by JL Terra
Ben set the suitcase in her trunk before he made sure no trace evidence was left on the bodies and set the fire.
Taya was in the passenger seat. When he climbed in the driver’s side, she handed over a set of keys. He wanted to soak up the moment. They were together, in the same place. How long had it been since that happened? They’d been a part of each other’s lives for longer than his had been changed by Roger forever. That distinction counted as everything to Ben.
He pulled out of the garage and headed for the highway to take them back to Boise. He glanced at Taya to see if she might feel up to talking. Her eyes were closed, her face relaxed just a fraction.
Ben stayed silent, but he felt better than he had in days. Years, maybe. Being here with her gave him peace again when his life had been anything but. He was a man with no home. She was the place he wanted to return to. Every single time. It didn’t matter that they hadn’t spoken in years, or that their only connection now was Mei. Nor did it matter that whatever was standing between them had also existed back when they were kids.
He barely knew her now, and yet part of him would always know her. A part that had nothing to do with what Roger put inside him. Taya was everything good. Clean. There was nothing corrupt about what they’d felt. What they still felt, if he was honest. Despite the fact they’d been separated before they could truly get to know each other. The way she looked at him—he wanted to live there.
There were a lot of miles between his life and hers, but the truth couldn’t be denied: he needed her.
Chapter 27
Ogden, UT. Friday, 04:07hrs CDT
Taya blinked as she awoke. Tried to figure out how she’d found a hotel room and didn’t remember. She moved only her gaze, not yet willing to accept just how badly she was hurt. Ben sat to her right, slouched down in an armchair. Head to one side, chest moving slowly.
He looked almost peaceful; she wasn’t going to wake him just to ask a question that could wait until later.
She shifted her legs and moaned as aches awoke along with her muscles. She kept her arm still but felt something under her fingertips. Lifting it with her good hand, she found Roger’s notebook. Her other hand had something between her thumb and fingers. A bandage. The ache was still there, but it felt so much better. How had he done this without her knowing? And where had he found the supplies?
She didn’t want to know, but she was grateful. Not many men could accept the fact she lived her life off the radar. And if they did, usually they didn’t take the time to help her when she couldn’t help herself.
He was here.
The man of all her dreams. All her nightmares.
His face was the face of her father’s killer.
Since the day a naïve girl had given a teen boy her heart life had broken them both, but the fact was he still held her heart—as much as she might wish she could take it back. He’d always been someone to be noticed—even when he blended in. At least, she’d noticed him. With plenty of years to think back over it all, she had come to the conclusion that something special tied them together. Then a tiny baby had entered their lives, a helpless girl desperately in need of love. Something tangible had tethered them for the first time in years.
He’d handed her the baby and left. That hadn’t been a safe time for him.
Years later, Mei had been taken while Taya was off on a mission. Abducted, just like Ben.
Seventeen days later Mei had shown up again. Taya had just run down her only lead—a dead end—when Mei had called her from Bangkok. Only, unlike Ben, Mei remembered everything. And there had been letters carved into her forehead, ones they’d removed through plastic surgery.
Emeth.
Truth.
Since then they had been systematically unpacking the tragic history of their family—of Ben Mason.
Taya reached up with her good hand and touched the cross around her neck. Her faith had grown with her. From that scared but dutiful little girl, who understood only the rules. To a woman who wanted to love and care for the people God had placed in her life.
Taya sat up. She must have made a noise, because Ben launched out of his chair. She lifted her hand. “Hey.”
At least he didn’t have a gun on him. He’d have woken up shooting.
Ben stared at her. Dreams and nightmares. The creature that had murdered her father. The man who had loved her for years. He had both freed her and held her in bondage all this time.
Taya had tried to let him go.
He sat back down, rubbed both hands down his face. “Good morning.”
She looked at the clock. It wasn’t even five yet. “Um…thanks for taking care of my arm.”
“I called Eli. He walked me through it.”
Of course. Her brother had followed in their father’s footsteps, but his specialty was pediatric medicine. “Thank you.”
“I told him that.”
Taya shifted so she could lean back.
“Here.” Ben bundled pillows behind her.
“I’m okay.”
“You have too many bruises to convince me that’s true.”
She didn’t want to think how extensively he’d looked. Instead she said, “Sit. Please.”
Ben settled on the bed beside her hip. The quiet stretched between them, a yawning chasm of years. They were both in their forties. Life had brought them back to each other. Who was she to argue?
He cocked his head. “That’s some deep thought you’ve got going on.”
Taya shrugged one shoulder.
“You always were like that.”
She said, “You always were a little dark. I liked it. Probably because my father disapproved.” Ben stared at her with those royal blue eyes, nearly black in the low light of the bedside lamp. She’d always thought of them as having faced down the odds. Maybe it was more that they had both been stubborn enough to fight for what they’d had growing up. That they’d endured only because of a simple refusal to let go.
Perhaps they had been doomed from the beginning.
“We’re both different now.” She fingered the notebook. When he said nothing, she let him have his peace, and skimmed the unfamiliar language farther through the book than she had last night. She could feel his gaze on her, the warmth of him. Had she ever been that warm?
