by J. M. Madden
Her mind began to race as she thought about the possible repercussions of what he could do. “So, why don’t you, like, what was the word you used? Finesse? Why don’t you just finesse everything right? I can’t imagine you actually have to live this way if you didn’t have to.”
He frowned, looking down at his clothes, then back up at her. “You may be right, but when we left the camp, we all kind of decided not to use it against anyone that couldn’t protect themselves. The average person has a decent mental shield, but there are so many that have none. Most of the time we pick up thoughts whether we mean to or not, and it clutters our brain. We have to protect ourselves against all this mental static deliberately.
“Yes, you’re right, we probably could finesse everything right, but we still have to have the concrete information. And then I don’t know if we can ever go public. How would the general population react to having super-soldiers amongst them?”
He ran his hand over his head, smoothing his hair. “They made us this way without giving us all the information. We knew they wanted soldiers, but this kind of … evolution, if produced on a wider scale, would create an imbalance of power never seen before. And right now the richest company in the world is making it. Or trying to. We think that the four thumb drives and the other things we stole have the original formula for the Ayahuasca serum. The doctor that created the mixture died from a snake bite days before we broke out, and they were scrambling to keep the program together. He was the scientific brain behind everything for the Silverstone Collaborative, good and bad.”
“And now that they don’t have the drives,” Angela concluded, “their program is stalled out.”
Wincing, he waffled a hand in the air. “Kind of. Dr. Shu had a good team behind him and I’m sure they’re doing what they can, but Shu was pretty secretive. He’s created a lot of wonderful drugs to treat childhood cancer and the like, but this was the first time he’d tried to do anything this aggressive. He was very proprietary about his inventions and what we were able to do. I doubt he shared everything with his team.”
She shook her head. “I just can’t wrap my head around it.”
Aiden sighed and gave her a slight smile. “Took us a while to figure it all out too. Most of the information I just told you we learned after Shu died and Fontana started probing the guards. We knew we had to leave while things were in flux, because the Collaborative’s Operation officer was going to come in to take control, and Priscilla Mattingly is a cold-hearted bitch.”
Angela knew she had to look surprised. “Why is that?”
“If things aren’t running the way she wants them to, she gets rid of the problem any way she needs to. If she decided everyone in the camp was a liability, she would wipe them out. Guards, cooks, prisoners, it didn’t matter. She travels with her own security team. Four badass mercs that do not hesitate when she gives them a command. They follow along and do her dirty work so she doesn’t break a nail, or some shit.”
Angela was stunned that a woman could be so cold. Then, the more she thought about it the more she realized women could be more mercenary than men, if they had to be.
“So, what do you need to do now? You said the drives were encrypted?”
“Yes.” Aiden stood to cross to her front window, peering through a slit in the drapes. “Fontana is bringing his drive to Denver in a day or two, then I’ll have three of them. But I doubt it will make any difference. I’m almost certain Shu connected the four of them, and number four is the key. And I have no idea where Wulfe is right now, just a vague direction. He should be here within the next few days as well.”
“You didn’t know the guy that attacked me?”
He shook his head, returning to the chair.
“How many groups were there being tested upon?”
Frowning, he shook his head. “Ours was the only one we knew of for sure, but knowing the company I have a feeling there were others.”
Something occurred to her and she pushed up from the couch. She grabbed the TV remote from the coffee table and pointed it at him. “Make me put it down,” she told him.
Making a face, Aiden stood as well. “I don’t want to do that, Detective.”
“I need you to do this. I’m testing a theory.”
Aiden stared at her hard for a long moment, then narrowed his eyes at her. “You’re not going to appreciate it. Even if you say you’re fine with it you’re not going to like that I can control your movements.”
“Have you before?” she demanded.
“No, I have not. That I swear to you. And you have an exceptionally strong mental shield. I haven’t picked up anything from you.”
Well, that was a relief. She knew he hadn’t coerced her into anything. And some of the thoughts she’d been having about him…ugh… For a moment she thought about what she was requesting, but in the end she still needed him to try. It was important.
“Do it,” she told him firmly. “I need to prove a theory.”
Angela firmed her stance, like she was holding her weapon aimed at Aiden. Though he wasn’t happy, his glance fell to her hands, then back up to her face. “You need to drop the weapon, Detective. Drop it now.”
Angela felt her arms grow heavy, but she forced herself to stand strong. She braced her legs and clenched her jaw, though she wanted to sag.
“Drop it, Detective,” Aiden snapped, his voice stronger and deeper.
Her arms began to fall again but Angela fought off the buzzing in her head. This time, though, it was much stronger. She stared at Aiden’s face. Memorizing his expression as he tried to force her to comply, his brows furrowed down. But she knew she had enough power in her to not let him take her over. She fought for almost half a minute as Aiden tried to force her to do what he wanted. Sweat had beaded on his brow as well as her own by the time she called it quits. “It’s not going to happen, although you were much harder to fight off than the other guy.”
