The Defender (The Carrier Series Book 2)

by Diana Ryan

  I slowly opened my eyes and sat up, rubbing them. The clock in the dash read 1:45 a.m. We must have been on the road for hours. Adam looked over at me, but said nothing. I didn’t know who he was, or if I could trust him, but right now I needed some comfort and when I looked at Adam, I could still see the sweet guy I was falling in love with. The man who helped me escape my impending death twice tonight. I reached over the console and grabbed his hand, holding tight.

  “Go back to sleep.” There was a sense of urgency behind his voice that was somewhat alarming to me.

  “No. I’m feeling better. I can stay awake and keep you company.” There was no way I could go to sleep, pretend or not, at this point.

  “Ava. Please…” Something was terribly wrong—his voice was strange. Several seconds passed, like he was giving me a minute to reconsider his plea. Then it all happened quickly. I saw his hand inconspicuously digging in the little compartment built into the driver’s side door.

  “Ava, I’m so sorry it has to be this way. I truly do love you.”

  There was something very familiar about this. And then I saw his left hand swing around toward me, holding some type of needle. Shaking, I tried to push his hand away, but he was able to plunge it deep into my neck. I let out a grunt and then suddenly it was like someone was slowly turning off the soundtrack to my world. The music on the radio gradually lowered in pitch and slowed down in tempo. And then it was like someone was pushing on my brain, forcing me to fall asleep.

  Worst. Halloween. Ever.

  Part

  Two

  Chapter One

  Saturday, October 10th

  I hadn’t seen Ava in six weeks, and we decided to meet in the Dells to reconnect. There had been no activity from Ethan Myers or the CBB for those six weeks, and I desperately wanted to be with Ava in the very place we had fallen in love. I had figured it would be safe, but now I knew I had been a fool believe so.

  He just blew up Make Out Rock. While we were standing right on top of it.

  I could kill Myers.

  It had only been four and a half short months since I had met Ava, and about three weeks since I realized I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. Last week I nervously walked into that jewelry store in Virginia and bought the one-and-a-half-karat diamond ring that was currently burning a hole in my pocket. I had wanted to revisit Make Out Rock to help Ava overcome the horror of that night, but I also wanted to replace the memory of the worst night of her life with a new memory of the best day of her life.

  But Myers had intervened, attempting to blast us from the cliffs of the Wisconsin River. I could hear sirens approaching and was positive it was Myers’s men posing as local authorities, on the lookout for our remains. It was crucial to hide Ava and then call the agency. But she was stunned and confused, and not willing to run with me into the forest for cover.

  And that’s when I my brain told me I had jumped the gun: If you had pulled out that diamond ring right there on that rock, she would have declined.

  No, you’ll fall apart without her in your life, my heart contended.

  But she was in a different place than I was. Our relationship was somewhat new to her since she learned I was an FBI agent, but she was exactly the same person I knew her to be since the day I met her last June.

  After the FBI released me from their hospital in August, I spent several magical days glued to Ava’s side, telling her the truth of my life, pledging my love, and soaking up every single second with her before she had to go back to college. When I found out the CBB was not what I thought it was and Ethan Myers was an enemy of the United States, I knew there was no way he would let me get away with what I pulled in August, and I wasn’t ready to sit back and allow him find Ava. I knew the best way to protect her was to enlist myself in the actual FBI and learn the best ways to out-scheme Ethan Myers. Ava struggled with my decision, knowing I would have to go away for training. In all honesty I wasn’t entirely excited at the prospect of being away from Ava either, but I trusted our relationship could survive five weeks without each other.

  After Ava and I were released from the hospital, I applied to, and was immediately accepted into the real FBI. I insisted Ava go back to college in Stevens Point, and after a long conversation, we agreed that for precautionary measures Ava should not mention me to any of her friends at school. I didn’t know what Myers was up to, and I wasn’t about to risk any kind of leak.

