Whispered Words

Chapter Nine

Josh looked around the gym with interest. He hadn’t yet met Chloe’s friends, though he’d seen them enough in visions. She’d been staying with them the past week on supposed vacation. The woman clearly didn’t understand the words personal safety, because she kept trying to get back to her place. And this, even after he’d told her about what he’d seen in his nightmare vision of her and her stalker.

Stubborn little thing.

“Can I help you?” A big dude with sandy hair, a broad chest, and dimples when he smiled stood at the front desk. He looked familiar, but Josh couldn’t remember if it was because the guy was PWP or just a friend of hers from the gym.

“Yeah. I want a membership.”

“Sure thing. Hold on.”

If the guy thought applying for a gym membership at nine at night was odd, he didn’t say so. He reached behind him to grab a clipboard, and Josh couldn’t help noticing the play of his muscles as he flexed. He frowned. Chloe was around these fitness freaks all the time. Is that what she wanted in a man?

Most women would probably find this guy attractive. The thought didn’t sit well.

Though Josh and Xavier were fit and battle ready, they didn’t have the mass this man did. He looked like he ate steroids for breakfast.

“Problem?”

The odd look in the guy’s eyes unnerved him. “Nope. Just wondered how friendly you and Chloe King are.”

At mention of her name, he smiled. “Chloe? You a friend of hers?” He reached for Josh’s hand before he could move and caught the sleeve of his jacket.

After a second or two, the guy’s grin turned into a cough as he hurriedly released Josh’s jacket.

“You okay?”

“Oh wow. Yeah, man. So you and, uh, Chloe, huh?” The lurid glance made Josh uncomfortable.

Then he remembered what they knew about some of the PWP folks who worked for the gym. “Oh, hell. You’re one of them, aren’t you?” The guy’s expression cooled. “One of who?”

“Chloe’s woo-woo friends.”

The big guy’s eyes narrowed, but before he could move, another man joined him at the desk. This one was more slender, extremely handsome, with long hair held back by a band. He should have looked effeminate, but instead he seemed even more manly, which was weird.

“Is there a problem here?” His bright blue eyes invited a smile, but the hard look behind his easy mien said wonders.

“Chloe’s dude has a problem with gays.”

“What? Oh.” Josh grinned, his eyes unsmiling. “Nah, I just have a problem with steroid abusers who look where they shouldn’t.” He glanced down at the sleeve of his jacket, where the man had held him. “Caught an eyeful, did you?” Before the guy could say anything, the smaller man pushed him away.

“Nathan, go help somebody lift something. Take your steroid self inside.” The large male moved but sent a frown over his shoulder.

“Sorry about that. I’m Ian Ryder, Chloe’s best friend.” Ian held out his hand, and Josh took it.

“Josh Cannon. Chloe’s fiancé.”

Ian paused and slowly released Josh’s hand. “Fiancé, eh? Oh man, is this going to be good.” He yelled over his shoulder for Nathan and Avery.

Nathan and another man returned, the second man just as big and brutal-looking as Nathan. But when Avery saw Josh, he laughed.

“Congrats, man.” He turned to Ian. “Can you imagine? Twins.” Ian sighed. “She has all the luck.” To Josh, he said, “Come on in, and I’ll show you around. If Chloe’s keeping you, you’ll want to see everything.” Knowing Xavier had Chloe protected, Josh moved with Ian inside the PowerUp! gym. To his surprise, the place had an elegant feel yet still looked like a real gym, where a guy could get a workout. Free weights, Nautilus stations, exercise bikes, and treadmills were positioned in easy access areas around the spacious middle. Above them, a small indoor track sat.

“Twelve laps to a mile. It’s not big, but the track gets a lot of work.” Ian greeted a few fitness buffs as he continued through the gym. Then Ian led him down a side corridor, past a section marked EMPLOYEES ONLY. He pulled Josh with him into a smaller room used for changing clothes.

“Uh, Ian? What gives?”

“Hold on.” Ian turned to a section in the wall and pushed, and a partition slid aside to reveal another door.

