by S. E. Babin
As I walked away I heard Watson’s disgusted voice. “You’ll allow me to do nothing…”
I leaned against one of the supports in the sparring room, resisting the urge to beat the crap out of one of the punching bags and pretend it was Watson. When I didn’t find him charming, handsome, and intelligent, I usually wanted to choke him slowly. Today was one of the days where I wanted to choke him.
Aaron and Watson opened the door and came in, eyeing me warily.
Watson mumbled another quick apology and headed into his personal rooms. “I’ll be out in a moment.”
Aaron and I stood in silence waiting for him. “He cares about you,” Aaron said.
“I know.” I did. He cared about me in his own special way. We had a friendship. Sometimes a strong one. Other times, not so much. When we’d decided, for the sake of my father and our working relationship, not to take things any further, it changed things. And though I thought we were in a good place, his casual comments were still able to cut holes in me, so I reminded myself of the parameters of our relationship. I could not get upset over comments like that from him when we were only supposed to be friends. Plus, he was a guy, and guys often said dumb things…especially to women.
Sensing I didn’t want to talk about Watson and his callous comments, Aaron dropped the subject.
“I hope your sister is okay.” I meant it. I wanted to make sure we apprehended her, but I also didn’t want her hurt.
“I don’t think Watson agrees with you.”
I wasn’t sure he did either. “He doesn’t have to.”
Our conversation died as Watson strolled back into the room. We had all dressed warmer for our evening excursion, with layers we could easily shed if any event required us to start taking off clothing. Watson was looking particularly delectable in a pair of jeans and a pullover shirt. He wore a lightweight jacket and had pulled a toboggan over the top of his shaggy curls. He looked dangerous.
And I was not immune to the allure of a dangerous man.
At Watson’s curious stare, I realized I’d been looking at him like a puppy looks at a bone. I blinked rapidly to clear my mind of the path my thoughts were taking.
“Ready?” I chirped, hoping he wouldn’t call me out on my hungry stare.
The side of his mouth quirked in amusement. “A better question is, are you?”
I bit back the retort that bubbled to the surface. “Of course I am.”
“Let’s go.”
Once Aaron and I made sure we had the same info, we headed back to the outside of the secret passage to wait.
As we settled in to wait, I was glad I wore a long-sleeved shirt and jacket. The night sky was clear, but the wind had picked up. We sat beside each other, silent and watchful. She should arrive at the exact same time she’d stepped out last night and this time, we were prepared to follow.
Moments later, the passage opened and Gwynne walked into the night. We let the passage shut so it would muffle some of the noise we were about to make. I touched Watson’s arm once I realized he was about to spring, warning him to let Aaron take the lead.
She walked away from us in a hurry. Aaron stood, silent, and stepped out after her. Once he’d taken a few paces, I stood and Watson followed. Seconds later, a feminine shriek rang out. We put some speed into our movement. Gwynne was struggling to get away from Aaron, who had gripped her from behind. He was whispering something in her ear, but as I ventured closer, I could tell her terror was drowning out anything Aaron was trying to say. “Stay close,” I said to Watson and walked up to Gwynne. Her struggle slowed as she stared at me in confusion. I hesitated to speak in a normal tone, especially since none of us thought it would be a good idea to attract attention, but if Gwynne kept fighting, that choice would be taken out of our hands.
I raised one hand in a gesture of peace. “Aaron is behind you. We aren’t here to hurt you.”
Gwynne’s brows flew together and she tried to twist her head around to see the person gripping her. When she realized it was her brother, she slumped in relief, only to straighten once she remembered the reason we’d probably caught up to her.
Aaron loosened his grip, but kept one hand on her arm. “Hey, Gwynne.”
Her mouth tightened and she glared at me. “I don’t have it.”
“We know.”
Watson came up beside me. “You’re dealing with some pretty shady people.”
“What of it?” she sneered.
