Read Online Tribes of Man: The Beginning [Tribes of Man] (Siren Publishing Classic) by Kiel Nichols - Free Book Online Page A

once again see. The unexpected vision made her stagger.
    Aren’t you laying it on a bit thick? Gideon asked.
    I was just surprised by being able to see, she answered, feeling a wave of tenderness from him.
    Can you shut it off? he asked.
    Raina tried to concentrate on breaking that connection while maintaining their link. Everything went dark again.
    It worked, Gideon said.
    Yes, how do you know?
    Everything looks different for me when you look through me.
    Raina hadn’t realized that using him as a conduit changed his own perception of the world. Before she could answer him, Detective Wijinicki spoke.
    “Can you tell me what happened?”
    “I can try.” Raina took a deep breath and held fast to Gideon’s hand while the MT put a pressure cuff on her.
    “I was in the stacks helping a student when I heard a scream and a popping sound from the main reference area of the library. It didn’t sound like a gunshot, so I was headed that way to check it out. When the second shot rang out, I recognized the sound. I ducked into the stack near me. I didn’t run because I was afraid I would trip.” Raina paused for a moment, her voice began to hitch. “There was a girl in the stack in front of me. I heard them kill her. She was so scared.”
    “What happened next?” the detective asked.
    “I think they went into the bathroom to see if anyone was in there. When I heard them come out, I went in there to hide. I figured they wouldn’t check it again.”
    Why are you lying? Gideon asked suddenly.
    The guy who was in my room showed up. He held me so that I would be invisible. Do you really think I should admit that to the cop?
    “What?” Gideon shouted without thinking.
    “Excuse me?” Detective Wijinicki asked.
    “Uh, I mean I’m glad you kept your head together. It couldn’t have been easy.” Gideon responded.
    Good cover, she said to Gideon privately. “It was weird,” she continued out loud, “but as I was hiding, I could hear shots and they sounded louder but not closer. I don’t get why that would be. The tone of the sound was the same.” Raina found it easier to deal with details one at a time rather than to think about what happened overall.
    Shit, Gideon said in her head. He echoed the word out loud.
    “Yeah,” Wijinicki confirmed. “Are you sure, Miss Kallan?”
    “Raina,” she corrected automatically. “Yes, I’m sure. When you can’t see, your other senses get stronger. The fact that the shooting was louder was strange enough to remember it. What is it?”
    “Nothing,” Wijinicki said.
    It means they used silencers. Silencers lose their effectiveness the more they’re used. My guess is that even the shot in the next aisle was not as loud as it would have been without a silencer, Gideon informed her.
    Not in the next aisle. The guy was standing in me when he shot her. Raina shuddered again.
    “Did they say anything to each other? Did you hear the sound of their voices?” Wijinicki didn’t explain about the silencer, and Raina didn’t expect him to.
    “I heard two of them talk to each other and to someone else on a walkie-talkie,” Raina told him.
    “Did you hear what they said? Did they call each other by name?”
    Don’t tell him any more details, Gideon ordered sharply.
    Raina obeyed without question. She could feel the urgency in the request and knew something was going on that he didn’t want his old friend from the police force to know about. “No, I couldn’t really hear what they said. They didn’t sound upset or agitated though. I would have picked up nerves in their voices. Also, I didn’t get the impression that they were kids.”
    Wijinicki was walking her through the entire thing again when Raina suddenly stiffened. “Where’s Betsy? Is another officer talking to her?”
    “Betsy?” Wijinicki asked, looking at the list someone had handed him. “We don’t have Betsy on the list.”
    “Her name is Elizabeth Miesner.”
    “I’m sorry,” Wijinicki said softly.