And, with that, she had to stay as quiet as she could, even though it was damn hard. She wanted to turn and kick the crap out of this guy but figured she would probably only get herself beaten up some more.
She probably had already taken a blow or two because her jaw was killing her. The man led her forward, and she just walked at his side calmly. When he came to another door—at least she presumed it was another door—they stopped and he knocked. A muffled response came from the other side. Her kidnapper knocked again, and then he pushed open the door.
“Now we’ve got both of them,” he stated, pushing her in first, as she heard the door close behind them, “and they’ll come and do whatever the hell we want now. All we really—” Then he stopped. “Who the hell are you?”
“What do you mean, who the hell am I?” The stranger added, “I’m on your side. I was sent to check up on you.”
“We’ve got it under control. So what the hell are you doing here?” he asked.
Tasha stood frozen, standing still, unsure what to do. What she really wanted to do was drop and roll. The trouble was, with a hood tied on her head, there probably wasn’t the space for it, and, for all she knew, it would get her a bullet that wouldn’t have been fired otherwise.
“Now raise your hands and don’t pull any shit on me,” the stranger ordered. “The boss isn’t happy with you already, Coop.”
“Oh, hell no,” her kidnapper muttered. “I’m not dealing with that shit. And here’s what I think about that.”
A weird buzzing sound filled the air, followed by something popping, and a high-pitched scream.
She impulsively reached up her hands and pulled off her hood. She looked around to see what was probably the newcomer on the ground, completely out cold now. She wasn’t even sure he was alive. She gasped. “Did you kill him?”
Her captor turned and looked at her with an ugly expression, his fist still clenched. “You took your blindfold off,” he growled. “You’ll pay for that.”
Yep, she recognized that voice. Her kidnapper. The man called Coop. She stared at him in shock. “Did you just kill him?”
“I had to. We really can’t leave anybody alive anymore, and that includes you.” He lunged toward her, the blow coming out of the blue.
She cried out in agony, dropping to her knees. She watched in surprise when the guy on the floor sat up, gun in hand, and he fired several shots at Coop.
Coop cried out, “No, not even bullets will stop me.”
But something else was happening. She watched in shock and horror as some weird—telepathic?—fight was going on. Coop had his eyes closed, like Terk does at times, but Coop faced the stranger, who had been disarmed and taken down to the floor again … somehow.
Coop had drawn his weapon, had it in his hand, and she tried to get it away from him. But he tossed her to the ground again, even as Damon raced toward them. Coop raised his gun and fired once.
Seeing Damon take a shot high in the chest, Tasha immediately jumped on Coop. She grabbed his gun arm, twisting it against his body, and she pulled the trigger again and again and again. He collapsed to the floor beside her, just as two more men burst in. She looked at Terk and a man who clearly had to be his brother. She shook her head. “Jesus Christ, you are undeniably twins.”
Terk looked at her quickly, then raced to Damon. Merk came to her, studied the dead guy closest to her. “He’s dead.”
“Coop is dead? Are you certain?” she asked. “Honest to God, we need to put ten bullets in his brain just to make sure because he dropped that other man just by standing here, only using his mind.” Merk stared at her in shock, and she nodded quietly. “You have no idea how crazy this is!”
She turned to Damon, who was struggling on the other side of the room. She raced over and dropped to her knees. “Jesus, Damon. No! No!”
The bullet wound was high, but it didn’t look very good. The hole was pulsing blood, and Merk immediately went into first aid action.
She looked over at Terk, worried. “We’ve got to do something.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, “but I have to do this.”
She looked at him in shock. “What do you mean?”
He smiled. “Hopefully it won’t feel too bad.”
With that, he reached over and grabbed her hand. And suddenly she was caught up in a kaleidoscope of emotions, nightmarish colors, and sounds, almost like being in a whirlpool, while screaming to get out. Maybe a tornado was a better description. And suddenly she reached a calm spot.
She looked to see Terk inside a weird space. He talked to her, but his voice was like an echo.
He told her, “Talk to Damon. Tell him that you love him. Tell him that he needs to come back to you.”
She stared at him in shock. “Is he dead?”
“He’s on the cusp,” Terk replied. “You’ll lose him now, but maybe, if we pull together, we might help him.”
She dropped to her knees, her hands cupping Damon’s face, as she whispered against his lips, “Please, Damon, come back. Come back to me. We never even had a chance together. Please, dear God, come back.”
Just when she thought there was absolutely no hope, a voice whispered through her mind.
He got you with that, did he?
With what? she cried out to Damon, tears in her eyes.
Now we’re connected in a way that you have no idea about.
I don’t care, as long as we’re connected.
But, if I die, you die.
What? she asked, feeling confused, then she got crafty. That just means you have to fight because otherwise you’re killing me.
He groaned at that. It hurts.
I know, she whispered. I know, but please fight. She looked over to see Terk standing there, energy flowing around in this weird cosmic tunnel, flowing into Damon and out again. “Use my energy if you need to,” she cried out.
“I already am,” he murmured. “Just let me finish.”
And, with that, she had to sit back and watch, as a healthier color slowly returned to Damon’s face.
She looked down at the chest wound and shuddered. Her hand went to his chest but almost went through it. And she realized that, whatever form she was in, it wasn’t physical. It was like she had stepped out of her own body, but then she realized she hadn’t stepped out—she’d been pulled out by Terk.
She watched Merk’s face, seeing the disbelief there, as he realized how quickly Damon was improving.
With the weird energy all around the room, Merk stared at his brother, studying his face. “Terk, I love you, man. But you are one damn scary dude.”
She gently stroked Damon’s face, feeling him jerk back in surprise. She smiled. “But he’s a hell of a good guy,” she told Merk. “And right now he’s saving Damon.”
And just like that she felt a weird pull inside her, and she was snapped back into her body. She rocked in place, as she landed. She opened her eyes, stared around her, and whispered, “I don’t know what the hell just happened or how you even did that,” she noted, “but, if you ever do that again, Terk, I just might kill you myself.”
Terk laughed. “Not if it does the job,” he murmured, and he dropped beside Damon.