by Amy Rench
When in natural daylight, she flourished with vitality. So they needed to draw the faction outside to have a chance.
“Here,” she said, pointing at a spot on the map. She circled her finger around the front entrance, which, according to the layouts, as well as to what Rome knew, was a square, concrete walled area with two small depots bordering an open patio, a mix between a square and a U shape. Almost like a gladiator pit from a Roman coliseum. How fitting.
“What about it?” Rome asked, peering at the drawing while he chewed the last of his sandwich.
“Isn’t this a courtyard?” Harper tapped on the paper in the middle of the assumed structures, recalling the aerial maps they’d found on the Internet. “Let’s lure them here.”
She watched him focus intently on the map as he licked the crumbs off his fingertips. The spinning wheels in his mind were nearly visible in every flickering movement of his eyes.
He turned the map around several times, checking it out from different angles, and then sat back, raising his gaze to hers. Mimicking his pose, she leaned back in her bar stool as well, waiting for his competent assessment.
“It could work,” he finally said, though with obvious reluctance. He rubbed a hand over his head, clearly distressed about something. “If we could draw them out somehow, they would essentially be isolated.”
“And vulnerable,” she added, thinking about just how exposed they would be to her powerful psionic mind energy. In one crushing swoop, she could take care of all of them.
“Right,” he agreed, drawing out the word and giving her an odd look as he picked up a knife to cut the brownies in the pan. He handed one to her.
Holy cow, these brownies are good.
“Their only retreat would be back into the facility. The quad’s formation would work against them. But we need to get them there first.”
“So use me as bait,” she said again. Watching him chew his little piece of bliss, she caught the troubled look in his eyes. Was he scared for her? She had to reassure him. “I’m not afraid.”
“I am,” he said simply, his intense gaze burning into hers. “I’m afraid of losing you, Harper.”
Rome’s vulnerability touched a chord deep inside as no other words had before. His stark concern was both reassuring and disconcerting at the same time. But it wasn’t necessary.
“You won’t,” she insisted stubbornly. They would not lose each other. At least not this way. “I will not let them tear us apart like they did to Bobby and me.”
He just looked at her, his uneasy gaze still swirling, beseeching.
“I won’t let that happen to us.” She reached across the counter to clutch his chilled wrist with both of her hands. “I promise you, I will kill every single one of them before I let anything like that happen again.” She gazed squarely into his eyes and squeezed his hand in a silent vow, asking him to believe in her. “You won’t lose me.”
“I already have,” Rome said, sadness and frustration coloring his tone.
“What are you talking about?”
Rome lowered his gaze and looked away for a long moment. She sat there, just waiting. He finally turned to face her, his hand almost twitching in her grasp, as though he wanted to pull it away. She wouldn’t let him and tightened her grip.
“You’re losing yourself, Harper,” he said quietly. Well, that explained nothing. “You just want to go in there and wipe them out.”
“What’s wrong with that?” she asked, seriously wondering why he had a problem with the old eye for an eye. He should know much better than she did. This was his job, wasn’t it?
“Do you want justice or revenge?” he asked, yanking his hand out of her grasp and sliding off the stool to stand, his motions jerky and tense.
“What’s the difference?” She slipped from her stool as well to stand before him, nearly face-to-face. Anger simmered in the pit of her stomach, leaden and coarse. “I want retribution. I want each and every one of them to know just what they did to me. I want them to get what they deserve.”
He took a step away from her, shaking his head and clenching his jaw.
“Harper, listen to yourself,” he snapped, holding his arms out wide, his eyes demanding. “You’re consumed by your need for revenge. And frankly, it’s really creepy.” Taking a deep breath, he gestured at her in frustration. “And it’s not you.”
Harper was livid. More than livid. Heated anger raced in her blood, and she fought with all her might to keep it down. To keep from lashing out at the one person she thought for sure was on her side. She took a deep breath and two steps back, struggling to control her budding rage.
“How do you know me?” she asked in a calm, still voice, narrowing her eyes. “You don’t know anything about me.”
He looked as though she’d slapped him. She certainly felt like doing it, but his expression said she didn’t need to. Her words had done the trick, cutting deeper than any knife could. She winced inside with the knowledge that she’d hurt him.
“I know that a few weeks ago, my life was hollow.” His rich voice was quiet now, almost disenchanted. “I know that now you’ve become the center of my world. That’s all I need to know.”
“That’s all you need to know?” she asked incredulously, comforted by his words and at the same time, restless from their message. But she needed to set him straight. “You need to know that a few weeks ago I was an Olympic hopeful, training for my swimming trials. Excited to spend some downtime with my brother. Now my brother is dead and I’m a fallen rogue with superhero powers, a fugitive from a covert and ruthless government faction that wants to dissect me like some lab rat in hopes that they can create supercommandos from the serum I inadvertently injected inside my body.”
Breathing heavily from her long tirade, she just stood there staring at him. A blank expression covered his face, as if he had no idea what to say. Heck, she had no idea what she wanted him to say.
Harper shook her head slowly, calming her tangled nerves. She was tired. So tired of what her life had become. She wanted to end this once and for all so that she could begin to move on in what little time she had. Was that so wrong?