So far, Gwynne was gorgeous, but possessed a shitty attitude. “Three against one,” I said in my most polite tone. “It’s up to you whether you make this difficult.”
Her eyes flared in surprise. She clamped her lips together and gave me a mutinous stare.
“Your brother stole something precious to me.” My gaze flicked to Aaron, who bowed his head in shame. “We want it back. And we want it back now. You can help us voluntarily or we can make it very unpleasant for you.”
Aaron sucked in a breath as realization stole over his face. “You—” he breathed, but I cut him off.
“Payback is a bitch,” I said. Watson left me, touched Aaron on the side of his face, and sent him home. I hadn’t known that could be done until we’d allowed Aaron to go ahead of us and Watson and I stayed behind to speak quickly about our plans concerning him. That kind of power was a little shocking to be honest, but it wasn’t without its benefits. My father would be waiting back at the compound to strip him of his DAR. We probably wouldn’t imprison him, but neither would we let him go too far. Especially since we had his sister.
“You’re her,” Gwynne said, unsurprised.
“Her?” I shed my jacket. Betraying people tended to make me sweat.
“Penelope.”
I nodded. “One and the same. So, here’s how this is going to work. You’re going to come with us and tell us everything we need to know.”
We’d spoken to Sherlock about taking her back and he agreed it was a necessary step to take if we were going to minimize the damages wrought by the serum. Taking Gwynne out of her timeline wasn’t ideal, but required. Though some things would change, Sherlock seemed to think it wouldn’t be anything drastic, but left us with his cryptic words, “only time will tell, won’t it?” Which wasn’t comforting at all.
“I know nothing,” Gwynne said and tensed to run.
Watson clamped an iron like grip around her upper arm. “I wouldn’t try that, love. You wouldn’t get very far.”
Gwynne bared her teeth.
I chuckled. “Are you aware of the devastation you’ve caused over this?”
Regret flashed over her face before it was replaced with stubbornness. “None of that was my fault.”
I nodded to Watson. “We can discuss this once we’re back home.”
I pressed the button on my DAR and let my atoms float away.
8
A pissed off, but subdued, Aaron sat bound on my father’s couch. We blinked in and nausea immediately caught up to me. I took a couple slow, deep breaths. “Handcuffs?” I asked my father, who tossed me a pair, as if he anticipated that very request. Knowing him, he had.
I walked over to Watson and secured them around Gwynne’s wrists.
“Is that really necessary?” Aaron bit out.
“Forgive me,” I said, “but I don’t really trust you or anyone in your gene pool right now.”
A hurt look passed over his face, but I hardened my heart to it. We’d worked well together last time. Right up until he left me for dead on a gurney. While I felt he was being honest this time, I also thought he was being honest last time. There was no way I would let myself get taken in by the same ruse again.
My father offered coffee to everyone, then chuckled in amusement when he remembered neither Aaron nor Gwynne could use their hands. “My apologies.” He handed Watson a mug first, then myself. “Enjoy.”
We sipped our coffee in companionable silence and waited for one of the siblings to make a mistake.
Turned out, neither of them were
in a chatty mood. I started off asking questions and was met with grim silence. Watson followed, only to receive the same.
When it was Sherlock’s turn, he stood up from behind his desk and moved to the front of it so he could tower over both of them. A flash of fear crossed Gwynne’s eyes, but Aaron looked mutinous.
“You’re wasting my time,” he began, “and most of us know how I feel about time. I prefer we speak honestly and openly with each other, but if you two refuse, there are ways I can make this much, much easier on myself.” He scratched at an imaginary piece of lint on his black trousers. “I know we haven’t met, Gwynne, but I suspect Aaron here is aware of my vast collection of experimental drugs and machines. What I love so much more than information is…” he allowed a wide Cheshire cat grin to spread over his face and I felt my stomach tighten in fear, “experimentation.”
