Between Faith and Fear

by J. A. Dennam

  And suddenly Derek was in an entirely different place. This wasn’t just Melanie’s kid. This was his kid.

  He lifted his head and really looked at the baby, noticed a feature or two that undoubtedly trumpeted the Bennett bloodlines. Would this sobbing ball of unconditional love ever lay eyes on his mother again? Would Derek be able to come through for their son? Since the uncertainty outweighed his chances, he felt like crying himself.

  “Aw, hell,” he mumbled when his eyes began to burn. DJ’s breath washed over him when he touched foreheads with the child and he marveled at how pure it smelled. Derek drew him in closer, took as much comfort as he offered.

  Truck tires ground to a stop behind him. Four doors opened and those he’d left at the service station soon surrounded them.

  Danny shoved him aside and swept the baby in her arms. “What happened? Is he okay? Holy crap, Derek, I tried to warn you but you just took off!”

  “He’s fine... I think.”

  “Did they get away?” Austin asked worriedly, mimicking Rena and Ty as they all looked around for signs of wreckage.

  Derek ran a hand through his hair, fisted it and knelt down in abject misery. “I didn’t know he was back there. Jesus Christ, I had them and then... God dammit!”

  “I’m sorry,” Danny breathed as she hugged the crying toddler tightly to her. “He was asleep and I couldn’t think of a better place to safely put him.”

  “In my car?”

  “It was closest to the shop!”

  “Hey.” Rena was there with a small wad of wet paper towels. She pressed it to his bleeding wound and placed the uncapped water bottle to his lips. “Drink. Come on, you need to get it together.”

  “He’s gonna kill her.”

  “Who’s going to kill her?”

  “My handler. Rafferty.”

  Rena was silent for a moment then she shoved the bottle at him again. “Not if we get there first.”

  The red haze was slowly creeping back. He could feel it as his nerves began to light up little by little. He turned the bottle upside-down and took a healthy swig, wiped his mouth with his forearm. “I will burn that place down, Rena. Every fucking square inch of it.”

  “They won’t kill her as long as they need her as bait.”

  “Want me to stitch that up?” Ty asked behind her with duffle bag in hand.

  Rena rounded on him with fury and pointed. “You stay the hell away!” she yelled in full protective mode. “I knew you’d lead them to us! I tried to tell him, but he refused to listen!”

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  She pushed at him hard and he stumbled back. “You’re working with them! It’s the only explanation! How else would they know where we were?”

  Chewie came from behind the truck and pranced around them, whining as tensions ran high.

  “It isn’t Ty,” Derek said, straightening to a stand.

  Rena’s eyes narrowed on him in disbelief. “What the hell makes you so sure?”

  “Because I’ve known him a long time. He isn’t the type, that’s why he’s here.”

  “Alright, fine. Let’s experiment and nail him to that tree over there. See if IGP comes to his rescue.”

  Ty dropped the bag and caught her wrist as she attempted to retrieve her knife from his pocket. “You are one sick bitch, you know that?”

  “Come on,” she purred nastily, in his face. “Take one for the team.”

  It was a challenge that confused them all. Her moods seemed to flit in-and-out, quiet and cooperative one minute, scathing and irrational the next. Derek looked at Danny and caught her watching the scene with cautious scrutiny. A quick glance at Austin showed the same. Perhaps it was time to part ways...

  “Rena.”

  Her gaze never faltered as she held Ty’s intense stare.

  “Rena!” Now Derek had her attention. “We have to go back. Now, with or without that bullet.”

  Danny tapped his shoulder. When he looked behind him, his eyes widened in disbelief.

  “You mean this bullet?”

  Chapter 13

  DJ hiccupped the last of his tears and leaned over to grab the shiny brass object nestled in Danny’s palm. When she held it away, he slumped with obvious disappointment.

  She may as well have been presenting the Ark of the Covenant. Rena’s eyes glazed over as Derek reached for the small 9mm round. “Where was it,” he asked in wonderment, inspecting the markings on the bottom.

