Never Let Go

by Cynthia Eden

  Contained? Or covered up?

  “You can’t just move a body!” Cecelia burst out. “You’ll destroy evidence! We can’t—”

  Landon snapped to attention. “I am in charge here, and I’m telling you that we’re moving him to the lab. I don’t know how long it will be before the power grid comes back on in this area—we need to examine him now.”

  “But—” Cecelia began.

  “We aren’t leaving him here.” Landon’s head bobbed decisively. “I’ll have the guards transport the body. We’re going to the lab. And that’s an order.”

  ***

  After being in the darkened stairwell, the lab was too bright. Elizabeth didn’t pace, she barely moved at all as she stared at Landon. Cecelia, though, seemed to be a bundle of energy. She was rocking back and forth, and the woman had waves of nervousness flowing from her.

  “We have to be careful what we say in front of the others,” Landon murmured. It was just the three of them in that lab. Landon had ordered the guards to transfer the body, and the guards hadn’t arrived yet. He looked over his shoulder at the closed lab door. “I ordered a search when Hugh didn’t report in for his shift—”

  “Because you thought he might have been the man in my room?” Cecelia exclaimed.

  Landon’s expression was tense. “I thought he might be trying to steal Lazarus secrets. It fit. A new guard, sudden trouble…if you were telling the truth about someone being in your room—”

  “If, you asshole?” Cecelia snarled. “There is no if.”

  He gave a grim nod. “No, I guess there isn’t an ‘if’ any longer.”

  Elizabeth’s temples were throbbing.

  “Hugh was relieved of duty at 0400—that was when he stopped guarding your quarters. Another guard switched out with him at that time. I know that, but I don’t know what happened to Hugh after that point. That’s why I need his time of death. I need to know exactly when that man died.”

  Elizabeth drew in one long, deep breath. Then another. “You saw how many times he was stabbed.”

  Landon didn’t speak.

  Elizabeth had plenty to say. “You told me before that you worried someone was trying to steal secrets from Lazarus. So the way I figure it, we’re looking at two options here.” Her hands were wet with sweat, so she rubbed them over her jeans. “Option one is that someone does want the secrets here, and that person may have broken in and killed the guard. Hell, maybe the dead guard was even working with that individual, and the partnership went south.”

  Cecelia stopped pacing.

  “Or option two…” The option that was already making Elizabeth shudder. “One of the Lazarus subjects killed that guard.”

  “But the subjects are supposed to be secured,” Landon argued. “They were supposed to be locked in their cells.”

  They were supposed to be.

  The lab doors burst open. The dead man’s body was wheeled inside. He’d been zipped into a body bag. For a moment, she had a random, wild thought. Why do they have body bags here? Elizabeth didn’t want to wonder too long about that—she was afraid of what the answer might be.

  The body bag hit the edge of a cabinet as the men wheeled the gurney inside. The bag started to topple over, but one of the guards grabbed it, fast, holding the bag—and body—in place. So much for preserving any sort of crime scene. The guards weren’t even wearing gloves.

  Because Landon thinks this is the work of one of the test subjects. He doesn’t believe option one at all.

  She waited until it was just her and Landon and Cecelia in that room again. The guards practically ran out. She didn’t blame them. But once they were gone, Elizabeth grabbed gloves and she slowly lowered the zipper of that bag. The dead guard’s bloated face stared back at her. Hugh.

  She began to examine the body, slowly and carefully. No, she wasn’t a damn ME but she could help. She had to help. Hugh Cleston had been brutally murdered. Stabbed, again and again. Deep, hard thrusts. No shallow cuts at all.

  “There was no hesitation.” Cecelia stood beside her. “The killer struck hard each time. The wounds are so deep. They’re…savage.”

  Elizabeth kept examining the body, and all she could hear in her head, over and over was…

  Increased aggression. The subjects display increased aggression. “Have there…” She cleared her throat. “Have there been any other incidents at this facility?”

  Last night, someone was in Cecelia’s room. And now a man is dead.

  Landon gave a jerky move of his head. “The subjects are secured.”

