29° (Twenty-Nine Degrees) (Twenty Nine Book 3)

by Nancy Pennick

  I jumped in the car as Lucas started the engine. “We made it through the party intact. That’s a miracle in itself.” I leaned over and kissed him. “Mmm, we have to find some time for ourselves and soon.”

  Lucas stroked my cheek. “You are one strong woman, Allie. You held up well at the party. I believed you were on Doug’s side, but I hope it’s not taking a toll. I’d love to take you away after this, back to Hawaii, just you and I.”

  “That sounds good.” I found his lips and kissed him softly. “Sorry we have to go to the office. Or maybe I’m not?” I leaned back and lifted my brows. “We will be alone.”

  “I love how you think, Mrs. Montgomery.” Lucas put the car in reverse and backed down the drive. “I better put up the shields so I’m not stopped for speeding. The sooner we get there, the better.”

  We arrived in record time. Lucas ran to the passenger side of the car, slipped his arms under me and carried me toward the building as I fumbled for the keys to the store. “My office,” I murmured in his ear as I slid the key into the lock.

  Lucas kicked back the door, letting it slam behind him. We locked eyes, not saying a word. His breath quickened as he walked. I felt his heart pounding against his chest as he rushed down the hall.

  I clung to his neck, snuggling against him, feeling safe. In all the chaos, we had each other. With one arm, Lucas cleared my desk and gently laid me on top. “You’re sure?” His eyes widened, filled with love and desire.

  I nodded and caught my top lip with my lower teeth. It felt decadent to make love in this place and went against any common sense I still possessed. Lucas unbuttoned his shirt, the glow of the moon from the window, bounced off his skin. I watched his muscles ripple as he reached for me.

  “Take me now, Lucas.” I breathed out the words as I shuddered inside. For a moment, I forgot where I was and the reason I was here. I focused on us, Lucas and I … and nothing else.

  * * * *

  “It’s here somewhere, just give me a minute,” I said, looking at the mess on the floor around the desk.

  “I’ll help you clean up.” Lucas fastened the last button on his shirt.

  “No, you said you had something to do out front. Go. We can get home faster that way.”

  I hummed as I straightened the room and discovered the laptop under a pile of papers on a corner table. “I found it.” I knew Lucas heard, expecting a congrats or him showing up at the door. “Odd.”

  I headed to the front of the store and froze. My mouth went dry and my heart skipped a beat. Lucas and Doug were having a heated discussion.

  “Yeah, I followed you here, so what. I wanted to talk to you two alone. Lucas, I need you on my team. Join us.” Doug’s voice sounded strong and powerful.

  “Doug, what are you doing here?” I wanted to jump on his back and beat him with my fists.

  “Just having a friendly discussion with your husband.” Doug turned to Lucas. “That’s all it has to be, unless—”

  “Unless what?” Lucas asked.

  “I take your wife back to STF headquarters right now. You’d never get your hands on her there. Randolph’s out in the car, waiting for the word.”

  Lucas grabbed Doug from behind in a choke hold. “Run, Allie. Don’t look back, just run as fast as you can.”

  In that split second, Doug raised his arm and slapped something on Lucas’ wrist. Lucas’ eyes went wide then rolled back in his head as he collapsed in a heap on the floor.

  “Lucas!” I rushed to where he lay on the floor. “Doug, you bastard! What have you done to him?” I looked up into his sneering face, realizing he had planned this all along. “You weren’t going to take me, were you?” I cried. “You said that to get Lucas mad enough to grab you. You had this ready to go,” I pointed to the white patch on Lucas’ wrist.

  Doug touched his ear. “Randolph, let the men know we’re clear. They should arrive in a few minutes so be ready to go. I’ll need help with my sister.” He walked toward me, close enough to smell his awful cologne. “I always said you should join the team, Allison. You’re quick to figure things out. We’ll take Lucas so I’m sure you want to go home and fetch that precious kid of yours before you come with us. Randolph will wait here for your return. Just act like nothing’s wrong. Say Lucas has something special planned and wanted Zak to be a part of it. You’ll be monitored the whole time so don’t try anything or warn anyone. Lucas will disappear so fast, you won’t be able to find him. So be a good little girl.”

