From A Dream Page 2

  He sighed and leaned against a tree, searching as he did. “No. Nothing has turned up from any source.”

  “I’m sorry. I know how hard this is for you. I’m heading to the checkout now, so I’ll see you in ten minutes or less.”

  The understanding in her voice warmed him despite the snow packed in his boots. “Okay, beautiful, I should be back then.”

  “Okay.” There was a pause. “And, Dom? I think you should get naked and into the bath.”

  He smirked. “Only if you join me.”

  “You are insatiable, Mister Palmer—but I could be persuaded.”

  “Only for you, Miss Best.” He felt her break from his mind. Putting his hands in his pockets, he felt the small box and grimaced. He had meant to find a place to hide it, but the captain, and lack of helpful information, had distracted him. He pulled it out of his pocket, slowly opened it, and looked at the ring. It wasn’t a huge cluster of stones, nothing too flashy for Jennah, but it was large enough that he hoped she’d be proud to wear it and show it off. He snapped it closed and stuffed it back into his pocket. Things were going to be perfect when he asked her to spend the rest of her life with him.

  He glanced around and decided he’d better start heading back to her place. You know you’re in love when the snow in your boots doesn’t even bother you, he thought with a shake of his head.

  Brody would laugh his ass off if he could see me now . A noise had him jumping to take cover behind the closest tree. He automatically reached for his gun, ready. He squatted and looked around the tree in each direction. He exhaled loudly when a rabbit, frozen in its tracks, came back to life and fled in the opposite direction. He slowly tucked his gun back into his jeans as he stood. Paranoia was definitely an issue.

  Quickening his pace, he headed back, making sure he stepped in his own tracks. Jennah would laugh when he told her that he was being stalked by an assassin bunny.

  “Dom!”

  The panic in her voice sent him running in the direction of the building. “Babe, what is it?” He kept moving fast, his hand riding beside the gun grip now sticking up for easy reach out the bottom of his coat. “Jennah!” He reached for her and felt panic.

  “Dom!”

  “I’m coming!” He lengthened his strides and jumped through the snow as fast as his legs could manage.

  When he reached the back door, he whipped it open and ran into the kitchen. He stopped and listened—nothing. Pulling the gun, he gripped it lightly and let his arm hang down his side. He walked out into the living room with slow movements and let all senses filter back what was around him.

  When he’d almost reached the front door, he stopped, his heart lodged in his throat as he looked at the table knocked to the floor and grocery bags scattered with the contents spilled all around them.

  With long strides, he was out the door and into her driveway. Her car was there. He caught movement from the corner of his eye, and he spun, gun aimed and ready. A black-capped pickup was fishtailing down the street. He ran to the end of her drive and aimed at it. Squinting, he tried to make out the plate, but there wasn’t one.

  He swore and lowered the gun. It was too far, and without knowing if Jennah was in the back of it, he couldn’t take a chance on a stray shot.

  Fumbling for his phone in his jacket, he flipped it open and started to walk back over his own boot prints toward the house. He punched in Brody’s number as he knelt and looked closer at the red drops in the snow. He clenched his jaw and resisted the urge to touch it. Brody answered the phone. “They got Jennah.”

  “What? When? Where are you?”

  Dom straightened and studied the footprints in the snow. There weren’t any individual prints that he could make out. She had struggled, if the drag marks were any indication. “At Jennah’s. Get the kit, call the captain, and get here before it’s dark!” He flipped the phone closed and stuffed it in his pocket. He reached into his other pocket and pulled out one of his gloves and knelt down by the drops of blood again. Please, don’t let it be hers, he chanted in his mind while he tented the glove over the red in the snow, to mark and protect it until Brody arrived.

  Standing up slowly again, he looked around for his own tracks. Finding them, he walked back toward the house as he followed the marks beside the drive. He spotted another spot of red and clenched his jaw again. Damn it! Every instinct in his body had told him something was going to happen. He should have done something about it!

