When he heard a whir and a click, Gage ducked, but the whirring and clicking continued and he realized lab equipment, computers and refrigerators were generating the noise. He’d like to smash everything to bits in here before he left. Obviously Prospero and probably the rest of the CIA had no idea what was going on out here.
Gage looked up and spotted his chance. He wheeled a cabinet into the corner, climbed on top and pushed up a square of the soundproofed ceiling. He hoisted himself into the crawl space and pulled the ceiling piece back into place.
It wouldn’t help if he fell through the ceiling, so he crawled along the supporting frame on the edge of the space. Every ten feet or so, he lifted a portion of the ceiling to peer into the room below.
A couple of times he discovered people in the rooms, but they were lab workers. No Dr. Murdoch. No Jessup. No Randi.
Until he turned the corner.
His blood boiled at the sight below him, and it took every ounce of self-control he possessed not to drop into the room immediately. The creeps had tied Randi to a hospital bed. They’d taken away even the flimsy gown, leaving her naked and exposed.
She had her eyes closed, her head turned to the side.
Gage shifted the ceiling square to the side and put his face up to the opening. “Psst. Randi.”
Her head jerked forward, her eyes darting to the door.
“It’s Gage. Up here.”
Her eyes widened and she pulled against her restraints.
Gage ground his teeth together. “Is anyone outside? Is anyone coming?”
She rolled her head from side to side.
That’s all he needed. Gage shoved the panel out of the way and lowered himself into the room. He pulled his knife from the holster tucked into his boot and sliced through the nylon cords that bound her wrists and ankles to the bed.
She immediately rubbed her wrists, and then put her finger to her lips.
Gage whipped off the lab coat and held it open for her as she inched off the bed. When she’d stuffed her arms in the sleeves, he wrapped his arms around her chilled body. Then he pointed upward.
She nodded.
Luckily the bed was close enough to the panel he’d moved to enter the room. Gage climbed onto the bed and held out his hand to help Randi up beside him. When she stood next to him, he crouched before her encircling her just below the hips. He rose, hoisting her up toward the ceiling.
She grabbed the edges of the space and pulled herself through as he propelled her from below.
Once she disappeared through the opening, he stood on the frame of the bed to give him more height. When he was halfway through, Randi grabbed the back of his shirt and tugged him the rest of the way.
He resettled the panel and pointed back the way he’d come. He whispered close to her ear. “Stay to the edges or you’ll fall through.”
She gestured for him to go first. He didn’t want her behind him in case something went wrong, but he could lead the way better. As they made their way through the crawl space, he kept glancing behind him to make sure Randi was still there.
Thank God she’d been conscious and awake.
They arrived at the last room by the stairwell, the lab with the animated machines. Gage punched out the ceiling panel and lowered himself into the room.
Soon Randi’s legs were dangling through the opening, and Gage wrapped his arms around her thighs and slid her down his body until her feet found the cabinet.
“How are we going to get out of here?”
“You’ll see. I have it all planned.” He had most of it planned, but he didn’t want to worry her about one minor detail.
They slipped through the front door of the lab building, and Gage hustled her along the edge of the building to Dr. Coolidge’s Jeep parked next to the medical building.
He helped Randi into the passenger seat and then hopped in, leaving the headlights dark. When he’d cranked on the engine, it sounded like a jet airplane. The Jeep crawled through the row of other Jeeps in the dark, and then Gage stepped on it and the car hurtled toward the manned guard shack at the front gate.
“How are we going to get through that gate?”
“Not everyone at this compound is involved in the crazy stuff, Randi, and I have a hunch about those guards at the gate.”
“You know about the crazy stuff?”
“I know enough. Hold tight.”
He turned on the headlights as he approached the guard shack and decreased his speed.
The marine stepped out from his post and Gage blew out a breath.
“Your ID, sir? I have orders not to let anyone off this compound tonight.” The marine peered around Gage to have a look at Randi.
