by JL Terra
How the hell were they going to find him?
“Will the breach be a problem?” They might have gained access to Remy’s files.
“I won’t know what they saw until I plug my backup hard drive in and go through everything. That’s if I don’t expose myself in the process.” Remy gritted her teeth. “They shouldn’t have even been able to get past my firewall.”
Mei didn’t understand a whole lot of Remy’s technospeak. She was more of a smash and grab kind of girl.
There was no way she’d allow herself to be helpless. Not again. Allegiances were a weakness, and weaknesses made you vulnerable.
Her mother. Ben. That was enough. Mei squeezed her hands into fists. She had to trust these people. They were on the same side. It didn’t mean she had feelings for any of them.
“When you get your computer back online…” They had the same goal. The fact Mei would walk away when she felt herself getting attached to them was for another day. “Check for a link between Ted Tiller and…Roger Stilson.”
“Who?”
Mei ignored Daire’s tone.
Remy looked at her, a little too knowing. “Why Roger Stilson?”
She concentrated on the woman so Daire’s reaction didn’t make her lose focus. Mei said, “You know who he is.”
“He ran a pharmaceutical company for years. I heard he has cancer.”
Mei swallowed. Nodded. She didn’t want to be pleased he was dying, though it couldn’t be denied she’d rather have killed him herself.
Daire turned his whole body toward her. “What do you know?” The man had so much presence. Most of the time it was comforting. When he got aggravated with her, the nice feeling evaporated.
Mei stood her ground. “Don’t go all British on me. This isn’t my fault.”
“But you know something,” he said.
“Maybe.”
“Find out.”
“Don’t order me around.”
“Guys.” Grant sighed. “I don’t think this is the time to fight.”
“It’s always time to fight,” Mei said.
Remy shook her head. “He means quit bickering.”
Mei tore her gaze from Daire’s hard stare and crouched. The dog tried to lick her face. She waved him away and pulled the phone out of her boot.
“Where did you get—”
She cut Remy off. “It’s private, and it’s secure. That’s the only explanation I’m going to give you.” Mei took a step back from the three of them and their disappointed stares. Dialed.
“Hello?”
“Mom.” She choked on the word as the full force of what had happened hit her. Stupid emotions. It wasn’t like they actually helped.
Her mom was quiet for a moment, then said, “Ben’s been abducted.”
Mei gasped. “How did you know?”
“Remy left me a message.”
Mei swung around to the computer genius. Of course Remy knew about Mei’s mother. In a situation like this, Mei would have done the exact same thing in her place. Mei nodded to her, then asked her mom, “Was it Karl?”
Her gaze locked with Daire’s. There was so much she wanted to explain to him, but he would never understand. Roger Stilson had let his real name slip when he’d been experimenting on her. He’d never imagined she would remember every. Single. Part of it.
Him. The creature. The other man. Some of it she hadn’t even told her mother. Like the real reason she’d fought her way out.
She hadn’t been blood. Couldn’t be bonded to it. They’d decided to take a different path. Hell no. There was no way she’d have let them make her into one of those…things.
The fact Roger’s experiments had confirmed she wasn’t a blood relative of Ben Mason had taken a back seat.
Daire leaned his face close to hers. “Who’s Karl?”
Mei shuddered, while on the other end of the line her mom chuckled. Taya said, “Tell Daire I said, ‘hi.’”
Mei smiled at him. “She says, ‘hi.’”
Grant said, “Who are you on the phone with?”
“Put it on speaker,” Daire ordered.
Mei glanced at each of them.
In her ear, her mom said, “Do it, Mei. It’s fine.”
Mei lowered the phone and hit the button. “Okay, you’re on speaker.”
“Who is Karl?” Daire barked.
Mei told him, “Karl is Roger Stilson’s real name. Karl Friedman was in genetic medical research, as well as a German SS officer. He wrote papers, submitted articles. He was young, a prodigy they said. Some of his peers thought he was a quack.”
“What kind of research?”
Daire’s question was a good one. Mei just didn’t want to give him the answer. All she said was, “Experimental. Stuff with blood. DNA.”
The skin around his eyes flickered. Just a twitch. He saw too much, more than she wanted to reveal.
Her mom said, “In the late fifties, he changed his name and was employed at an American pharmaceutical company. They had no qualms about who—or what—they tested medicines and treatments on. Roger Stilson rose in the company and eventually took over. He’s in his nineties now, and in no shape to be running anything. Whoever took Ben, he isn’t partnered with them. They’re working independently.”
“And how do you know that?” Grant asked.
“Because I’m in his house, pretending to be his hospice nurse.”
Mei said, “Stilson likely knows who they are, though. Right, Mom?” Could it be the second man?
Grant said, “Mom?”
She glanced at him. “I didn’t stutter.” He needed to keep up or he’d get left behind.
Daire said, “Does this have something to do with the missing CIA agent we’re supposed to find?”
“Guess what?” Her voice came through the phone with a note of humor. “You found me.”
“Okay,” Grant said. “I’m lost. What does Mei’s mother being a CIA agent have to do with us finding my brother?”
Mei sighed. “Because Roger is involved somehow.”
