by Zoe Chant
It was near sunset, with a chilly wind blowing in from the ocean. The puppies weren’t bothered, but the few people who’d been on the beach when they arrived soon packed up and left. Natalie shivered. Ransom took off his leather jacket and draped it around her shoulders.
The title of an old movie came to her mind: An Officer and a Gentleman. That was Ransom. Though technically speaking, he’d been an enlisted man in the Marines, not literally an—
“Get down!” He flung himself on top of her, crushing her into the sand, then grabbed her and rolled.
A black dart buried itself in the sand an inch from her shoulder. It stuck there, quivering.
Natalie had never seen that sort of dart before, but she remembered the description from Ransom’s story. They’d been ambushed by the wizard-scientists.
Her heart skipped a beat.
Chapter 23
Ransom shielded Natalie with his body as he scanned the area, his gun steady in his hand. He could feel her muscles take on a smooth tension like a hunting cat’s, ready for action.
And he felt it when she froze, the steady rhythm of her breathing breaking into jagged gasps. “Sorry—my heart—”
In all his years of combat, no bomb or gunshot had ever sent a such a shock of terror into him as her soft words. But he kept his voice calm and reassuring as he said. “Do your breathing. Don’t worry about anything else. I’ll protect you.”
A male voice shouted, “Throw your gun into the ocean!”
No, Ransom thought. It can’t be. He’s dead and gone.
But he knew that voice, much as he wanted to deny it. And he had no choice but to obey—not when any sort of fighting in the vicinity could distract Natalie from her breathing.
He tossed his gun into the waves, then examined her. She lay on her side with her eyes closed, her expression one of fierce concentration as she breathed in a slow, deep rhythm. He sat down cross-legged and cradled her head in his lap, stroking her wind-tangled hair.
She’s survived this before, he told himself. She’ll survive again if I can buy her enough time.
Wally blinked in and cuddled up to her, licking her hands. A moment later Heidi appeared, wet and smelling of brine. She shook herself, spattering Ransom with salt water. She planted her paws in the sand and growled, though, low and ominous, her gaze fixed on a boulder.
“Come on out, Jager,” Ransom shouted. “I know it’s you!”
Jager stepped out from behind the boulder and walked up to them with a quick, familiar stride.
“I should have known better than to believe you were really dead,” said Ransom. “You’re like a cockroach crawling out from under the rubble.”
“I asked Morgana to tell you that,” said Jager. “It would have been very disruptive to have you pursuing me at that time.”
Insults were obviously going to get Ransom nowhere. “What do you want?”
Jager eyed him with the same dispassionate interest he’d had when they’d worked together in the lab, or when he’d come to Ransom’s apartment to see if his enhanced intuition could predict the roll of dice, or when he’d proposed experimenting on human beings without their consent.
“I want you to work with me again,” Jager replied. His voice was even, calm, slightly flat. “We’re doing very exciting research which I know you’d find fascinating and challenging—”
“On people you kidnapped?” Ransom had to fight to keep his own voice from rising to a shout. He couldn’t disturb Natalie. “How many of them have you killed with your fascinating research? How many lives have you ruined with your exciting experiments?”
Jager’s gaze was tolerant, but slightly contemptuous. “Don’t be so emotional. It gets in the way of rational thought. Anyway, if that was a real question and not a rhetorical one, of course you’ll have access to our mortality data.”
Mortality data, Ransom thought. Real people Jager had killed with his experiments, turned into numbers and percentages on a computer screen.
Ransom had thrown away his gun, but that didn’t mean he was helpless. Jager was far too cautious to have walked out alone with no one covering him, but maybe if Ransom moved fast enough…
Don’t do it, growled his hellhound. Stall. Protect your mate.
Ransom took a deep breath, pacing it to Natalie’s. His hellhound was right. It was too dangerous to fight back right now. And he had a perfect opportunity to learn exactly what Jager was up to.
