Safe (The Shielded Series Book 1)

by Christine DePetrillo

  Okay then.

  The guy had a pair of headphones around his neck and his icy blue stare said, I’ll mess you up if given the chance.

  “Time to jet, Foster.” Darina reached out her right hand and wiggled her fingers. “Do you trust me?”

  Another explosion rattled the building beneath them as flames shot out of the ventilation system.

  He didn’t have the option not to trust her.

  ****

  Why did Darina want Foster to take her hand so badly? She couldn’t make sense of her need to keep this guy safe. Sure, she’d kept people safe for most of her police career, but something was different when it came to this doctor.

  Maybe it had something to do with the medicine in her pocket—medicine that could significantly improve Zeke’s life. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Foster hadn’t hesitated when she’d asked him about helping with the seizures. Maybe it had to do with Foster being a GEC like Zeke with the same affliction even.

  Maybe it had to do with the way he’d looked at her when he’d traced the stars around her forearm in his domicile.

  No time for this.

  “Foster, c’mon. This roof isn’t going to hold much longer.” She took another step closer, wary of the gaping hole in the roof beside Foster. Heat and smoke poured from it as well as other places on the roof.

  He reached forward and put his hand in hers. With a tug, she pulled him to his feet and they ran to the hovercopter.

  She didn’t let go of his hand. Not when she climbed into the craft. Not when he climbed in right behind her. Not when they settled in their seats. Not when she signaled to Ghared to get the hell off that roof.

  The hovercopter ascended vertically, leaving Foster’s building a flaming beacon below them. Banking around the neighboring buildings, the craft jetted toward Emerge Tech’s walls.

  Foster let go of her hand then to lean forward to Ghared. “Those walls have a security field above them.”

  “Yeah, no shit.” Ghared shot him a sideways glance. “But I got in, didn’t I?” He reached over and smacked the leg of his copilot—Zeke.

  Darina had been surprised to see Zeke in the hovercopter, but Ghared told her he hadn’t wanted to leave the kid behind so soon after a seizure. She immediately regretted calling her buddy for help, but he was the only one who could get them out of there in one piece.

  She loved him for not leaving Zeke behind, even if the kid looked pale and groggy in his seat now. His dark mass of hair was sticking out at odd angles as if he’d been ripped out of a death-level slumber, which he no doubt had been. She fought the urge to pull Zeke into the back seat and into her lap, wanting nothing more than to comfort him.

  Foster leaned back in his seat beside her. “Is our pilot’s confidence warranted, or should I be concerned?” He touched the gash on his forehead and frowned at the blood dotting his fingertips. He unzipped his pocket and extracted his tablet.

  “I wouldn’t have called someone incompetent for help. I make a point of only associating with useful people,” Darina said, watching Foster power up his tablet and attempt—unsuccessfully—to doctor the gash in his forehead.

  She slid closer to him and held out her hand for the tablet. After he slid it into her hand, she focused on lining up the injury in the tablet’s viewfinder. She absolutely did not notice how beautifully green his eyes were or how long his dark eyelashes were or how wonderfully that black stubble framed his tempting lips. She barely registered the artistic way his tattoo swirled up from his neck to his ear. Nope. Didn’t see a thing.

  Grumbling to herself, she scanned his wound and it sealed itself. She reached under the pilot’s seat and grabbed a first aid kit, which no doubt was an antique to Foster. Rummaging around in it, she found a cleansing wipe and gave him one to wash the blood off his forehead.

  As she stowed the first aid kit back under the pilot’s seat, she said, “You’ll live.”

  “Thanks.” His voice also sounded as if he had tried—and failed—to not notice anything about her face as she’d tended to him.

  Nodding, she peered out the front window of the hovercopter as Ghared approached the walls and security field. Her buddy’s work-roughened hands tightened on the yoke as he rocketed them toward the place where the walls met at a ninety-degree angle.

  “Number Two.” He poked Zeke in the arm and the kid jolted in his seat. “You only agreed to come with me if I let you engage the field infrared camera. Quit napping. It’s time.”

