Calum’s Contact E-Book

Mayer Dale

• Herausgeber: Valley Publishing Ltd.
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

As his career path led him into more and more danger, Calum made a decision to keep his family safe, even if it meant he would be alone in the world. But when his wife and son are kidnapped and dumped almost into his very own secret headquarters, Calum knows his safeguards haven’t been enough.

Mariana didn’t like Calum’s decision from years ago but finally understood after her and her son are rescued from kidnappers, and she saw the dangerous level of his work. However, having him once again in her life, their family whole again, she’s not willing to let him go. Not this time. If the danger would continue, … surely they were safer at his side.

Calum’s abilities at an all-time low, his friends and fellow teammates injured and struggling, Calum knows he must be there for the team. Yet protecting his family comes first. But, if they don’t get to the bottom of the chaos that’s his current life, … no one is safe.

Leseprobe

Books in This Series:

Damon’s Deal, Book 1

Wade’s War, Book 2

Gage’s Goal, Book 3

Calum’s Contact, Book 4

Rick’s Road, Book 5

Scott’s Summit, Book 6

Brody’s Beast, Book 7

Terkel’s Twist, Book 8

Terkel’s Triumph, Book 9

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

About This Book

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Epilogue

About Rick’s Road

Sneak Peek from Magnus: Shadow Recon

Author’s Note

Complimentary Download

About the Author

Copyright Page

About This Book

Welcome to a brand-new series from USA Today best-selling author Dale Mayer, where dark-ops SEALs have special senses and skills, needed to solve intrigue, betrayal, and … murder. A series with all the elements you’ve come to love, plus so much more, … including psychics!

As his career path led him into more and more danger, Calum made a decision to keep his family safe, even if it meant he would be alone in the world. But when his wife and son are kidnapped and dumped almost into his very own secret headquarters, Calum knows his safeguards haven’t been enough.

Mariana didn’t like Calum’s decision from years ago but finally understood after her and her son are rescued from kidnappers, and she saw the dangerous level of his work. However, having him once again in her life, their family whole again, she’s not willing to let him go. Not this time. If the danger would continue, … surely they were safer at his side.

Calum’s abilities at an all-time low, his friends and fellow teammates injured and struggling, Calum knows he must be there for the team. Yet protecting his family comes first. But, if they don’t get to the bottom of the chaos that’s his current life, … no one is safe.

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Prologue

Calum Lancashire walked unsteadily forward, as he entered the temporary headquarters for Terk’s team here in Manchester, England. Terk was here, giving freely of his energy, and, with every step that Calum took, he was getting stronger. He was using a cane, something that he’d never used in his life, and it was hard—damn hard, in fact. It was awkward and debilitating, but, hey, he was finally upright. Nothing worse than not being on his feet. He smiled at Terk. “Thank you.”

“For what?” Terk asked.

“For keeping me alive, for one. For keeping Mariana alive, for two. And for saving my kid.”

“For that, you’re very welcome,” Terk replied. “We have a lot to catch up on. You’re way behind on the news.”

“Where are they?”

“They’re down the hall here just a bit,” he stated. “Can you make it?”

“Of course I’ll make it.” When they opened the door, Cal heard a gasp, and he stepped inside. There was Mariana, standing beside a double bed that contained his son, four-year-old Little Calum. Cal opened his arms, and Mariana raced forward.

“I’ll leave you three alone. Cal, we’ll meet up later,” Terk said, turning to leave.

After he left the room, but still in the hallway as he could be heard talking to someone, Mariana whispered to her husband, “I didn’t know. I’m sorry. I just didn’t know.”

“I got it,” he murmured. “I tried to tell you.”

“And now I get it.” She shook her head. “It was terrible, absolutely terrible, but we’re safe, and now I have you back.” She squeezed him hard.

He held her close, his face buried in her beautiful soft blond hair. She always smelled like the scent of roses, and yet she swore she never used any perfume. Maybe it was a whiff of her shampoo? He didn’t know, but it was stunning, and it brought back so many memories that the tears choked the back of his throat. “I’m so glad you’re safe,” he whispered, “and I’m so damn sorry that you and our son got caught up in this nightmare.”

