Davey set the glass down, "You're not in a hospital. You're home, in the basement bedroom of the townhouse. Claire is next door in her office slash lab and passed out on her desk." I saw his jaw twitch, "I left her to check on you. She hasn't slept in two days since we got you back." He motioned to the IV's, "You are on some heavy duty painkillers as the advanced serum repairs all your wounds and broken bones."
I frowned, "I hate painkillers, that's why I became a drunk Davey." I rubbed at my eyes, sleep wanting to have an audience with me again.
He smiled tightly, "She didn't want to give them to you, but you screamed bloody murder as your bones began to reset themselves after the first three minutes of the advanced serum hitting your system." He paused, his face contorted, "We had to sedate you, put you out cold." He grabbed my hand, "You were a mess Kit." He looked down at the edge of the bed, "I want Claire to sleep a few hours before I tell her you are awake."
I closed my eyes, "I know it was stupid of me to go, but I couldn't let the CIA or anyone else destroy the evidence we need."
Davey nodded, "It was stupid. I would have gone with you Kit." He looked up at me, his copper eyes dead on my hazel ones, silently communicating his disappointment and fear. "What happened?"
I took a deep breath, marveling at the simple fact I could without coughing and feeling the pain of broken ribs. I went to tell him when I squeezed his hand, "The notebook, please tell me the notebook made it with me."
Davey reached over to the side table, pulling open the drawer. He lifted the notebook up and set it on the table. There was spots of blood on the cover, I knew it was my blood, "It did. I hid it from Claire until you were awake. One less thing for her to obsess over." He looked back at me, telling me that Claire's obsession was fixing me anyway she could, "Who attacked you?"
I tore my eyes from the notebook, "Alistair attacked me, at least I think it was him, I couldn't see anything after the lights went out and he hit me on the side of the head." I looked up at Davey, "I found a room. A room full of Claire's life over the last five years. Pictures of her at graduations, campaign stops, Paris and at her family estate. There were pictures of you and I, even Rebecca. I kept digging and found the notebook when I heard someone come downstairs. Next thing I knew it was lights out and I was in the fight."
I paused, "I think it was Alistair, but it was hard to tell as he was handing out right hooks. He stabbed me after telling me he knew who I was and that Claire was a liar, thief and a piss poor excuse for a scientist." I shook my head, "He was cryptic, nutty. Telling me he was everyone and no one when I asked who he was. The only time I got a good look is when I fired my gun, lit up the room literally. I should have known better with all the gasoline he dumped around the room. I didn't see his face, he had it covered with one of those weird Japanese red and white masks?" I shrugged at Davey, "I think they're called Kabuki masks? After he escaped, I struggled to make my own escape, grabbing the notebook before it was swallowed up by flames. The rest, you know." I rubbed at the area around my IV, "On my phone are pictures of the CIA personnel files and the original Beekeeper file I found on top of that notebook."
Davey dropped my hand and stood up, walking over to a chair he picked up a stack of papers. "I downloaded your phone two hours ago. I am running the personnel files to figure out who they are or were. So far I have maybe four identified." He flipped through the pages, "Four former CIA agents who were cast out of the agency between five and ten years ago for agency misconduct. They went on to become thugs for hire. Small time things like drug smuggling, aggressive interviewing for drug cartels and local mobs." Davey handed me a few sheets, "They were all killed in lab bombings and shootouts with the police.” He tapped the page, “All their crimes were deemed homeland terrorism against genetic labs across the country. I am trying to get more information, but it seems they were operating under the orders of Alistair Montgomery."
Davey pulled the chair up to the edge of the bed, "I will know more in a day or so. This information is hard to extract without flagging the CIA that I’m rooting around for information."
I set the pages down as I read over the police reports and Medical Examiners autopsy reports. All basic bad guy did bad and got caught up in the crossfire. Davey ran his hands through his hair, "As for the Beekeeper file, it is the original. Ivan and Dr. Zehren are going over that. I guess there are chunks of the file no one but the original scientists have ever seen."
