by Lora Andrews
Ardgour.
“Tell the proprietor Sean McCollum sent you. Do you understand?”
His mind raced with visions of home. Here was his chance to investigate MacInnes’s claims about his clan. If MacInnes had lied and his family had carried on into the future, then perhaps his destiny lay in this time.
“Ewen?” Daniel reached for the doorknob.
“Aye, it’s a solid plan.”
Caitlin’s face paled.
“All will fall into place, lass. Have faith.”
“Right, because we can’t stay here.” A soft laugh escaped her. “We could hide between the walls, but with my luck, we’d get stuck, and decades from now, some poor schmuck would find our bones and wonder what the heck we were doing in there.”
She shrugged, her smile fading. “So much can go wrong with this plan. I’m not an ass-kicking superhero. What do I know about stealing antidotes or navigating a getaway car on the wrong side of the road through a foreign country?”
“I didna understand half of what you spoke, lass. And from the wee bit I did, I’m no’ exactly relishing my arse locked in that metal contraption of yours either.”
She laughed, but the mirth didn’t reach her eyes.
He traced the curve of her lip. “Only a foolish man faces battle without confronting his mortality. What you’re feeling is normal, lass. We all feel fear, aye? But bravery…bravery is the courage to overcome those fears. And you, my sweet, have the heart of a warrior.”
Throat tight, he stepped back before the urge to hold her forced his arms around her. Daniel stood stiffly at the door. Ewen lowered his voice. “You are not a coward, Caitlin, should you wish to remain here.”
“No, I want to be with you.” Her face flushed, and she bit her lower lip. “I mean, I feel safer with you. And Daniel.”
“Aye, I know your meaning.” He rubbed the back of his neck. For a man who’d spent a lifetime avoiding those touched by magic, he couldn’t seem to keep his hands off his green-eyed seer.
At the door, Daniel looked to Caitlin. “Ready?”
She released a soft sigh. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
With a stiff nod in his direction, the guard opened the door and led the charge.
The dash to MacInnes’s office was a blur of breaths and pounding heartbeats against Ewen’s temple. Once inside, he locked the door behind them and jammed a heavy chair beneath the knob to secure the room. Meanwhile, his traitorous heart stomped across his chest and siphoned the air from his lungs. He swallowed a grunt and spun on his heel to take stock of the room as another spasm of pain shot through his body.
He froze mid-step. Daniel dropped a book on the desk. The wall lining the opposite side of MacInnes’s office slid open to reveal another room beyond. The same dark wood walls and floors carried into the veiled space. A writing table was visible from their vantage point.
Caitlin shook her head slowly from side-to-side. “Unbelievable. I should have guessed.”
Ewen blocked Daniel’s path before he could move forward and angled his body to keep their voices from reaching Caitlin. “I willna risk her life for a false cure. Will this antidote cure what ails me?”
He knew the answer the minute Daniel glanced to the floor.
God’s bones.
Flexing his jaw, Ewen watched Caitlin edge to the threshold dividing the rooms.
“A change of plans is in order. Daniel, protect her. Get her safely out of the manor. I will locate Marissa and send her to the designated point.”
The guard pressed his lips into a thin line, exhaled, and then nodded his agreement. The noose in Ewen’s chest loosened. He stepped back, blinked away the flecks of light dancing in his vision, and wiped sweat from his forehead.
Daniel raised his gun and gestured they follow Caitlin into the next room. But something felt off. Ewen gripped his weapon, every aching inch of skin firing a warning. A sound from deep inside the secret room caught his attention. Caitlin had already crossed the threshold and was halfway inside. She pivoted to the left. Her mouth fell open and all color drained from her face.
Ewen waved a hand to signal Daniel stay back. Adrenaline fired knots into his stomach. He aimed his weapon and moved silently across the room to where Caitlin stood rooted to the floor.
Marissa lay bound and gagged.
“Took you long enough to join the party.” Gary crouched behind the girl with his gun shoved into her cheek.
“Release her, coward.” Ewen shifted his weight, conscious of Caitlin’s every move.
