Brain Storm by Cat Gilbert (ebook reader computer .txt) 📕

Caleb. I reached out with my mind and heard nothing but silence. Caleb! I tried again, focusing my fear into it. Wake up!

It sounded something like a boat engine off in the distance, sputtering to a start. I waited, holding my breath, as it died completely and I pushed again, even harder. Caleb! This time, he heard me and I listened, amazed, as the engine sputtered once more and then settled into a steady low purr.

“Got him.” Relief flooded through me, as I filled Brown in on the plan. From his responses, he seemed to understand what was about to happen. I looked over at Mac and gave him a nod. We were good to go.

Mac signaled Trinity to call in the gas leak and then slipped from the van to join Jonas and open the canisters. I rolled down my window in order to hear the sirens, my cue to signal Brown to sound the alarm inside, while Trinity would alert the other companies in the warehouse area, hopefully resulting in the confusion and panic we needed as cover.

Within what seemed like seconds, I could make out the sound of sirens in the distance and watched as people began running from the units behind me.

Now! I shouted to Brown, praying that he heard me as I started up the van. Within seconds, the back door flew open, and a man appeared, waving his hand in front of his face, trying to disperse the heavy scent of rotten eggs that was spewing from the hidden canister by the door as he witnessed the mass exodus from the buildings around him.

The sirens were growing louder, and the man, hearing them, rapidly disappeared back into the unit, slamming the door behind him. Suddenly, the huge delivery door began to roll up, and I caught sight of Jonas and Mac as they rolled under it, dark shadows disappearing into the blackness beyond. I threw the van into gear and quickly moved to block the escape route from the garage as the door fully opened revealing the black yawning cave inside.

Time seemed to stand still as I gripped the steering wheel, straining to see in the darkness. They had gone in alone, and I was useless to help them. Seconds ticked by and I waited blindly, Brown buzzing away in my head. Finally, I saw them, dragging Brown along through the dark.

“We’re in!” shouted Jonas from the back, as he slammed the door and I hit the gas, making a fast u-turn and rocketing down the length of the warehouse. I rounded the corner of the building nearest the exit only to squeal to a stop at the line of cars waiting to make their way out from the complex. I joined them, crawling forward as more trucks and cars lined up behind us, all the while watching the rear view mirror for any sign of pursuit.

Trinity was up ahead, waiting. As soon as she saw us, she moved the Camaro forward and then hit the brakes, effectively cutting off the flow of traffic. We cut in through the opening and shot out onto the street as emergency vehicles rushed past us into the complex. Within minutes, I was turning onto the highway and merging with rush hour traffic.

“Do you see her?” I asked Jonas, who was searching the cars behind us frantically.

“No,” came the terse answer. I shot Mac a worried look and started to slow down for the next exit. I wasn’t leaving her behind. We were going back.

“Wait, wait! There she is.”

I glanced in the rearview mirror in time to see Trinity slide in behind me and finally let out the breath I’d been holding. We’d done it. We had Brown, and we had gotten away with it. It had almost been too easy.

As soon as the thought crossed my mind, I hit the brakes and swerved to make the exit. It was too fast a move for Trinity to follow and she blew past, carried along in the wave of cars around her.

“Call and tell her to go on,” I ordered Jonas. “Remind her to call Mama D.”

I swung into a grocery store parking lot as Jonas made the call. Driving behind the store, I found what I was looking for and sped past the delivery doors, sliding to a stop next to the dumpsters.

“Dr. Brown,” I said, not bothering to turn around and look at him. “I’m going to need you to strip. Quickly, please.”

The urgency in my voice must have cut through the shock of my words. Mac and Jonas had the doors open and Brown out of the van within seconds. I impatiently beat a pattern out on the wheel while I kept my eyes glued to the side of the building, prepared to see headlights bearing down on us. Even knowing they were coming, seeing the flash of light cut through the night had me sucking in my breath. I knew they’d be on us in seconds.

