Brotherhood Protectors_Lost Signal

by Regan Black

  “Would you let me stick around as a bodyguard? Just until we know they aren’t coming after you.” He had to know if she still saw him as the ruthless enemy she’d run from on the prairie. The doctors and drugs and countless injections had turned him into something unrecognizable, but he wasn’t quite the man he’d been before either.

  “Yes.”

  Her soft, confident reply eased the sharp prickling of his conscience. “Despite the, ah, scene at the campground?” He braced for the worst, even as he wished for the best.

  She looked up from her gear, her eyes steady and calm. “That was self-defense,” she stated. “If they’d seen you first, they would have killed you, right? And me?”

  “Yes.” His voice cracked on the single word as the idea of her lifeless and gone twisted like a knife in his heart. “They still might.”

  “Then you can stick around as long as it takes. I like living.”

  “You’re remarkable,” he murmured.

  “I’m practical.” She walked over to stand with him, leaning against the opposite side of the doorway. “Growing up out here isn’t easy. I chose a career rife with pitfalls and challenges. Those perfect magazine-ready pictures are rarely easy.” Her gaze drifted out and back to lock onto him. “I’ve studied nature all my life, Owen. I understand predator and prey behaviors and I know which side of the line you’re on.”

  She closed the distance, her hands resting lightly on his chest as she touched her lips to his. His hands found her hips, dragged her closer until her body was flush with his. Her breath became his, her hair silk on his hands. He felt her pulse racing along with the beat of his heart and he drank her in, memorizing the taste of her.

  On a gasp, she broke the kiss and her dark eyes were dazed, dazzling when she smiled up at him. The sexy, knowing expression on her face left him aching to take her right there.

  “Remarkable,” he repeated when he trusted his voice.

  “Owen, I—”

  He heard it then, a distant buzz in the distance more effective than an icy shower. “Trouble,” he said, drawing her into the cottage and closing the door.

  “That’s impossible,” she protested. “No one but family knows about this place.”

  Owen didn’t waste time arguing. “It’s a drone.”

  “That doesn’t mean it’s someone looking for us.”

  He grabbed his gun from the table. “Be ready. I’ll be back.”

  “No.”

  He stopped short, stared at her. “No?”

  “This is my land.” She picked up the shotgun in the corner. “You’re not going out there alone.”

  He could hear the damn thing floating closer. “Hope, this isn’t your fight.” He tiptoed to the front windows, searching for the drone operator.

  “Isn’t it?” she whispered, following him. “However it started, we’re in it together now.”

  Fine. “Any idea on the range of those things?”

  “I think it varies.”

  “Great.” He listened, pinpointing the general direction. The drone was flying in from the south, following the general route they’d taken here. “Nothing random about this,” he murmured. He didn’t know how they’d been found, but his mind quickly strategized how best to make a stand. He would gladly surrender if he thought it would save Hope, but he knew better.

  Owen caught movement to the east, but when he looked in that direction, the area was empty. He closed his eyes, held his breath and tried again.

  Hope laid a hand on his arm, a silent query.

  “Someone is out there.” He shifted to the window that gave him a better view. “I can almost hear their footsteps.”

  “Owen, I know you have super-senses, but no one’s there.”

  “My eyes want to agree with you.” How to explain it? “I can hear footsteps. It’s more than in my head or my gut.” He paused. “There.” He zeroed in on the spot. “It’s like a ripple of air rising from hot asphalt.”

  “I believe you, but I don’t see anything.”

  After his experience with the Army and learning the illegal tactics of UI, he made a plan swiftly. “I’m going out the back door to stop the sneak attack. When the drone comes into view,” he jerked his chin toward her shotgun, “shoot it down.”

  He could tell she didn’t quite believe him, but he went out anyway. Her safety was his top priority. Pausing, he listened. Mr. Invisible was less than two hundred yards away. He raised the gun as he rounded the corner. “Freeze.”

  “Seriously?” a voice said, awed as the weird visual haze obeyed. “You can see me?”

