Finally reaching the last step, Rome took a right turn and faced a solid gray door. He stuck his master key in the dead bolt, turned the knob, and walked in. The lighting was very sparse and very synthetic. He couldn’t understand the handful of folks who worked here every day and night. He’d go crazy without fresh air and sunlight, even if it was watery northwest sunlight.
After a few long steps down the corridor, he stopped at a good-sized room. The light was brighter here, and he easily found the person he needed peering at the screen attached to a bulky machine. The display cast a bluish tint to Dr. Andy’s face.
Dr. Andy—a doctor of what, Rome wasn’t sure—managed everything in the romper room. Read all the data that was extracted. Processed any samples taken. Administered who knew what. Made decisions about methods. Jeff was the boss and directed everything that happened. But down there, Dr. Andy saw that the orders were carried out.
“Hey, Doc.” Rome’s voice boomed across the open space, and he held back a smile when the startled Dr. Andy jolted forward face-first into the monitor.
“Agent Lucian,” she murmured, pushing up the thick-rimmed glasses that had fallen down her diminutive nose. Dr. Andrea “Andy” O’Brien pulled herself to her full height, which was still a good foot shorter than his, as he sidled up next to her, trying to look at anything that would clue him in about Harper. “What can I do for you?”
“Just checking in.” Rome glanced around, but didn’t see anything except Dr. Andy’s myriad of scattered Diet Dr Pepper cans and a bag of Oreos, half of which were gone, the crumbs left everywhere. “How’s my favorite gal?”
Blushing and mumbling something, she swung away from him and grabbed one of the aluminum cans. She took a long swallow, refusing to meet his eyes. She was always a little nervous around him, which surprised him, considering her chilling job. He rarely visited and even more rarely stopped to chat with the doctor when he did. Truth be told, she creeped him out a little, but he’d never let on.
“So, what’s with the woman I brought in the other day?” He turned on the charm, but knew not to underestimate her. Dr. Andy appeared as a shy mouse, but underneath she was a cunning predator. Her intelligence was limitless and she knew how to get what Jeff wanted, one way or another, no matter how long it took.
She gave him an inquiring look, raising her reddish eyebrows. He knew it was unlike him to ask, but not unheard of. He had followed up a time or two.
“She has something inside her,” Dr. Andy answered vaguely. “Something giving her an unusual power.”
He already knew that. He also knew that she wasn’t telling him the whole story. “Really.” Rome feigned casualness. “Any idea what it is or how she got it?”
“Not yet,” she answered, and stacked some papers mechanically. Then she smiled that eerie smile she got when she encountered a particularly difficult challenge. One she loved to conquer. “But soon.”
“Well, you mind if I take a peek?” He gestured to the row of small flat-screen monitors that showed video of each holding cell for observation.
“Go ahead.” She waved her hand and then brushed it through her short red curls, bouncing them around like a nine-year-old.
“Thanks, doll.” Rome winked and gave her a sexy grin as he sauntered over to the monitor bank. He
watched her return to the big machine she’d been viewing when he’d first walked in, her face reddening even more.
The screens were on, yet all completely dark. No shadows or anything. Adjusting them to infrared, the pictures revealed two ethereal red-hued figures. Two captives today.
“She’s in B, monitor two,” Dr. Andy supplied from across the room. Giving her a sideways glance, he saw she wasn’t even looking at him. Creepy.
Rome peered at monitor two, disregarding the larger figure on monitor six who was lying flat on the floor. The specter of Harper was hunched, unmoving, in the far right corner of the square room. She couldn’t have looked more alone. He tweaked the monitor controls a tad, morphing the shimmering infrared visual to a sharper night-vision display. Ghostly green and gray instead of red, but now he was able to focus in on her closely.
He gritted his teeth in anger at seeing the raw anguish in every short breath Harper took. Still wearing her jeans and T-shirt, she had undoubtedly been subjected to some of Dr. Andy’s most creative “treatments.” Seldom was the damage visible on the flesh, but the signs were in the tentative angle in which Harper held her arms as they hugged her body close, and the slight, intermittent twitching of her body. She probably didn’t even know she was doing it.