  God, she couldn’t hold back the secret about the subjects being able to slip out of their cells. She couldn’t. Not when a man was dead. But if she revealed what she knew, wasn’t that a betrayal of Sawyer? Is there a choice? “There’s…there’s something you need to know—”

  The alarm blared. The same wild sound that had startled her the night before.

  Lockdown.

  Her eyes flew to the lab door.

  “Oh, shit,” Landon muttered.

  She could hear the thud of footsteps running toward her. Fast, hard, wild. She staggered back, wondering who was racing toward the lab. Someone is coming for us.

  Landon rushed across the room and jerked open a drawer. He pulled out a gun, lifted it up and the barrel shook in his grip.

  “They’re out,” Cecelia said, wide-eyed. “It’s the test subjects. I think they’ve been getting out all along.”

  They were screwed. That was what they were. Screwed.

  “Only takes sixty seconds and then the doors lock,” Landon threw back. “We just need to make it—”

  There was a guttural cry from beyond the lab. The guards that had gone back outside moments before—had one of them just made that cry? Were the guards being attacked? She lunged forward, determined to help them, but Landon grabbed her and pushed her back. “You’re too damn valuable. You can’t be risked.”

  Those thundering footsteps raced toward the lab. She could hear them closing in, even over the shriek of the lockdown alarm.

  “About thirty more seconds,” Landon said.

  The lab doors burst open. Sawyer was there, breathing hard, his face was twisted into tight, angry lines. He had a gun gripped in one hand.

  How did he get a gun?

  Only Sawyer wasn’t alone. Flynn was right beside him. Unarmed, but his hands were fisted, as if he couldn’t wait to tear into someone.

  Flynn’s furious gaze—and Sawyer’s—were both directed right at Landon.

  The seconds ticked by…everything seemed to slow down.

  The alarm stopped blaring. Clang. The door had sealed shut, locking them all inside the lab.

  “Get the fuck away from them,” Sawyer snarled at Landon.

  Landon lifted his gun. “Guards!”

  “They can’t help you,” Sawyer snapped as he took a step forward. “They’re on the other side of that door, and they’re taking a little nap right now.”

  Flynn was staring at Cecelia. “You screamed.” His hands flexed, then re-fisted. “I heard you scream.”

  Cecelia backed up a step.

  The tension in that lab was electric.

  “Stand down!” Landon yelled at the Lazarus men. “Stand down or I fire—”

  No, that wasn’t happening. Elizabeth moved in front of him. This move hadn’t worked out well for her before, and her knees were knocking. “Lower the gun, Landon,” Elizabeth told him as she fought to keep her voice even. “We have to calm down, we have to talk—”

  “They’re out of their cells,” Landon yelled back as spittle flew from his mouth. “And Hugh is dead! This is what you feared, isn’t it? They’ve gone too far, they have to be—”

  Sawyer lunged forward. He shoved Elizabeth out of the way, and she crashed onto the floor.

  Landon fired.

  “No!” Elizabeth screamed.

  But Sawyer had dodged the tranq. He’d moved so incredibly fast. Landon tried to fire again, but it was too late. Sawyer ri
pped the gun right out of Landon’s hand. He aimed it at the doctor. “Let’s see how you like this shit.” He fired.

  The tranq hit Landon in his gut, and Landon dropped, sinking like a stone as he fell on the floor, landing in an unconscious heap.

  The sound of Elizabeth’s thundering heartbeat filled her ears. She was sealed in that lab. Trapped with Sawyer and Flynn, and Sawyer had a weapon. A weapon he was…putting down?

  “Easy, doc. Got to say, I don’t like it when you stare at me that way.” A muscle flexed in his jaw as he placed the gun down on the tiled floor. He lifted his hands toward her, in one of those gestures people did to show they weren’t a threat. “Makes me feel like a fucking monster.”

  Flynn gave a rusty laugh. “Maybe because that’s what we are.”

  Sawyer ignored him. “I’m not here to hurt you.”

  She was still on the floor.

  “I’m sorry about pushing you, doc. I was just afraid Landon was going to shoot, and I didn’t want the tranq to hit you.”

