Shrouded in Darkness (Shrouded Series)

by Thomson, H. D.

He was terrified. Until now, he really hadn’t known fear, not really. One wrong decision on his part, and he’d not only kill himself, he’d kill Margot. Just the pressure of knowing her life lay in his hands could easily distort his judgment.

  Jake opened his eyes. The love and trust he saw in Margot’s face made him want to crawl into some dark, dank hole. He wasn’t worthy of either emotion.

  “Who do you think I am? Some type of god?” he asked in stunned disbelief. He shook his head. “I’m not. I’m just a man. Nothing more. I have as many strengths and weaknesses as the next one.”

  “Yes, you’re a man. I know that. But to me you’re so much more,” Margot insisted. Her eyes misted with tears. “You’re the man I love. And if anyone can find the answer to Miracell, it’s you.”

  Something inside of him cracked. “You’re putting too much faith in me.”

  “If I don’t, then who will? You’ve lost all faith in yourself. That hope that’s kept you going for so long is no longer there in your heart.” She pressed her palm against his shirt and to the left of his chest. “I know that.”

  His throat contracted. What could he say? Everything she said was true. Every damn thing.

  Suddenly, her face leached of color, and her hand dropped from his shirt. She wavered on her feet as if a violent wind had hit her blindly from the side. Then she crumbled.

  “Margot!”

  Jake swept an arm around her waist before she landed on the floor. The unexpectedness of her weight pulled him off balance. He stumbled, dropped to one knee but managed to hold her steady against his chest. Ever so careful, he slipped an arm around her shoulders. Her neck fell back against the crook of his elbow, exposing the long, white column of her throat. She lay in his arms, her complexion deathly pale and her thick, black lashes closed to the world.

  She’d passed out.

  Margot opened her eyes. She lay on her back in her bed with the covers pulled up to her chin. Dawn crept through the edges of the curtains and lit the room into a soft haze. For a moment she didn’t know what had happened or how she’d ended up here. Then memory flooded back, painful and far too vivid in its intensity.

  She must have fainted, and Jake had carried her back to her room. Oh, how she wanted to go back and erase the moments when she had walked into the lab, Malcolm had followed her inside and...what he had done. She shut her eyes against the knowledge.

  Margot saw the ceiling. Impossible. Hadn’t she just closed her eyes? She reopened them and saw the same ceiling. She did it two more times with no change. She could see the same thing with her eyes closed or opened.

  Shock shoved her up into a sitting position. She lifted her hand. She couldn’t see it. There was her sweater, the same exact garment she’d worn earlier, but now there wasn’t anything at the end of the sleeve. Panic bubbled up into her chest as she looked harder for something—anything. She moved her palm back and forth.

  Nothing.

  Wait. There was something.

  She detected movement, something indistinguishable but palpable. Almost like she saw through a pool of water or a distorted, magnifying glass where her hand should be. She brought her palm closer and extended her fingers. Yes. She wasn’t mistaken. There was a distinct change in the background directly behind her hand.

  Malcolm had accomplished what he had set out to do. She’d become invisible. Hard to believe, but the evidence was undeniable and right in front of her or she should say rather not in front of her.

  Amazing. She could go anywhere, do anything, slip in and out of a room undetected. The power of it was mind-boggling.

  “Pretty amazing, isn’t it?”

  Margot jerked in surprise and glanced over to where Jake’s voice had come from. Even though the chair against the wall sat empty, she knew he was there.

  “How did you know what I was thinking—”

  “Because I did the same after the initial shock.”

  “Do you know what someone can do with this?” Margot asked in wonder, more to herself than anyone else.

  “Oh, yeah. I know.” The wood floor creaked, and the bed sank down by her hip. The aroma of coffee and Jake’s scent, clean and male, drifted to her. “Miracles. But at the same time, that power holds a double-edged sword. In the wrong hands, it’s deadly. Murder, theft, even war. How can you fight an enemy you can’t see?”