  Darina smiled in the backseat. Zeke was forever bugging Ghared about flying. Whether it was building crafts, operating them, or enhancing them, the kid wanted to know it all. She knew Ghared let Zeke fly his crafts sometimes when he thought she wouldn’t find out. Didn’t he know she always found out? She didn’t stop the boy’s secret flight lessons though. Who knew when Zeke might need to know such skills? She wasn’t going to get in the way of something that could potentially save his life or the lives of others.

  Like right now.

  Zeke lifted his head from where it had been resting against his seat. “Ready. Just tell me when.” He yawned, his voice scratchy, and again a maternal wave crested over Darina.

  “This is your son?” Foster craned his head a bit to get a better a look at Zeke.

  Darina nodded.

  “Give me the medicine.” He held out his hand, looking at the bulge in her pocket where the bottle was tucked.

  “What? Now?”

  “It works immediately.”

  She dug into her pocket and handed the bottle over to Foster. He leaned to the front seats again as he unscrewed the top and drew some of the liquid medicine into the dropper attached to the cap.

  “Take this,” he said to Zeke.

  Zeke’s dark brown eyes flicked to Darina, an unspoken question in his expression. They talked like that often. No words, just tilts of eyebrows, slants of lips, twitches of muscles.

  “It’s okay,” she said. “He’s a doctor. That medicine will help.”

  “You told him about me?” A note of accusation laced Zeke’s words.

  “Only because I thought he could help you,” Darina said.

  “And she thought right.” Foster reached the dropper full of medicine farther forward. “Take this, and you’ll feel brand new.”

  “Nothing feels brand new anymore, pal.” Ghared shook his head and glanced back at them. “Where the hell did you find this guy, Darina?”

  “Ghared,” she warned.

  “Fine.” He let out a few mumbles she couldn’t hear, but whatever he’d said made Zeke laugh.

  Foster still held the medicine dropper between the front seats. “Hey, it’s up to you, kid. You can take it and feel awesome or not take it and feel as if you’re stuck in quicksand.”

  At that Zeke snapped his head all around to look at Foster.

  “I always tell Mom I feel as if I’m in quicksand after a seizure.” He looked at Darina. “Did you tell him that too?”

  “She didn’t have to tell me,” Foster said before she could answer. “I know.”

  Ghared glared back at Foster now, his icy blue eyes narrowing, and Darina wished Foster would shut up. Didn’t he know to keep his personal information personal? She could almost hear the millions of questions popping into Ghared’s head.

  “Take it, Zeke.” She took the dropper from Foster, grabbed Zeke by the jaw, and squirted a drop of the medicine into his mouth.

  “Mom…” Zeke coughed and gave her one of those teenage looks—one that said he wasn’t a baby and didn’t wish to be treated like one.

  “Sorry, but I want you to feel better so you can do what Ghared’s asking you to do. We’d like to not get fried at the wall.”

  “That tasted horrible,” Zeke said, sticking his tongue out.

  “I didn’t have time to add flavoring.” Foster sat back, his shoulder pressing against Darina’s, making heat creep over her body again.

  “I think what my son means to say is ‘Thank you, Dr. Ashby,�
� right, Zeke?” She shot the kid a pointed look.

  Zeke had the good sense to look embarrassed by his lack of manners. He turned in his seat to see Foster better. “I’m sorry. Thank you, Dr. Ashby.”

  “Give that medicine a few seconds and you’ll be out of that quicksand. Promise.” Foster folded his arms across his chest and looked out the window.

  Ghared continued on his path to the corner of the wall as Zeke readied the infrared camera. From where Darina sat, it looked as if they were heading for a crash with the security fields above the walls, but she knew better. She’d been flying with Ghared enough times to know he had many tricks up his sleeve… even if the shirt he wore right now had no sleeves.

  “Now, Z,” Ghared said.

  A high-pitched whine filled the interior of the hovercopter. It didn’t bother Darina, but Foster stiffened beside her. When she looked up at him, his jaw was clenched, his eyes closed. She warred with her hand, which thought sliding onto his thigh would be the right thing to do.

