Mortal Siege

by N. Isabelle Blanco

  I was only ten and beyond traumatized, but I remember thinking clearly, she’s more worried about me than the fact her husband’s dead.

  Last time, it wasn’t my fault. It was the Drevlow family as well as my own father’s for not having the strength to face the loss of his precious work.

  This time, the blame does lie with me, and I’m going to fix it.

  Pushing away from my mother as tenderly as I can, I wipe at both our cheeks. “It’s over now. It happened. But I’m going to fix it. I’m going to get us out of here. I swear, Mom.”

  My mother’s face reddens even more. “I’m going to kill him for doing this to you, Lexi. I swear that to you.”

  Her words trigger a ripple of foreboding. In my obsession with denying and not thinking about what happened last night, I forgot Stephen’s parting words.

  “There will be a next time . . . if you want your mother to live. You’ll see.”

  Chest tight, I cup my mother’s face, feeling her warm, damp cheeks. I look in her heartbroken, light gray eyes.

  Alive. So very alive.

  The thought of him doing something to her, of him taking her from me . . .

  “Lexi?” Mom places her hands over mine, staring at me quizzically.

  Probably wondering where this new wave of panic is coming from.

  “I’m going to get us out of this, Mom. I’m going to save us. I won’t let him do anything to you.” Yet he already injected her last night, didn’t he? What if it wasn’t only a tranquilizer he used?

  No. No. Can’t think like that. She would’ve been showing signs of something already, wouldn’t she?

  Even so, there’s no discernible way out of this place. No way to contact the outside world.

  “Gonna save us, Mom,” I repeat feverishly, dizzy from the fear.

  “No, Lexi. We’re going to save each other. And we’ll make him pay. Together.”

  chapter 35

  l exi wasn’t kidding when she promised my Uncle Richard that she’d have the providence software perfected in a week’s time. Our first field test is scheduled for later today and I already have someone interested in acquiring the software.

  “So let me get this straight.” I press the elevator back up to the top floor, having just completed my visit to the IT department at the lowest level. Shaking my head, I stare down at my phone although my Bluetooth is secured to my ear. “You won’t tell me what part of the government you actually work for, but you guys are already foaming at the mouth to get your hands on my tech.”

  “What can I say? We’re watching several different . . . markets, if you will, and none are as close to completion as you are.”

  “This call is encrypted, right?” I ask Shell, exiting on the top floor.

  “I already explained this to you.”

  “Need to make sure, since you think it’s okay to announce my advancements to the world.”

  Instead of reacting like a normal person would, the undercover I’ve found myself inexplicably intertwined with merely jumps ahead to the next subject. “The authorities are going to want to speak with Ms. Berkman. They’ve already worked their way through most of the tenants in her building, as well as others on the block. Of course, they have no real leads, can’t even begin to explain the radiation levels on site considering only that single building was affected—”

  “It partially took down parts of the buildings next to it, though.”

  “Yes, but the main damage was isolated there. Just so you know, they should be showing up any day now to question her.”

  “Do they know where she’s staying?” My eyes fall on Lexi, hard at work in front of her computer. It’s been two weeks now since she returned, a week-in-a-half of her practically living with me.

  We’re together nearly every moment of every day, and it’s still not enough.

  I’m never letting her out of my fucking sight again.

  “No. But they do know her current place of employment. I’m assuming you two aren’t ready to let the authorities know about Menahan’s involvement?”

  “You can’t even prove it and I’m supposed to believe a bunch of low-level officers will? No thank you. We’re handling it.” I walk past Ms. Rhine’s empty desk. It strikes me as odd, since I’m pretty sure she left for lunch more than an hour ago.

  “We’ll see about that.”

  I halt in front of the glass wall, not wanting Lexi to hear this. “Don’t try getting in our way, Shell.”

  “Not all my decisions have to do with me, but I’m doing everything in my power to ensure some level of autonomy for you.”

