by Opal Carew
He handed her a spare set of keys and said, “If anything goes wrong, you get back here and drive home. Wait for Liliana and ask her to call Ramon.”
She took the keys from his hand and said, “Will do.”
“Good. Let’s get going.”
He popped open his door, but the interior lights he had disconnected didn’t come on in the dark of the night, keeping their exit secret from any prying eyes on the street.
Caterina immediately ducked into the woods and he followed, but as they left sight of the street, she paused and waited for him to take the lead.
He did so, but kept his pace moderate, aware of Caterina’s condition. If he was going to push her, it would be when they had to make their escape. He shot an occasional glance her way, making sure she was with him. Cautious to not make too much sound as they traversed the land behind two of the homes, undetected.
Ahead lay Edwards’ home and Mick slowed his pace, vigilant for any security systems. As at Wardwell, there were no perimeter alarms. Together they skirted the woods until they were directly behind their intended target.
There were no lights on from what was visible of the house or along the back of the building.
“Do you think anyone is home?” Caterina asked in a low whisper as she leaned toward him.
Mick brought his index finger to her lips to urge her to remain silent. Her lips were soft and warm. Maybe too warm, but he battled back his apprehension.
They were committed to the mission now and there was no turning back.
He eased his hand into the satchel and withdrew his night vision goggles. Slipping them on, he searched for signs of any lights or motion sensors.
There were lights at the two furthermost corners of the large home, but they had no sensors attached to them. They might be time-activated, although if they were, he would have had them come on already.
The area beside the garage was lined with a straight row of fast-growing arbor vitae and would provide little coverage. The woods in which they were hiding, however, continued as an arms-length wide strip of trees and underbrush at the opposite side of the home.
Sufficient cover to hide in.
Bending close to her, he whispered, “Follow me.”
Crouching low, he advanced through the woods and up that strip, Caterina close behind him. Their footfalls were soft against the leaves and underbrush until she stepped on a twig. It snapped loudly, like a gunshot in the night. He paused then as she did, waiting to see if anyone from either home might notice.
No one did, blissfully convinced of the safety of their suburban utopia.
Their gazes connected and as they did so, Mick realized Caterina had gone camo. A useful trait for tonight’s mission, he thought. Inclining his head toward the home, he confirmed they should proceed.
More carefully, he worked his way through the remaining underbrush and trees until they were beside Edwards’ home. Only a narrow strip of grass and some landscaping around the edge of the building separated them from their goal.
He perused the area with the goggles, but she whispered, “Edwards is home alone.”
Exactly what the goggles had confirmed. “How did you know?”
She shook her head and as he met her gaze, he noted the glitter of the inhuman there. She glanced in the direction of the nearby house. “I can see multiple shadows in there.” Then she pointed to Edwards’ home. “But not in there. There’s only one shadow.”
Her halo sight, he realized. Capable of sensing heat possibly.
Caterina waited for his reaction. Tried to curb the obvious fear running rampant through her body that had released the powers she could not control. Powers which neither she nor he didn’t yet understand.
Mick cupped her cheek and ran his thumb across the side of her face to remind himself of what she was beneath the odd-colored skin.
“Good job,” he said, the tone of his voice low.
“Are you ready?” he asked and for good measure, reached beneath the hem of her black sweater to tug into position the Kevlar vest he had insisted she add for protection. Mick didn’t trust that Edwards wouldn’t be armed and placed even less trust on the fact that he wouldn’t use the weapon if need be.
Caterina met his gaze square on and nodded. “Ready.”
He glanced back toward the house and noticed that a light went on in one of the rooms to confirm that someone was home. Taking hold of Caterina’s hand, he said, “Let’s go.”
In a low crouch, they circled around the side of the home and cut across the landscaping close to Edwards’ house. They had to duck low to avoid being seen through the two big picture windows in the front. They paused by the edge of the landing for the front door where Mick reached up and with a gloved hand, unscrewed one light bulb to provide Caterina some cover.
As they had planned during their trip to Edwards’ home, she took a spot in the shadows right by that darkened side of the door. She laid her hands on the red brick and closed her eyes. A furrow appeared in the middle of her forehead as she concentrated, but little by little the transformation took place.
By the time he rang the doorbell, every inch of her visible skin was the rusty red color of the brick along the wall. The black of the vest and sweater blended into the shadows, making her nearly invisible.
Footsteps sounded from within and Mick took two steps back from the door, wanting to draw Edwards out onto the landing and away from Caterina.
The muffled beep-beep of someone disarming an alarm system came seconds before the door opened.
Edwards stood there. Surprise sprinted across his features before a smug look took control.
“Mr. Carrera. I’m surprised you’re here. It would have been sufficient for you to answer all the calls you’ve been ignoring.”
“And here I thought that you would be happy to hear that I’ve brought you something. Or should I say someone?”
Interest flared in Edwards’ features and he took that first step over the threshold and looked behind Mick.
“You have her here?” he asked.
Mick chuckled and shook his head, chastising the other man. “You paid me to find her, didn’t you?”
