She saw the iron fist coming at her one last time, and heard herself whimper.
“Leave her alone!” Becca screamed and ran at him, the screwdriver held tight in both hands, close to her middle, pointing outwards.
The man wheeled on her, raising his gun. A shot exploded through the room just as Becca plowed into him, knocking him to the ground and falling on top of him.
It was the last thing Genie saw before she was swallowed by the darkness.
…
“Everyone freeze!” Kyle shouted as he burst through the barn door.
He’d heard that last shot, and thought he was prepared. But what he saw when his team made their three-point entry into the barn rocked him to the core. Marsters was on the ground, blood spreading in a wide patch across his chest. Genie was sprawled against the far wall, blood-matted hair covering her face. Becca and some guy were on the ground, a giant screwdriver sticking out of the man’s chest.
No one was moving.
“Good God!” Johnny muttered, halting behind him in formation, his gun stalling in mid-sweep.
Holstering his weapon, Kyle rushed to Genie on the far side of the barn, and dropped to the ground beside her.
“We need medics in here, STAT,” Johnny yelled behind him.
“Genie?” Kyle reached out to tentatively touch her, resting his hand lightly on her shoulder. He was afraid to move her, to see how bad it really was. To see if she was breathing.
He placed his hand on her neck. Pulse. Strong. Fast.
Yes.
She stirred.
A trapped breath came out of Kyle in a relieved whoosh.
He eased her down onto her back. Blood ran down her face from a deep gash in her forehead. Just seeing it, seeing her hurt that badly, filled him with a fury he’d never before experienced. He pulled off his T-shirt and pressed it against the wound.
Genie opened her eyes. Thank God! He didn’t think he’d ever seen anything more beautiful.
“Kyle?” she whispered. Or tried. Her mouth wasn’t working right.
“Yes. I’m here. You’re going to be okay. The medics are on their way.”
Her gaze flitted past him moving around the room. “Becca?”
Kyle saw Cameron kneeling over her, applying pressure to a gunshot wound in her shoulder.
“Looks like she’s been shot.”
Pain flashed across Genie’s face, and she squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. “And Daddy?”
He glanced at Marsters. So much blood. “He doesn’t look good.”
Genie tried to sit up, but fell backward again, her hand going to the T-shirt pressed against her head.
He put a restraining hand on her. “Don’t move, Genie.”
“I must go to him. Help me, please.”
Against his better judgment, but understanding why she had to do it, Kyle swept her gently into his arms and carried her over to her father. She felt so light. So fragile.
“Daddy,” Genie whispered as he gingerly lowered her down to sit next to him. She let the shirt fall away. The bleeding had slowed to a light trickle. Tears stained her face, mixing with the blood and the darkening bruises on her cheeks.
Johnny was kneeling on the other side of Marsters, applying pressure to his chest wound with a blood-soaked towel. Genie took in the towel, then glanced at Johnny, who gave a small shake of his head. He wasn’t going to make it.
Kyle hated to see Genie suffer. To see the well of pain she was about to drop into.
“Genie,” Marsters said, and held up a trembling hand.
She took it and squeezed it tight as if it were a lifeline. Kyle gently brushed his fingers along her back, letting her know he was there for her. He’d always be there, always had been, even when she hadn’t wanted him.
“I’m sorry, Genie,” her father rasped. “You deserved so much better than me for a dad. You all did.”
“Shh,” she murmured. “Don’t say anything. Save your strength.”
“My fault,” he wheezed. “I made a mistake. So many. So long ago. Spent my whole life trying to fix them.”
“It’s okay,” she said softly. “Whatever it was, I forgive you.”
“I loved your mother. So much.”
She swallowed audibly. “I know,” she said, her voice breaking.
“But I lied.”
Kyle wanted to scoop her up and take her away from there, but knew he couldn’t. Knew she had to hear what her father wanted to tell her.
And so did he.