He called back memories of his own past self, that intense young man burying himself in work to avoid facing his inner demons. Trying to sound like the Ransom-who-had-been, he said, “That would be interesting. How are you working now? On your own? With the wizard-scientists?”
“With them, for now. But I want to re-start Apex. With you. The wizard-scientists have a fascinating depth of knowledge, but their goals have nothing to do with science.”
“What are their goals?”
Jager gave a dismissive shrug. “Rule the world, bring back the glory days of the golden age, garbage like that. I don’t have any interest in that stuff. I only want to design the weapons—I don’t care about the war. So to speak.”
Natalie continued her deep breathing, her eyes closed, but beneath Ransom’s fingers, her pulse had returned to its steady rhythm. He supposed she too was stalling for time. But time to do what? If he fought Jager, would that be enough stress to stop her heart?
“How much do you know about Apex’s first breakthrough program?” Jager asked. “Ultimate Predator 1.0.”
Way too much, Ransom thought. He knew three people who’d been put through it, all of them against their will. Two of them had been forced to become assassins, and had been so deeply traumatized that it had taken them years to even begin to recover.
He took a deep breath, controlling his voice. His face. His body. Everything. “It gave people powers. I assume it grew out of the enhanced intuition project.”
Jager nodded. “But we took it so much farther than that. What else do you know about it?”
“It killed the majority of the subjects. And that was even when it was administered after turning them into shifters, so they’d be stronger and have better healing abilities. I don’t know what the mortality rate was before you started doing that.”
“Upwards of ninety percent. Go on.”
“It required regular, ongoing treatments. If those weren’t kept up, the reaction typically killed the subject.” He hesitated, wondering if he should pretend not to know the loophole, but couldn’t see any benefit to that. Jager had to have researched him enough to know that the west coast team of Protection, Inc. included three former Apex subjects. “That wears off after a few years, though.”
“That’s correct. It wasn’t an intended effect, though it had its uses.”
Uses, Ransom thought. Like having a time bomb implanted in your heart, so you couldn’t run away.
“2.0 didn’t have that. We decided the shortcomings outweighed the benefits. But after observing the wizard-scientists’ continuing experiments, I re-thought that. The version used on you and your team—let’s call it 3.0—had a number of bugs as well. How’s your power working for you?”
Much as it went against Ransom’s grain to let an enemy know his weakness, he suspected that not only did Jager probably know plenty already, but he’d be better off letting his former co-worker underestimate him. “It isn’t. I use it once, and I’m out of commission for the next day or so.”
“And your other power?” Jager spoke casually, but Ransom wasn’t fooled. The only person who knew he had another power was Natalie. Jager was just fishing.
Ransom shook his head. “That’s it. We didn’t all get two powers. My boss—my ex-boss—didn’t either. He can control fire as a phoenix, but he doesn’t have a power as a man. What’s all this about, anyway?”
For the first time, Jager smiled. It wasn’t a pleasant expression. “It’s about how I can make sure you won’t promise the world, and then betray me the second I turn my back
. It’s about that woman you’ve got an inexplicable but convenient emotional attachment to. Convenient to me, that is.” Raising his voice, he said, “Sit up, Nash or whatever you’re calling yourself nowadays. I know you’re faking it.”
Natalie sat up. Sand was crusted down one side of her pale face, and her lips were pressed into a thin and bloodless line. “How do I come in? A test subject for Ultimate Predator 2.0, so I can be a hostage who can never run away?”
Ransom’s stomach lurched. He’d had the same thought, but hearing it from her lips made it seem even more horrifyingly plausible.
Jager seemed taken aback, as if he hadn’t expected her to be that quick on the uptake. With a flash of anger, he snapped, “No! You’re forgetting the loophole. I don’t want to get two years’ work out of him, then have him run away with you when the need for treatments wears off.”
Natalie’s expression didn’t change, but he felt her give him the tiniest nudge with her elbow. Didn’t Jager know she only had a year to live? Had he assumed she’d fainted from shock? It seemed likely that he didn’t know, now that Ransom thought about it. Natalie hadn’t told anyone.
