She had told Janet all about her day in the garden with Raquel and drawing get well cards for everybody with Kim. The women had come through in a monumental way and Janet made a mental note to figure out some way to thank them.
There was also someone else she had to thank, though she wasn’t sure if thanks would be enough. Quinton had been a rock through all of this.
She had accused him of not caring about her children’s safety. She had felt betrayed by his lies and that had made her mad. She had said things out of anger that she now realized weren’t true. She had watched him step up again and again these last few days. He cared about everyone on the island, that she had no doubt about.
But it had been overhearing him promising Audrey that he would take care of her and Hannah that had made her release the last bit of her anger. She had been touched by the compassion he had for the girl and the vulnerability he had shown when he admitted that he didn’t want to be alone.
It had been then that Janet had to admit to herself that she still had feelings for Quinton.
It was a shock to her. She had always seen herself as an unforgiving person. She hadn’t been proud of it but she did consider it a positive characteristic. Fool me once and all that.
But now she was thinking that maybe it wasn’t all that positive. She had shut out Quinton without even considering the tough spot he had been in. Seeing her boys in those hospital beds, knowing they were sick and their chances of being cured were slim, gave her a whole different perspective.
Sure, now it was meningitis, something that had a cure, but what if a freak had infected them? She would have had to watch over her babies, knowing there was zero chance of saving them.
She now understood why he had been willing to roll the dice on Harold finding a cure. She had felt helpless enough as it was knowing that she had to depend on the others to find the medicine her babies needed. If it had been the infection that got them there would be no cure. Of course Quinton had been willing to take the risk.
And she realized that she owed him one hell of an apology. She had accused him of not caring about the safety of her children and that hadn’t been fair to him. He had proven to her that he cared with the tireless effort he had put in looking after the twins.
So now she was here at the clinic, ready to eat crow.
She found Quinton sitting at his desk, bent over some thick text book, but his head shot up when she walked inside. He gave her a small smile, tight at the corners, as if he wasn’t quite sure he should be doing it.
“How are they doing?” Janet asked, always the first question in her mind.
“Good,” Quinton said. “I checked on them a few minutes ago. All sleeping soundly. They’ll probably sleep a lot for the next few days. Part of the healing process, but they are on the mend.”
She nodded and steeled herself. “Can we talk?”
“Of course.” He marked his place in the book and closed it, pushing it aside and giving her his full focus. She felt awkward under that stare and turned away from him, her attention going to the radio setup.
“Is Elaine here?” she asked, not really wanting an audience for this conversation.
“The next check in isn’t for another forty minutes so she’s taking a break. We’re alone.”
She nodded and turned back to him, her hands fluttering awkwardly, suddenly unsure what she was supposed to do with them. God, she had never been good at this. Admitting when she had been wrong was never her strong suit.
“I just want to apologize.” His eyes widened with shock and she almost laughed. “Not expecting that, huh? Me neither but these last few days have shown me that I wasn’t fair to you. You’ve cared for my boys. I’ve seen the toll it’s taken on you with them being sick. I was wrong to accuse you of not caring about them and to tell you to stay away from them. I was scared and I was mad and that’s why I reacted the way I did. You’re a good man and I let one mistake cloud my judgement.”
She waited for a reaction from him, not sure what he would say. She knew that he could throw her apology back in her face, tell her that the accusations against his character had been too hurtful for forgiveness. Maybe she deserved that.
“You don’t need to apologize,” he said. “I lied to you. You trusted me and I didn’t return the favour.”
“But did I really trust you?” she said, finally giving words to something that had been lurking in the back of the mind since their break up. “I was pretty quick to jump to the conclusion that you would selfishly put us at risk and yet when Malcolm brings another freak here, I accept it. Why was it so easy to do it with him but not you? It was because deep down I didn’t trust you to be better. I didn’t trust you to put me and the children first and I wouldn’t listen to any explanation.”
“You’re protective of your children. I don’t blame you for that.”
She couldn’t stop herself from laughing this time. Here she was admitting to her mistake and he was defending her.
“I should have seen that you were too, in your own way. You were right, you were looking at the big picture, at the future my kids and the rest of the kids here would have. You care about all of us and I was wrong to tell you to stay away.”
“So you’re going to let me be around them?”
She smiled, tears starting to fill her eyes. “You saved their lives, how could I not?”
Quinton shrugged. “I just told them what medicine to get. The others are the ones who saved their lives.”
“Don’t sell yourself so short.”
He smiled at her, no longer an unsure one but genuine this time. “Thank you.”
She nodded, feeling better now that she had apologized to him and made right on her mistakes. “I’m going to go sit with them for a bit.”
“I never stopped loving you.”
Her steps faltered and she slowly turned around to face him again, finding him looking at her with a profound sadness in his eyes.
“I know I never said it but I do love you. I know I screwed up our relationship and you don’t owe me anything but I have to ask. Is there still a chance for us?”
Wasn’t that the same question she had been asking herself since she realized she had found it in herself to forgive him?
