Lost: Project Xol

by Amabel Daniels

  I squinted at the road as I drove, not understanding his hostile tone.

  “Dale said some security guys from Daysun have been looking into you because of this chick you hooked up with.”

  Anger rose like a defensive spike. I didn’t follow why this was any of Dale’s business. Sure, I worked indirectly for him through Jonah’s reno company. I knew of him and vice versa. But he had no grounds to follow up on me.

  “It’s complicated.”

  An understatement if there ever was one. Dale definitely could be aware that I was running with Cassidy because someone affiliated through his company was chasing us. Did this mean Dale knew that one of Daysun’s researchers were making psycho mutants? There was too much overlap to untangle. A mess I couldn’t solve on my own and certainly not a puzzle I had the time to pick at as I drove and kept an eye out for any vehicles trying to run us off the road.

  “No, it’s not. All I’m hearing is that she’s bad news,” Jonah said.

  Cassidy sure brought bad luck, but I knew it was never intended. She, herself, wasn’t the bad guy. She—we—were victims here. “It’s not as simple as anything Dale’s going to tell you.”

  “Oh, yeah? At least he’s telling me something. He’s not keeping everything a secret.”

  Never before had I doubted Dale as much as I did now. How could I trust the man whose company’s name was attached to such frightening science?

  “Look, man. I get you’re the hero. You’ll always be mine. But don’t throw yourself down to save Cassidy.”

  I clenched my jaw at hearing her name. Why wouldn’t Dale be aware of her? As the CEO of the company who’d mutated Michael, he had to know everything. Including the fact I was on the run with her.

  Jonah wasn’t done. “It’s too dangerous. She’s too dangerous to be with.”

  “She’s not your concern.”

  He roared right back, “She’s not yours, either!”

  But she was. She’d become mine in some twisted, messed-up sense of belonging. Jonah had always been my primary concern and I hated the worry gnawing at my soul now. Would Jonah be safe near Dale now, under his manipulative words?

  “This isn’t your fight, Luke.”

  Why, because I really wasn’t anyone’s hero? Hell. She saved me just the same. It wasn’t a matter of owing her my companionship. It was an issue of following what felt right. “That’s my decision to make. I’ll be in touch when I can.” Then I hung up.

  Chapter Nine

  Cassidy

  She’s not your concern.

  Jonah’s words looped in my head as Luke drove us to the motel we’d crashed at last night.

  She’s not your concern.

  I wasn’t. Luke didn’t owe me anything at all. I was…nothing to him. Nothing but a hell of a lot of trouble. He had no reason to stick with me in this. None at all. The reality sank heavily in my stomach. Hearing Jonah say the words had hurt so bad, but I’d be a bitch to ignore them. I had for too long as it was.

  She’s dangerous for you.

  A hysterical need to laugh burned in my throat. Me, a danger to an ex-con. It was insanity.

  My desire for Luke to remain at my side wasn’t a matter of fearing the idea of being alone. If he weren’t here with me, well, I’d fumble along in my own way and keep trying my best. If Luke weren’t here with me, I’d still go after Scott’s data and try to find Rosa. One way or another, I’d see to the end of her plea for help. It was simply who I was: not a quitter. Okay, I gave up on the violin after the first lesson but that was different.

  But none of this meant I wanted to do it alone. I wasn’t ready to see Luke go but after the desperation in Jonah’s voice, beseeching his older brother to save himself from trouble, I knew I had to.

  “He’s right.”

  I’d spoken the words softly as he pulled up to the motel, but he reacted harshly. “He’s not right!”

  I didn’t even flinch at his yell. He slammed the gear into park and I didn’t miss the slight twist of his lips at the action. His shoulder was still recovering. The shoulder I’d wounded.

  Nothing but trouble. It wasn’t my trouble, per se, but I was the messenger of it.

  “He’s not right,” Luke repeated, rubbing at his jaw before turning to scowl at me.

  “I’m not your concern.”

  “You’re—” He slammed his lips together and exhaled hard through his nose. “I don’t want to do this right now.”

