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  August 1st

  Sarah smiled as Jonas’ mind touched hers. She closed her eyes. “Well, hello.”

  “Are you okay?” he asked urgently.

  Sarah swallowed hard, shielding her upset from him. She’d learned to compartmentalize herself where Jonas was concerned, but his urgency showed that she hadn’t done an efficient job during the course of the day. She took down her third student that morning, a young powerhouse named Danny.

  “I’m fine,” she assured him.

  “Uh, uh. You know you can’t pull that. You’re hiding something from me. I may not be able to pierce that shield of yours, but I can tell when you’re doing it.”

  Damn! Sarah had to tell him something, and it wasn’t going to be that she was proving herself the king of the hill at Clinton for her own protection. Jonas would go ballistic if he knew that one. Snatching on the other annoyance in her life, she decided on her ruse.

  “The OB is just trying to talk me into all sorts of stuff I am not going to agree to.”

  “Sarah?”

  “He took his blood tests. The ultrasound shows a healthy baby. I feel fine.”

  “Sarah, you’re—what—five months now, or close to it?”

  “I don’t want them watching. I don’t want Baker—”

  “I know,” he growled.

  “You want me to.”

  He hesitated. “I want you and the baby to have the best care. I want you both healthy.”

  “I don’t like it.”

  “Neither do I.” A burst of amusement passed over the link.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  Sarah stifled a groan as she felt the psi-induced touch of Jonas’ fingers on her thigh. “Jonas, Steven—” She didn’t want him to stop. She missed this so much it hurt.

  “Uh, uh. I’m soloing, sweetheart. Surprise.” His fingers moved higher, under the line of her nightshirt.

  She panted, her body reacting to what she knew rationally was just a phantom. It felt so real. Sarah closed her eyes and imagined Jonas leaning over her with his hand between her legs, slowly edging upward.

  “It is real.” His lips brushed over hers, as his fingers dipped into the depths of her, already wet for him.

  Sarah clamped her legs together, adding her own friction to Jonas’ sweet torture of her. She bit back another groan as she felt herself soaring toward a climax.

  “Come for me, Sarah. I’ve missed feeling you come for me.” His fingers hastened, driving her higher.

  Sarah moved her hips restlessly, as if she could force him deeper. Jonas obliged her whim. She cried out softly as his thumb stroked her clit.

  “Come with me, Jonas. Please, come with me.”

  “I will. Would you like to feel it?”

  “Oh, yes.”

  Sarah tensed at the impressions he fed her, Jonas stroking himself to visions of her enjoyment. He was on his back in a bed, his hand pumping his length, squeezing lightly at the base and under the head. She licked her lips as a drop of his precome slid down the head. He was close, as close as she was to coming.

  His voice rumbled through her mind, rough in need she felt clearly through the link. “I’m going to come in you, Sarah. Our first time when you’re home, I’m going to know what you feel like without the Plastilyte.”

  “Yes!” Sarah screamed the word to him over the link, gritting her teeth to keep silence in the room. Visions of his scalding heat inside her drove her over. Her body reacted fiercely, contracting around the psi-fingers within her as a wave of her cream washed down onto her thighs. She shook in the intensity of it.

  Jonas’ cry of release echoed through her. Still connected, Sarah felt that scalding wave on his hand, on his leg. He sent a swirl of psi-induced heat as a teaser to her, causing her to bow up at the feeling of it within her.

  “Inside you, Sarah. All of me.”

  “God, yes. Promise me.” Her body was wracked with the contractions coursing through her, her legs moving restlessly in her need for him.

  His lips brushed over her ear, his hand still stroking deep inside her. “Promise me you’ll let the doctor do his job, and I promise to come in you every chance you give me until the baby’s born.”

  “It’s a deal.” She groaned aloud as he slowed his movements. “Don’t stop.”

  Chapter Ten

  September 1st

  Jonas gasped at the joy he felt from Sarah. He reached for her automatically. “What is it?”

  “Another sonogram.”

