by Imogene Nix
“I do. He tried at the hospital, but we were able to overpower the man. I think it was more of an impromptu attack rather than considered. Colvert’s always been very methodical in his actions. At least until now.”
“Right then. We’ll need a look at your security systems. You’ll both be on lockdown. I’ll need the names and IDs of those who’ll be granted access. Everything in and out will be inspected. Until this man is apprehended, you’re in danger, Clarissa. We won’t let him near you though. We’ll die before that happens.”
She bit her lip. “I… Thank you. I really don’t know what else to say.” Flustered and at sea, she simply shook her head.
Michael grasped her hand. “I appreciate this. A lot, guys.”
At that moment, Mrs. Hudson entered the room, carrying a tray piled high with food, including slabs of sizzling bacon, a dish of eggs, and another with mushrooms. “Don’t know about you, but planning makes me hungry, and you boys always have an appetite.” She slid the platters onto the table in front of them and retreated with a grin.
Chapter 14
Clarissa listened to the men’s banter while picking at her food, wondering if she’d ever feel so free again.
“We could set up a sting operation.” Jonah picked up his coffee cup and drank deeply.
Michael vehemently shook his head. “No. Clarissa has been through enough already. I won’t risk her to that butcher. If it went wrong…”
The food in her belly congealed, but she understood what Jonah was getting at. It would bring the situation to an end. She’d be free to go, and that meant—
The thought stopped there. Where would she go? To her parents? She didn’t know if she was ready for that just yet. She was nowhere near the girl they remembered. She’d changed, and not just physically.
“It would jeopardize the planning that Daniella and David are doing, wouldn’t it?” she asked.
Michael pinned her with his gaze. “Probably, but besides that, I wouldn’t let you do it anyway.”
She held up her hand. “I didn’t mean that I was comfortable, or even planning on going ahead with the idea, but merely clarifying the situation in my mind.”
When Michael grimaced, she placed her hand over his. “I’m sorry. This is all so new. You don’t know me well enough to understand how I think. I like to know what’s happening. I have a need to understand things. I’ve always been like that. At least until recently.”
His thumb rubbed back and forth over her hand as she spoke.
“I agree, using Clarissa as bait isn’t appropriate, but we could use a bait. Someone he’d never expect.” Franklin leaned toward the table. “What if a medical researcher wanted more? Needed that edge? Your friend Sara would do it, I’m sure. When I met her after your accident, she was driven, looking for ways to extend the benefits of her therapeutic use of this technology. It wouldn’t really be that great a leap.”
Michael shook his head again. “He’d smell a rat. Clarissa is here in my care—”
“A fact that has been kept under wraps. As far as anyone except your brother’s operatives, the ICU staff with her friend Clarrie, and us, no one else is aware she’s left the hospital. You’ve got the room sealed as if she were still there. Guards outside it twenty-four-seven. We could make it work. It’s not inconceivable.”
“And she could get inside and…” Michael’s words trailed off as his face turned ruddy and his hand tensed on the cutlery, his knuckles turning white.
Clarissa withdrew her hand. He might say he wasn’t involved with Sara, but here he was showing otherwise. She’d be best to distance herself now. Before she came unstuck.
The jangle of the bracelet he’d given her last night tinkled, and he glanced in her direction as she reached for the napkin in her lap. Clarissa twisted it, wondering how soon she could leave the planning session around the dining table.
“No. Sara is not some kind of lure you can throw out there. She’s a human…”
At that point it became too much. Clarissa murmured her excuses and fled the room, heading for the outside. She’d discovered the small rose garden at the side of the house and hurried there, seeking solitude as she worked through what they’d discussed around the table.
Hearing the discussion reinforced to Clarissa how different she now was. Not in terms of strength or even character, but how she’d be in danger of becoming a commodity. A blunt instrument in the waging of war and power, without feelings or a soul. The thought depressed her.