“Nice.” Josh nodded. “Fits with what we know of the PWP.”

“She told you?”

“Nope.”

Ian considered him for a moment. “You’re one of us, aren’t you? Not PWP, but a mental case.”

Josh chuckled. “You could say that.”

“Figures.” He unlocked the door with a quick movement of his fingers over a discreet keypad, then preceded Josh down the stairs. The door closed behind them, but the lights showed the way. “Let me tell you, if I could be straight for anybody, it’d be for Chloe. Treat her right, or I’ll make your life a living hell.” A lightbulb clicked. “You must be Frank. From Brownville.” The slender male grinned over his shoulder. “She mentioned me, then?” Josh snorted. “In between rantings. She’s convinced you’ve totally disorganized her happy chaos of an office, as she likes to call it.”

“Chaos, right. The woman has a bad case of OCD. Everything in its place and all that crap.” Ian guided them down another hall, where they passed a few other people, some of whom he’d seen in his visions with Chloe. Every one of them looked to be in incredible shape.

Then he spotted Keegan and James. He lifted a hand to wave before catching Keegan’s wary glance at Ian.

“Someone you know, Josh?” Ian blinked with innocence, and Josh had a feeling he’d just nailed Keegan’s coffin.

“Nope. He looks familiar, though.”

“I bet he does,” Ian said loudly enough to be heard.

Before Keegan could bear down on the guy, James corralled Keegan past Ian and up the same stairs from which Josh and Ian had just come.

“In here. You’ll want to meet Chloe’s boss. And maybe yours soon too?” Ian paused in front of a thick oak door, then pushed it open without knocking.

“Sorry. I’m happily employed elsewhere.”

“But your boss has control issues, I’m told.” Jack Keiser stood behind his desk, and Josh’s eyes narrowed. The body he recognized as Chloe’s boss, but those eyes…

He’d seen this guy, looking a lot different, laughing with his father a few times.

Years ago, back when his dad had done a few jobs for the government. So. Keiser was his name, not Jonathan Grant.

No wonder his dad had been able to dig up so much on the PWP.

“I take it you two know each other?” Ian’s nose might as well have been twitching. Chloe had been right. He was too smart for his own good.

“Ian,” Jack warned.

“I’m going, I’m going.”

“And next time, knock first, or I’ll put your head through my wall.” That Jack didn’t look like he was kidding occurred to Josh and Ian.

“Uh, right. Sorry. Won’t happen again.” Ian disappeared in a heartbeat.

Josh chuckled. “Well, Mr. Grant, nice to see your disposition is the same as the last time I saw you.”

The guy smirked and closed the door behind Josh. “Have a seat, Cannon.” Josh did and waited for Jack. “So you think you’re taking my Chloe, hmm?” Jack sat, leaned back in his chair, and linked his hands behind his head.

“Jesus, what do they feed you guys around here?” He couldn’t believe the size of Chloe’s boss. Seated, he should have looked smaller. But Josh had seen bears with less breadth.

“If you know anything about the PWP, you know we have to work out to keep our abilities in check. Some of us need it more than others.” He paused. “I take it Chloe’s working out regularly.”

Josh couldn’t help smiling. “Oh yeah.”

Jack rolled his eyes. “Ah, to be young again.”

The guy couldn’t have been more than ten years older than Josh, but he acted like he was ancient. Josh shrugged. “I just thought I’d swing by and check out Chloe’s work. She’s hanging with my brother right now. And I wanted to talk to you about her situation.”

Jack leaned forward. “You’re done with the Werlins, right? Price and Foreman evened the playing field?”

“Ah, well…” Josh didn’t bother lying, not when he saw through Jack’s blasé question. “You sent them.”

“I might have left out her coordinates so that anyone with little regard to privacy could steal them.”

Josh grinned. “They don’t know you set them up.”

“Yes, and the thought that I might know they disobeyed my orders will torture them for days.” Jack shook his head. “Keegan’s such a pain in my ass. But he and Foreman are a real go-to team to get the job done.” He paused. “You’re not planning on joining us, are you?”

“Nope.”

