by Liz Wolfe
Ethan sighed. “All right. You set something up, and I’ll let you know when we’ll be there.”
“Will do.”
Shelby already had an idea of what she wanted to do. She walked back to the main house, asked Mel for some maps of the local area, and then returned to the cottage. She’d spent over an hour studying the maps when Mac returned.
“How’s Shannon?”
“She’s all right. I watched Sam while she slept, and then we talked some.” Mac settled in the chair next to Shelby.
“What she went through must have been really hard on her. Especially worrying about Sam.”
“It was. But Shannon’s a lot stronger than she looks. And Sam probably could use some counseling, but otherwise he’s dealt with it pretty well.”
“What they did to her was so invasive.”
“Yes, and we don’t even know everything they did to her. It was just dumb luck that we found the tracking device.” Mac paused for a moment. “Shannon got sick again this afternoon.”
“Really? Was it the medication you gave her?”
“I doubt it. That isn’t a common side effect of lidocaine or the painkillers.”
“Does she have any ideas about it?”
“No. The only thing she could relate it to was when she first became pregnant with Sam.”
“She mentioned that to me too.” They looked at each other for a moment. “Mac, what about all the nausea Zoe’s been having?”
“Could be a lot of things. They kept her drugged for three days, although that should all be out of her system by now.” Mac frowned. “Could be any number of things.”
“Sure,” Shelby said. “Maybe she’s pregnant.”
Mac stood up. “Or in the process.”
“What?”
“In the in vitro process, the first thing they do is give her hormones so she’ll produce more ova than usual. Then they fertilize the ova and implant them into the woman’s uterus.”
“Right. Then they have a better chance of one of them surviving.” Shelby suppressed a shudder thinking about stories she’d heard of women giving birth to litters of babies, because all the implanted eggs survived. “You don’t think they impregnated Shannon, do you?” Shelby asked.
“I wouldn’t put it past them.” Mac shrugged and dropped into one of the chairs.
“And they could have been giving Zoe hormones, planning the same thing for her.” Shelby shook her head. “Those people are sick and twisted.”
“The few pages from Sam’s chart that I looked at mentioned a program. It sounded like Sam wasn’t the only child they were going to experiment on.” Mac rubbed his eyes and leaned his head back. “Of course, that could mean they have other children picked out, or that they are trying to breed them.”
“You can breed psychic ability?”
“I have no idea. Thomas and Carlson have been researching psychic abilities for years. Maybe they found something that indicates it’s hereditary.”
“Did you talk to Shannon about that?” Shelby asked.
“She wants to take a pregnancy test immediately. God, I hope it’s negative.”
“Well, she can probably have one tomorrow. Zoe too. Ethan is sending an extraction team for the three of them tomorrow.”
“What about you?”
“I don’t need a pregnancy test,” Shelby answered with a straight face.
“Very funny.”
“I’m going to try to distract The Center guys so Ethan’s agents have time to get them out of here.”
“I’m not sure I’m in any hurry to face my SAC.” Mac chuckled. “Need any help with your distraction?”
“No, but you’re welcome to come along for the ride.” She considered him for a moment. “Mac, I have to tell you, this could be dangerous.” She wanted him to understand just how dangerous she believed The Center to be.
“I think that if The Center wanted Shannon and Sam so badly that they’d implant a tracking device, they’re pretty serious. If they’ve gone so far as to impregnate her …”
“I agree. I think they will stop at nothing to get them back.” Mac stood up and stretched. “If it gives Shannon and Sam a better chance of escaping, I’m in.”
Shelby gathered up the maps. “Let’s go see Mel, and I’ll tell you about the plan.”
“I need more information.” Chris braced herself for the protest.
“What? And how am I going to get it? I’m not privy to everything, Chris.”
“Chambers tells you everything. You can get the information I need.” Chris paused but heard no further protest. “I know that Parker took Shannon and Sam to Sedona. I need to know what they’re planning now.”
