Find: Project Xol

by Amabel Daniels

  The country-side scenery had been replaced with mediocre-height buildings. Not skyscrapers but it was clear we’d ended up in a city of some kind.

  “I thought it was just traffic, but the longer I stayed in this lane, we ended up getting in line.”

  Line? For what? I craned to the window, narrowing my eyes until another vehicle drove up ahead.

  DUI Check Point.

  “Fuck.”

  Have your ID ready.

  “Fuck.”

  I scrambled to pull my hoodie on and tugged the strings to block my face. Reaching down, I groped in the bucket-like lower compartment of the center console. “Where are my glasses?”

  “I couldn’t find them in the backpack,” he said.

  We moved up in line. Two cars ahead of us.

  I gulped. A cop stood at the driver and passenger windows as vehicles proceeded.

  “Fuck!”

  “We’ll figure it out. Just…sit back again. Pretend to be asleep.” His words were encouraging but the worry in his tone wasn’t.

  “Yeah.” I gave up looking for my glasses and froze, slumping in my seat as we neared the stop point. Both windows were lowered, and I concentrated on breathing as slowly and steadily as I could. My heart hammered and I wanted to whimper.

  This was just too damn close. Too risky. I’d already depleted my lifetime supply of luck.

  “ID, please?” I heard a man say from Luke’s side.

  “Here.”

  “She okay?” another man asked from just outside my window.

  “Just sleeping. Worked all day.”

  In. Out. In. Out. I didn’t squint but kept my eyes closed. God. I hoped there wasn’t any movement on my lids.

  Calm. The. Fuck. Down! My chest shuddered as I forced myself to breathe too slowly for my heartrate. Just breathe!

  “Oh, yeah?”

  The suspicion in his voice seized my sanity. I could feel his gaze on me.

  “Where’s her ID?” the cop at my side said.

  “At home. She’s not driving. What do you need it for?” Luke said.

  “Adam.” The cop tapped the SUV’s roof. “Hold up.”

  No. Please, no. I swallowed hard.

  “What’s in the bag?” the cop asked.

  “Her clothes. She’s staying over at my house tonight.” His reply wasn’t snappy but I could hear the edge in his words.

  “You sure she doesn’t have ID on her?”

  “No. She left her purse at home.”

  “I need to see the bag.”

  Radio static and faraway voices sounded from outside. The cop murmured something, likely talking into his shoulder mic.

  Luke cleared his throat. “What for? You don’t have a right to search us.”

  “Ma’am?” A hand shoved gently at my shoulder through the window. “Ma’am, I need to see your identification.”

  More cackles come over the radio.

  “Ma’am.” He jostled me harder.

  I opened my eyes.

  “This is bullshit—”

  The other cop scolded Luke. “Hey, hey. Calm down. This is just protocol.”

  “Ma’am?” He stared at me too closely, studying my face. “Ma’am, I need you to step out of the car.”

  “But I—” I licked my dry lips. “I haven’t done anything.”

  How fucking ironically true that was. I hadn’t. I’d only tried to survive it all.

  “Out of the car. Now, please.” He set his hand on his belt, not on his firearm but near it. Enough of a threat to scare me.

  With a deep breath, I opened the door and stood. Another door slammed nearby. I glanced back. The other officer had Luke step out. In his hands was the backpack. He held my wallet. Flipped it open and skimmed my ID.

  “It’s her.”

  Chapter Eight

  Luke

  Cassidy paced in the cell we shared. Her eyes weren’t watery. No tears. Just anxiety.

  “What the fuck are we going to do?”

  “Get out of here.”

  “Oh. Okay. Sure.” She smirked. “Lead the way.”

  I sat back on the single chair in the room. There was just enough space for her to break in her still-new shoes and for me to sprawl out on the only piece of furniture.

