Rx Missing (Decorah Security Series, Book #10): A Paranormal Romantic Suspense Novel

by York, Rebecca

  “Wait—you’re Mack Bradley’s brother?”

  “Yes.”

  “Your brother is in a very new program.”

  “That you were supposed to get permission to put him in,” Grant spat out.

  The doctor blanched. “I thought we had permission.”

  “I think you’re lying about that little detail.”

  Instead of denying it, the doctor challenged, “What do you want me to do about it?”

  “Get him out of here.”

  “I’m sorry. That’s impossible. If he leaves this lab, he’ll die.”

  While Grant coped with that, the doctor kept speaking.

  “But your brother is lucky to be here. We call this the Phoenix Project. We’re saving people who are the victims of traumatic brain injury.”

  Grant looked toward the beds of sleeping patients. “They all look like they’re the next thing to dead,” he answered, wincing when he thought of how that applied to his brother.

  “No, we’ve created a place where they can live. A virtual reality.”

  Wardman had told him that, and he hadn’t really wrapped his mind around the concept.

  “Which means?”

  “They are living normal lives—in a controlled environment. A place where they can feel healthy and productive.” He became more enthusiastic as he continued. “Like what if people who had been in car wrecks or been shot or had heart attacks could be kept alive and functioning in another reality?” Now the doctor sounded like he was making a funding pitch. “You’ve heard of Seymour Cray, right? The genius behind high performance computers who died after an automobile accident.”

  Grant had some vague memory of the man and nodded. He’d certainly heard of the Cray Computer.

  “What if he’d had a place to keep working designing computers instead of having to go off life support because the doctors thought his case was hopeless? Multiply his circumstances by hundreds.”

  “And what about my brother? I was told he was dead, but there was a dummy in his casket. If he wasn’t stolen for this project, then what’s going on?”

  “All I know is that he was registered as a legitimate subject,” Hamilton denied, but his sick look told Grant that he was either outright lying or suspected that there had been something funny about Mack’s participation.

  Lily cleared her throat.

  “What?” Mack snapped.

  “I’m not going anywhere. Would you turn me loose and put the gun down?”

  When he loosened his hold on her, she moved quickly away, then turned to face him and Hamilton. She fixed her gaze on the other man.

  “The project’s not exactly going the way we expected. I mean like Jay Douglas having a total mental breakdown.”

  Hamilton’s voice rose. “Do not talk about any of that in front of an outsider.”

  She looked like there was a lot more she wanted to say, but when she glanced at Grant, she fell silent.

  He let his gaze travel from one to the other of them. They both looked upset, but he had the feeling that their concerns were somewhat different. He’d bet Lily cared about the people in there—and Hamilton cared about his research.

  “Is there any way to contact my brother and find out what’s going on in there,” Grant asked, thinking that he needed something more reliable than the ability they’d shared when they were kids.

  Hamilton looked relieved that the focus of the conversation had shifted somewhat. “We can ask Sidney Landon.”

  “Who’s that?”

  “Our programmer. He designed the whole setup.”

  “Okay. Get him,” Grant ordered.

  Hamilton walked to the desk along one wall and picked up the phone.

  Grant stayed beside him. “No funny stuff. Put it on speaker.”

  “Yes.” The doctor pressed the speaker button, then punched in a number. When a man answered, he said,

  “Can you come down to the lab?” he said.

  They heard an agitated voice say, “I’m kind of busy up here.”

  “Because?” Hamilton asked, his tone sharp.

  “I spent a lot of time designing that VR and making the system secure. But it looks like someone has hacked into it. I’m trying to figure out who it is and what the hell they’re doing.”

  Lily gasped. Hamilton’s face had turned ashen.

  “You said it was impregnable,” the older man bellowed.

  “I thought it was. It should have been, for God’s sake. But it looks like someone went to a lot of trouble to get past the barriers I set up. You know, similar to the crap that’s been going on with companies like Sony and Target. Someone made a concerted effort to get in there. But they’re public companies. Who would know about the Phoenix Project?”

  “I don’t know.” The doctor’s face hardened as he went on the attack. “I’m paying you good money for a quality product.”

  “It is a quality product.”

  Grant interrupted the angry exchange.

  “Is there any way to communicate with the people in there? They may be able to help figure out what’s going on—or give you some clues.”

  “Who’s speaking?” Landon asked.

  “This is Grant Bradley, the brother of one of the patients.”

  “Mack Bradley?”

  “Yeah. How can I get in touch with him?”

  “I . . .”

  Dr. Wardman jumped into the conversation. “Mack and I both had some extensive contact with the hacker.”

  “Jesus. How?” Landon asked, his voice wavering between upset and hopeful.

  “We saw him in the woods on the other side of the wall at the back of the hotel. He came up with a fantasy show for us.”

  “Like what?”

  “Weird vegetation. Weird animals. Warlike little men.” Mack can tell you more about it.”

  “Okay,” Landon said. “I’ll be right down.”

  The connection snapped off, and the three people awake in the lab looked at each other.

