Touching Darkness (29 page)

“The what?” So Pope hadn't mentioned it. “What's the eye?”

She backpedaled. “Tell me what DARK MATTER is and let me decide who's right and who's wrong.”

He studied her. “I can't trust you.” His anguished words cut right into her. “You will have to earn it. By telling me everything.”

Her words were just as tightly strung as his. “I can't trust you, either.”

He let out a disappointed sigh. “You're going to make this hard, aren't you? What if I promise not to kill Nicholas?”

“No, all of them. You destroyed their families. You were responsible for the deaths of their parents. They only want the truth. And so do I.”

“I can see you haven't returned to your senses at all. Time will take care of that. I've sheltered you for too long in my misguided attempt to protect and love you. So when the first man who fires your interest comes along, you're willing to throw away everything—your family, your career—to be with him.”

Olivia stood. “This isn't about lust. Or even love. This is about the truth. Where is my car? Last I saw it, Sayre had me drive it to the park, then he took it somewhere when Nicholas showed up to save me.”

“Lucas, you mean. Your car was found in a parking lot near here.”

“Of course. So Sayre could get back before you checked on him.”

He shook his head. “You give him way too much credit.”

She stood. “And you don't give me enough. You can't manipulate me anymore.”

The phone rang. He held up a finger and answered it. “Yes?…Excellent. Was he alone?…Too bad. Bring him in and down to the basement. Good work.” He hung up, a smile on his face.

Her heart was about to implode. “Who?”

“Not your precious Braden. Yet.”

“I'm leaving.” She opened the door and came face to chest with one of the guards. “Excuse me.”

He didn't budge. She turned around. “Make him move.”

“Take her to her quarters.”

“What?
”

The man took hold of her arm in a boa-constrictor grip. “Yes, sir.”

She spun around. “You are not—”

“Olivia, you need to spend some time thinking about what you've done. Soon the Rogues will be no more. You'll have to let go of your infatuation and come back to reality. For now you're on administrative leave because of mental illness. I'll have a doctor attest to your unstable behavior. Your suite has been, shall I say, safeguarded. You cannot leave, you cannot make any calls.” He looked at the guard. “Check her for weapons or phones. With respect, please.”

She tried to hip-check the man, but he wouldn't let up. She glared at her father. “You bastard!” She feared, most of all, that he would win—and the Rogues would die. She had to think.

The man patted her down, finding her cell phone. He tossed it to her father. “Nothing else.” He walked her down the hall, past the curving staircase, and to the east wing. Her prison.

She continued to struggle, knowing it was futile. She
spotted his cell phone clipped to his waistband. Just as they reached her door, she put up a bigger fight, kicking, screaming, and, in the melee, grabbing his cell phone.

“Don't make me hurt you,” he said as he shoved her into her room.

The door closed with a resounding thud. What was Nicholas's number? It was programmed into her phone.
Come on, remember! That thug is going to realize his phone is gone before long.

The number came in pieces. She punched the buttons, fumbling and missing the third one. She had to clear and start over. Her fingers were trembling.

She dialed the number. It rang.

The key slid into the lock.

She ran into the bathroom. Ring three. “Answer, dammit!”

The door opened just as she slammed the bathroom door closed and locked it.

“Livvie?”

“Yes, it's me.”

“I went back to the building to explore it more, but it's gone. I'm at the exact spot where the gate was, but there's no gate, no road. No nothing.”

“I don't have time to talk. My dad captured someone. I don't know who it is, but he's going to be put in the basement. You were right. He's locking me in my suite.”

“He's keeping you prisoner?”

“Yes.”

“He's mad, Livvie.”

The man started pounding at the door.

“What's that?”

“I borrowed the guard's phone, and he wants it back. I'm all right, but I wanted you to know because I won't be able to talk to you until I figure a way out of here. And he has the phone you gave me.”

“I'm getting you out of there.”

“No! That's what he wants. At least Sayre can't get me to go anywhere. I'm locked in.”

She heard his frustrated expletive just as the door cracked open.

A
s soon as Nicholas walked into the tomb, he scanned the group sitting around the living area. They looked tense but not upset like they would if someone was missing.

“Is everything all right?” he asked.

Lucas and Amy were faced off, clearly not in a loving moment.

Petra said, “Amy just got back from Wallace's.”

Lucas's hard gaze was on Amy, ignoring everyone else. “What you did was stupid. He could have killed you.”

“But he didn't.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Now you know how I felt when you were hurting and didn't tell me.”

His face was a taut mask of anger. “I didn't run off and put myself in danger against your wishes.”

“I did it for you. And your making Eric promise to kill you
is
putting yourself in danger against my wishes.” She pointed to a box. “This is better than you dying, either from the storm of images or Eric.”

Nicholas jerked his gaze to Eric, who waved away the insane comment.