“Now where would the fun be in that?” The cur rose from the floor and rammed the heel of his boot into Marissa’s hip. “Slide your weapons, all of them, over here, Highlander. Looks like your luck’s finally run out.”
Ewen ground his teeth. “Did your mother ne’er tell you? Luck never gives. Only lends.” He lowered the gun to the floor and kicked it to the far end of the room. “Perhaps this day she’ll take pity upon my soul and lend me a bit more, eh?”
“You fucking Scots are all the same with your fucking legends. Arms up, asshole.” He turned his revolting smile to Caitlin. “Pull the knife he’s hiding at his back and kick it over here, darlin’.”
Ewen scanned the wall behind Gary, a plain-paneled wall similar to the one they entered in the dining room. He would bet the hidden passage lay beyond it.
Caitlin removed the knife from his belt, her hand lingering at his waist. He glanced over his shoulder and gave her a quick reassuring look. She dropped the knife to the floor.
“Thatta girl,” Gary said. “Now slide it over here, nice and slow. You wouldn’t want me getting all jittery, now would you?”
The knife slid across the hardwood floor and rebounded off his boot.
“Good girl. Keep those hands up and twirl around for me, baby. Let’s make sure you ain’t packing anything you shouldn’t be.”
Caitlin did as she was told.
“That’ll do. Until later, sugar.” He winked and crouched to the floor to confiscate the weapon. “Why don’t you come stand next to your BFF”—he tipped his head to Marissa—“while I take care of this piece of shit.”
Caitlin hesitated, her gaze darting between Ewen and Marissa’s tear-stained face.
“Go on, lass. I’ll be but a moment.”
“Okay.” Be careful, she mouthed and rushed to Marissa’s trembling form.
“A moment?” Gary laughed. “You are one cocky son of a bitch, aren’t you? Nah, I think you’re confused. You see, since the bacteria hasn’t done its job, I’m gonna man up and put you out of your misery. And then these two pretty ladies are going to make me a very rich man.”
“The only one dying here today is you.” A death he would feel no guilt executing. Ewen measured the distance between himself and Gary. The women were closer to the man than he’d prefer, but out of harm’s way.
“I’ll take it from here, Meyers. Lower your weapon.” Daniel entered the room, gun raised and pointed at Ewen.
Gary didn’t listen.
“That’s an order, Meyers.”
“Yeah, about that. Got a new boss.” Gary pivoted and fired his weapon.
Daniel’s body jerked. The gun fell from his hand before he crumbled to the floor.
“I’m done taking orders from you,” Gary said. “Get that through your fucking thick skull.”
Seizing the distraction, Ewen launched himself at the madman. His chin smacked against something hard. His vision blurred. He reached for Gary’s gun while simultaneously blocking a blow to his groin. They jockeyed for position, wrestling across the floor, knocking furniture, and ducking from falling debris. From his peripheral vision, he saw Caitlin reach for the jeweled dagger in her boot and cut the bindings tied to Marissa’s limbs.
Ewen slammed the man’s wrist repeatedly against the floor. The gun jarred loose from Gary’s grip and flew against the wall. He gained the upper hand by flipping Ewen on his back and then straddled his hips to wrap his filthy hands around Ewen’s neck. Finge
rnails raked into Ewen’s skin, tearing flesh. The bastard squeezed with relish, throwing his substantial weight into the maneuver, foiling Ewen’s every attempt to break the damn hold.
Fatigue invaded his limbs, stealing his strength and the energy needed to best his foe. The women moved Daniel’s body to a more sheltered location near the wall. Caitlin was bent over the guard’s chest with torn strips of fabric in her hands. Their eyes met, and the anguish on her face tore at his heart.
“Run,” he choked out to her between spasms.
The stubborn woman shook her head and shoved the fabric into Marissa’s hands. Then she rose and extended her palms out in his direction.
What the bluidy hell was she doing?
Ewen swung his body forward, smashing his forehead against Gary’s face. The man howled in pain. His grip loosened enough for Ewen to suck in a breath, but a second was all he had before the man re-engaged the chokehold with a grunted curse.
“Die already,” Gary yelled. “Fucking die.”
