by Kelly Moore
“Brooklyn Warren, what in the hell were you thinking?” Matthew yells at her over the phone.
“I was thinking that I am a grown-ass adult and can do whatever I please.
My eyes flash to her angrily. “You’re in so much trouble.”
She offers up a sweet smile. “I told you that I wouldn’t let you leave without me. Did you really think I gave up that easy?”
Annoyed as I am, I’m happy to have her with me where I know she’s safe, but I sure am pissed that she didn’t listen. “I have her, sir. Don’t worry, I’ll leave her with your men that are behind me when we reach Chicago.”
“John, keep my daughter safe,” he says before he hangs up the phone.
Brooklyn looks happy with herself, and she grabs a bag of snacks that I picked up at the gas station a few miles back. “Oh, Funyuns!”
I pick up her hand and press a kiss to the top. “You’re going to be the death of me.”
We get into Chicago after midnight, and I drive around my apartment building a couple times, making sure nobody is out front waiting on us. Finally, when I’m sure the coast is clear, I pull into the parking garage.
I turn off the vehicle and unbuckle my seatbelt and Brooklyn does the same. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m going in with you.”
I shake my head. “No fucking way, princess. The only place you’re going is to the SUV that your dad sent.”
“John, haven’t you learned anything yet? I go where you go. That simple.”
“Not this time.” I stand from the Rover and walk around to the back. The blacked-out SUV pulls up next to me, and two men get out while two stay inside. I grab Brooklyn by her arm and pull her up to my side. “She’s staying here. You two come with me.” I open the door and practically have to push her inside the vehicle.
She gives me the dirtiest look and flips me off. I laugh before walking over to the elevator.
The two agents and I step inside, and I put in the key to take us to my penthouse suite.
When the elevator opens, one of the agents pulls his gun and peeks out into my apartment. “The coast is clear,” he says, giving us the go-ahead.
I step out and walk through the apartment. It looks like it’s been trashed. Someone has been here, probably Miles or his men when he realized I wasn’t doing the job he paid me to do.
I step over broken glass and slit open couch cushions and make my way into the bedroom.
The bed has been turned over, all the dresser drawers have been pulled out and thrown across the room, and the picture that hung over the wall safe has been taken down, exposing the safe, but it hasn’t been cracked yet.
I walk up to the safe and put in the combination. The safe opens easily, and I rifle around inside it until I find a manila envelope. I pick it up and open it, pulling out several papers full of a language I don’t understand. This must be it.
I place the papers back in the envelope and slide it into my jacket pocket. I close the safe and relock it, but leave the framed picture sitting on the floor.
I make my way back toward the living room. As I round the corner, I see Brooklyn standing by the elevator. She’s being held against someone’s chest with a gun to her head.
As soon as this processes in my mind, I feel someone come up behind me. He snakes his arm around my neck, choking me. I go to fight him off, but feel the poke of something sharp. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, John.” I recognize the voice. It’s Miles.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I ask him, not taking my eyes off Brooklyn.
“You stabbed me in the back. Twice!”
“Take whatever you want, just let her go.”
“Oh, I will take what I want.” He reaches into my coat and takes the envelope. “But I believe I owe you one for fucking me over. Didn’t I tell you that I would hunt you down?”
“Don’t!” Brooklyn yells. “It will kill him!” She fights against her captor, but the man cocks the gun.
Miles snickers. “That’s the point, honey.”
I feel a stabbing pain in my neck before something is injected into me. The liquid burns its way through my veins. The needle is removed, and he lets me go where I fall to my knees and look up at him.
“How ironic. You get killed by the same vaccine that the love of your life created.” He laughs before landing a kick to my stomach, knocking me down completely.
Miles walks toward the man and Brooklyn. “Now, what to do with you.”
“Where did you get that?” she asks, as I try to gather myself to get up.
“I had my men take it before burning down that house you were pooled up in. I figured it would come in handy.”
Just as I fight myself onto my knees, one of the guards that was with me busts through the closet door. He must have heard them come in and took cover. He shoots the man holding Brooklyn. He falls to the floor while blood pools at his side.
Miles ducks behind the counter and pulls his gun, shooting at the agent. He ducks just in time to shove Brooklyn toward me. She crawls across the floor to me, and we both crawl into the hallway. I push her up against the wall to make sure she doesn’t get hit with any stray bullets.
I peek around the wall and see the agent get shot in the chest. He falls to the floor as Miles walks over to him, thinking that he’s down. The agent raises his gun and takes aim, but Miles sees it coming, and kicks the gun from his hand before rushing into the elevator.
I watch the numbers above the door as they light up, telling me the elevator is descending the building before rushing to the guard’s side. I apply pressure on his gunshot wound and tell Brooklyn to call 9-1-1.
“It’s alright. Help will be here soon,” I tell him.
“Where’s the other agents?” I look at Brooklyn.
“They were both taken out in the garage before they brought me up here,” she tells me before placing the phone to her ear.
The agent places his hand over mine. “Go, get out of here.”
I shake my head. “Where is the agent that was with you?”
