Man (Seven Forbidden Arts Book 9)

by Charmaine Pauls

  Accessing the central alarm monitor, he checked the activity for the last thirty minutes. No doors or windows had been breached. The alarm hadn’t been deactivated. Where the hell could she be? She wouldn’t have gone for a late-night stroll without saying anything. She understood the danger they were in too well, and Olivia wasn’t a careless woman.

  Just in case, he checked the garden and ran down to the beach. The ashes of their fire were still warm, but no footprints ran in the sand other than they ones they’d left earlier.

  “Fuck, no.” Hands on his head, he turned in a circle.

  How had he managed to lose the one woman he was supposed to watch?

  A glance at his watch told him Josselin would soon arrive with the team. He made his way back to the house, desperation eating like acid into his gut.

  Three SUV’s pulled up as he exited the footpath. The team filed from the vehicles, their comportment alert.

  When he saw Ivan, he approached him. “Where are Alice and Clara?”

  “Don’t worry,” his son-in-law said, “I left them with the other women and children at the base. Bono and Wayne will protect them. Wayne is keeping watch.”

  He relaxed a bit. Godfrey was dead, but until his kid was found the threat wasn’t over.

  In the lounge, he started his quick briefing, explaining for how long Olivia had been gone.

  Maya’s face was scrunched up in concern. “There’s no movement on the alarm or sensors. I double-checked all devices. No boats have entered or left the cove during the last hour.”

  “You’re sure you saw her fifty minutes ago?” Josselin asked.

  Cain battled to contain his rage. “I left her sleeping in bed. When I got back, she was gone.”

  “If she didn’t leave through a door or window,” Lann said, “and she’s no longer in the house, how did she get out?”

  “Unless,” Sara looked around the group crowded in the lounge, “she’s still in the house.”

  “I’ve searched it from top to bottom,” Cain said.

  “Everything?” Clelia asked with a spark of hope.

  “Yes, dammit. Everything.” Cain paused. “Except…” Fuck it. “Except for the lab.”

  Lann and Josselin got to their feet simultaneously.

  “Let’s go.”

  “Wait,” Sky said. “Let’s think this through. Godfrey appeared in the house several times, slipping past both the alarm and our surveillance team. Now Olivia’s gone, much the same way. What does that tell us?”

  Cain clenched his teeth. “There’s another way into the house, most probably from the underground lab.”

  “Shit.” Maya blew out a breath. “Why haven’t we seen this before?”

  “We were looking in all the obvious and wrong places.” Cain looked at Lann. “The blueprint for the house showed only the lab. There must be a hidden part that gives access to the outside.” Hopefully, Olivia was still there, somewhere underneath the foundations of the house. He turned to Sky. “Sky, you and Sara send out a missing person notification to our government sponsors. They’ll make sure it gets to each and every station and airport in Brazil. Lann, check for cavities under the house. It’s unlikely that our infrared will penetrate the stone walls, but try anyway. The rest of you, get your weapons.”

  “How do you propose we get into the lab?” Clelia asked. “I won’t be able to blast a fireproof metal door, not even with white flames.”

  “I know the code. Maya, can you override the thumbprint?”

  She shook her head. “These security access systems were designed to keep people out. If we don’t have a print, we’re fucked. I suggest we pull one of Olivia’s prints from the house and fabricate a false skin.”

  Cain checked his watch. “How long will it take?”

  “Making the skin takes twenty minutes,” Josselin said. “How fast can you get us a print?”

  His mind went back to their dinner. “Give me a second.” He walked to the kitchen and returned with Olivia’s dirty wineglass he’d retrieved from the dishwasher. “Here you go.”

  While the rest of the team set to work, Ivan moved around the house, trying to get a sense of anything that could help.

  Cain gave him a hopeful look when he stepped back into the lounge.

  Ivan shook his head, regret etched on his face. “No matter how hard I try, I can’t reach Angelique.”

  Cain turned his face to the ceiling. Godfrey was dead. His child had run away. Who else would snatch Olivia, and why? He was about to voice his questions out loud when every alarm in the house started ringing. The team members each paused in their tasks. He fixed his focus on the monitors, already knowing what message he’d see.

