“Exactly.”
“Excuse us,” Simms gave Stovers a significant look and they both walked outside. After a moment or two, Stovers shouted for Silas to come out into the hall. Both of the other orderlies stayed in the room watching Kota.
Kota was careful not to look at Sarah, he didn’t want to give the game away. Fifteen long minutes later Simms and Stovers returned with a woman. Her long stringy black hair hung about her face and shoulders were hunched over as if trying to get away from the touch of the two people guiding her into the room.
“Maricel, these are the two people we were telling you about,” Simms said as if talking to a child. There was no reaction.
Stovers pushed her further into the room, the woman caught herself before falling, but she still didn’t look up.
“Maricel, we need you to help heal this woman. We know you can do it. If you do, we’ll let you spend time with Alma.” Her head came up slowly, her big brown eyes both hopeful and unbelieving.
“Bring her here now,” Maricel’s voice was hoarse from lack of use.
“You know you have to go to her, it’s not safe for her to be out of the lab.” Maricel’s shoulders drooped even further.
“I know.”
“You can spend the afternoon with her,” Simm’s voice was coaxing.
“I want to spend a week with her. I want a cot brought into her room. I want that before I try to heal her,” Maricel sounded more desperate than demanding.
“Look bitch,” Stovers hand sank into Maricel’s hair near her scalp and yanked her head back so she was forced to look into his face. “You will do this now or you will have no time to spend with your kid. You got that?”
She spit at him. Kota watched as the spittle dripped down the arrogant ass’s face. He slapped her hard across the face and it was only because he was holding her she didn’t fall.
Kota slammed Stovers up against the wall of the hospital room and punched him in the jaw. “How does that feel big man?” Kota was able to elbow one of the orderlies in the larynx before the second took him down to the ground. He hated being weak.
“Stop,” Stovers yelled as the orderly pulled back Kota’s head to slam it into the floor. “I need him conscious.” As Kota was pulled up he saw Simm’s was helping Maricel from where she had fallen.
“Now you will both do as I say and heal Sarah Johnson.”
“Sure, both of your healers bloody and beaten should be able to do a fine job.”
“That’s not my problem. You better prove your value to me, or it will just be Sarah who gets to move forward in my little program.” Kota cast a sideways glance to Sarah who had been looking on at the violence, she gave him the slightest nod. God, he hoped she was right, and this would work.
“Fine. Let’s give this a try, okay Maricel?” He looked at the woman, girl really, whose face was swelling up. She didn’t acknowledge him.
“Maricel, if you want to spend any time with your daughter, you better pray you can help Dakota heal Sarah’s arm.” She gave the fake doctor a sullen look and then turned to Kota.
“I’ll try.” It was then he noticed her distinct Spanish accent. She moved forward. “How do we work together, I’ve only ever tried this by myself.” Dammit, he couldn’t have her putting her hand on top of his, because he didn’t have any power, but she was supposed to be helping him. He had a vague recollection of Sarah lacing her fingers together the night she was knitting his flesh back together, they could try that.
“Maricel, give me your left hand.” She held it out tentatively. He tangled his fingers with hers. “We’re going to lay our hands down on Sarah’s bruised arm, okay?” Wide eyed, she nodded. He guided them downwards as he said a quick prayer.
Sarah’s flesh was purpled, mottled and hot to the touch. She winced at their light touch and he wanted to stop, but Maricel kept their hands in place.
“Wait.” Where their fingers joined he felt a slight vibration. He looked to see if she was moving her hand, or if Sarah was moving her arm. He couldn’t see anything, but he definitely felt something. Then there was a tingling. He looked from Maricel’s face to Sarah’s. Her lips were no longer pursed together.
“Sarah?”
“You’re doing it Kota.” Fuck, she’d called him by the wrong name, he hoped nobody noticed.