  “Yes,” Owen bluffed, aiming by sound more than sight.

  “Then put the gun down.” There was a ripple in the air, but no footfalls. “Not armed. I’m on your side, man.”

  “You’re UI enhanced,” Owen said.

  “Well, I sure as hell wasn’t born this way.” The haze swore. “Yeah. I’m one of their original experiments,” he explained casually. “Skipped out ages ago, dude. I’m here to help.”

  “Prove it.”

  “Scott’s with me. Blackwell. Remember him?”

  Hearing his friend’s name made Owen’s hands twitch and the drone was edging closer. “What is this?”

  “A rescue,” the haze said. “Scott if you can hear me, tell your pal to ease up. I hate getting shot.”

  “Why aren’t you invisible?”

  Scott’s voice over the radio brought tears of relief to Owen’s eyes, blurring his vision, but he kept the gun raised. UI specialized in cruel tests.

  “I am. He can see me,” the haze said, irritable now. “Dude, what did they do to you?”

  Owen thought that was a strange question coming from Mr. Invisible.

  “Is Scott on the drone?” Owen asked, hearing the sound fade away.

  “No,” the haze replied. “Another friend. Is the woman a hostage?”

  “No,” Owen snapped, offended.

  “Great. Let’s blow this pop stand.”

  What the hell did that mean? Before he could ask, he heard a truck engine closing in seconds before Hope shouted a warning. “Tell him to stop,” Owen ordered the haze.

  “He won’t listen. Scott’s been on a tear to find you.”

  “Owen?” Hope’s voice was cool, steady.

  “Don’t fire,” he said, lowering his gun and taking the chance. “I think they’re friends.” And if they weren’t, they’d be easier to kill if they were all in one place.

  He walked back into the cottage and locked the back door, joining Hope at the front window. A burly pickup truck slid to a stop in a swirl of dust and Scott leaped from the driver’s side, hands held high.

  “Owen!” Scott shouted. “We’re here to help. Come on out. Or let me in.”

  At the back of the cottage, Owen heard footsteps followed by a rattle as Mr. Invisible tried the door.

  Hope looked up into his face. “You know him?” At his nod, she opened the door and Scott jogged up.

  “Owen, man. It’s good to see you.”

  Owen studied his friend’s eyes, then took his friend’s extended hand and pulled him into a hard hug. “You’re okay? You got away?” he asked when they parted.

  “It’s a story,” Scott said. He introduced himself to Hope.

  “How did you find us here?” she asked.

  Owen shoved in front of her at the sound of someone approaching. “Is that Mr. Invisible?”

  “Name’s Ben,” a form shimmered into view just outside the door. Tall, with bark-brown hair, his features were harder to decipher since he wasn’t entirely solid.

  Behind him, Hope gave a start and clutched the back of his shirt. “Told you someone was out there.”

  “I’ll never doubt you again.” She moved to his side, leaned close as he wrapped his arm around her. “How did you find us?”

  “Friend with a drone,” Ben said. “He’s a fan of yours.”

  “When Ben found your name on the campground register,” Scott continued. “Duke sugge
sted we look for you out this way.”

  Owen worried they’d led the man in the gray suit right to him. To Hope.

  “Easy, man,” Ben said. “Messenger and his crew aren’t anywhere close.”

  “Messenger?” Owen asked. “That’s what you call the man in the gray suit?”

  “One and the same,” Ben confirmed. “We really need to get out of here.” He faded into nothing more than that ripple.

  “Ben and his friends found me, saved me from Messenger,” Scott said. “You’re tracker is disabled or UI would have found you by now.”

  “They know I’m not dead.” A wave of guilt hit him hard. “Scott. The things they had me do… UI won’t stop.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Scott said.

  “The things they did to him are worse,” Hope interjected. “They tried to kill him.”

  “I’m not surprised,” Scott assured him. “Messenger is a bastard. Let’s get you out of the area and we can take some time to go over your options. You might not even realize you have the lead we need to find Tucker.”

