Sins of the Flesh (23 page)

She took the keys from his hand and said, “Will do.”

“Good. Let’s get going.”

He popped open his door, but the car’s interior lights did not come on, keeping their exit secret from any eyes on the street.

Caterina immediately ducked into the woods and he followed, but as they left sight of the street, she paused and waited for him to take the lead.

He did so, but kept his pace moderate, aware of Caterina’s condition. If he was going to push her, it would be when they had to make their escape. He slipped an occasional glance her way, making sure she was with him. Cautious not to make too much sound as they traversed the land behind two of the homes, undetected.

Ahead lay Edwards’s home and Mick slowed his pace, vigilant for any security systems. As at Wardwell, there were no perimeter alarms. Together they skirted the woods until they were directly behind their intended target.

There were no lights on, from what was visible of the house or along the back of the building.

“Do you think anyone is home?” Caterina asked in a low whisper as she leaned toward him.

Mick brought his index finger to her lips to urge her to remain silent. Her lips were soft and warm. Maybe too warm, but he battled back his apprehension.

They were committed to the mission now and there was no turning back.

He eased his hand into the satchel and withdrew his night vision goggles. Slipping them on, he searched for signs of any lights or motion sensors.

There were lights at the two farthest corners of the large home, but they had no sensors attached to them. They might be time-activated, although if they were, Mick would have set them to come on well before now.

The area beside the garage was lined with a straight row of fast-growing arborvitae and would provide little coverage. The woods in which they were hiding, however, continued as an arm’s-length-wide strip of trees and underbrush at the opposite side of the home.

Sufficient cover in which they could hide.

Bending close to Caterina, Mick whispered, “Follow me.”

Crouching low, he advanced through the woods and up that strip, Caterina close behind him. Their footfalls were soft against the leaves and underbrush until she stepped on a twig that snapped loudly, like a gunshot in the night. He paused then, as she did, waiting to see if anyone from either home might notice.

No one did, blissfully convinced of the safety of their suburban environs.

Their gazes connected and as they did so, Mick
realized Caterina had gone camo. A useful trait for tonight’s mission, he thought. Inclining his head toward the home, he indicated they would proceed.

More carefully, he worked his way through the remaining underbrush and trees until they were beside Edwards’s home. Only a narrow strip of grass and some landscaping around the edge of the edifice separated them from their goal.

He perused the area with the goggles, but she whispered, “Edwards is home alone.”

Exactly what the goggles had confirmed. “How did you know?”

She shook her head and as he met her gaze, he noted the glitter of the inhuman there. She held up her hand before her and glanced in the direction of the nearby house. “I can see multiple shadows there.” Then she pointed to Edwards’s home. “But not in there. There’s only one shadow.”

Her halo sight, he realized, must be capable of sensing heat.

Caterina waited for his reaction. Tried to curb the fear running rampant through her body that had released her camouflage powers. Powers which she didn’t yet understand.

Mick cupped her cheek and ran his thumb across the side of her face as if to remind himself of what she was beneath the odd-colored skin.

“Good job,” he said, the tone of his voice low.

“Are you ready?” He faced her and for good measure, reached beneath the hem of her black sweater to tug into position the Kevlar vest he had insisted she add for protection. Mick didn’t trust that Edwards wouldn’t be armed.

Caterina met his gaze square on and nodded. “Ready.”

He glanced back toward the house and noticed a light going on in one of the rooms.

Taking hold of Caterina’s hand, he said, “Let’s go.”

In a low crouch, they circled around the side of the home, cut across the landscaping close to Edwards’s house. They had to duck low to avoid being seen through the two big picture windows in the front. Pausing at the edge of the front-door landing, Mick reached up with a gloved hand and unscrewed one lightbulb, providing Caterina some cover.

As they had planned during their trip to Edwards’s home, she took a spot in the shadows right by that darkened side of the door. She laid her hands on the red brick and closed her eyes. A furrow appeared in the middle of her forehead as she concentrated. Little by little the transformation took place.

By the time Mick rang the doorbell, every inch of her visible skin was the rusty red color of the brick along the wall. The black of the vest and sweater blended into the shadows, making her nearly invisible.

Footsteps sounded from within and Mick took two steps back from the door, wanting to draw Edwards out onto the landing and away from Caterina.

The muffled
beep-beep
of someone disarming an alarm system came seconds before the door opened.

Edwards stood there. Annoyance sprinted across his features before a smug look took control.

“Mr. Carrera. A personal visit wasn’t necessary. It would have been sufficient for you to answer all the calls you’ve been ignoring.”

“And here I thought that you would be happy to
hear that I’ve brought you something. Or should I say someone?”

Interest flared in Edwards’s features and he took that first expected step over the threshold and looked behind Mick.

“You have her here?” he asked.

Mick chuckled and shook his head, chastising the other man. “You paid me to find her, didn’t you?”

Edwards squinted, peering at him intently and then craning his neck toward the driveway and woods. He took another step forward, as if to improve his line of sight, which was exactly what Mick wanted.

“Don’t see anything? Look behind you, Dr. Edwards.”

The other man half-turned and looked straight back toward his doorway. Straight at Caterina, but he apparently didn’t see her.

Tracking Edwards’s gaze, he knew why. The black of Cat’s clothing and hair appeared to be nothing more than shadows. Her eyes were closed, giving away nothing of her presence thanks to the redbrick color of her skin. But then she opened her eyes—those amazing sapphire blue eyes—and they were like a beacon in the night.

Edwards gasped and that stunned second was all it took.

Mick grabbed Edwards from behind, encircling his neck with one arm while jabbing his gun into the scientist’s ribs.