She hadn’t wanted to answer it because she knew that if she gave the answer in her heart, she ran the risk of being hurt again. But here he was, telling her he loved her, that he didn’t hold the cruel accusations she’d made about him against her. The answer in her heart was an easy one to give.
“There is. There definitely is. As mad as I was at you, I never stopped loving you either,” she admitted and she watched as a tear slipped from the corner of his eye. He wiped it away as he rose and circled the desk to take her hands in his.
“I swear from now on, one hundred percent honesty no matter what,” he vowed. “I mean it. I will tell you everything and anything. There will never be a single secret between us again. I will never make that mistake again.”
And she believed him. For the first time she truly trusted him with all her heart.
She kissed him, only intending to make it a quick one, a sign that they were starting with a clean slate but the moment her lips touched his, she was swamped with desire. Even when she had thought she hated him, she had still been attracted to him. He could make her toes curl with just a look and his kiss melted her insides.
Her hands went to his shoulders as she deepened the kiss, chasing his tongue with her own. It took a moment for him to catch up with her, standing still as a statue before his hands went to her hips, pulling her against the length of him. She slid her hand up the back of his neck, curling her fingers in his hair as she pressed her breasts flat against his chest and his hands dropped down to cup her ass.
God, all she wanted to do right now was climb him like a tree. She had missed this.
The high pitched beep from the radio cut through the fog of desire and they broke apart, both of them panting. Quinton was the first to make it throug
h the fog, giving her a regretful smile as he left her to go to the radio. Her hand went to her mouth, caressing her swollen lips as they curled into a smile when she heard Banks’ voice come over the radio.
“Elaine, you there?”
“You’ve got Quinton here, Banks,” he replied. “Tell me you’ve got some good news.”
“We found our people. We’re going to regroup at a safe place.”
“Good to hear you’re all together,” Quinton replied, grinning at Janet. “We’ve been worried about you.”
“We’ve got to move but we’ll call again when we get to a safe place.”
“Roger that,” Quinton replied and the call ended.
He laughed and grabbed Janet, lifting her off her feet and swinging her around. When he put her down, he kissed her. “You want to go deliver the good news to the others or should I?”
“You do it,” she said. “You’ve been working hard, you deserve to go give some more good news.”
“I’ll be back soon,” he said but didn’t move away from her, running his hands up and down her arms. He didn’t seem to want to let her go, maybe afraid that if he left her, she might change her mind about forgiving him.
“I’ll be waiting,” she told him, cupping his face and giving him a slow, sensuous kiss. “Hurry back.”
That must have been the reassurance he needed and he let her go to head out of the clinic.
She couldn’t stop smiling as she went to check on the twins. It felt strange. After everything she had gone through, she felt like she had forgotten how to smile. It was good to know that she hadn’t.
PART 4
Subject #742
Subject: “I feel like a failure.”
Administrator: “We got the medicine and all of you made it back. I’d call that a success.”
Subject: “Except we’re coming back different. We lost something there.”
The wind wailed in Malcolm’s ears as they sped down the rural gravel road, dust trailing behind them in a wide rooster tail. Malcolm squinted through the dust, trying to make sure the road behind them was empty. They’d left the town behind more than forty minutes ago but Malcolm still wasn’t ready to trust that they were safe.
He still couldn’t believe they’d made it out whole. He had hoped that the fire would work as a big enough distraction, throwing in a couple grenades to seal the deal, but he hadn’t been sure. It had relied on too many variables, the foremost being Sam telling the truth.
At least he’d been right to trust him. Without him there would have been no way they would have made it over the walls without being caught. And if they had been caught, they’d all be dead.
He glanced towards the back window of the cab where Jackson and Veronica sat next to Sam. Jackson was carefully cradling Veronica, trying to keep her from bouncing around too much as they hit the ruts in the road. The woman had been through hell. He hated himself for not stopping all of this.
He’d been the one in charge of this group and he’d led them into that hellhole. He should have been smarter at the hospital, more cautious. If he had gotten his gun out sooner, maybe he would have been able to take out all the men. There were a million what ifs and as he looked at Veronica’s pale face, he knew they would haunt him for a good long time.
It was the same with the stories Amber and the two other women, who he’d learned were named Sarah and Kyra, had told him. They’d all lived in the apartment building before this began and had chosen to stay there. It was only after Jacob took control that they regretted it. They had known about Sam’s plan to get out but the night they were supposed to leave, they had been required to service men in the Complex.
It burned Malcolm to think about it. He should have made sure the entire place had been destroyed and every last one of the men there put down. They were monsters, worse than the freaks, and they needed to be eradicated from the world.
His thirst for vengeance was momentarily forgotten and he had to focus on keeping a grip on the side of the truck as Sam made a sharp left turn onto a dirt road that led through a line of trees and then disappeared around a curve. Sam slowed the truck down in deference to the rough road and reached back to push open the back window.
“We’re here,” he called out to them. “Stay in the back when we reach the gate. The women are skittish.”