  “And Malcolm was the wrong person to have something of that magnitude in his hands. That’s why you tried to stop him.”

  He laughed harshly. “Oh, yeah. It amplified everything unhealthy in his psyche.” He sighed and shifted on the bed. “But that’s not important right now. What’s important—is you. How are you feeling? You scared the hell out of me when you fainted like that.”

  “I’m fine—all things considered.” She stared hard at where Jake sat. “You know, if I focus and concentrate, I can see your shape. It’s like looking through water or curved glass. There’s a faint distortion. Why is that, when I never noticed before?”

  “Because you weren’t looking. Remember? You were terrified. You couldn’t get past that. Now you’re letting your rational mind take over.”

  She nodded, then realized he couldn’t see the movement. “That makes sense.” She cleared her throat. “This is all so overwhelming. It’s going to take some time to get used to.”

  Then Margot realized she didn’t have time. Soon she’d start experiencing the same attacks as Jake. Then what? Did she have days, weeks? Clutching at the comforter, she bunched the padded fabric beneath her fingers. She’d always been afraid of living, of getting through the next day, but now she was terrified of dying.

  “Don’t you ever get scared?”

  “Scared?” Jake sighed. “Of course. It’s always in the back of my mind. Dying isn’t something I expected. Not at my age anyway.”

  Until now, Margot had shamelessly concentrated on her own problems and failed to recognize just how traumatic Jake’s own life had turned out since he left Boston. She realized he needed as much encouragement, probably even more, than herself.

  “It’s not going to come to that.” Margot’s voice strengthened with conviction. “You will find the antidote, and the both of us will make it. I know you can beat Malcolm at this sick game of his. I just know you will.”

  “How can you say that?” he asked, his words thick and husky with amazement. “I don’t understand how you can have so much faith in me.”

  Margot reached over and found his hand against the comforter. She squeezed his fingers. “Why is it so hard for you to accept that you’re up to doing this? You mentioned your parents. Is that why you don’t believe in yourself?”

  “My parents?” She heard his surprise. “I don’t know. There’s not much to say about them. They were too busy with their careers to pay attention to either Kim or myself. They really didn’t know what to do with either one of us.

  “Looking back, I haven’t a clue why they even had us other than it was the thing to do. Family, children, a house—whatever the American dream was at that time. We were both in the way. At least, I know I’d always felt that way growing up. On occasion, they’d take us out and show us off if we were well enough behaved. But only if it made them look good and fit into their plans.”

  “That’s sad,” she murmured, stroking a thumb along the back of his hand.

  “What about your parents? I can’t imagine them not doting on you. You must have been adorable as a child. Frilly dresses, pigtails and curls.” There was a smile in his voice. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you had a freckle or two.”

  She had to laugh at the image. “Hardly. I was a pest. I followed Johnny everywhere he went and tried to act like the typical tomboy, but I wasn’t very good at it. I’d climb a tree, get stuck and ball my eyes out until my brother managed to get me down. Another time while we were on vacation on the coast, I followed Johnny without him knowing. I got lost in the process, and my parents had to call in a search party to find me. Let’s just say, I was far from the perfect c
hild.”

  “But they loved you anyway.”

  She heard the question in Jake’s words but really didn’t know how to answer. It didn’t bring back the best of memories.

  “I guess they did in their own way.” She released his hand and brushed at an imaginary speck of dirt on the comforter by her knee. “I was the black sheep, while Johnny was their golden child. The minute they found out he had a head for math, they could relate to him on such a deeper level. You see, they were both scientists. My mother worked at the University for cancer research, while my father headed the department for leukemia at Phoenix’s children’s hospital. While me, I was just trying to fit in.”

  “That must have hurt—them playing favorites. It would be pretty hard not to resent your brother. At least with my sister and I, our parents treated us with the same indifference.”

  “Surprisingly, sibling rivalry wasn’t an issue. No one could stay angry with Johnny for long, including me. He had such a giving personality.” Talking about her brother brought back memories, fond but painful nonetheless.