  He means his bosses. Whoever oversees his ass. “Keep them away from this,” I warn in a low voice. “I’m already working on what you asked of me. I’m giving you what you want.” Namely? Running a search on what he called a “target”. He’s already burnt out his resources within his organization, according to him, and he’s mentioned more than once that my company just might be more advanced than what the government itself is capable of.

  Not surprising. True power lies in the private sector, not governmental as most of the public believes.

  I already have every facial recognition software available to me searching for one “Sienna Giselle Noir”.

  “I’m doing everything in my power, Mr. Drevlow. Trust me on that.”

  “Keep doing that, then. Something tells me you understand perfectly why I need to be the one that ends him.” The same something that tells me Sienna Giselle Noir isn’t the government’s target. She’s his.

  “Don’t pry into what you could never hope to understand.”

  The phone call drops.

  Bullshit, he hung up on me, as he usually does.

  And the world says I’m the one who’s got an ego on him.

  Lexi looks up, catching sight of me, and the way she smiles at me makes me forget all the fucked up shit we’re dealing with. That smile, the way her eyes glow . . . I’m the luckiest man alive and I know it.

  Which only serves to send my anxiety spiking each time I analyze it too closely. If life taught me one thing, it’s that when something seems too good to be true, it usually is, and it’s only a matter of time before it’s taken away from you.

  Never. I won’t let it. I’ll fight God himself, if he’s actually out there, to keep her by my side.

  The elevator doors open.

  Ah, Ms. Rhines probably returning.

  Finally.

  Lexi’s eyes move in that direction. I don’t have a chance to turn when I see them widening, horror blanketing her features.

  A gurgled, wheezing sound. What sounds like a strangled, “Help . . . me.”

  My girl’s already running towards the glass wall as I turn around and catch sight of Ms. Rhines.

  Or what looks to be her.

  The bubbling, red mass of flesh and skin slams into the wall, convulsing, air hissing from a swollen throat. Wearing the same clothes as Lexi’s new assistant.

  It is her and her eyes are pleading with me, one lesion-covered hand extended in my direction.

  Lexi starts running past me, screaming out for her, but my brain’s already catching up to the reality of what I’m witnessing with my own two eyes.

  Chemical-fucking-warfare.

  “Lexi!” Snapping my arms around her, I lift her off her feet, keeping her away from Ms. Rhines.

  As the girl convulses one last time on the floor, the life leaving her body.

  chapter 36

  “l

  et me help her. Let me help her.” Lexi’s fighting my hold. I was expecting yet another round of tears—yet another reason Stephen’s days are about to run out—but she’s too traumatized for it. Pupils shrunken with dread, the only thing she cares about is reaching the poor, innocent girl that’s currently dead on the other side of the glass.

  Tightening my hold around Lexi, I shout into my phone, “Mateo, bring Finn with you. I’m calling the one person that can help us keep this quiet.” Calling the cops is out of the q
uestion, as much as I hate it. The girl’s family deserves the whole truth when we tell them.

  All I can offer them, even though they’ll never know it, is vengeance on their loved one’s behalf.

  “Drew, please. Please. I can save her!”

  I drop Lexi in front of the boardroom table and use my body to pin her to the surface. “She’s already gone, Lexi. Breathe for me.” Dialing the number Shell gave me, I curse as the line rings, and rings . . .

  Just as I believe it’s going to go into the voicemail, he answers with a hurried, “What?”

  “Get a team here. Now. Menahan managed to get to Lexi’s assistant. He attacked her with some kind of chemical agent. I can’t have the cops involved in this. No press. It’ll ruin our launch of the goggles, and if we want the fucker, that launch has to go off without a hitch.”

  “Yeah, well, you’re going to have to get us into his servers after what he’s gotten himself involved with. I’ll be there shortly.” He hangs up without explaining what the fuck that statement means.

  Lexi’s gone limp in my hold, eyes staring blankly ahead.