“And you’re not going to try to make Chloe leave?”

“Not at all. I just wanted to come by and say hi. I didn’t realize you were her boss.”

“She’s dictatorial, short, and has a big mouth.”

“Yeah, and she’s mine. Mine and Xavier’s,” Josh warned.

Jack didn’t so much as blink. “I thought so. I knew you Cannons would be a problem at some point. Stealing my best night manager. I suppose you’re going to expect me to switch her out to days.”

“Only if she wants it. She’s high on the real job you guys do, and she needs to keep doing it.”

Jack’s eyes narrowed. “Oh?”

“Yeah, oh. Her voices and mine like to talk. She’s happy here, so she stays. The minute she wants out, she’s gone.” Josh wasn’t making an idle threat. Jack needed to know that Chloe was part of something more than his team.

To Josh’s surprise, Jack didn’t argue. “I can live with that. We’re not government anymore, Josh. I tried to tell your father that before we arrived. I don’t think he believed me.” Jack’s lips twitched. “Stubborn bastard. Just like his sons. I wish you the best with Chloe.” His eyes crinkled, and an honest-to-God smile curled his mouth. “She’s a pistol. And she deserves to be cared for. Screw with her, and she’ll make your life a living hell. Not to mention what the guys here will do to you.”

Josh smiled. “I gathered that. I met Ian. I don’t think you need to say anymore.”

“Yeah. He’s little but a real annoyance.” Jack sighed. “But look, if you guys ever need anything, call me.”

“Same goes. The Cannons are at your disposal.” The offer was anything but casual, and the gleam in Jack’s eyes told Josh he knew it.

“Damn. The old man sent you, didn’t he?”

Josh stood. “He might have mentioned I should stop by. He’s been on me for weeks to sign up for a membership. My application is upstairs with some Neanderthal named Nathan. Your staff has a lot of attitude. Might want to work on that.”

Jack sighed. “I’m trying. Believe me. Wait one.” Jack grabbed a file from his desk and handed it to Josh. “While you three have been fending off some bullies in the mountains, my guys have done some digging into Psycho Stan. Read up on him.

We’ve got a serious problem that needs to be handled. I’m giving you, your brother, and Chloe the benefit of the doubt on this. But don’t think for a minute my team won’t be with you when we take him down.”

Josh gripped the file in hand, frustrated he’d have to wait to read it until he got home. God forbid he see something vital without Chloe present. She’d probably gut him like a fish. “Thanks, Jack. I’ll let you know what we plan as soon as we work out the details.”

Jack nodded and walked him out of the office and back upstairs. The other staffers watched him with caution while Josh shared the story of Chloe berating his brother for nearly getting himself killed, when she’d been in just as much danger.

“That’s our Chloe. She gets annoyed when the people she loves are in danger.” Josh brightened at the thought. “That she does.” They paused at the front desk, where Ian and Nathan pretended to be heavily occupied with something on the computer.

“Tell her I’ll see her first thing after New Year’s.” Jack grew serious. “There’s just one other thing to take care of before she comes back.”

“It’s being handled.”

“You don’t need any help with that?”

Josh glanced over to see Ian and Nathan no longer pretending not to eavesdrop. The pair looked fierce, no doubt aware he and Jack discussed Chloe’s stalker. “Nope. Xavier and I have it covered. Chloe’s voices don’t fuck around when it comes to her safety.”

Jack nodded, looking more than satisfied. “That’s what I thought.

Outstanding.” To Nathan, he barked, “Set him and his brother up. Waive the application fee. First month is on us as well.” Nathan blinked at Josh and grinned. “Sure thing, boss.” He turned to Josh. “So you and your brother are twins, hmm?”

Ian chuckled. Jack grumbled and left.

Josh explained in no uncertain terms, “We’re Chloe’s. Both of us.”

“That lucky, lucky girl.” Nathan winked, purposely baiting him.

Then Avery returned. “Hey, anybody here have a sudden hankering for gum?” Chloe tapped her foot as Xavier tried to wriggle out of another excuse. Hanging around in his parents’ house wasn’t going to save him from an argument.

