On the Hunt (17 page)

His head lifted while his eyelids dropped to half-mast, giving him a primal look only a true predator could wear. “Run,” he said softly.

A nervous chuckle tickled up her windpipe. Trembles vibrated her legs, and her mind kicked into gear with a sense of warning. “I don’t think you can catch me.” Yeah, she was enjoying being a woman all of a sudden, completely ignoring reality.

His head cocked, ever so slightly. “Last chance.
Run
.”

As if her body were his to command, she turned and leaped into a mad dash. Around the sofa and over a stack of books. He caught her before she’d cleared her doorway, propelling them both hard and fast toward the bed to hit with a thud. She flipped onto her back and kicked, laughing, striking out with her hands to hit solid muscle.

He pressed a knee between her thighs and grabbed her wrists to stretch above her head against the pillows. Hard as she writhed, she couldn’t gain purchase to counter him. Masculine smugness angled his jaw as he stared down at her. “Appears you’ve been caught.”

Her struggles were useless, and she sobered at how quickly, how easily, he’d subdued her. Instead of providing caution, the reality speared fiery awareness through her. The power of the thigh between hers caught her breath in her throat.

He leaned up to gain better hold of her wrists, and that hard leg muscle pressed against her sex.

She gasped, and her body involuntarily shoved up into him.

He glanced down, eyes darkening, just as her nipples hardened to points inside her bra, causing small spikes of pleasure through her breasts. Holding her in place with merely one hand around her wrists and one thigh between hers, he quickly unfastened his harness and dropped the gun by the side of the bed. “Are you going to fight me?” he asked, the tone merely curious.

The game of run and chase had been fun, and playing with Deke was a lot more enjoyable than fighting with him. “And if I do?” she teased.

“You’ll lose.” One swipe down her front scattered buttons. “I may even tickle.”

She gasped. “Hey.”

He lifted a broad shoulder and tugged her bra up, revealing her needy breasts. “Spoils of war and all that.” His voice thickened.

Cool air caressed her flesh, providing an erotic contrast to the heat boiling inside her. Her skin ached, and a hollowness echoed throughout her. Even though they were playing, enough truth hinted in the air to flutter hunger through her abdomen. “Deacan.”

His head lifted, as did her skirt. He wasted no time removing her panties and instead snapped the sides away. His jeans were shed, the movement so quick she didn’t have time to move. Then he was above her.

Gaze to gaze, groin to groin. “Nora?”

“Yes,” she breathed. “Definitely, yes.”

He didn’t ask twice. A hard lunge of his hips, and he sheathed himself completely.

Pain zipped through her, followed by an unreal pleasure. The combination overwhelmed her, and she closed her eyes.

His hold tightened on her wrists. “Open yer eyes.”

She blinked several times, a strangled plea buried in her breath. He possessed her, so strong, so male. No way could she have moved, even if she’d wanted to. Not for the first time, she wondered if she’d even come close to plumbing the depths of Deacan McDougall during their marriage.

Keeping her gaze, his expression inscrutable and his eyes filled with a light she couldn’t quite decipher, he pulled out and then shoved back in, setting up a pounding that rocked the headboard against the wall.

She gasped, her eyes widening at the powerful treatment. Even so, her hips lifted to take more, whether her mind could or not. The second she rubbed against him, he thrust harder, controlling her body, not allowing her to move. More of his weight descended on her, preventing even the small lifting of her hips.

All she could do was take it.

An orgasm rushed through her so quickly she could only gasp. He kept pounding, sweat drifting off his chin and onto her chest. It was raw and way too real. At the thought, electricity uncoiled inside her. Deep inside, way deeper than she’d known existed, the unfurling swept her up. She stiffened, trying to fight, needing to clutch at any semblance of control.

The hard pounding was slipping from the warmth of pleasure into the heat of pain, and she couldn’t stop the fire. She detonated, her body arching, his name spilling from her lips. With a smile akin to a snarl, he shoved hard inside her, his body jerking with his release.

Moments later, her heart thundering and her breath panting out, she tried to back away from the intimacy and return to playfulness, even as her eyelids began to droop. “I guess you won, right?” she murmured sleepily.