He nods, and I follow his gaze. I find him lying on the floor on the other side of the kitchen. He has a bullet hole in his head with his blood covering the white tile.
“Go,” he croaks out.
“Brook, let’s go.”
“But what about…”
“We don’t have time. They have the formula. There is nothing left to keep them from killing you now. We have to go!”
She drops the phone and runs to my side. I press the button to the elevator and wait while it rises. When the door opens, she steps in, and I follow.
The vaccine that I was injected with is already taking effect. It’s making my stomach turn, and I’m feeling weak.
“You have to drive,” I tell her as we move through the garage.
She nods when I look at her face. Tears are streaming down her flushed cheeks.
She helps me into the Rover and runs around to the driver’s side. “Where are we going?”
“Just go toward DC. Get us out of the city.” I lean back and feel my heavy eyelids close.
The next thing I know, I’m waking up. I look around to find that I’m in bed with a soft blanket pulled up over me. The room is small; only one bed and a small TV.
“Brook!” I call out.
I hear a door open before she joins me on the bed. “How are you feeling?”
“Like shit. Where are we?”
“Just outside of the city. I had to get you somewhere safe.”
“We’re not safe here. We’re not far enough away. They will find us.” I try getting up, but she pushes me back down easily.
“No, we’re fine for now. I brought you in here, and then I went back out and hid the Rover. It’s not out front so they won’t know. I used a fake name and paid in cash to check in here. You need your rest.”
“How long do I have?”
Her eyes fill with tears. “A week, tops. Your body will start to get weaker and weake
r as the vaccine takes over. Eventually, it will take over your lungs, heart, and brain. Without cancer cells in your body, it will attack your healthy organs. I’m so sorry, John.” She rests her head on my chest and cries.
“Shh,” I soothe as I run my hand over her hair. “Everything will be okay. We just need to make sure we have this thing taken care of before the time comes. Have you called your dad?”
“Not yet. I need a new burner phone. I didn’t want to call him from the room phone.”
“Run and get a phone. Fill in your dad and let me talk to him. We need to make a new plan since I won’t be here to make sure this all ends properly.”
She doesn’t move, she just sits and stares at me with big tears in her eyes.
“Go!” I yell.
My loud voice pulls her from her thoughts, and she jumps from the bed and rushes for the door.
I lay my head back against the pillow and rub my eyes. I can’t believe this shit. Why didn’t Miles just shoot me? Now Brooklyn has to sit and watch me die for a week, knowing that it was her vaccine that took my life. She’s going to be left with so much guilt over this.
I have to get back at Miles if it’s the last thing I do.
I will take him down with me.
Chapter Eighteen
Brooklyn
My eyes rain down tears as I listen to John talk to my father.
“Matthew, listen to me. You need to have your men find Knox. He’s the person behind all of this. Have the CIA set up a meeting with him. You need to meet face to face with him…”
“No, John, they will kill him,” I cry out.
He places a hand on my knee. “Let me finish, baby.” I lower my head and let more tears fall.
“You will bring your security team with you. Hand pick your two best men to go into the meeting with you. Have them set you up with a wire. Convince him that you will support him and push through anything he wants as long as he agrees to stay away from your daughter.” His jaw flexes and something twinkles in his eyes. “Here is the tricky part: you need to get him to confess to his role in Brooklyn’s hit.”
I hear my father’s voice raise on the other end of the phone.
“You will have to figure it out. You’re a smart man. You didn’t get to be the president of the United States by not knowing what to do in sticky situations. You know very well how to lead a conversation. Once you have that information on tape, you can have him taken into custody. Get a search warrant for his office and home. Take his computers and have them searched. Somewhere there is a file that will prove he had an alliance with other pharmaceutical companies and with some of the world’s leading oncologists. There has to be a money trail. If you don’t do this, Brooklyn will never be safe.”
I can’t hear what my father says in response, but he must have agreed.
“Let me worry about Miles, sir. I’ll know when it’s done because you will be all over the news.” He listens for a few more seconds. “You’re welcome, sir.” As he lays down the phone, his body follows, limply lying on the bed.
“What you asked him to do could get him killed.” I lay my head on his chest, knowing John is already a dead man.
“He won’t kill him. He needs him on his side to push the regulations through. If he kills your father, he will lose everything, not just a few billion dollars. I promise, he will be safe.”
As he says those last words, his eyes shut like magnets have closed them. I feel a shiver run through his body. I can feel the heat of his body radiating through his shirt onto my cheek. I peel myself off him to get some cool rags to help bring his temp down. I know all I can do is make him a little more comfortable.
I twist the white washcloth under the faucet, getting it to absorb the tepid water. My knees go weak, and I crumble to the floor. The sound of the flowing water cannot drown out my screams of pain. My heart feels like it will crumble into a million pieces. For the first time in my life, I regret finding the cure when the man I love is dying only a few feet away from me, and there is nothing I can do to save him. I throw my head back and slam my fists on the cold tile floor.
