Through the Static by Jeanette Grey Read Free Book Online Page B

she could, touching his arm with her fingertips and stroking the tattered edges of his mind with her thoughts. “I know you can’t. But how long do you think we have?”
    His frown deepened. “Maybe an hour for them to regroup. Maybe more.” His voice faltered. “I hurt Charm. Bad.”
    â€œThe female?”
    He nodded. “Curse didn’t look good either.”
    The depth of his conflict bled into his thoughts and across the tendrils of their link. He’d wanted so badly to be free of them, had begged her to set him loose in those frantic, terrifying moments. But then he’d turned so violent on them.
    All the while, he’d been screaming at them for hurting her. He’d done so much of it to protect her. But remorse was setting in, hard.
    â€œThey’ll be all right.”
    He let out a shaky exhale before seeming to regain control. “They’ll track the transport. They don’t have another one, so it’ll take them time to catch up once they do. I’m scrambling our signal, but we’ll still need to change vehicles.”
    â€œAgreed.”
    How were they going to get another one? And once they had it, where would they go?
    For a second, she considered trying to contact Isabel, but instantly discarded the idea. It was too dangerous, for everyone.
    Taking care to shield her thoughts, she tried to come up with places to retreat to, but every one of them was complicated by Jinx’s presence. No one would trust her, hauling in a stray member of an active Three who she’d cut loose so clumsily. Communication with his partners had been upset, all right, but the others might still have a way to trace him. Might be able to follow him wherever they went, bringing all manner of trouble she didn’t need.
    Leading their boss straight to her.
    God, she still didn’t even know who Jinx worked for.
    Finally, her mind settled on the safe house she and Isabel and Stan had set up outside of town. While she was hesitant to expose its location, she didn’t know what other choice she had. The laboratory setup there was rudimentary, but she’d have most of the equipment she would need to at least try to fix the frayed edges of Jinx’s mind. She could probably tap into her network drive and download the portion of their research they stored online. It wouldn’t be as good as having their original notes, but it might be enough.
    Speaking to the glass of the window, she mused aloud, “I wish we could go back to my lab. If I just had all Stan’s notebooks…”
    Jinx’s hand tensed where it rested against the back of her neck. “It wouldn’t help if we could.”
    Uneasiness filled her. A hint of something he had yet to reveal. Something she didn’t want to believe. “What do you mean?”
    But she knew. From the images filtering across the link, she knew. Images of glass neatly shattering, of file boxes being gathered up and loaded. But she was unwilling to believe.
    Even though it physically pained her, she pulled away from his touch. The lack of contact crackled through her overburdened nervous system, doubling the weight of his psychic presence in her mind. He shuddered, too. She pushed past her discomfort and his, sitting up straight, her whole body angled toward his.
    â€œWhat. Do. You. Mean.”
    He kept his gaze on the road, his grip on the wheel steady, but his voice was choked, the thoughts edging across their link frantic.
    â€œAll your things,” he said, jaw locked. “They’re back at our barracks. We raided your offices last night.”

Chapter Six
    Everything was happening too fast.
    For years, Jinx had had three sets of senses, three pairs of eyes and ears and the collective wisdom of three minds. He’d had a voice, always telling him what to do in a crisis. He might not have always liked it, might have sometimes hated it, but he’d had it.
    Now there was just himself and