Safe (The Shielded Series Book 1) (14 page)

“Which one do you want first?”

“What?” He blinked at her, coming back from the erotic side trip his
brain had taken.

She wiggled the two vials she held. “Which one first?” Her brows lowered
as he stared at her. “Are you okay?”

He inhaled one final whiff of her and nodded. “Yes. I’m just finding it
hard to keep my attention on the task today.” He raised an eyebrow at her.

A slow grin turned up her lips. “Might I be the cause of that particular
difficulty, Doc?”

“Most assuredly.” He elbowed her. “I can’t stop thinking about last
night.”

Her cheeks pinked and sexy mixed with adorable to create a look Foster
would never be able to erase from his memory.

“It was no big deal.” She shrugged and handed him the vial he’d reached
for.

He paused in his work and gaped at her. “No big deal? You have nights
like that all the time?” He didn’t want an answer to that question. Especially
if the answer was yes.

He poured the first vial into the beaker and stirred it.

“What if I did have nights like that all the time? Would you think me a
tramp?” She flexed her prosthetic hand, an expression on her face that Foster
couldn’t exactly read.

“No.” He took the second vial and added that to the mix. After pouring it
all into a test tube, he slipped it into the centrifuge and turned it on, a low
whir filling the lab. “I’d think that you’ve made some guys the happiest
they’ve ever been in their lifetimes.”

She rolled her eyes. “Does saying shit like that get you laid often?”

He put a hand to his chest. “You wound me, Officer Lazitter, with your
suggestion that my words are not sincere.”

She turned to face him, her shoulders squared to his. “Rich bastards will
say anything.”

Foster puffed out a breath and hung his head so his chin nearly touched
his chest. “I thought we’d gotten past the I’m-a-rich-bastard stage.”

“Why? Because you’ve seen me naked?”

“No, because we made love last night. It wasn’t just sex. At least for me
it wasn’t.”

She pulled her full bottom lip between her teeth and stared directly into
his eyes as if looking for the truth. She needn’t look too far.

The moment Foster had touched her last night, he knew what they were
doing was way more than two bodies sharing physical pleasure. Darina had flicked
a switch, turning on something he didn’t think he had inside him. Something
he’d thought his genetic engineering had purposely left out. He knew the
government had toyed with creating soldiers without certain emotions. He also
knew some GECs had emotional problems due to such experimentation. He had three
on his property. They chose to live in cottages set apart from the others a bit,
and he’d given them medication to deal with the highs and lows, but he often
wondered about his own emotional range.

He was stoic.

He was level.

He never felt extremes.

Until last night when Darina lit something inside him that had been
asleep.

“My experience with rich bastards tells me to be careful, Foster.” She
squeezed her prosthetic hand into a fist then released it.

“What experience have you had?” He took her hand and ran his fingers over
her knuckles though she couldn’t feel his touch there.

She watched his fingers move for a few silent moments then looked up to
meet his gaze. Her eyes captivated him, swirls of brown and green that reminded
him of the outdoors. They held him, made him want things he shouldn’t want,
things he probably could never have. Not if Darina kept thinking of him as a
rich bastard.

“Your prosthetic limbs are expensive.” She slipped her hand from his grip
and turned it palm-side up. “But I couldn’t be a cop with a sub-standard hand.”

He had a feeling he knew where this conversation was going, and his jaw
clenched as he waited for her to continue.

“I was in a pretty bad place after I lost my hand. Then the Anarch hit
and pretty bad went to fucking terrible.” She paced away from him, the fingers
of her prosthetic hand coasting along the top of his worktable. “I had Zeke to
care for and Ghared… well, he and I watch each other’s backs, but I couldn’t do
what I wanted for both of them in the condition I was in. I couldn’t be a cop.”

She stopped walking when she was on the opposite side of the table facing
him, and Foster didn’t love that distance. He wanted to reach for her, but knew
she was purposely giving herself space to say what she had to say.    

“I needed money to get a better hand. Only one way a girl like me could
get a large sum of money.” She met his gaze, but looked away quickly. “I found
a rich bastard and convinced him to fund my cause.”

“And you were successful.” He gestured to her hand, hoping to end this
conversation, wishing she wouldn’t give words to what she’d had to do to afford
one of the limbs he’d designed. If he’d known her then, he would have made her
a custom one on his own dime without hesitation.

