Touching Darkness (28 page)

“Not without the antidotes.” If something happened to Richard…she couldn't chance losing the only way she knew to save Lucas. “I need at least two of them.” One for Eric, too.

“I'll prepare them now. Then you must leave. I don't want anything connecting you to us, even a phone number. But I will give you ours so you can contact us later. Then I'll give you the rest of the antidotes.” He sprinted to the lab.

Lachlan stepped up, his mouth in a bitter snarl. “She brought them here. They probably tracked her.”

Amy wasn't about to be cowed by his bitterness. “If one of our people found you, one of Darkwell's can, too.”

Magnus held his brother back, his hand on his upper chest. “Don't blame her. We knew it was inevitable. It's why Dad has prepared us all of these years.” He looked at Amy. “We have a safe room. Even if Darkwell finds our house, he won't find us.”

Richard burst out of the lab and handed her a box. “There are two syringes and my phone number. Check with me in a few days.” He looked at his sons. “Magnus, walk her to her car. Lachlan, help me prepare the lab. I can't let Darkwell find my notes.” He turned to her. “I never told him about my wife's pregnancies. They happened at the end of the program, when things were falling apart. The boys
took my wife's maiden name, MacLeod, to add an extra layer of protection. Darkwell must not know about them.” He waved for Lachlan to follow him to the lab.

Box clutched in her arms, Amy ran back into the house, Magnus shadowing her. She gathered her things and left. She still hadn't found out what the substance in the Booster was. And she might not ever if Richard didn't survive.

G
erard was hunched over a map with three of his hired mercenaries when Pope walked in. The men stared at the six-foot-five man with shaved head and eyes an unusual shade of violet-blue.

“Excuse us for a minute,” Gerard told the men, who got up and left.

When the door closed, Pope said, “Andrus is here.”

“How did you know?”

“I know, just as I know that his being here will bring much trouble. But I have a proposition for you. You can change what will happen if you send him back to prison now and cease all contact with him.”

“You know? You can see the future?”

Pope had always been evasive as to who he was and what he could do. He had never alluded to the fact that he had any psychic abilities, and yet, somehow the men who'd been injured had miraculously healed without any memory of the ordeal, or of working for him. Gerard could hardly push for answers when Pope was helping him.

“Yes, and yours is very bleak indeed. But it can be changed, as I said.”

Gerard felt that twitch he got whenever Pope tried to take control of his program. His supposed prediction was
meant to scare him into complying. Gerard wouldn't be cowed.

Pope continued, “I found another Offspring, one you will never find. I will give you his name if you comply.”

A new Offspring: Gerard's mouth salivated at the prospect. He wasn't going to ask questions. He knew Pope wouldn't offer any more information until he
complied.
He was already planning to find Nicholas's sister, though Darkwell wasn't too hopeful in bringing her over, at least voluntarily.

“I'll consider it.”

Pope's eyes narrowed, and Gerard saw an expression he'd never seen before: a childlike smile.

“I must go.”

Pope stepped out without even a good-bye, which was fine with Gerard. Sayre Andrus had found Richard Wallace when he'd gotten into Amy's dreams and had her roam the house for clues. Andrus was going to be his salvation. And when nothing terrible happened, and Andrus either returned to prison or was killed in an accident, Pope would admit he'd been wrong. Maybe not in so many words, but in giving him that name.

Soon his daughter would be back. All he had to do was get her under his control, and she would return to her senses. If she didn't come on her own, Braden's death would shatter the spell she was under. Gerard would treat this like a hormonal rage and let her grovel for forgiveness.

He smiled. Soon all the Rogues would be dead, and he could finally move ahead on his plans to save the country.

 

“This is too easy,” Olivia whispered, as they stepped into the clearing surrounding a white, windowless building in the woods. It wasn't large, but it was tall, and flecks shimmered in the paint. It bore no identification of any kind. There was no gate or imposing signs about trespassers being shot at the road's entrance. No security cameras
were visible, no sign of an alarm system. “What if it's a trap?”

“We shoot our way out of it.”

Nicholas had remote-viewed it from above and even looked inside the building. There was no sign of anyone, as though the place had been abandoned, but no weeds had sprung up through cracks in the asphalt.

He tightened his hand on the gun he'd taken from the men in the woods. He looked at Olivia, her beautiful face creased with worry. “You should go back to the car.”

“No way. I'm part of this.”