“Ultimate Predator 2.5,” said Jager. “Designed for exactly this sort of situation. The need for booster treatments never wears off. She’ll be bound to Apex for life. And so will you. Cross me or run away, and she dies in agony.”
Ransom didn’t speak, but Heidi seemed to pick up on his rage and horror. She snarled, baring her teeth at Jager.
“Heidi!” Ransom grabbed her by the collar. She might be able to teleport, but she was still just a puppy. Heidi subsided, returning to her low growl.
“What’s in it for me?” Natalie asked.
Jager eyed her as if it had been Heidi who had spoken. Dismissively, he said, “This isn’t about you. Ransom, what do you say?”
“This is absolutely about me,” Natalie said. “Ultimate Predator means I get powers, right? I want more than being held hostage to compensate me for, well, being held hostage. Otherwise I might decide life in captivity isn’t worth it, and use my powers on you.”
As she spoke, Ransom caught her gaze flicker toward where they’d parked their car, then back to him. He felt sure she was signaling to him that they could fight, then make a run for the car. But what would all that excitement do to her?
“Go on,” Natalie said. “Make me an offer.”
“I don’t have to bargain with you, you ignorant little con artist,” Jager snapped.
“Oh yes you do,” she returned. “I know Ransom’s the one you really want, but if I take off and that kills me, then you have nothing to blackmail him with. So if you’re going to bargain, you better bargain with me.”
As she continued baiting Jager into arguing, Ransom thought fast. Her heart condition seemed to be set off by either sexual excitement or sudden shocks. Maybe some running and fighting would be fine, so long as she was prepared for it and knew it was coming. But what if it wasn’t? Could she survive two stresses on her heart in quick succession?
It wasn’t a risk he was willing to take without having all the information. He needed to know.
Then know, growled his hellhound.
Ransom set aside his roiling emotions to evaluate his chances of getting that piece of information without Jager noticing what he was doing, and then being able to fight afterward with what was very likely to be the worst migraine of his life.
I can do it, he decided. He only needed to fight and then get to the car. Once he was in it, Natalie could drive. If they were pursued, he could tell her to call his team. They were good, honorable people, and regardless of what they thought of him, they’d protect her with their lives. She could even call Roland and ask him to leave Merlin out of it.
“Aren’t powers enough for you?” Jager demanded.
“Not if they mean being a hostage for life,” Natalie retorted. “If I’m going to be a prisoner, I want the world’s most luxurious prison.”
Ransom lowered his head. He didn’t dare close his eyes, but he let them drift out of focus until all he saw was a shimmering, sand-colored blur. He visualized the big double doors within his mind. All the information in the world lay outside those doors. He could find the answer he needed.
Will trying to escape now harm Natalie’s heart?
Bracing himself for the pain and the whirlwind, he opened the doors. The flood of information poured over him. But this time his hellhound was at his side, bracing him. Shielding him. And sniffing.
There, barked his hellhound. That one!
Ransom snatched it up and slammed the door.
And then he was back on the beach, jaw clenched and heart hammering. Jager and Natalie were still arguing; apparently Ransom had only been gone for a few seconds.
His head ached, but the pain was dull and manageable, not the agony he’d expected. He could easily fight or drive or even read a book. He was tired, but like he’d had a sleepless night, not like he was going to pass out at any second.
More importantly, he had his answer.
Trying to escape now would be safe for Natalie’s heart. She’d still be in danger from whatever Jager could throw at them, but she wouldn’t be sabotaged by her own body. She was prepared for a fight, and so it wouldn’t shock her.
He just hoped she’d be prepared for this.
Ransom reached into himself, seeking his hellhound.
He’d never before been able to wear that body without a sickening sense of horror and revulsion at the dark beast within him. But now, in the nanosecond before he sprang at Jager, he felt nothing but relief that he had such a big, strong, fierce form to call upon. Even if he was shot in mid-spring, he’d still crash down on his enemy, hopefully giving Natalie time to escape.