“And you trust this?” Lucas pulled out a syringe and pointed it at her. “The last time someone injected something into me, it screwed me up. You don't know what's in this. We don't know what Wallace is up to. Throw them
away, because I'm not taking it. Who's the second one for? Not you, I hope.”

“He was going to make enough for everyone, but they sensed danger coming.”

Lucas shook his head. “More than ever I need my ability. I tried to kill Sayre in his dreams. He kicked me out, but I'm going to try again.”

“The antidote might not take away your abilities. Magnus still has his.”

She touched his arm, but he shrugged her off. “I'll never forget how I felt when I found out you were gone. It was like I didn't even know you.”

She swiped at her tears. “I'm going to do whatever I can to save you, Lucas. You should know that much about me by now.”

Nicholas's heart broke for her. Hadn't he seen that kind of devotion on Olivia's face? These women who would risk their lives for their men. The men who would risk their lives for their women.

Lucas leaned into her face. “You can't save me. I warned you that the Booster had messed me up, and we shouldn't get emotionally involved. You said you could handle it. Running off to some wacko scientist is not handling it. Eric's right; we shouldn't let our emotions get the best of us. Having him take me out is the safest thing for everyone. If I hurt you, I would never forgive myself. And right now, I don't know if I can forgive
you.
”

It looked as though his words had lanced her with a knife.

Nicholas couldn't listen anymore. “No one is taking anyone out.”

Lucas and Amy looked at him as though they'd just now realized he was there, that anyone else was there.

Lucas's voice was low when he said to Amy, “We'll discuss this later.”

Nicholas addressed all of them. “Livvie went back to her father's estate.”

Eric shot up from the couch. “I knew she was a traitor! We've got to get out of here. How long ago?”

“She went back to plead our case, but her father's keeping her prisoner there.” He'd never forget the cracking sound, her gasp, then the phone going dead. Fear pulsed through him like a drumbeat. “She was able to call me. She said he'd captured someone.”

Amy's hand went to her mouth. “Richard Wallace. Did she say one man or three? He has two sons.”

“She said
he's
going to be put in the basement.”

Eric said, “It's a setup. She knows you'll come rescue her.”

“She told me not to come.” But how could he leave her there, vulnerable to the madness that was her father. He wasn't sure Darkwell would stop at killing her now that she was a traitor, too. Those bones in the ground were probably proof of his anger.

Amy said, “Regardless of whether she's on her father's side or not, Darkwell could be expecting us. He might think Nicholas will rescue her and, since he knows I was with Wallace, that we could go in to rescue him. I'm calling the number he gave me.”

She went into the computer room and dialed a number. Everyone followed, crowding into the small room.

A man answered, and she said, “It's Amy. Who's this?”

“Magnus.”

“Did Darkwell—”

“His men came in and grabbed my dad. We were in the safe room. He knew Darkwell would have his men focus on the lab. Dad was worried about the Astrids. He ran over to put all the mice in a cage and bring them down. That was when it happened.” His voice broke when he said, “We watched it, but we couldn't get out to help him. He'd locked us in.”

A man was screaming in the background, but his words were unintelligible. Amy clicked on the
MUTE
button. “That's Wallace's other son, Lachlan.”

“What's he saying?” Petra asked.

“Probably blaming me for bringing Darkwell there, and he may be right. I was thinking about it on the drive back. Sayre might have come into my dreams and had me look for something that told them where his place was.”

Lucas's face reddened with rage, but he said nothing.

She clicked the button again. “Are you still locked in?”

“No, the timer allowed us to unlock it. The lab's a mess, but the rest of the house is all right. It's Dad we're worried about.”

“We know where he's being held.” She looked at Nicholas. “But it's dangerous to go in.”

Nicholas walked closer. “When I go in for Olivia, I'll find the basement. Maybe I can get him out of there, too.”

To the computer microphone, Amy said, “Magnus, did you hear that?”

“Yeah, but what if he doesn't succeed? We may not have a lot of time. Darkwell only has one reason for taking Dad: to kill him. Dad has no skills for Darkwell to use, and he sure isn't going to cooperate. We need to know where the place is and get him out.”

Amy said, “We should coordinate our efforts.”

Eric pinched her shoulder. “Don't start volunteering us. I'm not willing to risk my ass for the enemy's daughter. Why should I do it for the guy who invented the Booster?”

“Give us a minute, Magnus.” She muted the microphone and faced Eric. “Because he's the only one who knows what's in it and how to make the antidote. If he dies, we'll never find out. And with Wallace's sons, we've got a bigger force to go in with. You can find Darkwell.”

Eric turned to the others. “Who here is going to take this antidote? I'm sure as hell not.”

Lucas shook his head, and slowly the others did, too.

