GoodKnight: A Reed Security Romance

by Giulia Lagomarsino

  “Real funny.”

  “About as funny as sending me in there for it,” I shot back.

  I burst in through the back entrance and took off running for the lab. We all knew where it was. We had studied it before we came out here tonight. The smoke was already filtering into this section of the building, so I had to move fast. I covered my face with my arm and ran down the hall in search of the lab I needed.

  “How much time do I have left?”

  “Eight minutes,” Cazzo answered immediately. “Plenty of time.”

  “Right,” I grumbled under my breath. “Piece of cake.”

  “You’re just jinxing yourself. Why would you do that?”

  “Because I like to have fun, okay? Give me a break. I’m in a building that’s on fire. I think jinxing myself is out of the question.”

  I found the door for the lab and shot the lock off. I didn’t have time to try and figure out the code for the pin pad. Rushing inside, I ran through the office area and slammed my hand down on the button that would allow me into the vacuum-sealed room. Nothing happened.

  “Fuck!” I shouted, slamming my hand down on the button again. Still nothing happened. I shot at the lock, but it did nothing but make the whole system shut down. The lights in the lab flickered and then went out. “What the fucking hell?”

  “Sinner, what’s going on?”

  “I can’t get in the fucking lab.”

  I turned to look behind me. The fire was already spreading out here. The smoke was thick outside the door. I didn’t have much time. I started kicking at the door, booting it hard in the same place over and over again. I was denting the door, but it wasn’t giving. When my leg was worn out, I switched to my shoulder, ramming it harder every time.

  “Goddamn son-of-a- bitch!” I shouted, ramming it hard one last time. The door finally bent inward enough that when I booted it again, the door shoved in, falling off the track. I climbed over the busted door and stared in amazement at all the shit in this room. There was a refrigerator that held a bunch of vials, but I had no fucking clue what I was looking for. I rushed over to it and started reading the labels, but they were all coded. Looking around quickly for something to stash them in, I grabbed what looked like a beer cooler and started tossing them all in.

  I could hear the ceiling groaning above me. This section of the building was going. The heat was suffocating and as I glanced back at the door, I could see the flames licking at the doorway. I moved quicker, packing all the vials in tight. I secured the lid on and turned to leave, just as the ceiling caved in above me. I dove for a work table, covering my head as best I could as the whole fucking building crashed in around me. Something hard hit my head and everything went black.

  Chapter Forty-One

  Parker

  I didn’t even have to ask Blake to join me. She jumped in the SUV before I was even around to my side. I hauled ass to catch up to his SUV. Dennick was a dick. He hadn’t even bothered to bring any of his agents with him. Obviously, they weren’t in on the plan.

  “I can’t believe you let me drive this time,” I said to Blake.

  “Well, I didn’t want to get shot.”

  “Hey, that was an accident and you know it.”

  “Sure, of course. Bad aim is always an accident.”

  “It wasn’t bad aim. I was being thrown around the back of the SUV. It was pure shit luck.”

  I punched the gas as we rounded the corner. Blake went flying into the door and turned to me with a glare.

  “I see your aim is just as bad as your driving.”

  “You just focus on the shooting and I’ll take care of the driving.”

  “Maybe if you would drive faster I could actually shoot at him,” she shot back. “Can’t you drive any faster?”

  I looked down at the speedometer. I was going seventy-five. That wasn’t good enough for her?

  “Geez, it’s like you’re a grandma.”

  I pressed my foot down even further on the gas. If she wanted me to go fast, I would go fast. “Is that better?”

  “Yeah, maybe by tomorrow we’ll catch up to him.”

  I rolled my eyes and pushed it even harder. I wasn’t going to let this guy get away, but I wasn’t going to get us killed either.

  “Are you planning on shooting him anytime soon?”

  “Just relax. I’m waiting for a good shot.”

  “A good shot? He’s right the fuck in front of us.”

