Whispers in the Dark (38 page)

Nathan put his hand on Joe’s shoulder and looked him in the eye. “Just focus on her. Think about her and remember what that pathway felt like. Then open your mind and call for her.”

Joe took a deep breath. “Okay then. I’m going to do it.”

Resnick stopped his pacing and moved in close to where Joe and Nathan stood with Swanny. Nathan’s lip curled in distaste, but Resnick was focused on Joe, watching as Joe drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes.

Around them, the others leaned forward, some taking steps to get closer to Joe. There was intense curiosity but also determination on everyone’s faces. Quiet descended until the only sound that could be heard was breathing.

Joe sucked in his breath and then exhaled long and slow. He purposely blanked his mind in preparation. He didn’t want any distractions. This was important. Nathan was suffering. Shea was suffering. If he could somehow get through to Shea, then he could help them both.

He closed his eyes, and the rest of the room fell away. His awareness of the others became dim as he focused solely on that pathway to Shea. When he was completely relaxed and felt the sensation of familiarity, he sent out a cautious inquiry.

Shea? Can you hear me? It’s Joe.

He kept it short, fearful of causing her unbearable pain. He waited, his breath held, his fingers curled into tight fists.

At first there was quiet and then he felt a slight stirring in his mind. It was unlike anything he’d ever felt before. A burst of warmth, but with that warmth came a flood of terror, panic and clawing pain.

He flinched but held on to that pathway with every part of himself. Immediately he could see her surroundings. Felt what she felt. Experienced all she was experiencing.

She was being held in a long, plastic tube that opened from the top. Steel bands clamped around her wrists, ankles and neck. He could feel the horrible panic over the belief that she would choke.

Dear God. He didn’t even know what to do to try to make her feel better, to take away the awful fear that ate at her sanity.

She closed her eyes and everything went black. He could feel her battle to remain calm.

Open your eyes, Shea. Open them for me, sweetheart. Let me see what you see.

There were electrodes attached to her head. When she opened her eyes, he saw through them to the machines monitoring her brain activity. She was trying valiantly to keep her mind quiet, but one of the lines spiked too high and suddenly he was assaulted with an electrical shock that sent him to his knees.

He folded over, holding his stomach with his arms, and then he had to put one down to the floor to prevent himself from pitching forward.

“Oh my God,” he rasped out, each word laced with pain.

“What is it?” Nathan demanded. “Goddamn it, Joe, talk to me. What’s going on?”

Joe held up his hand to silence his brother. He couldn’t lose concentration now. Not now. He had to fix this. He had to find a way. He was so fucking furious that she was being treated like some kind of an animal that he wanted to kill someone.

He tried to soothe her, sending her waves of comfort and love, but it was hard when his mind screamed revenge and retribution. He forced the blackness away and brought to mind all the things that made him happy.

Summer rains. A good book in a hammock. A day of fishing on the lake. Hanging out with his brothers. Seeing his mom and dad again. Knowing that Nathan was alive and coming home.

Then he forced that comfort to Shea and once again spoke to her.

Nathan is with me. Try to remain calm. Don’t speak back to me yet. Just listen. Gather your strength. Focus on the one thing that will help us the most in finding you.

Focus, Shea. Will the pain to go away. You’re strong. You can do this. Nathan and I are coming for you. Do you understand me? We’re going to get you back and then we’re going to take apart those sons of bitches who hurt you.

Breathe, baby girl. Breathe and calm yourself. And then I want you to think about the one thing you can tell me. Don’t even say it through your mind. Just picture it. Close your eyes and imagine what it looks like. I’ll see what you see.

She closed her eyes, shutting off his vision of her surroundings. She relaxed and some of the pain faded away, leaving her weak and shaky. Her nerve endings twitched and her fingers jumped spasmodically. Those fucking bastards. He’d take great pleasure in making them suffer for what they had done to her.

Slowly, the blackness drifted away and he got the sense of being outside. He bobbed up and down. It felt like someone was carrying him and then he realized he was reliving Shea’s memory. What she wanted to show him.

