Jeff turned on his heels and walked to the door.
“Or else what?” Dr. Blake asked with remarkable bravado.
“Or else I’ll find someone who can,” Jeff answered gravely, and straightened his tie.
“You’ll murder me like you murdered Dr. Kane?” the doctor challenged.
Harper went rigid with crazed fury, just barely kept under her skin. Rome’s tight reassuring touch on her wrist was the only thing that prevented her from crashing through that ceiling and strangling the filthy life out of Jeff.
“Dr. Kane was eliminated because he wasn’t with the program,” Jeff articulated solemnly. “Don’t make the same mistake.” And with that Jeff turned to open the door and step out of her vision.
Harper twitched as an angry chill flooded through her, causing her body to rock forward. Feeling herself beginning to slide ahead, she swung her arm around, trying to halt her abrupt movement. The catwalk creaked loudly with the sudden shift of her weight.
She glanced at Rome with an apologetic wince at her noisy blunder. His eyes were as wide as hers, and then they both looked down into the room at the same time.
Jeff and Dr. Blake were directly below, frozen and glaring at the ceiling. The two men couldn’t see her and Rome through the tiles, but there was no doubt they’d heard the metallic groan. They knew someone was there.
“Go,” Rome hissed, shoving her into motion.
He didn’t need to tell her twice. Like a crab, she scrambled frantically across the grating to stand, as Rome rushed past her, already on his feet. He grabbed her hand and she stumbled behind him, racing as fast as the tight area allowed, their boots clanging on the catwalk, not caring anymore about stealth.
Just as they burst through the duct door, she ran smack into his hard back, almost causing both of them to fall.
Peeking over his broad shoulder as her eyes adjusted to the muted light of the hallway, Harper saw what had made Rome stop.
They’d been found.
Four huge men were barely visible in the dim lighting. Harper hoped there weren’t more, but couldn’t tell what lurked in the shadows.
Three of them had handguns pointed directly at her and Rome. The fourth stood holding a rifle across his barrel-like chest, but she had no doubt he was just as ready to whip that thing around and use it.
Harper was getting darned tired of big guys with guns.
The six of them stood there, facing off for what seemed like an eternity. She was sure Rome was planning something, the tightness of his shoulders and the twitching of his fingers warning her.
Was he thinking up something to say or to do? They hadn’t really planned an escape strategy other than the gun in the holster inside his coat.
Well, that and her psi power, as they had referred to it since reading Bobby’s notes.
Confident she was beginning to learn to control it, she decided that she’d use it on these guys. Placing her hand ever so slightly on Rome’s back, she tried to signal her intentions. The muscles in his lower back tensed under her fingers. She hoped that meant he understood.
Focusing on the threat a few feet away, she concentrated sharply and reached inside every corner of her mind to call upon the psi power.
Nothing.
She closed her eyes and tried again, this time concentrating on remembering Jeff and the doctor talking about her brother while she and Rome were in the duct. She recalled her rage and fury at their words.
Struggling to direct the steep pain that flushed through her, Harper beckoned the white heat that would blaze within her body just before she unleashed her lethal power.
Nothing.
Glancing uneasily around the cool shadows, she wondered in a sudden fear whether she’d somehow lost her psi power. Panic flushed through her. Did that mean she was going to die now? Was she about to end up like the others?
She hadn’t been able to use it when she’d been held captive, either. Maybe the power didn’t work indoors. Yet she’d trashed Bobby’s lab using it.
Before she could explore those thoughts, she sensed motion from Rome. Clearly he wasn’t about to wait for her to save them again. Good choice, considering she couldn’t, anyway.
Then all heck broke loose. Before she knew what was happening, Rome had rushed two of the men, slamming them against the concrete wall.
An instant later she went into action, kicking the gun out of the hand of the third man before he could pull the trigger, while ramming her body into the rifle-bearing brute with all her might.
Identical grunts sounded from both of them as they sailed through the musty air and thumped onto the unforgiving ground side by side. After a few seconds of wrestling and trading punches, she knew she had to do something about that rifle, but he was strong. Very strong. She wasn’t sure just how much more scuffling she could take before he overpowered her or the others paid them attention. Plus she had no idea how Rome was doing with his battle.
Shifting her body to face him squarely, she clasped onto her enemy’s shoulders, taking a couple blows to her abdomen for her efforts. Bracing her upper body on his, she hoisted her knee straight up to connect solidly with his groin.
Her attacker instantly froze and rolled to his side, grasping his crotch and wheezing. Hey, a girl’s got to have some tricks, and she wasn’t above fighting dirty when it came to her life. And Rome ’s.
Spinning away from the downed man, Harper peered through the dimness to see two prone bodies on the floor, and Rome fighting the third.
She scooted across the ground to kick the kneecap of Rome’s assailant. The man crumpled and clutched his knee in agony.
“C’mon,” Rome said breathlessly, grabbing her hand roughly and pulling her along the tunnel toward the entrance they came in.
Stumbling in haste, they raced through the winding shadows. At last they rounded the last corner of the dirt passage, arriving at the bunker door just as it crashed inward, almost banging into the two of them.
Bodies roared through the opening, taking advantage of their surprise. The door slammed shut, blocking the outside light, and they were once again shrouded in near darkness.
The rapid light and dark buzzed her vision for a quick moment, startling her into immobility. Someone thudded against her, forcing her back against the hard earthpacked wall. Her breath rushed out of her lungs, causing a momentary lapse of awareness.
Two solid punches hit her face, snapping her head backward, hitting the wall once more. Harper was sure she’d see stars if she could clear her vision.
A tackle at her thighs took her legs out from under her, and she tumbled to the uneven ground. Levering on her hands, she twisted her body around just as brutal hands yanked her up and pulled her to her feet.
She was then forced face-first against the wall while someone jerked her wrists around, trying to bind them together. She thrashed frantically to keep it from happening, tasting chalky bits of dirt that crumbled off the wall from the erratic movements.
Guns fired. The shots echoed loudly in the cramped space. Then the struggle with her hands stopped. And the large body behind her slid to the ground.
Swinging around, she watched a blur of forms grappling and shards of light dancing in the haze of gun smoke as the muted beams of the corridor flickered off the barrels of moving guns.
She also spotted the glint of a blade, which descended in a flashing arc to slice her forearm.
A searing burn stung her flesh. She reflexively reached for the wound. Pulling her hand away, she saw blood drip through her fingers. Ouch, that hurt like a son of a gun.
The knife ripped at her again. Harper backed away as the swipe passed just in front of her; then she lunged forward, knocking her attacker against the wall.
She heard the clang of the knife as it hit a rock on the ground. A quick backhand smacked her hard across the face.