  The small-town cops had cuffed us both and hauled us to their station, a dated building that they were in the process of renovating. I’d been surprised that they put us in the same cell. We were supposed to be in separate spaces, but after the cops who’d brought us in argued about who should go where, they ended up letting us stay together—against protocol, the senior cop still insisted. Two punks who’d been otherwise peacefully sharing another cell started an all-out brawl precisely when the officers were figuring out how to separate me and Cassie. In the chaos of having to put those fools in the only other remaining rooms not torn apart with construction equipment, Cassidy and I stuck together.

  For the time-being, they’d said.

  Nothing was said for our charges and after I’d given Cassidy one stern glare at her barrage of questions and demands for reasons why we were taken in, she shut up. The less we caused a fuss, the better. I’d been in this position before. Arrested. Taken behind bars. Shutting up and listening paid off more than freaking out.

  They hadn’t even said we were arrested. All they did was forcibly bring us in and state we were in custody for questioning.

  “He said I can call a lawyer,” I reminded her.

  “That was a half-hour ago. Obviously, they forgot.”

  Actually, it was only over five minutes ago. I couldn’t blame her for feeling trapped. The longer we were here, the sooner Michael or someone else from Project Xol could collect us.

  “And do you have your lawyer’s number?”

  No. I hadn’t needed an attorney since I left prison. “I was going to call Zero, anyway.”

  She stilled, running her hands through her hair and fisting it. “You memorized his number?” It wasn’t a bitchy snap, but I still glowered back at her. I hadn’t. Dammit. For fuck’s sake, we’d been changing numbers every other hour it seemed. How could I have?

  “I’ll call Jonah.” His was the only number I knew by heart anyway.

  She frowned. “Your brother?”

  I shrugged. We needed someone’s help. Jonah could follow instructions. I’d ask him to look up Zero. It was better than doing nothing.

  Before I could tell her my plan, someone entered the door at the end of the hall. A cop approached and I stood.

  “You have five minutes.”

  The fuck I did. I had my rights. As long as we were in the country, I could seek legal counsel. Being held in custody for questioning to a fabricated crime was such a deep level of bullshit, I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Yet, as I nodded at the officer, I knew my antagonism at the law was misplaced with him. He probably had never even imagined a science plot like Project Xol. He was simply doing his job, taking the nationwide APB and call for arrest for Cassidy at its face value.

  “I’ll be right back,” I told Cassidy as I was escorted out of the cell.

  She stood there, hugging one arm over her stomach and clutching at the skin below her neck. Her baby blues locked on me and she nodded, chewing on her lower lip.

  Fuck. If I ever saw the worry in those eyes like that again it would be too soon.

  I shoved away the rawness of my emotions as I followed the officer down the hall. In another small room, a vestibule, really, I picked up the receiver and dialed Jonah.

  He answered on the first ring, like he might have been waiting for someone—me—to call.

  “Jo—”

  “Luke! Where the fuck are you? What’s going on?”

  “Outside Admore, Oklahoma.”

  “You’re—”

  No. His questions had to wait. “We’re in custody. For questioning.”

  Profanity streamed from his end for a breath. “You and the cop killer?”

  “She didn’t do it.”

  Anot
her argument didn’t spew forth and I was curious at him taking my word for it. “Dale said…”

  Dale. A powerful man who’d likely spawned the fruits of this disaster. I gritted my teeth.

  “He said it was complicated.”

  I snorted. “To put it mildly. I need your help. We have to get out of here before the FBI comes to get us.” I wasn’t sure what Zero could actually do but he’d proven resourceful so far.

  “Dale can help.”

  “I don’t trust him.”

  Jonah huffed. “You trusted him with your life before. He got you free once. He can again.”

  There was no doubt Dale was an influential figure. But this phone call wasn’t the time or place to explain why I wanted nothing to do with the man I’d once considered someone of a personal savior.

  “No—”

  “He’s worried, man. We’ve been following all these reports about Cassidy since your place blew up. Whatever kind of fucked-up shit you’re involved with, he can help.”

  “I said no—”

  “And he’s not far away. He flew to Dallas last night.”