Darkness swirled. Ewen groaned through its murky hold. This fight he would not lose. He gasped for breath, all too aware of Caitlin’s vulnerability at the hands of a bastard like Gary. He clawed the man’s eyes with one hand and stretched his other arm out on the floor, inching his hand toward the blade just out of his reach.
The cool feel of the metal at the tips of his fingers spurred renewed hope in his chest. Gary noticed the weapon just as Ewen curled his fingers around the handle. The man pivoted his body to stop him, but using every ounce of strength he had left, Ewen plunged the dagger into Gary’s kidney and twisted. The man’s face contorted. He stared at Ewen with a look of shock spread across his face.
Ewen waited for the man to keel over, then frowned. Had he not struck a fatal blow? Had his weakened state failed him? His vision blurred, then darkness slammed into his skull.
THIRTY-NINE
Caitlin stabbed the dagger into Gary’s back and shoved him off Ewen. The body slumped to the floor. Blood coated her hands. The floor. Ewen’s body. A gray sheen covered his skin and his chest barely rose. On her knees, she hauled him into a semi-sitting position.
Oh God, please don’t die. Please don’t die.
“Wake up, Ewen. Please, wake up.”
No tears fell from her cheeks. No physical reaction to the terrifying events preceding that very moment. Just a stone cold shell of a woman rocking from side to side with a warrior clamped in her arms.
“Come on. We’ve made it this far. Just a little more to go.” Her hand brushed the side of his face in an almost mechanical motion. Furniture lay on its side, evidence of the violent struggle between life and death that had occurred between Ewen and Gary.
Marissa kneeled over Daniel and pressed another torn piece of cloth to his chest in a futile attempt to staunch the blood flowing from the wound.
Death and more death. Body after body.
“Caitlin.” Marissa’s lips moved, but Caitlin couldn’t hear the words. All she saw was the blood on the other woman’s hands.
God, more blood. So much fucking blood.
Except for Daniel’s labored breathing, silence filled the room. She knew she had to act. There wasn’t much time. She scanned the room. The partially opened wall. The fake office on the other side. The vulnerability of their situation jarred her from the funk she’d fallen into.
Stick to the plan. Secure the room. Move everyone to safety. It’s what Ewen would say, and she was sure as hell Daniel would agree.
Caitlin lowered Ewen to the floor gently and ran to MacInnes’s desk. The more barriers between them and the guards, the more time for escape. Papers and files scattered to the floor as she searched for the mechanism that would close the wall.
“What are you doing?” Marissa asked.
“I have to close the wall.” At the back of the desk behind the draw, Caitlin found a button. She pushed. The wall started with a whir as the two halves coasted to a close.
“He’s trying to say something.” Marissa swung her head to Caitlin. Compassion swept over her expression.
Caitlin kneeled beside the young woman. Bruises shadowed her cheeks. “Are you hurt?”
Marissa shook her head. “Scared more than anything else.”
A wet, rattling sound caught in Daniel’s throat. “Passage…panel…”
“Okay. Let’s get you up. Marissa, help me drag him to the wall.” How the hell were the two of them going to heave two unconscious giants up a narrow passage?
Daniel coughed again. Shook his head. “No. Stay…behind.” He grabbed her in a desperate clutch. Cold slammed into her mind. She tried pulling her hand away, but his eyes blazed into hers.
“He wants to tell you what he cannot say with words,” Marissa said. “Don’t fight it.”
Daniel nodded. The muscles in his face seized beneath his pale skin.
Caitlin sucked in a breath and closed her eyes. She laid her hand on his arm and opened herself to the whirlpool of emotions and memories swirling before her. Nausea built. Flashing slivers of Daniel’s life flicked in her mind in quick succession. Wave after wave, one after the other, until she saw what he wanted her to see. The panel. The control box outside the lab. The antidote. The passage. All of it there for the taking. And more. A more she had promised him to fulfill if he helped her save Marissa.
The rest wasn’t hers to take.
And then the words, “Tell her I’ve regretted every day of my sorry life since the moment I walked away.”
His pain and sorrow mingled with her own.
