Part 70 (2/2)
The older man nodded. ”That's the way Tinus described it to us. And that's the way we snapped the other one shut.”
She gave him a grateful look. Then she swung her gaze toward Falcone and the soldiers. ”I must have quiet. And I must be alone.”
”Not alone!”
”Avery can watch me. But he has to give me... s.p.a.ce. He can call you when I have found something.”
”How do I know you won't slip through the portal when you have it open?”
”Because I can't open it by myself.” She looked toward Avery. ”Tell him how difficult it is. If I can do it at all, I need additional power.”
”She's telling the truth,” Avery said.
Her gaze shot to Falcone. ”Figure out how to hold off the police, while I work on the portal.”
Falcone glared at her, then turned away.
RINNA found a quiet room where heavy drapes were drawn across the windows. She sat down in a chair that was covered with soft leather and closed her eyes.
She had said she was trying to open a portal, but it was hard to get the right focus. Her mind drifted toward Logan. She wanted to reach out to him, to feel his comforting presence near her. But she ruthlessly stayed away from that. She would come back to him, if she could. And the only way she could do that was to get rid of Falcone.
So she closed Logan out of her thoughts and let her mind drift, first in a kind of free-floating state so that she could calm herself and focus on the difficult job she had to do.
When she had centered herself, she began searching for the plates that walled off this world from the ones that rested beside it. She couldn't have described the process to anyone. She only knew that she could sense the barriers between the timelines. She let her mind stroke over them, feel their shape, look for c.h.i.n.ks that she could open wider and use to her advantage.
She wasn't sure how long she searched and evaluated. But finally she knew that she was as ready as she would ever be.
When she looked up, she saw Avery's tense face.
”I have it,” she whispered.
”What should I do?”
”Get Falcone. And Brusco. Have all the men standing by.”
The old man hurried off and was back moments later with Falcone and the others.
Rinna stayed in the chair, feeling all the men watching her.
”Link hands,” she murmured. ”All of you. I need as much energy as I can get.”
OUTSIDE, Jake Cooper studied the house. He'd seen shadows moving behind the blinds. More than one man and one woman. So how many people were in there, and how were they armed?
He didn't want to make any mistakes. The guy inside had already killed a man. He could kill the woman, too.
But what was the best way to get her out of there in one piece?
<script>