  “Then maybe you should just hit him and send him off the road.”

  “Afraid you can’t make the shot?” I grinned.

  She glared at me and rolled down the window. I pulled up alongside him and jerked the wheel, crashing into the side of his car. He swerved, almost going into the ditch, but pulled out at the last second. Blake rolled down the window and started firing at him. Her shots were good, but she was only distracting him, not hitting him. He slammed on the brakes and we flew right past him. I braked hard, spinning the wheel as we went. The SUV spun around and she fired at him, her shots going right through the windshield. His car rolled to a stop, settling just in the ditch. Blake and I both got out, guns raised as we approached.

  Dennick was behind the wheel, blood spilling from his chest and neck. Blake’s shots had been true. I approached the driver’s side window slowly, watching for any movement behind the wheel. His gun rested in his hand, but he made no attempts to move it. His eyes moved to mine. He looked drained, like a man that knew he was done. I couldn’t say I was sorry.

  “You’re done, Dennick. You’re going to die in this car like the scum you are.”

  “It’s…done. You lose.” It all came out as a gurgle and then an evil smirk split his lips. “She’s infected…it’s…too late…to stop it.”

  “We will stop this, and you’ll have died for nothing. Because you’re too fucking stupid to see you were being played all along,” Blake said. “Even if the virus does spread, you’re already dead. You get nothing out of this. They used you, and now you’re paying the price.”

  He went to say something else, but I’d heard enough. I put a round in his skull, killing him immediately. I had already wasted enough of my life with this scum. He had tried to ruin me, but I wouldn’t allow him to take one more minute of my time.

  I turned to Blake and she grinned. “It’s over.”

  “Yeah, it’s over.” I pulled her into my arms and kissed her. “If we’re not infected,” I added.

  “Speaking of which, we should call Cap and find out where to go. We can’t risk spreading it to someone else.”

  I sighed heavily. It was like we just couldn’t catch a break. “So, quarantine then.”

  “Quarantine.”

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Knight

  Large white trucks pulled in after what felt like hours. Kate was still lying in my arms, unresponsive. Her pulse was steady, but slower than normal and she looked like she was dying. After all the shit that I already put her through, now she had to deal with this. I thought I had gotten away in time. I thought that by leaving, I was saving her. But Dennick wouldn’t stop until he was dead, and I was really hoping that Parker was taking him out right now. There was no more revenge left in me. All I had was Kate and she was dying in my arms.

  “Sir, we need you to move aside so we can check her over.”

  I glared up at the man in the hazmat suit. He could go fuck himself if he thought I was going to walk away from Kate. Even an inch away was too far.

  “Sir,” he said, his tone a little gentler. “You can stay right beside me, but I need to get her hooked up to an IV and we need to get her out of here.”

  I bent down and kissed Kate one last time on the forehead and prayed that she survived this. “I love you,” I whispered, hoping she could hear me.

  They got an IV hooked up to her and put her on a stretcher. I watched with tears in my eyes as they loaded her up, and then I followed them into the van. I kept my distance, letting these guys take over and do what they need
ed to do, but there was no way I would leave her side after this.

  The drive was a blur. The beeping from her monitor was the only thing keeping me sane. The steady rhythm reminded me that as long as she was alive and breathing, there was a chance she would make it through this. But I also remembered the reports on the test subjects. I could see it all flowing in my mind. Their symptoms, how long they survived, what happened to them if they did survive. It was a grim prospect. For now, I would fight for her to get treatment. There was still a chance she could make it. But I couldn’t help but think about what she would want if her body was ravaged by the virus. The trials reported the most horrible outcomes for those that survived. Kate wouldn’t want that. She was a doctor. She saved lives, but she also didn’t believe in suffering. That’s what her life would be if this virus destroyed her body. I wouldn’t put her through that.

