“Still, it puts you in the valuable position of helping us determine when to strike.”
“Now is good,” she said.
“You know better. Just think about it—think about what could be gained from having access to his current lab. All the data, all the lives we can save before he can ruin them.”
“You’re sure he’s still doing research?” she asked.
“I am. A team of forensic accountants traced some offshore money to him. We followed the trail and it led back to a group that’s also been contributing to accounts we think are linked to Dr. Stynger. That’s not a coincidence.”
Mira slumped back in her chair. This was all supposed to be over. The experiments, the terror and pain—it was all supposed to have ended last year with her father’s death.
“What do you want me to do?”
“He needs a reason to go back to his lab. I need you to find one.”
The muscles in Adam’s forearm shifted as he gripped the chair. She had no idea what had made him tense, but she had bigger worries.
“Like what?”
“You know him. You lived in a home with one of his labs. What made him scurry off, unable to stay away from his work?”
“A new subject—a new toy to destroy—but there’s no way in hell we’re giving him someone to play with.”
“Agreed,” said Payton. “What else?”
“He’s fiercely competitive. If he thinks that someone else is about to surpass him, that might get him to act.”
Payton nodded. “Someone like Stynger?”
“Yes. He hates her. His professional jealousy is definitely a big lever we could use. But how? We know less about her than we do my dad.”
“We could make something up,” suggested Payton.
“It won’t work,” said Adam. “He has spies at her facilities. He’ll detect a lie and he’s smart enough to figure out why we would.”
“We can’t raise his suspicion. One body scan or X-ray would reveal the tracker and give away our only advantage.”
“There is one other thing he wants,” said Mira, trying hard not to sound as terrified as she was.
“What?”
“Me.”
“No,” said Adam.
“It could work,” said Payton. “We’d have to be careful, but—”
“No,” said Adam again, and this time the word carried a sledgehammer’s worth of force. “It’s not an option. We’ve been looking for his location for months. If even the slightest thing goes wrong and Mira is taken, we may lose her, too.”
“It’s not my idea of a good time, either, but it could work,” she said. “I can go in armed. Get my own tracking device installed.”
Payton shook his head. “It’s too dangerous. Even if things went perfectly, we already know that your father isn’t beyond shedding your blood.”
“Or taking her life,” said Adam. “But there is another option. I could go in.”
“No,” said Payton. “He saw the way you reacted to Mira being taken hostage. There’s no way he’d ever believe you would cooperate.”
“So where does that leave us?” asked Mira. “We can’t just wait for him to relax enough to go back to his work. That could take weeks. He can do way too much damage in that time and it gives him too much of an opportunity to find the tracking device.”
“There is someone else,” said Payton. “Someone skilled enough to be at minimal risk. Someone Sage would kill to get his hands on.”
“Who?” asked Mira.
“Gage.”
Adam exploded from his chair, sending it toppling backward. “No!”
Payton held up his hands. “Whoa. Easy. I know you two are partners, but it’s a logical choice.”
“It’s not a choice at all.”
“Think about it. Gage can handle himself in a bad situation. He was one of the few subjects from a lab we shut down early. Sage has been itching to get his hands on the research that came out of that facility for years. If he thinks he’s got a shot at getting Gage in his lab, he might just take it.”
Mira looked from Payton to Adam. There was something going on here—more than what it appeared. “Gage was one of the kids on the List?”
Payton nodded. “He was one of the first ones I found. I got him trained, set him up with a job, made sure he was on the straight and narrow. He doesn’t remember anything that was done to him, but he knows it was. We’ve talked about it recently.”
“I had no idea,” said Mira. “I’ve worked with him for years and didn’t even suspect.”
“That’s because he’s quiet,” said Adam. “Keeps to himself.”
“That’s true. I doubt I’ve heard him utter more than a dozen words in a day before.”
“We’re not using him as bait.” Adam gave Payton a hard stare.
“He’s right,” said Mira. “I’m not going to volunteer people for my dad to torture. We’ll find another way to drive him to his current lab.”
Adam righted his chair. “You said you had a general idea of where Sage was.”
“We’re turning on his tracking device at random intervals for short bursts of time so he doesn’t get too far away. The last two contacts we made indicated he was moving north.”
“Where?” she asked.
“You don’t need to know.”
Mira stared at Payton across the desk. “You know I could find him if I put my mind to it.”
“Please don’t. This is bigger than your own personal vendetta.”
How long could she sit back and wait? How long could she let that monster wander around, planning out his next move? He was smart. He had people to do his bidding and apparently an income stream to pay them. “If we don’t move soon, he could go underground. Even the best trackers are going to have trouble with that. And once he’s settled, he may not come out for years.”
“We could use Ruby,” said Adam. “If she’s not with him, then she could lead us to him.”