  I’m watching you.

  “Maya, will you––”

  He was going to say shut it down, but the text jumped, and the image of a woman appeared on the screen. Despite the bitmapped picture, her features were recognizable. She had a strikingly beautiful face with black hair and blue eyes. He’d seen that face before. Lily. Only, Lily’s was a younger version of the one staring back at him.

  Angelique.

  He’d never seen a photo of her. Godfrey had destroyed every picture that had ever existed.

  “Angelique,” Ivan said, confirming Cain’s conclusion.

  From the television screen, she curled a finger at them, her mouth transforming into a serene smile, and then the screen went dead.

  “She wants us to follow,” Ivan said.

  Pulling their weapons, they moved through the house, Ivan in the lead, until Angelique beckoned them from the monitor in the hallway. As they passed it, the monitor turned black. They followed her all the way to the basement. Cain knew where she was guiding them long before they got to the hidden door.

  “How far are we with that skin?” he asked Josselin.

  “Still another ten minutes to go.”

  Maya activated their Eye in the Sky to monitor the surroundings for movement and to look for hidden exits. After what felt like forever, Josselin pulled the false skin over his thumb and turned a raised brow to Cain, waiting for his command.

  “Open it.” Cain punched in the code and held his breath as Josselin pressed his thumb on the pad.

  There was a click, and the door slid open. Adrenaline rushed through him, but not yet relief. It didn’t mean their theory was right. It didn’t mean Olivia had gone this way.

  Steeling himself for whatever waited, Cain led the team through the damp corridor to the lab.

  “This part is trickier,” he said. “It works with a retina scan.” And he hadn’t thought it through, yet.

  “Whose retina?” Josselin asked.

  “Godfrey or Olivia.”

  “I can pull an image of Olivia from one of our sat feeds and imitate her eye, but it’s going to take much longer than fabricating a false skin.”

  “How long?” Cain asked.

  “Days. We’ll have to grow synthetic tissue to simulate a match.”

  The answer was disconcerting.

  “We already have an eye,” Lann pointed out.

  Yes, Cain had thought about Godfrey’s dead body and getting an eye back here, but even with Tim’s connections and the helijet at their disposal it would take time. Half a day or more. Still, it was their best bet.

  “Maya, call your husband.”

  She activated her wrist pad and walked to the corner of the room, talking in hushed tones to her husband who was ambassador to Australia in the States.

  “What?” she exclaimed.

  All heads turned toward her.

  She hung up. “Not good news.”

  “What’s going on?” Cain asked.

  “The body’s gone.”

  “What do you mean the body’s gone?”

  “Tim was about to call us. It disappeared from the morgue.”

  “Impossible.” Who’d steal Godfrey’s body? He sure as hell hadn’t been resurrected like Christ. That son of a bitch, dead or alive, belonged in one place and that was hell.
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  “I can do it,” Sky said quietly from the back.

  He’d thought about it, but the implication was too cruel. Unacceptable.

  “I can go back in time,” she said, “to where you and Olivia entered the lab, and snatch her eye.”

  “No.” The word was harsh. He wasn’t willing to sacrifice Olivia’s eye. There had to be another way. His mind stilled in mid-thought. In fact, there was another way. Sky could go back in time and fabricate a synthetic eye. Or…

  “How quickly can you override this system?” he asked Maya, motioning at the retina scanner.

  “Ten minutes, if it’s not too complicated.” Comprehension dawned on her face. “Hold on. To override it to a different retina, I’ll need the original to log in first. It works like a password. I can’t change it without the old one.”

  “Show Sky how to do it.”

  Maya stared at him in shock. “You’re going to reset the scanner in the past? It’s fucking with the future, Cain. It’s dangerous.” She turned to Sky. “Have you done something like this before?”

  “No. I’ve only observed events that took place in the past, but if we don’t try we’ll never get in here. I won’t change anything else other than the alarm.”

  “Do it,” Cain said, the authority is his voice leaving no room for arguing.