  “You think I’ll do what you say without a fight? You’re crazy, Doug.”

  “If you want Lucas to live, you will.”

  “What?” I tried to stay in the moment, keep my wits about me.

  “We’re the only ones with the antidote.” He nodded at Lucas’ lifeless body. “Thanks to my Niners. As soon as Randolph lets me know he has you in custody, we’ll give Lucas the serum.

  “And if I don’t come back?”

  “He dies.”

  Chapter Ten

  I choked back tears. My hand trembled as I dug the keys from my handbag. “It may be awhile.” I’d have time to make a plan on the drive.

  “Oh, wait. I changed my mind. Randolph will go along for the ride,” Doug said as he tapped his chin.

  “Fine.” I tried to think of ways to overpower him or push him out of the moving vehicle.

  “How stupid do you think I am, Allison? I’d never let you out of my sight. You need to give Sean a call and tell him to bring Zak here.”

  “Sean’s with Kim.” I closed my eyes, willing myself not to cry. Doug had played us. I wanted to scream at Lucas to get up and do something, but he was still unconscious. “What did you do to him?” I knelt down and placed his head in my lap.

  “I told you, something the Niners invented. You know they’d never hurt their own kind.”

  “You say that like they’re not human.”

  “Are they? Human?” He twisted his mouth from side to side. “Debatable.”

  “So you view them as a commodity, something to use.” I wanted to keep Doug talking, distracted long enough for Lucas to regain consciousness. “Do your Niners know you feel that way?”

  “Of course not. We hold them in high regard and tell them every day how special they are to the cause.” Doug pulled up a chair and sat in front of us. “You think you hold all the cards in this game, don’t you, little sister? Well, let me tell you, it’s more than a card game, this is a chess match. I’m a much better player. Knight takes queen, so to speak. Good luck with your next move.”

  “You think this is a game?”

  “Between you and me?” Doug rubbed his mouth. “Yes. But when it comes to helping my country? No, I don’t consider it a game. It’s my duty.”

  A tear rolled down my cheek. Then it hit me. Doug wanted Zak more than Lucas. He wanted to play chess? I didn’t know the game, refused to learn because of him, but I could still play with the best. I’d never let on I'd figured out his plan. “You don’t care if Lucas dies.”

  He cleared his throat. “One less Niner in the world? Sad. But if it helps me get …”

  A group of men burst into the store, guns raised. I doubted I could escape now. Shaking Lucas as hard as I could, I finally gave up and decided to play along, hoping to find a way out. I looked up at the men. The guns weren’t pointed at me. I recognized the protective suits they wore. Niners.

  “Mrs. Montgomery, are you all right?” One of them asked as he helped me to my feet.

  “I’m fine but my husband …” I stared down at Lucas. Two men were already attending to him. “There’s one more STF Niner outside.” I warned them.

  “Already subdued.”

  Doug sputtered and stammered, unable to speak. They held his arms back, cuffed him and threw him in a chair. “Someone will eventually find you,” one of the Niners said.

  “Too bad you had to ruin everything, Doug!” I shouted. “Especially for Mom and Dad and your son. They’ll never forgive you when I tell them what you’ve d
one.”

  “And out yourself to them? Tell them you’re living in some crazy compound sealed off from the rest of the world like you’re in a cult? I’ll be happy to tell them myself.”

  Anger rose inside me. “Well, it looks like queen was able to escape and will come for the knight one day. I should have trusted my instincts the first time I cut you out of my life. I came to help you, and this is what you do to me. I hate you, Doug. If anyone deserves to have a child taken from them, it’s you. I feel sorry for Colton and will feel sorry for him the rest of my life. Thank goodness, Kim got away from you.” I wanted to spit in his face but felt a Niner hand on my arm.

  “We need to leave now. They’re growing closer.” He gently tugged on my arm.

  “You made one move, Allison,” Doug called after me. “A good one, I admit, but next time it’s my turn.”

