Project Chimera: A Ryker Group Book

by S. M. Dapelo

  “I want her,” I heard from the side. I turned my head, to see a blond man with the most gorgeous gray eyes I’d ever seen. “This is who we need for our liaison. Please, please be our go-to person,” he smiled standing up.

  “Ethan, I don’t know about that.” I heard a voice that made my stomach drop. I noticed the brother I hadn’t seen in years sitting next to him in a suit that cost more than my annual salary. Fuck.

  The man, Ethan, waved him off, “Nope, Tanner, she’s perfect. What do you say, Stephen?”

  “Of course. It’ll be a good fit,” Steve smiled at him, then turned to me expectantly.

  “You’re demoting me? Because of this asshat? Nope, that’s it. I quit.” I released Brock’s arm and kicked him hard in the crotch because this was his fault. Then stomped out of the office and down to my own. It was as impersonal as it could get. A metal desk, a file cabinet, and a single abstract picture that had a safe behind it. I opened a drawer and started pulling things out, looking around for a box.

  Steve walked in, with both Ethan and Tanner following. “I carry my own gun; the agency's is locked up in the safe over in the wall. You know the combination.”

  “She carries a gun?” Tanner’s eyes were getting huge, staring at Steve. Great, the guy I failed at the worst possible time was still here. How was I going to tell him I had no idea where Lyssa was? And, of course, I dealt with guilt the usual Lafferty way. I attacked.

  “Of course, I use a gun. I’m the top agent this place has,” I growled.

  “You’re twenty-one,” Tanner was in my face. “How the hell are you an agent at twenty-one?” He spun to face Steve, “How the hell is she an agent at twenty-one?”

  “How do you know her age?” Ethan screwed his face up at him.

  “Because this is Samantha,” growled Tanner. He paused for a minute, then gave Ethan a look, “That Samantha.”

  Ethan’s eyes grew wide as understanding hit him. Great. “Oh.” He turned to Steve, “Well that seals it, we’re only working with her as our liaison.”

  Steve hedged, “Maybe Brock …”

  “No and you know why,” Ethan crossed his arms.

  “Um, hello?” I interrupted, “In case you forgot, I quit. Now leave.”

  “Everyone out.” Ethan took command, which was kind of hot, “I’ll talk to Samantha.”

  “Yes, because I’m a brainless girl who does whatever a hot guy tells me to,” I sneered.

  He smiled at me, “You think I’m hot?”

  “Ahhhh.” I stormed out the door, seeing Brock running around the corner, which caused me to see red.

  “I can take over the surveillance of the Guatemalans,” he smiled at Steve.

  “Can you send him to Guatemala?” I asked. “They already made you as a fed dumbass.”

  He pulled on his jacket and stood up straighter, “They did not. How could they?”

  “Because you wore a suit to a rave,” I yelled at him. “Look at what I’m wearing and at what you’re in.” He was in a navy blue suit that a banker would wear. I was wearing a see-through blouse with a black chemise under it, with skinny black jeans and knee-high boots with a three-inch heel.

  “I look like a man ready to do business, you look like a whore,” he sneered back. That was it, I grabbed one of the blades I had strapped on the inside of my boot and threw it, embedding it deep into the wall next to him.

  “You are the most useless piece of …” was as far as I got when two arms picked me up and swung me around back into my office. I turned ready to explode.

  Ethan was standing there with a hand up, “Give me five minutes, please.” He looked at Tanner, who had a small smile and Steve, who was looking a bit worried. “Can you two please wait outside?” They gave a single nod and headed out the door.

  I heard Tanner remark, “You know, he really is a dumbass,” as the door shut.

  “You have four minutes, thirty seconds,” I crossed my arms. “Then I’m kicking Peterson’s ass.”

  Ethan gave a smile, “We’re the Ryker Group. You’ve heard of us?”

  Shit, he was Ethan Ryker. I took a breath, “Yeah, I’ve heard of you. I’m Samantha Lafferty. I assume Tanner told you about me?”

  “He’s been looking for you a long time,” Ethan sighed.

  “Bullshit,” I answered. “And to be frank, our family issues are none of your business.”