  “Dom?”

  Something inside him went off when her voice filled his mind. She could still call him. “Are you okay?” He swallowed the lump in his throat.

  “I thin . . . yes.”

  “There’s blood.”

  “Not mine. I think I broke one of their noses.”

  A beast he didn’t know lay inside him rose up at the thought of her struggling against two assailants. “There are two?” He took careful steps toward the door and made sure he didn’t touch anything as he waited for her to reply.

  “Yes, two. One is your height, the other closer to mine.”

  “Did you get a look at either?” He stepped carefully over the spilled groceries and went back toward the kitchen. He couldn’t take a chance in touching anything until Brody got here.

  “No, they wrapped something around my face.”

  He leaned on the counter and gripped it tightly in both hands. “Are you in a truck?”

  “I think—yes.”

  His anger flared. He’d been looking right at it! He should have been faster!

  “They knew you weren’t in the house, Dom.”

  He cursed under his breath. “I’m sorry, babe. I should have stayed in the house.”

  “Don’t!”

  He took a deep breath. “Can you tell me anything else?” He wanted to tell her he loved her and that he would find her, but she was a cop. She knew as well as he did that he needed facts to find her.

  “I . . . no!”

  He straightened from the counter, every muscle in his body tensed. “Babe?”

  “Dom . . . no . . .”

  The connection was gone. It hadn’t faded, like she had moved out of that range. It was like she was just gone! “Jennah? Babe!” Nothing. He clenched his hand and slammed his fist down on the counter. The cup that had been near the edge bounced to the floor and shards flew across the floor.

  He turned and fell into a squat with his back against the counter. Dropping his face into his hands, he sat there. Nothing could happen to her. She had to all right. His hands were trembling from the adrenaline pumping through his veins. Lifting his head, he glanced back out toward the door. Focus! He had to get it together and do what he was trained to do.

  From A Dream

  Chapter Two

  When Brody pulled up outside, Dom watched him walk slowly and carefully along the side of her car, looking for the same tracks he had been looking for. He was trying not to lose it, but they didn’t have long before it would be too dark to find anything.

  Brody stepped in the doorway. “The glove?”

  Dom went over and took the large case from his hand. “It’s mine. It’s covering blood.” He dropped the case onto the couch and opened it. As he pulled out the gloves, he looked over his shoulder to see Brody with a concerned look on his face. “It’s theirs, not Jennah’s.”

  He pulled on one glove and then paused in the motion of pulling on the other one. Hesitantly, he glanced back at the other man. Brody stood there with his head cocked to the side, his eyebrows raised while he studied him. Dom looked down at the floor for a second. He had just slipped up. Unbelievable.

  Sighing, he turned and looked over at him. He shrugged. “Okay—you know those fantastic tales of me being able to read minds that were going around a few years ago?” Brody nodded. Dom pinched the bridge of his nose with his latex-covered fingers. “They’re not that far off. I can communicate by thought with some—well, I’ve only ever come across five others.”

  “And Jennah is one?” Brody
asked quietly.

  Dom nodded and looked back over by the door.

  “We’re going to find her. He pulled gloves out of his pocket and turned to go back out the door, and then paused. “Can you talk to her now?”

  Dom scowled at the glove he was trying to get on his too damn big hand. “We were—then she was just gone.”

  Brody stepped over the items scattered on the floor and stopped in front of him. “Like you lost signal or something?”

  Dom squinted at him. “Do I look like a friggn’ radio?” he spat.

  Brody raised his hands in a silent plea. “Hey, I’m just trying to get it, okay? All I was asking was if there are restrictions—like when you go into a tunnel with a cell phone.”

  Dom gritted his teeth and thought about if briefly before he shook his head. “I don’t think so. We had no problem while I was in Wyestate Prison. But we couldn’t at the safe house.”

  Brody nodded thoughtfully. “So, okay distance is an issue.”

  “No—I mean it is, but they hadn’t been gone long enough to have been that far.”

