“London,” Quinn rolled off me doing his best to conceal my near-naked state. “This isn’t—”
“Bastard.” Her fist smashed into poor David West’s nose, blood spurted from it, staining Quinn’s bare chest. “You swore you wouldn’t—” She swung again, but Quinn wrapped his arms around her to stop her assault.
I took that as my cue and hopped from the couch collecting my tank top and one of my guns. As I ran for the door Quinn’s voice nearly stopped me. “Indeara, wait.”
Not this time.
I ran faster, slipping from his loft and into the hallway. His voice trailed after me, “If you want to find Nobody, ask McClain.”
I nodded, but didn’t stop running. Not until I reached the blacktopped street. And then only long enough to stuff Quinn’s wallet into my cargo pants. A wallet I’d slipped from his back pocket while he was otherwise engaged.
All’s fair in love, war, and rescuing a cyclops.
Chapter 22
Resden Enterprise looked the same as it had on my last visit. With the exception of the unconscious guard slumped over the security console and the droplets of blood following my path to the elevator, blood from a gunshot wound in my stomach. A lucky shot from an, I glanced back at the bruised man, unlucky guard. The wound was far enough from any vital organs to worry me, but it still burned like a son-of-a-bitch.
Head, heart, or like Achilles the back of my foot. Those were my weaknesses. Well, those spots and lying, cheating body dwellers. I’d survive any other bullet wound, as long as my cells had time to heal.
I limped into the elevator, watching my wound try to mend itself before my eyes. Something crawled into the back of my mind, a niggling fear that entering Resden had been too easy. One guard. An electrical fence. A roving pack of hungry dogs. That was all that protected Resden, or was it? Would the elevator doors open to an ambush of gunfire? I checked the PM40’s ammo, readying myself for whatever lay behind door number 1.
So far Quinn’s security badge had gained me access to both the front door and the elevators. I wondered if I’d have the same luck in Arthur’s office.
But first I needed to check the lab. From memory I mapped out my strategy. The lab, located on the fortieth floor, took up the entire area. To search the whole thing would take hours. Hours I didn’t have. So I’d have to keep my inspection cursory and my eyes wide for any sign of Nobody, or the mutant vaccine.
Briefly I considered blowing up the building, but quickly discarded the idea. There were too many variables, like what if Nobody was locked inside. Anyway, blowing up Resden wouldn’t guarantee the vaccine’s destruction. In fact, it might be the factor that stepped up production, and ultimately led to the destruction of mutants everywhere.
While pondering the problem and suffering through a Muzak version of ‘Animal Crackers in My Soup’ my phone vibrated from the pocket of my cargo pants. I pulled it out and checked the caller ID. McClain. Damn. I wasn’t ready to deal with him, or Quinn’s accusations just yet.
If Jake was responsible for kidnapping Nobody I’d all but signed my death warrant by bringing him with me. But could I believe Quinn? My foolish heart said yes, but my brain kicked its ass. Quinn was a liar. A betrayer. So what did that make Jake?
“Did you find him?” I answered when my phone buzzed again.
“Nice to hear from you too,” he replied, his voice sounding tired. “Where are you?”
“Did you find him?” I repeated.
“No.”
“Call me when you do.” I hung up, turned my phone off, and shoved it back in my pocket. Until I knew for sure Jake wasn’t playing me I’d keep my distance.
Better safe than not dead.
The elevator dinged and the doors slowly slid open. I tucked my body against the console and waited for a flurry of gunshots that never came. The corridor was dark and oddly empty. The faint smell of chemicals tickled my nose.
Quickly I inspected the hallway and the offices on each side of it, searching for Nobody. But I saw nothing. Using Quinn’s badge I entered the lab and nearly gagged at the sight of half frozen mutants suspended in glass jars like monkey-dolphins on display. The mutants looked merely asleep under the glow of the lab lights.
But they were dead. All dead.
I shivered, but couldn’t look away. This was how my grandfather saw the mutant race. Saw me. Like we were objects to be displayed, jeered, and studied by men with superior genetic codes. Resden wasn’t searching for a cure. No, it was seeking a means to end us, a way to erase the questions of science and the ideals of man.
