Smash Into You (17 page)

             
He tripped and I made him stand. "About our mothers and what you were doing with them."

             
"Your mothers?" He tried to look back confused, but I made him walk. "I don't know your mothers. I would know their room number and last name. That's all. We don't make things personal around here. Just professional."

             
I scoffed louder. "Why? To keep your conscience clean?"

             
He didn't answer, lucky for him. I shoved him back into the observation room and pushed him into the chair. I put the gun back into my pants because I could see this guy was a pansy and would cause no trouble. I told Marley to let him see the picture of her mom. She did, her fist closed tight. The man shook his head. "I don't know her. I wasn't working here then, but if you were the children of women in this facility, then that means…"

             
He was interrupted by the door opening behind us. It revealed a rather large man and three other men carrying rifles. They were in uniforms like security guards, but he was in a black suit. I swiftly, discreetly, stuck the gun in the back of my pants again. The security guards looked pretty pissed. I smirked. "You got chewed out, huh?" I tacked on a wink for good measure.

             
One of them stepped forward like he was going to bust my teeth, but the man barked for him to stand down. He smiled at us. "Look, I'm sure there's some logical explanation for all of this. Let's just sit down and we'll work it all out, yeah?"

             
He told the lab coat to get lost, then ticked his head out the door. One of them grabbed my arm to drag me down the hall. But that meant… I looked back to see the shortest one snatch Marley in front of him. When I heard her gasp, I saw red. I slammed my elbow into my guy's nose, actually smiling when I heard it crunch, and went for Marley's. He didn't stand a chance as my fists connected with his chin. He went down and I pulled Marley to me. The other two jumped on me quick and one rifle butt went into my gut and the other the back of my head.

             
I hit the floor, hearing Marley's scream. I shook my head and blinked as I rolled over. One of them had his arm around Marley's neck as she looked down at me. I made myself get up for another go-round.

             
The suit took one of their rifles from the men and shot it into the ceiling once, halting us all. "Hey, hey, hey!" he yelled. "All right, let's all just calm down."

             
"Get your hands off her right now or you'll be eating that arm," I threatened the man with Marley. The suit could shoot me, but I wasn't going to watch as she was hurt anymore by these people.

             
The suit told the guy to let her go. He glared at him, but did so. She bolted to me and wrapped one arm around my middle, while the other inspected the back of my head, turning my face. "Oh, my gosh," she whispered.

             
She turned to them. "He's hurt. He's bleeding because of you."

             
"He's bleeding because he broke into my building," the suit countered.

             
I squeezed Marley, hoping she understood not to say anything. I was thinking it was a better idea for this guy to make his own assumptions about why we were there. If he found out we were returnees, he might decide playtime in the operating room wasn't over for us. Who knew what the hell these people would do.

             
"Come into my office. That's not a request," he said, pointing at me with his gaze. "You broke in, I didn't bring you here. I don't know what you're after, but I'm sure we can keep the police out of it if we just calm down."

             
I shook my head. Of course he wanted to keep the police out of it. They were murdering people and who knew what else. But he thought we were common thieves. So we followed him, arms around each other. I tried to let her know it was all going to be OK, but we just stared at each other. They held the door for us and pushed us to sit down on a small couch in the corner of the room.

             
"Now," he asked, leaning on the edge of his desk, "what is it that you were after, how did you get in here, and how did you know we had what you wanted to begin with?"

             
I looked at the door, but shorty was guarding it. So, I told the truth, mostly. I told them we figured they were a  medical facility and would have anything we wanted and we waited, watching the guy put the code in. Then we just walked in because there was no one around.

             
"Yes," he drawled and gave the men a look, "apparently football was more important than intruders." He smiled at me. "The Patriots beat the pants off the Jets, by the way."

             
"Ah, come on, man!" I complained.

             
He laughed. "It was ruined for me. It was only fair to ruin the game for someone else." He watched us. "Now, what to do with you?"

             
Marley shook in my arms. I rubbed her arm to soothe her, but it was pointless. I had let her down.

             
"Are you hungry? Thirsty?" he asked and I told him a firm no. I didn't want any poison they had to offer. "All right, well as I said, we'll leave the police out of this. Nothing was stolen yet, so no harm, no foul."