  “Well that’s not exactly true,” he smiled. “Tanner’s my best friend and head of security. My parents made sure Lyssa went to one of the best boarding schools around when we were overseas.”

  My breath left me. “You know where Lyssa is?”

  “Tanner got custody of her when he turned twenty. I made sure of it. My parents took care of her when we were in Afghanistan and Iraq. At least until they passed away,” he gave a small smile.

  “I heard. I’m sorry for your loss.” I looked out the window. She was safe, thank God. “I think you have two more minutes.”

  “Fine. It comes down to this if you aren’t our liaison Stephen will push Peterson on us. If that happens, I’ll walk from the contract. I won’t work with that bastard. I have a lot of political power, but even I can’t get your brother out of a murder charge if there are witnesses. And make no mistake, he’ll kill him,” Ethan said.

  “Why? I don’t think it hurt his feelings that I was called a whore,” I glanced at him. He smiled and shook his head.

  “Peterson served with Tanner and me in Fallujah. There was a friendly fire incident, and I was hit. Tanner swears it was Peterson,” he leaned against the wall with a confidence I could only fake.

  I thought for a second. “If Tanner says that’s what happened, that’s what happened.” My brother might hate me, which meant I had to poke him, but he was the most observant person I ever knew after me.

  “I agree. But Peterson knows people and was never brought up on charges. Your brother sees it as justice denied. He doesn’t like that. If Peterson’s with us, Tanner won’t wait. He’ll just kill him here in the office. Your brother has a temper.”

  “We all do. You’re asking me to take a demotion. A huge one,” but I also owed Tanner. I bit my lip.

  “It’s not a step down. You’ll still work in the field, but not with Peterson, with us. You’ll get a raise and an even better expense account.” His eyes never left mine.

  “You can’t guarantee a raise.” I sighed, knowing he had me, “Plus, I’m quite sure you don’t get a say in my expense account.”

  He held up one finger, walked over to the door and opened it, “Stephen, Senator, can you come in here a moment? Tanner, get in here too. I’m not leaving you alone near Peterson.” They all walked in. Shit, the Senator was there too? “I can get Samantha to agree. We’ll need a raise put into her contract along with an upgraded expense account. How about a one-year contract and we’ll go from there?”

  Steve nodded, “Agreed. As long as Sam agrees to start using the company gun when she’s on assignment.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I hate the Glock,” I whined.

  “You don’t need to shoot anyone with a Desert Eagle,” argued Steve. “A Glock's easy conceal, the Eagle isn’t.”

  “I’m afraid I’m going to need to agree with Stephen on this,” smiled Ethan. “Besides, I already carry one. It’s gauche for everyone on the team to carry the same gun.” He looked over at the Senator, “Can you get the contracts ready?” Steve nodded. “Good. Tanner, I’ll have you fly back to the compound tonight. I have a car here, so I’ll take Samantha out for a working dinner and explain what we do and find out her expectations. Unless you want to come?” He glanced at Tanner, who’s jaw was ticking. He just shook his head. Talk about happy family reunions.

  “I’d like for Sam to keep an office here and one at the compound, you okay with that?” Ethan glanced at Steve, who nodded his head.

  “Oh.” Ethan turned my way and grabbed my arms, looking me in the eye, “And you need to breathe.”

  I leaned away from him, “
What?”

  “Sam, breathe.” His voice was becoming frantic. “Take a breath, Sugar, just breathe. Breathe for us,” he was yelling. I felt myself inhale.

  ◆◆◆

  And my eyes popped open. I found myself laying on the floor. Ethan was leaning over me, his face pale. Tanner was on the phone, yelling something into it. The dog was lying next to me, the cat next to him. I realized my head was killing me and I felt something. I put a hand to the top of my lip and pulled it away. It was covered in blood.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “The dog started barking, and the cat was yowling,” Ethan explained as he pulled me into his arms. “When we got in here, you weren’t breathing. You still had a pulse but weren’t breathing.”

  “Ethan started mouth to mouth right away.” Tanner was staring at me, “He got you breathing again. What happened?”