“Other guy?”
She nodded once. “I don’t think you guys were the only ones to develop stronger talents from the Ayahuasca. The guy that was in here tried to do the same thing when I drew my weapon on him, and I had to fight him off.”
His expression turned dark as he mulled over that information. “You know,” he said thoughtfully, “I don’t get the same kind of mental chatter with you as I do the rest of the general public. We try to be cognizant of not invading anyone’s mind inadvertently, but sometimes, if people are passionate about something or just plain thinking really loudly, we pick up on it. But for some reason, you bring silence. It’s very nice.”
Angela snorted. “Probably a good thing you can’t get into my brain right now.”
Aiden grinned at her, and she blinked, forgetting what they’d been talking about. He was a damn good looking guy, if you looked underneath the shell. For a moment she wondered what he would look like with his beard gone and the hair trimmed. He was already making her feel more aware of herself as a woman. If he were any more handsome she would really be in trouble.
“You’re sure he was trying to make you do something?”
She nodded her head and headed into the kitchen. “When you’re ‘finessing’ there’s a buzz in my head and I almost want to do what you want me to, but I can force myself not to. But you are stronger than he was, a lot stronger.”
That didn’t seem to make him feel any better about the situation.
“If you don’t recognize him and he has similar abilities,” she continued, “would that mean that he was in another program or something?”
Chapter Eleven
Aiden rocked back on his heels, a sick feeling in his stomach. Yes, he had suspected that there had been other camps, but hadn’t had confirmation until now. He reached blindly, trying to feel Fontana or Wulfe. He didn’t get either one. They were both too far away. He could try to email the generic gmail they’d set up for this kind of thing but that would mean going back to his bolthole, and the concern was now, was it compromised as well?
Fuck.
He didn’t know how long the guy had been following him, but if he were advanced like they were, maybe he’d learned to camouflage himself or something. Aiden had had no sense that he was being followed, and he hadn’t seen anyone following the detective either.
Angela was staring at him, waiting for confirmation. Reluctantly, he nodded his head. “Yes, quite possibly.”
And now that he thought about it, there had been times when Shu and some of the other techs had been gone from the camp. Had he been going to other locations to supervise their program as well?
He had a feeling the answer was on the drives.
“Why haven’t you taken the drives to your brother?” Angela asked. “Isn’t Palmer the computer guy at LNF?”
Aiden clenched his jaw at the pointed question. As hard as he tried to keep him out of it and keep the danger away, things were conspiring against them to bring them together.
Angela was staring at him, her hands on her hips. “I know you want to protect your brother, but maybe by going to him you’ll be able to tie this up sooner rather than later. If he can crack the encryption and you can pull the data, it’s that much faster that you can decide how to approach the company. I assume that’s what you want to do?”
They hadn’t really gotten that far into their plan. He had no idea what they were going to do. He had no idea who they could trust in the military because someone had to have known what the men were going to be a part of.
The thought of going public with what they’ve done and become made his nuts shrivel. He didn’t want to have to do that. And he knew Fontana and Wulfe didn’t want to do it either. It would have to be kept under wraps.
“I realize I’m compromised now,” he told her, “but I still don’t want to bring my brother into it if I can avoid it. He has a family to protect. If I get taken out, it’s just me. I won’t be responsible for other people dying. You’re already involved too much as well. You realize you can’t stay here?”
She blinked, her blue-gray eyes huge in her face. “Yes, I guess I had, just hadn’t thought about where to go.”
Aiden would have to go scope out his place and see if it had been compromised. Pulling out his cellphone he logged onto the security system and scrolled through the feeds. There were no notifications for movement on any of them, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything. He’d tried to cover all the entry points, but there could be something he missed.
“I think we’re going to have to head back to my place and regroup. Fontana will be here any time and maybe he’ll have an idea on what to do. Or he better have.”
“I need to call my boss,” Angela murmured. “I doubt I’ll be going back to work tomorrow.”
“I’m sorry, detective. I didn’t plan on spreading the chaos this way.”
She shook her head, scraping her hair back from her face. “I think this pot was about to boil no matter what.”
Yeah, maybe she was right.
Angela called her boss and explained that she had to go out of town for a family emergency. He wasn’t happy but seemed to understand.
“I’ll just have Ramirez hang on to your caseload, then, for a while. When do you think you’ll be back?”
She glanced at Aiden, still standing at the front window.
“I honestly can’t say. Hopefully not more than a few days to a week.”
“Okay, Holloway. Keep me posted.”
“Yes, sir.”
Then she headed into her bedroom to pack a bag. She didn’t think she’d need anything fancy, so she stuck with jeans and t-shirts, as well as a few flannels. They were almost mandatory when you were trying to hide a sidearm, and they fit well into Colorado. No one looked at you if you were wearing a flannel.
Then she moved to her gun safe in the corner of the room. She typed the code into the pad, then positioned her forefinger over the scanner. The mechanism clicked and she swung the door open.