I was not immune to the effectiveness of cruelty in order to get information, but to hear my father speak so bluntly gave me pause. I’d never seen him harm anyone, but that didn’t mean he never had. I suspected he’d been using people for experimentation based upon some of the things I’d seen in the lab, but whether or not those people consented I didn’t know.
Aaron’s face turned wary and I watched as Gwynne unwittingly shrank in upon herself. Her feet curled up underneath her in the seat and she hunched.
I wanted so badly to make this stop, but we needed this information and Sherlock hadn’t made any move to harm anyone. If we didn’t retrieve the serum from Gwynne and the company she sold it to, news outlets would eventually get wind of what had happened. The worst thing in the world to have on your tail when you had secrets was a nosy person.
“Dad.” I stood. “May I speak with you?”
One eyebrow rose. “Now?”
I nodded.
“Very well.” He swept past Aaron and Gwynne, and both let out a shaky breath. I held the door open for him to pass through.
When it was shut firmly behind us, I turned to him. “Is that necessary?”
His face softened. “Penelope, I am not a monster.”
I turned away. “I know. I mean, I think I know that.”
Hurt colored his tone. “You…think you know that?”
“You just speak of things sometimes in this cold, callous voice. As if their humanity is simply a thing to be snuffed at your will.”
“Humanity is a thing that can be ‘snuffed’ at any time. And though I don’t appreciate the word you used, I think we can both agree humanity is at the whims of many things. Fate. Time. Human error. Other humans. In the case of Aaron and Gwynne—me.”
“Dad—”
“Do not presume to think you can prey upon my sensibilities in a case like this.” He frowned at me over the glasses he rarely wore. “These people were responsible for almost ending your life. And now…there are dozens of deaths on their hands. They are not innocent.”
“I know—” I started, but he interrupted me again.
“They may be good people underneath it all, but a good person would understand the significance of their actions and step up to make it right. They have failed to do so.”
“Aaron came here to help.”
“No, darling. And that is why I must be the one to do this.” He tilted my chin up and I looked into eyes so like my own. “Aaron came because he realized the magnitude of his screw up and knew he couldn’t fix it on his own. Or he was too much of a coward to try. He still has the opportunity to salvage this, but you must allow me to do it my way.” My father tucked a piece of hair behind my ear and sighed. “Sometimes I think you are entirely too softhearted for this kind of work, but you’re bloody brilliant and you always manage to surprise me. Allow me this, daughter?”
As hard as it was to agree with him, in my heart, I knew he was right. I swallowed a lump in my throat and nodded.
“Good girl,” he said softly and dropped a kiss to my forehead, surprising me into stillness. He so rarely touched me.
He turned away, stepped back into the room, and kept the door open a crack in case I wanted to follow. I squared my shoulders, put my game face on, and followed him back in.
Aaron looked entirely too hopeful when I made my way back in. Perhaps he knew me too well. But he didn’t know my father.
“You shall find no quarter with Penelope so you’re wasting those puppy dog eyes on her.” Sherlock reached over to his phone, dialed a few buttons, and then abruptly hung up. I had no idea what he had done, but I bet it didn’t bode well for our two handcuffed visitors. He asked them for information again. They again refused.
Watson pleaded with both of them, in the best way he could, but he wasn’t very good at pleading. It came back around to me and I thought about what my father had said and realized, without a doubt, he was right.
“As much as this pains me to say, my father is right in his treatment of you. We offered you shelter when you had none. Friendship, camaraderie, all those things that cannot be easily obtained. We broke bread with you, allowed you access to our innermost secrets, and you paid us back by betraying us. Twice.”
“I did not betray you twice!” Aaron said sharply as he struggled against his cuffs.
“You left me for dead in my father’s driveway.”
“I made sure you didn’t die!”
“Did you? Or did you just keep me alive so you could later steal the rest of the serum from my body? It wasn’t a huge secret the serum had a failsafe. Killing me would not have served your purpose, but you needed Lila to trust you. So you went along with her initial plan only to stab me in the back again later.”
