by Amy Rench
Rome slowed as they approached a closed unmarked doorway to their right. He flattened his hands against the surface and leaned in his head to listen. One of his hands brushed the door handle and tried it slowly. Locked.
He waved down the hall, signaling they’d try the next door, about twenty paces away. But that one was locked, too.
He gestured to a small panel on the wall with numbers and a tiny red light. Harper hadn’t even noticed it. Pointing to it, he wiggled his fingers like he was typing. What the heck? She wasn’t trained in special-agent signs. She was winging it here.
Holding her hands palms up and shrugging in the universal sign for huh? she waited for clarification. Rome rolled his eyes and moved close to her, brushing his mouth softly against her ear.
“Disable this,” he whispered; his warm breath against her skin caused her to shiver. He then pulled back slightly and gave her a questioning look, tilting his head toward the panel on the wall.
Oh. She nodded. She moved her fingers to the panel and pointed to the red light, giving him a cautious look. He nodded back, so she figured it was okay.
Removing the panel cover, she carefully fiddled with the wires, much like she had with Rome’s alarm at his warehouse. In less than a minute, the light flicked to green and she heard the lock snick.
Rome moved his hand to the doorknob and twisted it slowly, opening the door just a sliver. He peeked through, then opened it wider and quickly moved inside, yanking her along with him.
He shut the door but didn’t turn on the lights. The room was illuminated by two dim fluorescent bulbs, one hanging from each end of the ceiling.
Curiously, the room was very cold. It boasted several stainless steel tables and assorted laboratory equipment, not unlike the machines she’d been hooked up to while in captivity.
On the tables was a scattering of lab beakers, rubber tubes, and glass vials. Shuddering with unpleasant memories, she padded across the room to the laptop resting on the desk in the corner, careful not to touch anything along the way.
Rome was examining some of the equipment as he moved toward a bank of large metal cabinets that lined half of the wall in the back of the room. She continued to watch as he reached for a drawer handle and pulled on it, raising his eyebrows at her when it unlatched easily. He gave it a good tug.
A body slid out.
Harper choked and covered her mouth with her hand. Considering all the dead bodies she’d seen—well, caused—in the last week, the grisly sight shouldn’t have shocked her. But this one wasn’t a victim of self-defense like the others. Against her better judgment, she went to Rome’s side.
On a metal slab, the dead body was similar to the men who had attacked her—large and muscular, built for power. And almost familiar. But this corpse was withered and appeared annihilated, as though like it had been beaten thoroughly by some unbearable force of nature.
Then it hit her. This was the leader of the camouflaged group that chased her through the woods and cornered her at the Barracks.
And murdered her brother.
Her blood heated in rage, flushing her body. This corpse was a casualty of the psi-power war they started with her. This guy got what he deserved. And before this was all over, the rest of them would, too.
She blinked, then glanced at Rome and realized he was watching her, a probing look on his face she couldn’t discern. She shook the greedy avenging thoughts from her mind.
Rome pulled out a folder filed in the small partition at the front of the drawer. He swung his backpack around and tucked the folder in it as he closed the drawer with a heavy click. She watched him open the next one and take its file as well. He continued down the line until they heard an electronic beeping near the door. Yikes. Someone was coming.
Zipping the backpack, Rome quickly replaced it on his back and closed the drawer quietly. He put a finger to his lips and pulled her with him along the wall to crouch together behind one of the enormous machines in the corner.
Blindingly bright incandescent light showered the room, forcing her to squint. Peering through the thick levers and pipes of the creepy apparatus, she watched a tall man with a white lab coat walk in, his attention glued to the open files he had in his hands. He hadn’t noticed the two of them at all.
A shrill ringing pierced the silence. Harper nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound. In an instant she realized just how foreign all this was to her. Rome laid a calming hand on her thigh. The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone.
“Yes?” he said, answering the phone, his voice a tad nervous. “No, the latest tests failed.” A pause as he listened to the caller. “You’re coming here? Now?” He sounded anxious, as though the person on the other end was supremely unhappy at his negative response. “Okay, I’ll meet you here. Yes, at the lab.”
Disconnecting the call, the man mumbled something harsh and slammed the folders on the desk next to the laptop. He swiped his brow with a clearly shaking hand, then stamped out the door.
Harper turned to face Rome. His blue gaze appeared troubled and excited at the same time as it met hers.
“Let’s get out of here and into the ducts.” He glanced upward. “I want to see who’s coming to the lab to meet with this guy.”
She nodded in response and followed as he crept soundlessly around the side of the ugly machinery and headed for the door. He held up his palm, mouthing to her to wait, while he checked to see whether there was anyone in the hall.
At his signal, she followed him out of the room. They turned back the way they had come and tread quietly down the sterile hallway.
Another few steps and Rome stopped abruptly, almost causing her to collide with him in the cloak of near darkness. The comforting warmth of his strong body seeped into her while she watched his hands sweep along the flat surface of the wall. Looking for something.
Her eyes adjusted to the dark, and she saw the outline of a door flush with the wall, but no handle.
He reached into his back pocket, his hand brushing against her stomach, inadvertently causing little flutters.