The surroundings came into view. Mountains. Crisp, clean air. The scent of pine. Cool temperatures. He shivered as the chill crept over his skin. Gravel crunched underneath the feet of the man carrying her. A doorway. Slowly her gaze drifted higher, above the door.

UFV5591

Then everything went black again.

“Uniform, Foxtrot, Victor, five, five, niner, one,” he said urgently. Then he repeated it again until he heard Swanny say from seemingly a mile away that he’d gotten it down.

I’ve got it, Shea
, he said gently.
Rest now. Save your strength. We’ll find you. Cooperate with them. Don’t do anything to
anger them. Stay alive. We’ll come for you.

He wiped his face and took several deep breaths in an effort to clear his mind. He felt so goddamn weak. He didn’t know how Nathan managed to maintain any lengthy communication with her.

Swanny and Nathan hauled him to his feet, and he sank into the chair that Donovan had shoved forward. He put his face forward into his hands and leaned over, still trying to put it all together.

Nathan took the chair next to him and pushed it so he sat face-to-face with his brother. Joe was pale and shaking. He finally raised his head so that his gaze met Nathan’s, and Nathan saw something there he didn’t like. Worry.

“Tell me,” Nathan bit out.

The others gathered silently, all waiting for Joe to relate what he’d discovered.

Joe looked pissed. Angrier than Nathan had seen him in a long time. But he also looked raw and worried. Nathan’s gut knotted because he was scared to death to know what Joe had found out.

Joe lifted his gaze to Nathan, pain still reflected in his eyes. “They have her in some goddamn cage. It’s like some futuristic cryotube or something. It’s narrow and long, plastic or glass. See-through and it opens from the top.

“She can’t move. She has clamps around her wrists and ankles and also at her neck. That’s the one that causes her panic because she feels like she’s constantly choking.”

Rage exploded in Nathan’s mind until he shook worse than Joe did. Swanny put his hand on Nathan’s shoulder in an effort to calm him.

“It’s worse, man,” Joe said in a low voice. “They have electrodes attached to her head that monitor her brain wave activity. That’s why when you try to talk to her, she suffers so horribly. She gets an electrical shock every time her brain activity spikes above a certain level. They’ve tried to disable her ability to speak to anyone. To ask for help.”

Nathan upended his chair and he shot upward. “Son of a bitch!” Tears burned his eyelids. He was so furious and so damn scared for her that he didn’t even know what to do. He was unraveling at the seams as fear choked the breath out of him.

Oh God, the thought of her in such pain, and the awful fear she experienced every waking moment, was more than he could bear. He had to get to her. Whatever it took.

He turned back to Joe, his fingers balled, seething with rage and sorrow. “What are those numbers? What do they mean?”

Joe didn’t look any better. Now that he’d had that connection with Shea, he’d experienced everything she was going through, and you only had to look at Joe to know it was hell.

“I told her to close her eyes and try to remember anything that would help us locate her. I didn’t want her to try and say anything telepathically. I just wanted her to remember something,
anything
, and hopefully I would be able to pick up on it through my link to her.

“She remembered being carried. She was dimly aware of her surroundings. Mountains. Scent of pine. Cooler temperatures. And then she looked at the door leading into the building and those letters and numbers I recited were above the door.”

“That’s it?” Nathan asked in frustration.

“It might be enough,” Resnick said slowly.

Nathan jerked his head in Resnick’s direction. “What do you mean?”

Resnick walked over to his computer and rapidly typed in a series of commands. In a moment, he brought up a picture of what looked to be a compound carved into the side of a mountain.

“That’s it!” Joe said excitedly. He lunged toward the monitor and pointed as he looked back at Nathan. “That’s it. See the numbers above the door?”

“Okay, so what the fuck is it?” Sam asked, for the first time pushing into the conversation.

Resnick clutched the back of his neck and rested the curled length of his arm against the side of his head.

“It’s where this all began.”

