Wolf’s Heart (18 page)

Twisting and turning in the two men’s arms, G’s voice was almost jovial. “Damn, quit squirming. You wouldn’t want to accidentally fall on your face again would you?”

G shifted his hold on her as he moved towards the wall. She saw the blue light of the retina scanner reflected across his face and heard the pop of air as a door opened and the two men dragged, then carried, her down the hall. Either side of the hallway was lined with individual rooms. In each room, she saw people on ventilators. She had no doubt in her mind that the machines were the only things keeping the bodies alive. These were donors, their organs harvested to be sold to the highest bidder.

She landed hard on the table and fought to get back up. G reached down and ripped the tape from across her mouth as she screamed. There was going to be no need for any waxing for quite a while. His hand pressed her against the table.

“What the hell have you done to Kyle!?”

G only chuckled. “For someone who’s supposed to be a genius, you’re so fucking stupid.” He pressed her down again as she tried to get up. His accomplice placed the restraints around her wrists. Carlee didn’t see the woman in the lab coat enter the room, but she didn’t miss the needle the woman held as it pierced the skin of her arm “
No
! Don’t! Let me go!”

Her screams slowly became softer as she struggled to speak, and she finally fell silent. She was still screaming in her head as the room became fuzzy and darkened as the drug took over. Her last coherent thought was the vision of Ryden standing at the door of the hotel room.

When she finally woke, she realized she was naked on the table, covered with only a thin blanket. There was a burning pain in the along her lower left ribs. Blinking her eyes, she tried to focus on the voices. The first was a female.

“The tissue samples are unlike anything I have ever seen before. Whatever it was that healed her isn’t even close to any known substance I have ever seen before. Whatever that substance is can you imagine its uses?  We have to find it, at all costs.”

Heels clicked on the floor, and Carlee felt a hand come to rest on her arm. Garlic pizza breath was enough to make her want to keep her eyes closed and hold her breath. “What did you put on the wound that healed it? Was it something that you found?”

This was what she had feared, a nightmare come true. There was no way she could ever let them know that Ryden was the one who had healed her. God only knew what they would do to him if they found him. Shaking
her head from side to side, Carlee said, “It’s all the veggies…good for you. And you could use a Tic-Tac.”

Carlee’s body stiffened when she saw the needle the doctor drew from the pocket of her coat. She watched as the woman injected the substance into the IV tubing running to the needle in her
arm.

She tried
to focus on the present, not the childhood memories of the huge needles. She remembered how she would cry, but when it was all over, the nurse would let her go to Kyle. She would lay with him in his bed as the nurse hooked him up. He was never scared. He never said it hurt. They would lie together and he would tell her stories of what they were going to do when he was better.

This time the doctor smiled as she leaned closer. “You will tell me what I need to know. I have no time for your nonsense. I was warned that you would most likely be less than cooperative. But, as always, I anticipated that and have the situation under control. That shot will help you to tell me everything. Now, I ask you again, how were you healed?”

Carlee fought not to talk, she knew she shouldn’t. The warmth of the injection spread through her veins quickly. By the time it reached her brain she felt as if she was no longer in control of her own thoughts. She tried to focus; Ryden had to be protected. No one could ever find out about his healing abilities. Tears formed in her eyes as she wasn’t able to stop herself from talking. The doc kept asking the same questions.

“No, I can’t tell you. No one can ever find out.”

The doctor’s voice was firm. ”Carlee, what can’t we find out?”

“That Ryden found me, I don’t know how, he just did. No one can know that Ryden had cleaned me with his mouth then bled on it, and it healed. No one can know that he saved me.”

“That was it? He used his mouth and his blood on you? Where can we find him?  Tell us where he is Carlee.”

“I left him at the hotel back in Baltimore.” 

She smelled G’s cologne. It nauseated her as it became stronger knowing that he was close. “Ryden? The old boyfriend that dumped you? What is he, part vampire?” G laughed at his own joke.

 “No asshole, vampires drink blood. Ryden is my…was my lover, a werewolf, and if he finds you, his cute hairy ass is gonna have you for dinner. Better you than those poor little cows. He eats meat. Can you believe that? How could I fall for someone who eats meat? Of course, I never saw his ass when he was a wolf, only a human. It wasn’t hairy then, it was perfect.”

She shifted in the bed and found she was still restrained. Looking up at G, she wondered what the hell she ever saw in him. The effects of the medication were making her giddy as she nodded her head and grinned.

“One thing I did learn over the last few days is you seriously suck in bed. If Ryden doesn’t kill you, you should ask him for some pointers.
Way
better than you. I never had to fake it, not once!”

He was in her face. “You told him didn’t you? About the cases that you were working on?”

A crack resounded as the back of his hand connected with her mouth. The pain brought tears to her eyes. “The truth is supposed to hurt you not me,” she said.

The doctor pushed G out of the way. “We need her. If you cannot control yourself, leave.”

She began to move around, giving orders, but to whom, Carlee couldn’t see. “I have heard rumors about wolf people but always assumed they were myth. If what she is saying is true, I want this man. Everyone here understands me?  His value to this lab is priceless. You do your thing and get him to me. I will do mine. With a find like this, gentlemen, we are going to make history.”

The doctor called after them as they began to leave, “Oh, and gentlemen, I want him taken alive! Do you all understand me? If this so-called wolf-man is attached to her, we need to be ready in case he shows. He obviously found her before. Let’s hope he does it again. Double the guards and hand out the tranquilizer guns, loaded to stop a horse!”