“I want to know where he went, Xavier.”

“Baby, we’re just trying to protect you.”

“Dammit. I don’t need protection. I keep telling you that, but—” His father passed through the dining room, whistling. She waited until he left before she yelled at Xavier again. This time without making a sound.

“Enough is enough. No one has seen this guy anywhere. We need to draw him out, and you know I’m right.”

“But you in danger… I can’t do it. On the job, I get. But knowingly setting you up when we’ve seen him hurt you?” Xavier drew her close for a hug and laid his forehead against hers. “Honey, I’m in love with you. I can’t lose you now.”

“You won’t.”

Mike passed through again. Whistling even louder.

“Why does he keep doing that?”

Xavier grinned. “He’s trying to save my ass from doing something stupid and scaring you away for good.”

She grinned with him. “Well, he’s not very subtle,” she said aloud.

The whistling ceased.

“Xavier, I promise. We’ll take every precaution, but I can’t sit around while the major holidays and the rest of life bypass us. Hell, Christmas is in two days, and I still haven’t gotten anyone anything.”

“Now that’s just not true. What about that gift you gave me this morning?” She blushed and glanced around her, recalling the stellar blowjob that had him crying out her name. “You don’t have any mind readers in the family, do you?”

“Just Dana, but she’s not here tonight.”

“Thank God.”

He chuckled and kissed her.

She pushed his chest and broke the kiss. “Don’t start. I want to sit down and plan this out. Your Christmas present to me is catching this creep. He’s waiting for me. You know it, and I know it. Now let’s nail him down and take him out.

Permanently.”

“Hell.”

“Yeah, of my making. Now where is Josh?”

When Josh returned two hours later, she gave him a piece of her mind. He took it in stride, even managing to look repentant when his parents pretended to scowl at him. His other brothers gathered with them around the large dining room table. Kyle and Justin, the twins. And Sam, their middle brother.

Then Josh handed them the file Jack had given him. The lighthearted warmth previously lingering in the room turned cold as the family and Chloe pored through the pages her team had gathered.

After going through all of it, Chloe didn’t know what to say.

“He’s bad news.” Julia shook her head. “Steward Hopkins, age thirty-two, no wife, no kids. A middle manager at the local grocery store. He looks so average, doesn’t he?”

“I’ve seen him at the gym.” Chloe had a hard time swallowing. This man, this monster, had smiled at her and made small talk whenever he’d come in to work out.

How could she not have seen how evil he was?

Xavier stood up and left the room. He returned a minute later with a glass of water. “Drink.”

“Thanks.” She swallowed the whole glass without pause. “God. This guy is a freak of the first order.” She took a closer look at the papers. “Nathan is a genius.”

“Nathan?” Josh asked. “He didn’t look all that smart to me.”

“Be nice.” Xavier chuckled. “Tell us, Chloe.”

She explained. “Nathan’s gift is psychometry, the ability to tell certain things by touching an object. He didn’t get anything from a scrap of cloth I snagged off Psycho Stan. Or should I call him Psycho Stew?” She sighed and pointed to the information in the file. “But when he touched the shirt I’d been wearing when I’d been attacked, the part the stalker had gripped at the collar, he caught a lot of detail.”

Mike Cannon leaned over her and grimaced at the pictures on the table. “At least ten bodies that they know of? All petite women with dark hair, from what it looks like. Sorry to say you fit his type.”

“Yeah.” Chloe made a face. “But the other info the guys dug up shows him moving all over the place. He’s only been in town a year, but Ian dug up some files of local missing persons he thinks might be linked to Hopkins. And from what Nathan has already seen, he’s apparently linked several other names to Hopkins, places where the grocery chain has major stores and unsolved murders involving young, single women.”

She paused and stared at the picture of a smiling woman, one who might have been her twin except for her dark eyes. “Looks like when his engagement with Susan Rikers went south five years ago, he lost his marbles.”

“Makes you wonder what’s really going on in his mind.” Xavier put his arm around her shoulder and squeezed.

