When I lie down for bed later that night, I feel recharged. Being with Wolf and Caroline has that effect. For the first time in six months, I sleep the peaceful sleep of a man without one eye open.
Chapter 4
Sarina
Talk radio chatter comes from Uncle Owen’s old radio on a shelf in the lab. I’m not paying attention, but I like the background noise.
These days, I don’t really pay attention to anything but the research I’ve been doing. I’ve tested and retested, checked and rechecked, and the results have stayed the same. Uncle Owen and I developed a vaccine against a number of airborne pathogens. There are other pathogens I’d like to test it on, but they’re locked down at military labs or the CDC and I can’t get my hands on them.
Once I tell the CDC about my findings, though, the compound can be tested on a wider scale. I can hardly sleep at night because I have a meeting set at the CDC headquarters later this week.
It’s been tough not sharing this research with anyone but a few CDC contacts for the past six months. I’m giddy to finally be at this stage. This vaccine will be a game changer for the US military and a dick punch to terrorists who prey on the defenseless.
Sarina Ross is about to dick punch terrorists. Just the thought makes me laugh out loud. I may be shy and awkward, but I’m committed to my work. Uncle Owen would be beside himself with excitement right now.
I wish so badly that he was here. He spent his life working on vaccines and other life-saving research, and he deserves this payoff much more than I do. Not that he ever cared about the glory.
Getting up from my stool in the lab, I take off my goggles and wash my hands. For the past couple months, I’ve been forcing myself to take a lunch break away from the lab. With the hours I’ve been working, it’s usually the only interaction I have with other people.
I grab my purse and tap my index finger on the top of the framed photo of Uncle Owen and me on my desk. It’s become a habit of mine for good luck.
The lab is just outside a small Arizona town, and it’s a fifteen-minute drive to a little café I like. I have chicken noodle soup for lunch and then pick up a bag of homemade dog treats from the bakery attached to the café. The dogs at the shelter love them.
My mind is on the work I’m planning to do this afternoon on the drive back to the lab. I pull in to my spot by the door, grab my purse and get out of my car.
I’m about to unlock the door when powerful arms wrap around me from behind.
“Shh,” a male voice says in my ear.
The terror is overwhelming. My body freezes and my heart races. I’m completely alone out here. Even if I scream, no one will hear.
“You need to listen to me, Sarina,” the voice says. “You’re in danger and I’m here to protect you.”
“Let me go.” I push my arms out and squirm, trying to break free.
It’s no use. The arms around me are like iron bars, not moving an inch.
“We have to get out of here,” the man says. “It’s not safe.”
Uh-huh. I’m sure I’ll be much safer bound and gagged in the back seat of his car, or alone with him in the nearby woods.
I can’t die before I present my research to the CDC.
That’s the only thought in my head as I keep struggling to get out of the man’s grip.
“Let go of me, you asshole,” I say, trying to sound braver than I feel.
I kick the heel of my boot back against his shin as hard as I can and the man grunts.
“Don’t fight me,” he says. “I know you’re scared, but—”
I use all my strength to bend down and sink my teeth into his forearm, which is locked above my breasts.
This time his grunt is louder. “That fuckin’ hurt,” he says in my ear, his voice raspy.
“Not as much as being murdered does, you psycho.” My voice wavers with fear. “Let me go. Please. I’m only twenty-seven.”
“I’m not here to murder you, Sarina. I’m here to protect you.”
“The only thing I need protection from is you.”
I take a deep breath and scream, but I’m silenced a second later by a hand clamping over my mouth.
“Stop,” the voice says in my ear. “They could be watching us right now.”
“Who?”
“Listen, I’m sorry about this,” he says, forcing me to walk until the front of my body is against the brick wall of the lab.
I try to break away, but he’s too strong. Before I can even get my bearings, I feel cloth being wrapped around my mouth.
He’s gagging me. Oh, God. It’s all over. It’s all I can do to keep from peeing my own pants out of sheer terror.
Then I’m thrown over his shoulder and carried away. I pound my fists into his back and kick his lower stomach, but it doesn’t faze him. In fact, he breaks into a run and carries me to the edge of the woods.
We’re a quarter of a mile from the lab now, and tears are pouring from my eyes as he sets my feet on the ground. I’m certain this is where I’m going to die, and it’s not going to be quick and easy.
I now have a chance to look at my abductor for the first time. When I raise my gaze up to meet his, I step back, stunned.
It’s Ford, the man from the bar six months ago.
“Hey,” he says sheepishly. “I know you’re scared, but I swear I’m not here to hurt you.”
Questions are tumbling out of my mouth, all muffled by the bandana I’m gagged with.
“I’ll take it off, but if you scream, it’s going right back on,” he says sternly. “We’re not in a good situation right now.”
I nod and he lowers the fabric. I take in a deep breath before speaking.
“You broke out of prison and came here to kidnap me.”
He furrows his brow in confusion. “No.”
“Am I your hostage?”
“No.”
“What are you going to do to me?”
“I’ve been assigned to protect you.”
I narrow my eyes. “By whom?”