A sound captured her attention, and she began turning as a pad slid over her mouth.
The cloying sweetness enveloped her senses. She reached but the darkness crashed down on her…
* * * *
Michael left the table, aware that Clarissa had been concerned by something that had been said, given that she’d become silent. Then she’d left the room. He’d given her a minute, sure she’d be waiting outside the room, just beyond the doors.
But she wasn’t, and disquiet washed over him. Jonah and Franklin joined him.
“Where did she go?” He couldn’t contain the puzzlement, and the growing sense of concern that spread like tendrils through his gut. “Jonah, go upstairs and check the room closest to mine. See if she’s there.”
His brain whispered that he was blowing his worry out of proportion, but his instincts were screaming at him to hurry and find her.
Jonah zipped around Michael, his gait sure and speedy, while Franklin moved to the downstairs rooms, opening doors methodically.
When the front door opened wide, Michael released the pent-up breath, sure she’d enter the foyer. Instead, it was one of David’s men. “Uh, the lady went to the garden around the side. I hung back but heard a noise. When I went to investigate, I couldn’t find her. I’ve already alerted the other guards, and they’re beginning a full search.”
The man looked dazed, and Michael peered at him. “What happened to you?” A closer look showed glassy eyes and a tiny ribbon of drool curling down one side of his chin. “Sit down.” He steered the guard to the bottom step.
“I don’t know. I just felt odd after I’d looked for the girl, Clarissa. It was sudden….” Then the man slumped to the side, eyes closed and breathing shallow.
“There has to be a dart or something, Frank. Help me find it.” Michael started tugging at the man’s clothes, checking around collars when his fingers felt a small, plastic item. “Here.”
He held up the tiny dart-ended pellet.
“Dammit. They’ve probably got Clarissa too.” Michael’s heartbeat sped up as adrenaline surged. He tossed his communicator to Franklin. “Get hold of my sister, Daniella. Tell her what’s happened and get her men onto tracking where Clarissa’s been taken. Jonah, help me get this guard into the sitting room. I can do a test and find out what they’ve given him.”
Jonah hurried over and took the man by his feet while Michael hefted his shoulders. He could have lifted the man by himself, but the less trauma inflicted, the more time he’d have to deal with whatever he’d been darted with.
Once the guard was settled, Michael took out a tiny instrument from his medical bag, took a blood sample, and started the blood work. It took a moment, but the machine beeped. “A short-term anesthesia. Let’s run the makers.” His brow furrowed as he looked up the records of drug companies making this formula. Only one. Listed for specific use and limited supply to… “Dr. Jeremy Colvert.”
“So, we’ve got him, again.”
Frank’s words send a bolt of pure panic racing through Michael. He’d gotten his hands on Clarissa again, and Michael had promised her that would never happen. He knew what Jeremy had done before. She’d shared a lot but more she’d hidden. It had damaged her on such an elemental level that he couldn’t see how she’d come out as strongly as she had last time.
“Did you get hold of Daniella?” he asked Frank.
“Yeah. She said her people are working on it, and she’ll buzz you as soon as they have a clue.”
Hurry up and wait. He didn’t do that well. Instead, he started working through the information they had. Colvert hadn’t stopped his experimentation once Clarissa had escaped, but found a remote way to oversee his work.
“What’s the current capability of a wireless network, Franklin?” Michael asked.
His friend scratched his head. “Depends if they are onsite or nearby. Civilian systems have greater limitations. Depending on the band they’re using and the number of access points, they’re limited to around three hundred feet. Now, military systems run closer to four hundred feet. But that’s of course presupposing that he isn’t using a wireless connection over the ’net. In which case…”
Michael scrubbed a hand over his face. If he was using a wireless connection, not just Wi-Fi, then the situation was indeed much more grave than they thought.
“Who do you know…” Michael turned toward Franklin and noticed the brawny man had his communicator open and was tapping away. “Franklin?”
