by Cynthia Eden
Maddox’s face was a hard, angry mask.
“The redhead was Adam’s partner, a guy named Sam. Sam told me that he was at the old hospital when I was taken. Said he’d only left because I got loose and attacked the doctor who’d been working on me.”
Maddox swore.
“I don’t know what happened to the doctor.” She bit her lower lip. “He said the doctor was a she, but I don’t know anything else about her.”
“Well, I know what happened to the fucking truck driver. Sam.”
Her eyes widened. She remembered his ending. “Bullet to the head.”
Flynn had fired the shot. Or had it been Sawyer?
“They saved our asses,” Maddox continued, “so I think we should hear them out.” A pause. “If you don’t like what they have to say, then we leave. They won’t stop us. I won’t let them.”
“We won’t let them,” Luna corrected.
His mouth lifted into a half-smile. “You ripped the doors off the car, huh?”
“I kicked one off.” She smiled back. “Ripped off the other.”
“Baby, have I ever told you that you’re the sexiest woman in the world?”
She felt her cheeks stain. “No, but I do like hearing—”
Footsteps. Coming their way.
Maddox’s shoulders stiffened. “You ready for this?”
Not quite. She walked to his side. Caught his hand in hers. Felt his warmth slide through her as their fingers twined together. “Yes.”
“Good, baby.” His voice whispered through her mind like a caress. “And if you want to leave, at any point, tell me. Because I will do whatever the hell you want.”
What a sweet promise.
A knock sounded at the door. A moment later, Elizabeth pushed open the door and poked her head inside. “You two ready to talk?” Her voice held a nervous edge.
Luna nodded. “And, um, I’m sorry for attacking you.”
“I just hope you don’t do it again,” Elizabeth mumbled as she stepped inside, “especially when you hear what I have to say.”
Luna’s brow furrowed. That had hardly sounded reassuring.
Three men followed Elizabeth inside. The men spread around the room. Sawyer stayed right at Elizabeth’s side. His hand went to her shoulder. Elizabeth glanced at him, and for a moment, her face softened.
Lovers.
Luna was sure of that fact.
“You met Sawyer before,” Elizabeth announced, waving her hand. “And Flynn.”
Flynn stood near the window, with his arms crossed over his chest.
“I remember them,” Luna murmured. “I don’t know the suit near the door.”
The suit near the door—a tall, blond-haired man with brown eyes—straightened. “I’m Jay Maverick.”
He announced his name like it was supposed to matter. It didn’t.
So she focused on Elizabeth.
“I’m Dr. Elizabeth Parker.” Elizabeth released a long, slow breath. “And I’m the woman who created the Lazarus serum. I came up with the preservation process, the entire procedure for bringing back the dead.” Her face paled as she confessed, “I made Lazarus.”
Well, damn.
Chapter Sixteen
After Elizabeth’s confession, Sawyer immediately moved even closer to her, as if he expected Maddox or Luna to attack.
Luna didn’t move. She just stared at the other woman. “Why do you act as though I should hate you for that? We volunteered for the program.”
Sawyer and Elizabeth shared a long look.
A look that sent off warning bells in Luna’s head.
“How do you know that?” It was Flynn who asked the question. “Were you told that you volunteered? Told by the doctors at your lab? One of the doctors who—according to our new friend Jett—issued a termination order on you?”
“It was a test,” Maddox snapped. “Henry—the bastard doctor—wanted to see what Luna would do when she was outside of the lab. He staged the scene for her escape, only an asshole named Adam Brock intervened. He took Luna, and Henry’s grand plans went up in smoke.”
Literally. The lab had burned and burned.
Flynn’s eyes had turned to slits. “Just what is it you can do, Luna?”
“Heal,” she blurted.
“That certainly makes sense.” Elizabeth gave a quick nod. “I’ve never see anyone heal at the rate you did. Your recovery was absolutely amazing.”
“I-I can heal other people,” Luna added. “It’s not just—”
“Stop, Luna.” Maddox’s voice flew into her head. “Don’t tell them anything else about what you can do.”
