“Sari, I—”
She pressed a finger to his lips. “One step at a time, Kai. There are other factors at work here.”
He watched her lift her sweater over her head, ignored the taut nipples poking through the white cotton tee and waited while she pulled her hair back into a ponytail. His heart pounded against his ribs. The closest he’d ever come to surgery was animal dissections in university. Rats, fish, eels, frogs, pigs. Sari was no rat, nor was she dead. What if he screwed up?
A glance to the mirror behind her showed his worried reflection, though his gaze was drawn to her hands toying with her long, blond hair. He’d lost track of how many times he’d wanted to wrap it around his palms. It always looked like a curtain of the finest silk. When she lifted the bulk of it up to fasten it, he saw two deep gauges on the back of her neck. The gnarly silver scars over her upper spine that shocked him. Who are you, Sari?
“There’s still time to back out.” The slight quiver in her voice caught his attention. “I won’t hold it against you.”
Kai smiled and set a hand on her shoulder. The fine bones of the joint were delicate under his large hand, making him wonder what the rest of her would feel like beneath his touch. He forced the thoughts to the back of his mind. Distractions wouldn’t help.
He turned and gathered up the towels. She was too high on the basin and so he left to collect the 1970s psychedelic orange vinyl chair from the main room. Without explanation she followed his lead, sat on the chair, and rested her arm on the towel. Pale white skin glowed at him. What if he left a scar?
“It’s okay,” she assured him. Her palm flattened against his chest. “I know you’ll do your best.”
Her shaky smile demolished his self-doubt. She trusted him, at least for now. He had to help her, there was no alterative. Kai knelt in front of her and used firm pressure to examine the bicep of her right arm. Her supple flesh allowed him to find the small hardness without too much trouble. It was deep in the underside of her arm, close to the brachial artery. He couldn’t let the scalpel slip.
“I need to get a little closer.”
At his touch, she spread her thighs to accommodate him. Kai shuffled forward, the sensation of a shapely thigh either side of his waist wrestling his attention away for a moment. Sari’s sharp breath made him look at her. Her pulse pounded in the hollow at the base of her neck. A flush worked its way up to her cheeks. The air between them shimmered with tension and with her sitting on a chair, her lips came perilously close to his.
The taste of her lingered on his tongue and he yearned for another, longer exploration of that hot cavern. It needed to wait. He had a job to do. But when her palm caressed his cheek, Kai pulled her closer and rested his forehead against hers.
“It’ll be okay, I promise.”
“Just be quick.”
Turning toward her arm, he prepared the items he’d need immediately after. Gauze, adhesive tape, suture thread with needle—although he hoped it didn’t come to that. With everything laid out and within easy reach, he tore open an alcohol swab and wiped her skin. He gave it twenty seconds to dry then lifted the scalpel.
Kai took a deep breath, the air filling his lungs saturated with her scent. Unlike any woman he’d known before, she didn’t wear perfume. There was something very distinctive about her natural scent that slipped into his veins and filled his mind with nothing but raw, hungry sex. He’d noticed it the first time they met, and every time he neared her in the lab, it smacked him hard. For the longest time he resisted, having no intentions of crossing the line of professionalism until Sari’s powers of persuasion had tipped their boss’ hand and saved both their jobs.
Kissing her hadn’t been intentional, but whatever simmered between them had a hold over him he couldn’t control. Not even past betrayals seemed to sway him. The attraction overruled logic and struck him in the heart. He only hoped he didn’t screw his chances if this operation went wrong.
“This is going to hurt, Sari. Forgive me.”
While pain shot up her arm, scooted around her shoulder, and exploded in her chest, Sari kept a neutral expression. Or as neutral as one could be given the circumstances. She should be used to pain, scalpels, and gritting her teeth. She wasn’t. Turning her head away didn’t help much, but at least she couldn’t see the blood.