The glimmer in his eyes somehow darkened even further. “Not yet, no. But I fully intend to.”

Early morning, after dropping Nora off at her temporary CDC office, Deke finished searching Zach Barter’s makeshift hospital room. The plastic gloves covering Deke’s hands pulled at his skin, and he fought the urge to rip them off.

Instead, he gingerly grabbed a leather-bound book from the night table to open it. Genius boy kept a diary, and he’d obviously left the journal to be found.

Deke sighed. He had an ex-wife who hadn’t quite realized her importance in his life, a possible bacteria from outer space that was killing people, a dead president, a weak vice president, and a stalker he needed to stop but not kill. To think that just the week before he’d been trying to mellow out his life.

Taking a deep breath, he flipped through the beginning pages of Zach’s writing, noting equations, theories, and quotations about Einstein. Every once in a while, personal notes about Zach having a crush or wanting to ask a girl out but lacking the courage filled the pages.

Deke turned to the last couple of days. Pencil drawing after pencil drawing of Nora. At her desk, staring dreamily into space, nude on a bed.

Zach had gotten her tits wrong. They were rounder at the base.

The fire of his ancestors blazed through Deke’s chest. He continued to read as Zach detailed how much he hated his formal self for being such a wimp. The last entry stole Deke’s breath.

Deke shut the journal. Fury made his hands shake. Scorpius had taken a nice guy and turned him sociopathic. Did the bacteria work harder, stronger, on already nice people? Impossible.

Zach had even left him a note, so focused was he on Nora.

Slowly, deliberately, Deke withdrew his phone and called his men. “I want Barter found and right now.” The fact that Zach had tried to kidnap Nora was just the beginning.

Obviously Zach’s brain scans hadn’t told the whole truth. Or any truth, really. Deke left the room and endured the many decontamination steps before emerging into clean air. He jogged for the stairwell, his mind focused, his hands calm. Training dictated he drop into a mode of thought ready for action, and he allowed himself to do just that. The last thing he wanted to do was scare Nora off now, but every instinct he possessed bellowed she was in danger.

The real kind.

He’d stand between her and any threat, whether she liked it or not. This danger to Nora had forced the soldier, the warrior, deep down inside him to the surface again. To face the light of day.

He couldn’t help but wonder if the return had always been inevitable.

 

 

Hours after Deke had rocked her world in a way that left her both satisfied and incredibly uneasy, and hours after not enough sleep, Nora worked with her best friend handling test tubes, meteorites, and a piece of brain matter from a dead student. Finally all of the supplies had arrived. For now, as she worked, special lights illuminated the space, and Lynne looked more like a Martian in the white protective suit than an expert in biological contaminants.

“Any news on Zach?” Lynne asked, dropping blue liquid on a slide.

“No.” Nora stretched her back and slipped a slide under her microscope. “Everyone is looking, but so far, nothing.”

Lynne nodded. “We’ll find him, and we’ll cure him.”

Hopefully. “I know.” Nora wrinkled her nose in the helmet. “How’s Bobbi doing?”

Lynne snorted. “Not great. I hadn’t realized the depth of her quick crush. She’s a maniac on social media right now trying to find Zach. It’ll probably work, too.”

Good. “Whatever works. So long as we get him back.” Nora adjusted the device. “We’ve had twenty more cases reported throughout the country since last night.”

“I know.” Lynne shook her head. “We’ll figure it out.”

“Yes,” Nora said.

“Speaking of crushes, with all the danger, we haven’t had a time to talk, just the two of us. The Scot is every bit as sexy as I expected,” Lynne said through the headset in her suit.

Nora rolled her eyes and leaned closer to peer through the microscope lens. “You’re looking for a biological killer. Worry about my love life later.”

“Aha,” Lynne said, peering to look into a different microscope. “You said
love
. You luuuuv him.”

“Shut up,” Nora said without heat. “You’re one of the most respected scientists in your field, and you sound like you’re in junior high.”

Lynne snorted, the sound emerging tinny from the helmet. “Talk about protesting too much.” She paused and reached for another slide. “I have to tell you, when he dipped into that brogue of his, I almost orgasmed.”