“Just seeing if I can get a friend down to the lab ASAP to take a look around. He’ll be able to tell me if he’s using Wi-Fi or patching in.”
Michael waited for the grunt of satisfaction he knew his friend would give. Within minutes the sound filled the air, and the tension in Michael’s body seeped away.
“He’ll be there in a few minutes. He’s on leave. His wife’s pregnant and they had an appointment with the gynecologist a couple of streets over. He’ll drop her off to do some shopping.”
Michael didn’t want to hear that as a mixture of helplessness and terror churned wildly. He just wanted Clarissa back. Whole and unharmed.
* * * *
Coming to was a terrifying experience and reminiscent of a past Clarissa had sworn never to revisit.
Humiliating, because once more, she was naked and fastened to a cold, hard slab.
“Let me go.” Her voice wobbled as she tested her bonds, strained against them. Tears slid down her face, like scorching lava on her chilled skin.
“My dear! You left before I could give you any extra freedoms. You were special. So very special and dear to me.” Jeremy loomed over her. He reached out and slid a finger down her cheek, smearing the wet tracks.
It took every ounce of willpower not to flinch away at his touch. It took more courage than she’d ever thought she possessed to remind herself that she’d done her time as a victim. She knew there were people out there looking for her. People who would make him pay for his sins, and that bolstered her spirits somewhat. Clarissa bit her lip and glared at the man watching her.
“That was very naughty of you, Clarissa. You should never run from me, because there is no one who means more to me than you. We always remember our first, don’t you agree?” His face lit up with an inner madness that chilled her.
“Let me go, Jeremy. Because when the others arrive—”
“No one will find us, my dear. I made sure of that.” He grinned. “Your muscle tone has increased, but so has your body fat ratio. I’ll need to do something about that.” He started examining her, dismissing her as a human again. Just like he’d done in the past.
Seething fury replaced the terror, and once more she tugged on her bonds, twisting and turning, working on the metal cuffs that held her in place.
“Don’t fight it, my dear. After all, I have plans for you. For us. This time I intend to ensure that you have a successful gestation.”
The words stopped her struggles. “What do you mean?” Strange, Clarissa thought, how tight and strangled her voice seemed this time and the way she felt as if her body were floating now.
“You didn’t think we’d implant viable embryos in order to check if your body would accommodate a pregnancy, did you?” His laugh stole her breath. “That would be a waste. No, we simply implanted some that would have been discarded as unsuitable for implantation.”
White lights dotted her vision. Unsuitable for implantation. Nausea rose and threatened to choke her. “You bastard.”
Again, she began pulling and tugging, calling on every fiber of her being, her muscles rippling and adrenalin surging. Clarissa bared her teeth, and he frowned, paled.
Crack! The sound echoed, and he stepped back. One pace then another. His face strained, and the color leached away.
“I will kill you, Jeremy. If I get my hands on you…”
The atavistic quality in her tone made him pant with fear, and the tang of sheer fright filled her nostrils. Her second hand slammed free as the boom of shattering metal filled the air.
He glanced around, the urbane air he usually wore fleeing in the face of such fury.
Clarissa wrenched at the restraints on her ankles, pried them loose, uncaring of the tearing of flesh and the rivulets of blood that flowed from her fingers, and as she rose, he ran, pelting out the door.
Chapter 15
The building rose like a white cardboard box shrouded by dark trees whipped into fervor by the wind. The howling played havoc with the earpieces as Michael waited, huddled by the door where Franklin stood guard along with three other well-armed men. He felt unnecessary, but if Clarissa had sustained damage, he wanted—no, he needed—to be there.
One of the men flung the door open, and the shouts and demands drowned the measured chaos that surrounded him. The surge of those who would clear the building rushed like a heavy tide, and he waited for Franklin to give the okay. He’d been in enough situations to know that he’d only get in the way.
“The front section’s been cleared. We can enter.”
