Page 91 of I Dream of Danger
Jon stuck his head out in the corridor then motioned everyone to get out.
Nick stood there, like a moron. There was nothing to tap to get her back online, nothing to switch back on. Elle had disappeared and he didn’t have a fucking clue how to get her back. He missed her desperately, and recognized now how much it meant to him to have her inside him.
One thing was for sure—he wasn’t moving from where he was without her.
A click, then Catherine’s voice. She sounded rushed and there were beeping machines sounds in the background. “Nick?” She was trying to sound calm, but panic was riding her. “Nick, Elle’s vital signs are gone.”
He tapped his ear. “What?” he screamed. “What the fuck do you mean by that?”
Her voice was steadier. She’d put them all on the same channel and Jon turned his head to him, eyes wide in alarm. Yeah. Jon understood.
“I’m not getting any vital signs. Heart, brain, lungs. Stopped. Can you feel her?” Catherine asked. “Is she still there with you?”
“No!” No, no he couldn’t feel her. No, she wasn’t here with him. All he felt was cold isolation, not that warm connection that had accompanied him into the building, like gentle hands caressing him. Nothing—just blankness.
Fuck!
He turned around in despair. There was nowhere to look for her, nothing he could do to find her. Her body was 200 miles away and her spirit was…where?
He turned and turned with nowhere to go, sweat breaking out all over his body, heart pounding beneath his rib cage. He must have looked like a madman but he didn’t give a shit.
“Hey man, let’s go,” Jon shouted over the alarm. He was outside the door, the prisoners uneasily congregated around him. “She’s not here, we’re wasting time.”
The emergency lights flickered and went off, casting them into utter darkness for a couple of seconds. When they came back on, they were even dimmer than before. Backup power was fading fast. And the smell of smoke was stronger by the minute.
Mac’s voice came on. “I’ve got what looks like fire on the 11th and 10th floors. Fire engines are coming down Market. People are staggering out of the main entrance. We’ve got to go. That includes you, Ross.”
No, that didn’t include him. Damned if he was going anywhere without Elle. Except Elle was back in Haven?—
He heard a dull thump in his ear. “I’m defibrillating her, Nick.” Another thump. “But it’s not working. The EKG spiked but is flat again.”
“Try again,” he snarled, and he heard another thump.
Silence for what felt like five centuries but was probably only five seconds.
Then Catherine came back on. “She’s dying, Nick. There’s nothing I can do.” Catherine’s voice was sorrowful. He could hear the steady hum of machinery that should be beating, together with her heart.
“No!” he screamed. Panic pounded in every cell. He’d never known panic like this. He didn’t know what the fuck to do. He’d been trained and trained hard to face any kind of danger. Bad guys with guns, ambushes, firefights—you name it, he knew what to do. But what the hell to do now, with a dying Elle two hundred miles away and a missing Elle right here—he had no clue. He met Jon’s eyes. “I can’t leave her. I can’t. Get out of here.”
“Dude?” The young kid stepped forward. He pitched his voice so it could be heard over the sirens. “You’re looking for Elle Connelly? Right?”
Nick jerked his head up and down. His throat was clamped shut.
“She could astrally project. That’s an electromagnetic phenomenon. There’s a Faraday cage four doors down. It says Lab 4 on the door. Maybe?—”
“Nick.” Catherine’s voice choked. “Oh, Nick I am so very sorry. She’s gone. Elle’s gone.”
“And we have to go too.” Mac’s hard voice didn’t betray anything, just resolute purpose. “You have a mission, soldier. Get out. Now.”
“No!” Nick screamed again, and for the very first time in his life, he disobeyed direct orders. He waved at Jon. “Get these people out and into the van! I’ll be right behind you.”
Elle wasn’t gone. Elle couldn’t be gone. He’d just found her, after losing her for ten years. This wasn’t happening. He was going to hop into the van with the former prisoners and Jon and Mac, and they were going to drive as fast as the van could carry them to Mount Blue and away from this place with the stench of human sacrifice.
And Elle would be waiting for him, just as she’d be waiting for him every single day for the rest of their lives. She’d welcome the kid, the dark-haired man, the woman with the frizzy hair to Haven, and they’d stay. Of course they’d stay. They were renegades, and they had special powers so they would fit right in, particularly with Catherine and Elle around. Woo-woo stuff was the staff of life on Haven now. There would be kids born who could levitate and travel in time and heal, and their kid would be one of them.
Because he and Elle were going to have kids, no question. He’d never wanted children. Why bring a kid into the world? The world was broken and there was no fixing it. Except—Elle wasn’t broken and neither was he. Their kids would be strong and talented and smart.
And he wanted them. He wanted it all. He wanted the fights they’d have and he wanted the make-up sex. He wanted to watch Elle bloom with his child as Catherine was blooming with Mac’s child. They were creating something in Haven. Nick had no idea what—he was a soldier, for Christ’s sake. What did he know? But Catherine knew and Elle sure knew. He wanted to be there and he wanted her by his side.