  They waited in strained silence while Maya explained the complicated procedure to Sky. As Sky took Cain’s hand, ready to read his palm, he touched her shoulder. “Good luck.”

  She smiled. “Same to you.”

  She closed her eyes. From an observer’s point of view, it didn’t look as if much was happening, but Cain could see perspiration beading on her forehead and feel the faint shaking of her hand where she clasped his. After a long time, she opened her eyes, slowly refocusing on him.

  “Done?” he asked, his shoulders aching from the tension.

  “I think so.”

  “There’s only one way to find out,” Josselin said.

  Cain advanced to the scanner. After entering the code, he placed his eye at the slot. The laser beams activated, scanning his eye, and then a green light flicked on. The door to the hallway opened.

  Thank God.

  “Good work, Sky. Maya, this is as far as you go. Go back upstairs and check the security monitors closely. If anything moves near the house, send a warning to our wrist pads.”

  Cain couldn’t move down the dreary corridor fast enough. The lab was dirtier than the first time he’d brought Olivia down here. Dust coated the surfaces. There were no fingerprints or signs of disturbances.

  Despair coursed through Cain. “Lann, what do you have on infrared?”

  The Russian shook his head. “Nothing. The walls are too thick.”

  “Hold on a minute.” Ivan pointed at the flickering screen of a wall-mounted alarm monitor.

  Angelique stood quietly, her eyes facing the wall.

  “There’s something here,” Ivan said, looking around. “There must be another door.”

  Cain started moving furniture aside. “Give me a hand.”

  Soon, the back wall was bare, but there was no sign of a door. Cain stepped back and stared at the room. A tall cabinet pushed against the opposite wall caught his attention. The first time he’d visited the lab with Olivia it had been in a different position. He studied the floor and noticed two thin scratch marks. The cabinet had been pushed away.

  “It’s behind one of the panels.” He started on one end of the wall, knocking his way around until a hollow echo sounded. “Here.”

  Josselin pulled his knife and wiggled it under the panel until the frame gave with a click, revealing a door.

  Cain said a silent prayer. It didn’t mean their troubles were over. They still had to open the door. If Olivia didn’t know about this door, which he was sure she didn’t, she didn’t have access. There was no going back in time to fix this one. How the hell were they going to get inside? They’d reached a dead end.

  Chapter 19

  Freezing cold, Olivia rubbed her hands over her body as much as the confines of the cage allowed. Except for the bubbling sound coming from the tank, the cellar was so quiet her breathing sounded loud. Staying calm wasn’t easy. It was only by sheer willpower that she didn’t succumb to the hysterics threatening to overwhelm her. If Godfrey planned on keeping her, he had to feed her. One of his lookalike cronies had to bring her food and water. That would be her only chance at escape. Not being a match for Godfrey’s clones in strength, she had to be clever. Or risk never being found, going crazy, and dying in here, because she wouldn’t stay sane for long like this.

  A sound like the crackling of static electricity startled her. The monitor flickered to life. The words that ran over the screen made her suck in a breath.

  –I’m watching you.

  Line after line, the sentence was repeated until it covered the whole screen. A noise from the tank pulled her attention there. The soft bubbling had turned into angry boiling. The light came on over the tank, immediately making her regret that she was looking at it. The blob inside was too unsightly. All three of those bulging eyes were filled with rage and something else. Something foreign for Godfrey. Fear.

  A question replaced the text on the screen.

  Why are you doing this, Olivia?

  The creature believed she was responsible for the message.

  How are you doing it? Tell me, and I won’t hurt you too much.

  “I’m not doing anything.”

  Don’t lie. I’ll make you scream. I don’t mind looking at a scarred pet.

  “It’s not me.”

  Before she could say more, a new message appeared.

  –Don’t you recognize me, darling?

  A new line. Who’s there?

  –It’s me, Angelique.

  The liquid started bubbling so fiercely that drops splashed over the sides onto the floor. The whole tank rattled. Godfrey’s anger seemed to fill the space, rushing to her in waves of sulfur as the smell inside the cellar intensified.

  –You’re going to die.

  She wasn’t sure who was speaking, Angelique or Godfrey.

