Operation: Midnight Tango (21 page)

“Easy,” he whispered.

Carpenter contemplated her a moment, his expression amused and oddly affectionate. “You are your father’s daughter, aren’t you, my dear Emily?”

“I’m nothing like my father,” she said evenly.

“You are more than you realize. Adam Monroe was an idealistic fool.” Carpenter rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “It’s a shame you never knew the truth about him.”

“I know all I need to know.”

“Did you know he stumbled upon the preliminary plans for RZ-902 when we were working out of the women’s correction center? What has it been, fifteen years now? Did you know he found out we had done some preliminary experimentation on a few of the female inmates? Did you know he threatened to go to the police?”

Emily felt the words like a blow right between the eyes. Dazed, she stared at a man who’d been her fa
ther’s best friend. His professional ally and advocate. A man she’d trusted.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she whispered. “My father committed suicide. H-he was with a female inmate.”

“I’m afraid we had to eliminate poor Adam,” Carpenter said. “He was a good man. Too good. I hated destroying that squeaky-clean reputation of his. But I couldn’t let him take what he knew to the police, now, could I?”

She could feel her heart pounding wildly in her chest. Disbelief and fury rising in a violent tide. “Easy, Emily. Let it go,” Zack said quickly, touching her arm.

She shook off his hand. “I don’t believe you.”

“Yes, you do. I see it in your eyes.” Carpenter shook his head. “We gave him a choice, you know. Join forces with Lockdown, Inc. or face the consequences.” He shrugged. “He made the wrong decision.”

Tears stung her eyes, but she blinked them back. “You murdered him.”

“We made it look like suicide, of course. I’m afraid we also had to permanently silence the female inmate.” A smile whispered across his face. “She was the first of many.”

Emily couldn’t believe her ears. For fifteen years she’d believed her father had disgraced the uniform he’d worn by having a relationship with a female inmate. She’d believed he’d committed suicide instead of facing up to his mistakes. In reality, he’d
been trying to stop the same madman she and Zack were.

“You’re a monster,” she said.

“I’m a businessman,” he said, unfazed. “I have a product to develop and sell. When problems get in the way, I remove them.” He looked from her to Zack, then back to her. “You and Devlin have become a problem, Emily.” His eyes were as gray and cold as ice. “You see, the new generation of RZ-902 has not yet been tested on a female subject. We suspect there will be slight differences in the way the female nervous system responds.”

A chill went all the way to her bones when she realized what he was saying. She could feel the tremors moving through her body.

Raising his hand, Carpenter snapped his fingers. “Take her to the testing chamber.” He turned his gaze on Zack. “Take him directly to the crematorium and burn him alive.”

ZACK HAD ALWAYS BEEN GOOD at getting out of dire predicaments. He’d saved his own life and the lives of others by the skin of his teeth on more than one occasion. But for the life of him he didn’t know how he was going to get them out of this one. For the first time he seriously considered that both he and Emily would be killed, and no one would ever be the wiser.

Three men were holding high-powered rifles on him. Marcus Underwood was standing near the door. Clay Carpenter was standing a few feet away from Emily. Zack couldn’t take his eyes off her. He
couldn’t think of a single thing he could say or do that would stop what was about to happen.

From where he stood, he could see her trembling. He could see the rapid rise and fall of her breasts. He could hear the hiss of her breaths coming short and fast. When her gaze met his, he saw the terror in its depths. He wanted to touch her, to comfort her, to let her know everything was going to be all right. That he was going to get them out of this. If only he knew how….

“Let her go,” he heard himself say. “Take me. I’ll go willingly. I’ll do whatever you want. Just let her go.”

Carpenter and Underwood exchanged knowing looks, then Carpenter spoke. “She is lovely, isn’t she, Devlin?”

Zack met the other man’s gaze levelly. “Let her go.”

Carpenter grimaced, looking appropriately distressed. “I’m quite fond of her myself. But she knows too much.”

Zack wanted to rip the other man’s heart out. He could feel the rage rushing through his veins. He could feel his fists clenching with the urge to strangle Carpenter right then and there.

He used his last resort. “The agency I work for will hunt you down. They will not stop until your twisted scheme is as dead and buried as you.”

