Storm Read online

  “Let me know if you pick up anything unusual.”

  I looked at him in confusion. “What would I be picking up exactly?”

  His eyes flicked to mine and he shook his head. “I wasn’t talking to you.”

  “You weren’t?” I took a step back, almost stumbling in confusion. It sounded like a conversation to me. He asked questions and I answered. “Who were you talking to if not me?” He tapped his ear and I frowned. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know what-” I tapped my ear just as he had, “means.”

  “I was talking to Ice on coms.”

  “What are coms?”

  “Communication device. I have an earpiece in and a mic on my shirt. He can hear everything I can.”

  “Oh. So, he can hear me too?”

  “Can I hear you?”

  “You’re kind of an asshole, you know that?”

  He smirked that sexy smirk and walked past me. “I’ve been told.” I guess I understood where the name Storm came from. When we were drinking lemonade he seemed half normal, but in here, he was practically indifferent to me. “What exactly are we looking for here?”

  “Ghosts?”

  “You guys don’t really need me in here for this,” Tony said from behind me.

  “I do. If you’re not behind me, the ghost will get me first.”

  “Good to know that I’m good for something,” he grumbled under his breath.

  We started walking forward with Chris leading the way. Their steps were a lot longer than mine and I found myself rushing to keep up. I felt a stiff breeze float through the tunnel and then the air went still. I stopped right where I was, afraid to breathe.

  “What is it?” Tony said behind me.

  “It’s here,” I whispered.

  “What is?”

  “The ghost from yesterday.” I tried to call out to Chris and Storm, but they were too far ahead of us. “What do I do?” But Tony didn’t say anything. “Tony?” Still, he didn’t say anything. Ever so slowly, I turned around, but he wasn’t there. “Tony?” I called a little louder.

  I felt a brush across my shoulder and spun around, breathing heavily. “Who’s there?”

  Another brush of air on the other side of me had me spinning around again and then slamming myself into the wall so that I didn’t have to keep turning around. Fear raced through me and my whole body shook so bad that my legs gave out and I fell to the floor. Eerie sounds of pain and crying filled the tunnel and I covered my ears to block out the noise. “This isn’t real. None of this is real.” I shook my head as the sounds continued. My breathing was so rapid that spots filled my vision. Tears spilled from my eyes as I squeezed them shut. “This isn’t real. This isn’t real.”

  Another rush of screeching filled the space and then something mystical started coming at me from where we originally came in. Jumping to my feet, I took off at a sprint, gripping onto the wall as much as I could so I knew where I was going. The guys were all gone, along with their flashlights. I quickly looked behind me again. The white shape was gaining on me. I sped up, running as fast as I could in the dark. My breathing so ragged that I was shaking uncontrollably. My fingers were brushing against the wall one minute and then there was only air. I pitched sideways, falling to the ground and knocking the wind out of myself.

  Moaning filled the tunnel and when I looked back, the white ghost was turning to me, but this ghost didn’t look anything like Casper. If ghosts could look angry, this ghost looked like Atilla the Hun. Scrambling to my feet, I did the only thing I could and ran further down the new tunnel I was now in. My breathing came in fast pants as I tripped and scrambled my way through. I felt something brush my shoulder and screamed as I flung myself forward. I felt a harsh shove from behind and then I was tumbling down hard stairs.

  I felt my body bouncing into hard, stone stairs, my head bouncing painfully off several of them. When I came to a stop at the bottom, I could barely move. The stone was damp against my skin and the moisture in the air was almost suffocating. I tried to push myself up, but my body hurt too much and my head was pounding so loud that it felt like jackhammers were going off. In the distance, I caught sight of my ghost drifting away, leaving me here in the darkness all alone.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Storm

  “Where the hell are Tony and Jessica?” I asked as we continued in the darkness.

  “Hell, this was a bad idea. We shouldn’t have let her come in here with us,” Chris said.

  “How did we lose them? They were right behind us, weren’t they?”

