Part 16 (1/2)

”Stefan!” Katie grabbed his head in both hands and forced his eyes to meet hers. He looked dazed and horrified. ”Stefan, please talk to me. Come back. Talk to me.”

”Can't,” he gasped. His face was going dirty-pale, and as she watched, a trickle of red dripped from his nose. He didn't seem to feel it, even when the trickle became a flood. Katie had come prepared this time; she'd grabbed chamois cloths from Angelo's extravagant car-care rack in the stables, and she hurriedly took one and folded it to catch the blood flow. ”Oh G.o.d, Katie, I can't.”

”You are. You're talking to me. Just stay with me, tell me whatever you see, okay?”

”Can't,” he said again, and for a second his dazed eyes locked on hers. ”Can't shut it off. She's scared. Drowning.”

Teal was clinging to the link, trying to send information at what must have been overwhelming strength. And he could neither shut it off and save himself, nor fall into it completely and give in.

Katie was his only lifeline.

”Just tell me what happened,” she said, putting her lips close to his ear, trying to keep her voice calm and gentle. ”Please. Please try.”

He gasped it out, voice thick and wet behind the b.l.o.o.d.y towel pressed to his nose. ”She-took out the one with the gun on-Lena-kicked open one of the doors-but-couldn't jump-going too fast-sun too bright-”

”She saw where they were?”

”Sepulveda. Pa.s.sing Sepulveda. On the 110.”

”How far ahead of us?”

”Don't know.”

”Stefan, I just pa.s.sed-” What the h.e.l.l was that? ”The 405. How far ahead of us?”

He was almost sobbing with effort. There was sweat on his face now, and sweat darkening his silk s.h.i.+rt. ”Ten miles, maybe. Don't know, Katie, please. Just drive. They hurt her.”

”Teal? They hurt Teal? How badly?”

He shook his head again. ”Taser.”

Oh Christ. He'd stuck with Teal during that? No wonder he'd screamed. Katie checked his nosebleed; it was lessening again, but he'd lost a h.e.l.l of a lot of blood over the past few hours. You're killing him, Katie. You're killing him, and it's not fair.

As if he heard her thoughts, he said, ”It wasn't your choice, Katie. It was mine. Whatever happens.”

”I know,” she whispered, and stroked his forehead and hair. ”I know, honey. Let go now.”

”Can't. She won't-”

Stefan's eyes went entirely blank, and he went slack.

Gone.

She'd lost him completely. He was with Teal now.

Katie wiped tears from her cheeks, strapped herself back in and peeled out hard to merge back into the constant traffic. She drove like a demon now, totally focused on the goal. The Jaguar blew through open s.p.a.ces, braked and drafted like a race car. It didn't like the rougher pavement of the breakdown lane, but she controlled its tendency to s.h.i.+mmy and kept moving ahead, always ahead.

It took ten more minutes before she spotted a sign up ahead. Sepulveda Boulevard.

The truck had pa.s.sed Sepulveda ten minutes ago. She was catching up. She had to be catching up.

Because everybody else was looking for the wrong d.a.m.n van.

Chapter 11.

T he world was pain, a constant red haze of it, and Stefan wanted to just turn away from it, burrow into the darkness and hide. Katie's voice had been like a drill in his head, all the questions, questions, and it had been so hard to answer from where he was.

He could see his body behind him, slack and empty in the pa.s.senger seat of Angelo's cherished Jaguar. He could see Katie, gorgeous sweet Katie, glorious in her fury and resolve as she steered the car in and out of traffic. Oh, Katie, I don't want to leave you. He wanted to tell her that, but words were gone now, and he was being pulled inexorably away, into the red haze, into the world where Teal was trapped.

Fall, or jump. He couldn't hang on any longer. It was ripping him apart to try.

Stefan let go and dived into the mind of a seventeen-year-old girl. A girl with more power than he could really comprehend, but still just a kid, a scared and angry kid. A hurt kid, now, thanks to the vicious Taser jab her guards had administered to keep her in line.

