by Cindy Skaggs
“So all you want is one day to yourself?”
“Oh, honey, I’m hoping you can distract him for longer than that.” Camy pulled her into the kitchen.
Debi was halfway into her spaghetti pie before she regained her equilibrium. That’s when she realized Camy had maneuvered her onto the long bench sitting thigh-to-thigh with Rose. She definitely needed to keep an eye on Camy. She was chipper and sweet and sneaky as hell.
Chapter Fifteen
News of the GHB had made the rounds, so it was a somber dinner. Rose ate his spaghetti pie in silence. It was the only thing Stills knew how to make, but they each had to take turns according to the chart by the pantry that put Debi and Craft on cleanup after dinner. The idea of them spending time together gnawed at something inside he didn’t want to examine too closely. He stuffed another bite in his mouth.
Beside him, Debi’s hand twitched. Most of her food was still on her plate where she’d twirled it into endless circles.
“You okay?” he asked under his breath. “And don’t say fine.”
She peeked through thick lashes. “The preliminary results are in on the water bottle, but I don’t know how to...” She gestured in a circle around the table.
“Get their attention?”
“That, plus I’m not sure how to start.”
“Easy.” He whistled until every eye was looking at him. “Debi has more results.”
“You have the subtlety of a tank,” she muttered behind a smile.
“You’re welcome.”
With fork in hand, she lowered her arm under the table and stabbed him in the thigh. “You know about the GHB.” She cast a glance at Lauren before she continued. “But I also ran a screen of the water bottles until I found the one I believe was used to dose Ryder.”
Rose removed the fork before she pierced his skin. “What did you find?”
“There are compounds I couldn’t positively identify without further tests, but the predominant toxins found in the water were amphetamines combined with a high dose of anabolic steroids.”
Curses were muttered around the table. Rose set the fork onto his plate. “I specifically asked the doctors. Before I signed the papers. I was told no steroids.”
Debi rested her empty hand on his thigh. “We don’t know if they were included in your original compound, but I wonder if you noticed a change when you started the program. Did you start to bulk up? Temper shorten?”
“Roid rage is a myth.” Stills pushed back from the table. “And I for one didn’t notice any changes. You guys?”
The word no was tossed around, but the doubt on Debi’s face was obvious. “We couldn’t help notice that you guys are built...” She used her left hand to mark one side, while Camy used hers to an exaggerated distance away. “Big. We’ll call that outside the range of normal.”
Fowler stood and took his plate to the sink. “They picked us for our size, or that’s one of the reasons. Our loyalty and dedication were another.”
Janet kicked back from her seat at the head of the table. Her gaze traveled around the room for silent moments. “I see what you’re saying, but Jake was more or less this size before he joined the teams.”
“I don’t think we should discount it,” Debi insisted. “The addition of steroids would make the teams more aggressive, which in battle is a positive, but they’d also explain the anger issues.”
“The aggression and anger issues are things the Army would want. Hell, I know some survivalists who use it for those same reasons.” Janet helped Fowler clear the table. “Improved muscle mass, performance, and strength.”
“Increased risk taking,” Debi added. She nibbled uncertainly on her lower lip.
“You’re talking impulse control?” An angry flush covered Ryder’s face. “The all-out need to succeed at any cost. Bold, violent, no pain.”
Debi nodded. “Isn’t that similar to what you experienced that night they dosed you?”
“I felt mindless. Impulsive.” He nodded, not looking too happy about it. “But that could have been the amphetamines. Arriving at the proper dosages for the experiments was hell, but I don’t remember ever feeling as out of control as I did the night Echo took you and Lauren.”
“The situation of Lauren in danger could have been a catalyst unlike any we experienced in the desert,” Rose offered. They’d barely made it to Ryder in time to prevent him from going in without backup or weapon. “The drugs pushed you the rest of the way.”
“It worked with Mad Dog and Gault.” Stills swirled tea in his glass. “We have to assume they’ll try again, given the opportunity.”
