The weight of danger became too much for Colby. “Regan, for all our sakes...open your eyes!”
His voice boomed, and Olivia shrank a little at the sound. He hadn’t meant it to be that loud, but the desperation he felt carried in the volume of his voice, expressing the same amount of the distress he was feeling.
He felt it first. The slight squeeze to his hand. Olivia faced him again, her blue eyes bright with delight. “Did you feel that?”
“I did.”
Colby risked glancing at Regan’s face and was met with the gray-green eyes of a woman back from the edge.
Olivia climbed onto the bed and snuggled next to her mother.
Regan’s eyes teared as she brought a hand up and around Olivia’s shoulders and squeezed her tightly.
She met Colby’s gaze and mouthed, “Thank you.”
The next second that the glass doors whooshed open and Ice Man grabbed Olivia and pulled her away from Regan.
“Now that you’re awake, time to get back to work.”
* * *
Everything in Regan’s body hurt. Not a mild soreness, but more like she’d been spun in a cement mixer and then poured out under hot sun to harden. Vertigo made her feel like she was falling off the stool she was sitting on, and she gripped the metal corner of the table as a stabilizing force.
Emotions swirled almost as violently as her head. Olivia was alive—that was no longer a myth she clung onto for hope, and she whispered a prayer of thanks to God for answering her call. Knowing that should help her focus, but what Colby thought was an unwitnessed kiss—even if just to her fingertips—caused her to feel weak-kneed.
I have to concentrate. None of us will get out of here alive if I don’t figure out something. Something that can fool these kidnappers into thinking that I’m giving them what they want.
The bad part was clear. What their hostage-takers asked for was impossible. Maybe impossible was not the right word—very improbable given the time frame.
Regan scooted the composition notebooks toward her on the table. The one that had taken the force of the explosion was tattered around the edges and smelled faintly of ash. Blood had seeped into the top of most of the pages, which stuck together as Regan tried to go through her notes. It was a little like going through an old photo album. These sequences she had first dreamed as potentially curing cancer had almost been naive, but she loved reliving the early yearnings of her career and the promise it held.
After scanning through each of the notebooks, Regan settled on the fact that some of the information could prove useful, but how could she use it enough to help her yet keep whatever they created nonlethal? Brian sat across from her at the table and had been eyeing her going through the pages without interjecting much.
She flipped to the middle of a different notebook, wondering if she could sequence something close to what they wanted. Something that would pass more rudimentary testing that could perhaps give them an opportunity to escape, but with a genetic kill switch in case she actually did create something unintentionally virulent.
Even that idea, though sound on the surface, she quickly discarded as hopeless. There just wasn’t enough time.
“Can I show you something?” Brian asked.
Regan started. Had he been waiting for just the right opportunity to say something? “You have an idea?”
He motioned for the notebooks and she slid them across the table. After scanning the front labels, he picked one and turned quite directly to a particular genetic sequence.
“I think we need to start with this one,” he said, pointing to the middle part of the page.
Regan pulled the notebook back her direction. Looking at the date entry of the notes, she timed it to four weeks before the lab accident. Why was Brian so interested in this entry? Why had he gone directly to it?
Regan closed the notebook and thrummed her fingers against the cover. What she absolutely had to do now was to keep her voice calm and steady when all she wanted to do was to stand, slap him across the face and yell words at him she’d never spoken since being a defiant teen. “Brian, did you change my protocol?”
Brian crossed his arms and leaned forward. “I was improving your concept.”
Regan’s vision coalesced. Everything she’d blamed herself for wasn’t her fault at all. If Brian had changed anything about her protocol, he’d been the one to unleash the virulent strain. “But you can’t remember how you changed it. You didn’t write it down because you never wanted me to find out.”
“You were always such a stickler for protocols—for making notes and cataloging experiments.”
And now we know why. Because if you ignore protocols, bad things can and will happen, and people will die.
Her hope in keeping her voice measured was to prevent him from sensing her horror at what he’d done. “You know, I think the two of us together can do what they ask.”
“You’re...you’re not mad?” he stammered, a look of relief clearing the haze that had been present in his eyes since they’d been in the cell together.
Now, for the risky part.
“I want in.”
“Want in what?”
Regan leaned forward conspiratorially. “I know you’re working with them.”
She held her breath. The ultimate success or failure of her plan depended on his next words.
“How did you know?”
She smirked, hoping she was as good an actor as she was a doctor. “What tipped me off first was your needle prick site. If someone is struggling to get away from someone, it’s not the easiest place to get injected. I can’t believe you let them beat you up for effect.”
Brian nodded—definitely proud.
Regan pushed on. “You know medicine isn’t exactly what I thought it was going to be. Sure, I get some nice pats on the back for discovering this potential cure. Truth be told, human trials are still in the early phase, so who knows if it will pan out for sure. I’m a single mother and I’m still buried in debt from medical school. I want a different life for me and Olivia. I don’t want to have to struggle financially through life. I want to give her everything she deserves.”