But she saw the ripple of surprise that had flashed on Sawyer’s face. Luna stepped forward. “You just heard what Maddox told me, in my head.”
“We both heard,” Flynn announced. “Like we said, we’re Lazarus. And we’ve had more practice at the psychic communication than you two obviously have. If you want your messages private, then put up a shield.”
Maddox’s hand curled around her shoulder. She could feel the burst of his rage. “Keep the hell out of her head, you understand me?” Maddox’s words were low and lethal.
Sawyer immediately held up his hands. “Sorry. Just ease up, okay? We aren’t here to be enemies.”
“Not unless we need to be,” Jay muttered from his position near the door.
Luna tilted her head as she studied him. “You aren’t Lazarus.”
His eyes widened. “No, I’m not. So if this scene turns into a fighting frenzy, how about you leave me and Elizabeth out of things, hmm? I’m the money man. I’m the guy who funds the hunt for people like you.”
Maddox took a lunging step toward him.
But Flynn appeared in his path almost instantly. “We weren’t hunting you. Or at least, not in the way you think. Sometimes Jay just gets carried away. He’s used to playing with tech all day, not dealing with other people.”
“I’m offended by that,” Jay snapped.
Flynn shrugged. His gaze darted from Luna to Maddox. “Trust has to start somewhere.” His shoulders rolled back. “Sawyer and I were originally told we volunteered for the program, too. Then we were shown videos that even had us saying we agreed, but the thing is…that shit was manipulated. We were killed and placed in the program. Things were not what they seemed, and we never agreed to be Lazarus guinea pigs.”
Jay advanced, clearing his throat. His gaze darted from Luna to Maddox, then back. “My intel indicates that you two did not volunteer, either. Luna, you were Air Force, an amazing pilot, while Maddox had spent years proving himself with the Rangers. You were both killed during the course of a classified investigation, and because your bodies were discovered so soon, you were placed in Lazarus.”
“Along with the bastard who killed us,” Maddox snapped.
Jay tensed. Anger flared in his eyes. “My intel didn’t tell me that part. Tricky bastard. Hiding his secrets even now.”
“I don’t know who the hell your source is, but the man who killed us, Adam Brock, he was in the Arizona Lazarus facility.” Maddox’s voice was cold and hard. “Said he escaped when the place blew. And guess what that psychopath did after his release? He came for Luna.”
“Psychopath,” Jay muttered. “Perfect word choice, and that brings me to why we sought you out.”
“Jay.” A hard, warning edge had entered Sawyer’s voice.
But Jay just shrugged. “I’m not about dealing in lies with these people. So let’s just put the truth out there.” He inclined his head to Elizabeth.
She swallowed and seemed to search for the right words to say. “As you’ve probably realized by now, darker emotions are amplified in Lazarus subjects. You get lots of bonuses—super speed, enhanced strength, faster reflexes—but there is a price to be paid.”
“Memory loss,” Flynn tossed in.
“Yes, that’s the price that is immediately obvious. But the other is the darkness.”
Luna didn’t like where this was going.
With sympathy on her face, Elizabeth added, “Unfortunately, we’ve seen that this darkness can manifest too strongly in certain test subjects. Those subjects go over the edge. They lose all sense of right and wrong. You combine that with all their new powers…and you have a recipe for disaster.”
Silence.
Luna shifted from one foot to the other. Her feet were bare, and the floor felt cold beneath her toes. She absorbed what Elizabeth had said…and what she hadn’t.
“We’ve been searching for all of the test subjects. Most of the labs were already shut down.” Sawyer’s stare was unreadable. “Except for yours. But, well, guess that one is gone now, too.”
Gone. Turned to ash. Same thing.
“We’ve been trying to find the subjects,” Sawyer continued, seeming to choose his words just as carefully as Elizabeth had. “Because we want to help.”
“No, you fucking don’t.” Maddox’s angry denial. “You want to see if we’re psychotic. If we’ve been eaten alive by the darkness because if we have…then you’re ready to put a bullet in our brains, aren’t you?”
Luna feared Maddox was right. “A bullet to the brain.” She shivered. “Just like you did last night.”