She shook her head. “It’s fine,” she said quietly. “I get it. I mean, I really do understand now.”

He shook his head. “You shouldn’t have to get it.” He groaned. “At least they didn’t hurt you two, thank God.”

“No, but Little Calum is quite traumatized,” she noted, “and I’ve had a hard time getting him to sleep.”

“We’ll find a safe place for you two, until this is over.”

She pulled back ever-so-slightly, then looked up at him. “The kidnappers did mention a name. Rulrul,” she murmured. “I don’t know who that is but—”

At that, Terk stepped forward. “What, do you mean, Rulrul? What did they say?”

“Something like, ‘Rulrul won’t like this. He doesn’t like involving kids or women.’ But apparently it was a necessary tactic that they felt they had to employ.”

“Now that’s interesting,” Terk replied. “Did you hear a last name or anything about a location?”

“Something to do with overseas, I think. I thought he meant Asia, but I don’t really know.”

“Did they say anything about the government? Or anything about being paid?”

“I overheard all kinds of bits and pieces,” she noted. “It’s obvious that they didn’t worry about whether I heard or not,” she murmured, “but it was pretty rough to make out words.”

“Take your time. If you remember something later, no matter how insignificant, let us know,” Terk replied. “I’m glad you remembered the name Rulrul.”

“I only wish I had more, but I’m not sure that does any good.”

“It does. Believe me. All intel does.” Terk gave her a bright smile.

She held herself close against Cal.

He just wanted to hold her and to squeeze her tight. He dropped a kiss on her forehead. “I promise we’ll get to the bottom of this,” he told her, “and nobody will hurt Little Calum anymore. I’m so sorry.”

She looked up at him, smiled, and murmured, “I know, and you aren’t to blame. And maybe it’s better in a way because now I understand why you walked away. I knew that you were concerned about danger to us, but I underestimated what that really meant and never expected to have it so forcibly shown to me.”

“And it shouldn’t have been,” he snapped in a rough voice. Then he looked over at Terk.

She shook her head. “It’s not Terk’s fault.”

“No, it’s not,” Calum said, “but you can bet we’re all after answers. Real and final answers.”

She stopped a moment, then smiled. “Sean.”

Both men looked at her, with quizzical expressions.

“Sean,” she repeated. “One of the men they were talking with was Sean.”

“Any idea in what capacity?” Terk asked.

“No, but I think he was the one who said something about Calum won’t be happy.”

“So, Rulrul won’t be happy, and Calum won’t be happy.”

“I think Sean is the one who arranged for us to get picked up,” she murmured. “I could be wrong though. … I don’t really know. It was mentioned just in passing, as they were leaving, and one of the guys was speaking to the other one. The one guy said, ‘Sean, this is your deal.’ So I presumed the other guy was Sean. He laughed and said, ‘Yeah, old Calum won’t be happy with me.’ Oh wait.” She stopped, then looked at the two men. “Then Sean said something about it being a damn fine time for it. Something like, ‘I’ve been waiting forever.’ Does any of that make sense?”

At that, Calum stiffened and pulled her tightly into his arms again, holding her close. He looked at Terk over the top of her head. “That can’t be Sean Calvert, can it?”

“I suggest we find out,” Terk stated quietly. “Sean has been after you for a long time.”

She pulled back, looked up at her husband.

He faced her and explained, “His life is a mess, and he’s always blamed me for it. It could explain him grabbing you and our son.”

“Did you do something to him?” she asked.

He immediately shook his head. “No, but a guy like that is just looking for excuses. He’s glommed onto me as his enemy, and that’s all he cared about. We were on friendly terms at one time.”

She winced. “I’m sorry. That sounds pretty rough. For you and him.”

“It was very rough for him apparently,” Calum noted. “I’ve received threats from him over the years, and I’ve told him several times that I had nothing to do with his problems.”

“But, like you said, he doesn’t want to listen.”

“Right, he doesn’t want to listen at all,” he added. “And obviously he has let that hate boil over to something completely out of hand, and he’s not prepared to even consider the truth anymore.”

