“What are you doing?” Tess demanded from the other side of the room.
He lifted the nurse onto the table and started to strip off her uniform. He glanced over one shoulder. “Get undressed.”
Tess regarded him with cautious eyes. She circled around the table, keeping her distance from him. “What are you up to?”
Ryan lifted the woman’s limp body and peeled off the upper portion of her uniform. “I’m getting you some escape clothes.”
He pulled off the nurse’s pumps and threw one of them to Tess. She caught it with one hand. She continued to stare at him.
Ryan threw her the other one and then started to shimmy the woman’s dress over her hips and down her legs. She wasn’t as tall as Tess, but the dress would have to do. He shot Tess an impatient glance. “If you don’t hurry up and change, we’re never going to get out of here. And I don’t think we have enough syringes to take down every goon that walks through that door.”
Tess studied him for another minute and then in a single instant, she seemed to make up her mind. She tore at the tie at the waist of her pants, stripping them off and then sliding her cotton shirt over her head. There was no embarrassment or false modesty.
Ryan struggled not to stare, but it was a losing battle. He drank in the welcome sight of her firm breasts and the gentle curve of her back, hips and belly as she bent to pull on her new set of clothes.
He felt his mouth go dry and he shook his head. How in God’s name did his body manage to betray him at such an inopportune time? He pushed the thought aside. He was simply experiencing a reaction to stress.
Ryan grabbed her discarded clothes and started redressing the nurse. Tess stepped forward to help him buckle her into the restraints, and he paused long enough to slap several pieces of medical tape over the woman’s slack mouth. It wouldn’t hold for long and with the woman’s dark hair, he didn’t figure she’d fool the security camera forever. But it might buy them enough time to get out.
He looked up to find Tess watching his every move, the distrust still lurking in their green depths. “So, you think that because you’ve drugged her and tied her up, I’m going to believe that you’re really on my side?”
Ryan reached out and gently ran his finger along the curve of her delicate jaw. She didn’t pull away, but her tough, no-nonsense gaze didn’t waver, either.
He sighed. “Do you remember back at my house when you asked me if my job was so all-fired important that I wouldn’t listen or believe anything my heart was telling me?”
She nodded.
“Well, I needed to come and find you to tell you that my job isn’t that important. I’m willing to listen. I’m willing to sacrifice everything and anything to make sure you are safe.”
A small smile tugged the corners of her lush lips, and he knew he had managed to reach her.
“Do you believe me now? Even just a little?” he asked.
Her lashes, thick and dark, swept the crest of her cheeks as she paused to consider his question. Finally she lifted her head and nodded. “I’m not really sure why, but I do.” She glanced toward the unconscious nurse. “Do you have some kind of plan for getting us out of here?”
He grinned ruefully. “Unfortunately, we’re pretty much left with trying to walk out of here undetected.”
“Oh good, I love it when my hero arrives with a well-researched, well-mapped-out escape plan.”
“Hey, you got any better ideas?”
She waved a hand. “Sorry, I get a little cranky when I don’t get much sleep. Let’s get moving.”
He eased the cell door open and checked the hall.
Empty. The cameras on both ends were off. Brian had seen to that, but there was a limit to how long they would stay off without someone correcting the glitch in the tampered program.
He nodded and slipped out, and Tess followed. She closed the door behind them and the electronic lock reengaged, clicking home with a finality that reminded Ryan there was no going back.
The hall leading from her cell to the elevator was eerily quiet. Their feet echoed hollowly on the metal decking.
Tess figured part of the eeriness was due to them being so deep underground. So deep in fact, that nothing, no noise or smells from the outside filtered down into this section of the facility.
They passed only one other person, a man in a lab coat who was more interested in the PalmPilot in his hand than the two of them. He nodded curtly to Ryan and essentially ignored her.
At the end of the corridor, Ryan punched the elevator button for up. “We need to go two floors up to get to the loading dock area. That’s the only exit.”
“Guess they didn’t take into consideration the possibility of a fire and needing alternative escape exits,” Tess said, tugging at the hem of her dress. The nurse was a good two inches shorter than her, and the dress rode a little too high on her thighs.
“I don’t think they care. Everything has been designed to keep this portion of the lab as tightly confined as possible.” Ryan’s fingers drummed restlessly on the elevator panel.
She reached out and covered his hand with her own. “We’re going to get out.”
He smiled and nodded, but she could tell he wasn’t convinced.
“Who’s this person helping you?” she asked. “Are you sure you can trust him?”
Ryan checked the location of the elevator. “He’s my secretary’s boyfriend. He works in the center’s computer department. According to Alice, he’s a little odd, a puzzle freak. He’s been curious about what’s been going on down here for a while, and he’s been trying for months to breach the security system without being detected.” Ryan thumbed the bottom edge of the plastic security badge clipped to his shirt. “He reprogrammed this badge, put my picture in for some lab tech assigned down here. The man is a whiz.”
“How did he change the information in the system?”
