I Gotta Feeling

by Kress, Alyssa

  But as the two soldiers pulled the jeep in front of a building that was even more drab than the rest, Felix's suspicion deepened. This was where Colonel Viceroy was hanging out? This was no army base. On the other hand, he thought, anxious to hold onto reason, it could be a requisitioning warehouse. Viceroy was not high on the army food chain. He could have nothing better available to him.

  "Here we are," the soldier behind the wheel announced, shutting off the motor. "Everybody out."

  Felix nodded slightly to Aletheia when she shot him a quick glance. No point staying in the car.

  Outside, one soldier brought up the rear while the other knocked on a heavy, oversized door. The door opened, and a third soldier looked out.

  "Oh," the driver said, looking surprised. "You're not with the regular— Never mind. Here are the goods." He sketched a salute. "And we're on our way back to Washington."

  The man who'd opened the door, a husky fellow, simply nodded. He looked toward Felix and Aletheia, then stepped back from the door.

  Taking Aletheia's arm, Felix walked into the building.

  It wasn't much better looking on the inside. The concrete floor looked hastily, and inexpertly swept. The husky soldier led the way down a hall of plank wood walls with exposed pipes hanging from the ceiling. At the end of the hall, he opened another heavy door.

  Still holding Aletheia's arm, Felix walked into a large, unfinished room.

  In full uniform, Colonel Viceroy sat behind a big, dented metal desk. Other surplus furniture sat scattered around the room and over all hung a faint smell of dust. The colonel was definitely not high on the food chain. Meanwhile, Viceroy's face was dark. Even though the colonel was behind the desk, Felix could tell he was kicking one leg on top of the other knee. Violently.

  "So," Viceroy snapped. "You thought you could get away with it."

  Aletheia's arm jerked in Felix's grasp. He squeezed a little, silently asking her to let him handle it.

  "I have no idea what you're talking about." Felix shot for an annoyed tone. "But I'd like to know where you get off hauling law-abiding citizens off the street."

  "Ha!" Viceroy kicked his leg harder. "You're about as law-abiding as I'm a horned lizard." His eyes narrowed. "Where have you got Cooper stashed?"

  Down deep, Felix's darkness leapt. Preserving a cool front, however, he lifted his eyebrows. "You think we have Cooper?"

  "It's a bit too much of a coincidence, don't you think?" Viceroy smiled a thin smile. "Him being in Boston, and also you two?"

  Felix frowned. "We don't know he's in Boston for sure, though we are looking for him, of course."

  "Come off it." Sneering, Viceroy stopped kicking his leg and leaned forward. "He's here." His thin smile widened. "Wouldn't you like to know who told me?"

  But Aletheia already knew. "Lowenstein," she breathed.

  A cold chill shot up Felix's spine.

  "Lowenstein told you Benjamin was supposed to come," Aletheia accused, her gaze on Viceroy. "Didn't he?"

  She was right. She had to be right. Lowenstein had blabbed to U.S. Army Colonel Martin Viceroy. But—Benjamin had described the men who'd followed him and Zara through Boston's subway system. They'd sounded like a couple of Goddard's goons. So if Lowenstein had told Viceroy that Benjamin was in Boston, then who had told Goddard?

  Felix's darkness strained against its bulkheads, but he kept it inside. The main thing was to get Aletheia out of here. After that, he could explore this ominous new development. He took a firmer grip on Aletheia's arm. "Lowenstein never saw Benjamin. Meanwhile, we've had enough of this. Goodbye." He turned away.

  "What?" Viceroy asked in a cloying tone. "You're going to leave? Already?" He paused. "But you haven't even asked about Benjamin's little toy." Viceroy snickered. "I mean the female one."

  Felix froze. He could feel Aletheia's arm stiffen in his grip. Zara. The army colonel was talking about Benjamin's girlfriend, Zara.

  Aletheia set her free hand on Felix's arm. She made him turn back. "You have Zara?" she asked hoarsely.

  Felix didn't need Viceroy to answer. Of course the colonel had Zara. He and Goddard together. They were together.

  And Viceroy had just admitted it.

  Felix's darkness threw itself against the locked dungeon door. He should have known. Before he'd gotten into the army jeep with Aletheia. Before he'd taken her out of that hotel room with Benjamin—where she'd been safe—he should have known.

  Viceroy drew a small gun from his jacket. "Put your hands up."

