Authors: Rebecca Zanetti
for the senator.
Audrey glanced at the bruises around her wrists. At least they’d unbound her. She eyed the lock atop
her chest and the wires extending from a black box to some cream-colored putty stuff. “Don’t you have to
be at the hospital, considering you’re Nash’s chief of staff?” she asked.
“I’m on vacation—out of the country with my family,” Ernie said, frowning at the television. “But I did
just call and say I’m on a flight headed back home and will be in tomorrow. Of course, by then, I’ll be long
gone from here.”
Audrey shook her head. No wonder the house was so quiet—Ernie’s family wasn’t home. “The senator
trusted you. Completely.”
Ernie rubbed his graying beard. “I know, and I’d hoped to bring him on board. He has such lovely
thoughts about science and the sanctity of human life. I’m afraid Lilith will have to kill him once she’s out
of custody. So much for life.”
Audrey gasped. “You can’t have a U.S. senator killed.”
Ernie shrugged. “Sure I can. You don’t really understand the scope of our society, do you?”
“I guess not. How big are you?” Who were these people?
He took a deep swallow of whiskey. “Considering the amount of people we’ve lost lately, or had taken
into custody, we’re not very big. But like I said, I can rebuild.”
That’s what he thought. Audrey fought the urge to rub her pounding cheek. “What’s your plan,
anyway? You got the commander to agree to come alone and talk, but what then?”
Ernie rubbed his chin. “I kill him.”
Audrey’s shoulders straightened. “Excuse me?” How was that a plan?
“Cut off the head of the snake, and the body will fall.” Ernie reached for the bottle behind him to refill
his glass. “After the commander is dead, we’ll dismantle his organization piece by piece. Your mother is
next, but my scientist wants to have a nice long talk with her first. I assume she’ll cooperate.”
Audrey glanced at the clock on the wall. She swallowed the acidic taste of fear, and her stomach
lurched. Nate had to be going out of his mind, but there had been no opportunity to reach him. She jerked
her head. “Wait a minute. If you kill the commander, am I next?”
“You should be.” Ernie glanced with derision at her stomach. “I know what an abnormal creation you
have in there. But our scientists want to study you and this aberration briefly, before we rid the world of the
anomaly.”
The world narrowed to pinpoint focus. She’d take out Ernie long before he had the chance to study her
child. “You think you’ve thought all of this out.” She shook her head. “Boy, are you a moron.”
“Think so?” Ernie’s eyebrows rose.
An explosion sounded right outside the door.
“Yes,” Audrey whispered, instinctively edging toward the floor, curling over to protect the baby. She
tried to sidle closer to the detonator.
Gunfire pattered outside, and then inside the mansion. Ernie jumped up and drew a gun from the
bookcase, his eyes a wild hue. “What’s going on?”
The soldier at the door backed away, two guns pointed at the entry. “I’d say we’re under attack.”
Cries of pain littered through the night, and smoke wound under the door. Terror flooded Audrey, and
she glanced frantically around for an escape. The vest lay heavy around her middle. Taking stock, she crept
toward the desk while the two men in the room focused on the door. Saying a quick prayer, she slid down
in front of the stable mahogany.
On the other side of the desk, glass shattered with a resounding crack. Sparkles rained through the air—
deadly pieces of the window.
Both Ernie and the solider pivoted and fired over her head toward the window. Return fire dropped the
soldier. In the distance, one more explosion sounded.
Her hands shaking, her head pounding, Audrey waited for silence. Ernie hauled her in front of him, the
detonator in his other hand. She gulped and faced the window, her entire body shuddering.
The commander stood with a wide stance, a Glock in his hand, the rain splattering down to cover his
black uniform. A landscape light focused up on him, making him seem like an antihero from an action
flick. Hard, dangerous, and emotionless.
He beckoned her with one finger. “The house will blow in two minutes,” he said, his voice easily
carrying through the storm.
Ernie laughed. “She blows in thirty seconds.”
Tears streamed from Audrey’s eyes, and she blinked them out. The commander would let her explode
before he allowed himself to be taken hostage. The baby was her responsibility, and she wouldn’t let him
down.
Terror threatened to consume her, but she had no choice. Taking a deep breath, she shot an elbow into
Ernie’s gut. With a muffled “oof,” he bent over. She pivoted and snatched the detonator from his hand,
whirling away from him.
The commander calmly plugged him three times in the chest.
Blood splattered toward the window. Ernie’s mouth opened wide as he went down.
Dead.
The commander stepped over the broken windowsill, already unfolding a Swiss Army knife. He leaned
down and studied the lock on the vest.
Audrey held her breath.
Get it off, get it off, get it off.
She didn’t twitch.
The commander inserted a small knife and twisted. The lock popped.
Audrey’s heart dropped to her feet.
Silence. Nothing blew up.
The commander unzipped the vest, and the sound magnified in the death-filled room. He expertly
removed the explosives and took the detonator from her hands. Placing both on the desk, he jumped
through the window and held out a hand.
She paused. The building was going to explode, and yet, she had to gather her strength to accept his
outstretch hand. “Thank you,” she said, her mind fuzzing.
“Of course.” He kept her hand in his while leading the way to a Hummer idling in the long driveway.
“Keep your head down and hurry.”
She ran and jumped into the front seat of the Hummer. The commander followed suit, driving away
from the palatial home. “You can’t blow up the home of a U.S. senator’s chief of staff,” she said, her gaze
on the side-view mirror.
The commander pressed down on the accelerator with more force. “Why not?”
Indeed. In his world, there was nothing wrong with blowing up the home and killing people still in it.
Audrey shook her head. “I guess this will be one more mystery to go along with the senator disappearing.”