Her mom said, “I’ll find out if he knows of a group who might want Ben badly enough to go to the trouble of tracking him down and abducting him.”
“It can’t have been easy. Ben isn’t the kind of man who just gets abducted. He has skills.” Mei shook her head. “How did they even get the drop on him?”
Remy’s gaze darkened. “I figure when drugging him on the plane didn’t work, they regrouped. This time they hit him with voltage from multiple points. When he went down, that’s when they drugged him.”
“Let’s get back to Roger, or Karl, for a second,” Grant said. “Anyone want to tell me why an elderly German scientist might know who abducted my brother? These people have been tracking us. The team met with them. None of them were German, right?”
Daire nodded. “They were as American as you are.”
Her mom said, “Because Roger Stilson is the man who abducted your brother the summer he was sixteen.”
Grant’s jaw dropped. “How…”
Daire narrowed his eyes on her. Like it was her fault.
“Don’t look at me,” she said. “I wasn’t even born then.”
“You knew about this.” Daire’s accusation cut her. She tried not to let it, but...it was Daire.
Mei gritted her teeth and tried to think. Ben’s abductors had been on their tails for a while now. Otherwise they’d never have found him. “This started with Eric Tiller, right?” Mei glanced at all of them but avoided eye contact with Daire. “These people have been on us since then. Now they have Ben, and we have no idea who they are.”
Remy said, “We can go back over everything. Find Ted Tiller. That’s why I called you here. His family was part of a group we need to look into.”
“What about the CIA?” Mei asked. “He was abducted not long after he met with his contact.”
Remy opened her mouth to say something, then shut it.
“Exactly.” Mei wanted to scream. She wanted to throw
a giant toddler tantrum. This was as close to helpless as she wanted to get. How was Ben dealing with it? She couldn’t imagine what he was going through right now. Didn’t want to. Been there.
Would the stress awaken it?
Was that what had happened when… “The two men in Virginia.”
Remy said, “The ones that were torn apart?”
Mei blinked. “What do you mean, ‘torn apart’?”
“Is that what he did?” Her mom’s voice came through the phone.
Remy swallowed. “I read the autopsy report. It was brutal.”
“That’s it.” When they all frowned at her, Mei said, “I bet that was the next abduction attempt after the airplane. Two men died, but they tried again. New men. A new plan. And they succeeded.” She lifted the phone a little. “They’re trying to find it.”
“That could be a good thing.” her mom said.
Mei’s whole being roiled against that idea. “They can’t…”
“If they know how to control it.”
She squeezed her eyes shut. “They don’t.” There was no way. These people had no idea what they were doing, and it was going to get them all killed. “We need to know who those dead men are. It’s our best lead right now.”
Grant paled. “My brother tore apart two men with his hands, and we aren’t worried about that? You all don’t seem to be too bothered by it.”
“We’re not,” Mei said.
Grant stared at her like she had two heads. “He killed them.”
“Brutally,” Remy added.
“That isn’t the point right now.”
Daire sucked in a breath. Blew it out. He agreed with her but wasn’t going to split the team. If she gave him the opportunity he would sit her down and pin her with questions. Screw interrogation, she wasn’t going to let him get the chance. Her life was her life, and she didn’t need his judgmental attitude.
He simply said, “It?”
She couldn’t get anything past him. He hadn’t missed one single word of what she and her mom had said.
Her mom said, “Mei, look at pictures. See if you recognize the two who took him, or the two who died.”
“Okay.” But it wasn’t. It would never be okay.
Daire’s gaze bored into her like he knew there was more beneath the surface. If he just stared hard enough, she would break.
She would not.
His jaw clenched. She almost wanted to apologize, since he was only scared for his best friend. Ben was more than a boss to him. She knew, but couldn’t bring herself to say the truth out loud. He’d think she was crazy.
Daire didn’t move his gaze from hers. “Why would Mei recognize them?”
Grant frowned at the phone. “And why are you the one giving the orders?”
Remy glanced at Mei, her brows lifted.
Mei didn’t know where to start. “Mom?” She might be twenty-two, but moms had that special power. They always knew what to do.
Her mom said, “Grant?”
“Yes—” He paused. “That’s exactly my point. I don’t even know your name.”
Her mom said, “My given name was Taya Zhao.”
Mei saw it hit him. He was her uncle, in a way. Another truth covered with a lie that was her life. She should apologize to all of them, but that meant admitting she was at fault. It was tempting to at least offer it to Daire, but she couldn’t even do that. There was no way she would admit her culpability.
Grant sputtered. “You… What?”
Daire leaned his face close to Mei’s, his eyes almost black. “Explain.”
“Ben and my mother knew each other in high school.”
Grant moved from foot to foot. “Taya…” He shook his head. “More like kindergarten all the way through sophomore year. They were best friends. Inseparable.”
Her mom said, “It’s good to talk to you again, Grant. It’s been, what, twenty-five years since you teased me?”
“This is crazy.” His feet never stilled. “You’re the CIA agent?”
“Yes.”
“This explains a lot.” Grant shook his head. “Or, at least, some things.”
Her mother chuckled. Mei figured if he thought this was crazy, he would have a serious problem believing the rest of it.