  Brody frowned. “Could she have shut it off—if you can even do that—to focus on them?”

  Dom paced to the window and pulled the curtain back. Would she do that? He shook his head. “I don’t think that’s it, not with the way it happened.” The panicked sound in her voice was still haunting him. A look crossed the other man’s face, but he looked away before Dom could figure it out. “What?” Brody looked at the tipped over table. “Damn it, Brody, what?”

  Brody sighed and looked back at him. “She put up one hell of a fight, Dom. Maybe they knocked her out.”

  Dom felt like someone smacked him in the gut. The feeling told him that Brody was right. She wouldn’t have just lay there and played a helpless victim. Damn it, Jennah!

  Brody cleared his throat and walked over to the case. “I’m going to go get that blood to send to the lab.”

  Dom nodded, his jaw clenched. “There’s more that just that spot.”

  “I’ll get it,” he said as he headed back toward the door.

  Dom stood there, staring at the case on the couch. She has to be all right. She had to! He went over and grabbed the camera out of the case. Spinning back, he headed out the door and hoped Jennah spoke to him soon.

  * * * *

  Jennah opened her eyes. It was dark, completely and utterly . . . dark. What time is it? She rubbed a hand over her eyes and tried to persuade them to focus. Opening them again, she huffed out a breath. It was hopeless, not even a shadow existed wherever she was. She stiffened when she realized that she was lying on something lumpy. She pushed up onto her hand and ran the other one over whatever she was on. It was some sort of padding, scratchy and lumpy. Please let it just be an old mattress.

  Sitting all the way up, she hissed and held her forehead. Her head objected to being upright. What had they done to her? Dropping her hand down, she inched it out away from her body to see what she was on. It touched nothing after a few seconds. She moved one leg slowly out. Her foot met air and then fell down to hit the floor. Okay, so it is a bed—or cot is probably more likely considering it’s very narrow.

  Something dragged over her leg still on the bed. She froze and tried not to be one of those females that freaked out at the thought of a creature of some kind. Taking a deep breath, she held it as she moved her hand down toward her leg. She held her breath when her hand came in contact with material. A blanket or quilt maybe—I hope.

  She turned her head and, ignoring the dizzy feeling movement created, tried to see anything. This is the darkest space I’ve ever been in. She turned and lowered her other leg off the cot. Inhaling deeply, she tried to identify the smells. It was a damp mustiness, but earthy, and not in a good way. Her stomach clenched at the offensive scent. Grimacing, she leaned down until her fingertips touched the floor beside her foot. It was dirt. Cold and damp dirt.

  The sound of fabric brushing against fabric dawned on her as she moved her arm back up. She still had her coat on. Frantically, she searched all of the pockets. All they had left her were her gloves. No cell phone. So much for having light, she thought with a groan.

  Moving cautiously to the edge of the cot, she began to slowly stand up, keeping one hand a few inches above her head just in case this space wasn’t large enough for her to stand in. When she was standing straight, she reached higher above her head. The ceiling was only a few inches above her. So, this is a very short, dirt-floored . . . something?

  She took one careful step with her hand stretched out in front of her. Please don’t let me touch anything—ick! She frowned at her own girlie thought and then shrugged it off, having decided that just about anyone would freak out in her situation—so she was allowed a few weak moments.

  Four steps from the cot, she touched something cold and rough. She moved closer, an inch at a time, and slid her hand across it. Cement blocks. A cellar is a possibility. She closed her eyes, not that it did anything since it was dark. If she was in a cellar, there had to be some way to get in—or hopefully, out.

  She began moving one small step at a time along the wall. After four steps, she realized she could spend an eternity walking the border of this space and never know if she’d gone right by the exact spot she’d started in. She stopped and dropped her hand away as she took a mental inventory of what she had on her. She was not taking off a boot, that part she was certain of. Stepping in something was going to be bad enough with her boots on. Her gloves weren’t large enough. She could walk right over one and never know it. She sighed and ran a hand up the sleeve of her jacket. Shaking her head, she decided that she wasn’t using it either, being that it was her only clean source of warmth. She touched the tip of her nose to find it cold, which confirmed that the jacket was staying on.

