by Jodi Redford
The man broke away from Leena and glanced at Kiantu. “Do you have the formula?”
“The more important question is do you have my money?”
“It’s ready to be transferred into the account of your choosing as we speak.”
Greed sparkled in Kiantu’s eyes. “Excellent.” He snapped his fingers to his partner. “Grab the box out of the hover jet, Elrick.”
Giving a nod, the burly man—Elrick—exited the room. Kiantu and the man Avily assumed to be Rodale stood facing off against each other. Adversaries, except when it came to corruption and avarice, apparently.
The door banged open, and Elrick entered, carrying a cardboard box overflowing with file folders. Kiantu sneered at the man. “I meant the black box. Not the entire thing.”
Looking not the least contrite, Elrick shrugged. “Sorry, boss. Guess that’s why it pays to be specific.”
“No, my problem is paying you at all when clearly my money is better spent elsewhere.” His expression snippy, Kiantu snatched a small case resting on top of the pile. He unhooked the hinged lid and showed it to Rodale. “Your formula.”
“You expect me to pay five million merca for four vials?”
“Consider it down payment. Once my new lab is operational, you’ll get your full supply. Enough to support an army and upwards.”
Rodale’s features were rigid. “This isn’t what we agreed to.”
Sighing, Kiantu snapped the lid shut. “Then I’ll take my product elsewhere.”
“I didn’t say I don’t want it.” His face awash with unmistakable coveting, Rodale stroked his chin. “But I’ll want a demonstration.”
Kiantu’s snake-charmer smile faltered before reappearing with slightly less enthusiasm. “Of course.”
Rodale seized one of the syringes and studied it closely. The zealous light in his eyes provoked a shiver from Avily. Palming the substance, he snatched an additional syringe and handed it to Kiantu.
Her captor stared at the offering. His smile losing one more layer of its phoniness, he held up a hand. “Honored as I am to be invited into your ranks, I’m afraid I must refuse. My stockholders wouldn’t think kindly of me partaking in bribes and political pandering.”
Rodale grunted before swinging the vial to Elrick. “I’m assuming your stockholders won’t have a problem with him taking it.”
“Not in the least.”
Elrick glared at Kiantu. After a fierce stare down, he grudgingly accepted the syringe.
Avi’s heart knocked, her tensions a mirror of the leery atmosphere of the room. The two men injected themselves with the substance, and everyone went deathly still waiting to see what would happen next.
“I don’t feel anything,” Elrick said, breaking the silence.
“Goddamn it, Kiantu,” Rodale growled. “If you’ve swindled me—”
Avily’s captor held up his hands again. “You’ve only just injected it. Give it a damn moment.”
“You’re wasting my time.” With a thunderous shove, Rodale propelled Kiantu into the wall with a force that was eye-popping. Literally. Kiantu’s eyes threatening to bug from their sockets, he struggled to pick himself off the floor.
All occupants in the room once again froze in anticipation. Excitement lighting his face, Elrick slammed his fist down on the table, effortlessly splintering the edge in two. Blinking, he held up his uninjured hand and grinned. “Whaddya know, boss, it does work.”
She’d been dropped into a pit of insanity. Rodale and Elrick, equally hopped-up on their strange excitement rush and newfound superhuman strength, were competing against each other to see who could create the most damage in the room. Wincing when Rodale smashed his fist through a steel cabinet across the way, she inched closer to the doorway.
Looking bored, Kiantu checked his timepiece. “If you gentlemen wouldn’t mind wrapping this up, I have other business to attend.” He glanced at Rodale. “My money transfer, if you will.”
Rodale pulled his hand from the cabinet and fished his micro com from his pants pocket. He clicked a few keys and returned the device to his trousers. “Done.”
“Excellent.”
With a calm flick of his wrist, Kiantu extracted the electrolizer gun from the interior of his suit jacket and fired it at Rodale. The man staggered for a moment before righting himself and knocking the gun from Kiantu as if it were an ineffectual toy. Picking up the smaller man, Rodale flung Kiantu at the wall again with a hysterical laugh.
