Moving Target

by Kimberly Van Meter

  She already knew Miles planned to kill her when the work was finished. If she were able to make the drug temporary without Miles’s knowledge, then he would end up killing her without realizing that his drug was useless. Ultimately, his buyers would be outraged that they’d been duped and Miles would spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder rather than lounging on a beach somewhere drinking a fruity beverage. That sounded good to Kat. She’d prefer Miles go to prison but if that wasn’t going to happen, she’d settle for misery.

  Armed with a newfound sense of purpose, Kat began deconstructing the formula to start from scratch. The answer was there—she just needed to find it.

  * * *

  Jake entered The Bunker, his expression carefully neutral as Miles approached. He was armed to the teeth with everything he’d need to accomplish his covert mission and he was in his element, though he never imagined he’d be using his skills to break into his own department’s facility.

  Miles shook his hand vigorously as if he were truly relieved to see Jake had escaped the hit, and patted him on the back a few times. “Good to see you, son. You can’t believe how happy I am that you were smart enough to thwart whoever is trying to take you down. I want you to know that I’ve launched a full-scale investigation into finding the mole but in the meantime I want you to lay low.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Jake agreed. “Have you managed to relocate Dr. Odgers? I was a little concerned when you sent Camille to take over. Any reason for that? I confess, I felt that perhaps you blamed me for the people coming after us. Now that you know there is a mole, I’m in the clear, right?”

  “Yes, yes, absolutely. And I don’t want you to worry about Dr. Odgers. She is in safe hands. In fact, if you like I will arrange a meeting so you can rest assured that she is fine.”

  “Would you mind? That would be great. I feel responsible for her, seeing as my mission was compromised. Feels like a loose end.”

  “Of course. You’re a good agent. That’s only natural. How about in an hour?”

  “Is she here? In The Bunker?” he asked, feigning surprise.

  “For the time being. We’re still arranging her new identity. Takes time, you know, to sew up those details.”

  Jake nodded as if he understood. “I’d appreciate the meeting, for closure.”

  “Then you shall have your closure.” Miles smiled and it took every ounce of strength not to grab him by the neck and shake the truth out of him. Jake returned the smile. “Okay, your room is L304. Do you remember how to get there?”

  “Yes.”

  “Excellent. Let’s meet again at 1800 hours in Lab 3.”

  Lab 3. That’s probably where Miles was keeping Kat. Jake nodded. “Affirmative.”

  Miles grinned and they parted ways. Jake knew he was being watched, so he quickly headed in the direction of his room, just as he was expected to. But the minute he got to his room, he went into the bathroom, the one place where there wasn’t surveillance, and peeled away the first fake skin patch on his inner thigh. He winced as it tore away hair in the process. Pressed inside the fake skin was a paper-thin film, which was encoded with prerecorded video feed. Timing it perfectly, he slid the film over the surveillance camera lens, where it immediately sucked to the glass. The minute it made contact, a prerecorded feed began to play, showing a resting Jake.

  Then, he peeled the second fake skin patch from his forearm and went to the door panel where a thumbprint was needed for access. The technology was highly advanced but also wired into the Zephyr system. James had created a virus that could be picked up by the thumbprint scan.

  “Please work,” he whispered as he carefully placed the film on the scanner where the thumb went. The scan did its job and for two heartbeats, nothing happened and Jake’s hopes began to plummet but then, systematically, everything began to shut down.

  “Yes! I owe you a beer, James Cotton,” he said, leaving the room and hustling to Lab 3. He had five minutes to make this work or else all was lost. Running down the halls, he found Lab 3 and quickly entered, searching wildly for Kat.

  “Kat!” he called out, navigating the darkness, banging his knee on something. “Damn it, Kat...are you in here?”

  “Jake?” a tremulous voice answered, and he nearly stumbled with relief. “Is that you?”

