Project Chimera: A Ryker Group Book

by S. M. Dapelo

  “Oh, you’re up.” She smiled as she walked over, taking my vitals, “That’s good. We should be able to take the IV out in a couple of hours.” She glanced at Tanner, “How’s her husband doing?”

  “Please tell me your asking him that because he knows my husband, not because you think he’s my husband?” I looked at her, “Cause if you think he’s my husband…” I shuddered, “Icky.”

  She grimaced, “Um…”

  “Samantha’s my sister,” Tanner smiled at her. “The blond’s her husband. You know, Dr. Ryker’s nephew.”

  “Oh,” her face turned red, “I thought … Well I don’t know why I didn’t figure that out. He hasn’t left the room.” She batted her eyes at Tanner, and he gave a lazy grin. I used her proximity when she leaned over to grab something from her pocket with a finger and tuck it into my hand.

  She finished my vitals. “Well everything looks fine here,” she patted my hand, gave Tanner a sideways look and walked out.

  “I don’t like her,” I announced. “She was fishing for information.”

  “She wanted to know which one of us was single; me or Ethan. And I won,” Tanner leaned back putting his hands behind his head.

  Ethan walked in, “Sugar, I don’t like this, but Tanner and I need to head back to the compound for a couple of hours. If I didn’t have to, I wouldn’t.”

  Tanner was on his feet instantly, “Is it Lyssa?”

  Ethan gave a small shake, “No. But some anomalies came up on the analysis Berto’s running. We have to check a couple of the men out and it can’t wait. I want this done before we bring Sam back tomorrow. Rich is here, and while he’s a doctor, he can fight almost as well as us. Plus, I’m leaving Xavier and Thom with her.”

  “Which one is Thom?” I asked.

  “The blond who has the hots for Xavier and likes I Love Lucy,” Tanner remarked. I nodded to let him know I remembered.

  “Sugar, we’ll be back soon. This can’t wait,” Ethan leaned down and kissed me.

  “I’ll be fine once this thing is out of my hand and I have ice cream,” I smiled at him.

  “Ice cream is off for tonight. Maybe pudding?” Ethan rose a brow.

  “Just get back here soon,” I pulled up to kiss him but was stopped by the restraints.

  “Those will probably be off when I get back,” he winked at me and headed out the door.

  “Oh, they’re going to be off before you get back,” I whispered, unscrewing the pen I grabbed from the nurse’s pocket with one hand. “I guarantee it.”

  A few minutes later Xavier and Thom walked in. “Ethan said we were supposed to give you anything you wanted,” Xavier announced.

  “Great,” I smiled, palming the pen again, “The dog needs a walk and I want a hot fudge Sunday from Dairy Queen.” Xavier’s smile dimmed.

  “We’re not supposed to leave here,” he crossed his arms.

  I tried for reason, “Fine, then you run to cafeteria and get me ice cream, while Thom takes the dog for a walk. If Schlitz doesn’t have a walk soon, there’s going to be something else for you to pick up.”

  Thom looked down at the dog, “I thought his name was Blitz.”

  I rolled my eyes, “Just go with it. Ethan’s determined to change his name just to prove he can.”

  Thom reached down and attached the leash and led him out. “How well do you know my nurse?” I asked Xavier after Thom left.

  “Never met her before in my life. But since I’ve never been here, that’s not unusual. What’s wrong?”

  “My spidey sense is tingling,” I replied. “I felt the same way about Mitch before everything went to hell.”

  “Good enough for me,” Xavier went to the door. “I’ll see what I can find out.”

  “Just like that?” I stared at him.

  He just shrugged, “Sam, you were correct about Mitch and none of the rest of us had a clue. I trust you.” He smiled, “I’ll be right outside, chatting up a few people and see what I can find out.” He left and I started on the pen again, then the restraints.

  Chapter 33

  I had just unhooked one of the cuffs when the nurse returned. I smiled sweetly and hid the instrument again. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

  “Oh, Rene,” she smiled, “Wow, so you’re married to Dr. Ryker’s nephew, how neat is that?”

  “Oh, so neat,” I fake gushed. “I can’t think of anything I’d rather be,” except out of these restraints and bashing your face in. Where’d that come from?