“No.” She shook her head. “Yet he sounded normal, looked normal, if normal is a term applied here.”

He gave her a description of a man about five-eleven, with curly blond hair and a suntan, like a surfer.

She nodded slowly. “Yeah, exactly.”

“Good,” he confirmed, “at least now I know who it is. This time we’ll have a meet-up that only one of us will walk away from.”

“Then it damn well better be you,” she cried out.

“I didn’t come this far to lose you and Little Calum now.” He smiled. “I worked really hard to survive that blast, and I have no intention of you losing me either, but I do intend to stop somebody who has such a hate-on for me that he’ll continue to be a threat to us.” He paused. “This is well past the point of normal behavior, and I had nothing to do with everything that’s gone wrong in his life,” he murmured. “It’s well past time for him to understand it.” And, with that, he leaned over, kissed her gently. “Besides, I have to keep you guys safe. And I’ll do whatever it takes.”

She threw her arms around him. “I know you will. You’re not to blame for any of this, but please don’t do anything stupid.”

“I won’t do anything stupid.” Yet he felt his own temper still simmering. “But you can sure as hell bet that I won’t let myself off as easily as you let me off.”

She winced. “I knew you would take it the wrong way, if I told you anything.”

“It doesn’t matter,” he replied. “We’re at the point in time now where there’s literally no going back. We have to get to the bottom of everything and stop this, Sean included. We’ve had a ton of our people attacked, and some didn’t survive,” he added quietly. “We all have families, and we all want to make sure everything’s good.”

“I get it,” she agreed. “So go off and do your thing.”

He smiled. “I wanted to just stay here and be with you for a little bit.” But he caught sight of Terk, who shook his head.

“As much as that would be nice,” Terk said, “it’s not to be. We’ll bring you up to date, and we need to hunt down Sean, before he causes any more trouble.” And, with that, Terk left, clearly expecting Calum to follow.

The thing was, he would. Terk had been there for Calum every step of the way, and Cal would be there for Terk now. All Calum had to do was make sure that his team hunted down Sean and took out these assholes. And then go back after the other members of his team who were still comatose. Calum would do what he could to help pull them back out, just as Terk had pulled Cal out.

It was a terrible half-living state to be in, particularly for those with their kinds of abilities, used to pushing their bodies and their minds to the fullest extent, all in the protection of others. He kissed his wife gently once more. “I’ll be back in a little bit.”

She smiled, then nodded. “Go on. I know you have to, and it’s fine. Just make sure you come home at the end of the day.” And, with that, she stepped back and gave him a tentative wave. He walked over and kissed the sleeping child on the forehead, whispering in his ear. Then Cal headed out to follow Terk.

Chapter 1

Calum hated the fact that Mariana and his son were here. Yet he wanted to clutch the two of them close and never let them go.

He adored her, for God’s sake, but a lot was going on. The fact that she was here to be with him was amazing, and he wanted every moment he could get with her, but the fact that she had been kidnapped, put in a lethal situation, only proved he’d been right to leave them behind so many years ago. He didn’t want his family in jeopardy for another second because of the work Cal did, because of these assholes that Terk’s team encountered too often, and everything that had happened recently was driving him mad.

He wanted a target to look for, someone he could blame, and a solution he could work toward, but, at the moment, just nothing fell in place, with no way to get anywhere closer to Sean and the guys that had blown up Terk’s team.

Terk obviously understood what the hell Cal was going through, as he looked over at Calum. “We can’t have you going on too many road trips,” he murmured. “We must keep everybody here safe, but have you done any energy sessions to see if anybody out of Iran is still alive?”

Calum frowned. “Back to Iran? I thought we were discussing Sean Calvert.”

“We are,” Terk agreed, “but I need you to keep an eye on Iran as well. It keeps popping up all over our intel.”

Cal frowned. “Huh. I was pretty sure that was a done deal.”

“We all were pretty sure it was a done deal,” Terk noted, “but it doesn’t look like it is.”

“That’s not good,” he replied. “That was a major op for many reasons.”

“I know.” Terk nodded. “It makes me sick to think that we may have missed one person, and that mistake could end up costing us our lives.”

