by Lisa Eugene
“Well?”
She chafed and turned away. “I’m thinking, you big bully!”
David must have dropped it in the bag with her clothes! Although, it hadn’t ended up in the wash. So…
She heard his audible breath of surprise at her words, but ignored him as she started to retrace her steps to her washing machine in the kitchen.
“It was in the pocket of my shirt,” she explained slowly. “My shirt was extremely dirty…”
He followed closely behind, arms folded across his broad chest. She could sense the tension mount in his big body the closer they got to the washer. She stopped directly in front of it and turned to him, noticing his breath hitch and his nostrils flare in alarm. He squeezed his eyes shut and she could tell he was struggling to control his anger. She almost smiled. Big bully!
“Tell me you didn’t wash it,” he growled between clenched teeth.
She stared up at him with wide innocent blue eyes. Hmmm… He’d made her parade around half naked, taped her up, left her stranded, made her kiss him, and he’d fondled her breast and toes! All reprehensible acts. Ok, so maybe the kissing and fondling part wasn’t so bad…Stockholm!
“Maggie!” he snapped harshly when she didn’t answer.
She jerked to awareness, and seeing the feral look in his angry eyes, quickly foraged under the sink and produced the plastic bag that still held the small gray flash drive tucked into it. She smiled innocently as she handed it over, but his dark rebuking gaze never left her face.
In one sudden move he had her pinned hard against the washing machine, his thighs holding her firm, his pelvis crushing hers. She could feel heat emanating from him and she shrank back against the cold metal. She tried to twist away, but his large hand shot up to grip her chin tight and hold her head fixed in place. His face came within inches of hers, and his warm breath fanned against her cheek. She didn’t dare look into the storm she knew was brewing in his eyes, so instead focused on the deep groove in his chin.
“You knew it was there the entire time, didn’t you?” His words were whispered so softly that Maggie wasn’t sure she’d heard them. “Yet, you lead me to believe otherwise.”
Well, she hadn’t been a hundred percent sure… She tried to shake her head, but knew he could already sense the prevarication. His big hand anchored her in a crushing hold. She watched the tight line of his lips pull into a slow hedonistic smile.
“I will deal with you later. And enjoy every minute of it,” he promised, and then abruptly released her.
Those words produced a cacophony of emotion. A warmth that was darkly irresistible shivered along her nerve endings, causing heat to delicately blotch her skin. Desire seeped from her body and wet her panties. At the same time her stomach clenched nervously, almost spilling her dinner. Oh God…what had she been thinking? Why provoke the beast? Just because he was now a beauty, it didn’t make him less savage. Did she secretly want his attentions? No, she protested sternly. She was just tired of being a victim and wanted some control over her life. She’d simply wanted to get back at him. She could conjure no explanation for the way her body seemed to respond to him.
He motioned her back into the bedroom and flipped on an overhead light. Her legs trembled as she watched him warily from the corner of her eye. He sat at her small reading desk that held a computer and inserted the flash drive. She lowered herself to the corner of her bed behind him.
The Cryostar company symbol was the first thing to pop on the screen, drawing her curious gaze. There was some writing she couldn’t make out from her position, then some complicated symbols and pages and pages of mathematical equations and strange geometric figures. He sat so eerily still that she wondered if he’d forgotten about her. Her gaze darted to the door, and she wondered if she could quietly slip away. She was just contemplating her escape when she saw him scroll through a series of screens. She frowned at the sequence of drawings and pictures that kindled recognition in her brain.
“Why are you looking at drawings for the Sonic Scalpel?”
He swiveled in his chair and his brows drew up sharply. “What did you say?”
Maggie hesitated, uncomfortable with the acute keenness of his gaze. “The—the Sonic Scalpel. It’s a surgical device that theoretically uses antigen recognition technology to distinguish between cancerous tissue and normal tissue.”
