JONAS had never prayed so much in his life. He stared blindly out the window of the plane, alternating between feeling numb and lost and then struck with a rage so hot it terrified him. He was afraid to speak—afraid the anger would burst out and consume everyone around him.
He pressed his fingertips hard against the pressure points around his eyes, hoping for some relief from the throbbing pain. Joley had had a private jet waiting at the airport for them and he knew the Drakes would be flying in from all over the world, but how could they get there in time to save her life?
Hannah. He breathed her name. Don’t you leave me.
They’d always had a connection, as long as he could remember. The first time she’d walked onto the school grounds, skinny, pale, all blond hair with springy curls everywhere, he’d known she’d been born for him. He’d been a few years older and was ashamed for staring at such a little kid, although, at ten, he wasn’t looking at her with sexual intent. It was more that he’d known she was the one almost from the time he’d been running to the Drakes, but seeing her there, at the school yard—he’d just known.
The knowledge shocked him because it was so certain. From that moment she’d been a part of him—like breathing.
Of course she’d never looked at him. Hell. She’d never even talked to him—not at school anyway. He’d hated that. Once he’d learned about her anxiety attacks and shyness, he understood, but at the time, it had been crushing. He acted confident around her no matter what was going on in his life. Even then, he’d felt he had to prove he was tougher, and stronger, in order to be worthy of Hannah.
And deep in his heart, he’d known that was just impossible. He’d never be worthy of Hannah. No one was. She was so different. Gorgeous beyond belief, but so much more than that. Sweet. So damned sweet. Wanting to care for everyone. And where did that leave a man who lived most of his life in the shadows hunting bad guys?
He knew her. Inside and out. He knew her. She was a homebody, not the world traveler everyone thought. She was comfortable in a pair of jeans and a flannel shirt, not the sophisticated elegant clothes she wore so well. But he still couldn’t have someone so good that light shone around her, not when he was always living in the dark. Be alive, baby, for me, be alive.
‘She’s still alive,’ Sarah murmured, as if reading his mind. She sat next to him, her fiancé, Damon, holding her hand tightly while she concentrated with every ounce of her power to stay connected to Hannah. All of the Drakes were, Jonas knew. Sisters. Aunts.
Their mother. Cousins. The family was enormous, as were their powers, and Jonas knew beyond a doubt, they were all focused on saving one person. ‘We’re doing everything we can.’
‘Just hang on to her until we get there, Sarah. Once I’m with her, I can help.’
‘Why would someone do that to her?’ Sarah asked, her voice strained with grief. ‘Why would someone want to hurt Hannah?’
Damon immediately swept his arm around her and leaned in to put his head close to hers as if helping to absorb the unrelenting sorrow.
Jonas could have told him it would do no good. Sarah knew, as he did, that whoever had done this hadn’t wanted to hurt Hannah—they wanted to destroy her. The attack had been shocking, stunning, on television, a message sent to millions. The attacker was dead and they might never know his true motives or if it was a random act of violent insanity.
Some were just crazy. Out of their minds. He’d seen enough of it to last him a lifetime.
Sometimes there was no reason at all for why people did such crazy things.
‘How soon can Libby get here?’ He kept his fingers pressed over his eyes, hiding his expression.
‘Not soon enough,’ Sarah admitted. Her voice cracked. ‘This can’t be happening. Not Hannah. She’s so…’ She shook her head, pressing her hand to her trembling lips. ‘I have to concentrate.’
‘Do you have her?’
Sarah stiffened. It was the question she was dreading. Jonas was shaken—shattered, raw grief etched deep into his face. He would believe they had a chance to save Hannah, if the Drakes were holding her in their keeping. Jonas believed in few things anymore—but he believed in their family and the powerful bond they shared. She couldn’t lie to him—not to Jonas.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said as gently as she could, when she really wanted to cry a river of tears.
‘She was too far gone to reach out to us. Ilya Prakenskii has her. She’d be dead without him, even now, and they’ve taken her to the operating room.’
Jonas sat up straight. For the first time he dropped his hands from his face. ‘How do you know?’
‘He talks to Joley and she relays the information to us. Joley…’ She choked off a sob, pressing her face against Damon’s shoulder. He instantly murmured in her ear.
‘Sarah?’ Jonas prompted.
