Free The Mind Keepers (The Mind Readers) by Lori Brighton

easily and efficiently as any assassin. Heck, I
kind of respected her toughness, her lack of emotion and weakness. I’d been
that way until Mom had died. I’d been strong, unbreakable—or so I’d thought.
After all, I’d survived torture twice. Now I felt like I was constantly tumbling
around and around in a dryer, no idea which way was up or down.
    I shook my head, releasing a
breath of air through pursed lips. I was determined to maintain control. And so
I pretty much ignored her as we hiked, as I’d been ignoring her most of the
day. She might not agree with our plan, but she was outnumbered in votes. Besides,
this was our party she was crashing.
    “You really think we can just
waltz up there?”
    I clenched my jaw so tight to
keep from saying something that my teeth actually hurt.
    “Got a better plan?” Cameron spit
out for me.
    I grinned; thank God for small
favors. Aunt Lyndsey would make anyone’s hackles rise, even my saintly sister’s.
My aunt sure as hell didn’t worry about speaking her mind, something else we
had in common.
    Still, she wasn’t as annoying as
the mosquitos that swarmed us, following in a cloud that would have been unbearable
if we hadn’t been wearing pants and long-sleeved shirts. Yep, we were like a
little army, traipsing through the underbrush, preparing to attack. The operative
word was little . Could we really take
an entire compound?
    “I’ll head to the north end,”
Lewis said, shifting the backpack higher up on his shoulders. “Set off the grenade
and hopefully draw them to me.”
    My aunt had come with her own
arsenal, and none of us had asked where she’d gotten the weapons. But then
again, she claimed we didn’t need them, that we were more powerful than anything
man-made. She apparently had never been in a gun fight with an S.P.I. agent.
    “I don’t get it,” Cameron said,
shaking her head. Sweat glistened across her forehead, and I had a feeling I
looked just as stressed. But then hiking through the woods in the humid North
Carolina spring with little sleep the night before would do that to a person. “There’s
no noise, no cars, no energy.”
    I didn’t miss the glance Lewis
sent her. I had a feeling they had some sort of mental communication going,
although I couldn’t prove it. I looked away, feeling as if I was intruding on a
private moment, and at the same time wondering over the envy I felt. I could
never have that bond with Maddox. He would never—could never—truly understand
me. So why had I felt such a connection with him?
    I noticed Lewis frown. Most
likely he’d been lecturing her on why it was a bad idea to save Maddox. I didn’t
blame the guy, any boyfriend would be jealous of Maddox. I swiped my forehead
with the back of my hand and pushed thoughts of love and romance from my mind.
    Cameron was right. There was no
energy. Weird.
    “Bad feeling,” my aunt muttered.
    I frowned, knowing exactly why
she was so insistent on sharing her thoughts…she wanted me back at the house. I
could tell Cameron and Lewis agreed. They didn’t think I could handle the extra
flow of energy coming through me. Maybe I wasn’t ready, but no way in hell I
was going to stay behind. I had a feeling too, a feeling I needed to be here,
although why, I wasn’t sure.
    My foot sank into the muddy
creek bed while my mind wandered. “Damn.” I pulled it free, shaking the mud
loose and trekked up the small bank. It had changed in the year since I’d been
here, hoping to sway Cameron to our side. Funny, it seemed like a million years
ago when she’d been working for my father and S.P.I. “How much longer?”
    Lewis lifted the GPS system that
hung from the strap on his backpack. “Quarter of a mile.”
    He’d been quiet most of the
trip, unnaturally so, and I had a feeling he was worried about Cameron’s
attachment to Maddox. He should be. Maddox was sexy, and when he was out to
charm someone, they didn’t have a chance. I frowned at the thought, an
irrational