Teresa had brought ice cream.
“I hope you like vanilla,” she said, handing Caitlin a small dessert cup. “I figured that was the safest bet.”
Caitlin accepted the ice cream with a smile. “It’s great, thank you. Please, sit with me.”
Teresa smiled, happy to be there with her. Either Teresa was dumb as a box of rocks or she’d been kept in an underground shelter her entire life and knew nothing about the world in general. One way to find out. “Teresa, do you realize I’m being held here against my will?” Caitlin asked.
Teresa’s smile faltered. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, Regina jabbed a needle in my neck, drugged me and forced me to create a serum to protect the Faithful so that when she unleashes a horrific virus on the world, the Faithful don’t die bleeding out their assholes.”
It was a little on the graphic side but Caitlin didn’t have the option of softballing the situation. Teresa looked nervously to the door. “Regina is our leader. God has chosen her to lead us to the new world.”
“No, Regina is a crazy loon and she’s going to kill a lot of innocent people unless you help me. Teresa, you seem like a good person. Why are you helping a bunch of crazy people hurt innocent people? Do you know what this virus does to the human body?”
“It puts the bad people to sleep,” she said, although her voice reeked with uncertainty.
“No, it doesn’t do that at all,” Caitlin corrected her, trying to remain patient when she wanted to shake some sense into her empty head. “It liquefies your insides and turns you to mush. It’s excruciating and it’s brutal. One of the first victims was a two-year-old child—practically a baby. Right now, there is a three-year-old in the hospital dying from this virus—” Caitlin stopped, realizing that for all she knew Georgia Burke was already dead, too. Her eyes welled with sudden tears but she sucked them back. “People are already dying horribly from this virus and it’s all Regina’s fault. Please. Listen to me, Teresa. You can save millions if you listen to me right now.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know what Regina has told you about how the virus works but I can assure you that the infected don’t simply go to sleep peacefully. She’s lying to you. Help me. Regina is dangerous and she’s crazy.”
The wheels were turning enough to give Caitlin hope that maybe Teresa wasn’t as dumb as she appeared, until she suddenly shook her head resolutely. “No, she’s chosen. You don’t understand. All prophets face trials and must endure sacrifice.”
“Regina isn’t sacrificing anything,” Caitlin said, trying again to get through to Teresa. “She’s pushing her own agenda and it has nothing to do with anything I’ve ever seen in any Bible! Show me where in scripture does it say you must unleash a supervirus on some lunar event in order to cleanse the earth? I must’ve missed that day in Sunday school because I don’t remember that lesson.”
Teresa insisted, her expression becoming beatific. “No, you don’t understand, she’s sacrificed her own flesh and blood, much like Abraham!”
Caitlin drew back. “What?”
Teresa bobbed a vigorous nod. “Yes. God knew that Regina couldn’t ask of the Faithful the ultimate sacrifice if she wasn’t willing to do the same, so she offered her own flesh and blood.”
“What are you talking about?” Caitlin repeated, confused. “What sacrifice?”
“Her daughter, Ellis.”
Suddenly, Caitlin’s throat constricted and three names flashed in her memory.
Wes, Ellis and Georgia Burke—the family in quarantine.
Why hadn’t she put it together?
“Regina infected her own daughter?” Caitlin asked, horrified.
Teresa said sadly, “She was an unrepentant.”
Tears blinded her. “Oh, my God, if I ever hear that stupid word one more time I’ll jab a pen in my own ear,” she said, wiping at her eyes. “They’re innocent people, not unrepentant. Regina might’ve killed her own damn family.”
Caitlin thought of the little girl, Georgia, and felt fresh rage. If Zak didn’t find Regina first, Caitlin had a pretty good idea how she’d like Regina to meet her maker, and it was going to end up messy.
