Elite Metal-ARE-epub (88 page)

“I trust you.”

“Is there somewhere you can go, assuming all your vitals are good?”

“My roommate, Mellie. She’s been staying with her new boyfriend.”

“How new?”

“A couple mon—he started coming around right when I noticed you. Oh my god. I thought she was okay. I haven’t seen her, but the rent kept getting paid.”

“Give me the address. I’ll check it out.”

“I’m going with you.”

“Fine.”

“You’re not going to argue with me about it?”

“Would it do any good?”

“Well, no.” She shrugged.

“But then you’re coming with me back to my lab so I can run some tests.”

He made it. He could figure out how to unmake it and how to vax his team against it. He didn’t know who these people were, what they wanted, but he’d be damned if they’d use his own science against him.

“And I’m going to have to blindfold you.”

“What?”

He probably shouldn’t take her back to the compound, but that’s where his lab was and that’s where she needed to be. He’d work it out with Chrome. They’d just have to understand.

This was personal, but it was also business. For all he knew, this could be Red Wolf, he rationalized.

“For your safety and my team.”

“If that’s what has to happen.” She wrapped the towel around herself and winced when she bent over. “You’re right. I’m sore everywhere. I feel like I just went ten rounds with a heavyweight.”

“Just two.” He found himself grinning.

The smile she had for him was soft and sweet. “Then I guess I can’t complain.”

“It’s going to be okay, Hazel. I swear.” No matter what it took, he would make it okay for her. But if he was right, her friend Mellie was already dead. He couldn’t shield her from the truth.

She grabbed her kit out of the closet and he took her vitals. Everything was fine—heartbeat, blood pressure, pupils were reactive… He needed to get a look at her blood panels.

“What happens if you don’t show up for your shift with the truck?”

“It’s not policy or anything, but they tend to send the sheriff’s department for a welfare check if a physician pulls a no call no show.”

“You should’ve been at the truck an hour ago.”

“Shit!” she swore. Hazel fumbled for her phone and held it up. “No missed calls.”

He didn’t believe in coincidences. At least not when it came to things like this. He dialed the hospital. “Security, please.” When it clicked through, he said, “The Help Van out tonight?”

“Yeah. Usual route,” the security guard said.

“Thanks.” He clicked the phone off. “The van went out.”

“Still think Marcus doesn’t have anything to do with this?” She cocked her head to the side.

He shook his head. “I’ve got people doing a little digging on Lakos, just in case.” Speaking of, he waved the phone.

Meet @ Bone Daddy’s. 1H. Bring Witch Hazel.

“Speak of the devil and she answers. She wants me to bring you.” He remembered what they’d been prepared to put Sachi’s man, Gabriel, through when they thought he was there for their mission instead of her.

They must’ve found something on Lakos.

Something tightened in his chest. He wasn’t sure if it was fear or rebellion. He wouldn’t let them question her. Anything they wanted to know, they could ask him.

John exhaled a shaky breath. Sachi knew what Hazel meant to him. He could trust her with his life, so he knew he could trust her with Hazel’s.

But it wasn’t time to be John anymore.

This was job, it was the mission. It was time to be Mercury.

“Get dressed. Something practical. Write down Mellie’s address.” He gathered his clothes and pulled on his still wet fatigues.

Fuck it, they’d dry out on the bike. Or not. He had shit to do.

He pocketed the canister and texted back:

Need more intel on Help Van. Out w/o Doc.

Her reply was instant.
On it.

For a moment, he wondered just what the hell he’d gotten himself into. His obsession with her had put them both in danger. It was enough of a liability that his enemies had known this was where to strike when he knew nothing about them at all.

That was about to change real quick.

He had to get his head back in the game.
Oorah, motherfuckers
.

She handed him the address. It was a newer condo outside the city limits. Good neighborhood. Quiet. His presence would not go unnoticed.

But he had a feeling that this was the trail of breadcrumbs he was supposed to follow. His gut told him that Mellie was dead, but in that condo there’d be another clue for them to follow.