  Dallas? Was he involved in the aftermath of the attack at Harlowe’s library? His nearness was unsettling. “I’ll send him over as your counsel.”

  “Jonah! Don’t—”

  “Let someone else be the hero for once, bro.”

  He hung up.

  He fucking hung up on me.

  I slammed the receiver down.

  Hero? This wasn’t some goddamn hero complex. I admitted we needed help. Dale wouldn’t be it. He was the enemy.

  “Finished?” the officer said from the other side of the room’s door.

  Yeah, I was through with this call. And I couldn’t help but fear Cassidy and I really were done for.

  You little idiot. I loved my brother with my life. I’d taken lives for him. But he had never been so wrong about anything as he was now. You, goddamn idiot!

  When I came back to the cell, Cassidy shot to her feet from the chair. I was let back in with her and she rushed to me, setting her hands on my chest and staring at me with a weak glimmer of hope. “Well?”

  “I wanted to ask him to find Zero and contact him.”

  She lowered her hands, frowning. “But…”

  “He…he wouldn’t give me a chance to explain. He said he’s going to send someone as counsel.”

  “A lawyer?”

  I sighed. “Dale.”

  She blinked. Then gaped at me. She took a step back. “Dale? As in the owner of Daysun?”

  I nodded.

  “What the fuck for?”

  “He’s a powerful person.” I shook my head, defeated for the moment, and took the seat. “He thinks Dale can…do something for us.”

  She scoffed. I didn’t blame her for the bitterness. “Well, sure. Of course he can do something. Maybe he’ll personally bring us to the monsters trying to kill me—us. I bet he’ll sit front-row with popcorn to watch it all.” She stomped off again, all of the four feet away from me. On her return, she carried on. “I can’t be—”

  I grabbed her wrist and hauled her to my lap. Her ass just missed the wound on my thigh, and I ignored the pain. She squirmed in my hold, huffing and tossing hair over her face. Keeping one arm locked around her, I raised my hand to brush the black strands back. I cradled her face and sighed.

  “We’ll find—”

  “Find what?” she yelled back. “Our fate? Our deaths?”

  I inhaled long and hard again. Before, I encouraged her fury. Now, I wished I could ease it. “We’ll find a way out of here. Maybe we can negotiate with him.”

  At my impromptu idea, she frowned. “What, like give him the data to let us live?”

  I couldn’t see anyone affiliated with Project Xol being that open to trade. I shrugged.

  She slumped to me, resting her head next to mine. Her body was so light, so small and fragile on me. But the woman I held was larger than life itself. “What if Michael or someone else comes to pick us up first?”

  Then we were fucked.

  “Then we make every minute until then count.” I turned my face to capture her lips. She softly grunted, maybe at the surprise of my move. Surprising her didn’t last. As she twisted in my embrace, she faced me fully, bringing her leg up and over me to straddle me properly.

  If these were going to be the last memories of my short life, they were going down as the best.

  She ground against me, smashing me into the straight-backed chair until I bowed back over it.

  Yes.

  I gripped her ass, securing me to me. Sliding my tongue along the seam of her lips, I sought entrance. On a husky gasp, she parted for me and took over the kiss.

  Hell, yes. I growled into her mouth, rocking my hips up to her as she rubbed down on my lap. My dick strained in my jeans, trapped beneath too many layers.

  More. Fuck, I wanted so much more.

  She broke the kiss to pull my head to the side. Trailing her wet lips along my neck, she dug her fingers through my hair, the bite of her nails causing me to hiss. “Luke.” She breathed my name below my ear.

  Then she dove back for another kiss.

  More. I wanted more time. More space. More of her. All of her.

  So focused on the scorch of need she destroyed me with, I missed the sound of the door opening at the end of the hall. Someone had come though because as wrapped around each other as we were, neither of us could mistake the sound of metal on metal nearby.

  The door eased open. Panting, I followed the brown sleeve of the cop’s arm. He stood there staring at us with raised brows. Next to him was an older man. One who’d spoken with me at a different law enforcement location.

  “Dale.”