Caitlin shocked Teresa, reaching out to grab Teresa’s hands, holding them tight. “Do you feel this? Human hands. Warm blood courses through my veins, same as you, same as the people Regina is condemning to a gruesome death over some misguided sense of faith. How can you in good conscience support the murder of millions? The murder of children, whose only crime is being born to parents who don’t subscribe to the same faith as yours? Is that really so bad? People can still be good even if they don’t believe in the same religion. History is built upon the bones of people killed in the name of religion. Please don’t add to the list of misguided people believing theirs is the only way. Please, Teresa. I’m begging you.”
Teresa blinked back something that looked like tears, as possibly even doubt crossed her expression, but she pulled her hands from Caitlin’s tight grasp and rose to knock rapidly on the door. “Regina, we’re done with our ice cream,” she said, avoiding Caitlin’s crushed gaze. And Caitlin knew Teresa wasn’t going to help her.
Whatever Kool-Aid Regina was passing out, Teresa was guzzling it down just like everyone else in this crazy place.
Caitlin closed her eyes and prayed Zak was having better luck in finding her than she was having in busting out.
Chapter 29
Luck was on Zak’s side. There was something definitely not right about this warehouse. For one, the windows were facades, and every door had an airtight seal and electronic keypads.
Pretty fancy controls for a warehouse previously used to store medical equipment.
His gut told him this was the place. He was going to make the call. He texted Scarlett the location.
Moving along the brick wall, he searched for a possible weak point, but whoever had retrofitted the building had done their homework. Hunkering down, he watched the points of entry. The side entrance in the alley seemed to be reserved for delivery traffic. He dropped down, first to the dumpster, then to the ground, hiding until he saw a delivery truck rumbling through the alley and come to a stop.
He didn’t have time to wait for Scarlett and the team to get there before he made his move. Sliding in behind the delivery guy left in the truck, he cracked him in the head, dragged him behind the dumpster, stripped him quickly of his uniform and then zipped himself in the uniform just in time to pull the hat down low on his head and follow the rest into the building undetected.
Zak, carrying a crate of fresh vegetables, was directed to the kitchen, where he dropped off his load. Then, when no one was paying attention, he dipped into the shadows.
Dumping the delivery guy costume, he exited the kitchen and melded into the small crowd, looking for anyone who might be useful, without drawing too much attention to himself.
The warehouse seemed to be built like a church in certain ways, as there were rows of pews on the first floor and a dais for the sermon. But there was also a large conference room that doubled as a cafeteria with an attached kitchen. He was guessing that the lab was on the upper floor, which was where Caitlin was likely being held.
He slipped out of the first floor and into the stairwell, taking the stairs two at a time as he climbed the floors. It was his guess that the lab would be on the top floor for ventilation purposes, away from the general population for other reasons, as well. Zak went to the door and found a keypad. Using the butt of his gun, he smashed the keypad, sending a shower of sparks into the air and an alarm pealing through the building.
So much for the sneak attack.
Zak kicked in the door and found a woman in a severe dress suit and a bun, her hands crossed in front of her as if she were waiting for him.
Well, this isn’t a good sign. He lifted his gun. “Where’s Caitlin?” he aske
d, getting straight to the point.
“You’re trespassing.”
“Seeing as you’re trying to wipe out humanity, I think I get a pass on the trespassing charge, lady. Now, I’m only going to ask you one more time before I start to get real pissed off,” he said, moving slowly closer. “Where’s Caitlin?” he repeated in a hard tone.
“What I try to remember is that everything happens according to His plan, even when I am vexed by inconveniences such as these,” she said as if Zak didn’t have a gun trained at her brain. “I will not miss dealing with such brutish cavemen such as you. I will rejoice in watching your kind die.”
He smiled. “And here I thought it was going to be hard to shoot an old lady in the head.” His finger was seconds away from pulling the trigger when he heard Caitlin’s tremulous voice behind him and he whirled to find Robert Vepp clutching Caitlin, a needle to her neck.
“What are you doing?”
