HeatedMatch

by Lynne Silver

  “Loren, move!” Adam’s shout roused her slightly, but she couldn’t seem to follow his orders.

  “What’s the matter with me?” she asked, but it sounded more like “waas mameh”. Her tongue seemed twelve times its normal size.

  She started to fight her paralysis with everything she had and some tingling started in her toes and fingertips.

  “Ketamine,” Adam’s familiar, welcome voice said from somewhere above her. If her body could cooperate, she would’ve started sobbing and smiling all at the same time from the joy of hearing Adam’s voice and knowing he was alive.

  “Xander, Paulson’s running,” Adam shouted with a warning note, but she heard the exam room door shut.

  Rowan’s face came into view as he came to stand over her. He grinned, but sweat dripped down his temples mixed with blood. “Your rescue party has arrived, madam.” The tingling intensified and she managed to move her lips slightly, then enough to gurgle out Adam’s name.

  Rowan looked sober. “He’s here. He’s okay. Bro, your woman needs to see you.”

  Now she could see purple and green splotches covered Adam’s face, but he was smiling at her and leaned down to brush a kiss over her lips. “I’m sorry, baby. You shouldn’t have come after me.” He scowled at Rowan. “How the hell could you let her near here?”

  “We need to move out,” Xander said, sounding out of breath, but Adam shook his head.

  “Paulson’s gone, Adam. I chased them, but they disappeared. There’s no need to stick around. The minute Rowan shot, the other guard turned and ran, pulling Paulson out. They had an escape plan and are long gone by now.” He yanked his long-sleeve black t-shirt over his head and handed it to Adam, who appeared to be totally naked, but she couldn’t turn her head enough to see his full body.

  “Not Paulson,” Adam said as he pulled the shirt carefully over his head. “Emma.”

  “Emma?” Rowan and Xander asked in unison.

  “Kids,” Loren gurgled. The damn drug couldn’t wear off soon enough. All three men looked at her. “Kids,” she tried again.

  “I never saw any kidnapped baby, including Christenson’s,” Adam said. “But if they’re here, we’ll find them.”

  “How long until she can move again?” Rowan asked.

  “She can already talk,” Adam said. “That’s a good sign. Means it’s wearing off.”

  “I’m going to have to carry her,” Xander said.

  “I carry her,” Adam protested.

  “Don’t be an ass,” Xander said. “You probably have broken ribs and who knows what else.”

  Loren caught a glimpse of Rowan’s face. He was frowning slightly, but didn’t offer to carry her. He had to hate that his handicap didn’t let him play the hero in this instance, despite all he had done to get them this far.

  Xander scooped her up easily. “Rowan, take the tail. Your gun still have shots?”

  “Yeah.” But he didn’t move.

  “You okay?” Xander asked.

  Rowan’s shoulders half shrugged. “Dunno. Never killed a person before.”

  Adam got in close to Rowan, placing a comforting hand on his brother’s shoulder. “It’s never an easy thing. There will be time to deal with it later. For now we need to move.” His words seemed to calm Rowan, who took a deep breath.

  “Let’s go,” Rowan said after a moment.

  The four of them formed an odd parade, with Adam leading them down a confusing maze of corridors. Not another human came into view, but that didn’t stop all three men from hyperawareness and caution. It only took a few minutes, but it seemed like an hour when Adam finally stopped in front of a metal door with no handle.

  “Emma.” Adam banged on the door. “Emma, it’s Adam. Your rescue party is here.”

  “It’s a finger scan,” Xander said in a low voice. He and Adam exchanged a look and then Xander carefully set her down on the ground, slumped against the wall. “Keep fighting the meds and trying to stand,” he said, then took off in a fast sprint toward the direction they’d just come.

  “What’s taking so long?” A woman’s voice came through the door.

  “My buddy’s getting the key.”

  Key? Loren wondered how Xander knew where to find a key and wished she hadn’t been curious because he returned shortly holding a slightly bloody object in a gloved hand. Her stomach flopped over causing bile to rise. She breathed it back, trying to remain as strong as possible.

