by Amy Rench
He then got up and began to maneuver around the debris to reach the fallen men. There wasn’t much that made him queasy, but looking at the shape these guys were in made him sick to his stomach.
The pulsating shock wave that had radiated from Harper looked like it had ripped through their bodies, inside and out, like a harsh wind viciously gusting through a dense forest, whipping and tearing away matter.
He bent to check on the closest to see whether any life remained. The skin at the man’s neck felt like old parchment, roughly withered by time and the elements. There was no pulse.
Rome walked silently to the front of the room, leaning against the wide-open entryway. The door lay scattered in thick shards over the porch and threshold, though he didn’t know whether it was from the forced entry of the men or Harper’s attack.
Sucking in several breaths of the fresh woodsy air, he surveyed the ugly scene with a troubled gaze. Uncontrolled weapon explosions; cruel, torturous behavior; monstrous strikes of natural weather. He had seen all of that and more.
But this? This was something different. Harper was something different. Never before had he seen such an act of power. A terrifying, inhuman act of power. How had she done this?
Walking back over to her slumped form, Rome was forced to admit that she scared him. She absolutely frightened him. Just minutes before, he was cursing himself for wanting her. Now he was cursing himself for trusting her.
Damn it all. He’d known she’d been hiding something. Information, maybe, but not the fact that she was some sort of supernatural freak.
Jeff had been right. Harper Kane was most certainly dangerous. She was a walking lethal weapon, for crying out loud. So much for his razor-sharp instincts. This was a doozy. Mentally slapping himself for forsaking his duty for a gorgeous woman, he retreated out the back to his rig for some rope.
Promise or no, he had to take her in.
CHAPTER SIX
Pain. Darkness. The two had been her constant companions since she’d been here. Wherever here was.
Every breath she sucked in made her ache. Harper had no idea how long she’d been in this awful place, but judging from the sporadic food trays she’d been brought, it seemed like two, maybe three days had passed. The most recent meal had been shoved through the door just a few minutes before. She hadn’t even gone searching for it in the darkness, preferring to stay seated in the farthest corner from the entrance.
The last thing she remembered was seeing the stark fear on Rome’s shocked face after she’d tried to use her new power to help them escape the ambush at Bobby’s house. Then she’d passed out.
And awakened to an experience beyond her worst nightmare. Alone.
She’d opened her eyes to inky blackness and immobilization, her body secured and bound upright to the wall. She couldn’t see a thing. Panicked and confused, she’d attempted to focus on the special force in her mind, knowing full well she had no real control over it. But it wouldn’t work. Somehow she’d been able to summon the power at Bobby’s house, but she couldn’t do it here in the totally dark room.
After a while, they’d come for her—burly men dressed all in black and carrying guns and thick clubs. They’d already yanked her out of her dark prison and dragged her to a small, badly lit room with twisted contraptions and threatening devices.
Cruel medical tools and wicked-looking equipment had gleamed ominously on chrome tables, complete with rough, padded restraints straight out of the nastiest horror movies ever made. Again she’d tried to beckon her mind to do its thing, but nothing happened.
Though she’d struggled with all her might, her larger captors had forced her onto one of the platforms and latched the restraints onto her. A shot like a dart had pricked her arm and after that, her vision blurred and she’d felt nothing but pain. Sheer unadulterated pain. Then someone in a harsh white lab coat began to go to work on her.
They’d asked her countless questions for which she had no answers. That hadn’t made the person in the lab coat happy. She couldn’t remember even saying anything, which had made them even more furious.
Harper had alternately been drugged with who knows what, and they’d drawn what seemed like gallons of blood. Again, she’d been questioned beyond reason. And still she hadn’t been able to give them what they wanted.
Then the brutes had lugged her back to this dark room and left her here for hours. Food had come, but she didn’t eat it. She couldn’t eat it. Even if she had been able to see it in the complete darkness, she didn’t think her groggy and battered body could stomach it. The water bottles they threw in were all she dared to handle.
After that they had come for her again, and it had started all over. She’d lost count of how many cycles of the same treatment she’d endured.
Between the interminable bouts of interrogation, she had nothing but barren time to think. Think about everything.
Just a few days ago, she was finishing up her last spirited swimming practice in Palo Alto. Drying off from a great workout. Two hours in the pool and she’d broken some of her personal-best times. Her coach had been ecstatic, and pleaded with her to keep going. But she’d said no. Though her times were better than they’d ever been, she’d needed a break. Mentally she had become exhausted thinking about what the Olympic trials would mean to her. Her coach had wanted her to stay sharp, but she needed to step back before the sharpness nicked her. Time with Bobby would have unwound her tight thoughts and kept her focus on track with her impressive output in the pool.
How quickly things had derailed. Now she had some kind of mysterious mind power from a serum Bobby had created. Her brother had been killed for trying to make sure it didn’t fall into the hands of the very people keeping her captive, testing her like some interminable lab experiment and treating her like she was the world’s worst enemy.
And she was alone.
