by Imogene Nix
“How am I getting out of here?” She glanced around the tomb-like building. It seemed odd that it was so darned quiet. Where had Jeremy gone, and why was there no one else here?
Creeping up the hallways, every muscle tense and ready to flee while her heart thudded, was an exercise in fear. Every door she peered within showed her empty treatment rooms.
Here and there she’d check the ceiling for some kind of surveillance system, but none were evident. A sound echoed, and her breath caught. I can’t afford to be caught.
She moved faster, looking for clothing and some way to escape. To her left was a break room with metal cabinets. She rushed in, flinging the doors open as quietly as she could, finding a set of green hospital scrubs and a discarded cardigan. In another cabinet she found a set of rubber shoes.
Clarissa tore the gown from her body, sliding on the clothing. Then she turned and continued up the hall until a voice echoed.
“She’s in here. Got loose. We have to find her.”
Jeremy.
If the voice echoing was coming from the direction she thought, she’d need to move back to the main reception area. Perhaps she could swing up into the ceiling? There were polystyrene type tiles and she could hide.
Fear lent her speed as she hurled herself onto the reception desk and shoved one of the tiles away. Her hands grasped the metal runners, and she heaved herself up before sliding the tile back into position as the sounds grew closer.
It took every ounce of willpower to suppress the heavy exhalations that would give her away. I’m not in the clear yet, but if I stay here long enough, they’ll leave, then I can escape. Gingerly, Clarissa lowered herself down to lie still and wait them out.
* * * *
It wasn’t so much the waiting, as the not knowing.
“We’ll find her, man! I know it’s hard.”
Franklin patted him on the shoulder, and it took every ounce of Michael’s attention to still the jerk. They didn’t understand. That was the problem. No one else could. She’d been used and abused, subject to the most heinous of testing regimes.
“She’s out there and they’ve done things to her. Things I can’t even…” It didn’t matter what he said, so he rested his elbows on his knees and leaned into the cup of his hands.
Michael inhaled deeply, welcoming the air expanding his lungs as the tension leached away. Surely there had to be some way to find her?
His mind shifted and swirled, considering the information that he’d gleaned. The lab had results, details of the many varied experiments.
“Jonah? Get my brother on the line.” He shoved up from the chair as an idea started to formulate.
“What’s up?” Franklin followed him as he stalked to the command center outside the lab.
In his peripheral vision he noted men in tactical suits, who looked up, the color draining from their faces as he ran through the scenarios in his mind, his cyber-enhanced extremities clenching and releasing.
“Sir, we’re doing all we can.” The officer, DeVries emblazoned on his uniform, spoke quickly.
Fear bloomed around him, rich and ripe. A heady aroma it was true, but not one he had any intention of acting on. No, all his energy and concentration was for the one who’d taken Clarissa.
Jonah grinned at him and proffered the phone. “Here.”
“David?”
“Yeah, Michael. What’s up?”
“I have an idea…”
* * * *
Clarissa peered and listened. She watched through the tiniest crack in the ceiling as staff and couples came and went. She wasn’t game to move much, unsure of the long-term safety of her perch. She’d already determined that the drug they’d given her had kept her under for hours, maybe more than twelve, but the readout in her vision was blurry, as if failing. From time to time, Clarissa dozed as she waited out the day.
With her bladder screaming and thirst raging, Clarissa knew she couldn’t wait too much longer. It was only when the flood of people became a trickle that she realized a full day had passed and her opportunity to escape might be nearing.
As the last couple was shown to the consulting rooms, the receptionist stood and swiped her hands over her pants. “Ticky, I’m going to the restroom before I start the shutdown.”
Noting there were no others in the room, and with the echo of a voice beyond answering, Clarissa inched back the tile as the receptionist disappeared around a corner. She lowered herself gently onto the desk, reached up and replaced the tile, then headed for the door. Opening it, she slid outside.
Night was settling like a shroud, and she shivered. Winter was almost at its deepest, and she needed shelter. Or assistance. Her feet were only shod in the rubber shoes, which offered very little protection from the freezing conditions. She thought longingly of the thick, leather boots she’d worn until meeting Michael.
At the thought of his name she sighed. If only he were here now.
Her shoulders slumped as she tugged the cardigan around herself and bowed her head. Glancing out beneath her lashes, she hoped to appear just like everyone else in the sea of humanity heading for home.
The crosswalk was crowded, and she carefully pushed to the center, hoping to use the anonymity to get further away. Ahead was the subway and to the left a tiny lane. Which was the best option?
Clarissa bit her lip and peeled off, heading for the lane, looking for somewhere to hide out the night. The subways were filled with the indigent, but they would report her as soon as look at her. They protected their spots with a fervor few understood, and a newcomer had to be prepared to be as forgettable as they were. She stood out far too much.
She plodded as hunger gnawed and the extreme need to find a bathroom became pathological.
“Clarissa!”
She stopped. He’s found me.
“I will fry you, Clarissa, if you don’t come back here. Then I’ll do the same to all the others. You don’t want that, do you?”
She turned unsteadily, hate and grief suddenly weighing her down, as if he’d attached manacles and chains to her.