  He cupped her knee over the comforter and rubbed down to her ankle. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to bring you down more than you already are.”

  “Don’t worry about it. Maybe one day talking about Johnny won’t be so hard, but right now it still—you know, hurts? But my parents—I guess I can say that I’ve come to terms with what little relationship I had with them.”

  “What about now? Do you have a lot of contact with them?”

  “They died in a boating accident when I was in my late teens. Then it was Johnny and me. We were probably closer than most siblings because it was just the two of us. That is, until the last couple of years. That’s when he became so deeply involved with Miltronics. He refused to talk about the company or anything involving it.”

  “Because he wanted to protect you.”

  “You’re probably right.” Sighing, she glanced over to the window. The sun had mounted further in the sky, spearing its golden rays between the drapes and the window frame. Minutes passed. Time was hell bent on moving forward.

  The phone started ringing.

  “Do you want me to get it?”

  “No. Just let it ring. It’s the personal line in the kitchen. I can’t imagine it would be anything important.”

  As they waited in silence for the phone to stop, Margot’s anxiety rose, while tension pinched the muscles across her shoulders and the back of her neck. The gravity of their situation became all too apparent.

  “How far along are you in finding an antidote?” she felt compelled to ask.

  “I’ve gotten to the point where I’ve stopped the cells from mutating. Now I have to reverse the process.”

  “It sounds simple.” She uttered the words with an attempt of humor.

  “Sounding simple and being simple are not one and the same.”

  “Well, I have every confidence that you’ll find the answer!” She fumbled around on the comforter until she found his hand.

  “And pray to God or Fate to be benevolent.” He entwined his fingers with hers and squeezed her hand briefly. The bed shifted as he rose. “I’ll let you get some rest. You’ll be weak for a couple of days. Eventually your strength will bounce back. At least for a while. But after—” His voice turned harsh. “It’s not going to come to that. I’ll make damn sure of it. I’ll find that antidote, sooner than you think. But I’m wasting time. I’ll be down at the lab if you need me.”

  Jake’s lips brushed across her brow and cheek. Then the absence of his scent—she swore it was Irish Spring soap—told her that he’d left the room.

  She lay back down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. Almost one hour later, Margot realized the pure craziness of trying to get any rest during the day. With her eyes closed, nothing changed. She still saw the dresser, the drapes, even the framed landscape against the opposite wall with the same exacting detail as if her lids were wide open. The sensation—far too odd for Margot—wasn’t exactly conducive for rest.

  After quickly showering, she spent an inordinately long time in the bathroom getting ready before heading downstairs to search for the disk. Things had to start changing for the better. They just had to!

  But by the end of the day, Margot wanted to scream with frustration as she searched throughout her office. She rammed the last book back on the shelf. Other than tearing up the floorboards, she’d gone through every book, every piece of furniture and every centimeter of the room.

  She walked over and peered out from the large bay window but couldn’t see the lab from this room. The building rested on the bottom of the hill and to the west. Elongated shadows trailed from the pines and aspen and hugged the sides of the snow-covered slopes. It was getting late, near sunset.

  She looked over to the clock on the mantel. Almost 5:30. Exhaling loudly, she shoved her hands on her hips and eyed the room in disgust. There were the other rooms still to go through, but for some reason she’d counted on finding something here. Obviously, it had been all wishful thinking on her part.

  “This is crazy!”

  “I take it you haven’t found anything?”

  She glanced up and saw that Jake had walked into the room. He was fully clothed, or should she say armored, with wig, gloves, sunglasses and foundation. After today, she’d come to realize he didn’t use all those props for the simple reason of a disguise. It was more than that. It was vanity and the struggle to build a battered self-esteem. It was a way to hide from the overwhelming reality of a physical appearance that was both disquieting and unnatural.