  She made a mental note to stop jumping in front of guys. It never worked for her.

  Sawyer offered his hand to her. “Let me help you up.”

  She could get up on her own just fine, but her fingers closed around his. He pulled her up, and their bodies brushed.

  “I had to get to you,” he said. So soft. “Had to make sure you were okay.”

  Flynn advanced toward Cecelia. “We heard the scream and we needed to fucking make sure you were both all right.”

  The two men had broken out of their cells to help them? She pulled away from Sawyer, trying to think clearly. Trying to figure out what to do next.

  “Doc?” Sawyer called, but he wasn’t looking at her. His gaze had fallen on the exam table. A hard edge entered his voice as he demanded, “Tell me about the damn dead man on the table.”

  She cast a quick, worried glance at Cecelia. Flynn was close to the shrink, but he wasn’t touching her. And Cecelia—she looked both afraid and furious.

  “How long have you been able to get out of your rooms?” Cecelia asked. “How long?”

  “Rooms? Don’t you mean our cages?” Flynn fired right back. “Since day one.”

  Cecelia flinched.

  “The dead man,” Sawyer gritted. “What the hell happened?”

  “He’s a guard. Hugh Cleston.” Elizabeth’s words came too fast. “He was killed…broken neck and thirteen stab wounds.”

  “Who killed him?” Sawyer had moved closer to the exam table, and he’d pulled her with him. One of his hands curled around her wrist, holding her tight. His skin seemed to burn against hers.

  Landon was still sprawled on the floor, out cold.

  “We’re trying to figure that out.” Elizabeth said but there must have been something in her voice…

  Sawyer’s head cocked toward her. He blinked, and then his dark blue gaze hardened. “You think I did it?”

  The man she’d known before would have never attacked an innocent person. But…when he’d first woken up in D.C., she’d watched as he’d taken out the guards around him. “Did you?”

  His face turned angry and dark. He pulled her flush against him as his head tilted over hers. “I came to save you.” Each word was bitten off. “I gave up one of my secrets, for you.”

  One of his secrets? How many did he have?

  Then his head jerked toward the locked lab door. “I know,” Sawyer snarled as if someone had just spoken to him. “I can hear their footsteps coming, too. Fuck, yes, there will be repercussions.”

  What? Was he talking to her? Or to someone else?

  His hold on her tightened as he stared down at her once more. “I didn’t do this.”

  “What about your men? Can you be so sure of the others?”

  His jaw hardened.

  “Sawyer? Can you be sure of them?”

  And now she could hear pounding footsteps, too. Getting closer. Rushing toward the lab. The cavalry?

  “Be sure of this.” Sawyer was even closer to her now, leaning right over her, with his lips at her ear. “I wouldn’t hurt you.”

  She wanted to be sure. But she still remembered what it was like to have him pointing a gun—at her. And the memory must have been in her eyes because he blinked quickly and instantly released her. He took a step back even as she heard the sound of the lab’s lock disengaging. “Doc? Elizabeth?”

  “Please don’t fight the guards when they come in. You know they aren’t a match for you.”

  His expression closed down. And the cavalry raced inside.

  Chapter Fourteen

  He was in chains again. Sawyer sat on his pitiful excuse for a bed, his body tense, and fury boiling inside of him. He could snap out of the chains. Do it in half a breath, but he was trying to play this scene right.

  Landon was standing in front of him. What a prick. Asshole Landon. It had sure felt good to rip the gun out of the guy’s hand and fire on him. Your turn to get dosed.

  Landon still wasn’t back to one hundred percent. The guy’s left leg was dragging behind him. And Landon had half a dozen guards crammed into Sawyer’s room. Someone’s scared.

  Sawyer didn’t stop the small smile that spread over his face.

  “You think this is funny?” Landon blasted at him. “A man is dead. You and your teammates have been breaking out of your cells. You’ve murdered—”

  “I didn’t kill that guard. And, for the record, I also didn’t fight in the lab. When the doors opened, I let your men lead me right back here. Like a good soldier.” Because Elizabeth had asked him to stay in control. Because he needed to not screw things up more than he already had.

