The Beast Within (6 page)

B
IANCA
D’A
RC

“O
h, crap.”

Donna Sullivan realized her mistake almost immediately as four big Chinese guys stood up from a table in the rear of the restaurant she’d just entered. All of them were staring at her as they headed her way and they didn’t look friendly.

Maybe she’d asked a few too many pointed questions in the wrong places. She was new to all this femme fatale stuff. She’d only been recruited to join a top-secret military team a few weeks ago and then, only by default. She’d earned the dubious honor because she was immune to the contagion that had the country’s top scientists and a select group of Special Forces operatives scrambling to not only keep it secret but to contain it before anyone else died.

It looked like Donna had gained the attention of some of the Chinese mobsters she’d been looking for, but in a really bad way. Cursing the tinkling bell over the door, she sprinted out of the restaurant and down the street as fast as her legs would carry her. She had to get away. She wasn’t far from the rooms her partner, CIA Agent John Petit, had insisted on renting in a rundown building off Grant Street. Maybe she could get there before those guys caught up with her. Maybe if she just cut through this alley…

Donna ran for the narrow opening, trying to evade pursuit. Those seriously scary guys were definitely following her. A quick glance down the street before she turned into the alley confirmed they were running after her. She took off, looking over her shoulder to check the mouth of the alley when a big hand reached out of nowhere, grabbing her around the waist.

The unknown assailant dragged her into a dark doorway. It shut ominously behind her with a soft click. A hard male body pressed up against her as one big palm covered her mouth and his other arm held her around the middle. Had she gone from the frying pan into the fire?

Pounding feet sounded just beyond the flimsy door. She did her best not to make a sound. The guys who were chasing her were definitely bad guys. She didn’t want to betray where she was. She’d rather take her chances with this lone assailant than with the four who had been chasing her. She liked the odds better, even though she was no Chuck Norris. Hell, she wasn’t even a Chuck E. Cheese. She had zero combat skills, but she’d go down fighting, regardless of how badly she actually acquitted herself.

“What the hell did you think you were doing?” A tense whisper sounded near her ear. She knew that tone of consternation with an edge of steel.

Thank the good Lord, it was John, her so-called partner in this mess of a mission.

He let go of her mouth as she relaxed into his hold.

“I was trying to get the information you seem so reluctant to go after,” she challenged, keeping her voice low.

John let her go completely and started walking into the dark interior of the hallway. He’d dragged her into the little-used alley entrance to their building. She followed him down the short hall, up one flight of stairs, and into their rented rooms.

“Who’s the trained agent here?” He turned on her as soon as she’d locked the door behind them.

“Dude. Do not pull that on me.” She tugged her shoulder pack off and plopped it with more force than was necessary on the console table near the door. The place had come with the bare bones of furniture. “I know you were a marine, but what do jarheads know about detective work? Your sister at least was a cop before joining this screwed-up team. If she were here, I can just about guarantee that she wouldn’t be sitting on her butt twiddling her thumbs, waiting for the information to fall from the sky into her lap.”

“You don’t know a thing about my sister. And for that matter, you don’t know a thing about me either.”

She backed down, duly reprimanded. He wasn’t saying anything but the truth, no matter how much it might hurt. “You’re right. I don’t.”

He grabbed his knapsack and started gathering the few things he’d left lying around the small apartment. He was packing.

“Go change your shirt and put your hair up. Then get your stuff together. We have to leave.”

“What? Why?”

“It won’t take them long to figure out where you went. They lost you in the alley. There are only a few places you could have gone from there. They’ll check them. All they have to do is talk to the building manager or any of the tenants who’ve seen you.”

She hadn’t thought of that. She went into the room she’d been using and tugged off her red T-shirt, replacing it with a blue tank top. “How did you know where to find me?” She raised her voice to be heard as she quickly scraped her hair into a ponytail and donned a baseball cap.

“I was watching the street and saw you run out of the restaurant. You’re quick, I’ll give you that. I almost didn’t catch you in time. I swear, Sullivan, you took ten years off my life.”

She raced around the small room, gathering her belongings and stuffing them into her knapsack. She’d packed light for this trip. John had insisted. She was glad of it now, though she’d fought him at the time.

Considering they were now on the run because of her, she thought maybe she should cut John a little slack. He might be autocratic and a total chauvinist, but he was also proving to be right about a lot of things. Damn the man.

“It’s okay.” She stood in the doorway to her small room, ready to go. “You returned the favor when you grabbed me like that. I thought I’d traded four goons for one possible ax murderer.”

He sobered. “You could have.” His gaze pinned her, deadly serious.

“Yeah, I see that now. I’m sorry, John.”