  That’s why when she’d glanced in the bathroom mirror that morning she’d gone directly to her make-up case. A pair of sun glasses, lipstick, foundation, eyebrow pencil and a number of other cosmetic tools had helped her look somewhat human. She had some hair color tucked away in the cabinet, but hadn’t bothered with it yet. The scarf wrapped around her head would have to be a temporary fix.

  Granted, she would never pull it off in the bright light of day, but at night or in a dark room, she might fool someone.

  She sighed. “I haven’t found anything yet. But I’ve only touched on this room. I’ve still got many hours ahead of me. What about you? Are you getting any closer?”

  “I might have something in several days.”

  “Oh, Jake! That’s fantastic!” She rushed over and hugged him fiercely.

  “Yeah...” he murmured above her ear.

  She inched far back enough to look up at his face. “You don’t sound too confident. What’s wrong?”

  “I have to run the antidote through a couple of tests first.”

  “That shouldn’t be too much of a problem, should it?” She didn’t like how he pulled away and shrugged. “You’re not talking about testing on yourself, are you?” She paused. “But you are, aren’t you?”

  “Yeah. I don’t have anything else to test it on, so it’s going to have to be on me.”

  “I could always—”

  “Don’t even suggest it. It’s too dangerous. This is my baby and my battle.”

  “No, Jake. It’s both of ours. I am just as involved now as you are.”

  He grunted.

  “There’s really no other option but to have you test it on me.”

  He cut the air with a gloved hand. “Damn it! There’s no way in hell that I’m going to use you as some lab rat. What do you think I am? Crazy?”

  “You’re going to have to. If you experiment on yourself, what happens if something goes wrong? I haven’t a clue what to do. It’s way out of my element. While you know every nuance of Miracell and the antidote you’re working on. Don’t you see? You’re the key here. We both need you clear-headed and physically able. There’s no other way.”

  Silence. She knew she had him.

  “We’ll see. I’m not making any promises.”

  Margot knew it was just a matter of time until he saw that she was absolutely right.

  The doorbell chimed.

  Jake swore
under his breath. “Who the hell could that be?”

  Frowning, Margot hurried into the kitchen with Jake right behind. She stopped at the window above the sink and looked outside. She didn’t dare pull back the drapes—whoever was outside might to see.

  “Do you recognize the car?” Jake asked from beside her.

  Margot saw the Land Cruiser parked alongside her own.

  “Joyce’s,” Margot whispered as she pressed up harder against the counter and craned her neck to peer down the porch to the front door. She managed to see the back edge of a beige jacket but nothing else. “It looks like she’s alone.”

  “Do you think she’ll go away?” Jake asked in a hushed tone from beside her.

  The doorbell rang again.

  “Maybe.”

  Pounding followed soon after.

  Margot groaned. “Then again, maybe not.”

  The pounding became more insistent. Joyce’s voice carried from outside. “Margot, I know you’re in there. Open up. It’s me. Joyce.”

  “She sees my car. She knows I don’t go anywhere without it.”

  “Well, you can’t open that door now. One look at you in this light and she’ll flip out. That scarf around your head sure as hell isn’t going to help. You look like a chemotherapy victim with it on.”

  “Tell me something I don’t already know. And thank you for such warm encouragement.” Sarcasm laced each syllable. “It does wonders for my self-confidence.”

  “You’re welcome,” Jake replied shamelessly. He shifted closer and placed a comforting hand over her shoulder. “She’ll leave. Just give her some time. She doesn’t know for sure if you’re inside.”

  Several minutes later, Joyce retreated down the stairs and to her car. They both sighed with relief. After a moment, her car reversed out of the drive, and down the road to disappear behind a long stand of trees.

  “Well, at least we don’t have to worry about her now. You’re safe.”

  Margot mused darkly, “Don’t count on it. She’s a good friend. If she thinks something’s wrong, she’s not likely to drop it. You have to remember this is a small town. People don’t mind their own business. They stick their noses in where they don’t belong.”