Page 40 of Ace (The Deuces Wild #4)

Savannah had one of her feelings. Something was wrong, but something else was also right. She cocked her head, puzzling out the odd sensation swelling inside her mind. Familiar yet different. Manly, yet oddly detached. Then nothing at all.

After lingering in a relaxing warm shower earlier, during which she’d used up the body wash and most of the fantastic smelling shampoo the hotel provided, she’d toweled dry, then dressed in a pastel orange bra and bikini panties, one of the several matching sets of intimates Keller bought for her.

It warmed her down to her toes thinking of him handling these silky, sexy underwear.

She’d studied her gorgeous self in the bathroom mirror, modeling various angles, thrilled at the way her new bra bolstered her breasts, making them look higher and plumper than they really were. How’d he know about stuff like that ?

Feeling especially feminine, even a little pretty, she selected the coral tie-dyed tee-shirt to go with the jeans he’d also bought.

Man, he wasn’t half bad at guesstimating her sizes.

But those purple running shoes and those ankle socks…

too much! By the time she’d dried her hair and left the steamy bathroom, she was jonesing for that man.

She couldn’t wait to see the glint in those amber eyes when she modeled for him.

Would he stalk her like one of the few bayou panthers? She hoped so!

Red whined at her feet, interrupting her reverie, his brown eyes filled with worry. Until then, he’d been sound asleep. Now he rubbed his muzzle up her leg, pushing as if he needed her to move.

“You feel it too, don’t you?” she asked as her fingers sifted over the scars beneath the soft, silky fur at the top of his pointed head.

Roger Tanner had finished walking the dogs hours ago. Galahad had instantly taken to his crate, while Red stayed with Savannah. Keller wasn’t back yet. Something had changed, but she had no cell phone and no way to reach him. She didn’t even know his number. Or did she?

Tipping back against the comfy deck chair on her private ground level lanai, she projected her mind northward to a city of monumental ego, searching for the one person she knew would help.

‘Good afternoon, Savannah,’ Isaiah said easily. ‘What can I do for you?’

‘I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m worried, Isaiah.

Keller left this morning, and he said he’d be back soon, only I can’t sense him anymore.

Can you?’ Until now, she’d maintained only a light ‘sense’ of Keller’s whereabouts.

She hadn’t read his mind. That wasn’t fair or right.

Gran Mere had taught her early on that people’s thoughts were private, not to be trifled with or manipulated.

Yet until now Savannah had always been able to sense him.

She hadn’t even had to work hard at it to smell the addictive scent of his skin and breath.

Which was why she now sensed only a void.

Everything Keller was missing. She couldn’t get so much as a hint of his angry vibe from the universe.

‘Hold that thought,’ Isaiah murmured as a tiny infant’s sigh came through their psychic connection.

‘Is that your son? You had a baby since yesterday?’

‘Yes, ma’am. Yesterday’s excitement proved too much for him, so he showed up early this morning, as in the wee, wee hours. Roxy’s here, too.’

‘How wonderful! Is Roxy okay? No problems? He’s not too early, is he?’

‘No, he’s perfect. His mama’s perfect, too. But… did you actually hear him sigh?’

‘I did. He’s definitely your son.’

Another more masculine sigh flooded Savannah’s mind. She could clearly see Isaiah stroking the shoulder and arm of the dark-haired Hispanic woman tucked into his side. In his other arm, the tiniest little dark-haired boy slept soundly. What a sweet picture.

‘Aw, you’re right. He is perfect,’ Savannah cooed, her throat thick with tenderness and a titch of jealousy. Isaiah had everything she’d just lost—a family. ‘I shouldn’t have bothered you, I’m sorry. You’re still recovering, and here I am disturbing a new father who’s lucky to be alive and—’

‘Nonsense. I just need a second. Hmmm. You’re right. Keller is unresponsive. His heart’s barely beating. That’s why you can’t sense him.’

A phone rang on Isaiah’s end, and Savannah listened while he whispered, “Yes, Boss, I’m already in contact with Miss Church. No, we can’t reach Keller, either.” A pause. “Excuse me? He’s what?”

Closing her eyes to concentrate on the other end of Isaiah’s conversation, Savannah eavesdropped as a tense-sounding man snarled, ‘You heard me. He’s been gassed.