“Damn!” Aiden breathed over her shoulder.
Angela tried not to jump. She totally hadn’t heard him move behind her. “What?” she asked defensively.
He moved closer to the open safe, then gave her a look. “I can understand the Binelli and the Glocks. Those are generally standard issue for most PDs, but you’ve got more stuff in here than you’d ever need to carry.”
She shrugged. “I was raised by a gunsmith. When your life relies upon what’s in your hand or on your hip, you tend to take that seriously.”
He nodded. “I agree. Do you mind?”
She stepped back, letting him move closer to her hoard. He picked up the Sig Sauer she’d just gotten a few weeks ago. He handled the weapon like he knew what he was doing as well. She supposed as a SEAL he’d used many of the same weapons they had as Marines.
Aiden pulled out a Beretta 92F. “This baby has seen some use.” He ran his fingers over the slide where the blue finish had been worn away.
“I’ve had it since I was a kid,” she admitted. “It’s close to what I carried in the Marines. That old POS is my favorite piece in there. Just about the most accurate, too, in spite of the wear.”
Aiden turned to her. “You were in the Marines?”
Angela nodded. “Four years. Military police.”
He shook his head. “I should have known. That explains a lot.”
Angela laughed at his irked expression, then moved to pack her backpack with anything she thought she might need. Stealth was probably the most important consideration, so she packed a couple of her smaller back-up guns, as well as a couple of boxes of ammo. And, pausing, she chose one long gun to tuck into a padded case.
“Do you need a weapon?” she asked him.
Aiden shook his head. “I have several back at the warehouse, and I’m armed now. Just didn’t want to discharge a weapon in your apartment if I could avoid it.”
She snorted. “Thank you for that,” she murmured dryly.
Once she’d packed her bags they let themselves out of the apartment. She left a note on the neighbor’s door to look after the cat. Then she led him through a back hallway that let out into a small parking lot. She motioned to a white Ford Explorer with blacked-out windows. “Climb in.”
Aiden didn’t argue, just watched their surroundings as she drove away from the area.
Angela’s heart was pounding, because she had no idea what she was getting into. She’d been attacked by a man that tried to use mind control on her, then been rescued by another, even more dangerous man. Somehow her fairly routine life had gone spinning out of her control.
They drove for the better part of forty minutes, overlapping their trail and doing everything they could to confirm that they weren’t followed. Finally, Aiden told her it was enough and they headed toward the warehouse. After pulling through the gates then relocking them behind her, they parked at a vantage point that allowed them to see most of the building. They waited for a while just to see if anyone moved around the building or behind them. Then he pushed a code into an app on his phone and a side door began to roll up. Angela turned around and backed into the opening.
This appeared to be the opposite end of the warehouse where she’d come in the last time. There was a lot less equipment here, but she could tell that this side was just as dangerous as the other side. Aiden slid out of the cab again and moved to a power box on the far wall. Flipping a few breakers, he waved her out of the truck.
Angela watched everything he did, just in case she had to do it at some point. “Have you ever been found here?”
He shook his head. “Not once. But I keep it locked up tight as a drum ninety-nine percent of the time.”
She grabbed her bag and followed him through the echoing expanse to the far wall, where the office space seemed to be. At the base of the stairs he entered a code into a keypad, then waved her up the stairs with him. Angela felt like she was in a spy movie. He had gadgets here she’d never seen anywhere before. Navy SEALs, though, were known for being handy with anything. Aiden struck he
r as the type that would be invaluable in a dangerous situation.
The living space loft he led her to was a bit of a surprise. There was some mismatched furniture here, as well as a decent kitchen. There was a door to what she assumed was a bedroom and bathroom. Everything was clean and well-maintained. A treadmill, several weight machines and free weights filled one corner of the space. Then another wall was obviously office space, with news clippings and papers mounted to the wall, and three dark computer screens.
“It must be hard living two lives the way you have been,” she murmured.
He stilled, his head down, and turned to her slightly. “You have no idea.”
Crossing to the bank of computer monitors he did several things she couldn’t exactly see, and the screens began to come to life. All were views of the warehouse and the surrounding area. He logged into a computer and started scrolling through pages. “No one has been here and none of the triggers have been tripped.”
“So, as long as we weren’t followed here today we should be fairly safe.”
“Yes,” he agreed, but he didn’t sound happy about it.
She pulled a second office chair close to where he was sitting. This one had a broken wheel; why it was in the corner, obviously. “So, show me this information.”
Aiden didn’t argue, just clicked through a couple of pages of information. Then, once he entered a password, a file popped up. Angela leaned forward, looking at the lines of gibberish. “It’s not even English.”
“No,” he agreed. “I believe it’s Mandarin Chinese, Shu’s first language, but none of the translation programs I’ve created or borrowed can do anything with it.”
She took the mouse from him and began scrolling through herself, but nothing changed. “This is both of the thumb drives?”