  I stared at her lying in the hospital bed. She had all kinds of monitors hooked up to her and a ventilator to help her breathe. Cap said that he called Cazzo, who was at the lab ready to blow it up. He was going to send Sinner inside to get the vaccination. If they could find it. I held Kate’s hand in mine, praying for her to come back to me. The skin on her hands was flaking off, a side effect of the virus. Her breathing had become labored just hours after getting here. I was worried that she was going to die right then.

  “Kate,” I whispered, bringing her hand to my mouth. “Please hang on.”

  My words fell on deaf ears. She couldn’t hear me, and no amount of fighting the virus inside her would do a bit of good if we didn’t get that vaccine.

  “Sir,” the doctor said from behind me. I didn’t bother to turn around. I only had eyes for Kate right now. “We really need you to go to another room. We need to run tests and be prepared in case you’re infected. These are our rules.”

  They were trying to be nice about things, but the last time they tried to force me away from her, I pulled a gun on them. And when they tried to call security, Cap, Lola, and Hunter also pulled their guns. We were all stuck here, but none of us were upset about that. We knew this had to happen so we didn’t risk spreading the virus. None of us wanted to be responsible for killing off half the population.

  “I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying right by her side. If you need to run tests, you can do it right here.”

  I heard him sigh and then he was instructing me to hold out my arm. He drew blood and then was gone. My eyes stayed on Kate the whole time. I squeezed her hand and sucked back the tears that threatened. I needed to be strong for her right now.

  “Kate, please don’t leave me,” I whispered, brushing her hair back from her head. Little beads of sweat were forming and I pressed my hand to her forehead. She was burning up. A trickle of blood slipped from her nose and I grabbed a tissue to wipe it. When I turned back, blood was seeping from her eyes, nose, and mouth. Shoving my chair back, I ran for the door.

  “Help! Someone please help!”

  A doctor appeared and hit the button on the door, allowing him into the room. He raced over to Kate and started checking all the monitors. Others ran in behind him. I was shoved to the side, they were all talking above each other, handing out orders left and right. It was chaos, and all the while I stood there, not being able to do a fucking thing. This wasn’t the way I handled things. I was the one that rushed into danger and handled situations. Now I was useless as my wife lay dying.

  I dropped to my knees, my head hung in my hands. This couldn’t be happening. I couldn’t lose her like this. The past few weeks had been hard, but actually watching her dying was literally killing me. I could feel my heart shattering in my chest. I wouldn’t survive this. I knew deep in my blackened soul that if she died, that was it for me. I couldn’t handle losing her twice.

  “Sir,” one of the doctors said from above me. “Sir, your wife is stable.”

  My eyes shot up to meet his and I was on my feet in seconds, rushing over to her side. “What was wrong with her?”

  “We don’t know. We’re running tests on her blood now, but formulating a vaccine will take longer than she has. We’re working as hard as we can, but…”

  “They’ll get it,” I murmured to myself.

  “Sir?”

  “They’ll get it,” I said with a fierceness I felt deep in my bones. Sinner would come through for me. He would get me that vaccine and Kate would be fine. I knew it.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Cap

  I watched from outside the room as Kate slowly deteriorated. There was nothing any of us could do. We should have seen it coming with Dennick, but we were all distracted, thinking that he was trying to make a play to get inside our building. We thought he was still after the journal or some other power play to take us out. How wrong we were. The senators were all gone. There was nothing else in this for him. So, why did he come after us?

  Parker and Blake walked through the doors of the center we were being held in. I quickly walked over to them, eager to know what had happened. “Did you get him?”

  “He’s gone,” Parker said. “I should have killed that fucker in the makeshift prison he kept us in.”

  “But we’re not killers,” I reminded him.

  “He waterboarded Blake and made me watch it. I should have known then that he would come back stronger. He wanted his revenge and he got it,” he said, nodding to the room Kate was in.

  “This can’t be about revenge. He came with a purpose.”

  “Yeah, but all the senators are dead. What could he gain by releasing the virus?”

