Love in the Shadows by Caryn Moya Block Read Free Book Online Page B

they’ve collected.
How does that sound?”
    Everyone looked at each
other.
    “I know it’s risky, and there could be
complications. Everyone should arm up and be on alert. I don’t want
anyone hurt, but the building can be burned to the ground. Any
questions?” Joe asked. “No? Then, Charlie, you get the accelerant
and, Hugh, you go find out how best to sabotage the generators and
power.
     
    §
     
    Katherine followed the men reluctantly
across the street and ordered breakfast. She picked at her food
until Joe looked at her and quirked an eyebrow. She knew what he
thought. She must eat to keep up her strength. She would need to be
in top form tonight.
    Katherine stopped picking and ate
everything. She might not know what it tasted like, but she ate it.
Joe got up to pay the bill, and everyone else got up and headed
back to the hotel. Katherine was about to enter her room when Joe
stopped her.
    “No heroics tonight,” Joe said. “It’ll
be tempting to spring him right away if you find a way into that
wing. There’s more at stake here than saving Derek. To help all the
Shadow Walkers, we’ve got to destroy the data they’ve collected. We
stick to the plan. Is that clear?”
    “Katherine nodded. She would go
stir-crazy waiting for nightfall.
     
    §
     
    Derek needed the peace of the Earth and
once more sank his consciousness down into its depths. The vision
of his ancestors had rattled him. Would Quiet Thunder agree to
teach him to be the tribal healer?
    He closed his eyes and rested in the
quiet solitude of Earth. His breathing slowed, and then he heard
it. A thumping as if a deep bass drum played. He listened with all
his might and heard it again. The vibrations wavered through him.
Still, he listened, letting the sound comfort him as it would if he
were resting in the womb under his mother’s heart. He would be
ready for whatever came.
     
    §
     
    The time had finally come, and
Katherine followed Joe and the others into Shadow. Joe insisted
that she carry an assortment of obsidian-bladed knives and a
handheld crossbow with bolts tipped with obsidian blades. Shadow
destroyed anything synthetic, and most metals shattered from the
cold. Only gold, silver, copper and platinum could be carried
successfully through Shadow.
    Katherine went in the building, then
followed the hallway down to the end and turned left. She couldn’t
believe her luck when a blond woman opened the door to the left
wing.
    Katherine ran into the wing as the
entrance closed. She walked down the hall to Derek’s door. The
guard she had seen before was gone. There were several rooms next
to Derek’s, including a break room with the door open.
    Katherine went in and looked around.
With the lights off, this room would work to open a portal and
access the building. Even with the lights on, there were shadows
under the tables and behind the vending machines. Joe had been
right to warn her. She was very tempted. All she wanted to do was
get Derek out of his room and back here to take him
home.
    “What are you tempted to
do, love? I feel you close by,” Derek
asked through their link.
    “Why, to spring you, of
course. Ten minutes, and we could be out of here,” Katherine sent in frustration.
    “They have cameras on me
at all times. It is better to wait until night when the people are
gone. You know that. I can see the plan Joe has in place in your
mind,” Derek sent to her. “Wait for Joe.”
    Walking away from Derek now would be
the hardest thing she had ever done. There were the data and the
safety of the Shadow Walker tribe, of which she was now a member.
She needed to wait.
    “Expect us after seven
tonight,” Katherine sent
telepathically.
     
    §
     
    Colette Pelletier was furious. She’d
been told by her superiors that she was a disgrace to humanity.
Her. For some reason, she couldn’t fathom, they rejected the idea
of her experimenting on a human, even after her first round of
tests showed conclusive evidence that this man