Oblivion by Adrianne Lemke Page B

began breathing faster, his hands gripping
into tight fists. Taking a deep breath, he pulled away and grimaced. “Yeah.
He’s definitely moving. Alice, we need to go.”

NINETEEN
    Sam

 
 
    Despite my desire
to leave immediately, it did take a couple minutes to gather everyone and leave
a message with Tessa for Paul. The whole time I couldn’t stop my fingers from
tapping against my leg, and my foot was tapping on the floor. “Can we get
going?” I urged.
    Jason wasn’t
waiting. No matter how much I tried to manipulate his fear or anxiety about
leaving the only place he would recognize, he still would not pause in his
efforts to get free. A wry smile crossed my face. Some things never change.
Even without memories, Jason would not stay still. Running was ingrained
deeply.
    “Is he talking to
you at all?” I faced Kindred, and he cast a glare in my direction.
    “As I told you
before; he no longer trusts me. He will not listen or respond to anything I try
to tell him, including that his brother is with me, and wants him to wait. What
more would you have me do?”
    He seemed upset,
but the assassin genuinely wanted to help Jason escape his captors. His
question wasn’t sarcastic, but an honest inquiry. Shrugging hopelessly, I
answered, “I would have everyone speed
up! ”
    My own anxiety
seemed to push everyone to their highest speeds. Alice and Mark had on their
bulletproof vests, and had their service weapons strapped to their hips. Hannah
was already at the car, and Kindred and I were close behind.
    “I have no
jurisdiction here,” Alice explained. “But this being a kidnapping, Mark does. He’s
reported to his superiors and requested my help, but we don’t have time to wait
for official word from his bosses that we can go in. Let’s go get Jason back.”
    Mark grinned
humorlessly, “Better to ask forgiveness than permission. We’ll be good as long
as we get Jason out and can get his statement.”
    Everyone got into
Alice’s SUV, and she drove as quickly as she could to the other side of town.
    “He’s terrified,”
I informed them, “but he isn’t stopping. There is no way to tell how far he is
in his attempt, since I can’t talk to him and he’s ignoring Ki—Jeremiah. All I
know is he is not out yet.”
    “We need to do
everything we can to aid him in his escape,” Jeremiah insisted. “He may not
know you or trust me, but if he sees us helping him that will be a start. And,
Oblivion? Try to avoid the temptation to use your abilities to make him trust
you. If he discovers that you were messing around in his mind, he will have a
difficult time truly trusting you again.”
    I flinched at the
reprimand, and wanted to push back at the warning. My mind, however,
automatically pulled back from my brother’s mind. His comment struck close to
home. Wasn’t that what I had worried about with Hunter? It was why I was so
hesitant to let Jason know about my abilities.
    Kindred was
clearly waiting for a response. “I… I—” I hesitated, not knowing what to say.
    The assassin spoke
in an oddly gentle tone. “You love your brother, but you also love using your
abilities. Keep in mind that your desire to manipulate others is not a trait
that Jason would admire. Do what you must to our enemies in order to help his
escape, but do not use your powers on him directly. Not until you attempt to
fix his memories.”
    My initial
reaction was to lash out. To tell Kindred that he had no right to tell me what
to do. Unfortunately, I knew he was right. The others seemed to know it as
well, because not one of them spoke up against what the killer said. Jason
always had a hard time letting people in and trusting them. It would be hard
enough to explain what I had inadvertently done to him without having to inform
him that, along with wiping his memories, I had also manipulated his emotions.
    Even with his
memories, Jason had no idea what I could do. He’d been drugged and in pain when
I tried to explain it