“Hurry!” I shouted as they threw Brown into the back. Mac jumped in the front, slamming the door as I drove the pedal to the floor. The van leapt forward, and we barreled around the building as the headlights behind us raced to catch up.

“They’re on us,” Jonas announced as I careened into traffic, ignoring the stop sign, and swung over to a highway entrance ramp, praying I could lose them in traffic. “There’s a second car. They’re right on our tail.”

I sped up the entrance ramp and merged in with traffic, which was heavier, but still moving. We had either turned around or were on a different Highway altogether, but it appeared we were heading back into Denver.

“Where are we? Where do I go? Bryan!” I yelled, barely remembering to use his alias in the panic of the moment. I glanced in the rear view and saw nothing but headlights behind me. “Do you still see them?”

“They’re still behind us,” Jonas answered, focused on the cars behind us. I looked over at Mac in frustration.

“Why am I driving?” I ground out at him as traffic around me began to slow. I would have much preferred him or Jonas to be behind the wheel.

“Taylor.” My head snapped around at the sound of Brown’s voice, and I found myself looking into a pair of calm gray eyes. “You can handle this. You can stop them. You just need to relax and do what I tell you.”

I jerked my head back around, ignoring him, to watch the traffic around me.

“Bryan, find him something to put on. I refuse to be run to ground with a naked man in the car.”

I heard Jonas rummaging around behind the back seat and glanced back in time to see him toss some clothes in Brown’s direction. I was cutting through traffic, moving forward as much as possible. Looking down at the dash clock, I saw it wasn’t even five yet. This was only going to get worse with time. I needed to get off the highway.

“Taylor,” Mac said, grabbing my shoulder. “You need to listen to him. He said you can stop this.”

I felt an instant drop in my anxiety levels and realized Mac was bleeding off the worst of my panic. Traffic around us was slowly but surely grinding to a halt. The lanes going in the opposite direction were flowing smoothly with a lot less traffic. I looked forward again only to be greeted with the sight of brake lights flowing in a ribbon of red straight toward us. Apparently, there’d been an accident up ahead. In my panic to escape, I had chosen the worst possible route. Great. Just fantastic. Where was all that psychic stuff when you really needed it?

“Fine.” I was resigned. We hadn’t come to a complete stop, but we might as well have. Considering the options, I didn’t have much choice but to listen to Brown. “What do you want me to do?”

“Change seats with Sean. You’re going to need to concentrate.”

I was blank for a second before I realized he was talking about Mac. Apparently, he was Sean when Brown met him at the Agency. He’d forgotten to mention that little fact.

“Okay, Sean,” I said, cocking an eyebrow at him. “Slide it over here.”

He had the decency to look somewhat chagrined as we managed to change seats without too much difficulty in the slow moving traffic.

“Where are they, Bryan?” I asked, buckling into my seat, ignoring Brown for the moment. “Can you see them?”

“Yeah. Black sedan, far right lane about five cars back. Three guys inside from what I can see. The other one is a little further back coming up in the fast lane though. It’s a light color, can’t tell too much in the dark, but there’ s couple of guys in there.”

I felt the skin crawl up the back of my neck. They’d been ready for us. I didn’t know how, but they’d been ready. We’d hit them at 4 in the morning, and they had two cars and at least five men, dressed, gassed up and ready to go. They’d been expecting us, and there was only one way they could have known.

He’s one of them! I concentrated on Mac and sent the words of warning over to him. From the way his jaw clenched, I knew he had heard me. So two of us knew now. Problem was, what to do about it. Brown seemed willing to help us for the time being. That was our next step. Get rid of the tail. Then we’d see about Brown.

“So tell me,” I asked him. “How exactly do I stop them?”

Brown was quiet for a beat or two watching me before he answered and I wondered if he had heard my mental warning to Mac.

“Get a visual on the car. You won’t need it in the future, but it will be easier for you if you can see your target the first few times.”

See the target? What was I going to do? Blow it up? I rolled down the window and reached out to adjust the side mirror until I had the car Jonas described in view. They