My stomach rolled forcing me away from the mummified mutants. The rest of my search of the lab wasn’t as bad. But it had its moments, like when I discovered a cage of mutated mice, their tiny bodies swollen from puncture wounds. Test subjects for anti-mutant-virals. Resden grew mutant mice in order to destroy mutants.
I shook my head and opened the cage door, freeing the mutated beasts. But they refused to leave the safety of the gilded cage, choosing instead the demons they knew to the world beyond their walls.
I couldn’t blame them. Tears welled in my eyes and I thought of Quinn. For the last three years, I blamed him for leaving the mutant world. Hated him for it. But now, a part of me understood his need. Not that part that had been shot. That part was still pissed off and wanted to kick his lying ass all over again.
I shook my head. I was losing my mind, standing in a lab full of dead mutants, and moaning over what could have been. Thankfully, nobody was here to see my breakdown.
Nobody.
Was he being poked and prodded like the mutated mice? Or worse? I had to find him. I glanced at the clock above the door. It read 4:03 a.m. It would be light soon and humans would begin to file into Resden for a day of mutant killing. I didn’t have much time.
With one last look at the frozen faces of my fellow mutants I jogged from the lab and up the stairs to Arthur’s office on the 41st floor. By the time I reached the right floor, I’d blocked out the horrors caged below.
For now.
Chapter 23
I swiped Quinn’s badge through the lock on Arthur’s door. But the lock remained glowing a stubborn red. I guess I’d have to do things the old-fashioned way. My boot smashed into the door just above the handle with enough force that my heel pushed through the wood leaving my leg dangling, half in and half out, of the door. I valiantly tried to maintain my footing, but it was a lost cause. I tumbled to the floor, my boot still lodged in the woodwork.
It might have been laughable had it not been so damn frustrating. I tugged at my leg, but it wouldn’t give. Finally, I kicked off my pink boot and pulled my foot free. I got to my feet and reached through the hole to unlock the door. It opened easily, and I quickly ducked inside.
The room hadn’t changed since my meeting with Arthur. It was still imposing, much like the man, and still held too many secrets. Not for long, though. If his office held any clue to Nobody’s whereabouts I’d find it. I started with a casual peek through Arthur’s desk and the computer on top of it.
Surprisingly no password protected the computer. It didn’t need to I figured out after spending a minute searching the files on his hard drive. It was vacant, devoid of anything, let alone anything important. Damn.
His desk held little appeal too. Besides being beautifully designed and handcrafted, it was also almost empty. The only object on it was a faded photograph of my mother, her smile bursting with love and happiness. The photo wasn’t like the dying woman I remembered. I turned the photograph upside-down and finished my inspection.
In the bottom drawer of the desk, a bottle of pills sat along side a fifth of whiskey. Both of which saddened me for some inexplicable reason. My eyes scanned a few paper documents arranged in the drawer as well as Arthur’s calendar. Nothing popped out at me as sinister. Or more sinister than a weekly doctor’s appointment and a memo warning all Resden employees of a possible mutant breach. I assumed that mutant was me.
I stood, stretch
ed, and headed for the large metal file cabinets lining the back wall. Inside the cabinets rows of file folders hung with tiny plastic labels, all neatly typed with names of dead mutants. Inside the folders the mutant’s name and date of death were listed in clinical notations.
Feeling vaguely ill, I scanned a few of the files. Cause of death: Mutant Plague. Mutant Plague. Mutant Plague. Every damn file shared that one unique feature.
Scientists had pondered the plague, poked and prodded the dying, and ultimately declared our genetic malfunctions self-selected disease transmitted by unknown method. It wasn’t airborne nor transmitted by contact. But it swept through mutant society in generational waves, killing thousands in every age group. Our mutated genes would be the death of us science said. But what about Emily? She, a human woman, died of the mutant plague too.
I scratched my head, pondering the significance of a drawer full of dead mutants. Why would Arthur Resden, one of the richest men in the world, bother tracking the plague deaths of mutants? It didn’t make sense.