Brian sat there for the longest time, staring at her. His elbows on the metal desk, his chin in his hands, he measured her with his green eyes like a human lie detector. “Honestly, this is hard for me to believe. You’ve always been above par. A Goody Two-shoes, as they say. Everything by the book. Now, all of a sudden, you’re willing to break the law and become an international fugitive for some cash?”
A hole opened up in Regan’s stomach. If she didn’t sell this, the three of them would die. And there would be more deaths if she couldn’t continue her research.
“Unfortunately, this incident and what I’ve already done is going to be the end of my career. I stole from a hospital—a cure they own intellectual property rights for. I’m the primary suspect in the murder of my nanny...”
The smug look that crossed Brian’s face made Regan want to vomit what little she had in her stomach. Of course, she knew they had done it, but it seemed more than just removing an obstacle to their mission. Brian’s look made it seem like he’d enjoyed it.
Problem was, if she acted like it affected her deeply, Brian was unlikely to buy the rest of her story. How could she speak when her throat had swelled to the point where it would squeak if she said one word?
So much senseless death all for financial gain. Was this what the world was now—or had it always been and now she was seeing its true nature fully revealed?
Brian continued to stare at her. Even though she wanted to get him to confess to Polina’s murder, it wouldn’t help her meet the goal she wanted. Regan had to get him to believe she’d crossed over from the Hippocratic oath that had ruled her life of doing no harm and wanted to become a hardened criminal.
>
“How much money?” Regan asked.
“You’re looking for a cut?” Brian responded.
“You can’t accomplish what you want without me. We both know this will take more than a few days. I want accommodations—nice accommodations—for me and Olivia. I want a private tutor for her. I want security guards because there will be people looking for me. I want to live in a country without extradition agreements with the US. And I want at least twenty-five million dollars when I deliver the virus. Ten million up front.”
Regan’s heart pounded in her chest to the point she felt light-headed. Being this conniving was completely out of her character and it felt wrong to the very core of her being. Pain seared in her belly, but she returned his stare.
“You’ve been thinking a lot about this,” Brian said.
Interesting. He hadn’t said anything about the amount of money. Was the cash for this kind of venture limitless? Or was her demand low?
“I also want to stay with Olivia. No more locking me up. And I want freedom to access everything in the building.”
Brian narrowed his eyes. Had she gone too far? Criminal negotiations were completely foreign to her. Colby would be much better at this. Not because he had a criminal mind but because as part of his career he was used to dealing with people who broke the law. He knew how they thought. How they communicated.
The thought perplexed her. Perhaps making the demands for free access had gone too far. Made him suspicious of her intentions.
“And what about your friend? What do we do with him?”
This part, she hadn’t thought through. “Colby will help us.” Would he? Surely he’d do whatever they needed to do to get out alive.
“The bounty hunter will help us.”
Regan swallowed hard. “Absolutely.”
Brian leaned back and folded his hands. How far up the hierarchy was he? Was he the ring leader of this whole operation? If so, Regan had completely underestimated his evil side. And if he discovered this whole thing was a ruse, there could be no end to the torture he would inflict upon them.
He splayed his hands on the metal surface. “I’ll agree to most of your demands. You can see Olivia. We’ll start to make arrangements for our US exit. You’ll have to prove your words through action. There’s no reason why you can’t start your work on the virus. I’m not willing to go all the way yet and I’m not convinced Colby is the type who can be convinced to help us. But I might be persuaded at some point to add him to my protective detail—a man with his skills is hard to find. At night, you’ll still be locked up. When I see that you’re making progress as it relates to the virus, we’ll give you more freedom. Until then, the three of you can be housed together. I’ll work to get everything arranged.”
“I can see Olivia now?”
“Not yet. Let me get everything transitioned.”
“Then how about a tour?”
Brian nodded. It was in his eyes—he still didn’t trust her, but he was willing to risk it to get what he wanted.
“Sure.”
He stood and gestured for her to follow. He motioned to Baldy, who had been present in the lab, and he dropped his weapon.
Brian pushed through the two sets of lab doors. “Obviously you’ll be restricted to the grounds. You won’t be able to go past the fenced-in yard you’ve already visited.”
He withdrew a ring of keys from his pocket. Cell keys? At some point she’d have to get those.
They stood outside the lab doors with three hallways. One in front, to the left and the right.
Brian motioned to her right. “Nothing down this hall that you need. Security personnel only. They’ll get pretty twitchy if you head down there. Understood?”
Regan nodded.
“The door codes are all the same. Three fours and three twos. Most are push-button locks. Everything you need access to will have that type of lock. Everything else is off-limits.”
Regan shifted on her feet.
