it wasn’t.

He was in another location of this same chain, somewhere nearby. But there was one on every corner, so she had no idea how far away he was. His screaming thoughts had subsided a bit as he concentrated on looking for the couple, not yet knowing he was in the wrong shop.

Adrienne knew she had to act now. Whether the enraged man found the correct coffee shop in a few moments or twenty minutes, he would still eventually find it. She had to get help and warn the couple.

She forced herself to loosen the grip on the ruined coffee cup and reached into her purse for her phone. She stared at it in her hand for a long moment, trying to decide what she would say to 9-1-1 when she called. She wasn’t sure she could get out a coherent sentence. Then she remembered Conner had programmed his number into her phone last night. He may not trust her, but he would at least not ignore her.

She pressed Send on her phone, praying his was still the last number called, knowing that looking through a contact list now would be impossible. His sleepy voice answered on the second ring.

“Hello?”

“Conner.” The one word was all she could manage. Her voice was weak and shaky.

“Adrienne? What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“I need help.” Her voice was barely more than a whisper now.

“Where are you? At the hotel?”

“No. I’m at the coffee shop. Up the hill.” She took a breath between each sentence. The white dots were floating in front of her eyes now, but she fought to hold on to consciousness.

“Okay. Hang on for just a second.” She could hear him saying something to someone else. She leaned her head against the cool glass of the wall next to her table.

“Adrienne? Listen, Seth is already near the office, he should be there in five minutes. I’m on my way, too. Should I call 9-1-1?” The urgency in Conner’s voice made it through to her subconscious. He believed her that something was wrong; she felt profound relief.

“Conner...” she started weakly.

“Yes? What is it?”

“Hurry. He’s going to kill...” Adrienne was unable to finish the sentence. The man’s voice screaming inside her head hit her so hard that the phone flew out of her hand as she brought her hands up to keep her skull from splitting.

He was looking for them again, the intent to kill at the forefront on his mind, rage that he couldn’t find them a close second. And he was getting nearer.

Adrienne knew Conner had Seth coming to help her, but even five minutes would be too late. She had to warn the couple sitting across the coffee shop. Get them to leave. Bar the door. Do
something.

Or people would die.

Adrienne attempted to stand up, but her legs wouldn’t seem to support her. She took her hands from her head and put them on the table to use as leverage to get up, vaguely aware of the concerned looks she was getting from the people around her.

I will kill them both!

The pain seared through her head with each of his thoughts. His feelings were beyond just a jealous rage. It was a malicious desire to see them both suffer, to watch them cower in fear. And he didn’t care if he had to kill others to achieve that goal.

Adrienne finally hoisted herself up from her seat, leaning heavily against the table. She looked down and saw a drop of blood on the table and realized her nose must be bleeding. She wiped it with the back of her hand as she took her first unsteady steps toward the couple in the corner across the way.

The trip seemed to take forever. Adrienne concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. She was losing her peripheral vision, could feel blackness closing in around her, but fought it back. He was getting closer, Adrienne knew.

She finally reached the table where the couple sat, still gazing at each other, oblivious to Adrienne’s agony. They looked up in alarm when she finally stumbled into their table.

“Excuse me...” the boyfriend started in a perturbed tone.

“Oh, my gosh, are you all right? Your nose is bleeding,” the woman asked. Both she and the boyfriend stood to help steady Adrienne.

Adrienne couldn’t think straight. How could she get them to leave?

“A man,” she finally said, her breath sawing in and out of her chest as if she were running a marathon. “Coming. Hurt you.”

Adrienne could tell they didn’t understand, had no idea of the danger they were in. She knew they were out of time, could feel the man getting closer. What could she do? She had to make them leave. Maybe if she could just get the woman out.

Adrienne turned to the younger woman and grabbed her upper arms, trying to keep herself upright. She took a deep breath and focused desperately on the words she needed to say.