  He felt the tightness in his chest. Another step he’d missed. Jonas missed the moment when Sarah had to start wearing his shirts over the maternity jeans and sweats Baker provided for her, when her own clothes were too tight over their baby. He missed soothing her morning sickness, indulging her cravings, and massaging away her aches. He missed the first butterfly stirrings of their baby inside her. Now this.

  “Did it go well?” he asked, trying to mask his pain from her.

  “Perfect.” There was a smug satisfaction in Sarah’s manner, and she was carefully shielding something from him.

  “Tell me. Share everything with me.”

  “Do you really want to know?” She was teasing him.

  “I do. I want to know everything.”

  “Do you want to know what our baby is?”

  “What it is? I don’t understand.”

  “A boy or a girl. Do you want to know?”

  “They could—You know?”

  She misinterpreted his flustered response, closing off another piece of herself from him. “If you don’t want to know, I’ll keep it hidden.”

  “No! Sarah, tell me please.” His heart ached as he felt her pleasure at the request.

  “It’s a boy, Jonas.”

  “A boy.” Jonas laughed heartily, earning him curious stares from the others. Jealously, he shielded her with his mind to keep her family away from this one private moment in their little family. “Have you thought of a name?”

  “Jonas?”

  “Yes?”

  “No. I mean—You don’t want me to name our son after you?”

  “No. I don’t. Maybe as a middle name. I want something better for him. Is there another name you’d like to use?”

  Sarah hesitated. “Mac.” It was the barest whisper in his mind.

  He grimaced. “Mac Paige?” She didn’t want to name him Mac Randall, did she?

  “Julian. Mac’s first name is Julian.”

  “Julian Paige. That sounds much better.”

  “Julian Jonas Paige. Do you like it?”

  “Yes. I do. I love you, Sarah.”

  “I love you, too.” Sarah was suddenly weary. He didn’t need to search her mind to know that she hadn’t carbed up before she contacted him.

  “Take a nap. Eat a snack.” He sent a kiss to her forehead. “We’ll talk again tonight. I promise.”

  Sarah’s mind touched his as she fell asleep. Jonas stayed with her for several long moments, reveling in his newfound knowledge. He had a son.

  “I’ll be there soon, Sarah,” he promised her.

  The time was right. Katie and Steven didn’t know what they were looking for, but Jonas did. He knew how to get to Griffin now. Griffin would be jumpy, but there was one chance. Jonas had to go alone and lay out his plan in person.

  He had everything he needed. He had a plan. He had the drive to make Griffin listen. Best of all, he had several things to offer in exchange for Griffin’s help. A way to Baker and the combined power to kill the SOB was just the tip of the iceberg.

  The greatest treasure Jonas had to offer Griffin was the knowledge for breaking shields. If Griffin had that knowledge, he wouldn’t still be hiding like he was. He would have taken Baker head-on long ago. Jonas was willing to bet that Griffin found a lucky slot, a one-time shot at sliding under the defenses of the shield in a moment of stress or exhaustion. That was how Jonas did it the first time. It took a while to analyze what he’d done so he could repeat it consciously.

  Once
Jonas learned the trick of unraveling the knit of the net, any shield could be broken with enough time to work on it. Jonas taught the others that much, and he would offer to teach Griffin and as many renegades as he had to teach to get Sarah back. Even Evan could do it, since it was a passive class, though he was limited to eavesdropping on thoughts while he was there.

  There was more that Jonas hadn’t taught the others and had no intentions of teaching them. Unraveling the net gave him a better understanding of the talents whose minds he entered. Jonas learned to weave webs of his own, creating shield-like pockets around a person to cut them off from outside influence, like a psi wave, without even touching the other mind.

  It was impossible to hide anything in a link. Likewise, the type of control Jonas learned to exert allowed him special access. With minimal energy drain from a host mind, Jonas could use the other talent as a transmitter tower for his own talent.

  So far, Sarah hadn’t caught on to his subtle uses of her mind. She assumed the brushes of his lips on her forehead were simply psi-induced. It felt good to feel her skin under his lips, her hair brushing his cheek. Jonas smiled and kissed her again before he pulled back.