The sharp, burning pain ceased but was soon replaced by cold metal sliding into her flesh. She felt every single millimeter of her muscle move to accommodate the operation. Tweezers. Kai’s hand shook. She smelled the sweat pouring off him and laid a hand on his shoulder to ease his worry. He couldn’t avoid hurting her anymore than she could avoid removing the chip.
“Nearly got it,” he said through clenched teeth. “It’s slippery.”
Sari held as still as she could. Compared to most people, she tolerated a hell of a lot more pain. The first time she’d shifted into the jag, she’d curled up into a ball in the back of the cage and shook with the intense agony of it. When she’d changed back, she’d sobbed for days. It was more than any sixteen year old should go through. But somewhere in the back of her mind, it dawned on her that it had readied her for today.
“Hold on.”
He tugged on the chip, sending a new wave of liquid fire through her. Sweat trickled down the side of her face, the effort it took to hold in the tears almost too much. The chip didn’t budge. Kai swore and tried again. This time, it gave but not without the tearing of muscle. A yelp escaped through her lips and he swore again. Then apologized. Twice.
In a matter of moments he dropped the capsule-sized microchip on the basin, cleaned up, and bandaged the wound. Her body quaked as he turned her face to him. Compassion flooded his gaze.
“Here.”
He held out two pain killers and a glass of water. She didn’t take either, afraid she’d drop the pills and spill the water. As if he sensed her doubt, he lifted the two white pills to her mouth and waited for her to open. With the greatest gentleness, he placed them on her tongue, then brought the glass to her lips. She drank. The cold liquid quelled some of the fire licking at her insides, but not all. A new rage burned. Feeling helpless drew out the anger she harbored toward Zimmerman and the experiments he’d conducted on her. Once again, the image of her ripping out his throat flashed before her eyes.
The violent vision broke her last resolve to stay strong, and having Kai there to catch her made her feel safe. For the first time in too long, she didn’t need to keep an eye out for danger and the relief opened the floodgates. Tears rolled down her cheeks as he pulled her into his arms. Those big strong limbs circled around her back and held her, warmth and support suffusing in to ease the throbbing deep in her arm.
All she could think about was whether he could feel the scars running the length of her back inflicted during her escape, and if he did, what did he think?
Chapter Two
With one eye trained to the figure on the bed and the other examining the newly cleaned microchip, Kai reclined with his feet up in the silent motel room as darkness fell. He turned the small gun-metal gray capsule over in his fingers in the fading light. On the outside, a series of numbers had been laser printed onto the metallic surface. He recognized them as the same sequence that came up on the scanner’s LCD screen. At the end of them, a small clear window revealed a flashing red light. Although now out of Sari’s arm, the blood and tissue washed off, the device continued to function.
Kai shook his head. Wrapping his thoughts around this proved mind-boggling. Sari, his assistant for two years, had become a complete stranger to him. The only facts he could be certain of were her address and that she worked for Eco-Corp. He wanted to trust that her name really was Sari Jones. After all, Waylon Landau ran a pretty tight ship and carried out police checks on all his employees, but Kai knew the system could be dodged.
Damn, girl. Why’d you have to go and get all secretive on me?
The sensation of being stuck in a James Bond movie squeezed his throat. It was too familiar, felt t
oo close to home. He’d spent the better part of the last two years hiding his search for Rebecca, dodging the questions about his obsession with the cats and praying no one would uncover his true mission.
It might now seem as if he was inexorably tangled in Sari’s web, but the sad truth was that the opposite was just as true. Did she know? Did she have any inkling that his project harbored the secret of his missing sister?
He glanced over to her, curled into a tiny ball in the center of the bed, sleeping fitfully. The bandage on her arm needed to be changed twice, giving him a good scare that maybe he had nicked an artery during the surgery. What had happened to her to necessitate the implanting of a microchip without her knowledge? The whole thing smacked of a cover-up. But who was running the show and how was she involved?
One thing was definite. Whoever tracked her did so for a reason, and disrupting her usual routine could put her in jeopardy.