“You mean, like it hasn’t already cost us?” Calum stated, half bitterly.

“I get that you’re upset about Mariana,” he murmured. “I wasn’t even aware that you were still together.”

“I know”—he shrugged—“I basically kept them out of everything.”

“And that’s your prerogative,” Terk noted. “We don’t have to share all our personal and private information.”

“No, we don’t,” Calum agreed, “but I do know how much difference it makes to the team as a whole if we aren’t keeping secrets.”

“Now that’s true.” Terk gave him a half smile.

“Damon filled me in on Celia.”

At that, Terk’s smile fell away, and he gave a clipped nod. “And we have no idea what the hell happened there either.”

“But we will,” he promised.

Terk once again stared at him. “We will. I was just hoping that it wasn’t even part of the equation.”

“Of course not,” Calum stated. “I do think that you were planning to go to Texas, where she was dumped, says something.”

“And what about that she’s carrying my child?” he asked bitterly.

At that, Calum hesitated, then asked, “You’re sure?”

“As sure as I can be without a DNA test,” Terk replied, his voice low.

“Of course,” Calum acknowledged, “and that’s what they’re counting on, isn’t it? That you would know, with our particular skills, and that you would go there and save her.”

“Well, it’s not that we don’t do that on a regular basis,” Terk replied, “which means they also know all about us in every way.” He shrugged. “Which I was assuming to begin with. So somebody has been tapping our lines or somebody inside the department has been passing over information, whether knowingly or not.” He shook his head. “Bob was one of the defense department guys, and they took him out at the same time as the attacks on the rest of us.”

“Weeding us out to focus on something more tangible, I suppose,” Calum noted. “Last I heard, Sean was in the Netherlands.” He looked at Terk. “If too many of us gather here, we’ll draw attention.”

“I know,” Terk stated. “We’re trying to find another location.”

“Good,” he noted. “With all of us in one corner like this, if we get taken out, it’ll take all of us out.”

“Again, I know,” Terk muttered. “We’re still looking at options.”

“There aren’t very many buildings that can shield our energy usage, and we need that to give us an additional layer of security, especially now that we have family left behind, when we go on ops.” Calum sighed. “I don’t suppose you want me to physically head to the Netherlands to track down Sean, especially not alone.”

“No, I don’t want you going, especially not alone. With half of us still down, I need you to do a little remote viewing first, see if you can confirm anything at all from Iran.”

“I can do that now.” Calum looked around. “Do we have a room or a secure place where we can do our energy work?”

“Yeah.” Terk nodded. “I have two rooms that I have been working in.”

“Okay, let me take a look at them.” With that, they walked out of the main computer area and headed down to where Terk did his special work. “This might work,” Calum noted, as he stood in the first room. “Interesting noise barriers.”

“I know, but we don’t have a whole lot of options.”

“We never do,” Cal muttered. “Okay, leave me alone here for a little bit, and I’ll see if I can make anything activate.”

“And remember. It’s always about not getting tracked.” Terk’s tone was bitter.

Calum was a bit offended that Terk felt he had to tell him that.

Terk immediately added, “No offense meant. However, after the blast, everyone’s skills have taken a hit. So I’d rather say something twice than not mention something that may have been wiped out of our memory banks by that attack.”

Cal slowly nodded. “I know. The stakes have never been higher, … not when my family is now here.” He frowned. “This isn’t a great place for a kid.”

“Of course not.” Terk backed away, as if to assess the damage he had done with the careless statement he had made. “We won’t keep you and your family here for very long.”

“Set up another safe house, and we’ll move the family members over there.”

“Not alone, no way,” Terk ordered.

“Then give us half of what you’ve got here, … like maybe Wade and I move,” he suggested quietly. “It would also ease some of the stress and congestion.”

“Everything is possible, Calum. It’s been an adjustment. Each time one of you came back to us, someone you loved came with you. Our family is slowly growing. I’ll talk to the others. In the meantime, you go do your thing and check out Iran.”