“Pack a bag for a couple days. Something small, light. That you could take on the back of a bike.”

She shook her head. “Of course you have a motorcycle.”

Although she wasn’t as amused when she saw it. “Where does my ass go?”

“Right there.” Where did she think it was supposed to go?

“Not a chance in hell.”

“You’re willing to lock horns with crime lords, but you won’t get on the back of a bike?”

“You’re huge. The seat is small to start with.” She crossed her arms primly.

He handed her the helmet and straddled the bike, then positioned her in front of him so that she faced into his shoulder. The benefits of said position meant that she’d be riding him instead of the bike, but he found he could live with that.

“So uh, how huge am I?”

She gave a delicate shiver. “I seem to have forgotten. Maybe you need to remind me later.”

He looked down at her and instantly imagined fucking her on the bike. Merc was sure that was much better in fantasy than in practice. It would be good test of his control…

“I could remind you now.” He realized it made him kind of a bastard that he was hoping to distract her with sex. He didn’t want to take her face whatever was at Mellie’s boyfriend’s.

And she knew it. “I know what we’re going to find, John. I just need to see for myself.”

“Mercury.”

“What?”

“I’m not John now. I’m John to you. I’m John to Sachi. But when I’m working, I’m Mercury.”

“Poison even in small doses, is that it?” She touched his face.

He liked that way too much.

“Put on the helmet.” He started the Ducati.

She did as he instructed and he kept his mind on the task at hand, not her legs around his waist. Good thing he was a long-legged bastard, or the position never would’ve worked.

They’d definitely have to try this again after—after what? After he wasn’t who he was? After the world stopped being a bad place?

Fuck
.

He concentrated on the road, the thrill the bike always gave him when the engine purred and started clawing down the miles.

When they pulled in to the drive to the condos, he began thinking about everything that could go wrong. All the things that could possibly be waiting for them. For
her
.

He was compromised as fuck, and he knew it.

If he’d been thinking straight, he’d have done more recon first. What the hell was he doing?

Again, he thought that she was the one with dust on her fingers and he was the dark moth that wouldn’t fly again.

Especially not if he got them both killed.

“Stay behind me,” he commanded.

He walked up to the front door of the units as if he had every right to be there and with a slip of the lockpick kit he kept in his pocket, the door opened. Merc surveyed the interior of the hallway, studying the layout and getting a general feel for the space.

When they came to the door, he just knew there was something wrong. Something off.

Something
poison
.

Ever since Serum 17, there were certain components that whenever he got near them, his scars itched and burned. The other ninety five percent of the time, he could feel nothing on the ruined surface. But now, his face felt like it was being swarmed by wasps.

There was something inside.

“Back away.”

“John, you—”

He spun on her and glared, an expression which made weaker men quail. “I said back away.  Turn and go back the direction we came. The room is rigged and it’s something worse than what was in your apartment.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then how can you…” she started to ask, even as she did as he told her.

“I just know. I can’t explain it. But I’m never wrong. Not about this.”

“Promise me you’ll tell me what happened to her when you know.”

“I will. Get back on the bike.”

“How about please?”

“How about now?”

“Why are you so angry again?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I’m not used to being responsible for someone else. I’m not used to having decisions questions. I give an order. It’s usually followed in these situations. I let you in, Hazel. And you fucked me.”

“I thought that was the part we liked?”

“Damn it. I can’t think straight. I almost walked us to our own deaths because I was more concerned about your feelings, about your wants than my mission.”

“And just what is your mission?”

“Find out who is doing this and end them.”

“I see. Then what?”

“There is no then what. That’s what I do. Now get on the damn bike.”

She sighed and slid on behind him.

It was a reasonable place for her to go, but he didn’t like her there. He wanted her back in front, where he could guard her like the precious cargo she was.

But fuck it. If she wanted to ride on the back, he wasn’t going to argue about it. He just wanted to get to Bone Daddy’s.

So many new emotions, new feelings. He’d been fighting so hard to feel something, now that he did, he just wanted it to stop.

