Moon - New Moon Part 70

"What?"

"He got that from Rinna. She was watching a cop show on TV the other night. And a guy was holding people hostage. That was the demand the guy made, and Rinna fed the line to Falcone. And she probably told him how to work the phone."

"So she's got some kind of plan."

"Yeah, but what?"

"Stalling. It's got to involve stalling."

"Why?"

"Because we know that b.a.s.t.a.r.d Falcone isn't going to the Middle East. That's her idea."

Logan looked toward the back of the house. It was dark, and there was a fair amount of cover. Maybe enough for a wolf to get close without getting shot by the guys inside or the cops.

He turned back to Ross. "I have an idea, but it's risky."

"Let's hear it," his cousin said without hesitation.

"WE should sit down where we can talk." Rinna led the way into another room. As she pa.s.sed one of the tables, she picked up a gun and shoved it into her waistband, under her s.h.i.+rt. She knew one of the soldiers had seen her.

Hoping he wouldn't tell Falcone, she sat down on the couch.

Falcone looked at one of his men. "Go back to the television thing. Tell me if they say anything that we don't know."

"Yes sir." The man hurried back to the kitchen, and Falcon leaned casually against the wall. He was acting like he was perfectly comfortable here. Fine with her. The more he pretended, the more he was likely to mess up.

"Sit," she said to Avery and Brusco.

They sat.

"Have you ever opened a portal?" she asked.

"I was part of a group that did it," Avery answered. "And we closed the other one."

"I saw you."

Avery nodded.

Rinna asked, "But you couldn't open another one before Falcone came to this world, that was why you used the one in the Easy Shopper?"

"Yes," Brusco snapped.

"Have you opened a portal?" Avery asked her.

"Yes," she lied. Of course she had never done it. But she'd been secretly studying the process since she'd first discovered that Boralas had broken through to this world. Haig had scoffed at her attempts. But he had been wrong to discourage her.

Haig. Her heart squeezed when she thought of him. He had been like a father to her. And she had lost him to Falcone's cruelty. She knew he was dead because she felt his total absence from the world. Now she must punish his killer.

She dragged in a deep breath and let it out slowly before looking at Avery and Brusco. "I have to meditate. I have to look for the... plates between the world. They can slip and slide. And I have to find a way to push one aside."

The older man nodded. "That's the way Tinus described it to us. And that's the way we snapped the other one shut."

She gave him a grateful look. Then she swung her gaze toward Falcone and the soldiers. "I must have quiet. And I must be alone."

"Not alone!"

"Avery can watch me. But he has to give me... s.p.a.ce. He can call you when I have found something."

"How do I know you won't slip through the portal when you have it open?"

"Because I can't open it by myself." She looked toward Avery. "Tell him how difficult it is. If I can do it at all, I need additional power."

"She's telling the truth," Avery said.

Her gaze shot to Falcone. "Figure out how to hold off the police, while I work on the portal."

Falcone glared at her, then turned away.

RINNA found a quiet room where heavy drapes were drawn across the windows. She sat down in a chair that was covered with soft leather and closed her eyes.

She had said she was trying to open a portal, but it was hard to get the right focus. Her mind drifted toward Logan. She wanted to reach out to him, to feel his comforting presence near her. But she ruthlessly stayed away from that. She would come back to him, if she could. And the only way she could do that was to get rid of Falcone.

So she closed Logan out of her thoughts and let her mind drift, first in a kind of free-floating state so that she could calm herself and focus on the difficult job she had to do.

When she had centered herself, she began searching for the plates that walled off this world from the ones that rested beside it. She couldn't have described the process to anyone. She only knew that she could sense the barriers between the timelines. She let her mind stroke over them, feel their shape, look for c.h.i.n.ks that she could open wider and use to her advantage.

She wasn't sure how long she searched and evaluated. But finally she knew that she was as ready as she would ever be.

When she looked up, she saw Avery's tense face.

"I have it," she whispered.

"What should I do?"

"Get Falcone. And Brusco. Have all the men standing by."

The old man hurried off and was back moments later with Falcone and the others.

Rinna stayed in the chair, feeling all the men watching her.

"Link hands," she murmured. "All of you. I need as much energy as I can get."

OUTSIDE, Jake Cooper studied the house. He'd seen shadows moving behind the blinds. More than one man and one woman. So how many people were in there, and how were they armed?

He didn't want to make any mistakes. The guy inside had already killed a man. He could kill the woman, too.

But what was the best way to get her out of there in one piece?