That was right. They still had bugs in Ruby’s place. “Or she might say something that could tell us where he’s headed.” Mira used her phone to access the cameras in Ruby’s apartment. “She’s not home, but I’ll set up an alarm to alert us if there’s any movement or sound at her place.”
“You do that,” said Payton. “I’m going to work another angle. Let me know if you learn anything useful.”
“Will you do the same?” asked Adam. “Or is this a one-way street?”
“I want him found as much as either of you. Possibly more. I won’t do anything that will get in the way of that.”
“That wasn’t an answer,” said Mira.
Payton crossed his arms over his chest. “It’s the only one you’re going to get.”
* * *
“I’m not sitting around waiting for Dad to do something horrible,” said Mira as they followed the hallways to her office.
“Of course you’re not. Neither am I.”
“So what are we going to do?”
She unlocked her office door. He held it open for her and followed her inside.
The cold hum of this room was something he would forever associate with Mira. Beneath the scent of plastic and electrical components, he swore he could smell her in the air here. Every time he came in, his senses perked up and his shoulders relaxed. It made him wonder what his chances were that she’d let him set up his desk in the corner, so he could be close to her.
“Do you really think you can find the signal they’re using to track your father?” he asked.
“I know I can. It’s just a matter of how long it takes and how many laws I have to break to make it happen.”
“Okay. You do that. I’m going to begin working on another angle.”
“What angle?”
“The less you know, the better.”
“I don’t like the way that sounds.”
Adam leaned down and kissed her the way he’d been dying to do since they’d stepped foot into the office. Something about the forbidden called to him, making him want her even more than he had only an hour ago.
He hadn’t thought that possible.
When he pulled away, her eyes were glazed, and the sweetest flush colored her cheeks. “What was I saying?”
“How anxious you were to start breaking some laws to find Sage.”
“Oh, right. That.”
“I’ll be back to pick you up for lunch.”
The smile she gave him was so pretty it weakened his knees. He realized in that moment that of all the people he’d encountered in his life, she was the most dangerous. She had the power to tear his world apart if she chose, and she didn’t even know it.
He hoped she never would.
Somewhere in the part of his mind he kept boxed away, the idea of never swirled. It was such a long time, and yet every second of it was filled with thoughts of Mira. He’d never had a romantic relationship before. He’d dated. Had sex. But it was almost always as part of a job or a plan to angle himself better in his search for his brother.
This desire to be with a woman? It was completely new to him. Completely strange and terrifying.
What if she changed her mind? What if she walked away and never came back? It happened all the time.
An odd, jangling panic built at the base of his skull. “You will be here when I come back, won’t you?”
“Will you kiss me like that again?” she asked.
“Twice.”
“Then, hell yeah. I’ll be here.”
Adam waited until she sat down and started working. Once her fingers started flying across the keyboard, he was finally able to inch away.
He’d never been needy before. Or clingy. He’d never felt the desire to be close to someone the way he felt with Mira. And this time, there was no obligation involved. He wanted to be near her simply because he wanted to know she was safe and happy. He wanted to be close enough to touch her.
He forced himself to leave and shut the door behind him. He’d made a few contacts in his work gathering test subjects for Stynger. With any luck at all, one of them would still take his call.
As soon as that happened, they’d have the bait they needed to take Sage down for good.
Chapter Twenty-six
Payton looked up as Sophie Devane walked through his open office door. He rose to greet her, wondering if she recognized him.
She’d seen him once in Sage’s home. It had been after one of her treatments, and she’d been barely coherent, but he remembered exactly how she’d stared at him, silently begging for help.
That night had been the first time he’d had a twinge of conscience about what he was doing. He knew that Sage’s treatments weren’t fun for the kids, but he’d still believed that they’d thank him for it when they were older and realized how much stronger and smarter they were.
How wrong he’d been.
“Lila said you were on your way to see me. I thought you were supposed to be with Riley,” he said.
“I was. Snuck out his bedroom window. He still thinks I’m at his place.”
“Why are you here?”
“Riley said that I might be able to help—that something I’d seen or heard might lead you to Sage.”
“He sent me the recording you made. I’m sure it will be helpful.”
“It’s not enough.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I heard your conversation with Riley. I heard that you need to give Sage a reason to leave his hiding place and go to wherever it is he does his evil deeds.” She pulled in a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “I’m that reason.”
Payton slipped past her and shut his door so no one would overhear them. “I think you’re mistaken.”
“I’m not. I spent enough hours being tortured by that man to know how his mind works. I heard the fights that he and that lady doctor—Stynger—had. She already tried to get her hands on me twice. If Dr. Sage finds out about that, he’ll want me. He won’t let her get to me first.”