  Xander had the door open in a second and soon a young woman with long brown hair in a braid down the center of her back rushed out of the room. She wore nothing other than a long white undershirt and green scrubs rolled at the ankles. The red on her toenails was chipped and peeling. “Adam!” she cried and rushed into Xander’s arms. He held her gently, looking discomfited at having to comfort a woman, especially in the middle of an op.

  “I’m Adam, Emma.”

  She raised her tear-streaked face from Xander’s chest and smiled at Adam. “You did it. You’re the first bloke I’ve ever met who kept a promise.” Then she looked up at the man who held her. “Who are you?”

  “Xander.”

  Everyone waited for him to add to his introduction, but he was obviously a man of few words and shut his mouth after the one-word introduction.

  Adam leaned in a little closer to Emma. “Emma, in your months here, did you ever hear Paulson mention children or babies? We think Paulson has at least four children hidden somewhere on the grounds.”

  She bit her lip. “They never spoke to me about anything, but I did hear children’s cries on occasion through the window. I think the building may have a courtyard.”

  Xander nodded where he stood with his arms wrapped around Emma. Loren thought it strange he hadn’t released her yet. He hadn’t struck her as the touchy-feely type. “From the surveillance mapping we did, you’re correct about the building shape. We’re currently in the basement on the east side of the building.”

  “We don’t leave without Christenson’s kid,” Adam said in a hard voice. “Rowan, can you take Loren and Emma out of the building?”

  “Emma stays with me,” Xander said.

  “What?” Adam spun to look at his friend, but something in Xander’s expression stopped any further protest. “Fine. We don’t have time to argue. For all we know, Paulson has an entire army looking for us.”

  Emma shook her head. “I only ever saw his two bullies. You said he was trying to build an army. I don’t think he has one yet.”

  Loren decided she liked this sensible young woman. She’d obviously been through some trauma, but she was coping and already contributing to the mission.

  “Loren, how are your legs doing?” Adam asked.

  She gave them a wiggle and pushed to a standing position leaning heavily on the wall. “I can walk if I can lean on someone.”

  Adam scowled. “It will have to be you, Ro. I’m still feeling like I might fall over. Xander, you and Emma take east and south. Loren, Rowan and I will take the north and west. Meet back here in fifteen.”

  Rowan wrapped an arm around Loren’s waist and they started shuffling as fast as they could, opening every door in the hallway. At the third door, Adam stopped. He entered the room and returned a minute later with green scrubs tied low on his hips. When he came back, he said, “We’re wasting time. I slept on this floor last night and didn’t hear a single child or baby cry. We need to move up a level to the courtyard.”

  Loren agreed. “The public face of the clinic is all that way,” she said and pointed. “Any windows the clients see face the parking lot or exterior, not the courtyard.”

  “Let’s get to the center of the building on any floor and move from there,” Rowan said. They found a staircase and went up, but found nothing on the upper level either. It was all routine-looking offices and loads of filing cabinets. Loren longed to explore, but time was critical. “It’s amazing,” she murmured.

  “What is?” Rowan asked.

  “How at first glance this looks
like a wonderful clinic doing much to help families, but it’s a front for evil.”

  Adam’s gaze took in the floor-to-ceiling shelf of medical books and another wall with pictures of newborns and their families. “It’s almost meet-up time,” he said, turning away from the room. “Let’s get moving to meet Xander.”

  “We’re not giving up, are we?” she asked, noting that her limbs were moving with more ease and shaking off the effects of the drug.

  “Hell no, but maybe Xander got lucky.”

  They headed back down the stairs and found Xander and Emma already there with a third person whose arms were held behind her back.

  “Look who we found,” Xander announced. “Emma says this is the doctor who worked with Paulson.”

  The young female doctor’s eyes were filled with tears. “Under duress,” she said softly.

  “Do you know where the kidnapped children are being held?” Loren asked.