Josh frowned. “Jack didn’t mention any police involvement yet, but we’ll pass this on to the proper authorities once we deal with him.”

“Right.” Chloe made up her mind. “There’s no way we can give this to the cops yet. I know how the system works. He’ll leave again, but not before killing more before he’s locked up. If he’s locked up. Hopkins is smart. He’s gone this long without anyone knowing. And the fact that he’s able to shield himself scares the hell out of me.”

Josh agreed. “This guy is tight. I’ve tried to see into Chloe’s future, and it’s getting better, but about the stalker, it’s touch and go. When I look into him, one minute he’s like quicksand and the next he’s crystal clear. Leaving him alive is like inviting people to die. Prison won’t stop him. I can see that much at least.”

“What? What do you mean?” Chloe asked. Josh hadn’t been able to envision much about her or Hopkins, that she knew of.

“I looked in the truck before I came inside. I can see some.” He closed his eyes, and she felt a huge blanket of energy. He opened his eyes, his expression bleak. “I can see enough to know you’ll just be another number, Chloe. If we do nothing, he’ll kill you, and he’ll kill after you. But this time, he’ll stray from his pattern. The next woman will look like you, except for the baby in her belly.” Everyone tensed. “And what he’ll do to her…” Josh looked away, pale and unnerved.

“So we stop him. Now how do we do it?” Chloe and the others finished their evening together by putting a plan into motion, one even his family—most of them—agreed with.

Kyle and Justin thought the idea a good one. Justin nodded at Xavier and Josh. “You two are so lucky. We never had the whole identical swap thing going for us.” He looked sad.

Kyle sighed, and the oppressive atmosphere that had worn on Chloe since she’d seen that folder of Jack’s eased.

“Like I could use another pair of identical twins. Please.” Julia groaned. “Bad enough Xavier and Joshua could get away with it. At least you two aren’t identical.” Kyle glared at Justin as if their being born fraternal was his fault.

Chloe bit back a grin. “Right. Well, I still think Hopkins will go ape-shi—” She stopped when she realized she couldn’t say ape-shit in front of Xavier and Joshua’s mother. “He’ll go crazy when he sees me with Josh. We’ll hide Xavier under the bed, like in the vision. Then when Hopkins attacks, we have the advantage over him.”

“Really? So are we making out in your bedroom before or after your stalker stabs you?” Josh asked with enough sarcasm to choke a horse.

“Josh, we talked about this.”

“I don’t like it.”

“You don’t have to like it. You just have to do it,” she said in a hard voice.

“Dammit, Josh.” Xavier seethed. “None of us likes this. But we can’t start until we finish this.”

“Start what?”

Julia shook her head. “I swear, they’re smarter than this, Chloe.” She turned to Josh. “A life, sweetie. Chloe and you two need to put an end to this man before he kills more people.”

Chloe looked at their mother. Had the woman she’d been afraid to swear in front of just told her sons to end a man, as in, his life? “You mean put him in jail, right?”

“I mean end him. Period. My boys know what to do.” Chloe blinked. “I thought doctors were all about saving lives.”

“We are. This man isn’t human.” Julia frowned. “From what that file has shown us, Hopkins has already killed at least ten women.” Mike nodded. “We’ve seen this before, and I know you have.” While with the police department in Florida, Chloe had seen a lot of bad people. But she’d come into contact with only a few true crazies. Most criminals tended to be folks who made bad decisions. Then again, that psycho killer from two months ago had tried to kill her and her friends. Him she wouldn’t have minded gutting. “Okay. You make a good point. So who’s with me?” She locked gazes with Josh and refused to look away. “I’m going. So you’re either with me, or you’re staying home. Your choice.”

Josh fumed. She could practically see the steam coming from his ears. “I’ll be in the damn car.”

“He means truck,” Xavier said absently as he stared after his twin. “I’ll be out there with him.”

He left Chloe with his parents and his younger brothers.

“For what it’s worth, I don’t really want to do this. But I have to,” she told the others. She wouldn’t be human if she weren’t afraid. But she knew that with Xavier and Josh by her side, she could fix this. Could make sure Hopkins didn’t kill anymore. She’d been given a gift, and it was time for her to use it again.