“Chris, I don’t like doing this. It feels like I’m betraying the FSA.”
“You’re not. I’m not using the information for anything but to protect myself. You told me once that you’d do anything for me. I’m not asking for that much.” There was a long silence, and Chris waited impatiently.
“I heard them talking in Don’s office.”
“Yes?”
“They’re sending two agents in tomorrow to bring Shannon and Sam back here. And there’s another woman with them. Shelby took her out of The Center when she rescued Shannon.”
“What about Parker and McRae?” Chris didn’t really care about the other woman.
“They said something about them creating a distraction so the agents can get the others out.”
“What else?”
“That’s all I know. Really.”
“Keep your eyes and ears open. I’ll call back later.” Chris hung up the phone. McRae hadn’t contacted her, and that was a surprise. Did he know something? Parker wasn’t taking any chances. And Chris couldn’t either. She punched in Jonah’s number.
“Jonah Thomas.”
“I’ve got some information for you.”
“Good girl.”
Chris cringed at his patronizing tone. God, how had she dropped so low? She swallowed hard and pushed the feeling aside. “Parker and McRae are providing a distraction tomorrow morning, so FSA agents can get Shannon and Sam out. They’re taking them to Denver.”
“By plane?”
“I have no idea, Jonah. I can only get so much information.”
“Fine.” Jonah sighed into the phone. “I’ll just have to cover all the contingencies then.”
“I’m getting a lot of heat on this, Jonah. Headquarters is assuming that something has happened to McRae. Word is that as soon as Shannon and Sam are safe, the FBI and the FSA are coming after you.”
“Then, you’d better hope they don’t get me. You’ve had such a stellar career, I’d hate to see it go up in flames.”
Her anger flared. “Listen, asshole. As soon as McRae talks to headquarters, they’ll know that something is wrong here. They’ll ask why I didn’t tell them everything. I’ll be suspended or up on charges. I won’t have access to the information, which means I’ll be useless to you.”
“I’ll make sure McRae never gets a chance to speak to headquarters.”
Chris shoved a fist in her mouth to stifle the gasp she couldn’t prevent. She’d just sold out McRae. She’d been able to ignore the fact that she was sacrificing Shannon Masterson and her son. But a fellow agent?
Chris turned off her phone and laid her head on the desk. How much longer could she do this? And what the hell had happened to that thief she’d hired to get the photos and negatives? The woman had never contacted her, and Jim Bottoms swore that he hadn’t heard from her either.
Without the negatives, the only way to protect her life, her career, was to do what Jonah wanted. But eventually that would ruin her career too. To what lengths would she have to go just to save herself?
“You guys ready for dinner?” Mel asked when they’d finished going over the plans.
“Definitely. I’m starving.” Mel led the way to the dining room. Bear was there with Sam, who had become his shadow in the short time they’d been there.
“Where’s Shannon?” Shelby asked.
Bear nodded toward the bathroom down the hall. Mel caught Shelby’s eye. “Shannon told me about being sick, so I gave her a test. Zoe too.”
“You mean a preg—” Mac caught himself and glanced at Sam, who was happily scrambling over Bear’s back in a game of leapfrog.
“Thank God!” Zoe came into the dining area and dropped into a chair. “Shannon’s still in the bathroom?”
“She’ll be out in a minute.” Mel disappeared into the kitchen and returned just as Shannon appeared. Shelby took in Shannon’s face. Pale. Frightened. A trace of disgust. She could guess the results of the test.
“Dear God, what have they done to me?”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Two FSA agents will be here early tomorrow morning. They’ll escort Zoe, Shannon, and Sam to the airport.” Shelby gave Shannon an encouraging smile. “You’ll be flown to FSA headquarters, just outside Denver.”
Shannon nodded as she repeatedly wadded the napkin in her hands. “What happens then?”
“You’ll be guests of the FSA until Carlson and Thomas are taken care of. After that, it’s up to you.”