‘Joley begged him not to let Hannah die. She’s terrified of Prakenskii, so you can understand how extreme the situation is for her to put herself in his debt.’ She was rambling because she was so frightened, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. She needed as much reassurance as Jonas. ‘Still, he did save Hannah’s life. You saw him.’
‘I also saw him kill the man who stabbed her.’ He had done it so easily, so fast the move was barely captured on film, so quick and practiced and smooth, Jonas knew he had done it far too many times.
Ilya Prakenskii. There was a real puzzle. Jonas had tried to dig up information on him.
Abbey Drake’s fiancé, Aleksandr Volstov, had known Ilya from childhood. Prakenskii had been raised by the state and trained as a lethal weapon, but from there, the trail went muddy and no amount of prying had revealed what the man was really involved in.
Aleksandr suspected Prakenskii’s current job as a bodyguard for a mobster was only a front for something else, but if that was so, his cover was impeccable. Jonas, for all his contacts, hadn’t managed to find out anything. Ilya Prakenskii was a wild card and he held Hannah’s life in his hands.
Prakenskii might have been working for his government, or he may truly be Nikitin’s man, but whatever he was, he was trained as a straight-up killer—and he held Hannah’s life in his hands.
‘He couldn’t do anything else,’ Sarah said. ‘It happened so fast. He had to stop the man.’
Jonas wasn’t so certain a man like Prakenskii had to kill. He had a choice and he chose death for the attacker. Why? Retribution—or something far more sinister? Hell. Jonas didn’t believe in anyone anymore—especially not the man who had saved Hannah’s life.
He had to force his mind to think. It was the only way to stay sane until he was with her.
Once he was with her, the rest of the world could go to hell, for all he cared.
‘Did you bring the files on the wack jobs?’ he asked Jackson, who sat across the aisle from him.
The deputy snapped open the briefcase. ‘They’re all here. Do you think the killer acted alone?’ Jackson glanced sharply at Jonas. ‘Do you feel the threat is gone?’
Beside him, Sarah gave a small sound of distress. ‘Oh, God, Jonas.’ She choked off a sob. ‘Do you think more than one man could be involved? Hannah could still be in danger?’
He wanted to reassure her, to make it all better. Jonas Harrington, the white knight, savior of the world. Hell, he hadn’t saved the one person most important to him.
Hannah.
Just that quick he could see her again, on TV, smiling as the cameras flashed, and the quick look over her shoulder as she moved swiftly through the crowd, the turn, the look of shock, of horror as the knife rose and fell.
The air in Jonas’s lungs caught and just held there, burning until he thought he might pass out. He’d faced bullets and blood and death on a battlefield more times than he’d wanted to count. He’d watched his mother, a wonderful, sweet woman, slowly eaten alive from the inside out, suffering every moment of her existence and he hadn’t thought—hadn’t believed—that there could be more pain. More anger. Feeling—being—more damn helpless.
‘Jonas.’ Jackson’s voice was sharp and compelling. ‘Focus. Are you feeling the same threat to her? Was this a loner?’
He cleared his throat and tried to pull himself together. ‘It’s impossible to tell. The danger to her is so strong, I can’t tell whether it’s because she’s near death or because someone is still waiting to get to her.’
Sarah reached into the briefcase and took a few of the photographs, shaking her head as she looked them over. ‘Why in the world would you even be looking at these people?’
She held up two of the pictures. ‘I doubt an animal rights group would conspire to kill her and keep sending assassins. And even the Reverend with his moral group would have little to gain.’
‘They’d stay in the news. Who knows how twisted people think, Sarah,’ Damon responded, drawing her closer. He’d been a victim and had the scars and leg that rarely worked anymore to prove it. ‘There could be a dozen reasons, all perfectly logical in their mind. Anyone who does this kind of thing is seriously screwed up.’
Jonas turned his head to stare sightlessly out the window again. Nothing made sense anymore. Anyone but Hannah. He had wasted so much time waiting for her to make the first move. Why had he done that? He took command of every situation, but not with her.
Because she was afraid of him. He suppressed a groan. That was the true reason. She was a pleaser, wanting him happy, wanting her family happy, always giving of herself, but never taking. She wanted him happy, too, but not at the cost of herself. He walked on her.
And she knew herself well enough to know she couldn’t afford to be swallowed whole.