Now that she had taken control of her life, she was stubborn. He wasn't going to argue with her. “We go in, take a look, and get out. No more than five minutes.”

He looked at his watch and nodded toward the door. It wasn't locked. The place had an eerie feel, as though someone was expecting them.

He snapped on the lights and suppressed a whistle, seeing clearly what he'd glimpsed psychically: shelf upon shelf lined the walls with no visible way to reach them. The shelves he could see were covered in pieces of what he could only guess were recovered experimental aircraft. Each had a tag identifying a location and a code. Some pieces were large, more than forty feet long. The piece he remembered seeing the eye on was about two feet in length. He set his mind to find it, no longer worried about Olivia seeing his eyes.

She picked up a piece of broken metal. “You're right. I've never seen steel like this. What is our government working on?”

“Stuff they don't want the enemy to know about. Or the public.”

She set one shard down and picked up another. “That's why I always suppressed my curiosity about what my father was up to. I respect that there are things that can't be made public.”

He climbed up one of the shelves to reach the third one up. “I found it.” He reached over and pulled at it. “Damn, it's heavy. I can't imagine what this metal is being used for in an aircraft.”

She climbed up the center of the shelves and came up right in front of it. “Is that the same eye Zoe tattooed on everyone?”

His heart thrummed. “Exactly the same, even the color blue. The slashes could be interpreted as an R, but they could be something else, too. So how does a tattoo artist know about the symbol used on a top secret experimental aircraft?”

A vibration rippled through his body, and he instinctively turned toward the door. The sight of the man standing there sent his heart racing. Pope.

“Did you find what you were looking for, Nicholas Braden?” he asked in a calm, deep voice.

Olivia gasped and slipped down the two shelves to the floor, landing on her feet.

Nicholas jumped down, not wanting her more than an inch away from him. He drew the gun but kept it pointing down. “We didn't take anything.”

The man's expression didn't hint at anger, curiosity, or, oddly, anything. “I know.”

Nicholas took Olivia's hand, wanting her out of there. “We're leaving.” He gave the man a wide berth, ready for him to try to stop them.
Stupid, bringing her in here.

Pope never moved, even when they passed within a few feet of him. The vibration, however, got stronger. They cleared the door and broke out into a run. He looked back once. Pope remained by the open doorway watching them.

They didn't slow down until they reached the car. He threw it into gear and tore out onto the highway. They were both panting with fear.

She was watching behind them, her eyes wide. “No one's coming out. Nicholas, that was weird. Beyond weird. He
didn't try to stop us from leaving or even ask what we were doing.”

“Did you feel him?”

“Feel him?”

“That was how I knew he was there. I felt this vibration go through me, like maybe what you'd feel if you touched a live wire but not painful. I felt it when I was around him before, but not so intense.”

She shook her head. “I didn't feel anything like that.”

He glanced in the rearview mirror, seeing no suspicious vehicles behind them. “How did he know we were there? For that matter, I didn't see a vehicle anywhere.”

“It was like he appeared out of thin air.” She shivered. “The man always gave me the creeps. Oh, there was one thing I didn't tell you when you asked about him at the estate. I walked into my father's office and saw Pope reading files on you and Jerryl. I couldn't believe he would allow anyone to read those files.”

Nicholas took that in with a grim expression. “I'm confused. The question is, why did he let us go?”

“I don't know, but I'm glad he did. I wonder if he'll tell my father I was there.”

Nicholas was going to go back without Olivia. He wanted more answers. “I hope you've changed your mind about going to your father. I called your cousin. She's very excited to see you.”

“You shouldn't have.”

“You can't stop me from trying to protect you, Livvie. It's what I am.” He looked away for a moment, preparing himself. “I found your mother.”

Her expression changed from irritated to stunned. “Is she…?”

“Dead. I'm sorry. I know where her remains are. I searched after I saw her picture. They're not far from here.”

She swallowed, sadness marring her face now. “I want to go.”

“We can't touch them, or dig them up if they're not vis
ible. I doubt there's much there, after all these years. The police will have to be notified.”

She put her hand to her mouth. “She was murdered, wasn't she?”

“Probably. Unless she often went hiking out in the woods alone.”

“I doubt it.”

They drove in silence, she deep in thought. He pulled off a dirt road forty minutes later, then parked. He tuned in, allowing his instincts to lead him. She followed, and for an hour they trudged through the forest with only the bottles of water they'd bought at a gas station.

