Dark Abyss by Kaitlyn O'Connor (classic novels for teens .txt) 📕

that he be tried in the states, saying that he won’t get a fair trial here … because we’re mutants and prejudiced against anyone that isn’t.”

“What about kidnapping me?” Anna demanded indignantly.

His expression twisted with anger and disgust. “Paul Warner actually did the kidnapping. If he survives from the hole your father blew in him trying to shoot Simon, he may be willing to turn on his boss, but we aren’t counting on it. In any case, Cavendish is your father. He could claim that he’d only asked Paul to pick you up and you’d gone willingly.”

“But I could testify that I didn’t!”

He looked uncomfortable. “It would just be your word against his and he could discredit you by saying you were angry with him about something and were lying to get back at him. The jury might or might not buy it, but it’s thin.”

“He blew up my house.”

“Paul blew up the house.”

“But it was on his orders! I heard him ask Paul if he’d taken care of it.”

Joshua looked doubtful and angry. “Did he say, specifically, ‘did you blow up the house like I told you to?’”

Frustration surfaced. “No. He just asked him if he’d taken care of it, but he couldn’t have meant anything else when Paul did blow it up!”

“He could say he did, though. Unless Paul recovers, like I said, and is willing to spill his guts …. Anyway, that happened outside of our jurisdiction, technically. We can’t charge him with it and we haven’t told the Water City PD that we suspect him of being behind it, either—they’d demand extradition. We don’t want to take a chance on placing you where he could have someone else grab you. Whatever his motives were before, Anna, you’re a witness and Miles Cavendish doesn’t strike us as the sort of man that would let sentiment come between him and his goals. If it comes down to the possibility of going to prison if you testify, your life could be on the line.”

She already knew that and it still set her heart to squeezing painfully. “The paddler!” she exclaimed abruptly. “Did it get blown up?”

Joshua looked at her strangely. “I don’t know.”

“Can you find out?” she asked urgently.

“I might be able to,” he said doubtfully and somewhat reluctantly.

Anna studied him uneasily. “What aren’t you telling me?”

His lips tightened. She could see he was reluctant to tell her and the moment he realized there wasn’t any point in trying to keep it from her. “Cavendish’s organization has been blaming the explosion on mutant terrorists. There’s a lot of anti-mutant sentiment in the states right now. I don’t know if the Water City PD would be inclined to cooperate. In fact, I’m pretty sure they’ve shifted the focus of their investigation into the bombing to us.”

Even though Anna had thought it was a possibility, she was horrified and furious.

“That low down bastard! I knew that had to be part of the reason he’d done it!”

Joshua looked at her curiously. “What do you think the other part was?”

She looked at him unhappily. “My research. I made a copy and put it in the paddler. I was going to take it out to Simon and Ian to keep it safe, but Paul grabbed me before I could.”

Joshua still looked doubtful. “I’ll do what I can. I can’t make any promises.”

“I know, but it’s really important! If I just knew it was safe! I’d put my data chip in my reader and sort of slipped it under the seat in the paddler. There’s got to be at least a chance it survived the explosion.”

He took her hand and lifted it. “I’ll try, baby,” he murmured, brushing his lips lightly across her knuckles. “I know how important it is to you.”

Anna felt her throat close. He was so sweet! He’d almost gotten himself killed trying to save her and all he could think about was that he hadn’t been careful enough!

And the worst of it was that he felt so badly about it when she honestly thought it had been a freak accident that she’d been hurt. There hadn’t been time to worry about anything but speed, but she didn’t recall that he’d been particularly rough with her.

She’d cracked her head because the explosion had thrown them both down! And she was pretty sure she’d cracked her ribs because she was too busy trying to see if Simon and the others got out to be paying attention to her own situation.

* * * *

Caleb’s eyes were still glittering with brooding anger when they reached the home he shared with Simon, Ian, and Joshua. It dampened Anna’s excitement over the many gifts she’d gotten from the other watchmen in appreciation for her warning that had saved their lives.

Not that she felt comfortable about that part. She’d gone with her intuition and warned Simon. He’d taken care of getting everybody out. Besides that, she felt guilty by association since it had been her father that had planted the explosives, or had them planted, to start with.

No one had given her a gift of any description since her mother had died, though, and it had felt like Christmas on steroids when all the watchmen that had taken part in the raid had come to see her and brought a gift—almost too thrilling for words.

Caleb hadn’t said anything when she wanted them loaded up to take with her, but she could see he didn’t like it at all.

She had mixed feelings about that. The gifts were hers, after all, and she certainly had no intention of slighting the men