Page 96 of Shattering Dawn
“You can’t get away without going through that crowd,” Gideon said, “not with a hostage. You might have a chance if you leave Amelia behind.”
“Do you really think I’m dumb enough not to have an exit strategy?” Cutler said.
“You were always the smartest man in the room,” Irene whispered, her voice fierce with barely restrained fury.
Cutler ignored her to move across the deck, hauling Amelia with him. He stopped and brought the heel of his low boot down hard on a section of the wooden planking. A large, square trapdoor sprang open, revealing a well of dense shadow. Briny air carrying the scents of the ocean wafted upward.
Amelia saw a flight of narrow steps leading down. Two distinct sets of energy prints burned on the wooden treads. She recognized both.
She raised one hand to touch the face of Cutler’s watch. But at that instant he released her throat and wrapped his fingers around her upper arm instead. He pushed her toward the steps.
“You go first,” he ordered. “If Sweetwater tries anything, you’ll die first. Clear?”
“Yes,” she said. Her voice steadied. She had made her decision. She was about to run a dangerous experiment on Cutler Steen. Talk about karmic-style justice.
She did not have her camera to help her focus and she could no longer reach the crystal in his watch. But she did not need control for what she was about to do. Her intuition told her that physical contact was enough. Cutler still had a bruising grip on her arm.
“Amelia?” Gideon said once more.
“Stay tuned,” she said. She was both exhilarated and terrified by the prospect of what she was going to try to do.
She went into her talent in a way that, until now, she had never attempted, never realized was even possible. It was like pulling the trigger of a gun. A part of her was shocked; horrified. But her survival instinct took over.Trust your intuition.
True, her intuition was not one hundred percent reliable—see stupid friendship with Irene Morgan—but nothing in life was risk-free.
She launched the full force of her talent at Steen, enveloping him in a violent, senses-dazzling tsunami of energy. She heard a scream. Not her, she decided. Cutler Steen. His aura sparked and flashed and burned with paranormal lightning.
He yanked her out of his way and flung himself down the dimly lit steps. He would have plummeted to his death if not for the narrow confines of the stairwell. His hands skidded along the walls, slowing his descent.
He vanished around a sharp turn. The screaming stopped but the sound of his scrambling footsteps reverberated up from the depths.
Gideon’s cane thudded on the deck as he rushed toward the tunnel. “He’s getting away.”
Amelia realized he was intent on pursuing Steen down the steps.She remembered the second set of energy prints on the treads and reached out to grab his arm.
“No,” she said. “Don’t go after him. Please. Stop.”
Gideon hesitated, his eyes heating with battle-ready tension. “I can handle him.”
“I know. That’s not it. I just don’t think you should go down there.”
“Are you sure of that?”
“Almost positive.”
“Almost?” The rumble of a powerful boat engine vibrated up the stairwell. “Lost him. Why the hell did you stop me?”
“The thing is, I noticed two sets of prints on the stairs. One set belongs to Steen.”
But Gideon wasn’t paying attention. He moved to the deck railing and looked down into the quiet cove. Amelia joined him. Together they watched a high-powered cruiser roar away from a concealed dock and fly across the cove, heading for the bay and the ocean beyond.
The explosion came a few seconds later, shattering the moonlit tranquility of the cove. The cruiser disappeared in a volcanic blast of fire that lit up the night. An instant later the vessel was consumed in the flames.
“Okay,” Amelia said, taking a deep breath. “I didn’t knowthatwould happen, but I had a feeling something very bad was going to take place down there at the bottom of the stairs.”
“Good call,” Gideon said. He turned. “She’s gone. No surprise.”
Amelia swung around. She and Gideon were alone on the deck.