Nora chuckled. “Knock it off, Lynnie. Last I checked, you were dating one of the most powerful men on the planet.” The guy now second in line to the presidency. How weird was that?

Lynne shook her head. “Ehh. He’s kind of intense, and right now I have my hands full.”

Nora blew out air. “I know.”

“Hmm.” One of the many whirling machines beeped, and Lynne moved to read the computer printout. Turning, she read a large computer monitor. “Interesting. My mutation, the green vial, is resistant to everything and kills instantly.” She turned and frowned, the expression oddly garish through her faceplate. “This may be the most dangerous biological weapon I’ve ever touched.”

Holy shit. Nora shook her head, her heart kicking into gear. “We have to destroy it.”

“I know.” Lynne turned back toward the computer. “Not until we cure Scorpius, just in case there’s something in the concoction, in how quickly it divides, that might help. If we could duplicate the speed of division with a containing agent, we might be able to isolate the bacteria and starve it to death.”

A bacteria from outer space. “This whole thing is crazy,” Nora said.

“I know, and it’s the find of a century. We need to get a handle on it before we announce to the world, however.”

“I really don’t like the public being told the president died from a stroke.”

“Me either,” Lynne murmured.

Nora swallowed, her mind spinning. They’d found bacteria in the middle of a meteorite from somewhere else, and now she was part of a governmental cover-up. It was too fantastic to think about.

Nora’s gaze caught on a series of vials with different colored liquids. “That’s quite an array.”

Lynne glanced over her shoulder. “Yes. So far the green shade is the most dangerous, and the blue the most interesting. We have hope.”

Nora nodded. She stretched her back and winced when something popped. “It’ll be an hour before my newest test results are ready. How about I head down to the cafeteria and grab us sodas and something healthy? Maybe pizza?”

Lynne chuckled. “Make mine macaroni and cheese.”

“Fair enough.” Nora waddled into the first decontamination area and followed all protocols. Nearly twenty minutes later, she finally emerged into cool, air-conditioned air. Fighting a shiver, she strode to her locker and drew out a sweatshirt and her key card.

The door opened behind her, and she turned with a greeting. The words stalled in her throat. “Zach,” she whispered.

He nodded and stepped inside. The door swished shut and locked automatically. He’d dyed his blond hair a deep brown, and a new dark suit covered his body. A wild glint lit his eyes. “Nora.”

She gulped and tried to look normal. The FBI disguise was a good one since so many new agents were suddenly milling around the temporary CDC labs. “How did you get in here?”

He smiled, the expression a parody of the sweet look he’d given her the previous month. “I borrowed a card. No big deal. Why do you keep forgetting I’m smarter than, well, everybody else around here?”

Nora tried to reach for the phone in her pocket. “What happened to the guard outside?”

Zach drew a gun from behind his back and pointed it at her. “He’s in a supply closet right now, hopefully bleeding out. Now toss your phone over here.” He flicked the gun toward where Lynne stood beyond the glass doors, her eyes wide. “Move, and I’ll shoot you,” he mouthed clearly. He waited for her nod before turning back to Nora. “Now.”

Lynne was across the entire lab from a phone. Nora took out her phone and tossed it at him.

He dodged to the side, and the phone spun by to smash against the wall. “Good enough.” He gestured toward a chair. “Sit down.”

She took a seat, her gaze meeting Lynne’s frantic one. “Zach, I don’t really think you want to hurt me,” Nora said.

“I don’t.” Zach walked toward her and yanked a pair of handcuffs from his jacket. “From the guard. Moron.”

Panic bubbled up in Nora, and she tried to push off the chair. Zach clicked her hands into place, securing her to the leg of the heavy oak desk. She could remain seated, but her arm dangled at a painful level. “Please let me go.”

“We’ll leave in a minute.” He turned and approached the lab, yanking open the two protective doors and kicking stoppers into place to keep them open.

“Zachary, don’t go in there,” Nora hissed.

He continued on. “Why not? I’ve already had the infection, and since it’s Scorpius, you can’t catch it in the air. Now just sit there and shut up.”