He glanced at the notebook, "I haven't touched that. I shoved it in the drawer until you woke up." He sighed, "Claire has been obsessed with healing you, reworking her serum a thousand times to make it better, stronger and faster. She's worn herself thin, Kit." His voice was quiet, "Remember what I told you at the gun range?" He stared hard at me.
I bit my lip, hanging my head down, "I know." I looked back up at him, "You saved my life just to kick my ass later?" I threw him a half smile, "Davey, I did it because I had to. Her life is far too important to ignore evidence when it's sitting there waiting for us to take it." I let out a breath, "I want nothing more than to keep her safe and find all the pieces to this puzzle so this all ends. Ends and I can start a life with her without looking over our shoulders for the next threat." I shrugged, "Both of you know how stubborn I am, I don't really listen to no's and don't do that."
"You are stubborn, more stubborn than a field of mules." Her voice was soft, tired and the sweetest sound I had ever heard. I looked up to see Claire standing in the doorway wearing my purple sweatshirt. "You exceed the true definition of stubborn, Kit. Mules could take lessons from you."
Claire pushed off from the door frame, walking slowly to the bed. Davey scooped up the papers from the bed and my lap, pushing the chair back hurriedly. It looked as if he was afraid Claire would yell at him for disturbing me with work. He mumbled that he would be back later and left the room as Claire sat on the edge of the bed. I swallowed nervously, looking in her blue green eyes, tired and glassy from lack of sleep, "Claire, I am sorry I didn't tell you." I glanced at the notebook, hoping that it would get me out of some of the angry lecture I knew was coming. "I found..."
Her lips against mine silenced me. Claire's hand slid across my cheek, pulling me closer as she kissed me deeply. Trying to be careful even though I could feel how hard she wanted to kiss me. I melted into the feel of her lips on mine, my hand clasping around her wrist under my jaw. I leaned into the kiss, silently telling her to kiss me as hard as she wanted to, since I needed it just as much as she did, to reaffirm that I was stupid to risk her life and mine. Risk not having this ever again.
Claire broke from the kiss first. Her thumb running across my cheek as she looked in my eyes, a single tear escaping, "Kit, don't ever do that again." She sucked in a shaky breath, "Promise me." Her voice was barely over a whisper, and yet I could feel everything she needed me to in the way she held me and looked in my eyes. If I were ever to die, she would find her heart dying with me. I fully understood because I felt the same way. We had truly formed a symbiotic relationship, living for one another and would find it impossible to live without the other. I had finally found the true love I sought out for my entire life.
I nodded, pulling her closer to me so I could wrap my arms around her, feel her tuck her chin against my shoulder like she always did when I held her. I breathed out slowly, feeling even more ignorant for running off without telling her. In the past few years, I never cared about the next day or if I lived to see the next day. I never had anything or anyone to live for, fight for.
As I held the woman who saved my life again, I knew I had to be more careful about the things I did. I was now living for her and for myself, to live out the love I had in my arms for as long as I could and not risk it like I just had. I could tell in the way Davey and Claire looked at me in the last few minutes, I had barely survived Alistair.
Claire leaned back in my arms, brushing some of my hair back. Smiling softly, "It's good to see you awake." She reached up, tapping at the IV bags, "The serum seems to
be working faster than I expected." She looked back at me, I could see she was fighting something, holding something back. I would have to ask Davey if she was there when he found me.
I picked up her hand and tugged it, "What is it Claire?"
She shook her head, "It's nothing, Kit. I am just tired." She went to grab my empty glass of water, "I will get you some more water and then we can talk about why you went and what you found. Davidek only told me a little, he was worried that I would work myself into overload." She smiled, "I know he hid some of the files you found from me." Claire squeezed my hand, "I'm not mad at you, Kit. I understand why you went." She turned, moving to leave the room when she saw the notebook on the table. She paused before picking it up slowly, "Where did this come from?" Claire looked over her shoulder at me.
I shifted in the bed to sit up further, "I found it in the basement at the motel, shoved under the CIA files and the Beekeeper file. I don't know what it is, so I jammed it in my pants when I heard someone coming down to the stairs."