“I’m just becoming what I need to be to make sure Bobby’s murder gets avenged,” Harper added after the long minutes of charged silence.
“No.” Rome’s voice was low and unyielding, his eyes brimming with anger and accusation. “You’re becoming the very thing Bobby tried to prevent.”
“How can you say that?” she roared, fury in every fiber of her being.
“Why can’t you see that?” he barked back. Stepping closer, he was now just a breath away, his steely gaze drilling into hers. “Bobby risked his life, his last moments on this earth, to save the serum and make sure you got that flash drive of data. He put everything there for you so that you could take that information and do the right thing.”
She shook her head, fuming, wanting to lash out at him yet knowing somewhere deep down that he had a very good point.
She just didn’t know whether she could let it go so easily. She’d made a vow. But maybe Rome was right. Maybe justice was the right thing.
Rome’s strong hands clasped her upper arms gently, rubbing her flushed skin with soothing motions.
“Harper, these are genuine,” he said quietly yet forcefully as he gripped her biceps. He rested his hands on her chest over her heart. “This is genuine.” He then lowered his hands to grasp hers and pull them up, hugging them to his chest. “Your strength comes from inside you, not some artificial serum.”
Harper stilled, willing herself to believe what Rome was saying. Wanting so badly for it to be true. She knew her physical limits. And yet the psi power could extend those limits to cease this horrible nightmare.
“I don’t know if I can believe that anymore, Rome,” she whispered, desperately wanting to trust in herself, but not quite sure she could. Her need for revenge was a thirst she didn’t think she could quench without destruction. She wanted to fight. That was her nat
ure. But Rome’s voice battled within her to be heard.
“Harper, this is the right thing to do,” he said, his blue gaze boring into her. “Sometimes doing the right thing isn’t always the thing you want to do.”
His words reached out to embrace her as if a heavy cloak of responsibility. Though Rome wholly believed in her strength, she didn’t know whether she could bear the crushing weight.
“Bobby trusted you,” Rome continued, folding her hands tighter against his warm body. “He trusted that you’d do the right thing.” He leaned in and placed a kiss on her forehead, the tenderest kiss she could ever imagine. “And I trust you, too. Isn’t that enough?”
Was it? It would have to be.
“I guess so,” she answered, still unsure. But knowing that Rome had such strong faith in her went a very long way.
She shook her head to clear away her anger and uncertainty. They had a job to do. And no matter what plan they came up with, she was going to make sure justice was had.
One way or another.
“I still don’t like it,” Rome grumbled, his gaze riveted on the map resting on his lap.
Her gaze was riveted to the same area, but for a very different reason, his being naked and all. They’d released some of their tension by spending some heated time in the big bed and were just now finalizing a plan to bring Jeff and his faction to justice.
“Your opinion is beside the point,” Harper said, lounging on her side. Her head was propped in one hand while her other traced a scar on his sturdy knee. “It’s the best option, and you know it.”
Rome’s searing glare nearly branded her. But she knew that he knew she was right. Revisiting the plan of using her as bait was still troubling him. But no matter how much it rubbed him the wrong way, it was the quickest and easiest solution to drawing the faction out of the compound. And he had to know it.
“I know it, but I don’t have to like it,” he said grumpily with a heavy sigh. He reached for a prepaid cell phone as it trilled, one of the many untraceable phones in his secret stash from the car. He pressed the button on the phone to answer it. “What?”
After a few seconds of watching his delicious lips as he talked in curt phrases, she rolled onto her back and thought about the plan they’d hatched.
Right now she assumed Rome was talking to a trusted contact to help with reinforcements. Bringing down the splinter group would take more than the two of them, Rome had said. They needed backup if they were going to round up and bring in the Five Watch faction, and Rome knew good people he trusted who could help.
The plan was simple. Harper would contact Jeff and claim she wanted to surrender and work together. Whether Jeff believed her was irrelevant. Both she and Rome knew the call would be enough to entice the jerk to meet her. And she knew the magic words to make him agree.
With one phone call, she would set up a parley with Jeff. She was to walk into the open courtyard area of the remote Five Watch facility in broad daylight. That should lure Jeff and his group out soon enough. Then she was to give up willingly and turn herself in. Once they moved in to take her, Rome would come barreling in with the good guys to take Jeff and the bad guys instead.
Simple. Straightforward. But hardly satisfying.
“It’s all set,” Rome said confidently. She looked at him. “Tomorrow. One o’clock. Help will meet us there.”
“Just like that?” she asked.
“I trust them to be there,” he answered, and ran a hand through her hair. She almost purred. “I’ll meet them, you’ll go in; then we’ll come and save the day. Just don’t rile the faction up.” He tweaked a few strands playfully.
“Okay, just don’t take too long to save me.” She gave him a half smile. “Or I’ll have to save myself.” Her half smile blossomed into a full-blown grin at the alluring thought of revenge. It was so close now, she could taste it. And she savored the flavor.
