Melinda hurried to the imaging lab. Kjerstin had Ice in the scanner, watching the monitor as his body moved through the machine. Buck and Wolf sat in the little room outside the scanner space.
“His scan is already abnormal,” Kjerstin said.
“Then get him out so I can inject him,” Melinda said. “If they’re all symptomatic and that close to suffering fatal events, the scans are pointless.”
“She’s right,” Eun-Ji said. “At this point, we’ll know the antidote worked because they won’t die.”
Melinda didn’t wait for Kjerstin to agree. She ran out to the waiting area where Buck and Wolf sat looking gray and weak.
“Roll up your sleeves,” she said.
A commotion out in the hall turned Melinda’s gut sour. What now?
She popped her head out the door in time to see Mikhail round the corner. “Shit,” she said.
“What?” Buck asked.
“Mikhail’s back. Hurry.”
Wolf had his sleeve up, so she jammed the needle in his arm and pushed the plunger down.
“You people have been nothing but trouble for me,” Mikhail said. His voice set her teeth on edge. Would she never be free of this maniac?
“Guess that means we’re doing our job right,” Buck said.
His bravado was tempered by the fact that he looked like death warmed over. Melinda ignored Mikhail. Buck was her priority.
She leaned over him, the needle of the second syringe hovering near his arm.
“Don’t,” Mikhail said. The click of a handgun hammer being cocked echoed in the space.
Melinda swallowed hard, but she only hesitated a fraction of a second before plunging the needle into Buck’s arm and squeezing the antidote into his body.
Mikhail could go ahead and kill her, but she’d be damned if she didn’t save Buck first.
She squeezed her eyes shut waiting for a bullet to tear through her brain, but when it didn’t come, she didn’t even dignify Mikhail with her attention. Instead, she hurried into the scanning room and injected Ice, too.
“You must think you’ve found an antidote,” Mikhail said, following her into the room.
“It’s too soon to know. I’m hopeful, but not certain,” she said.
Her gut churned, knowing full well this version could fail, too, and she’d lose the man she loved and have to face Caroline and tell her she’d lost Wolf, too.
Buck staggered into the room, leaning on the door frame. She rushed to his side. “You need to lie down,” she said. “Can you walk? There’s a ward room with some cots down the hall. Wolf? Can you walk?”
“I don’t know,” Wolf said.
“Kjerstin? Eun-Ji? Can you help Wolf? We’ll come back for Ice.”
Mikhail looked perplexed that she’d have the gall to ignore him, then his face hardened into anger as she helped Buck limp to the ward room. Mikhail stomped along behind, followed by Kjerstin, Eun-Ji, and Wolf.
“Do not dismiss me, Doctor,” he said.
“I’m busy right now,” Melinda said. “You can rant at me after I’m done.”
She got Buck onto the cot, helped him out of his gear and vest, and pulled a blanket up and tucked it under his chin. She did the same for Wolf.
“Can the two of you manage Ice?” she asked Kjerstin and Eun-Ji. They nodded and left to fetch him.
Only then did she turn to face Mikhail.
She crossed her arms and stuck out her chin. “So, what now? Are you going to keep us prisoners forever? Turn us into your own personal science slaves?”
“You’ll do as you’re told,” he said, stepping close into her personal space and looming over her. “Your life and the lives of everyone here belong to me. There’s nothing for hundreds of miles around but snow and rugged mountains and forests. You wouldn’t survive a day out there. So, you’ll stay and continue to work for as long as I say so.” He grabbed her chin and pinched it between his thumb and forefinger. “And I’ll keep your boyfriend downstairs as insurance. You don’t know me very well if you don’t think I can come up with plenty of ways to punish the both of you.”
Melinda glared at him. Sincerity burned in his eyes. He meant every word he said, and there was no doubt in his eyes that she’d comply. He was used to be obeyed. Used to people being afraid of what he’d do to them if they didn’t.