Unless…I swallowed hard, dropped the file in my hand, and slid to the floor. It couldn’t be. My mind flashed to my mother’s ravaged face, her cells dying from mutated blood. Plague, the doctors said. Six months to live. I was ten at the time. Too young to understand why mommy couldn’t get out of bed. But Calvin, my dad, had never left her side. He held her close as she succumbed to a mutant disease.
Or had she died for her father’s greed?
I didn’t get a chance to finish the thought, instead I caught a flash of metal out of the corner of my eye seconds before it smashed into the side of my head.
Then I thought nothing at all.
Chapter 24
“Indeara,” a voice shimmered at the edge of my awareness. I tried to focus on it, to pull myself from the haze inside my brain. “Stay with me.” Warm calloused hands caressed the side of my face.
The side someone had tried to bash in.
With sudden clarity, I returned to consciousness, my head achy but still functional. “Son-of-a-bitch,” I whispered, opening my eyes to stare into the hard lined face of Jake McClain. “Did you hit me?” I struggled to sit up.
“What?!” Concern quickly twisted to anger. “I found you bleeding on the floor and saved your sorry ass by getting you out of Resden.” I believe he added ‘you ungrateful bitch’ under his breath, but I decided to ignore it. “And you ask me if I hit you?”
When he put it that way…
“Can you walk?” Jake hooked his muscular forearms under my arms and lifted me up. I swayed slightly, but my mutated genes had already done their job, and returned me to my semi-healthy state. The ache in my head receded and an apology formed on my lips. And stayed there. I’d be damned if I’d apologize to Jake just yet. After all, how had he found me at Resden in the first place?
At best he’d been following me. The at worst…I didn’t want to even consider the worst. Not yet. “Where are we?” I asked instead as my eyes scanned the small room. It looked like a woman’s room, an overcompensating woman at that, with lots of feminine colors and lace draped over every surface. Figured. Jake didn’t strike me as a mutant who lacked for female companionship.
Stupid hunter.
Jake rubbed his jaw, and for the first time, I noticed how tired he appeared. Lines creased the corner of his eyes and his mouth. His clothes were rumbled too, as if he’d recently tossed them on in a hurry.
Explained the chick’s bedroom.
“We’re about a mile from the wall.” He paused. “At a friend’s brownstone.”
Friend? What exactly did that mean? Friend of mutants or of Jake McClain, man of mystery? And why the hell did the idea of Jake involved with a human woman annoy me? I was losing it. No other explanation. At least none I’d willing explore.
“What about Nobody?” I ran a hand through my blood-soaked hair. Flecks of rusty brown blood stuck to my fingers. I must look like hell, I thought, which Jake confirmed a few seconds later when he winced and avoided my eye.
“No luck.” He shook his head. “But I did get word the HOA’s also on his trail.”
My heart leapt in my chest. If the HOA was looking for Nobody then Resden didn’t have him, and maybe, for the moment, he was safe. “Thanks.” I grinned.
“So what did you find out?” Jake wiped a smear of blood from my cheek. “Something worth bashing your brains in for?”
I shrugged, not ready to tell him my suspicions about dear old Arthur. Not without proof. Besides, what would I say? My granddad had created a plague and was using it like a weapon against mutants? He’d think I was insane. Not that I’d blame him. It sounded pretty paranoid, even to me.
Speaking of paranoid.
“How did you find me?” I asked. “At Resden, I mean. How’d you know I was there?”
He flushed and an alarm bell joined the chorus of bells in my head. I wasn’t going to like whatever he said. He licked his lips and avoided my eyes. “GPS.”
“What?” I couldn’t have heard him right.
“Tracking device,” he repeated. “Right back pocket.”
“You bugged me?!” When? How? Oh God, our kiss. He’d slipped the device in my pants when I was draped over him like a cheap nightcrawler. A blush stained my cheeks, but rage quickly swamped my embarrassment.
Jake stepped closer to me, a smile touching his lips. “It wasn’t like that—.”
“Don’t.”