‘She has a temper,’ he murmured aloud.
Sarah glanced at him. ‘Who?’
‘Hannah. She has a temper. And when she’s angry, she can wreak havoc.’
‘Which is why she rarely does anything other than small, annoying forms of retribution, like blowing your hats down the street,’ Sarah said.
‘I overwhelm her, don’t I?’ Jonas asked. He knew the answer. He was always ordering her to do something. He rarely asked. Hell, he’d been so damned mean in the hospital to her, it was a wonder she hadn’t taken a gun and shot him.
Sarah shook her head. ‘I honestly don’t know. I’m beginning to realize I don’t know Hannah very well, Jonas. I thought I did, but all the things I thought I knew about her, well, I think she simply gave me what she thought I wanted.’
‘She’s so damned beautiful and smart. She can outthink me any day of the week.’ Jonas shoved both hands through his hair. ‘You’d think she had enough confidence for ten people. She looks like she does. She’s all don’t-touch-me, don’t-ruffle-my hair, I’m-so-fucking-far-above-you-you’ll-never-be-in-my-league attitude.’
‘She’s so painfully shy she stutters, Jonas; that’s not something that gives a woman confidence.’ She rubbed her cheek against Damon’s shoulder. ‘We had to help her make public appearances.’
Jonas closed his hands into two tight fists. That should have told them something, right there. If Hannah couldn’t go out in public without her sisters helping her, didn’t it occur to them that the strain on her would be too much? He didn’t state the obvious. What would be the use? Sarah was coming to the realization on her own and it would hurt. She loved Hannah. She would blame herself for not realizing that Hannah had been unhappy. All of the Drakes would.
Hannah. Baby. I love you so much. So damned much. Did I even tell you? He couldn’t remember. He’d given her everything he was, worshiped her with his body, but had he said the words? Coward. He’d been a fucking coward even when she’d given herself to him.
‘Jonas.’ Jackson’s low voice cut through the recriminations. ‘You’re going to drive yourself insane. Look at these files. Do what you do best. If Prakenskii removed the threat to her, fine, but if it’s more, if there’s a group behind this, let’s make certain she’s safe when she wakes up.’
Jackson hadn’t said ‘if’ she wakes up. Jonas clung to that as he took one of the files and opened it to stare at Rudy Venturi’s baby face. ‘Not him. He’s so fixated on her that he’d never share her. He’s got a fantasy going in his mind with her.’ He passed the file to Sarah. ‘You read it, Sarah, see if you feel the same way.’ Sarah had a good mind and a talent for ‘feeling’ things he couldn’t get. He’d bet money the attack hadn’t been a conspiracy involving Rudy, but he wasn’t willing to take a chance with Hannah’s life. No matter what Sarah said, Rudy would be interrogated, but he might be low on the list.
Jackson handed Jonas the next file opened, tapping it as Jonas took it. ‘This reads like trouble to me,’ Jackson said. ‘I don’t like the letters he’s written or the things he has to say. He has several of his ‘flock’ backing him up and their letters are even more fanatical than his. The Reverend believes Hannah, and models like her, are enticing young girls into perverted acts by showing off their bodies and promoting sexuality and promiscuity.’
Jonas swore. ‘What a self-righteous son of a bitch. He’s the one forcing young girls to perverted acts. He has a little harem he’s collecting, girls off the street, runaways. And the men in his flock are no sheep—more like wolves. So far we haven’t been able to catch him at anything, but we suspect he has one of the biggest drug-running operations around.’
‘Does Nikitin run drugs?’ Sarah asked, handing back Rudy’s file to Jackson.
‘Nikitin has his hand in nearly everything, but Tarasov, his biggest competitor, runs most of the drags in Russia,’ Jonas said. He didn’t want to discuss Boris Tarasov, not after he’d seen the explosive material that had been on the film he and Jackson had turned over to their commander. Karl Tarasov and the Gadiyan brothers had managed to make it out of the country, but Petr had been quietly picked up trying to flee, and was being held at an undisclosed location. Jonas sure didn’t want to know the location, but he did want to know who the traitor inside the defense department had been.
‘Do any of these files have anything at all to do with either of the Russians?’ Sarah persisted. ‘Maybe Nikitin was there for a reason.’