Rubbing her arms, then instantly regretting it as her skin prickled from the drugs she had been given, Harper thought about Rome. Had he been subdued after she passed out? Or had he brought her into this hideous hole? She desperately preferred to believe the former, but knew deep in her exhausted gut it had to be the latter. The fright on his face had been obvious. Rome believed she was a threat. Which was precisely the reason he was sent to detain her and bring her here in the first place.
He’d promised he wouldn’t, but that all had changed when she used her strange power to save them. It had been difficult, and she hadn’t even been sure she’d be able to do it, but she didn’t see any other way out of Bobby’s house. So she’d done it. And it worked. The only problem was, it had turned Rome against her.
She’d deliberately kept her power from him, hoping she’d be able to somehow explain it once they’d learned more about what was going on. She’d put her faith in him, having no one else to trust, and he’d betrayed her. One moment, the man had held her close while her grief overflowed, and the next, he’d pushed her back into her worst nightmare.
Could she really blame him? Honestly, she herself was frightened by the power surging through her mind and body. But he’d asked her to trust him. She had, and look where it had gotten her.
Never again. She would do this on her own. Just as she’d vowed that night in the forest. She was truly alone.
Sitting in the cold darkness now, Harper realized that it didn’t matter. For whatever reason, they were keeping her alive. Only taking her to the edge of her limits, allowing her to look over the cliff, see the valley of death, but never plummeting into the merciful void.
They needed her. Whatever this serum was that Bobby had been working on, they wanted it. That meant Bobby didn’t want them to have it. That he wasn’t involved in all of this trouble.
That would keep her going. Keep her believing that she would somehow survive this and get the revenge she was beginning to crave. The only thing she wanted now was to make everyone involved pay for it.
It wasn’t just for Bobby anymore. It was for what they were doing to her. For
Rome bringing her here. For being accidentally injected with that serum and having a destructive energy surging through her mind. She didn’t ask for this, never expected it. But she would finish it. Find her answers and find vengeance.
A clank and a grinding noise diverted her attention. They were here again. A bright artificial light cut through the pitch-black, shining directly in her eyes, blinding her as she squinted against the sudden beams. She raised her hand to shade the light until she could adjust her vision.
Footsteps clomped grimly against the solid concrete floor. Two sets of arms grabbed her on each side and secured her hands with cold metal clamps, then dragged her upright and out into the cool, dimly lit hallway. Harper’s sight cleared and she noticed the usual fourman posse had been joined by six more black-clad goons. These guys looked a little unusual somehow, but it was hard to say what was different about them. The normal four passed her off to the big six.
Leading her roughly down the corridor, they surprisingly turned right instead of the dreaded left that had become her customary routine. Was that good or bad? Of course, bad was relative. How much worse could it get?
After climbing countless flights of uneven stairs, they reached a level area and turned down yet another eerie hallway. At the far end, a sliver of natural light poked through the bottom of a thick metal door.
Harper was a touch curious. Was she not coming back this time? Fine with her. Again, how much worse could it get? Unless they were taking her away to kill her. That could definitely be worse. She hazily hoped she was wrong and they were just going outside. One modest breath of fresh air would sure make her day. Although there wasn’t much that wouldn’t make her day right now.
The closer they came to the door, the more it looked like they were going outside. Her mind faintly rejoiced. Sunlight at last.
“What are you doing here?” Jeff Donovan’s distracted question hit Rome the second he walked in his boss’s office. Jeff hadn’t even looked at Rome, his attention on the papers in his hand.
What indeed? Rome had asked himself the same question nearly every second since he’d arrived at the isolated government facility. Located just outside of downtown Portland, only those who needed to know were aware the site existed. Underground and hidden from the unassuming world. Though not many up on the surface would want to know what went on down there. Lucky bastards.
Which was the real reason he couldn’t stop himself from coming. Rome didn’t sit down, instead leaning against the unadorned wall just inside the door. “Just checking in,” he answered with cool but fake nonchalance. Since the moment he dropped off the unconscious Harper Kane three days ago, he’d been restless. Edgy and unable to sleep, he couldn’t stop thinking about her. About the cold despair in her fascinating green eyes and the barren tone of her husky voice as she rasped an apology for the horrific act she’d committed.
“Checking on what?” Jeff asked curtly, resting a page facedown on his desk, continuing on to peruse the next. Jeff’s abruptness had that same anxious tone he’d tasted when the man had given him the job.
Most of the time, Rome highly appreciated Jeff’s nononsense brusqueness. And even more of the time, he didn’t much care what happened past the completion of the job.
But not this time.
“Just curious.” Rome tried to inject an appropriate amount of casualness in his attitude. “What happened to the woman?”
“We’re taking care of her,” Jeff answered in his normal cold monotone as he read.
Not good. Not good at all. Rome knew exactly how they took care of people where there were no prying eyes of official intelligence and even less accountability. Down here you did what you had to do to get what you needed from your captives and your methods were your own.
It was what he’d been afraid of since an hour after he’d left her here three days ago. And really, what had he expected? He’d washed his hands of her once he saw what she was capable of. As confident in his skills as he was, Rome knew he couldn’t handle anything with that kind of power. He’d watched her kill eight men with it. He knew in that intense moment why Jeff had wanted her dead or alive. She was dangerous.