“Come on, Indeara.” He reached for me, but I slapped his hand away. His grin widened. “What’s a little GPS between lovers, huh?”
“We are not lovers,” I bit out each word.
He laughed. “Not at the moment.”
“Not ever.” I shoved him and stormed past. Since I had no idea where I was or how to get out of his friend’s house my dramatic exit suffered a bit. Yet blind fury propelled me from the bedroom and down a long hallway. If I’d been paying better attention, I could’ve saved myself plenty of confusion later on, but as it was, I only wanted to get as far as I could away from Jake McClain. The deceitful, deluded jerk.
After opening door after door, I finally located the exit. I stepped into the bright early morning sunshine and winced. Humans surrounded me, armed with Starbucks cups and business suits. They gave me a wide berth though. Not that I blamed them. There I stood, in the middle of the street with one pink boot, my hair and clothes mattered with dried blood, jumping up and down on top a small GPS device I’d found tucked in my back pocket.
It wasn’t my finest hour.
Or next couple of days for that matter.
Chapter 25
“Truce,” Jake said, handing me a cup of coffee and my other combat boot. I took his peace offerings and nodded. My anger had faded somewhat, and I had to admit I would’ve done the same thing had I thought of it first. Hell, I pretty much had done the same to Quinn and his wallet. Of course, Quinn had deserved it while I was an innocent victim.
“So where do we go from here?” I nodded up the street toward the concrete of the wall and the mutant world behind it. A part of me wanted to head home, to regroup, but I couldn’t leave. Not without my only friend.
“Home,” he said as if reading my mind. “The way I figure it, we’re not finding the answers here, so they must be back there.”
“No, if Nobody was in the mutant world, I’d know it.” I shook my head. “He would’ve contacted me.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way.” Jake winced and rubbed at the hard line of his jaw. “But maybe the guy needed a break. I’m guessing you’re not the easiest person to live with.”
“Not Nobody.” I refused to let Jake’s words hurt me. What did I care what a stupid hunter thought of me? “Besides Caren said she saw Quinn that night.”
So why did I trust Quinn when he said it wasn’t him? I had too many questions, and not enough bloodshed in search of answers to satisfy me.
Jake stared at some invisible spec on the blacktop, his fingers drumming against his leg. “I got it,” he sai
d after a few minutes of silence. “Caren she saw a man from a photograph in your room, right? Until now we assumed that picture was of your ex, but what if it was of someone else?”
My forehead wrinkled as I mentally flipped through the nearly empty photo album I kept in the drawer of my dresser. Most of the pages were devoted to fading images of my dead parents with a few exceptions, a page or two of holidays with the Daniels family, a couple of photographs of Quinn stretched across my bed, his grey eyes burning with secrets. And a few photographs I’d inherited from my mother. Pictures of her family. Pictures of Arthur.
“Damn.” I snapped my fingers. “What if Caren was referring to a photograph of my grandfather, and not Quinn?”
But that didn’t make sense either. Arthur was an old man, a sick old man at that. And for all my teasing Nobody wasn’t a shrieking violet. He had skills, muscles, and height on his side. He had put up a fight.
No, Arthur wasn’t the man.
So who was?
“It had to be Quinn,” I said.
“I wouldn’t put it past the asshole.” Jake shrugged. “But it feels like there’s more. Like we’re missing something.”
I raised an eyebrow. Did Jake and Quinn know each other? And if so, how? Were they in cahoots, feeding me tiny crumbs of information to keep me happy, while they tracked my every move?
Damn, that sounded even more paranoid than the belief my grandfather created a plague to destroy the man who married his precious Emily. Soon I’d be wearing tinfoil hats and wandering around the city in my pajamas.
Jake grinned, misinterpreting my grimace. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’m good at my job. I’ll find your Nobody.” He winked. “And when I do, we’ll both get what we want.” As he finished his sentence, he clasped his hand around my neck and pulled me into his powerful body for a rough, passionate kiss. I stood still in his embrace, enjoying the pleasure of his lips and muscular body against mine. His hand slipped south, caressing my backside with vigor.
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