by Lexi Blake
Every word she read made her ill. She picked up the journal, reaching around to tuck it into her pack.
There was a drawer of file folders along the back wall. She opened one. Thick files of medical charts were neatly organized in alphabetical order. She pulled the first one. It was labeled Albert.
River slapped the file folder on the desk and opened it.
“Albert” had been a twenty-eight-year-old homeless veteran McDonald had found on the streets of Denver. The doctor had researched the man. His legal name had been documented as Stephen Wells, a former private first class who’d been honorably discharged due to his PTSD.
The bitch had the gall to write a note to her partner in crime.
Dr. Reasor, take a look at this one. He’ll thank us for helping him forget.
It was there written on a perky pink sticky note.
The file contained an autopsy report detailing how Stephen Wells had died. He’d had an allergic reaction to the drug, causing his heart to stop.
Owen, she’d been told, had a bad reaction, too. His skin still bore the scars, but he’d lived.
Jax could have died. It would have been so easy for him to die here.
She needed to find the Harvey file.
She turned back to the file cabinet and there it was. Harvey. She couldn’t read it. Not now. Now that she had it in her hand, all that mattered was checking for the others and getting the hell out before someone showed up.
“Jax! I found it.” He should be the first one to look through that file. Not her. He needed to read it and decide what he wanted the others to know.
He would read it by their fire tonight. They would hike as far as they could and then hunker down until morning. He would read his file and she would be there to support him no matter what it said.
She flipped through but there was no Sasha. No Robert or Tucker or Dante. Were those the right names? Or had they been like Jax? Had they chosen new names?
She had to find Jax. She started through the door and stopped because she wasn’t alone.
Solo stood in the middle of the lab, a gun in her hand.
* * * *
Jax didn’t like that River was across the hall, but she was correct about the fact that they could get more done.
Something didn’t feel right though. Something felt off.
He looked back and the door to the lab across from him was open. He watched as River moved around inside.
She stopped in the middle of the room, staring at the bank of microscopes.
A cold chill crept along his spine and suddenly he couldn’t breathe. He stepped back into the hall. He couldn’t get stuck. This place brought back so many terrible memories.
His short life had been full of them. But now he would focus on the good ones. When he left, he would concentrate on remembering everything about River.
He turned and forced himself to walk into the other lab.
He knew immediately this wasn’t the one he was looking for. There were white boards covered in equations. He didn’t understand the math at all.
But he lifted his phone to take a picture of each of them. Dante was some kind of mathematical genius. Perhaps he could decipher what was happening in this small lab.
Despite what he’d told Ezra, he’d never intended to not document what he could about The Ranch. The information could be invaluable. He’d already copied what he could from the mainframe. They would have the names of the scientists who came through this facility and they could watch them. They could be the check the Agency needed. They could find the factions inside the CIA who were working for the greater good and feed them information.
Allies. If they had allies on the inside, he might be able to find some kind of a life. They might all have a chance at something vaguely normal. For him that meant a chance with River.
He moved to the next lab and found it empty. Nothing but clean white space.
Two more to check and then they would be out of here. He would have to hope that they could use the information they’d found as leverage because it appeared the whole op was a bust on the personal front. He’d seen no evidence that Dr. McDonald had ever been here, though he knew she had. She must have pulled out before the shutdown. Or been smart enough to see it coming.
He couldn’t help but think back to those cages. All those dead animals, used and abused and left behind because they didn’t matter.
He could have met the same fate. He could have been nothing but bones, having suffered starvation and dehydration. He could have died knowing no one cared, that he didn’t matter.
He was probably going to have a lot of dogs. River should know he might end up being that dude who brought home all the strays because he knew what it meant to not have a home.
“Jax.”
He stopped inside the lab at the far end of the hall. The door had closed behind him and he could barely hear his name being called.
He rushed to the door, throwing it open and then shrinking back because he saw something he hadn’t expected to see. Someone was moving down the hall, a shadow turning from the break room to the hallway. She came into view, a Ruger in her hand, moving with the surety of a well-trained operative.
Son of a bitch. He should have listened to Ezra and not his own stupid instincts. He backed away, closing the door silently behind him. He had to get ready. He eased the heavy pack from his back, gently putting it on the ground. He would move far better without it.
Now that he thought about it, he had a lot of information on his system. She would want that. The least he could do was make it hard for her to get it. They’d already discovered the bench seating in the labs had storage underneath.
Solo would need to move quickly, too. She wouldn’t want to be caught by whoever came from the security force the Agency had hired or her faction would be outed. She would likely take his pack and run. Not that he intended for her to leave this place alive.
She was threatening River and he couldn’t abide that.
As quickly as he could, he shoved his laptop into the storage space, grabbed the other item he would need, and zipped his pack closed, hoping beyond hope that she didn’t inventory it before she ran.