  “In my glove box,” Danny answered matter-of-factly. “Because it was your good luck charm.”

  “Give it to me,” Rena said, reaching out a hand.

  It was clear the woman considered the bullet her property, but Derek closed it tightly in his fist. “First, you need to tell me what’s so important about this thing.”

  “I’ll tell you later.” Rena wiggled her fingers.

  His brow drew down. “We had a deal.”

  As everyone gathered around her, the woman lowered her outstretched hand and regarded him with uncertainty. Was that mistrust he saw seeping into her cat-like sapphire eyes? “It’s you and me, Rena,” he said through clenched teeth. “I put a lot on the line to give you the advantage and I won’t abandon you now. You’ve got to trust that.”

  A rolling breeze swept through the vast acres of soybeans, lending a fresh, peaceful rush to the air. She swallowed, jerked her head in Ty’s direction. “Not with him here.”

  “Ty is risking everything for us. His livelihood, his freedom, all to aid and abet a fugitive he has no vested interest in. I need his back just like you need mine.”

  She closed her eyes and popped them open again, laughed a little. “Okay, but if you’re wrong, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  “Just tell us, Rena,” Danny demanded softly, running a loving hand over her nephew’s soft curls. “You started to earlier until you poked your head into the garage.”

  Derek swore under his breath. “That was you?”

  Rena jerked her chin toward Danny. “Better me than her.”

  “Why, what happened?” Danny asked.

  “Your brother was treating his anxiety,” Rena answered without batting an eyelash.

  While Danny and Austin exchanged confused looks, Ty’s eyebrows rose.

  Derek set his teeth. “Which brings us back to our current predicament.” He held the bullet up between his fingers. “Start explaining.”

  “Well... for starters, it isn’t a real bullet.” When no one spoke, she continued, “It’s a capsule made to look like one.”

  Made sense. Derek spun the thing, inspected it closely. “What’s in it?”

  “Another hermetically sealed capsule that contains a key component for the cure to what ails you. The only anxiety medicine that will get you past the deadly part of your withdrawals.”

  Suddenly, after years of careless treatment, Derek felt compelled to handle the bullet with kid gloves. “You’re kidding.”

  “It eradicates disorders such as depression, paranoia, bipolar disease, psychosis... It was stolen from a pharmaceutical company about sixteen years ago.”

  Austin leaned against the Challenger’s front fender and crossed his arms. “About the time you gave it to me.” When she nodded, he asked, “How did you get a hold of it?”

  “My father was the IGP security guard assigned to smuggle it out. The inside man wouldn’t divulge how until the hand-off was made so nothing could possibly be leaked. Pharm Corp was very protective of the component, especially since it was in its final stages of research. Everyone and everything that passed through their doors was heavily searched. Those who fell under suspicion had to strip and spread cheeks.”

  Ty was on his knees tending Derek’s wound with a hooked needle and thread. “Don’t they already have medication to treat those things?”

  “To treat them, yes. But this component is a cure. It gets down to the source and naturally aids the ITC neurons in the brain.”

  Austin shook his head. “Speak
English.”

  Rena started over. “ITC neurons control a sort of ‘fear switch’ that tells a person when something is or isn’t dangerous, like jumping off a bridge. When they’re disabled, the brain gets confused. Can’t tell that the normal safety of your own living room isn’t dangerous, thus causing anxiety and all it encompasses. Lab tests proved this drug can enable the neurons in a patient with an extensive history of psychosis regardless of how the disorder came about. Cure it completely without the need for a maintenance regimen.”

  “If that’s true, this can help both of us.” Derek said, needle punching in and out of his skin with nary a flinch.

  “Yes,” she answered, indicating he empty the water bottle. “It will help you if combined with a few other ingredients. IGP can do that for us both.”

  “How?” Austin asked. “They’re a security firm, not a pharmaceutical company.”

  “But they’re controlled by one. Lesico Labs.”

  “Never heard of them,” Ty said.

