Holdin' On for a Hero

by Ciana Stone

  “My father told me.”

  “Your father? Lucas?”

  “No, Marcus.”

  “Marcus Laserian,” he said for clarification. “You’ve seen him?”

  “Yes.”

  “And he told you all this?”

  “Not in so many words, but yes.”

  Konnor got up and walked across the room. He was quiet for a few minutes then turned to her. “Do you believe that that there’s another prototype.”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, then just how do you suppose that happened?”

  “What?” She didn’t understand what he was asking.

  “How did it happen? You told me you worked with Lucas and Marcus on the first one and that aside from the data in your head, no one had a complete set of plans. So how did the second prototype get built?”

  Senna hadn’t stopped to consider that. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I suppose over the years with enough people working on it they broke the encryption and…”

  “So why do they need you?” he interrupted. “If they’d broken the code and have the data they wouldn’t need you.”

  She thought about it for a moment. “Maybe they don’t have all of it. Maybe they just have enough—”

  “And where would they have gotten any of the data?” he cut her off. “You said yourself that only three people had access to the data—you, Lucas and Marcus. Obviously you haven’t shared what you knew and Lucas is dead, so who does that leave?”

  “Marcus?” She looked at him incredulously. “You can’t be serious? He wouldn’t do that! He wants it destroyed as much as anyone.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  She opened her mouth to say yes but stopped. She couldn’t be sure of anything at this point. And Konnor made a strong point. Aside from herself and Lucas, Marcus was the only one with enough knowledge of the systems to begin construction. Why he would do that, she couldn’t begin to guess. She wanted to think that he wouldn’t. After all, he was her father.

  “I don’t know, Konnor,” she finally said. “There’s a lot I don’t know. But I do know this. That thing has to be destroyed and we’re the only ones who can do it so we have to go whether we want to or not.”

  “Why?” he challenged her. “Why are we the only ones who can do it? Why not just drop a bomb on the damn thing?”

  “Because they would just start again. Don’t you see? As long as I have the information and they know it, they won’t leave me alone. They’ll keep coming and coming and eventually they’ll catch me. I have to make sure that they’re stopped and the only way to do that is to get rid of what’s in my head and destroy all the data on the prototype.”

  “And just how do you propose to do that?”

  “I have no idea. I just know I have to try.”

  “What aren’t you telling me?” he asked when she stood up and turned away.

  “Nothing.” She couldn’t face him and lie.

  “Senna,” his voice carried a warning.

  She would not turn to look at him and after a few moments he walked up behind her. “Look at me.”

  She turned around but didn’t look up. “What are you hiding?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Don’t lie!”

  Started by his sudden bark she looked up.

  “There’s something you’re not saying.”

  She tried to evade answering. “I’m tired and hungry.”

  “Does it have something to do with what happened after Lucas died? With the man who saved you then disappeared?”

  She nodded and looked down.

  “What happened to you after that?” he asked. “Where did you go?”

  “To hell.” She looked up at him with the pain of remembering clear in her eyes.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “You will,” she said and looked away. “Unfortunately, you will.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Ballantyne, Charlotte, NC

  Paige tossed her handbag on the kitchen counter then peeled off her jacket and shrugged out of her shoulder holster. She felt like the bottom had just dropped out from under her. Ryan’s death had hit her harder than she wanted to let on. It was only after he was gone that she realized she really had loved him. Now she would never get the chance to tell him.

  The captain had put her on temporary desk duty until Internal Affairs had concluded their investigation. She had spent the last day doing nothing but going over time after time what she had been doing at the scene and how she knew where the operation was going down.

  Every question she was asked brought a fresh wave of hatred for Senna Laserian. It was her fault that all this had happened. If not for her Ryan would be alive and Paige would not be at risk of losing her job for trying to protect him. The only consolation she had at the moment was Aaron. Having an Assistant District Attorney as a boyfriend did have its rewards. Aaron might not be the top dog at the DAs but he did have a lot of clout.

  Slipping off her shoes, she started upstairs. She would shower and rest for a while before Aaron got home. As she reached the top of the stairs she heard voices coming from his study. Instinctively she reached for her gun then remembered she had left it downstairs. Stemming the urge to go get it, she crept closer to the door. She could hear the conversation clearly.

  Slater lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply. “Are you certain that she didn’t see who attacked her?”

  “Positive. She had her weapon on Senna Laserian and was attacked from behind. She never got a look at the assailant.”

  “And none of your men saw anything?”

  “I’ve already told you. We couldn’t get any closer because of the SWAT team. Dalton had men everywhere. We were taking a major risk being in a close as we were.”

  Slater cursed and stabbed his cigarette into the half-filled china cup on the desk. “Your men have turned up nothing?”

  “Not a thing. We have the Laserian estate staked out since Senna disappeared and so far nothing. Aside from the housekeeper, no one’s entered or left the estate.”

  Slater regarded him thoughtfully before speaking. “Then perhaps your men are as incompetent as their superior.”

