Kay Hooper - Stealing Shadows

"I'm strong enough," she repeated steadily.

"I don't think so."

She glanced up at him, then turned her head and gazed at the sheriff. "One thing we can all be sure of. Unless we stop Vasek, he'll kill Ben. And then he'll go on killing. More women, Matt. Maybe here, in your town. More people you know and care about. This is the best chance we'll have to get to him. You know it is."

Matt was a cop and he saw the logic. But the idea of allowing Cassie to sacrifice herself stuck in his craw. "Can't you just tease him somehow? Get his attention just long enough to let me and my people get close? It would take only a couple of minutes, five at most. Can you do that without giving him a chance to pull you in?"

"Of course I can."

"She can't," Bishop said. "It's all or nothing, Dunbar. To pull this guy's focus, she'll have to expose herself, walk in and show herself to him. And you can bet he'll grab and hold on tight. If she's inside the bastard's head and you have to kill him, she dies." Bishop smiled thinly. "But you'll save your friend. Maybe it's a price you're willing to pay."

The sheriff took a step toward the agent, but Cassie's voice fell between them, curiously soft. "Bishop, if you say one more word, I promise you'll regret it." Her gaze fixed on Matt's face, and she smiled. "You don't have to worry, Matt. I'll be just fine. No danger at all, remember that. Will you remember?"

Matt looked at her, frowning for only an instant as though troubled by something too wispy to get hold of. Then he smiled back at her. "I'll remember. No danger. You'll be fine."

"Yes, I'll be fine. The important thing is to surprise Vasek so you can save Ben." Her voice remained gentle. "So you get your people into position, and when you are, call and let me know. Then give me exactly five minutes before you make your move. All right?"

"All right, Cassie. I'll leave Danny here with my cell phone, and he'll be able to report when we're ready." Bishop didn't say a word.

Matt said, "It'll probably take us fifteen minutes to get there and into position, Cassie. But I'll let you know. And I promise – I'll get Ben out of there alive."

"Of course you will." She said it as if there were simply no other possibility.

The sheriff nodded decisively and left the room after giving his phone to the young and puzzled deputy who remained uncertainly in the doorway.

Bishop reached for a chair and shoved it behind her. "Here – sit down before you fall down."

She did, wondering if she looked as bad as she felt. Surely not.

"Taking quite a risk, using up precious energy in order to ease the mind of the good sheriff." Bishop's voice was not quite mocking. "Does Ryan know you can do that, by the way?"

Cassie drew a deep breath. "I didn't know I could do that."

" Dunbar won't be happy when he realizes you tricked him."

"No, I imagine not. But he won't realize just yet. Not just yet. And by the time he does, it won't matter." She was so tired already, strained with terror and her worry for Ben. And there was so much left to do.

Bishop leaned his shoulders back against the mantel, his arms crossed over his chest, face expressionless as always. But the scar looked whitened and angry.

Cassie wondered if he knew that mark was a barometer of his emotions.

"This is an asinine scheme," he said as if it hardly mattered.

"Maybe."

"Even assuming it works and Ryan comes out of it alive, he won't thank Dunbar or me. He'll say we used you."

"He'll know better."

"Will he? You expect him to be rational, then? When he sees what you've done, what it's cost you?"

"I'll be fine."

"Do not try to trick me," Bishop said. "Climb inside my mind and I'll shove you out."

"I know."

"Do you?"

"Yes." She smiled faintly. "But don't worry. Your secret is safe with me."

For the first time, his voice softened. "Never mind me. Cassie, this is crazy. Even in top condition, with all your strength, your chances would be slim against Vasek. Like this, drained and exhausted and so scared for Ryan you're hardly thinking straight, you have zero chance of coming out of this alive."

"I have the best reason in the world to survive. Willpower counts for a lot, you know that as well as I do." She paused, then added, "But in case something happens, tell Ben…"

"Tell him what, dammit?" Bishop demanded roughly when her voice trailed into silence.

Cassie shook her head. "Never mind. I should have told him myself when I had the chance."

"I hate melodrama," he snapped.

Despite everything, Cassie laughed. "Yes, I rather thought you would. Don't worry, I won't subject you to any more of it."

They were silent for a few minutes, and then Bishop said abruptly, "Cassie, I want you to promise me something."

"If I can."

"Once you're in, don't let go of the lifeline. No matter what Vasek says or does, no matter what he shows you, do not let go of me."

"All right. I'll do my best."

"So will I," Bishop said grimly.

Silence fell, broken only by the crackle of the fire and the creak of Danny's shoes as he shifted uneasily from one foot to the other. Cassie sat in the chair and stared into the fire, and Bishop watched her. Danny watched them both. And he was the one who nearly jumped out of his skin when the phone in his hand rang.

He answered, listened intently, then said, "Yes, sir," and without turning off the phone said to Bishop, "I'm to leave the line open. Sheriff says they're as close as he dares get, and they'll move in in exactly five minutes."

Cassie got up and went to sit on the sofa so she could get the boots, hardly noticing when Bishop came to sit beside her.

"Don't let go of the lifeline," Bishop repeated.

She picked up the boots, held them against her with both hands, and closed her eyes. Bishop watched her, speaking the instant he saw the telltale flicker of her eyelids.

"Talk to me, Cassie. Are you in?"

"I'm in." Her voice was hollow, distant, and Bishop frowned.

"Does he know you're there?"

"Yes. Yes, he knows."

"What was the deal with the music box?" Ben asked, watching his captor pick up yet another sharp implement from the cart and study it. "Cassie thought Mike was using it to block her. But it was you, wasn't it?"

"Of course it was me. Michael has no more telepathic ability than you do. I was using it to distract Cassie – and to keep Michael focused on rituals. It was necessary."

"In order to maintain your control over him?"

"Why are you stalling?" Bob asked curiously. "Is another hour of life so important?"

"Did you ask that of your other victims?" Ben countered.

"A few. Most were incoherent, however, so I've never received a satisfactory answer."

Despite the chill of the room, Ben could feel sweat trickling down the side of his neck. It hadn't been difficult to keep the monster talking, but he had the uneasy idea that it was still very much a question of who was toying with whom.

He wished he could reach out to Cassie. Touch her. But even if he had known how to do that, there was no way Ben wanted her there in the room.

What he was afraid of was the very real possibility that Cassie would find her way there anyway. If she knew he was missing, she would reach out, and thanks to his walls, it wouldn't be his mind she touched. If this insane monster was even half right about the connection between him and Cassie, she would inevitably touch that dark evil.

Ben knew how much of herself she had risked for the relative strangers of Ryan's Bluff; what would she risk to save the life of a lover?

It terrified him.

All he could think to do was keep the monster talking, keep looking for a chink in that armor of self-satisfaction. And hope he could find some way to free himself before Cassie came looking for him.