“Making a hard choice,” the woman answered with a sigh. “At my word, Robert will plunge a full syringe of the virus into Caitlin’s body. You might succeed in killing either of us but she’ll be dead within forty-eight hours and highly contagious, which in turn would kill you, too.”
“Don’t do it,” Zak warned with a growl, seeing red. “I swear to God, I’ll do more than just kill you. I’ll rip you apart.”
“My death is nothing. Heaven awaits me. What awaits you in death?”
Zak saw the fear in Caitlin’s eyes and it did crazy things to his insides. He knew he couldn’t get to her in time before Robert could stick her with that needle but he also knew it was unlikely either was getting out alive at this point.
Maybe if he stalled long enough for Scarlett and the team to get here they’d have a chance but if not, they were screwed.
He was used to shitty odds, but Caitlin wasn’t. He’d do anything to save her, anything to increase the odds of her survival.
“You couldn’t have gone into philanthropy of some kind with your mega millions?” he asked with a mocking smile. When her eyes flashed with surprise that he knew who she was, he said, “Yeah, did a little digging around. Regina Burke, sole heiress of the Burke Paper Mill Estate, couldn’t seem to make friends on her own, so she decided to make a cult instead. Seems a little extreme but each to his own, right? Except, hell, woman, did you have to try and kill the world while you were at it, too?”
Regina’s face turned florid and he knew he’d hit a nerve. Maybe he’d keep hitting that spot and see what happened. Pissed-off people made mistakes. But her ire cooled as she replied with squared shoulders, “The Lord chooses His warriors, not the other way around.”
“Oh, so you think you were chosen for some holy war? So explain to me, where does North Korea come into play in your holy war? Because you stole the sample from Tessara, who had acquired the sample from North Korea, right? I mean, did you just happen to stumble across the intel from your weekly tea with the Almighty that North Korea was dabbling with some nasty new bioweapon that might fit in nicely with the mumbo jumbo you were cooking up in your head for your village idiots? Please help me understand how this works.”
A small smile curved Caitlin’s mouth at his scathing sarcasm in spite of the danger she was in and he wanted to kiss her sassy mouth.
Robert looked to Regina, offended on behalf of his leader. “Don’t listen to him. He’s an unrepentant. Nothing he says matters. Don’t let him get under your skin.”
Regina held up her hand to silence Robert, her gaze narrowing. “You think you know something because you can google a person’s name? You know nothing.”
“I know you’re a sad, pathetic excuse for a person who can’t function in the real world and so has to change the world to fit her vision of how the world should be. You’re weak. I’ve seen plenty of people just like you out there in the world. You’re no different than any other fascist dictator running their regime, forcing people to dance to their tune. All you’re doing is packaging your particular rule in a facade made of religion but at the end of the day it’s all bullshit and ego.”
Caitlin’s eyes glowed and her smile slowly widened as she looked straight to Zak and said, “I love you,” as if they were the only two people in the room.
He said right back to her, “I love you, too, baby.” And suddenly, when their gazes met, everything made sense, as did what had to happen next.
In a blink, Caitlin swung her elbow and jabbed it into Robert’s nose, catching him off guard long enough to send the needle flying. Then Zak pumped a bullet into Regina’s chest, dropping her to the floor with a thud as glass shattered behind her.
Caitlin shouted for Zak to watch out for the needle as Robert scrambled to get away, holding his broken nose, but Zak was on him before he could get far. He wanted to break Robert into a million pieces for daring to hold that needle to his woman’s neck. “I’ll make you wish you were never born,” he promised, dragging Robert to his feet, getting right into his face. “I swear to God, you’ll wish you never set eyes on me, asshole. You want to meet God? I can arrange that right now.”
Zak buried his fist in Robert’s gut a few times, making mincemeat out of his pancreas before he threw him back down on the concrete floor.
“Zak! Stop!” Caitlin cried out and he stopped midkick, breathing hard, question in his eyes. “We have to find Rebecca! She’s somewhere in this building and they infected her so I would work harder to perfect the serum. I have to find out if she’s okay. I don’t even know if the serum worked.”