Kai snatched his mobile off the counter and locked himself in the bathroom. It seemed crazy to trust Sari, to stick his neck out for someone he hardly knew, but his gut stirred and the familiar tingling of a hunch gave him the strength to believe. Sari’s presence at Eco-Corp was no coincidence. Neither was her assignment as his assistant. She was connected to him for a reason.
Assumptions will make an ass out of you.
Kai chuffed in the dark bathroom. That might be true, but he’d rather look like an ass because he acted than be proven an idiot by not acting.
He hit speed dial four and listened to the ring.
“I thought you were on a big game adventure,” Sarah Makepeace drawled the sarcastic one-liner in place of a traditional greeting. Kai smiled. Non-traditional sounded perfect right about now.
“Smartass.”
She laughed. He’d known Sarah since they were five, when her family moved in next door and the two were lumped in piano lessons together. They’d shared an equal dislike for Mrs. Cabbage, their teacher, and an equally strong passion for music. He stood by her when she left her respectable career as a cop to work the blackjack table on the casino floor and defended her against her stodgy parents. She was his first kiss. Thankfully she never held the bumbled fumblings of a nervous ten year old against him.
“What do you need, sugar?”
“I know this will put a crimp in your style, but I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”
“Uh huh.”
“I need you to live someone else’s life until I get back. Make the same kind of movements she would, at the same times she’d do them. The bonus is you get my lab all to yourself for the week.”
He crossed his fingers in hope.
“You need me to pretend to work a day job, right?”
Kai smiled. “You can sleep the day away in my lab for all I care, but this is vital, and I don’t have anyone else I can trust.”
“It’s a good thing I love you like a brother, Harrison.”
I’m counting on it.
“You’re a champ, Sarah. I knew you’d come through for me. Of course, there’s one more little thing.”
She sighed with the flair of a drama queen. “Of course.”
Holding the microchip up to the frosted glass window, Kai prayed his luck with Sarah would last a little longer. “I need you to meet me tonight and pick something up. It’s the reason for this whole charade, and you’ll need to make sure you do exactly as I say.”
“Does this have anything to do with Rebecca?”
Kai bit his lip. “Not really.”
She sighed and he could picture her shaking her head at him in playful admonishment. “You science geeks always make me wonder, but I’ll do it for you. When you get back, I expect an explanation and dinner at a fancy restaurant. No going cheap on me.”
Such a small price to pay for all he asked. Kai smiled at his friend’s unwavering support. All she had to do was begin her day at Sari’s apartment, spend the day in his lab and then return to the apartment. She could hide the microchip overnight in the hall outside, rather than have to gain entry to Sari’s apartment—though heaven knew she could do that with ease and without a second thought—pick it up each morning, drop it off each night. He hoped the tracking function wasn’t much more specific than that.
“Deal.”
“So where are you?”
Kai relayed the address of the motel, thanked her, and hung up. He studied the chip one more time. He wouldn’t risk opening it up or tampering with the electronics. Extracting it from Sari’s arm without disturbing its operation seemed miracle enough for today. He wasn’t about to push his luck.
It still seemed incredible that someone would want to keep tabs on her. Someone who had access to highly sophisticated electronic devices and the medical services to place them inside the body. He wondered how long it had been there, hiding inside Sari and sending silent signals of her whereabouts and movements. And again, he couldn’t help but speculate where the information went, especially to whom.
He needed help with Sari’s situation, but telling anyone would break her fragile confidence in him. Best she didn’t know, then.
Kai hit speed dial three and waited.
“Waylon Landau here.”
Kai swallowed. That big booming voice always took him by surprise. “Waylon, it’s Kai Harrison.”
“Harrison? Shouldn’t you be deep in the jungle by now?”
“We ran into a small hitch this morning. It’s nothing major, and we’ll hit the road again tomorrow. I did want to ask you a question before I become unreachable.”