  “What?” Surprise and outrage were clear in Aaron’s voice.

  “Minora Laserian has disappeared.”

  “That’s impossible! We’ve been watching the house around the clock. I’ve got men—”

  “You’ve got nothing!” Slater bellowed. “And thanks to you I’ve got no leads. I should have known better than to trust you with something of this magnitude.”

  “May I remind you that it was me who alerted you to the fact that Van Dorne was visiting her?” Aaron sounded indignant. “Just as it was me who arranged for her to get hooked up with Dalton.”

  “For all the good that did us,” Slater replied acidly.

  “Oh really?” Aaron was indignant. “Are you forgetting the information Paige provided us with? Without her we would never have been successful in getting her and Chase together. Or do you think you could have done it alone? Maybe you could have just called Chase up and said ’Hi, old buddy. This is the guy who fucked you over, remember? Well, how about doing me a little favor? There’s this broad that has something I need and I figured that since I want to off you I might as well kill two birds with one stone’.”

  Slater grunted and lit another cigarette. “Oh, yes. You did indeed arrange the meeting. For all the good it did. Chase has been holding out since the beginning. The only thing getting him and the Laserian bitch together did was give her an experienced operative who could make our job harder.”

  A noise in the hall drew both their attention. Slater looked at him suspiciously. “Are you expecting company?”

  “No. Unless it’s the cleaning service.”

  “If it’s anyone else, the cleaners are going to have a tougher job than usual,” Slater replied as he pulled a gun from inside his jacket. “I’d suggest you don’t move.” Moving so that his back was to the do
or he pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “We have an intruder.”

  Paige froze in place. She could not believe what she had just heard. What was Aaron involved in, and how did Ryan, Chase, and Senna fit in? She started backward, keeping her eyes glued on the door of the study. She was so intent on watching the door that she never sensed the man who came up behind her.

  A startled yelp came from her mouth as the man grabbed her. The study door flew open and a tall man with steel-gray hair and cold eyes stepped out into the hall.

  “Well, what have we here?” He smirked at Paige.

  “Let go of me!” She struggled with the man who held her.

  Aaron walked out into the hall behind Slater. “Aaron, tell this thug to let me go!” she shouted.

  Aaron regarded her for a few moments then looked at Slater. Slater jerked his head toward the study and the man shoved Paige inside. Within a minute he had her tied securely to a chair in the center of the room.

  Slater walked in and stopped in front of her. “Now, Detective Landers, I’d like to ask you a few questions.”

  “Fuck you!” she spat at him.

  Slater backhanded her with the barrel of his gun. Her cheek split and a line of blood traced across her face. “We can make this as difficult as you like,” Slater spoke as if he were talking to a friend about the current weather conditions. “But please bear in mind that personally I prefer the slow and painful methods.”

  Paige’s face paled and she looked at Aaron who was standing in the doorway. “Aaron, please,” she pleaded with him. “I swear to God that whatever you’ve done, I won’t tell anyone. You know you can trust me.”

  Slater turned and looked at Aaron. “Well, Mr. Vaughn. Is she telling the truth? Can we trust her?”

  After a moment Aaron shook his head. Slater chuckled and turned back to Paige. His hand disappeared into his pocket and when it emerged again there was something in it. “Well, I guess you know what that means, Detective.”

  She swallowed and tried to shrink back into the wood of the chair as he leaned over and pressed the release on the switchblade.

  Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

  Konnor waited until they had finished eating breakfast the next morning before he brought up the subject of the prototype. Senna was sitting on the bed with her back propped against the headboard, wearing a loose T-shirt and jeans. Her hair was still wet from the shower. She seemed more relaxed than she had yesterday but there was still a haunted expression in her eyes. He knew that she hadn’t slept well. Neither had he. The things she had told him kept running through his mind. It was unbelievable but it did provide clues to things that had been happening.

  If there were such a device as she described, Slater would be among those trying to see that no one else got their hands on it. It had the potential of altering the balance of world power. It also explained why Shen was so determined to stop the adversary Senna had mentioned, Kitaro. What he could not figure out was how Shen played into the picture.

  “Are you about ready to leave?” he asked as he zipped his bag closed.

  “I’m waiting on a call,” she replied guardedly.

  “A call? From who?”

  “Marcus.”

  “How would he know to call here?”

  He hadn’t noticed the cell phone lying beside her until she pointed to it. “I called him while you were in the shower.”

  “Why?”

  “We have to meet him. He has a contact in Glendale who can get us onto the base.”

  Konnor sat down on the end of the bed. “Senna, are you sure that’s a good idea? I mean, are you sure you can trust Marcus?”

  “He’s my father,” she said as if that explained everything.

  Against his better judgment he gave in. “Okay, fine. In the meantime, I’d like to ask you—”

  The cell phone rang and she snatched it up. “Yes?… Marcus, I was starting to worry… I don’t know, hold on…” She lowered the phone and looked at Konnor. “He said he’ll have a helicopter waiting for us on Papermill Road. That’s just off I-40, outside of Knoxville. He said we take the Hollywood Drive exit and turn left onto Papermill. I don’t know how long it’ll take us the get there.”