  Slowly, Felix raised his hands. Feeling savage, he grasped for a way out. Could they make a run for it? No, a glance showed him the soldier who'd let them in still stood by the door—with a gun of his own. Felix now realized the soldier hadn't spoken one word. Another Pakistani? One of Goddard's goons in army uniform? Right. Viceroy had made sure the real soldiers drove away, in a hurry to get back to Washington. Just following orders.

  Coming around the desk, and looking far happier now, Viceroy approached. "You aren't carrying a weapon by any chance, are you, Roman?"

  Eyeing Viceroy's gun enviously, Felix shook his head. He hadn't had a chance to try obtaining a weapon, assuming he'd decided to go that route.

  "I'm sure you won't mind if I check," Viceroy hummed, gliding toward Felix. "Lift your hands higher."

  Felix raised his arms and let Viceroy pat him down. With the soldier standing there, he couldn't make a move. Any half-assed courageous crap could only get Aletheia shot.

  "You've been in on this from the very beginning, haven't you?" Felix hardly knew why he bothered asking, except that more information was always better than less. "You're the one who's been shielding Goddard, protecting him from discovery."

  "Brilliant," Viceroy drawled. Confident that Felix bore no weapon and letting the fake soldier keep his gun on them, Viceroy spun back toward the dented, metal desk. He set down his gun, threw open a drawer, and withdrew a coil of rope.

  "But...why?" Aletheia asked. She had her hands raised, too, and looked toward the army colonel with consternation.

  "Why?" Viceroy's head shot up. "You want to know why?" He put up a hand and jerked on his uniform collar. "This is why. Colonel! I'm a fucking colonel, after thirty-five years. Did they think I didn't care, every time I was passed over for promotion? Did they think I didn't notice? Put me in charge of the Camouflage Development Office. As if I could get past colonel there." Viceroy barked a laugh. "See if they aren't sorry they stuck me in CDO now, now that I have the Cloak!"

  Taking the coil of rope, Viceroy swaggered back toward them. He pointed to a sagging easy chair with a faded floral design. "Sit," he ordered Felix.

  Still holding his hands up, Felix sat.

  "You, too," Viceroy snapped, and pointed at a rickety wooden chair.

  Aletheia moved over and sat on the wooden seat. Viceroy uncoiled a length of rope and slung it around her.

  Felix flinched. Despite his resolve to stay cool and centered, his straining dungeon door cracked open. Darkness rushed around the opening. Aletheia was in danger, and it was his fault.

  Looking over at him, Aletheia muttered, "I'm okay." Her mouth tightened. "And it's not your fault."

  Felix stared at her. How could she say that, particularly when it was so patently untrue? He'd drawn her from the hotel room and put her directly in the path of danger. How could she...be on his side?

  But as he sat there watching Viceroy tie Aletheia to the chair, Felix met Aletheia's eyes and knew, with a strange, sinking feeling, that she was on his side.

  Aletheia was utterly irrational about him. It was as if she didn't care about any of the mistakes he made. Oh, she knew he'd been trying to ditch her at the drugstore. She was spitting mad about that, maybe even mad enough to reject him as a lover—but she simply wouldn't reject him as a person.

  A nearly debilitating combination of fear and hope seized him, something unrelated to their situation at the hands of murderous criminals. He didn't want her to accept him, to think him goo
d. That would be—too much. Everything would spin out of control. With the darkness circling, it was already hard enough to hang on. Besides—his actions had put her in danger.

  Viceroy agreed. "Oh, it's his fault, all right." He kept an eye on Felix while he finished tying Aletheia to her chair. "He should have seen the whole big, bad business. For sure he shouldn't have dragged you with him to look for your brother in Boston."

  Aletheia shot the colonel a murderous look.

  Viceroy only grinned more cheerfully while glancing toward Felix.

  It was a sly glance, a knowing one. And it told Felix what the rogue colonel was trying to do. He'd seen Felix's self-disgust and was trying to tap into it. He wanted to paralyze Felix and render him harmless. With the darkness whirling furiously about him, Felix feared the man's scheme might work. Felix felt as though he were drowning. Aletheia shouldn't consider him a good person. Forgivable. On the contrary, this was all his fault. All his fault.

  Viceroy tied Felix to his chair, then picked up Aletheia's purse. The mute soldier stood guard all the while.