But she was also a vulnerable and broken woman. And alone. He could not forget how the doubtful look on her lovely face changed into hesitant belief at his condo. Belief in him. He’d asked her to trust him and she had. In return, he’d brought her to this hellacious place. He’d had to once he’d seen what she could do. Even if his instincts screamed otherwise.
It was the worst damn no-win situation he’d ever been in. There was no good choice for him. No lesser of two evils because both choices were equally nasty in their own hideous ways.
Yet he couldn’t stay away for another minute. He needed to see her. To be sure he’d done the right thing.
“Can I observe?” Rome added a detached note of interest to his voice.
That got Jeff’s attention. His boss didn’t look up, but he stopped reading. Rome knew it was unusual that he was even here, let alone wanting to take a peek, but he had to make sure Harper was okay. She brought out his protective instinct. She touched something deep inside him and he needed to find out what it was and why.
“No.” Jeff’s reply was definite. No room for negotiation. But that had never stopped Rome before.
“C’mon, Jeff.” Rome chuckled, adding a smirk for good measure. “It’s been a while.” True. He hadn’t been down there for some time, with the exception of the order to find Harper a few days ago.
“We’re taking care of her,” Jeff repeated with a stern and direct stare, leaning back in his chair, his full concentration on Rome now. Finally.
“Fine.” Rome returned the chilled stare with one of his own, treading carefully, not wanting to give Jeff any reason to be suspicious. He wasn’t sure at all that Jeff was being straight with him, either. Something in the way he was responding was prickling Rome’s instincts. And not in a good way. “Any more jobs?”
“No,” Jeff replied, giving Rome a narrowed look and straightening his navy striped tie before turning his attention back to his all-important papers, ending their brief discussion.
Brief but informative. Jeff fully believed in letting you know only what he thought you needed to know. Working with him over the years had taught Rome a great deal about learning to figure out what wasn’t being said by what little was said.
The repeated “we’re taking care of her” meant she was still in the facility. The adamant refusal to let him observe meant they were still working on her. And the firm disinclination to even discuss it with Rome meant Jeff was having a hard time getting what he wanted from her.
So Harper was out-toughing Jeff. Rome had to fight to keep a smile off his face, thinking about her gumption and strength. He could count on one hand the number of people who were able to outlast Jeff’s “care.” Being aware of Jeff’s methods, Rome knew that was an extraordinarily impressive feat. And the same knowledge also made him cringe deep down.
But now he could do something about it. Now, through Jeff’s noninformation, Rome knew the level of security he’d have to go through to get to her.
And he would get to her. Otherwise he’d go crazy. Well, crazier than he’d been without her.
“Later, boss,” Rome said with a wave, halfway out the door. Jeff grunted without looking up from his reading. Yes, the man was definitely on edge. Rome shook his head and ambled down the hallway that looked like every other drab hallway in the place.
His destination was the bottom floor, which housed the idiotically dubbed “romper rooms.” Also known as the rooms decorated wall to wall with torture and experimental equipment. Rome quickened his steps at the thought of Harper down there.
And he’d put her there.
The cool halls were empty, as were the rough stairwells. There were no elevators and very little electronics. Basically it was a cross between a crude basement and a rustic cave. No surveillance, either. No one could get in or out of the facility unless you knew h
ow, so once inside you were trapped. Besides, they didn’t want any superfluous accounts of what went on inside.
Finally reaching the last step, Rome took a right turn and faced a solid gray door. He stuck his master key in the dead bolt, turned the knob, and walked in. The lighting was very sparse and very synthetic. He couldn’t understand the handful of folks who worked here every day and night. He’d go crazy without fresh air and sunlight, even if it was watery northwest sunlight.
After a few long steps down the corridor, he stopped at a good-sized room. The light was brighter here, and he easily found the person he needed peering at the screen attached to a bulky machine. The display cast a bluish tint to Dr. Andy’s face.
Dr. Andy—a doctor of what, Rome wasn’t sure—managed everything in the romper room. Read all the data that was extracted. Processed any samples taken. Administered who knew what. Made decisions about methods. Jeff was the boss and directed everything that happened. But down there, Dr. Andy saw that the orders were carried out.
“Hey, Doc.” Rome’s voice boomed across the open space, and he held back a smile when the startled Dr. Andy jolted forward face-first into the monitor.
“Agent Lucian,” she murmured, pushing up the thick-rimmed glasses that had fallen down her diminutive nose. Dr. Andrea “Andy” O’Brien pulled herself to her full height, which was still a good foot shorter than his, as he sidled up next to her, trying to look at anything that would clue him in about Harper. “What can I do for you?”
“Just checking in.” Rome glanced around, but didn’t see anything except Dr. Andy’s myriad of scattered Diet Dr Pepper cans and a bag of Oreos, half of which were gone, the crumbs left everywhere. “How’s my favorite gal?”
Blushing and mumbling something, she swung away from him and grabbed one of the aluminum cans. She took a long swallow, refusing to meet his eyes. She was always a little nervous around him, which surprised him, considering her chilling job. He rarely visited and even more rarely stopped to chat with the doctor when he did. Truth be told, she creeped him out a little, but he’d never let on.