  “Yes! I’ve come to rescue you. Come on, we don’t have much time.” He found her hand and gave it a squeeze for reassurance. Her skin felt cold and clammy and he wondered if Miles had kept her holed up in this lab the entire time. Likely so. He gentled his voice, but kept the urgency. “We have to get out of here. We only have a window of five minutes before the system kicks back on.”

  “There’s no way out of this place,” she whispered fearfully. “It’s hell.” She stopped suddenly. “Wait...they told me you were dead. Are you dead? Oh, my God, am I dead? Maybe I died from exhaustion? Maybe I’m hallucinating? I don’t know what’s real anymore.”

  She was cracking up. Jake stopped and pulled her to him, clutching her tightly. “Neither you nor I are dead but we will be if we don’t get the hell out of here, pronto.”

  “Jake? It’s really you?” The tremulous hope in her voice cut him in two and he knew they didn’t have time for this but he couldn’t stop himself. A desperate hunger to taste her again took over and he slanted his mouth over hers, and a near delirium followed as pure joy cascaded through him. Kat was in his arms again. Kat was everything he never knew he needed and he’d sacrifice his life to know she was safe.

  She sagged in his arms, whimpering, and moisture dribbled down to their lips, which told him she was crying. “Shh,” he whispered. “It’s going to be okay. I promise.”

  She nodded with a slight hiccup and he clutched her hand in his, drawing her toward the exit. They’d lost precious time but if they hustled they could make it out of there.

  Sickly green emergency lights glowed along the seam of the floor, lending a creepy color to the walls as they ran. Blaring sirens sounded as people rushed past them, oblivious to Kat and Jake. Jake rounded the final corner, daring to hope that they’d actually made it when the lights flipped on and Jake found himself face-to-face with Miles Jogan and a cadre of armed guards. Kat screamed and stumbled back as Jake placed himself between her and the guards.

  “Something tells me you’ve been less than honest, Agent Isaacs,” Miles said, gesturing to the guards who approached them both, heavily armed. “Take them to Lab 2, if you would. We don’t want to be late for the presentation.”

  Kat paled and started to shake her head. “Please! No...!” She began to kick and scream as a guard wrenched her away from Jake just as another guard put him in handcuffs. She looked wildly to Miles, pleading. “Please...not Jake. Don’t do this. I beg you!”

  “Begging does not become you, Dr. Odgers. I told you I believed you lacked sufficient motivation. I believe Agent Isaacs will definitely help motivate you.”

  “Nooooo!”

  The guards dragged Kat away and her screams echoed down the hallway. Jake turned a hard glare Miles’s way. There was little point in pretending now. “What are you going to do with me?”

  “You are going to be my star attraction as Dr. Odgers proves that her drug works. Think of this as a blessing...with your memory gone I’ll have no need to kill you. Contrary to what you may believe, I always liked you. You reminded me of myself in a different life. But business is business and you’re going to help fund my future.”

  “What’s going to happen to Kat?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

  “What does it matter? In a matter of minutes you won’t even remember her.”

  “You bastard!”

  “I’ve been called worse.” Miles gestured to the guards. “Lab 2, please.”

  And then Jake was marched in the same direction as Kat to a fate worse than death.

&
nbsp; Chapter 23

  Tears streaming down her numb cheeks, Kat stared in horror as Miles’s guards muscled Jake into a sitting position and clamped their hands on his shoulders to keep him there. Jake met her gaze and tried to reassure her but she knew their odds were bad. Worse, she hadn’t been able to test the new sample with her modifications. She had no idea if it worked or would cause Jake’s brain to explode like an egg thrown at a wall. She couldn’t bear the idea of being the one who killed Jake. The pressure was too much and the stakes too high. “I—I can’t do this,” she stammered, her hands shaking when she tried to lift the syringe. Miles took his gun and pointed it at Jake’s head.

  “Either inject him or I shoot him. Your choice.”

  “He could die either way,” she whispered in total misery. “That’s not a fair choice.”