Amy turned to Eric. “Sleeplessness is one of the symptoms of the Booster psychosis. Wallace said his son was having the same problem. And then he killed his mother.”

“There's just a lot going on. I'm not having any thoughts of killing people, other than the bad guys.”

Lucas said, “Forget the antidote, Amy. Even Wallace admits it's unstable. For all we know, it could make us worse.”

Eric leaned down in Amy's face. “I want Darkwell, but you're not going to use that to get me to do something stupid, and going in with that son of a bitch waiting for us is just plain stupid.”

Amy tilted her head. “
Now
you get sensible.”

“And you're the one so narrow-minded with your idea to save Lucas that you're going over the edge. You're not seeing the whole picture. He's not going to take that stuff. And maybe we don't ever find out what's in the Booster, but knowing may not help anyway.”

Nicholas stepped between Eric and Amy. “I'll get Olivia out tonight. We can decide what to do next.”

Lucas put his hand on Nicholas's shoulder. “What makes you think you can slip in there unnoticed when he's expecting you?”

“Sayre did. I'll find the guards' positions and circumvent them. I know where she'll be. I'll climb up her balcony.”

“Go in armed, Romeo. Those guys will take you down in a heartbeat.”

Nicholas nodded. “I have two guns. I took them from Darkwell's men when they found us.”

Amy turned back to the computer. “Magnus, give us tonight to see what Nicholas can find out.”

Once she'd hung up, they filtered out to the living area.

Eric faced the group. “Maybe lover-boy here believes in Darkwell's daughter, but I don't. We don't hear from him, we get out of here and watch the tomb, see if
Olivia's told her father where we are. If Nicholas manages to bring her back, we've got leverage. He touches us, and his daughter gets it.” He looked at Nicholas. “It's a bluff.”

Lucas pushed a lock of Amy's gelled hair from her cheek. “I'm going to work with Nicholas in the shooting range. We'll get some sleep tonight and be ready for whatever happens tomorrow.”

Zoe stepped closer to Nicholas. “Did you find the eye?”

He told them about the disappearing building, the piece of odd metal, and Pope.

Petra smacked her forehead. “Oh, no, another enemy!”

“I don't know. He didn't try to stop us. The question is, who is he?”

Zoe turned her right wrist and stared at the eye. “And how the hell did I know about this?”

 

Gerard looked up at the knock on his door. “Come in.”

The guard who'd escorted Olivia to her suite stepped in. “She put up a fight, but she's secured now. She grabbed my cell phone. I didn't realize it until a minute later. She made a call before I could get it back.”

He handed the phone to Gerard, who looked at the Annapolis area code on the screen. He knew exactly whom she'd called.

“I'm sorry, sir. If—”

“It's all right. What it means is that we'll have to be ready for a visitor tonight.”

He knew Nicholas would rush in to rescue Olivia though he wasn't sure the Rogues would help. He would at least take care of Nicholas, who had done more damage than any of the other Rogues combined. He had turned Gerard's daughter against him.

Another knock sounded at the door, and a guard brought in Andrus. Gerard wanted to meet with him before going
down to speak with his new guest. Now that he had Olivia back, he could move ahead on his plans to destroy the Rogues once and for all.

The guard led Andrus, in handcuffs and leg chains, into his office and left them alone.

Gerard sat back in his chair. “We can now proceed with the plan.”

Andrus's eyes glittered with anticipation. “What about the woman who was with the Rogues?”

“She's back here, so you can take out anyone you—or Lucas—sees.”

His smile never faltered. “Yessirree. I'll have Lucas take out Amy as soon as I come in. Then he'll pound on the door, all scared 'cause something's wrong with her. They're on to me. They locked him in the room last night. I'll just play him along, she ain't breathing, everyone'll be in a panic, and while they figure out what's wrong with her, he'll get a gun and take 'em all out.”

“Maybe you should go in now while he's not locked in his room.”

“I tried to poke in the other day, and he kicked me out. He needs to be asleep and vulnerable. You know, that son of a bitch tried to come into my dream last night, just like you warned me he might. I kicked him out, too.”

“It won't be a problem after tonight.” Finally, things were coming together. He could focus on the future. He would target terrorists in Iraq, Israel…the world was his to clean up.

Andrus rubbed his hands together, clanging the cuffs. “As soon as they go to sleep, all your problems will be over. But you did promise me some girls to kill. If I have Lucas take them out, well, that ain't no fun.”

“Save one, then. You'll have to do it through Lucas, but you've got all the time in the world. No one is ever going to find them.”

That made Andrus smile again.

“If Nicholas is there, make him suffer. And Eric Aruda, too.”

“Gladly.”

Gerard stood. “Let me know when it's done.”

He went down to the basement to talk to Richard Wallace. He wanted to know only two things: If he had any of the Booster; and if he had any Offspring of his own.