“Straight ahead is the dormitory wing. It has a small suite of medical beds. They used to be used for large-animal autopsies. Outside that medical suite are the rooms where Olivia is. That’s where we’ll keep the three of you together—a close eye on the three of you. And to the left are the old animal cages where you’ve been staying.”
“How long before I get to see her?”
Brian shrugged. “Not long if you’re a good little doctor. If you do as you say, then we’ll have you together by tonight.”
“Thank you. I’m glad we could come to an agreement. Olivia and I can disappear. Lead a better life.”
“Regan—you don’t mind if I call you that, since we’re partners now.”
Regan’s flesh prickled at the evil tinge in his voice.
“However, I do need to remind you that if you don’t keep your word, I’ll have no mercy when I end the lives of your daughter and your friend. You’ll watch and then I’ll slowly kill you. Understood?”
“Crystal clear.”
FIFTEEN
Colby couldn’t help but pace the cell. He was alone, and the longer he was isolated the more his mind raced down paths he didn’t want to consider. As soon as Regan regained consciousness, they’d taken Olivia from her. The scene still caused his heart to grieve. Her reaching out. Olivia crying, asking to stay.
And then they’d hustled Colby out of the room and back into the animal cage where he felt like he was morphing into whatever primate they’d held here.
His thoughts were beginning to align with the large apes he saw when he visited the zoo. The violence and agitation. He wanted to hit something to dispel the electricity that zinged through his chest and tingled at the ends of his fingers.
Where was Regan? Was she okay? Were they hurting her?
The passage of time was hard to judge. His watch was long gone. There were no windows in the cell. No sunlight. He and Regan had definitely been separated for a few hours—but how many was hard to tell.
He peered out every angle of the cell to see if he could get any sense of what was happening. No one walked by. No guards. No sound. Nothing.
Have they taken them away and now I’m here alone?
He heard a door close. The snap of a lock. Soft footsteps and the click of steel-toed boots. He gripped the bars.
Please, Lord. Let this be Regan alive and unharmed. Bring her back to me.
The thoughts surprised him but also comforted him. His heart was ready, and he didn’t want to lose her. Couldn’t lose her. He had to keep her and Olivia safe—always.
When she came down the hall, she wasn’t in zip-ties. Baldy didn’t have a gun trained on her back. In fact, he was unarmed, as far as Colby could see. Something was different. There was a new measure of trust between her and the hostage-takers that maybe even extended to Colby.
What that signaled to Colby was that they were no longer worried about her taking off. Of course, holding Olivia’s life over her head would likely ensure the compliance of any mother, but Regan could easily break free and run if she wanted to try.
They seemed pretty confident that she wouldn’t.
Baldy unlocked the cell, and she stepped in. He took a few steps back and then closed the door behind her.
Colby took her in, drank in every nuance of her physical appearance. Had they hurt her? No new bruising that he could see. She stood strong, tall, hair slightly disheveled. She remained in the same clothes they’d been given to go to the bank. She looked at him with questioning eyes, and he wanted to wipe the doubt away.
He took three steps and wrapped his arms around her, and she caved against his chest. He held her fast with one arm behind her back, the other cupping her head. He felt her body shudder under his hold.
Colby eased her back and wiped her tears with his thumbs. There were few words he
could say to express exactly what he was feeling and his emotions took hold of his intellect. He leaned forward and brushed his lips against her cheek. Even with all they’d been through, her skin felt soft under his lips and he trailed them to her other cheek. He didn’t want space or air between them, and he pressed her closer. She pushed back slightly and, at first, he feared she was pulling away, but then she looked up at him—her eyes clear, inviting, and he pressed his lips against hers.
Her lips were warm, soft. First tentative and then more confident.
Not where he’d imagined he’d first kiss her, but everything else was right about the moment. The physical expression of everything he’d been feeling over the past several days.
That he was at the point where he didn’t want to live life without her and he was willing to let her know it.
* * *
Reluctantly, Regan pulled away and he smoothed his fingers over her lips—the pull between them still evident in his eyes. Colby smiled sweetly—almost as gently as the kisses he’d planted on her face and lips.
“I was worried,” Colby said. “What happened?”
Regan took his hand in hers and eased them away from her face. She motioned them to the video camera in the corner of the room. “Do you think they can hear us in here?”
Regan doubted it, but this was also not her area of expertise. Nothing they talked about seemed to cause any repercussions. The hostage-takers didn’t act privy to things Regan thought they had discussed confidentially.
“Probably video only. Enough to keep an eye on us to make sure we’re not trying to break out of here. Newly installed just for us by the looks of it.”
“I didn’t see any security cameras in the lab.”
“I haven’t seen any anywhere else, either. This is a decommissioned research facility. My guess is they were only worried about large animals escaping, which is the reason for the tower—an old, decrepit, wooden tower. Also, they probably wanted a watchful eye to keep people from coming onto the property.”
“I made a deal,” Regan said, breaking the flow of conversation.
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