Watcher of the Dark: A Jeremiah Hunt Supernatual Thriller (The Jeremiah Hunt Chronicle) Read Free Page B

passing a bit closer to Jersey than I wanted, but I dealt with that by knocking him backward as I pushed past. There was a shout of surprise and a splash, which brought a smile to my face, but I was too busy racing for the iron fence surrounding the pool. If I could get over that and into the building beyond, I might stand a chance …
    I wasn’t worried about Tattoo’s gun, as strange as that may sound. After all, if they’d come to kill me they could have done it half a dozen times already. The fact that they hadn’t spoke volumes. The gun was meant to intimidate me, to force my compliance, and it only had as much power over me as I was willing to give it. Now that I’d shown I wasn’t going to be cowed, they’d be forced to try something else.
    The crack of the gunshot and the spang of the bullet ricocheting off the fence in front of me told me I had a lot more to be worried about than I’d thought.
    So much for that theory.
    I caught the fence with both hands and vaulted over it, the perfect picture of grace in motion. Then my wet feet slipped out from under me as I landed on the flagstone walkway on the other side and I stumbled forward, staggering to and fro as I fought to keep my balance. My vision was starting to white out around the edges, the increasing distance between me and the ghost of the dead girl whose sight I borrowed weakening the link between us, and I knew I’d be blind again in another ten feet or so.
    Finally catching my balance, I looked up just in time to see the figure of a man looming on my right.
    I never even saw the punch coming.
    It caught me in the solar plexus, paralyzing my diaphragm and driving all the air from my lungs with one short, sharp blow.
    I went down like a side of beef.
    A face loomed over me as I lay there trying to suck air into lungs that were suddenly not cooperating.
    “Going somewhere, Princess?” he asked.
    Apparently I really did suck at math.
    There were four of them, not three.

 
    4
    I’d gotten a look at my latest assailant before my link with the dead girl dissolved permanently and, to my surprise, he was fully human. Not a trace of Giftedness about him. He had a lean face, hard eyes, and brown hair cropped close in a crew cut that would have done the Marines proud. He was dressed nondescriptly in a dark peacoat thick enough to conceal the weapon I was certain he was carrying, jeans, and hiking boots. He also stank of cigarette smoke.
    “All right, up you go.” He grabbed my arm in a steely grip and dragged me to my feet. I was still fighting for breath and didn’t have any strength left to protest; it was all I could do to stay up as my head spun from the lack of oxygen. By the time my lungs decided to listen to my brain and allow air back into my body again, we had been joined by the others and any chance I might have had to escape passed.
    “Lose something, Rivera?” my captor asked. It was said in jest, but there was just enough of a hint of derision in his tone to let me know there was a history between him and the guy he was talking to, who I guessed was Tattoo.
    My hunch was right.
    “I’d watch your mouth, Grady,” Rivera said. “You’re a lot more expendable than he is. It’s not that hard to replace a thief.”
    A hand grabbed my face and turned it a few degrees to the left. For a moment I was tempted to steal his sight, just to be a pain in the ass, but something, perhaps a long buried instinct for survival, stayed my hand.
    “I don’t know if you can see me or not, cabrón , but try that shit again I’ll put a bullet through the back of your head. No one makes a fool of me, comprende ?”
    I nodded as much as his grip would allow for. I had no doubt that he’d do exactly what he said he would. Apparently Grady thought it was a mistake to fuck around with Rivera too much as well, for he didn’t say a word in his own defense.
    “Bring him.”
    Hands grabbed my arms on either side and I was practically lifted off my feet as they