She squirmed on the edge of the bed as his forehead creased. He stared silently and she couldn’t read the expression on his face. A look of surprise skimmed his eyes, but it was obvious he was also impressed. She chewed her lip as he gave her that funny puzzled look again. “Go on.”
She swallowed at the sudden knot in her throat. “The antigen is a receptor on the cell. Imagine it as a key hole. The Sonic Scalpel can supposedly recognize these receptors or keyholes and tell which cells are cancerous and which cells are not. It supposedly will make the CyborgKnife obsolete.”
“I thought CyborgKnife technology was revolutionary.” he stated thoughtfully.
“It is. It’s been around since nineteen ninety-five—”
“Though wasn’t approved by the FDA until two thousand and two for all body tumors. Since then it’s treated hundreds of thousands of people. The New England Journal of Medicine had an article about it a few years ago.”
Now it was Maggie’s turn to look impressed. Not many people knew about cyborg technology or cared about the non-invasive way of treating cancerous body tumors. The CyborgKnife delivered a beam of high dose radiation to tumors that were often inoperable or too complex for traditional surgical techniques. She’d seen many cases—or miracles as she called them—performed using this extraordinary technique.
“CyborgKnife technology is revolutionary,” she agreed. “It’s painless, non-invasive, and has little side effects.”
“Have you seen it used?”
“Yeah, it rapidly disintegrates cancerous tumors, but it also can destroy normal cells in the process. It can’t tell the difference between the cells. Imagine if there was a similar device that could distinguish between normal cells and cancerous cells. Now that would be revolutionary!” she stated excitedly.
Gabe scrubbed his chin thoughtfully. “You mean a device that targets just the tumor and no surrounding tissue?”
“Yes!” She grinned and nodded enthusiastically. “The Sonic Scalpel is supposed to use sound waves to get data from the cells, then the device interprets the data and only targets the bad cells. There’s no room for human error. That’s what Dr. Rollins postulates anyway. I have no idea how it knows which cells are cancer and which are not. It has to do with the antigens on the cells.”
His eyes flared with interest. “Do you know Dr. Rollins?”
Maggie snorted. “I wish! As a nurse I have to do a certain amount of continuing medical education.” At his puzzled look, she continued, “It means I have to keep abreast of what’s going on in my field. I’ve attended practically every one of Victoria Rollins lectures. She’s brilliant! Been talking about this technology for years.”
Maggie stood and approached the desk. She punched a button on the keyboard, scrolling through the pictures again. She was shocked at what she saw. There were detailed pictures of the device in various stages of design. “Oh my God. How did you get these?”
He ignored her question, his inquisitive gaze lingering on her face. “How do you know so much about the Sonic Scalpel?”
“It’s quite the buzz in the medical community. The surgical oncologists I work with have been in a tizzy the last few months awaiting data from the latest clinical trials. It’s all they talk about. I listen to them for hours during surgery. I’ve only seen one picture of the prototype. It’s all that’s been released so far.”
She watched his sinfully thick lashes lower and his gaze focus somewhere in the distance. She frowned deeply, apprehension starting to beat behind her breast. Even one of the physicians she worked with who had been involved in preclinical studies and who claimed to have ties to the NIH coul
dn’t produce further evidence of the Scalpel. How could this man have access to such privileged data?
She shot him a furtive glance and scrolled to the top of the page, her eyes scanning the screen. She started reading a section labeled Clinical trial protocol. She didn’t know much about clinical research, but from what she could tell, this document catalogued every step of Cryostar’s research. She saw more documents that detailed a hypotheses and pilot experiments, to the perfection of the prototype and results of clinical trial studies. Curious, she bypassed a file label Sponsors to open a file labeled Miscellaneous, but felt his steady gaze on her.
With dread snaking through her, she faced him. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “How did you get this?”
She watched life flicker behind his stoic eyes. “I stole it.”
Maggie gasped, feeling the color drain from her face. But before she could respond, a loud banging echoed through her living room.
