by Joni Hahn
One thing she did know, she had to get those DNA samples. Regardless of what had happened, her sisters deserved to know the truth. She couldn’t trust Mitchell with them now, but if she could get them to Teague Hamilton, she felt sure the doctor would do the right thing, considering the circumstances.
If she managed to do that without getting caught, she’d finish her mission. After all, she now knew D.I.R.E.’s weakest link – intimately. And, if she got caught… She’d have peace all that much sooner.
Throwing back the covers, Belle climbed from the bed and pulled on her clothes.
Mitchell said, “I need to get back to the hotel. We’ll meet at O-seven hundred. Make sure she gets something to eat.”
Belle slipped into her shoes. Mitchell’s departure was probably her only opportunity to get out of the high-security office unseen. She had to take advantage of it.
“Yes, sir,” Austin said.
She heard the door open and shut before the apartment went dark. Austin’s footsteps pounded against the hardwood floor as he made his way back to the bedroom.
Her heart pounded madly, sorrow and pain fueling it with vigor. Despite the fact that he’d deceived her, she still loved him.
They never stood a chance.
The door swung open. She slammed it back in his face.
With two, swift moves, he was out.
***
Pain throbbed in Austin’s skull, nagging him awake. The hard floor felt cold against his bare back, the silence deafening. The scent of apricots lingered in the small space, but the deadly chill in the room betrayed Belle’s missing warmth.
He was alone.
Sitting up, he propped his forearms on his knees. The only sign of her presence was the indention of her head on the pillow and the knot on his forehead. She must’ve heard his conversation with Mitchell. Must’ve assumed he’d manipulated her from the beginning.
He was no better than Booker and his mother.
Jumping to his feet, he rushed out into the hallway. Now was not the time to dwell on it. He had to find her before she got herself killed.
Finding the operations center, he alerted Agent Colfax and the other agents on duty. When a quick survey of the office proved no sign of her, he messaged Mitchell with the news. Waiting for him to respond, Austin dialed Hope, praying she wouldn’t be with Jaydan. Although, knowing the early hour, there was no way his brother wouldn’t be in bed beside her.
“Hello.”
Damn, he’d wakened her. Jaydan wouldn’t be happy. “Hope, it’s Austin.”
He heard rustling on the other end before her voice cleared. “Austin, are you okay?”
“Belle’s gone. None of the agents here have access to the DNA tracker. Can you track her for me?”
Jaydan had told him Hope’s invention was an integral part of D.I.R.E.’s operations now. Austin decided to use his new position and put it to good use.
“Yes, yes of course. Hold on…”
He heard Jaydan talking in the background. A second later, he came on the line.
“Austin?”
Walking out of the operations room, he paced the office foyer. “I don’t need your shit right now, Jaydan. Belle’s gone and I need to find her.”
“How’d she do that?”
“My guess is she snuck out last night when Mitchell left. She’s got to be headed home but, we don’t know where that is yet.” Hearing the worry in his voice, he tried to calm himself. “If she goes back, they’ll kill her.”
“That’d be one less assassin to worry about, Austin.”
Outrage detonated in his chest, raising his voice. “Screw you, Jaydan.”
The line fell silent a moment before Jaydan spoke. “Austin, falling in love with her is suicide.”
No, living without her would kill him. Jaydan would never understand the soft, vulnerable woman that laid beneath the tough assassin.
“Jaydan, Mom and Booker’s lies destroyed our family, Dad, uh, your father’s memory - the entire idea of what my life was. It’s all gone. I feel like someone wiped my slate clean, and I’m starting over with someone else’s life. And yet, that complete shitstorm is nothing compared to what Belle has been through. That nightmare of a life is all she’s ever known and I’ll be damned if I’ll let her die without knowing what its like to have someone love her.”
Austin leaned back his head against his shoulders and squeezed his eyes shut. Damn, he just reamed out his super agent brother by standing up for Belle.
Did he say he loved her out loud?
