The Serpent in the Stone - By Nicki Greenwood Page 0,67
of a badge—or a patient would code—and her hunt would end in a sedated return to bed.
She found Becky at last in a room near the end of a hall. The young woman lay sleeping in the midst of an army of machines at whose purpose Sara didn’t want to guess. Her arm and face had been bandaged. Sara crept toward the bed. “Hey.”
Becky’s eyes flew open. When she saw Sara, her shoulders slumped in relief.
“What did you do to me on the boat?” Sara whispered. “You did do something, didn’t you?”
The redhead gave a faint, groggy nod. She lifted a hand to her throat and tapped it with a regretful look.
“You can’t speak?”
The woman shook her head. Wayward, flame-red curls fluttered against the pillow. At a sound in the hallway, her features contorted in fear, but it was only a cart going by. She turned back to Sara with the same anxious expression, and it took on a pleading note.
Sara laid a hand over Becky’s ice-cold one. “Do you know what a ‘conduit’ is?”
Becky frowned.
Sara pursed her lips, deciding how to continue. “A conduit is a person who has no paranormal ability of her own, but can amplify the power of others. Do you realize that’s what you are?”
The young woman nodded.
Sara paused. Her insides echoed that look of anxiety on Becky’s features. She took a long, shuddering breath, then asked, “How did you know I had telekinesis?”
Becky shook her head this time, which Sara took to mean that she hadn’t known until their speedboat ride. A thousand questions clamored to be asked at once. She struggled to remain calm. “All right, this is very important. I won’t say a word, but I need to know. Was someone forcing you to use your ability when Cameron was killed? Is it the same person that hurt you?”
The young woman’s frightened gaze flashed around the room as if she expected her assailant to be there. Her eyes welled with tears, and she looked back at Sara with her breath hitching.
A cart rumbled outside the door. She and Becky jumped in unison. A nurse entered, pushing the cart ahead of her, and stopped when she saw Sara in the lab coat. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were in here, Doctor.”
God, I need to get back to the dig and make sure everything’s okay, Sara thought. “I was just on my way out,” she said. “Miss Palmeter, I want you to contact my office as soon as you’re discharged, and speak to Holly Robbins. She’ll arrange for your further care. Don’t forget.”
Becky nodded, conveying that she understood she was to go to the Gemini offices upon her release. Sara backed away toward the door, wishing desperately that she knew more of Becky’s side of the story.
The redhead turned her attention to the nurse. Frantic for more information, Sara made sure neither of them saw, then let her eyes change.
What she read in the frightened woman’s thoughts made her back hastily out the door into the hall. She pulled off the lab coat and dropped it on the floor. It couldn’t be.
Oh, God, Faith and Ian, alone at the dig with this.
A step, and another, and in the next moment she broke into a flat run.
****
Ian stripped off his muddy shirt, brooding, staring at the rifle propped against the table. Thunder still pounded the heavens outside. Three weeks. Three weeks of cat-and-mouse on a remote island until they could do anything at all.
He hadn’t felt right about leaving Faith alone, but she’d sworn she was under protection, and that she had work to do with the sword she’d found. Ian had his reservations about how much protection a long-dead Viking ghost could provide. Restless, he paced the length of his tent.
Through the rumble of the storm, he heard the thump of fast-approaching footsteps. Picking up his rifle, Ian went to the door flap and drew it back.
Sara stood there shivering, hugging her arms close against her body, teeth chattering. “T-Thomas Callander.”
Ian grabbed her by the arm and pulled her inside. “Callander, the guy who’s working on your team?”
She nodded breathlessly. Rainwater dripped in steady rivulets down her face. “Just before I left the hospital, I read Becky’s mind.” He saw her hesitate, and then she plunged ahead again. “Ian, Tom Callander’s a telekinetic. I think he’s behind Cameron’s death.”
Ian stiffened as the implications hit him full force. He remembered his father and the horrible day that had wrecked his disillusioned, young life.