We’re never going to get out of here alive. The instant the thought popped into her mind, Avily shoved it aside. She needed to keep her wits. Falling victim to panic and fear wouldn’t help her or her sister out of this situation.
As if she’d plugged into Avily’s brainwaves, Leena dashed to her side, her cheeks flushed. “Isn’t it something, baby sis? Told you we’re the chosen ones. The oppression and tyranny. It all stops here with us.”
She grasped Leena’s arm. “We need to get out of here. Now.” Before they ended up the next test of strength. Shoving aside a trickle of fear, she pulled at Leena. Her sister stubbornly refused to budge.
“Damn it, Leena. This isn’t the time to go cuckoo for crazy puffs. Let’s go.”
A hand snagged her by the hair, and she bit back a scream as she was whirled around. Tear ducts stinging, she stared into Kiantu’s eyes. Her relief at not being the new punching bag for Rodale or Elrick fizzled an instant death when her captor dragged her away from the door.
“You’re going nowhere.”
“I’m not the only one.” Shaking, she slid her gaze in Rodale’s direction. “You honestly think he’s going to let any of us out of here? Whatever that was you gave him has disintegrated what little sanity he barely possessed in the first place.”
“Oh no, sweets. I definitely intend to get out of here. I put too much time, energy and money into this to let it go to shit around me.” Dragging her in front of him, he started toward the door. Panic slammed her dead center. He was going to use her as a living body shield.
Rodale turned toward them, and she stiffened in her captor’s arms. Eyes wide, she stared helplessly while Rodale stalked toward them. He raised his arm, and she flinched, a whimper cocked and ready in her mouth.
Something hit the door with a thunderous bang, and she jolted. Rodale’s fist dropped to his side, and he crossed to the window. With a fierce yank, he pulled the entire blinds—anchor and all—from the wall.
The scene outside revealed another hover jet parked next to Kiantu’s, along with a cavalcade of military-grade vehicles. At first she assumed they must be a part of Rodale’s insane militia, until she noticed that the men stationed in front of the vehicles had high-tech weapons aimed at the building.
A stream of curses pelted from Kiantu. “Goddamn Howertech. What is that bastard doing here?” He flung a barbed glare at Rodale. “You double-crossing shit. Were you planning to cut me out of this deal? Sell my formula to him and share the profits?”
Rodale gripped the windowsill in a seal-cracking hold. “That’s military out there. I’ve gotta have me some of those toys they’re packing.” His lips peeled back with terrifying, maniacal glee. Moving to the door, he ripped it from the hinges and flung it aside before lurching outside. He got no farther than two steps before snipers opened fire on him. Blood spraying everywhere, he thunked to the ground, face down. An agonized wail sprang from Leena, and she started toward the door.
“Leena, no!” Avi jumped on her sister, tackling her to the floor. Ignoring the flailing limbs trying to knock her free, Avily held her sister down.
“No, we’re the chosen ones, baby sis. Our time is now. Don’t you see that?” Leena screamed, tears trickling down her cheeks. Her eyes wild, she twisted her wrist, revealing the syringe tucked in her hand. Before Avily could grasp at her sister’s intentions, Leena gave another desperate cry and plunged the needle into Avily’s arm, releasing the air dart.
Avily stumbled off her sister, gasping. She could feel the toxin spreadi
ng through her veins like a living parasite. Shaking, she dropped to her knees.
Leena made a dash for the door again, but Avily held barely enough strength to call out to her in anguish. She steeled herself for the rapid report of gunfire.
Voices carried from outside. Strident shouts and demands for weapons to be laid down. Several endless moments later, footsteps pounded the earth, drawing ever closer. A shadow crossed the floor planks, and she raised her head, her vision swimming.
Backlit by the diminishing sun, Jerrick stood in the doorway, his expression frantic and his chest heaving. He spotted her and rushed forward. Skidding to his knees, he scooped her up, crushing her to him.
“Jer. I knew y-you’d come for me.” Her eyes rolling back, she slipped into the endless void of darkness.