  “Why would someone hack into your virtual reality?” Grant asked Hamilton.

  The researcher shook his head. “I have no idea. I mean, who even knows about it?” he asked Landon’s question again.

  The way he said the last part made Grant’s skin tingle.

  “I think you have an idea who knows about it,” he answered keeping his gaze on the doctor. It was tempting to raise his gun again and point it at the man, but he managed not to make a threatening move.

  Hamilton looked torn but finally said, “My backer. But why would he get someone to hack in?”

  “To check up on you.”

  Hamilton had turned pale.

  oOo

  Before Grant could back the guy into a corner, a wiry young man burst into the lab. His collar-length hair looked like he’d been running his fingers through it every few seconds for the past few hours. His blue work shirt and plaid slacks looked like he’d been wearing them for weeks. And his face had the pasty color of someone who’d been living in a cave for months. Too bad you couldn’t get a healthy tan from a computer screen.

  Grant wanted to ask Hamilton where he’d gotten this guy, but that would have to wait until later. And really, from his appearance, it looked like he was a genuine programing geek.

  “You can put me in touch with my brother?” he asked.

  The man glanced at the chief researcher. “I thought we agreed there would be no contact with the outside world until they acclimate.”

  “We may not have that luxury,” Hamilton answered. “Not if someone from outside is screwing with the system.”

  “Yeah, okay,” Landon muttered. “He looked at Grant. “I have a way to get in there that will seem fairly normal to the people in the hotel. I don’t know if he’ll get the message.”

  “He’d better,” Grant warned, wondering what he was going to do if the guy’s plan didn’t work.

  Landon settled himself in front of a computer terminal at the side of the room and started typing. Grant paced back a
nd forth as he watched the man typing on the keyboard.

  oOo

  Mack had just come down to the lobby to find out what was going on among the other hotel guests when he heard people calling his name.

  “Something wrong?” he asked.

  “Where were you?” Paula Rendell asked.

  “In my room.” Not exactly accurate, but he wasn’t going to say he’d been in Lily’s suite making love with her. And then she’d vanished. He imagined how the others would react to that.

  Paula’s eyes narrowed. “Maybe we should have everybody’s room number, since there’s no good way to get in touch with each other.”

  “About what?”

  “Well, you might want to know that your name is flashing on the computer screens in the business center.”

  “Jesus.” He’d been trying to act laid back. Now he dashed across the lobby and into the center, where he saw that the words “Mack Bradley” were indeed flashing in red on the three screens.

  He went to one of the computers and looked at the setup, frustration and excitement warring inside him. Finally he saw an instant message icon and pressed it. When a chat box popped up, he typed a question mark.

  “Mack?” The answer came back immediately.

  “Who is this?” he asked.

  “Grant.”

  He hadn’t known what he was expecting. Maybe he’d been secretly fearing something like what had happened in the woods. Certainly not a communication from his brother.

  “Is that really you?” he asked cautiously. This could still be some kind of scam.

  “Yes.”

  “Prove it.”

  “You were the captain of the football squad when Cumberland won the championship,” the person on the other end of the line typed back.

  “Anyone could look that up.” Mack looked back at Paula. “Maybe you’d better give me some privacy.”

  When she didn’t move, he propelled her out the door and closed it before turning back to the screen.

  A new message said, “Okay. We used to send each other silent messages. Nobody knows about that. And a little while ago, I called out to you—and I’m pretty sure you answered.”

  He felt a chill travel over his skin. Yes, he thought he had heard Grant, calling him from some place outside this setup. “My God, how did you find me?”

  “Long story.” There was a pause, and Grant came back. “Are you alone?”

  “Yes.”

  “They said I can switch to a video hookup.”

  Mack waited with his heart pounding, still unable to quite believe that this was really happening.

  When his brother’s face appeared on the screen, Mack felt a wave of relief so profound that he fought not to choke up. He’d been wondering where he was and sure it wasn’t the real world. Now Grant was going to tell him the truth.

  He stared at his twin, seeing from his expression that his reaction was as emotional as Mack’s. What did that mean?

  “Hey,” he managed to say.

  “Back at ya,” Grant answered.

  “Where are you?” Mack clenched his fists, then struggled to relax. “Well, maybe more important—where am I?”

  When he saw Grant swallow hard, he was pretty sure he wasn’t going to like the answers. “I’m at a facility called Hamilton Labs. To give you the executive summary, you were supposed to be dead. I got here after finding a dummy in your coffin.”

  Mack’s shocked curse ran through the business center and apparently into the lobby. When someone—probably Paula—pounded on the door, he shouted, “Later.”

  “Are you all right?” she yelled back.

  “Yeah. I’ll get back to you in a while.”

  “What was that?” Grant asked.

  “I’m in the business center. The others are wondering what’s up. So why don’t you explain what the hell is going on before they break down the door,” he pressed. “Where is this place?”

  Grant waited a beat before answering. “You’re in a virtual reality. Do you know what that means?”