  “That’s because they still don’t have their breakthrough drug.” She nodded toward the bullet in Derek’s hand. “That’s all that’s left. The man who helped Lesico steal it eradicated all other traces of it by blowing up the lab, destroying all paper and computer records, even sent a computer virus to their backup storage facility. He and the head scientist on the project were found dead within days of each other. Pharm Corp couldn’t recover from the losses and eventually went under.”

  Ty frowned. “I think I remember something like that in the news. Long time ago. It was a small plant, barely even registered on the industry’s radar.”

  “Right. Lesico was never linked to the explosion. They succeeded in all ways but one.”

  “They never got their stolen sample,” Derek concluded, curling his fingers protectively over the bullet.

  “Which they hold IGP responsible for.” Rena produced a grim smile. “Until they can produce it, Lesico pretty much owns them. They’ve even embedded their own laboratories within IGP’s walls in order to keep the more disturbing experiments away from their main facility.”

  Danny, who had been listening intently broke in. “So, Lesico wanted to take credit for a drug they never produced?”

  “Well...” Rena paused, searched for the right words. “Yes and no. They were hoping to incorporate what’s in that capsule with their own breakthrough drug to counteract the side effects that make it deadly. If it works, they have their super-duper, FDA approved, breakthrough alternative to steroids.”

  Danny watched her expectantly. “You’re talking about the drug Derek’s on.”

  Rena confirmed it with a nod. “Derek and the other ghosts. Not to sound harsh, but they’re all lab experiments. Lesico needed test subjects and IGP benefitted by providing a unique security service that specializes in prevention rather than protection.”

  As Danny watched the ministrations performed on her brother’s naked torso, she held a hand over her mouth, spoke through her fingers. “Lab experiments.”

  Derek absorbed Danny’s horror and redirected the conversation. “Did your father purposely keep the stolen sample from them?” he asked Rena.

  “No. The day of the theft, he came home and emptied his revolver onto the kitchen counter and just stared at the bullet for a long time. I asked him why and he said it was a magic bullet, capable of solving all our problems. At the time, Austin was my biggest problem.” She shrugged, stared at her hands. “Needless to say, things were a little... blurry for me back then.”

  “You were sick,” Austin broke in with remembrance. “Nothing you did made sense, so I’m thinking your father had more of a personal interest in this drug.”

  Rena nodded shyly and smiled at her former love. “He did. And IGP made him promises he couldn’t ignore. But when the bullet went missing... he knew he was in trouble. So, he scooped us up and we went into hiding.”

  “So that’s why your family left town,” Austin deduced with a look of wonder.

  “I had no idea,” Rena said, moving a shoulder. “I didn’t make the connection. I figured since he had a whole box of those suckers in the gun safe, he wouldn’t miss it. It never even crossed my mind that... that I’d just destroyed our family.”

  “And your chances of being cured,” Danny finished, the barest hint of sympathy lining her eyes.

  Rena blew air through her lips, waved it all away. “I don’t believe for an instant IGP or Lesico was willing to cure me. Their promises were purely manipulative.”

  “So, let’s recap,” Ty said, snipping the thread with a miniature pair of scissors. “IGP is stuck in the middle of big bad drug heist. Their thief fails to produce thanks to the kleptomanial tendencies of his young daughter. Thief disappears leaving IGP in the lurch and they’ve been looking for him ever since. Years later they find klepto daughter instead, exchange info, cut a deal, and voila. Back in business.”

  Danny pointed out, “Until said klepto realizes her gift to Austin was re-gifted.”

  “After which she attempts to retrieve it,” Rena broke in, nonplussed by the careless banter thrown around at her expense, “which brings us to that fateful night by the river. She’s scared. Ghosts are everywhere, waiting around every corner to remind her in creative ways she’s not moving fast enough.”

  Danny’s eyes darted to her brother. “What kind of... creative ways?”

  Rena took a moment, collected herself. “Like appearing over her sleeping fiancé in the middle of the night with an ax and a smile.”