Especially the terrified clutch of her little nails into his chest while she hung on for dear life.

Damn it. Damn it. Damn it
.

It wasn’t long before the sign for Bone Daddy’s came into view and he slowed the bike. When they rolled to a stop, he said, “I meant what I said. I’ll find out what happened to Mellie. And I’ll punish those who are responsible.”

“This just can’t be happening.” She leaned her cheek against his back.

So much went through him at that single caress. Pride that she trusted in him. Rage that she was caught up in this. Sorrow that he’d have to let her go.

He helped her off the bike and ignored the stares of some of the other patrons while he headed for a table in the back where he saw Copper and Gabriel.

She looked grim.

“Before I say anything else, you need a drink.” Copper pushed the shot at him.

He didn’t demure, or act like he didn’t need it. He downed it in one burning swallow. “What did you find?”

“How much does she know?” Gabriel nodded at Hazel.

“Too much and not enough.”

“Marcus Lakos has been doing more than dealing drugs out of the Help Van. He took the van to meet with Joquain Nahara.” Copper exhaled. “Point man for the Gallegos Cartel.”

“Motherfucker.” He grabbed the bottle of whiskey and downed another shot.

“It gets better. Or worse, if you want to look at it that way.” Copper shoved a file at him. “We know Gallegos has an alliance with Red Wolf for arms distribution. But it’s the current CEO of Lakos that’s going to hold your particular interest. Up until five years ago, David Baradies didn’t exist.”

“I pulled some strings,” Gabriel picked up where Copper left off. He’s company. Or at least his identity is. He’s working with the CIA to infiltrate the Gallegos Cartel.”

“So why would he want to hurt John?” Hazel interrupted.

Copper closed her eyes and breathed deep. “It’s who he was before Baradies.”

Anticipation stung him with acid venom. It was as if a part of him knew what she was going to say before she said it, but the rest of his brain didn’t want to consider the possibility.

“Andrew Wakemore.”

“The project manager for Serum 17,” Merc said.

Hazel touched his forearm. “The accident at Shadowfain?”

“That’s the one.”

“Why would he do this to you?” Hazel searched his face as if the answer was written there. “I thought he saved your life?”

“Not to me. To keep me occupied while he got his stepson to do his dirty work from the back of the van and to get me to engineer a vaccine against the derivatives of 17. He must be planning to weaponize it,” Merc said.

“And sell it to Red Wolf right under the CIA’s nose,” Gabriel finished.

“He’s right about one thing. I will develop a vaccine. I’ve been close for years and I think the key is in Hazel’s blood. He knew exactly what I needed to finish.”

“Why didn’t he do it himself?” Gabriel asked.

“Merc here is extra special with the bio-warfare.” Copper did a shot. “And Baradies just isn’t as smart.”

“He recruited me right out of MIT for DoD work.” Merc nodded. “Said he had just the project that needed me. That I’d help so many people.” He snorted.

“I’m starting to think that what happened wasn’t an accident.” Copper said, her voice low.

“I’ve been over it a thousand times in my head. There’s no way 17 could’ve spontaneously changed forms from liquid to vapor. It had to be willful and wanton.” Mercury added.

“So you think he did it just to see what would happen?” Hazel asked, horrified. “You’re going to kill him, right? Because that’s what you do. You get rid of the bad people.”

Copper eyed her hard and he was pleased that she didn’t flinch under the scrutiny. But he had to tell her that she didn’t need to do that. Hazel wasn’t sticking around.

He shared a look with Gabriel and the man took a hint like a champ. “I’m going to buy you a drink, Hazel. The wonder twins need to talk.”

Hazel didn’t question it, but allowed Gabriel to lead her to the bar.

“You’ve got him trained.”

“More than I can say for you. Just what the fuck, John?”

He shoved the paper with Mellie’s address on it toward her. “Clean up crew. House is rigged with some derivative of 17. Her roommate was staying there with her new boyfriend. Boyfriend may or may not be involved. I suspect the girl is dead.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about. You didn’t have to handle this on your own.”