She was afraid, too, but she was also fuming mad. There was no way she’d spend the rest of her life groveling to him and doing his bidding. She refused to be his mad drug scientist. Even if it meant he’d kill her.
Her mind faltered over the idea of him torturing Buck, though.
Pulling out of his grasp, she said, “You can’t keep us here forever. The government will send reinforcements.”
“Not into enemy territory, they won’t. They can’t mount an open attack, and we’ll be prepared for any covert actions. Besides, your boyfriend killed his commander in Moscow, so he’ll be a fugitive. Your government won’t run to his rescue.”
Mikhail tucked his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels, a big smile on his face. As if he’d won.
She glanced over at Buck for confirmation. He closed his eyes and the remaining color drained from his face. Had he really killed his commander? If he had, that was bad. On the other hand, he’d done it while under the influence of the enemy. It wasn’t his fault.
Melinda seethed. A red haze of fury danced at the corners of her vision and she felt her good sense slipping away. She wanted to launch herself at Mikhail and wrap her hands around his throat. She wanted to feel the life ebbing from his body as she tightened her grip.
What was she thinking? She scrubbed a hand down her face. The urge to do that kind of violence to another human being went against everything she believed, not to mention that Mikhail was bigger and stronger than her, so she’d never have a chance in a physical fight against him.
Her life and the life of those she loved were threatened. Apparently her fight or flight instinct, in this case, tipped into the fight end of the scale. Who knew?
An idea popped into her head. It was a bad one, and she might have to give up science afterward because she’d never be able to look herself in the mirror again, but her conviction that it needed to be done didn’t waver.
She went to Wolf and checked his pulse, which thumped strong and steady against her fingers. He offered her a weak smile before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. When he let it out slowly, he lay still and she panicked that he’d died on her in that moment. She scrambled to find the pulse in his neck, but it still thudded along as it should. Jesus, she couldn’t take this stress.
She circled Wolf’s cot and went to Buck. When she approached him, he opened his eyes and met her gaze. He didn’t say a word, but he looked more vulnerable than she’d ever seen him. Mikhail had violated him, taken away his autonomy. And on top of that, apparently Buck had killed his superior officer. He’d have a lot of guilt to unpack after this was over.
Pressing her fingers to the artery in his neck, she sighed her relief when his pulse was strong and steady, too. Mikhail hovered like the Grim Reaper behind her, but she ignored him, taking a few seconds to watch Buck.
She’d been so lucky to find him. Sure, they clashed on some issues, and both had insecurities, but when it came down to it, those were things that could be worked out as long as they agreed to be honest and talk to each other. She loved him, and knew in her heart he loved her, too. Everything else could be resolved as long as they had love.
She wanted to spend her life with this man, and if that life was going to be longer than today and better than imprisonment in a hidden Siberian lab run by Russian mobsters, she’d have to do something to save them.
Melinda leaned down, kissed Buck’s forehead, and adjusted his blanket.
“I’ll be back to check on you later. Stay alive until then, okay?”
He closed his eyes and the hint of a smiled lurked at the corners of his mouth. “You’re really bossy, you know?”
God, she loved him so much.
“Takes one to know one,” she said, and he rewarded her with a grin.
Buck, Wolf, Ice, and all the SEALs locked in the basement needed her. She straightened and squared her shoulders.
“Come with me,” Melinda said to Mikhail. “I want to show you something.”
She marched to the door of the ward room as Kjerstin and Eun-Ji escorted Ice in. Melinda stood back to allow them entrance. If Ice didn’t look so pale, even for a black guy, she’d have laughed at how silly it looked for tiny Eun-Ji to even be trying to help support him. Kjerstin managed most of his weight while he shuffled on weak legs.
He flopped onto a bed and groaned.
“How is he?” Melinda asked.
“He’s not dead,” Kjerstin said. “So, that’s good.”
“We’ll keep an eye on him,” Eun-Ji said.
“Keep an eye on all of them,” Melinda said. “I’ll be back when I can.”