  After taking a moment to process the answer, he asked uncertainly, “Like in a video game?”

  “Something like that. I was told you’d died in . . . well in whatever country where you were flying missions.” His brother gave him a quick account of the missing body in the coffin and Grant’s demands for information.

  “You and the other people in there are part of an experiment,” Grant added.

  “Like how?”

  His brother swallowed hard before answering. “The good news is that it’s a place where you can function. The bad news is that everyone there is in a coma back here at the lab.”

  “Jesus! You’re kidding.”

  “No. Your neck was twisted when you ejected. It caused . . . damage.”

  Mack tried to absorb that information and found that he’d been preparing for bad news since he arrived here. “Am I going to get better?” he managed to ask.

  “There’s a good chance you can recover,” his brother said. “Remember, I said I called to you. And you opened your eyes and looked at me—and spoke.”

  “When?”

  “A few minutes ago. Did you hear me?”

  “Yeah.”

  Grant glanced over his shoulder, and another person entered the screen. When Mack saw it was Lily, his heart stopped, then started to pound.

  “I see you’re back home,” he said in a bitter voice. “What about the coma part?”

  “I’m not one of the patients,” she whispered.

  “You’re some kind of spy?”

  Her hand flattened against her chest as if she were trying to repress the beating of her own heart. “I’m one of the researchers.”

  She looked entirely miserable, but he couldn’t let himself be swayed by what she might be regretting now. The bottom line was that she’d lied to him in a lot of different ways—starting when he’d rescued her from that Jay Douglas guy. Probably she’d know what was wrong with Douglas.

  “And your role?” he asked in a sharp voice. “You were sent to keep an eye on us?”

  “Well, to help you adjust,” she whispered, and he saw moisture glittering in her eyes.

  He snorted, determined not to let this get personal—again. “You weren’t doing such a great job.”

  “We both know stuff started happening that wasn’t . . . expected.”

  “Are you really a nurse?”

  “I’m a doctor.”

  “Figures,” he muttered, hoping his own face didn’t reveal his bitter disappointment. Finally, he’d connected with a woman on a more than physical level, only it had all been a charade on her part.

  He wanted to ask what making love with him had meant to her. But not in front of his brother and whoever else was there. And why waste the time talking about something that had become completely irrelevant?

  Behind her, a gruff voice said, “We set up this connection so you could help us figure out who hacked into the system. Do you have any useful information?”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Two more people crowded into the picture, an older man and a guy who looked like Central Casting had sent him to play the part of a computer nerd.

  Mack ignored the others and focused on Lily, seeing the way her eyes still watered. That was almost enough to get to him—but not quite. Not after the way she’d pulled a couple of very slick cons on him. She’d pretended to be one of the gang. Then she’d pretended she cared about him.

  The last observation made him feel like he was looking at her through a jagged broken window, and if he reached for her, he was going to slash his skin.

  He wasn’t going to make the mistake of trusting her again, but he kept his gaze on her because he needed to see her reaction to what he was about to say.

  “After you left, something really weird happened. Your sister came to your room.”

  She blinked, probably startled by the abrupt change of subject—and the topic itself.

  “What are you talking about
?”

  “About the little girl who came looking for you. She was eating ice cream, and she said it was the best thing she’d tasted in years.”

  “My God. My sister. That’s impossible.”

  “She said she was Shelly.”

  “What did she look like?” Lily asked in a barely audible voice.

  “Cute,” he answered, giving his overall impression first. “Her hair was blond and done up in a couple of ponytails, one on each side of her head, and she was wearing a tee shirt with a kitten on the front. She had kind of scruffy jeans and tennis shoes.”

  Lily caught her breath. “That . . . that’s what she was wearing when she was in the auto accident. But how could she be there? She’s in a hospital in Virginia.”

  “Your sister?” an older man repeated.

  She looked back at him. “Yes. I told you about her. She’s in a nursing facility in Fairfax.”

  “Oh—right. But . . . how could she get into our setup?”

  “Someone would have to hack her in,” the computer nerd answered.

  “How is that possible?” the older man asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Who are you?” Mack interrupted, addressing the older guy.

  The man gave him a direct look. “Philip Hamilton. I’m the principal investigator here.”

  “Oh, nice to meet you,” Mack said, putting as much sarcasm as he could manage into the greeting. “You mean you’re responsible for this mess?” he added, in case the principal researcher didn’t get his response.

  “It’s not a mess. We’re doing good work—for you and the others.”

  “Maybe that was your intention, but something else has overtaken you.”

  Lily stepped closer to the screen, blocking Mack’s view of Hamilton. “You were saying that my sister is there.”

  “She was. She . . . vanished.”

  He could see she was fighting disappointment.

  “Did she say how she got there?”

  “Yes. That’s the important point. She said the Preston in the woods brought her.”

  “The Preston—what the hell is that?” Hamilton called out from in back of Lily.

  “A man in the woods. She said his head was bald, and he had . . . pictures on his arms. He’s the guy Lily and I saw in there.”