He had a little time. She would need to check the labs they’d come through before. She seemed like a cautious agent. He would wait until she went into one and then find River. He would stash her someplace safe and face the agent alone.
But before that he had to get a message out.
He glanced out his door as unobtrusively as possible. Sure enough, Solo was slipping into the first lab at the end of the hall. It was one of the larger labs. It would take her a minute or two to sweep it.
That gave him time.
He pushed the button on the satellite phone that should connect him to base. If everything worked according to plan.
“Jax? Is that you?”
The dulcet tones of Charlotte Taggart’s voice gave him great comfort. She was a woman any man could count on. “We’ve been compromised. Tell Ezra Solo is here and I’m going to try to take her out.”
He heard Big Tag curse in the background.
“Message received,” Charlotte replied. “Look, something’s going on. We’re sending a chopper your way. The Agency is on the move. Hunker down if you can and wait for Ezra.”
“What do you mean you’re sending a chopper? How do you know where I am?” It didn’t make sense.
“Jax!”
Fuck. “Charlotte, I have to get back to you.”
There was no way Solo hadn’t heard that. He could hear it through a closed door and Solo was far closer to River than he was.
He let the phone drop even as he could hear Charlotte asking for more information.
He gripped his semi and moved across the floor to the door. Opening it slightly, he could see Solo was already walking through the door.
His heart had started to race. What the hell was Solo going to do with River? She wasn’t the one Solo wanted. The best-case scenario was that S
olo would take River hostage and exchange her for himself. He would do it. He would make the trade and then fight like hell when he knew River was out of danger.
And if they found the doctor’s formulary and decided he was the best test subject around because they already knew he wasn’t allergic to it? Well, then he would do anything he could to remember her, to hold on to any tiny piece of her.
Theo Taggart had done it.
In that moment, he realized he hadn’t loved anyone before. The barest memory of Erin had survived because Theo had loved her so fucking much. He knew it wasn’t scientific. It wasn’t logical, but somehow Theo’s love for Erin had survived.
And he would do the same. He’d always thought that if the needle was coming for him again, he would find a way to permanently end himself.
He wouldn’t because now he had something to live for.
Jax took a deep breath and moved as quietly as he could across the concrete floor. He had to get in behind Solo.
“Jax, I found it!”
He could hear the light in her voice, the triumph of discovery.
They’d gotten so close. They’d almost had it.
He couldn’t let River be taken.
“River, don’t panic,” Solo was saying. She sounded the slightest bit breathless. “Where’s Jax? I need to talk to him.”
“How the hell did you find us?” River asked, her voice shaking.
He moved through the doorway. They weren’t in the main room of the lab, but he could easily hear their conversation now.
“I wasn’t following you,” Solo replied. “I was following someone else. Come on. We need to move. We need to find Jax and get out of here now.”
“I don’t think I should go anywhere with you,” River said, but she was obviously moving because he could hear her more clearly now.
They were coming toward him. He moved to the hall on the opposite of where they were coming from.
God, he couldn’t breathe in here. This was it. He knew it instinctively. River had found the place where he’d been born.
For a second his vision flashed white and he couldn’t see a thing, couldn’t feel anything but cold. The drug always felt like ice in his veins.
He moved until he was sure he was out of sight. He would come up on them from behind. That would give him the best chance at taking out Solo and saving River. The minute Solo went down, he would pick up everything they had and run because he didn’t doubt for a second she would have backup.
“You have to come with me.” Solo stepped out and then stopped as a sound pinged through the air. Her white T-shirt bloomed with red and she got the strangest look on her face. “Motherfucker.”
Andy stepped into the room, a gun with a suppressor in his hand. “Sorry, Solo. Guess you aren’t as good as you used to be. And River, you will definitely be coming with me.”
Chapter Twenty
River dropped to her knees beside Solo, her heart in her throat.
What the hell was happening? One minute she’d been sure Solo was going to kill her and the next it was Solo on the floor, a bullet in her chest. Had it gotten her heart? She looked down and blood was staining the white cotton of the T-shirt Solo wore.
She took a deep breath. Ty had taught her a thing or two. She needed to stanch the bleeding first.
“Tell Beck, I’m sorry,” Solo said on a breathy gasp. “I’m sorry for everything. Please, River, tell him.”
“You can tell him yourself.” She started to reach for the knot at her waist. Her flannel shirt would have to work. She needed to stabilize Solo and get search and rescue out here.
“Don’t make a move or I’ll put a bullet in you, too.” Andy stood over her, that big gun in his hand. Fucker was supposed to be a pacifist. He had lied on his resume in more ways than one.
“She’s dying.” She had no idea how long Solo had, but it wasn’t much time. She needed real medical help. It no longer mattered that the woman had lied to her. All that mattered was she’d been a friend. It was obvious now that she’d come here to try to prevent Andy from springing his trap.