They nodded and went to work while Melinda headed out into the hall.
“Where are we going?” Mikhail asked.
“The lab.”
In the lab, she studiously ignored Dozer’s body, still on the table. But Mikhail didn’t.
“I see one of your men didn’t survive the drug.”
“No thanks to you.”
She went to the cooler and pulled out a vial of Amaranthine. As her heart raced and her fingers shook, she slid open a drawer and found a syringe. She tore the paper covering and used the syringe to draw up some of the drug. Her mouth tasted like an arid summer desert as she worked.
Mikhail stood nearby watching, no idea what she was up to, but trusting her like an idiot because he couldn’t conceive of her betraying him. It was her only advantage—that he didn’t believe her capable of the same kind of malicious behavior he engaged in.
Boy, was he wrong. Everyone had a breaking point, and she’d reached hers.
Once she’d drawn up the syringe, she didn’t pause or blink an eye. Instead, she turned to him and matter-of-factly reached up and injected it into his neck.
That’s for Dozer.
She did it quickly enough he didn’t even have time to question her until the needle pierced his skin. Once it did, he jerked and tried to push her away.
But he was too late. She’d already injected it.
He swiped at his neck and blustered and spewed a string of Russian that Melinda assumed was all curse words.
Then he grabbed her around the throat and squeezed, lifting her as he did. Dang, he has huge hands. It wrapped well over halfway around her neck, and she balanced just on her tiptoes.
“What did you do to me, bitch?”
She used the syringe needle to stab at his arm and wrist. It took a couple of tries, during which time black tendrils crept into the edges of her vision, but she finally managed to poke him.
He pulled his hand away at the sting of the needle and she collapsed onto her feet, bracing her hands on her knees while she coughed and wheezed to get air into her lungs.
He grabbed her upper arm and pulled her upright.
“What did you do?”
“Let go of me,” she said.
He did. And then he looked confused that he had.
“I gave you an injection of Amaranthine.”
His eyes grew wide as all the implications filtered into his brain.
“Give me the antidote.”
“No.”
He reached for her, but she said, “You will not touch me. Now, go sit on that stool until I tell you you’re allowed to move.”
He tried to disobey. He clenched his jaw until the muscles twitched. His hands balled into fists, and he squeezed his eyes shut, concentrating on defying her. But in the end, his face relaxed, he straightened his blazer, and walked to the stool where he took a seat.
Melinda could see why all the awful people who wanted to get their hands on the drug were fighting for it. If she or someone else could fix the fatal flaws in the drug, it could be a dangerously useful substance for criminals and governments. Torture could become obsolete with a drug that required victims to obey, which to Melinda seemed like maybe the only upside.
It wasn’t enough, though.
“You’re just going to let me die?” he asked.
She made a scoffing sound. “Why shouldn’t I? You were going to allow my friends to die. You’ve already killed plenty of others, I assume. You’re no more special or valuable than any of the other people who have died as a result of this drug.”
“But you have an antidote now. If you don’t give it to me, this is murder. You’re not a murderer.”
“How would you know? You know nothing about me. You just make assumptions. Besides, you would have murdered people I cared about. You may still have murdered them. That really pisses me off,” she said.
He hung his head, probably not in shame, but more likely because she’d cornered him. In all truth, she didn’t think she could let him die. He was right, she wasn’t a murderer. But she really wanted him to think she was, at least for a while.
“Let’s go downstairs,” she said. She wanted all the SEALs out and the Russians locked up. She didn’t know if she’d be able to maneuver that, but she’d damn well try.
Mikhail followed her down to the holding cells. She stopped in front of the first guard she ran into.
“Ask him if he has the key,” she told Mikhail.
He asked. The guard said something in Russian, then pointed toward the office.
“The guard in the office has is.”
“Okay, let’s go get it.”
They followed the hallway past the holding cells with the rest of the SEALs, and the other prisoners. The other SEALs watched her and Mikhail, confusion evident on their faces.