“We need to talk,” Mick said.

M
ick forced Edwards forward across the threshold and into the house. Caterina followed, closing and locking the door behind them.

He marched the doctor through the house until they reached the kitchen. Tossing Edwards into a chair, Mick ripped some cable ties from his pocket and bound the scientist to the arms and legs of the chair, not that Edwards had put up much of a fight.

Maybe because his stunned gaze had been focused on Caterina the whole time.

As Mick finished securing him, he turned to find Caterina losing the brick camo and going back to her normal skin color.

“Long time no see, Dr. Edwards,” she said, the tones of her voice controlled although her body was taut with anger.

“You’ve got some nerve bringing her here,” Edwards said, glaring at Mick as he stood beside him. “She’s dangerous. She killed Wells.”

Mick
tsk
ed and shook his head. “There are lots of reasons why I think Caterina didn’t do the skewering. Let’s start with reason number one—Gates Genengineering.”

Edwards paled. “How do you know about—”

“I hacked your servers,” he said.

“You found the Gates documents?” Edwards sputtered.

Mick nodded and walked around the edge of the chair to crouch right before the doctor, not wanting to miss a second of his response.

“What happened? Did Wells find out about the experiments you did on Caterina and the others?”

Confusion clouded the other man’s eyes as he shot a look back at Caterina before returning his gaze to him. “What are you talking about?”

“This is what
you
did to me,” Caterina said and approached. To leave no doubt about what she was referring to, she laid her hand on the maple surface of the table. Her anger made the transformation quick as her hand almost disappeared onto the surface of the table.

“I didn’t know that’s what Wells did. I just knew something wasn’t right,” Edwards replied, his eyes wide with fear.

“Wells was trying to help me when you had him killed,” she nearly screamed and advanced on him.

Mick jumped in her way, and as had happened before, her extra strength surprised and nearly toppled him. “Calm down, Cat.”

“See how violent she is,” Edwards asserted, and the chair bucked as he tried to escape his restraints to get away from Caterina.

Caterina did as Mick requested, backing away and tucking her arms tight to her sides to assert control. “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

Mick stood before Edwards once more, arms across his chest.
His stance loose, but ready for action. “If I thought Caterina would do it, I’d gladly let her at you. Someone has to pay for what’s been done to her.”

“I told you. I had nothing to do with that,” Edwards hissed, the skin taut across the almost ferretlike lines of his ascetic face.

“Nothing to do with it, but you found out about it, didn’t you?”

Hot color erupted on Edwards’s cheeks. “Wells came to me right after I told him about the merger.”

“He wanted to tell Gates about the experiments,” Mick prompted.

Reluctantly, Edwards admitted it, which was not what Mick had been expecting. “He wanted to come clean, but that would have jeopardized everything.”

“So you killed him,” Caterina said and came to stand beside Mick, the intensity of her fury apparent but under control.

“As far as I know, you’re responsible for Wells’s death,” he said, jerking his head in Caterina’s direction.

“You know this based on what? Video feed? Eyewitness testimony?” Mick asked.

Edwards shrugged. “I can’t say.”

Caterina leaned down until she was almost face to face with Edwards. “You mean you can, but you won’t.”

As she rose upright and stood beside him again, Mick laid a calming hand on her shoulder as he looked straight at Edwards and said, “Call off Mad Dog.”

Edwards raked his gaze over him intently before saying, “Who is Mad Dog?”

“Matthew Donnelly. Mad Dog. Soldier of fortune. Psycho security expert. Call him off,” Mick repeated.

Edwards shrugged and shook his head. “I don’t know any Mad Dog.”

He was either a damned fine actor or he was telling the truth, but just in case… Mick pulled out an old photo of him with Mad Dog and shoved it in Edwards’s face.

“You’ve never seen this man before?”

“Never,” Edwards immediately asserted.

Mick actually believed him, but he also suspected the good doctor might have an idea as to who had called in Mad Dog. “Who do you know who might have hired him?”

“Don’t know.” Clearly lying this time, Mick thought.

“Mad Dog’s name was on your security department logs,” he said and crouched down once more until he was eye to eye with Edwards. He wanted his message to be clear.

“You’ve got until noon tomorrow to check the logs and call me with the name of the person Mad Dog visited.”

A shrewd look crept onto Edwards’s features. “What if I don’t?”

Mick smiled and glanced at Caterina before he rose and joined ranks with her. She slipped her hand into his as he said, “I can show you a world of hurt you can’t even begin to imagine. Physical and financial hurt. Understood?”

Edwards’s gaze narrowed at their show of unity and then he nodded.

“Understood, Mr. Carrera.”

Despite the other man’s words, Mick didn’t trust him. There was too much at stake financially for Edwards. If he had hired Mad Dog, Mick suspected the scientist would not call the mercenary off so quickly.

But Mick hoped the warning would spur Edwards into action
that would help him confirm the doctor’s involvement in what had happened to Wells. He would be tracking Edwards’s every move so he could better understand the kind of battle he faced to safeguard Caterina’s life.

The ride back to Mick’s home in Bradley Beach was quiet.

Mick was lost in his thoughts, probably considering what they had learned from Edwards.

Edwards, Caterina thought with disgust, had been so smug and too calm. Clearly unremorseful of all the pain, suffering, and death that had come about because of the contract with Gates Genengineering, which Mick had told her about before their arrival at Edwards’s home.

One hundred million dollars for the loss of how many lives? Caterina wondered as another shiver racked across her body.

At the movement, Mick quickly looked in her direction before returning his attention to the road. “Are you okay?”