He blanched as the truth hit him in the face. And me as well. I was bluffing. I had no idea if those were his true intentions, but from the horror in his eyes, that was exactly what he’d done. And to think I’d almost forgiven him for his last transgression.
“Perhaps deep down inside you’re a good person. But you’ve yet to show me any of it besides pretty words. I’m imploring you to step up and do the right thing here. I am the only one who is even remotely sympathetic to your cause. I know exactly how far I’d go to save someone I loved, so I empathize with you. I don’t understand all your actions, but I do understand why you took them.” I tried to soften the blow of my next words with a smile. “This is your last chance to cooperate. If you don’t, I will allow my father to do whatever he needs to do to extract information from both you and your sister.”
I stood up and walked out of the room, unable to stomach any more of this. As the door softly shut behind me, I ran into one of the nurses on the staff pushing a tray full of needles and various other metal instruments.
I paused. “What’s in the needles?”
The nurse kept a perfectly blank face. “Tools for Mr. Holmes to extract information, miss.”
My father trained his staff well. I asked a more specific question. “What kind of tools?”
She swallowed audibly. “Extraction tools for teeth. LSD. Thin needles for underneath the fingernails. It’s excruciating, miss. Cayenne pepper. And truth serum.”
Bile roiled around my stomach. I needed to stay the course. “Very well. Carry on.”
She bobbed her head and opened the door to the study.
I shouldn’t have asked.
I was only a few feet down the hallway when a low keening rang out. If I stopped now, my will would break and I would demand he stopped. I sped up and sang the refrain of a song over and over in my head, trying to drown out the sound.
9
I didn’t wake up until noon the next day and the only reason I did was the persistent knocking on my door.
“Come in,” I croaked and pulled the blankets back over my head.
“It’s locked.” The voice was gruff and a little annoyed.
I groaned. “Just break it down.”
A huff of laughter came from Masters. “Penelope, please. Get up and open the door.”
I kicked my legs until my blankets came off, stumbled out of the bed and into the living roo
m, and opened the door to glare at my friend. He wore a sheepish smile, but he also held a steaming cup of coffee, so I took it and headed back to my bed without saying a word.
I crawled back in and pulled the blankets up to my lap. “What,” I said as I pulled the lid off to make sure there was enough cream and sugar in it.
There was.
“I know how to make your coffee. Trust me. I don’t want to lose a limb.”
I grunted in agreement.
Masters snagged the chair next to my bed, sat down, and stared at me. I sipped my coffee and said nothing.
“I heard what happened,” he said once the silence became uncomfortable.
I continued to sip my coffee. I didn’t really want to think about yesterday.
“It was necessary and I’m proud of you for seeing that.” He leaned his chair too far back and propped his legs up on the side of my bed. Normally, I would smack them off, but I didn’t have the energy.
“It didn’t mean I had to like it.”
Masters huffed in agreement. “I’ve been doing this a long time. A very long time. Few people are okay with the things they have to do in the names of secrets and security. If they are okay with it, then you need to hire someone else to do it. Because the moment it stops bothering them is the moment they’ve turned into a psychopath.”
I set the cup down on my nightstand. “Do you think my father enjoyed it?”
Masters shook his head. “Not at all. Your father is a pragmatic man. And one of decisive action. He had little time to extract information he needed to save lives. He did what he had to do.”
Masters snagged my coffee and took a sip of it. My mouth dropped open, but I chuckled. “You’re salty. I’d kill any other man for doing that.”
“You consider me a friend, don’t you?”
I could feel my face soften. “Of course I do,” I said quietly.
“Then trust me when I say there was no other option for your father.” He reached over, patted my knee, and stood. “Besides, as soon as they saw your father pick up the extraction tool, Gwynne fainted dead away and Aaron broke like the wedding china of a divorcing couple.” He grinned. “Don’t worry about it. They’re both fine.”