He beefed up the shield around him a little bit more, burning through a ton of his energy, which was in low supply and was why he hadn’t been doing that before. He’d been moving fast enough for the last six hours that even Terk couldn’t keep his energy on Damon. But now that he was driving and heading back to their temporary headquarters again, he needed to make sure he was shielded. He had to protect Tasha and Terk from being found. But what was Damon to do when his energy was down to less than 10 percent?
Damon had been running hard and fast, so he was out of energy, out of food, and pretty quickly out of any kind of resources. When he got back to where their warehouse was, he parked down in the shopping mall around the corner, then took a circuitous way around and moved in with a large group going into a nearby storage unit to unload furniture. With that, he slipped into the second building and then walked around to the respective doorway, where he got in all on his own.
He stepped inside, and all he heard was dead silence. His heart slammed against his chest because he knew it already.
No one was here.
Chapter 11
“I don’t want to leave him,” Tasha balked.
“Don’t argue with me,” Terk said. “We’re leaving now.”
She glared at him, but he motioned for her to exit the warehouse. She pointed at the secret room. “That’s why we have the second room.”
“I know,” he agreed, “but somebody is sending out probes.”
At that, she stopped, startled. “Seriously?”
He nodded. “A lot of our energy reveals we are here, plus a lot of our digital products can be verified as here, and everything has been touched by us, so you can bet that this is a big energy hub. I’ve got a blockade up, but I can’t shield all of us.”
“So what do you want to do?”
“We’ll go in a very public place, where they can’t separate us from the others.”
“So, the mall across the way?”
He thought about it and then nodded. “Yeah. We have to do some shopping anyway.”
She watched as he led the way, his hand on hers the whole time. “Is there a reason we’re holding hands?”
He nodded, and, speaking in a low voice from the side of his mouth, he whispered, “Pretend to be happy.”
She snorted. “I’m thrilled.”
“You don’t have to go overboard,” he noted. “But, as long as you’re attached to me, then I can shield you. But, if I can’t shield you, then anybody searching for us, especially from a distance, can lock on to me and, therefore, find you.”
Instantly she stepped closer to him.
“Thanks, that makes it easier.”
“It’s all you had to say,” she snapped. “For crying out loud, we can walk with our arms around each other for all I care.”
He grinned. “I wasn’t sure that you might hit me if I did that.”
“Well, it’s not like you’re Damon.”
“Ah, I wondered when you would bring that up.”
“I’m not bringing it up. And come on. I still can’t believe that he did that, purposely separating us all these years, hiding what he felt for me.”
“It’s good that he did. Like I said, we spent a lot of years doing a lot of things, and we fought for the right people, but, when everything blows up, it has a way of realigning what your real priorities are.”
“Well, I’m hardly his priority.”
“Maybe you are now,” Terk suggested, with all seriousness. They hit the traffic light which magically changed with the crosswalk sign, not interrupting their stride.
She nodded. “That’s another thing I’ve never understood about you.”
“What?”
“How all the damn streetlights always change in your favor.”
“Well, I don’t know about always,” he said, “but it does make for expediency.”
“So you did do it!”
“Sure.” He shrugged. “Easiest thing ever.”
“Even when we were driving, I noticed that we never hit a single stoplight, ever.”
“Well, stop signs I can’t really do anything about.” He chuckled. “But the traffic lights are a piece of cake.”
She wondered at the ease of his movements as they walked on. Then she realized that six, maybe eight other people were around them. “It really is easier for you in a crowd, isn’t it?”
“Not necessarily. This is easier, yes, because I can pull bits and pieces of their energy toward us, using them to help shield us, but, at the same time, I have to deal with their bits and pieces of energy.”
She pondered that for a long moment. “I wish I knew more about what you did.”
“We were always so busy that we never really had time for that, did we?”
“Not only did we not have time for that, it seemed like we barely had time to breathe,” she stated. “Part of me was relieved that they were shutting down the team because I just needed a break, if you know what I mean.”
“Absolutely,” he replied quietly. “We all were in the same boat there. And then this happened.”
“And you really have no idea what’s going on with that Celia woman, do you?”
“No. I really don’t,” he admitted, “but believe me. I will find out. In the meantime, she’s still out cold and healing. She had been badly beaten and is in rough shape.”
“And yet the baby is still—” She broke off that thought.
“Yeah, she’s still pregnant,” he confirmed.
“Well, that doesn’t surprise me,” she muttered. “Any offspring of yours will be tough as nails.”
He burst out laughing again.
“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever heard you laugh quite this much,” she noted in surprise.
“Well, we haven’t spent all that much time together and definitely not much off time.”
“Is this off time?” she asked in a wry tone.
“Not really but, at the same time, I’m not sure I’ll ever dedicate the same amount of time and energy to work like I have been.”
“No,” she agreed. “Plus the research was something that you were very addicted to.”
He looked down at her, a strange look in his eyes. “What? I’m not sure that would be the word I would use.”
“Well, you should,” she murmured, “because you never let up on it. You were always trying to push the limits and to do more. If addictive doesn’t work, how about compulsive or obsessive or maybe just workaholic.”
“All of the above, most likely.” He nodded. “Good call.”
“Good call on what?”
“Well, both you and my brother have mentioned that maybe I need to get out of the industry.”
“But then what?” she asked. “You have a very unique skill set. I’d hate to see it go to waste.”
“I know, and I’m not sure what I’ll do about that.”
“Well, it’s not like you must make a decision right now,” she noted. “Especially when you’ll be a family man soon.” At that, she felt him stiffen beside her. “Sorry, that wasn’t meant as a joke. I was serious.”