  I climbed into the back of one of the vans. Lucas lay on a gurney, eyes closed, not moving.

  “Our car!” I looked over at the Jeep sitting in its parking space.

  “We’ll take it.” One of the men put out his hand, and I placed the key in it.

  “Thanks,” I whispered. I placed my head on Lucas’ chest and let go of my emotions. I cried into his shirt, wanting to feel his arms around me and tell me everything would be okay. “Please, Lucas, wake up.” I looked up at the man across from me, and he shook his head.

  “We may need a blood sample to figure out what they gave him. They wanted him out for a very long time.”

  A black van flew into the parking lot. Sean jumped from the driver’s side. “I got here as fast as I could.” His green eyes made contact with me, and I burst into tears again. “Sean, please do something.”

  “Take my van, Mark. I’ll ride with them.” Sean traded places with the man across from me.

  I looked at Sean. “What just happened? How did Niner security know to come?”

  “You didn’t think Tobias was going to let you come here with just me and him.” He pointed at Lucas. “He organized this security team, and had you on a split screen in his kitchen from the time you left Montana. He’s got the outside of your mom’s house in one section, your house in another, Main Street and this storefront. He’s the one that alerted the guys.”

  “The guys?”

  “Yeah, they’ve been living with me over at my safe house. Some are from the Pennsylvania compound, friends of Julian. Others volunteered to come from Montana. We’ve had some good times over at the house. Poker parties, beer nights—”

  “Sean!”

  “Sorry, Allie, I’m trying to distract you.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m concerned.”

  The van began to move. I pointed at my unconscious husband. “More information, please.”

  “We've never seen anything like this before. We never created patches to knock people out for long periods of time. We need to learn more about it. As soon as we get to the house, a blood sample goes in the transporter.”

  “Does Oliver know?” My heart pounded against my chest. He was the best, and I wanted him on Lucas’ case.

  “He’s ready and waiting at the lab.”

  “And what does Tobias have to do with all of this?” I sniffed and hiccupped at the same time.

  “He’s part of my team, Allie, always has been. Tobias has top security clearance.”

  “What?” I took a minute to digest the information. “I need to talk to him.” A feeling of dread overtook me. I’d never been so scared in my life.

  Sean had him on screen before I blinked. When I saw his kind face, I burst into tears.

  “Allison, you’re safe.” He sounded relieved.

  “But Lucas isn’t. Tobias, I’m scared. I’m close to losing it.”

  “You won’t. Be strong. Open your heart to the light and believe.”

  I reached out to the screen, and his hand met mine. “I can’t.”

  “Yes, you can. Let us do our work here, and you take care of your husband and son. I’m always with you.”

  I sniffed and gave him a sad smile. “I just found that out. Thank you.”

  As soon as we parked in the safe house driveway, I leaped from the back of the van and ran into the house. “Ashley, where are you?” I stared around the great room looking for anyone.

  She appeared around the corner. “Shhh, I just got Zak to sleep. He doesn’t know what happened. Nate’s talking to Oliver on the phone.”

  “Good, I’m glad I caught you alone. You know that picture you took? The one of Kim and Doug? Go find it. We’re using it. It’s going to be in tomorrow’s morning edition of every news website in Virginia and the U.S.”

  * * * *

  There would be no sleep tonight. I held Lucas’ hand, waiting for news from the Montana compound. Nate and Ashley worked on the article to be sent to news outlets. Nate, the computer genius, hacked into some top websites and placed the photo with a caption on their pages.

  Drained of emotion, I had a one-track mind. Revenge. Revenge on Doug for all he’d done over the years. He mentally tortured me, abused me and physically destroyed a place I loved. His worst crime? Wanting to take my son, no matter the cost. My mind was exhausted from all the thinking, but my body ran on adrenaline. I couldn’t sleep even though everyone told me to rest.

  A blood sample had been sent through the transporter to the bio lab hours ago, and each minute we waited felt like torture. I talked to Lucas to pass the time sometimes begging him to squeeze my hand and telling him an antidote would be here soon.

  “First report of the day!” Nate came into the bedroom with his laptop and plopped it in front of me.

