Covert Craving (10 page)

Water sprayed out behind the boat in a huge plume
as they crested ocean waves. Stars dotted the night sky. She put her hands on
the slick floor and sat up, cringing against the ache in her abdomen and legs.
The comfy blanket now made her hot and sticky, so she tossed it aside. A few
experimental tries at wiggling her toes revealed the bones weren’t healed yet.

Bright blond hair fluttered in the wind and stood
out like a flame in the darkness at the helm. She cast about but didn’t spot
Greiff anywhere. She banged on the floor with her fist until Lucky turned
enough to see her. The thin man leaned down to the open doorway leading below
decks, and a minute later, Greiff appeared.

His posture was different—shoulders straighter and
squarer, a hard set to his jaw and eyes. Shadows haloed his face as he prowled
to where she reclined on her elbows.

They stared at each other without speaking until
nerves got to her and she blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Hey.
You never bought me dinner.”

A surprised chuckle burst from his throat and he
covered her mouth in a long, hot kiss. They broke apart, each short of breath, and
he ran his thumbs over her cheek bones.

A shaky smile stretched her mouth. “Can’t believe
you kissed me even though I have to taste like puke.”

“I don’t care. I’m just glad you’re awake. I put
you on the floor so you wouldn’t fall onto it. Sorry about that.” He cast about
for the blanket and made motions to tuck it in around her again. “I would have
taken you below, but I didn’t want to move you more than necessary.”

“It’s fine. But if you put that thing around me,
I’ll kill you.” She shoved the blanket away. Greiff would smother her with care
if she let him. “Any chance of getting my legs unwrapped?”

He grimaced. “Sorry honey, but we’re probably
going to have to put you in a tub and soak ‘em off. They’re full of blood. And
I don’t have any other way of keeping your legs stabilized. I know the muck
from the sewer is still on there too, but I had to stop the bleeding. You were
going into shock.”

“What, you mean you don’t keep emergency sticks
around to make splints? No jetted tub? How dare you be so unprepared?”

The moonlight glinted off his wide chest as he
took a deep breath. “No. I don’t. I’m so sorry—”

“No more of that. We’re alive. I’ll heal.” She
poked him in the chest. “Now, pick me up. I don’t want to stay down here
anymore. You have to fill me in on where we’re going.”

“Are you always this bossy?” He slid his arms
under her knees and back and stood with a small wobble. “And heavy?”

“Shut it. Not my fault you didn’t get super
strength. And no jokes about my weight.” The salty ocean air cleared her lungs.
Lucky turned to observe them, the green gauge lights painting his features in
interesting patterns. She waved and smiled at him. “Where are we going?”

“Canada. Lucky says he’s got a contact with a
plane. One of those small ones they use to take tourists fishing.” He paused
next to their temporary captain and she looked in amazement at the array of
high tech equipment sprouting from the dash under the wind shield.

“Hey Lucky, you sure it’s safe to go this fast in
the dark?” A small boat-shaped blip blinked on and off on one of the screens.
Another had a red rotating line circling a center point in a slow sweep. The
only gauges she recognized with certainty were the compass and the marine
radio.

“No worries, Clo. We’re far enough off shore that
harbors, sand bars, and other boat traffic aren’t going to be an issue.” He
tapped a rapid drum roll on the console with two fingers. “You ever had sex on
a boat? It’s pretty awesome. You get this whole extra rolling motion from the
water that is just, like, I don’t know. It really lets you get some leverage
and slide in there—”

“I’m taking Chloe below decks. Don’t get us
killed.” Greiff pivoted to the side and descended the stairs.

A laugh bubbled up despite the continuous throb
from her legs and the unease snaking around her heart in a coil. The fear of
pursuit wouldn’t leave her. This was too easy. Two different groups after them
and no one had caught up yet? Something about it didn’t track. She didn’t
believe for a second they were free yet.

He laid her carefully on a large bed and slid a
pillow under each foot to elevate them. “That guy has done nothing but talk
about sex since you’ve been out. I spent an hour and a half watching you and
listening to him before I escaped down here. The bruising and cuts on your feet
healed over and your breathing evened out, so I figured it was safe to leave
you. Plus, I was going to gag him if I didn’t get away from him.”

She patted the cushion next to her hip. “Come sit
by me. Tell me what else is on your mind.”

He perched on the edge of the bunk, scrubbed at
his hair, and stared at the floor. “I’m dying for a smoke.”

“Yeah well, I’m dying for food. And those
screaming orgasms you promised me.”

A small smile tugged the corner of his mouth up
and he traced her nose from brow to tip. “Food I can help you with. The orgasms
you’re going to have to wait for until your legs are healed. Don’t move.”