Claire set the empty glass down, turning the notebook in both of her hands. "Dr. Evelyn Bourne." Claire pulled away the string holding the notebook close, "Her Honeycomb experiments were important to the CIA for creating the Beekeeper program. I had read about them when I started working with Erich at Criterion. Dr. Bourne had found the foundation to begin unlocking what I eventually did in the last year." She flipped open the notebook, gingerly fingering through the pages, "She was a lead geneticist in her field of human cloning and skin regeneration, she was an inspiration for my own work." Claire glanced at me, "Dr. Bourne was killed in a lab explosion in Beekeepers old labs four years ago. They claimed all of her research and notebooks were destroyed with her."
She closed the notebook, looking at me with a concerned look, "This is why the CIA was heading to the hotel, and this is why Alistair wanted to burn it down. This notebook holds all of her preliminary regrowth tests full body human cloning. She was close to where I am now." She held it tightly in both of her hands, "It also has notes on the CIA attempting to recruit other scientists and begin the Beekeeper program. Blatantly laying out the CIA is fully responsible for the fringe research group and their wishes to create super soldiers."
Claire peered down at the blood stained cover, "They would kill and have killed to keep these secrets hidden." She looked up at me, "But how did Alistair get it?"
Chapter 21
So many questions sat in my hands. The old leather notebook spotted with Kit's blood was a clue, a reason and an explanation for everything that was happening in my life, at least I hoped it would be all of those and more. The notebook was definitely a hard clue to who Beekeeper was and what exactly they wanted with my research.
I closed the notebook, "This is why the CIA was heading to the motel." I sighed slowly, "Why would Alistair Montgomery have this, want this?"
Kit was looking at me from the bed, "Before he ran, Alistair told me he understood the loss of life brought on by another, the betrayal brought on by another." I watched as her brow furrowed, the overwhelming memory of her encounter with Alistair playing across her face, "Maybe he's connected to Dr. Bourne." Kit sat back in the pillows, visibly tired but awake.
Dr. Bourne was an incredible scientist and a formidable individual who carried a reputation of being cold, stiff, and did not put up with much when it came to her work. I had heard of her through the usual gossip in the scientific world, some of her previous projects and how she had chased most of her colleagues away with her dictator like demeanor.
I set the notebook back down. One half of me wanted to pour over every page and every inch of the research while the other half wanted to throw it out so I would not have to look at the bloodstains. I folded my arms, pulling Kit's sweatshirt closer as I looked over at her. Kit was tired, but almost back to perfect health, another day and all of her injuries would fade into nothing.
I smiled looking away from her, if I looked at Kit for too long I would see the image of her limp in Davidek's arms as he ran to the jet. Instead, I stared at the edge of the comforter on the bed, "We can talk about this later, Kit, when you feel a bit more rested." I moved to the IV bags, checking the advanced serum. Clicking back the dosage dripping into her veins, and did the same with the clear bag of painkillers. I glanced at her as I made the adjustments, "Are you hungry?"
Kit nodded slowly, smiling sleepily, "Starving."
I straightened the IV bags and went to leave the room, "I can make some sandwiches." I turned, taking a step to the door when I felt Kit grab the hem of the sweatshirt, her sweatshirt. "Wait, will you sit with me?" She looked at the IV bags, "Tell me how you did this? Am I a super soldier now?" A small smirk curled at the edges of her mouth.
I let out a slow breath, "I have a few more tests to do, but no. You are not a super soldier." I involuntarily reached for the violet bag, letting it rest against my palm, "The serum did what the original one did but on a bigger, better scale. It stripped apart your DNA, then recoded it to create a healing process that would take forty-eight hours or less. In that time, your bones reset themselves, arteries reconnected and healed. Your heart began reproducing red blood cells and white blood cells at an exponential rate." The cool bag felt nice against my hand, soothing.
"I had to use Rebecca's samples to find the ultimate formula that would work on you. She is the one and only walking experiment I have of this type of regeneration. Her regeneration is permanent, yours is temporary. I had to keep altering your DNA using her samples as a guide since I had burned the original formula in Malibu, also burning it from my mind. Never wanting to ever have to use it or have it out in the world."