****
Dammit, she’d called him by the wrong name, she hoped nobody noticed. She looked at Kota, and did her best not to wince at the shape he was in. He could barely stand. She’d bet anything they hadn’t given him a blood transfusion to make up for all he’d lost. Then there he was fighting after the son of a bitch slapped Maricel. She’d expect nothing less from any of Nate’s team, including Sierra.
Maricel had obviously been through the breeding program and they’d taken away her babyto use her daughter as leverage. A lab, her baby was growing up in a lab. The harsh sob that escaped Sarah was immediately echoed by Maricel, as if both of them thought of the little soul being raised in a sterile environment.
“Easy Ladies. Steady. It’s going to be all right.” Kota continued to murmur comforting words, and eventually they got themselves under control. Sarah closed her eyes and focused on Maricel’s fingers and hands connected to Kota, and resting on her bruised arm. Maricel had power but it was still so new, unfocused and untried. Sarah understood she couldn’t heal herself, but she could definitely push power into Maricel, who could then use her abilities to heal Sarah.
Maricel’s energy was different than her other found brethren. They had lighter souls, whereas Maricel was defeated and mired in hatred. Sarah worked hard to tap into the loving energy the woman had for her child, knowing the spirit was needed to assist in a successful healing. Maricel gasped.
“What are you doing?”
“He’s pulling your healing powers to the surface, to combine with his.” Sarah answered.
“No, he is…”
“Thank you for helping me.” Kota interrupted her. Sarah felt where Kota was squeezing Maricel’s fingers. Sarah gave her a meaningful glance and she blinked her eyes slowly in response.
“You are welcome.”
“The bruising is almost all gone,” Stovers said leaning around Maricel.
“Stand back, the bone still needs to be repaired.” Sarah didn’t know how Kota knew, but he was right. She watched as the two of them closed their eyes again, and she did as well. She tried to see if she could sense anything from Kota, to see if there was a reason he knew her wrist was still fractured. However, she only sensed what she always got from him—a big blank wall of nothing. That in and of itself was odd she always picked up something from everyone she came into contact. She moved her focus back to Maricel, and worked to pull positive energy from her, into her hand. The vibration turned to deep pulses of heat.
“Are they done?”
Sarah was bereft as the hands were yanked away, her eyes snapped open and she saw the orderlies pulled Kota and Maricel back so Simms and Stovers could inspect her arm.
“It seems the information is good. The found can amplify one another’s powers.” Stovers picked up Sarah’s arms and gave a brutal squeeze. “See, she only gasped, she didn’t scream. All healed up.”
“Can I see my daughter now?” Maricel asked in a defeated tone, knowing the answer.
“After spitting in my face? I don’t think so. Take her back to her room, and I want her put into a straightjacket for the night.”
“Nooooooooo…” Maricel lunged for Stovers but the orderly picked her up like she was nothing and took her out of the room. Simms followed and came back in with the two men who brought Kota into Sarah’s room.
“Now for you Dakota, it seems you are everything we hoped for as well. I think you underestimated yourself.” Stovers smile made Sarah’s skin crawl, and she knew it would soon be directed towards her.
“It seems I did. Imagine what I could accomplish at full strength. So what plans do you have for me? A straightjacket? Your breeding program? Who do I need to hea
l next?” Kota asked pleasantly.
“I think all of the above.”
“I think none of the above,” Kota said smoothly. “I’m not planning on cooperating. You don’t have a kid hanging over my head.”
“Not yet,” Stovers said just as smoothly.
“So we wait. In the meantime, you want me to cooperate. I want some concessions.”
Stovers laughed, and the two men in street clothes followed his lead.
Sarah was done, there was no point playing the amnesia card anymore. Hell, they were just going to put her in a straightjacket and try to raise her babies in a lab. Nate was out there coming for her. Now was the time to make her play.
“I’m with him. We’re in the driver’s seat. Fine you have muscle, but you say I’m the strongest healer you have. I remember healing this man. It was miraculous. You want me to do that again? Well, you better assure me I’m not going to be breeding some babies that are lab rats. I want to know what is going on with Maricel’s daughter. I want assurances the same thing won’t go on with my child.”