Gage glanced at the soldier’s name on his fatigues. “Sergeant Peck, I’m a Prospero agent. I work with Jack Coburn. This woman is under our protection. She’s a valuable witness, not a criminal, not a terrorist. She hasn’t done anything wrong. She’s going to be Prospero’s responsibility now, not Dr. Murdoch’s.”
The marine saluted and stepped aside. “Yes, sir.”
The gate rolled open and Gage floored the accelerator.
“How’d you do that? How’d you do all of this? Getting into that building? Finding me? Getting this Jeep?”
“Turns out Dr. Coolidge wasn’t such a curmudgeon after all. We owe our escape to him.”
She grabbed his arm. “They had some diabolical plan to lure Zendaris out by holding his unborn child hostage—my unborn child, too. They were going to impregnate me against my will.”
“I figured it was something like that.” But hearing Randi voice it made him even angrier and his foot grew heavy on the gas pedal again.
“You did?” Her grip tightened. “Is this some sort of new way of negotiating with terrorists and arms dealers?”
“Obviously Murdoch was using her little lab of horrors for all sorts of unregulated experiments.” He gestured to the backseat. “If you’re not too sick of them, I bundled up your clothes. They’re in the bag.”
She clapped her hands together once. “I can’t wait to put those dirty clothes on again. You’re amazing.”
“Don’t get too excited. Now I have to get us out of Panama. And you can bet by morning Jessup and Murdoch will make sure we’re Panama’s most wanted.”
Chapter Eight
Randi paused, her hand on Gage’s black duffel. She should’ve known they weren’t out of the woods yet, but at least she wasn’t strapped to a table like some sort of specimen for dissection.
She dug her clothes out of the bag and dropped them in her lap. She could slip into her underwear beneath the lab coat. Not that modesty wasn’t completely futile at this point since Gage had already seen pretty much every inch of her body.
Still, she kept the coat in place as she stepped into her panties and arched off the seat to pull them up. She shifted a quick glance at Gage, but he had his eyes pinned on the road outside the windshield. She yanked on her black pants the same way.
Then she slid her arms from the coat and put on her bra beneath it, and whipped off the whole thing to pull her blouse over her head. Putting on some sweaty, dirty clothes never felt so good.
She bunched the lab coat into a ball and threw it in the backseat. Running her hands through her hair, she let out a long breath.
“Did Murdoch attempt to help you recover you memories at all?”
“She never believed me, Gage, not for one minute. As soon as she got me into that room alone, she started interrogating me in a hostile manner. She drugged you, didn’t she? They talked in front of me like I was some inanimate object.”
“Yeah, she did, and she tried it again at dinner so I’d sleep through the night before I shipped out of there in the morning.”
“How’d you know I was still there? Did Dr. Coolidge tell you?”
“He didn’t know if you were still there or not, but it was clear the only lab results he got back were for the pregnancy test, not any other test that would cause you to be airlifte
d to the States like Dr. Murdoch told me. Coolidge explained that Jessup was very interested in those pregnancy test results. I started piecing things together from there.”
She shivered and hugged herself. How close had she been to being forced to carry some stranger’s child? To being forced into some nine-month incubation period?
“How are we going to get out of Panama? Even if we’re not on some most-wanted list, I have no passport, no identification, no identity, when you come down to it.”
He tapped his phone. “I’m going to send another message to my team, and this time I’m not accepting a CIA escort. It has to be someone from my organization and it has to be someone I know.”
“Prospero.”
“What? Where did you hear that word?”
“You said it yourself to the guard, but I’d heard it before from Dr. Murdoch and Jessup. What is it? What’s Prospero, some deep-cover CIA offshoot?”
“We work with the CIA, but we don’t report to that organization.”
“Thank God. Will you be in trouble for spiriting me away from there?”
“Not with Prospero, not when I tell my boss what was going on down there. The CIA won’t like it, but they’re going to have to keep a tighter rein on their covert-ops divisions.”