  “Find out if Ice and Jules can see anything from the cameras.”

  “Ice, come in.”

  “Yeah?”

  “We lost Tony and Jessica. Can you see where they went? Maybe they turned back.”

  “Hold on. I’m looking through the feed now.” I waited for several minutes, shining my flashlight around the tunnel, trying to figure out what the hell these were used for. “Damn,” Ice swore. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Tony just disappeared off the fucking screen.”

  “What do you mean he disappeared? Nobody just disappears.”

  “Well, I’m telling you, that’s what fucking happened. He was here and then he wasn’t.”

  I sighed and started back toward the way we came, Chris right behind me. “What about Jessica? What happened with her?”

  “She stopped and she was looking for Tony. She didn’t see him and something spooked her. She took off.”

  “Follow the feed.”

  “I can’t. You didn’t place cameras that far down the hall.”

  “Shit. Does she turn and go back?”

  “No. She ran down the hall and then she’s off the camera. I fast forwarded and she never came back.”

  I looked at Chris and he had the same fucking look as me. This was fucking hell. We had no map of the tunnels, two fucking flashlights to give us light, and no fucking clue where two of our group were.

  “We’re going to look for Jessica.”

  “Do you want us to come and look for Tony?”

  Chris shook his head. “No, stay put. We may need you on camera. I’m placing another camera where we are and I’ll put more up as we backtrack.”

  “Alright,” Ice said. “I’ll let you know if anything pops up.”

  I started walking again, this time running my hand along the wall. “Tell me how the hell we got roped into this shit.”

  “I think it had something to do with your dick,” Chris said.

  “How do you figure?”

  “Well, let’s look at the facts. You met this woman in a bar and tried to pick her up. It failed. Then, you started some insane competition with Tony over the woman, and let’s face it, it was all based on looks. That was your first mistake. Chasing a hot woman always ends badly. Second, you agreed to rent a room here when you could have just tried to date her. Another dumbass move. Now it’s like you’re living with her and you don’t even fucking know her. Third, you agreed to set up sensors all over the fucking place on a property that we don’t even own. And, it’s fucking haunted. Fourth-”

  “Jesus, how many points do you have to make?”

  “As many as it takes until you understand what a fucking moron you are. As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, fourth, you agreed to go have fun in tunnels without trying to find out if there was a blueprint on file with the city.”

  “Hey, you came along willingly.”

  “Yeah, but we’re not talking about my dumbass decisions right now.”

  “Okay, so what would you suggest I do?”

  “I would suggest that we go find this woman and fucking Tony Tacos. How the hell does a fucking sergeant in the army get lost in the dark?”

  “Hell if I know. He was spooked by ghosts. He probably ran away after pissing his pants.”

  “Hey, I’m a believer too. The difference is, I embrace the spooky shit. I figure I’ve seen enough shit in my life that I’m not gonna let a fucking ghost scare me off.”
r />   “Right. I’ll be sure to remind you of that later,” I snorted. My hand slipped off the wall and met air. I stopped and shone the flashlight down another tunnel that we hadn’t seen the first time around. I moved the flashlight to the ground. “Bingo. We have tracks.”

  “We have more than tracks. It looks like she fell down and then took off running.”

  “Shit. How the hell did she see where she was going? She didn’t have a fucking flashlight.”

  Go find her. She needs you.

  “Fuck off,” I muttered under my breath.

  “What?”

  “Nothing.”

  I stepped into the hall and a cool breeze drifted over me. I stopped, thinking that there must be another passage nearby that was letting in airflow.

  “Did you feel that?” Chris asked.

  “Of course I fucking felt that. It was a draft.”

  “That wasn’t a fucking draft. That was like someone walking over my fucking grave.”

  “You’re not dead,” I reminded him.

  “You’re such a dumbass. It’s a sign of foreboding. It’s saying that I fucking know that something bad is going to happen.”

  I shined the light on his eyes and shot him an are you fucking serious look. “Since when do you have supernatural powers?”