Balling his fists, knuckles white, he suppressed his rage and resentment. He’d done this. He’d brought her here. But he thought he’d been doing the right thing.
She was dangerous; that was a hard fact. But what happened to make her that way? What was she caught up in? She’d purposefully killed those men, but then she’d apologized for it as though she couldn’t help her
self. Remorseful, as if she really was a victim. Rome wanted to kick his own ass. He cursed himself every way and sideways for bringing her in. Even if it was his damned duty.
“She’s a toughie.” Dr. Andy’s impassive voice floated from across the room. He looked over his shoulder to see her fiddling with some glass tubes of blood from a little wooden rack. Yuck. He’d spilled more than his share of blood, but to see it sitting there like a thin glass of runny tomato juice…yuck.
“Yeah, I bet.” He forced his voice to sound controlled, when all he wanted to do was tear apart the office. He had to see Harper. To tell her…what?
What exactly would he say?
Sorry I brought you in to be tortured and experimented on even though I promised I wouldn’t. But hey, you freaked me out.
Damn it all. He had to get her out of there.
“When’s her next session?” He almost choked on the word, but kept his tone light.
“One hour and thirty-three minutes,” the doc replied after consulting her giant analog watch.
“Taking her to the rumble seat?” he asked. The torture chair was usually only for the most reticent of their captives.
“No, off-site today,” she answered with a spinechilling smile, pulling out some clean test tubes and a couple of long syringes.
Off-site? That could mean only one thing: Harper was being given one last chance to come clean and produce the results Jeff expected. Off-site could be anywhere, but the subjects never came back.
Rome decided he’d nab her then. He’d be at the door when the transport occurred and somehow break her out. Otherwise, she was dead.
“Great.” Rome drew the word out and gave Dr. Andy
a big toothy grin. She matched it with one of her own. Creepy. “Later.” He gave her a pat on her skinny shoulder and walked to the door. Waving back to her as he stepped out into the dim hallway, he started to plan how he’d save Harper and where to take her.
He could swipe Harper—of that he had no doubt. But then what? If he did this, he would really be at war with Jeff. Somehow, his boss would find out Rome was responsible. He always did. Was Harper really worth going against Jeff? Going against his job? His duty?
Rome was no closer to finding out what her story was. In fact, it was even more convoluted than when he’d asked her to trust him. Double damn. He was going crazy. Over a damn woman he knew next to nothing about.
But that wasn’t completely true. He knew Harper was full of courage and incredibly loyal. Smart and resilient with unwavering conviction. She also possessed a natural athletic strength and an innate confidence that he found amazingly attractive for some reason he couldn’t fathom.
And her eyes. The emerald color of the greenest sea he’d ever seen complemented that sun-kissed hair.
He had to get her out. To help her figure out what was happening to her. What had happened to her brother. And how this all related to Jeff.
Because he couldn’t shake the thought that his boss was up to no good. Even if Harper never trusted him again, she could help him get to the bottom of this.
His job was to fight evil. To protect those who couldn’t help themselves. It was his duty to do the right thing for the greater good. He just needed to figure out exactly what that was. And at the moment, he felt a deep and inexplicable pull toward Harper.
He’d told her he had an instinct about her, and that was the truth. An instinct that told him she needed his help. Two years ago, he hadn’t listened to his gut, and people had died because of it. He’d sworn never to let that happen again.
And yet, he’d once again gone against his instincts. This time, with Harper. He’d been afraid of what he saw and brought her here, maybe at the cost of her life.
No, he would not pay that price. Not again. Not with Harper. She was worth it. He knew it. He felt it deep down in his soul.
Glancing at his watch, Rome reached the door that led to the safe outside. He had a little over an hour to figure out how to snatch Harper during transport and remain anonymous in the process.
No problem. He’d been in tighter positions before. He’d find a way to get it done. He’d find a way to make it right with Harper. And this time he would help her find answers. No matter what.
The thick, solid door opened, momentarily blinding Harper as she was pulled through it. Her instinct was to shield her eyes, but she was unable to move her bound hands in their cold clamps.