“Jeremy, let me go.” Her voice cracked, and tears obscured her vision.
“Let you go? You’re my first and best. And we always remember them. Come now. Do your duty and I’ll spare the rest.”
She knew exactly what he meant. He wouldn’t kill them. Not on purpose anyway.
“How did you work out where I was?” She ran a hand over her belly even as it gurgled.
She took a small step toward him, wondering if she could somehow push past him. Three men, each armed with big, ugly weapons, stood behind him, and she tried to calculate her chances of success in running from them. Pushing past and escaping hovered at the forefront of her consciousness.
Given the cold looks on their faces, her chances were few, but perhaps death was her only way out?
“It was easy once I realized you hadn’t removed the implant and left it in the clinic. I didn’t know that until you left. Where did you hide, dear?” The echo of the urbane man she’d thought she’d fallen for sickened her.
“In the ceiling.”
His gaze bored into her. “Well now, aren’t you resourceful? I’ll have to consider what section of the brain that is and see if it’s possible to build that in the youngsters I’m going to make.”
Those words stopped her slow forward motion.
“Let me go, Jeremy. I can’t be of any use to you now. I mean, there are others looking for me. Looking for you.”
The ugly bark of laughter that echoed in the night had the hairs on her body standing on end.
“You think they’ll stop me? I’m not planning on being caught. I have a contract with sections of the government. They want to know how we can increase the chances of building super-soldiers, and you’re my template, Clarissa. Now, come along. I’m tired of these games.”
Clarissa closed her eyes, inhaled deeply. Opening herself to the wealth of implants, she opened her eyes and settled her gaze on the guards,
focusing on the way they held their rifles. Their stances. Similarly, she considered Jeremy. In her mind she sifted through possible scenarios. It took place during the heartbeat as she paused to inhale. Then she tensed her muscles, letting her hands clench before she sprang forward.
A quick and well-placed kick took down the first assailant. The feel of her foot against his genitals, the sudden explosion, and the howl filled her senses as she whirled away. She landed and shoved her fist into the face of the second, while the whine of his gun split the air.
Burn! Her side ached, but she used the impetus to spin into the third man, her elbow connecting with his throat. His gargle ended with the thud of his body on the concrete.
Her momentum halted as she stood in front of Jeremy.
“I’m not some experiment. I’m a human being. I didn’t ask for this, but what I will do is end you. You will never enhance or tinker with another human being.”
He laughed. “You think it’s so easy? It’s not. Your little friend, Michael? I know about him and the work of his surgeon. If anything happens to me, the people who own you will go after him. He’s no more than a pawn too. A well-placed one, but not above the law. My work will live on in the hundreds of scientists who build weapons for our planet, and you’re the one choosing who will be the test subject.”
She already knew he had connections. The long tendrils of power had to know what was going on, to enable him to circumvent police and other systems. She wavered, and he reached out. Clarissa didn’t see the hypo-syringe until it was too late.
As the darkness descended though, she heard her name bellowed. Michael…
* * * *
Michael saw Clarissa slump to the ground before the gnarled man.
“Stay still, Dr. Colvert. You’re surrounded.” His team swarmed as he headed for Clarissa.
“You have no idea what you’re messing with, Dr. Villede. My work for the government has given me certain freedoms, and shall we say, I’ve been rewarded handsomely. You taking her from me won’t stop my work. It’s too far advanced. Soon, we will see the 21st Testing Protocol bill to the Senate.”
Michael screwed up his face as he hunkered down where Clarissa lay.
“What did you inject her with?” Whatever it was, it hadn’t affected her breathing, seeing as he could detect a normal sinus rhythm.
“Oh, just a strong dose of a natural sopoforic that won’t overload her sensors. It’ll keep her sedated for an hour or two. Now, hand her over, and everything will be right with the world.” Jeremy leaned closer. “You’ll be richly rewarded for the decision. I’ll make sure of it.”
When Michael looked up, he noted that Jonah and Franklin waited behind Jeremy Colvert. “Cuff him.”
Jeremy laughed. “Normal cuffs can’t hold me. I’ve got bio-cybernetic prosthesis, you stupid boy.”
Michael gave a grin that had Jeremy frowning even as Franklin and Jonah set to work. “I know. These aren’t normal cuffs. They’re enhanced with transmitter dimmers and fashioned from a poly-oxide material. You won’t have use of your hands or arms, but it won’t stop you from walking.”
He scooped up Clarissa, holding her close and thanking the stars that she’d survived and freed herself once again.
Now he wanted her home, safe.
Chapter 16
Clarissa woke, stretching a little and opening her eyes as memory rose. For a second she tensed with fear. Had he caught her again and taken her somewhere new?
She glanced around the room. Knew it as the one Michael had brought her to before. She twisted her head a little and saw him hunched in the chair beside her bed, asleep.
“That doesn’t look comfortable.” She rose and padded to the bathroom.
Even as she returned, he didn’t wake, and she stood there studying him. He was a good man. An honest one. A man she could… Dammit all! She already did love him.