Edwards squinted, peering at him intently and then craning his neck toward the driveway and woods. He took another step forward, as if to improve his line of sight which was exactly what Mick wanted.
“Don’t see anything? Look behind you, Dr. Edwards.”
The other man half-turned and looked straight back toward his doorway. Straight at Caterina, but he apparently didn’t see her.
Tracking Edwards’ gaze, he knew why. The black of Cat’s clothing and hair appeared to be nothing more than shadows and her eyes were closed, giving away nothing of her presence thanks to the red brick color of her skin. But then she opened her eyes – those amazing sapphire blue eyes – and they were like a beacon in the night.
Edwards gasped and that stunned second was all it took.
Mick grabbed Edwards from behind, encircling his neck with one arm while jabbing his gun into the scientist’s ribs.
“We need to talk,” Mick said.
Chapter 27
Mick forced Edwards forward and the doctor stumbled, but Mick kept a firm grip as they walked across the threshold and into the house. Caterina followed, closing and locking the door behind them.
He walked the doctor through the house until they were in the kitchen. Tossing Edwards into a chair, he ripped some cable ties from his pocket and bound the scientist to the arms and legs of the chair, not that Edwards put up much of a fight.
Maybe because his stunned gaze had been focused on Caterina the whole time.
As Mick finished securing him, he turned to find Caterina losing the brick camo and going back to her normal skin color.
“Long time no see, Dr. Edwards,” she said, the tones of her voice controlled although her body was taut with anger.
“You’ve got some nerve bringing her here,” Edwards said, shooting a glance at him. “She’s dangerous. She
killed Wells.”
Mick shook his head and laughed harshly. “There are lots of reasons why I think Caterina didn’t do the skewering. Let’s start with reason number one - Gates Genengineering.”
Edwards paled. “How do you know about them?”
“I hacked your servers.”
“You found the Gates documents?” Edwards sputtered.
Mick nodded and walked around the edge of the chair to crouch right before the doctor, not wanting to miss a second of his response.
“What happened? Did Wells find out about the experiments you did on Caterina and the others?”
Confusion clouded the other man’s eyes as he shot a look back at Caterina before returning his gaze to him. “What are you talking about?”
“This is what you did to me,” Caterina said and approached. To leave no doubt about what she was referring to, she laid her hand on the maple surface of the table. Her anger made the transformation quick as her hand almost disappeared onto the surface of the table.
“I didn’t know that’s what Wells did. I just knew something wasn’t right,” Edwards replied, his eyes wide with fear.
“Wells was trying to help me when you had him killed,” she nearly screamed and advanced on him.
Mick jumped in her way and as had happened before, her extra strength surprised and nearly toppled him. “Calm down, Cat.”
“See how violent she is,” Edwards said. The chair bucked as he tried to escape his restraints to get away from Caterina.
Caterina did as Mick requested, backing away and tucking her arms tight to her sides to restore control. “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
Mick stood before Edwards once more, arms across his chest. His stance loose, but ready for action. “If I thought Caterina would do it, I’d gladly let her at you. Someone has to pay for what’s been done to her.”
“I told you. I had nothing to do with that,” Edwards hissed, the skin taut across the almost ferret-like lines of his thin face.
“Nothing to do with it, but you found out about it, didn’t you?”
Hot color erupted on Edwards’ cheeks. “Wells came to me right after I told him about the merger.”
“He wanted to tell Gates about the experiments?” Mick pressed.
Reluctantly, Edwards admitted it, which was not what Mick had been expecting. “He wanted to come clean, but that would have jeopardized everything.”
“So you killed him,” Caterina said and came to stand beside him, the intensity of her fury apparent, but controlled.
“As far as I know, you’re responsible for Wells’ death.”
“You know this based on what? Video feed? Eyewitness testimony?” Mick asked.
Edwards shrugged. “I can’t say.”
Caterina leaned down until she was almost face-to-face with him. “You mean you can, but you won’t.”
As she rose upright and stood beside him again, Mick laid a calming hand on her shoulder as he looked straight at Edwards and said, “Call off Mad Dog.”
Edwards raked his gaze over him intently. “Who is Mad Dog?”
“Matthew Donnelly aka Mad Dog. Soldier-of-fortune. Psycho security expert. Call him off,” Mick repeated.
Edwards shrugged and shook his head. “I don’t know any Mad Dog.”
He was either a damned fine actor or he was telling the truth, but just in case Mick pulled out an old photo of him with Mad Dog and shoved it in Edwards’ face.
“You’ve never seen this man before?”
“Never,” Edwards immediately asserted.
Mick actually believed him, but he also suspected the good doctor might have an idea who had called in the other man. “Who do you think hired Mad Dog?”
“I don’t know.”
Clearly lying this time, Mick thought.
“Mad Dog’s name was on your security department logs,” he said and crouched down once more until he was eye-to-eye with Edwards. He wanted his message to be clear.
“You’ve got until noon tomorrow to check the logs and call me with the name of the person Mad Dog visited.”