Zak grabbed Robert and shook him like a rag doll. “Hey, asshole, where’s Rebecca?” he asked but Robert was unconscious and wasn’t up to doing anything but oozing bloody drool from his slack mouth. Zak dropped the man with disgust but promised Caitlin, “Don’t worry, we’ll find her,” just as Scarlett and the team bust through the doors, taking in the scene and reading the situation.
“Seems you didn’t wait for backup,” Scarlett said, walking over to peer down at Regina’s body. “So much for using a cool head.”
“Situation called for immediate action,” Zak answered, apologizing for nothing. He looked to Caitlin, who was already moving toward the door. “Rebecca is in this building somewhere. We need to find her.”
“You go, we’ll deal with this. Watch your six.”
“Copy that.”
* * *
Caitlin had never been so happy to see another human being than when Zak had burst through that door like an avenging angel, gun drawn and ready to kill.
She’d also realized that she’d fallen in love with him long before that moment but that particular moment had sealed the deal forever.
Yeah, if they survived she was pretty much going to marry him.
“If they survived” being the operative clause, because having that needle at her neck had felt like a huge deterrent to surviving.
Her hatred for Regina was eclipsed by her hatred for Robert by the thinnest margin, so smashing her elbow into his nose had been the most gratifying experience of her life.
She’d never been a violent person but that had been more satisfying than popping Bubble Wrap.
“Pretty damn impressive, babe,” Zak said as they made their way down the hallway, checking doors as they went. “Seriously, though. You’re not only smart but badass.”
Caitlin smiled. “Yeah, I am, aren’t I?” she agreed. “You have no idea how badly I wanted to do that. Robert deserved that. I only wish I could’ve kicked him in the nuts, too. He thought he was going to, like, be my husband or something in the new world order. Gross. Like we were going to repopulate the earth with some supersmart babies or something. He had me snowed. This whole time I thought he was gay. Turns out he was just a douchebag.”
“Now I want to kick him in the nuts. The only babies you’ll be having will be mine.”
Caitlin skidded to a stop, her gaze swiveling to Zak’s. “Excuse me?”
“I mean, if you want kids, that is. I can’t promise they’d be supersmart or anything because I’m just a normal guy but I can promise they’d be really cute because between me and you...that’s a cute kid.”
Oh, God, her ovaries just put on their Sunday best. “You’re so damn sexy,” she said, pulling Zak straight to her mouth and kissing him hard and deep. Yes, she would have his babies and they would be the cutest, smartest, most adorable babies in the history of babies. They would like science and sports and art and math. In short, they would be a perfect blend of both of them.
Zak smiled against her mouth. “Is that a yes?”
“Is that a proposal?” she countered.
“Well, let me put it to you this way. I’m not letting you be with anyone else, so you might as well marry me.”
“Persuasive argument.”
He grinned. “I’ve been told I have a way with words.”
“You definitely have a way with that tongue.”
Zak’s smile turned feral. “And you have a way with that mouth.”
She would enjoy spending a lifetime with this man.
They reached the last door in the hall and saw Rebecca lying in a bed, cordoned off with plastic sheeting. Caitlin stopped Zak from going any closer.
“Regina said the serum worked but I don’t know that for sure. Stay here,” she said but Zak didn’t want her going any closer, either.
“Hold up, if it’s not safe for me, it’s not safe for you.”
“Zak, I have to check her vitals.”
He wouldn’t budge. “We’ll get a doc up here or we’ll have her transported to the hospital. I’m not about to have you infected if the serum didn’t work.”
Caitlin wanted to believe in her serum but there was a niggling doubt. It had been created under duress and she hadn’t had a chance to do the proper checks, so how could she be sure? In the end, she knew Zak was right but she wanted to let Rebecca know she wasn’t alone anymore. Even if it was just to hold her hand.
Soldier Protector (Military Precision Heroes Book 2) Page 23