Hope came back on the line. “Austin, it looks like she’s in the air. Based on her trajectory, I’d say she’s headed to south Texas.”
***
It was a matter of time before D.I.R.E. arrived.
Looking around the deserted hallway, Belle opened the door and walked into the lab as if she belonged there. She knew Mitchell Jacobs could track her now that he had her DNA. He and Austin were probably on their way to Texas now. They all stood on the verge of the ultimate showdown between the Madam and D.I.R.E.
Whose side was she on?
Her agreement with Mitchell became null and void when she left without fulfilling her end of the bargain. She was on her own. Not that she wasn’t used to that. She just wasn’t used to that against her own sisters.
Make that, adopted sisters.
The lab appeared empty, other than the clone working with a microscope on the far side of the lab. It was Thursday, a day usually spent in class, watching film on the Madam’s vision of the world and the steps they needed to take the next week to attain it.
Seeing it from an outsider’s perspective, she admired the idea of world peace. However, to imagine a world where the Madam was in power, where only women ruled, didn’t seem orderly and peaceful at all. It seemed lonely, loveless, depriving women of a man’s affection. It seemed like a living hell, drugging everyone to numb their emotions. What would be the point of life at all?
You wouldn’t have the nightmares if you took the serum.
Her life had been one of servitude, doing the Madam’s dirty work, living as a detached agent trained to protect the master plan. When compared to Cyrus’s clones, her and her sisters had survived and proved the greater force.
But, was the cause worth it?
Having laughed and loved with Austin, she decided she would take the world as it is, deceit and all, rather than the Madam’s world of peace without love. It seemed ironic that the Madam, Cyrus and Clay each had a vision of the perfect world, yet each was different.
Walking into the storage room, Belle searched the alphabetized shelves of test tubes, petri dishes and cryo tanks, looking for her sisters’ blood and tissue samples. Finding Cindy’s specimens, she pulled one off the shelf and placed it in her insulated bag. Perusing farther, she pulled down Aurora’s samples, then Snow’s. She just had to find Robin’s specimens and get back to the fence at the north pasture. She knew the tower guards had probably seen her enter, but they wouldn’t know she should be in San Diego, plotting D.I.R.E.’s demise.
“What are you doing?”
Shutting her eyes, Belle willed her heart to slow. Out of all of her sisters, Robin was the one she’d hoped to avoid today. A major goodie-two-shoes, she wouldn’t hesitate to tell the Madam what she’d discovered.
Belle zipped the bag closed and headed for the door. “What are you doing, Robin? Aren’t you supposed to be in class?”
The hair rose on the back of Belle’s neck as Robin followed her out of the storage room. “I saw the tower guard through the auditorium windows, pointing toward the back fence. I thought it odd, considering we have no animals back there right now.”
Making her way through the lab, Belle tried to put as much distance between her and her sister as possible. She knew what was coming.
But, she was faster.
“You can’t take those, Belle.” Robin’s breath grazed the back of her neck as she reached for the door handle.
Flinging it open,
Belle stepped through the door – and nearly ran into Snow.
“Belle? What are you doing here?” Her violet eyes grew wide with surprise.
Aurora stood beside her, hands on hips, her dirty blonde hair pulled back in a tight bun. “I thought you were in San Diego.”
“What’s in the bag? Late lunch?” Cindy said, the bangs of her short, auburn hair dusted with flour.
Her shoulders slumped. Mother butler, she really was weak without that serum. Then again, she knew this would come. She’d just hoped to get the samples out first.
Now, she had to make her sisters listen. If she could convince them of her own family’s truth, she would die knowing she did all she could to help them find peace.
Walking through them, Belle led the way around the corner to a short hallway without security cameras. If she could avoid the Madam a few minutes longer, all the better.
Turning around, she took a deep breath and let it out, as they crowded around her. “I’m not doing this anymore.”
The four of them stared at her without blinking, as if waiting for a punch line.
Robin’s brows dipped into a frown. “What do you mean this?”
