A Second Past Midnight (The Sentinels) (19 page)

“Well, I’m waiting and who’s this guy?” Sinjin nodded toward Marcus.

Sana chuckled at his blathering. “Okay, okay. Sinjin Russell this is Marcus Fowler. Marcus, Sinjin.”

“And— where have you been?” Sinjin drew out the last word whil
e he crossed his arms and cocked his stance.

“I was detained.” Sana nodded behind Sinjin as Arrigo approached. She beamed as he walked toward them.

“Cowboy.” Arrigo slapped one hand on Sinjin’s shoulder as he passed by him.

“Poster boy?”
Sinjin scowled. “You’re alive?” he added.

“Appears so.”
Arrigo stepped behind Sana and sat on the edge of the conference table. Leaning forward, he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back against him. She knew what he was doing. He was marking his territory again. Slipping one hand over his, she cherished the public display of affection even though there had been only a professional relationship between her and Sinjin. Arrigo had been gone for two years and Sana knew he had probably just seen Sinjin hug her even thought it was innocent.

“Well I’ll be. You okay Sana?” Sinjin looked solely at her.
             

She nodded.

“I quit today,” she stated proudly.

“What!” Sinjin ran one hand through his black hair.

“Yep. I’m done. We’re going to start a family. Well, we’re going to
add
to our family.” Sana glanced at Marcus and smiled. Marcus stood there with his hands in his pockets rocking on his heels, just as a kid would do.

“Mom said I could stay up late tonight,” he said sarcastically. Marcus smile
d and looked over her to Arrigo, wagging his eyebrows. If Sana guessed right, Arrigo would be rolling his eyes right then.

“Wait what? Did we time warp and I sleep through a decade?” Sinjin asked.

“No. Don’t mind him, his brain is underdeveloped half the time. I guess it’s time to go.” Sana looked up at Arrigo. He nodded.

“I’ll see you around Sinjin, just not as often.” Sana extended her hand to
ward him, but instead he pulled her into another hug.

“I’m happy for you. Don’t hesitate to call if you ev
er need me.” Sinjin squeezed her one last time and let her go.

Sana had seen more emotion from men today than she ever had in her lifetime. What was deal? She appreciated the hugs and smiles, but it blew her mind. 

“Poster boy.” Sinjin held out his hand to Arrigo.

They shook and Arrigo even smiled at him.
Now Sana had seen everything.

             
One would have thought that the world was coming to an end with all the hugs, smiles and civility that had just taken place inside the Sentinel Headquarters. Even Arrigo didn’t quite understand what had just happened. He had walked in with Sana, prepared to rip her off Williams for helping to fake his death. Instead, he saw the woman he loved give up her career to start a family with him.

“Marcus, you drive.” Arrigo threw his keys to the kid. He wanted to sit in the backseat with his wife and hold her before he went to work.

Arrigo leaned to Sana and whispered in her ear. “I love you.” Her mind wandered and wished she had never pushed Arrigo away.

“I love you. I’m sorry for everything.” Sana leaned against Arrigo’s shoulder.

Lifting her chin, he forced her to meet his gaze.

“There’
s nothing to be sorry for. We’re together and that’s all that matters.” Arrigo dipped his head so that their lips met.

Sana
felt the heat of his body and wanted him naked. She wanted to make up for the last two years of lost love.

“I
have to go to work,” Arrigo whispered against her cheek. His breath tickled her skin and sent a chill over her. Reflexively, she tightened her grip on his arm as she didn’t want to let go.

Letting out a deep sigh, she knew she would have to leave him, but just for a while.

As they got closer to the Tecktar facilities, Sana felt a strange twinge in her gut, and she knew that every day as a Sentinel was a risk. Today was no different as she knew that her husband headed into a very dangerous situation.

It
had been suspected that Tecktar conducted illegal experiments on unwilling human subjects for years, but they had kept their secrets so well, that the authorities had not been able to
legally
investigate.

S
trangely enough while Sana was on medical leave Hess had contacted The Sentinel group for protection. While Arrigo wasn't exactly sure who he would be protecting Hess from, it would give him the perfect opportunity to investigate. Arrigo had accepted the job to go undercover and literally signed over his life to the job.

As Marcus brought the car to a halt a few blocks away from Tecktar, Sana reassured herself that Arrigo would be fine and he would come home to her that day.

“I’ll talk to you when I can.” Arrigo squeezed her hand and turned to get out of the car. “You take her wherever she wants as long as you’re at the house with her by six.”

Marcus peered at Arrigo through the rearview mirror and waved to Arrigo.

“Bye,” Sana whispered. Arrigo winked at her as he stepped out of the car.

Arrigo walked the few blocks to the Tecktar facility and as he approached the entrance of the building, he felt a determination fill him that he
hadn’t felt in years. With the return of Sana into his life, the need to complete this job had just escalated, but that could cost him his life.

As he entered the building, he looked up at the high glass walls and elegant entryway that misrepresented the malfeasance that Tecktar truly was. Another wall secured with bulletproof glass, alarmed doors and armed guards separated him from his mission.

“Mr. Kane.” The guard at the desk greeted him and buzzed him into the facility. Passing through the secured area, Arrigo thought about why he was there and what waited for him back on the outside.

Getting Hess to give up pertinent information was his primary goal, but the man was a vault and had never slipped even once. He had been so evasive that Arrigo had begun to wonder if Hess even knew about the illegal activities that went on in the company
. In reality, Hess had to know. No one could be as tight lipped as he was without having secrets.

