Richard headed down the corridor.
“Is this really where you want the woman you love to wake up,” he asked, “while she’s disoriented and terrified of the power growing inside her?” He slowed his pace once he heard the echo of the other man’s footsteps following. “It’s good to know your instincts are sharp enough not to trust the people who’ve been brainwashing Maddie’s sister into—”
Richard’s legs were kicked out from under him. His already-aching head struck a protruding chunk of granite on his way down. Keith’s booted foot pressed across Richard’s throat.
“You’ve been brainwashing Sarah.” Keith leaned his weight into Richard’s windpipe. “You’re the one I don’t trust.”
“I’m—” Richard couldn’t grind out more.
“Sarah hates her Raven. And so did Maddie when she turned on me, then on those guards. Both women wanted to kill you, and that’s good enough for me.”
“I’ve been trying to—” Richard grabbed Jarred’s foot and shoved it away. He rolled to his side and tried to get his larynx to work again. “I’ve protected Sarah the best I could. You don’t understand the circumstances surrounding—”
“You’ve protected her so well, you’re driving her twin out of her mind!” Keith advanced, but the woman in his arms began to struggle against his hold.
“I had nothing to do with dragging Madeline into this,” Richard argued. “But I’m the only person who can tell you how her mind is going to deteriorate. I’m the only one who can help her use her abilities to find her sister. And trust me, reuniting the two of them is the only way either will survive.”
How could things have gotten so out of control so quickly?
Richard had been flying under the radar for too long. He’d become overconfident. He’d been too focused on one battle, on protecting one sister, without considering how the government bastards he’d thought he’d snowed might be planning to use the other. He tried to stand, but the tunnel was spinning around him like a fucking top.
“No time…” he gasped. “There’s no time to debate this.”
“You’re right,” Keith agreed. The other doctor frisked Richard’s pockets. Snatched the Land Rover keys. “But it’s you who’s out of time. You deserve whatever those men back there do to you.”
Keith shoved Richard back to the ground. He picked up Maddie. He’d made it several yards away by the time Richard pushed himself to his feet.
“Dream Weaver is a top-priority weapons program the government intended…intends…to implement on a global scale. This project will produce a successful field test, or the principles being studied will be terminated in a manner that guarantees no one will ever know what transpired at this facility.”
Keith finally turned back.
“Terminated?” he asked. “Principles? I swear, I hear the words coming out of your mouth, but you’re making as much sense as a bad espionage thriller.”
“How’s this for making sense, then? The woman in your arms won’t survive the next forty-eight hours without her sister’s help. Or mine.”
“She’s going to be fine.” Keith started walking again. “I’m going to help her. Then I’m sending the authorities to deal with you and whatever you’ve done to her sister. That’s what you’re really afraid of.”
“By the time anyone else steps foot in this place, my existence and evidence of any work that’s been done with Sarah Temple beyond caring for her chronic vegetative condition will be erased. The police will merely uncover proof that a paranoid, increasingly altered woman broke into the center and removed her unresponsive twin from the authorized care of her doctors.”
Keith sneered over his shoulder. “There are cameras all over this place.”
“Video and audio can be digitally manipulated in ways that would blow your mind, Dr. Keith.” Richard fought to follow, leaning against the wall for support. “The center won’t be found culpable for Sarah’s abduction. And they won’t stop looking for her or Madeline. Not after the trouble they went through to pull her into Sarah’s programming.”
“You dragged Maddie into this.”
“Then why am I letting you go?”
“Because I just kicked the crap out of you.” Keith hesitated, as if he was debating backtracking for another pass.
“Where do you plan to go?” Richard ignored the pain in his side and kept walking. “Home? Yours…hers? They’ll find you. They’ll most likely use local law enforcement to help them.”
“Then we’ll go to the police first, before you—”
“The government won’t let you get anywhere near anyone who will put them at risk. They’ll anticipate every possible move and stop you before you can make a report. These people will kill anyone—do whatever it takes—to secure the Dream Weaver outcome they need.”
Keith kept walking.
Richard stopped, accepting that he’d never catch the man. Not like this. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket instead. He punched in a contact number—a number he’d given to only one other person.
“Dr. Keith,” he rasped. “Catch!”
The other man turned and grabbed the phone out of the air.
“What’s this for?” Keith asked.
“For when you realize that I’m right.”
“That’s never going to happen.”
“I’m uniquely qualified to help these women. But I can’t unless you convince Madeline to find her sister and bring her to me.”
“That’s never going to happen.”
“Yes, it will. Because very soon, you’re going to understand that I’m your only option. Just don’t wait too long, or Madeline’s mind will be too far gone to save. Just like her sister’s will be if I can’t find Sarah before she breaks from reality completely.”
Someone wanted Sarah to kill. She was resisting. Running. But soon she’d have no chance of fighting her shadow programming. She would grow even more volatile. More dangerous to herself and others. Richard had to find her before it was too late, something he couldn’t do without Madeline’s help.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Sarah stumbled through the darkness.
Through the forest. Rain and wind and death flowed at her…around her…through her…
Where was her host? Where was the Raven, promising he’d keep her safe from the horrible things others wanted her to do?