“Dr. Murdoch will deny your accusation. We have no proof and why would anyone believe me?”
“I do.” He squeezed her knee.
“Why? Why did you rescue me, Gage? You want Zendaris just as badly as they do. Their crazy plan just might’ve worked to smoke the guy out.”
“You’ve spent a lot of time in my company. Do you really think I’m the kind of guy who would allow some government entity to falsely imprison an American citizen and manipulate her body?”
She suppressed a tiny sigh. She hadn’t gotten the answer she’d been fishing for, but it wasn’t half-bad. Gage Booker was one of the good guys and he just proved he’d go to any lengths to protect her—even if he did so from duty rather than from any stronger emotion.
“Well, thank you. I guess I got lucky when you discovered me at the compound.”
“We both got lucky.” He coughed. “I mean, because I’m certain you’ll help us find Zendaris when you start remembering your past.”
“Where are we headed now?” Randi scooted to the edge of her seat and peered into the rearview mirror. “And do we have to worry about anyone following us?”
“Not yet. They won’t be checking on either one of us until morning, and by then we’ll be lost in Panama City.”
“Why Panama City?”
“It’s big. It’s crowded. We can blend in and prepare for the next leg of our trip.”
“You’re not going to contact Prospero to get us out of the country, are you?”
“I’ve just thought of a better idea. Let’s find out who you are first. I think we can start that search in Texas.”
“The note?”
“Exactly. Someone in Houston named Jessica Lehman knows you.”
“Houston is a big city, and I’m sure there are lots of Jessicas there. Besides, you don’t think I need some professional help?”
“I can get you that, too, but with someone I trust completely.”
“Are you telling me you don’t trust Prospero?” Randi nibbled on her lower lip. If she couldn’t trust the government and Gage couldn’t trust his own agency, they were truly on their own.
“I trust Prospero with my life, especially Team Three, but my team is scattered right now and Prospero has a tight relationship with the CIA. The same CIA I just double-crossed.”
“You trust Prospero with your life but not necessarily mine. Is that it?”
“Zendaris is a dangerous man, Randi.”
“And Prospero will do anything to get him, just like the CIA.”
“I don’t think anyone over at Prospero is interested in getting you pregnant, but...” He shook his head, color rushing into his cheeks. “Y-you know what I mean.”
She snorted. “Yeah, I do know what you mean. But you’re saying they might have their own methods of getting me to talk or remember.”
“Maybe.” He turned suddenly and cupped her jaw with one hand. “I don’t want any harm to come to you, Randi. You’ve been through enough.”
Her heart raced at his warm caress, and she turned her head to press her lips against his rough palm. Murmuring against his hand, she said, “I’ll do whatever I can to help you.”
He pinched her earlobe and returned his hand to the steering wheel. “We’ll help each other.”
She studied his profile, and confusion stirred in her belly. Was that his plan? Help the poor, vulnerable amnesiac so she’d do anything he asked? Tell him anything he wanted to know?
Was he playing her? She’d become so dependent on him that she’d do anything to stay by his side. What if telling Gage Booker everything jeopardized other people? What if spilling her guts to him meant betraying people she loved? People she didn’t even know about yet?
She had to try to keep some emotional distance between them. She closed her eyes and shifted toward the window, leaning her head against the glass. How was emotional distance from Gage even possible after he’d saved her from a nine-month stint as a human incubator?
After almost an hour on the road, they ditched the Jeep and paid cash for a couple of bus tickets to Panama City.
Randi picked at the white tape on the inside of her elbow that held the cotton ball Dr. Coolidge had placed there after taking her blood. “Ouch.”
“You okay?” Gage bumped her shoulder.
She rubbed her arm, squinting at the two pinpricks side by side. Had he jabbed her twice? “My arm’s a little sore where Dr. Coolidge took my blood.”
