Tempest: A Novel by Julie Cross

Author:Julie Cross [Cross, Julie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Speculative Fiction
ISBN: 0312568894
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Published: 2012-01-17T00:00:00+00:00

just snapped into full defensive mode. No pounding heart. No

shouting. No sign that I was even the least bit startled. Just perfect

silent defense emerging from some locked- up part of my brain.

Holly leaped backward, and in just a few seconds I had the at-

tacker fl at on his back, staring down the barrel of his own weapon. I

fi nally got a look at his face. I had seen him before, for a split second

while jumping, that time Courtney snuck out of school to meet me,

in 2003.

Now I was breathing hard, shaking a little, trying to fi gure out

what was going on. Dad ran up beside me and took in the situation.

“Freeman, what the hell happened?”

“Will someone tell me what’s going on?” Holly stuttered out

while staring down at my attacker, who was still lying on the ground.

“Jackson . . . how did you . . . do that?”

I didn’t have time to answer anyone. Th

e guy named Freeman

hooked his foot around the back of my leg, attempting to force me

to fall forward. I stumbled a little intentionally to get him to stand,

then forced him onto the ground face- fi rst, arms pinned behind his

back. I had performed this maneuver several times on Dad in 2007.

I pressed my foot against his spine to make sure he couldn’t move,

then tucked his gun into my pants. I didn’t know how to use it, but

I didn’t want him to have it, either.

“Okay . . . how did you do that?” Holly asked.

Plan A was offi

cially demolished. No hiding now. But who was

the real enemy?

“Just basic self- defense,” I said to Holly before turning to Dad.

“What the hell do you want?”

Dad managed to wipe the shock from his face and he kept his

distance while Freeman squirmed under my foot. “We caught your

friend . . . we know what he’s been doing.”

I glanced around the corner and saw a very pale Adam Silverman

being escorted by Dr. Melvin.

—-1

Yep, cover blown, big time.

—0

—+1

257

053-47794_ch01_1P.indd 257

053-47794_ch01_1P.indd 257

5/31/11 8:44 PM

5/31/11 8:44 PM

“Adam?” Holly said. “What are you doing here?”

Adam didn’t answer. His eyes moved from Freeman to me to

Holly.

“Mr. Silverman stole confi dential CIA documents and Dr. Mel-

vin believes you assisted him,” Dad said before lifting one eyebrow

at me. “We know what you can do, where you’ve been, when you’ve

been. All of it.”

I glanced at Adam and his weary expression silently answered

my question. I hated to even think about what they’d done to him

to get him to talk. I never should have dragged him to Dr. Melvin’s

offi

ce yesterday.

“Wait a minute . . . CIA?” Holly asked.

I fi nally looked at her face and knew we’d have to tell her some-

thing. I thought of Agent Stewart in 2007 being only nineteen. Holly

might believe this lie. “I’m training . . . to be an agent. Like my

dad . . . actually, me and Adam are both joining.”

“Is that what you guys are always doing together . . . when you’re

off acting like idiots?”

“Adam and I like to do diff erent research projects . . .

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.