“Not sorry.” His low chuckle came from the darkness.
“Not a problem,” she answered with a soft laugh of her own.
Harper heard a muted snap, then some scraping, and figured out that Rome was attempting to pry open the buried lock with his secret-agent-spy gadget that looked like a simple pocketknife, but had many special little tools inside of it.
With a faint click he pulled the door backward. She backed off slightly to allow him to replace it in the back pocket of his jeans, though she was sorely tempted to lean in for another indulgent fondle.
She took another step backward as Rome tugged harder on the door and stepped inside after a quick peek. His nod was barely discernable in the dim entryway. She followed him across the threshold and pulled the door softly shut behind them, enveloping them in a closefitting and slightly muggy passage.
As they moved cautiously upward through the enclosed space, she could easily see why he’d favored the ceiling ducts. According to the plans, these particular channels ran above the working laboratories, where she and Rome figured they could gather the most information in the least invasive way.
The shadowy duct was narrow and tight, with coiled wires snaking along the sides and underneath the thin, grated catwalk. Puffy silver-coated insulation lined the area above them.
Stagnant, warm air filled her lungs, making every breath heavy, and there was a constant low hum that tickled her ears. But among everything, including the various pipes that streaked above them, the space was blissfully empty and unprotected.
Carefully watching her step, she followed Rome’s shrewd maneuvering. A few more paces and Rome stopped, kneeling to the floor. Crouching next to him, she watched as he pushed aside some of the wiring and pulled out his trusty little device to cut away some of the padding that layered the ceiling below them.
Harper admired his deft precision with the knife and the way his fingers
balanced between strong and graceful. He passed the fluffy padding to her and she took it, placing the chunk on the metal walkway as he leaned down on his stomach to get into a good position to peer down below.
The ceiling tiles were unusually constructed. From the little green triangles printed on the corners, she could tell that they were made from recycled metals, creating a thin layer with tiny holes constructed for optimum air circulation.
The diagrams they had studied that morning had shown that the diamond-shaped holes filtered the flow of the recycled air, making it clean. The tiles also filtered out sound, which kept the noises that shrouded them up above silent to those down below.
Harper had actually been very impressed with the green-minded health consciousness of the Five Watch. Rome had explained to her that most of the government facilities in Oregon were constructed this way.
He’d also told her he’d noticed the same construction in Bobby’s lab on that fateful night when they’d first met. Of course, he would notice everything. All she’d seen that night was her brother’s workplace in shambles.
Shaking away her thoughts, she saw Rome slowly pull the wires back to their original position and then gesture for her to join him by lying flat opposite his prone pose on the catwalk. He pointed down and then brought his hand up to motion her to listen and watch.
The view through the shimmery metal tiles was hazy but workable. The room below appeared to be the same lab they’d just been in. Rome must have thought the man and the person who called would meet there, in the same lab. He’d estimated they’d have sixty-five minutes to investigate before his tinkering with the electronics was discovered. Checking her watch, they had about twenty-nine minutes left.
The door thumped open, almost startling a jump out of her. Harper cringed and glanced up to see Rome place a finger in front of his sensuous mouth in a shushing motion. With an apologetic smile, which elicited a sexy grin from him, she returned her glance to the lab below.
Crisp footsteps clacked across the hard floor out of her range of vision. She looked back down and saw a man wearing a white lab coat approach the table with the laptop. He faced her. She couldn’t make out his features, given her high angle, but she was pretty certain it was the same nervous guy they’d hidden from. He had apparently returned to the lab in the time it took her and Rome to get to the ceiling.
The body that belonged to the clacking shoes came into her view, joining Lab Coat at the computer. Another man. He stood at Lab Coat’s side, his face visible to her, but not one she recognized.
Harper sensed Rome tense. His face was tight with fury. Shoulders bunched, he appeared ready to pounce and tear something apart with his bare hands. And she didn’t doubt that he could.
She reached over to carefully brush the back of his clenched fist with her fingers, trying to get his attention without startling him and blowing their cover. It took a long moment, but his stormy blue gaze met hers.
“Trouble?” she mouthed, watching him struggle to breathe normally. He was obviously rattled.
Rome shook his head firmly in answer, returning his concentration to the scene below, clearly dismissing any other distractions. Shrugging her shoulders, she did the same.
“How’s the next batch?” Clacker’s voice was muted, but understandable, and a touch irritated.
“The same as the others,” Lab Coat answered with a sigh, sounding skittery and worried. “I don’t think it’s going to work.”
“Think?” Clacker asked tightly, slamming his hand on the counter and causing the laptop to shudder. Harper blinked in surprise. “Dr. Blake, I’m getting tired of what you think. I need a working serum, not the knockoffs you’re giving me. Stop thinking and start doing.”
“It’s not that easy, Jeff,” Dr. Blake explained.
Jeff. Was that Rome’s boss, Jeff? A quick peek at Rome’s white knuckles and she knew she was right. Did this mean Jeff was in on all of this?
“I don’t care whether it’s easy or not,” Jeff said, pressing. “Give me a good serum.”