Michael shoved away from the wall, stalking after the Kevlar-encased man. The suit Michael wore chafed, but he ignored it. It was a minor irritant given his current state of mind.
The hall they entered seemed endless, the doors opened left and right. Each of these rooms represented a stage in the process Jeremy Colvert had undertaken in defiance of the ‘No Harm’ oath. The people he’d injured in his sick, scientific march into a hideous future.
“Was there anyone in…” Michael indicated to the rooms, and Franklin shook his head.
“No. I figure if there is anyone hidden here, they’ll be on a different level. Down below, likely. We’ve been unable to locate complete records or plans for this building—the records we found initially aren’t complete. They’re more like future planning outlines. What is clear is that he’s clever. He’s been preparing for this for a long time, Mike.”
Their eyes met, and Michael read what Franklin didn’t say. A lot of people had come through these doors in various states, and few—if any—escaped alive.
His mouth dried. How long could this have been going on? How many people had died beneath the butcher’s hand? Jeremy had clearly sunk a lot of his financial resources into the building of this private facility, and no one had noticed.
He’d skated beyond the law for many years. He’d have to be made to pay for that.
They padded down the hall, the men ahead checking every room and removing the electronic systems contained within as Michael watched, his insides roiled like a mass of worms as he waited for them to find Clarissa.
Time ticked by. Slowly.
When Franklin’s communicator squawked, Michael twitched. “Sir, we can’t find the woman you’re looking for. However, we did find plans for another facility. We just don’t know where it is.”
His heart thudded somewhere down around his knees. Another facility. Somewhere else.
Michael fought off his dizziness. “They must have found her locator and took it off her. Did they find it?”
Franklin gazed at him steadily. “I don’t think…”
“No. It’s tagged to her specifically.”
Franklin clearly didn’t understand; he continued to look at Michael blankly.
“Down the track, anyone thinking to find her…”
“Oh! Oh, right.” Franklin depressed the button. “Find the locator. Bring it to me.”
Michael scrubbed his hand over his face. Two steps forward and three steps back.
“Sir! We’ve found something. You need to see it.”
Michael followed the young man who’d been part of the team to a small laboratory. “What?”
“We found Dr. Colvert’s medical records. As in his private ones, sir.” The young man hefted several old-fashioned folders. “But this one in particular may be of interest. He’s got several bio-cybernetic prosthesis himself. But even more interesting, he’s been doing work on alloys and drugs that would neutralize the systems.”
Michael swiftly perused the files shoved at him. His smile was grim. “Bring that with you. When we find him, we know just how to hold him.” Then he stalked out of the room, his fury still lashing around him.
* * * *
He’d slipped away.
“Rotten bastard.” Clarissa stilled just beyond the doors and scanned the hall. Smaller corridor and a different design on the walls and floors. “Wonder where I am this time?”
She padded forward, the chill caressing the skin of bare arms and legs. The open-backed hospital gown fluttered in the breeze.
At the first door to her left, she stopped and peered within, but all she saw were large canisters. White cylinders with black tops. She wracked her brain, trying to remember where she’d seen this kind of set-up before. Row upon row stood in silent sentinel, and a large gas cylinder sat against the wall, tubing snaking here and there.
She pushed on the door, and an alarm beeped softly, the palm pad glowing. Biting her lip, she backed away, moving silently down the hall to the next door. A similar set-up caught her gaze, and peering through the window, it was clear it was some kind of laboratory. The wall of white interspersed with microscopes.
Yet, for all the set-up, the place was empty. Clarissa considered why this place would be quiet and uninhabited. A little further down the way was a waiting room decked with pictures of happy babies and parents. Realization dawned then. This clinic, where he held her, was for the insemination of women. IVF.
Her gut churned now, and she headed for the large, wood-paneled door—sure it led out of the building and to freedom—before stopping. If she went out there like this, she’d be inviting more questions. And it was more than likely guarded. They’d find her, and she’d be back to square one.