Flynn’s eyes narrowed. “He’d sliced your throat. The guy was ready for your lover there to die. He wasn’t listening to reason, and if I hadn’t put that bullet in him, Maddox would be gone.”
An alternative she didn’t want to think about.
“It’s apparent that you two haven’t given in to the darkness.” Elizabeth spoke in a low, soothing voice.
“What makes you so sure?” Maddox’s question was instant.
Sawyer stiffened.
“Because you two are so obviously connected,” Elizabeth answered with a considering nod. “Your connection is serving as an anchor for one another.”
Sawyer cast a quick glance at her. “Elizabeth is my anchor. Without her, I would have lost my sanity.”
She smiled at him. But her smile faltered as she glanced back at Luna and Maddox. “When you share a strong connection with someone else, that connection can serve to trigger memories of life before Lazarus. That connection is the key in awakening a bit of the past but…” Now her stare turned assessing as she studied Maddox. “It seems that you retrieved far more than a bit of your past.”
Luna’s shoulders stiffened.
“When Luna was fighting to survive,” Sawyer said, tilting his head to study Maddox, too, “I heard what you were telling her. You went over your entire life before Lazarus. Your life with Luna. How the hell did you do that? How the hell do you remember all of that?”
Maddox just smiled. “Like I’m supposed to share with a Lazarus soldier I just met?”
“I saved you and Luna. I got you off that road.”
“And I’m not ripping off your head,” Maddox replied evenly. “I’m giving you the chance to talk. I think that makes us square.”
Flynn swore. “Not fair, man. Why do you get to have your memories while the rest of us face darkness?” He pointed to a very watchful Jay Maverick. “His lover—she lost everything. She fought for months to remember a single piece of her past.”
Luna felt the rage building in Maddox. His hold on her hand tightened as he growled back, “And my Luna loses everything each time she dies and rises again. She comes back to a world she doesn’t know. So don’t dare talk to me about how hard something is. How bad it is not to have memories, because I damn well know.”
Elizabeth’s eyes widened. She stared at Luna in shock. “You…you lose it every time?”
It. Her memories. Her life. Luna nodded. “Yes.”
“Don’t you see? We have to work together!” Flynn burst out. “We can help each other. You don’t keep secrets from us, we don’t keep secrets from you. That is what being a team is all about.”
Maddox made a show of looking around the room. “This isn’t my team.” His gaze slid to Luna. “Luna is my team.”
He was going to protect her secrets. But…
These people were hurting. She could feel it. Sawyer and Flynn’s memories had been stripped away. She knew what it was like. Oh, God, did she. And because of that, because it happened to her so much, Luna released a slow breath. “Who gave you the intel?” Her gaze was on Jay.
He straightened.
“You want no secrets between us?” Luna demanded, surprised her voice was so steady and strong. “Then give us something to go on.”
He nodded. “Does the name Wyman Wright mean anything to you? To either of you?”
Luna shook her head.
But Maddox said, “Fucking hell. That bastard?”
Once more, Jay nodded.
“Who is he?” Luna whispered.
Maddox glanced down at her. “He was the government. Or rather, the puppet master pulling all the strings behind the government’s curtain. He’s the one who ordered me to track down the traitor who was selling government secrets from my unit.”
Her chest felt tight and she knew Maddox was going to say—
“He’s the one who put me on the mission that ended with me stabbing Adam Brock and the bastard shooting us both.” He raked his left hand through his hair. His gaze darted back to Jay. “So, wait, let me get this straight, Wyman was—”
“He was the one setting up Lazarus. Pulling in the subjects,” Jay filled in quickly. “Since he knew about you—and about Luna—he figured you’d be perfect candidates. He put you in the program when your bodies were discovered.”
Luna shuddered. “Adam wasn’t perfect for the program.” For a moment, she was back in the lab room. Staring at Adam as she pointed the gun at his head.
“Tell me how to get out of here.”
“Put the gun down, Luna. We both know you can’t shoot me. You fucking love me.”
“Wyman didn’t tell me about this Adam,” Jay spoke carefully. “Though it certainly wouldn’t be the first time he neglected to reveal all the facts.”
