by Webb, Debra
The knowing smile that slid across his lips was all the answer she needed, but he wanted to brag. “It was the perfect solution. Children’s bodies are fresher, so to speak, than those of adults. Most are undamaged by the world we live in and the self-inflicted damage we do on a daily basis. Even on a cellular level their bodies are more flexible than ours. You saw the results for yourself. Sophie is perfect. She shows very little cellular damage.”
Heart pounding now, Sarah steeled herself against the confusing and shattering emotions. “Does she remember her life?”
“Memories of her life are coming slowly. As soon as she saw you, she recognized you as her mother. The memories must be nudged by her senses. Whenever she is shown an image she recognizes, any memories associated with the person, place, or thing awaken. The same with the sense of smell. She recalled how much she loved cheese pizza before she tasted it. Any part of her previous life with which she comes into contact she makes the connection. This is far more than we’d dared hope for.”
“You son of a bitch. You killed my little girl.” Sarah lunged at him.
Two of his minions hurried into the room and grabbed her.
Meltzer straightened his expensive shirt and jacket. “I’ve given you a rare gift, Detective. You have your daughter back. Accept that gift with some dignity.”
“Why Sophie?” Sarah had to know. “Why my baby?”
Meltzer smiled. “I saw you, your husband, and Sophie at a museum once. You won’t remember, but I remember it perfectly. Sophie was so smart for such a little girl. Smart and beautiful. I knew she was the perfect candidate. I personally chose all my candidates. The work was far too important to do otherwise.”
“You’ll wish you were in hell before I’m finished with you, you bastard.”
“I think not, Detective. You see, your husband has created quite the quandary for me and, unfortunately, I have to leave all this behind. Since I’m confident the rest of the world will be as ignorant of true science and medicine as you are, I’ll be destroying the fruits of my life’s work.”
“No!” Sarah tried to break free. She couldn’t let him harm the children… her child, Carla’s child.
“Not to worry.” He fastened the middle button of his jacket. “This time you and your husband will die with your daughter.”
“Who did you call?”
The man’s fist plowed into Tom’s jaw again. He had lost count of the number of blows. He spit the blood from his mouth, his damaged lip burning like hell. “No one. There was nobody home at any of the houses and my cell was dead. I’ve already told you this.”
The man leaned forward and put his face in Tom’s. “And I still don’t believe you, Special Agent Cuddahy. Now, let’s try this again.”
Tom braced for another blow.
The door opened with a heavy squeak and a man stuck his head inside. “Coben, the boss wants to see you.”
“Coben,” Tom repeated. He looked up at the bastard, his right eye swelling so fast he could hardly see out it at this point. “Nice to put a name with the face.”
Coben kicked him in the gut on his way out. “Shut up.”
Tom forced his muscles to relax and quieted his breathing. He needed to hear whatever he could. He had no idea how much time had passed. Six or seven hours at least. Had Larson received his message? Was Paul close? Truth was, Tom wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold out.
“I’m almost finished in here.” Coben said.
Tom leaned as far toward the door as possible to hear whatever was said next.
“Who he called no longer matters. Kill him. Then the woman and children.”
Fear hurtled through Tom. Sarah. The kids. He was going to kill them all.
“I’ll take care of it, Meltzer,” Coben groused.
“I’m leaving in a few hours and I want to see for myself that it’s done.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Coben snapped.
The air stalled in Tom’s lungs. He had to do something. He struggled against the plastic handcuffs. Had to get loose.
Coben returned. He looked to be fifty or so. Fit. Mean as hell. The sort who killed without remorse. He rolled up one sleeve and then reached for the other.
Tom laughed suddenly.
Coben stopped rolling up his sleeve. “What the hell you laughing at?”
“For an old man, you pack a good punch.”
Coben shoved the chair backwards. Tom landed on his back on the floor with a thud. The bastard’s boot settled on his throat. “I might be old, but at least I’m gonna keep breathing. That’s more than I can say for you, Special Agent Cuddahy.”
“You’re a real tough guy,” Tom ground out, “with me all tied up like this. I’ll bet you wouldn’t be so damned tough if my hands were free.”
Coben laughed. “Nichols,” he shouted, “get your fat ass in here.”
The man who’d stuck his head in a moment ago came into the room. He glanced from Coben to Tom and back. “What?”
Coben withdrew the weapon from his waistband and handed it to the other man. “I’m going to cut the Special Agent here loose. If, by some twist of fate, he kicks my ass, shoot him.”
Nichols adjusted the weapon, the barrel aimed at Tom. “My pleasure.”
While Coben jerked up the chair and stalked around behind Tom, he focused on what he had to do. He calmed his muscles. Coben’s knife slide between his wrists, slitting the plastic cuffs. Tom blocked all else from his mind as he stood. Coben gave him a push.
“Let’s see what you got, pretty boy.”
Tom spun, slamming his right fist into the man’s jaw and his left into his gut with every ounce of force he possessed.
Coben’s head jerked back as he grabbed his stomach, then he grinned. “Oh, now, is that it?”