  For all of September, plus a week in October, I trained in Virginia. My previous training at the CBB enabled me to quickly pass the preliminary tests and accelerate through the training program at Quantico. I had finally finished and was ready to be field rated.

  While I trained I had lots of time to think about my relationship with Ava. I was still in awe of the strong feelings I had developed for her—how quickly I fell in love and then the horror of the night when I was forced to stab her and leave her to possibly die. I still suffered nightmares of that moment, as I was sure she had, too.

  And now Ava would have a new nightmare of seeing her favorite place being blown to pieces. I finally convinced her to run with me into the forest and climb a tree. Although Ava was aware of my training and alliance with the agency, I had a certain obligation to be discrete with all matters FBI, so I walked several paces out from the tree to make my call to the agency.

  An automated voice answered, “Classification and identification, please.”

  “This is Outlier 90913. Agent Hill calling for Agent Murphy, please.”

  “Passage granted. Please hold.”

  A few seconds later a new voice came on the line. “Agent Hill, this is Agent Moreno. Agent Murphy is tied up at the moment. What can I do for you?” I heard typing and wondered what Agent Murphy was doing—he always took my calls. Agent Moreno continued, “Records indicate you aren’t due to check in for another twenty-four hours. Do you have impending intel to report?”

  “Yes! Myers attempted to bomb Ava and me off the damn cliff just now!”

  Stay calm, Nolan.

  I took a deep breath.

  “Ethan Myers?” Moreno sounded surprised. “Are you sure it was him? Intel indicates he’s been inactive for several weeks.”

  “Of course I’m sure! Who else would attack us?” Okay, this was ridiculous. “I need Murphy. Put Murphy on the damn phone!” I heard silence. “Cripes! Get somebody who knows something!”

  He could most certainly hear the frustration and anger behind my voice, but Moreno stayed cool, despite my emotionally charged accusation. “Agent Hill, at this point in time Mr. Myers is number nine on the FBI’s most wanted list. Unless you actually saw the man in the vicinity, there isn’t much we can do at the moment. Come back to the office, we’ll take your narrative of the situation at hand, and then I’ll send it straight up to Agent Richardson who will—”

  I cut him off, “No, dammit! I need a reconnaissance team in here now!” My pulse was quickening and I could feel my blood beginning to boil.

  “Agent Hill, I regret to inform you that your field rating is unsatisfactory.”

  I clenched my teeth in anger and then repeated slowly, “What do you mean my field rating is unsatisfactory?”

  “After the fiasco at the CBB headquarters last week, Agent Murphy downgraded your rating to first level.”

  Oh, this is complete bullshit—I was never told that. Nothing that happened at the CBB was really my fault!

  “A civilian’s life is at risk!” I was screaming now, and quickly realized I had given away our position. I slammed my finger in frustration on the phone to end the call and looked up at the tree line. The faint sound of helicopter blades cut through the air above us. It would only be a matter of seconds now before—CRACK! The sound of a gunshot flew through the air and I felt a sting in my left shoulder. I crumbled to the ground, my body beginning to fill with waves of numbness.

  Ava. My sweet Ava. Stay hidden.

  I could barely talk, but rolled over to my back and stared up at her in the
tree. She looked absolutely horrified. I tried to move my tongue, but it felt like it wasn’t there. Even so, I was able to slur out the words, “Greeeeeeeeene. Trust Greene.”

  I had met Adam Greene during training last month, and soon discovered that he was the neurogeneticist the agency called in to oversee the treatment Ava and her family underwent at the end of the summer. I knew Ava wasn’t literally or figuratively out-of-the-woods yet, and she’d most likely need Greene’s expertise again.

  Ava’s mouth opened to say something but my world suddenly lost sound, became grey and white, and then shut down.

  * * * *

  I woke tied to a hospital bed in a stark white room. A clock on the wall read 10:44 p.m. Two older men dressed in doctor’s coats were standing under the clock, arguing quietly. My eyes went up to the ceiling above me, filled with surgical lights and mirrors. Monitors beeped at the bedside and tables of medical tools and stainless steel receptacles were placed on tables to my right. I turned my head slowly to the left. Ava was lying unconscious a few feet from me on another table.