Flynn’s hands fisted at his sides. “Yeah, and it wouldn’t be the first time Wyman put a man who was a monster in the program. He thought darker personality traits might give the Lazarus soldiers an advantage. Since they were going to lose their memories, he thought what they’d done before didn’t matter. They wouldn’t remember the bad stuff they’d done, and he could…” His words trailed off.
“Reprogram them,” Jay said quietly.
This just got worse and worse. Luna’s temples ached. “Adam wasn’t kept in the facility with me and Maddox. Like Maddox told you already, he was in Arizona—”
Sawyer and Flynn shared a long, hard look.
Flynn’s head inclined toward Luna. “Describe Adam. Physically,” Flynn added. “As clearly as you can.”
Since his image was branded in her head, she could describe him plenty clearly. “Six-foot-two, two hundred pounds, blond hair, blue eyes, a faint scar on his left cheek—”
“Four,” Sawyer muttered.
“For what?” Luna demanded.
“No, the number four. As in Subject Four. I remember him.” He blew out a rough breath. “We had numbers at that place, not names. We weren’t given that particular luxury. I was One, Flynn was Two, and your Adam—”
“He’s not mine,” Luna cut in fiercely.
“He was four,” Sawyer finished.
Her hands pressed to the front of the hospital gown. She felt far too vulnerable, just talking to them in that paper covering. If she turned, she’d be mooning them all. She wanted clothes. She wanted armor. She wanted away from that place.
“We, ahem, convinced Wyman to tell us where the other subjects were. Or at least, the last place he knew of them being,” Jay explained as he cleared his throat. “That’s what led us out here, to you. When we got to the facility, it was blazing. Then we found Jett, and, well, the rest just happened.”
“Just happened?” Maddox repeated. “You got to us damn fast considering that Luna and I had such a lead on you all.”
“I have faster ri
des,” Jay said. “Private planes, helicopters…”
Her gaze darted around the room. “Where is Jett?”
“In the lobby,” Sawyer answered immediately. “He wanted to stand guard because he wasn’t sure who might be showing up. He’s not exactly the trusting sort. After the attack on the highway, he wanted to make sure someone was keeping watch.” Sawyer’s right shoulder moved in a small shrug. “It seems he thinks you might be targeted again.”
“Why are people after you, specifically, Luna?” Flynn wanted to know.
Elizabeth was just watching her, the other woman’s dark stare considering. Luna felt like a bug under a microscope. Far too exposed. Far too— “I want to get dressed,” she blurted. “Where are my clothes? I need clothes.” She sounded frantic, but so what?
“Clothes are in the closet.” Elizabeth’s voice was soothing. “Flynn, Sawyer, Jay…let’s give them a bit of time, okay? Luna probably wants to shower, too. We’ve just dumped a whole lot of information on them.”
Flynn’s body seemed to lock down. “But we still don’t know how he got his memories back.” He pointed right at Maddox.
Maddox didn’t speak. He was still protecting her. Luna knew he would always protect her. That was just who Maddox was.
Elizabeth gave Flynn a shove. “Let’s go outside. They need to process what we’ve said.”
Luna’s eyes narrowed on the other woman. Elizabeth was almost at the door, when Luna called out, “Was it you?”
Elizabeth stiffened, but glanced back. “Was what me?”
“I was told a female doctor had been experimenting on me.” She licked dry lips. “You see, my life has been really, really crazy lately. A few days ago, I woke up in a rundown hospital, pretty much wearing the exact same get-up I have on now.” Her words were coming too fast, but she couldn’t slow herself down. “Maddox and I did some exploring in that place and down in the basement, we found an exam table. Turned out I had been strapped to that table. Experimented on. But I broke loose. I hurt the doctor who held me, and she had to be taken away from the scene.” Her stomach was in knots. “Not that I remember any of this, of course. Because I died in that hospital. I woke up, absolutely terrified, but the asshole super soldier who tried to kill me just last night? Sam? He filled me in on a few missing pieces. And now here you are. A female doctor who knows plenty about Lazarus.”