the light.” She rested her head against Colin’s broad shoulder, his strength sustaining her. “I’m sorry I can’t be more help.”
MacCreedy pressed her knee. “You gave us a good start. And you were strong enough to survive. A win, I’d say.”
“And I’d say,” Colin interrupted, “it’s time to get you home . . . to the Towers. But maybe back to Dr. LaRoche first. Okay?”
“As long as you’re with me.” She wobbled when Colin helped her to her feet, so he swept her up in his arms. Though content to linger there, a sudden remembrance had her turning to the others. “There is something. I don’t know for how long, but there was a time when she was gone, and I was back inside myself. In that small space. That’s when I got a glimpse of where I was. When she came back, she was somehow, I don’t know, weaker, in pain. I felt her pain.” A hand went to her shoulder.
Colin put it together. “She left you to terrorize Kip’s family.”
“Are they all right?” Mia gasped.
“They’re fine and, now, so are you.” His hard stare met his brother’s to solidify that promise.
Cale embraced them both with a fierce, “Stay safe.” He waited, smiling in encouragement until they’d gone before turning to Silas to growl, “What did you see?”
“Not enough to identify her.”
“But?” he prompted, not satisfied with the vague reply.
Both he and Nica were drained by the energy they’d expended, but Silas drew a deep breath to answer. “Enough to worry. She’s powerful and dangerous. The most mentally skilled I’ve ever come across. And she’s not afraid of us. Who knows what she’s seen and heard while pretending to be Mia, or to whom she gave that information? Unless you can enlighten us.” His pointed look skewered Cale. “What did you boys discuss while our enemy was under your noses?”
“Nothing of any value to them,” Cale assured as his thoughts scrambled frantically through the past few days. What plans had they inadvertently revealed?
“So,” Max interrupted, “who’s she working with? Best guess?”
“My guess is our worst-case scenario,” MacCreedy sighed. “Your aunt. Who else has access to that kind of science, to swap out minds for that length of time?”
Genevieve Savorie had gotten inside their security, had eavesdropped on their fears and plans. And now, she knew their weakness.
– – –
A ping from her phone drew Cee Cee into the quiet of Jimmy’s study as the last of their guests departed. Puzzled by the Caller Unknown, she answered.
“Detective Caissie.”
“Stop looking for me.” DeShawn Coulette.
Her attention immediately sharpened. “We can protect you.”
Amazingly he didn’t laugh before saying, “Like you did that fella at the restaurant? And Val?”
Hamstrung because she had no answer, Cee Cee kept her tone strong, urging, “We need to meet. I’ll keep you safe.”
“No. I won’t put my family and friends in danger. Keep clear of them and me.”
“You’ll all be in danger until I put away those responsible.”
“You had one of them and couldn’t hold him,” came his frustrated cry.
“You mean Warren Brady? What did you see, DeShawn? What do you know? I can’t put him and his people away for good without witnesses.”
“Witnesses you can’t keep alive.” When she didn’t respond, he added, voice constricted, “You already ruined my future. I won’t let you do the same to folks I love.”
“DeShawn, wait.” Her fierce response fell upon a disconnect.
Back to square one.
“Trouble, Detective?”
Cee Cee took a second to compose her features before turning toward the lanky figure dramatically framed in backlight from the hall. Her pulse tripped and picked up a hurried beat, part anticipation, part protective even as she adopted her game face. “Nothing unexpected.”
“Brady. He’s gonna get away with it.” An emotionless statement of fact.
“Not yet. Not if I have anything to say about it.”
“What can I do?”
A cynical smirk. “The old Max would have asked, ‘Who can I kill?’”
“Is it the old Max you need, Charlotte?”
He betrayed nothing, smoky green eyes cool, voice dangerously smooth as if offering . . . what exactly? She didn’t dare speculate, fearing the temptation to call on that darkness would be too great in her frustration.
“It’s my Max I need, now and always.”
“Where do you need me?” The twitch of a provocative smile.
She tapped a forefinger against pursed lips. “Right here, for starters.”
She sometimes forgot how fast he could move, crossing the separating space before she could gasp, covering teasing lips in a hard press to banish space, time, and troubles. His tongue invaded the heat of her