  Panic and feelings of helplessness crept into my heart. Myers had found Ava. What had they done to her? My heart rate skyrocketed.

  Calm down, Nolan. Don’t blow this.

  If I could lure the doctors over, then perhaps I could knock them out and drag Ava out of here.

  With my eyes closed, I began to slowly work the leather straps holding my wrists to the bed.

  “Noooolaaaan…. Myers…” Ava moaned.

  Through the slits in my eyes, I noticed Ava’s noises caught the doctors’ attention and they began to walk her way.

  My left hand was barely out of the straps—I wasn’t ready yet! The men checked her vitals and consulted the monitors. I continued to fake sleep while inconspicuously wiggling my right wrist.

  “Her vitals are stable,” one of the doctors announced.

  “Yes, but what was she saying just now? We don’t want her waking yet.” He checked a roll of paper flowing out of a small machine near the foot of her bed. “Should we administer more Methohexital?”

  “Yes.”

  If I wanted to get Ava out of here, then I needed to break free soon. I yanked my hands the rest of the way out of the leather straps, and ripped off the monitors connected to my chest. The machines blared loud warnings, but as the first doctor turned around, I jumped up, punching him in the side of the head. He hit the ground, taking a tray of medical tools down with him. The second doctor skirted around Ava’s bed as I grabbed a scalpel from the table in front of me and jabbed it toward the man.

  “Agent Hill. Stop! You are in FBI headquarters!” The guy had his hands up in a defensive position. “You’re safe here.” I slowly encroached on the distance between us, still brandishing the scalpel. I searched his eyes for the truth while Ava lay before me, breathing unevenly, my heart beating wildly.

  Then the door to the room burst open and a man with wild, out of control blond hair and an older, graying gentleman stepped into the room. They both displayed their FBI badges as they swiftly closed in on me.

  “Nolan, believe him. You’re safe.” I recognized one of the men immediately as Adam Greene. The agent was from British Intelligence, recruited by the agency for his extensive research and expertise on the topic of neuro-genetic engineering.

  I let my weapon fall to the floor, and I felt my shoulders relax the tension. “Adam? I’m in US guardianship? But how? I tried to request help but some Agent Moreno denied my request.”

  The older man stepped in with the answers. “Intel indicated Myers was possibly planning to capture you and Miss Gardner, so we watched you carefully all weekend.”

  “Well, that would have been nice to know,” I said under my breath as I thought back to a few intimate moments I wouldn’t have wanted intelligence to be following. I grabbed Ava’s limp hand as it rested on the table in front of me and noticed a small bandage on her forearm.

  “What’s this?”

  One of the doctors answered. “Miss Gardner fractured her radius falling out of the tree she was hiding in. We’ve used a state of the art laser technique to repair the bone so she should only feel mild pain not unlike a bruise for a few weeks.”

  “But I still don’t understand. Myers’s men took me from the forest.”

  “Myers’s Intel ran a trace on your cell and was able to use his personal satellite network to intercept and redirect your call for help to his tech department. They kept you on the line by faking Agent Moreno’s voice to successfully track your location. They tranquilized you both and dragged you out of the forest, but we intercepted them a mile outside of your location and brought you back here for observation.”

  I suddenly felt special. All that for Ava and me?

  Agent Greene came around the table and stood next to Ava’s monitor, checking her stats. He took a syringe off the table and injected something into Ava’s IV. Apparently he was her doctor. It suddenly occurred to me that maybe something was not right with her. I was up walking around and yet she required some sort of treatment.

  “What’s wrong with Ava?” A wave of concern washed over my heart. “Did the gene therapy from last summer fail?”

  Adam gave a look of solicitude to the other man. “Nolan, why don’t you have a seat?”

  Oh no.