“I’m so sorry. Thank you for helping us. For…”
He lifted his head off the floor, a grimace contorting his face. “Promise, Caitlin.”
“I promise.” Tears clumped in her eyes.
He smiled and let his head loll to the side with a satisfied nod.
Caitlin leaned back onto her heels and rubbed shaky hands along the top of her thighs. “We have to go. Help me move Ewen. There’s a passage that leads out of the manor.”
“I’ll help you, but I’ll not be going with you.” She kept one hand pressed against the bloody fabric on Daniel’s chest and used her teeth to tear another piece from her skirt. “My fate is here.”
“What?”
“You heard me.” Marissa layered the fabric over the bloody cloth beneath her left hand, then leaned over and reapplied pressure to the wound. Daniel grimaced under the weight of her ministration.
Clearly, she was in a state of shock. “I’ll do everything in my power to protect you. I know Ewen will as well. I promise.”
“I don’t doubt that, but my mind is set.” Marissa swung a doubtful glance to the wall. “Are you sure about the passage?”
The thought Marissa would refuse their help never entered Caitlin’s mind. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”
“Aye, I do, and I’m old enough to decide my fate. I’m not afraid to freely use the gifts I have been given. Why do you not accept yours? Touch me. See the truth your conscious mind refuses to see.”
Ewen groaned and rolled onto his side. Before Caitlin could help, he shoved off the floor on all fours, curling his body until his massive height was upright. He ambled toward her, assessing the room as he moved. “Are you well?”
A choked laugh escaped her mouth. The guy was as white as a ghost, had a deadly virus chomping away at him, and yet there he stood, worried about her well-being and not his own.
Her throat grew thick. “I should be the one asking you that question.”
He touched her cheek and then lowered his gaze to Daniel. Crouching near the fallen guard, Ewen placed a hand over his shoulder and lowered his head. “It was an honor fighting by your side.”
Gritty tears filled her eyes.
Daniel’s lids fluttered. A grin lifted the edge of his mouth. “Not. Dead. Yet.”
Ewen laughed. “Aye, I can see that. Fighting off the hounds of hell then, are you, man?”
A boom against the door pulled their attention away from Dani
el. The bittersweet laugh died in her throat as the pounding against MacInnes’s fake office drowned the moment.
“Go.” Daniel grunted.
Marissa lifted Daniel’s weapon off the floor with ease. “I will stay with him. Cordelia’s people have no use for us. Now go on, you two.”
The creaks and groans of wood splintering grew louder.
“Marissa, please, don’t do this. Come with us before it’s too late.”
Ewen squeezed Marissa’s shoulder and swept past her to the rear wall. He shoved Gary’s body aside and began the search for the access panel.
“Our paths were meant to cross, but they were never meant to join. You know this for the truth it is,” Marissa said quietly.
“It’s not supposed to end like this. You and Daniel…”
The pounding shifted from the office door to the false wall. “Open up,” someone shouted.
“Hurry, now. “ Marissa shooed her to the panel. “You’ve a destiny to fulfill, and I have faith you’ll create a better ending for us all.”
Caitlin ran to Ewen with the jagged pieces of her heart rattling in her chest. Ewen clasped her hand and pulled her through the gap in the wall, closing the panel behind them. A tight passage led to a landing with stairs joining floors that led both above and below the office. She ran up the narrow stone steps with Ewen trailing behind. At the next landing, she saw the door with the keyless lock.
The lab.
Her fingers tapped against the keypad as if she’d entered the code a million times before. The electronic door whirred open. She reentered the code to shut the door behind her and whirled around. Calling forth Daniel’s memories, she scanned the furnishings for a glass storage unit. Tables set in vertical rows lined the center of the sterile room. Black countertops anchored to wood birch cabinets ran beneath a large casement-style window. She spun on her heel. The glass cabinets installed on the adjacent wall snatched her attention.
The antidote.
“It’s there.” Caitlin rushed to the locked cabinet. MacInnes had the key. She grabbed a stand from the countertop and whacked the glass. Once the pane broke, she used the metal clamp attached to the top of the stand to clear the glass, then shoved her hand through and scooped the antidote.