The boss sighed. Kai listened as Waylon excused himself from whatever meeting or dinner party he was at and then heard the distinctive click of a door closing. “Well, I’m all ears, son. What’s on your mind?”
“How much do you really know about Sari Jones?”
Rex Zimmerman’s beeper went off just as he touched the razor to his neck. Good thing he had nerves of steel and didn’t slice open his own damn throat.
It seemed the blasted thing only ever went off to announce bad news. The first subjects that didn’t wake from the operations. The suicides. The escape. He doubted tonight would be any different and tossed up whether shaving the second half of his face was more important. It seemed the longer he did this job, the more things went haywire. As he set the razor on the edge of the sink, he ran through a few possibilities for the alert.
Maybe Pitch had managed to kill himself or Mystery had died of old age. He shook his head at the thought. At twenty five, she was too young to die of old age, but the gene splicing process had sped up her natural aging process. A fatal flaw they’d finally eradicated, but not before it claimed four other victims—five if one included Mystery.
Or the worse case scenario…Sari went offline.
He grabbed the stupid beeping box and lifted it to see the screen. A sigh escaped him. It was still bad news, but it wasn’t another death. Nor was it Sari.
“I’ll be there in a moment.” He tossed the pager on the ceramic basin with a clatter.
He really hated stubble, and unlike most men, he preferred an old fashioned razor blade to one of those new, laser precision, fandangled multi-blade shaving sticks. He never could get close enough and his scruffy gray growth showed through. Highly unprofessional. Against naval regs. Personally unsuitable.
With the flourish of a barber, he finished the job and toweled off. He rode the elevator down to Sub Level 5, which held the med lab and the isolation cells. He shrugged off the cold and pushed through the swinging double doors to find Sergeant Chance Stevens supervising the medic seeing to Tom’s wounds.
Bloody gauze bandages were piled high on the implement table, indicating a nasty encounter. The urge to strangle the stupid hybrid gripped Rex, but he repressed it with practiced finesse. Besides, when he peered over the medic’s shoulder to see the boy in a terrible state, he decided tonight was not the night.
They did stupid things at times, this one no doubt getting into an unnecessary scrape and risking exposure. But it was
to be expected. They were young, immature, and prone to rash behavior, especially soon after the operations.
Still, Rex was losing patience fast.
Tom was their most skilled Hunter, a senior in the ranks. He shouldn’t be making dumb mistakes. If Tom had allowed Sari to rip him to shreds, it made him look like an amateur.
“I believe, Stevens, that you reported Sari as a non-threat. I seem to recall you concluding that she rarely shifted.”
Stevens glanced up, a momentary flicker of surprise illuminating his dark eyes. “She must have lashed out in self-defense.”
Rex turned his attention to Tom, who lay in mid-shift, half his body black jaguar, the other half human. A gruesome sight but Rex had seen far worse. The deep gashes down Tom’s chest had been made by the sharp claws of another cat. Sari had shifted and definitely had not lost her touch. “Was that the way of it?”
The pale face of the young man held a bluish tinge under the fluorescent lighting. “I delivered your message as asked. I found her stalking in an alley.”
“Catching food?” Stevens inquired.
“Practicing.” Rex interrupted, regretting the decision to send Sari a message. “Keeping her skills sharp. She doesn’t need to be told that I’ll come for her, and she’s making sure she’ll be ready for me.”
A vision of Sari’s gleaming white claws slashing him to shreds crossed his sight, taking him by surprise. Rex hated when that happened. Whether prophecy or fallacy, the images never failed to unnerve him.
“This wasn’t self-defense.” His spine stiffened. “She wanted to send me a reminder of her power. Make no mistake, Stevens, Sari may appear innocent and harmless, but deep down, she’s the deadliest of all the Failures. It’s why she found an escape route and why we can ill-afford to let the others know she’s alive. Don’t let her size fool you; she’s the perfect killing machine.” Rex addressed the medic, “Will he live?”
Sari Page 2