“I suppose so, but that funding cost me more than I was willing to give.
I was okay with handing over my body for a little while.” She motioned down to
herself. “It’s just a physical shell after all. Then I got stupid and fell for
him.” Gripping the edge of the worktable, she steadied herself. “I was the only
one who fell.” She looked away, and when she looked back, anger heated her
gaze. “I handed over my pride, my dignity, to some asshole. An asshole who
didn’t want my heart.”

Foster instantly wanted to find said
asshole
and drag him from the
back of a hovercopter. A low-flying hovercopter over the peaks of the White
Mountains.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that, Darina.” He slowly made his way to
her side of the table. When she didn’t shirk away from him, he tipped her chin
up so she had to look him in the eye. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it
again. I’m not a rich bastard. I would never treat you like anything less than
an equal.”

She let out a snort. “Equal? I don’t belong in the same room as you, Doc.
There are so many levels between us.”

Foster dipped his head down and brushed his lips against hers, softly,
gently. In two seconds, the kiss became something more, something big. She
reciprocated his efforts, her arms wrapping around his waist when his hands
cupped her face. Her hips ground against his and flashbacks to their adventures
last night filled his mind. Adventures he wanted to indulge in again and again.

When he pulled back and looked at her bright eyes, her swollen lips, her
flushed cheeks, he said, “Did that feel as if there were levels between us?”

She shook her head. “No, but it’s a trick.”

“How could you think that was anything but genuine?” Her reluctance to
believe they could be on equal ground frustrated him.

“Your kind are incredible actors.” She shrugged and stepped back so they
no longer shared the same space.

Foster thrust a hand out to the worktable littered with vials, beakers,
and ingredients. “I know science, not drama. I couldn’t fake the feelings I
have for you if I wanted to.”

“Feelings?” Her eyes narrowed. “What feelings?”

Shit.
He wasn’t prepared for this conversation, but her guarded
stance with her hands on her hips told him he wouldn’t be permitted to ignore
or reschedule the question for another time.

“Human feelings, Officer Lazitter,” he said. “Ones I didn’t think I was
capable of having. Ones I’ve never had before. Ones I was sure had been left
out of my genetic code.” He ran his hands through his hair. “Do you know what I
woke up thinking this morning?”

“That you had to take a piss?”

“No. That I couldn’t wait to see you. Couldn’t wait to be in this lab
with you. Even after we’d spent that time together last night, it wasn’t
enough. I wanted more. I still want more.”

She didn’t say anything for long, silent moments, but he couldn’t take
his eyes off her until she responded in some way. He couldn’t toss his newly found
feelings out there and have her ignore them.

Finally, she stepped closer and pressed her palms to his chest. She
stared at her fingers as she splayed them out against his T-shirt. Her left
hand was warm, but her right hand sent no heat his way.

He put his hand over her real one, gave her time, waited.

“I want more too, Foster.” She turned her hand around and gripped his,
the fingers of her other hand tracing along his tattoo. “I’m just afraid we
won’t be able to have it.”

He dropped a light kiss on her forehead and loved when she leaned into
him for a hug that was somehow more intimate than what they had done last
night.

“I’m going to make sure we have it.” He stepped back and looked at the
worktable. The centrifuge had stopped spinning. “Shall we see what results we
have?”

Darina nodded and tugged him to the other side of the table.

Foster removed the test tube from the centrifuge and sent a silent prayer
to anyone who was listening that he’d found something useable this time. More
than anything he wanted to keep his promise to Darina. He wanted them to have a
shot at happiness together. He wanted to be able to focus his attention on her.
He wanted her to believe.

He prepared a Petri dish with a sample from the plague-inflicted powder
he’d collected on the streets. As Darina looked on, he stuck a medicine dropper
in the test tube and drew up some of the solution. He slid the Petri dish under
the microscope across the room, and with a hopeful look at Darina, he released
a few drops of the solution onto the sample.

“How can so much be riding on a few drops of liquid?” Darina came to
stand beside him by the microscope. “I mean, it’s crazy. That medicine you gave
Zeke will change his life, yet it doesn’t look like anything important.”

“It’s easy to make,” he gestured to the Petri dish, “unlike this cure.”

He leaned forward and put his eye to the microscope. Encouraged by the
pink coloring and texture of the sample, he increased the magnification,
holding his breath as he observed. If he’d finally found the winning
combination, he’d send his recipe for it to Emerge Tech—if it were still
standing—and get it distributed right away.

Then maybe he’d have some time. To pursue other endeavors. Work on the
genetic problems of his friends here in Vermont. Get back to adding nerve
endings to the prosthetic limbs.