  "Now, what have we here?" Viceroy plucked Aletheia's cell phone from her purse. "Is it possible we might find your brother's number in the address book?" He opened the phone and fiddled with the buttons. Apparently finding Benjamin's name, he held the phone to his ear.

  "No answer," Viceroy hissed, then his narrowed eyes widened. "Of course there isn't an answer. He doesn't have his cell phone. But what about recent calls?" He went back to fiddling, then held the phone up to his ear again. This time he smiled.

  "Oh, Dr. Cooper," Colonel Viceroy crooned into the phone. "It's you I'm talking to, isn't it?" He smiled. "This is Colonel Martin Viceroy and in case you haven't already figured it out, I have your sister and your friend here—not to mention the little sexpot. So you'd better get your sorry little ass in here, too, if you don't want..." Viceroy's smile widened. "If you don't want something bad to happen."

  Felix stared at Viceroy. He tried hard not to imagine 'something bad' happening to Aletheia, but it was impossible. The darkness whirled, nearly choking him, but he managed to yell out, "Don't do it. Don't come, Benjamin. He isn't letting anybody go!"

  Still smiling, Viceroy cut the connection. "Let's hope Dr. Cooper ignores your sage advice, Mr. Roman." He chuckled. "Judging by his recent behavior, I'm guessing he will."

  Felix's darkness surged upward. It was a tide nearly too great to stem. But then, even as Felix rushed to control the surge he realized...he didn't need to stem it. For once in his life, he didn't have to worry about the consequences of his dark power. Quite the opposite. Felix should do what he'd never done before: unleash his darkness completely.

  Yes, unleash it, and turn its energy against their enemies.

  The idea immediately exhilarated him. Releasing his darkness—that would take care of everything. Both the fear and the hope.

  Watching Viceroy intently, Felix slowly opened the door. The tide swelled outward, eager to get through the unrestrained portal. Hungry.

  Felix nearly smiled. Power. Viceroy thought he had it but he was wrong. There was nothing to compare with the power of Felix's darkness. It was huge and it was dangerous. Vastly so.

  Felix's dark power was more than sufficient for the occasion.

  Viceroy's smile faded as he dumped Aletheia's phone back into her purse.

  Felix kept his eyes on the man while feeding his dark beast. Dimly, he was aware of Aletheia at the periphery of his vision. She was going to witness his darkness now, the full scope and extent of it. Excellent. She would finally see what he truly was.

  Any belief she had in Felix's goodness would die a quick and well-deserved death.

  Viceroy wiped a hand over his forehead. Sighing deeply, he motioned to the mute soldier. "Let's hope Benjamin ignores your sage advice, Roman," Viceroy repeated, moving toward the door with the soldier. "Because if that Cloak isn't fixed by tomorrow morning we'll all be fish bait."

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Benjamin hoped the three men facing him in the large dusty room of the old waterfront warehouse couldn't tell he was sweating bullets. He crossed his arms and tried to look both clever and invincible. He wasn't sure he was either. He'd gone and done exactly what Felix had ordered him not to do. He'd turned himself over to the bad guys.

  "What do you mean, there are conditions?" Goddard asked. Benjamin's old boss was looking disturbingly dapper in a pinstriped suit and tie. To his side stood Colonel Viceroy, also disconcertingly formal in full uniform. A little behind them stood one of the Pakistani guards in his baggy white shirt.

  "Isn't this condition enough?" Smiling, Goddard withdrew a gun from his jacket pocket. "The Cloak is sitting over there, as is your laptop computer from the lab. If you want to live, you fix it."

  Under Benjamin's crossed arms, his heart thumped like an elephant stomping. But he stuck to his guns. "If you want me to fix it, bring Zara."

  Goddard blinked, looking bored. Viceroy's eyes lowered to half-mast. They were not jumping to go get Zara. They were barely reacting at all. What if flouting Felix's orders had been a mistake? But Benjamin hadn't known what else to do. He didn't have enough evidence to go to the police, not while he was still a suspected murderer on the run. All he had was the knowledge these two wanted—and a crazy idea.

  "Fix the Cloak, Cooper," Goddard hissed.

  His obvious fury, and the gun, inspired obedience, but Benjamin forced himself to do nothing more than shrug. "If you kill me, you won't get your Cloak fixed. I already know you have a client, and I suspect that client is getting impatient. You may be under the gun yourselves soon if you can't get this thing working." The elephant in Benjamin's chest revved up to a run.

