Damned If You Don't (27 page)

Elaine lashed out with her good foot, kicking Morgan solidly in the ribs. Morgan grunted in pain. But she didn’t let go of the cutter. For a slender, wiry woman, Elaine was strong. Morgan buckled under the force as Elaine kicked her again.

“Drop it.” She bent down and saw the blood dripping from the cut on her ankle and kicked her a third time. “I said drop it.”

“Never,” she choked out.

Now that she had the use of her fingers again, Morgan tried to saw at the plastic holding her hands. The cutter was sharp enough to make a good slice, but then the blade got caught in the plastic. She had to waste precious seconds trying to free it before she could begin sawing again.

The next thing she knew, she was being hauled her up by her armpits and thrown into the chair. Then Elaine locked her hands around her throat.

Morgan wanted to claw at the hands closing off her airway, but they were still tied behind her back. Black spots swam before her eyes. Her throat was on fire, and her lungs begged for air. But she kept on sawing.

All of a sudden the plastic gave way. She lifted her arms and swung them around, clawing at her throat, but Elaine wasn’t about to let go. Then she remembered a safety class she’d attended and punched her thumbs right into the woman’s eyes. Elaine howled in pain and grabbed at her eyes, letting go of Morgan. Morgan fell, gasping for breath. But that didn’t stop her from searching for the cutter on the floor.

A shoe came into her line of vision, and she listened to her weapon skitter away on the tile. She rested her cheek on the cool floor before Elaine lifted her head by her hair and forced her to sit back down in the chair.

“You’re going to pay for that.”

She saw fury build in Elaine’s eyes and shuddered, realizing that whatever sanity had been within them was gone. Morgan thought of Jack and the love they’d made, then glanced back at this caricature of a woman and realized that power was in the grasp of the beholder only if one was willing to be a victim.

There was no way in hell she was going to be anybody’s victim.

Jack’s love had taught her that.

Her only regret was that she would never get a chance to tell him she loved him back. Or how much.

Morgan started laughing. “You are such a piss-poor attempt at being human, Elaine. Give me a break. Do you really expect me to feel sorry for you? You’re even worse at being a scientist than he was.”

Morgan continued with her original plan, knowing that every moment she stalled was another moment for Jack to find her.

“One shot isn’t going to hurt me. It isn’t going to make a body waste away into nothing. I know that. Science is logical. And you have to let the process build before it can cause that kind of damage. So go ahead. Do your worst. I dare you.”

Elaine gave her a really evil smile. “Oh, Morgan, I intend to now. But not before I have you begging for your life. And believe me, you’ll be begging.”

Morgan stared right back at Elaine and laughed harder to show the woman she wasn’t afraid. “You see,” Elaine continued. “I also put ketamine in the syringe.”

Indeed, Morgan should have realized poison was a distinct possibility. Her head was still smarting, but her eyesight cleared a little. Just enough to see that Elaine had found the damned syringe while they were talking. And the woman was coming after her again.

Well, Morgan decided, she’d have to deal that when the time came. Then the room started to swim, and her stomach lurched. She went limp. Perhaps she’d have to deal with it sooner than she thought, she decided, as she felt herself being lifted off the floor.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Jack crouched back down in front of the door and gave hand signals to Sam, who nodded. He listened to Morgan laugh and thanked God she was alive. Then he felt as if ants were crawling under his skin as he heard the word ketamine. If that damned bitch hurt her, if she harmed one hair on Morgan’s head, he was going to—

Jack opened his eyes to find Sam staring at him. He got the message. No emotions allowed. Not until they had her safe and sound.

He nodded and pulled down on the handle of the door ever so slowly. Once the lock was open, he pulled back with even more care so the hinges wouldn’t make a sound. He wedged his body against the door and let go of the handle. Twisting around, he watched Sam take the door in his hand and allow Jack to slip inside the room.

Someone’s back was to the doorway. Morgan was sitting in a chair, her head lolling against the headrest. He could only see an outline from his angle, but he knew it was her. He had no idea who else was in the room, or if anyone was aiming a gun at Morgan. He didn’t dare try to find out.

Jack bit the inside of his cheek to keep from making a sound. He moved silently across the floor. Three evenly spaced rows of drawers and workbenches filled the room. He hid behind the first row and looked back over his shoulder. Sam was following.