“Taya—”
She said, “Malcolm.”
“What?”
“Look at this.” She turned the book and pointed to Malcolm’s name at the top of the page. “Let me…” She flicked through pages. Found other names. “Here’s Mei.”
“Is Roger the one who abducted her?”
Taya looked up. She was going to have to tell him. “Yes.”
Ben stood up so fast the notebook’s pages fluttered. He paced the room. “You didn’t tell me.” The statement was all accusation. “I asked you. I asked her.”
“She didn’t want to talk about it.”
“Both of you said she didn’t remember. I accepted it. You know why. But I still ran down every lead. There was next to nothing.” His gaze pinned her as surely as if she’d been bound. “Got your stories straight, did you? Cleaned up the scene so I wouldn’t find anything. Just like the CIA taught you.”
She winced. “I knew what you would do to her abductor if we ever figured out his name. You don’t think I wanted to do the same? First you, then Mei. We needed to know why he was targeting our family.”
“He hurt her, he deserved to die.”
“You would have killed him.” She bit her lip, knowing full well she’d have done the same. She had done it. She’d killed Roger. But not until the time had been right. “He would have known you were coming and taken steps.”
“You think I can’t hide my advance? I wouldn’t give myself away.”
“He would have hurt you again.” Tears filled her eyes. “You could’ve died.”
“I can’t die.”
“Ben—”
“I should be dead, but I’m not. That isn’t metaphorical. I should’v
e died so many times. I didn’t. I don’t even know if I can die.”
Her guts twisted. “Because of that thing.”
He nodded.
She said, “When Mei and I unpacked it all with the counselor—actually it took three before we found one who didn’t think we were crazy—we realized what her abduction was. We realized this was all about you. About what Roger had done to you.”
His eyes narrowed. “You knew it was Roger who abducted me, and you never said one word?”
“Mei escaped him before he could wipe her memories the way he did with you. She remembered him saying your name. Once we had his identity, which took a whole lot longer than we expected, we dug into his life.” She paused. “That was when we knew for sure Mei’s abduction tied back to yours.”
A look of abject horror washed over his face.
“None of this is your fault. If it was about fault, then it would be on Roger. You were an innocent caught up in his twisted game, and Mei got swept in as well. He thought you shared blood, that’s the most we could tell.” She lifted the journal before he could decide that was his fault as well. “This will give us the answer we needed years ago.”
“I didn’t even know there was a question.”
“You forgot that time. I was glad you didn’t remember it.”
“I remember the way you looked at me.”
Taya sucked in a choppy breath. “Please sit down.”
He didn’t move. “If you want me to accept the fact you’ve been running a clandestine operation, the subject of which is my life, you’re going to need to give me another minute.”
Taya held up the book. “This journal could carry inside it the information we need to figure out what Roger put inside you. And to get it out.”
“You really believe that’s possible?”
When she said nothing, he pulled off his shirt.
“Ben…” A shiver of trepidation moved through her. He moved closer, and Taya gasped. She lifted her hand and ran her fingers along the black veins lined across his skin. She reached the dark mark over his heart. His skin was hot.
Burning.
“It’s spreading,” he said. “Whatever it is, it’s infecting me. Taking over. If there’s a way to get it out, who’s to say it won’t destroy me in the process. Or free it up to bond with someone else.”
Freedom. But only after a death.
Her father. Roger. Now Ben. They had to figure this out, find a way to…get it out. Without also killing Ben. “It’s really inside you?”
“We’re linked in some way. I have no idea.” He ran his hands down his face. Every bit the man whose life she’d tried to ignore for years, even while she chased his ghosts. There was no trace now of the boy she had fallen for in elementary school.
Taya ran her hand up until she touched the clear skin of his cheek. The whisper of hair on his face tickled her palm. “There is no way I’m going to let it hurt any of us.”
“We have to stop it.”
“Roger controlled it, gave it orders. Now he’s dead.” She dropped her hand and turned yet more yellowed pages. Found more names. Men. Women. The first was a girl named Charlota. “The answers might be in here, or we could have nothing. No idea how to fix this.”
“Or if it’s even possible to.” He looked at the page. “Charlota called it to her.”
Taya couldn’t speak past the lump in her throat.
“Bone of my bone,” he whispered. “Flesh of my flesh.”
She met his gaze. “That’s from the Bible.”
He nodded. “It’s what Roger made me say. I remembered when I was dreaming. I remembered everything.” Tears filled his eyes. “Mei…”
Taya swiped a tear from her cheek and flicked through more pages. Paragraphs, notes. Numbers. The results of Roger’s experiments on all these people. “We should get this to Remy.”
On the last page, those three Hebrew letters had been drawn at the top. Underneath was a list of names.
“Most of those people are dead now. Anton Lauer, Brian Pilsen. They both knew about the thing that looks like me.” Ben paused. “But that was years ago for them. I think they were killed recently.” He shook his head. “Malcolm isn’t on there. But Mei is.”