“Yeah, I’ll do that.”

He rose to his feet and disappeared into the small
galley area. He returned with a package of beef jerky and bottled water.
“Sorry. This is all I could find.”

Saliva flooded her mouth, and she lunged for the
jerky. “This is awesome. Thank you. I’m starved.”

The sealed plastic didn’t last long under her
focused assault. She mowed through four pieces of dried beef in record time
before slowing down.

“So what were you doing down here other than
hiding from Lucky?”

He popped the lid on the water and handed it to
her. “Going through the information on that flash drive he gave me. Lucky
stashed a lap top in his bag and brought it with us.”

“And?” The empty pit in her stomach felt better,
but still needed more fuel.

“It’s a lot to take in. There are profiles and
news articles and schematics…all very well organized, but I can’t connect all
the pieces yet.”

She worked on a really thick chunk of meat and
mulled his words over. “Has Dyson checked in?”

“No. I watched him throw a man from the window as
we were running for it.” He sucked in a deep breath. “But I also saw him take
four rounds to the chest. I don’t know if he made it, babe.”

The stress of the situation asserted itself as
tight bands of muscle in her chest squeezed in and made it difficult to
breathe. “He saved us. Twice.”

“I know. Muriel called him to let him know we were
headed for the sewers, and then he arranged for the boat at the warehouse.” He
sighed. “I need more time to go through the flash drive. The things on it are
disturbing.”

“Completely bat shit?” Fatigue sucked at her and
she snuggled back into the mattress.

He took her water and recapped it. “Yes.”

“Sorry, Jake.” She yawned and tried to ignore the
itchy prickly feelings in her legs.

“For what?”

“Being in color and stuff. Hitting people with
frying pans. That guy this morning had it coming though.” She battled to keep
her eyes open, but they slid shut anyway.

“I’m sure he did, sweetheart.”

Greiff prowled through the lower deck living area,
searching the cabinets, drawers, and various cubby holes for anything he could
use as a weapon. The gun he’d given to Chloe got lost when Dyson dropped her
out of the window. That left him with a Glock with only one loaded magazine.

He knew exactly how many bullets were in it,
because he’d taken them out and counted them. Fifteen in the magazine, one in
the chamber. A small tool set he’d discovered in the galley held some
screwdrivers, wrenches, electrical tape, and a box cutter. He dropped a flat
head screwdriver and the box cutter into his pocket. Good for in close
fighting, but nothing for a long range attack. Everything else went back where
he’d found it.

Information and ideas buzzed around his head. He
and Chloe had to leave the country and disappear. If she did end up pregnant,
their kid would be hunted down and treated like a science experiment. And even
if she didn’t want him around, he wasn’t letting some government weapons
program or crazy asshole take his kid. He thought of Chloe leaving him behind
and pain lanced his heart, but he’d let her walk if she wanted to. He’d have to
make sure he convinced her not to go anywhere. Since his divorce, he’d been
alone. Sharon burned him so bad he hadn’t thought he’d ever be with someone
new. Hadn’t thought he’d want to. But with Chloe, all that baggage fell away. She
had spunk, smarts, and was loyal to her friends. Pieces of his heart already
belonged to her.

He’d convince her to stay with him no matter what.

He mounted the steps to go back above after
checking on her once more. Lucky’s bright white skin stood out even in the near
absolute darkness.

“Told ya she’d be fine. You guys will be back at
it in no time. She heals up fast and then you can get all the pus—”

The white hot jealousy he’d burned with earlier
came back and ate through his self-control like acid. He gripped the back of
the shorter man’s neck and mashed his face into the steering wheel. The boat
listed in a sharp turn to the right. “I told you. Don’t do it. Don’t even think
about her that way. Don’t look at her.”

Lucky held still and didn’t move at all. He held
both hands up in a surrender position until Greiff let him go. “Alright, I’m
sorry man. Like, calm down. What’s with you and the ‘roid rage?”

Blood thundered in his ears. “I don’t know. I’ve
never been like this before. I shouldn’t have been able to clear that pile of
rubble outside the warehouse, but I did. Something’s changing.”

“Like, you noticing your abilities are getting
sharper? Nose works better than ever? Feeling stronger maybe?” Lucky kept his
eyes straight ahead as he spoke.

A cold ball of apprehension curled into a fist in
his chest. “Yeah. I was teasing Chloe earlier when I picked her up. She only
weighs about a hundred pounds, but picking her up was easy. I bobbled her
around because I was afraid to hurt her.” He wished for a cigarette so bad his
head hurt. “And I can smell …I can smell at least three different women on you,
despite us being out here in the ocean. I’m not cold, although it’s dropping
into the sixties and I’m only half dressed. And that jump. I shouldn’t have
been able to do that.”