  Austin’s spine straightened and his brows drew down.

  “Or appearing in her rearview mirror as she maintained seventy on the freeway.”

  Standing now, Ty asked, “In a specially marked car or something?”

  Derek shook his head. “In the back seat.”

  Ty’s face went white. “Holy shit.”

  “Or lend an extra, unexpected pair of hands as she washed her hair in the shower,” Rena continued with an involuntary shiver. “Needless to say there were no more showers for me.”

  Danny swallowed, nodded in understanding while Austin struggled with the news in silence.

  Then Rena grew somber, found a place on the Challenger and leaned against it. “When I finally found out who was chasing my father and why, I used my technical background to get close to IGP. I brought them to me. I was looking for answers. Searching for weaknesses. Something that would break their hold over us. It was a huge mistake because they discovered who I was... but not before I made a few discoveries of my own. I thought we could work together because we shared one common goal - to get that bullet. Little did I know it was the beginning of the end for me. No more sleep. No more privacy. No more peace. There was no mercy. I learned to expect their ghosts; I just didn’t know how they’d appear. I was trying to bide my time, hoping Austin and Derek would mend fences like we’d discussed. Then we could ask about the bullet. But IGP wouldn’t wait.

  “They sent their ghosts to hurry me along, but also to eavesdrop and uncover what I knew. I simply couldn’t talk about it. They were everywhere, slowly driving me insane. But I hung on only because I didn’t think they’d actually hurt me. Until...” She choked, swallowed hard and stared at the ground.

  Derek knew that look. He closed his eyes and his head fell back between his shoulders. “One of them did.”

  She tucked hair behind her ear keeping her eyes downcast. “I came at you that night with a stun gun.”

  Danny pressed her lips to DJ’s temple, deep in thought. “Only you found me instead.”

  Rena gave Derek an educated look. “Things never work out when you’re desperate. Remember that when we go back.”

  “I had no idea,” Austin murmured. The pulse at his neck was going wild. Other than that he appeared calm. “I wish you would have told me.”

  The woman took a deep, revitalizing breath and peered at him through the corner of her eye. “You’re right. You and I might be married if I had.”

  Danny made a sound o
f disgust. “My sympathy for you just went up in smoke.”

  Rena sent her a mischievous wink.

  “Your resistance to pain creeps me out, dude,” Ty said with duffel bag in hand, “but you look like shit. You need to eat something. Sleep. You won’t do Melanie any good dead on your feet.”

  “He’s doing a lot better than the dead guy in the back of my truck,” Austin threw out sourly as he headed in that direction. “Derek dragged Mel into this, he’ll get her out.”

  “You aren’t helping, man,” Ty mumbled as he threw the bag in the Challenger’s back seat.

  When Austin lowered the truck’s tailgate, he paused a moment. “You must not know him the way I do.” Then he hopped up and studied the bloody corpse. “Believe it or not, I can sympathize with this asshole.”

  “Language, Cahill.” Danny turned the baby away when the body was unceremoniously dumped over the side.

  Moments later, the Challenger was back on the road. While Austin returned the chains to the truck bed, Derek re-emerged from behind the wheel and attempted to retrieve DJ’s toddler seat.

  Danny gently touched him on the shoulder. “Don’t.”

  When Derek straightened, looked at her, she swallowed back a lump of apprehension. “Keep it. As a reminder of what you have to come home to. There’s another one in the truck.”

  DJ chewed on a finger and rested his head against Danny’s. Her tearful expression spoke volumes. Derek pulled her in for a deep hug and ended up with an armful of baby as well.

  She held on tightly and broke down. “I just don’t want this to be the last time again.”

  “I know,” he soothed, kissing her hair. Somehow his trembling hand found it’s way to DJ’s curls and he marveled at how soft they were. “I promise I’ll come home. I have to bring this little knucklehead back his mommy.”

  Danny popped up, her face a tear-streaked mess. “And his daddy.”