  Same. I didn’t want to have this conversation at all. Even though my logic warred with my heart, I didn’t want him to go.

  “We’re out here in the open. He could be out there watching. Let’s get our stuff from the room and check out.” Breathing calmer now, his big body slouched some, like that outburst had taken all his energy. I knew I’d claimed his patience, anyway.

  He continued, maybe calming himself with strategizing. “We’ll get the new ride that Zero’s setting up and find a new place for the night.”

  “You don’t have to.” As I spoke the words, I fought back tears. It was the right thing to do. I was a shitty person to expect him to ride along on my trip to hell. He’d done too much as it was.

  “I said not now.” He wrenched the door open and exited.

  Not now? Who was he to say when I could speak my mind? I got it. We were too exposed out here, which was why I hustled out of the vehicle as he strode around the front to meet me outside. This wasn’t an ideal time to argue, but dammit, I was going to have my say.

  “Just go.”

  “Not. Now.” He gritted the order between his teeth as he reached for my hand. His large hand enveloped mine and I hated the security that simple grip offered. I knew we needed to part ways but I could only be selfish and take this small comfort of his touch—for as long as it lasted. He led the way to the lobby, his eyes never staying still, his stern scrutiny taking in our surroundings.

  I wasn’t done. I was determined to say my piece while we gathered our stuff. “You’re not coming with me after we check out.”

  He shoved the doors to the hotel open and I followed inside. “You can’t tell me what to do.”

  “Fine.” I yanked my hand free, eyeing the lobby as we went for the stairs. “Then I am going to distance myself from you.”

  “The hell you are.” His tone was only bitter as he slammed his hand at the door for the stairs and braced an arm to block me from entering the stairwell. He stepped further into the lit-up space and craned his neck to scan the surroundings. Still, he looked out for me and cleared our route. I appreciated it and his protectiveness, but I couldn’t hold him to my safety. It wasn’t fair.

  I swallowed hard, not letting his fierce attitude sway my resolution. It would be for the best.

  “You don’t have to be with me for this, Luke,” I said as he rushed up the stairs. I panted at the cardio, proud I could keep up.

  “Which means I must want to, then, huh?”

  Oh, don’t toss my words back at me. I’d said the same damn thing about tending to his shoulder injury. He wanted to be with me? That was stupidity. He couldn’t be so dense. Sticking with me guaranteed a confusing, layered danger.

  I hadn’t forgotten about his heated gaze on me after I showered the other night. But, come on. That was lust. Lust had no room in a game of potential deadly harm.

  He unlocked our room and again had me wait before he cleared the space. I stood in the hall, watching for anyone coming after us. We were alone. Luke and I in this partnership that was about to cease.

  I saved my breath, rehearsing what I’d say as I grabbed my things. Only, we had the one backpack. One item to carry both his and my stuff since I’d ridden on the back of his bike.

  His bike that was stolen. Because he’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time…because of me.

  So many things Luke had suffered because of me, and so many other things were threatened as well.

  “Ready?” he asked, his jacket over his forearm as I slung the bag to my back.


  “Yeah. I’ll separate your stuff from mine downstairs.”

  He grunted in reply, opened the door, and poked his head out to check the hallway. With a hand crooking me to him, he gave me the all-clear. Side by side, we left our floor and dashed down the stairs. Out in the lobby space again, I inhaled a deep breath for courage and clenched my hands. My heart raced and I couldn’t shake the queasiness in my stomach. My entire body was reacting to the stress of letting go of him.

  “You can take the truck,” I said. “I’ll figure out a way to find Zero’s replacement car.” I slipped one backpack strap off my shoulder, unzipping the bag as we went. “I’ll walk you out there to get your things out of the bag—”

  He’d taken my hand again, not to hold as we rushed away, but to roughly pull me aside. In a dim corner of the sports bar adjacent to the check-in area, he slammed back to the wall, pulling me to face him. His jacket slid from his arm to the floor and I let the backpack slump down as well.

  “Don’t do this,” he said simply. Anger still simmered in his intense gaze, but he’d lowered his voice so as not to yell. I wasn’t fooled. He was still just as mad.