  “They said you got into a car accident a month ago and this is a complication?” She glanced at me while taking my pulse.

  “Yeah, some sociopath blew up a bomb that was in my brain, causing me to wreck the car. It totally wiped my memory and caused some other problems. But hey, until today everything was going great,” I kept the smile on my face.

  She nodded, looking at the IV, then blinked twice and slowly turned toward me, “Oh?”

  “I’m guessing you know the bad guys, since you don’t seem surprised. But boy, they should have warned you about me. It’s not fair to you,” I shrugged.

  Rene’s eyes went to slits, “I think you’re confused on which side you’re on Sammie.” She pulled a metal object out of her pocket. I rolled up onto my shoulders, wrapped my legs around her neck, and slammed back onto the bed, pulling her with me.

  I pulled my hand out of the restraint I had released, quickly punching her in the face three times. Then once more for calling me Sammie. When I was sure she was stunned I released my other arm and jumped out of the bed. “Xavier,” I yelled as I yanked the tape off my hand and pulled the IV catheter out, blood pooling down my hand.

  “Bitch,” Penny got up, “Why won’t you just die?”

  “Cause I’m special,” I smiled. She pulled out the metal object again. “A scalpel? Can you be more stereotypical. Wear an eye patch and you’d be Ellie Driver.”

  She scrunched up her face, “Who?”

  I lashed out, grabbing the hand that held the scalpel, twisting it at an angle that had her screaming and dropping it. “Watch a movie,” I growled, kicking her in the back and sending her sprawling to the door.

  “I am going to kill you,” she growled.

  I raised a brow, “I figured that was what you were trying to do. You don’t have to spell it out. But it’s not going to happen. You know that right?”

  She sneered, “Oh really? How do figure you’re going to stop me.”

  I pointed behind her, “With him.”

  She crossed her arms, “I’m not falling for that.” A large hand punched out, hitting her in the side of the head and knocking her unconscious.

  “You have the best spidey sense ever.” Xavier stood there grinning, “Do I want to know how you got out of the restraints?”

  “I’m pretty sure the answer is no.” I smiled at him and held up my bloody hand, “I think I’m gonna need a band-aid. Try and put that thing back in me and you’ll see exactly what I learned from watching Kill Bill.”

  “We’re not going to even try.” Richard walked in, leaned down and injected the fake nurse with something making my stomach churn when I saw the needle, “Someone call Ethan now. We’re moving Samantha to my office and whoever this is to a padded room.”

  “Can I put some clothes on first,” I asked, realizing my ass was hanging out of the lovely gown the hospital provided.

  “Please,” said Richard, standing back up.

  “Great, and after I’m dressed I still want ice cream. Today’s been a little rough,” I pouted.

  “The queen of understatement,” muttered Xavier, helping Richard move Rene from the room as I grabbed my clothes and walked into the bathroom to change.

  Chapter 34

  I was playing catch with the kitten as Richard watched in fascination, “It truly thinks it’s a dog.” He leaned down to watch it closer. Highball, I mean Snowball, caught the ball, and trotted it back as Schlitz, yeah that was his name now, watched with interest but no desire to
join in.

  “Yep, I asked for one dog and got two. The kitten won’t leave Schlitz’s side,” I shrugged.

  Richard laughed, “Schlitz was my brother’s, James’s, favorite beer. The man could afford the best and insisted on that. It’s weird that the dog just happened to be named that.”

  “Who drank highballs?” I asked.

  “That would be my sister-in-law, Suzanne. Ethan’s mother,” he smiled.

  “That explains why he wants them named that,” I muttered. I heard pounding footsteps racing up the hall. “Who do you think makes it here first?” I glanced at Rich.

  “Nobody can beat Ethan’s speed,” he smiled as the door crashed open. Ethan stood there, Tanner right behind him.

  “For the record, your wife and her bodyguard stopped her would-be assassin quiet effectively,” Richard said calmly.

  “Yeah. The bitch is in a padded room right now, waiting to be taken in. We’ve just been going through the autopsy reports.” I took the ball from Highball and threw it, watching her chase after it.