  It was not.

  She ended up clamping both of her hands on the back of Ghared’s seat and applauded herself for remaining sensible.

  Barely.

  “Whoohoo!” Ghared roared as he spiraled the craft downward.

  Foster’s hands went to the back of Zeke’s seat now, his entire body braced for whatever it was he expected to happen.

  “Hey,” Darina said, her traitorous right hand resting on his shoulder. “Are you okay?” She was the one who didn’t like heights, yet Ghared’s flying never made her nervous. She was completely safe in his care, even if he didn’t always think so.

  When Foster met her gaze, the depth of his green eyes drew her in, and she had this crazy desire to be alone with him.

  “Yeah, I’m okay.” He let out a sarcastic chuckle. “I just always imagined committing suicide in a less brutal way than flying, purposely, into a security field.”

  How many times had he imagined committing suicide? From the looks of his domicile, he lived the good life. What reason could he possibly have for wanting to end his existence?

  “We’re not going to die today.” She squeezed his shoulder and reluctantly let her hand fall away.

  A double whoop from the front seats made both Darina and Foster look out the cockpit window. Darina had to admit it did look as if they were headed for direct impact with the field, but doubting Ghared or Zeke would be a waste of time. Together they would get them past Emerge Tech’s walls and security field unscathed.

  After that, she didn’t know what was going to happen.

  Darina didn’t love that uncertainty. She’d kept herself and Zeke—and to some extent, Ghared—alive by always having a plan and plotting her next moves. Now the only thing she knew for certain was she had to keep Foster from falling into Warres’s hands.

  Because no one should be in Warres’s hands.

  “Got it!” Zeke reported a series of numbers.

  “Roger that, kid.” Ghared tipped the hovercopter on its side, and Foster slid in his seat to spill over to Darina’s side.

  She was about to tell the doctor to stay on his own side, but Ghared flipped the hovercopter back to horizontal, and suddenly they were on the outside of Emerge Tech’s walls, beyond the security field, flying over the gray and broken streets of Boston.

  “Up high, Z!” Ghared held his right hand out to Zeke and they slapped hands in celebration.

  “What just happened?” Foster asked. “I may have closed my eyes. Are we dead?”

  Zeke turned around in his seat, his skin a healthy shade of caramel, his dark eyes wide and alert. “Total opposite of dead, man.” He looked at Darina. “He was right, Mom. I feel great!”

  Her heart swelled to quadruple its normal size at the sight of Zeke’s smile. He was more alive than she’d ever seen him.

  Foster, on the other hand, looked a tad green.

  “We made it,” she said softly, touching his shoulder again. She had to stop touching him. “We’re on the outside.”

  He peered out the window at his right, down at the ruins of the city below them. Raking a hand through his hair, he said, “How did he do it?”

  Darina knew how he did it. The security field that extended from the top of Emerge Tech’s walls was a giant dome of invisible panels. Each panel had its own coding. Ghared used his tech geek skills to hack the code, but it could be tricky to find which panel had shut down. The infrared camera could locate the dead panel. Unfortunately only one panel could be shut down at a time, and flying through it involved some crafty maneuvering.

  Nothing Ghared can’t handle.

  “Can’t give away my secrets,” Ghared said from the pilot’s seat. “Just know that I have many talents.” He glanced back at Foster. “And trust me, you don’t want to know about most of them.”

  “Where are we going?” Zeke asked, saving Darina from having to say anything about the possessive and protective vibes coming off Ghared in tsunami-style waves.

  She raised her eyebrows at Foster. “What do you say, Doc? Where are we headed?”

  Foster’s shoulders rose then fell as he inhaled deeply. He appeared to be mentally reviewing his options, which she knew were few. He had to stay away from Emerge Tech and the city streets. Warres had found him in both settings. He also needed a quiet, remote place to continue his research and find that damn cure.

  “Can this poor excuse for a hovercopter make it all the way to Vermont?” he asked.

  “Hold it right there, asshole,” Ghared said. “Insult my bird again and you’re getting ejected.”

