Absolved (Altered series)

by Marnee Blake

  “People have died, Beth. A lot of people.” His guilt, always there under the surface, bubbled up, overtaking him. “Because Solvimine is a killing drug, not a lifesaving one. Don’t put your mother through this. I beg you.”

  “You think I won’t be able to save her.”

  “I’m saying if you can’t, you’ll never forgive yourself.”

  Anger flared at his words, but she forced herself to breathe. Though he believed what he said, that Solvimine killed, he wasn’t immune to her desire to save her mother. He was choosing to live in his fear, though. There wasn’t much she could do about that.

  This was why she shouldn’t have gotten involved in the first place. Creating the Alzheimer’s drug had always been her goal, and he disagreed. It would serve her right to have to feel what she was going to feel—both her own breaking heart and his.

  “I took this job specifically so I could study Solvimine for commercial purposes. That’s the reason I’m here.” Her body shaking, she inhaled. “I only agreed to come to work for Martins if I could research how it might help patients suffering from strokes and degenerative diseases. Lou Gehrig’s, Parkinson’s, and especially Alzheimer’s.”

  No. This couldn’t be. “Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

  Why didn’t you tell me?

  “Kitty knew.” It was impossible to hide from Kitty. But he was right. She should have told him. She’d convinced herself that if she gave him more time, he’d come to understand, so that when she broke the news, it wouldn’t be this destructive.

  She’d been wrong. Now it looked as though she’d kept secrets from him.

  Because she had.

  He agreed, and from his perspective, it was devastating. As he shook his head, she wanted to gag under the weight of his feelings of betrayal. She stepped closer, but he retreated. She tried to keep the pleading from her voice, but she failed. “I should have told you. You’re right. But I knew you wouldn’t understand.” He looked away. “Even now, after you’ve seen my mother, you refuse to see how this might be helpful.”

  “After the factory the other night, you still believe that having parts of this drug out there, used on your mother, is a good idea?”

  Is she this callous? Doesn’t their pain mean anything?

  “Of course their pain means something. I was there.” Her voice shook with anger. “I would have died to save those people.”

  “Yet you’ll kill others?”

  The words stung, and they ripped at the kernel of hope she’d held inside. “No. I want to save them.”

  He snorted, and cynicism crept into his thoughts. “That was what Fields had wanted, too, when he created the drug. To use super-soldiers to save lives.”

  She didn’t know what to say. He immediately regretted the words, but they’d already sapped her desire to fight for whatever had blossomed between them, stole any wish to convince him of her intentions. She could only stare at him. Deep down, he was hurting. He carried so much guilt and anger that he couldn’t see around it sometimes. But he knew her. He might not trust himself, but she’d believed he trusted her.

  She had been wrong.

  “I’m not Fields. If you can’t tell the difference, then we have nothing else to say here.”

  A flicker of doubt laced through him, and he fought his own need to reach out to her, to apologize. But he didn’t. And, if she wasn’t going to break down and cry in the middle of the conference room, she needed to get out of here. She gathered her things, doing her best to ignore him. She left, then, leaving her faith in him behind.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Beth’s team filed slowly into the conference room off her laboratory. She was usually the late one, but today, after her conversation with Luke, she had needed some time to herself, to process. She’d arrived twenty minutes early to be alone.

  She’d looked at the whole discussion—the entire situation—from multiple angles. No way could she have come out ahead in any of them.

  The rest of her team shuffled in, coming in larger groups now. She forced her disappointment about Luke back and greeted them.

  Initially, their minds filled with surprise to see her there so early, and then they smiled back.

  She didn’t think she’d recognized how much her coworkers liked her. As she listened, she heard their admiration and respect, genuine affection. Though, because they liked her, they were all a bit anxious about being called to an unscheduled meeting with their department head.

  Working with Solvimine and finding a cure for her mother’s illness had motivated her to take this job, but these people—all the assistants and lab techs—were good, hardworking people. She hated stressing them out.

