Danger Zone
By Divamercury
Enjoy Chapter 19, and don't forget to review!
Chapter 19
I woke up at 10:00 the next morning to loud pounding on my door and shouting from the hallway.
"Chief? Hey, you gonna sleep all day? Come on, get up!" Gabe called, continuing to pound on the door.
I groaned and sat up. "Hold on a sec. Don't rush me. I'll be out in a minute."
I got out of bed, shivering and rubbing my bare arms because of the chill that had set in overnight, and staggered over to the bureau. I randomly selected a pair of jeans and a shirt, throwing my leather jacket on and zipping it up tightly. I pulled on my boots and then flung open the door. Gabe was still standing out in the hall, waiting for me.
"Okay, so what was with the wake-up call?" I asked somewhat indignantly.
"Mac wanted to make sure that you were around when Raven showed up here. Probably to prevent bloodshed."
"Raven's or Mac's?"
"Who can tell?" Gabe asked with a wink.
I nodded, understanding his point. Just a minor altercation between those two could escalate into an all-out telepathic war. Who would win? It was anyone's guess.
We went down only one flight of stairs to the small entrance room to the warehouse on ground level. Mac and Will were waiting for us.
"Raven said she'd be here in a few minutes," Mac stated flatly. I ignored her tone.
"How did you sleep, Sara? We didn't hear any disturbances last night," Will said.
"Pretty well. Well, at least until this maniac came up and tried to break my door down," I said, glaring at Gabriel. He shrugged with a sheepish look on his face.
"What, I couldn't let you sleep all day!" he said indignantly.
"Sara, lay off," Will said. I rolled my eyes.
A loud knock broke the silence of the room.
"Well, guess it's showtime," I said. Will crossed over to the door and opened it. Raven Cole stood before us, looking exactly like she did the last time I saw her. I pushed the memory of her downfall out of my mind and welcomed her.
"You have no idea how good it is to see you," I said. She smiled and stepped inside as Will closed the door behind her.
"Hello, Sara. Mac. And this is Gabriel, correct? And William?" We all nodded. "Do you have a plan of action?"
"We were hoping you might be able to enlighten us," Will remarked.
"All rightI have an idea. Just give me a minute," Raven said, and she closed her eyes.
"What's she doing?" Gabe whispered.
"I don't knowjust wait and see," I whispered back.
* * *
Dragon. Dragon, can you hear me?'
My head snapped up from my previous rest. My scenery hadn't changed, but I was sure that I had heard Raven in my head. But that wasn't possiblewas it?
Dragon?'
Birdie?'
Ah, there you are. How are you holding up? Do you know where you are?'
How can this be? I thought you were in a coma, Birdie.'
Nothing's forever, Dragon. Now listen to me. Is there any way that you can see your surroundings? Like through a window or something? We need clues so that we can locate you.'
I looked around and craned my neck to peer out the only close window. I spotted some surrounding warehouses and read the names on the walls to her in my mind.
All right, excellent. Can you describe the one you're in? We've got it narrowed down to five buildings, so they tell me.'
It's a very large one. This room has an upper floor to it and I have reason to believe that the entire building does as well. That's all I know. Oh, wait. I see a street sign, but I can't read all of it. I can see the letters C-U-M-Mand that's all. I'm sorry, but I was unconscious when they brought me here.'
Hmm. All right. Hopefully that will help us find you. Just hold on, Dragon. Oh, and by the way, there's someone here that will soon go mad if we don't find you, and that's incentive enough for anyone, considering how much damage she could do.'
Sara? Can I talk to her?' If only I could hear her voice
I'm so sorry, but she doesn't know how to project her thoughts quite yet. Do you want me to tell her something for you? Other than the obvious.'
What? What are you talking about?'
Ian.' I winced. She was using my given name. I was in for it now. I can't believe that you still haven't told her how you feel about her.'
I sighed.
Well, don't worry, I'll let you do that. Anything else?'
tell her to be careful.'
Gotcha. See you soon, Dragon. Be ready to fight.'
Not a problem.'
* * *
Raven stood with her eyes closed for about five minutes. The three of us were too confused to speak, and Raven seemed to work better in silence, so we simply watched her. We felt kind of foolish just standing there staring at her until she startled us by abruptly opening his eyes and smiling.
"What were you doing?" Gabe asked, speaking for all of us.
"Why don't we go somewhere more comfortable? I don't want to make a poor impression on our guest. We'll relocate and then Raven can tell us the details," Will said.
We agreed and went downstairs to what Gabe had dubbed "the living room."
Raven looked around at the warehouse as we went through it and seemed to admire it. "Nice place you have here, William. It must have taken a long time to fix it up like this. Most hideouts aren't this nice."
"Well, actually, Mac is the mastermind behind all of this. I'm just a subordinate who just acts like he owns the place."
"Oh. Well. I have seen better headquarters," she said, ignoring Mac's venomous look.
We all took seats in the living room and Raven began her story.
"I contacted Ian telepathically and spoke with him," she said.
I opened my mouth to speak, but Raven cut me off. "He's fine, Sara. Could you turn down the volume a little, please? You think very loudly."
"You read my mind?" I asked. That was just slightly an invasion of privacy. I was right in what I'd thought before: nothing is sacred anymore. "What if I wasn't exactly open to that?"
"I didn't really have a choice. I wasn't reading your mind; I intercepted your broadcast. When people think strongly enough, others that can tune into thatchannel, if you will, can just hear it as it's being thought. We don't always have to put effort into how we use our powers. Oh, and don't worry, Sara. Your secret's safe with me. I knew that already, anyway."
"What the–?"
"He asked me to tell you to be careful. He knows you well, and wants you to practice caution when entering this dangerous situation. That's about it," Raven said, ignoring my previous exclamation.
"Wasn't that maddening for you, Raven? Hearing all those projected thoughts as you grew up, I mean. It took me a long time to learn how to block them out," Mac said.
"That was never really a problem for me. I just was unable to control my gifts until Irons pushed me too far one day and the gate blocking my way burst open. Blocking unwelcome thoughts is a very simple skillI thought that even you would be able to handle it."
ouch. This could be bad,' I thought.
"Excuse me?" Mac asked.