The commander glanced down at her. “Maybe. Don’t really care. Are we going to get his
recommendation for funding or not?”
“I don’t know.” Probably not.
The world lit up bright yellow and orange behind her, and she leaned away from the side mirror, even
as her gaze remained glued to the image of fire and wood roaring through the night. Glass shattered in every
direction, and smoke billowed up.
She’d been so close to exploding. So far, her baby had been in more danger in the past few days than
most people saw their entire lives. Sorrow and fear threatened to swamp her. Where was Nate? More than
ever, she needed him.
The commander steered onto another street and the image disappeared.
Sirens sounded in the distance.
“Explain about this group,” the commander said, his gaze on the dark street in front of them.
Audrey put on her seat belt and told the commander everything she knew as they drove through
Virginia. Finally, she wound down. “That’s all I know.”
He nodded. “I surmised most of that explanation.” A quick glance at his watch had him focusing out the
front window again. “Lilith Mayes and three of her men were released from custody an hour ago, and their
car should’ve gone off a cliff by now. No need to worry about them any longer.”
Audrey’s ears rang. “You had them killed.”
“Of course.” He increased the speed of the windshield wipers.
Her vision blurred. “I don’t suppose you’re taking me to my apartment?”
“No. It’s time you came in-house,” he said. “The senator isn’t likely to give us funding, and your time
undercover is over.”
“What about funding?”
“I have other sources. Always have a contingency plan.” He rubbed a large hand over his wet spiky
hair.
She cleared her throat, her mind reeling. Yeah, she’d known the commander would try to sequester her
somewhere else at some point, but she hadn’t known it would be so soon. It would’ve been easier escaping
from outside the organization. “I don’t want to go in-house.”
No expression crossed his hard face. “How else am I going to get Nathan to come home?”
Audrey’s breath caught. “Nate? Why would he come home?”
The commander glanced at her, the skin twitching at the corner of his eye—the closest he’d ever come
to rolling his eyes. “Please. We know Nate is here, and we know you’ve had contact. He’ll come home in
order to save his baby.”
They’d been so careful, but the commander had known them all since birth. “What if he doesn’t?”
Audrey asked, focusing outside the front window.
“He will. Plus, I assume you know about the kill chips?”
Audrey thought about lying, but why bother? The commander knew all. “Yes. How could you do that?”
“Plan B.” The commander turned the Hummer onto the interstate.
“Where’s your other facility?” Audrey asked. Since she’d been truthful, maybe he would be, too.
“You’ll see the other facility soon enough.”
There had been very few times in her life that she’d been alone with the commander. She’d been raised
by nannies, attended boarding school, and then went to college abroad. But she’d known him her entire life.
Kind of. “I used to wonder if you’d marry my mother,” she said quietly.
He started. “Your mother and I have a good relationship.”
They’d been together, nonexclusively, for Audrey’s entire life. “Why haven’t you married each other?”
“Why would we?” he asked.
“Love?” She breathed out the word, knowing it was a mistake.
“Don’t be silly. Love is a chemical reaction. You know better.” Disapproval firmed his lips. “My Gray
boys know better.”
Audrey kept silent. Even after raising them, training them, studying them, the commander didn’t know
Nathan or his brothers. Love had kept them together and had helped them to survive. Then it had nearly
destroyed them.
She loved Nate. Completely and truly… and she’d fight for him. For both of them. Maybe they had a
chance, and maybe not. But she’d go down fighting.
Since the commander was taking her in, maybe he would finally level with her. “Is Jory still alive?” she
asked, holding her breath.
The commander twisted a knob and sped up the windshield wipers. “Are Shane and Mathew with
Nathan?”
Audrey pressed her lips together. “No. He’s alone.”
“Pity. Well, he’ll bring them back to me.”
“Why?” Audrey turned to face the commander. “Why do you want them back so badly? They don’t
want to work for you.”
He leveled a surprised look at her before focusing on the road. “I created and trained them to be the
best. They are the best. Right now, more than ever, with the competition out there, I need them back.”
“What competition?”
He sighed. “We’re not the only group vying for funding, and we’ve actually been attacked. I need the
Gray brothers to defend us as well as take out the competition. They owe me.”
“They don’t owe you anything.” Audrey sighed and settled back into her seat. She could try and jump
from the vehicle, but taking such a risk with the baby would be a mistake. Plus, her face hurt, her head
ached, and her leg pounded. She needed to regroup before fighting again.
The commander switched on the radio, and classical music filled the vehicle. “How badly are you
injured?”
“I’m not.”
“Did your abdomen take any impact?” he asked.
“No.” Of course he was only worried about the baby. Audrey swallowed, allowing her mind to drift a
little bit. When she’d called him, she’d known he’d come, even though his motivations weren’t what she’d
like. She sighed again. “Thank you for coming to get me.” To save her.
“Of course.” He glanced her way, a massive man with ramrod posture. “I own you.”
* * *
track of all news reports regarding the senator and the explosion at Ernie Rastus’s place. The commander’s
fingerprints dusted all over that one.
Matt organized and cataloged weapons on the sofa, checking clips and muttering to himself.
The cell phone remained silent. “Why hasn’t he called?” Nate asked no one in particular.
Nobody answered him.
The commander hadn’t called because he wanted Nate to sweat it out. To be so desperate when the call
finally came that he’d agree to almost anything.
Senator Nash suddenly appeared in the bedroom doorway, a sling around his arm. “What’s going on?”
Nate frowned. “We took a bullet out of your shoulder. You need rest.”
Nash shrugged and then winced. “I want to help find Audrey.”
“I’ve got this.” All Nate needed was one more person trying to get shot in his stead. “You, ah, need to
worry about your future.”
Matt nodded. “Senator Nash disappeared and will never be found.”