  But someone at the base was feeding Parker information, and she needed to get to the bottom of it. Please, let it not be anyone in my group, not someone I trust.

  It wasn’t common knowledge that she was changed. Even the ones who knew she was telekinetic didn’t know she was also telepathic. She hadn’t wanted to talk about it or to have people feel weird around her, not until she got used to it. That choice had come in handy. Though she didn’t want to spy on her team, she was the best to listen for anything wrong. She was familiar with their voices.

  “Afternoon, everyone,” she greeted them. “Sorry for the unplanned meeting. Colonel Martins wanted me to get you all together for a conversation about privacy.”

  She watched as they looked at one another, confused. “I’ve brought in Rachel,” she motioned to the Human Resources officer who she’d asked to talk about their internet policy. “She’s going to give you a rundown on the guidelines for the team.”

  Nodding to the other woman, Rachel launched into a whole PowerPoint presentation about confidentiality—something they had all already been trained on—and Beth listened to her team. Since they’d heard this song and dance before, their minds wandered.

  At each person, she paused to listen. There was nothing.

  When Rachel wound down to the end of the government regulations, she started in on the portion of the presentation that Beth had prepared. Beth focused closer, trying to encompass all fourteen of the people in the room.

  “There’s some evidence that someone here at Fort Detrick has been in contact with Parker Sinclair.” Rachel paused, as Beth had directed her, to let that information sink in.

  Throughout the room, there were echoes of shock and dismay. All of them were aware of Sinclair’s activities and intentions. Who could do that? Why? What was going on? All of the questions, in a variety of iterations, floated through her mind.

  “If any of you have inadvertently given information to him, you can speak with Beth or me about it.” Rachel didn’t look at them, instead pretending to study something in front of her, so she didn’t appear to be implicating any one person. “We can seek leniency. If, however, you are discovered, we cannot help you.”

  They know it’s me.

  Through the outrage and horror, that thought seeped into her mind. She tried to isolate where it was coming from.

  Oh God. They know. Be calm.

  Rachel, unaware of what was going on, smiled at the group. “Thank you all for coming. We really appreciate your cooperation with this. If you have any questions or can give us any addition information about this matter, feel free to email me or talk with Beth.”

  Beth did her best to smile, but she was busy sifting through the group as they left.

  Stay calm.

  Steve. The voice in her head was Steve, her own research assistant. She froze him. The person behind him bumped into him, and Beth smiled at her. “Sorry, Libby. I’m going to speak with Steve. Go on.”

  Libby tried to return the grin, but it ended up looking sick.

  Beth felt nauseated, too.

  When only she, Rachel, and Steve remained, Beth made certain Steve could breathe. “Rachel, will you call Seth? He’s in charge of this investigation.”

  Because Steve could breathe, he could also talk. “Beth. You’ve got the wrong guy.
I’m not sure what makes you think it’s me, but I can assure you that you’ve made a mistake.”

  She stepped closer, staring into his eyes. During their research, she’d spent countless hours with this man. They’d shared meals and jokes. They’d had a healthy rivalry, her having gone to MIT and him with a degree from Caltech. Never once had she suspected that his friendship had been faked. There had been no signs of betrayal.

  She’d been a bad judge of character. That realization left an empty hole in her stomach.

  “I don’t know if you noticed, Steve, but I was affected by Solvimine.”

  “I had heard.” I’m only here part time, but she spent a couple days training with Luke and Kenny. Knew she was telekinetic. Hard to keep that quiet.

  She lifted her eyebrows. Apparently, the knowledge was public. “If you knew I was changed, why did you think you could walk into this meeting and be safe?”

  Because there are a lot of telekinetics around. “I have nothing to hide.”

  So her telepathic secret remained. That was good. “You can’t hide from me.”

  The door opened, and Seth stepped in with his girlfriend, Blue, followed by Nick and Luke. “Kitty’s in another meeting,” Seth offered before turning his gaze on Steve. “But, maybe she doesn’t need to be.”