At the office, she said, “Get the key from him.” Mikhail did as he was told, and out in the hall she said, “Now, unlock these cells and release my men.”
To his credit, Mikhail fought the urge to comply, but in the end, he did as he was told.
“What’s going on?” Coyote asked.
“Now tell the two guards to come here and give their weapons to my men, and get in the cell,” she said to Mikhail.
“They won’t do it.”
“They will if they know you’re on the drug and the only way I’ll give you the antidote is if they do as they’re told,” she said.
“Will you give me the antidote?” he asked.
“If you do as you’re told, if all your men are secure in the cells, all my men are free, and the ones you injected recover, then I’ll consider it. But you have a long way to go to earn that antidote,” she said.
Coyote and the rest of the SEALs watched the exchange with their mouths hanging open. Maybe they hadn’t thought her capable of this level of machination. If her gut didn’t feel like an acid bath, she’d laugh at their reaction.
Mikhail harrumphed and then did as he was told. The guards argued, but Mikhail convinced them. He clearly wanted that antidote, very badly.
After Coyote and a few of the men had weapons, Melinda took Mikhail through the rest of the building where she had him disarm his men so the SEALs could haul them downstairs to lockup.
Only after Mikhail and all of his men were secured in the cells did Melinda relax.
“What now?” Coyote asked.
“Now I need to check on Buck, Wolf, and Ice, then manufacture more of the antidote. After that, we’ll burn this place to the ground.”
“Really?” Groom asked.
“Well, figuratively speaking,” Melinda said. “I need the IT guy to destroy everything.”
“Pretty sure Buck’s going to want to burn it down, literally,” Coyote said as they started up the stairs.
In the ward room, a little sob escaped Melinda’s lips when she found the guys sitting on the edges of their cots, arguing with Kjerstin.
When Buck saw her, he said, “Finally. Will you tell this Amazon person to back off and let us get up?”
K
jerstin smirked, but stood guard over the three SEALs.
“How are they?” Melinda asked.
“Cranky. But they’re regaining strength. I want to do brain scans on them now to be sure things are returning to normal.”
“Agreed.”
All the men groaned and rolled their eyes, but when the rest of the SEALs piled into the room, Buck cocked his head and looked at Melinda, confused.
“What’s going on? Where’s Mikhail?”
“I gave him the drug, then I locked him and his men up.”
Ice’s jaw dropped open and Wolf barked a laugh.
Buck grinned. “That’s my girl.”
He stood and came to her, pulling her to him in a fierce hug. She almost cried at how much a relief it was to sink into his arms. She buried her face in his chest, turning her ear to listen to his strong, healthy, intact heart.
“I almost lost you,” she said.
He pulled out of the hug and tipped her chin up so he could look her in the eye. “I never doubted you’d save us.”
“I did. I was terrified.”
He leaned in and kissed her, a firm, confident kiss. “But you did it.”
“We did. I couldn’t have done it without Kjerstin and Eun-Ji.”
“Thank you, ladies.”
“How about we make sure you’re cured,” Kjerstin said as she headed for the door.
Ice and Wolf had joined the other SEALs, high-fiving, knuckle-bumping, and shoulder-slapping each other.
“You go ahead and take them,” Melinda said. “Eun-Ji, you and I need to make some more of the antidote. Oh, and Coyote, will you go find Yury?”
“The tech guy?”
“Yes.”
“Why?” Buck asked.
“We never deleted all the information about Amaranthine from the computers or server.”
Ice frowned. “The mission was to retrieve the information, not destroy it.”
Melinda snorted. “I don’t care about the mission. It’s gone so far off the rails. I don’t want this drug in any form to end up in anybody else’s hands.”
“That’s not your call,” Ice said.
“It is now,” Melinda said. “I saved your ass. Consider destroying everything an act of saving a lot more unsuspecting soldiers.”
Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Buck the System (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Sealed With A Kiss Book 2) Page 11