  “Tucker’s dead.” Scott deserved to know, in case that was the real motivation for this effort. “He didn’t make it out of the first hand to hand test.”

  Scott’s face paled, then flamed with color. He opened his mouth, and snapped it shut again. “We’ll get him,” he vowed after a moment.

  “Was it Bruce?” Ben asked.

  Owen nodded.

  “Messenger won’t get away with this,” Scott said. “Let’s get you out of here, both of you, and go over your options.”

  “Give us a minute.” Owen urged Hope back toward the kitchen. “It’s your call,” he said. “We go with Scott, together, or I stay with you.”

  “I think you should go. We,” she amended. “We should go and see what he has to say.”

  Owen helped her pack up, clearing away any trace of their visit, in case UI found a reason to come this way. Then they followed Scott out to pick up Duke and the drone and headed northwest to Eagle Rock, Montana, yet another place he’d never heard of.

  Chapter 9

  The drive to Eagle Rock had only taken a few hours, but Owen’s debriefing and the revelations over the days that followed would take Hope weeks to process. Assuming she could eventually make the horror story fit into the context of her new reality. Owen had been manipulated, used, and emotionally and physically abused by a system that seemed impervious to the law.

  They’d been warmly welcomed to the ranch by Amelia, a gorgeous woman made more so by the glow of her pregnancy. Her husband, John, had been a bit more cautious until blood tests proved Owen was clear of any UI influence or tracking devices. His enhancements seemed permanent, which she might call a benefit if she hadn’t seen him overwhelmed by the proximity of a small town. Yes, he’d adjust, she just hated that he had to do so. She wanted to help and had never felt so helpless.

  While the men compared notes about their experiences with Messenger and the treacherous Unknown Identities agency, Hope grew increasingly aware that time was running out on her assignment for the National Audubon Society. She had less than two weeks to catch the longspur migration. Normally, she’d be eager to get back into the field, now she was reluctant to leave Owen. Beyond how much she’d come to care for him it bothered her that he had nowhere to go. Messenger had destroyed his life and made him a wanted man in several states.

  Since they’d arrived, she and Owen had basically been living together in the updated bunkhouse behind the main house of the ranch framed by the rugged foothills of the Crazy Mountains. Amelia had offered her the guest room, but she’d wanted to stay close to Owen. The kisses were tantalizing and conversations intriguing. The man made her smile and laugh and she enjoyed getting to know him as a person. He’d called her remarkable, yet in her eyes, he was the true hero. Even drugged and threatened, he’d kept searching for his humanity, striving to stay in touch with his personal ethics.

  She’d taken her camera for long walks and short hikes at all hours, in search of unique images of the wild springtime in an area she’d never before explored. Until today, Owen had been her escort every time she ventured further than the fence line and proved a superb assistant with his enhanced senses. Today, though, Amelia joined her as they walked over to see the new horses at the neighboring ranch where Scott lived with Jaime, a woman he’d met during his first effort to save his friends Owen and Tucker.

  “I’m fairly certain Messenger has no idea you were the witness Owen went back to eliminate.”

  Put in those words, it still shocked her that the man who’d tried to kill her was the man she’d fallen in love with. As her grandmother said, there was never a shortage of surprises in a full life. Dare she hope that she and Owen might find a full life together?

  “Duke went back to your remote site and the campground too,” Amelia continued. “It seems no one has connected you and Owen.”

  “That’s great news. For both of us.” Hope forced her mouth into a smile. “He’s been worried that he ruined my life entirely.” She would never be sorry they’d met, no matter how challenging the introduction had been.

  “You’ll need to be vigilant,” Amelia warned. “It’s possible UI will figure it out eventually. Unlikely, but possible.”

  “I understand.”

  “I’m not sure you should go back to fulfill your assignment.”

  Hope didn’t like leaving a task undone, but she saw the wisdom of walking away in this case. “I’ll figure something out. Wildlife photography is notoriously unpredictable.”