  “I tried to access the files in my head. You know, like we talked about earlier. See if I could get my memories because the brains just a computer. I don’t know what happened. One minute I remembered that first meeting we had at the agency, the next Ethan was yelling at me to breathe.” I touched my forehead, “God, my head’s killing me.”

  “No more,” Ethan was shaking his head at me. “I don’t care if you remember anything, ever. Just don’t try that again. We’re taking you into the clinic right now with five guards.”

  “Rich says she’s spending the night,” Tanner said, hanging up the phone.

  “Then tell him seven of us are going to be there with her. You and I will stay in the room with her, with the five guys posted in the building.” Ethan’s face got a far-off look, “Tell Berto to shelve the project he was working on. I need him to go through every project that the Chimera Team did, both together and individually. There must be overlap somewhere. That’s his focus. And Tanner,” he glanced at him, “this had nothing to do with the fitness test today. You know that. I’ll have Rich verify it. You are not to go to the dark place. Understand? She needs us at one hundred percent when we’re off the compound.”

  Ethan looked down at Blitz and Snowball, “Grab the animals. They’re coming with us since they’re the heroes tonight.”

  Chapter 32

  “You cannot bring animals into a hospital,” Richard glared at Ethan with his arms crossed.

  Ethan held me in his arms, giving a wide smile, “Of course I can. They’re comfort animals. Sam has anxiety and panic attacks, especially at hospitals. You know that Uncle Rich.”

  “Why is it you only acknowledge me as your uncle when you’re trying to con me into something?” the doctor growled.

  “Oh, that’s not true,” Ethan kept the smile on his face. “I called you Uncle all the way through high school.”

  Richard sighed, “That you finished at twelve.” He shook his head, “I need her in the CAT scan.”

  “Why isn’t she getting an MRI?” asked Xavier. “Doesn’t that give a clearer picture?”

  “We had to put a metal plate in to replace where we did the craniectomy. Plus, her records indicate hardware from a break when she was ten,” Richard rolled his eyes.

  The pounding in my brain was starting to subside. “The headache’s getting better,” I started, trying to wiggle out of Ethan’s arms.

  “Nope.” He held me tighter, “You stopped breathing. Rich thinks you might have had a bleed.”

  “We’re going to have to use dye,” Richard stated. By the time I realized what that meant it was too late. Four different sets of hands had me strapped to a gurney.

  “She must be in a lot of pain,” Tanner muttered. “We’ve never gotten her down this quick before.”

  “Sugar, you need to keep your eyes on me again.” Ethan forced my head to his side, “They have to do this. You’ll be out in a couple of seconds.”

  I screamed as I felt the IV being placed. “Sugar, please. You almost died on us.” Ethan put his head against mine, “I can’t let that happen. I love you and you’re staying with us,” His voice got more distant as everything dimmed around me.

  ◆◆◆

  I woke up in another luxury room, my arms still strapped down. “Hey, you’re up.” Ethan was at the side of the bed with a day’s worth of stubble and circles under his eyes.

  “What’s going on?” I asked, trying to force myself fully awake.

  “You had a bleed. Rich took care of it. He said it wasn’t even considered major and you’ll be able to go home tomorrow. He can’t figure out why you stopped breathing, but thinks when the bleed happened it might have caused a seizure.” He wiped the hair away from my forehead, “He also said to tell you Berto’s an idiot. The brain is much more complex than a computer. Plus, if you’re getting headaches, it’s your body’s way of telling you you’re doing too much and to stop.”

  “I meant why am I tied down?” I asked.

  “Oh, well that’s because you still have an IV in your arm and no one wants you pulling it out. It stays there until Rich says otherwise.” He kissed my cheek, “You’re staying here tonight. Tomorrow we’ll spring you and pamper you for a couple of days. Schlitz and Highball are staying as well.”

  I stared at him a moment, “You’re trying to get us to change their names, aren’t you?”

  He smiled a wide smile, “How’s it working?”

  “Pretty good,” I admitted, then got serious, “I know I scared you. I’m sorry.”

  “Just promise not to do it again.”

  I shook my head, “We’re spies, I can’t make that promise.”

