A Darker Shade of Dead

by Bianca D’Arc

  “I can’t believe this. I can’t believe that rat did this to me without my knowledge.”

  Sandra sounded truly pissed off. Matt hadn’t seen her really angry yet. She was kind of cute when she was riled. He knew she wouldn’t appreciate that observation, so he kept it to himself while he moved the receiver around her body, trying to pinpoint where the tiny transmitter might be hiding.

  Just as they’d thought, it was on her hip. Or more accurately, under the skin of her hip.

  “It’s right in this area.” Matt tapped the soft skin of her hip, just a little behind her.

  Sandra’s fingers went to the area and began a gentle probing motion.

  “It can’t be too small if they’re picking up the transmission from far away, right?” she asked.

  “I’m not really sure what size transmitter he’d have access to or what the newest tech has produced. Wouldn’t you have noticed something relatively large?”

  “Not necessarily. Some of the shots I got were experimental and not administered in the traditional way. See the scar there? That was from a skin patch test Rodriguez insisted on for the entire team. Now that I think back, he probably tagged us all.”

  The ramifications of that intrigued Matt.

  “What?” She must’ve caught something in his expression.

  “It would save us a lot of trouble if I could get a hold of his list of frequencies. If he knows how to locate all the members of the original team…”

  “Oh, I see what you mean.” Understanding dawned on her face as she thought it through. “If we can get this thing out intact, could you reverse engineer from it? Maybe figure out how to pinpoint the rest of them? Assuming there are more, of course. I could be wrong. Maybe he was just singling me out.”

  “I’d lay odds there are more. Otherwise, how did they find the guy we caught? I had him hidden pretty well on base.” He shook his head, thinking how Kauffman had been a sitting duck and none of them had even realized it. “As for reverse-engineering, that’ll be up to someone more expert in electronics than me, but we’ll definitely give it a try. The question now is, can we get this thing out of you?”

  “I’d love to do it here and now, but I think we’d need an ultrasound to do this easily. Unless…” She probed the area some more, a frown marring her delicate brows. “Put your hands here and here.” She pointed to either side of her hip area. “Now stretch out the skin. I think I can see…Yes, I see a bump.”

  “I don’t see anything.”

  “Right here.” She pointed to a smooth expanse of her pale skin. “From up here, I can see a tiny little bump. You can’t really feel it, but I can see something near the surface. It might be worth a try to make a small, shallow incision. If we can get it out now, I’d feel a whole lot better. At least we can try. If I can’t get it, we’ll get Mariana’s help after daylight.”

  “All right, what do you need? I have a field medical kit in the corner.” He pointed to a red nylon knapsack leaning up against one wall.

  She stood from her leaning position on the table and snagged the pack. Rifling through it quickly, she took a few items out, clutching them to her chest.

  “Where do you want to do this? The bathroom or kitchen would probably be best because of the potential for bleeding.”

  “How deep will you have to cut?” Suddenly this strategy sounded more dangerous than it had before.

  “Hopefully not too deep. If I can’t get it easily I’ll leave it for Mariana, but I’d at least like to try to get it out now. I don’t want this thing inside me anymore.”

  He could understand that.

  “Bathroom.” He led the way out of the safe room and into the nearby bathroom. She trailed behind, clutching her supplies to her chest.

  When they got inside the small room, she immediately laid out the stuff she’d taken from the kit. He saw antiseptic, gauze, a scalpel, and other things. Because of the position slightly behind her, Matt knew she’d need his help with this, if only to hold her skin taut while she dug out the tiny bump only she seemed to see. He hoped she could get to it easily. It would save them a lot of grief if he could use that transmitter to mislead Rodriguez a little before the bastard realized they were onto his little scheme.

  “What do you want me to do?” Matt asked, frowning as he saw the blade she would use to slice into her flesh.

  “Wash your hands with that antiseptic soap, then put on the sterile gloves in that package. I’ll want you to disinfect the area and then hold the skin taut like you did before.”