“That weekend, Garrison told your mom…everything. She’d called me out at the fishing cabin afterward, hysterical. You girls were sleeping. You didn’t even know I left. But I had to go.” He looked up at her, his eyes the same brilliant blue as hers beseeching her to understand.
“Go where, Daddy?” She was shaking her head, either not understanding or not believing. Not wanting to believe. The need to hold her and comfort her nearly overwhelmed Kyle.
Marsters’ haunted eyes clouded over. “I had to do it, Genie. I couldn’t let him tell everyone about you. I had to protect you. Your mother…” He wheezed, coughing, blood lining his lips.
“Shh, Dad, no more. Tell me later,” Genie begged. “I can’t lose you, too. Please, Daddy.”
“She hadn’t trusted me, Genie. And I suppose she had good reason. She hadn’t called me from the house like she’d led me to believe. She was hiding in the bedroom of the hotel suite, secretly listening to my conversation with Garrison. You see, she hadn’t believed him when he told her what I’d done to her, what I’d done to all of you.”
“You knew about Mom being pregnant while on the protocol?”
He nodded. “Not at first. That was all Garrison, but I found out, how could I not? And I let it continue… I’m sorry.” He gasped a wet breath that rattled inside his lungs.
“Shh, Daddy. No more. Wait.”
“No, I-I have to tell you. Your mother was such a good person. So much better than me. Even after Garrison showed her the reports, showed her how we’d deliberately given her the fertility drugs, she hadn’t believed him. She believed in me that much. Until she heard me admit it.”
“Oh, Dad.” Genie’s heart was breaking. Kyle could see it all over her face.
“She loved me that much.” He wheezed, coughing again. “I didn’t deserve her, Genie.”
“Oh, Daddy. You’ve made mistakes. But you’re a good man. She knew that.”
“No. I’m not.” Pain etched his face, but Kyle couldn’t tell if it was from his bullet wound, or from the sins he was admitting to. “Far from it. She ran out of the room. I should have gone after her. Should have followed her. She was too upset to drive. Maybe if I had…”
Genie pulled back. Just an inch. But still she clutched his hand, and her tears…they were falling in silent, long streams down both cheeks.
“I was so angry. This man, my friend, had just destroyed my family, everything I’d worked so hard to protect. It just happened, before I was even aware of what I was doing. I just hit him. And by the time I cleaned everything up and got rid of him, got rid of the evidence, and got back to the cabin…it was several hours later.”
“Where? Where is his body?”
“In the bay by the cabin.”
“You brought him back there?” Genie asked, her voice sounding oddly hollow. As if there wasn’t anything behind it. “To our special place?”
“I had to, Genie. I couldn’t let anyone connect him to you girls, or your mother. Dawn was breaking and I knew you’d all be awake soon. When your mother wasn’t waiting for me at the docks in Seattle, I figured she stayed the night in a hotel. She was upset and needed time away from me. It wasn’t until later, when I was back at the cabin with you girls, that I got the call about her accident.”
A long shudder moved through Genie’s back.
“Don’t you see, I couldn’t let anyone know about you and your sisters. I wasn’t sure who Garrison may have told. I had to send you away. To be certain you were safe from
people who’d want to turn you back into lab rats. It was just supposed to be for a little while. But weeks went by, turning into months and then years. And suddenly it just seemed better. Easier.”
Lab rats? Was he serious? Why would anyone care about an old defunct project? Kyle wondered.
Genie’s head was nodding, but her eyes were flat.
She must be going into shock. Kyle had to get her out of there, soon.
The sound of rotor blades filled the room. The paramedics had arrived. Relief tore through him.
“Come on, honey,” he whispered, and tried to pull her away from her father, to give room for the medics as they came through the door, but she wouldn’t move. He took her hand and pried her fingers open, forced her to let go and move aside. She turned to him, a look crossing her face that he’d never seen before. A look of such hatred. Of such anger.
“Let me go,” she hissed, and pulled away. She got to her feet and bolted for the door, but only made it a few steps when she began to collapse.
