“It’s life or death,” Lexi blurted, annoyed at having to explain anything to the stranger. She turned to Vikkras, her face pounding in fear and frustration. “Who is this? Why are we stopping for her?”
Vik released a heavy sigh. “This is Catherine Moss, Dean of the College of Psychic Arts and Mayor of Philadelphia. Catherine, Lexi Cross is Gideon’s woman. She’s a powerful precog and clairvoyant, and she’s just seen an incident involving the Prometheus Group. At the city mews right now. Catherine, we must go immediately.”
Lexi clenched her fists as the woman studied her for what seemed like an hour, though to be fair, Ms. Moss actually made a lightning fast decision.
“I’ve heard how powerful your talents are. Cross-world telepathy and clairvoyance is previously unheard of,” she said, nodding to Lexi in acknowledgment. “I’m glad you took the initiative to come warn us, Ms. Cross.”
Lexi offered her a relieved smile.
“My guard and I will follow you to the mews. Maybe we can help,” she continued as they hailed two carriages, Lexi and her friends piling into one, the Mayor and her guard in the other.
They sat in silence as the drivers sped to the stables. Alana sat across from her in their coach, not wasting time on the questions clearly showing on her face, her sea green eyes scanning Lexi’s body.
Still wearing the stupid blouse and skirt she’d put on for her interview, Lexi dropped her gaze and wiped at her bloody knees. Panic finally caught up with her and she ignored the tear dropping from her eye.
“We’ll find him.” Alana’s soothing voice made the merest dent in her fear, but Lexi appreciated the effort.
“It’s a question of how fast we find him, I’m afraid. We’ve already lost so much time.”
The carriages stopped in front of the stables and they all jumped out. One of several large mews in the city, this one had three big arches fronting the brick façade. They entered the middle and closest one, long rows of stalls and flickering gas lamps spreading out before them. All was quiet except for the sounds of the horses and a couple birds winging through the rafters.
She knew the location of Socrates’ stall and picked up the pace. Her mouth opened to call for Gideon, but the guard placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her. “Shh.” He shook his head, and moved to the front of their group, pulling a knife from his belt as he did so.
Five rows down the aisle and they heard the voices. Nothing from Gideon, but another man’s voice argued with a voice she knew well—a woman’s voice. They rounded a corner to the right and stopped up short.
Just as she’d seen in her visions, Gideon stood with his back to Socrates’ stall, a gun pressed tight to his temple. The man holding the gun wore a loose cotton shirt with rolled sleeves, suspenders, and leather pants, the clothing of this world. But his speech, demeanor, and the rectangular phone-shaped outline bulging in his pants pocket gave away the fact that he was from Lexi’s. Margot stood with hands on hips, face flushed and staring down the man.
Lexi took small relief that it was not Margot’s gun pressed to her lover’s head, but what did that mean? At some point her friend would be holding a pistol.
A heartbeat later and almost everyone spoke at once, shouting out names and questions.
Vikkras took one step forward, raising his palms. A rush of air blew through the aisle, quieting the chatter. He directed his attention to Gideon. “Care to fill us in on just what the bloody buggering hell is going on, brother?”
Gideon kept a stoic attitude, but the way his muscles tensed and rippled beneath his shirt spoke of coiled rage. “I thought it a nice day for a ride, my friend. However, I appear to have wandered into an ambush.”
The stranger spoke. “Curiosity killed the cat, my friend. If you’d kept your nosey ways out of everyone’s business, we wouldn’t be standing here. How is it possible that you seem to know the activity of everyone in this backward-ass town so well a person can’t even take up residence without you knowing about it and questioning everything.”
Margot flung her arms up. “I told you we’d handle it some other way, Spencer. We could have moved you again, replaced you. What the fuck do you think is going to happen now?” She glanced around at everyone standing there. “You’re going to kill and hide the bodies of six additional people? For a bunch of sophisticated mega-corporations and governmental bodies, it’s astounding how you people manage to have one cock-up after another.” She glanced at Lexi before turning back to Spencer. “What do you plan to do now, huh?”
Lexi looked toward Gideon and found his gaze riveted to her face.
“Hey, Heroine. Looks like you’re here to save the day again.”
Her eyes rounded. “Gideon? Can you hear me?”
“Yes, baby. Did you drop your mental wall? I’m so sorry, love. I didn’t mean to hurt you like that.”
“I never put up a wall. I thought you did. I left you alone these last weeks because I didn’t want to hurt you further.”
He shook his head, the corners of his eyes dropping. “I never put up a wall either. And I left you alone for the same reason. We must’ve been too upset for our link to connect across the universes. I would never have cut you off.”
Some of the tension in her shoulders relaxed, and her eyes grew wet with relief. He hadn’t disconnected on purpose. She wanted nothing more than to run to his arms as the arguing between Margot and the Prometheus Group’s man continued. “So, what do we do now? Can’t you just blow him away like you did at the storage unit?”
His lips pressed into a line. “Not with his gun up against my head like this. Even I’m not that fast.”
She glanced at his wrists and noted he hadn’t worn his crystals. Why would he bother when he thought he was just heading out for a pleasant ride?
He caught her thoughts. “Without their prism focus, even if I was able to move without getting shot, we could end up with a stray bullet hitting someone else. I’m not ready to risk it yet. And right now, I’m hoping the guard you brought along doesn’t try anything with that knife. We need to keep Spencer calm. Something’s wrong with him.”