In Too Deep

still see and hear and feel, she felt terrifyingly numb. It took her a heartbeat to understand that was because her para-senses were frozen.
    She was vaguely aware that Fallon was in motion, launching himself through the raging storm of psi. He slammed into Julian. His momentum took both of them to the floor in the hallway. They landed with a sickening thud.
    The energy storm cut off abruptly when Julian lost his grip on the mirror. But when Isabella tried to raise her talent, she discovered that her senses were still numb.
    The sickening sounds of hand-to-hand combat brought her up off the bed. She found the flashlight she had dropped and staggered across the room to the doorway. She had to grip the frame to stay on her feet.
    Fallon and Julian were locked in a cage fight because of the narrow confines of the hallway. The primal nature of the battle sent a nauseating wave of panic through Isabella. Fists rose and fell, smashing again and again into muscular flesh. Boots and shoulders struck the wall. She caught glimpses of blood as the two men heaved and rolled and collided again and again.
    A lethally thin blade flashed evilly in the shadows. She could not tell which man gripped the knife. But in the next moment she heard a terrible crack. Fallon had slammed Julian’s hand against the floor.
    The knife dropped on the carpet. Julian howled, rolled onto his side and clutched his broken wrist.
    “Bastard,” he snarled. “You son of a bitch. You should be dead.”
    “You’re not the first person to tell me that.” Fallon got to his feet. There was blood on his face. He took his gun out from under his black leather jacket. “The Quicksilver Mirror can kill,” Fallon said. “But only in the hands of a talent who is powerful enough to control the maximum amount of energy latent in it. You just weren’t strong enough, Garrett.”
    “Shit.” Julian groaned. He sat up, cradling his injured wrist. “The last thing I need is a lecture on para-physics from Fallon Jones. Just shoot me now.”
    “Good idea,” Isabella said.
    Fallon looked at her. “Are you okay?”
    “Yes—no.” Another flicker of panic shivered through her. “Fallon, my senses are frozen.”
    “So are mine.” Keeping the gun trained on Julian, he picked up the mirror. “But they’ll recover in time. If the mirror doesn’t kill you, the effects are temporary.”
    “Oh, good. For a moment there I was a little worried.”
    Fallon prodded the groaning Julian. “On your feet. We’re leaving before the maintenance people show up and start asking a lot of questions about the damage to the hallway.”
    Julian got to his knees. “How the hell do you plan to get me out of here? That’s my hunter who’s standing guard down there.”
    “Not anymore,” Fallon said. “After he got us inside, he was replaced by a J&J agent. I called in some talent from L.A.”
    Julian’s face twisted in disgust. “How did you figure it out?”
    “I didn’t know you were after the Quicksilver Mirror until I saw the damn thing,” Fallon said. “But there were a few details that didn’t sit right. You gave off the vibes of a guy who was working his own agenda. What pissed me off and made me decide that you were one of the bad guys was how you used Isabella and then sent that hunter team to grab her in Phoenix when you discovered that you needed her after all. That’s no way to treat a lady, Garrett.”
    Julian shot Isabella a fulminating look. She gave him her most dazzling smile.
    “I was following Lucan’s orders,” Julian said, turning sullen.
    “I called Lucan again after you left the trailer today. Gave him a different theory of the crime. He agreed to play it out and see what happened.”
    “Whose theory of the crime?” Julian demanded.
    “Isabella’s. I’ve learned the hard way not to ignore the gut reaction of a trained investigator. She was sure you were behind the arms dealing in Department A.”
    “She’s not an investigator—she’s just a finder-talent,” Julian muttered. “A technician.”
    “Who is now a full-fledged investigator at J&J,” Fallon concluded.
    Isabella picked up a flashlight and aimed the beam at Julian’s battered face. “What’s this all about Julian? What kind of operation were you running? And what really happened to Caitlin Phillips?”
    Julian said nothing.
    Fallon turned thoughtful. “I think you were right, Isabella. There was something going on inside Department A. Garrett and Caitlin Phillips