by JL Terra
“Anything I should know about Eric Tiller?”
Jeff said, “Nobody. Just rubble.”
“He had a brother. Might want to look into Ted Tiller, find out why he disappeared recently.”
“You think he’s in on the race for the flash drive?”
“Dead end,” Ben said. “The flash drive is empty.” He pulled it from his pocket and tossed it over. “If there is a device somewhere with the list on it, this isn’t it. I’ll need more info if I’m going to find it.”
Jeff fingered the flash drive. Stuck it in his own pocket. He was quiet for a minute. “I’ll have my people track down the brother. He might be the only lead to the missing list of agents.”
Ben nodded. At this point he doubted its existence. Was the CIA playing him?
“And the other team. The buyer,” Jeff said. “Remy sent me all the info. We’ll run that down. See if it goes anywhere.”
He told Jeff where to find Peter Bayleigh.
Jeff laughed. Shook his head. “Sure you aren’t going soft?”
“I got the new file,” Ben said. “You lost an agent?”
Both of their gas pumps had clicked off. Jeff replaced his. If the man wanted time to formulate his answer that was fine. No, Ben didn’t want a receipt. Jeff leaned against the Taurus again. Ben waited.
“She was on a mission in Taiwan. Wrapped it all up, called in, and hopped a plane home. Surveillance cameras have her boarding the plane, but she never disembarked at San Francisco. We looked. There was no sign of her.”
“Someone grabbed her?” They’d have to be good to get her in the first place. Not to mention doing it without anyone seeing a thing. Then again, Ben had just been drugged on a plane.
A picture flashed in his mind. Curled up, bound, and loaded in a van. Not a memory from his own life.
Jeff shrugged. “Maybe she dropped off the grid.”
“Out of the blue?” She might’ve been planning it. Not telling the CIA meant they could have betrayed her. Whatever the reasoning was, it meant more to her than her career. Otherwise there was no way she’d have dropped off the map like that.
Ben knew what would do it for him. He had to wonder if that meant she had learned information about him. No. That would mean she still cared after all these years. “Any chatter?”
Jeff shook his head. “Nothing unusual. I’ll keep Remy in the loop if I learn anything.”
Ben nodded.
“You’re gonna go after her personally?”
“Of course.”
Jeff’s expression softened in a way Ben didn’t like at all. “I figured as much. Even though you should give it to one of your other guys. I’ve seen her file. She has a pretty face. You’ll want to help her.” His friend paused. “What about that British one?”
Like Daire didn’t take things more personally than Ben. “I’ll handle it.” At least Jeff didn’t know about Ben’s connection with this particular CIA agent.
“Whatever it is, don’t wade in. Just call us.” Jeff stretched across the space between them, his hand out.
Ben clasped it. A breeze rolled through the gas station forecourt and tickled the back of his neck. He glanced at the trees around them, stationary despite the wind that had ruffled his dreads.
“Time to go, I guess.”
Ben didn’t move his gaze from the trees. He listened to Jeff open his door. The Taurus engine fired up. He drove away while Ben stood still. Alert. He took two steps toward the trees, dark beyond the glow of the street light.
Something was out there.
He shook off the thought, moved to the driver’s door and climbed onto the seat. The mark on his chest throbbed, and he pulled the shirt aside. The black veins still spread out, as they had on the plane.
He pulled the Jeep onto the highway. Didn’t matter which way he went, there would be an airport. A flight to the next city, the next job. The fact it was her he was supposed to find shouldn’t make this one any different than the others. Did, though. He’d given up trying to change that about himself long ago. Hence their estrangement. Neither of their lives were conducive to family, and yet all that had done was leave Mei vulnerable.
Two miles later, an SUV sped up behind him. Right on his tail.
Half a mile after that, the vehicle bumped the back end of Ben’s Jeep. He cut the wheel hard to the right and took the fight off the road. The driver of the SUV would be surprised at his brash maneuver, but that only gave Ben the advantage.