No, wait; hold on. She wasn’t supposed to antagonize them with her powers. That would make the capture of the faction unpredictable. Rome explained that plans like this never quite worked how they were supposed to, anyway, no matter how simple and precise they seemed. But he’d asked her to stick with it for as long as she could.
And she would. For as long as she could.
The bed shifted as he set the map aside and nestled down to face her, side by side. His muscular arm snaked around her hip, tugging her snug against him. Clasping his arm, she leaned in for a languid kiss.
“I can’t wait until this is all over,” Rome said, his fingers caressing her neck, trailing along the old swimming scar that marked her shoulder.
Not knowing quite how to respond, she let herself get lost in the bluest eyes she’d ever known.
Resting her hand on his hard chest, Harper realized she didn’t want to think about what would happen next. Because really, what would happen when this was all over? What did Rome expect? What did she expect?
Her mind whirled at the endless possibilities. And then stopped. When this all began, she’d planned on revenge. And, honestly, she hadn’t planned to survive it. She hadn’t cared.
Until Rome. Now maybe she actually had something to live for. Well, live as long as she could.
She had told him she loved him. And she meant it. But, she hadn’t planned for it.
“Hey,” he said, running a gentle finger across her cheeks to tap her temple, startling her. “What’s going on in there?”
His honest concern snuggled inside her heart, warming her from within. Should she confess she still had doubts? Grave doubts about restraining from using her psionic powers once she faced Jeff, the man responsible for orchestrating her brother’s murder?
Probably not.
And if they did make it through tomorrow, what then? What kind of life could she even lead? She was as good as dead. Her entire existence had been altered beyond repair. Her mind was reeling with questions she had no answers to and probably never would have.
“Nothing.” Harper shrugged it off. She couldn’t talk to Rome about it. She didn’t even know where to begin. Didn’t want to burden him with her doubts and fears. He said she had enough strength to handle everything. She wanted to prove him right. “Nothing.” It was all she could say. “Let’s call Jeff later.”
Reaching with both of her hands, she pulled his face close, covering his lips with hers. Tasting. Memorizing. Hoping that this wouldn’t be their last night together, but knowing it was.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Jeff Donovan sat in the plush chair of his office within the drab confines of the downtown facility, running over the disturbing events at the remote facility two days before. Someone had been eavesdropping. Two someones, actually.
His best agent, Rome Lucian, and that damned bitch, Harper Kane. The men who had chased the two of them in the forest had confirmed their identities.
And the two of them had escaped.
His cell phone trilled, and he stared at it with a withering glare, willing it to shut up.
He was angry. More than angry. How had they gotten into the laboratories? How had they known what to look for? More important, how did they manage to escape? Together, they’d managed to become seemingly unstoppable.
Another trill, this time with a buzz, sending the little phone skittering lightly across his immaculate desk. He seized the annoying device, almost chucking it against the wall just to see it break and fall apart into little pieces, just as his plans seemed to be doing.
But instead he gazed at the display. UNKNOWN CALLER. Why not? Probably another inept scientist offering up a new excuse as to why they couldn’t get the formula right.
Jeff was beginning to think maybe he shouldn’t have killed Dr. Robert Kane. If only to use his sister against him. He had so loved to hear Harper Kane’s screams when Dr. Andy had played with her in the romper room.
He opened the phone and pressed the green button to answer it.
“What?” he barked to the unknown caller on the other end.
“Mr. Donovan?” The cool voice was low and gravelly, yet very feminine. Speak of the damn devil. It was her. Harper Kane.
“Ms. Kane,” Jeff responded cordially. Somehow he should have seen this call coming. “What can I do for you?” He knew exactly what he wanted to do. He wanted to dismantle her body and examine every single microscopic scrap, inside and out, to extract the formula, molecule by molecule. Instead, he decided to hear what she had in mind first.
“Well, you can start by calling off your men,” she answered conversationally. Her tone was calm and together. “It never seems to end well for them.”
Bitch. “I’ll see what I can do,” he countered, holding his anger in check. It wouldn’t do any good to piss her off.
“Besides,” she went on, “I can’t see what good it would do, given that I have original serum in me. My powers are stronger. I’ll always win.”
He could just picture the smug look on her face. She obviously knew more than she was letting on. And she’d overheard him talking to the idiot Dr. Blake.
“So, what exactly do you want?” Jeff decided to stop playing games before he chose to just kill her himself. His project was too valuable to waste on one wretched woman.
“Why don’t we get together?” she asked civilly, as if they were discussing getting together for tea.
“What did you have in mind?” She was obviously setting him up for something. This whole thing reeked of Rome. Having the skilled agent as an advocate was definitely a point in her favor. Several points, in fact.
“How about we meet back at the lab?” Harper suggested. Yes, she was undeniably setting him up. But why? She had to know he’d see through this.
“Ms. Kane,” Jeff said, figuring he better fish around for some clues as to what she was planning, “as much as I’d love to see you again, I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. After all, you left so hastily last time we met. Didn’t you enjoy my hospitality?” There, that ought to throw her off a bit. Make her see that he wasn’t to be trifled with.
Her silence was good enough for him. He didn’t expect an actual answer.