by Jaime Rush
“We shoot our way out of it.”
Nicholas had remote-viewed it from above and even looked inside the building. There was no sign of anyone, as though the place had been abandoned, but no weeds had sprung up through cracks in the asphalt.
He tightened his hand on the gun he’d taken from the men in the woods. He looked at Olivia, her beautiful face creased with worry. “You should go back to the car.”
“No way. I’m part of this.”
Now that she had taken control of her life, she was stubborn. He wasn’t going to argue with her. “We go in, take a look, and get out. No more than five minutes.”
He looked at his watch and nodded toward the door. It wasn’t locked. The place had an eerie feel, as though someone was expecting them.
He snapped on the lights and suppressed a whistle, seeing clearly what he’d glimpsed psychically: shelf upon shelf lined the walls with no visible way to reach them. The shelves he could see were covered in pieces of what he could only guess were recovered experimental aircraft. Each had a tag identifying a location and a code. Some pieces were large, more than forty feet long. The piece he remembered seeing the eye on was about two feet in length. He set his mind to find it, no longer worried about Olivia seeing his eyes.
She picked up a piece of broken metal. “You’re right. I’ve never seen steel like this. What is our government working on?”
“Stuff they don’t want the enemy to know about. Or the public.”
She set one shard down and picked up another. “That’s why I always suppressed my curiosity about what my father was up to. I respect that there are things that can’t be made public.”
He climbed up one of the shelves to reach the third one up. “I found it.” He reached over and pulled at it. “Damn, it’s heavy. I can’t imagine what this metal is being used for in an aircraft.”
She climbed up the center of the shelves and came up right in front of it. “Is that the same eye Zoe tattooed on everyone?”
His heart thrummed. “Exactly the same, even the color blue. The slashes could be interpreted as an R, but they could be something else, too. So how does a tattoo artist know about the symbol used on a top secret experimental aircraft?”
A vibration rippled through his body, and he instinctively turned toward the door. The sight of the man standing there sent his heart racing. Pope.
“Did you find what you were looking for, Nicholas Braden?” he asked in a calm, deep voice.
Olivia gasped and slipped down the two shelves to the floor, landing on her feet.
Nicholas jumped down, not wanting her more than an inch away from him. He drew the gun but kept it pointing down. “We didn’t take anything.”
The man’s expression didn’t hint at anger, curiosity, or, oddly, anything. “I know.”
Nicholas took Olivia’s hand, wanting her out of there. “We’re leaving.” He gave the man a wide berth, ready for him to try to stop them. Stupid, bringing her in here.
Pope never moved, even when they passed within a few feet of him. The vibration, however, got stronger. They cleared the door and broke out into a run. He looked back once. Pope remained by the open doorway watching them.
They didn’t slow down until they reached the car. He threw it into gear and tore out onto the highway. They were both panting with fear.
She was watching behind them, her eyes wide. “No one’s coming out. Nicholas, that was weird. Beyond weird. He didn’t try to stop us from leaving or even ask what we were doing.”
“Did you feel him?”
“Feel him?”
“That was how I knew he was there. I felt this vibration go through me, like maybe what you’d feel if you touched a live wire but not painful. I felt it when I was around him before, but not so intense.”
She shook her head. “I didn’t feel anything like that.”
He glanced in the rearview mirror, seeing no suspicious vehicles behind them. “How did he know we were there? For that matter, I didn’t see a vehicle anywhere.”
“It was like he appeared out of thin air.” She shivered. “The man always gave me the creeps. Oh, there was one thing I didn’t tell you when you asked about him at the estate. I walked into my father’s office and saw Pope reading files on you and Jerryl. I couldn’t believe he would allow anyone to read those files.”
Nicholas took that in with a grim expression. “I’m confused. The question is, why did he let us go?”
“I don’t know, but I’m glad he did. I wonder if he’ll tell my father I was there.”
Nicholas was going to go back without Olivia. He wanted more answers. “I hope you’ve changed your mind about going to your father. I called your cousin. She’s very excited to see you.”
“You shouldn’t have.”
“You can’t stop me from trying to protect you, Livvie. It’s what I am.” He looked away for a moment, preparing himself. “I found your mother.”
Her expression changed from irritated to stunned. “Is she…?”
“Dead. I’m sorry. I know where her remains are. I searched after I saw her picture. They’re not far from here.”
She swallowed, sadness marring her face now. “I want to go.”
“We can’t touch them, or dig them up if they’re not visible. I doubt there’s much there, after all these years. The police will have to be notified.”
She put her hand to her mouth. “She was murdered, wasn’t she?”
“Probably. Unless she often went hiking out in the woods alone.”
“I doubt it.”
They drove in silence, she deep in thought. He pulled off a dirt road forty minutes later, then parked. He tuned in, allowing his instincts to lead him. She followed, and for an hour they trudged through the forest with only the bottles of water they’d bought at a gas station.
He came to a stop and circled, trying to get a feel for the exact location. “She’s here.” His soft words were swallowed in the rustle of leaves and birdcalls of the forest.