A shrewd look crept onto Edwards’ features. “What if I don’t?”
Mick smiled and shot a half-glance at Caterina before he rose and joined ranks with her. She slipped her hand into his as he said, “I can show you a world of hurt you can’t even begin to imagine. Physical and financial hurt. Understood?”
Edwards’ gaze narrowed at their show of unity and then he nodded.
“Understood, Mr. Carrera.”
Despite the doctor’s words, Mick didn’t trust him. There was too much at stake financially for Edwards. If he had hired Mad Dog, Mick suspected the scientist would not call the mercenary off so quickly.
But Mick hoped the warning would spur the other man into action and help him confirm Edwards’ involvement in what had happened to Wells. He would be tracking Edwards’ every move so he could better understand the kind of battle he faced to safeguard Caterina’s life.
* * *
The ride back to Mick’s home in Bradley Beach was quiet.
Mick was seemingly lost in his thoughts, probably considering all that they had learned from Edwards.
Edwards, Caterina thought with disgust. He had been so smug and too calm. Clearly unremorseful of all the pain, suffering, and death that had come about because of the contract with Gates Genengineering.
One hundred million dollars for the loss of how many lives? Caterina wondered as another shiver racked her body.
At her movement, Mick shot a quick look in her direction before returning his attention to the road. “Are you okay?”
The low level heat she had been tolerating all day had been steadily growing until her head had begun to pound and now the chills had started.
“I’m hot,” she admitted and tucked her arms tight around herself to contain the involuntary spasms of her body.
His hands tightened and relaxed on the steering wheel before his gaze diverted to hers for only a moment. “It’s about ten more minutes to the house. Can you hold on that long?”
Her head hurt so much that even the off-on bursts of light from the passing street lamps were creating agony in her skull. Only ten minutes, she told herself.
“Only ten,” he repeated and she realized she had spoken out loud.
Another rough shudder slashed through her body, but she lied past her chattering teeth and said, “I can do it.”
She repeated those words as a mantra, trying to ignore the pain and the nearly uncontrollable tremors of her body.
* * *
Mick increased his speed, mindful of Caterina’s degrading condition, but he kept it within reasonable limits so as to avoid being pulled over. The lack of vibration from his cell phone confirmed that his home was apparently still secure since no alarms had been tripped.
He pulled the Jeep into the garage and turned in the seat. “Cat, we’re home.”
She nodded, or at least he thought she did. She was shaking so violently that it made it impossible to know whether or not the motion had been in response to his question.
He sprang into action, exiting the Jeep, and swinging around to her door. He opened it and reached in to carry her from the car and into the kitchen.
Liliana was there, making herself a cup of tea. At her questioning glance, he said, “Cat’s burning up again. I’m taking her to the pool.”
His sister went into action, closing the door to the garage, and disarming the alarm before it tripped. Following him to the edge of the pool, she hovered nearby anxiously as he toed off his boots and ripped his cell phone from his belt. He slipped his holster with the Glock from the small of his back and removed his ankle holster.
“Get some towels,” he instructed and walked with Caterina in his arms to the stairs at the far end of the pool. He carefully moved down the stairs, the chill of the water seeping through his jeans.
Caterina was almost incoherently mumbling something over and over again as he finally entered the wa
ter with her.
An immense tremor racked her body at the contact with the cold water. Her eyes flew open, bright orbs of blue made brighter by the reflection from the moonlit pool water.
Rousing, she grabbed hold of his shoulders and buried her face against his chest.
He tucked her close, laying his face close to hers and the heat burning up her body registered against his cheek.
“How is she?” Liliana called out as she tossed down some towels by the lip of the pool and crouched down to get a better look at them.
“It’ll take a little time to cool her down.” But he worried that the fever had returned without another injection of the inhibitor drug.
As he examined Liliana’s face, her similar concern was plainly evident.
“I’ll go get her room ready.”
She rushed off, leaving him alone with Caterina in the pool. He bent his knees, dipping down so that they were covered in the cool water as far as their necks.
Caterina’s face bore a ruddy blush from the fever, but as he cradled her, the heat from her body slowly receded as did the rosy flush. He brought his lips to her forehead, pleased that her body temperature was substantially lower.
“How are you feeling?” he murmured.
“Better,” she replied.
“Let’s get you dry and back to bed to rest. You probably overdid it tonight by coming with me.” Or at least, he hoped that was the reason for the return of the fever and not something else going on in her body.
At her nod, he walked out of the water and onto the pool deck, and released her legs so she could stand on her own. She was wobbly, so he kept one arm around her and she wrapped her arm around his waist. Together they bent and retrieved the towels, drying off their hair and faces. He wrapped a towel around her body to collect some of the water dripping off her clothes. Scooping up his cell phone and weapons, he then picked her up and took her upstairs to the guest room.
Liliana waited there with yet more towels. On the nightstand by the bed she had set up a small bowl and some hand cloths. The bowl was filled with water and ice in the event the fever returned.