“You must have sensitive skin. At least Coolidge saw to your physical ailments.”
“Yeah, I’m sure Dr. Murdoch would’ve taken great care of me, too, as long as I was carrying their little hostage.” She wrinkled her nose. “How does someone even hatch a plan like that? I mean, what about the baby at the end of it all? They’re dealing with a human being. They’re playing God with people’s lives, with my life.”
Gage ran his knuckles down her arm. “Don’t think about it anymore. It’s over.”
“That part of it’s over.” She snapped her fingers. “Does the CIA know about the children at the compound? Is that why Murdoch and Jessup came up with this plan? Maybe they figured I was already the mother of Zendaris’s children. He got the children out safely before the raid but left me, so he must care about them.”
He pulled his hand back and crossed his arms. “Do you think you have kids with Zendaris?”
“No. After, when we first left the compound, I did feel a sense of loss but I don’t think I’m a mother. I just don’t.”
Gage cleared his throat. “Dr. Murdoch didn’t do any kind of pelvic exam on you to verify whether or not you’d given birth, did she?”
“Ugh.” Randi squeezed her thighs together. “Not when I was conscious, but they had me strapped to that bed while I was out. Who knows what they did to me?”
She traced the needle marks with her fingertips as fear fluttered in her belly. “Y-you don’t think they already did the deed, do you?”
“Impregnated you?” His brows shot up. “No. I think there would have to be more preparations.... Right?”
“How would I know?”
Hunching his shoulders, he spread his hands. “I don’t think they had time for that.”
Randi tapped on the window, eager to change the subject from a possible pregnancy. “We’re getting close, another five kilometers.”
“First things first. We’re going to check into a hotel, get cleaned up and do some shopping. I know you’ve grown attached to that outfit, but I think it’s about time you branched out.”
She stretched her arms over her head. “Just don’t interrupt my bath like last time.”
He grinned, looking so irresistible she didn’t know how she was going to adhere to her own rule of em
otional detachment. But then all she had to do was mention her possible relationship to Zendaris and he’d cool off faster than a Popsicle in the North Pole.
What would happen to the connection she had with Gage if it all came back to her that she and Zendaris were a couple? It would fizzle. It would explode. It would burn both of them if they continued to stoke this fire between them.
The bus pulled into a busy depot in the center of the bustling city. People crowded the morning streets on their way to work, and shopkeepers swept their sidewalks and opened for business.
Gage found an unassuming hotel in a street lined with them. Requesting two beds, he paid for their room from his seemingly inexhaustible supply of cash from his bottomless duffel bag.
He threw open the hotel-room door and swept a hand inside. “Shower or shopping first?”
“Let’s shop first, eat some breakfast and then I think I need a nap.”
“Sounds good to me.” He dropped the bag and crouched beside it. “I do have a clean shirt in here, so at least one of us can look presentable.”
She aimed a kick at his backside. “Just wait. I clean up really well.”
He chuckled and then straightened up, stripping off the khaki-green T-shirt. His muscles bunched and flexed as he tossed the dirty shirt onto a chair and pulled a clean one over his head.
Randi swallowed. How could any woman resist that? Maybe not every woman could. Maybe Gage was married. She riveted her gaze to his left hand as he dragged it through his hair.
No ring, but that didn’t mean much. A man on some secret assignment wouldn’t run around wearing his wedding ring, especially if he hoped to charm an arms dealer’s girlfriend into telling him everything.
Had he been wearing a ring before? She twisted her lips. She couldn’t remember her name. How would she remember if some stranger had been wearing a ring on his left hand?
Only Gage wasn’t a stranger anymore. He was the only person in her life who wasn’t a stranger, and now his marital status had become vitally important.
“Why are you smirking? Don’t you like this shirt?”
The dark blue color matched his eyes and the soft cotton draped his form, accentuating his broad shoulders and flat belly.
Trap, Secure: Navy SEAL Security Page 10