“Can I help you?” someone asked.
Sarah whipped around and the world kept whipping. Swirling out of focus. There was no center now. No voice to bring her back or help her rest.
“Ma’am?” He was a blur standing by the monkey bars.
Monkey bars? There was a swing set, too. And a slide. A sandbox. She was in a park. A playground. No woods. No summer storm. She was freezing. She was alone.
She was awake.
“Ma’am?” The blur came toward her. Then whoever it was, was on the ground writhing in pain. Like the Raven had been when she’d hit him with her gun and run.
She’d wanted to kill him. She could have. She had been in control again, with Maddie so close. In the end, Sarah hadn’t been able to.
But the command to kill was still inside her. Driving her. Screaming for her to be Death.
“No!” she cried.
The man at her feet groaned.
Then she was running again, her hands clawing at her ears. Digging for the dreams she’d run from. But she needed them now to make reality go away. To make everything that she’d done not real. Not her fault. Killing her father. Killing Kayla. Leaving Maddie to face whatever the Raven was doing now, because Sarah had abandoned her.
But it was Sarah’s fault.
All of it.
She was Death. Nothing beyond demented nightmares. Beyond killing. There was no one to stop her now. No more coma protecting her. No more Raven guiding her. And no more Maddie reminding her of what she’d never have.
Sarah was finally free.
Stumbling through the darkness…
Through the forest…
/>
Rain and wind and death flowing around her…
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“…just a little bit farther, Temple,” a voice whispered to Maddie.
Her feet were moving over leaves and tree limbs and roots and vines. The voice was close. But the nightmares were closer. Sarah’s nightmares.
“I didn’t…those men,” Maddie said. “I tried to kill them, but it wasn’t me. It was…Tell me it wasn’t…”
“You weren’t yourself,” came the assurance she needed. “…still not…have to keep moving…car has to be around here…somewhere…” There was worry in the voice. Fear. “Just keep moving, Maddie.”
She clawed at her ears. At the sounds of wind and rain that weren’t really there. But it wouldn’t go away. Neither would the heckling chant deep inside that she was Death…
“Stop it!” she shouted at no one.
“It’s going to be okay.”
Her arms were dragged to her side.
“But those men…” Her knees buckled against a vision of men on the ground, sprawled in agony. “I’m not…Sarah doesn’t want to hurt them, but without the Raven—”
“He’s not going to hurt you anymore,” the voice said. It was Jarred keeping her on her feet. He was still there. “The Raven won’t ever hurt you again. Not once I find…God damn it! Where’s his car?”
“Car?” Maddie fought to think. Why couldn’t she think? “It hurts…Jarred?”
“I’m here. We’re out of the center, and…”
The center?
“Oh, my God!” she gasped as the horrifying, confusing memories rushed back.
Security officers with guns had tried to stop her from seeing her sister. Maddie had been trying to kill them. While in her nightmare Sarah had shot her way out of the place, using Maddie to help her do it.
“Sarah…” she sputtered.
“She’s made it out, too, I think. But—”
“Out?”
“He said she escaped, and that—”
“He?” Sarah had been in a vegetative state for nearly a decade. “Even…even if Sarah woke up, she wouldn’t be able to walk…Who said she got out?”
“Metting. The prick said he was her doctor.” Jarred held her against his side. He looked wildly around the woods they were walking through. Then he struck out in a new direction. “That’s right, sweetheart. Keep walking. Keep talking to me. Metting’s part of the nightmares you’ve been having. He and Sarah.”
“Nightmares?” She and Jarred had come to the center because of Sarah’s nightmares. The ones where she was killing people.
“Thank God.” Jarred dug a remote from his pocket and pressed a button.
A green SUV parked behind a cluster of overgrowth blinked its lights through the night. Jarred helped her to the passenger side and opened the door.
“Whose car is this?” she asked.
“Dr. Metting’s.”
“Who?” He’d said that name before. “Who…What’s going on?”
Flashes of what had happened before swirled together with images that felt like now, but none of it made sense.
“I think Metting is your sister’s Raven,” Jarred explained.
“Sarah’s what?”
“Her doctor. He was very helpful, explaining how he’s responsible for screwing up your life and your mind, then denying any of it was his fault. It was particularly kind of him to lend us his keys after I kicked the shit out of him for holding a gun to my head.”
…your sister’s Raven…
The Raven was coming!
“No!” Sarah screamed through Maddie’s mind.
Maddie struck out, contacting with solid flesh. She was Sarah, and she was shaking and hating and running through the woods and fighting the compulsion to kill whatever crossed her path. She needed the Raven, but she hated him!
“Maddie?” He secured her arms behind her back. She kicked him. He pinned her to the side of the car, his hips slamming against hers, his thigh riding high between her legs.
“I’m going to kill you,” Maddie spat in the Raven’s face. She strained against his strength, the world oozing death and darkness around them. “You turned me into this, you freak. I’ll kill you. You can’t stop me!”