He held back the information that his feet had
healed over in record time. Despite clearing the debris Chloe had landed in,
large rocks and bits of trash littered the ground around the building. The
soles of his feet took a hell of a beating on impact. He’d run on adrenaline,
and didn’t notice the damage until after Chloe had passed out. In fact, he
could track his own footsteps around the boat because of the bloody foot prints
he’d left on the white fiberglass.

“Listen man. Your partner was working both sides.
And both sides want you. We know that the original delivery system of the
chemical agent was passed through beverages.”

Unease skittered over him. “Yeah, I read that.
Acts like some kinds of viral hijack that rewrites DNA and copies itself.”

“Right. So, you didn’t get very much because you
were laid up in the infirmary and ended up leaving early. The agent was
designed to hit your genome like a scatter bomb. Kaboom!” Lucky gestured with
his hands and wiggled his fingers. “You’d ingest it; it’d do its thing. Changes
occurred. Small bits of the, let’s call it a chemical, could still be floating
around in there, making slow changes over years, but after the immediate
change, not much more would happen. So the agent has been hanging out in your
bloodstream, moving around slowly, replicating a little at a time. Until
recently.”

“Wait. Are you saying I’ve been drugged again with
that shit and that’s why my body is mutating even more?”

Lucky met his eyes and the weight of sadness in
them almost doubled him over. “I think so. Chloe too. Anything you ate or drank
in the last twenty four hours could have contained the mystical soup mix. Chloe’s
not supposed to be able to heal as fast as she is. Based on past tests and
data, she should have been unconscious and in a coma-like state for a few days
at least.”

“Anything? I thought you said it was like a
dropping a nuke on my genome. Instantaneous infiltration.”

“You have to digest the stuff through your stomach
lining so it enters your blood stream. Unless they gave it to you in an IV.
That’d shoot you right up. Whoop! Like, bam. It’d still take some time to
integrate to your cells, injecting its own code and forcing your body into
slave labor, but, yeah. How longs it take for your body to process a burger?”

Mother fuck. When did they find the bottom of this
rabbit hole? At what point did the information bombs stop falling? What did
this mean for him and Chloe?

“What kind of past tests?” He clenched his fists
and wished for something or someone to pound into the ground. Keeping Lucky on
track and not losing his mind to wrath over what had been done required more
patience than he’d known he had.

“Injuries. They hurt her to see how long it’d take
her to heal. They even cut off one of her toes once.”

Icy cold rage took over him and cleared every
thought out of his head. How many people had these unconscionable lowlifes done
things like this to?

“I’m taking them down. Every last one of them.”

Lucky laughed a low, humorless rasp with an edge
of despair. “I’ve been trying for years. The net is wide and deep, man. Like,
it crosses oceans and countries. And you’ve got something else to consider.”

“What?” A red haze clouded the edges of his vision
and he tightened his grip on the Glock. He didn’t remember drawing the gun from
his waistband and took a few deep breaths to regain control.

“Chloe. Your child. You’re going to have a kid. If
they set you two up to be mates or whatever, you’ll have a baby. You have to
protect them both.”

“How do you know for sure?”

“Read the files.” Lucky glanced over his shoulder.
“Fuck. I thought we’d made it out. Why didn’t you kill Rebane?”

“I don’t like to kill. And I didn’t know for sure
what was going on.” He strained his ears, but didn’t hear anything above the
engine’s roar. “Tell me why you’re sure. I might not get to read the files and
I want to know now.”

“Take the wheel. Keep us on this bearing. If
something happens to the equipment, there are maps under the seat.” Lucky
skirted around him and tossed the blanket over the bank of equipment save the
compass. “I know because it happened to me. You should be happy. You and Chloe
like each other. It doesn’t always work out that way.”

Greiff took the wheel and kept his focus on the
ocean ahead. Nothing around them but blackness. They’d been operating without
running lights and the moon provided the only illumination. The effect was
dangerous and creepy, but he found that his vision in the low light was sharp
and effectual. Maybe even better than in day light. He shrugged off the worry
of what that meant for the future and focused on the present.

Lucky disappeared down the stairs and came back up
with two plastic wrapped rifles and a few boxes of shells. “I’m sure you’re
familiar with this gun. They’re closing in fast, probably in a speed boat. This
cruiser won’t get up above forty knots, so we’ve got to take them out before
they get close enough to sink us.”

“This whole thing is fucking nuts.” He watched as
the blond yanked a dark hoodie over his head and flipped the hood up to cover
his hair.