She was turning in circles, too, as though she were trying to sense her mother’s presence.
He walked three yards away and dropped to his knees. His hands waved over the ground. “Here. Down about four feet.”
She knelt beside him, placing her hands on the rich dirt and loam. They were trembling. He gave her time to absorb, to mourn the loss of the shred of hope of finding her alive. He knew that hope, and he knew how it left a gaping hole inside when it was torn away. When a tear dropped to the soil, he pulled her into his arms.
“I wish she’d been alive.”
“Me, too.” Her voice was thick with emotion. “But I had a feeling…” She wiped at her eyes and looked at him. “Thank you. Ever since you asked me how far I’d go to find the truth about my mother, I’ve felt that hunger to know. How are you going to explain finding her remains?”
“I’ll make it a Bone Finder investigation.” He turned to her. “Your father will be implicated.”
“I know.” Her face was rigid now.
“If he could do this…do you really want to go back?”
“More than ever I need to convince him to let the Rogues go.” She braced her hands on his face. “I’m your only hope. The Rogues’ only hope. I know my father. If he has a goal, he’ll achieve it. His goal right now is to kill all of you. I’m going to change it.”
Olivia returned to the estate only after making sure Sayre was locked in his quarters. She wasn’t going to stay the night there.
Nicholas dropped her off at the estate, but she waited thirty minutes before ringing the buzzer at the front gate to give him time to get far away. She went to her suite first and showered, dressed in clean clothes, and was finally ready to face her father. She knocked on his office door and opened it without waiting for his invitation. He was on the phone. “That sounds good. Keep me informed.” He hung up and leaned back in his chair. “I hope this means you’ve come to your senses.”
She walked up to his desk, bracing her hands on the
edge. “Yes, I have definitely come to my senses.”
“I have put my life into raising you. I took care of you, loved you, and taught you what you needed to know. You broke my heart when you ran off with Braden.” He rubbed his chest. “I hope you can live with the fact that you shaved ten years off my life.”
The old fear of losing her father reared itself. “Have you had chest pains?”
“I’m sure they’re only heartbreak pains.”
She ignored the jab. “Seriously, Father, are you having chest pains?”
He released a breath. “Just some tightness. It’s hard to sleep or eat when your daughter’s gone AWOL.”
Was he playing her? Damn, she could see he was and yet, she still felt the panic. “I’m sorry I worried you.”
“Worried me? You made me crazy, Olivia! You didn’t just dally with the gardener’s son. You ran off with the enemy, for God’s sake. You betrayed me, your family, and your country. You made off-the-wall accusations about a man who is under guard. You got in the way of my eliminating a problem.”
“You mean Nicholas.”
“If he isn’t stopped, he’ll destroy me. You were with people who want your father dead.”
She couldn’t deny that.
“You are my daughter. I love you more than anything.”
Those words softened her, but she had to ask, “More than DARK MATTER?”
He hesitated. “Those are two totally different things. The program is going to save our country. You would want me to choose between that and you?”
She sank into the chair in front of his desk. He really did believe that. Was it true?
He walked around the desk and leaned against the edge in front of her. “I need you. I need the woman who held this place together, who took care of me, the woman who used to be that little girl I devoted my life to.”
He was using the past to manipulate her, and she saw so clearly that he’d been doing it since she could remember. How much did she owe him for being her father? “I’ll come back and be your trusted assistant on three conditions: I know everything. Get rid of Sayre Andrus, call him off. I won’t work with him in the house. And—”
“You’re being irrational. Besides, he’s only going to be here for another month or so.” Until the Rogues were dead. “I’m prepared to forget everything you’ve done. Going AWOL from the CIA, consorting with the enemy, all of it. No one need know, not even our family. On one condition: Tell me everything you learned about them.”
The unspoken threat was clear. If she didn’t cooperate, he would tell the family. Her betrayal would be unforgivable. She could not let him keep the upper hand.
“So, I can earn your forgiveness by telling you where they are so you can kill them.” Which opposed her third condition. Like hell.
He continued. “If you help me do that, Andrus goes, and I tell you everything.”
They were at an impasse. She needed to get what she could before he forced her to refuse. “I saw the warehouse. The eye.”
“The what?” So Pope hadn’t mentioned it. “What’s the eye?”
She backpedaled. “Tell me what DARK MATTER is and let me decide who’s right and who’s wrong.”
He studied her. “I can’t trust you.” His anguished words cut right into her. “You will have to earn it. By telling me everything.”
Her words were just as tightly strung as his. “I can’t trust you, either.”
He let out a disappointed sigh. “You’re going to make this hard, aren’t you? What if I promise not to kill Nicholas?”
“No, all of them. You destroyed their families. You were responsible for the deaths of their parents. They only want the truth. And so do I.”
“I can see you haven’t returned to your senses at all. Time will take care of that. I’ve sheltered you for too long in my misguided attempt to protect and love you. So when the first man who fires your interest comes along, you’re willing to throw away everything—your family, your career—to be with him.”