That rat bastard Fontenette has Kell. Lucky for us, he was smart enough to leave his cell on.

I saw the whole fucking thing go down. Don’t know the idiot Fontenette’s working with, but U.S.

Fish and Wildlife’s onto him now. Word is Fontenette thinks he’s untouchable. ’

Fontenette, as in Mr. Bruce Fontenette, the owner of the famous racehorse Sand Dollar?

Savannah hadn’t realized she’d leaned so far forward until she fell back into the deck chair, gasping at that startling information.

She’d always wanted to meet Bruce Fontenette, his horses too.

The man owned a stable of brilliant racers. But now?

“Man, your powers are growing stronger,” Isaiah told his boss.

‘Hell, I wish, but no. This one’s all Kell.

Damn, he’s one helluva operator. Smart man.

He facetimed before he passed out, showed me near to a thousand crates of illegally imported birds and what not.

We were tracking his GPS, but we lost him.

Thought maybe you could do your magic thing and locate him. ’

‘What magic thing?’ Savannah asked.

“Boss, before we go any further, you need to know that Miss Church is listening into our conversation from somewhere near New Orleans, right?” Isaiah asked out loud since he was on the phone with his boss.

‘I didn’t mean to put you on the spot, but yes,’ she told him mentally.

‘I’m at the New Orleans Ritz Carlton hotel at the moment.

Keller got us a room last night. It was a long day and I…

I was exhausted and… and…’ And there was no way she’d reveal that she and Keller had slept together, though a psychic as strong as Isaiah probably already knew.

Darn, this conversation was growing more complicated by the minute. ‘Is Keller okay?’

‘Can she hear me?’ Isaiah’s boss asked.

“Yes, Tuck, she can hear you, but you probably can’t link into a three-way mental conference call yet, can you?”

‘Damn it, no,’ came the man’s surly reply.

“Listen, Roxy’s still asleep and so’s my son. Let me call you right back.” Isaiah disconnected before his boss could say another word. ‘Savannah, are you still with me?’

‘Yes,’ she whispered mentally. ‘What do you want me to do?’

‘Hang tight for a minute. Let me get more details from Tuck, and I’ll be right back with you.’

‘Your boss is Tuck, as in Friar Tuck? ’

Isaiah chuckled quietly. ‘Ha, that’s a new one, but no.

Tuck as in Tucker Chase, Supervisory Special Agent and Director of the FBI’s one and only Psychic Team.

We’re headquartered in Washington, DC, but because of the psychic business we’re in, we’re pretty much able to work all over the world. What level are you?’

Savannah had no idea what he was asking. ‘I, umm… What?’

‘You’ve never been tested,’ he said, a note of awe in his voice. ‘Incredible. You’re a strong psychic. I’ll bet you’re another Level Ten or close to it. Once this is over, I’d love to sit with you. We need to talk.’

‘Please tell Mr. Chase I’m sorry I eavesdropped. That was rude of me. I don’t usually intrude on other’s thoughts. I was just worried.’

‘Don’t sweat it. Tucker’s used to us. Sit tight.

I’ll be right back.’ And with that, her psychic connection stopped.

Isaiah had hung up on her. Like Keller, she couldn’t get a sense of him in the universe, not even the glowing trace of an aura trail.

That was enlightening. No one had done that to Savannah before, not even Gran Mere. She needed to learn that skill.

“Keller’s in trouble,” she told Red who still sat at her knee, his big brown eyes soulful.

“And Isaiah says I’m a Level Ten. Sounds mighty uppity, doesn’t it?

Imagine me, someone important.” She stretched a hand in front of her, admiring her work-worn fingernails as if she’d had one of those fancy French manicures.

With a growly whine, Red put a fluffy paw on her knee .

Cupping his floppy ears, Savannah leaned into his forehead and kissed the top of his long snout. “I don’t know what a Level Ten is, either, but Isaiah thinks it’s good. We’ve got to trust Isaiah and his boss. They’re FBI. They know things.” She hoped.

Red whined again, his way of telling her he knew things, too. The longer she sat there, the more Savannah knew she had to do something. Keller being in a convoy meant he was on the road. Well, she had a Buick, and she knew how to use it.

“Talk to me, Keller,” she whispered across the unknown miles. “If you talk to me, I will find you.”