  He could do that. He scrubbed his hands as she finished her preparations, pulling her pants to her knees and pushing her panties down just far enough to clear the area she’d indicated before. Then she scrubbed her own hands and shrugged as she dried them on a clean white towel.

  “I don’t think I’ll have to cut too deep. From what I can see, this little guy is pretty close to the surface.”

  She opened a couple of antiseptic wipes allowing him to pull the little swabs out of their protective foil wrappers with his sterile gloved hands. He cleaned the area on her skin and then she gave herself a small dose of topical anesthetic. She used another antiseptic wipe to sterilize the blade, a pair of pointy tweezers, and her fingers. She nodded toward Matt as he knelt at her side.

  “Now just hold the skin taut and keep it steady.” She held the scalpel at an odd angle given her position. She was twisted around to reach slightly behind her. It was awkward, but it would work.

  She took a deep breath, held it, and cut into her skin. She went shallow at first, looking for the little bump only she could see from her vantage point at almost ninety degrees from the surface she was working on. Matt faced the cutting area head on, watching carefully for any sign of something electronic that shouldn’t be there, inside her skin. She wasn’t bleeding much, which was good.

  “You see anything?” she asked.

  “No.” Dammit. He wasn’t seeing what they both knew had to be there.

  “Wait. I can go a little deeper. I’m right over the bump.” She put action to her words, and the blood began dripping down her side. Matt soaked it up with a gauze pad and she made the incision deeper. “Okay, use your fingers to spread the incision and grab the tweezers. Poke around a little and see if you can find it.”

  Matt didn’t like the idea of hurting her, but he knew this had to be done. He did as she instructed, using gauze to soak up the blood that had pooled. When he removed the gauze, he saw it. A telltale sparkle of gold just under the skin.

  “I see it.”

  She sighed heavily. “Thank goodness. Can you get it out?”

  “I think so. Hold on.” Matt grabbed the tweezers and went after his prize. It took three tries, but he got it out in one piece.

  Putting it aside on the bathroom counter for a moment, he grabbed more gauze and put pressure on her wound. She took over the job as they both turned to peer down at the tiny little dot of gold that had been inside her.

  “Looks like a teeny tiny circuit board,” she observed in a quiet voice, as if talking too loud would shatter it.

  “That’s exactly what it is, I’d wager.” He flipped it over with the tweezers. “We’ll know more after we let some of the guys look at this. For now, we’ll keep it safe.”

  He took a small plastic bag from his pocket and placed the tiny chip inside. Closing it securely, he tucked it back into his pocket for safekeeping.

  “Now let’s get you fixed up.” He turned back to her and checked under the gauze to see how she was doing.

  The cut wasn’t deep or long. It didn’t require stitches—just a bandage. Her body was doing the rest at record speed. Since becoming infected with the contagion, she apparently healed as fast as the other immune members of the team.

  The contagion had started out as an experiment in boosting immunity and healing. In a rare, precious few, it worked as had been intended, giving them the ability to heal wounds without scarring in record time. Unfortunately only a tiny percent of t
he population had the right body chemistry. For the vast majority of people, it killed, then reanimated their corpses into something straight out of a horror flick.

  Matt covered the wound with a clean, square, white gauze pad and secured it with a length of tape. His hands went to the waistband of her white panties, riding low, under her hip. She jerked when he moved them downward instead of up.

  “Matt?”

  “Let me touch you, Sandra. Just for a minute.”

  He’d had about all he could stand of her bare flesh without touching her in a more intimate way. Things were so complicated between them now, but he knew one thing for sure. The tiny transmitter meant she hadn’t been communicating her location to the enemy willingly. She hadn’t betrayed them—or herself—in that way. She might still be keeping secrets from him, of course. He wasn’t stupid. It was enough to know for now that she hadn’t been lying when she said she didn’t know how Rodriguez’s men kept finding her.