  Would his bluff work?

  Goddard slid a pair of beady eyes toward Viceroy, who glared stonily back at him. Then, abruptly, Goddard turned his head. He barked something sharp in Urdu to the Pakistani who lurked behind them. The guard bowed slightly, and left the room.

  To get Zara? A mixture of triumph and terror nearly caused Benjamin to pass out. He hadn't let himself worry beyond getting Zara, but there was a whole big, terrifying part of his plan that followed this accomplishment. He didn't know if he had the guts to carry it out. Zara could help in the guts department; she had enough for both of them. But—what if something had happened to her while she'd been in their custody? What if they'd messed her up? Anger sluiced into the emotional mix. If anything had happened to Zara...

  The single door to the room opened again. Benjamin was dimly aware of two goons now, both in baggy white shirts. Mostly he saw Zara. She was still dressed in the perky sundress. She looked okay. She looked like...Zara. But as she walked into the room and saw Benjamin, her eyes got very, very wide. Was this surprise, joy?— Or possibly nothing of the kind?

  He opened his mouth but found himself tongue-tied. Zara appeared similarly bereft of speech. Meanwhile, one of the guards flicked his gaze between Benjamin and Zara. With an ugly grin, he suddenly seized Zara, pulled her to him, and kissed her full on the mouth.

  He might as well have punched Benjamin in the stomach. Worse, Zara didn't offer an ounce of resistance, at least none that Benjamin could see.

  Nausea rolled through him, but instinct kicked in even harder to quell it. Goddard and Viceroy were both smirking, as were the two Pakistani guards. It was essential Benjamin preserve face. So he plastered an easy smile on his face, as if nothing horrid had just happened. Once the guard released her, Benjamin simply said, "Hello, Zara."

  "Benjamin," Zara returned weakly. It sounded no better as a greeting than it did as a denial.

  But Benjamin didn't lose his idiot smile. He didn't want them to know how badly he wanted that guard's hand off Zara's arm.

  "The Cloak," Goddard reminded Benjamin. "You promised you would fix the Cloak if we brought you...your girlfriend."

  If there was derision in Goddard's tone, Benjamin refused to hear it. He would not be baited here, no matter how badly he'd been thrown. "Rig
ht, the Cloak." He glanced to the side, toward the coveted Cloak. At the moment it was nothing more than a folded pile of gray material sitting on a wide table next to his laptop.

  With some amusement, Benjamin noted Goddard had resoldered the wires Benjamin had ripped apart. His old boss must have been mighty pissed when he discovered ripping the wires had only been the beginning of Benjamin's sabotage.

  "Benjamin," Zara said again, a hoarse whisper.

  Ignoring her, Benjamin strode unhurriedly toward his Cloak and the crude worktable they'd prepared for him.

  Maybe Zara had thought she'd no choice but to cozy up to the guard, Benjamin thought. If so, that kiss didn't mean anything about her feelings for Benjamin. It was just self-preservation. Maybe.

  Or maybe he was a wishful thinking idiot.

  "It won't be easy to fix," he told them. "I'll want to be left alone."

  "Forget it," Viceroy snarled.

  "Then only one guard in the room." Touching the Cloak, Benjamin examined the mechanical repairs to the wires. "That should be sufficient. I'm not armed, after all." He started to unfold the Cloak. "This is tricky business. I can't be distracted."

  "Then you shouldn't have asked for the girl," Viceroy suggested, with evil amusement. "Maybe you want us to send her away again?"

  Benjamin turned the partially folded Cloak over. It wouldn't actually be very difficult to fix. There'd been a method to his madness when he'd messed up the software. But he wasn't thinking very hard about the Cloak right then. Within him whirled a combination of anger, fear, and very deep hurt.

  "She stays," he said, but felt the hurt cut an even deeper swathe in his gut. What if Zara didn't like him, after all? He sucked in his lips. "But the rest of you have to go. I won't be able to fix this with a crowd in the room."

  From the corner of his eye, Benjamin could see Goddard lean toward Viceroy to exchange unhappy mutters. Zara hovered behind them, looking extremely uncomfortable. His heart started stomping again.

  Had she come on to the guard? Had she asked for that kiss? He and Zara weren't even in a real relationship, but he'd thought... The hurt cut even deeper, so deep, in fact, that it cut right through.