  Konnor pulled a map from the side pocket of his bag and referred to it. “A little over an hour from where we are now.”

  “A little over an hour,” she said into the phone. “Okay, see you then.”

  She closed the phone and stood up. “I just have to put on my shoes and I’m ready.”

  Konnor didn’t say anything. He carried the bags to the car and started it. Senna got in beside him and buckled up. What had started as a vague uneasiness grew with each passing mile until Konnor was convinced the meeting with Marcus was a mistake. Until they were sure about all the players in this game and what their motives were it was unsafe to trust anyone. He turned to voice his doubts to Senna but once he looked at her he couldn’t find the words. She looked like a lamb being led to slaughter already. He could not add to her fear.

  They found the exit and drove until they reached Papermill Road. After going about ten miles Senna leaned forward. “Right there!”

  Konnor looked in the direction she was pointing. A large pasture was ahead to their right. Sitting in the middle of the field was a helicopter. Her pulled off the road and turned off the engine. Senna jumped out as he was getting the bags and climbed the pasture fence. By the time he drew near the helicopter she was climbing inside. Climbing in, he tapped the pilot on the shoulder. “What’s our destination?”

  “Glendale.”

  Konnor nodded and moved into the passenger compartment and sat down beside Senna as the craft rose into the air. She took his hand and held it tightly and he looked down at her. “Since we have a couple of hours would it be okay if I asked you something?”

  “What?”

  “You said that when Lucas destroyed the prototype he was killed.”

  “Yes.”

  “What happened to Marcus? Was he with you when you escaped?”

  “No, I didn’t see him again until just recently, and since my memories were altered I didn’t remember anything about him.”

  “But now that you remember, do you know what happened to him?”

  “No, only that he managed to escape and has been working against Slater all these years.”

  “And what about you? You said that someone rescued you. Can you tell me about that?”

  She thought about it for a moment then nodded. “You remember I told you there was someone hired to be our bodyguard? Well, more precisely, he was hired to make sure Lucas didn’t pull any tricks. His job was to get close to Lucas and me, make us think he was our friend so he could spy for his boss.”

  She smiled as she thought about that time. “The only problem was that he was a decent man who disliked what he was doing when he found out the truth. He really did become friends with Lucas. In fact, Lucas trusted him enough to download something vital into his mind. Something that the system had to have to be activated.”

  “You mean someone besides you was subjected to the transfer of information?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did you know?”

  “No, not until now.”

  “So this man helped you out of friendship for Lucas.”

  “Partially.” She looked away, not wanting him to see the expression she knew must be on her face.

  “What does that mean?”

  “It’s…well…” She cleared her throat. “When he was first assigned to us, I developed a terrible crush on him. You have to understand, I was seventeen, and aside from my father and uncle I had no contact with anyone else. Anyway, I was crazy about him and at first it seemed to bother him and he kept his distance. But as the months wore on he began to talk to me and spend more time around me. I guess he was as lonely as I was. We became close and…and he no longer avoided me. I was still insane about him but I tried to keep it a secret because I was embarrassed. He never acted like he cared anything mor
e for me than as a friend. Until that night. I was in my room and I heard the explosion. Then I saw men outside, coming toward the villa. They broke in and I heard them coming upstairs. He appeared at the window and took me out. We ran and ran until I thought my lungs would burst. I had no idea where we were running to and when we finally did stop I realized we were in the middle of the forest.

  “It took us a week to reach a village and during that time I was so afraid I wouldn’t let him out of my sight. Two nights before we reached the village I was lying awake, crying and he tried to comfort me. I was crying in his arms and the next thing I knew I was confessing all my feelings about him. I was horrified at what I had done and just knew he would push me away and hate me. But he didn’t. He…he made love to me and told me that he loved me.

  “It was like a strange mixed up dream. Here I was in the middle of a jungle, running for my life, my father and uncle most likely dead. I was petrified with fear and yet at the same time felt like someone had just handed me the world on a platter because he loved me. It was so strange, so unreal. But to make a long story short, when we reached the nearest village, he went for help and never returned.”

  “What happened to him?”

  She looked away from him and after a moment he asked, “Was he killed?”

  Senna could find no better explanation. The man she had fallen in love with then no longer existed. Konnor waited for a moment then asked, “And that’s when someone else found you, right?”

  She nodded without looking at him. “Was it the man you and Shen were talking about? Kitaro?”

  She shook her head and turned to him. “It was Slater. Slater found me. He took me to Kitaro.”

  “Why?”

  “To try and retrieve the information in my head.”

  “You said you went to hell. What did you mean by that? Did Kitaro tor— Did he hurt you?”

  “Hurt me?” She laughed harshly. “Yes, he certainly did.”

  Konnor paused for a moment. “Will you tell me?”

  She leaned her head against his shoulder for a moment. “This isn’t something you want to hear, Konnor.”