  I drop my cell on my desk, uncaring, and dig my hands under her curls to tilt her face towards me. “Look at me and talk to me right now, unless you want me at Menahan Industries with my own fucking weapon in the next few minutes.”

  The bleakness bleeding from her very soul guts me. “How many more people have to die because of me, Drew? How many more is he going to hurt just to force me back?”

  I wish I knew how to explain it to her; it’s not that I don’t feel sorrow or remorse for the insane amount of people Menahan has killed in the last few days alone, but I’m willing to sacrifice any of them, any of them, just to keep her safe. “It’s going to end, Lexi. We’re going to stop him.”

  Running steps reach me from the elevator area.

  Turning slightly, I shout, “Don’t touch the body! Don’t get near it! There’s no telling what they used on her!”

  Both Mateo and Finn veer sharply away from Ms. Rhine’s body, Finn’s face turning an instant shade of green.

  “Finn,” I bark, motioning with my head towards my desk. “Get on the feeds, stat. I want all visuals of Ms. Rhines from the time she left to lunch until now. Get me that bastard that did this to her.” Menahan is ultimately responsible. However, there’s no way he delivered the toxin himself. He paid some soon-to-be dead bastard to do it.

  Finn runs by us, a look on his face I’ve never seen before. “She was a nice girl. Every time she called down to IT to speak to me . . . tell me he’s not responsible.”

  “He’s fucking responsible.” Facing Mateo next, Lexi tucked against my chest, I’m met with another blast of fury. Clearly, everyone on my team is as fed up with Stephen’s shit as I am. “Tell me you have the necessary connections to get me more of you.” I’m barely even making sense, but something tells me he’ll understand what I mean.

  He nods, black eyes glinting. “I do.”

  “I want security on everyone. Get me a team of at least ten men, all as skilled as you are, all prepared to keep our secrets to themselves. Mateo . . . I’m trusting you with this.”

  “You needn’t worry, Mr. Drevlow. I will handle it. Is someone coming for . . .” Considerate of Lexi’s obvious distress, he waves towards the body.

  My eyes cut in that direction and my stomach turns at what’s happening to her skin. She might be gone, her heart no longer beating, but the boils haven’t stopped growing throughout her body.

  Soon, that skin is going to burst wide open.

  “Someone’s coming. Please get on this right now. I want security on my mother, stationed permanently in Lexi’s mother’s room, and someone following my uncle.”

  He’s gone without another word, his stride determined.

  Holding Lexi, I turn us so that I’m covering her view of the outside. “Talk to me, baby.” She goes quiet each time she’s traumatized, a habit I suspect she developed while trapped under Menahan’s hold.

  “I want him dead,” she mumbles in this sad and, I hate to admit right now, cute little voice, her words muffled by my chest.

  “You know I’m giving that to you.” Kissing her temple, I squeeze her tighter, my body vibrating with the intent. After all, that motherfucker sent someone into my building, to kill my employee, just so he could intimidate my woman. “You know I am.”

  Several people approach from the elevator banks, if the multitude of footfalls is indication. Suspecting it’s Shell and his team, I release Lexi, making sure to remain in her path. “Promise me you aren’t going to look.”

  “I can handle it. I have to.” Her light gray eyes glint with steel, with that new conviction that’s been growing in her each day.

  Not so sure about that, yet don’t have a choice but to trust her, either.

  Nodding, I head back out as Shell comes into view, followed by two other men in suits and at least four others in hazmat suits, carrying equipment with them.

  “You need to understand this has just gotten much bigger than you two,” he says by way of greeting.

  “Bullshit. Don’t go there. This is because of us. He killed my fucking employee to get at my woman.”

  Urging his two followers to walk with him, he puts distance between them and the body as the men in hazmat suits go to work. “We understand that, but this man is using advancements beyond what we’re capable of to wage war on you. I’m not saying you will no longer be involved at all. Quite the opposite, since we need your tech to get to him, but him dying is no longer an option. Let’s step into your office so we can explain.”

  chapter 37

  “i

  don’t give a flying fuck that’s he’s involved himself in the mafia!” I slam my fist into my desk, cracking it for the second time in two weeks.