Holding out her arms to encompass the farm, Belle said, “This. They lied to me. I wasn’t an orphan. My family is out there, living in New Mexico.” She held up the insulated bag. “I’m taking these to see if they lied to you, too.”
Cindy’s mouth fell open, while the others glared at Belle.
“Who told you that?” Robin said, with lowered brows.
Swallowing hard, Belle shrugged off the sadness that threatened to spoil her plans. She had to do this for them. “D.I.R.E. took a sample of my DNA.”
Snow gasped aloud.
“You got caught?” Aurora spoke in a raised voice.
Nodding, she simply said, “Yes.” What more could she say?
Robin studied her with small, mistrusting eyes. “How?”
She took a deep breath and let it out. “I quit taking the serum weeks ago.”
Cindy turned away, a hand to her forehead. Aurora bugged out her eyes, while Robin cursed aloud.
“They’re lying to you, Belle,” Snow said.
Aurora chimed in. “They planted the thought in your mind.”
Cindy dismissed Aurora’s idea with a ridiculous shake of her head. “They don’t have that technology yet, Aurora.”
Belle pulled the folded picture from her pocket and handed it to them. “As soon as they showed it to me, I knew. I remembered my real name. It’s Monica Montgomery.”
They crowded around the photo and studied it, before looking up at her.
“You’ve gone cray-cray.” Cindy stepped away and braced a hand against the wall.
“I agree,” Aurora said, handing back the photo.
Belle said, “You think that way because you’re on the serum. You can’t feel like I do. You can’t cry, laugh… or love.”
Snow dropped her chin, affronted. “Of course I can.”
Shaking her head, Robin ran a hand through her fawn-colored hair. “You’ve been with a man.”
Belle’s face blossomed with heat. At this point, to deny it was foolish. The Madam probably already knew she was back on property and would have her killed.
Probably by one of the four in front of her.
“I fell in love with a man.”
Cindy gasped before she whipped around. “No.”
“Belle…” Aurora clutched her arm. “Don’t say that.”
“It’s written all over her face.” Robin twisted her mouth in disappointment. “You know what that means.”
Tears pooled in her eyes. Her sisters stared at her in horror.
“Good God, you have stopped the serum.” Snow took a step back.
Nodding, Belle first thought of Austin, before thoughts of the little girl followed close behind. He was better off without her, and she… she wouldn’t have to remember anymore.
Aurora turned her back on Belle. “You’ve been a good sister.”
Nodding, Cindy touched her back and walked away. “Yes.”
Robin crossed her arms over her chest and looked her straight in the eye. “I’ll give you a three-minute head start.”
Chapter Eight
Austin paced the D.I.R.E. stealth jet as the phone rang on the other end of the line. Once Mitchell had learned Belle escaped, most likely by his own vehicle, he ordered the jet powered up so Austin could make up for lost time.
However, with the wedding rehearsal later in the day, he didn’t have agents to spare. He ordered Agent Colfax and the pilot to accompany Austin to Texas, with strict orders not to engage with anyone on the farm. Just get in, get Belle, and get out.
“Hello?”
Austin stopped mid-step to focus on the gruff voice. “Colonel Rick Montgomery?”
“Yes?” He said, his voice laced with suspicion. “Who is this? How did you get my private number?”
Austin cleared his throat. Hell. How did he tell Belle’s father that he needed help rescuing the daughter he’d lost over twenty years earlier? How did he spring that on someone out of the blue?
“My name is Austin Rose, sir. I’m with the D.I.R.E. Agency.”
“D.I.R.E.? Jacobs’s organization?”
“Yes, sir. I’m calling about your daughter, Monica.”
Silence filled the airways as Austin’s heart pounded against his chest. He knew he took a chance calling Belle’s father, but at this point, he’d do whatever it took to save her. He wasn’t stupid enough to go into a compound run by one of the agency’s greatest foes without more backup. He didn’t have the experience.
But, he did have motivation, and she was worth every risk.
