He buried his face against her soft neck, his hands tunneling through the waves and curls of her hair. Turning his head, he kissed the side of her neck, lingering to savor the feeling of her soft skin and the scent of her.
For a moment, Jaimie leaned into him, but as if catching herself, she pulled herself straight, almost rigid, and stepped away from him. Mack looked down at his hands for a moment, working at keeping his mind and body under control. Abruptly, he changed tactics.
“I want you to do a little experiment for me, Jaimie.” Mack sank back onto the computer desk. “I want you to find each of the men. All of them. Exact position.”
“Why? You know I can.”
“But not Gideon or Spagnola. I want to find out why. If there are two of them, there could be more. I need to know. And I don’t want the others to know. Don’t document it.”
“Or tell Sergeant Major?”
Shadows crept into his eyes. “No one.”
“Whitney would take them, wouldn’t he?” Jaimie guessed.
“I believe he would and if you’re right and Griffen is working with him, then he can’t know. We’ll figure out how they’re hiding from you ourselves.”
“It has to be their energy, Mack. Nothing chemical or genetic that Whitney did to them. I read energy. I can feel how someone is feeling. For instance, Javier and Kane are upstairs in the kitchen area and they’re amused. It’s genuine amusement.” She shared her first real smile with him since he’d come to talk to her. “I fear for the lasagna.”
“They’d better not do any of the things they were suggesting,” Mack said.
Jaimie sat on the computer desk beside him and swung her feet. “I’ll bet both Joe and Gideon have similar psychic abilities and something they have naturally protects them from me reading their energy. And if they have a natural protection, someone else will too. Of course, no one will know it because as far as I know, no one else can pinpoint location in the same way I can. That’s why Whitney was so interested in getting his hands on my data and why Joe is protecting me.”
“Wait a minute.” Mack scowled at her. “I thought you said Whitney wanted you dead.”
“Not him. Neither does Sergeant Major. Maybe the ones above them do, but they aren’t going to let anyone kill me. They want answers. I opened a can of worms when I began searching out Whitney’s supporters. They don’t want to be exposed. One of them wants me dead.”
“I want to try something, Jaimie. Just go along with me,” Mack said, hopping off the desk and holding out his hand to her.
She hesitated just one moment and then with reluctance put her hand in his and allowed him to tug her off the desk. Mack chose the center of the room where it was open, away from the windows and the spill of light around her computers.
She sank down onto the floor where he indicated and he settled across from her, sitting, knees touching.
“I want you to do it again, but this time, really concentrate on Kane and Javier. I want to see how much you can read what they’re doing. How they’re feeling.
Anything at all you can pick up.”
She frowned at him, but didn’t pull away. “I’ve never gotten anything other than happy or sad energy and a location.”
“I know. But I think you’ve grown stronger. I think you can do a lot more than you’re aware.”
“But what about the aftermath?” There was fear in her voice.
Mack framed her face with her palm. “I think when we’re together I’m stronger. I think our energies merge in some way. Do this for me. If you get in trouble and I can’t shield you enough, we’ll stop.” He wanted her trust. Even if it was just in that moment. He had to feel it again, the same way he’d felt her closeness. She was afraid.
She’d just gone through a horrific night and he was asking her to risk another one.
Jaimie took a deep breath and nodded. She closed her eyes and allowed her mind to expand, to encompass the two men above her on the third floor. She always remained aware of her surroundings, and this time she was particularly aware of Mack. His energy surrounded her as it had never done before. It felt masculine and warm, almost hot, like his skin. The feeling was tactile. Her body tingled, grew warm, and the heat spiraled outward to mingle and merge with her own energy as she directed it away from herself.
She encountered Kane first. She knew his exact position, bending over the stove, as if the energy surrounded him and sent back an echo so that she could “see” him. He was stirring something. “He’s overcooking the noodles,” she murmured, but the humor faded just as quickly. She felt Kane’s emotions. His sadness. His guilt. A huge burden that weighed on him. His fears for Jaimie’s safety. Kane could barely breathe as he dipped a spoon almost absently into the boiling water.
Jaimie jerked away from him before realizing she wasn’t really catching his thoughts and invading his privacy. It was the energy surrounding him she was reading. She took a breath and let it out, reaching further into the room to touch Javier. His energy was strong, but like Kane’s, a mixture of emotion. She’d never noticed those strands before, woven tightly together to form around each person. She had never tried separating the various threads to read them more in depth.
“I thought Javier would have a lot of humor in him, Mack,” she mused, “but he has a lot of violence and sadness in him.”
“Where is he?”
“He’s by the window, standing to one side, staying very still. I’ve never felt anyone so still, but he’s coiled for action.”
“Is he alarmed?”
“Not yet. But he’s watching the wharf. No, the water.”
“Can you encompass the water?”
She took a deep breath again and let it out. Usually by now, using so much energy, her head would be hurting, and she’d feel little pinpricks of pain throughout her skull. She only felt Mack’s energy. Stronger. Wrapping her up as if in his strong arms. She actually felt safe and secure, instead of spread thin, her energy slowly seeping out until she had nothing left.
The water gave off a cold rush that she felt flashing through her veins. It was almost electric, tiny sparks spreading over her skin, while her body temperature cooled. Instantly she felt the energy around her shift, adjust, blanket her to warm her.
She became so aware of Mack she actually felt the air moving in and out of his lungs and each separate beat of his heart. His energy immersed her in him until she felt a part of him.