Every muscle in his body tensed when the door opened. Zack glanced over. Shock jumped through him at the sight of Avery Shaw. Surprise
gave way to confusion when he saw Shaw was alone. That he wasn’t armed. Then the truth hit him. Shaw had not come here as part of the MIDNIGHT team to break up an illegal weapons-testing facility.

“I see you’ve got everything under control.” Shaw’s gaze went to Zack.

It wasn’t often that Zack was totally surprised. But he was now. The realization that his friend Avery Shaw was the mole struck him like a sucker punch. “You’re the mole,” he said.

“Of course.”

“Why, Avery?”

“Let’s just say I owe you.” Shaw’s gaze went from Zack to Emily, then back to Zack. When Zack said nothing, Shaw shook his head. “Come on, Devlin, you’re quicker than that, aren’t you?”

Zack’s mind whirled with possibilities, but he couldn’t think of a single reason why Avery Shaw would double-cross him and get an innocent civilian killed in the process. It just didn’t make sense.

“I loved her, you know,” Shaw said.

The situation crystallized. The truth pummeled him like a thousand fists. “Alisa Hayes.”

A dark emotion flashed in Shaw’s eyes. “She and I were together. Then you stepped in and…you took her from me.”

Zack scrubbed a hand over his face. The pain of a friend’s betrayal cut him. “She came to me, Avery.”

“Lying bastard. You seduced her. You…slept with her. Then you got her killed, damn you.”

The old guilt churned even as Zack denied it. “I didn’t know.”

“They had to dig a bullet out of my spine because of you,” Shaw continued. “The doctors didn’t know if I’d ever walk again. Do you have any idea how difficult it was to leave the field to sit behind a desk? Do you have any idea how painful a spinal injury can be to a man?” He looked at Emily, a malicious smile spreading across his face. “I must say, this is one instance where the revenge is going to be sweet. I’m going to hurt her, Devlin. I’m going to enjoy watching you suffer.”

“Don’t do this, Avery,” Zack warned. “Enough people have died. Stop this now.”

Shaw glanced at the sandy-haired man with the rifle. “Cuff him. Cuff his feet, too. Watch him closely. He has a black belt.”

Marcus Underwood nodded. “I’ll have Dr. Lionel sedate them so they’ll be easier to handle.”

Shaw shook his head. “I don’t want them sedated,” he said coldly. “I want Devlin stone-cold sober when she starts screaming. I want him to hear her. Then I want him burned alive.” Hatred blazed in his eyes as he gazed at Zack. “I’ve waited two long years for this. By God, I want it to be worth the wait.”

Never in a hundred years would he have suspected Avery Shaw. The man had saved his life. He’d been a friend and confidant. Zack knew the spinal-cord injury had been hard on Shaw. But he never would have imagined the other man taking it to this level.

Zack looked at Emily and a different kind of guilt began to roil inside him. She stared back at him, her eyes wide with terror, her face the color of paste. He couldn’t bear the thought of her dying a long and painful death because of him. If he had to sacrifice his own life to save hers, he would do it.

He saw one of the men pull a set of stainless-steel cuffs from his belt. “Put your hands behind your back, Devlin.”

“Run to the tunnels,” he whispered to Emily out of earshot of the other men.

Tears shimmered in her eyes. “I’m not leaving you.”

“I have a plan,” he lied. “Now go. I’ll find you.”

“Give me your hands.” The man with the cuffs grasped his arm and turned him roughly.

Zack spun, brought his right foot up and knocked the man out cold with a single kick. Lunging, he punched one of the armed officers with a palm-heel strike to the nose. The man’s head snapped back, blood gushing. The man’s rifle flew from his arms. Zack went for the rifle. Out of the corner of his eye he saw an armed man swinging his gun muzzle toward him. And Emily streaking toward the door.

Zack’s fingers curled around the stock of the rifle. “Run!” he shouted to Emily and brought the gun up.

An explosion rocked his brain. For an instant Zack thought he’d gotten off a shot. Then the bullet seared into his side. Pain like he’d never felt before slammed through his body. An animalistic sound squeezed from his throat. But the pain was second
ary to the terror, because in his peripheral vision he saw Underwood lunge at Emily.

Clutching his side, Zack watched her fight off Underwood. A rise of elation went through him when she reached the door, swung it open.
Run!
Then a guard caught her. Zack watched in dismay as her arms were jerked behind her back, her wrists cuffed.

Dear God, no,
he thought.