  The doctor nodded. “My own son is being held there also. As soon as I saw Paulson being carried out by one of his guards, I knew it was time to go.” She struggled against whatever rope or restraint held her arms. “I’ve been trying to tell them, but they dragged me here.”

  “Where are the kids?” Adam asked in a hard voice. “Take us there.”

  She frowned. “First you have to promise me something.”

  Xander pulled out a gun and held it to her temple. “We don’t negotiate with kidnappers.” His voice was icy, but the hand that didn’t hold the gun was gentle as it clasped Emma’s.

  The doctor blinked but didn’t seem to panic at Xander’s close-range threat. Loren’s heart pounded at seeing a weapon at someone’s head like in a movie.

  “I’m a victim also,” the doctor said. “Paulson kidnapped my son and forced me to run his illegal clinic.” She turned to look at Emma and Adam. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.” Her voice cracked, but then she seemed to gather strength from thin air and hide her fear once more. “They would have killed Luca if I didn’t cooperate.”

  Loren didn’t know what to think. Here was a woman who’d been living on fear through a nightmare for an unknown amount of time, yet seemed as cool and collected as if she’d simply had her lunch reservation mixed up.

  “Do they let you visit your son? Is he in this building?” Adam asked.

  “Yes.”

  Adam and Xander exchanged a glance, and Xander slowly lowered his gun.

  “Take us to him,” Loren said.

  “I need to know we’ll be safe after.” She turned to Adam. “Did Paulson get away?”

  He glowered and nodded.

  “Then I won’t be safe. They’ll come to find us again. I won’t take you to my son until you guarantee our safety.”

  “You have our guarantee,” Adam said. “But if we ever find out you’re playing us, we will kill you.”

  “Why you?” Rowan spoke up for the first time since finding the doctor. “Can’t they pick up any old fertility doctor?”

  She shook her head and started to walk down the hallway. “I am a leading expert in my field of gene therapy and implanting DNA in incompatible hosts. Without me, they’ll fall behind and I think Paulson’s accepted money from a terrorist group. They’ll kill him if he doesn’t deliver.”

  “He deserves to die,” Emma said. A chorus of agreement followed her statement.

  The doctor led them up the stairs and back to the same corridor they’d searched before. When they reached a door leading to a janitor’s closet, she turned to Xander. “I need these off.” She held out her bound wrists behind her.

  Xander scowled, but finally pulled out a wicked-looking knife and slashed through the plastic ties on the doctor’s arms. As soon as she was free, she stepped into the tiny room lined with mops and cleaning detergents. She moved aside a large jug of cleaning fluid on one side, revealing a small metal panel with keypad. The doctor entered a long series of numbers. There was a click and then the back wall of the closet shifted.

  Now that the hidden door was open, the hinges and edges of it were obvious, but Loren could see how they’d missed it on the first go-round.

  “Impressive,” Rowan commented.

  “Actually it’s a pretty standard locking mechanism. The genius was hiding it in plain sight as a janitor’s closet,” Adam said.

  “Kind of like the Program,” Loren said. She stepped past Adam into the closet and through the doorway where the doctor had already passed.

  “What do you mean?” Xander asked.

  “I mean that your compound has been in suburban Maryland for years. Everyone assumed it was a normal office park. People see what they want to see. No one assumed it was a top-secret government installation.”

  “Good point,” Adam said.

  They all got quiet again as anticipation built for where the doctor was leading. Adam and Xander were tense, ready for action. She could tell they didn’t entirely trust the doctor, but she’d brought them this far. It could be a trap. Maybe she was leading them to danger, although Loren was going with her gut and trusting the doctor. Even though she wasn’t a mom yet, Loren guessed she’d go through nearly any hurdle to ensure her child’s safety, including doing something unethical.

  The closet door led to a small hallway with three connecting doors. The doctor’s heels echoed off the floor as she walked swiftly to the middle door and opened it. “Luca,” she called.