“Mag? Mag? It’s me David!”
Hope and alarm pounded through her like a galloping herd. Unthinkingly, she took a step towards the door, her limbs slackening with relief. It was the iron arm circling her waist that halted her steps, reminding her of the yoke of her subjugation. She tried to pry the band of muscle from around her waist, but the thick arm held her tight and drew her up against a body that felt like a brick wall.
“Don’t make a sound,” he whispered harshly.
She shrieked and pounded her fist against his meaty forearm, hoping to dislodge herself. It was the dull glint of the metal object that rendered her stock still. Her eyes rounded at the sight of the gun he waved in front of her. What the fuck? Where did that come from? Oh God…Her body started to shake uncontrollably.
“Come on, Mag, open up!” David whined.
“Calm down.” Her captor’s voice was cold, toneless.
Maggie swallowed, her parched lips fusing together. They both waited silently, her heart thumping a violent cadence. She guessed he was hoping that David would give up and go away. He didn’t know David.
“I know you’re in there! Don’t tell me you’re still mad?”
“Who is he?” Gabe asked.
Her eyes darted about restlessly. She almost bit through her lip; her nerves electrified beneath her skin.
“Ah… he’s my boyfriend,” she heard herself say. At his silence, she continued quickly, “So…you had better leave! You can go through a window. Go now before he finds you here!” She was still facing forward with him behind her, so she couldn’t see his face. She could only hope he was starting to feel threatened.
“Boyfriend?”
She nodded vigorously. “Yep. And he’s huge! Tough! And very jealous!” Her voice was bumpy with a shrill tremor.
David continued. “Mag, you better open this door!”
“He’ll rip your head off!” Maggie warned.
She gasped when he turned her around and leveled his gaze with hers. He held the gun up directly in her line of sight. Black eyes bore into hers, malice swirling in their depts. A cold chill blew over her at his next words, and she felt her heart stutter for a moment.
“Get rid of him, or I will kill him.”
She didn’t doubt the veracity of his threat as she searched the dark whirlpool of his gaze. She was looking for a gentler man she sometimes caught glimpses of. No. The man in front of her had murdered before, had stolen data of monumental significance, and was capable of a thousand more atrocities. She stepped back and took a deep breath, swallowing nervously. She tucked her unruly waves behind her ears and straightened her robe.
“You should really go while you can. He can be vicious,” she urged again, hoping he’d believe her and make a mad dash for the window. Instead, he stared impassively, his forehead deeply pleated, his tenebrous eyes calculating.
“I’ll be right here, watching. My gun will be aimed at his head.”
She winced, turned abruptly, and marched towards the vigorous pounding at her door. She struggled hard to hold back her tears, knowing that it would do David no good to see them. With a heavy heart she pulled open the door.
David fell headlong into her apartment. He’d probably been leaning on the door trying to peer in through her peep hole. He was a whirling dervish of flailing arms and legs, pink tulle and silk fluttering everywhere. He suddenly righted himself and gaped at her. His brown eyes were large and round like a doe’s.
“Oh my God, what took you so long?”
Maggie groaned inwardly, staring at the jealous maniac who was supposed to rip apart her captor. “I—ah, I was in my bedroom and didn’t hear the door.”
“I thought you were still mad at me because I teased you about your hot hobo.” He grinned.
She groaned again, this time out loud. She threw a circumspect gaze towards her bedroom door, knowing he was watching through the crease.
“Well?” David asked excitedly, performing a complete pirouette so she could observe the full magnificence of his outfit. He had omitted the jeans and tee shirt this time.
Maggie’s glance flickered. She let it rove over his frame. A full bell shaped tutu hugged his slim form with the short full lavender skirt that flared out to a delicate lace trim. Layers of netting caused it to splay away from his hairy legs.
“I know, I need a shave,” he announced flatly, following her gaze.