“Can you, please.”
Breathe.
“Go get me.”
Breathe.
“A wet paper towel.”
Breathe.
“From bathroom.”

The woman looked very confused, but finally nodded. “Sure. Just hang on. Do we need to call a doctor?”

“No, not yet,” Adrienne answered. She slid into the woman’s vacated chair with relief as Adrienne watched her cross to the bathroom. Hopefully it would be enough.

The boyfriend looked at Adrienne with a blend of concern and apprehension. Adrienne didn’t blame him for either.

The door slammed open behind her. He never said a word, but at this close proximity, Adrienne could see every malicious thought the man had. He was sure they were here. He looked around at all the tables and eventually got to where Adrienne and the boyfriend were sitting. He didn’t even pause to glance twice at them. The woman he searched for was not there; Adrienne had sent her to the bathroom.

A rage overwhelmed the man once again that he had not found his prey. Adrienne whimpered, the pain consuming her, but nobody heard. The man turned to walk back out the door.

“Here, miss, is this enough? Your nose is bleeding more.” The woman rushed across the coffee shop with paper towels in her hands.

Adrienne felt the absolute glee the man experienced when he heard the woman’s voice. He would not be denied his vengeance after all.

He was only a few feet behind where Adrienne sat. Adrienne knew he was about to reach for the gun he had hidden in his pocket. Using the remainder of her strength, she got out of the chair and hefted herself toward the man, knocking into him. He pushed her off easily and Adrienne slid to the floor.

By now the woman had recognized the enraged man, and was pulling her lover away and around the back of the coffee bar. The man began to draw his gun out of his pocket. Adrienne tried to get up but couldn’t make her body respond.

“Sir, I am an agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” A voice rang out from near the back door. “I need you to lay down your weapon and put your hands on your head.” It was Seth Harrington. Conner had gotten him here in time.

Adrienne felt the rage briefly overtake the man before he resigned himself to the fact that he had been caught. Sirens could be heard pulling up outside the coffee shop. The man slowly put the gun on the ground and his hands behind his head.

Over the next few minutes, organized panic ensued. Uniformed officers filed into the coffee shop, taking statements and making sure no one was hurt. Someone helped Adrienne up into a chair since she was still unsteady on her feet. The attacker was handcuffed and placed in the back of squad car just outside the door.

Although he was no longer in the coffee shop, his proximity, combined with his continued malevolence, continued to cause jagged pains to shoot through Adrienne’s head. She could still hear everything he would’ve done to them if he had just been given the chance. She could feel bile pooling in her stomach, and she wasn’t sure how much longer she could hold on.

Adrienne stood, prepared to stumble her way to the bathroom if she was going to lose the contents of her stomach, when all of a sudden the pain and noise in her head completely stopped.

Caught off guard by the blessed silence, Adrienne looked around in confusion. Then she saw him.

Conner.

He had pulled up in his vehicle, double-parked and was rushing inside. Straight toward her. She could see myriad emotions crossing his face: confusion, concern, relief. He didn’t stop until he was standing right in front of her.

“Conner...” Adrienne reached for him and found she couldn’t hold on any longer.

Her last thought was hoping Conner would catch her, then she slipped unconscious to the floor.

Chapter Six

Conner caught Adrienne as she dropped to the floor, unconscious.

As he had pulled up in his vehicle—he didn’t even want to think of all the traffic laws he had broken getting here from his house in record time—he had seen Adrienne inside the coffee shop. At first he was overwhelmed with relief just to see she was okay. But as he had rushed closer to Adrienne, he had realized she definitely was not okay.

There was zero color in her face, except for the dried blood that had trickled from her nose. Against her unnatural paleness, the blood stood out with jarring brightness. She was on her feet but looked none too steady. As he came through the door, some sort of shocked look passed over her features; she took a step toward him and said his name.

Then promptly collapsed.