  Amelia chuckled under her breath. “Blame this on motherhood, but I’m curious about the precautions you have in mind.”

  “Well, the radios you use are smart,” Hope said. “I can stay in contact, schedule daily check-ins.”

  “Yeah, that isn’t going to be enough for me.”

  Hope bristled. “I can’t tuck myself away and hide from the world.” She clapped a hand to her mouth. “That’s not what you’re doing. I know that.” She waved her hand as if erasing a chalkboard. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to sound so ungrateful.”

  “Relax.” Amelia smiled, pressing a hand to her baby bump. “We are hiding, in a fashion and with good reason. Life on the run gets old quickly and is utterly impractical with a baby.” She paused to sip from the water bottle she carried. “We took some extreme steps to create this haven. I’m inviting you and Owen to stay close.”

  Her heart leapt at the idea of days filled with those mountains and nights filled with Owen. “I don’t know.”

  “I understand how important your career is to you, having been there myself.”

  “It is.” Hope had worked hard to build up her reputation, honing her natural talent into a refined and marketable skill. In the days since they’d arrived here, she’d considered starting over or creating another persona for her photography. Either solution meant switching styles and probably subject matter too. “How did you walk away from your journalism career?”

  “I didn’t have much choice, running for my life,” Amelia replied. “When we survived the immediate threat, against all odds, I channeled my energy into investigating and unraveling the UI agency.”

  Hope didn’t know the other woman well, but she recognized a force of nature, and a potential friend, when she met one. She made life-altering decisions sound easy.

  “Messenger is taking too many chances trying to rebuild,” Amelia continued. “We’re making progress again.”

  “Owen isn’t a threat to me anymore,” she pointed out.

  “No, but UI is. They know he’s alive. Based on the measures Messenger employed to find him, I wish you’d rethink your plans to leave, especially if Owen insists on going with you.”

  “Because by identifying Owen someone can find UI?”

  Amelia’s gaze scanned the mountains. “That’s the premise I’ve been working on. With the resources at their disposal, it’s my theory they won’t stop looking for him for a long time. He told us his code nam
e was Pointer and they’d groomed him to be a super-scout.”

  It was a ghastly proposition she didn’t want to dwell on. “But he’s healthy now?”

  “Yes. By the miracle that was you. If you hadn’t hit him over the head, he most likely would have died from the kill switch.” She blinked away tears. “I get so mad with what they go through. Based on what Owen has said, the program is rushing development. It’s one reason their friend Tucker died.” She sighed. “We will locate the lab and find a way to see justice done,” she said. “What I don’t know or can’t figure out, the others we’ve helped through the years will do without question.”

  “How can you be sure of their loyalty?”

  “Would you betray us Hope?”

  After everything she’d seen, no way and she said so.

  “There you go.” Amelia smiled. “I’ve been entertaining another idea that could give you some more breathing space. I can generate some publicity that would establish you well out of the area when Owen ran through.”

  “Count me in.” She’d do anything to get back out into the field and the work she loved and it would be far more enjoyable if she had confidence that she and Owen would both be safe.

  *

  Owen felt more like his old self with each passing day in Eagle Rock. The Noble ranch was close enough to town that he could test his hearing without stressing out. The mountains by day and the sky full of stars by night had him believing he could actually remain free.

  Day by day, talking with John and Ben, reconnecting with Scott, helped him trust the recovery and embrace the second chance Hope had given him when she’d knocked him into the creek. With nothing but time, he often walked with Hope when she went out to explore the immediate area. With his face plastered all over law enforcement offices for crimes he didn’t commit, no one was ready to chance him being seen in town, but that wasn’t where he wanted to be anyway.

  He wanted to be with Hope. For more than these uncertain days. The more she revealed about herself and her dreams, and the more he watched her work, the more he wanted to share that rare beauty of the future she had planned. Each night, their kisses went a little further, left them both wanting, but he still didn’t trust himself to make love to her. Not until he knew that he could offer her more security than risk. But, dear God, the desire was becoming unbearable.