Then the world faded to black.

THEY WERE GOING TO KILL HER. Emily knew that as surely as she felt the cold grip of the handcuffs around her wrists. But fear for her own life meant little to her in light of what had happened to Zack. She couldn’t believe he’d been shot. That she couldn’t go to him. That they were forcing her to leave him behind. Oh, dear God, she couldn’t walk away!

She struggled with the men dragging her into the hall. She screamed and cursed at them, but her efforts were in vain. “Let go of me!” she cried.

“Stop fighting!” one of the men shouted.

Jerking away from the sandy-haired man, she turned toward Underwood. “They shot him. Marcus, please, you can’t let him die. I’ll do anything. Just…dear God, he was bleeding.”

Another layer of horror and helplessness settled over her when Underwood only smiled. “Dear Emily, you’ve become quite fond of Mr. Devlin, haven’t you?”

Closing her eyes against the pain of knowing
Zack was badly injured and at the mercy of a man who hated him, she nodded. “I love him. Marcus, please, I’ll go willingly. Just…don’t let him die.”

For the first time Underwood looked uncomfortable. “It’s out of my hands, Emily.”

“No,” she said, her heart breaking.
“No!”

Underwood jerked his head at the sandy-haired man. “Just get her to the testing chamber.”

ZACK LAY ON HIS SIDE watching his own blood pool around him. Considering he’d been shot, he didn’t feel all that bad. The pain had faded to a dull, burning ache. He was dizzy and slightly nauseous, but by no means in agony.

Closing his eyes, he concentrated on the sounds around him. There was at least one person in the room. Zack didn’t know who it was, but he was a lot more concerned with whether or not they were armed. He wondered if he was able to get up.

Only one way to find out….

Groaning involuntarily, he rolled onto his back. He doubled over, seized with pain so intense he thought he was going to pass out.

“Not a very good feeling to be helpless and shot, is it, Devlin?”

Shaw. Cold-blooded bastard.
Zack opened one eye, found himself staring up at him. “No thanks to you,” he muttered, surprised by the feebleness of his own voice.

“We got her, you know.” Shaw squatted next to him, his elbows on his knees, and tilted his head to
make eye contact. “She says she loves you, Devlin. What do you make of that?”

“Good taste in men,” he said.

“A smart mouth to the end. Damn, I always respected you.” Shaw rose. “But it’s not going to help you. Or her.”

“What about Michaels and Vanderpol?” Zack asked, referring to the undercover agents MIDNIGHT had sent to the prison with him. “Are you going to kill them, too?”

“They’re in holding cells in the receiving area.” Shaw grimaced. “You see, we’re going to cover this up with a prison riot, Zack. Burn the bodies and the evidence. Truck the RZ-902 into Canada. And let the prisoners take care of the rest.”

“Pretty clever for a psychopath.” Zack watched him walk to the desk and pick up the set of handcuffs the security personnel had left behind.

“I think I’ll just put these on you until they come back for you,” Shaw said.

“I’m not going to do squat,” Zack said, purposefully making his voice sound even weaker. “I’m bleeding out. Why don’t you just sit back and enjoy the show?”

Shaw smiled, but his expression remained bitter. “Maybe I will. After I cuff you.” He walked over to Zack and squatted. “Turn over on your stomach and give me your hands.”

“Okay, just…” Zack groaned, let his voice trail. “Give me a minute, will you?”

“Not a chance.” Roughly, enjoying Zack’s pain a little too much, Shaw forced him onto his stomach.

Zack used the momentum to roll. Before Shaw could respond, Zack brought up both legs and plowed his feet into the other man’s chest. Shaw reeled backward. Zack leaped to his feet. Dizziness stole through him, but he quickly shook it off. Before Shaw could rise, Zack landed another kick to the other man’s chin. Shaw’s head snapped back. Another punch to his jaw sent him sprawling to the floor. Snatching up the handcuffs, Zack closed one end around Shaw’s wrist, the other end to the file cabinet drawer pull.

“That ought to keep you for a while,” Zack muttered as he started toward the door.

Hatred seethed in the other man’s eyes. “You’ll never get out of here alive.”

“Maybe not,” he said, “but at least I’ll have my soul.”

Chapter Eighteen

Emily tried every self-defense tactic she’d learned in the course of her training, but she was no match for the two large men dragging her toward the gurney.