Brain Storm, Cat Gilbert [read books for money TXT] 📗
- Author: Cat Gilbert
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“I told her not to tell anyone about the gold. Not even you. That it would put you in a bad situation.” She reached across the table, imploring me to understand. “Taylor, she didn’t want to, I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t tell you.”
“She doesn’t know Kevin was doing something illegal, does she?”
“No.” It came out in a sob. “I couldn’t do that to her. No matter what. Not after losing Mama and then Kevin. She was so sick, Taylor. When Kevin was killed, I thought I would lose her too. She thought it was just a drive-by shooting. If the police had taken the gold and opened a case investigating Kevin, it might have been more than she could take. I’m so sorry Taylor, so very sorry.”
I looked at her sitting there crying at the table and thought about everything she had told me. She had gone against everything she believed, everything she stood for and quite possibly allowed her brother’s killers to go free to protect Mama D. The fact that she had broken the law didn’t really bother me all that much. True, Trinity had tampered with, and concealed evidence, but last night, I had killed four men. I had done it to protect Jonas and Trinity, but that didn’t change the fact that I had done it. And covered it up.
Had Trinity been any less justified in what she had done? Truth be told, I was having a little trouble here. What had seemed black and white less than 24 hours ago, was now obscured with hazy gray lines. What Trinity had done had come with a price. Secrets always do and this one, I knew, had haunted her.
It certainly complicated things, though. Going to the bank was a tremendous risk to everyone concerned. If we didn’t go, we stood to lose the only chance we might have to find Kevin’s killers. I knew this was the thing that Trinity feared the most. The reason she would go in alone if it came to that. When push came to shove, justice had to be served. It might come late, but it would come.
Jonas and Mac chose that moment to come loping around the corner. Both stopped short as they took in the scene before them. Trinity hunched at the table, in tears, the tension thick in the room.
“Are you okay?” Mac asked, searching my face. Jonas had moved toward Trinity, which I found somewhat ironic, given the fact they were usually occupied with yelling at each other.
“Fine,” I lied, purposely ignoring the elephant in the room. “How’s our money situation?”
“We’re good. Everything went smooth as silk. All the money’s accounted for and sitting in the Caymans.”
I nodded. I should have been relieved, but I wasn’t. I knew the worst was yet to come. We were going to have to walk into a bank in downtown Little Rock and make a withdrawal. I had made the decision. Heaven help us, we were going for the gold.
“ARE YOU OUT of your mind?” Jonas was on his feet before the words were out of my mouth. “There’s no way anyone is walking into that bank. Period.” He turned on Trinity, obviously blaming her for my decision. “We have enough money in the Cayman account. We don’t need to risk everything to fetch a few gold coins.”
Okay, he was right to blame her, but it was for all the wrong reasons. He thought it was about the money. It wasn’t, but he didn’t know that. I hoped that Trinity had enough sense to keep quiet, but she rose to the bait like a fish takes to water.
“Who do you think you are?” she growled out between clenched teeth. “You don’t make the rules around here, mister. And don’t you dare look down your nose at me for wanting to get them. We’re not just talking about a few gold coins. They’re important, and we’re not leaving without them.”
Trinity was nose to nose with Jonas, hands on her hips, spoiling for a fight. From the looks of things, he was going to give her one.
“Stop it. Both of you.” Mac stepped in between them, successfully separating them. Jonas hesitated and then backed down, holding up his hands in surrender.
“Fine. You tell them, Mac. I’m obviously not getting through to them.”
Mac was silent long enough for Jonas to realize he wasn’t going to get the backup he had hoped for. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Don’t tell me you agree with these two?”
“It doesn’t really matter what I think, Jonas. What matters is what Taylor thinks, and” he held up his hands to stop Jonas from cutting in, “if you’ll sit down and give me a minute, I’ll explain why.”
My eyes widened at his words. Mac was backing me up, much like he had last night when I insisted we go get Mama D and that Trinity and I go along. Thinking about it now, Mac had conceded to almost everything I’d wanted. I had felt that until now, he and Jonas had been calling the shots, but if I was honest, that wasn’t the way it was at all. I had voiced my preferences, and Mac had quietly backed me up. I hadn’t realized it, and apparently from Jonas’ glare, he hadn’t either.
It took Jonas a minute or two to decide and frankly I didn’t blame him. For the first time, I think, it really hit me just how horrible this was for him. Like the rest of us, he’d lost everything, but for Jonas, it had to be worse. He was used to being in control. Being the one in charge. It was as much a part of him as fighting for the right was for Trinity and me. Now Mac was telling him it wasn’t his call anymore. It was mine. He was losing the one thing he still had, and I wasn’t sure that was something he was going to be able to accept.
Finally, he drew back a chair and sat down, keeping his distance from the rest of us. Mac noticed, as did Trinity, but for a change, she kept her mouth shut. Maybe it had dawned on her too, just how much Jonas had sacrificed to help us.
Mac nodded and sat down as well, placing his hands gently on the table.
“You all know about Taylor’s telekinetic ability, but there’s a little more to it than that. Usually, when someone has one psychic gift, they have a secondary gift as well. It’s not as powerful as the first, but it does exist.”
Well, he certainly had my attention now. A second psychic ability. My mind was racing, trying to think what it might be. I could barely handle one. I knew I’d never be able to deal with a second one.
“Taylor, take it easy.” Mac had reached over, covering my hand with his on the tabletop. I knew what he was saying this time. He was warning me not to freak out, but trying to be nice about it. I took a couple of deep breaths to calm myself down, remembering all too well what had happened the last time I had panicked. I definitely didn’t want a repeat. Mac waited until I had gotten better control before he continued.
“Jonas, Taylor has the ability to sense things. That’s why she reacted so quickly when Marcus drew his gun on you. She had already sensed something was wrong. It’s why she’s so good at her job.”
“Wait. Are you saying Taylor can see the future?” Trinity interrupted him.
“No, not at all. It’s different than that, isn’t it Taylor?”
I looked at him blankly, not wanting to believe what he was saying. All this time, I thought I had just been listening to my gut feelings. That I was just good at my job, had great instincts. Now I find out I’m gifted. I know it wasn’t reasonable, but I felt like it was cheating somehow. No longer a level playing field where I excelled. I suppose that what he was saying made sense if you believed in that kind of thing. Now he’d put me in the hot seat, and they were all waiting for me to explain as if I knew what I was talking about.
“I don’t know. If what he’s saying is true, it’s just a feeling. Sort of knowing, without actually knowing.” As I stumbled around trying to explain it was becoming clearer to me. “It’s like instinct, but more than that. There’s a conviction to it.”
“Exactly,” Mac said, cutting back in. “Conviction. Deep down she just knows. So you see Jonas, no matter how much experience, or information any of us have, on her worst day, Taylor is still 100 times more likely to make the right decision than any one of us. She leads. We follow.”
I had heard enough. I wasn’t the person who should be in charge. Not of the group anyway. Jonas had way more experience and Mac had ... Well, I wasn’t sure what Mac had, but whatever it was, it was way more than me.
“I don’t want it.” I pulled away and kicked back my chair from the table. “ I don’t want the responsibility.”
“It’s too late, Taylor. You already have it. You’ve already made the decision. We’re going to the bank, and we’re going to get the coins. Don’t second guess yourself now. That’s the fastest way to get us all killed.”
Stunned, I stared at Mac, horrified at the burden he had just placed on
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