  His eyes hardened and his lips disappeared, “No, I’m a security consultant and you’re my wife. You’re retired.”

  I gave a small smile, “We’ll see how that works out. I’m not just a spy, Sugar Bear. I’m a super spy.”

  Ethan’s eyebrows came together, “Sugar Bear?”

  “Yeah, that’s not good.” I took a breath and licked my lips, “I need to tell you something.”

  He sat back and looked weary, “What did you do? Revise all the codes to the weapon rooms?”

  “We have weapon rooms? As in plural?”

  He rolled his eyes, “What do you need to tell me Sam?”

  I glanced down at my hand he was holding. “For some reason, this is hard for me.”

  Ethan leaned down and kissed the fingers of that hand, “What? There’s nothing you can’t tell me.”

  I bit my lip for a second, then looked up at him, “I … I love you.”

  A smile broke out on Ethan’s face and he leaned over and kissed me, “I know you do, Sugar. I’ve never had any doubt.”

  “That’s because your ego’s about as big as it gets,” Tanner walked in eating a bag of chips. “Berto needs you to call in, Ethan.”

  “I’ll do it outside. Don’t let her con any nurses into unstrapping her,” Ethan got up, taking his phone out.

  “Not a chance.” Tanner sat down in a chair, popping another chip in his mouth, “Oh, hey, and Ethan?”

  “Yeah,” Ethan turned and looked at him.

  “I know I never told you this, but if you hurt my sister, I’ll kill you,” Tanner looked at him.

  Ethan smiled, “About time you said that. I’ve been waiting to hear that for four years.” He walked out of the room, phone against his head.

  I observed Tanner. He was as scruffy as Ethan, squinting his eyes as he looked out the window, and rolling his neck. “Why are you worried?” I asked.

  He sucked a cheek in, “You almost died. Isn’t that reason enough?”

  “No, cause I’m fine now. Something’s bothering you.”

  He sighed heavily, “Why can’t you just read poker books like me? No, it has to be instructions on body language.”

  My hands briefly clenched. “Because everyone lies around me. And you’ll find that those books help just as much in card games. Now what’s going on?”

  He gave a slight grimace, “Lyssa’s doing recon on something. I’ll just feel better when she’s back.”

  “Ethan’s pa
rent’s took care of her when you two were overseas? Right?”

  He scratched his cheek, “How’d you know that?”

  I shrugged, “Because I got part of a memory before everything went to hell. I remembered kicking Peterson’s ass, or at least throwing a knife at him.”

  “Doesn’t explain how you know that?”

  “Ethan told me when he was trying to recruit me,” I stared up at the ceiling.

  “Oh,” he threw the chip bag away. “So, you remember how pissed you were at me?”

  “No.” I shook my head, “I wasn’t pissed. I thought you were mad at me because I lost track of Lyssa.”

  He sat quietly for a moment, “Are you telling me that for the last four years we’ve been avoiding each other, because we thought the other was angry?”

  I gave a small chuckle, “Sounds like it.”

  He cursed and leaned back in the chair, running a hand over his face. “We’re two of the smartest people on the planet, and we’re completely stupid.”

  “Mankind is doomed,” I agreed with him. “And I don’t know about being that smart.”

  “All we have to do is read or watch something and we can do it. We’re what everyone wishes they were.” He got up and headed to the window.

  “We’re also emotionally stunted and terrified of giving anyone any power over us,” I added.

  He glanced at me, “Like I said, we’re completely stupid. In case you didn’t remember it right, Ethan fell for you the moment he saw you.”

  “No he didn’t.” I shook my head, “He just flirted.”

  “Kiddo, he doesn’t flirt. Not with anyone except you.” Tanner smiled as he sat down, “I told you before, he’s stupid with women.”

  “Kiddo again?”

  “Yeah, we suck at nicknames,” Tanner sighed.

  I laughed, “Tell me about it. Sugar bear didn’t pass the smell test with Ethan.”

  Tanner snorted, “Oh, I’m so glad I wasn’t drinking anything. It would have gone right out my nose.”

  “What exactly is Lyssa doing?” I started when a nurse walked in.