The Jeep raced down an embankment and hit the incline on the other side, so fast the momentum flipped it end-over-end. Ben hung on, and tried to minimize the physical damage. This was going to hurt.
With a crack of aged wood the Jeep split a tree in half like a wrecking ball on an old building. Once the momentum was spent, the Jeep came to a halt. Ben was crumpled on the ceiling, one leg bent so his foot was beside the pedals. The steering wheel bit into his side and a piece of metal dug at his back. Ben’s inhale ended in a sharp pain that reverberated through his ribs.
The watch lit up, beeping.
What’s happening?
Do you need help?
Ben dismissed the messages with a reply. All OK.
The SUV’s headlights shone over the Jeep. It came to a stop, Ben in shadow. The driver and another man both got out. Boots crunched dead branches over to his location.
One whistled. “Crazy. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.”
“Guess the guy wanted to die, rather than meet us.” He huffed. “Don’t know why. We’re likable, aren’t we?”
“Sure are,” the other answered. He stood beside where Ben was sprawled.
The mark on Ben’s chest burned hot. Both men stepped closer. One grabbed his wrist. Meaty fingers banded tight around Ben’s arm and the watch. He pulled for half a second, then cried out and let go. “Ouch.” He hissed.
“Told you,” the other man responded. “Colin said that watch isn’t normal.”
“The guy’s hot, too. Like burning.” Pause. “He isn’t contagious, right?”
“Teacher didn’t say nothin’ about that.”
Ben was hauled out of the Jeep by one arm. The pain in his shoulder couldn’t be ignored, so he let a moan out but didn’t open his eyes.
“Maybe we should shoot him somewhere. Just maim him, ya know? So he’ll be easier to manage on the trip home.”
Ben lay still. All the while the fire in his chest burned. Flames licked behind his eyelids and sparked off images in his mind. A man in a gray uniform. Gray hat. A military uniform. Ben watched his own hands rise in front of him…
And tear the man’s limbs from his body.
“Is he having a seizure?”
Satisfaction rolled through him. The kind of righteous vengeance that heated the blood. Still, the fire in his chest raged. It was excruciating now. Surely his blood would begin to boil soon. Just spill out of him like water onto a stove.
More images flashed behind his eyes. A movie reel of horrendous acts he’d never seen before. Entire platoons taken down in the dead of night. An old man in a chair beside a fire, giving orders. Anton stepped onto an underground train. Brian walked along a promontory in daylight.
Ben’s stomach roiled at the display of death before him, deep in his mind. Righteous death that would maintain the balance in this world. Protect his people.
He rolled over and hurled onto the grass. Those were only his dreams, and yet they felt so real. The two men jumped back as Ben continued to cough and heave. Deep inside himself a blackness grew. Ben didn’t want to watch more of those images, so he welcomed it.
The abyss consumed him, sucking Ben down into darkness.
**
The figure rose to his feet. Steve patted Mark’s shoulder with the back of his hand. “Dude.”
He took a step back. The fire of evil was strong enough Steve felt it on his face.
His eyes glowed red, and he launched himself at them.
Lethal.
Savage.
And then there was nothing but pain.
Chapter 10
Indianapolis, IN. Monday, 23:45hrs EDT
Julie stepped out of the elevator into the parking lot adjacent to the hospital. The long shift in pediatric oncology weighed down her muscles as she trudged to her car, backpack over one shoulder. Her life now was a far cry from the cushy job she’d had previously.
Probably nothing but a healthy dose of karma, since Julie had been sleeping with the patient’s son. Like Julie even wanted that job, taking care of a weird old German guy. Terminal cancer or not, he’d scared her. His house even scared her. Like the time she’d had her fortune read and the lady said her father was going to die.
Julie jabbed the key into the lock of her car and twisted it. Now she had a scar from the glass and no severance package to remind her of that happy time in her life.
