“I’m offended that you did, Jason.”
“Why?”
“I thought you trusted us, but I understand your curiosity. Please know that his name sometimes carries a stigma from his past, neh? And letting it join the children in their new life wouldn’t be fair.”
“I suppose so.” Names changed to protect the innocent, he thought.
“You’ve a very curious nature, is there anything else you’d like to question?”
He let out a breath. “The guards.”
“Ahh, yes. They’re protection. Children are curious, they wander. The jungle isn’t the place to play.”
Bullshit. If Thibaut had control over their pain factor, then he could control their barriers. He let it go, unconvinced. But he wanted off the island. He’d completed the weapons, and Thibaut had taken them away with the canister. He didn’t want to be near that shit again. “I’m ready to leave.”
She pouted but it just didn’t fit with her face and demeanor. “We so hoped you’d join us and perhaps continue his work.”
That would be years away. Thibaut was fit and healthy, not one foot in the grave. “I’m not that smart.”
“But you and I would be.”
He blinked.
“I have been his student since I was a child and have earned three doctorates—medicine, behavior science, and biochemistry.”
He whistled softly. “Congratulations.” He forced a smile, maintaining easy conversation, yet inside he was screaming, she wasn’t his assistant, as he first thought, but his partner. Odette, he surmised, did not like her authority questioned or her mind demeaned.
Without realizing it, she’d steered him back to his private bungalow. Four more cottages were grouped a half acre apart, Barasa’s the furthest, nearer the airstrip. At the door, she reached inside to switch on the porch light and he noticed little things—the perfect almond shape of her eyes, their odd blue gray color, her ink black hair always twisted up and showing her long neck. The graceful way she walked, like a ballerina. His gaze lowered to her cleavage, then swept away.
“It’s alright to look, Jason.”
He met her gaze. “You are a very beautiful woman.”
The corners of her mouth tilted, a secretive Mona Lisa smile. “Thank you.” She tilted her head. “If you’ve a need, I can arrange it.”
When her implication dawned, he said, “No, thank you.” He knew there were only kids here, so where would she find—oh gross. He wasn’t a pedophile.
“Fine. Enjoy your evening.” She turned away.
“About ending this, leaving. I can’t spend my money here.” U.S. agents were hunting the RZ10 and him. It was a matter of time before they found it. Jason wanted to be as far away as he could before that happened, but it was all up to Thibaut. And apparently, Odette.
She looked back over her shoulder, her expression sublime. “Barasa will leave soon. Tomorrow, I believe.”
“I hate that bastard.”
Again the secretive smile appeared as she said, “Then I will take you where you desire myself. Two days? I suffer jet lag, neh?”
He nodded, and as she walked away, he tried to understand how she’d just hoodwinked him into complacency. At least he’d be away from here. The entire island was a mystery he wanted to investigate, but couldn’t. Jason harbored the suspicion there was a lot more going on here than kids and some mind control.
Anderson Air Force Base
Guam
Riley stood on the flight line, waiting for the SUV to bring his brother-in-law from the docks. Behind him about sixty yards, the hangar was buzzing. Sound echoed from inside as technicians worked to set up the ops center. Without will, his mind crowded with images of Bridget and while he knew she was a tough bird, she was in the hands of a man who’d tortured Safia at the sanction of her supervisors. That alone twisted his gut till he had a hard time breathing.
The car shot across the tarmac and screeched to a halt. Travis was the first man out, striding toward him. They embraced, then Travis introduced the crew. None of them looked as if they’d had any sleep in days. He could at least make them comfortable. They walked toward the hangar.
“How did this kidnapper know about her, Riley?”
“He’s rich, powerful and pays to be informed. The man I was chasing is with him and we have a history.” He reminded Travis about the trial, yet didn’t reveal what Safia called her first real lesson in intelligence. Travis didn’t need to worry more. A killer had his wife.
They stepped into the hangar, and Travis stopped short, his gaze skimming over the men and equipment. “I didn’t know Dragon One was this big.”