‘Nikitin has a reason for everything he does,’ Jonas agreed, ‘but neither man has ever threatened Hannah, or even communicated with her. And she doesn’t know a thing about drugs so we can rule out the Russians. Nikitin often attends high-profile parties, particularly in the fashion and music industries. I think it’s safe to say he went there to be seen rather than to see Hannah.’ But he wasn’t ruling anything out altogether. Everyone was under suspicion, even Ilya—especially Ilya.
‘I want a closer look at the Reverend, too,’ Jonas said. ‘Sarah, study this file and tell me if you get any vibes off of him.’ He put the folder in her lap.
‘I can tell you he’s creepy,’ Sarah said, her hand sliding over the papers. ‘And he’s not opposed to violence—or money. He’s fixated on Hannah and Joley, too.’
‘Great.’ Jonas rubbed his pounding temples.
Sarah drew in her breath. ‘He’s got a wall of pictures and articles on our family. I can see it.’
‘You freak me out when you do that,’ Damon said. ‘I’m never going to get used to it. Are you sure, Sarah?’
She nodded. ‘To someone like the Reverend, my family would be the closest thing to Satan he could find on this earth. If he’s discovered any of us can do the things we do, it might be reason enough for him to stir up his followers to violence.’
‘There was a brief moment a reporter interviewed him and he quoted something from the Bible about reaping what we sow,’ Damon offered. ‘He looked very pious.’
‘Self-righteous prick,’ Jonas snarled. ‘Put him at the top of the list.’
‘This one is on the Let Animals Live Free, the LALF group. They’ve made quite a few threats to Hannah since she turned them down when they asked her to be a spokesperson for them. They have big bucks and a reputation in shambles thanks to her and one of her investigative reporter friends. They have a reputation for violence, all in the name of animal rights, of course, and we know members of the group have threatened her many times.’ Jackson handed Jonas the file. ‘I think we need to look very closely at them. One of the men who turned evidence against them, Benjamin Larsen, disappeared last summer.’
‘He’s the one who got rid of the animal bodies, and he was taking tiger parts and selling them on the black market.’ Jonas forced his mind to remember, to think of something other than Hannah, lying so close to death. He could hardly concentrate with the roaring in his ears and the protest pounding the hell out of his gut.
‘Exactly. A very lucrative business nowadays. The skin, the body parts, they can be worth a fortune if someone knows what they’re doing. LALF would protest an animal sanctuary, get an injunction, take the animals away and euthanize them as soon as the reporters left. LALF claims they never received a penny of the money from the death of the animals, but Larsen claimed the domestic animals were given to research centers and the big cats were parted out on the black market.’
‘That’s just sick,’ Sarah said.
‘How in the world did Hannah get involved?’ Damon asked.
Jonas sighed. ‘When she was shaking hands with them, she picked up all kinds of images and she took it from there, asking a friend who was an investigative reporter to dig into it.
The entire mess was discovered and it was a huge scandal. LALF weathered it, they have a lot of political clout. Politicians and celebrities like the image of saving wildlife and LALF is very good at getting publicity. They blamed it on a few overzealous members and hired a high-powered publicity firm to turn their image around. But Hannah’s been getting letters ever since.’
Hannah. She’d cried over the knowledge, the impressions she’d gotten when she’d shaken the director’s hand. Jonas had found her on the beach with tears running down her face. It was one of the few times he’d dared to hold her. She fit into his body so perfectly, made for him, belonging there. He’d wanted to slay every dragon for her to keep her from crying any more tears.
She’d been soft and warm and all woman, her hair flowing around them like so much silk.
The sea had erupted into stormy columns of white foam, crashing against the rocks in harmony with her wild storm of tears. The wind whirled around them, closing off the rest of the world, making him feel as if they were alone together, the sun setting in every shade of red and orange, a giant glowing ball pouring molten gold into the churning water. Everything had been beautiful and perfect and so right he ached every time he thought of it. Everything about Hannah was magical—even her tears.
Jonas turned away from Jackson, making sure to keep from touching him. He knew Jackson was a powerful psychic, his talent different from the Drakes. He always wondered if Jackson could read people, pick up thoughts from them, but Jackson preferred silence to talking. He rarely gave anything about himself away. He certainly never discussed his psychic gifts.
Jonas felt broken, unable to stop grieving for Hannah. He didn’t need for Jackson to see him so torn up inside, to see the depth of his feeling and need for Hannah.