  A bundle of energy in the body of a four-year-old came barreling toward the doctor. The professional woman morphed into a tender mother as she knelt to yank her son to her chest. Tears streamed down her face. “Luca, darling, it’s time to leave.”

  Luca pushed out of his mom’s arms. “Leave? But you said I had to stay here and be a good boy,” he said.

  “I know I did. That was before. My job here is done and we can leave now.”

  Loren could see the doctor was holding on to her control by a thread, but the boy was going to keep chattering with questions, so she stepped forward and squatted in front of him. “Hi, Luca. I’m Mommy’s friend, Loren. I flew over here on a big airplane. Have you ever been on an airplane?”

  He nodded, but tears filled his eyes. “When the mens taked me here. They made me lie down and I didn’t get to look out the window.”

  She smiled through her heartbreak for the little boy’s suffering. “Well, I would let you and your mommy sit next to the window. Would you like to come on an airplane with us?”

  He turned to look at his mother who plastered an encouraging smile on her face.

  “Okay. Can I bring Puppy?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “No dogs,” Xander said.

  Luca giggled. “Silly. Puppy is a stuffed aminal.”

  Even Xander’s harsh face softened at the boy’s laughter and mispronunciation of animal. “Puppy can come then.”

  Luca dashed off to a small bed and pulled a ratty dog that was once pale blue but was more gray now. The rest of them scanned the dormitory-like room for any of the other children. Six cribs lined both walls of the room and an older woman rocked in a chair by the window knitting, seemingly oblivious to their presence.

  “She’s deaf,” the doctor explained. “And I think she’s from Afghanistan, but since she seems to be illiterate and can’t speak, I’m not sure. She was kind to Luca, however. I don’t think she realizes what’s happening here. All she knows is she has a safe place to sleep and has to watch the children.”

  Adam stalked the length of the room. “Empty,” he muttered over each crib. Then he got to the last crib, closest to the older woman. “Bingo. Christenson’s kid.” He leaned over to scoop the sleeping infant out of the crib, and that jarred the woman out of her quiet. She leaped to her feet with more speed than her age belied and started vocalizing harsh noises and poking at Adam with her knitting needles.

  “Mine. My baby,” Adam told her loudly.

  The woman shook her head, clearly anguished.

  “Xander,” he said. “Take care of her.”

/>   Xander strode over and put a hand on the older woman’s shoulder and did some kind of Jedi move, causing her to crumple on the floor at his feet.

  Adam turned to the doctor. “Have you ever seen any other children here?”

  “Yes. There used to be more babies, but they go away,” Luca answered for his mother.

  “Where do they go?”

  Luca hesitated at the roughness of Adam’s tone. He buried his face against his mother’s legs.

  “Luca,” Adam said in a gentler tone. “Do you know where the other babies went? I want to help their mommies and daddies find them.”

  The little boy turned his face to peer at Adam. “I don’t know,” he whispered.

  “Did they sleep here a lot of nights or just a few?” Xander asked.

  “I don’t know,” Luca whispered again.

  Loren could see Adam’s frustration level rising, and she felt it too. How she had hoped they’d find all the missing children and play hero returning them to the frantic parents. Now it seemed their worst fear had been realized and the babies were in the hands of terror groups. Groups so well hidden in hostile countries, it would take an army to find them.

  Adam and Xander exchanged a long look then resigned themselves to reality. There was nothing more to find in the clinic. They’d come for Adam, and found both him and Christenson’s baby, but lost Paulson and the other children.

  “Adam,” she said, as he started heading to the exit with Christenson’s baby. “Adam,” she repeated.

  “What?”

  “Shouldn’t we call the police?”

  He froze and spun to face her. “What? Why?” He spoke over the cries of the now-awake baby.

  “You’re not officially on the case. We need to call the authorities. They need to know about this place and shut it down,” she said. “But we also need to think of the logistics of taking the baby. We have no diapers or food for him on a long flight home. I wouldn’t even know what to buy.”