“I don’t think Roger’s son knew, though it seems his father experimented on him. So is this a list of people Roger figured knew about you?” Taya tried to think through everything. The CIA had taught her to see connections between things seemingly unrelated. Why couldn’t she figure this out?
“The life is in the blood.”
That was from the bible as well. Two scripture references had to mean there was a biblical component to what was happening. She didn’t know of any bible stories involving a being that looked like its host. Unless it was a case of demon possession, which she didn’t think was happening here.
“Mei. Malcolm,” Taya said. “Maybe Roger was looking for something in their blood.”
“Another host. Someone he could control more easily than me? Or someone younger.”
“But he never did transfer it to anyone else. So it’s either not possible, or he couldn’t find the right person for some reason.”
“Or I lasted longer than he thought I would.” Ben shook his head. “If I wasn’t living this, I’d think I was crazy. Maybe I am.”
“I saw it, and it looked like you but…” She shuddered. “You can’t be crazy, otherwise I would be as well. And Mei. There’s no way we’re all hallucinating the same thing. Which means this is real.”
“This is real.”
She touched his face again, just because he was here. He shut his eyes and leaned his head into her hand. She stroked his cheek with her thumb. “This is real.”
He opened his eyes. “Mei has seen it?”
“It abducted her for Roger.” She gave him a minute then looked down at the list again. “The only one on this list who isn’t dead is Mei.” Dread flooded through her as surely as she was seeing Ben in her entryway again for the first time. No, not Ben.
Her father on the bathroom floor. No heartbeat.
He said, “What is it?”
That voice pulled her from the chasm of her memories. Always had. “This is a hit list.”
“They weren’t assassinated. I killed them.”
“It wasn’t you. It was that…thing.” She spat the word. “Is it with us right now?”
“No.”
“Then it isn’t you.”
“It’s a creature that looks like me. Might as well be me. And it definitely makes me responsible.”
She shot him a look letting him know how she felt about that logic. “Roger is dead. Is it going to come after Mei?”
Ben pointed at the page. “For whatever reason, those people are all dead. If Mei is the next target, Roger being dead or not, we have to find her. We can’t let it touch her.”
“Maybe it’s just…dormant or something. Waiting for more orders.”
“It won’t get any from me.”
“Maybe it will try to find you.” Did he even care?
“Either way we’re going to see it again,” he said. “We have to be ready when we do. Otherwise this thing is going to devastate everything we have.”
“If it was me, and I thought that thing was going to find me, I would get you as far away as possible. I would say anything, do anything, just to make you leave.”
“But I would know what you were doing.”
“I would go alone. Just to protect you from this.” A single tear rolled down her face. “Mei is in danger. She could die like the rest of the people who know about this thing.”
“She’s with Daire.”
“I’m not trusting her safety to anyone else. Not again.” Yes, she carried all the guilt there was for the fact Roger had Mei abducted. The counselor had said the feeling was normal. As if that was a satisfying answer. There was no way Taya would let her child be hurt…again…if there was something she could do to stop it. “The truth is I can’t do this without you. I
need your help to keep her safe.”
“But if you come with me—”
“No.” She shouted the word in his face. He didn’t even flinch. Taya said, “We do this together. Contact Remy, have her look at the journal. We work this as a team. I’m not going to fight this alone. Not anymore.” She swiped another tear, betraying to him exactly how deep her fear ran. “Please don’t leave.”
Ben ducked his head, then leaned in. Slowly. So slowly. He pressed his face to the side of her neck.
“Okay.”
Chapter 28
Petersburg, VA. Friday, 07:57hrs EDT
Grant took a sip of his Americano and let himself into his mom’s room to find the doctor and a nurse standing over the bed where she lay. He lowered the cup from his lips. “What is going on here?”
The nurse, a plump woman in pink scrubs, held his mom’s gown down to display her naked shoulder while she fought against the woman’s hands to push the gown back up. The nurse said, “Its right there. See it?”
Grant left the door ajar and crossed to the bedside. Set his cup on the table. “Get off her.”
His mom’s gaze locked with his. Frightened, embarrassed. Pleading with him to help, even while she willed for him to get out of there. He’d seen that look the day the sheriff and county chaplain had shown up at the door. He had a heart attack in his truck. Now Grant could barely recall the sound of his father’s voice.
He moved to the bed. “Get. Off. Her.” He sidestepped between the nurse and his mom, not prepared to go so far as to put his hands on hospital staff. He could break her hold on his mom by getting in her way.
The doctor leaned in to peer at what had been revealed. Blond hair fell on his forehead, and he pushed it back. “Huh…I do see what you mean.”
Grant ignored the fact his mom was kind of nude and focused on what seemed to have everyone’s attention. High on her chest was a mark, a smudge. Ink? It looked like a dark stain. The kind he got on his shirt when a pen had leaked in his pocket.
“Get off me!” She shifted on the bed. Pushed them both away. And Grant.
“Mom.” He moved closer, caught her hand. That was when he saw it up close. In the center of the stain were three oval marks in a row, no bigger than pennies. On the end was a fourth mark, smaller than the first three. Out of all four stretched a spider web. Not ink, but dark brown veins.