‘So LALF goes in the prime suspect pile,’ Damon said.
‘Let Sarah ‘read’ it,’ Jonas said.
‘I’m almost afraid to,’ Sarah said and reluctantly removed the folder from Jonas’s lap.
Her hands trembled. ‘I’m picking up a lot of jumbled things. Most of them feel genuinely passionate about saving animals. Unfortunately you have a couple who are using the organization for their own ends, which is basically money and power. And yes, there is hatred for Hannah. I can feel it, but can’t give you a name. It feels male and female, so more than one. It could be a conspiracy.’ She made a face. ‘I’m sorry, Jonas, there are just too many people to get a good reading and it’s all impressions anyway.’
‘You’re doing great, Sarah.’
She looked pale and exhausted. Jonas hoped he didn’t look that way—scraped raw and exposed and so damn vulnerable for everyone to see. He whipped out his dark glasses and pushed them onto his nose to hide his eyes, afraid they were as red as Sarah’s. His throat burned, his eyes felt like they had sand ground into them. He was a mess when he was supposed to be the one the Drakes could count on.
Hannah. Baby. Don’t you leave me. Maybe if he said it a million times, sent it out there into the universe, she’d somehow hear. She’d know all the things he should have told her.
Like she was his sanity. She was pure magic. Everything he’d ever dreamed of—ever wanted. She was the woman who made him whole. She made him laugh, soothed him, made him angry, gave him a reason to come home in one piece. Do you hear me, Hannah? Don’t let go. Wait for me. Be with me.
His heart even hurt. Physically hurt. How many times had he gone to a house and told the occupants a loved one had died? There had been pain on their faces, emotions so ravaged he’d left the house feeling sick—and gone to Hannah. She’d taken it all away for him. But this—nothing hurt like this. Hannah couldn’t take this away—not ever. He would wake up with nightmares over this. He’d never get over the image of someone stabbing Hannah, a vicious, determined look on his face. He doubted he’d ever let her get five feet from him again.
‘Why the hell didn’t I stop her from going?’
‘Don’t, Jonas,’ Sarah said softly. ‘Don’t even go there. Hannah signed a contract. She made a commitment. Even if she didn’t want to go, she would have kept her word.’
‘Who’s next?’ Damon asked. ‘You have a lot of folders there.’
Jackson reached into the briefcase. ‘Stay focused, Jonas.’
Jonas felt the briefcase in his hands, knew he’d yanked it out of Jackson’s possession.
‘You want me fucking focused?’ He threw the case down the aisle and followed it up, kicking hard with his boot, then whirled around to slam his fist into the nearest empty chair.
Thunder crashed in his ears, his eyes burned, his throat raw. ‘What the hell is there without her? Tell me that, Jackson. Tell me what the fuck I’m going to do without her.
Because I don’t know.’ He looked up then, helpless, impotent, lost. ‘I stood there watching—watching—as that bastard carved her into pieces.’ He spread his hands.
‘What is it with me and the women I love?’ He turned and stormed down the aisle to the back of the plane, leaving the others sitting in stunned silence.
‘Damn it,’ Jackson said. ‘He’s losing it, Sarah.’
‘This is so close to home for him. You know about his life, his mother, right? He can’t take it when things are out of his control.’
Damon squeezed her shoulder. ‘I’ve always been curious.’
‘Very wealthy parents. Left him a fortune and a beautiful estate. They were older when they had him and they always wanted children. He was adored by both of them. Father died when he was five, and by the time he was six or seven, his mother was already pretty much confined to bed. He totally took over running their household. Did the shopping, paid the bills, read to his mom, just as if he were all grown up. It was crazy.’
She rubbed her temples. ‘I’m not explaining this very well. After she gave birth, her immune system failed for whatever reason. The doctors said it was a traumatic event and her body reacted, but no one really knows. From that point on she was very frail, but she refused, absolutely refused, to give in to illness. Jonas took on the responsibilities because that’s his nature and he loved her—she belonged with him. She was his family.
Eventually she got cancer. It was horribly painful, but she had a will of iron. It nearly killed him that he couldn’t stop her suffering. He came to our house when it just got so bad he couldn’t look at her or think about her anymore.’
Damon glanced down the plane toward the bathroom. ‘Should you talk to him?’