  His gaze swept upward to meet hers. Astonishment gave way to something much hotter, much more sinful in her eyes. He felt it, too.

  “Are you sure you want to?” Her voice dropped low to tease along his senses. Damn, she was sexy without even trying.

  “Want?” He had to laugh at himself and the desire that rode him. “It’s more like a need, sweetheart.”

  Her eyes flared with excitement. “I’m glad we’re on the same page. I want you, Matt.” One hand reached out and her fingers tangled in his short hair, caressing, encouraging.

  He slid her panties down her legs and freed her of the tiny scrap of fabric. Heaven awaited him between her silky thighs, and he wasn’t going to deny himself much longer. Only long enough to be certain she was with him.

  He knelt before her and helped her settle more comfortably on the edge of the countertop. Positioning her just so, he pushed her thighs apart and enjoyed the view. He couldn’t resist touching, tracing the delicate folds of the place he most wanted to be—and would be, soon.

  Sandra trembled as Matt positioned her. She’d never had such a powerful lover. Not that there’d been that many men in her life. She’d all but given up on finding someone she could imagine spending a lifetime with. Most men didn’t seem to want a woman who was their intellectual equal. Even the scientists she’d worked with had preferred the young, nubile receptionists to the slightly older, more educated women they worked with. It was an old cliché that had proven true in her experience, she was sorry to say.

  Then there was Matt. Every bit as intelligent as the scientists she’d come to disdain, he was also a man of action with a drool-worthy physique that reduced her to nearly mindless desire whenever he touched her. Or looked at her.

  Like he was looking at her now. His gaze set fire to her most intimate places. His touch brought sparks of excitement that made her squirm. Her hips jutted outward, toward his questing fingers, wanting them to push deep. She was more than ready for him.

  And then they did. She gasped as first one long, hard finger slid deep inside, then two. He thrust into her in a gentle, slow rhythm that made fire race along her midsection in a slow, intense burn.

  “More,” she pleaded, surprised to hear her own voice.

  He complied, adding another finger, stretching her for the thick penetration that would follow. Matt’s cock was as big as the rest of him, which was to say, huge. She’d never had such a well-endowed lover, and after that first time she’d been a bit sore. Her body’s newly ramped-up healing abilities didn’t allow her to suffer long, and she certainly wasn’t complaining.

  The pleasure he’d given her had been truly amazing. Never had a sexual encounter given her such an all-consuming climax. While she knew part of it was due to the devastating equipment Matt possessed, an equal, if not greater, part had to do with the mysterious man himself.

  Matt fascinated her in every way. Physically he was daunting. Attracted from the first minute she’d laid eyes on him, there was no doubt she wanted his body. Working with him had been another experience that only made her admire him more. She liked his quick wit and loved the flashes of compassion he tried so hard to hide. He was a man she could love.

  He was a man she did love.

  The realization came in a blinding flash. She trembled, panicked for a moment. She loved him?

  Oh, God. She loved him.

  She was in trouble now. Delicious, sinfully sweet, incredibly tempting trouble, but trouble nonetheless.

  His fingers found a spot within her that made her scream his name. No time to think. Only feel.

  That’s it. Just feel what he was doing to her. Making her body dance to his tune.

  She gave herself up to the sensation. The future would take care of itself somehow. She didn’t want to think about it now. She wanted only to bask in this moment out of time, this incredible pleasure with a man she loved.

  Damn. Love. She hadn’t expected that.

  She’d deal with it later.

  Matt stood, his fingers still lodged deep inside her. His gaze sought hers and a devilish grin lifted one corner of his mouth. She wanted to kiss it. To capture that lazy, smugly male amusement.

  “You liked that?” His voice rumbled over her senses like another caress while his fingers made shallow, pumping motions, his gaze holding her pinned.

  “Yeah.” She was reduced to one-word answers. Sandra panted softly as she tried to catch her breath.

  “You want more?”

  She allowed herself to smile. “You know I do.”

  “Then what are we waiting for?” He suited action to words and removed his fingers from her body.