  “This is our mole,” she responded. “Steve is my research assistant. He didn’t realize that I can read minds, too.”

  Shit. “I need an attorney.” After that, he began to sing “Henry the Eighth” in his mind. She wasn’t going to get anything else out of him right now.

  Seth smiled at him. Steve’s anxiety ratcheted up as the rest of them stepped closer, stared him down. Even if the animosity that settled around them weren’t intimidating, their size and what they could do definitely was. “And we’ll get you one. Just as soon as we can.”

  …

  “What does Parker plan to do with the Solvimine?”

  Colonel Martins’s voice was the one he used to give orders. It said he was in command. Even Luke, with his urge to buck authority, didn’t want to defy him.

  Steve, Beth’s research assistant, wasn’t happy, either. The armpits of his shirt were drenched, and he had paled considerably since entering this room.

  To Luke’s surprise, Martins had agreed without any fuss to an attorney’s presence. Didn’t have a choice, probably, and didn’t want to waste time. But he’d also insisted that Beth and Kitty watch from behind tinted glass. Considering that there was no precedent for mindreading in court, Martins wasn’t technically violating Steve’s rights. Still shady, though. What was more disconcerting was Luke’s lack of concern. It was surprising how unclear the line between right and wrong could get.

  A nagging voice in his head wondered how these blurry lines were different than the one Beth was walking with her research. Was he any better than she was? Grinding his back teeth together, he pushed that doubt aside.

  They had a job to do. Parker was going to kill people if they couldn’t find out what his plan was. That was worth massaging the law, wasn’t it?

  Shaking his head, he focused on Steve and his attorney, Mr. Klein.

  Klein put his hand on Steve’s arm. “You don’t have to answer.”

  “I don’t know Sinclair’s plan,” Steve said, ignoring his attorney’s advice. “He didn’t tell me.”

  “Did you help Sinclair make the drug airborne?” This question came from Seth. He and Luke had agreed to sit in on Martins’s interrogation of Steve.

  “I did.”

  “Steve.” Klein shook his head. His client wasn’t being very cooperative.

  “They already know that.” Steve rested his forehead on his fists, his elbows on the table. “Who else would it have been?”

  Klein snorted. “Why am I even here?”

  Apparently for rhetorical and snarky responses.

  “But I don’t know what he has planned,” Steve continued and motioned toward the tinted glass. “I bet Kitty and Beth are behind that. They’ll back me up. He didn’t say anything. I’m telling the truth.”

  Martins glanced at Seth. He was wearing an earpiece to connect him with the observation room. When he nodded, Martins dropped his head low. Steve must be telling the truth.

  “In your scientific opinion,” Luke started. “Can you guess what he might have planned?”

  “I wouldn’t hazard…”

  “Please do,” Luke interrupted. “Please hazard a guess. You talked to him, right?” Pushing away from the wall, he stalked closer. “You talked with him, or he wouldn’t have been able to finish the work on the drug.” Steve looked down, proving Luke right. “Tell us. Where did you meet him?”

  “Don’t answer,” Klein barked, gripping his client’s arm and staring him down.

  Seth touched his ear. “Parker came to him, visited him in his apartment a month ago.”

  “What?” Klein’s gaze rounded on him.

  Luke wasn’t about to let up the pressure. “Did he bring anyone with him?”

  Steve dropped his eyes, but again Seth tilted his head. “Another scientist. No one Steve knew. Probably former Goldstone, working under a new name. Those paramilitary companies…they close down and new ones pop up like dandelions.”

  “Did you do the work or provide the information?” Luke asked Steve, leaning forward to meet his eyes.

  “He didn’t do any of it, only turned over his research to Parker and answered the scientist’s questions,” Seth filled in.

  “Did he say anything…incriminating?” Luke didn’t know how to phrase what he really wanted to know. He tried again. “I mean, was he suspicious? Did he say anything to make you think he might do massive harm to anyone or in any place?”