She shook her head, tugging uselessly on the cuff. “What the hell are you doing?”

“I’m curious about this bugger,” Zach said, crossing toward Lynne.

Shit. The woman was hampered by the big suit and wouldn’t be able to fight well. She backed away, her hands up. “Nora, how tight you bound?” Lynne yelled.

“Can’t move. Cuffed,” Nora screamed back. “If you can get by him, run.”

Lynne winced. “The suit is probably contaminated.”

Zach laughed, the sound high and slightly off. “What exactly is this bacteria, doc? I’ve felt better in the last week than I have in years. Years and years. Talk to me.”

Lynne’s gaze sharpened. “You feel different since recuperating?”

Zach walked toward her, smiling as she backed away and hit the counter. “I do. No more doubt, no more silly thoughts. I’m meant to be here and get what I want.”

Nora’s chest compressed. “Zach, leave her alone. Please. I’ll go with you right now.”

He turned and smiled, his expression the closest to evil Nora had ever seen. “You’ll go with me when I’m ready.”

Taking advantage of his momentary change in focus, Lynne dodged forward and hit him in the gut. He turned, faster than Nora would’ve thought, and tackled Lynne to the floor.

Nora screamed as loud as she could.

Zach released the zipper and yanked the helmet off Lynne before straddling her. She yelled, trying to fight him off, her gloved hands useless. Laughing, Zach reached up for one of the test tubes.

“No!” Nora jerked against the cuffs. He’d grabbed the deadly green strain, and they had no idea what it’d do to a person. “Let her go. Please.”

For answer, he flicked off the cover and shoved the end in Lynne’s mouth. She coughed, shoving at him, her body jerking. Green spat over her face. The vial clinked on the floor. Then, almost in slow motion, Zach slapped his hand over Lynne’s mouth, forcing her to swallow several times. She flapped against him, her legs kicking the tiles.

Finally, Zach stood, turned, and shot a back kick into one of the monitors. Sparks crackled, and the screen tumbled over the desk to the floor. In an almost manic series of hits and kicks, he destroyed every piece of equipment in the lab.

Lynne turned over, coughing, and tried to crawl away. Her chest heaved and a mournful groan rumbled up from her chest.

Nora struggled against the cuffs, tears blurring her vision. “Inject the blue. It’s your only chance.”

Zach watched Lynne, his face passive. Then he smiled as she pulled herself up the side cabinet to stand, weaving back and forth.

“Fuck, it hurts. Hurts so bad,” Lynne mumbled, both hands clapping against her temples. “God, please help me.”

Zach tipped back his head and cackled. “I am God, and I’m not likely to help you. Bitch.” Venom filled his words.

Nora shook her head, trying to clear her eyes. “Leave her alone.”

Lynne dropped to her knees, her hands clutching her chest, fumbling up for the blue vial.

“Zach, please help her,” Nora yelled, fear ripping into her. “Drink the blue, Lynne. Now. We can make more.”

Lynne’s eyes widened, a continuous keening coming from her until her voice cracked. She grasped a syringe and filled it with blue liquid, her hands shaking. The vial dropped to the floor.

Sucking in air, she stuck the needle into her arm and depressed the plunger. She dropped all the way down, face-first, her body going into convulsions. The scream that erupted from her sounded like it came from the depths of hell.

Aqua blue filled the visible veins at the back of her neck, brightening and then winking out.

Nora gasped, her gaze on her friend.

Zach frowned and stepped over debris to reach the downed woman. Humming to himself, he reached down and flipped her over. Quick motions had the suit removed. Frowning, he ripped open her shirt and unclasped her bra.

Blue glowed up from Lynne’s skin. How was that possible? Nora shook her head, trying to clear her vision. Lynne’s heart was a bright greenish blue, cascading out in arteries and veins. Blue morphing into a bright aqua. She lay limp, unconscious.

Zach palmed a breast, and she didn’t move.

Nora gagged. “Let her go. Zach, this isn’t you. Please.”

He looked up and squinted as if he’d forgotten her. Then he smiled. With another almost absent pinch to Lynne’s cheek, he stood.