Tears Read Online Free PDF Page B

through the stairwell door and disappeared from sight. Gaia scowled. Now she was mad.
Energy crackled like electricity in her body.
No way was she going to let this scumbag get away. She threw Sam’s rose to the ground and pumped her legs like a race-horse, exploding through the door before it had even closed behind the guy, then jumping the first flight of steps in one leap—
    Thwip. Thwip.
    Gaia knew the sound instinctively: gunfire. She reacted before she even knew what she was doing, ducking behind the banister. The man in black had pulled out a nine millimeter with a silencer and fired off two quick shots. Two crackling holes blew open in the cinder block wall directly behind her.
    Her adrenaline was at a fever pitch. It was a good thing she could feel no fear. She didn’t exactly have the advantage in this situation. A gun had been completely unexpected. But rage clouded her judgment. She couldhave let the guy go as he galloped down the stairs, but instead she vaulted over the banister like a gymnast. In a swift maneuver she slid down the next floor’s banister, building up an enormous amount of momentum.
    The man was right in front of her now. She targeted his head—sliding off the metal and snapping out her leg for a perfectly placed side kick.
    â€œ
Hai!
”
    His mouth dropped open a fraction of a second before the toe struck—and his head slammed into the wall. An instant later he and everything he had with him went tumbling down the last of the stairs. A small black wire fell from his bag as he hit the bottom landing. Gaia sucked in her breath as she landed, throwing her arms wide to gain her balance.
    There was a moment of quiet. Gaia peered at the untidy black heap below her. The man was unconscious.
    Or so she thought.
    Dizziness began to claw at her brain. She grabbed the banister for support.
    Without warning, the man grabbed the gun and his bag and vanished into the lobby. He left the mysterious black wire behind. Gaia simply watched him go. Battle fatigue was beginning to kick in: that inevitable physical aftermath.
Aside from fearlessness, it was the only part of Gaia’s singular physical chemistry that she did not understand.
Why did she always pass out after a fight, as if her nearly superhuman abilities were on some kind of timer? But she knew she wouldn’t answer that question now. She summoned up the strength to grab the wire from the floor, then made her way back to Sam’s door. Purple dots swam before her eyes as she scooped up Sam’s rose and pounded on his door.
    â€œSam?” she called, gasping for breath. She tried to examine the black wire. Her face twisted in a grimace. There was a tiny silver microphone at one end. So, from what she could tell, it was a cutting-edge piece of surveillance equipment. Definitely expensive. Something her father might have. But why the hell would somebody try to install that in Sam’s suite?
    Gaia pounded on the door once more.
    â€œSam?” she hollered. The hall began to spin around her. The rose slipped from her fingers, and then she slipped after it into a well of blackness.
    What an extraordinary gift it is for me to experience the ordinary.
    TOM
    For years I’ve had to live a life that any ordinary, sane person would call madness. Terrorists. Aliases. Living in hiding. I’ve seen every kind of horror and injustice. I’ve seen the worst kind of depravity inflicted on innocent victims. I wonder sometimes how I’ve managed to keep my own sanity through all these years. I watched my brother surrender to some kind of madness.
    A madness that took my Katia from me. A madness that still threatens every moment to take Gaia from me as well.
    I wonder what my sick brother is thinking at this very moment, surrounded by gray prison walls. I know he is seething. I know he must be drowning in his own spite—his own desperate need for vengeance. And knowing that fills me with sadness. Not just for