Clutching Avi tight, Jerrick pushed the hair back from her face. She was lifeless in his arms. That realization freezing his blood, he searched for a pulse. It was there, but thready. His gaze fell on the empty syringe close by, and his stomach bottomed out, right before its contents threatened to reverse course. A dull roar rushed in his head, its pounding refrain a ceaseless loop of Ohfuckgodsno.
“This is a touching scene, but I’m afraid I’ll have to miss the final credits.”
Snapping his head sideways, Jerrick locked stares with Lex. Or rather Stephan Kiantu. The terrified beast within Jerrick that demanded retribution for Avi surged against its bindings, longing to rip Kiantu limb from limb. Somehow he kept his rage contained. Stephan would get what was coming to him. “You’re not getting out of here, fuck wipe. The entire place is surrounded.”
“Precisely why I intend to use you and the girl as hostages.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you, Kiantu. And neither is she.” Gently settling Avi down, Jerrick straightened and stalked forward.
Kiantu cringed against the wall. His gaze flickered toward the left. “Elrick, why the fuck aren’t you helping me, you worthless piece of shit?”
Jerrick risked a glance in the direction Kiantu was staring and noticed a man slouched in one of the chairs. Judging by the vacancy in his eyes, he was deader than a doornail. “Looks like your man took a permanent leave of absence, minus the severance pay.”
Kiantu held up his hands. “Look, we can come to a gentleman’s deal. I’ll set you up so you’ll never have to worry about money again. Just help me get out of here.”
“That’s a mighty generous offer.” He stopped in front of Kiantu, the cold fury currently eating his insides making it all too easy for him to enjoy seeing the man squirm. “Only thing is, I’m no gentleman.” Pulling his fist back, he leveled a bone-crunching punch dead square in Kiantu’s face. The man slid to the ground, blubbering. Tempting as it was to make good on his desire to kill the motherfucker, Jerrick had more pressing matters to attend. Like ensuring Avi wouldn’t succumb to the same fate as Kiantu’s man.
Grabbing Stephan by the lapel of his suit coat, he dragged the cretin to the doorway and tossed him out onto the dirt before rushing back inside to Avi. He gathered her into his arms just as Thane sprinted through the door. “I see you got Kiantu. The others are—” He broke off as his attention dropped to Avi. “What the hell happened?”
“She was injected with the formula.”
His expression matching the awful emotion residing in Jerrick’s chest, Thane sprinted to his side. “We need to get her to Howertech’s lab. Now.”
Heart in his throat, Jerrick secured Avi tight to him and raced to the waiting hover jet. He spared the briefest glance to the activity commencing around him, barely registering the militia members being rounded up. He spied Leena in one of the groups, crying her eyes out. The hover jet’s doors hissed shut, sealing her from view.
His ex was the last thing on his mind right now. She was the past. His future lay unconscious and frighteningly vulnerable in his arms.
If Avi died, he’d have no place to go but with her.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
He’d never been happier to see white lab coats in his life.
Staring helplessly at the commotion around him, Jerrick held tight to Avi’s hand—the one lifeline in his nightmarish world.
She hadn’t roused at all during the twenty-minute flight to Howertech Laboratories’ corporate headquarters. The additional two minutes it’d taken them to ready a makeshift emergency room for her amped his desperation to the breaking point. He needed to do something, damn it. Not sit here, watching the life force slowly drain from the only good thing he’d ever known.
A shuffling noise sounded. Jerking his head up, he met Thane’s worried gaze. “How long will it take them to create the vaccine?”
“I don’t know.”
That wasn’t fucking good enough. They needed to be in here now, doing everything in their power to make Avi better. To bring her back to him.
His mind insisted on torturing him with constant flashes of the vacant eyes of Kiantu’s man. The greasy ball of nausea churned relentlessly in his gut. “The case-study patient. What was the time frame…?” He couldn’t bring himself to choke out the words.
Thane gave him a sorrowful look. “An hour, tops.”
“Then they better have that goddamned vaccine ready soon.”
“I’ll go check on its progress.” Thane slipped away from the doorway, his footsteps diminishing into a distant echo in the cold, sterile hallways of the laboratory.
Lifting her hand to his face, Jerrick rubbed his cheek into her palm, the faint moisture from his eyes glistening on her pale flesh. The pain and misery residing within him crushed him under a relentless wave. He could feel the light fading from her as distinctly as the slow extinguishment in his own soul.