“I think we should work very hard to deny them the opportunity.” Debi twisted in her seat, trying to get free but was trapped between Rose and Camy. He slid out of the way and let her free. “The long-term side effects are severe. Liver and kidney damage. At the dosages in the bottle, and we don’t know if that’s within the normal range, you could see heart attack, stroke, or seizure. I would never...” Her free hand shook as she walked to the sink and refilled her water glass. “The careless mixture of different classes of drugs is irresponsible. They could have had no idea what the mixture would do. I would never do to another human being what they did to you. There are compounds in the water that I’m assuming are the propriety formula they used for the fearlessness. I want... No, I need to go to the university lab to test so I can figure out what they used.”
“No.” Rose stood, his heart racing.
“We need to discuss it.” Ryder stood and rested a hand on Lauren’s shoulder. “The whole point of this is to find out what the fuck they did to us. If the university has equipment that can reverse engineer the compounds, then it’s worth the risk.”
“That’s easy for you to say.” Because his woman would stay in the secure area of the manor. Shit, Rose couldn’t use that, because Debi wasn’t his woman. He moved closer, the need to smash something an impulse he didn’t want to deny. “I pushed for Lauren to go into the bank, and she ended up getting hijacked by the meth heads, so we made a deal, then and there. The women don’t go into danger.”
“The women have a voice.” Camy stabbed a finger at him. “You’re not everyone’s surrogate father, River. You don’t speak for everyone.”
His gaze whipped to his sister. “Camellia, we’re not talking life and death here, although that’s enough to give me veto power over you. We’re talking torture, mutilation, and pain beyond what your comfortable little life could possibly prepare you for. Extended pain.” The sight of Maggie Madigan still haunted his restless nights. No way would Camy or Debi or any of the women be put into that position. Not when he could prevent it. “If it’s so damned important to test this stuff, we can break into university labs. Run the tests for her.”
“Her? I’m right here. And for the record, I’m the only one who knows how to operate the equipment and knows what we’re looking for.” Her eyes tightened with pain like they had when she’d lifted the weights. “I told you on day one, I’m not hiding behind some he-man with an ego the size of the solar system. The day with Echo and the car chase is a prime example. I need to act so I don’t panic. I’m doing this with or without you, and right now, without you sounds like a decent option.”
“Hold on.” Stills pushed between the two, drawing attention to the fact that the argument had shifted to just Debi and Rose. How his anger and focus had shifted was beyond him. They stood toe to toe in the kitchen, surrounded by a large audience.
“This is about the mission. Nothing else.” Stills rested a hand on each of their shoulders “She’s not yours to boss around.”
Those words were an accelerant to the fire burning inside. Stills’ smug grin was an easy fucking target. Rose pulled back and decked Stills in the jaw. Stills sprawled into the table, sending a pan of spaghetti clattering to the checkerboard tile in a spray of red. Ryder, Fowler, and Craft pushed Rose across the kitchen, but they couldn’t contain him if he didn’t want to be contained.
Stills swiped a hand acr
oss his busted lip. “That all you got?”
Ryder stabbed a finger at Stills. “Shut it.” He turned back to Rose. “We are all of us one bad day from World War III. Go for a run on the treadmill, kick the shit out of the punching bag, or dunk your head in a bag of ice. I don’t give a fuck what you do, but do not come back into this kitchen until you have your head on straight.”
“Is that an order?”
“Fuck yeah it’s an order.”
Craft and Fowler pushed him toward the door but he shook them off. Debi’s eyes followed his movements. The fear, the way she shrank from his gaze was all he needed right now. The move made it crystal fucking clear why the kiss in the lab could not be repeated. He saw it in her eyes. They were stick-a-fork-in-me done.
No one needed to push him further away. He walked on his own down the hall.
“Sergeant, Rose.” Janet’s still, calm voice cut through the bullshit in his head. If anyone else in that room had tried to stop him, he would have kept walking, but the touch of her resolute voice stopped Rose cold.