“Maddie! It’s—”
“I won’t let the dreams make me—”
“Temple! It’s Jarred!” A hard hand shackled both her wrists. Then warm fingers cradled the side of her face. “The Raven’s not here. Metting’s still in the center, and I got you out. We have to leave before they realize we’re gone. He said…Metting said you and Sarah would still be connected. That’s what’s happening. You have to fight her, Maddie. You have to…wake up for me. You’re safe now.”
Safe?
Run! Sarah insisted. Don’t trust the Raven…
“Let me go!” Maddie struggled harder to get away. “I’ll kill you if you don’t let me—”
“Maddie, you have to listen to me.” He gripped the back of her head, pulled her cheek to his, and spoke directly into her ear. “I’m Jarred, not the Raven. I don’t blame you for being scared. But I need you to stop fighting and get in the car.”
Her head shook from side to side. She was going to kill him. Bite him. Stop him from—
Their noses brushed.
Their lips.
Their breath mingled.
Stalled.
Their gazes locked in a moment of blinding connection that snapped Maddie back to herself.
“Jarred?” She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t remember. What couldn’t she remember? “Jarred, what…Where…where’s Sarah?”
“Shh…It’s okay. You’re back with me. You’re safe now.” His mouth brushed hers with each word. His lips trembled while he spoke. His hand released her wrists and came up until he was cupping her face with a gentleness she couldn’t bear.
“Don’t,” she pleaded. “I’ll hurt you. I’m—”
“You’re not hurting anyone. Look at me. Stay with me.”
She did look then. And she lost herself in what she saw. What she felt. His concern. His thoughts and emotions reaching for her. His thumbs stroking her cheeks. His body feeling more real to her than her own. His strength, calling to her on an elemental level she hadn’t let herself feel since she was a teenager. When for one forgotten moment she’d dared to need another heart beating next to hers.
Maddie leaned into his touch, wanting to believe this was real. That Jarred wasn’t a dream that would disappear with the next blink of her eyes. Their mouths were inches apart.
“Maddie?” Need vibrated on the sound of her name. “We can’t—”
“Stay with me,” she begged, tensing for rejection. Please don’t leave me.
I’m here, was his unspoken answer.
The next touch of his lips, the next taste of him, was like coming home. Like forever. Jarred’s kiss deepened, stunning her with how much more she wanted. Grounding her and giving her the control she needed to take more, and more. And then more. He was there. He was really there. Another dream? Maybe. But she wound her arms around him anyway. And she opened her mind, the way she’d been afraid to reach for any other man. If this was still a dream, she would gladly lose herself in it forever.
But flashes of nightmare were her reward for trusting. Because she was running again, like Sarah was running…
And this time Jarred was with her. While danger raced after them…Death chasing them, until it sounded like a raven, wings rustling, swooping closer…
“Jesus, God!” Jarred pulled away, still supporting Maddie against the car.
“I’m sorry,” she sobbed.
Then she was running for real. She didn’t get far before Jarred’s strong arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her against his body, her back to his chest.
“Don’t!” she cried. “Let me go, or I’ll—”
“I’m here,” he said. “You’re here. And I’m not letting you go, no matter what that was.”
“The Raven…” she whisp
ered. “It was Sarah and her Raven and…”
Jarred’s head nodded against hers. “I saw him, too, inside the center. And just now. I saw what he’s been doing to you in Sarah’s nightmare.”
Images replayed in Maddie’s mind. Of guns firing and screams and Sarah fighting the madness she was sucking Maddie into, then needing Maddie in the insanity so Sarah could survive it.
“It wasn’t just a nightmare. It wasn’t just Sarah.” Maddie shivered. “In the center, I was killing—”
“No. You didn’t kill any—”
“But I hurt them.”
“You were trapped in some kind of vision…” Jarred’s hold on her tightened. “This connection you have with Sarah. Just like a minute ago. You weren’t yourself just now. And at the center, in your nightmare, when I saw—”
“You saw?” He’d said that before. Maddie shoved him away. Or at least she tried. “You didn’t see anything.”
Jarred guided her back to the vehicle. “We’ll figure it out later.”
“Figure out what?” That she was losing her mind? And maybe he was, too, if he thought he knew a damn thing about any of this. And now, he thought he could see…
He thought he could know…
“I need…” she stuttered. “I need my mom.”
Someone already damaged, like Maddie. Anyone but Jarred.
“Later.” He pushed her onto the seat. Protected her head as he swung her legs inside. Fastened her seat belt.
Maddie grabbed his arm when he would have pulled away. “My mother needs to get her ass over here with the police. She needs to demand—”
Sirens wailed in the distance.
“Whatever’s going on here, I don’t trust the cops to be able to do anything about it.” Jarred’s voice was low and reasoned and harder than she’d ever heard it. A wave of barely leashed violence assaulted her. “Metting said…He’s been right about your condition so far, and he said not to trust the authorities. He’s a bastard, but I believe him about this. It’s not safe to talk to anyone. Not until we know more.”
“What…What else did he say?” Maddie could remember a face, now. The Raven from her nightmares, walking toward her. A real man looming over her, looking bruised and battered and terrifying.
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