  “Life is not fair. With a bullet, death is a certainty. If you’ve done your job and corrected the formula, he will live. The power is in your hands, Dr. Odgers.”

  “Please! Please! I can’t do this! I can’t!”

  “Dr. Odgers, you’re embarrassing yourself. Inject the formula or watch him die!”

  She looked to Jake, her eyesight swimming with desperate tears and she wanted to die herself rather than plunge that needle in Jake’s arm.

  “It’s okay,” Jake said softly, trying to calm her, which was so endearing and yet so ridiculous.

  “You don’t understand. It could kill you in the most horrifying way,” she explained to Jake, her throat closing as fear and misery crawled up her esophagus and her bladder suddenly ached. “Th-the test subjects...some died with their brains leaking out of their ears. I can’t take that risk of it happening to you. I’d rather die myself.”

  Motivated by sheer hopelessness, Kat grabbed the syringe and went to plunge it into her own arm but quicker than she would’ve imagined, Miles caught her just before the needle pierced her skin and pried the syringe free, crushing her fingers in the process. She cried out as he pushed her away in disgust. “That was ill-advised, Doctor,” he said as she crashed against her lab stool and nearly fell over. “Agent Stephens, please restrain the good doctor for her own protection.”

  “Certainly, sir,” Camille said, jerking Kat to her feet and pinioning her arms behind her back.

  “I’m sorry, Jake,” she whispered, unable to tear her eyes away from the man she was certain was her soul mate and possibly about to die because of her.

  “Shut it,” Camille warned, pinching her arms together more tightly until Kat gasped with the pain. “You don’t want to miss the show.”

  A million obscenities danced on her tongue but she held them back. Please, please let the modifications work. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. When she opened her eyes again, she at least didn’t want to retch as she trained her gaze forward.

  Miles smiled with approval. “That a girl. A professional. I like that in a person.” He looked to the guards. “Bring in our guests.”

  The guards opened the doors and a group of eight men filed in. Kat gave them each a hard stare, letting them know exactly how she felt about them. They were all evil wretches and she hoped that karma rained down on them with a vengeance.

  “Gentlemen, we have a real treat for you tonight. The subject is a perfect specimen. Smart, fit and top of his graduating class in officer school.”

  Murmurs of interest sounded in the room and Kat wanted to scream. Jake glared at the men as if mentally cataloging their faces for when he escaped. She loved him for his indomitable spirit, but she knew their chances of rescue or escape were slim to none at this point. She savored the memory of their last kiss, even though it might’ve been what cost them precious time.

  “What admittedly started out as a drug for Alzheimer’s patients has turned into a boon for people such as you with specific needs. I give you MCX-209, or as I like to call it, The Game Changer.”

  A ripple of amused laughter followed and Kat seethed at their heartless cruelty. She sent Miles her most hateful stare. She hoped he died in a horrible accident that left him to linger until he finally breathed his last breath. She’d always fancied herself a bit of a liberal and against the death penalty but at this moment she would’ve paid to flip the switch herself on Miles Jogan and his cohort, Camille Stephens.

  “Enough with the small talk, let’s start the show,” Miles announced to polite applause. “Dr. Odgers, if you would do the honors of administering your amazing drug.”

  Camille whispered in her ear, “If you pull another stunt like you just did, I’ll drag your loony uncle from his bed and shoot him so full of holes, he’ll leak like a sieve. Got it?”

  “You’re a hateful human being,” Kat whispered back, but jerked away from Camille and straightened her lab coat to collect herself. She lifted her gaze to Jake and knew she had no choice but to give him the drug. He knew it, too, and nodded faintly as if to tell her he understood and didn’t blame her.