  He moved swiftly, his lips meeting hers in the sweetest kiss. He was ravenous and demanding as only their mouths touched. Her fingers went to his shirt, tugging and pulling along with him as he quickly shed his clothes, all the while still kissing her.

  He broke the kiss as he fished in the medicine cabinet for something. A second later, she saw the foil wrapper in his hands. She would’ve taken it from him, but he was in too much of a hurry. He covered himself and pulled her close again.

  Finesse was gone in the urgency of the moment. He pushed between her thighs, sliding into her with only slight difficulty. She was wet with desire and glad he’d taken time to prepare her. She was more than ready for his possession and knew what awaited her in his arms. Sandra was eager to find that bliss again.

  He entered by slow degrees, pulling out a little only to slide deeper on the next gentle wave. When he was seated fully, he stilled and she basked in the feel of him, the complete and utter possession of his big frame wrapped around her, plunging deep within. He owned her in that moment and she didn’t mind at all.

  Strange that. She’d never experienced such an all-consuming need to give all she had to a man. To let him take control. To be in total charge of her body and her pleasure.

  Matt was a special case. He would always be special to her, no matter the outcome of this disastrous affair. He was her lover. Her love. No one else would ever take the piece of her heart she’d surrendered to him. Even though he didn’t know it.

  The thought made her sad, but it also gave her strength. She wanted to enjoy this stolen time with him. It might be all she ever got. She would take it and run with it, and hold this memory against the future—if she had a future. Times were desperate. More desperate than they’d ever been for her. She would enjoy what she could with Matt, while it lasted.

  “Matt,” she whispered as he began to move, unable to keep silent while her body lit up like a firecracker on the Fourth of July.

  The hard length of him touched her most sensitive places, rubbing her into a frenzy with very little effort. It wouldn’t be long before she exploded like a rocket and burst into a million fragments of fire in the sky. How she longed for it, wanted it, yet wanted this incredible feeling to last. She couldn’t have it both ways. Eventually, pleasure would be overcome by ecstasy.

  Thank God.

  Matt began to move. Slow, rocking motions gave way to
deeper, harder thrusts until she was whimpering on every pulsing beat. He drove her steadily and swiftly toward the intensity of satisfaction Matt had taught her.

  “Are you with me, baby?” His voice was harsh in her ear, his breathing heavy. He was so tall, his body nearly enveloped her. It felt comforting and safe, only a little overwhelming.

  “Yeah.” She nearly howled as desire overwhelmed her. She was close to exploding. All it would take was a little more…

  Oh, yeah. She came swift and hard. Matt knew just how to move to make her climax on cue. She felt him follow her over the edge, up to the stars and back again.

  They held each other tight, clinging to each other as if they were the only solid things in the universe. They alone existed in a world of sheer bliss where nothing else mattered but the two of them, wrapped in each other.

  All too soon, it came to an end.

  “Damn, sweetheart, you make me forget everything. We’ve got work to do, but I’ll be damned if I can work up enough energy to care right now.”

  She laughed. She couldn’t help herself. He’d summed up exactly her feelings as well.

  “Do you think anyone would notice if we called in sick today?” she mumbled against his chest. She could feel as well as hear the rumble of his laughter against her cheek.

  Chapter Eleven

  Sandra hid another yawn behind her hand. This was going to be a long day, but she refused to sleep until she understood the ins and outs of the chip that had been implanted into her body without her consent.

  Matt had escorted her to the base just after sunrise and summoned a few men to a part of the base she hadn’t seen before. It was where the cleanup team was housed—a separate building built back in the forties, and from the looks of it, abandoned several times since then. The thick walls gave it the feeling of a bunker and provided security that many of the base’s newer buildings couldn’t boast.

  The outside of the structure looked awful. The inside, however, was another story. There were lots of open office space and corridors of private bedrooms in a barracks area, along with plenty of storage for the high-tech equipment the cleanup team used.