“Sorry?” He smiled tightly as he checked the windows, then peered through the peephole. “I never thought I’d see the day you’d apologize for your headstrong ways.” She would have argued with him about his rather insulting phrasing but she saw his entire body tense. Something was up. “Do you have everything?” His voice was pitched low and tense.

She nodded, slipping her knapsack over her shoulder.

“One of your friends from the alley is in the hall, talking to Mr. Chen.” John kept his eye to the peephole. “He just flipped open his cell phone. Calling for reinforcements, I bet.” His expression turned steely as he pulled back from the door and turned to her. “Hold this. I’ll be right back.” He handed her his bag, which was even lighter and smaller than hers, before opening the door. He shot out like a race-horse just released from the starting gate.

She heard muffled thuds through the closed door as she raced toward it. She pressed her eye to the peephole just in time to see one of the big bruisers who’d chased her go down in a heap at John’s feet. She knew John was a martial arts teacher of very high rank, but she’d never really seen him in action before.

The guy on the floor hadn’t even had time to draw the big gun she now saw he wore under his jacket. John relieved the unconscious goon of both his gun and his wallet, doing a fast, careful search of his pockets while he was at it. When John stood, she opened the door and met his gaze. Gone was the exasperation she usually saw from him. All amusement had fled as well.

The man who looked at her was a hardened warrior. Intellectually, she’d known John was a tough guy. She’d just never seen him like this before. It was impressive, to say the least.

He held out one hand to her and she followed his unspoken summons without thinking. She was at his side in ten steps, holding out his pack to him. He took it, then tugged her hand into his as he turned toward the exit—not the front door, but the door they’d used minutes before. He didn’t let go of her hand until they were down the alley and on the opposite street, joining the busy foot traffic prevalent in this part of town.

He let go of her hand only to put his arm around her waist and tuck her into his side. They strolled down the street, just another tourist couple out for a stroll.

“Where are we going?” Donna asked, trying to look nonchalant and no doubt failing.

“The airport. This town is too hot for us right now and I think we’ve learned all we can here. While you were out stirring up trouble, one of my bugs paid off. I’ve got a location and a name that matches one of the original research team members.”

She was astonished his methods had actually worked. “Really? Who?”

“Dr. Elizabeth Bemkey. She’s in Tennessee right now according to what I heard.”

He looked like the cat who’d swallowed the canary as he smiled down at her. She squelched the impulse to wipe that silly grin right off his handsome face. The man could be truly infuriating at times.

“So we’re going to Tennessee?”

“Looks that way. Ever been fly-fishing?”

T
hey touched down in Tennessee after catching a connecting flight out of Houston. The plane dropped them in Nashville, about an hour and change from their destination. John rented a car and they were off. A straight shot across the state on Interstate 40, then a little trek on a state highway and they were there.

John made good use of the time, placing a few calls and coordinating with the folks back at Fort Bragg, where their team was currently based, while Donna drove. She had a bit of a lead foot, but was competent behind the wheel. They entered White County and turned off at Cookeville, which was a larger city, where they could pick up appropriate clothing and fishing gear at one of the big chain discount stores.

“I’ll get some fishing gear while you pick out some clothes,” he told Donna when they entered the giant store. “Get stuff for a leisurely vacation by the lake. Make sure you include darker colors for night work and a hat for daytime. If we go out on the water, the sun is going to be tough on your fair skin.”

She had looked at him strangely when he made the observation, but thankfully hadn’t remarked upon it. John had spent all too much time lately fantasizing about her skin. Was it as soft as it looked? Would she be sensitive to his merest touch?

Damn. He was doing it again. He shook himself and re-focused on his task. He needed the bare bones of fishing gear. Just enough to make him look like he really was going fishing. He’d made reservations at a fishing camp that was nearly next door to Dr. Bemkey’s palatial home on the lakeshore. It had been her husband’s house, and as they’d been going through a very messy divorce for the past year or more, nobody had expected her to be there. They’d sent agents to check, of course, but her husband claimed not to have seen or heard from her in quite some time. Apparently they did all their talking through their lawyers at this point.

But according to the information he’d intercepted in San Francisco, Dr. Bemkey was not only staying in her ex-husband’s mansion, she was working from it. It was up to them to confirm the information and figure out what she was up to.

Donna caught up with John while he was trying on vests with a few million pockets for fishing lures and tackle.

“You look like a dork in that.” Her dryly amused voice came from behind him.

He turned, holding his arms out so she could get a good look at the ensemble. “You think so?”

“Oh, yeah. If you were going for the Poindexter look, you nailed it.” Her luscious lips quirked up in a half grin that he found utterly captivating.

“Question is”—he moved closer, his voice dropping so only she could hear him—“would a young hottie like you be seen cavorting on the lake with a dork like me?” His arms slipped around her waist, but he resisted the urge to pull her against his body. He could get away with just so much in the name of their cover. If he started to grope her in the sporting goods section, it wouldn’t be to convince people they were together. No, it would all be for his own enjoyment.