“Yeah, well, this is our reality. Better get used
to it, man.” Lucky ripped the plastic away, checked the safety and magazine of
the first rifle, and handed it over. “They’ll do whatever it takes to bag us.
And you and I both know that bullets will tear right through the hull of this
thing. Possibly hit Chloe and definitely sink us.”

The muddle of his thoughts foamed and frothed, but
he locked it all away. In the darkness Lucky’s face and hands stood out like
triple flames. “Better let me handle guarding our rear. Even if you’re a better
shot, you’re day-glow bright with that super white skin of yours.”

Lucky finished unpacking his weapon and switched
places with him at the helm. “Don’t hesitate, man. It’s them coming up on us.”

The audible thrum of an approaching boat reached
his ears and he trekked to the stern to crouch down and use the low, rear deck
to support the weight of the rifle. “How can you be sure?” He strained his eyes
to try and see an approaching vessel but couldn’t make one out yet.

“There’s no one out here but us. And any other
boats would be using their running lights. We’d see them coming. Plus, no one
would be out here without high tech nav systems to help guide them. The
navigation systems warn you about other vessels and obstacles in relation to
your boat.”

Everything his companion said made sense, and yet
he had to be sure. A bullet from the rifle he held could easily tear a hole
right through the hull and into anyone inside the cabin. Maybe go through them and
out the other side of the boat.

“You sure this scope is dialed in?” He put his eye
to the lens and scanned the ocean behind them. Nothing.

“Yeah. You never know after they’ve been jostled,
but a boat is pretty damn big and you don’t have to be super accurate. Just
sink the fucker.”

A second scan of the ocean behind them revealed a
dark shape silhouetted for seconds against the night sky. He squinted and
strained, and despite the low light, he made out a dark hull and the shadows of
three people behind the windshield. Gunfire broke the monotony of the engines’
drone.

He fired back, four rounds in fast succession. The
boat turned to the left so sharp he almost toppled over on his side. “Lucky,
straighten this thing out, dammit.”

A thump and crash came from below decks, but he
couldn’t leave his position to check on Chloe. Fuck, he hated decisions like
this. She might have re-broken her legs, but he had to try to protect her from
further harm before he’d know. The boat continued in its sharp arc and fear that
they’d capsize seized him. He glanced over his shoulder and saw the other man
on the floor in a widening pool of blood.

In a lightning fast move, he rushed to a new
position, emptied the magazine toward the other boat, and exchanged his weapon
for Lucky’s. Then he got the cruiser back on to the correct bearing and engaged
the autopilot. Bullets punctured the windshield to the right of his head and he
ducked down to the floor.

“Chloe, stay below. Do not come up here.”

Her muffled reply reached him, the tone expressing
pain in each word.

He scuttled to the stern on his belly and peeked
above the rear deck enough to look to the ocean behind them. The other vessel
was closing in. With regret heavy on his heart, he aimed for the man at the
helm and squeezed the trigger. Then he sprayed the front hull of the boat,
aiming below the water line in hopes of sinking the ship.

The man piloting the boat fell back and was
replaced by another. The third he’d seen had disappeared from view. Greiff
reloaded the magazine as their pursuers closed on them.

More projectiles hit the windshield and side of
the hull. Lucky moaned from his place on the floor. He spared a moment to check
the other man and realized Chloe had crawled up the stairs and had both palms
on Lucky’s back. Blood coated her to her forearms.

“Dammit, woman. Why won’t you listen?” He jammed
the magazine home and fished behind his back for the Glock. After checking the
safety, he slid it across the floor to her.

“Because there are bullets flying. And I was
getting sick down there getting tossed all over the damn place.” She grabbed
the firearm with her right hand and flicked the safety off. Her dark hair
whipped into her huge, saucer-like eyes and her mouth opened on a scream.
“Greiff, get down.”

“What?” He ducked in reflex and the cushion next
to his head exploded.

She took a two-handed grip from her knees and
fired twice. The boat listed hard and the crash of shattering fiberglass
rippled through the air. He whipped his weapon up and cast about for something
to shoot but all he could see was the black hull of their pursuers’ boat as it
continued to ram into the back of theirs.

He scooped her off the floor and placed her in the
captain’s chair. “Chloe, take the wheel or we’ll capsize.” The gun shots halted
and he got to his feet to survey the passenger area of the other boat.

Three dead men lay on the floor. They began to
turn away from it in a wide circle and the speed boat continued on in a
harmless line through the water. He considered calling the Coast Guard to
notify them, but discarded the idea. Hopefully the boat would run out of gas or
be retrieved before it ran aground or crashed into someone else.

He turned the safety on and went to Chloe. She
shook all over and her skin was paper white. Each knuckle stood out where she
gripped the steering wheel.