Touching Darkness

by Jaime Rush

  Lucas leaned into her face. “You can’t save me. I warned you that the Booster had messed me up, and we shouldn’t get emotionally involved. You said you could handle it. Running off to some wacko scientist is not handling it. Eric’s right; we shouldn’t let our emotions get the best of us. Having him take me out is the safest thing for everyone. If I hurt you, I would never forgive myself. And right now, I don’t know if I can forgive you.”

  It looked as though his words had lanced her with a knife.

  Nicholas couldn’t listen anymore. “No one is taking anyone out.”

  Lucas and Amy looked at him as though they’d just now realized he was there, that anyone else was there.

  Lucas’s voice was low when he said to Amy, “We’ll discuss this later.”

  Nicholas addressed all of them. “Livvie went back to her father’s estate.”

  Eric shot up from the couch. “I knew she was a traitor! We’ve got to get out of here. How long ago?”

  “She went back to plead our case, but her father’s keeping her prisoner there.” He’d never forget the cracking sound, her gasp, then the phone going dead. Fear pulsed through him like a drumbeat. “She was able to call me. She said he’d captured someone.”

  Amy’s hand went to her mouth. “Richard Wallace. Did she say one man or three? He has two sons.”

  “She said he’s going to be put in the basement.”

  Eric said, “It’s a setup. She knows you’ll come rescue her.”

  “She told me not to come.” But how could he leave her there, vulnerable to the madness that was her father. He wasn’t sure Darkwell would stop at killing her now that she was a traitor, too. Those bones in the ground were probably proof of his anger.

  Amy said, “Regardless of whether she’s on her father’s side or not, Darkwell could be expecting us. He might think Nicholas will rescue her and, since he knows I was with Wallace, that we could go in to rescue him. I’m calling the number he gave me.”

  She went into the computer room and dialed a number. Everyone followed, crowding into the small room.

  A man answered, and she said, “It’s Amy. Who’s this?”

  “Magnus.”

  “Did Darkwell—”

  “His men came in and grabbed my dad. We were in the safe room. He knew Darkwell would have his men focus on the lab. Dad was worried about the Astrids. He ran over to put all the mice in a cage and bring them down. That was when it happened.” His voice broke when he said, “We watched it, but we couldn’t get out to help him. He’d locked us in.”

  A man was screaming in the background, but his words were unintelligible. Amy clicked on the MUTE button. “That’s Wallace’s other son, Lachlan.”

  “What’s he saying?” Petra asked.

  “Probably blaming me for bringing Darkwell there, and he may be right. I was thinking about it on the drive back. Sayre might have come into my dreams and had me look for something that told them where his place was.”

  Lucas’s face reddened with rage, but he said nothing.

  She clicked the button again. “Are you still locked in?”

  “No, the timer allowed us to unlock it. The lab’s a mess, but the rest of the house is all right. It’s Dad we’re worried about.”

  “We know where he’s being held.” She looked at Nicholas. “But it’s dangerous to go in.”

  Nicholas walked closer. “When I go in for Olivia, I’ll find the basement. Maybe I can get him out of there, too.”

  To the computer microphone, Amy said, “Magnus, did you hear that?”

  “Yeah, but what if he doesn’t succeed? We may not have a lot of time. Darkwell only has one reason for taking Dad: to kill him. Dad has no skills for Darkwell to use, and he sure isn’t going to cooperate. We need to know where the place is and get him out.”

  Amy said, “We should coordinate our efforts.”

  Eric pinched her shoulder. “Don’t start volunteering us. I’m not willing to risk my ass for the enemy’s daughter. Why should I do it for the guy who invented the Booster?”

  “Give us a minute, Magnus.” She muted the microphone and faced Eric. “Because he’s the only one who knows what’s in it and how to make the antidote. If he dies, we’ll never find out. And with Wallace’s sons, we’ve got a bigger force to go in with. You can find Darkwell.”

  Eric turned to the others. “Who here is going to take this antidote? I’m sure as hell not.”

  Lucas shook his head, and slowly the others did, too.

  Amy turned to Eric. “Sleeplessness is one of the symptoms of the Booster psychosis. Wallace said his son was having the same problem. And then he killed his mother.”

