Fired Up

gliding toward them from the shadows of the hallway. The one who’d driven the getaway motorcycle had on the denim jacket he’d worn yesterday. The second man was the one who had waited for them in the motel room with the silenced gun. He had a greasy- looking scarf tied around his long hair, a biker do-rag.
    “That’s far enough,” Do- rag snarled at Jack. He raised the gun a little and pointed it at Chloe. “I don’t know what you did to me yesterday but if you try it again, I’ll have time to get off at least one shot, and she’s going to be the target. Got it?”
    “Sure,” Jack said. “Where’s Stone and his housekeeper?”
    “Stone and the maid aren’t your problem,” Denim Jacket informed him. He glanced at the blonde. “That’s it, Sandy. You’re done here. Get out.”
    “What about my money, Ike?” the blonde whined. “You said you’d pay me right after I did the job.”
    “Stupid junkie bitch.” Ike reached into his pocket and drew out a small bundle of bills. He tossed the money on the carpet in front of Sandy. “Shut up and go out through the gardens. Same way we came in. And, remember, one word about this to anyone and you’re dead.”
    “Don’t worry.” The blonde bent down, grabbed the cash and stuffed it into her shirt. “I won’t talk. You know me, Ike. I’d never do anything like that.”
    She turned and hurried toward the glass doors. Seizing the handle, she started to pull the slider open.
    Chloe felt energy shiver in the air around her. She did not need to look at Jack to see the psi fever in his eyes. And suddenly she knew what was about to happen.
    Sandy started screaming, a high-pitched, keening wail of terror. She lost her grip on the door handle and began pounding frantically on the plate-glass window with her fists.
    “Shut up,” Ike shouted. “Stop that, you flaky bitch.”
    “Shit, she’s gone crazy,” Do-rag said. “If the guard at the front gate hears her we’re gonna have real problems. He’ll call in the disturbance before he comes up to the house to check it out. We gotta make her shut up right now.”
    “This is what we get for using a junkie.” Ike swung the barrel of the silenced gun toward the screaming Sandy.
    More energy flared in the atmosphere. Chloe knew that Jack had changed his focus.
    Ike uttered a yelp of mortal terror but he managed to get off one shot. Not surprisingly, given his trembling fingers, the bullet missed Sandy, who collapsed, weeping. Glass cracked sharply as the small missile smacked through the window.
    Ike sank to his knees, his face a Halloween mask of horror. Caught fast in the grip of some unseen terrors, he could not even scream. He fainted. The gun clattered on the marble tiles.
    Do-rag leaped toward Chloe, moving with the preternatural speed of a hunter-talent. He had his arm around her throat, the nose of the gun pressed against her temple before she could take a step back.
    “Don’t even think about using your talent on me,” Do-rag hissed at Jack. “She’ll be dead before you can drop me, I swear it.”
    Jack halted in midstride.
    Chloe reached up a hand and lightly touched Do-rag’s arm. He paid no attention. He was running wide open, his entire attention focused on Jack. She pulsed a little energy into his tainted dream-psi currents. He went to sleep with shocking suddenness. The gun dropped from his hand. He crumpled soundlessly to the floor.
    On her knees near the slider, Sandy wept.
    Jack scooped up both guns. “We need to get these two secured before they wake up. They’re hunters. We can’t take any chances.”
    “Right.” Chloe took a deep breath. Her pulse was pounding. It took a great effort to think coherently. “I saw some duct tape and wire in the pool house.”
    “Get both. I’ll watch these three.”
    “Okay.” She stepped around Sandy and yanked open the slider.
    “And, Chloe?” Jack said.
    She paused and looked back at him. “What?”
    “When this is over, you can explain to me why I’ve still got my second talent.”

36
    THEY FOUND DRAKE STONE AND THE REAL HOUSEKEEPER bound and gagged in one of the bedrooms.
    “Sorry about this,” Drake said. He watched Chloe comfort the traumatized housekeeper. “They broke in this morning. Said they would do terrible things to her if I didn’t find a way to locate you and the lamp.”
    Chloe shook her head. “This is our fault. I’m so sorry both of you got caught up in this.”
    Drake’s expression was rueful. “Always