“He simply substituted the picture from my assigned badge for this one. Essentially gave me this other guy’s identity.” He chuckled ruefully. “This guy’s file showed him as chronically late for work. So we crossed our fingers and had me come in posing as him a little early. Hopefully, the guy will stay true to form and come in late today.”
“Risky chance.” Tess lifted her own badge and stared at the picture on it. “It’s not hard to see this isn’t me.” There was only a likeness, but she also knew that there would be no picture of her in the system. She didn’t work here. She wasn’t even supposed to be here inside the building.
“We went through the entire data bank of pictures in the personnel file trying to find someone close to your size and features. This woman was the only one even close to your general description. Lucky for you, she’s on the medical staff.”
“Looks like we’re running this operation on a wing and prayer,” Tess said dryly.
“Guess that’s what you get when you rely on a last-minute rescue.”
Tess smiled up at him. “Okay with me, as long as you’re the last-minute rescuer.”
The elevator arrived with a ding, and the doors slid open. The car was empty.
“Keep your face away from the camera in the corner,” Ryan warned. “We couldn’t play with any of the other cameras. We’re live from now on.”
He stepped onboard and maneuvered himself so that most of his body blocked her from the prying lens.
Tess dipped her head so her cap shadowed her face and climbed on after him.
The doors closed, and they headed upward, their fate awaiting them two floors up.
FLYNN SLID OFF his uniform jacket and hung it over the heavy oak clothes butler sitting outside the bathroom door of his luxurious suite of rooms at the Bloom Research Center. Turning on the gold-plated faucet in the bathroom sink, he leaned down and splashed cold water on his face. He straightened up, leaning his broad hands on the sides of the cool porcelain and stared at his reflection in the mirror.
Bloodshot eyes and deep lines of weariness scarred his lean angular face. He stared
defiantly at the old man staring back out at him. One more year till mandatory retirement. He looked older than dirt. Not surprising considering the crap he’d put up with during the duration of his military career. Bumbling idiots. Vision-impaired drones and lack-luster, boring intellectuals who drained the life out of every dream he’d ever had for the advancement of his country.
It wasn’t until he was invited to join the board of directors of the conservative think tank, The Patriot’s Foundation of Family Values, that Flynn felt rejuvenated. For the first time in years, he thought that his beloved country wasn’t doomed to stumble down a road of mismanagement, mediocrity and ruin.
Less than two years after taking his seat on the board, Flynn found himself totally committed to the Patriot’s progressive and unprecedented vision for American government. When CEO Markus Richardson, ultraright conservative and multimillionaire, tapped him on the shoulder to spearhead the Patriot’s Freedom Project, Flynn hadn’t hesitated a moment before accepting the job. He had agreed to take the position of project director because he knew that Richardson would see that left-wing crazies didn’t find a way to take over the Oval Office with the election of turn-coat Republican Jacob Tibias Starling—the man who had readily agreed to serve as vice president of the United States and then decided that the Republican Party no longer fit his vision for the future.
Flynn reached over and grabbed a thick towel off the heated towel rack. With a heavy sigh, he buried his face in the soft cloth and dried his face with a vigorous rub.
Their ace in the hole was Tess. Flynn smiled grimly. Tess was his ultimate secret weapon.
He snapped the towel back over the rack and headed for the living room. As he reentered the elegantly appointed room, there was a light knock on the door.
“Come,” he ordered.
The door opened and Bloom stepped in.
Flynn moved over to the well-stocked bar in the corner of the room. “You’ll join me in a drink?”
“No, thank you.” Bloom walked to one of the chairs and sank into it with a contented sigh.
Flynn busied himself with preparing his own drink. Vodka was his beverage of choice. “I’m guessing from your appearance that our guest is safely stowed in her cell?”
“She recovered nicely from the session we conducted earlier. Feisty and defiant as ever. As previous, she retains no conscious memory of the session.”
Flynn lowered himself into a chair across from Bloom and took a healthy swig. “Tell me, how long before she’s ready to go into operational mode?”
“Well, as you saw this afternoon, I was able to conduct the final series of programming. Essentially, that was all that needed to be done. The rest is simply fine-tuning things. She’s ready whenever you need her. The command has been installed in her memory. She’ll obey when she hears it.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m positive.”
“So you can assure us of the success of the mission?”
Bloom laughed, the tiniest quiver of anxiety evident in his voice. “As I’ve said before, nothing is assured. We’re functioning in the cutting edge of science. But I’m relatively sure Tess will perform her duties as required.”
“Starling is planning to make his announcement to switch parties and run on the Progressive Independent’s ticket in less than a week. I want the lesson to be taught that day.”
“And it shall,” Bloom said.
Flynn raised a hand as if to make another point but was interrupted when Bloom’s beeper went off.
Bloom made an expression of apology and went to the phone, punching in a number. “This is Bloom.”
Flynn waited, something telling him this wasn’t good news.
Chapter Ten
As they stepped off the elevator, Ryan could see the security desk. Their final barrier to freedom.
Everything looked normal. Calm. No alarms. No sign that anyone knew Tess was gone. So far, so good.
Several feet beyond the security station, Ryan could see where the cement floor ended and the loading dock’s huge bay doors opened to the outside. Freedom. His heart hammered. So close, yet still so far.