  “There’s just a lot going on. I’m not having any thoughts of killing people, other than the bad guys.”

  Lucas said, “Forget the antidote, Amy. Even Wallace admits it’s unstable. For all we know, it could make us worse.”

  Eric leaned down in Amy’s face. “I want Darkwell, but you’re not going to use that to get me to do something stupid, and going in with that son of a bitch waiting for us is just plain stupid.”

  Amy tilted her head. “Now you get sensible.”

  “And you’re the one so narrow-minded with your idea to save Lucas that you’re going over the edge. You’re not seeing the whole picture. He’s not going to take that stuff. And maybe we don’t ever find out what’s in the Booster, but knowing may not help anyway.”

  Nicholas stepped between Eric and Amy. “I’ll get Olivia out tonight. We can decide what to do next.”

  Lucas put his hand on Nicholas’s shoulder. “What makes you think you can slip in there unnoticed when he’s expecting you?”

  “Sayre did. I’ll find the guards’ positions and circumvent them. I know where she’ll be. I’ll climb up her balcony.”

  “Go in armed, Romeo. Those guys will take you down in a heartbeat.”

  Nicholas nodded. “I have two guns. I took them from Darkwell’s men when they found us.”

  Amy turned back to the computer. “Magnus, give us tonight to see what Nicholas can find out.”

  Once she’d hung up, they filtered out to the living area.

  Eric faced the group. “Maybe lover-boy here believes in Darkwell’s daughter, but I don’t. We don’t hear from him, we get out of here and watch the tomb, see if Olivia’s told her father where we are. If Nicholas manages to bring her back, we’ve got leverage. He touches us, and his daughter gets it.” He looked at Nicholas. “It’s a bluff.”

  Lucas pushed a lock of Amy’s gelled hair from her cheek. “I’m going to work with Nicholas in the shooting range. We’ll get some sleep tonight and be ready for whatever happens tomorrow.”

  Zoe stepped closer to Nicholas. “Did you find the eye?”

  He told them about the disappearing building, the piece of odd metal, and Pope.

  Petra smacked her forehead. “Oh, no, another enemy!”

  “I don’t know. He didn’t try to stop us. The question is, who is he?”

  Zoe turned her right wrist and stared at the eye. “And how the hell did I know about this?”

  Gerard looked up at the knock on his door. “Come in.”

  The guard who’d escorted Olivia to her suite stepped in. “She put up a fight, but she’s secured now. She grabbed my cell phone. I didn’t realize it until a minute later. She made a call before I could get it back.”

  He handed the phone to Gerard, who looked at the Annapolis area code on the screen. He knew exactly whom she’d called.

  “I’m sorry, sir. If—”

  “It’s all right. What it means is that we’ll have to be ready for a visitor tonight.”

  He knew Nicholas would rush in to rescue Olivia though he wasn’t sure the Rogues would help. He would at least take care of Nicholas, who had done more damage than any of the other Rogues combined. He had turned Gerard’s daughter against him.

  Another knock sounded at the door, and a guard brought in Andrus. Gerard wanted to meet with him before
going down to speak with his new guest. Now that he had Olivia back, he could move ahead on his plans to destroy the Rogues once and for all.

  The guard led Andrus, in handcuffs and leg chains, into his office and left them alone.

  Gerard sat back in his chair. “We can now proceed with the plan.”

  Andrus’s eyes glittered with anticipation. “What about the woman who was with the Rogues?”

  “She’s back here, so you can take out anyone you—or Lucas—sees.”

  His smile never faltered. “Yessirree. I’ll have Lucas take out Amy as soon as I come in. Then he’ll pound on the door, all scared ’cause something’s wrong with her. They’re on to me. They locked him in the room last night. I’ll just play him along, she ain’t breathing, everyone’ll be in a panic, and while they figure out what’s wrong with her, he’ll get a gun and take ’em all out.”

  “Maybe you should go in now while he’s not locked in his room.”

  “I tried to poke in the other day, and he kicked me out. He needs to be asleep and vulnerable. You know, that son of a bitch tried to come into my dream last night, just like you warned me he might. I kicked him out, too.”