“It’s not, Trav, but it helps to have your country backing you up when you need it.”
Travis glanced. “We could use that on the British.”
A Belfast boy, Riley had deep feelings about England’s possession of Northern Ireland. One country, he thought, then dismissed it. “People owe us.” He gripped Trav’s shoulder. “I will get her back safely, I swear it. Trust me.”
“I do, lad. I really do.”
Riley would die before he’d let his sister suffer.
Safia walked near, introducing herself. “She’s alive and unharmed. Let me show you what we have.” She escorted Travis and his crew to a group of tables with computers and screens showing the satellite imagery.
Travis took one look at the weather screen and said, “When are you scheduled to leave?”
“Forty minutes.”
“You’re going to get hit with that storm.”
Safia frowned at the screen, then Riley said, “The family weather man.” He inclined his head to Trav. “Climatologist and an oceanographer. He’s never wrong.” Riley turned to the teams. “Listen up! Change of plans. We have to beat a storm.” The crews moved faster.
Thibaut’s satellite dish was their first target while authorities in four nations worked to locate the Icarus devices Odette had hidden. That she had touched down with the security alerts blanketing each city said that Thibaut had paved the way for this long before it started. Let the diplomats sort that out, he thought, then asked Travis, “You said you found bones on the island?”
Jim Clatt quickened to catch up. “Bridget was showing the police. Some of the bones were new.” Jim started explaining, but Riley stopped him and called the teams in for a debrief.
“I told her to forget about it,” Travis said.
Riley stopped, frowned. “Forget what?”
“We went back for a second look and found something.”
The teams gathered and Jim Clatt started in. “We found animal and human DNA. Marrow actually. Dr. McFadden found cases, like metal cages, but solid. She said they hadn’t been there that long.”
Riley frowned harder, and couldn’t image the connection to the bones. He didn’t want to imagine.
“We found the creator,” Safia said and Clatt’s expression fell. “Genetically engineered children.”
“I thought as much,” Travis said. “Nothing could sustain life on that island. They were dropped there. Left to die or survive.”
Jim touched the marks on his throat. “And they did.”
Cale woke with a jolt, his naked body trapped to the bed, his mouth sealed in duct tape. Breathing was a labor. His gaze flicked around the dark room, his eyesight blurry from the drugs. With the drapes drawn, only the hint of light stirred at the edges. Nothing moved. Then the light on the beside table switched on, and he turned his head. A small figure sat in the chair just beyond the glow. A woman, he decided. Odette. He wasn’t amused.
Then she rose, her shape defined in icy white, her moves soundless. She pressed one knee on the bed, then swung her leg over and straddled his hips. Her skirt slid up her thighs, and that she was naked beneath was an instant turn on. He grew hard quickly as she laid over him, rubbing. Her accented voice was throaty in his ear.
“I know you sold a weapon you did not have.”
Barasa tensed.
“
It was forbidden. You knew this. After his glory, you may have your payment.”
She leaned back, his groin mashing to hers and he felt her wetness coat him. He wanted her, a woman so bold to slip into his room. Her body was a willowy silhouette, her skin flawless in the lamplight. Around her neck was a silver chain, the pendant between her breasts and hidden by the neckline of her simple blouse. She didn’t strip and he wanted to see her tits, their round shape perfectly artificial. His gaze rose to her face, beautifully uplifted, her hair twisted high, a couple jeweled sticks securing the thick dark mass.
He met her gaze, his look questioning the gag. Was she afraid of what he would say? God, he wanted to fuck her. Isn’t that what she’d come for? His gaze lowered, watching her hand stroke him smoothly, then she laid over him, a blanket of flesh and woman. “You think I screw Thibaut?”
His gaze slid to meet hers.
“Don’t you?”