  It was that gentle sweetness that nearly caused her knees to buckle as she approached Jake with the syringe. She wanted to beg Jake’s forgiveness for doing this to him but in his eyes there was no judgment, if anything, all she saw was love. Love? Kat blinked, sure she was hallucinating. But no. Jake’s gaze softened in the face of her turmoil and she nearly crumpled to the ground in the wake of such grace.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered, gently taking his wrist and plunging the needle as painlessly as possible. She mouthed the words she read in his expression and he closed his eyes with an imperceptible nod. Kat used to think that the story of Romeo and Juliet was so romantic but now she realized it wasn’t romantic at all—it was a tragedy.

  She held her breath. The new modification to the formula was supposed to react much more quickly than before. If the changes were going to work, they’d see the effects almost immediately. Kat chewed on her bottom lip, terrified. Miles started explaining the process to his guests.

  “What’s happening here is the drug is working its way through the bloodstream, where it will take an express elevator to the neurological center of the brain. Once there, it will start working on the area tasked with memory. Dr. Odgers has been working diligently to perfect the formula and—” he stopped to peer at Jake “—seeing as he hasn’t begun to convulse, I take that as a sign that her hard work has paid off.”

  More polite laughter until suddenly Jake jerked and spasmed painfully, causing Kat to stuff her knuckle in her mouth to keep from screaming as she watched in total terror as Jake began to shake uncontrollably. Miles chuckled a bit nervously as he added, “Maybe I spoke too soon...”

  But as suddenly as the spasms started, they ended, and Jake slumped in his chair, listless and still but alive.

  Miles turned to his assembled guests with a lifted brow, acting like the ringleader in a three-ringed circus. “I believe we have success...Agent Isaacs...where were you born?” For a long moment Jake said nothing. He stared into space as if Miles hadn’t spoken.

  Kat began to quake as the fear that she’d permanently ruined Jake’s amazing brain took hold. But it was a good sign that he hadn’t begun to leak from the ears, so she took hope in that, however small.

  “Agent Isaacs...where were you born?”

  “I...I don’t know,” he answered in a slow, tortured voice. His fine motor skills seemed dampened as he swung his head toward Miles without an ounce of recognition and Kat swallowed a cry of both relief and horror. The drug had worked. But she had no idea what the side effects would be or if Jake would ever be able to recover his memories. “Where...am...I?”

  “You’re in a safe place,” Miles assured Jake in a soft voice, then turned to his guests with a triumphant, smug smile. “I give you...The Game Changer.”

  “How do we know he’s not faking it?” a small Indian man demanded, not quite convinced.

  “Dr. Odgers, will you provi
de a brain scan of Agent Isaacs for our guests?”

  Kat jerked a nod and the guards pulled Jake from his chair roughly. “Be easy with him,” she cried, shooting a look at Miles for his guards’ lack of concern. She hissed at the guards, “How would you like your brain erased? I have plenty left in my samples.”

  The guards shifted with discomfort at her threat but Miles found her amusing, saying, “That, my friends, is a feisty woman. Glad she’s working for us.”

  She shot him a look that said, Screw you, Miles, and took a quick scan of Jake’s brain, not only for Miles but for herself. She needed to see the extent of the damage. The areas of the brain holding memory were indeed affected as intended, and Kat had to hold back tears. “The brain has two areas designated for memory—one for long-term and another for short-term. The subject—” she swallowed the lump in her throat at referring to Jake as a test subject “—exhibits the appropriate signs that both long-term and short-term memory have been erased but none of the autonomic nervous systems have been affected.”

  “So he won’t forget how to stop breathing or swallow?” one person asked.

  “No.”

  “Excellent,” he murmured, impressed. “This is indeed a game changer.”

  “What did I tell you? Gentlemen, the bidding will begin in fifteen minutes. Reserve is set at ten million.”

  Miles shepherded the men from the room and paused to say to the guards, “See to it that Dr. Odgers and Agent Isaacs are given some rest. They’ve had a busy day.”

  To Kat he said, “Brilliant work, Dr. Odgers. You have my utmost respect for your talent.”

  “I don’t want your respect. I want your head on a platter,” she retorted dully, not caring about self-preservation at this point.