Breath panted out for all he kept bottled inside. Six months he’d compartmentalized the anger and the grief, but the events of the past few weeks had eroded his control. He was a dangerous and volatile substance waiting for the right catalyst. Only Janet’s soft voice put a lid back on it.
“I expect you to clean this up when you’re done.”
The hall in front of him narrowed and fogged. What the fuck was wrong with him? He made it halfway to his room before he called back. “Yes, ma’am.”
Debi shivered as she watched Rose disappear down the hall. It was the first time she’d seen one of the men lose his temper, except Ryder, but he’d been under the influence of amphetamines and God knew what else at the time. The anger issues as a side effect were academic until she watched Rose face punch one of his best friends.
Janet clapped her hands together and all attention shifted to the petite brunette. “Let’s take this out to the great room.”
“I’ll make coffee,” Fowler offered.
“I’ll help.” Camy’s overly cheerful voice didn’t fool anyone.
The troops started out to the main room, but Debi stayed back a bit, needing to regain her equilibrium.
Camy picked up the unspoiled tray of spaghetti pie from the table. “I don’t want the food to go to waste, because I’m betting it will be a few hours before he gets that much anger out of his system.”
“Don’t clean up,” Fowler insisted.
“Wasn’t planning on it. As he is so fond of telling me, he made the mess, he can clean it up.” She wrapped aluminum foil on the top of the pan. “That’s the first time I’ve seen my brother lose it.” She gave Debi a sympathetic nod. “It’s either the woman or the drugs.”
Fowler measured coffee into the brewer. “Or a combination of both.”
Debi turned back to the main room, no longer wanting to be a fly on the wall. The mood in the other room wasn’t much better, but she figured she needed to pull the bandage off the rest of the way. “The equipment I need is in the secure lab. I think I can convince Allyson to let me in. To help me.”
“Who is Allyson?” Ryder grabbed a pen and paper, reminding her of Rose.
How to explain? “A friend.”
“Barry’s sister,” Lauren added.
Debi’s personal life was bantered around for several minutes before she interrupted. “Her brother is an ass, but Allyson is a good person. The last time I ran into her and Barry, she wanted to talk. Asked me to call her, so I say I give her that call. Set up a meet. In person I know I can convince her to let me use the equipment.”
Stills leaned forward, propping his hands on his knees. “Say that’s true. How do you get around the brother? Doesn’t he run the labs?”
Debi cleared her throat. “One Saturday a month, he has a regular poker game with other faculty members. At my father’s house. Barry’s a brown noser. He won’t miss a night. The labs will be minimally staffed and if Allyson helps me out, we’ll have keycard access.”
“If you go in with Allyson, you go without backup.” Ryder rubbed a hand over Lauren’s thigh. “After what happened at the bank, I don’t like it.”
The ache in her chest marked the beginning of an attack. Debi rubbed a hand over her collarbone. Deep breath. She heard Rose’s voice in her head counting to eight and back down again. Deep breath. “It’s a secure area, so I won’t be completely exposed.” She swallowed. “You guys can stake out the area and make it safe.”
“Right now, the plan has holes,” Craft said.
Convincing them was paramount. The suspicions she’d had needed to be verified, and for that, she needed the lab equipment. Her heart flexed. “Don’t hold back on my account. Tell me how you really feel.”
“Fixing holes is what we do.” Craft winked. “Which Saturday are we talking?”
“Don’t say this Saturday,” Stills added.
Her hand twitched with unspent nerves. “This Saturday.”
“That doesn’t give us much time,” Ryder said.
Craft agreed. “But we’ve planned missions in less time.”
They weren’t saying no. Debi’s vision went spotty around the edges. When she’s planned this out in her head, she never thought they’d agree. Lauren hopped out of her seat and grabbed her hand. “I need a word with you.” She pulled her into the kitchen.
Camy and Fowler were flirting by the coffee maker.
“The guys were wondering where the coffee is,” Lauren told them.
“It’s ready.” Camy looped several empty cups through her fingers. “Jake, if you’d get the pot.”