A paramedic rushing into the barn caught her, picked her up in his arms and carried her outside to the waiting helicopter. Kyle ran after them.
He wouldn’t let her push him away. Not again.
“Genie,” he called above the rotors as they strapped her onto a gurney.
“Go away, Kyle.” Pain shredded her voice, racked her battered face.
“What?”
“I don’t want you here. Don’t you see? I’ve lost everything. Everyone. All because of my father’s secrets.”
“You haven’t lost me,” he insisted, trying to take her hand, but the paramedics wouldn’t let him.
“Especially you, Kyle. Lies and secrets and mistrust killed my family. And they’ll kill you, too. You have to stay away from me.” Her voice nearly disappeared in the whirlwind from the copter’s blades.
“Then break the cycle,” he shouted back. “Stop lying and tell me your secrets. Tell me everything. It’ll be okay. I swear.” He’d never been more sure of anything in his life. He could handle anything but losing her again.
She looked up at him, the edges of her blankets whipping in the wind, and for a second he deceived himself that she wanted to tell him. But then the paramedics lifted the gurney, moving him out of the way, and loading both her and the gurney carrying her father onto the chopper.
She turned away from Kyle and reached for her father’s hand.
Kyle took a step back, trying not to feel the knife blade of the rebuff in his heart, trying to understand the hell she was going through right then. But he felt the stab of pain anyway.
Next, they loaded Becca into the chopper and then Cameron was climbing up next to her.
“Secure Emerich,” he shouted as the motor geared up and the doors shut. “Bring him in.”
Then the chopper lifted off the ground.
Emerich.
How could he have forgotten? Kyle turned and ran back into the barn away from Genie and to the job he’d been sent there to do.
But Emerich was nowhere to be seen.
Chapter Sixteen
Several hours later, Kyle was finally able to leave the estate and make his way to the hospital in Seattle. He asked for Genie’s room, but discovered she’d already been discharged. With a jab of surprise, he asked for Becca’s.
He hurried down the long hallway relieved to find she wasn’t in ICU, and that her condition was listed as stable. As he walked into the room, she was lying in the bed, a smile on her face. Cat and Genie were sitting in chairs next to her. Seeing the three of them together like that, looking so much alike, and so full of life and energy, even with Genie’s bruises and Becca’s injuries...they took his breath away.
“Ah, the hero of the day,” Cat said, smiling.
He smiled back. “Hell, I’m not the hero. You are. You told me where to find them.”
“It was my idea to tell her,” Becca corrected. “And Genie helped.”
Yeah, and how exactly had they’d done that? He’d had his suspicions about Genie’s unusual intuition for years, but this went way beyond intuition. He still didn’t know much else. Their mother had gotten pregnant while she was on some kind of secret protocol. Marsters had been worried about who Garrison might have told about them, about what experiments they might be subjected to, that he’d hid them, keeping them separated for years. No wonder she had trust issues. But would Genie finally let him in? Would she tell him herself, about her gift? About what exactly Becca was able to do?
“There you go. We’re all heroes.” Kyle answered with a tentative smile for Genie.
But she wasn’t smiling back. Nor was she saying a word. She was evading his gaze.
His jaw ticked, remembering how close he’d come to losing her. He’d been almost paralyzed with worry, seeing her lying so still on the floor of the barn, blood covering half her face, huge welts and bruises forming on the other half. Damn, he hoped he would never, ever see her like that again.
“How’s your dad?” he asked.
Genie remained obstinately silent.
“He didn’t make it,” Becca answered, her eyes shifting down to the blanket covering her. She had the good graces to look guilty. Maybe if she’d brought in the CTA, told them her plans from the beginning, instead of barging forward on her own, things might have turned out differently. A lot of things.
“And you?” he asked her, glancing at her bandaged shoulder.
“Oh, I’ll be all right. The bullet went clean through.”
“What about Emerich?” Cat asked. “Did you find him?”