She smiled and rocked her hips, rubbing on his cock. He wanted inside her, for her to ride him, but she was in control, and he couldn’t do a damn thing. She leaned back, pulling her skirt higher. He watched as she guided him inside, then slid down. She let out a deep-throated sigh, and he groaned, her body incredibly wet and tight. Then she moved with a smooth undulation, her tempo increasing by the second. He wanted more, harder, and he bucked, needing to grab her hips and jam her down on him. He pumped and opened his eyes, his climax shaking through his hips and up through his bloodstream. She never took her gaze off his face, and when he groaned behind the gag, climaxing hard, she slid the stick from her hair and flicked it sharply. A tube slid off, the light glinting on a thin blade. His arms were restrained, but one was secured to the table, his knuckles resting on the cool wood.
“There is always a price for disobedience,” she said, then lashed her arm down. He blinked, wondering what she was up to a moment before the pain swept up from his wrist. He looked to the side. His little finger lay on the table an inch from his hand. He howled behind the gag. The bitch! The fucking bitch! He fought against his bonds, screaming that he’d kill her.
As if she understood, she leaned down in his face, her dark hair sweeping his bare chest. “You ruined the perfect plan. Timing is essential and your greed,” she stressed, “has cost us.”
She met his gaze, and Barasa swore he saw a silver sheen in her eyes.
“Neh? I can still take another.” She let the blade slide over the back of his hand, leaving a blood trail.
He shouted behind the sticky gag.
“Good. Now the Professor considers the bargain still solid. Leave quietly and disappear. Do not disappoint him again, Cale. I will kill you.”
She dismounted, then pushed a cloth into his palm to stem the bleeding. With another scrap, she plucked the finger off the table and as if selecting a candy, she dropped into a bag. The blood seeped instantly, but it didn’t stop her from stuffing it down between her breasts. She stepped back out of the light, and Barasa heard nothing more. Not a footstep or a door.
He howled, trapped, and knew Rahjan wouldn’t hear him on the other side of the house. He jerked at the bonds, and the lamp crashed to the floor. He rocked the bed, struggling, but the fiber-filled tape refused to release him. If anything, it felt tighter.
Then the door opened a fraction, a pistol barrel coming around the edge before Rahjan stepped into the room. No matter how much he wailed, the man wouldn’t come near till he’d inspected every corner. He walked to the side of the bed, and his expression warned before he yanked the tape off his mouth.
Barasa spit. “Cut me loose.”
Rahjan’s knife appeared and he obeyed. “Who did this?”
Barasa sat up. “Who do you think!”
Rahjan smiled a fraction, but his amusement fled when he saw Barasa’s hand. “She’s a vicious little thing, isn’t she?”
“I’m going to kill her! She has to know that.” He shoved Rahjan with one hand, clutching the other as he went to the bathroom and grabbed a hand towel.
Rahjan tried to examine Barasa’s hand, but he didn’t want help. Mortified to be caught so, the humiliating evidence would never leave him. He grabbed a small first aid kit from under the sink and when he tried to doctor the wound, Rah-jan pushed his hand aside and bandaged him.
“It’s a clean cut. What’d she use?”
Cale shook his head, confused. “A hair decoration.”
Rahjan snickered and even Barasa’s glare didn’t shut him up. “Tied and sliced up by a woman who did what first?” His glance swept meaningfully to Barasa’s naked body roughly wrapped in sheets.
“She’s a good fuck.” Barasa tried to be amused. He wasn’t. He had, in a base sense, just been raped and mutilated.
Odette would pay for this, as would her Professor. Yet trapped, weaponless and outnumbered, he didn’t know how.
Outside the bungalow, Odette leaned against the exterior wall for a moment, reveling in her revenge and the sex that satisfied a need she hadn’t intended to exact. But the man was horny for her, and it was too easy to manipulate him. She was certain her message was clear. There were no second chances.
When she heard a crash from somewhere inside the house, she pushed off and strode across the lawn. She cornered the cobbled path and movement startled her. Immediately she slipped into a defensive stance, then relaxed as Haeger stepped into the lamplight.
His gaze locked with hers. “Pleased with yourself, my dear?”