Squeezing her eyes shut against the bright sunlight, she couldn’t hold back the smile that broke across her face at the wash of natural light bathing her weary body.
Opening her eyes a fraction, Harper glanced at the open area they were walking across. The wide blacktop space was surrounded by tall gray concrete walls with high girders slicing through the sky. The sun beat through the concrete beams, creating a natural stripe of welcome rays.
The huge rectangular parking lot was nearly empty. At the far end was a black vehicle, similar to a UPS delivery truck. Only she was sure no promising packages waited inside. She took several deep breaths of the cleansing air.
Just a minute before, when climbing the stairs to the outside, each step she’d taken radiated agony through every corner of her body. But now each pass through the sunshine rejuvenated her, like a dormant flower tasting the first kiss of spring. Wherever the sun traced her skin, her body tingled as if her blood was awakening. Stirring to life again. Rousing her mind.
The pain receded when they moved into the full sunlight. Her mind reveled in the glorious feeling of the natural radiance. A surge of electrifying energy pulsed through her veins, leaving invigorating trails in every fiber.
Approaching the truck, Harper tested her hunger for the power she’d missed the last few days while confined in the cold darkness.
She concentrated on her bindings, closed her eyes, and in her mind saw the clamps break apart. Her head whirled with the rush of ice and heat. A shiver of burning energy passed from her brain through her shoulders, and then shot down her arms to her wrists. She looked down and saw the clamps fracture and fall to the ground with a heavy clank.
Harper raised her hands, full of awe and surprise at her success. She’d controlled it. She had actually controlled it. And she hadn’t passed out.
All six of the huge guys stared at her. Though not with the terrified shock everyone had before. Curiosity with a hint of challenge colored their expressions. She wasn’t sure what that meant, but she wasn’t about to stay and find out.
This was her chance to bolt. Her power, or whatever it was, seemed to be working again. She wasn’t about to waste time questioning that or the lack of horror in these guys.
Summoning the energy force again, Harper spread her arms and focused on driving her captors back so she could escape. Prickles of power sparked under her skin as she called upon the energy force flowing eagerly through her body.
A cold rush, then a hot charge blazed within her and she forced a clear wave of energy to surge forward toward the waiting men, seeing the air ripple from the pulse. She watched, mesmerized as the two men in the forefront raised their hands and somehow halted her surge with a filmy current of their own.
Just like her.
A whoosh of displaced air rushed over them as their forces canceled each other out.
Well, that was a new one. The hulky men looked as stunned as she felt. They all stared at the empty space between them as if it would provide the answer.
Now a little drained, Harper caught their eyes and smiled at them with a shrug. And then ran as fast as she could.
She saw a gate just beyond the front of the truck and headed straight for it. Footsteps thundered. A tackle from behind knocked the air from her lungs just as she reached the gate. The momentum carried her and the men on top of her through the wired gateway.
Tumbling onto the ground, she kicked and punched wildly. She heard grunts and thuds as she was able to connect on some of the blows. A clinking noise caught her attention. They were trying to wrestle her into another pair of clamps.
Twisting in their grasp, Harper ended up facedown on the hard ground. Raising her head, she peeked at the surrounding area, checking it out. An alley. Squirming and striking, her darting gaze fell on an unforgettable face tucked behind a rusted green Dumpster.
Rome.
Fury consumed her. It was his fault she was here. She’d killed those men at Bobby’s to protect him, and he’d betrayed her.
Harper grasped on to her rage with her mind. Focused on it. Thirsted for it. Her body vibrated as power pulsed through every fiber. With a wail, she bucked with power and once again hurled a crushing wave from her mind. The heavy bodies pitched away from her through the air and she was free.
Harper’s vision blurred, and she felt a prickly detachment as she began to fade from consciousness. No. She was going to pass out again.
The Dumpster where she thought she’d spied Rome had been hurled against the graffiti-stained brick wall. Warped and creaking. Could she have crushed him? Her mind reeled.
Fiercely fighting the roiling of her mind and her heart, she struggled to scrape her exhausted body from the hard pavement. The sunlight beat down on her, seeping into her skin, charging her blood.