  “Everyone, except the General, died in Las Vegas within the last six months,” I added as I put down the last file.

  “I know.” Ethan walked over to me, grabbed me up, and sat down in the chair I had occupied, with me in his lap. “We’re headed to Vegas in the morning. Uncle Rich, I need you with us in case something happens to Sam. I can’t leave her behind. We’ll be in the Villa at Nobu, the floor below it also occupied with our guys. The council’s picking up Nurse Rene later on tonight. They’re in charge of the interrogation.”

  “The villa’s only three bedrooms,” Rich crossed his arms.

  “You’re in the penthouse,” Ethan smiled at him. “It’ll be me and Sam in one room, Lyssa in the second, and Tanner and Berto in the third.”

  “Why wouldn’t Berto and Lyssa share a room?” I asked.

  “Because Tanner’s still in denial,” Ethan murmured as he nuzzled my neck, causing goosebumps.

  “Berto gets the floor,” Tanner crossed his arms.

  “Have you heard from Lyssa?” I glanced up at Tanner.

  “You told her?” Ethan frowned, “No work talk with Samantha.”

  “Dude, she just took out an assassin. She’s fine with knowing about our jobs,” Tanner said.

  “Not until she heals,” Ethan seethed.

  “This isn’t about me, it’s about Lyssa,” I looked at Ethan. “If you’re taking me to Las Vegas with you, I need to be prepared. I think today showed that this group is going to keep coming after me, no matter what you want.”

  Ethan laid his cheek on the top of my head, “Yeah. That’s why we’re taking them out as soon as possible.” He glanced at Richard, “Are you coming with us?”

  “Of course.” Richard leaned back in his chair and opened another file, “I want to find the SOB who designed the item in Sam’s head.”

  “Any idea why it appears to be placed differently in Samantha?” asked Xavier. “The others were killed because it was placed near the brain stem. Her’s was placed in a completely different area. Why?”

  “That’s the question, isn’t it?” muttered Richard. “More importantly, how the hell did they capture ten different super spies?”

  “We need to get into their case files. Berto’s still searching,” Tanner crossed his arms.

  “We need to find their last cases,” I remarked. Everyone stared at me. “What? They all died in the last six months. They were probably working on the same thing or sent after the same thing.”

  “You weren’t,” Ethan’s jaw ticked. “You quit the agency a year after you started as our liaison. You went full time with us.”

  “Did I?” I glanced up at him, “Do you think they would have let me just quit? They invested a lot of time and money into my training. It doesn’t make sense that they would just let me go.”

  “You think you were a double-agent on us?” Tanner was staring at me. Ethan’s arms tightened around me.

  “I don’t know,” I shrugged. “Why would I work against you? I’m thinking that whoever put me in this group, probably had me working things on the side. They probably had me doing the same with the agency.”

  “Makes sense,” Ethan said into my hair. “You working with us or for the Agency would have given you access to areas that if you happened to wander off and do something else. No one would have noticed.”

  “The question is what was I doing? What was everyone else doing? And why Las Vegas?” I mused.

  “We’ll find out tomorrow.” Ethan kissed the top of my head. “We’ve got a couple private jets chartered for the morning.” He glanced over at Richard, “I know you wanted Sam here tonight, but …”

  “We’re all headed back to the compound,” sighed Richard as he stood. “I’ll stay in one of the guest rooms. That way if anything goes wrong, I’ll be there. Besides, I need to check on the horses.”

  “They’re his?” I felt my eyes go wide as I looked at Ethan.

  “Of course, they are,” Richard chuckled. “I don’t even think Ethan knows their names.” Ethan frowned and rolled his eyes.

  Chapter 35

  I woke up the next morning back in our room, to the smell of bacon and coffee. I sat up to Ethan sitting next to me, “How long did I sleep?” I asked.

  “A while. You needed it,” he replied. “I have breakfast done and everything packed. We’re headed to the airstrip in a few hours.”

  I smiled and batted my eyes, “So we have a few hours?”

  Ethan moaned and leaned down, kissing me. “Not for that. I need to prep everyone and review some more files.”

  “Have we heard from Lyssa yet?” I asked.