“It’s not your business,” Simms said.
“If it gets her to cooperate more easily tell her,” Stovers said.
“It’s complicated,” Simms tried to stall again.
“Tell her.”
“But…”
“Kathy, don’t make me repeat myself,” Stovers said angrily.
“Alma is Maricel’s baby. We used her egg and she carried her for eight months. We used the sperm of a man who showed signs of being able to heal. This was a trait reportedly passed down in his family.” She stopped talking and stared at the floor.
“That still doesn’t explain why Alma needs to live in a laboratory environment. What went wrong?” Sarah demanded. They’d need to know how to care for the child when they took her out of this damn place.
“Yeah, explain it to her. Preferably in words that actually make sense,” Stovers requested in a silky voice.
“Alma was a preemie, so of course our first protocol was to incubate her. But she ran too high a temperature, no matter what temp we had the incubator set. We thought she was running a fever and we treated for that. After weeks of treatment, we came to realize her normal body temperature is one hundred degrees.”
“That’s impossible,” Sarah said. “Something’s wrong.”
“We’ve had her in a normal atmosphere for over a year and she continues to run at that temp.”
“Okay, say that’s true. If that’s the only anomaly why does she need to live in the lab?” Sarah watched as Simms stared at the floor. She had a sinking feeling.
“When we didn’t know what was going on, we tried to regulate her temperature. We used a lot of medication on her. Because we thought she had an infection we gave her powerful antibiotics for months.”
“You killed her immune system. You killed the baby’s immune system, didn’t you? What else, that’s not all you did, is it?” Sarah kept pushing. Every one of her instincts on red alert.
“Yes, explain it to Dr. Johnson, explain what else you did, Simms,” Stovers said in a smug tone.
“Don’t act innocent Mr. Stovers, weren’t you in charge of this operation?” Sarah said looking at the vile man.
“I trust my employees, especially when they are scientists of Kathy Simms caliber. Kathy, explain the next problem to the good doctor.”
Kathy cleared her throat. “There was another anomaly we didn’t realize until she was five months old. It’s her hands, they seem to…”
“Speak up Kathy. We couldn’t hear you,” Stovers said.
“When Alma touches you, you weaken. It’s almost like we’ve bred the exact opposite of what we wanted. We’ve bred a monster, someone who can suck away someone’s life force.”
“Kathy, you say it like it’s a bad thing. She is going to be a fabulous weapon one day.” Thoughts tumbled through Sarah’s mind. It was possible. Hell, probable, that if she actually tried she could harm as easily as she healed. Maybe little Alma was doing something that came naturally to a healer.
“How do you feed her?”
“We have lead lined gloves.” Ah God, nobody was really holding and cuddling this child.
“You mean you’ve got her basically in a cage with no human contact?” Kota roared leaping towards Simms and Stovers. It took the orderly and the two other men to hold him back.
“We’re going to do it differently with you Dr. Johnson. We’re going to mix your egg with Chief Petty Officer Blackthorne’s sperm. This should stop all these nasty side effects. But if it doesn’t, at least you know we have protocols in place and we won’t be using all those antibiotics.” Stovers turned to the men holding Kota. “Take him to his room and strap him down. We’ll figure out a long term solution tomorrow.”
Sarah was keeping track of Kota’s hands and saw him hit his watch as they shoved his hands behind his back. It looked like he signaled Nate and the team. How were they going to handle getting Alma safely out of the facility? Hell, how the hell were they going to get all of them safely out of the facility?
Chapter Eleven
“You’re not going to get away with this you bastards.”
“I say we gag him after we strap him down.”
“Not only are you breeding women, you’re torturing sick babies.”
Everybody in the room looked at one another in shock at the transmission coming into them from Kota.
“All of your asses are going down. Your boss—that bitch Simms, those orderlies, and especially the two of you.”