Arms banded around her from behind. She tried to scream. It came out as a muffled exhale as the air expelled from her lungs in a whoosh. Her chest was squeezed so hard she thought her ribs were going to crack.
No breath to call for help. No one out here this late to hear her.
Sparks flickered at the edges of her vision as her assailant literally squeezed the life from her. The body pressed against hers was as hot as the kiln her dad had used to fire his clay pieces. Julie kicked her legs and slammed her head back. The knock reverberated through her head. The nose should have broken. Instead it was like she’d hit stone.
Her brain began to shut down. Deprived of oxygen. Life flashed before her eyes, just like they say it does. For Julie it was the endless parade of death she saw in her job. Patients she’d watched pass away as she wiped them down and administered drugs. The few who had persuaded her to give them a little extra, for the pain. Then enough to send them to the sweet abyss. The only thing beyond this life. Darkness.
She saw it now. The place she was slipping towards with each attempt to suck air into her body. She renewed her struggle, but it was no use. Her strength was gone now.
Julie moaned with the last ounce of breath in her body.
Fire swept through her.
Finally, she was released, falling to the ground. Her gaze couldn’t focus on one thing, but skittered around. Concrete beneath her cheek. The row of vehicles beside hers. A wheel. The exhaust pipe.
He rolled her over, and she got a look at his face. The last thing Julie saw was his blonde hair, that ordinary face. Those red eyes.
He tilted his head to the side, but the curiosity was short-lived.
He touched her chest, over her heart.
It stopped beating.
Chapter 11
Clear Spring, MD. Tuesday, 04:07hrs EDT
Ben walked until he found the river. Strode into the cold water and sank until it touched his shoulders. Scrubbed at his skin until his fingers were numb and the blood washed away in the Potomac. His blood. Their blood. He’d gained a couple of cuts. Those two men had fought back. The wounds had already closed into red lines before he’d woken.
He ducked below the surface and waited a while, fully submerged by the river in the dark of predawn. Water flowed around him. He held his breath and blocked out the world. No one could touch him down here.
In his mind, Ben saw the nurse. Felt the final exhale. The end of her life.
A fish brushed against him. He opened his eyes and watched it dart away. It didn’t matter where he went, he brought darkness with him. Death.
Ben let out the breath he’d been holding and rose to the surface. His feet were numb as he stumbled from the water. His sneakers squished with every step as he dripped a trail up the driveway. It forked off into the trees. He turned right before that and crossed the short stretch of grass. Fell against one of the aging wood signs. Ben leaned his back on it and shut his eyes again. The ball cap and dreadlocks had long since fallen off. His shorts and tank top were soaked through. A breeze cut at his wet clothes, the freezing temperature welcome after the inferno that had raged in him.
He’d awoken on the ground in a sea of carnage. The blood under his fingernails told him what he needed to know. He’d slashed and ripped them apart with his bare hands.
He had to have blacked out. Had some kind of psychotic episode. That was the only explanation.
Ben stared at the trees on the other side of the river and listened to the sounds of night. The rustle of leaves, a bird flutter. Normally it would have soothed him.
Nothing could repair the damage he’d done. A monstrous thing lived inside Ben, and there was no way to deny it now. It was part of him. The only hope he had was of one day being able to control it. He hadn’t shed another man’s blood in months. Hadn’t ended a life in all these weeks. He thought he’d beaten it, electing to no longer kill anyone he faced—the sniper at the bank, the man in his Jaguar.
Until tonight.
He looked down at his hands. Instead, what caught his gaze was the spread of black veins from the mark on his chest. They snaked out now so that he could see them reach for his shoulder. He pulled off the shirt. The stain covered the left side of his rib cage and across his chest, almost to his right pectoral.
He shut his eyes and strained to remember those missing two weeks, so long ago.
Outstretched fingers. The image was blurry. They reached for his chest, the frame he’d carried as a teen. The burn in him flickered now.
The memory disappeared.
He fought to call it up again, but nothing happened. Gone, just as easily as it had come.