“Will you be going back with us?” Shannon asked Mac.
“No. I’ll be staying here for a bit, but I’ll join you soon.” Mac and Shelby had decided not to tell Shannon and Zoe about their plans to create a distraction while the agents took them to the airport. Mac thought that Shannon would worry, and Shelby was sure Zoe would want to be a part of it, since she wasn’t really keen on going to FSA headquarters anyway.
Zoe seemed to be a very private person. She didn’t talk about herself much and didn’t involve herself in conversation with the others. Probably a habit she’d developed due to being a thief. From the little Zoe had told Shelby, she’d been a thief since she was a young girl. When she was a teenager, she’d hooked up with a series of older thieves who had mentored her. That had to be an interesting story, and someday Shelby would get it out of her.
With Zoe’s desire to stay away from everyone, Shelby had decided to share the larger bedroom with Mac. All day, she’d been avoiding thinking about how she’d awakened with her legs entwined with Mac’s. And how good it had felt. Which was bad. She was in the middle of an op. It was no time to start feeling something for someone—even if it was just purely sexual. She gave herself a mental slap. She wasn’t a teenager, after all. She had reasonably good impulse control—when she was awake anyway.
Nevertheless, she was dead tired. They could sleep in the same bed without a problem. It’s not like they would be naked or anything.
That brought up a visual that Shelby could have done without. Mac without any clothes on. Lying on the bed. She could almost see his tanned form through the gauziness of the mosquito netting. When she found herself squinting to see through the netting, she jerked herself back to reality. She had another three hours before they would go to bed. She’d stay busy. Be really tired and sleep like a baby. Shelby glanced around the room. Nothing to do in the cottage. Zoe’s door was closed, as usual. Maybe Mel could use her help.
“I’ll be back in a while,” she said to Mac. He looked up from the book he’d borrowed from Mel.
“Where’re you going?”
“Just thought I’d check on Mel’s preparations for our distraction tomorrow.”
He unfolded his tall frame from the mama-san chair. Heavens, his legs were long. And tan. And muscular. What kind of psychiatrist had muscles like that in his legs? Mac stretched, and her attention moved to the muscles in his arms and chest as they flexed. Why was he wearing a tank top? It hadn’t been more than ninety-five degrees today. Couldn’t he wear a regular shirt with sleeves?
“Good idea. I’ll come with you. Nothing to do here.”
Crap.
“She probably has it all under control.”
“Then why are you checking on her?”
“No reason. I just want to make sure we have everything handled.”
“Me too.”
They walked across the common garden to the main house. Bear was just coming out of the control room Mel had shown Shelby earlier.
“Falcon, I was just coming to get you. Mel wanted to go over the plans again.” Bear turned back down the hallway to open the doors to the special room for them.
“Thanks, Bear.”
When he was out of earshot, Mac turned to Shelby. “Why does he call you Falcon?”
“It was my code name on some ops when we worked together.”
“I see.”
Really? Shelby doubted it. Mel and Bear were the only people she’d ever trusted enough to work with on an op.
Bear walked ahead of them across the room and opened one of the doors on the far wall. On the other side of the door, they walked down a long hallway and through another door into a large garage. Shelby was surprised to see her Mini parked there, doors open. There were two dummies in the back seat. One wore a wig that matched Shannon’s hair pretty well. The other one was a child sitting in a car seat.
“What do you think?” Mel asked.
“They look pretty realistic.”
“Check this out.” Mel reached in and flipped a switch on the dashboard. The dummies started to move. Shannon’s dummy moved its head and lifted an arm. Sam’s dummy turned its head and lifted a toy. “I couldn’t fit in a dummy for Zoe.”
“I don’t think that will matter.” Shelby walked around the car. “They can’t know for sure that we have her, and I think they’re really only interested in Shannon and Sam at this point.”
“Impressive,” Mac said with a grin. “They’ll most certainly believe we have them in the car.”