  I shook my head slowly, but then it hit me. “Who hasn’t been removed yet?”

  “The head of SynGen and Nathan Arrington,” Blake said, realization striking.

  “Both would have something to gain by releasing the virus,” Parker said. “Do you think they’re working together?”

  “They had to be,” I surmised. “The only reason Dennick would do this is to get something out of it. He doesn’t stand to gain anything by working with SynGen, but imagine what he could get out of Arrington. But Arrington wouldn’t be able to get him the virus. So, he had to be working with SynGen also.”

  “How did Dennick even know they were involved?” Parker asked.

  “I’ll call Becky and ask her to look into it. We need to figure out if anyone else is involved and we need to take them out. This has to end.”

  “Yeah, but how do we take out a presidential candidate?” Blake asked. “The amount of security he has around him is nothing to sneeze at.”

  I shook my head slightly. “I don’t know. We need Knight to help us plan how to get to him. And that’s not going to happen unless Kate wakes up.”

  “Maybe not even then,” Parker added. “I can’t imagine that he’ll be too willing to get involved again after all that’s happened.”

  I turned and looked at Knight hovering over Kate’s bed. He looked broken. He had already been through too much, and I couldn’t ask him to do this. But I knew that we stood a better chance succeeding with him involved. This was Knight’s job for a long time. He strategized how to take out targets without leaving a trace, and that was what we needed. Without him, we risked all of us being caught. Either way, this had to be done. None of us would be safe as long as Arrington and Helen Taylor were alive. They needed to be eliminated before they could cause any more damage.

  Blake and Parker were taken to another room for testing, so I put in a call to Becky so she could check for any records between Dennick and Arrington and Taylor. I knew it would take some time, and that was okay. Knight was in no position to plan a take down. We had to save Kate’s life. If we couldn’t do that, Knight would be useless.

  My phone rang, signaling Cazzo was calling. “Tell me you have some good news.”

  He didn’t say anything for a moment. “We lost Sinner.”

  The sadness and grief in his voice was evident, telling me he didn’t just lose track of Sinner, but Sinner was dead. My eyes slid closed. We lost another man. It wasn�
�t possible. This couldn’t be happening again. “Are you sure?”

  “The whole fucking building is up in flames. One of the charges blew early and I sent him back in to get the vaccine. I’m sorry, Cap, we don’t know where he is. A few of the guys ran in after him, but the fire was burning too hot. We couldn’t make it to him.”

  I looked back through the window to where Knight sat. I couldn’t tell him yet. I couldn’t tell him that not only did we not get the virus, but Sinner died trying to get it. He didn’t need that guilt.

  I ran my hand through my hair, feeling like my whole body was shutting down. I couldn’t take in everything that was happening. Sinner was like a brother to me, and as much as I fought him years ago, he was family to Maggie and I. He had been there through everything. He helped deliver Caitlin and my triplets. How the fuck was I going to tell Maggie he was gone?

  “Cap, are you still there?”

  “Yeah,” I said around the lump in my throat. “Yeah, I’m still here.”

  “I’m so fucking sorry, Cap.”

  I could hear the devastation in his voice. He had known Sinner longer than I had. He and Burg had served in Special Forces with him.

  “If I hadn’t sent him back in, he would still be alive.”

  “You know he wouldn’t just walk away. Sinner never gives up.” Never gave up.

  I had to get off the phone. I could feel my emotions getting the better of me. This was all just too much. I had to get away from here. I swallowed hard and fought to talk without losing it.

  “I’ll uh…I’ll let Knight know. We’re all in quarantine right now, so you and Derek have the lead until we’re released.”

  I hung up without another word and stormed down the hallway, looking for a quiet place where no one would bother me. I saw a door for a maintenance closet and slipped inside, shutting the door behind me. In the dark, I could lose it. No one would see the tears or see the heartbreak on my face. In here, I could just be me and not the head of Reed Security, the guy that had to hold everyone together.