“Yes, you do,” she retorted quietly, her gaze moving up to the sparkly pink bodice.
“You like?” he asked hopefully.
“It’s better than the other one,” she said, and hoped he could see her lack of enthusiasm.
“I think with some sparkle tattoos and lilac eye shadow this will be phatabulous!” He punctuated his words with a leap through the air.
Her head inadvertently twisted towards her bedroom, her brows furrowing. She could feel sweat running down her back. Would he really shoot David?
“What’s the matter?” David asked suddenly.
Her gaze swung back to him, her fearful eyes wide.
“And why are you wearing your bathrobe?” his eyes narrowed suspiciously at her.
She gulped nervously and stared blankly at him.
“Is something wrong?” he pressed.
Her heart jumped erratically in her chest. God, she had to get him out of there; she had to get him out of danger.
“No,” she denied sharply. “I—ah, ah, have company.”
She watched David’s jaw unhinge from his head and his brown eyes bulge. He hooked a finger towards the bedroom. “You mean you got a man in there?”
She nodded, hoping to convince him, yet hoping he’d know that something was amiss. She never entertained men in her apartment.
Instead, he gave a wide toothy grin and snickered. “You dirty, dirty girl.” He chuckled, his gaze landing on the partially open bedroom door. “Good for you! It’s been a long time! I was afraid you’d wear out your—”
“David!”
Maggie sighed wearily, a frown pinching her face. David looked at her, and she could see him misread her distress.
“Oh, did I interrupt something?” His hand fluttered to his chest, and she watched him finger the lilac sequins. “Sorry.” He looked contrite, then grinned happily. “You go, girl! Get down with your bad self!”
Maggie wanted to cry. Under normal circumstances, she and David would be doing some stupid dance right now. Instead, her friend had a gun pointed at his head and there was a maniac in her bedroom.
“David, you should go.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow for the details.” He winked, pulled the door open, and skipped into the hallway.
Maggie closed the door and sagged against it, her eyes closed in relief and despair. She felt drained from that nerve wracking encounter. Thank God her friend was safe! But what about me? At length she peeled her lids open. She was not surprised to see the large form facing her, standing just a few feet away. Thank God there was no sign of the gun. She touched her fingers to her temples, trying to stem the threatening headache. His head w
as crooked to the side. His handsome face boldly assessed her and a perplexed look carved his expression.
“That’s your boyfriend?” he asked skeptically.
Maggie huffed, determined to not cower from him. “What’s it to you?”
She watched him shake his head slowly. “No wonder you need the little item in your bottom drawer.”
Her gaze tracked him as he turned and walked away. Flames licked at her body and she knew her face blotched a bright red. Something like a whimper passed her lips as she tried hard to stifle her mortification. Oh God…had she not suffered enough indignities? She knew he’d seen it, but prayed it would never be spoken of. She hated him!
A few hours later, Maggie struggled to keep conscious. She’d given up asking the intruder for his plans on vacating her apartment. After forcing her assistance with changing the dressing on his sutures, he’d basically ignored her. He’d kept his back to her as he skimmed through what seemed like infinite pages of technical data on the computer screen. She found she couldn’t keep up with him, and wondered briefly if he had a photographic memory.
At her pleading he’d at least allowed her a shower. With his hovering presence it was difficult to perform her thorough ablutions, but at least she felt moderately clean. Now in sweatpants and a tank top, she sat on the bed regarding the sculpted line of his back. He was wearing black jeans and a black tee shirt that molded to his chiseled physique. Every stretch or flex of muscle tested the thin material, and she pondered the enigma that usurped her space.
She yawned loudly. Who was he? What was his connection to the Sonic Scalpel? Had he really stolen the research data? Why? What was he planning on doing with it? This research could save countless lives. Did he kill those three men? Despite his rough edges and harsh demeanor, deep down she had a hard time believing he was a murderer. Yes, he certainly had the capacity to kill, but murder was something different entirely.