“Cavorting?” Her tone was the slightest bit breathless as her palms settled over his chest. Damn, that felt good.

“They’re a little more old-fashioned here in Tennessee than they were in San Francisco. We’ll draw less attention if we show up as a married couple.”

“Married?” The word whispered out of her mouth and it was all he could do to stop himself from leaning in and capturing her lips with his own.

“How does Mrs. John Pettigrew sound? Close enough to my real name that it’ll be easy to remember?”

Mutely, she nodded. Something weird was going on here. She looked utterly stunned and he was feeling more than a little odd too. He’d never been on an undercover assignment with a female operative before. Certainly not one that required them to pose as lovers. Why did this feel like so much more than a simple mission?

“So what do you say? Is the vest too much?” He stepped back, trying to resolve the weird vibes in the air with a change of subject.

“The camo vest with the camo hat is definitely too much.” She flipped through the rack of vests to find something in a solid color. “How about this one?” She held up a solid green vest.

He’d automatically gone for the camo, but she was probably right. The only place he’d be wearing the vest was on the lake itself. He probably wouldn’t be traipsing through the woods in it.

“It looks good.” He took a quick look at the size she’d picked. It would fit. He threw it in the cart with the stuff she’d picked out. He noticed she’d gotten him some things. “You bought me shirts?”

“And shorts,” she confirmed. “If you need to go for a swim, it’s best to be prepared.” She held up a pair of board shorts that would double as swim trunks should the need arise. They were his size too.

He shot her a suspicious look. “Have you been checking out my ass? You got all my sizes right.”

“As if.” She flopped the shorts back into her cart. “It’s not that hard to differentiate between large and extra large, John,” she protested, but he saw the slight flush of color on her fair cheeks and was oddly flattered. “Is this stuff yours too?” She pointed to a pile of gear he’d been toting around. He hadn’t gotten a cart. He’d just been carrying the stuff.

“Yeah.” He picked up the tackle box and gear, loading it into her cart. “Okay.” He took charge of the now stuffed cart as they headed out of the sporting goods section. “Two more departments and we’re done.”

“Two?” she questioned, walking beside him down the wide aisle of the super store.

“Yeah, I want to get some supplies. A cooler and some food. Snacks, beer, chips. The kind of stuff people would bring for a week at a fishing cabin.”

“And the other department?”

“Rings,” he said simply. She didn’t say another word until they started debating the merits of various kinds of potato chips in the grocery section of the store.

When they finally moved on to the jewelry counter, John picked out two simple gold bands and a petite engagement ring. They were posing as newlyweds of moderate means. The diamond was small, but it still took her breath away when she tried it on. John paid for the rings quietly and stuffed them in his pocket as they left the store.

He let her drive again as they headed for the last leg of their journey while he was busy taking all the tags off their purchases. They stopped at a fast food place on the highway for a quick meal and he got rid of the evidence of their shopping trip, throwing out the bags and tags in the garbage.

“Check out the billboard.” John pointed to a big man grinning down at them from a huge advertising board that looked over the fast food joint’s parking lot. The twenty-foot-tall image was of a portly man in overalls. He had a big gap between his front teeth as he grinned, holding up a giant fish on a line.

“‘Bubba’s Bass Tours,’” Donna read from the sign. “‘Let Bubba guide you to the best fishing holes in Tennessee. Daily and hourly rates.’” Donna took a sip of her soda. “Now I know we’re in the South.”

“Did you see the live bait machine near the drive-thru?” His eyes reflected humor.

“The what?”

“The bait machine. Put in a couple of quarters and out pops a plastic container full of wiggling worms.”

“You’re kidding.”

“’Fraid not.” He saluted her with his burger before taking another healthy bite.

“I guess there’s not much else to do in the area but fish. Seems to be the main occupation of folks around here. Even the guys in line in the fast food place were trading fish stories.”

“Yes, ma’am. We’re in lake country up here. Too bad we can’t enjoy any of the fishing-related activities.”

“You like fishing?”

“I used to have a dune permit for my four-wheel drive,” he admitted with a hint of pride. “I’ve been known to cast a line or two of a morning.”

“I had a neighbor that was into it. He had plastic tubing mounted on the front of his dune buggy to hold the fishing poles. Don’t tell me you’ve got that kind of setup.”

“Once upon a time, I did,” he admitted with a chuckle. “I’m a lot more low key nowadays.”

“Thank goodness for that.”

Donna finished her burger and rolled up the paper it had been wrapped in, shoving it all in the paper bag for easy disposal. John did the same and hopped out of the car to throw out the garbage. A few minutes later, they were on the road again.