  Evan raised an eyebrow. “What was that all about?” he demanded.

  Jonas laughed. “It’s a boy, Evan. I have a son.” A son who is not going to be raised without me.

  *

  Jonas parked his car in the lot outside Lynnhaven Mall. He sighed. He hadn’t done something this monumentally stupid since he went after Dillon alone in Lauderdale, but he was out of options. Jonas could play cat and mouse with Griffin until his son was in kindergarten, or he could put it all on the line and take this chance to make an ally out of his enemy.

  He walked the mall, affecting the look of bored disinterest while he mentally issued the invitation to Griffin and his men. It had been damn near impossible to slip all three of his crew, but Jonas managed it. Now he had to get Griffin to grant him an audience.

  “Tell Griffin that Paige wants to talk. No tricks. No traps. Just a private conversation. I want to make a deal with him.” Jonas repeated variations of that same mantra over and over, knowing the familiar sparks he’d felt from the mall all week meant Griffin had a few of his men hanging around either trying to lead Jonas in or sloppily trying something he needed done. It was a sure bet that at least one of them could read what Jonas was doing.

  Jonas actively scanned. He knew he made his catch when a group of three minor talents in Eseries shields started following him through the mall.

  “I’ll assume you don’t have telepathy. I’ll wait at the carousel for your orders.”

  The carousel in Lynnhaven’s center court had always been one of Jonas’ favorite places. He remembered the days before they blocked the view from Lynnhaven Parkway with the squat two-story parking structure, when you could still see the twinkling lights of the carousel from across the wide road and the parking lot, bright against the shaded glass that made up the front of the mall. His parents brought him there on Sundays before he got shipped off to Clinton, before his father freaked about his mind-crushing son being a damper on his military career.

  Sundays had always been Jonas’ favorite day. Sundays meant a ride on the carousel, an ice cream and a few video games in the food court up the glass elevator in the solarium behind the carousel, and a haircut at Cartoon cuts if he needed one. Jonas made himself a vow to bring his own son here someday. A day like that was worth passing on.

  Jonas leaned against the metal railing that surrounded the carousel. He watched the children laughing on the horses, a couple of lovers spinning and screaming in the teacups, and the interplay of lights and movements in the mirrors. He saw the short blonde approaching him in flashes of those mirrors. Two men stood further back, hands in the pockets of their jackets.

  The woman’s voice was low and tense at his back. “Go to Sandbridge. Park and sit on the beach.”

  Jonas pushed off the rail and headed out to his car without a backward glance. The shielded talents didn’t follow him.

  Tourist season over, Sandbridge was all but deserted. Jonas walked out onto the dark sand strip and sat, watching the waves roll in. The shoring projects and wave breaks had saved the small island. The only danger to it now was the yearly hurricanes that took pieces of shoreline, but the city had gotten much better at staying ahead of that in the years since Jonas sat on this beach last. They were back up to three roads again, but they had been in danger of losing the island altogether when he swam there last.

  He felt the group of five coming long before the barrel of a gun prodded his shoulder. Jonas hooked his hands behind his neck slowly. “No tricks. I just want to see Griffin. Check me if it makes you feel better. Paul can tell you I don’t carry.”

  “Stand.” It was the same female voice from the carousel.

  Jonas pushed to his feet, unsteady in the cold sand for a moment. Hands patted him down, and he dutifully spread his legs and allowed the search.

  “Hands.”

  Jonas sighed as he put his hands behind his hips for the cuffs. He hated handcuffs with a passion. Hands turned him until he faced the same short, blond woman.

  She scowled at him. “Lucky for you, Griffin wants to see you, Paige. Otherwise, we’d dump you in the tide.”

  He nodded, biting back a laugh at her belief that she would be doing anything he didn’t want her to do. She waved him toward the panel van waiting to take him to Griffin.

  *

  Jonas grimaced at the pull of the handcuffs on his wrists. Evan would be going nuts about now. He just hoped Griffin was what Jonas thought he was. If he wasn’t, he might have a whole lot of practice breaking shields and pitting the renegades against each other.