  “It’s morning?” I rubbed my eyes. “Is there coffee?”

  “Yeah, I’ll get you some. Read this while I’m gone.”

  The picture popped from the page. The headline above screamed, “Sex Scandal! Does Doug Sanders have a Mistress?” The article said that Kim and Doug were high school sweethearts and had rekindled their love on the campaign trail. More pictures appeared after the story—Doug with his arm around Katrina with Kim in the background looking upset, another showing Kim holding Colton on stage instead of Katrina and Doug caught in one of those perfect shots, sourly looking at his wife.

  “What time is it?” I asked Nate when he returned.

  “Seven a.m. You okay, little one?” Nate sat on the edge of the bed. “He’s going to be okay. You believe that, don’t you?”

  I slid from the bed and sat next to Nate, placing my head on his shoulder. “Yes, I want to. It’s just that the more I go over what happened, I think Doug was trying to kill Lucas. He didn’t want him unconscious until they got us to the STF complex, he wanted him dead. That way I might come home. I still think he wants Zak more than Lucas, Sean or any of them.”

  On cue, Zak entered the room and crawled on the bed, snuggling against me. “Mommy, what’s wrong with Da?”

  “He’s sleeping, Zak.” He gave me a strange look. “We had a long night. Da’s tired. Why don’t you go play in the great room? Uncle Nate and I will be out in a minute.” He slipped off the bed and galloped from the room. “That was close. If Lucas doesn’t wake up soon, he’ll know something’s wrong.”

  “Yeah, a couple of hours and Niners are good to go. I’ll make sure he’s fed and gets his screen linked to Montana. Tobias offered to distract him.”

  “No need to, Nate. I got it under control.” Sean stood in the doorway. “Stay with Allie. I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.”

  “Sean, wait!” I called. “I feel terrible that we had to print that picture of Doug and Kim. I know you like her. I do, too. I'm so sorry.”

  He lifted one side of his mouth and shrugged. “It had to be done. She’ll bounce back. I’ll make sure of it.”

  “We’re all Niners first, Allie.” Nate grabbed my hand. “I’ll get more coffee and see if the antidote is ready yet.”

  I leaned over to give Lucas a light kiss and noticed his shallow breathing. “Wait! Come here, Nate.
Do you think Lucas is breathing funny?”

  Nate walked to the edge of the bed and examined him. “Sean!” he yelled.

  Sean appeared so quickly it startled me. “Take her, Nate.” Sean scooped me up and put me in Nate’s arms.

  “Put me down,” I whispered when we got to the library. “Zak can’t see me like this, and I know how to walk.” I shook out my arms to gain some composure when he set me on the area rug. I lifted my head and looked at the ceiling. “Hurry up, Oliver!”

  “Allie,” Nate said. “If the Niners can zone in to the sounds in this house, your son can probably hear twice as far. You’ve got to be careful what you say.”

  When we stepped into the great room, Zak was sitting in front of the screen talking with Tobias. They had bonded so quickly, I wished I could read their minds. They had their own language and spent hours playing with those darn blocks. Zak looked perfectly content, playing and eating cereal from a bowl, oblivious to everything.

  “Tobias!” I rushed toward the screen one arm extended, and he reached out, nodding as if he knew what I was thinking.

  “Soon, Allison, soon. We’ve made some headway in the past few minutes.”

  “Is it true about the patch?” I still believed the patch was made to kill Lucas, not induce a long sleep.

  Tobias didn’t answer. He began to clear his kitchen table.

  “Tobias!” He now stood at his sink, back turned to me.

  “Yes.”

  Doug had planned to kill my husband and take my son and me away just as I’d thought. Tears welled in my eyes and I turned away from everyone in the room. Ashley rushed to my side, looking pale and drained. I probably looked the same. She wrapped her arms around me.

  “How could Niners do that to one of their own?” I looked at her with tears in my eyes.

  “You don’t know if they made the patch, Allie.”

  “I need to be with him,” I said.

  She guided me to the master bedroom. “Sean, she needs a few minutes.” Ashley motioned for him to follow her out of the room.