“Why, goddamn it? All I ever wanted to do was help!” I don’t even know who I’m screaming at. The only thing I have succeeded in doing is getting John killed. Large tears are fogging my view, but with the feeling of the washcloth still in my hand, I try to focus. He needs me right now. I pull myself up on the porcelain sink, grabbing a towel to gingerly wipe my still-sore face. I suck up the last of my tears and rewet the washcloth.
John’s body is curled into a ball, burrowed under the blankets, trying to find warmth from his fever. I run my fingers through his slightly damp hair, placing the cloth on his forehead. I pull the blanket off him, leaving only the sheet. He mumbles something, rolling to his back. I crawl into bed with him, laying my head on his chest.
“I’m so sorry.” I kiss his warm chest. “I love you, John.”
He mumbles something that sounds like my name and the tears return. It occurs to me that hearing my name fall from his lips is something I won’t be rewarded anymore. The look in his eyes when he’s on top of me, the way his jaw flexes when he’s angry, the feeling of his soft touch trailing down my skin won’t ever happen again. He’s being taken away from me, and it’s all my fault. The crying becomes too much to bear. My eyes burn from the tears, my head is pounding, and my throat hurts, but that’s nothing compared to the pain in my chest. Finally, sleep overcomes me and takes me away.
I’m jarred awake by the sound of retching. I throw back the sheets, joining him on the floor in the bathroom. I rub my hand down his back. His body is covered in sweat. “I have something that will help you.” I dig my bag out of the closet, pulling out a bottle of Zofran.
“Here, John, put it under your tongue and let it dissolve.” He slowly lifts his head, and his damp hair lays on his forehead. I have to suppress a gasp when my eyes meet his. The whites of his eyes are now filled with a bloodred color.
“I don’t want to fucking die here.” His voice is barely audible.
I sit behind him on the floor, wrapping my legs and arms around him. Placing a kiss between his shoulder blades. “Where do you want me to take you, baby?” The sound of my words is filled with sadness.
“To the ocean. I want to die with the sun beating down on my face and the waves sweeping me away.” He rests his head back on mine.
“I...I don’t think we’ll make it back to the Keys…before you die.” I swallow my words hard.
“Take me to Virginia Beach. That way, you won’t be too far from home.”
“Fucking A, John. I can’t do this!” I wrap my arms around him tighter and let my tears fall.
“Yes you can. You don’t have a choice. Take me there to die, and then you and your father take these bastards down. Get your vaccine back and do what you were born to do. Save as many people as you can.”
“Right now, the only person I care about saving is you.” My cries become harder, and John loosens my grip on him to turn around and hold me. When my sobs slow, he lifts my chin to him. “Thank you for saving Jake. Please stay close to him, and tell him I love him. Promise me, you will take care of each other.”
He needs me to be strong for him, and that’s what I’m going to do. “I promise. Now, let me help you up.” I stand, holding my hands out for him. He takes them, and with what little strength he has, he pushes off the floor. My hands find their way down to his waist, to help hold him up. I walk him over to the bed. “Stay here while I get our things together and get the Rover.”
John barely moves in the back seat the entire ride to Virginia Beach. I stopped several times, forcing him to drink some water. The phone vibrates on the seat beside me. I recognize my father’s private number. I snatch it up and pull over on the side of the road.
“Dad.” My tears start to flow again.
“Hey, Brooky.” His voice is just what I need to hear right now.
“Tell John it’s all been set up. If all goes well, this time tom
orrow we will take down Knox and his company. The two of you will have your lives back.”
His words make me cry harder.
“What is it, Brook?” His voice went from being reassuring to tangled with fear.
“Miles injected John with the vaccine. I don’t think he’s going to make it until tomorrow.” Each word comes out between sobs.
Silence falls on the other end of the phone for a moment. “I’m so sorry, Brook. Where are you? I’ll cancel the meeting and come to you.”
“No!” I screech. “You have to do this…for John. He’s sacrificed his life to keep me safe, and if this is the only way, then you have to go through with it. Someone has to pay for his death.”
“Okay. I’ll do whatever you need me to do.”
“One more thing. Can you have a couple of your men bring Jake to Virginia Beach? I’ll text you an address as soon as I get there.”
“I’ll make it happen.”
“Thank you, Daddy. Call me when it’s all over.”
I put my ponytail through John’s ball cap. I take his shades from the glove box to conceal my eyes. “I’ll be back in just a minute, John. I’m going to get us a room.”
He nods and sits up to look around. “We made it. Can you hand me a bottle of water?” I give it to him and hop out of the car.
It is a cottage-style motel. Luckily for us, no one has rented the little cottage that sits out back on the beach by itself. The guy behind the counter keeps trying to look under my hat.
“Do I know you?” he asks.
“No, I’m afraid I’ve never been here before. Can I have the key, please?” I’m short with him, but I don’t want to stand around long enough for him to figure out who I am. I used to come here with my mother on long weekends. Matter of fact, it’s the last place I took my mother before she died. That little thought brings more pain into my heart. So much so, that I actually have a pain run through my chest. I place my hand over my heart and apply a little pressure, easing the pain away.