  “Jonah is right. Whatever this hunt is for, this data Rosa has…it’s dangerous.”

  “Tell me something I don’t know.”

  I breathed out a groan. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

  Now he almost smirked, ending with a wicked, impatient smile. “Too late.”

  “And for that, all of this, I’m sorry.” God, he’d been such a good guy, taking all this crap, and for nothing. “But there’s nothing in this for you.”

  “Nothing?” he challenged.

  “Nothing but danger. So just go. Please.”

  He tugged on the band of my jeans, closing the gap between us. “You’re in it for me.”

  “I don’t want to be your burden.” I shook my head, willing the tears building in my eyes to stay. “You don’t owe me anything.”

  My lips trembled and I felt the heat of one tear break free. He reached one hand up to cup my face, his rough thumb brushing against my cheek to chase it away. “I don’t want to ruin your life.” Because there was no more question of it in my mind. What I was forced into, retrieving this red-hot Project Xol data, was going to become a matter of life or death. And I refused to have his on my hands.

  Damn you, Rosa. Damn it all.

  “There’s nothing to ruin, Cass.”

  His gravelly low yet soft nickname for me hit me right in the chest.

  “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

  “Then I’ll try not to.” Pushing off the wall, he cut the distance between us. His gaze lowered to my lips and he smoothed his thumb over the lower one. He licked his lips and swallowed hard as he leaned toward me more. “If you tell me to leave, you will ruin me. Because I’m not ready to leave this fight.”

  With his face an inch from mine, his hot breath tickling my cheek, he whispered, “I’m not ready to leave you.”

  He eased even closer, his lips nearly to mine, and froze.

  His eyes widened ever so slightly as his attention was stolen by something behind me. His breaths, hot pants of air, were now faster, harder, as though panic was taking over. I winced as his hand on my waist clenched, his grip so tight it hurt.

  Still as a statue, he practically turned to stone.

  I began to twist, to see what had stopped him so startingly. But he kept his hold on me, refusing to let me turn.

  “Luke?”

  He reared back carefully and then spun us around. My back smacked against the wall and he stood in front of me closer than before. His hard chest pressed against my breasts, his body a steady weight that blocked my ribs from rising fully as I grew alarmed. Towering over me, he shielded me from the rest of the lobby.

  “Luke?” I whispered.

  His face went paler and his grip on my waist—both hands now—squeezed hard. It was just like his nightmares. Pure, raw terror claimed him.

  “Luke,” I whispered firmer now.

  Was Michael here? If he were, we’d be running, not crashing in fear. Distance and speed was the aim, not paralyzing in the spot.

  Wrenching to the side as much as I could in his hold, I scanned the people in the lobby.

  No Michael. No one who’d—

  I gasped, spotting the asshole who’d run us off the road last night.

  Chapter Ten

  Luke

  This can’t be real. There was no way Ryan Caine stood behind me, scrolling on his phone near the check-in desk. It simply couldn’t be happening.

  Ryan Caine.

  I sucked in another gulp of air to beat down the terror rising in me like a fiery streak of dread.

  “Luke,” Cassidy whispered.

  I blinked, still panting, and faced her. Her brows were still slanted and she had that tiny wrinkle above her nose. Yet she wasn’t eyeing me like I’d grown horns or another head. She gazed at me with determination. “That man…”

  Ryan Caine. He wasn’t a man. He was a demon, a piece-of-shit excuse for a human. Ryan Caine was an asshole who’d gotten caught, tried, and sentenced for trafficking drugs and killing his competitors.

  I shuddered, remembering the hatred in his eyes. Ryan Caine was the inmate who’d attacked me in prison, the fucker who’d gifted me deep knife scars along my back from when he’d tried to kill me.

  “That’s him,” Cassidy whispered, her tone urgent. She burrowed closer to me, both shielding herself with my body and clutching me to her. Her fingers shook as she fisted my shirt. “He’s the guy who tried to kill us last night.”

  What?

  Confusion doused a little of the terror cutting through me. I battled the panic attack from seeing the man responsible for my closest brush with death.