Conner grabbed her as she fell and gently lowered her to the ground. “Seth!” he yelled out to his partner, who was talking to a witness over by the coffee bar. “I need help here.”

When Seth saw Conner holding Adrienne, he quickly made his way to them.

“Is she okay? What happened?”

“I wanted to ask you that. I walked in and basically caught her as she collapsed.” Conner brushed a stray strand of hair that had fallen onto her forehead. Adrienne sighed and moved a little toward his hand. Although her movement reassured Conner, the absolute lack of color in her face did not. “Did the perp hurt her?”

“There were no reports of him doing anything. He was pulling the gun as I walked in. Didn’t resist arrest or put up any fight.” Seth shrugged.

“So what happened to her?”

“I don’t know. She was sitting on the ground when I got here but then was at the table when I looked over at her again. She didn’t seem hurt.”

Conner didn’t like it. “Why is her nose bleeding? Did she get hit?” He couldn’t see any bruising or swelling around her face, so couldn’t figure out what the blood was from.

“Not from any reports I’ve gotten. As a matter of fact, the only one who seemed to be acting odd—before the perp pulled the gun, that is—was Adrienne. More than one person has said she looked sick or drunk or something.”

Conner looked down at the woman lying against his arm. She was stirring more, and he knew she would be regaining consciousness soon. “Did you talk to her at all?”

“No. I was too busy making sure our psycho wouldn’t open fire on anyone.”

Conner felt more movement from Adrienne and watched as her beautiful hazel eyes opened. She looked at him with confusion.

“Hey.” He smiled at her gently. “Don’t try to move too much. You passed out.”

Adrienne brought a hand up to her head. “The man was going to attack the woman.”

“I don’t know exactly what was going to happen, but Seth stopped him. He’s been taken into custody.”

Adrienne nodded. “Good. That’s good. Can you help me up?”

Conner noticed some of the color was returning to her face. That was a good sign. He and Seth reached down on either side of her to get her into the chair a few feet away.

“What happened to you?” Conner asked as she sat down. “Did you get hit or something? You have dried blood under your nose.”

Adrienne brought her hand self-consciously to her face. “No. Sometimes that just happens. I’m okay.”

Conner noticed the raised red marks on her wrist. He took her hand away from her face to look at it more closely. Her entire hand was covered by the angry welts, and on some parts there was even blistering.

“What the hell happened to your hand?” Conner asked, careful not to touch what were obviously burns.

Adrienne looked down at her arm and hand. “I think I spilled my coffee on myself.”

“Doesn’t it hurt?”

Adrienne nodded. “Yes. But up until a few minutes ago, my head hurt much worse, and I kind of forgot about my hand.”

Seth whistled through his teeth. “I’ll get you a cold compress to put on it.”

Conner looked at her hand, then her face. “I should take you to the hospital.”

“No!” Adrienne’s response was vehement. “I’m okay. It hurts, but putting something cold on it will help. I don’t need a hospital. I promise.”

Conner was torn but decided not to push it. The burns, although painful-looking, were mostly first degree. Even the blisters were clear, suggesting superficial scalding—not anything that would require prolonged medical attention.

Seth returned in a moment with a bowl of water and a clean washcloth. He then excused himself to go help some uniformed officers finish up with the witnesses.

Conner took the washcloth and dipped it in the water. It was cold. “Do you mind if I help?”

Adrienne laid her arm out on the table between them. “Thanks.”

She sucked in her breath as the wet cloth touched her skin—the water was chilled but not icy, helping to lessen the pain and cease any further burning.

“Sorry.” Conner grimaced. “I know it has to hurt.”

“No, the cold feels good. Thanks.” She smiled at him, and Conner was glad to see even more of her color was coming back into her face. She looked almost normal.

“How did you spill your coffee?”

“I could...hear the man’s thoughts and they...startled me.”

Conner noticed her hesitations. Obviously she expected some sort of argument from him about her gifts.