  My knees gave way and I lowered myself onto the hospital bed behind me.

  “Ava has undergone an experimental preventative procedure.” Adam was carefully choosing his words.

  What the hell was he talking about?

  The older man stepped in to explain. “The agency believes the DNA in Ava’s brain cells is key to Myers advancing his game. Agent Hill, we believe he could use her as a weapon to carry out his final event. We’re not sure he’s discovered this yet, but we are certain Myers needs to be stopped.”

  I suddenly felt thankful they had made me sit down. A nasty concoction of anger and nausea was setting in, and the room was beginning to spin.

  “In order to protect Ava and prevent Myers from accomplishing his agenda, Agent Bowman, the head of the case against Myers, ordered that we retrieve these valued cells and preserve them in our secure lab. Ava underwent the procedure an hour ago.”

  Adam cut in to continue the brief. “Nolan, a problem occurred while we were trying to protect her. Ava’s brain underwent a partial memory wipe.”

  Suddenly my breath was absent. No…. This wasn’t happening. I put my head in my hands, trying to hold it together. But my momentary sorrow for Ava quickly turned to anger as I stood up.

  “You son of a—” but I bit my bottom lip, trying to control myself. I lowered my voice but kept the intensity. “Protect her?” I stepped closer to Adam until I was inches from his face. “You just ruined her entire life. No, now she doesn’t have a life! She has no idea who she is, where she lives, who she loves!” And then it hit me—they had ruined my life, too. I slammed my fist down on the table making the tools jump, some clattering loudly to the floor. I let out a loud emotion-filled roar.

  “Calm down, Agent Hill. We didn’t wipe her entire memory. Tests indicate she won’t remember only the months since she’s learned about herself being the Carrier, about Ethan Myers, and unfortunately about—” he paused, not wanting to finish his sentence— “you.” The old man looked down at the floor, and backed up a few steps as if he was afraid what I might do next.

  I began to lunge forward just as Greene came over to restrain me. I took several heavy breaths before Adam attempted to console me. “Nolan, we did consider Ava’s overall welfare.” He dropped the arm that was across my chest when I relaxed a tiny bit. “She’ll be out of recovery in the next hour and then we’ll fly her back up to university and place her back in her own bed. When she wakes up, she may be disoriented for a short while, but we have full confidence her flatmates will support her. She’ll be none-the-wiser.”

  I didn’t know what to say. I simply stared at Agent Greene.

  “Listen, once this is all over and they br
ing down Myers and the CBB, it’s possible we may be able to reverse the process.”

  He raised a hand to place on my shoulder, but I hit it away with my hand. I was not in the mood to be comforted by the man who ruined my girlfriend’s life.

  “May be able to?” My thoughts shifted quickly. “Why wait until it’s all over?”

  “There’s little research on partial wiping, so naturally, we’re unsure of the outcome. And as for the wait, we can’t be exactly sure how her brain will react to the recent trauma it’s been under. Attempting another surgery so quickly is a massive risk.”

  “This is all crap.” I walked to the foot of Ava’s bed. “How do you expect her friends at school to help her recover from this trauma when they don’t even know what she’s suffering from?”

  One of the other men spoke up, “Gentlemen, might I suggest we send Agent Greene to Stevens Point to oversee Ava while she recovers? After all, he is very familiar with Miss Gardner’s medical file.”

  I shot the man a look of disgust. “What do you mean, ‘very familiar’?”

  “Nolan, I was in the operating room last summer when Ava underwent gene therapy. I know everything about her medical history.” Then he turned toward the old man. “Great idea. I could pose as a college student for a while, befriend Ava, and keep an eye on her recuperation. And, of course, if Myers tries anything, I will be within arm’s reach and pull her out of town if needed.”

  “It might just work,” the older doctor said. “I know you’re almost twenty-nine—”

  “I’m twenty-seven, sir,” Adam corrected him.

  “Right. Twenty-seven. I think you could pass for a college student, not a problem.”