He turned her words over in his mind, looking at them from various angles. As hard as he tried, he couldn’t find a single hole in her logic. “What are you telling me?”
“If you want to draw someone out of hiding, you need juicy bait. Well, I’m standing right here.”
“You’re offering to let us use you? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?”
“Actually, I do. It’s probably just about as dangerous as trying to live a normal life when evil scientists are after me to use me as some kind of lab rat.”
“Your new identity is almost ready. All that’s left is finding you a secure place to live. Tomorrow, you can walk away a free woman.”
“If you believe that, then you’re an idiot. I’ve conned enough people to know that hiding is only a temporary solution. They’ll find me. I’ve changed my name before. Moved. They always find me.”
“A real identity—one that can stand up to scrutiny—is quite different from taking on an alias.”
“Doesn’t matter. They’ve got the time, manpower, and money to do whatever they want. Until every last one of them is dead or behind bars, I’ll never be safe.”
“If you do this, you could be killed.”
“I’m tired of looking over my shoulder all the time. I’m tired of not having a life. I want to settle down and have a family. How in the world can I have a child if I have to spend my life on the run?”
“You’ll never have a child if you die.”
She shrugged. “I’m not an idiot. I realize this is a big risk, but if your team is there, I’ll be okay.”
“What does Riley say?”
“You don’t have to ask to know that. Neither do I. That’s why I crawled out of his window and stole his car to come here and talk to you in person.”
Sophie was exactly what they needed to force Sage into action. One leaked rumor that Stynger was after her and his professional jealousy would flare to life. A few well-placed calls, a staged accident, and Sage would be on his way to his lab by dawn.
Payton looked at her, waiting until he was sure he had her undivided attention. “You have to be sure. If I set this plan in motion, there will be no stopping it—nowhere for you to hide. Once Sage learns of your whereabouts and that Stynger wants you, he won’t rest until he’s got you.”
“I know.”
He had to be graphic—had to be sure she understood what she was doing. “He’ll put you through God knows what kind of tests. He’ll drug you, hurt you. He may even kill you just to autopsy your brain. Are you really sure that you want to sign up for that kind of risk?”
“I don’t, but it’s the only way to take him out. Isn’t it?”
“I could have killed him a hundred different times, but unless we take down his work and all of the people doing it, another one just like him will pop up and take his place. This is about destroying his life’s work and making sure that every scrap of research is burned to ash.”
“And this Stynger chick? What about her?”
“We’re working to do the same thing to her. But right now, Sage is the one on the ropes. We actually have a hope of digging up his work from the roots and annihilating it.”
“Then sign me up. I’m all about annihilation when it comes to that man.”
Payton nodded. “Do you want to tell Riley, or shall I?”
“Let me,” she said. “He might hit you if he thinks you talked me into it.”
“It’s no less than I deserve.”
“Yeah, well, we’ve all done shitty things. Seems to me it’s time I started making up for some of mine.”
Sophie left his office. Her steps were a little lighter, her head a li
ttle higher.
Payton knew in that instant that he was doing the right thing. That feeling of undoing past wrongs—it was more important to him than breathing. Maybe Sophie felt the same way.
She should have been afraid—and maybe she was—but she was facing her demons on her own terms.
He respected her for that. More important, she would respect herself. After all the pain he’d caused, it was the best gift he could give her.
Payton texted Riley to have him come in to the office. However this mission went, Payton knew that Riley would be on it. Period. There was no sense in trying to change that man’s mind once it was made up. Besides, with Riley on the team, Sophie’s chances of survival were much, much higher.
* * *
One of Mira’s alarms went off, dragging her attention away from her efforts to access Payton’s personal files.
She was expecting the alarm to be an indication of activity in Ruby’s apartment, but instead found it was one of the triggers Mira had set up on Adam’s phone weeks ago.
Confused, she squinted at the name and number displayed. She didn’t recognize it, but her computer did. A few keystrokes later, the database pulled up the rest of the information attached to that phone number.
It was one flagged as being part of Stynger’s network of goons.
Adam was calling Stynger? Why would he do that?
Unless he was a traitor.
Her heart chilled, and a wave of pain sloshed through her insides, freezing them over. For a long second, she couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe.
Adam had fooled her. He’d fooled her so completely that she’d slept with him.
The shock and pain melted in the face of her growing fury. How dare he? Seducing her once was bad enough, but this time . . . she was taking him down.
Mira used his trackers to locate him in his office. He had the nerve to make that call from inside the building, as if they were all so stupid they’d never even bother to keep tabs on him.
She slammed out of her office and down to the floor below, where he worked. Her weapon was in her hand, though she had no recollection of putting it there. Not that it mattered. The man deserved whatever he got for what he’d done.
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