Teal was lying on the floor, next to Lena Poole, who had raised her blond-and-purple head to stare at her friend. Are you okay? Stefan couldn't hear the words, except as a distant buzz, but he could read her lips in the dim light. Teal?

First Katie, now Lena. Stefan supposed Teal looked as dazed and frightening as he had earlier. Whatever Teal answered, it brought a flash of relief to Lena's face, relief that was immediately overshadowed by fear as a big hand buried itself in her hair and dragged the girl upward. At the same time, Teal received similar treatment. Stefan felt the red-hot pull as Teal was jerked up to her knees. Her hands were still restrained behind her, but her legs were free. She was in bare feet, and the truck's floor felt cold and gritty.

Flashes of light illuminated things inside the truck. Nothing that would help him identify it, but he saw the faces of the kidnappers. They'd taken off the masks, maybe because of the warmth of the van, maybe because they no longer cared whether or not the girls saw them.

Teal made sure to look at the faces, and Stefan looked through her eyes. The first man was tanned and very hard-looking, with a shaved head and a tattoo of a roaring lion on the right side of his bare dome. He was the one with the Taser, and he seemed to enjoy his work; Stefan hated the way the man's eyes slid over Teal. He could feel the girl's disgust, as if she'd been covered in slime and was unable to wash it off.

The second kidnapper was a woman, and the instant Teal's eyes fixed on her, Stefan felt a pure, hot spurt of fury go through her. This was personal, he sensed; this was her betrayer. He hadn't gotten a clear look at her before, but Teal stared at her now, surely deliberately, to give him a chance to etch the woman into memory. Sheila Prichard. The woman who'd tried to blow them up with a b.o.o.by trap in her apartment, who now loaded a clip into an automatic pistol with cool competence. There was nothing but contempt in her eyes.

The third was another man, shorter and stockier than the bald man. He had a mess of brown sun-streaked hair and a golden-tanned face. A surfer, Stefan thought; he had the look, and the cat-quick reflexes. There were two others, but they were in the cab of the truck and visible only as dim shadows in the narrow sliding window.

Five adults, for two young girls. An elaborate plan, clearly nearing fruition from the att.i.tude of the three holding the girls hostage. They all looked tense, silent, and antic.i.p.ating something big.

Maybe the final handoff. Because Stefan no longer had any doubt that this was only the beginning of their plan; the girls were going to be transferred to someone else, or some other place. A plane, a boat...something capable of getting beyond U.S. jurisdiction, because these shadowy masterminds, whoever they were, must have known that the FBI was hot on the trail, much less Katie's mysterious government friends.

But why? What did they want? It was clear that they didn't just want money, or they'd have already demanded it. The number of people they'd killed to get this far meant that money wasn't the point.

The girls were the point.

Lena's lips were moving again, but the angle was bad; Stefan couldn't see her clearly enough to read the words. Whatever they were, Sheila leaned over to put her face very close to Lena's, and he read her lips clearly enough: They want you both. There was more, and he thought she said, spoiled little b.i.t.c.hes, which matched the vindictive contempt and the cruel light in her eyes.

Someone was calling his name. He felt tired, very tired-Teal was weakening, too. She swayed, but the surfer holding her by the hair yanked on it to keep her upright and still.

Not far now, the bald one said to Sheila, and she nodded. Such a pretty girl. A waste of beautiful skin.

Stefan felt himself slipping and struggled to hold on. He needed to know where. He had to know. Katie was depending on him. He thought Teal knew he was in trouble; he could sense her trying to push him back, let him go, but he fought to hang on now. To stay with her.

Look out the window, he tried to send his thoughts to her, but he knew she wasn't getting the messages. She couldn't, just as he couldn't access her thoughts or hear her words. Dammit, I know this town! I just need one look, just one...

Without warning, Teal yanked her head forward, pulling the surfer off balance, and then slammed him back into the side of the truck with her body weight. The second he let go she lunged toward the doors, and fetched up against them with a bruising impact.

She pressed her cheek to the gla.s.s, and Stefan got his look. Just one.