And, with that, Terk walked out, leaving Calum alone in the room, where he had absolutely no idea if he could pick up anything or not. Not only was he drained, exhausted, and damaged, he was also highly stressed. Not a very good situation when it came to energy work, considering what he wanted to accomplish here, with his remote viewing of Iran. When stressed, this kind of work was damn near impossible.

Maybe that was the overall intent of the attack and then the kidnapping. Maybe the enemy was looking to take out his family. These assholes had to figure initially that Calum could never function on this level again with the physical and psychic trauma he had sustained in the blast. Then to kidnap his family? That emotional trauma could end him. Those thoughts made him even more determined to get back out there and to get to the bottom of all this BS. He wanted so badly to get these guys for what they’d done to him, to his team, to his family.

He closed his eyes, settled into his normal position, and tried to destress and decentralize the voices in his head. He could only travel on the ethers like this if 100 percent relaxed and in total control of his emotions. And, even though it was hard, he tried slowing down his breathing. One, … two, … three, the sun, the moon, the truth.

He had picked up the phrase while training with Terk, and it had stayed with Cal. He could already feel himself tensing and worrying about Mariana. Not now. Instantly he pulled back and refocused. And, with the mantra ringing in his head, his vision slowly started to expand; it was working. With an enormous effort, he became a part of the soul of the world. He was soaring.

He looked down at their temporary headquarters. Little Calum was asleep still and curled up in his mom’s lap. Calum saw them as he traveled, light on the air, through the same building that he was sitting in. It helped him to take a minute to orient himself and to mark his physical location, so he could return to these coordinates safely.

He headed out to the main computer room, where everybody sat, working—including Tasha, Sophia, and Lorelei. Some were talking to sort out the pertinent information; others focused on different tasks, but basically everybody minded their own part of this business and continued on, pushing to the common goal. A lot to be said for that. He didn’t want to leave this atmosphere if he didn’t have to. But, no doubt, if something went wrong with one of them, it could seriously affect all of them, every single one. And that was something that Calum couldn’t handle. They’d already lost so much.

And that just blew him away because it showed the enemy’s intel at a level that Cal didn’t even want to think about. It meant people knowing what they were doing, when they were doing it, and how. These were people with an agenda—intent on taking down Terk’s team.

Once again, Cal tried to empty his mind of his worries, but it was hard. Pushing aside the pain in his chest, he finally stepped away from the whole mess and went back to his happy place, watching his Mariana with his son. Even as he watched her, she closed her eyes and gently tried to rest. He reached out mentally to her. Just rest. We’re all here, and we’ll look after you.

Her eyes flew open, and she sat upright. Stunned, he watched, as she looked around, frowning.

Had she heard him? That would be unusual and probably not a good thing in his line of work—although he wouldn’t mind if they had that level of communication in their personal lives. He had always thought that, when he found the perfect partner for him, she could do the same things he was doing, but how many people in the world did this energy work? Not that he was an egotist by any means, but the type of work he did had taken a lot of training, a lot of time invested. Yet, here on the ethers, it seemed like everything was almost timeless.

He murmured again in her head, I’m here. Just relax. Go to sleep and rest. Little Calum will be up soon, and you’ll need to look after him.

She frowned, then shifted her position and laid back down again, looking around the room, as if uncertain what to do.

He immediately sent what was the equivalent of a warm hug. She smiled, pulled the blankets up to her shoulders, and snuggled in. With her calm and somewhat happy, he then branched out farther, outside of the building, checking out the defenses in place.

Damon and Wade had both put up energy barriers that would be hard to cross, unless someone truly knew and had the kind of skills that his team had. He was proud of the team, damn proud, and they’d done incredible work for the safety of the American people. But nobody knew how their own government had fired them, and that fact made being in this position hurt so much more.

He knew that some of the others on Terk’s team thought that the US government had been cleaning up, after closing down Terk’s special department, making sure it was closed permanently. Cal wasn’t so sure it was that simple.

They lived in a world of deception and betrayal, and too many people could have had access to their files. He was guessing here, conjuring up threads to follow, but it was possible that somebody—who shouldn’t have had access—had sold personal info regarding Terk’s team to the unknown enemy. And the fact that Mariana was here too said an awful lot about the team’s personal files being exposed somehow and what other people knew.