She drove again as he snoozed in the passenger seat, his new camo fishing hat pulled over his eyes. She was pleased that he wasn’t going all macho on her about the driving. Almost every man she’d dated had insisted on driving everywhere as if she wasn’t to be trusted behind the wheel or something. John apparently felt comfortable enough not only to let her drive but to nap while she did it. She liked that about him.

In fact, she liked a lot of things about him. He could be an overbearing, pigheaded fool at times, like most men she knew, but he also had some endearing qualities. His playfulness on their shopping expedition was new and completely attractive. She thought he must finally be getting comfortable with her. It gave her a warm feeling.

She’d sensed his disappointment when she’d been assigned to work with him. He was a man of action, used to being in the field, in combat. She was an albatross around his neck. Or so he’d thought. The foolishness she had committed in San Francisco was at least partly because she had wanted to prove herself to him.

She didn’t want to be an albatross. She wanted to be part of the team—a full contributor to their mission. She still wasn’t sure what she could contribute. She wasn’t a soldier, cop, or top scientist like the rest of the team members but she could learn. She knew how to shoot. She’d had to spend a couple of memorable hours at a firing range with John to prove she could hit a target. He’d seemed impressed, but with John’s poker face, it was hard to tell what he was thinking most of the time.

He’d personally approved her to carry a weapon and had trained her in the care and use of the special toxic darts they used to destroy zombies. Years of lab work to earn her master’s degree in chemical engineering had helped her get used to the strict protocols necessary for handling such dangerous ammunition.

Despite all her work to this point, if not for her immunity, she would never have been asked to join the team. She knew the truth. She understood that she was seen as the weakest link in the group. Instead of letting it annoy her, as she had in the beginning of this venture, she saw it as a challenge now. She worked extra hard to prove herself and was glad when she got those little signs of approval from her stoic partner.

As she pondered it all, the car rounded a curve on the mountain road and Donna suddenly beheld the most amazing sight she’d ever seen through a car window.

“Holy moly,” she muttered, unable to keep from exclaiming at the sight that met her eyes. They were riding along the side of a mountain, about to turn onto a two-lane road that would take them over the top of a massive hydro-electric dam.

“What is it?” John roused from his nap, plucking the silly fishing hat off his face to look around.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you. I’ve just never seen anything like this before in person.”

“What? The dam?” He looked at her, one tawny eyebrow quirking upward in an amused question mark.

“They don’t have these things on Long Island,” she grumbled, turning onto the dam itself. To one side was a massive lake that stretched as far as she could see. On the other side was a sheer drop down the side of the dam. She put both hands on the steering wheel, feeling just a little trepidation at riding along the top of such a thing. Only this comparatively thin wall of concrete held back a massive amount of water.

“So you’re a city girl?” He sat up and took a look around seeming to enjoy the view.

“Come on. I know you’ve seen the file they have on me. You know I was born and raised on Long Island.”

“Yeah, but hearing about it from you is different than reading it from a piece of paper.”

She’d give him that. “I hear from your sister that you two are from the Island too.”

John nodded. “We grew up in Lynbrook. But you’re a Suffolk County kid, aren’t you?”

She hated the way he turned the conversation back to her every time she asked a question about him. “Smithtown. But you already knew that.”

He nodded, a smug smile telling her he knew she was miffed. “We’re over the dam. You can release your death grip on the steering wheel now.” His words were soft. Almost…understanding?

She looked around and realized they’d crossed over the dam while he had been distracting her with his questions. She consciously released the fingers of one hand from the wheel. He was right, darn it. She had been holding the thing way too hard. Her knuckles were white until she relaxed her fingers.

“Where to now, navigator?” They’d come to the exit he’d told her to look for. She took it and waited at the bottom of a short ramp.

“Make a right. There should be a sign somewhere up ahead for the fishing camp. We’ve got a cabin reserved for the week. I asked for one on the edge of the property. I told the guy we were newlyweds and wanted a little privacy.” He winked at her. “So do your best to look happy when we get there, okay?”

“Don’t worry. I took a few acting classes in undergrad. I’m sure I can fake not despising you for a few minutes.”

He laughed out loud at her insult. They’d been trading barbs since almost the first day they started working together. It was comfortable for them and had morphed into an odd sort of affection. The more they teased each other, the closer they became.

She found the sign and turned into a wide gravel drive. “This place looks kind of rustic.”

There was a main building that advertised itself as both an office and a bait shop. She could see little cabins scattered around through the woods. They were set far enough apart, and the woods were thick enough, to give the illusion of privacy.

“This place borders the Bemkey estate on one side and provides direct access to the lakefront. It’s perfect for our purposes.”

“Convenient.” She pulled up, parking the car to the side of the office door.

John grabbed her hand before she could open her door and get out of the rental car. She looked at him, meeting his all too serious gaze.