  “Yeah, she checked in late last night. She’s meeting us at Nobu later today. She found what she was looking for,” he broke off a bit of bacon and fed it to me.

  “What was that?”

  Ethan sighed, “She broke into the general’s place in Vegas, found his safe, and grabbed all the paper files she could find on Project Chimera. I would have had the Horsemen team on it, but I needed them in his place in DC.”

  I pulled back, “The general lived in Vegas? She broke in?”

  He pushed a strand of my hair back, “Your sister’s a thief Sugar. One of the best in the business.”

  I blinked as I tried to process this. “Really?”

  “And that filled your quota of questions for the day,” Ethan smiled. “Eat, get dressed in something comfortable, and meet us downstairs in the library. Rich is going to want to check you out before we leave.” He kissed me once more before walking out.

  About an hour later I was walking into the library in some comfortable slacks and a silk blouse. Richard looked up from the paper he was reading. “Over here,” he gestured his way as he stood. Then he frowned, looking at my footwear, “Three-inch heals are comfortable?”

  I shrugged, “These are. I can’t explain it.”

  He sighed and shook his head. “They are so bad for your back,” he muttered as he pulled out a penlight to look into my eyes.

  “Yet make my ass look fantastic,” I quipped, looking where he directed.

  “Agreed.” Ethan smiled as he walked into the room, “But in all fairness, your ass always looks fantastic.”

  “Dude, she’s my sister,” Tanner groaned as he followed. “She doesn’t have an ass.”

  “Is Tanner always like this?” asked Richard quietly.

  “As far as I can remember,” I answered. He let out a laugh.

  Ethan walked over to me, “Highball and Schlitz are staying here. I’m leaving a few guys here for security. They can look after the animals.” He turned to Richard, “How is she?”

  “Looking fine this morning. I’ll check on her in the air and after we land as well. Who named the dog and cat?” Richard put his light away.

  “Well, the dog came to us with his name and Lyssa named the cat. Then Ethan decided he didn’t like the names and just started calling them whatever he wanted until we all went along wit
h it,” I smiled.

  “We’re just glad he’s content with our names,” grinned Tanner.

  “I’m not unreasonable.” Ethan walked over to the bookshelf and pulled the Shakespeare, causing the hidden door to open, “I told you no animals, and suddenly we have four.”

  “We have seven,” I said, following him into the office.

  “Snakes don’t count,” Ethan argued. “They’re like goldfish. Be happy I’m counting the rats.”

  “They’re ferrets, not rats,” whined Xavier as he walked in. “They’re related to skunks and weasels.”

  “That makes them better?” Ethan’s brows went up.

  “Oh, a pet skunk would be awesome. You can remove the scent glands,” Tanner smiled.

  “How awesome would it be to sleep in the horse barn?” Ethan was pulling up something on his computer.

  “Not that great,” mumbled Tanner. “What did Lyssa send?” he walked behind Ethan.

  “A lot of documentation. I’m trying to focus on it chronologically right now,” he started clicking through.

  “Shouldn’t we focus on any information it contains on Samantha? She’s the only surviving member right now,” Xavier walked behind them.

  “Which is what’s making me think she didn’t find what everyone else did. I need to understand the project before I can understand why someone went after them,” Ethan sat back studying the screen. “About four years ago some members of the Agency demanded oversite.”

  “When?” Tanner looked.

  “Right after I demanded Sam as our Liaison,” Ethan hit a few other keys. I glanced at the screen and caught something.

  “There,” I pointed at the screen.

  Ethan glanced over his shoulder, “What do you Sugar?”

  “I’m the only girl, and it looks like I might have been an accident. Look at the names, Christopher, Daniel, Tyrone, Sam.”

  “They thought you were a boy, and for the record, I always told you that you were an accident,” chuckled Tanner. I quickly hit him in the stomach.

  “Children, play nice,” muttered Ethan who picked up a phone. “Berto, I need you to transfer all the data you picked up on the Chimera team to the main server. I’m having Sam go through it.” He paused for a second, “Because she’s the only one that noticed every other member on the team were male. Now do it.” He hung up, “Apparently Berto’s only on his second pot of coffee.”