  What else? Her shoulder holster, had they left it? She felt under the jacket and then moaned when she touched nothing but her shirt. They weren’t leaving her much to work with, and it was beginning to really annoy her. She felt over the pockets in her pants, nothing. She moved her hand back up. They’d even taken her belt! She smirked. After breaking one of their noses, they were probably afraid she’d strangle them with it.

  She began to work her way back to where she hoped the cot was when a thought crossed her mind. If this is a cellar, shouldn’t there be a light somewhere? She stopped and looked up. Something tickled over her face. She jerked down and brushed her hands over her face. Cobwebs? A shiver went through her despite her resolve to not be too girly about this.

  Turning with her arm stretched out again, she felt for the wall. She’d rather take her chances with it right now than feel through the cobwebs on the ceiling. Holding her hand over her nose, she tried not to inhale the smell too much. When her hand touched the wall again, she stopped and stood just as she was. Coat or boot? She chewed on the inside of her cheek while she tried to decide which she was the least hesitant over. Moving her hand from the wall, she grit her teeth and pulled her coat off. Rolling it so the inside was not going to touch the dirt floor, she knelt down and set it a few inches from the wall.

  Straightening again slowly, she took a deep breath and then grimaced when the pungent smell filled her nose again. Holding one hand over her nose and mouth lightly, she reached with the other for the wall. Step or slide? Slide was probably the safest, sort of feel her way before she stepped. At that moment, she decided she hoped she had completely shattered the nose that had connected with the back of her head. It was the least he could do, walk around with a messed up nose, for putting her in this awful place.

  Sliding her foot out, she was careful to not go further than it would be to comfortably step with her short legs. She debated on putting on her glove by the second step, after what she was pretty sure was mildew her hand had just touched on the wall. The glove, however, was in her jacket, which was back where she’d started.

  “Dom?” Please be there. Instinct told her he wasn’t going to answer, so she kept moving while she waite
d. “Dom?” Panic started to grip her and she fought to stay calm, level-headed. If she could just hear him for a moment, she’d be okay again.

  “Dom . . .”

  Find me. She lost count of how many steps she’d taken, not that it really mattered if she had the precise measurements of where she was. As long as she found a way out, she really didn’t care if it was ten-by-ten or thirty-five feet square complete with a fancy Jacuzzi tub in it!

  * * * *

  Dom hung up the phone as Brody came back through the door. “Captain said he’d be here shortly. He’s sent some sort of specialist on ahead of him.” He tried to remember the name. “I don’t know what they’re going to do. It’s too dark to see shit out there now!”

  Brody nodded as he squatted down by the items still scattered on the floor. “We got everything. Do we try to lift anything off of this stuff?” Using his pen, he moved a tomato a few inches on the floor. “I really doubt they manhandled the groceries.”

  Dom picked up the camera and went over. He held it out. “Just take pictures of it and then we’ll get it picked up.” Brody nodded and started to take the pictures. Dom stood there and tried not to glance at his watch again. Time was not going to bring her back. “Jennah? Honey, can you hear me yet?” He’d been trying every few minutes to see if she would, or could, respond. “Please be okay, babe. I need you to be okay.”

  Brody’s cursing snapped Dom’s attention back to him. He looked at him. “What is it?” He wasn’t sure what the look was he was giving him. Sympathy or what? He was not in the mood to play guessing games! “Brody.”

  Brody pointed to something on the floor. Frowning, Dom went over closer and squatted down. He looked at the small box, but the words weren’t registering when he read them. His heart sped up and a lump made it difficult to breathe as he reached out slowly and picked up the box. It was a pregnancy test. He stared at it and then looked up at Brody.