  He held his breath as he heard Griffin’s voice ahead. It was definitely time to face the music. Of course, all Griffin’s buddies had E-shields, but that could work to Jonas’ favor. They thought they were safe. After all, Jonas hadn’t broken through Evan in fifteen years.

  Griffin kicked his feet up on the desk between them. “Sit down, Paige. Tell me what you want.”

  Jonas sat in the offered chair, his pose stiff thanks to the cuffs he kept on for show and to build trust between them. “I need your help.”

  The older man’s smile spread. “The DoPT sends you after me on a dead or alive, and you ask me for a favor?”

  “You know who your enemy is. Don’t play games with me, Paul.”

  Griffin motioned the woman standing behind Jonas. “Take those damn cuffs off of him. With talent like his, it’s a joke.”

  Jonas sighed as the cuffs came off, sitting quietly while another guard pressed a gun hard into his shoulder in warning. When both guards moved away, Jonas rubbed his arms to ease the pins and needles sensation he was left with.

  He didn’t look at Griffin. “I could have come in fighting in force. I’m sure you know who they partnered me with by now. I came alone like this on purpose. I need your help, and I can’t get that fighting you.”

  Griffin slid a folded piece of paper across the desk. He nodded to it.

  Jonas picked it up and flipped it open. It was a copy of Sarah’s birth record. “How much do you know?”

  A picture slid across next. Jonas took it, running his hand over the image of Sarah. By the date stamp, the picture was less than a week old. She was wearing one of his tshirts over a pair of sweatpants. The bulge of their baby was already clearly visible, and her hand was placed along the underside, framing his son. She was looking out one of the bullet-proof windows in the rec room. Her expression was unreadable—not boredom, maybe sadness.

  “I know that baby is yours,” Griffin commented. “I know Baker set you up somehow.”

  Jonas rubbed at the phantom spot on his chest. He wanted to touch her and their baby. “Where did you get this?”

  Griffin shook his head. “I have a man close to her. He’s protecting her as much as that headstrong little lady will allow, and she doesn’t allow much. She’s quite tenaciou
s, isn’t she?”

  Jonas nodded. That sounded like Sarah. She was an expert at ordering overbearing males out of her way. With Mac and the guys around, she had to be. “If you know all that, you know why I need your help.”

  “You have a timeline, and Baker isn’t going to let her go easily.” His smile turned cynical. “On the other hand, she has quite the little fan club going. That is an asset you don’t want to ignore.”

  Jonas shook his head. “What are you talking about?”

  “She’s undermining a whole academy of kids. Baker’s afraid to move her to another academy. This way, she can only interfere with one group.”

  “Undermining how?”

  “She hasn’t told you? I know she’s in contact with you or her family.”

  “She’s in contact with both, but obviously she hasn’t told me this one.”

  “She’s redefined the rules. They haven’t had to use iso with any kid she takes an interest in for the last few months. She’s teaching them to be their own keepers, and she’s stood in the way of more than one being thrown in.”

  Jonas rubbed his forehead roughly. “Are you saying these kids will protect her?”

  Griffin shrugged. “If push comes to shove? A few of them, at least. Flynn will. He’s practically her second skin, has her back constantly when he’s not in class. That one is impressive, a good man to have at your back in a fight, almost my level.”

  Jonas pushed his jealousy back. Just because Sarah hadn’t mentioned this Flynn guy didn’t mean anything. “What about your man?”

  “He’s a keeper. Not much he can do.”

  Jonas played at Griffin’s shield, drawing information out as he went. Boyonton was his man next to Sarah. That was important to know.

  “What’s your plan, Paige? I know you didn’t come here to ask me to turn myself in.”

  “How many talents can you lay your hands on?”

  Griffin raised an eyebrow. “Why would you ask that?”

  Jonas took a deep breath. It was time to find out if his bargaining chip was as valuable as he believed. “Can you really crush an E-shield, or is that bullshit Baker is slinging your way?”

  Griffin blushed. “I—”