Brain Storm by Cat Gilbert (detective books to read .TXT) 📖

I STARED AT the landing where Brown would appear. The curtains must have been open downstairs, letting in some light, because the opening was a few shades lighter than the pitch black of the hallway. I knew the instant Brown reached the top stair, his shadow a darker black for an instant before he stepped into the hallway and disappeared into the blackness completely.

The buzzing that accompanied him grew louder inside my head, and I could just make out the faint sound of his footsteps as he made his way down the hallway toward me. I pressed back into the darkness and willed myself to disappear, wishing desperately for something to hide behind. He stopped suddenly, and I held my breath as he stood quietly, mere feet away from me.

I couldn’t see him. The hallway was too dark, but I knew he was there. I could feel his presence, and I was certain he must be able to hear the loud buzzing he was setting off in my head. I pressed back further and braced myself against the wall, holding my breath.

He stood there for what seemed an eternity, frozen in place. Then I listened in disbelief as I heard the doorknob turn quietly, and felt the brush of air as he slipped silently into my room, closing the door behind him.

There were a number of things that went streaking through my mind as the door clicked shut, the first being that Brown had just snuck into my room in the middle of the night. A close second was that he hadn’t known where I was. Either he wasn’t able to pick up on me, as I had feared, or I had somehow managed to block him from sensing me and had no idea how I’d done it. Now I was afraid to move, afraid I would somehow undo whatever it was I had done and expose myself. Something I really wasn’t ready to do yet, because the third that had registered with me was that I had no idea where Mac was. He was supposed to be keeping an eye on Brown. He should have been on him before he was halfway up the stairs, but he wasn’t. That fact probably bothered me the most, because the last thing I’d noticed was the gleam of light that bounced off the gun in Brown’s hand as he disappeared into my room.

I instinctively reached for my gun, intending to follow him in and surprise him, only to find empty air instead. For a second, I was stunned before the realization hit me that in my haste, I’d left it behind, safely tucked away in the nightstand.

The one thing I knew for sure was that Brown was going to be coming back out that door as soon as he realized I wasn’t in there and he’d be on alert. There was no surprising him now. I had to move and move fast. I just prayed that I stayed invisible to him while I was doing it.

I pushed away from the wall, making my way as quickly and quietly as possible down the hallway. I could feel Brown moving around my room and knew the instant he headed for the door. I grabbed the handle to Jonas’ room, and slipped inside, quickly easing the door shut, just as the buzzing increased in my head, telling me that Brown was back out in the hallway. I still had the handle in my hand, afraid to let go for fear that Brown would hear it, as I held my breath, waiting for the inevitable. Brown moved quietly down the hallway. He hesitated by the door, and I braced, but he kept moving. He still couldn’t sense me, but I could hear him, the buzzing fading as he moved toward the stairs.

Jonas’ hand closed over mine on the doorknob, causing me to jump in reaction. If he hadn’t had his hand over mine, I probably would have jerked the door open. We were so close I could smell the oil he had used to clean the gun that was now in his hand.

He waited a second and then pulled back on the door, easing it open. I could just make out Brown’s outline as he poised at the top the stairs, listening for movement below. I’d been hesitant before, unsure of myself, but with Jonas beside me for backup, I felt safe in doing what I’d ached to do earlier. I gathered my thoughts and shoved Dr. Caleb Brown headfirst down the stairs.

Jonas flung the door open and flew past me heading after Brown. I followed close on his heels, hitting the lights at the top of the stairs. Brown was at the bottom, staggering to his feet, the gun still somehow in his hand. Jonas launched himself off the last few stairs into Brown as a shot rang out and they both went flying out of sight into the living room. I heard a door opening behind me and whirled to find Trinity charging out of her room, armed with her taser. I held up a hand in defense as she swung it toward me. She drew up instantly and dropped in behind me as I raced down the stairs toward the sound of battle.

As we reached the bottom, the sound of fighting suddenly stopped, and an eerie silence filled the void. Suddenly, Brown appeared from around the doorway, and Trinity let loose with the taser. She missed, but not for lack of trying. Brown dove back into the living room, rolling away from the pronged spikes, giving us time to cut into the kitchen, taking the first cover we came to.

I looked at Trinity, her eyes big in disbelief as she looked at my empty hands and realized that I was unarmed. I couldn’t blame her a bit. Mac was missing, and Jonas apparently was out of the picture. Brown was on the loose with a gun, and here we were, hiding in the kitchen and me without a weapon. I was none too pleased myself.

I motioned her to keep quiet and to move further down the wall of cabinets we were hiding behind. I didn’t think Brown would rush us, or he probably would have done it by now. As far as he knew, I was armed and dangerous so he wouldn’t expose himself, but I wanted her out of the way just in case he came running through the doorway. She slid down the wall and crab crawled quickly to the corner of the kitchen between the refrigerator and the stove. She reached up and grabbed the skillet that had been sitting on a burner, ready to fry up the mornings bacon and gave me a nod that she was good. I gave what I hoped was a reassuring nod back and waited for Brown’s next move. We didn’t have to wait long.

“Taylor,” Brown called out. “We need to talk.”

I didn’t bother answering. I could feel Brown moving around in the living room. He didn’t have much room for cover in there. It was a fairly small room, with basically three walls. Where the fourth wall would normally be was pretty much open access to the entrance door and stairway. There was very little wall space to provide any cover so he was limited as to where he could go, which was a good thing. I might be able to throw something at him, but not if I wasn’t sure where he was. That was the problem with this kinetic ability. It had limits. You couldn’t just do things. You had to know what and how and where and when. I might not know much about it, but I knew that much.

“Taylor, there’s no sense in anyone else getting hurt. Just come out and let’s talk.”

Anyone else getting hurt? I didn’t dare look at Trinity, afraid to see my own thoughts mirrored on her face. I had no idea where Mac was or what had happened to Jonas, but Mama D was still upstairs. Brown could get to her in seconds, and there was nothing I could do to stop him.

I glanced behind me at the kitchen, searching for options. I was just inside the open doorway to the left, squatting down behind cabinets. The table was across from me, sitting between me and another wall of cabinets and the sink. On the far end of that wall was the door to the outside. The end furthest away from where Trinity now hovered with her frying pan.

We had a way out, but to get to it, we’d have to cross the open doorway and skirt the table, and I was pretty sure that wherever Brown had holed up, he’d made sure he’d have a good view of the outside door. We were pretty much trapped.

“Where’s Sean?” I asked, stalling for time, frantically looking for a way out.

“I’m afraid Sean met with an unfortunate accident.”

He was moving again, coming forward through the room. I could feel him, almost see him in my mind. I tried to ignore what he’d said about Mac and concentrate on escaping, but his words had shaken me. I didn’t dare ask about Jonas.

I looked back over at the kitchen entrance, hoping something had changed and saw the dishes piled up on the drying rack next to the sink. Dishes, pots, pans and knives. I could see the handles peeking out from under the pots that were air drying. I felt Brown still moving forward through the living room. He’d figured out that if I hadn’t made a move by now, I wasn’t going to.

I gave Trinity a look and nodded my head towards the drying rack and then the back door. She looked over, frowning and then understood. She turned back nodding. I shifted position, ready to move. I had no idea where Brown was but had to think that the sight of a knife coming at him would have him diving for