  “You don’t have to have supernatural powers to know when shit’s going down. Don’t tell me you never felt it when you were serving.”

  That was besides the point. What I may or may not have felt while serving was due to instincts and had nothing to do with someone walking over my fucking grave. “It was a draft,” I said slowly. “Can we move on now?”

  “By all means.” He waved his hand in a large, sweeping bow and grinned.

  “Why couldn’t Cap have sent someone more logical? Like Knight. He would have just fucking showed up with guns and knives and wouldn’t have hesitated to kill anything in his path. That I could use.”

  “Well, you’re stuck with me, so shut the fuck up and deal with it.”

  I mimicked his words as I walked forward. It was a long fucking tunnel, and I didn’t understand why she would run this way. Why wouldn’t she have stayed on the same fucking path as the rest of us? She had to know that she would get lost going a different way.

  “Stairs,” Chris said, gripping onto my shirt just before I would have fallen down the fucking stairs.

  “Shit, that’s dangerous.”

  And suddenly, I had the feeling that something was walking over my grave. Which I would never admit. Shining the light ahead of me, I started racing down the stairs. I had a feeling I wouldn’t like what I found at the bottom. The light hit her hair first and then the rest of her body came into view. She was sprawled out on the ground and she wasn’t moving.

  Rushing over to her, I knelt beside her and gently rolled her to her back. Chris was shining the light down on her face and it was fucking terrifying. She had blood dripping all down her face and her skin was deathly pale.

  “Shit,” I said, digging through my pockets for anything I could use to help stop the bleeding, but there was nothing. Ripping my shirt off my chest, I crumpled it up and started wiping away the blood to find the source. She had a huge cut on her forehead that seemed to be the source of the blood. I held my shirt to her forehead and felt for a pulse, breathing a sigh of relief when I felt the steady beat under my fingers.

  “We need to get her out of here,” I said.

  “Glad you said that,” Chris drawled. “I would have left her here until she woke up.”

  I flipped him off, but he couldn’t see me in the dark. Shoving my hands under her body, I lifted her in my arms and followed Chris back up the stairs.

  “Ice,” I said over coms, “we have Jessica. She’s hurt. Possible concussion. Not sure of any other injuries. No sign of Tacos yet.”

  “When you bring her out, you head over to the hospital and Chris and I will search for TacoMan.”

  “Ten-four.”

  It took us another twenty minutes to work our way through the tunnels, mostly because I had to walk sideways because of how narrow the tunnels were. When we stepped into the room we had entered through, paramedics were already waiting. They loaded her on the stretcher and had her out the door in minutes. I got in the ambulance because that’s what Ice told me to do, but I fucking hated it.

  Every time I looked at her, I saw brothers I had lost overseas. It brought back so many awful memories that I eventually just shut my eyes for the rest of the ambulance ride. They took her back right away and I was left to wait in the ER by myself.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Jessica

  “Oh, shit,” I groaned as I sat up in bed. Where the hell was I? Squinting through the bright light, I saw white all around me and momentarily freaked out. Was I in an institution? Oh, God. It had finally caught up with me. I was being sent off to a psychiatric clinic just like all the other women in my family.

  Shoving the covers off me, I swung my feet over the side of the bed and touched the cold floor with my toes. My head was pounding out of control and my whole body ached, but I was getting out of here if I had to climb out the window. Bracing myself on the bed, I gingerly made my way over to the chair where I saw my clothes folded in a plastic bag. Opening it up, I cringed when I saw the state of them. They were damp and covered in blood. There was no way I could walk out of here in those. I would draw the attention of every doctor and nurse on the floor.

  Moving to the bathroom, I opened the door and was relieved to see a bathrobe hanging on the inside of the door. I quickly peed and washed my hands, then pulled the robe on. I was just about to leave when I caught sight of myself in the mirror. I had a huge bandage over my forehead on the right side of my face. There were bruises everywhere else. Curious, I pulled the robe back open and pulled up the gown. Just as I suspected, I had a huge bruise spanning my whole right hip and multiple bruises on other areas of my torso. Even my shins were severely bruised.

