Moira Rogers - Crux

“Mackenzie?” The voice was young and female, but so nervous she didn’t recognize it at first. “Holy shit, where are you? Is Jackson there?”

“Kat?” Mackenzie’s fingers clenched around the phone. “No. Have you heard from him? Is Mahalia all right? I tried to call her house—”

“Wait, wait—” Mackenzie heard Kat’s muttered curses clearly, as well as the sound of keys clacking on a keyboard. “Jackson didn’t find you? You’re not with him?”

“I’m in Boston.”

“Fuck.”

The panic in Kat’s voice set Mackenzie’s heart to racing, and she curled her free hand around the edge of the bed and tried to control her breathing. “What’s going on, Kat?”

“Shit. Nothing, don’t freak out.” More keys clacked, and Kat swore again. “Hey, can I put you on hold for a second?”

“No! Kat, what’s going on ?”

“They’re going in to get you. Or they think they are—” Kat’s voice stopped abruptly. “Shit, this is all coming out wrong. Just hold on a second, okay? I want to try their phones.”

Mackenzie’s heart pounded so loudly she could barely hear Kat’s words. “Hurry.”

“Stay on the line, I’ll be right back.”

Mackenzie listened to the silence on the other end of the phone and tried not to think of how many things could go wrong if Jackson and Alec and Nick were trying to get into Charles’s house to rescue her.

The line clicked again all too soon, and Kat’s worried voice filled her ears. “No one’s answering. Everything’s going straight to voicemail. They’re probably already on their way in, or maybe on their way out—”

“Shit. Kat, it’s dangerous. Charles Talbot is crazy . He’s so damn strong.”

“They know that, Mackenzie.” Kat sounded like she was trying to convince both of them. “Don’t underestimate Jackson. He’s smart and really good, and Alec’s a scary motherfucker. They’ve got Nick and Nick’s dad and even Nick’s sister—oh— oh !”

Mackenzie’s heart jumped. “What?”

“Nick’s dad. I can try to call Nick’s dad. There’s no way he went in with them.”

“You have his number? I can call him.”

Kat cut her off. “No. Oh, hell no. The fucking Alpha? I haven’t got his number, but I can find it.”

“How?”

Kat laughed nervously. “Did Jackson and Alec tell you anything about me?”

“Just that you’re their assistant. And psychic.”

“Yeah, I’m not really a secretary, though. I mean, I answer their phones, but they pay me for my other skills.”

The roundabout explanation frustrated Mackenzie. “Jesus, Kat. Just spit it out.”

“Sorry. I’m a nervous babbler. I mean, when I get nervous sometimes I talk a lot—” Obviously. Mackenzie ground her teeth and to keep from interrupting. “But what I’m trying to say… I’m sort of a computer whiz. I mean, good with the less-than-legal stuff.”

“You’re a hacker?” Mackenzie asked incredulously. It was hard to reconcile the cute, sweet-faced young woman in the girly sundress with that mental image.

Then again, she hadn’t expected Jackson to be some kind of wizard. She didn’t feel like a shapeshifter.

“Hacker. I don’t care what Mari says, that word is so misused. There’s all this craziness about computer geeks trying to reappropriate it, and all the crap about it being a benign phrase, but it really is insulting since the etymology—”

“Kat.” Mackenzie cut her off. “Focus, would you?”

“Right. John Peyton.” The noise of keys clacking returned. “Hey, I’m going to go so I can make some calls. I’ll call you back when I can, okay? If I get Jackson, I’ll give him your number.”

“Okay.” She took a breath. “Thanks, Kat.”

“Sure, Mackenzie. Hang in there, okay? I’m glad you’re not all caught in the evil clutches of a crazy criminal mastermind anymore.”

“Thanks. Me too, I guess.”

“Yeah. Talk to you soon.”

The line clicked, leaving Mackenzie staring at the phone with a confusing mixture of worry and bewilderment. Jesus. That is one weird kid.

When Jackson was safely in front of her, she’d tell him that. With a tiny smile, Mackenzie hung up the phone and sat back on the bed to wait.

Please be safe. Please be here soon.

“Jesus, Holt. Wake the fuck up already.”

Jackson blinked, trying to clear the fog from his head. For a moment, he couldn’t remember where he was or why he was there.

Then it all snapped into place.

“May,” he muttered, sitting abruptly. “Shit, what—”

Mahalia sat across the foyer, cradling Steven’s head in her lap. Her eyes were swollen, red. “Jack.”

Steven was dead.

Alec steadied him. “Nick’s only just now coming around, and Michelle’s out cold. Whatever the bastard did stunned me and Aaron long enough for him to get out, but it hit all of you casters hard. And Nick, for some reason.”

“Michelle’s magic.” Jackson’s voice came out sounding too thick. “She’s sharing it with Nick.” He couldn’t tear his eyes away from Steven’s motionless form. “He shot him.”

“Yeah.” Alec crouched and lowered his voice. “You’ve got to talk to Mahalia. She won’t let anyone check on her. Won’t move either.”

Charles had shot him. His own nephew. “Okay.”

Jackson made it to his feet and walked slowly across the slick floor. Nick stared at him as he passed, her face and shirt streaked with blood, and he looked away.

“May.” He knelt beside her and covered one of her hands with his. “May—”

“We can’t leave him here,” she whispered, stroking her thumb over the dead man’s cheek. “Do you think Michelle’s friend could carry him?”

Alec knelt by Mahalia’s other side. “He’s got his hands full with Michelle, Mahalia. She hasn’t woken up yet. He’s pretty worried.”

Her face hardened. “We can’t leave him here.”

Jackson shook his head. “I’ll carry him myself if I have to.”

“My father could send a helicopter,” Nick said hoarsely from her position beside Michelle. “He could take you both back to New York this morning, Mahalia.”

“Cell phones aren’t worth a damn out here, but I’m sure Talbot’s got a landline somewhere.” Alec pushed himself to his feet again. “I’ll take Nick and we’ll find one. Call her dad.”

Dead. Steven’s dead . The thought kept pounding through Jackson’s head. “You hear that? Alec and Nick are going to take care of it.”

She grabbed his hand suddenly. “Find him, Jack. You promise me you’ll find Charles Talbot.”

The flat, shocked look in her eyes made him shiver. “I will. I promise.”

Silence fell again, stretching out between them unbroken until a low groan sounded on the other side of the room. The shapeshifter who’d been working for Charles stirred from his awkward position, slumped underneath the cracked remains of the sheetrock wall. “Fuck.”

Jackson was on his feet before he realized he’d moved, and he didn’t stop until he had his hands wrapped in the guy’s shirt. He dragged him up the wall and hissed a curse. “Where is she? Where did your boss take her?”

The man’s eyes slid open, and he looked like he was trying to focus. “He ran. Marcus found out what Talbot was going to do to her, and they ran. That’s all I know.”

He tugged at his shirt and slammed him back into the wall again. “Think real hard. What else?”

“Fuck you, man. Did it look like I was in the know?” Strong hands wrapped around Jackson’s wrists, the grip painful. “I’m in the shithouse for letting them go. Your little kitten turned this place upside-down.”