“By an intelligence agency of the US government.”
I roll my eyes. “Right. Because lots of felons are on their payroll.”
“I’m not really a felon, Sarina.”
“So you lied?” I laugh bitterly. “Of course you did.”
He starts to speak, stops, and then starts again. “I didn’t lie. It’s…complicated.”
Tears fill my eyes. “I’m scared to death right now, Ford. Or whatever your name is.”
“It’s Ford. And I’ll keep you safe.”
In a split second, I decide to make a break for it, but I only get three steps away before his arms are around me, pulling me to a stop.
“Don’t do that,” he says in a level tone.
“Please don’t kill me,” I plead.
“Listen,” he says, releasing his hold on me. “You’ve developed some kind of bio-weapons vaccine, haven’t you? How would I know that if I was a maniac who came here to hurt you?”
“How do you know that? I haven’t told anyone but some CDC contacts.”
“Well, it’s out. And there are some bad people after you. I’ve been tailing you for three days and I’ve seen others surveilling you, too.”
I feel dizzy as his words sink in.
“Do not fucking pass out on me,” he says harshly. “I’m parked a half mile from here and we may have to make a run for it.”
“If what you’re saying is true, what are we doing in the woods?”
His expression turns grim, his lips set in a thin line. “They’re watching the front of the building. So they think you’re inside right now since they saw you pull around back.”
“They who?” I demand, my voice rising frantically.
“A terrorist faction. They’re not too hot on a vaccine for bioterrorism, since they’ve sunk massive cash into bioterrorism research.”
I recoil. “I need to get to the police.”
Ford shakes his head. “I’m taking you somewhere safe.”
My fear turns to anger in an instant. “Was this whole thing a set up? Meeting me at that bar? Were you following me then, too?”
“No. I got this assignment less than a week ago.”
“Who are you?” I demand. “A wanderer slash prison inmate or a creep who preys on innocent women and scares them into peeing their pants?”
He’s trying not to smile. “Look, we need to get out of here. I’ll explain more later.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.” I cross my arms over my chest.
“I’ll carry you if I have to.”
“That’s kidnapping, and you’ll end up right back in prison if you try it.”
He glares at me. “You’re gonna be a real pain in my—”
He’s silenced by a deafening noise. A wave of heat presses against us, and the next thing I know, I’m on the ground, with Ford on top of me.
“Fuck,” he mutters.
I wiggle my head out from under him and look at the lab. It’s just a burning shell now.
“No,” I cry, my voice just a whisper. “No, no, please no.”
My life’s work has been blown into a million pieces. The formula, my notes, and everything else I was going to present to the CDC is gone. I watch the building burn and cry silent, stunned tears.
Ford offers me the handkerchief he gagged me with.
“You’re bleeding,” he says.
I turn to him and just stare.
“Your temple.” His tone is impatient. “A piece of brick must’ve hit it. Now press this to the wound. We’re making a run for it.”
I don’t respond, and he grabs my shoulders. “Listen to me, Sarina. Listen right fucking now. Do you want to trust the people who think they just blew you up, or do you want to trust the guy who kept you from being in that building when they destroyed it?”
“All my uncle’s books,” I say forlornly.
Ford gives me an annoyed glare before shoving the bandana in my hand and throwing me over his shoulder.
I see blood dripping from my head to the ground below as he runs, but I can’t bring myself to care. There was only one thing left in this world that I loved, and it’s in ruins. There’s nothing left to present to the CDC. The vaccine no longer exists.
Ford sets me in the back seat of a car, telling me to stay down, then slides into the driver’s seat and drives us away. I don’t know who he is and I certainly don’t trust him, but I’m too numb to fight back. I don’t have anything left to fight for.
Chapter 5
Sarina
Ford drives for several hours, never saying a word to me. I cry silently in the back seat, now sitting up and watching the landscape pass by through the car window.
“You hungry?” he asks gruffly, his eyes flicking up to meet mine in the rearview mirror. “Need to take a piss or anything?”
“I’m fine, other than this whole kidnapping thing,” I snap.
His gaze moves back to the road.
The numbness of the lab being blown up is wearing off, and now I’m feeling an anger like none I’ve ever experienced. It infuriates me that there are people in the world who would incinerate a vaccine against the painful deaths caused by biotoxins.
I don’t think it was Ford who destroyed my lab, but he’s the only person I can lash out at right now. And it’s not like he doesn’t deserve it anyway.
“So I guess I met a different one of your personalities at the bar six months ago,” I say bitterly. “That one was nice. Do you feel like that one might be taking over anytime soon?”
He glances into the rearview mirror again. “I can be whoever I need to be,” he says unapologetically. “Whatever a situation calls for.”
“And what exactly was that situation? Were you following me then?”
“I already told you I wasn’t.”
I scoff. “Yeah, well…your credibility’s not looking so great right now.”
He sighs heavily. “Damned women. I swear you like to fight just for the hell of it.”
“Uh huh.” My tone is loaded with sarcasm. “Maybe because we’re so tired of men who lie just for the hell of it.”
“I haven’t lied to you.”