Jack sprinted to the second row. He still couldn’t see real well, but he could hear. And what he heard made his blood run cold and his stomach burn with anger.

“I should kill you right now.”

Jack watched Elaine Tanner smack Morgan hard against the cheek. Morgan’s head snapped around, and she looked dazed. And Jack sent up another silent thank-you that she was alive. Then he tamped down on his own feelings and waited until Sam was behind him. Once they were both in position, he motioned to Sam to go around to the other end of the counter for a two-pronged attack.

“I have to think about this for a moment, Morgan. When they do an autopsy on you, I can’t leave any incriminating evidence behind.”

Jack squeezed his fists so tight his knuckles hurt. He inched around the cabinets and watched the woman. She was tall, wiry, but well muscled. Overpowering her might look easy at first but Jack didn’t want to regret that decision later.

“You won’t get away with it, Elaine,” Morgan told the woman, her words spaced as if she were trying to focus.

Elaine Tanner laughed. “Oh but I will, won’t I, darling?” she crooned. And that was when Jack saw the body lying on the floor. Asian man. No. Impossible.

Elaine Tanner and Dr. Huan Chuan Lee? They were behind all this?

Jack was so surprised he almost missed Sam’s signal that he was ready to attack.

He waited a moment longer, watching as the woman lifted Morgan to her feet so she could look Morgan in the eyes. Morgan tried to pull her head away. Elaine wouldn’t let her go and wrenched on her arm, making Morgan scream.

Jack knew for sure he was going to hurt this maniac something awful.

“You all think you’re so smart,” the woman bit out. “You think you know everything,” she sneered.

Morgan didn’t answer.

“What do you know? Where were you when my father sold me to one of his friends? And then another? And another?”

“I’m sorry for you, Elaine.”

“Don’t you dare pity me!” the woman cried. Then she swallowed, reining in her emotions. “I fixed him, you know. You bet I did.”

She sounded as if she were talking to herself, and Jack realized how far gone the woman was.

“And all the others. Daddy never guessed who he was dealing with. Not until it was too late. I had the power. I held his life in my hands. Now I hold yours.”

He watched her calm herself and listened to her continue in a lower tone of voice. “I have the power now. I’m the one who decides. I hold your life in my hands.”

Jack’s blood ran cold. Not only was he dealing with a murderer, he was dealing with a raving lunatic. He looked back over his shoulder again to see where Sam was. Sam was waiting, ready to follow.

“I don’t think so,” Jack cried, springing up from his hiding place.

The woman moved so fast even Jack was surprised. By the time he was halfway across the floor, there was a syringe pointing right at Morgan’s neck. He skidded to a halt.

“Put your weapon down. Now!” Elaine cried.

Jack scanned the room and realized Sam hadn’t followed. Damn he owed the man if they ever got out of this.

“Morgan? Are you hurt?”

“I’m—I’m all right Jack.”

She was lying. White-hot anger seared his gut, but Jack had no choice. He bent down and lowered his weapon to the floor.

“Good. Now kick it to me. Gently.”

Jack followed the commands trying to calculate how far away he was and how far he could leap if he needed. He edged closer.

Morgan’s head lolled against her chest, and he called out, “Morgan. Are you all right? Talk to me, kitten.”

He kept edging closer. Elaine Tanner kept edging backward. Stalemate.

“Let her go. You don’t need to do this. Let her go, and I’ll take her place,” he promised.

“A brave sentiment,” Elaine replied. “But unnecessary. And though you are an exceptionally fine piece of masculine material, at this juncture I only need one hostage. A woman of her size will be much easier to handle than a man of your stature.”

“True. But I’ll go with you willingly. She won’t.”

Elaine merely smiled. “Do you take me for a complete fool?”

“Don’t do it, Jack,” Morgan choked out. Her eyes opened and focused, and her gaze begged him not to do anything stupid.

Jack watched Elaine force Morgan to bend by pulling on her arm. Morgan groaned in pain, and Jack swore the bitch was going to pay for hurting his woman. She made Morgan pick up Jack’s gun and hand it to her. Then Elaine threw away the syringe.

Jack didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. The syringe was a maybe at best. He knew the damage the gun could do.