To be honest he didn’t know how he felt about her special skills. When he had gotten her phone call a little while ago, he could tell immediately that something was wrong. Dangerously wrong.

As soon as she had said she needed help, he had gotten Seth on the other line. Conner hadn’t questioned, hadn’t hesitated—just knew she needed him and had responded.

He could admit to himself that his instantaneous response in coming to her aid without knowing details was pretty odd behavior, especially since he had all but called her a phony and a liar over the past couple of days.

But he had known—
known
—when she had called today that the situation was dire from the very beginning. She had needed him to help her, but he couldn’t get there quickly enough, so he had sent Seth, who had been closer.

And thank God, if the perp had been drawing a weapon when Seth had arrived.

Conner took the washcloth gently away from Adrienne’s hand and wrist, and dipped it in the cold water again. Wringing it out, he placed it back on her arm.

“So you knew he was going to kill her?” Conner asked.

“Yes. That’s what I was certain about most of all. He was definitely planning to kill her and the man she was with.”

Conner nodded but didn’t say anything else. She had obviously been through a lot already today. He didn’t want to say anything that would come across as combative.

“You could hear what he was thinking?”

Adrienne nodded gingerly. “It was like he was screaming his thoughts right in my ears. And I could see what he was seeing.”

“You could actually see him?”

“Not see him, exactly. More like see things through his eyes.”

Conner nodded to encourage her.

“I know he went into some other coffee shops looking for them before coming here.”

Conner made a mental note to check into that. Maybe somebody would remember seeing the guy.

“When he couldn’t find them,” Adrienne continued, “he got more and more furious.”

“When did you call me?”

“As soon as I realized he was going to make it here to this coffeehouse soon. I wasn’t sure how long I had before he did, but I knew it wouldn’t be very long.”

She looked away, over toward the table where the couple had been sitting.

“I called you while the guy was having a momentarily sane period, when he walked into another coffeehouse. He had to put his rage and malice aside, and concentrate on seeing if she was there. That’s what allowed me to pull it together long enough to call. I’m glad your number was in my phone, or I never would’ve gotten through to anyone.”

“Why didn’t you call 9-1-1?”

Adrienne gave a quiet bark of unamused laughter. “And told them what? That there was a man coming up the street, and I knew he planned to kill someone?”

No, that probably would not have gone over well with the 9-1-1 dispatcher. A city the size of San Francisco got a variety of prank calls every day. Even though they would’ve sent out a patrol unit as standard procedure, it would not have been a priority and wouldn’t have been quick.

“Nine-one-one would still have sent a squad car. Or you could’ve lied and said he was already here.”

Adrienne nodded. “Yeah, but I wasn’t thinking too clearly at the time. Just trying to engage in normal functions, like breathing and staying upright, was taking all my concentration.”

Conner remembered the terrified tenor of Adrienne’s voice when she had called. The hesitation and breathlessness in how she’d talked. He realized now how difficult even their very short conversation had been for her.

“I’m glad you called me.” Conner reached over and stroked her elbow far from the area affected by the burn.

Adrienne smiled tiredly at him. “I’m glad you believed me.”

Conner shrugged. He wasn’t sure he believed, exactly, but he had acted.

“Losing you in the middle of a sentence like that scared me. What happened?”

“The guy was furious when he realized the woman was not in the coffee shop down the block. He was so intent on hurting her—it was like a bomb went off in my head.”

“Is that when your nose started bleeding?”

Adrienne brought a corner of the washcloth on her arm up to her nose, wiping the dried blood. “I guess so. I know that’s when I decided I had to get over to the couple and try to get them out.”

“So you went to talk to them?”

“Talk? I’m not sure that
talk
is the right word. I stumbled over to their table, literally. I couldn’t figure out what to say—my brain felt like mush.” Adrienne looked up at him with panic in her eyes. “Finally they noticed my nose was bleeding, and the lady got me a wet paper towel from the bathroom. She had just disappeared out of sight when the guy walked in.”