An agonized sound tore from him, and he tucked her fingers to his lips, shaking from the brunt of his emotions. “Avi, please don’t leave me. I need you. I’ve always needed you. Baby, come back to me.”
Another faint swish of fabric announced the arrival of a lab tech. Not bothering to hide his anguish, Jerrick watched the woman prep Avi. When the female chambered a vial of clear liquid into a syringe gun, he lowered Avi’s hand from his mouth. “Is that the vaccine?”
“No, this is a blocker that will hopefully slow down the advancement of the toxin.”
“Will it make her better?”
“It isn’t a cure, if that’s what you’re asking.” Her gaze softened. “The scientists are working hard on the vaccine.”
He didn’t want to hear that. He wanted it ready now.
The woman repositioned Avi’s arm and aligned the syringe gun with the inside of Avi’s elbow. With a small blast of air, the tech delivered the shot and then gently swabbed the area and bandaged it. After that she left Jerrick alone with Avi and the company of his grief.
Seconds felt like they stretched into hours while he waited for news on the vaccine. Thane reappeared several more times and fruitlessly tried to offer Jerrick comfort before wisely concluding that was a fool’s mission.
Just about when Jerrick had given up hope of seeing another technician enter the room, a group of scientists arrived. They spouted off numbers and ratios and a whole host of things he didn’t understand while they prepped Avi yet again. He didn’t give a rat’s ass about their scientific jargon. Could they fix Avi? That was the only thing that mattered.
Monitoring their every move like a hawk, Jerrick continued holding her hand, his eyes stinging. She was so frail like this. Her fire and spark missing. He needed her sarcastic quips. Her teasing. Her laughter and joy. The innate goodness in everything she touched.
The needle punctured her skin, the slow disappearance of the vial’s contents lighting a match to Jerrick’s dwindling flame of hope. “Now what?”
The nearest scientist peered at Jerrick over the frame of his spectacles. “We wait and see.”
The wait stretched into infinity. When shadows gathered outside the tall windows of the laboratory and Avi still hadn’t awakened, Jerrick’s torment shifted to rage. He cursed at anyone
who dared enter the room with no answers for him. He cursed the sisters of fate for taking Avi from him. But most of all he cursed himself. For not protecting her as he’d sworn to do. For bringing her pain all of those years, and even more recently for foolishly believing that not speaking the truth in his heart would somehow trick the fates.
Thane appeared in the doorway. “You need to eat. Starving yourself to exhaustion won’t help her.”
“You think I don’t fucking know that?”
The man abandoned his station and halted beside Jerrick. “You blame yourself for her being here.”
Anguish shredding his insides, he gazed blearily at Thane. “I am to blame.”
“No, Kiantu and Rodale are the monsters responsible for this.” Thane gestured to Avi’s frighteningly lifeless form. “Don’t deprive them their rightful place in hell by shouldering their crimes.”
His eyes sore and his heart miserably heavy, Jerrick stroked Avi’s dear face. “I just want her to wake up. Grace me with one of her grins and call me some properly despicable name.”
Thane grunted. “You two have the strangest relationship I’ve yet to come across.”
“She completes me in a way that didn’t exist before her.” It was all too true. Prior to Avi joining him as his partner fifteen years ago, he’d been an empty shell, missing the vital part that made him whole. Leena had destroyed him, but Avi had been the one to put him back together piece by piece.
“Then you’re indeed the luckiest individual on the planet.”
He returned Thane’s solemn expression. “I will be, once she’s healthy again.”
A strange noise filtered from Avi. His gaze shot to her, painful hope filling his chest. Until he noticed her eyes had opened and were rolled back in her head. She began convulsing, her body twisting with horrific shudders. His heart splintering in two, he leapt to his feet and shouted for the technicians. A team of them raced into the room, their lab coats frantically swinging about their bustling bodies.
“She’s seizing,” one of them shouted. Another grabbed a nearby tray of vials and chambered one into the available gun. He administered the shot into Avi’s neck, and she immediately ceased her thrashing.