             
I didn't smile. I didn't trust this guy as far as I could toss him. He looked between us several times before standing.

             
"All right, well we're gonna go chat for a sec. Sit tight." He winked and grinned as he left. He wasn't letting us go. He knew it and I knew it.

             
I sighed. I couldn't look at Marley as I spoke. I was strangely calm for someone who was probably about to no longer walk this earth. I was just…spent.

             
"I'm so sorry, Marley." I played with her fingers on my knee just to keep touching her, to remember exactly what it felt like. "I don't know what to do to fix this."

             
She smiled sadly and reached up, touching my lips with her thumb. "It's not your fault."

             
"No, it is my fault that I couldn't protect you."

             
She took a shaky breath. "I'm not your responsibility, Jude. I'm just a girl who got dumped on you." She looked down at her lap.

             
"A girl that I adore," I corrected.

             
"A girl you adore that you're stuck with because you're a gentleman and you…you won't…"

             
I shook my head, my brow low. "Marley." I moved until I was right up against her, or she was right up against me. I bent a little while pulling her chin up, making her look me right in the eye. "Don't you know?"

             
"Know what?" Her enraptured voice made me swell with happiness that she wanted me, too.

             
"That you're mine."

             
She blinked rapidly, the corners of her mouth lifting. Before she could say anything, the door swung open again…to reveal Biloxi.

             
I jumped up, shoving Marley behind me. He smiled at me. Or…at Marley. "Marley, you've finally made your way back to us."

             
I frowned at that. He continued. "Come on, honey. You've done your job. You got him here and that's all we wanted."

             
The blood rushed in my ears. What did he just say? Marley wasn't denying it. I turned slowly to find her open-mouthed and looking at me strangely. What the hell…

             
"Marley?" I questioned and finally, she opened her mouth.

             
"Jude, no, I'm not with him."

             
He laughed sadly. "Come on. The jig is up. You don't have to pretend anymore… Oh, no." He looked between us and sagged a little in defeat. "Good Lord, you fell for him, didn't you?"

             
"Yes," she whispered and looked at me, only me.              "Yes, I

fell
for him." She shook her head. "Jude, you can't believe him. After everything that happened, you believe him?"

             
I stared. I didn't believe him, not really. There had been too much that was real. Too much that was raw. I shook my head. She gripped my fingers in her hands, distracting me, when I felt the crack on my skull.

             
I went down, my head on the floor, and watched her adorable toes scramble away as my vision disappeared and sleep claimed me.

FIFTEEN

              I woke, the smell of pepper choking me and burning my nose. I opened my eyes, only to be assaulted there, too. I looked around the room, sitting up and immediately regretting it, and saw Marley's pepper spray on the floor. The air was coated with it so she must have used it.

             
Which meant they'd taken her and she tried to get away.

             
Good girl.

             
"Mother…" I groaned as I stood and felt the back of my head. There was a lot of blood, but I had to find her. I felt the back of my pants and the gun was still there. I left it there, keeping my hand on the handle, but finger off the trigger, and inched into the hallway.

             
I leaned on the hall wall and made my way down. My head pulsed and my vision went in and out in blurs. I made myself keep going faster. When I heard a door slam behind me, I slid quickly into an alcove. I heard someone yell, the echo carrying it down the hall. "He's not here!"

             
I squeezed my eyes shut. If only I had gotten further away before they found out. I heard one say he was going this way and for the other guy to go that way. I listened and when his running footsteps almost reached me, I threw half of my body out, slinging my arm straight and tightening it. His neck slammed into it, effectively close-lining him as I'd been trying to do. He went down hard, choking on my arm, and the thud as his head hit the tile didn't sound encouraging that he'd get up again. I took his gun, slinging the strap over my shoulder, and then picked up his radio. I tried every channel, but heard nothing.

             
I turned to the double doors in the alcove and pushed them open as I didn't have anywhere else to go. I pulled his body into the room so no one would see him.

             
I wanted to look for Marley, not get into a shootout. Not yet anyway. I blinked in the bright lights and looked around the empty room. It was a lab. Patient charts were lined up on a rack behind a bunch of medical stuff and supplies that I knew nothing about. I leaned on the table for support and pulled one down. No patient name, only the letter D and a date.