“You and what army? Shut the fuck up you’re getting annoying.” There was the distinct sound of flesh meeting flesh.
“You like hitting a guy who’s tied up. Just like your boss enjoys hitting women.” Another thud of meaty flesh this time Kota let out a grunt.
Nate wanted Kota to keep his mouth shut, but he knew he was trying to get them information before breaking into the facility.
A door opened and then it sounded like a bag of potatoes hit a mattress. Kota must have been thrown onto the bed.
“So what’s your action in this little operation? You getting paid a lot?”
“More than the Navy pays you,” a man laughed.
“That woman who was the healer, the mother of the baby. Did you kidnap her too?”
“That was before my time. You’re talking too much. Vinnie, gag him, while I finish strapping him down.”
The transmission kept going, it was just the sound of the two men making mundane conversation and then leaving the room. After three minutes Randy, the Navy leader, Cyrus and Sierra all looked at Nate.
“We’re going in tonight,” Nate assured them.
“Thank God.”
“Sierra, I need you to figure out a neo-natal facility where we can take the baby. Preferably a military hospital that way we have less questions and more authority. If you can get it set up in time you can come on the mission otherwise you’ll be there to receive the baby when we’re done.” He watched as she wanted to disagree but thought better of it. He settled. She was the best one to coordinate it, and he was gratified she could see it.
“Randy, your team has gone over all the satellite pics and the blueprints. Are you comfortable with everything you’ve seen?”
“There are four guards posted outside. We’ve seen two guards changing shifts on the inside. As for personnel, it’s minimal. It looks like they have five nurses, three techs, and six orderlies. If we do this at night, only two nurses and two orderlies will be on site.”
“I don’t want any dead bodies. This is a civilian operation. I want everyone taken out alive. Is that doable?” Nate asked.
“It makes it tougher, but it’s definitely doable,” Randy said as he looked over the blueprints. “The guards are really sloppy.”
“Okay, we’re going in at three am, everybody get some rest. Sierra, see what you can do in the meantime.”
“Got it.”
***
Nate drove one of the trucks sinc
e he had experience in desert conditions. They stopped a mile away from the facility at their designated spot. Everyone was armed with weapons containing rubber bullets, as well as Tasers and guns with actual bullets. Just because Nate didn’t want civilian casualties, didn’t mean he wanted any of his men on the operation to die. He trusted every one of these men and women’s judgement.
Nate and Cyrus followed Randy and his people as they led the way towards the facility. They were able to easily take out the four guards with the rubber bullets.
At the side of the building, as the other three were being tied up, Nate helped to turn one over so he could be secured. He groaned. Nate shoved the taser under his neck, watching as his eyes got wide.
“No, please no.”
“Tell me what I want to know and I won’t make you piss yourself,” Nate gave the guard a disgusted look
“What? What do you want to know?”
“Who’s still in the building?” Randy stood over them, Nate’s knee pushed into the man’s soft belly.
“Two guards and three orderlies, those five are in charge. I’m pretty sure two nurses and that scientist Simms. Plus the patients.”
“How many patients?” Nate demanded, pushing the Taser harder against the fleshy part of the man’s chin.
“I don’t know they don’t tell me that. I just work outside. The guards who work inside know.”
“Gag and bag him.” Randy had the zip ties and gag ready, as Nate shoved him away and started heading for the side door. Cyrus and three of the Fallon team members were waiting for him.
“We have one more orderly on site and an additional scientist. Sounds like the orderlies act as guards too, consider them armed and dangerous.” They entered the side door to the stairway.
Cyrus took the first floor with Randy and three others, Nate took the second floor with four Fallon team members, and the others took the first floor. As soon as he opened the door, he heard all hell broke loose.
“Pin her down, dammit!” One of the doors at the end of hallway was open, and an orderly was running towards it. Nate motioned the team to stay put, wanting to see what was going on.
Healed (The Found Book 3) Page 13
