If anything, I was better at guarding them than Rubin’s last assistant. Fortunately, he got moved out of there, although he was really good in other areas.”
Rubin glanced at the sky. “As fascinating as this conversation is, we have to get busy. We’re going to run out of time. Diego, you have to get to a lower elevation, but find a place where you can still record. Jonquille, are you certain you’ll be safe?”
“You mean when I attract the charge? The lead stroke is going to come straight at me. It always does. Yes. I’ll be fine.” She pointed to the few straggly oak trees. “They’re far taller than I am. The charge will bypass those and come straight for me. I can even be lying flat. What do you want to do?”
“I’m going to practice directing the bolt away. The lead is slower, but the ground-to-air is so much faster. I want to be able to hit it every time. If I can do that, you and I can eventually direct a strike away from a residence, a ball field, a place where there are people.”
“I’m not going to be a weapon, Rubin,” Jonquille stated quietly. “I know that’s what Whitney hoped, probably if he could get us together, but I’m not killing masses of people for him.”
“Nor would I expect you to. First, I’d like to see if we could actually do this together. Lightning causes over a billion dollars in damages to property as well as loss of lives. We might be able to find a way to stop that through our experiments. If you and I can redirect the strikes together, we can find a way to artificially redirect them.”
Jonquille’s blue eyes moved over his face, assessing him, trying to decide whether or not he was telling her the truth. He couldn’t blame her, not after the few things she’d told him about her childhood. She’d been betrayed too many times. Why should she believe him?
She nodded slowly. “I suppose so, but I still don’t see how you can do that without burning up, Rubin. Diego’s going to be safe somewhere recording this, but you’re going to be close. Too close.”
“This isn’t the first time I’ve attempted it,” Rubin admitted. “I’ve had quite a bit of success. I don’t want you here when the storm first moves in. Let me do a little work on my own, then we’ll see how it works with you if you’re up for it.”
She looked around her. “If I’m up here, anywhere out in the open, no matter what you do, the lead stroke will find me.”
“Then you’ll have to go to lower ground with Diego and find somewhere you’ll be safe.”
Diego had turned away to start down the trail to find a refuge where he could still record but not be in the path of the lightning strikes. Using a camera so close to the actual storm could be dangerous. Jonquille didn’t want to go with him. She wanted to stay with Rubin. She knew she could protect both of them by drawing the lightning away from Rubin. She thought he was crazy for attempting to direct the actual strikes when he had no decent protection.
“Diego, are you really all right with him doing this?”
“No, but you try talking him out of it,” Diego groused. “He’s stubborn as hell. You might want to remember that, Jonquille, when you’re getting all melty over him. He has some really bad traits that outweigh the good ones.”
“I don’t know, Diego, those kisses kind of make up for a lot.”
“He doesn’t kiss me and I’m just fine with that. You coming?”
She didn’t want to.
“Yes, she is,” Rubin said. “Get moving.”
She could feel the building energy in the air. The pull on her body was already showing in the form of white-hot light. The storm was moving toward them, the wind pushing it right where Rubin had predicted.
“He is bossy,” she conceded. “The memory of those kisses is fading fast.”
“I don’t have time right now to remind you. Get under cover.” Rubin sprinted away from the two of them, across the bare, bald landscape, toward some spot that he seemed to have in mind.
“Move it,” Diego snapped, proving he was just as bossy as his brother. He began to sprint in the opposite direction.
Jonquille followed him, but she wanted to be with Rubin. She wished she were in his mind the way Diego was. She had the capability, but she didn’t have the pathway.
Diego