‘What can I say? He knows as well as I do that the chances of saving Hannah are very small. We were there. Watching. Hannah is his family. The love of his life. She’s what makes him want to get up in the morning. They belong. He feels completely helpless, and for Jonas, there isn’t anything much worse when it comes to someone he loves. All of this’—she gestured to the files—’won’t matter if she dies.’
She hit her head against the seat. ‘Why didn’t he show these files to me before—when he was so nasty about her going to work. I would have backed him up.’
She handed one to Damon. ‘Look at this. This is a woman who stalked Hannah for about ten months. A restraining order was issued and the woman went a little crazy and slashed up a collection of clothes Hannah modeled. How she got backstage no one knew, but Hannah wasn’t in the building; she’d already left.’
Jonas reappeared, taking the file from her hand and seating himself beside her. ‘I put her on high priority because she used a knife, was able to penetrate security, and she was recently released from prison. The designer prosecuted and she was incarcerated.’
Jackson put the file into Jonas’s hands. ‘Her name is Susan Briggs, she’s middle-aged, looks normal but is obviously ill.’
‘She’s definitely not all there and she’s capable of extreme violence. She hears voices, probably schizophrenic. Put her in the high probability stack.’ Sarah tried to keep her voice even when she wanted to throw her arms around him and comfort him. ‘You should have showed all these to me.’
Jonas looked down at her and Sarah winced. She knew the files existed. Joley probably had more. She hadn’t wanted to know because she didn’t want to be like Jonas, afraid for them, angry with them, wanting them to stay home and be safe. Maybe she’d known all along it was like this, so many nutcases, attracted by the glamour of Hannah’s job and her flawless beauty.
‘Oh, Jonas, what that man did to her.’ Sarah pressed both hands over her face. ‘I can’t bear it. Even if she lives…’
‘She will live,’ Jonas said. ‘That’s all that matters. You can’t think about anything else.’
Because he couldn’t. He couldn’t allow his mind to go there again. He didn’t know what he’d do if the worst happened.
‘Hannah is so different, though. Fragile and gentle. How will she ever get over the trauma of this kind of an attack?’
Damon wrapped his arms around her. ‘Hannah is stronger than you think. She’ll rise above it. You wait and see. She’s a Drake through and through and she has all of us to help her. She’ll get through this.’
Sarah looked at Jonas. Instinctively she knew, if anyone was going to get Hannah through this, it would be Jonas—but who was going to get him through it? She’d never seen him so strained. Nothing to date had ever shaken Jonas’s confidence in himself, but he’d been a wild man, out of control, scaring the hell out of her in the aftermath of Hannah’s attack.
He’d been crazy, tearing up the room, smashing things, his face so twisted with anguish she’d managed to set aside her own unrestrained grief to help Jackson rein him in. And she could still see—and feel—the wild rage smoldering in him now. He had once again brought it under control, but it could erupt with any provocation.
There was no doubt Jonas loved Hannah. There had never been a doubt in anyone’s mind except Hannah’s—but no one had known the force of that love, the deep, ingrained need he had of her. Sarah still found it hard to look at him—he was so ravaged. Jonas. Their rock. Shattered into so many shards. Holding himself together through sheer force of will.
‘We need your sisters. Libby has to get here fast.’ Jonas raked both hands through his hair. ‘She’s coming home, right?’
Sarah nodded. Libby was a healer. Jonas knew she could perform what virtually amounted to miracles. She’d saved his life with the help of all the other Drake sisters, but they weren’t going to arrive in time for this one. None of them. If Ilya Prakenskii couldn’t hold Hannah, she was lost to them. Jonas desperately needed to believe Sarah and her sisters could save Hannah, but she needed to believe Prakenskii could.
‘Tell me what you know about the bodyguard. Who is Sergei Nikitin and what exactly does Prakenskii do for him? And Jonas, this time, tell me the truth. I know you know more about him than you’re letting on. I don’t care if he’s some big government secret, I have to know who he is. He’s all we’ve got right now.’
‘It might take Abbey to get to anything of value on Prakenskii,’ Jonas said. ‘I’m telling you, I ran into a stone wall when I tried to find out about him. I used every connection I had in the defense department as well as the Army Rangers, and I got zilch on him. The guy isn’t what he appears to be, and he’s got layers of protection built in around his file.’