             
I shook my head. The bastards couldn't even call them by their names.

             
The chart was handwritten notes, pages of them.

             
…
alert and vital signs good. Was asked to walk…

              …blood drawn. Patient showed mild discomfort…

             
…
platelets counted. Procedure discussed…

             
…child was shown pictures of the disease…

              …told male child others would die if he didn't…
              …
bone marrow. Patient will be awake for…

             
…child wanted to save others, but not give blood…

             
…child kept asking for mother. Was told she left…

             
On and on it went, page after page, chart after chart. They were taking blood, marrow, and organs from those kids and then testing them, using the research to make drugs, vitamins, and medicine for sick people was what I could get from it. Kids seemed to be the ones they wanted to experiment on most… But they wouldn't…

             
I slammed the charts down, catching my breath as I held on. That would have been me. That would have been Marley.

             
I went through to the next lab with the connecting door. I was starting to feel a little dizzy. I poked my head back out into the hall and, finding no one, went back down the hallway, listening as I went for voices so I could find her. My hand trailed the wall to help keep me upright. The dizziness was blurring my vision in waves.

             
Why did they take her? What did they want with her now? She was an adult. I went up and down the main hall twice and didn't hear anything. I prayed she was still there and they hadn't left the compound with her. I'd never get her back.

             
My walkie crackled to life. I turned it down and pressed it to my ear to hear him. "
Michaels give your ETA, over."

             
I groaned when he asked again and I knew he was talking to the guy I'd just incapacitated. I put my mouth on the speaker, thought fast, and talked deeply, "Male target in my custody on the first floor. He found a way up the stairs. Over."

             
Silence proceeded. And then, "
Why didn't you radio your position?"

             
"Son of a bastard was fighting me hard."

             
"
On our way. Detain for debriefing and termination. They don't need him, they've got the girl."

             
My heart stopped beating for a whole five seconds. No…Marley. "My orders were to bring him to the girl," I tried.

             
"
Negative. Orders are to debrief and terminate. The girl will be taken to the Los Angeles facility for testing and creation."

             
Creation? I tried to chuckle into the mic, but it hurt my freaking soul to do it. "Well, dang. Sure was a pretty one. Was hoping she would stay for a while."

             
He laughed.
"She'll be back soon enough, Michaels. You still going to want her with a big ol' belly? Huh?"

             
I froze. My hand gripped the radio so tight, I thought it might shatter. They were going to inseminate her and force her to have another experiment baby for them. Hell no. "You're right. No point anyway since they're just going to toss her afterwards."

             
"I thought that was your favorite kind?"
he joked
. "Almost to your location. Over and out."

             
I didn't answer the bastard. There was no telling what they'd done to the women staying there. Speaking of…where were the women? From the way they talked, they always had women in and out, so where were they? At another facility probably and I hated to think that.

             
Then I remembered those kids. I couldn't leave them. I needed to find Marley, but those kids… I dove back into the observation room to find it empty, but one of the rooms had several people in it.

             
"No," I heard myself say and raked my hands through my hair in agony. I pressed my hand to the glass to keep myself up. Lab coat guy had her strapped to the bed. She was being prepped for something and I remembered the button so I could hear them. I pressed it, coming back to the glass to see my handprint of blood from my head. I pushed all thoughts of that away—it didn't matter right then—and listened to him.

             
"…you see, the government wouldn't give us grants for what we needed because they said it was inhumane. My team of researchers wanted to be known for saving the world though! Use stem cells, they told us. But no, we needed live hosts, live cells, live bodies to test on."

             
The suit interrupted. "You thought we were looking for you to harm you. We just wanted to make sure you were safe. Your blood is dangerous," he hissed overdramatically. "My associate, Vincent, went too far in his antics to bring you both back, and but you see, you're the last two. None of the others who have ever escaped survived and we had to bring you back for you own safety and ours. We've steadily upped security measures, and we thought sending Tatum with him telling you that he was one of you would help coax you in, but…you're content to do things the hard way."