Show Darina exactly what feelings he had for her. Show her until she was
absolutely convinced he wasn’t a rich bastard.

He blinked a dry eye and focused on the view in the microscope. Pink had
gone to black as he’d daydreamed.

“Fuck.” He pounded his fist on the worktable and had to fight the urge to
sweep everything to the floor in a fit of rage.

Darina’s hand on his shoulder made him lose the urge.

“Clearly I’m not as damned smart as everyone thinks I am.” He marched
away then pivoted to face her again. “Maybe we’d have better luck if we
searched for Warres and made him tell us how he manufactured the disease. If I
knew what he used to create it, I wouldn’t be taking all these aimless shots in
the dark. I’m trying to think like him, but I’m not that diabolical.”

Darina surprised him by smiling. “Diabolical? You?” She shook her head.
“Nope. You don’t have that blackness in you.”

She came to him and pulled him in close. He wasn’t sure he wanted to be
consoled right now. The anger was rather refreshing.

“And we don’t want Warres here. Not with all your people about. He
wouldn’t think twice about reporting all the GECs.”

This was true. Mikale was willing to hunt him down. Finding a load of
GECs and reporting them for dismantling would probably delight him.

“However,” she continued, “if you want to meet with Warres at another
location, we can probably make that happen.” She stared up at him. “It’ll
involve using yourself as bait though. How do you feel about that?”

“I feel as if it might be our only option.”

“Give me your tablet.” Darina held out her hand. Having Foster anywhere
near Warres—or being near him herself—was not on the top of her list of ways to
spend an afternoon, but it made sense. Draw the asshole out of his safe haven.
Let him think he was getting what he wanted then turn the tables on him. Taking
down Warres would bring her great satisfaction… not to mention potentially save
the world.

Foster dug in his pocket and slapped the tablet into her palm. His
disappointment over his failed attempts made her heart ache. He took his job of
saving the planet seriously, but that was too much of a load for one man to
bear.

“Why don’t you have a team of scientists working on the cure?” she asked
as she tapped in Ghared’s number. If they were bent on bringing the enemy to
them, there was no need to worry about tracing phone calls.

Foster rubbed his eyes and leaned against the worktable, his fine
backside resting on the edge. He folded his arms across his chest and Darina
was a little irritated by how much she wanted those arms folded around her.

One night of sex and I’m hooked on the man.

So not like her. She hadn’t gotten stupid about a man since…

She couldn’t allow that to happen again, but as Foster had said, last
night was more than sex. They’d shared their bodies in a way that went way
beyond mere physical urges. They’d become a part of each other, and Darina
didn’t think she’d ever be able to shake the feelings she was developing for
Foster.

“We had a team working on the cure, but none of them understood what was
happening to victims’ organs once the plague had time to mature inside them.”

“But you do?”

“Yes. It’s a breakdown of the organs at a DNA level.”

“Which is why it’s so hard to reverse.” She gestured to the microscope
with the latest failure still in it.

Foster nodded. “And then people were also afraid to work on the cure.”

“Afraid of getting it?” She understood that fear.

“And afraid of dying from it.” Foster turned back to his table. While he
appeared to go in for another round of experimentation, Darina tapped the
tablet to call Ghared.

She watched Foster while the phone rang. He was bent over the microscope
now, taking another look and mumbling to himself. How she wished she’d met him
ages ago. Maybe her life would have taken a different path. Perhaps she never
would have gone on that ride with Ghared that resulted in the loss of her hand.

No hand loss, no rich bastard, no embarrassment, no pieces of her soul
shriveling and dying.

A sigh of resignation escaped her throat. She had not met Foster ages
ago. She had done what she’d done to get her hand. Her life was what it was. She
couldn’t turn back the clock and get a do over.

She only had the future and it was time to steer her path in a slightly
different direction once this job was over.

“Why is he not answering?” She stared at the still ringing tablet.

Foster looked up from the microscope. “Does he usually answer right
away?”

“Well… yeah. When I call.”

“He runs to do your bidding?” His eyes narrowed at her, and she knew she
had to answer this question carefully. He was already upset about the cure. The
splash of jealousy in his question was seed enough to turn into something messy
and ugly.

“Ghared’s a part of our family. Zeke and I have depended on him for many
things just as he’s depended on us. I’d answer his call immediately too.”

Foster glanced to the tablet, still attempting to establish a connection
to the outside. A muscle in his jaw ticked, but when he looked at her, his face
had relaxed. “I’m glad you have… someone like him in your life. I’d hate to
think you and Zeke have been alone out there all this time.”