Olivia stood. “This isn’t about lust. Or even love. This is about the truth. Where is my car? Last I saw it, Sayre had me drive it to the park, then he took it somewhere when Nicholas showed up to save me.”
“Lucas, you mean. Your car was found in a parking lot near here.”
“Of course. So Sayre could get back before you checked on him.”
He shook his head. “You give him way too much credit.”
She stood. “And you don’t give me enough. You can’t manipulate me anymore.”
The phone rang. He held up a finger and answered it. “Yes?…Excellent. Was he alone?…Too bad. Bring him in and down to the basement. Good work.” He hung up, a smile on his face.
Her heart was about to implode. “Who?”
“Not your precious Braden. Yet.”
“I’m leaving.” She opened the door and came face to chest with one of the guards. “Excuse me.”
He didn’t budge. She turned around. “Make him move.”
“Take her to her quarters.”
“What?”
The man took hold of her arm in a boa-constrictor grip. “Yes, sir.”
She spun around. “You are not—”
“Olivia, you need to spend some time thinking about what you’ve done. Soon the Rogues will be no more. You’ll have to let go of your infatuation and come back to reality. For now you’re on administrative leave because of mental illness. I’ll have a doctor attest to your unstable behavior. Your suite has been, shall I say, safeguarded. You cannot leave, you cannot make any calls.” He looked at the guard. “Check her for weapons or phones. With respect, please.”
She tried to hip-check the man, but he wouldn’t let up. She glared at her father. “You bastard!” She feared, most of all, that he would win—and the Rogues would die. She had to think.
The man patted her down, finding her cell phone. He tossed it to her father. “Nothing else.” He walked her down the hall, past the curving staircase, and to the east wing. Her prison.
She continued to struggle, knowing it was futile. She spotted his cell phone clipped to his waistband. Just as they reached her door, she put up a bigger fight, kicking, screaming, and, in the melee, grabbing his cell phone.
“Don’t make me hurt you,” he said as he shoved her into her room.
The door closed with a resounding thud. What was Nicholas’s number? It was programmed into her phone. Come on, remember! That thug is going to realize his phone is gone before long.
The number came in pieces. She punched the buttons, fumbling and missing the third one. She had to clear and start over. Her fingers were trembling.
She dialed the number. It rang.
The key slid into the lock.
She ran into the bathroom. Ring three. “Answer, dammit!”
The door opened just as she slammed the bathroom door closed and locked it.
“Livvie?”
“Yes, it’s me.”
“I went back to the building to explore it more, but it’s gone. I’m at the exact spot where the gate was, but there’s no gate, no road. No nothing.”
“I don’t have time to talk. My dad captured someone. I don’t know who it is, but he’s going to be put in the basement. You were right. He’s locking me in my suite.”
“He’s keeping you prisoner?”
“Yes.”
“He’s mad, Livvie.”
The man started pounding at the door.
“What’s that?”
“I borrowed the guard’s phone, and he wants it back. I’m all right, but I wanted you to know because I won’t be able to talk to you until I figure a way out of here. And he has the phone you gave me.”
“I’m getting you out of there.”
“No! That’s what he wants. At least Sayre can’t get me to go anywhere. I’m locked in.”
She heard his frustrated expletive just as the door cracked open.
CHAPTER 39
As soon as Nicholas walked into the tomb, he
scanned the group sitting around the living area. They looked tense but not upset like they would if someone was missing.
“Is everything all right?” he asked.
Lucas and Amy were faced off, clearly not in a loving moment.
Petra said, “Amy just got back from Wallace’s.”
Lucas’s hard gaze was on Amy, ignoring everyone else. “What you did was stupid. He could have killed you.”
“But he didn’t.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Now you know how I felt when you were hurting and didn’t tell me.”
His face was a taut mask of anger. “I didn’t run off and put myself in danger against your wishes.”
“I did it for you. And your making Eric promise to kill you is putting yourself in danger against my wishes.” She pointed to a box. “This is better than you dying, either from the storm of images or Eric.”
Nicholas jerked his gaze to Eric, who waved away the insane comment.
“And you trust this?” Lucas pulled out a syringe and pointed it at her. “The last time someone injected something into me, it screwed me up. You don’t know what’s in this. We don’t know what Wallace is up to. Throw them away, because I’m not taking it. Who’s the second one for? Not you, I hope.”
“He was going to make enough for everyone, but they sensed danger coming.”
Lucas shook his head. “More than ever I need my ability. I tried to kill Sayre in his dreams. He kicked me out, but I’m going to try again.”
“The antidote might not take away your abilities. Magnus still has his.”
She touched his arm, but he shrugged her off. “I’ll never forget how I felt when I found out you were gone. It was like I didn’t even know you.”
She swiped at her tears. “I’m going to do whatever I can to save you, Lucas. You should know that much about me by now.”
Nicholas’s heart broke for her. Hadn’t he seen that kind of devotion on Olivia’s face? These women who would risk their lives for their men. The men who would risk their lives for their women.