Kyle and Justin nodded. “We get it,” Kyle said. “But Josh… This isn’t sitting well with him.”

“Xavier either,” Justin said. “Good luck. You’re going to need it.” The twins rose and left together, arguing about something. She’d noticed the two tended to do that a lot. Sam remained behind with his parents.

“You’ll be fine, honey.” Julia hugged her. Another of those signs of affection Chloe couldn’t get enough of. She’d missed her mom so much for so long. And Julia acted genuinely happy to have her in the family. So interested in her, as if she cared about her as a person and not just the woman her sons intended to marry. Chloe still wasn’t sure how she could legally wed both of them, but his parents insisted they could make it work.

Mike and Julia walked her to the door. “Don’t you worry. We’ll be hanging around when it goes down to make sure you’re all right.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. This guy is smart, and we think he’s psychically gifted. We can’t get a bead on him.”

“Sure you can,” Sam said from behind her. “Give me another day, and I’ll tell you exactly where he is.”

“Sam, I don’t think—”

Sam cut his father off, and the two started arguing.

“Go on.” Julia pushed her out the door. “Don’t worry about them. It’s an ongoing thing.”

Chloe left with a kiss on her cheek, comforted to be part of a loving family.

They squabbled, but they didn’t shoot at one another. And no one seemed to be running from the law on charges of murder or grand larceny. So far so good.

She saw Josh and Xavier frowning at one another and sighed. After opening the door, she climbed over Xavier and sat between him and Josh. A funny thing, she thought as they drove away in silence. Ever since Xavier had first communicated with her, she’d been able to tell the two apart. Yet even his parents and siblings still got them confused.

That more than anything seemed to seal the deal for their parents about her.

“I love you guys, you know that?” Their frowns lightened but didn’t completely disappear, and she continued. “I want a life with you two. I can’t stop thinking about one day having babies.”

The frowns turned to sly grins.

“Yeah, I know how much you two like to practice making them. But I’m serious. I can’t let this guy, or any others we meet in the future, run our lives. If we don’t take control, we’ll always be at the mercy of someone or something else. I’ve done that, lived most of my young life in the shadow of thugs and my father. I’m done with that. That’s why I became a cop, why I joined the PWP.” She put her hands on their knees and squeezed. “It’s why you two gave me the information I’ve needed to put the bad guys away and protect myself. Josh, I trust you’ll see what you need to to keep me safe. And Xavier, I trust you’ll be there to protect me when I need it. Together, all three of us will take this bastard down.” She grinned. “Like your mom said. We need to end him.”

“Man, she’s good,” Xavier said to Josh.

“I know.” Josh still sounded glum. “But if you want to really draw this bastard in, we do it my way.”

“As long as it involves elements from your vision, I’m good with it.” She paused. “Sam said he’d help too.” When Josh and Xavier looked at one another, she raised a brow. “Okay, out with it. Your dad didn’t seem too happy about his interference either.”

Josh tightened his hands on the wheel. “Sam has a special ability.”

“We all do, but Sam’s is more dangerous when he uses it.” Xavier explained,

“He can astral project. He leaves his body and sees whatever he needs to. Not sure how he does it, but a few times he’s had a problem getting back—to his body. It’s kind of scary, let me tell you.”

“Hell.”

“Yeah.” Josh sighed. “But if he volunteered, I’m not going to turn him down.”

“Me neither.” Xavier nodded. “The boy gets more and more control the more he uses his ability. But my father’s a huge worrier. He’s more a mother hen than Mom.”

“Yeah. I get that. She was all Dirty Harry about ending Psycho Stan. She’s a little scary.”

They grinned at her.

Xavier lowered his voice. “Yeah. So treat her sons right or suffer the wrath of Doctor Death.”

Chloe paused. “You do mean Doctor Death in an alliterative way and not literally, right?”

The silence made her think hard about joining this most unusual family. For all of two seconds. “Damn. I think I love you guys even more.”