  –Your DNA will be wiped away. Nothing will remain of you, not even a memory.

  For someone with Godfrey’s vanity, being wiped away like he’d never existed when he’d done everything in his power to eternalize himself in art and living form had to be the worst fate.

  Olivia shook the cage. “Let me out.”

  You’re nothing but a vengeful spirit. I know, because I watched you die. Spirits can’t manipulate material matter. You can’t touch me.

  “Please,” Olivia said on a sob. “Angelique, help me.”

  –I can’t touch you, but humans can.

  I’m immortal. No one can destroy me.

  –One man can.

  Which man would that be?

  –The man standing on the other side of the door.

  The screen went dead. The tank started shaking. Foam boiled over the sides. The three eyes were wide, the pupils sweeping the room from left to right. All the red lights flickered on, revealing the nursery tanks where the babies were growing and the cruel faces of a human Godfrey staring at her from the circular wall. Footsteps sounded on the ladder in the vertical tunnel, followed by the clank of metal. One by one, the six clones entered. Six pairs of eyes fixed on her, their heads tilted at exactly the same angle. They seemed to be listening to something, maybe the prototype’s telepathic message.

  The first of the six approached swiftly. He opened a drawer of a cabinet she hadn’t noticed before and removed something before taking the key from the hook on the wall and unlocking the cage door. Olivia was ready. The minute the door opened, she flung her body through the opening, jumping on the man. Unfortunately, he’d expected the move. He caught her without much difficulty and bundled her back into the cage. She gave an outraged cry, scratching his arms where they gripped her, but if she was inflicting pain, her captor didn’t mind it. He pressed the object he’d take
n from the cabinet into her mouth and pulled an elastic band over her head to hold it in place. Next, he slammed a pair of handcuffs on her wrists. A rubber ball fit snugly in her mouth, stretching her jaw and making it hard to swallow. She focused on her breathing to prevent her from hyperventilating with fear. Were they going to torture her? Her attention moved back to the cabinet. An array of whips, knives, and other torture equipment were spread out on the top. If she’d ever had doubt about Godfrey’s intentions, she was now certain what the future held in store.

  The Godfrey who’d locked her up stepped back in line with his doubles. It was impossible to tell them apart, as they wore the same dark slacks and blue shirts. As one man, they turned their faces toward the tank and listened. In unison, they marched toward the door.

  The first one paused at the cage while the others filed past. “Apparently, Mr. Jones thinks he can kill us.” A chuckle rumbled in his chest. “What a fool. Agreed, he’s clever enough to have found a way into the tunnel. Maybe he used a fake skin with your thumbprint and an artificial eye. However, he’d be stuck in the corridor, unable to open the lab door without our retina scan. We’ve locked down the door leading back to the house. He’s trapped. He’s a sitting duck, just waiting for our bullets.”

  She shook her head uselessly, mumbling a protest behind the gag as he followed the others to the door.

  The one minute, Cain was contemplating how to get through the door, and the next it started to slide open. His body went into attack mode. Lifting his weapon, he motioned for his team to follow suite. His muscles tightened as all his senses honed in on the door. The world fell away until only the doorframe and what would come through it existed, a small stage on which a play of life and death was about to unfold. A familiar feeling of anticipation followed in the wake of the adrenaline that coursed through his blood. One second. Two. He aimed his weapon, knowing his team had his back. He was ready, but not for the face that appeared in the door.

  Cain did a double take. The man in his line of fire did the same, obviously surprised by the presence behind the door. For two drawn-out heartbeats, they stood frozen in the dim lights, staring at each other in shock. A war cry from Lann brought both men back to their senses. Cain reacted first. He pulled the trigger before Godfrey had time to raise his arm. The bullet hit him in the shoulder. It wasn’t a fatal shot. The wound was meant to immobilize. The gun fell from Godfrey’s hand. Fast as lightning, he retreated into the darkness. Cain fired another shot. The sound echoed down the stone hallway. There was no way he’d missed. The hallway was too narrow to turn. Godfrey would’ve taken the hit in the stomach. He listened for footsteps, but there were none.