No Peace for the Damned

behind me.
    I kept my eyes on Jon. He cocked a brow. “Is this your way of asking for backup, Magnolia?”
    “This is my way of telling you where my loyalties lie.” My voice was cold again. “If you come onto the estate with me, I can get you in undetected, but my only concern will be Thirteen. I won’t have your back in a fight with my family, and you cannot defeat them on your own.”
    “You aren’t the only one who cares about Thirteen.”
    “But I
am
the only one who can get him back.”
    The room hung in the pregnant pause. Shane finally spoke up. “We’re coming with you, and we’ll bring
everyone
back—including each other. So let’s get organized.”
    Jon nodded in agreement. So did Theo.
    “Fine,” I snapped. “But get organized in the car. We’ve got to move.”
    We marched out the door to Jon’s Cherokee. The metal screen bounced against the frame behind us.
    “I’ll just be here on point,” I heard Chang call out as we hit the driveway.
    Good. At least someone would live to tell the others what happened
.

According to the clock, it was early afternoon, but the sky was thick and black. Thunder growled on the horizon. The temperature had dropped about ten degrees in the last forty-five minutes. I wanted to blame my growing nausea on nerves from the pending storm. But it was the perfectly landscaped lawns that really made me cringe. Everything was so
perfect
on the north side. No overgrown cornfields, no little run-down farmhouses, just golf courses or stringently maintained community parks. No one on the north side ordered carryout from King’s Rib like we did during training.
    After maneuvering several trail-lined side streets, I directed Jon to pull over at the wooded edge of the property’s far east side. Jon turned the Jeep onto a dirt inlay behind a thick grouping of trees and parked out of sight.
    Chang had provided property lines and structural blueprints of the estate. Jon, Shane, and Theo huddled in the car, outliningtheir rescue plans for any other hostages found. The dry wind twisted my hair, and scents of the southern gardens wafted through the air. I was really here…returning to the place where nightmares came true. Thirteen
had
to be my focus. It was the only way I could continue breathing.
    “We can hike it from here,” I told them.
    Each man adjusted his weapons as we exited the car. To survive here, I had to rely on instinct alone. No feelings, no thoughts…just survival. With a deep breath, my mind relaxed into a state of suspended animation. Power hummed beneath my skin. I was all senses and strength now, pure instinct. I shuddered at the familiarity of the feeling, at the necessity.
    “Mag.”
    Warm breath whispered at my neck. Theo’s heart-wrenching thoughts tripped through my mind, but the force of our connection still calmed me. My breathing steadied. I kept my back to Theo as he placed his warm hand at the base of my neck. My powers surged. Golden light tinted my vision. Just a touch from Theo now and my powers jumped to this new level. Hell, this was even more intense than the red.
    His hands lingered, fueling the power along with the urge to get closer to him. Another moment and I stepped away, shrugging him off. It was all just too raw. I turned away from him but I held tight to the swell of our bond inside me. At least something good came from this mess with him—my control was reinforced steel now. My thoughts, my instincts, my powers—everything that made me
me
—kicked into gear with evolved focus.
    Voices began to come through. Four captives, over a mile away—never before would I have been able to hear their thoughts so clearly. Now I could pinpoint their exact location, hear their individual minds.
    My lips stretched into a wide grin. “Here’s what we’re going to do.”
    We stood in a close circle behind the Jeep. The best way to enter the estate would be over the southern wall. I used Chang’s blueprints to outline where the cameras were and the distance from the camera view to a “safe” area inside the grounds. We would go over the wall as a group so I could camouflage our appearance as we moved. Once in a safe area, I’d pull back the camouflage so they could each see where the others were.
    “Thirteen and three other Network members are being held in an old two-story horse barn on the southeast acreage. Two of the members are awake, but injured. The third is unconscious.” I kept my tone distant, focused. “Thirteen is