Conner saw Adrienne shudder. Whatever she was remembering about this guy, she definitely didn’t like it.

“I thought we were going to make it,” Adrienne said in a low voice. “But then she exited the bathroom, and he saw her.”

Conner took the wet cloth off her arm again—the burn was looking better, although still angry—and waited for her to continue.

“I tried to get over to the guy to stop him myself. But his thoughts...” Adrienne closed her eyes. “They were so
loud.
So unbearably loud.” She cringed again, and Conner found himself cringing with her.

“I tried to get to him, but he basically just brushed me off, and I fell and couldn’t seem to get up even though I wasn’t hurt. I didn’t have any more strength.” Adrienne looked at Conner with distress in her eyes. “I just knew he was going to kill them, Conner. I
knew
it.”

“But he didn’t,” Conner reminded her.

“Thanks to Seth. He got here literally in the nick of time.”

“You know, this is all going to be really iffy in court. His lawyer will argue the guy basically had a gun and made a bad judgment about when it was okay to take it out of his pocket. He didn’t actually threaten anybody with it. We have no proof of any intent to harm the woman or the other man. At best the gunman will probably get charged with illegal possession of a firearm.”

Adrienne nodded. “I know. I don’t stand up well as a witness in court, I’m sure. But the important thing is, nobody was hurt today.”

Conner gestured down at her burnt arm. “Not exactly.”

“I’ll be fine.” Adrienne took the washcloth from him.

Conner took her hand in his. He rubbed his fingers gently on the part of her hand that wasn’t burned. “I’m still sorry.”

Adrienne smiled shyly, then withdrew her hand. Conner looked around him. Things were wrapping up. The man had already been taken away by the local police. Conner motioned to Seth, and Seth made his way over to them.

“Everything almost done here?” Conner asked him, standing up.

“Yeah. Seems like the perp was the ex-husband of the lady. Although they’ve been separated for over a year, he totally freaked out when he discovered she was dating someone else.”

“He tell you that?” Conner asked.

“No, the lady. Evidently he’s been calling her nonstop for the past couple of weeks—wouldn’t get the hint. She finally changed her phone number, and he started showing up at her work.”

Conner shook his head, not surprised. Domestic violence often escalated like this.

“She told him about the new boyfriend yesterday, thinking that would get him to move on. But evidently not,” Seth continued. “She knew as soon as she saw him here this morning, he meant her physical harm.”

Adrienne looked up at Seth from where she sat. “I’m glad you got here when you did, Seth. I really think he planned to shoot her. Shoot them both.”

Seth grimaced. “Well, that’s going to be hard to prove. But no matter what, she at least knows to be aware of her ex and keep away from him.”

Conner walked over to help Adrienne out of her chair. He kept a hand at the small of her back in case she started to keel over again. “Are you ready to go?”

“Sure. Are we headed straight to the Bureau office?”

Conner looked down at Adrienne’s clothes, splattered with coffee stains. “Do you want to go to your hotel first? Change clothes?”

“Yeah, that would be great.” Adrienne smiled with relief.

“Do you want me to drive you or do you think you can walk? I’ll walk with you. It’s a couple of blocks, right?”

“Yeah, I should be fine to walk. Usually fresh air makes my head feel better.”

“Usually?”

“Well, it just doesn’t seem to hurt much at all now.”

Conner noticed her confused look. “That’s a good thing, right?”

“Yes, yes, I’m thankful,” Adrienne responded quickly. “It has never...not hurt before. In a situation like this.”

“Have you had many situations like this?” Seth asked her.

Adrienne looked away. “Enough. Not as many over the past few years.”

Conner met Seth’s eyes. They had a lot to talk about when Adrienne wasn’t around. Not the least of which was what had happened here in this coffeehouse this morning. Adrienne obviously wasn’t faking her physical reactions, and she had known that the perp meant harm to that woman.