The doors were open and a semi was backed up to the edge of the dock. Four men and a forklift operator were unloading pallets filled with heavy boxes and stacking them against the wall.
Beyond the parked truck, he could see the brilliant orange of the late-afternoon sun touching the field bordering the parking lot. A tinge of pink licked the edge of the horizon, and a warm breeze floated down the corridor to brush his face.
Two uniformed men stood at the final checkpoint. One had his elbows propped on top of the computer console, his expression bored and his eyes half-closed.
The other guard was younger, more alert. Hypervigilant. But Ryan had a feeling the other one, the one with the bored expression, would be the one to watch out for. He was the seasoned pro. Even now he could tell that the guard was studying them from beneath hooded lids.
Suddenly Ryan stiffened and swore softly under his breath. Tess shot him an alarmed look. “What’s wrong?”
“We’ve got a problem,” he said under his breath. “See the guy walking up the outside ramp?”
Tess nodded.
“Unfortunately, he’s the owner of this badge, the man whose identity I assumed.” Ryan checked his watch. “The computer pegged him as chronically late for work, but he’s only late by five minutes. We need to get to the gate before him.”
FLYNN WATCHED as Bloom shifted the phone from one ear to the other, his annoyance disappearing to be replaced by an expression of total horror. The doctor’s eyes met his across the room but then he quickly blanked his face, a blatant attempt to hide what he was feeling.
Flynn straightened up. Something was definitely wrong.
“What do you mean she’s gone?” Bloom shouted into the receiver. His gaze slid away from the general’s.
Flynn sat forward. What now? The back of his neck heated. Why had he ever been convinced to trust a bunch of bumbling intellectual eggheads to carry out the most important security job of their lives? He must have lost his mind.
Across the room, Bloom’s knuckles turned white as he gripped the receiver, pressing it to his ear. “She must have had help. There’s no way she could have gotten out of those restraints on her own.”
The doctor’s eyes widened and he met Flynn’s. His level of panic was palpable. Flynn stood up, the steel of his spine bringing him to attention. Within seconds, he was across the room, grabbing the phone out of Bloom’s hand.
“How long has she been missing?” Flynn snapped into the receiver. Silence met him on the other end of the phone. “Answer me, dammit!”
“We—we just checked her cell two minutes ago, General. She can’t have been gone long. S-someone fiddled with the video-surveillance program. One of the nurses was found drugged and in her clothes.”
“There’s no way she could have done that alone. She had to have outside help.” He touched a button on the phone’s base and put the guard on intercom and then turned toward Bloom. “It isn’t hard to bet that the culprit in this mess was your prodigy—Ryan Donovan. Where is he?”
“Donovan?” Bloom frowned. “Why would you suspect him?”
“Because I saw the way he looked at Tess when we went to bring her back. The man has a savior complex. When we get to the bottom of this fiasco we’ll find him. Where is he?”
Bloom shrugged. “I have no idea.” He checked his watch. “In his office probably. But he knows nothing about what we’re doing in the secure labs. He doesn’t even have access to them.”
The guard on the other end of the phone cleared his throat. “I just checked the computer—we have a log-in time for Dr. Donovan. No log-out. He must be in the building.”
“Check his office,” Bloom said.
Flynn dismissed Bloom with a single look. “Find Tess. Do not let her or Donovan out of this building. I prefer to have them both alive, but if Donovan gives you any trouble, you ha
ve my permission to terminate him.”
“Yes, sir!” the guard said. “We’ll have her back in her cell pronto. You can count on my team.”
“I counted on your team once,” Flynn snorted. “You’ve already failed me.” He hung up on the guard.
“How do you know it’s Donovan?” Bloom pressed.
“Because he isn’t the type of man that is easily put off. I knew he wasn’t satisfied with our explanation of why Tess needed to come with us. I should have had him taken into custody right then and there and saved us all the trouble of dealing with him now. His meddling has put us right back to where we were when she first escaped.”
“You should have allowed me to bring Donovan into the fold. If you had agreed, none of this would have happened.”
“I’m a good judge of character, Doctor. And if you truly believe that Donovan would have cooperated with what we have going here, then you’re crazier than I thought.”
Flynn moved over to the antique hat rack standing in the corner of the room, pulled down his uniform jacket and the shoulder harness underneath.
He slipped on the harness and then released his Glock from the spring-loaded holster. He checked it as he met Bloom’s gaze from across the room. “Let’s make no mistakes, Bloom. I want Tess back, and if your golden boy, Donovan, interferes in any way, he won’t be interfering for long.”
He slipped the gun back in its holster and exited the room.
TESS WATCHED as Ryan moved toward the security desk, his long-legged stride confident. Self-assured. He was a man who knew where he was headed and didn’t have a lot of time to waste.
She followed a few steps behind him, her shoulders slightly rounded, her steps slower. She was a nurse weary from a long shift.
She waited patiently as Ryan slid his card through the slot, watching the younger guard through a fringe of lashes as he studied the computer monitor carefully. The light flashed green and Ryan started through.
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