Arrigo walked toward Hess’s office as he did daily
, but as he approached the door he found it slightly ajar. Normally it was always closed and locked. Feeling the hairs on the back of his neck stand, and the strange electrical sensation that usually happened in conjunction with that passed over him quickly as he assessed his surroundings. No one to his left, right or behind him. So, he thought, what lay ahead of him on the other side of the door? Taking in a deep breath, he prepared himself defensively and mentally.

Arrigo
reached inside his coat and clutched his hand around his gun as he opened the door. There in front of him was Jonathan Hess, lying dead on the floor.

A pool of blood surrounded his head, obvio
usly from a gunshot wound. The multi-billion dollar mogul did have enemies that wanted him out of the picture. Arrigo started to pull out his gun, but before he could extract it he felt a sharp pain in his leg. Looking down at his leg, he saw a black haired woman glaring up at him with her hand pressing on the plunger of the syringe that she had stabbed into the side of his thigh.

Quickly, Arrigo jumped away from her and reached for the s
yringe only to find that his stance was unsteady as if he were drunk and a numbing feeling spread through him. She must have been crouched to the side of the bookcase and with the discovery of Hess, he didn't think that the killer would still be on the scene.

As he fell to his knees, the black haired woman stepped in front of him
with an evil smirk on her face that actually scared him. Her blue eyes and pale skin caught his attention and reminded him of Snow White, but there was something inherently evil about her features. Her cheekbones were prominent and the skin around her eyes was thin and dark. Arrigo swallowed hard.

"My father cou
ldn't stop me-" she paused as she stooped over so that they were eye to eye. Arrigo tried to speak but his voice was already lost and he knew his body was all but paralyzed. "from getting what I want."

Arrigo fell
helplessly to the ground as the woman's evil laughter filled the silent air of the room around him. In that instant, he knew he had screwed up and this might just be the last time he made a mistake so critical. He might never see the beauty of Sana's face again.

While h
is mind wandered into dark places, Arrigo watched the petite woman move around him as he lay on the floor, paralyzed. His eyes would blink slowly as he watched her move through the room searching through the desk drawers and file cabinets, but whatever she looked for she wasn't finding and with that, her anger grew. Arrigo couldn't move and in his drug induced stated he wasn't able to focus completely, but he did recognize that her anger made her frantic and unstable which would work to his advantage if he was ever able to move again.

"Damn him!" she shouted. Arrigo watched as she stormed toward him. "You have the next few hours to think and be silent, but once your paralysis wears off
we'll talk. In the meantime, I will prepare for our conversation."

Arrigo didn't know where she headed as she step
ped over him, but at least he knew he had a few more hours to live. She had probably injected him with a drug similar to horse tranquilizers which would temporarily paralyze him, but he would remain concious. What he didn't know was why. What kind of information did she think he could possibly know? He had spent the better part of two years trying to find information about Tecktar with no avail.

Laying on the floor unable to move, Arrigo stared at the lifeless body of Jonathan Hess wondering why his own daughter would have reason to kill him.
What was it that she wanted and he wouldn't give her.

Hess wasn't married as his wife had left him ten years ago and
his daughter was a practicing MD in Virginia. When Hess hired Arrigo he only divulged that there were certain people that would be trying to prevent him from continuing his work. Whether it was his daughter or not didn't really matter now, but Hess wanted protection from someone.

With Arrigo's thoughts still a bit cloudy, his focus switched back to Sana. He wanted to tell her how much she meant to him and how much he needed her. The thought of holding her in his arms even just one more time made his heart
ache, but it also gave him something to work for. Arrigo closed his eyes and imagined lying in bed next to Sana with one arm wrapped around her and his other hand splayed across her pregnant belly. That's all he wanted and if  he survived he was going to do everything in his power to conceive a child with Sana and enjoy every moment of their time together.

Not knowing how long he had been lying there
, Arrigo opened his eyes to find that he wasn't actually in Hess's office anymore. A sterile white ceiling hung above him. Blinking repeatedly, he realized that he must have succumbed to the paralytic effects of the drugs and passed out. But how had that small woman moved him by herself? That meant that she was working with someone and they were inside Tecktar.

Arrigo's head throbbed with pain and his eyes burned which quickly let him realize that his paralysis must be subsiding. Trying to look around, he attempted to lift his head but couldn't raise it enough. Tilting his head to the side he was able to see empty white walls to his left and ahead of him. Slowly,
Arrigo tried to lift his hand but could only wiggle his fingers. It was a start and he guessed that he shouldn't be moving yet or that psycho woman would have been interrogating him already. His entire body felt like his mouth did after a shot of Novocain at the dentist. Numb and tingling.

Several more minutes passed as he focused on his
current capabilities, but then he heard the door start to open. Wanting to test his theory of being able to move, he decided to lay perfectly still and close his eyes. Only breathing deeply and evenly he otherwise froze.

The sound of the door opening and then latching shut told him that someone was in the room so all he could do was wait and hope that he could lay still long enough to fool his captor and that they would leave.

"You should be able to hear me now. You'll be able to respond in about another hour or so. Then we can discuss our future. No one will be in our way." It was obviously the same woman that had incapacitated him.

Arrigo restrained himself from flinching as he felt her hand run through his hair.

"I'm sorry I had to do this, but it was the only way I could see you since he wouldn't let me out."

Holy shit! She killed her father to get to Arrigo
. What the hell had he gotten himself into?

Silent and still, Arrigo waited for her to leave, but he didn't know if it would be that simple. The sounds of her moving around the room echoed through his head as he guessed she was preparing instruments for his possible torture. It wasn't the first time he had been held captive and tortured, but if luck was on his side it would be his last. The sound of drawers o
pening and closing and metal confirmed his suspicions. Considering they were in a laboratory there would surely be the necessary items needed, but just as his anxiety rose, the sounds stopped and he heard her footsteps followed by the door opening and closing once again.