“Is this some kind of joke?”
Austin paced again, praying he didn’t blow this. “No, sir. We had your daughter in custody last night, but she escaped. I’m on my way to Texas to save her.”
“Save her?” He gave a wry chuckle. “From what? If she escaped, it doesn’t sound like she wants saving.”
He swallowed hard, reality a bitter word to utter. “She’s trying to be a martyr, sir. I have to reach her before its too late. I’m short on manpower and thought you might be willing to help me.”
Austin gave him the abbreviated version of the situation, the DNA test results and what he knew about Belle’s life. However, some things just weren’t meant to be told over the phone.
“I don’t know if I should believe you, or call the police. Then again, a wild tale like that has to hold a kernel of truth.”
Austin gave a half laugh, the fear of failure weighing on his shoulders. “Believe me, I wish it wasn’t true.”
He wished they were still back at the D.I.R.E. office, lying in bed, waking up to the first day of her freedom from that psycho bitch.
“What’s your stake in all of this, Rose?”
“Stake, sir?”
He barked out an elaboration. “Were you ordered to go after her?”
Ah, now he knew what the Colonel was getting at. “No. My stake is…everything.”
A note of acceptance filtered into her father’s voice. “And, you’re flying to Texas now, to save her, with one agent and a stealth pilot?”
God, did he really ask for this? “Not by choice, I assure you.”
“You’re in love with my daughter, aren’t you?”
Straightening his spine, he spoke boldly. “Yes, sir.”
“So, what time will you be here?”
***
Belle’s farm sat in the middle of nowhere in south Texas, amongst hunting and oil leases. Based on the satellite footage Austin studied on the flight, it was a full-blown, self-sustaining compound, complete with gardens, cattle, a water reservoir, and several modern-looking buildings. Surrounded by thick brush, it looked to have been in existence for quite some time.
“Did you say, clones?” Belle’s father turned from his binoculars to stare at Austin.
“Yes, sir,” Austin said, pulling a camo cap backw
ard on his head. “I’ll explain later. My orders are to get Belle, er, Monica, and get out. Do not engage.”
He just prayed he wasn’t too late. His girl was determined, if nothing else.
Rick turned back to the farm below. “The place is quiet. No movement.”
Austin jumped off a small cliff and headed toward the fence. “For some reason, I don’t think they went on vacation.”
Agent Colfax sat in a tree several yards away and spoke in Austin’s earpiece. “I’m ready if we have any runners.”
“Roger that,” Austin said, looking back at Rick and patting the Glocks at each hip.
Rick gave him a determined stare, so much like Belle’s it seemed eerie. “You just concentrate on getting my daughter out. I’ll cover you.” He took off in the opposite direction.
Now Austin knew why Belle had been chosen by the Madam. She was the child of a Special Forces colonel and a world-renowned athlete. Great genes to create clones.
Maybe that was the key to the others.
With the jet parked in stealth mode in the middle of one of the farm’s pastures, they were as ready as they’d ever be.
Making his way through a half mile or so of brush, Austin headed toward the electrical fence adjacent to the heart of the compound. He watched for movement before approaching, the copper and gold band strapped to his arm running video feed, and ready to deactivate the electrical current. With a couple of taps on the computer screen, he killed the current long enough to cut a notch out of the bottom of the fence and slide through on his belly.
Rushing to a barn, he plastered himself against the side, his heart pounding. Chickens clucked in a nearby pen, the scents of shit and hay bringing to light the absurdity of the situation. Only Belle could get him to rescue her from an armed compound in broad daylight.
Then again, only an idiot would fall in love with her in two days.
Other than the tower guards and Rick behind a garage, the yard was deserted. As the guards made their rounds, he rushed from building to building until he reached the core of the farm. Based on photographs from the satellite surveillance, he guessed the lab was inside the building at his back, surrounded by a greenhouse and what looked like some kind of infirmary on two sides. Hurrying along the wall, he found a side door, a sign beside it with an arrow pointing inside.