  “No one’s getting ejected,” Darina said, “but I do advise against insulting our phenomenal pilot.”

  “Have I told you I love you?” Ghared asked, reaching his hand back to squeeze Darina’s knee.

  “Not today,” Darina shot back, noting how closely Foster watched the interaction. She and Ghared said I love you all the time, and they did love each other, like siblings. In the aftermath they’d been left in, they’d built a screwy little family. One cop, one jack-of-all-trades tech geek soldier, one teenage GEC. They took care of each other and had survived this long. They had to be doing something right.

  But Foster probably didn’t think they were doing anything right. His lifestyle couldn’t have been more different than theirs.

  “I can continue my research into the cure at my Vermont property,” Foster said.

  “Vermont it is then,” Darina said. “Make sure we’re not followed, Ghared.”

  “That sounds like a green light to drive aggressively.” Ghared wiggled his eyebrows at Zeke.

  Foster’s hands went white-knuckled on the back of Zeke’s seat. “Something tells me I should have taken my chances back there in that burning building.”

  Darina shook her head. “No, that was certain death.” She gestured to the pieced together hovercopter holding them. “Flying in this to Vermont for hours out in the open has only a half certain death rating.”

  Foster looked a little freaked, but the left side of his mouth turned up in a slight grin—a grin Darina wouldn’t mind seeing again.

  Chapter Four

  Mikale paced in his office. Sometimes that space felt like a kingdom. Roomy, inspiring, productive. Today was not one of those times. Today it felt as if the walls were closing in on him. He’d traversed the perimeter of the room about twenty times and still none of his associates were calling in. How hard was it to take down one man?

  Foster is good, but not that good. The man knew science, not evasive maneuvers. He had no tactical skills. He wasn’t a fighter.

  Mikale had searched the streets leading to Emerge Tech, but found no traces of Foster, so he’d returned to his headquarters, not willing to risk going beyond the walls himself.

  His tablet buzzed on his desk. Finally.

  He tapped the earpiece wedged in his ear. “Give me good news.”

  “What if I don’t have any?” Dugan, one of his trusted associates, asked.

  “Goddammit, Dugan
.” He peered out the window of his office. They’d been operating out of an abandoned warehouse outside Boston for months now. The exterior of the building looked as decrepit as its neighbors, but inside had been totally remodeled. The space was filled with state-of-the-art equipment most people wouldn’t dream of getting their hands on, but Mikale had his connections… and his money.

  “I don’t know what happened to him,” Dugan said.

  “The camera footage you shared clearly shows his burning domicile building and its collapse. If he was actually inside—and we don’t know that for sure—how could he have gotten out?”

  “He had help, sir.”

  “Help? From whom?” As far as he knew, Ashby worked alone. He reported to Emerge Tech and had colleagues, but he never worked with partners—not since they’d been partners.

  “Check your tablet.”

  Mikale walked to his desk and sat at the high-backed chair. He tapped the screen of his tablet and watched as pixels arranged themselves into the face of a woman. A breathtaking woman with unusual hazel eyes and auburn hair that framed her face. Her skin was a lovely caramel shade. She had a fierce look on her face, but he couldn’t help noticing how full her lips were.

  With lips like those…

  His body tightened in spots he’d neglected since unleashing his deadly plague. Taking down the human population required all of his attention. He’d forgotten the simple pleasures. This woman made him remember pleasures… not all of them simple.

  “Who is she?” he asked, though something about her looked familiar. Something in the eyes.

  “Sending info now, sir.”

  A data file came up on the tablet. He scanned it, reading aloud. “Officer Darina Lazitter, Boston Police Department. He’s hooked up with a cop?”

  “Think she’s playing the role of bodyguard. One of our guys obtained footage of her and Ashby at Emerge Tech’s gates earlier today. Maybe she was hired by the company,” Dugan said. “Some of our people reported a hovercopter taking off from the roof of Ashby’s building before it crumbled.”

  “And where is that copter now?”

  “That’s the thing, sir. We had sight of it heading to the security field, then it was gone.”