  Ryan…last night? Where? He did what? It didn’t add up. Ryan being anywhere other than in prison or six feet underground made zero sense.

  “He’s the guy who ran us off the road and shot at us.”

  I narrowed my eyes on her, trying to compute this. Ryan? No. She had to be wrong. Michael was after us. Ryan wasn’t. Well, he had been after me at one time, back in prison when he’d made it his goal to kill me. “Michael was.”

  She shook her head. “I looked. I thought it was Michael who got out of that other truck but it was that guy.”

  “But…”

  Michael was after us. He’d followed us all over the country and had demanded the Project Xol info from Cassidy.

  I blinked and shook my head a little. No. I had to be wrong. All of this fucked-up-ness of the situation had me seeing things. Because there was no way she could be talking about Ryan hunting us down, not Michael. There was no way Ryan could be out on the streets.

  Cassidy tilted to the side a little, peeking behind me. She quickly pulled back with a gasp.

  With her movements, she revealed a slim panel of glass behind her. A narrow strip of decorative, bevel-edged glass on some artwork on the wall. As she moved, I saw a slip of a reflection.

  It was Ryan. And worse, he was speaking with Michael. That asshole, I didn’t have an issue believing his presence. He was here with an enemy from my past. The past I’d sworn to grow from and leave in the dust.

  “We need to go.” She stated it unnecessarily. No shit, we needed to go. But still, even as I tried to find my grounding at seeing Ryan in the flesh, I didn’t miss the fact she’d said we. No more of that don’t-get-hurt-because-of-me bullshit.

  I nodded and because of the double threat behind us, I pressed closer and took the kiss I’d been interrupted from. Short, hard, and just a hint of more. I caught her surprise in a hot breath from her parted lips.

  I pulled back and looked to her right. “On the count of three, run that way.”

  I hadn’t planned to stand and dawdle like we had been doing. I’d only needed to shush her concerns about Jonah’s unsolicited advice. But at least when I had directed her away from the exit, I’d done so in a darker corner of the lobby. A tall, freestanding d
isplay easel almost walled us off from the rest of the growing crowd in the lobby.

  Voices picked up and breezes of diesel-tainted air rushed inside. The sliding doors of the main entrance were open. A bus had parked right up front, unloading a horde of high-schoolers all dressed in a navy and beige uniform. Some carried black cases of odd sorts of shapes. A tuba on a shoulder. A huge drum strapped to another’s chest.

  That band was going to be the best cover we could get.

  “One, two…” I waited for a cluster of band kids to wait in line by the check-in, blocking us from the two deadly men. “Three.”

  We darted to the side, through the sports bar seating area. Without a look back, I shoved Cassidy to lead the way, ensuring her safety before mine. Facing the wall, we turned and ended up pushing past startled employees. Through the kitchen and past the dishwashing station we went. The exit was already propped open with a doorstopper. Cassidy barreled into the slab of white-painted wood and crashed into some unsuspecting kitchen help. He yelled out in surprise, dropping an empty milk crate.

  She windmilled her arms, falling with the young guy, so I grabbed the flailing backpack strap and pulled her back to her feet. We had no time to slow down for even a second.

  After a sprint away from the hotel, sticking to the alley behind the building, we eventually slowed. I set my hands to the back of my head, drawing in air. My shoulder tightened with the move, but I hissed through the lingering pain. Backpedaling, I checked that we were alone out here. Nothing but dumpsters and litter floating on the light wind.

  Cassidy wheezed in a deep breath and staggered to the nearest brick wall. She propped a hand to the structure and hunched over, still breathing hard. “I…need…”

  “What?” I lowered my arms and went to her. Was she hurt?

  “I need…new…goddamn shoes to keep up with all this…running.”

  A breath of relief whooshed out. It was a minor detail we could take care of. But what was more of a priority was securing an even better and faster way of escape. “Did Zero text you yet? About a car?”

  She swallowed hard and studied me for a minute. Really looked. I glanced down at myself, mildly curious what snagged her attention.