Ben sat on the banks of the Potomac until the sky lightened and an orange glow peeked over the trees. Until a man in running clothes asked if he was okay. The dog strained its leash and barked as though threatened by the wet man in the grass. Ben glanced at the animal. The man continued on his way, no more questions or offers of assistance.
After a while, the early crowd of wannabe athletes died down. A vehicle pulled into the parking area. Not the first car to come and go this morning. Probably not the last.
“I see him.” It was Mei. “Over here.”
Ben listened to the sound of their footsteps as they sprinted over. Two of them. He didn’t move. Wasn’t entirely sure he could. Experience told him it was probably shock. He’d never actually suffered from shock before. If it felt like this, he hoped it never happened again.
Despite all he’d seen and done, there had always seemed to be a barrier between Ben and the world around him. If anyone could break through that barrier, she could. Maybe it was the real reason Ben stayed away. She would know there was something wrong with him.
The young Chinese woman planted her knees beside him. So many similarities, yet so different. Mei blew out a breath and reached for him, as though she was going to touch his cheeks. Her hand stilled before she could make contact with his skin. It took a second before he realized he’d flinched.
“What happened?” Her voice was a melody. A blossom in winter.
Ben looked away.
Mei was probably a close second for breaking down his barriers. Simply because there was no way she’d let him be in her life without punching through the blockade he had erected around himself. He hoped she would just walk away disappointed when she discovered what was on the other side. That was the best case scenario.
The tall man behind her was Daire. “What happened to you? Remy said the watch freaked out and went dead. She broke a call through the line, and all she heard was screaming.”
Ben hoped they never saw the aftermath of what he’d done. It was bad enough someone would find the bodies.
Maybe he should have stayed. Buried what was left of those two men.
Mei’s gaze was on his chest. She reached out, and he braced as she ran her fingertips across the black lines. Her touch was warm. Comforting, unlike the painful fire. “Is this Henna? It’s super creepy.”
“It isn’t a tattoo.” His voice sounded brittle to his own ears. “Or Henna.”
“Can you get up?” Daire lifted his
gaze from Ben’s chest and held out one hand.
Ben looked at the outstretched palm, a gesture of friendship from a man he cared a great deal about. He couldn’t take it. Not after what he’d done.
Daire crouched. The leather of his jacket creaked. A frown furrowed his dark brows, but it was Mei who asked again, “What happened?”
“Aren’t you guys supposed to be on a job?”
An irritated look crossed Mei’s face. “You didn’t give us the file for the CIA job, you kept it. Shadrach is on his mission. Daire and I have nothing to do except chase you all the way to Virginia and this lovely riverside getaway you seem to be having all by yourself.” She paused. “I’m just wondering where your camping gear is.”
Neither of the men laughed, and Mei wasn’t smiling.
She said, “Remy told us about the man on the plane who drugged you.”
Ben took a leap and opted to trust them. He could keep this to himself, but it would get out. They would know it was him who’d killed those two men.
So he told them everything.
Daire straightened and glanced to the side. Rubbed one hand across the stubble on his face. He understood the darkness.
Ben looked back at Mei.
She said, “I’m not used to being in the dark, even if you are the boss and I’m supposed to be this peon who doesn’t ask questions because everything’s ‘need to know.’”
“For your safety. And the safety of the company.”
“Not your safety?” She paused. “Just me, and the company.”
“It’s clear I’m being targeted. We do things this way so it’s only one person who’s the subject of repeated attempts at” —he had to think about that— “abduction, I guess. Instead of all of us being in danger. But maybe you would prefer it your way.”
Mei glanced over her shoulder at Daire. “Would you say something to him? You can’t be okay with this.” Daire didn’t even look at them. “I thought you cared about Ben. He’s your friend.”
Daire shot her a dark stare. “Don’t mistake me as part of this family thing you all have going on. You don’t know me that well. And I don’t think we know Ben that well, either. It’s the nature of this business to keep secrets, and he’s the best there is.”