Tom thought of his little girl. A piece of crap like this had taken her. Now the lives of at least half a dozen other children were hanging in the balance. Tom tore into the man. They tumbled to the floor. Tom banged his head against the floor. Over and over. Coben tried to buck him off. Tried to get a jab in. Tom pounded his face with his fists.
“Shoot him,” Coben squeaked out.
Tom rolled, pulled Coben atop him. The weapon fired. Coben’s body jerked. Tom dragged him up and shoved him into the other man.
The weapon discharged again.
Tom grabbed for the weapon. He twisted it around and the next bullet entered the soft area under Nichols’s chin. The man dropped to the floor.
Running footsteps echoed in the corridor.
Tom flattened against the wall next to the door.
The footsteps hurried past and eventually faded.
Sounded as if anyone who’d figured out what Meltzer was up to was attempting to escape.
Tom checked Coben’s body for a radio or phone. He grabbed the cell and the fresh ammo clip in his back pocket.
Easing the door open, Tom checked the corridor.
Clear.
He had to find Sarah and the children before it was too late.
Chapter 26
Sarah stood next to the door, her arms shaking as she held the one chair in the room high over her head. When that door opened she was taking out whoever stood in her way of her getting out. She had to find the children and… Sophie.
The door burst open.
Tom.
Sarah dropped the chair and ran into his arms. “Thank God you’re here.”
“We have to hurry.”
She gasped. “Are you okay?” His face was bloody. Both eyes were swollen, one horribly so.
“I’m okay. We have to find the children before Meltzer—”
“I know.” She grabbed his hand and held it tight. “Let’s go.”
The corridor was eerily quiet.
“I’ve searched this entire floor,” Tom said. “The other rooms and offices are empty. Did you see anything when they brought you in?”
Sarah wished she had. “I was drugged. I woke up in the room where you found me.”
Tom paused at a door at the stairwell door. Sarah held him back when he would have opened it.
“Tom.”
He turned to her. It hurt her to look at his damaged face.
She steadied her voice. “Sophie and Josh are alive. It was them I saw. Sam, too.” The tears wouldn’t be contained, hard as she tried.
“How is that possible?”
“When we’re out of here, I’ll tell you everything Meltzer told me.”
“You saw him?”
She nodded. “He’s here.”
“Not for long.” Tom reached for the door. “I didn’t have a visual, but I heard him tell his goons to kill us and the children. He said he was leaving. We have to stop him. If he gets away…”
He didn’t have to say the rest. Sarah understood. He would just set up shop someplace new. The idea of him doing what he had done to Sophie and the others to more children was unfathomable.
In the stairwell Tom headed up rather than down. They all but ran up the stairs. The third floor corridor was as deserted as the one on the second floor had been. The rooms were offices and most were deserted. Computers still on… Coats and briefcases still at desks.
A body was slumped over the desk in the fourth office they entered.
“Is he alive?” Sarah didn’t see any blood.
Tom checked his pulse then shook his head.
They moved on to the next office. Again, the man behind the desk was dead, this one leaned back in his chair. A foamy froth had bubbled from his lips.
Sarah pointed to the coffee cup. There had been coffee at the other man’s desk. “They’ve been poisoned.”
“Don’t touch anything,” Tom warned. “Let’s keep moving.”
They found the same in the remaining offices. The rooms were either empty or the person occupying that office was dead. As they reached the stairwell door once more, Tom hesitated. He surveyed the corridor they had just searched.
“They’ll start a fire to destroy all of this… or blow it up. They left too much evidence, Sarah. The computers and file cabinets. We have to move faster. Hopefully we’ll find the children on a lower level.”
“If we’re not too late.” Sarah’s heart ached.
They rushed down the stairs. Other than a few more dead staff members, the second floor was deserted. Doors standing open. Fear pounded in her veins. They found the same on the first floor, leaving only one more level—the one below ground. There was a chance Meltzer’s goons had herded the children there, making it more difficult for them to escape.
The basement was deathly quiet. Tom moved with caution, Sarah right behind him. There were no offices in the basement. The rooms were labs. This was where Meltzer had executed his experiments on God only knew how many children. The labs as well as the equipment were cutting edge. She wasn’t a scientist, but she recognized the advanced technology.
In one of the rooms, bodies were suspended in large freezer like storage containers. Sarah didn’t recognize the faces behind the windows in the containers. The bodies were adults—elderly adults. She hesitated at the final container. The woman inside was Mia’s grandmother.
Sarah understood now. This was where he kept those in cryosleep.
Had Sophie been here all this time?
“We have bodies.”
She hurried back into the corridor to find Tom. He stood at the doorway to another of the labs. She joined him there. The guards they had watched patrolling the compound had been called to this room and executed. All had gunshots to the backs of their heads.
Fear tightened its grip on her chest. “We’re running out of options. Where are the children?”
There was only one more door. On the left, a few yards ahead.
They reached the door. It was locked. Tom peered through the small window in the upper part of the door.
“They’re in there.” He turned to Sarah. “A dozen or more kids.”
Sarah’s attention had stalled on the electronic keypad on the wall next to the door. Her eyes read the words, but it took a moment for her brain to assimilate the meaning.