Andy shrugged. “I don’t care. I’m here to do one job and one job only—and that’s to get everything you have back to my boss. You see, unlike you, my boss is clever. He knew this group would make a run for The Ranch. He’s known since Taggart saved them that one day they would come here and he would use them to further our interests.”
“Didn’t recognize you,” Solo managed to say between pants. She put a hand against her chest and winced.
“I’m not Agency,” Andy replied. “My boss knew you were here. He also knew you would be on watch for a while. I didn’t meet Agency standards. Apparently I’m not good enough for those fuckers, but Levi saw something in me.”
She should have known that man would be behind everything. “How did he know where we were?”
“Guess he’s just smart.”
“I don’t understand how you got in. We locked the door behind us.” Jax had been careful. Andy wasn’t. Solo had dropped her gun when she’d been shot. She’d fallen forward and the gun was now at her side. River could feel the metal against her knee, but Solo’s body covered it.
“You came in the back entrance, the supply entrance, if you will,” Andy explained. “There’s another way in. Given the direction you would have to come in from, I assumed you would enter through the back. I waited at the front. When the cameras went off, I knew we were a go. I was going to give you time to find what I needed. I was told not to enter unless I had to, but guess who strides right in and she had a key. Who you working with, Solo? Who is so deep at the Agency that he has a key to The Ranch?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Solo spat.
He stared down at her. “In fact, I would. I would love to know exactly who you’re working for. I think I might get brownie points with the boss. Maybe I should take that key and see if I can find someone who can figure out where it came from.”
Solo tried to move, but she only managed to get an inch or two away before she stopped. “Don’t you fucking touch me.”
“I would touch you all I like but you’re not my type. I like my females a little less aggressive than you.” Andy pointed the gun straight at Solo’s head. “Now, River, you can come with me and we’ll go find your boyfriend or I’ll put a bullet through her right now.”
She couldn’t sit here and watch as Andy killed Solo. “Please let me try to stabilize her.”
She needed time. Jax was out there and he would figure this out. He would come for her. He wouldn’t leave her here. No way. She would have to find a way to save him because he would absolutely offer himself up in exchange for her.
Solo had managed to get up on one elbow, but it obvious she was spent. “He won’t let you do that. And he’ll kill you the minute he has a chance.”
“Or I can take him down and we’ll get out of here,” a heavenly voice said. She looked back and Jax had his gun up, Andy in his sights. “Get behind me, River. We’re leaving and if Andy makes a single move, I’ll kill him.”
“Only if I don’t get you first, asshole. This room is tight and I wouldn’t be surprised if the walls are perfect for ricochet,” Andy said, his lips curling in a smarmy smile. “If you start a firefight, I promise I won’t care who I take out. You want to take that chance? I don’t think so. You see, I think you’re the dipshit who fell in love with his mark. I think River’s woe-is-me thing got to you. River’s pathetic, by the way. I told the boss exactly how to get to her. And then she proves to be even more pathetic because she went back to you. You don’t learn, do you, River? You were supposed to stay away from him. My boss wanted to keep the balance, but since you wouldn’t play the game, we’ll take the information instead and blame it all on you. I personally think this worked out for the best.”
She definitely learned to vet her employees better. That was for sure. Jax moved in front of her, putting himself between her and Solo and Andy.
It gave her a chance to get her
shirt off and hold it to Solo’s chest. It looked like it hadn’t hit her heart. She’d moved enough that it was a bit above her heart, but it seemed like she was working on one lung. Solo groaned as River pressed down.
“It’s going to be okay.” She wasn’t sure how they would get out of this, but they had to. She couldn’t have come this far only to get gunned down by an asshole on the wrong side of a moral argument inside a bureaucracy.
Solo leaned back, shaking her head. “No, it’s not, and I probably deserve this. Tell Ezra I was working with the good guys. Please tell him. I love him so much. He was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“Why don’t you take your girl and walk out,” Andy offered.
“I don’t believe you.” Jax’s whole body was tight.
She had the feeling if he hadn’t been worried about ricochet, he would have already shot the bastard. The odds weren’t likely, but she knew Jax wouldn’t put her at risk. She had to find an advantage.
She knew what it was, but it had been forever since she’d fired a damn gun, and Jax was in her way.
Solo’s eyes met hers and she squeezed River’s hand, nodding as though she knew exactly what she was thinking.
“I don’t care about you or River,” Andy was saying. “Like I said, I did everything I could to make sure you didn’t find The Ranch. Now, I only care about the data. You two are responsible for everything that happens. Leave your stuff behind and I’ll let you walk out the same way you came in. I’ve got transportation arranged. By the time you get back in, the damage will be done.”