His concern touched her, even if a little jealous flare still flickered in
his beautiful green eyes.

“And you’ve had all the people here. I know they depend on you keeping
them hidden, but I can tell they give you something you need too.”

“They do. While Carielle took wonderful care of me, she wasn’t really my
family. I started in this world without a family, but I like to think I’ve
built something resembling one here.” He met her gaze directly. “I want the
real thing though. I want a family that is truly my own.”

She swallowed around the tightness in her throat. His sincere admission
of what he wanted, his vulnerability, reached deep into her.

Darina wanted to be the one to make his wishes come true, but did they
live in a world where anyone’s wishes came true anymore? Besides, GECs couldn’t
have children. Not biological ones anyway.

She entered Ghared’s number again and when he didn’t answer, she tried
Mareea’s number. No answer there either. “Something’s wrong.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Cop instinct.” She sifted out a breath. “You’re not going to like what
comes out of my mouth next.”

He straightened and waved his hand. “Hit me with it.”

“I have a bad feeling Ghared and Mareea are in a situation.” She gestured
to the door of the lab. “We need to evacuate this property.”

“Wait. You think our location has been compromised? I thought you trusted
Ghared.”

“I do. With my life. With Zeke’s life. He wouldn’t willingly do anything
to betray us, but he may not have had a choice. If someone got his hands on
Mareea, Ghared would do whatever it takes to spare her. Even give up my
location should someone want it.”

“Warres wants it if he knows you’re guarding me.”

“With the reach that man has, the probability he knows is high. While
drawing Warres here was our next plan of action, I want it to be
our
plan of action. Not on his terms. If I’m to properly do my job of guarding you,
Doc, we have to leave... or…” She pulled on her bottom lip.

“Or?” Foster joined her on the other side of the table.

“Or we make it
look
as if we’ve left.” The pieces of a plan fused
themselves together in her brain. “If Warres has Ghared and Mareea and he’s
made Ghared give up our location, he’s probably thinking he’ll waltz in here and
grab what he wants.”

“Me.”

“You.” She clenched her teeth. “What he doesn’t realize is when I guard
something, I consider it mine, and I’ve never quite mastered the ability to
share.”

Foster’s smile warmed her from head to toe. “I don’t want to be shared.”
He came to stand in front of her and kissed her, but as much as she enjoyed
that, the taste of him clouded her thinking. Now was not the time for clouded
thinking.

She stepped back, and his pout almost made her launch back to him. “I
can’t think tactically with your lips on me.”

“Now you know how I felt.” He held up his hands, but didn’t look sorry
that he’d distracted her. In fact, he looked rather pleased with himself and
the effect he had on her. “Do you want me to assemble everyone in the great
room, and we can brainstorm how we want to leave the property without actually
leaving?”

His ability to shift from kissing her to helping her was impressive. Her
body, however, hadn’t quite forgotten what it was like to have his lips on her
yet.

“Yes. Everyone needs to be part of the plan in order for it to work and
we need to get organized quickly. We don’t know what kind of a jumpstart Warres
might have.” Her experience so far told her that everyone living there would be
on board. They’d do anything for Foster.

She understood now why they’d want to.

Foster opened the lab door to find Estoria on the other side, toting a
tray of food. “Oh,” she said with a startled look on her face. “I was coming
with some lunch for the two of you. If finding a cure is as exhausting as
giving birth, I figured you’d be starving.” She balanced the tray on one hand,
plucked a strawberry from a bowl, and popped it into her mouth. “Repairing the
cells of a seriously worn out vagina stirs up an appetite.”

“Repairing cells…” Foster repeated.

When Darina turned to look at him, he had this crazed expression on his
face as if he were doing some fevered calculations in his head. “What?”

He clamped his hands on her shoulders almost painfully and gave her a
little shake. Realizing his roughness, he released her and raked his hands through
his hair so it stood out on either side of his head.

“Repairing cells.” He laughed. “All this fucking time, I’m struggling to
revive the cells of dead organs, and I have a cell repairer right here.” He
thrust his arms out to Estoria. “She
grew
female reproductive organs in
place of the ones I removed. She’s got the code I need to unlock the cure.” He
smacked a hand to his forehead. “The answer’s been here all along.”

“Some genius you are.” Darina smiled and poked him in the chest.

“Sometimes genius takes time.” After setting the tray of food down, he
grabbed Estoria by the hand and tugged her toward his worktable. “Time is what
I need now. Go and meet with the others. You’ll have their full cooperation.
Come back and fill me in when you’re done. Hopefully, I’ll be done by then
too.”