  I couldn’t waste time looking at all the damage I’d taken. I had to get out of here now. I cinched the robe closed and finger combed my hair. It didn’t look great, but it was better than nothing. With any luck, I would look like I was just out walking the halls of the hospital for exercise. I would find a stairwell and take it from there.

  Peeking out of my room, I saw the coast was clear and slipped into the hallway. I tried not to hurry, not wanting to draw attention to myself. I heard a nurse’s voice nearby just as I saw the sign for the stairwell. I hurried over and slipped inside, not waiting even a second as I hurried down the stairs. My feet slapped against the hard floor as I hurried down to the main floor. It didn’t escape my notice that this was how I had ended up in the hospital to begin with.

  I exited the stairwell on the main floor, but halfway down the hall, a group of nurses headed my way. Panicking, I found the first door I could and slipped inside. It was dark and I could feel myself being crowded in. My chest tightened painfully as the tight space made me feel like I was suffocating. Black spots filled the already dark space until I felt like I would pass out. I couldn’t though. I needed to get out of here as fast as possible. Fumbling around for a light switch, I flicked it on when I found it and took deep, steadying breaths so that I didn’t have a full blown panic attack. It was a janitor’s closet. Nothing to be worried about here.

  I pressed my ear against the door and when all sounds were gone, I cracked open the door and checked for any signs of life. With no one around, I stepped out and walked to the front door. The receptionist was busy on a call, so I took advantage and ran out the door. Walking along the sidewalk, I realized how ridiculous I looked. I was wearing a fucking robe and hospital gown. I had no shoes on and I looked like I had been smacked with a stupid stick.

  Shoving my hands into the pockets of the robe, I hurried along the sidewalk as close to the bushes as possible. If I had to, I would slip into them if someone passed. I was not going back in there. When I was a good distance from the hospital, I took off
running, headed toward downtown. I didn’t really know my way around yet, but if I could find the grocery store in town, I could find my way to Elsie’s house. Surely, she would help me.

  It took a lot longer than I expected to find the grocery store. I ended up walking in a huge circle before I realized the grocery store was just one road over. I stepped into the alley next to the store and slunk down against the wall. I was tired and my head hurt. I wasn’t sure if at this point I could make it much farther.

  “Jessica?”

  My head whipped up and tears filled my eyes when I saw Elsie standing at the mouth of the alley. A sob ripped free and before I knew it, Elsie was in front of me, trying to pull me to my feet.

  “What happened? You look terrible.”

  “It’s a long story.”

  “You look like you belong in a hospital.”

  “No!” I said fiercely. “I won’t go back there.”

  She looked at me in understanding and looped her arm through mine. “Come on. You can stay with me. I just made some soup and soup makes everything better.”

  I wiped the tears from my face and followed her to her car. I only got about half as many stares as I was expecting across the parking lot. But one look from Elsie and they quickly averted their eyes.

  “You’re like some kind of evil person whisperer.”

  She laughed loudly and patted my hand. “No, I’ve just been around long enough that I know how to deal with these people. See, as you get older, your filter doesn’t work quite the same way. After years of dealing with people talking badly about your grandmother and grandfather, I just decided that life wasn’t worth living that way. When I started speaking out for them, people realized pretty quickly to keep their opinions to themselves.”

  I got in her car and pulled my robe tighter around myself. I felt tired and exposed from the day. No doubt, people at the hospital would be wondering where I was. It was only a matter of time before word of my disappearance got out. And what about Storm? Would he wonder where I was? Did he even know I was missing?

  When we got to her house, Elsie made a pot of tea and took me to the living room to rest. I sat on her couch and rested my head against the cushion as I waited for her to bring the tea in. I must have fallen asleep because when I woke up, she was sitting by the window, drinking tea and looking outside.