Sarah was silent, her small teeth chewing on her bottom lip as she turned the information over in her mind. ‘What about Sergei Nikitin? What do you have on him?’
‘He’s an altogether different kind of fish—big fish. No one has ever been able to pin anything on him, not in his country or ours or in Europe. Interpol has been trying for several years. He emerged strong from a rather bloody turf war. The spoils were divided several ways until he suddenly came on the scene, and then after a very nasty battle between factions, Sergei Nikitin and Boris and Petr Tarasov were left standing. There are others, but not like them. The leftovers were divided between the two families and the rest is history. Both families are extremely violent, willing to kill and torture to prove their point, which basically is that no one had better mess with them—and no one does.’
‘Are they friends?’
‘They do business together, but no, they posture at each other. There have been a few killings between the two factions, but for the most part, they leave one another alone.’
‘Do any of the models run drugs?’ Jackson asked Sarah. ‘Has she ever mentioned she was worried about someone? She would pick that up working so close to them. Or maybe one of the designers. They’re bringing in clothes and props from all over the world.’
Sarah leaned her head back against Damon’s shoulder. ‘She mentioned that it went on.
Mostly the girls who used. She’d say they weren’t going to make it in the business. Some of them started using to stay thin. It’s a hazard of the business, like eating disorders. It’s high pressure, Jonas.’
Jonas took a deep breath. He didn’t give a damn about the job or why one of them might choose to run drugs. He only cared about the fact that one of them may have inadvertently pulled Hannah into a dangerous situation.
‘When Libby comes, if Hannah’s still alive, she can make it all right again, can’t she?’
Jonas wasn’t certain what he meant, but he had to ask, to be reassured. ‘Tell me she can do that.’
‘If Hannah’s still alive, we’ll seal ourselves together and bind her to us,’ Sarah said.
‘That’s what we did to you, using Hannah’s connection to you.’
There was a small silence. ‘I don’t know what that means. I’m connected to all of you.’
Jonas frowned and rubbed his head again.
Sarah pressed both hands to his head before he could stop her. Warmth flowed from her to him, removing the pounding headache.
Jonas jerked away. ‘What are you doing? Save your strength for Hannah.’
‘I know, I couldn’t help it,’ Sarah admitted. ‘Yes, we’re all connected to you, Jonas, but not like Hannah. Your link with her is one of the strongest I’ve ever seen. In our family, we develop strong connections with our partners. Mom and Dad have a tremendous link between them. We all joke and say it’s forged in steel, but you and Hannah…’ She trailed off.
‘What about us?’
‘This is going to sound stupid, but I think your souls are linked. You were nearly dead when we reached you, Jonas, when you were shot a few months ago. I certainly couldn’t get to you and I don’t think even Elle could. She tried, we all did. We united and reached for you, but it was Hannah who held you fast. She was certain it was Elle, but it wasn’t.
The rest of us knew it was her.’
‘How come she didn’t know?’
‘When we unite in a circle, our energy flows from one to the other. It’s hard to tell us apart, and she was so distraught. Hannah’s very distinctive to the rest of us.’
‘So if you form your circle of energy, you can save her life.’
‘Prakenskii is doing that. We can hold her once we’re together.’
‘And the trauma and the scars?’
Sarah shrugged. ‘I have no idea what we can or can’t do. We’ll have to watch Libby. She has a tendency to go too far and Hannah will resist if she thinks any of us are being hurt in the process of healing her. Hannah’s powers are strong, Jonas. If she fights us, we could all be in trouble. She’s stronger than most of us and she always takes care of the rest of us.’
‘You let me worry about that. Hannah will cooperate.’
Sarah glanced at him sharply. ‘What does that mean?’
‘It means right now, she’s in a weakened state and she’s not going to have any choice.
She can get worked up about it when she’s one hundred percent. Until then she can live with a dictatorship.’
‘Don’t go off the deep end,’ Sarah cautioned. She didn’t know what Jonas was capable of with Hannah. He had hidden talents he rarely acknowledged, but he was confident he could enlist Hannah’s cooperation and that was something even Sarah was uncertain of.
‘Plane’s about to land,’ Jackson said, gathering the files and stuffing them back into the briefcase. ‘There’ll be a car waiting to take us to the hospital.’