Michael had waited for her permission to kiss her. He hadn’t hurt her. He’d tried to protect her. He’d made her feel whole and understood the levels of damaged psyche she carried. She’d trusted him, at least until that meeting in the dining room. The one that had seen her rush from the room and had been her undoing. She’d need to talk to him before she committed any more to a relationship between them. Perhaps she’d read it wrong? Hope told her she needed to ask him.
Kneeling down beside him seemed the most natural thing in the world, as did raising her fingers to his lips. “Michael?”
He muttered and shook his head, and she grinned.
“Wake up, Prince Charming.”
His eyes fluttered and then flew wide. “You’re awake.”
“And you weren’t.”
“No. I was so worried about you.” He reached out and grasped her hand, holding on tight. “I only found you because of the GPS tracker Colvert implanted.”
Clarissa smiled, although she knew it was wobbly at best. “Damn. I didn’t think he’d put one in there. I tried to check for one when I first escaped.” She shrugged. “I still don’t know all the things he did. There were so many procedures. Each, Jeremy informed me, designed to see what the average human could become and survive. I guess I was the lucky one.” Memory surfaced. “He has others too.”
“We found them. But none of them were you. I worried I’d never find you again. He has… He had clinics all over the place, and I don’t know that we’ll ever find them all.”
She released the pent-up breath. “No. Probably not, but he’s got some deal with government officials, Michael. I think he’s also using the IVF clinic to not only fund, but to further his experiments. This isn’t a short-term plan he cobbled together.”
“Holy hell.” Michael turned a shade of green as understanding dawned. “We need to contact the patients. The authorities.” Clearly, the ramifications didn’t sit well with him.
Clarissa’s memory of those short-lived pregnancies had her biting her lip. “Some of them won’t agree to termination. If it were me, I wouldn’t.”
His hand cupped her cheek and swiped at the sudden scalding tears. “I wouldn’t ask you to either. It would be your choice.”
“I need to ask you about the other day. When you were planning with your friends, Jonah and Franklin. You talked as if… As if using someone for bait would be acceptable. How could you think that?”
“Damn. I didn’t mean it like that. What I was thinking was that we could see if Sara would agree to cooperate. We would have secured her enough to ensure that we could trace his transmissions. I wouldn’t put her in harm’s way.”
“Because she means that much to you?”
“She’s been a good friend for a long time.”
“And more?”
He leaned in, resting his forehead against hers. “Only a friend. No one else since you, Clarissa. No one else will make me need more. You are the woman who understands me and completes me. I don’t want anyone else.”
“But we’ve only known each other for a small amount of time. I mean, I knew Jeremy longer and he…”
“He used you. It was always his intent. But mine isn’t. I can’t promise to be your knight in shining armor or Prince Charming, but I will do everything in my power to protect you. Love you. Give me that chance, Clarissa.”
Certainty threaded through her now, and she closed the space between them, seeking his kiss. It was sweet and soft. A caress and no more. Not unless she wanted it. And she did.
Her lips pressed harder, opened, and it was as if the floodgates opened. He wound his arms around her waist, tugging her closer. Inhaling his scent deepened her desire.
She threaded her fingers through his soft hair as he murmured against her lips, “Make sure you know that if you keep this up, I’m going to make love to you.”
A grin stole across her features. “Oh, I know, Michael. I do want this.”
He surged up, pulling away long enough to shrug out of his shirt, while his eyes kept her gaze prisoner. The sight of his bare chest, the crisscross scars that snaked up and down h
is arms, only enhanced her hunger for him.
He lifted her, one arm under her legs and the other curved around her back. He carried her to the bed and laid her down, as if she were the most precious cargo in the world. Warmth and love flooded Clarissa. To have waited for the one man, all the long years, made the rewards sweeter.
“I don’t…” She gasped as he set to work, unclipping the top they’d dressed her in after being rescued. “I’ve never done this before, Michael. I’m not so sure…” Embarrassment at her lack of experience wavered in her voice.
He stilled and rocked back on his heels. “You’re a virgin?”
His gaze settled on her face, and she worked hard to resist the urge to duck her head.
“Uh, yeah.”
He smiled, lighting his entire face. “Then this is the greatest gift you could have given me.” Even as her top gaped, he raised his lips, traced the line of her face before cupping it and bending in so he could kiss her. “That you are mine in every way that counts, means so much to me. I will treasure this.”
Rubbing his lips over hers sent sparks of electricity coursing through her.
She lifted her hands, curling them in his hair before skating down to his shoulders. Wordlessly entreating him to join her, because the molten pool in her stomach demanded that she assuage the hunger and need that was building.
Clarissa clutched his shoulders as he trailed his mouth down the side of her jaw to her neck. Nerves jumped and her body involuntarily arched, clamoring for release. She whimpered as his hands kneaded her buttocks beneath the loose pants.
“Michael?”
“It’s okay.” He raised his head, and she noted the ruddy glow of desire on his features. “Whatever you want, it’s good. If you don’t like something, tell me. This time has to be perfect for you.”
A single tear traced down her cheek, and he stopped, frowned.
“What’s wrong, Clarissa? We don’t have to—”