“I don’t like the idea of leaving you here,” Darina said. Clearly, now
wasn’t a time to get brainless. Especially if Warres
was
on his way to
Vermont.

“Rasha and Hydec were in the great room when I passed by with the food tray,”
Estoria said.

“I’ll send them in.” Darina walked toward the door, but turned back.
“Foster?”

“Yeah?” He looked up from the empty beaker in his hand.

“Good luck.”

He smiled. “I don’t need luck. I’ve got science.”

Darina hoped that was true.

****

“Vermont? Foster Ashby is hiding in Vermont?” Mikale shook his head as he
gazed out the window of the pulsejet. The leafy treetops spread green over much
of the landscape, but here and there cleared spaces broke up the woods. In one
of those cleared spaces, Foster thought himself safe as he worked at stopping
Mikale’s plague.

Can’t have that.

No. Foster had to be ended. Today.

But Vermont?

“You’re not lying to us now, Mr. Timms, are you?” Mikale wrapped a
section of Mareea’s hair around his hand and yanked. “Because if you are…”

“I don’t make a habit of lying when my niece’s life is on the line.”
Ghared hadn’t moved much in his seat. His arms remained folded across his
chest, his legs looking as if they didn’t quite fit in the space behind the
copilot’s seat. The hollow eye sockets of those tattooed skulls on his arm
watched everything. The man knew how to look intimidating.

But he doesn’t have a weapon. I do.

Mikale didn’t like having so few advantages over an opponent, but if he
didn’t lose his focus, he’d be victorious. That was the only outcome he’d
accept.

“About two miles east of here,” Ghared said, “you’ll see a series of open
fields. Set this rig down in the northernmost field.”

Trevis made the course adjustments as Dugan assisted, and Mikale went back
to looking out the window. He assumed Darina was armed, but was Foster? The Dr.
Ashby he’d known at Emerge Tech wasn’t a violent man. He’d had no love of war
and weapons, but had the state of the world changed him? Had he felt the need
to protect himself? Clearly, Emerge Tech had felt the need or they wouldn’t
have hired a bodyguard for him. Hiring a bodyguard had to mean Foster wasn’t
capable of keeping himself safe.

Weak.
Though Foster’s mind had always been strong, his willingness
to fight had always been nonexistent. Suited Mikale just fine. He was coming
into the Vermont hideout with three weapons: two associates with fight training
and Darina’s supposed best friend to get her to comply. She’d probably hand
over Foster without a second thought. He was just a job after all. According to
his intel, this Ghared Timms was important to her. If she had thoughts of
refusing Mikale’s demands, he’d send Mr. Timms to live amongst those damned
skulls on his arm.

Mareea wiggled closer to Ghared, but Mikale tightened his grip on her. “A
pretty girl like you should relish the attentions of an older, more experienced
man.”

Ghared shifted forward in his seat now and glared around his niece at
Mikale. His blue eyes were as sharp as lasers, and Mikale had to fight to not
look away.

“It’d be in your best interest to keep your mouth shut, Warres. Say
something like that again to her and you’re not going to like what your face
looks like afterward.”

Mareea sniffled, her body shaking slightly against Mikale’s. Her fear aroused
him almost as much as picturing what he was going to do with Darina once he had
her. Maybe he’d keep Mareea too. Just to piss her uncle off.

Grinning, he watched the fields come into view. He wouldn’t have to wait
much longer to have both Foster and Darina in his possession. His plague would
continue to flourish. His repopulation plans could enter the practice round—and
he wanted lots of practice. His dream of building a better world would be in
its final phases. His mother would be so proud of him.  

Today was a good day.

Trevis switched to silent mode and lowered the pulsejet in the field
Ghared had indicated. He turned around and looked at Mikale.

“What’s the plan, boss?”

“Bind these two and tote them along. Locate Ashby and Officer Lazitter.”

Trevis and Dugan nodded and got out of the pulsejet. The back doors
opened, and Mikale climbed out, dragging Mareea behind him. Ghared got out on
his own. By the time Mikale had rounded the pulsejet with Mareea, Dugan was on
the ground in a pool of his own blood.

“Oops,” Ghared said, an amused tilt to his lips. “I must have slipped
getting out. Your man was kind enough to break my fall.”

Drawing in a breath, Mikale pressed his weapon into Mareea’s side, making
the girl cry out. Her mouth was still gagged, but her wail bounced off the
nearby trees just the same.