  His head throbbed now because of the voices of his teammates. The others had been furious when he’d broke out of his cell to rush after Elizabeth.

  What in the hell were you thinking? That was Three. Normally, he was the quiet one. Quiet, controlled, iced fury. He wasn’t so quiet right then.

  So what if it had been her screaming? She doesn’t matter. Five had been raging the loudest and the longest, but he was dead wrong. Elizabeth did matter.

  She mattered quite a bit to Sawyer.

  “You were supposed to be leading the mission at 0600.” Ah, not a voice in his head. Landon was snapping at him again. “Lives were depending on you! And you completely screwed—” The door opened behind Landon, surprising the guy and making him stop mid-yell. Landon whirled around. “No one else is supposed to be—Wright?”

  Sawyer lost his smile. Because sure as shit, he was staring at Wyman Wright. He’d met the man twice before in the Lazarus facility. But they’d never been this close. Close enough for me to grab the guy and snap his neck.

  Wright was the guy pulling the strings. The man in charge of this hell.

  “Clear the room.” Wright pointed at the guards. “You men—out. Landon and I are the only ones who need to be here.”

  Landon’s mouth opened and closed, like a fish, but he didn’t speak.

  The guards got the hell out of there.

  This is my chance. I can take them both out. I can kill them right—

  The cell door closed behind the last retreating guard. Wright’s heavy sigh seemed to fill the room. “I picked you to be the leader.”

  Sawyer lifted a brow. “I thought I had been leading.”

  “Six missions. Six successes.” Wright shook his head. “This was to be mission seven. Lucky seven. After this one, I was going to give your team more freedom. You just had to get through this one final mission without an incident. But now I discover you’ve been breaking out—”

  “I heard a woman screaming.” He was sticking to that same story. Why not? It was the truth. “I went to help. What was I supposed to do? Let someone suffer?”

  Wright took a step closer to him. “Did you think Dr. Parker was screaming?”

  Tread carefully. That warning came from Two. Shit, he needed those assholes out of his head so Sawyer slammed the mental door on all of his teammates. As hard as he could.
Then there was silence in his head. For the moment.

  Wright kept staring at him. “Did you think it was her, One?”

  “I wasn’t sure. I just could tell by the pitch that it was a woman.”

  “And you broke out—rushing to save the day.”

  He shrugged and the chains rattled.

  Landon gave a loud grunt. “Bullshit. He tranqed me, he—”

  “When I arrived in the lab, I thought you were threatening Dr. Parker and Dr. Gregory.” Had he always been so good at lying? “I asked you to lower your weapon. When you didn’t, I took it away from you.”

  “You fired it at me—”

  “I had to eliminate the threat to Dr. Parker.” The words were calm, completely at odds with the tension in his body. “And to Dr. Gregory. You seemed highly…unstable to me at the time. I worried about what move you’d make next.”

  “He’s lying.” Spittle flew from Landon’s mouth. “He’s—”

  “The video footage backs up One’s account.” Wright turned the force of his glare on Landon. “He never hurt the two women. After you were on the floor, he immediately lowered his weapon.”

  “But—”

  “If he’d wanted to hurt Dr. Parker or Dr. Gregory, Subject One could have killed them in an instant..” Wright nodded briskly. “Instead, he made a moral choice—he broke out of his cell in order to help someone he thought was in danger. This is very, very good.”

  Landon stared at Wright in shock. “He tranqed me.”

  “Yes, but he didn’t kill you. Now get the damn chains and cuffs off him. One has a mission to run.”

  What the sweet hell? Sawyer wasn’t sure he’d just heard correctly but…

  “What about the dead guard?” Landon made no move to free Sawyer. “If One and his men can get out of their cells anytime they want, then he may have killed that guard! Poor Hugh Cleston! The guy was stabbed thirteen times.”

  Wright crossed his arms over his chest as he studied Sawyer. “Did you kill that guard?”

  “No.”

  Wright grunted. His eyes were slits on Sawyer. “Do you know who did?”

  Sawyer let his gaze drift to Landon. “It could have been anyone.”