Not just their enemies but their families too. Knowing was one thing, but whether they understood what they knew was a whole different story.

That Mariana was here and potentially part of the group now meant that the chances were very likely that Mariana had been told what the team does, but there was also a damn good chance that she only knew a little bit of it and not all of it. Did any of them even know all of it? Each of the guys had differing skill sets. Cal didn’t know much about what his buddies could do, any more than they understood Cal’s gifts.

He was straining hard now to remain on the ethers, especially while distracted like this.

Well, Terk knew everything about every guy on his team. This was his deal, his project. It had all been Terk’s idea; he had brought this dream team into fruition, and he had trained them all. The fact that he’d even found them was something else. Calum often still wondered about that because it’s not as if Terk could just place a want ad for people like them.

Terk had searched them out, had hunted them down, had sorted them, and had brought them on board. Of course it also helped to be somebody who had the same kind of skills that Calum had. Before that, all anyone knew, and all the military knew, was that Calum had a strong intuition. It had taken a lot of time and training on the part of Terk to help Cal realize his potential, to focus on it, to embrace it, to enhance it, becoming so much more than what it had been.

Calum wasn’t prepared to let go of that either, not at this stage. He didn’t know whether any of his team would be interested or not in forming up as an independent team, a non-governmental entity, but Cal suspected they would. They could still do so much good in the world, and, at the same time, they should be allowed to do it. However, it didn’t look like the US government was prepared to let them. In which case, governmental decisions had been made, and obviously they’d come off on the wrong side of that decision-making.

Terk’s team was dangerous, according to the government, and maybe they were. Maybe it was true. Calum wasn’t so sure. They’d only ever worked for the US government, helping their fellow man. But fear of the unknown—and Terk’s team was full of unknowns—makes people do all kinds of crazy things, and maybe that’s what happened.

But where did Terk’s team go from here? How did they go from here? That was, … well, … the million-dollar question, and it was something Calum wasn’t prepared to contemplate.

Gathering up his energy, he made a swoop into his target coordinates in Iran and homed in on his view outside of the lone building, merging into the sand, as both were the same color. He looked around and saw from his aerial viewpoint just what was here. It was interesting that he didn’t see a whole lot, and, of course, that was intentional. The goal was to be invisible to drones, so as not to pick up any activity either, since, of course, drones were out there.

And there was energy activity. Cal could sense it, but he didn’t know who was watching the ethers. Calum had limitations, and, if Wade had his abilities back at full speed, he may see more. Calum closed his eyes and thought back to where he’d been in Iran and about the mission they’d recently completed there.

Almost instantly he stared at the building, where their attack had happened.

The building itself was now leveled to the ground. Calum frowned, not remembering the extent of the devastation. They had gone in silently, taking out the Iranian team with two other SEAL teams, mostly Terk’s team only in a supervisory capacity. By the time it was all said and done, they were already on their way home. It had been smooth, efficient, successful—just the way they liked to do business.

At the same time, killing was hard for Cal to swallow, even if killing the bad guys was the right thing to do. He had known that, by killing that Iranian team, Terk’s team had saved hundreds of their own people through this assigned mission.

Initially Cal thought that he might get used to it, but it never seemed to get any easier on him. He’d been looking forward to retiring, spending time just with his family, relaxing into some form of normalcy, ever since Terk’s team was due to be disbanded. Who was he kidding? Cal thought of retirement since the formation of Terk’s team. Now Calum had the chance to do that. And yet here he was again, … looking to save his family from whatever the hell this nightmare was that was chasing him and his team. And it was hard on him, always hard.

He kept moving in his mind’s eye through the area, through time, but this part of Iran was dead. Nothing was there now, and, if anything had survived their attack, the remnants were long gone and had probably been intentionally moved. Nobody in their right mind would have stayed exactly in the same location where such devastation had been unleashed.

But then Cal frowned and reconsidered that because, in reality, some people would stay in the hope that they could manage their feelings and the emotional turmoil they were going through. Unable to walk away from the scene, they may be working on their need for … vengeance. Just no way to know for sure.