Kit's hand held tightly to the hem of the sweatshirt, making me look down at her, I tried to smile, "The world isn't ready for the freedom that comes with invincibility." The smile quickly faded, "You gave me little choice, Kit." I began to feel the small amount of anger towards her, return, anger at her for almost dying on me, anger at my heart for forcing me and my brain to go back and create a better, stronger formula to save lives. Kit did have the same regenerative properties floating in her bloodstream as Rebecca. Properties that would make her virtually invincible for a short period of time. She would not have to worry about injury for a few days to a few weeks.
I suddenly walked over to the IV tubes, "You're awake now. I think I can wean you off these." Flashes of Kit screaming at the top of her lungs as her bones reset, cascaded into my head. Screams that had kept sleep from me for the last few days, screams that were a result of the advanced serum putting her back together. A side effect I still was a long way from working out in the formula.
I gently removed the port from the vein in her arm. She could have used a few more hours of the drip, but I wanted to get her off it, I didn't want her to become a target. If any small word or proof got out about her temporary ability, she would be hunted. I shoved the IV bags out of the way when they were free from Kit. I grabbed the blankets covering her, gently yanking them down, "Do you mind if I exam your injuries?"
Kit nodded slowly, offering a strange look in my direction, "Claire, are you okay?"
I ignored her for a moment before lifting up her shirt to reveal unbruised, unblemished skin, I ran my fingers over her ribs. Pressing lightly, "Mhm, Tired but fine." I moved my hand over the small pink mark where her almost life ending wound once resided. I clenched my jaw as images of blood and gauze made me close my eyes. I felt her skin goose bump under my hand, I went to pull it away and slide her shirt down when her hand covered mine, holding it against her stomach, "Are you sure? Because you disappeared and the doctor took over."
Kit's voice was soft and to the point when she spoke. I did shut down to let the doctor in me take over and avoid the feelings of the last few days bubbling under the surface. From the second I saw her slipping away in my arms to the endless hours of working on the serum while Davidek sat with her when I couldn't bear to.
The warmth of her skin against my palm grounded me and slowly relaxed
me. I let out a slight breath, "Kit, for all of the things I have been through, seen and still do from behind me. All of it I accepted as a part of life. My life. I fight and I survive. Move on and do what I can to not let anything bring me to my knees. Not let anything win." I moved to sit on the small empty space of the bed next to her, letting my shoulder sag as exhaustion continued to creep in. I turned my hand over on Kit's stomach to link my fingers in hers. "I almost lost you and…"
I paused, blinking away tears. "You make me feel alive." I held her hand tighter, "I meant it when I said it in the plane, I want a thousand years with you, Kit." I looked up in to hazel eyes carrying the weight of realization of everything she had risked. Kit's eyes were glassy, she was struggling with finding the words to justify or apologize.
I rolled my eyes, laughing lightly to ease the tension, "Figuratively, of course. I literally haven't figured out the thousand year formula." The small joke worked, the tension leaving before it set in too deeply as Kit laughed, dragging my hand closer to her. "Why don't you go take a shower while I clean up the mess I made in my lab." I smiled at Kit, feeling better that I had let out some of the bottled up emotions. "You should be healed completely, just very tired for the next few hours."
I stood up from the bed, "Maybe we can get Davidek to make some of his infamous grilled cheese sandwiches and after lunch we both can take a long nap." I swiped the notebook up from the side table and went to leave the room. Kit didn't say anything nor made an effort to fight me about the gentle orders I gave her. My hand landed on the door handle, one last look at Kit as she shifted to the edge of the bed to stand up and out of it. She met my eyes, staring at me for a second before whispering, "Claire, I also want a thousand years with you."
I grinned, dropping my head, "Then we will have it."
I closed the door quietly and walked to my lab. Papers were strewn all over the table tops. Empty IV bags of failed serums lay haphazardly all around the steel counter that was my main lab.
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