The trees gave way to fenced pastures on either side of them, the tall green grass waving in the breeze. A windmill stood in one of the pastures and Malcolm saw someone sitting halfway up its base. As they approached the gate that barred the road, he watched the person begin to climb down the windmill.
By the time Sam had brought them to a stop at the closed gate, the person had reached the ground and was sprinting across the field. Sam climbed out of the truck and waved his hand high over his head. It didn’t slow the person and soon they were close enough for Malcolm to realize it was a woman. A tail of long blonde hair trailed out behind her as she ran to the gate, a giant smile on her pretty face.
“We thought you were dead!” she cried out to Sam, her hands fumbling with the lock on the gate in her excitement.
“You know better than that, Mary,” Sam said with a smile, reaching out to help her pull the gate open. “And I brought the others.”
Mary looked passed Sam to the back of the truck and tears sprung to her eyes when she looked the women who were huddled between Mendez and Claudia. “Oh girls, it’s good to see you.”
“Is Jackie back at the house?” Sam asked her. “We’ve got a woman here in bad shape. They got a hold of her.”
Mary sucked a breath through her teeth. “Those fucking bastards. Jackie’s at the house. I’m on watch for another hour.”
Mary closed the gate behind them when they drove up the drive and Malcolm watched her head back to the windmill. The house appeared up ahead, a white clapboard with a wraparound porch. A large barn and silo loomed behind the house, surrounded by fenced pens.
The door to the house burst open and a young woman came running out of the house, followed close by an older woman.
“Mom!” the girl cried out and Amber scrambled out of the truck to meet the girl in a tight embrace.
The older woman who had followed the girl stood at the bottom of the steps, gun in hand as she eyed the rest of them.
“Jackie,” Sam called out to her. “We’ve got an injured woman in here.”
Jackie frowned as Jackson carried Veronica out of the truck. “Alright, bring her inside.”
Jackson started to follow but Jackie snapped a hand up to stop him. “Not you.”
“I ain’t lettin’ her go,” Jackson growled and Jackie moved her finger to the trigger of her gun.
Sam stepped between them before Malcolm could move to diffuse the situation. “It’s okay. These women have been through the same thing Veronica has gone through. They’re skittish of strange men. I think you can appreciate that.”
“I ain’t lettin’ a buncha strangers take her away from us,” Jackson shot back, “And I think ya can ‘preciate that.”
“We’ll take her in,” Claudia said, gesturing at herself and Mendez. “We’ll stay with her while they help.”
Jackie looked at the two women and then nodded. “Bring her in. We’ll patch her up.”
Jackson looked like he was ready to keep arguing and Malcolm stepped up beside him. “Let the girls take her. It’ll be okay. They just want to help her.”
Malcolm could hear his teeth grinding together but Jackson relented, handing Veronica over to Mendez and Claudia, who helped her into the house.
The curtains at the front windows moved and Malcolm saw several faces staring out at them. When he made eye contact with a dark skinned woman, the curtain dropped back in place, their faces hidden from him again.
Yeah, these women were definitely skittish.
He didn’t blame them. He’d only had a taste of what the Complex had to offer. He couldn’t imagine what living there had done to them.
Jackson began to p
ace alongside the truck, his breath sawing in and out in violent bursts, his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides. He was pissed off, more so than Malcolm had ever seen him. He was like a wild animal and Malcolm was worried that he was going to strike out. They were in a precarious position, relying on Sam and the women’s kindness to stay here.
Malcolm had spotted a panel van out by the barn. That was their ticket back to the island but they were still dependent on Sam handing it over. He had welcomed them into his camp and if they did anything wrong, he had the right to cast them out. Jackson losing his temper wasn’t going to do them any favours.
“She’s gonna be okay,” Malcolm said and Jackson rounded on him, stalking over to jab a finger in his face.
“Ya were supposed to take care of her!” he yelled at him. “How did ya let this happen?”
“I fucked up,” he admitted, knowing it was no defence. “I let them get the jump on us. I’m sorry for that.”
“Fuck yer sorries! Ya know what they did to her? They strung her up and let her hang! If I hadn’t of been there--” His voice choked up with emotion and he hit Malcolm with a hateful glare. “The hell were you thinkin’ lettin’ her go in there?”
“We didn’t have a choice,” Malcolm tried to defend himself but Jackson didn’t want to hear it.
“Ya shoulda done somethin’ to protect her!”
It pained Malcolm to hear the accusation but mostly because it was something he’d been telling himself as he watched Veronica in the truck.
“Never shoulda let her go with ya,” Jackson shook his head, his fists clenching on his thighs. “Shoulda kept her with me. Fuck all y’all!”
Jackson gave them a dismissive wave of his hand and stalked off towards the barn.
At least he wasn’t throwing punches. If he wanted space to walk it off, Malcolm would give it to him.
The others had climbed out of the truck, Sarah and Kyra joining Amber’s tearful reunion with her daughter. Sam pointed them towards the house where the curtains had been pulled back again so the women inside could look out.
The Complex (The Omega Protocol Chronicles Book 3) Page 42