             
He patted her head, causing her to jerk as far from him as she could get. He left. The doctor bent down to her level. "See? You just don't know the things we're doing here to save lives, and you're a part of that!" he said excitedly.

             
"But you're killing people," she said, defeated. "How can you kill people to save others? How is that fair?"

             
"In the course of the program, the terminated only reach the thousands. About seventeen thousand to be exact from the very beginning. How are seventeen thousand people worth more than the billions we'll save with our new line of drugs?"

             
"You haven't cured anything!" she yelled at him. "Have you? Have you cured cancer? Have you cured Leukemia? Tell me what disease you've cured. Name it." He stared, twisting his lips. She shook her head and slammed it back to the mattress. "It's all trial and error and you're murdering people, no matter what you tell yourself."

             
"But it's not. We've helped pregnancies with our vitamins and have lots of promise with our anti-body boosting drugs. When you were a baby, you were full of the special vitamins given to you by your mother in the womb from the medicine she shook from us. Your blood could save lives if you just let us test on you. You just can't see it because you're strapped to the bed instead. You're thinking like a victim instead of a miracle that can save-"

             
"What if I was one of your daughters? Would you sacrifice her for the greater good?" She stared him down and I was so daggum proud of her.

             
He placed a chart on the table and left, just like that. Biloxi stood from the corner chair. I hadn't seen him there. When he turned where I could see his face, his eyes and cheeks were red and splotchy. He kept blinking and grimacing. I smiled. I couldn't help myself. My girl got Biloxi with her pepper spray.

             
When he rolled his sleeves up and pulled a tray out from under the table with tubes and needles, I knew his crazy side was coming out to play.

             
I backed away and darted out the door. I wasn't giving him the opportunity to hurt a hair on her. I wasn't going to let her down again. I ran, though I was dizzy, I ran. I pulled the gun from the back of my pants and pushed open the first door that was open. Empty. The next was locked. I didn't wait—I just shot the doorknob and took it hard with my shoulder.

             
As soon as I saw Biloxi's face, I stood straighter to get my aim right and fired two shots right into his chest. No begging, no pleading, no thinking. His eyes were so swollen from the pepper spray, he hadn't even seen me coming.

             
But I didn't feel a lick of guilt. The man had ruined my life, taken my mother from me, and was trying to take my girl. I couldn’t even muster up a sigh for him.

             
I didn't know where the doctor was, but I was positive that he would coward away. I leaned down to unbuckle Marley's arms. I felt myself sway a little. She touched my cheek when she got one hand free. "I didn't think you were coming for me." I looked at her sharply, feeling as though she slapped me.              

             
"You thought I'd just leave you?"

             
"I thought you believed him when he said I was… And then your head," she sobbed and touched my hair. "I thought you were…"

             
Her eyes were bloodshot, still wet from tears, and not from pepper spray. She really thought I wasn't coming back, for one reason or the more morbid one.

             
"Marley," I leaned my forehead to hers, "you belong to me. Remember?"

             
"Yes, I do," she countered with a sob.

             
I helped her off the table and knew first-things-first, we needed to find a phone and call the police. Then we needed to get those kids topside.

             
Before I could move, she pulled my face down to hers and kissed me so deeply. We both pulled and grabbed at each other like we never wanted to part again. My heart sighed at being home…in her. I found the only place I ever wanted to live again in this girl, right here in my arms. I leaned back just barely, ran my thumb from her brow down to the tip of her nose and stopped at her lips, loving the way her eyes fluttered. "I'll always come to you."

             
She pressed her lips together and nodded. I took her hand, but before we left the room, I stared at Biloxi on the floor, his tray of needles and medicine bottles strewn around him. I never got to know why my mom, or me for that matter, was so important to him that he'd made it his life's work to kill us. It seemed like I'd never get the closure, never feel like it was finally over because I'd never know.

             
But it was over with Biloxi if nothing else.

             
I kept Marley behind me as I took us back down the hall. If someone else decided to make an appearance, I wasn't sure I'd be able to fight them off. My vision was blurring and staying that way.

             
I heard her speaking, but couldn't focus on it. My ears were muffled or ringing. Then she touched my cheek, "Jude!" she hissed.