Page 56 of Shattering Dawn
The tsunami of glacial energy struck before she had time to process what was happening. She fell headlong into the hallucinatory world of a nightmare.
The shards of the dream hurtled toward her with the force of a hurricane.
She walks into the shadowed lobby. Pallas and Talia follow her. There are three men waiting inside. She can’t see their faces. One of them is standing back, observing. She gets the impression he’s in charge.
The other two approach. They are smiling but she can sense the energy around them and she knows something is terribly wrong. They move forward as if to shake hands. That is when she sees the syringes.
She screams, trying to warn Pallas and Talia, but it is too late. They are screaming, too. The men plunge the needles into them. She turns to run butthe one who greeted them when they arrived wraps his arm around her throat, choking her, as he stabs the syringe into her upper shoulder.
She sinks into the darkness but the nightmare does not end…
She is aware of being lifted onto a gurney. A man in a surgical mask and gown appears…
Chapter Thirty
“Amelia, wake up.Do you hear me? Wake up.”
Gideon’s dark voice cut through the nightmare. The words were a command but she sensed another element embedded in them—a desperate plea.
She pushed the last fragments of the dream aside and opened her eyes. She was aware of a strange silence and then she saw Gideon looking down at her. His aura blazed in the shadows.
Reality slammed back. She became aware of the hard tiles beneath her, the darkness and the eerie silence.
She sat up abruptly, automatically pushing hair out of her eyes.
“Oh, crap,” she whispered, scrambling to get to her feet. “Are you okay?”
“Me?” Gideon sounded confused by the question. “Yes. What about you?”
“I’m all right. I think.” She looked around and saw the crumpled figure on the floor. “One of them was sneaking up on you. I thought I might be able to stop him but I was afraid I might shoot you instead. You turned around, I saw your eyes, and then I was suddenly in a dream.”
“A nightmare,” Gideon said in a grim voice. “I know.”
Her senses were spinning. She shook her head in an instinctive effort to clear it but that motion made things worse. Her stomach protested. For a few precarious seconds she thought she was going to be sick. She pressed a hand to her stomach.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Gideon demanded.
“I’m a little dizzy, that’s all.” She took a couple of steadying breaths. “What just happened?”
“I’ll explain later. Do you think you can help me get our informant into the car? I’m not sure I can manage it alone, not with this cane.”
Her stomach was calming and the world was no longer whirling. She was still shaky but she knew she had to hold it together long enough to get the injured man into the SUV.
“Yes,” she said.
It was a struggle, but between the two of them they got the informant on his feet, his arms draped around their shoulders. He groaned but he tried to do what he could to aid in his own rescue. The three of them staggered past the crumpled Deacon.
Amelia’s senses were still frazzled. She could not focus her talent, but when she and Gideon steered the injured man across the lobby she saw the silhouettes of two more attackers sprawled on the floor.
“That makes three,” she said. “Are they—?”
“No,” Gideon said.
She tried to sort out her chaotic memories. “There was a fourth.”
“The guy in charge got away,” Gideon said. “I recognized his voice. He was the one driving the van the night they tried to kidnap you. Pretty sure two of the others were with him. I didn’t recognize the fourth guy.”
“Thank God you’re all right. I was so afraid they would kill you.”