  Steve shook his head, over and over, pressing his forehead into his palms.

  Luke turned to Seth, but Seth’s brow was furrowed. He only shrugged.

  The door to the interrogation room opened, and Beth stepped inside. He hadn’t seen her since their conversation yesterday. He’d known he missed her. Every second, her loss had been there, a weight in his chest. Sleeping was usually difficult, but now it was impossible. Seeing her here—it was like being punched in the stomach. The air drained out of the room, or maybe his lungs refused to allow him breath.

  Maybe he should have gone to her, tried harder to talk this all out. Being apart from her… It didn’t feel natural.

  Didn’t seem like she was faring any better. Her face was paler than usual, and the strain she was under was apparent in the circles under her eyes.

  She still looked achingly beautiful.

  When she closed the door behind her, the click was ominous. “Hey, Steve.”

  Her former assistant sat up straighter, adjusting his position in the seat. He glanced between all of the occupants of the room. Before he’d looked uneasy; now he looked like he wanted to bolt.

  “Seth, maybe you could let me take your spot?” She didn’t even look at Steve, as if she were asking to cut in on a dance or butt in front of someone in the line at the grocery store.

  “Sure, Beth. I wanted to get some coffee, anyway.”

  “Can you bring Steve some?” Lifting her brows, she turned to her former colleague. Where her eyes usually welcomed, now there was only disdain. “He likes it with cream, no sugar.”

  “Beth, let me explain…” Steve raised his hands, palms toward her. “I’m so sorry, but he threatened my family.”

  “Did he?” Her eyes narrowed.

  “Yes. Maryann and Tina. He said that if I didn’t do as he asked, they would be in danger,” he pleaded. “You know what he’s capable of. You know what he can do.”

  “Why didn’t you come to us? Why didn’t you say something? We could have helped you.” The pain in her voice ripped at him, even though he didn’t want to feel anything. She’d betrayed him, lied to him. Still, he couldn’t help hurting for her.

  He was a fool to think he’d hardened toward her.

  “I was afraid.” At this point, Klein had
closed his eyes and started rubbing his temple, completely giving up on gagging Steve as he appealed to Beth. “He can be…convincing.”

  Luke could only imagine what Parker did to scare him, with his abilities and capacity for intimidation. The older man had a goal, and if he wanted something, he could be very persuasive.

  It had been his idea to go on the mission that saved Kitty last year, so he could get the Solvimine research.

  Beth’s mouth firmed. “Now more people will die, Steve. You know that, right?” He nodded. “And you want to help, I know that you do. You’re scared. But so I am. So help me.” She paused, letting that set in. Steve nodded again. “Good. I need you to replay your conversations with him. Go slow.”

  “Replay it?”

  “Yes. Slowly.” Her brow crinkled, getting the look of concentration he’d always found so adorable. “So I can hear exactly what he said.”

  They held each other’s gaze for a long minute. Finally, Steve closed his eyes and Beth did the same.

  As Luke watched, they bowed their heads, and he waited.

  After another moment, she opened her eyes. “He’s going to strike against the government.”

  The words sizzled through the air, straightening every spine in the room.

  “What do you mean?” Colonel Martins had remained quiet during her conversation with Steve, but now his voice was sharp.

  Turning to him, she leaned against the table in the interrogation room, as if her strength had given out. “I mean, he mentions our elected leaders.”

  Steve nodded. “That is all he said.”

  Martins stepped forward again, addressing Mr. Klein. “You and your client are finished here. We will keep him in custody until we can turn him over to the proper authorities.”

  “Wait—I thought if I helped…” Steve stood, glancing around the room.

  “You stole research from the federal government. Important, classified research. And you assisted a criminal.” Beth recited the case against him softly, but the edge was gone. “I understand why, but that doesn’t make it right.”

  That was exactly how he felt about her choice to develop her Alzheimer’s drug. He understood, he just disagreed.