My stomach twisted in progression with the wind, but I kept my mind on the chaos. Besides, if I opened my eyes and looked down, I might vomit or scream or any number of other things. I wasn’t afraid of heights, far from it, but my God, we had nothing but air holding us up. Wind, which was invisible. I only hoped there were no onlookers.

The top spike of the fence suddenly scraped the bottom of my boot. I gasped, but managed to keep my mind on the task at hand. My finger never stopped twirling.

“We cleared it,” Rome said.

Happiness flooded me. I’d done it. I’d done it!

“Uh, celebrating a little too early,” Tanner said, a split second before the wind ceased and we tumbled to the ground.

I hit with a hard smack. My feet absorbed most of the shock, but my body vibrated painfully. My teeth rattled, almost slicing into my tongue. Tanner humphed and rolled to his side. Rome landed perfectly, without sound, without bouncing. Just thump, he was crouched on his feet.

Damn cat reflexes.

For several prolonged seconds, I sucked air back into my lungs. “Oopsie,” I said between pants. “My bad.”

“We’ll practice the landing next time.” Rome tugged me to my feet, then did the same for Tanner. “Let’s move out.”

Once again we were in motion, remaining close to the fence, striding along its shadowed edge. We didn’t try to pretend nonchalance this time. We simply stayed out of sight as much as possible. I was so ready for this night to be over, and would have sold my soul for a little of Lexis’s psychic ability. If I knew what was going to happen before it actually happened, well, I could make sure Rome and Tanner emerged unscathed.

Row after row of sprawling homes came into view. Lights gleamed from the streets, from garages, from gardens. “ Rome,” I said uncertainly.

“Just keep your back to the fence.”

When we rounded a corner, he stopped. Crouched. I glanced at Tanner, Tanner glanced at me and we both crouched beside Rome.

“That’s Dr. Roberts’s home.” He motioned to a pretty Victorian with an unkempt yard and overgrown bushes. Wraparound porch. Hanging wind chimes. Blue shutters.

I experienced a tiny flutter of shock. This beautiful mansion housed the man who’d made me what I am. No lights were on inside it. I guess I should have asked if Dr. Roberts had a family here we needed to worry about awakening.

“Is anyone there?” Tanner asked.

Rome didn’t answer. Instead, his gaze slowly scanned left and right, searching, intense. Minutes passed. Insects chirped.

Finally Rome whispered, “See that black SUV?” He pointed to the right, to a car parked in a driveway several homes away from Dr. Roberts’s.

“Yes.”

“Definitely belongs to Vincent’s men. Be careful. No telling what kind of scrim agents he has inside.”

“How can you tell?” I studied it, but it looked like every other expensive car in the neighborhood.

“One, I know Vincent well enough to be sure he’d keep men here to watch for Dr. Roberts. Two, his agents are still inside the car. If you look closely, you can see the exhaust fumes. I’m betting they’ve been turning it on and off for the air conditioner. Plus, I can smell the amount of coffee they’ve consumed.”

Ugh. Coffee. After what had been done to my grande mocha latte, I’d probably never want to drink the stuff again.

Tanner pressed deeper into the darkness, his gaze darting nervously. “What should we do?”

“Belle, do you think you can make it rain? A hard-ass storm just like we talked about at the cabin?”

“It will hail,” I warned. “We won’t be able to run through it without getting hit.”

His lips lifted in a slow smile. “That’s exactly what I want. Lots and lots of hail. Trust me. It’ll be okay. Just make the storm as fierce as you can without blowing the houses away.”

“The weather channel is going to have a field day with this,” Tanner said drily. “I hope you both realize that. Everyone who knows about the formula will suspect Belle was here.”

“It’s a chance we have to take.” Rome turned back to the house.

“What about the people in the SUV?” I asked.

“I’m going to leave them to you,” Rome stated.

“What?” I said, surprised.

“What?” Tanner seemed equally taken aback.

“I’ll disable their car and knock them out.” I knew what that meant. Kill. “If one of them wakes up,” Rome continued, “you two are to take care of him.”

Tanner and I shared a wry look. Yeah, he was really letting us take care of the bad guys in the car. We got his leftovers, if there happened to be any. Knowing Rome, there wouldn’t.

“This is going to work out, baby, you’ll see.”

I admit it. I love it when he calls me “baby,” and he seemed to do it more when we were in dangerous situations. “Be careful, okay?” I wrung my hands nervously. “There could be armed men in the house, too.”

His lips twitched. “Could be? No, there are.”

My mouth fell open. He said it so casually, as if it was perfectly normal. “Maybe we shouldn’t-”

“Create the storm, baby, and I’ll signal when it’s safe to enter the house.”

“You going to distract everyone with another explosion?” Tanner asked drily.

“Hopefully not” was the only answer Rome gave.

I wanted to protest, but didn’t. He was the expert here. He knew what he was doing. He knew how to survive. After all, he’d been doing it for a long time. Forcing my attention from him, I blinked up at the night sky. Stars twinkled from the black velvet. I didn’t ask Rome to filter for two reasons. One, once the storm erupted he needed to leave. And two, I didn’t want him to diminish my sadness in any way. The more intense it was, the more intense the storm would be.

My emotions were already frayed from their use and abuse today, but I dragged them front and center once more. Concentrating on all the things that saddened me, I drew forth a large wave of sorrow, plumped it with more depressing images, encouraged it to grow. It sprouted wings inside me, spreading. Spreading.

“That’s it, Viper. Let it flow.”

Overhead a crash of thunder boomed. Lightning bolts lit the sky, one after another. Fat droplets of rain began to descend, slowly at first, then gaining in speed and density. My chin trembled and tears flowed down my cheeks. I’d never been this sad in my life. I verged on total depression. Feelings of aloneness swamped me. Feelings of helplessness consumed me.

“Stay safe,” Rome breathed into my ear. He kissed my lips and was gone, disappearing into the darkness like a nocturnal phantom.

Rain pounded the ground, soon joined by the hail I’d predicted. The golf-ball-size ice smacked everything in its destructive path.

Tanner and I huddled under a tree. Its thick branches shielded us from most of the ice, but the rain managed to slip past the leaves and soak us. I shivered with cold as I searched the streets and houses for any sign of Rome, but I couldn’t see him. The SUV stopped humming with life, I noticed, the black plumes of smoke disappearing. The rear wiper stopped in the middle of its glide.

I didn’t see any movement in the car, though. Several more minutes passed. I didn’t see any movement outside the house, either, but suddenly I heard the growl of a jungle cat echoing off the walls and into the night.

I gripped my stomach, hoping the puny action could prevent it from twisting painfully. Obviously, Rome had discovered his prey. He’ll be okay, he’ll be okay, he’ll be okay.

Another growl.

A tortured scream.

Tiny flickers of light flashed from Dr. Roberts’s windows, as if someone-or multiple someones-were firing several rounds. The rain stopped as fear held me in its tight clasp, but I forced my sadness to return. Rain fell again.

“He’ll be okay,” Tanner whispered, voicing my thoughts. “He has to. I mean, he’s Agent Kick-ass, isn’t he, with an impenetrable force field or some kind of shit. Right?”