“So you were sent to prison for five to seven years for punching a guy while on probation and now, six months later, you work for a government intelligence agency?”
Another heavy sigh. “I did punch a guy who stole a woman’s purse, but I didn’t get into legal trouble for it.”
“Lie number one.”
“Will you just listen? Christ. Speaking of multiple personalities, where’s the shy woman I met at the bar that night?”
I meet his eyes in the rearview mirror, narrowing mine. “Go on.”
“I was on an undercover assignment in the prison. No one there knew it—not even the guards or the warden. I was booked in with a false identity to extract intel.”
“Extract intel?”
“Uh…get a guy to tell me something.”
“And that took you six months?”
His laugh is humorless. “I wasn’t trying to find out the guy’s favorite flavor of pie, sweetheart. It was delicate intel. I had to gain his trust.”
“So you became his bitch?”
He shoots a glare at me over his shoulder. “Fuck no. I’m straight as they come, darlin’. All my fantasies in there were about a certain sexy woman in glasses who wanted me to fuck the shit out of her the night before I went in.”
“You arrogant son of a bitch.”
“You’ve got quite a mouth when you’re pissed.”
His amusement sends me over the edge. I swing the blood-soaked bandana at his head from the back seat of the car. It smacks against his ear and blood splatters onto the car’s seats and dashboard.
“You want me to wreck this fuckin’ car?” he says angrily.
“It might be a better way to go than getting cut up by you and stuffed in a freezer.”
“For fuck’s sake.” He swings the car over to the side of the road and turns around to look at me. “I’m gonna tie you up if you don’t cool it. If I wanted you dead, you’d be dead.”
His expression softens suddenly. “You’re still bleeding. I thought it stopped.”
“It’s fine.”
“No, it’s not. There’s a first aid kit on the floor back there. Get out some gauze and put pressure on the wound. We’re less than an hour from the hotel we’re staying at tonight. And once we get there, you can contact someone at the FBI for confirmation that I was hired to protect you, okay? I get that you’re upset right now and you have every right to be, but don’t be pissed off at me.”
My shoulders drop as I let out a breath. “I’m exhausted, and it’s not even dark outside yet.”
Ford looks over his shoulder before pulling back into traffic. “You’ve had a traumatic day, and you’ve lost a lot of blood.”
“I’ve lost everything,” I say softly. “Everything I had left in this world.”
After a few seconds of silence, Ford says, “Sorry about the lab.”
We’re both silent for the rest of the trip. I’m too worn down to even argue anymore. After Ford parks in the parking lot of a hotel, he takes a black bag from the passenger seat and swings it over his shoulder, then opens the back door of the car. He grabs the first aid kit and shoves it into a pocket of the bag.
He offers me his arm for support, but I ignore it and step out on my own. A wave of dizziness hits as soon as I’m upright and I stumble.
Ford picks me up and carries me from the car to the sidewalk, where he scans room numbers on the doors facing the parking lot. At least this time he didn’t throw me over his shoulder. He’s carrying me the way a groom carries his wife over the threshold on their wedding night. There’s probably some irony in there, but I’m too worn out to care.
I keep the gauze pressed to my temple, but I’m still leaking blood onto his T-shirt. He doesn’t seem to notice, though.
He stops in front of a door and sets my feet on the gr
ound, keeping an arm around my waist for support. Then he scans the key card to enter the room and when it clicks, he picks me up again, using his foot to open the door.
The room is cool and it’s a relief to finally be out of a moving car. Ford sets me down on the bed, switches on all the lights in the room and takes the first aid kit out of his bag.
“I’m okay,” I mumble. “I think I just need to sleep.”
“Turn your head to the side for me,” he says.
He leans closer to look at the wound on my temple and then sighs softly.
“I need to close this up with a couple stitches,” he says. “It’s not gonna feel very good.”
“If I need stitches, take me to a hospital.”
“I can’t risk that terror group finding out you’re still alive.”
He gets several bath towels from the bathroom, sits me up, and puts them on the bed.
“I really don’t want you sewing me up,” I say, my heart pounding nervously. “I don’t even know who you are. And this place isn’t exactly sanitary.”
“I’ve got field medical training.” He meets my eyes and I see reassurance there.
“Field training? Are you in the military?”
“I was.”
“What branch?”
Ford lays supplies from the first aid kit on the bed. “Navy.”
“And you’re trained in doing stitches?”
A smile plays on his lips. “I’ve done ‘em lots of times. Stitched up people in much worse shape than you.”
“Really?”
“Yep.” He nods toward the towels on the bed. “Lie down.”
I take in a deep breath and let it out, then curl up on my side, my back to Ford. He brushes my hair away from the cut on my temple and then sets a dry, rolled-up washcloth on the bed near my face.
“I don’t have anything to numb this with. Put that in your mouth and bite down when it hurts.”
I groan softly and put the washcloth between my teeth, then close my eyes and hope it will be over soon.
A few seconds later, Ford’s hand brushes across my shoulder. “I’m about to clean it. Bite down.”
Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Protecting Sarina (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 3