He came to a stop and circled, trying to get a feel for the exact location. “She's here.” His soft words were swallowed in the rustle of leaves and birdcalls of the forest.

She was turning in circles, too, as though she were trying to sense her mother's presence.

He walked three yards away and dropped to his knees. His hands waved over the ground. “Here. Down about four feet.”

She knelt beside him, placing her hands on the rich dirt and loam. They were trembling. He gave her time to absorb, to mourn the loss of the shred of hope of finding her alive. He knew that hope, and he knew how it left a gaping hole inside when it was torn away. When a tear dropped to the soil, he pulled her into his arms.

“I wish she'd been alive.”

“Me, too.” Her voice was thick with emotion. “But I had a feeling…” She wiped at her eyes and looked at him. “Thank you. Ever since you asked me how far I'd go to find the truth about my mother, I've felt that hunger to know. How are you going to explain finding her remains?”

“I'll make it a Bone Finder investigation.” He turned to her. “Your father will be implicated.”

“I know.” Her face was rigid now.

“If he could do this…do you really want to go back?”

“More than ever I need to convince him to let the Rogues go.” She braced her hands on his face. “I'm your only hope. The Rogues' only hope. I know my father. If he has a goal, he'll achieve it. His goal right now is to kill all of you. I'm going to change it.”

 

Olivia returned to the estate only after making sure Sayre was locked in his quarters. She wasn't going to stay the night there.

Nicholas dropped her off at the estate, but she waited thirty minutes before ringing the buzzer at the front gate to give him time to get far away. She went to her suite first and showered, dressed in clean clothes, and was finally ready to face her father. She knocked on his office door and opened it without waiting for his invitation. He was on the phone. “That sounds good. Keep me informed.” He hung up and leaned back in his chair. “I hope this means you've come to your senses.”

She walked up to his desk, bracing her hands on the edge. “Yes, I have definitely come to my senses.”

“I have put my life into raising you. I took care of you, loved you, and taught you what you needed to know. You broke my heart when you ran off with Braden.” He rubbed his chest. “I hope you can live with the fact that you shaved ten years off my life.”

The old fear of losing her father reared itself. “Have you had chest pains?”

“I'm sure they're only heartbreak pains.”

She ignored the jab. “Seriously, Father, are you having chest pains?”

He released a breath. “Just some tightness. It's hard to sleep or eat when your daughter's gone AWOL.”

Was he playing her? Damn, she could see he was and yet, she still felt the panic. “I'm sorry I worried you.”

“Worried
me? You made me crazy, Olivia! You didn't just dally with the gardener's son. You ran off with the enemy, for God's sake. You betrayed me, your family, and your country. You made off-the-wall accusations about a man who is under guard. You got in the way of my eliminating a problem.”

“You mean Nicholas.”

“If he isn't stopped, he'll destroy me. You were with people who want your father dead.”

She couldn't deny that.

“You are my daughter. I love you more than anything.”

Those words softened her, but she had to ask, “More than DARK MATTER?”

He hesitated. “Those are two totally different things. The program is going to save our country. You would want me to choose between that and you?”

She sank into the chair in front of his desk. He really did believe that. Was it true?

He walked around the desk and leaned against the edge in front of her. “I need you. I need the woman who held this place together, who took care of me, the woman who used to be that little girl I devoted my life to.”

He was using the past to manipulate her, and she saw so clearly that he'd been doing it since she could remember. How much did she owe him for being her father? “I'll come back and be your trusted assistant on three conditions: I know everything. Get rid of Sayre Andrus, call him off. I won't work with him in the house. And—”

“You're being irrational. Besides, he's only going to be here for another month or so.” Until the Rogues were dead. “I'm prepared to forget everything you've done. Going AWOL from the CIA, consorting with the enemy, all of it. No one need know, not even our family. On
one
condition: Tell me everything you learned about them.”

The unspoken threat was clear. If she didn't cooperate, he would tell the family. Her betrayal would be unforgivable. She could not let him keep the upper hand.

“So, I can earn your forgiveness by telling you where they are so you can kill them.” Which opposed her third condition.
Like hell.

He continued. “If you help me do that, Andrus goes, and I tell you everything.”

They were at an impasse. She needed to get what she could before he forced her to refuse. “I saw the warehouse. The eye.”