“Let her go, Dr. Tanner.”

“Ah, so you figured out who I am. Well, no matter. You’re both going to have to die now.”

With that, the doctor pushed Morgan away, and just as Jack leaped into the air to get her, Elaine Tanner fired two rounds. Jack hit the floor with a thud, fire filling his body as darkness filled his vision.

MORGAN WENT AFTER the woman with a mighty roar. A red haze filled her vision. She grabbed Elaine’s shoulder and spun her around, unable to describe how good it felt to feel the woman’s nose shatter under the knuckles of her fist.

She reared back ready to repeat the action, but Elaine parried her punch and spun away. The woman staggered into the counter that held the lab sink. She watched Elaine turn and reach into the sink, then lift something out. The woman had a beaker in her hand.

“It’s acid,” she hissed. Blood dripped down from her broken nose, staining the pristine white of her lab coat. “Back off, or I throw it.”

Morgan had no choice. She straightened and stepped back several paces. Elaine held the beaker in a shaking fist. Her eyes darted to the left and to the right, and then she started moving toward the door. A moment later she fell flat on her face.

Sam had come up from behind and tripped the woman. The beaker went flying and crashed against the floor as Elaine tried to scramble to her feet and escape.

Morgan ran and launched herself onto Elaine’s back. She tackled her to the floor, letting the woman take the brunt of the fall. Elaine grunted as the air whooshed out of her lungs. A moment later Morgan was staring at the barrel of a gun and the sandy-haired man she’d seen at the ferry. He nodded and jerked his head in the direction of the sink. And Jack.

Sam.

Not knowing how to question why he was there, Morgan scrambled to her feet and raced to Jack. Jack was lying on the floor, blood all over, when the door flew open and a bunch of armed men flooded the warehouse.

“No one move! This is the FBI!”

“Over here,” Morgan cried. “Oh, please. Help him. Please. He’s been shot.”

Fear sizzled down her spine. Jack looked so pale, so helpless.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at Sam, a plea in her gaze that he would make it, that he would be all right.

“Jack. Jack,” she whispered. A cold ball of misery welled inside her.

Sam’s hand squeezed her shoulder gently. “You need to get out of the way, Morgan. You need to let the medics take care of him now.”

She rose and hovered, her heart in her throat.
My fault. All my fault.

“Will he be all right?”

Sam shrugged. He turned and pulled her away as they lifted Jack onto a gurney. A man with raven-black hair and ice-blue eyes walked over to them. He looked terribly angry.

“I thought I told you both to wait until I got here,” he yelled at Sam.?

“We didn’t have a choice,” Sam blasted back. “I heard one gunshot. I couldn’t take the chance of another.”

“Look where that got you both.” He nodded at Sam and then gave her a piercing stare. “Go on. Take her to the hospital. I can handle it from here. The good doctor and I have some unfinished business to attend to.”

“You won’t get anything out of her,” she heard Sam warn.

“We’ll see, Sam. We’ll see.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Morgan sat. She paced. She sat. She paced. She reached for a cup of cold coffee, stared at the black liquid inside, and then put the cup down again. Then she sat again. And every few seconds she’d reach out and slip her hand inside his, or trail a tender finger down his cheek.

No one knew for certain if he was going to make it or not. He’d taken one in the shoulder, one a bit closer to his heart. He’d made it through surgery. Now all they could do was wait.

His vitals are strong. His vitals are strong.

With that mantra carrying her through every moment, Morgan sat. She paced. Sam called again to see how he was doing. They’d found Morgan’s tape recorder back at BioClin, and Elaine Tanner was going to go on trial for murder. A lot of murders. Which was going to be very small consolation if Jack didn’t wake up soon.

Sam was in Ian’s custody and was going to testify in return for a reduced sentence and no time served. She told Sam no change and hung up. Then Ian stopped by the hospital to find out how Jack was. He didn’t say much, just bent down and whispered something in Jack’s ear.

Morgan sighed and leaned down so her forehead rested against their clasped hands, doing something very un-Morgan-like. The woman of science prayed.

The next thing she knew—no, she could swear, was that someone was rubbing her head with their hand. She looked up to see Jack smile at her with so much love pouring from his gaze she was certain she would drown.