No Peace for the Damned

in the gated room on the second-floor loft,” I continued. “The others are downstairs in the former storage rooms. There are seven men guarding them who—”
    “Wait a second,” Jon interrupted. “How the hell do you know all this? Are you sure about the other hostages, because right now just Sasser, Thirteen, and Banks are expected to be—”
    “I can hear them,” I said impatiently.
    “You sure you didn’t know all this ahead of time?” Shane asked through clenched teeth.
    My hands fisted. The world flashed red, but only for an instant. My control was resolute. “We are
here
. We are about to go over that fucking wall. If you people don’t believe in me by now then just
go the fuck home
. I’ll do this myself!”
    Jon stepped between us, his arms outstretched as if to hold us back. I bit my tongue at the irony: wasn’t it Thirteen who had jumped between
Jon
and me, in that very same position, just a couple of days ago?
    “That’s enough!” Jon yelled. Theo had his gun gripped in both hands, but pointed it at the ground in front of him. “We cannot get over that wall and to our captured teammates without Magnolia’shelp, Shane. So either get on board with the plan or return to HQ with Chang.” Then he turned to me. “Magnolia…hell, we may never completely trust you. That’s just the way it is, so get over it. But right now, for this mission, we have no choice but to get your back. And we
will
trust you to get Thirteen out of there safe and alive.”
    He looked back and forth between us. “Now everyone calm the fuck down and get your game faces on. We’ve got work to do. Magnolia, you said there are seven guards in the barn. Any of them your relatives?”
    “One is, but I can’t make out who it is. Whoever he is, he’s strong. I can get inside his head, but I’d rather wait until we’re over the wall.”
When the temptation to haul ass out of here will be less distracting
.
    “Will he sense you,” Jon asked, “like the senator did back in his office?”
    “Once I get close enough to the barn, yes. He’ll be able to sense a supernatural presence, but he won’t know it’s me.”
    Worry flashed through Theo’s mind, but it was gone just as fast.
    “You’re not going to see me once we reach the barn,” I continued. “I’ll be invisible and will stay that way until I have Thirteen. You three worry about the other captives.”
    “Once we have the members,” Theo said, “we’ll head south back toward the wall.”
    Jon added, “We’ll rendezvous back here. If we need backup, Chang will be ready to make the call.” He stood straighter, a new gleam in his eye. “Things go well, and the Kelch family will have a better appreciation for the abilities of the Network.”
    I rolled my eyes. “Let’s just do what we can to get Thirteen and the others and try not to get killed in the process. OK?”
    We each exchanged glances. All three cocked their guns. And we were off.

All three guys were solid masculine specimens of training and muscle. Still, they were no match for my speed and strength. I had to practically walk for them to keep pace. Who knew working with a team would be so
frustrating
. And even worse was their noise. Did they
try
to step on every twig on the freaking planet?
    You’re just irritated to be back here. Stay focused
.
    We approached the wall. I stopped several feet inside the tree line. I wanted the cameras to be on the out-turn, just to be safe. When the lens began its rotation away from our position, I stretched out my power and concealed all four of us.
    They were quicker than I expected. We were over the wall and safe inside the opposite tree line in under a minute. I pulled back our invisible cover. They looked ready, capable. I put a finger to my lips and listened. No security breach had been detected. We moved again, quicker this time.
    A few minutes later we neared a clearing and I pulled up short. I listened again. There was no time to take in individual thoughts, but from what I could tell, all four hostages were still alive. At least for now.
    Nausea stirred in my gut. One of my relatives was in that barn. I could feel him. But which one? And where were the others? Steeling my resolve, I took a deep breath and scanned the rest of the estate. Father’s study was empty. So was his master suite. The library, the interrogation rooms, the dining halls—all empty. I reached out farther, focusing just on the remembered sensation of Father’s energy.