Lover Unleashed

by J. R. Ward

traveled away from the city proper and its choking knot of population and buildings.

  "You died out here," he said grimly. "Or at least pretended you did. "

  A biker had found her Audi in and among the trees on a stretch of road not far from here, the car having careened off the shoulder. No body, though - and not because of the fire, as it had turned out.

  Jane cleared her throat. "I feel like all I've got is 'I'm sorry. ' And that just sucks. "

  "Not a party on my end, either. "

  Silence. Lots of silence. But he wasn't one to keep asking when all he got in return was I'm sorry.

  "I wish I could have told you," she said abruptly. "You were the hardest to leave. "

  "You didn't dump your job, though, did you. Because you're still working as a surgeon. "

  "Yes, I am. "

  "What's your husband like?"

  Now she winced. "You're going to meet him. "

  Great. Joy.

  Slowing down, she took a right-hand turn off onto . . . a dirt road? What the hell?

  "FYI," he muttered, "this car was built for racetracks, not roughing it. "

  "This is the only way in. "

  To where? he wondered. "You're so going to owe me for this. "

  "I know. And you're the only one who can save her. "

  Manny flashed his eyes over. "You didn't say it was a 'her. '"

  "Should it matter?"

  "Given how much I don't get about all of this, everything matters. "

  A mere ten yards in and they went through the first of countless puddles that were as deep as frickin' lakes. As the Porsche splashed through, he felt the scrape on its tender belly, and gritted out, "Screw this patient. I want payback for what you're doing to my undercarriage. "

  Jane let out a little laugh, and that made the center of his chest ache - but get real. It wasn't like the pair of them had ever been together. Sure, there had been attraction on his part. Big attraction. And, like, one kiss. That was it, however.

  And now she was Mrs. Someone Else.

  As well as back from the goddamn dead.

  Christ, what kind of life was he in? Then again, maybe this was a dream . . . which kind of cheered him up, because maybe Glory hadn't gone down, either.

  "You haven't told me what kind of injury," he said.

  "Spinal break. Between T6 and T7. No sensation below the waist. "

  "Shit, Jane - that's a tall order. "

  "Now you know why I need you so badly. "

  About five minutes later, they came up to a gate that looked like it had been erected during the Punic Wars - the thing was hanging at Alice in Wonderland angles, the chain link rusted to shit and broken in places. And the fence it bisected? That POS was hardly worth the effort, nothing more than six feet of barbed cattle wire that had seen better days.

  The damn thing opened smoothly, however. And as they went past it, he saw the first of the video cameras.

  While they progressed at a snail's pace, a strange fog rolled in from nowhere in particular, the landscape blurring until he couldn't see more than twelve inches ahead of the car's grille. For chrissakes, it was like they were in a Scooby-Doo episode out here.

  And then there was a curious progression: The next gate was in slightly better condition, and the one after that was even newer, and number four looked only a year old, tops.

  The last gate they came to was spit-and-shine sparkling, and all about the Alcatraz: Fucker reached twenty-five feet off the ground and had high-voltage warnings all over it. And that wall it cut into? It was nothing for cattle, more like velociraptors; and what do you want to bet that its concrete face fronted a solid twelve or even twenty-four inches of horizontal stone.

  Manny swiveled his head around to Jane as they passed through and began a descent into a tunnel that could have had a "Holland" or "Lincoln" sign tacked on it for its fortification. The farther down they went, the more that big question that had been plaguing him since he'd first seen her loomed: Why fake her death? Why cause the kind of chaos she had in his life and the lives of the other people she'd worked with at St. Francis? She'd never been cruel, never been a liar, and had no financial problems and nothing to run from.

  Now he knew without her saying a word:

  U. S. government.

  This kind of setup, with this sort of security . . . hidden on the outskirts of what was a big enough city, but nothing so huge as New York, LA, or Chicago? Had to be the government. Who else could afford this shit?

  And who the hell was this woman he was treating?

  The tunnel terminated in an underground parking garage that was standard-issue, with its pylons and little yellow-painted squares - and yet as large as it appeared to be, the place was empty except for a couple of nondescript vans with darkened windows and a small bus that also had blackouts for glass.

  Before she even had his Porsche in park, a steel door was thrown open and -

  One look at the huge guy who stepped out and Manny's head exploded, the pain behind his eyes getting so intense he went limp in the bucket seat, his arms falling to the sides, his face twitching from the agony.

  Jane said something to him. A car door was opened. Then his own was cracked.

  The air that hit him smelled dry and vaguely like earth . . . but there was something else. Cologne. A very woody spice that was at once expensive and pleasing, but also something he had a curious urge to get the fuck away from.

  Manny forced his lids to open. His vision was wonky as hell, but it was amazing what you could pull out of your ass if you had to - and as the man in front of him came into focus, he found himself staring up at the goateed motherfucker who had . . .

  On a fresh wave of fucking-OW, his eyes rolled back and he nearly threw up.

  "You've got to release the memories," he heard Jane say.

  There was some conversating at that point, his former colleague's voice mixing with the deep tones of that man with the tattoos at his temple.

  "It's killing him - "

  "There's too much risk - "

  "How the hell is he going to operate like this?"

  There was a long silence. And then all of a sudden, the pain lifted as if it were a veil drawn back, all that pressure gone within the blink of an eye. In its place, memories flooded his mind.

  Jane's patient. From back at St. Francis. The man with the goatee and . . . the six-chambered heart. Who had shown up in Manny's office and taken the files on that cardiac anomaly of his.

  Manny popped open his lids and lasered in on that nasty-looking face. "I know you. "

  "You get him out of the car," was the only response from Goatee. "I don't trust myself to touch him. "

  Hell of a welcome wagon.

  And there was someone else behind the big bastard. A man Manny was one hundred percent sure he'd seen before . . . Must have been only in passing, though, because he couldn't call up a name or remember where they'd met.

  "Let's go," Jane said.

  Yeah. Great idea. At this point, he needed something to focus on other than all this say-what?.

  As Manny's brain struggled to process what was happening, at least his feet and legs got with the program. After Jane helped him out of the car and onto the vertical, he followed her and the Goateed Hater into a facility that was as nondescript and clean as any hospital: Corridors were uncluttered, fluorescent lights were in panels on the ceiling, everything smelled like Lysol.

  And there were also the bubbled fixtures of security cameras at regular intervals, like the building was a monster with many eyes.

  While they walked along, he knew better than to ask any questions. Well, that and his head was so scrambled, he was pretty fucking sure ambulation was the extent of his capabilities at this point. And then there was Goatee and his death stare - not exactly an opening for chitchat.

  Doors. They passed many doors. All of which were closed and no doubt locked.

>   Happy little words like undisclosed location and national security hopscotched through his cranial park, and that helped a lot, making him think maybe he could forgive Jane for ghosting out on him - eventually.

  When she stopped outside a pair of double flappers, her hands fidgeted with the lapels of her white coat and then the stethoscope in her pocket. And didn't that make him feel like he had a gun to his head: In the OR, in countless trauma messes, she'd always kept her cool. It was her trademark.

  This was personal, though, he thought. Somehow, whatever was on the other side of these doors hit close to home for her.

  "I've got good equipment here," she said, "but not everything. No MRI. Just CAT scans and X-rays. The OR should be adequate, however, and not only can I assist, but I've got an excellent nurse. "

  Manny took a breath and reached down deep, pulling himself together. By force of will, he shut off all the