  “It won’t be a problem after tonight.” Finally, things were coming together. He could focus on the future. He would target terrorists in Iraq, Israel…the world was his to clean up.

  Andrus rubbed his hands together, clanging the cuffs. “As soon as they go to sleep, all your problems will be over. But you did promise me some girls to kill. If I have Lucas take them out, well, that ain’t no fun.”

  “Save one, then. You’ll have to do it through Lucas, but you’ve got all the time in the world. No one is ever going to find them.”

  That made Andrus smile again.

  “If Nicholas is there, make him suffer. And Eric Aruda, too.”

  “Gladly.”

  Gerard stood. “Let me know when it’s done.”

  He went down to the basement to talk to Richard Wallace. He wanted to know only two things: If he had any of the Booster; and if he had any Offspring of his own.

  CHAPTER 40

  Olivia had been demanding to see her father for hours. Finally, after her dinner had been delivered and the sun had set, he agreed. The guard escorted her, his hand gripped around her arm again.

  “Do you have to manhandle me?”

  “It’s either that or cuffs. Darkwell said he didn’t want you to be cuffed unless it became necessary.”

  “Wasn’t that sweet of him.”

  He knocked on the door, and Gerard called for him to enter.

  She flung the guard’s arm away but looked at her father. “You’re having me guarded like a prisoner!”

  He swiveled in his chair. “Because you’re acting like an outlaw. Since you made a phone call, presumably to Braden, we have to be ready when he comes barging in to rescue the fair maiden.” He smiled. “Like the fairy tales I used to read you. The harsh father out to save his lovely daughter by locking her in a tower.”

  “Nicholas is not the bad guy.”

  “And I suppose I am.” When she didn’t answer, his expression hardened. “I will not discuss Braden or the Rogues with you.”

  She walked to the front edge of his desk. “Then talk to me about my mother.”

  He took a deep breath, as though he were losing his patience with his recalcitrant little girl. “And they also told you what a bad guy I am.”

  “Did you kill her?”

  He stood and walked around the desk. “I suppose I shall have to tell you the sordid truth now that you’ve got something even worse in your head. Your mother was a lying, manipulative woman. I’m sorry to say that, but you want the truth, and the truth you shall have. She lied about who she was and where she came from. When I warn you about falling in love and letting your emotions rule your mind, I speak from experience. I admit she swept me away, and I ignored the signs. When I discovered the truth, she announced she was pregnant. The news softened me. I thought maybe, when I saw her being a good mother, I could forgive her.

  “But she wasn’t a good mother. She complained, even though I provided her with a nanny. She resented that she couldn’t party or socialize. Then one day I walked in and caught her screaming and shaking you. When I saw her harming my beautiful baby girl, I went crazy. I tried to take you out of her arms, but she fought me. I wrapped my hands around her throat and squeezed, my only thought to save you. She collapsed to the floor, and I grabbed you before you fell. When I checked her pulse, she was dead.”

  She thought her chest would be crushed under the pressure of her shock. “You strangled her.”

  He nodded, not a shred of remorse on his face. “I am willing to do what is necessary to protect my own, and that includes you, my program, and our country.”

  She didn’t know if she could believe his story, but she did know he was telling the truth on that last statement. He would kill without a second thought. Maybe even kill her. She saw that now, saw everything she’d been blind to all these years.

  “Where did you leave her body?”

  “Where no one will find her.”

  She wasn’t about to tell him someone had found her. “You’re no better than Sayre.”

  “I’m nothing like that man.”

  Shouting floated from outside. A gunshot pierced the air. With a fearful gasp, she ran to the French doors, but her father grabbed her by the shoulders. “Don’t go near the windows!”

  The guard stepped into the room and closed the door. “They’ve spotted an intruder.”

  Please don’t let Nicholas have come!

  The guard listened to the earpiece. All she could hear was the buzzing sound of someone’s voice.

  “They’ve got him.”

  Him.

  “Who?” she couldn’t help but ask.

  Her father ignored her question. “Watch her.” He walked out.

  She raced to the door.