He needed to tell the team that the location was completely gone, but it was almost pointless to relay something they all seemed to know. The satellite imagery should have shown them that anyway. But then he frowned because, what if someone had access to that same satellite? Someone on the Iranian team might know where the US SEAL attackers had moved to afterward.

Calum didn’t think his team was tracking the area, considering it safe now since they had supposedly removed their target. From what Calum saw—sensed—the area wasn’t secure. Calum pulled back out, got up, and shook off the remnants of the trip, then stepped out into the hallway.

He moved down to the common area and walked in. Immediately everyone stopped talking and looked at him expectantly. With all of those gazes looking at him so intently, he shook his head. “Hey, it was just a test run.” Then he looked over at Terk. “You know that entire building is gone, right?”

“I know.” He nodded.

“So, yes, no signs of life, and the building has been demolished. Nothing is there physically, which I assume has been obvious on the satellite.”

“It is,” Terk agreed quietly. “What we didn’t know was whether it was just a cover for something else.”

Calum frowned at that, thought about what he’d seen and felt, then shook his head. “No. That doesn’t mean some activity isn’t close by—and I did get a hint of that energy—but you and I both know that I need an exact location in order to look into something like that remotely.”

“Got it.” Terk gave a gentle smile. “And that’s good news. One less building to keep under surveillance.”

“I get that,” Calum agreed, “but it doesn’t get us any further.” He reached up and rubbed his head.

“How is the headache?”

“How do you know I have a headache?” he asked briskly.

“Well, the head rubbing is definitely indicative,” he murmured, “but so is the crease on your forehead and the pain in your voice.” Terk’s voice was laced with concern for him.

Calum was annoyed with everything, and himself, for not being any help. “It’s just—the trip wasn’t that easy to do. Not anymore.”

“No, it isn’t. I get that. Using our abilities right now, with the chaos and all the hassles, is a pain in the ass. Everything is hurting, and that makes it much harder.”

“Why is that, Terk? See? I get it, but I don’t understand it.”

“Well, you’ve been injured for one thing,” Terk replied.

At that, Damon piped up. “And it seems like none of us are operating at full capacity. We were, … before all this,” “but now everything seems like slogging through molasses.”

Calum looked at him in surprise. “So it’s happening to you too then?” His question was directed to team members present.

Damon nodded.

“Me too,” Wade chimed in.

Cal looked around. “Gage too? Where is he?”

Terk nodded. “Gage’s doing a perimeter check outside. And, yes, he’s reporting the same side effects.”

“Interesting. So how do we fix that?” Cal asked. “I don’t really like being at half power.”

“No, none of us do.” Wade laughed.

“So how do we fix it, Terk?” Calum asked bluntly. “I don’t want to keep operating like this.”

Everyone looked over at Terk, who was all smiles. “You guys know how to power up and how to power down,” he began, trying to calm them. “You don’t need me for that.”

“No, but this seems like it’s a little past that,” Calum stated cautiously.

“It really isn’t,” Terk replied. “This is definitely more about getting yourself back up and running. We’ve had pitfalls like this before—”

“Not like this,” Calum protested vehemently.

The other two team members looked over at Terk. “Nothing like this,” Damon confirmed.

Terk nodded. “Okay, so it’s worse than anything we’ve gone through before. I get that, but the process is the same. You decide how much power you’ll lose, and then you reclaim the rest of it.”

“Are you saying that somebody else is affecting our ability to reclaim our power?”

“They have,” he stated. “This whole scenario has affected your abilities. You’ve all become victims.” Terk’s tone remained calm and serene. “And that means you have to reclaim that part of you and get out of that mentality.”

They stared at him in shock.

“Is that all it takes?” Calum asked in a hard tone.

“Yes. You are back up already and functioning again,” he noted, “so I don’t expect it will take you very long to make that mental switch.”

Damon stared at him. “Mental switch? Are you saying this is in our heads? This is something that we’re allowing to happen to us?”

“While you were injured? While you were in a coma? No. But, once you got your energy back,” he explained, “and don’t take this the wrong way, but, on a certain level, you handed over your power.”

At that, Damon shook his head. “You know that I don’t like hearing that shit.”