His jaws gaped wide as he leaped, his fiery eyes fixed on his enemy. As a hellhound, the world was tinted scarlet, but he could still see clearly.
The instant before his fangs would have closed on Jager’s throat, his enemy vanished.
Chapter 24
Natalie had expected Ransom to shift. He’d thrown away his gun, and Jager was deliberately standing too far away for a human to reach him without giving him time to react. She’d grown up among shifters, and she’d seen people become lions and tigers and bears (also white rats, flying squirrels, and calico cats) in the blink of an eye. She just hoped that she was right to assume that he wanted her to run for the car the instant he became a hellhound. Whatever a hellhound was.
But she hadn’t expected the beast he became. She’d heard “hound,” and thought “dog.” But the hellhound was no more a dog than a dragon was a lizard.
He was the size of a pony, but long and lean-bodied, halfway between a Weimaraner and a wolf. His fur was blacker than engine oil or black paint or a moonless night, so black that he seemed like a hound-shaped hole in the world. His eyes were like windows into Hell itself. Smoke wreathed his body, curling around him and dissipating, unaffected by the ocean breeze. Even more eerily, it didn’t seem to come from anywhere. It was just… there.
Natalie saw all of that in a single, indelible glimpse. The next instant, the hellhound leaped. She had a second of fierce joy, imagining him taking down Jager. Then the great black hound crashed down to the beach and tumbled head over heels. For a terrifying instant, she thought he’d been shot. Then she realized that Jager was gone.
A black dart hit the beach beside one of Ransom’s massive front paws.
“Darts!” Natalie shouted. She flung herself to the side and rolled. Another dart barely missed her.
The puppies disappeared. That was a relief. They must have gone somewhere safe.
Ransom became a man again. He bolted toward her, then abruptly dove to the side. A dart thudded into the sand where he had been. He started to scramble to his feet, then ducked. Another dart missed him. She realized that he had to be using his enhanced intuition.
“I’ll carry you,” he called.
“No need!” She leaped, curling into a ball and spinning over and o
ver until she landed upright on the sand, only to once again catapult herself into the air. He could avoid being hit by knowing when and where the darts were fired; she could do the same by making herself an impossible target.
When she managed a glance behind her, she saw that Ransom was still running, but behind her, slowed by his need to dodge. She’d get to safety first…and that meant she’d need to rescue him.
She varied her movements, sometimes cartwheeling, sometimes diving, always moving, always unpredictable. Her blood sang with the thrill of almost-flying, of her control over her own body, and with the knowledge of danger. Would she be struck by a dart? Would the excitement make her heart stop?
She saw the Mustang parked up ahead, with Heidi and Wally barking urgently from the back seat. Natalie snatched the key from her pocket as she again landed on her feet. She stopped tumbling and ran, hitting the button to roll down the top as she went.
When she hit the point where the sand ended and the parking lot began, she made her final leap. She’d made this move before, but never over so far a distance. If she missed by a fraction of an inch, she could break her kneecaps. If she missed by more, she could break her back.
Her aim was true. She landed with a jolting thud in the driver’s seat.
Natalie started the engine and stepped on the gas, swinging the Mustang to the edge of the beach and putting it between Ransom and whoever was shooting at him. She slowed enough for him to wrench open the door and jump into the passenger seat, then floored it out of the parking lot and onto the highway, leaving their enemies behind.
She hoped.
He reached across her and buckled her seatbelt.
“Thanks,” she gasped. “Do yours too.”
He did. A moment later, Heidi and Wally appeared in his lap.
“Is anyone following us?” Natalie asked. She didn’t dare take her gaze off the road.
Ransom was already twisting in his seat to scan behind them. “Not that I can tell. But apparently Jager can teleport. And I didn’t see where he went when he disappeared. Did you?”