  The guard lifted his jacket to reveal handcuffs and his taunting expression: Make me use them, honey.

  It had to be Nicholas. No one else would come to rescue her.

  “Don’t you dare hurt him!” she screamed after her father.

  Agonizing minutes dragged by after everything went quiet outside. The guard shadowed her as she walked as close to the French doors as he allowed and tried to look out. She heard voices, saw the landscaping lights on. She tried to make a run for it, but the guard grabbed her arm and yanked her back.

  “I want to see what’s going on!”

  Everything inside her was tight and brittle. She heard sounds in the hallway and rushed to the door, but again, the guard stepped in front of her.

  She strained to listen but couldn’t hear anything definitive.

  A few minutes later her father returned, a triumphant smile on his face. “As it turned out, your involvement with Braden worked in my favor. He came for you. Now he’s dead.”

  He dropped those last words like bombs, and each one exploded in her chest. She slid to the floor, sobs tearing from her chest.

  “How?” The word tore from her.

  “Shot by one of the outside guards.”

  Through her tears she saw the guard leave, and her father sat in the chair next to her. “Cry it out, sweetheart. When it’s over, you’ll see that it had to be. Your vision will clear, and you’ll understand. And I’ll be here, just as I’ve always been.”

  Nicholas tried to pull out of the grip of the three men dragging him down the hall where he’d once worked and lived. Darkwell stepped out of his office. Behind him, he heard Olivia’s voice: “I want to see what’s going on!”

  He tried to call out to her, but all he could get out from behind the gag they’d tied on him was a muffled cry. His hands were cuffed.

  Darkwell smiled. “Nice of you to come back.” To the guards he said, “Bring him this way.”

  A guard stationed at the end of the hallway unlocked the door, and Darkwell preceded the guards. “I have a gift for you,” he said to some
one upstairs. “Take care of him any way you’d like.”

  Nicholas was pushed up the stairs, and when he reached the top, he came face-to-face with Lucas’s twin: the son of a bitch who’d tried to rape and kill Olivia.

  “Keep the gag on him,” Darkwell said as he turned to go back down the stairs. “We don’t want anyone to hear screaming.”

  Darkwell was giving him to Sayre as a gift? Sayre’s eyes flared in recognition, and his mouth broke out into a broad smile. His face twitched. When the door downstairs closed, he said, “You really pissed me off, you know that?”

  Nicholas rammed him, sending Sayre to the floor. He spit out an expletive as his head hit the wood floor and Nicholas landed on top of him. He had one chance, the advantage of surprise, to put the son of a bitch out. For Olivia.

  He rolled off and kicked Sayre in the gut. Sayre sprang to his feet, out of Nicholas’s range, and jumped over him. Before Nicholas could spin around, Sayre had kicked him in the back. Pain flashed through his body. Nicholas rammed his foot into Sayre’s knee, sending him stumbling back with a grunt. It didn’t keep him from striking again with his other leg, nailing Nicholas in the kidneys. Black spots floated in front of his eyes. Nicholas punched, cracking Sayre’s nose. Blood spurted everywhere. Nicholas aimed again, but the punch wasn’t as powerful. The pain sapped his strength. Sayre dodged it and caught the blow to his cheek.

  Sayre spun around and slammed another kick into Nicholas’s stomach. Nicholas tried to strike out, but the blows kept coming. The spots pooled together, becoming one large dark mass, obliterating his vision.

  “I’m gonna take care of your friends tonight,” Sayre said. He aimed at Nicholas’s solar plexus.

  Nicholas couldn’t hold on. He dropped to the floor.

  Sayre kept beating him. “Soon as they go to sleep, Lucas is gonna take ’em out.” He knelt, and whispered, “Then I’m gonna take care of your girlfriend. I’m gonna torment her dreams until she can’t stand it no more, then I’m gonna find her and rape her until she begs me to kill her.”

  Nicholas tried to move, spurred on by rage, but even a slight motion sent spasms of pain through him. No one would save her. Not the Rogues, if they survived. Not her father, who wouldn’t believe her. Not him, unless he could get out of here alive. Even his desperation couldn’t overcome the pain immobilizing him.