CHAPTER 39

 
“I
guess what they say is true. Anything the government wants to hide, they stick in New Mexico,” Garrett muttered.

Nathan didn’t say anything. He was staring out the window of the SUV as they sped the remaining distance from where they’d landed toward the Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range. Wheeler Peak was the highest mountain in the range and the highest peak in New Mexico, but it was one of the lesser mountains that housed the top-secret research facility.

While hikers flocked to the more popular areas, the research facility was in a nondescript, hard-to-find valley, and access was only available from the south.

According to Resnick, the facility had been closed for years and the project had been shelved after the Petersons escaped with Grace and Shea. But now Nathan doubted just how much Resnick really knew.

“I think we’re idiots for trusting him,” Ethan said, not even bothering to disguise his hostility as he stared Resnick down.

Resnick fiddled with a cigarette but didn’t light it, probably because Sam was giving him an “I dare you” look.

“I’m probably going to lose my job over this,” Resnick snapped. “I don’t give a goddamn if you trust me or not. I’ll be lucky if I don’t do jail time for this shit. Depending on how far up the line this goes, I might have already signed my death warrant. Now if you think that’s dramatic, fuck you. People have been silenced for far less. You’ll need to watch
your
asses after this.”

A sick knot formed in Nathan’s stomach. He didn’t want this for his family. He didn’t want them to have to worry that in a week or a month or even a year they or the people they loved could be taken out all because they got involved in this thing with him and Shea.

Nathan looked up to see Sam’s gaze boring a hole through him. There was reprimand in that stare, almost as if he knew exactly what Nathan was thinking.

“I don’t give a goddamn if it means we have to move to some remote island that’s not even on the map. There is no fucking way I’m going to lie down while someone in my family needs my help. I’d do it for Sophie, Rachel and Sarah. I’d sure as hell do it for the woman you’re going to marry.”

“You are going to marry her, aren’t you?” Donovan asked dryly. “Tell me I’m not busting my ass here and you end up not having the balls to propose.”

“Swear to God, you two need to shut the fuck up,” Nathan said around the knot in his throat.

He was overwhelmed by the unwavering support of his family. Even when he’d done his best to push them away. Even when he didn’t deserve the sacrifices they made for him. They were still there. Always there. No conditions. No questions asked.

“I expect a goddamn invitation,” Resnick cut in. “I’ll be out of a job. I’ll want the free booze.”

“Holy shit, did he just make a joke?” Donovan asked. “Mr. Uptight, makes Garrett look like a poster child for serenity, made a joke?”

“Fuck you,” Resnick said in disgust. “I’ve put up with your shit for years. The upside of unemployment is that I won’t have to see any of your sorry asses again.”

“Make that a double fuck you,” Garrett said darkly. “I’m sure there was an insult aimed at me somewhere in all that.”

“Resnick’s missing us already,” Ethan said solemnly. “I think I might have a tear or two.”

The vehicles pulled to a stop and silence fell. Expressions went completely serious. Tension vibrated through the SUV holding Nathan, Resnick and his brothers.

SUVs pulled up on either side of them. One carrying Kyle Phillips and his team. The other carried Steele and his team along with Swanny.

They got out and, after conducting a weapons check, gathered at the front of the vehicles. Resnick stood with Sam in front of the three groups.

Resnick held up a topo map and pointed to a low-lying area that led north into an area surrounded by three higher peaks on all sides. “We’re here. We could drive in. This road goes on for another mile before you turn off onto a dirt road leading to the compound. It used to be heavily monitored. Video surveillance. Iron gate. Lots of no trespassing, dire warnings, property of the U.S. government, et cetera, et cetera, all the usual ‘keep the fuck away from here or we’ll shoot your ass’ type of stuff.

“If it’s being used again, I can’t imagine they aren’t employing the same security measures and I’d imagine they’ve beefed them up.”

“I still don’t get it,” Garrett said. “It seems awfully stupid to go back to the same facility they used before. Risky at best.”