  Finn, who had been sitting in a desk chair next to me, wheels himself away.

  Lexi says nothing, but she’s glaring at Shell with something akin to hatred.

  “I’m promising you an infinite amount of time with him to help us get the secrets we need from him. All I’m saying is that ultimately, no, you cannot kill him.”

  Almost despise this man as much as I did my own father at one point. His lack of expression as he orders me to give up the one thing I want above everything else, after Lexi, is like a rock to the gut. “Once I get that information out of him, what the fuck do you need him alive for?”

  “Drew,” Lexi interjects softly. “You’re talking about becoming a torturer.”

  “What she said, bro.”

  I ignore Finn’s smart-ass comment and focus on my girl. “I was going to do it anyway for what he did to you.” I face Shell, and the two silent sentinels on either side of him. Two men that I haven’t even been introduced to. “Answer me.”

  “Let me ask you something.” He’s been rolling a pen back and forth across the boardroom table the entire time, and now he gets lost in the movement, his light eyes unfocused. “Isn’t death too easy for him? He’ll be gone. No longer in pain. Where we plan to put him after you’re done with him? Trust me, in those kinds of places, the inmates wish for death every single second they’re awake.”

  “Are you talking about a Gulag or something?” Finn asks.

  Shell’s mouth curls into that enigmatic, almost smile. “Something.”

  It goes to prove how far gone I am, that although his logic is sound, that guaranteeing years of unstoppable suffering for Stephen is truly the way to go, I can’t bring myself to agree.

  I fantasized about killing him for so long.

  Lexi rolls her chair closer to me and places her hand on my knee as she addresses Shell. “I need to ask: are you really part of the government? It’s my understanding they don’t condone citizens committing crimes, or vigilantism.”

  “We’re a . . . special unit. I can’t tell you anything much about it—”

  “Then how are we supposed to trust you?” My girl isn’t a fool. She’s made horrible decisions born out of emotions
in the past, as everyone has—as I surely fucking did—but her mind is one of the sharpest, most dangerous ones walking the planet.

  “I’ll trust you by telling you that not even the President knows about my cell’s existence.”

  Alright. Yeah. That silences us for a bit.

  In the quiet that follows, my mind has a chance to analyze what my emotions don’t want to admit.

  He’s right.

  Stephen doesn’t deserve a quick end.

  Hell, he doesn’t even deserve a long one.

  For years he terrorized Lexi, raped her, kept her from me when he knew very fucking well that I was literally dying without her.

  I reach for her hand, twining our fingers. “You won’t get in our way about anyone else we have to kill.” Lexi and I share a glance and I can tell she picks up on who I’m talking about.

  Kaylee Whittacker.

  As well as a few others.

  “Well, I obviously can’t let you go on a killing spree of his magnitude—”

  “I have no plans of doing that. I’m not into killing innocent people.”

  “There once was a time you weren’t into killing at all, isn’t that right?”

  Just how far into my history has this fucker delved?

  Scratch that. While he’s busy analyzing us, I’m constantly analyzing him. Code name Shell, whatever his actual name is, probably knows more about us than we know about ourselves.

  Somewhere in his databases, he has my medical and psychiatric file. The one from the rehab where I tried to end my life.

  “You’re two targets are Stephen Menahan, which we agreed doesn’t die, and Kaylee Whittacker, which is of no significance to us.”

  “There might be a few others,” I grate, thinking about the man we screenshot off the feeds earlier.

  The one that ran up to Ms. Rhines and ran his gloved hand across her face, smearing her with whatever toxin was used to murder her. He wore a mask over the bottom-half of his face; too bad for him my facial recognition software was able to pinpoint him off the upper portion of his face alone.