Neither gave them a second glance on the way to the great room. After they passed, Debi released a breath she hadn’t realize she’d held. The fog in her head spread, her heartbeat pounded. She snapped the band on her wrist, felt the sting.
“If they see you have a panic attack, they won’t let you go.” Lauren pulled her into the pantry. “Tell me why you have to do this.”
Debi’s mouth opened and flapped closed. Best friend or not, she couldn’t tell Lauren. Not until she knew the truth. “I’m the only one who can.”
The next minutes passed with Lauren rubbing her back and helping to normalize her breathing. “I didn’t stop to think what would happen after,” she finally said. She’d pay good money for a cigarette right now. “I was so caught up in my argument that when they agreed, I panicked.”
“I wish I could go with you.”
Debi shook her head, her eyes wide. “Not a chance. Echo knows you’re the way to get to Ryder. I’ll be fine.”
“Okay, then let’s help them finish the plan.”
But by the time they made it to the great room, the men were headed out. Debi snaked out an arm and grabbed Craft on his way past. “What’s going on?”
“We’re splitting up to gather intel. Meet me in the command post at zero eight hundred. I want to go over the blueprints with you. Mark where you’re going and likely paths. Lauren, if you could be there as well to help me go over the campus layout.”
“Absolutely. Where’s the command post?”
“It’s the coolest thing. Have Ryder show you the way. And bring Camy. Time to put you ladies to work.”’
“Does that mean no PT in the morning.”
Craft laughed at the hope in Lauren’s voice. “There’s always time for PT.”
Ryder came over to encourage them to get some sleep. He rubbed a thumb over the yellowing bruise on Lauren’s face. “You could still use the rest.”
“If you guys are working, we’re working,” Lauren insisted.
“We’re not up for much longer. Craft is gathering information for our briefing in the morning.”
“Where’s Camy?” Debi asked. Rose’s sister was tricky.
“She’s helping Stills break into the Office of Personnel Management to pull Echo’s records. According to Craft, her computer skills are above par. I want pictures and dossiers on every man still
alive. Don’t tell Rose,” he warned Debi.
Rose would go ape if he knew his sister was hacking into government records. “I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.” Since Rose was so mad at her he took it out on Stills. “I think I’m going to hit the sack.”
“You need help?” Lauren offered.
The lie came easy. “I’m fine. Physical therapy today helped.” If by helped she meant it hurt like hell. “I’ll grab an ice pack from the freezer and rest.”
The hallway door to the bathroom was wide open. Rose’s door was closed. Probably locked. Permanently. She sighed as she stepped into the bathroom to change. She’d come to rely on Rose. He was like a comfortable teddy bear to snuggle up with at night. An incredibly sexy one. With as little movement as possible, she cleaned up and changed into his oversized shirt. As she walked into her room, she rested the ice pack on her shoulder. The relief was instant.
The lamp was on next to her bed. Next to it stood a full bottle of water and her pain pills. A big lump was under the covers. She yanked them back to see that he’d rolled a blanket into a bolster. Tiredness tugged at her eyes. The man still took care of her. Even mad as the devil, he remained a giant sweetheart. She lay down, Rose’s scent wafting off the sheets. As an olive branch, the bed setup was killer, but she’d still miss Rose’s heat at her back.
Two hours of hugging a blanket put Debi in a sour mood. The ice pack had warmed to room temperature. And that wasn’t even close to what kept her awake. Going into the university lab was her idea, but going into it without Rose at her back?
She rolled out of bed and turned the lamp on. The light stung her eyes, but she blinked it away. They didn’t have time for the silent treatment, so she padded down the hall in bare feet and knocked lightly on his door.
The door opened before she’d had time for a breath. What little breath she had choked in her throat. Rose was wearing boxers and nothing else. Smooth skin covered pecs the size of plates. The corded muscles of his abs made a six pack look like a weak man’s game. The defined line down his center called for her tongue. Tonight the boxers were plaid. Navy and green. He braced his hands on his hips. “Little late for a social call.”