Grant said, “All this time. Ben…”
Her mom said, “For me, too.” The softness in her tone was the only good Mei had ever known in her life aside from the time they’d spent together. And this job with Ben. She got the fact that a lot had gone down between the two of them. She didn’t know everything, but she knew protecting the people you loved came above all else. Even if it meant you walked away.
It was why she could never get close to the team. And why she had to get them off this topic. “These can’t be our only leads, me looking at photos and Remy finding this group. Tell me we have more besides just the random chance I’ll recognize one of them.”
Mei could follow up her leads separately. Her mom could get more info from Roger. Somehow they’d find Ben.
Then she was gone. It had to be that way.
Chapter 21
The headset was still on. Ben fought to keep his eyes open. Gone were the background sounds of German voices and gunfire.
“What do you see?”
“A forest,” he mumbled.
Dark trees, pine. Their tent was blue. He’d bunked with Nate, who had been only eleven, Ben sixteen. John and Grant had shared another tent, fifteen and eighteen years old. Dad had his own. Two days they’d hiked to find that spot. Miles from nowhere, deep in the country. Nothing but fishing and bug bites. Best vacation of his life.
Until that night.
“What happened?”
Ben had gone out to take a leak.
John had just gotten a job at the pizza place in town. Ben was mad because the guy hadn’t hired them both. John had gone on and on all weekend about it not being a big deal. He only said that because he got the job, and he didn’t want Ben to be mad about it.
Ben walked away from the huddle.
Grant said, “He isn’t mad about that.”
Ben spun back. A cloud of smoke from the fire hit him in the face. “Grant.” He wouldn’t dare. If Grant said her name—
Ben caught him mouthing it.
Taya’s father said no.
He ran at his brother, dipped his shoulder at the last second and caught Grant’s ribs. Barreled into him as fast and hard as he could. They hit the ground. Air expelled from Grant’s lungs, and Ben pulled back his fist to punch his brother’s smug face. “That was private.”
John yanked his arm back so hard Ben cried out. His brother hauled him off Grant, but he shoved John away while Nate watched the whole interchange.
John said, “Well, what’s the big deal about her anyway?”
Ben shot John a look. He knew the answer to that. And he had no right to ask that when he pretended nothing was wrong between them.
“Where’s Dad?” Nate glanced at the trees, a worried look on his little-boy face.
Ben clambered to his feet. “I’m gonna go look for him.” He strode away in the direction Dad had gone.
“Ben!”
He ignored Grant’s call and just kept walking. There was enough moon he didn’t need a flashlight. He was mad enough that if he met a bear he’d probably rip it apart like King David did to wild animals when he was a kid. Try to take my sheep. Ben grinned to himself. He was totally going to be a kick-butt warrior, just like Dad in Nam. Mom freaked, but it was rad. Carrying a gun. Taking down bad guys.
Ben could totally do that.
A low moan came from his right. Ben headed through the trees toward it. “Dad?” He called out, in case his dad was hurt and needed help. “Can you hear me?”
A dark blob in the distance got clearer as he neared it. His dad was sitting up against a tree. A man stood over him. Dad’s head lolled.
“What are you—?”
He ran to the man and shoved him back, both hands to the guy’s chest
. He was older. Silver hair glinted in the moonlight. Something familiar about him.
His dad moaned.
The man stepped toward Ben.
He stepped back. “What—”
A knife flashed. Ben hissed and slapped a hand against his neck. Warm blood leaked between his fingers.
The man grabbed Ben’s T-shirt collar. A bead of blood leaked from his throat down his neck, and the guy shoved Ben’s head back against the tree. He fell on his butt on the leaves and reached for his dad, tried to shake him awake.
Dad moaned. “I won’t let you do this Roger.”
Roger laughed, an awful sound. He pulled something from around his neck. A medal. He slid the chain over Ben’s head before he could fight it off. Ben reached for the heavy necklace, but Roger moved the knife to his dad.
He froze. Beyond him another man stood at the tree line. The whites of his eyes shone in the moonlight. Just a dark figure and two glowing orbs.
Ben turned to his dad. “What’s going on?”
“It’s why your father brought you all out here,” Roger answered. “Didn’t he tell you? He offered you up on a platter.”
“Because you forced me.”
“Four Mason boys. All mine. That was our deal.”
“No,” his dad cried out. “I won’t let you take them.”
“You think to fight me?”
“I will. I’ll die before I let you have them.”
“And yet you never told your wife about our…arrangement.”
“She can’t know. But I won’t let you—”
“Enough!”
Ben tugged on his dad’s arm. “What…” He didn’t know what to think. What to say. His dad had brought them to this man? For what? “Who is he?”
“An apt question.” Roger’s teeth flashed white in the dark. He grabbed Dad’s hair and pushed the knife against his neck.
“No!” Ben yelled, the medallion heavy on his chest. A bead of blood dripped down and soaked into the collar of his dad’s T-shirt.
“Give your boy the paper.”
Ben’s stomach roiled. He looked down at the ugly necklace Roger had put on him. “I’m not going to let you take my brothers.”
“Now, Mason.” The man didn’t even look at him.