“Not yet.” Kyle leaned against the wall, watching Genie, wondering how long she was going to continue to push him away. “You’ll all have to be extra vigilant until we can track him down.”
“Good luck with that,” Becca said. “If Sean doesn’t want to be found, you’ll never find him.”
Genie stiffened, drawing his full attention. Was she hurt?
“You okay?” Kyle asked her, taking in her bruises wondering if there were more where he couldn’t see.
Finally, she looked up at him, her eyes big and guarded. He stepped over to her and held out his hand. “Want to go for a walk?”
She hesitated for an instant before placing her hand in his. Just the touch of her skin against his sent an uneven jolt to his heart. Seeing her like that, seeing her hurt and broken, lying on the floor had sucked something out of him, and torn down the walls securing his heart. He felt nothing but raw now as he looked at her. He couldn’t lose her again. Not now. Not ever. No matter how many deserts and mushroom houses he had to chase her down in.
He held her hand tightly as if that alone would keep her with him, and led her out the room and down the hallway. “I’m really sorry about your dad,” he said, keeping his voice quiet and soothing—and not letting his fears shine through. He knew how much her father meant to her, even if Kyle didn’t approve of the way her dad had treated her.
“Thanks,” she murmured.
“You going to be okay?” he asked, though he knew it was a stupid question. After everything that had happened today, there would be no going back to the old Genie. She wouldn’t be okay, not for a long time.
“Yes,” she murmured automatically.
They walked in silence for a few moments longer. A silence that ate away at his insides.
“So what now?” he asked, trying to keep the pleading hope out of his voice. How much of what he was feeling could she pick up on?
“What do you mean?” she asked, her tone dull, noncommittal and making him more than nervous. He’d seen Genie angry, brilliant and unreasonable, but he’d never seen her like this. Apathetic. Listless.
She definitely wasn’t okay.
“Are you going to come back to D.C. with me?” he asked.
“No.” The finality of the word, said quick and sharp, whipped through him.
He stopped walking, his hand reaching for her arm. “Wow. Not even a maybe?” Please, he stopped himself from saying.
“My life isn’t in D.C. Not anymore.”
“It could be,” he said, hating the hope that sounded in his voice. “I miss you. I thought…I thought we’d come back to each other these past few days.” He took a step toward her, terrified that this could be his last chance to tell her how he really felt. “I love you, Genie. I want you to come home, whatever we have to work through to make that happen. I know you’re upset and afraid and hurting. But I want you to be with me. Tell me how to make that possible.”
She looked up at him, her eyes locking on his, but there was no warmth there, only bleak isolation. “I am home, Kyle. I’m moving back into my dad’s house. There’s an FBI office here in Seattle I can transfer to. As long as you don’t tell Cameron what you overheard, there is no reason anyone has to know the truth about us. We can all go on as before.”
“Cameron knows about the Amelia Project.”
“True. But he doesn’t know what we can do. Will you keep our secret?”
He wanted to laugh, the irony of it. “Genie, how can I tell him what I don’t know? He knows as much as I do, that somehow you and Becca were able to communicate psychically with Cat who was across country. What else is there?”
He waited with baited breath as she stared at him, her eyes flat.
“If it doesn’t work out, and the field office here doesn’t have an opening, I’ll just take some time off. Get myself grounded, figure out who I am and what I want. Get a dog or something.”
“A dog?” He took a step back, his hands dropping to his sides. “Seriously? That’s all you’re going to say?”
“Yeah, what’s wrong with a dog? I had a dog. Once.”
“What about us? What about everything you’re not telling me?”
“There is no us, Kyle. There can’t be. We don’t trust each other, and we never have. Not trusting destroyed my family. I won’t live like that any longer.”
“You’re wrong. These past few days I’ve trusted you more than I’ve trusted any other human being. I trusted you with my career. I trusted your judgment when you made plans and went off without me. I trusted you with my life. And as I recall, you trusted all those same things in me.”
Deadly Secrets, Loving Lies Page 21