  He nodded once at me.

  Cassidy tried to catch her breath, still clinging to me and snug against my chest.

  “I’ll open one of the meeting rooms for you,” the cop stated. He smirked, looking from me to Cassidy on my lap.

  She cleared her throat and shoved off of me. As she smoothed her shirt down from my hands spreading up her back, I shifted.

  Once again. Zero to goddamn sixty. It was whiplash. Grimacing, I adjusted my erection in my pants, unable to stand with it ready for the woman it seemed I’d never get.

  “This way.”

  Cassidy stood in front of me as the cop gestured for me to follow. I stood, swallowing the growl of aches at my gunshot wound. A gyrating woman on the lap wasn’t the wisest course of recovery, but it was the only way I wanted to go.

  The four of us headed out of the cell. Dale walked next to the cop, not saying a word or even glancing back. With military precision, he swung a briefcase at his side. I took in his gray suit, listened to the sharp taps of his polished shoes. Not a hair was out of place on his thick almost white hair. Only stoic calm radiated from him, no trace of any emotion or suggestion of his intention. All business. Just as I remembered him to be when he’d gotten me out of prison.

  Once we were in the meeting room and the cop closed the door on us, I sat again. I needed to stay off my leg if I hoped to get back to normal speed.

  “I came as fast as I could. Thank God the chopper was still available. Twenty minutes instead of an hour-and-a-half drive,” Dale said, slowly pulling out another chair. Instead of sitting on it, he dragged it to the door and jammed the backrest under the doorknob.

  Whoa.

  Dale…locking us in here. He felt that much need to secure us from the small-town cops who’d fumbled protocol more than once already? And what would a flimsy piece of cheap wood get us, anyway?

  He gestured at the other chair next to me, waiting for Cassidy to take it before he sat.

  She didn’t budge, standing rigidly next to me with her arms crossed.

  He set the briefcase on the floor and sat.

  “I never asked for you to be here,” I said.

  He shook his head. “I saw to your safety once before and I promised your brother I’d always have your back.”

/>   “How generous,” Cassidy said.

  He eyed her then, pulling his serious gaze from me. For a moment too long, he studied her. I wasn’t sure why it seemed he was trying to place her. Clearly, he’d been following the news. He’d known who she was before her sham warrant for arrest. If he was behind Daysun’s purchase of her father and Rosa’s lab research, he knew everything.

  “I understand you may not trust me. Not if you’ve learned of my past connection to this project. But there isn’t time to explain everything. It’s imperative you leave here. They can’t find you. Not now.”

  Another they. But…was he actually trying to hide us? Help us? No way.

  “Who?” I asked.

  “The remaining researchers for Project Xol.” He sat back, dropping his folded hands to his lap. Spreading his legs out, he took a defensive stance, as though he was ready to go.

  “Your researchers, you mean?”

  He shook his head at Cassidy’s question. “I funded the research when it began. When Farger and Arguela headed the labs. It was always a collaborative effort. Across the globe, they were working for a cure for cancer. I paid for the program until it worked.”

  His brow furrowed but he didn’t pause for long. “Farger—Scott… I can still remember the day he called to inform me of the success. They hadn’t tried it on anything past the embryonic stage, but he was positive they’d succeeded.”

  “In a cure for cancer,” I confirmed.

  Dale shook his head. “If only it was that. Other interested parties had been following the lab’s work and ended it before any celebrations occurred.”

  “They killed him.”

  He sighed at Cassidy’s statement. “Yes. To wipe the slate clean, they’d ordered hits on the scientists and destroyed the main lab. There were disagreements about moving forward. Some wanted to proceed straight to human trials. Others, like Rosa, wanted to test more first. The split ruined the beginning of a world-altering cure.

  “The remaining members of the project continued without my involvement—without my knowledge, at first. After the deaths, I resolved my funding. What was there to pay for?” He held his hands up in question. “They continued research under different budgets, but I’ve always maintained surveillance of their moves once I realized the work went on.”