“The female dummy is wearing the tracking device around her neck.” Mel moved to the trunk. “Since we don’t know how soon you’ll be able to lose them, I packed your trunk with some survival essentials.”
“Thanks, Mel. Let’s hope we don’t need them.” Shelby checked out the car for a moment.
“No time to put in bulletproof windows, so if they’re shooting at you, you might want to get away from them.”
“If they think we’ve got Shannon and Sam with us, they won’t be shooting,” Shelby said.
Mac nodded. “They certainly want Shannon and Sam alive and well.”
“So, you just have to get away from them. Shouldn’t be too difficult. I’ve seen you drive.” Mel chuckled. “You better buckle up, Mac.”
“She is a bit reckless behind the wheel, isn’t she?” Mac was grinning, so Shelby assumed he was joking. Still.
“Hey!” She punched his arm. “I’ve never had an accident.”
Mel arched an eyebrow at her.
“Not one that was unintentional, anyway.”
“I probably don’t even want to know,” Mac said, shaking his head.
“Probably not,” Mel agreed. “Well, we’re done here. You two might as well get some rest. Tomorrow’s gonna be a busy day.”
“Busy. That’s one word for it.” Shelby turned to Mel. “You sure you don’t miss this?”
“How can I miss it when it keeps coming to my doorstep?”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be. You aren’t the only one that’s done it. Besides, it keeps my game sharp.”
“Like it could ever be dull.” Shelby opened the door and waited for Mel to turn off the light.
“Quarter after eight.” Mac glanced at his watch. “A little early for bed.”
“We were up early. Five, if I recall.”
“So, you’re ready for bed?”
“No.”
“How about some cards then?”
“Sounds good.” Shelby didn’t want to think about going to bed with Mac. Because she’d had fantasies about that very thing. But they’d been brief—really brief. In fact, they were so brief, she figured they didn’t count. Even if there’d been a couple hundred of them.
“Oh, wait!” Mel called as they were walking out of the main house. “I’ve got something for you.” She ra
n across the room and thrust a bottle into Shelby’s hand.
“Mel, I don’t drink while I’m on an op.”
“Yeah, like that’s never happened before.” She pressed two wine glasses into Shelby’s other hand. “This is just one bottle. For two people.” She grinned at Shelby and leaned forward. “Besides, I know that you could personally put away the entire bottle and not even need one of the magic pills to stay sober.”
The magic pills. Shelby even had some of them with her. All the FSA agents carried them on an op. Just in case. If you ended up in a situation where you had to drink in order not to blow your cover, you just popped a magic pill. The drug would jump start your adrenalin, which would burn off the alcohol, leaving you reasonably in control. Of course, some agents enjoyed the effects a little too much and ended up in rehab. The magic pills were very close to amphetamines.
“Hey, Mel, you have any playing cards?” Mac asked.
“There should be some in one of your nightstands,” Mel said as she turned back down the hallway.
Back in the cottage, Shelby opened the wine while Mac searched the nightstands for cards. Shelby knocked softly on Zoe’s door but didn’t get an answer. By the time she had the wine poured, Mac was sitting at the small table shuffling the cards.
“So, what will it be? Gin? Poker? Blackjack? Go Fish?”
“Your choice.” She handed him a glass of wine and took the chair across from him.
“Gin it is then.” Mac dealt the cards and picked up his hand. “So, how did you come to be an FSA agent?”
“I met Mel when I was seventeen. She took a liking tome. Said I had a lot of potential. So, we kept in touch and after college, she recruited me.”
“How did you two meet?”
“Ah, well, there’s a story. I was spending the summer with my Dad in Tucson. He was a con artist and involved in some big scam.”
“Your father was a con artist?”
“Oh, yes. So, this particular con was the one that was going to make him a millionaire.” Shelby laughed at the memory. “Weren’t they all? Unfortunately, he’d gotten hooked up with some pretty unscrupulous con men.”