Warning… extermination will begin in 90 seconds… 89… 88…
“We have to get them out.” Fear twisted inside her. “We have to get them out now! They’re supposed to die in there.”
“Stand back.” Tom leveled his weapon, taking aim at the keypad.
Sarah grabbed his arm. “The children?”
“They’re huddled together in the far corner.”
“But, what if—?”
“It’s a risk we have to take.”
He was right. They had no other choice.
Tom fired four shots, two at the keypad and two at the door handle. He tried the door. It still wouldn’t budge.
50 seconds… 49…
Sarah watched, defeat tugging at her, as Tom fired two more shots around the handle. An alarm sounded and the screen on the keypad turned red and started to flash.
Airlock has been compromised. Extermination has been cancelled.
Sarah cried out with the relief flooding through her. Tom slammed his weight against the door. She checked the corridor, just in case the alarms brought any backup Meltzer might have on hand—unless he’d killed them all.
The door gave way and Tom lurched into the room. Sarah was right on his heels. The children stared at them in fear. For a moment Sarah and Tom couldn’t move. They could only stand there staring at all those little faces.
The group of children parted and Sam trotted over to them, his tail wagging.
“Mommy! Daddy!” Sophie ran to them next.
Tom dropped to his knees.
Sarah tried to catch her breath, tried to staunch the tears. Impossible. The sound of sobs pulled her attention away from the tender scene. The other children were crying. They were afraid. They wanted their families, too.
“It’s okay now, boys and girls.” Sarah motioned for the children to follow her. “We’re taking you home.”
Tom carried Sophie and Sarah urged the rest of the children forward. They headed for the stairwell. Sam trotted ahead as if scouting for trouble. God, how she loved that dog.
They reached the first floor without incident. Sarah ushered the last child through the stairwell door. Tom handed Sophie to her. The weight of her child in her arms had love and happiness bursting in Sarah’s chest.
“I’ll have a look outside first. Don’t bring the children out until I give the word.”
Sarah nodded, unable to speak.
Tom eased open the door on the west side of the building and scanned the perimeter. This was the side of the building he and Sarah had been watching from the tree line. No guards. No vehicles.
He moved back to where Sarah and the children waited. “Lead the kids over to the far corner of the property near the fence where we hid in the tree line.” He handed her the phone he’d taken from Coben. “Keep trying to get through to help just in case Larson didn’t get my message.”
Sarah accepted the phone. Worry showed in her eyes. “What’re you going to do?”
“If Meltzer is still in the compound I’m going to find him. Now go.”
Tom watched until Sarah and the children were nearly to the fence, then he rushed toward the opposite side of the building. When he’d entered the gate, he’d noted the driveway continued on toward the other side of the building. There had to be a parking area between the buildings. If Meltzer was still here he would likely be loading up to get the hell out.
When Tom reached the corner on the east side of the building his suspicions were confirmed. A parking garage stood about twenty yards from the main building. On top was a helipad with a waiting helicopter.
Tom scanned the open area between him and the garage. Clear. He moved out and headed for the garage. As he reached the entrance an explosion sounded behind him. He dove for cover. Three more explosions rocked the ground. The next sound was the building he’d just exited falling in on itself.
Raised voices drew his attention upward.
>
The garage roof.
Tom scrambled up and moved into the garage. He searched for the nearest stairwell. The whirr of the helicopter’s engine starting had adrenaline roaring through him. He could not let that bastard escape.
He spotted the stairs and started upward. At the roof landing Tom cautiously opened the door and had a look. Meltzer and a man wearing a white lab coat were arguing. Tom couldn’t hear them over the chop-chop of the helicopter blades, but the body language left no question that the man in the white lab coat was not happy.
Another blast rent the air and both men turned to stare toward the south.
Tom couldn’t see what the blast had taken out, but his guess was the gate. He hoped that meant backup had arrived.
A weapon discharging drew his attention back to the men. The man in the white lab coat was down. Shoulders hunched around his head, Meltzer hurried toward the waiting helicopter.
Tom rushed after him. “Stop right there, Meltzer!”
Meltzer kept going. Tom fired at the rooftop a few feet in front of him. Meltzer didn’t slow. Tom resisted the urge to put a bullet in his brain and went after him. They needed this bastard alive to help the children. God only knew what he’d done to them and the only files may have just been destroyed.
Just before Meltzer would have climbed into the helicopter, Tom threw himself against the older man. They went down together. As they rolled and struggled, Tom fought to keep the barrel of Meltzer’s gun away from him.
The helicopter lifted off.
Meltzer’s attention shifted to his departing escape route. He screamed at the pilot, his voice lost to the cacophony of sounds.
Tom ripped the weapon from his hand and tossed it aside. “It’s over, Meltzer.”
Meltzer’s cold, hard gaze zeroed in on Tom and he started to laugh hysterically.
Tom got up and yanked him to his feet. “This is the end, Meltzer.”
“No, no, you’re wrong. It’s only the beginning. Now the world will finally know my genius,” Meltzer announced. “No more hiding. I’ll be in all the history and science books. Right where my family has always belonged.”