“You don’t understand,” Dr. Blake pleaded. “It just doesn’t work that way. We don’t have the original formula. We’re trying to work from the plant extractions, but without the true formula, it will take time to recreate it. It’s hit-and-miss.”
“It’s killing my men,” Jeff countered, pounding his hand on the table once more. “She’s killing my men.” Did Jeff mean her? A small bubble of pleasure welled up inside of Harper.
“I know, and I’m sorry.” Dr. Blake actually sounded remorseful. “But she has the original formula in her system. And trying to extract it from her blood is working the same way as extracting it from the plants. It’s essentially diluted. Secondhand. Besides, I told you when we started that we shouldn’t use human subjects until we reconstructed the original serum. My instincts are telling me this is never going to work.”
Jeff moved closer to the doctor and grabbed him by his white lapels, bunching the fabric in his grip and pulling him close. Harper leaned forward in a reflexive response and noticed Rome did the same.
“Your instincts?” Jeff yelled, just inches away from the doctor’s face. “Instincts are what made me launch this project. Agent Lucian’s failed instincts killed good people. This serum will prevent that from happening again. So don’t talk to me about your instincts.”
Harper snuck a glance at Rome. His rugged face was strained with agony. Evidently Jeff had used Rome’s one failure to prompt his own evil plan. And they’d both been caught up in it. She itched to reach over and soothe his suffering. But any movement would call unwanted attention.
“You knew what you were getting into, Doctor,” Jeff said, rolling the doctor’s coat in his hands even tighter.
“Losing the formula data in the fire has made my job very difficult,” Dr. Blake sputtered.
“It’s your job to produce the serum, so I can do my job by using superior agents.” Jeff’s voice was hard and controlled. “Dr. Kane was able to do it with the plants. You should be able to reproduce it for humans using those plants.” The mention of her brother stung Harper to the core. Jeff released the doctor with a little shove, and then backed off to glare at him. “No more excuses. Do your job, Dr. Blake, or else.”
Jeff turned on his heels and walked to the door.
“Or else what?” Dr. Blake asked with remarkable bravado.
“Or else I’ll find someone who can,” Jeff answered gravely, and straightened his tie.
“You’ll murder me like you murdered Dr. Kane?” the doctor challenged.
Harper went rigid with crazed fury, just barely kept under her skin. Rome’s tight reassuring touch on her wrist was the only thing that prevented her from crashing through that ceiling and strangling the filthy life out of Jeff.
“Dr. Kane was eliminated because he wasn’t with the program,” Jeff articulated solemnly. “Don’t make the same mistake.” And with that Jeff turned to open the door and step out of her vision.
Harper twitched as an angry chill flooded through her, causing her body to rock forward. Feeling herself beginning to slide ahead, she swung her arm around, trying to halt her abrupt movement. The catwalk creaked loudly with the sudden shift of her weight.
She glanced at Rome with an apologetic wince at her noisy blunder. His eyes were as wide as hers, and then they both looked down into the room at the same time.
Jeff and Dr. Blake were directly below, frozen and glaring at the ceiling. The two men couldn’t see her and Rome through the tiles, but there was no doubt they’d heard the metallic groan. They knew someone was there.
“Go,” Rome hissed, shoving her into motion.
He didn’t need to tell her twice. Like a crab, she scrambled frantically across the grating to stand, as Rome rushed past her, already on his feet. He grabbed her hand and she stumbled behind him, racing as fast as the tight area allowed, their boots clanging on the catwalk, not caring anymore about stealth.
Just as they burst through the duct do
or, she ran smack into his hard back, almost causing both of them to fall.
Peeking over his broad shoulder as her eyes adjusted to the muted light of the hallway, Harper saw what had made Rome stop.
They’d been found.
Four huge men were barely visible in the dim lighting. Harper hoped there weren’t more, but couldn’t tell what lurked in the shadows.
Three of them had handguns pointed directly at her and Rome. The fourth stood holding a rifle across his barrel-like chest, but she had no doubt he was just as ready to whip that thing around and use it.
Harper was getting darned tired of big guys with guns.
The six of them stood there, facing off for what seemed like an eternity. She was sure Rome was planning something, the tightness of his shoulders and the twitching of his fingers warning her.
Was he thinking up something to say or to do? They hadn’t really planned an escape strategy other than the gun in the holster inside his coat.
Well, that and her psi power, as they had referred to it since reading Bobby’s notes.
Confident she was beginning to learn to control it, she decided that she’d use it on these guys. Placing her hand ever so slightly on Rome’s back, she tried to signal her intentions. The muscles in his lower back tensed under her fingers. She hoped that meant he understood.
Focusing on the threat a few feet away, she concentrated sharply and reached inside every corner of her mind to call upon the psi power.
Nothing.
She closed her eyes and tried again, this time concentrating on remembering Jeff and the doctor talking about her brother while she and Rome were in the duct. She recalled her rage and fury at their words.
Struggling to direct the steep pain that flushed through her, Harper beckoned the white heat that would blaze within her body just before she unleashed her lethal power.
Nothing.
Glancing uneasily around the cool shadows, she wondered in a sudden fear whether she’d somehow lost her psi power. Panic flushed through her. Did that mean she was going to die now? Was she about to end up like the others?