She glanced away, embarrassed to be caught. His presence spoke of distrust yet he knew she’d needed to punish Barasa for his failure. Why did he involve himself? “Yes. Quite. You insisted on revealing all to him.” They had disagreed on this matter from the start. “He will disappear quietly now. He’s aware we can reach him even after he leaves here.”
Haeger nodded, his gaze lingering over her wrinkled skirt, her feet bare and dirty from her hike though the jungle. She tugged at her hem, the lingering sensation of Barasa’s body filling hers still intense and the memory brought a rush of heat between her thighs.
It vanished when Haeger stepped near. “Did he satisfy you?”
She blinked, her face warming. “Haeger.”
“We have shared everything, my sweet.” He brushed the back of his knuckles across her cheek. “Your revenge is a beautiful, deadly thing.” His thin lips curved, deepening the lines in his face. “Perhaps Jason would have been a better choice to relieve your needs.”
She scoffed. “One had nothing to do with the other. This is my reprisal.”
His dark gaze narrowed. “Everything you do is my business.”
She tipped her chin up. “Not this.” Barasa offended her, not Thibaut.
He didn’t argue further, yet eyed her with a disdain that stung. “Fine then. You reek of him. Rid yourself of it.”
Odette stiffened, a retort on her lips, yet she kept silent, and she rushed past him to obey, her trophy still tucked between her breasts.
Twenty
Anderson Air Force Base
Guam
Inside the hangar-turned-command-post, Safia stared at the screens. Just outside, a jet was prepared for the incursion. Beside her, Riley waited for the links to complete and get the go ahead to launch. “I need a favor.”
He simply waited.
“You take it,” she said. “Take the lead.”
He frowned. “They won’t agree, not with Bridget at risk.”
She was already shaking her head. “My worst nightmare is on that island, Riley. I want him, but not at the expense of the mission. We need to take out the dish and tag the canister. I’m not exactly in my element here.” She waved at the Op center set up a few yards away. “There is no other logical choice.”
His brows knit for a second, and then he nodded. She sighed with relief and hugged him. “Thank you.” She tipped her head back, then noticed they had an audience, but she didn’t give a damn. She kissed him until Max called out. Twice.
“The good fight calls,” she said, then hus
tled around gear and men.
The staging for the high altitude jump was chaotic. Special Forces were on hand from Okinawa, but Dragon One had the lead. Safia didn’t want to be the official authority, but with the bastard holding Bridget, she had less at risk than Riley.
As she approached, Max had his face in a screen, working to digitize the feeds. “Street cameras?”
“Ellie got me the video cameras from around the station. I’ve got vid from three hotels on the same street and the mall diagonally across the street.”
“This is what you’ve been working on all this time?” He’d had his face in the screens since they’d arrived. “This have to do with the phone numbers Ellie was separating from the Triad house?”
Max nodded. “Sort of. We focused on the one phone that wasn’t active. It was a disposable phone, used maybe four times and in the trash somewhere in Singapore.”
“A dead end,” she said, and her expression told him to get to the point.
“Not quite, but what’s interesting is forensics said while there were traces of the RZ formula in the blast zone, there was also Centex in the house blast and your car.” He glanced at her. “The Icarus has the capability but with the RZ10 everything collapses.”
“It did, Max, we saw it. You did.”
“So did Sebastian.”
Her eyes flared.
“The motion sensors woke him. He saw someone, put it together and split fast. That’s why we found him so far away from the station. But it’s been bugging me how the blast sight was so round. RZ10 from what I learned,” he tapped the thick report on the desk beside him, “ignites in isolation. It’s the reason we don’t use it. We can’t control the blasts outside a closed area. But look at this vid.” He brought up three videos simultaneously. “Three locations, a block up the street, diagonally and then here, two stories up on the shopping center across the street on the corner.”
Safia nodded, her gaze flicking between the views.
“This is the clearest.” He played it and Safia saw a figure leave a car and rush over the courtyard walls, then under the house. There were no basements in this part of the world, the water table too low, so most private homes were on cinder block stilts this close to the water.
Fight Fire With Fire. Page 33