Raising her head from the pillow, ignoring the ache and remembering the punches, the bumper, and the asphalt that caused them, Carlee said, “A horse?  When did you see Ryden naked?”  Her question went unanswered as everyone left the room. They'd been given their orders.

Wi-Fi locations were an easy find in Baltimore. The better ones were in coffee houses. So, Ryden sat down with a large cup of black coffee and Carlee’s computer to see what he could find on MedVision, her parents, and what the two had to do with each other.

He could still recall vividly the first time he met Major Carl O’Shannon. It certainly wasn’t planned, and when Ryden found out Carlee’s dad was a Major, he nearly shit. She’d managed to leave that vital piece of info out when she mentioned her family.

Ryden had been home on leave and they had just come out of a bar in downtown Baltimore when he saw a sleek black limo parked right in front.

“Damn, who’d be in this part of town driving that?”

Carlee looked up. Her smile disappeared as she gripped his arm and stopped dead in her tracks. The chauffeur opened the back door and the Major stepped out in full military uniform and Ryden immediately came to attention. Carlee stiffened beside him.

“Daddy, nice to see you.”

Her calling the Major “daddy” had him weak in the knees, but he kept his pose until the Major finally looked his way.

“At ease, son.”

Trying to relax, Ryden left his hands resting at his sides and looked at Carlee’s father.

“Good evening, sir.”

“It seems my daughter has yet to introduce us, so I thought it prudent to take care of the situation myself. I already know who you are, Second Lieutenant Ryden Coulter. I trust you’ve been taking good care of my daughter?”

“Yes, sir.”

Ryden’s mouth was dry and he desperately needed to lick his lips but refrained. Carlee had yet to say anything since he’d first stepped from the limo and Major O’Shannon hadn’t even acknowledged she was there. Something about that angered Ryden, but unless he wanted a negative mark on his career, he decided to keep silent unless he was asked a direct question.

Finally, the Major turned to Carlee and gave her a stern look.

“Don’t embarrass your mother and me Carlee. Remember who you are and what’s at stake.”

“Yes, sir,” she said almost on a hiss.

With an apprising glare, examining Ryden from his shoes to his face, the Major stepped back into the limo, and the door shut. Carlee didn’t move until the car was out of sight. When he tried to question her about her family, as he’d done many times before, she shut him down and refused to discuss it. They argued briefly. Carlee wasn’t giving in and he was not going to spend their last night together fighting.

Little did he know that would be the last time he saw Carlee for three years.

Shaking off the memories, he got to work. Ryden hated computers, really,
really
hated them. And most of the time the feeling was mutual. He knew how to turn one on, turn it off and type. Anything more than that and he was clueless. The unit had an IT specialist to take care of the computer responsibilities. Ryden was the strong arm of the unit, the leader, the one responsible for figuring out how to get in, get out, and remove anyone who got in the way while the unit took care of business.

Ryden hadn’t talked to JT in several days, and since JT knew computers, Ryden figured he would be a good one to call. The phone rang three times before JT picked up.

“Hey, how’s Carlee?” JT always got right to the point.

“It worked, but she took off and I need your help to find her. Meet me at the Starbucks at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. Hurry.”

“I’m on it.” The phone clicked off and Ryden laid it back on the table. When asked, JT delivered, no questions. Loyalty was all that man knew.

Going back to the computer, he flipped through some of Carlee’s files, looking for any kind of clues. Google was simple enough to handle, so he ran a few searches for MedVision. From the outside looking in, it was a research facility, testing experimental medicines for everything from blood disorders to psychiatric disorders. From there, other companies produced the drugs if they passed the AFDA standards.

Innocent enough, but something was off. Carlee had already checked all of this out, cross-referenced it and then some. What Ryden wanted to know was how it all came together, who took her, and where they had her now. The only thing he could do at this point was to find out if there was a facility for MedVision in the Baltimore area.

An hour and two cups of coffee later, JT hadn’t showed, and Ryden hadn’t turned up a damn thing. If MedVision had a facility close by, they certainly weren’t advertising it. Ryden had a feeling they had a lot of shit going on they didn’t want the general public knowing and secrecy was of the utmost importance. That’s what Carlee was getting close to. She knew it wasn’t all fitting together. Too many loopholes. Ryden wanted to bang his head against the table, frustrated that he couldn’t see what she saw, or rather didn’t see...those holes.

It was then he found what he’d been looking for, locations of outside facilities. He clicked on the link and...nothing...the screen went black, and the computer beeped just before it died. Ryden started hitting keys, trying to get the picture back and then it dawned on him - no power cord. He’d let the damn battery go dead.

Ryden jumped up, scrambling to get his things together and out the door, making his way straight to his car. The power cord for the damn machine had to be somewhere. He set the computer in the seat and started digging through the bags. No power cord. Frustrated, he sat down, rested his head on the steering wheel and growled. The only thing he could figure was he’d left it at the hotel in his haste to get out of there. There was nothing to do but go back to get it.

With that in mind, he shut the car door, pulled out of the coffee shop parking lot and tried to call JT. His phone went straight to voicemail and Ryden left him a message. “I’ve gotta head back to the hotel. Left the damn power cord behind for Carlee’s laptop. I won’t be gone long. Wait for me at the coffee shop.”

A few miles from the hotel, Ryden noticed a black sedan with tinted windows tailing him. The tail changed lanes when he did, but always stayed three to four cars back. Dumb asses couldn’t be more obvious. He wasn’t having a car chase in this traffic if he could help it, so he detoured off the next exit in hopes of getting ahead of them and then attempt to get the drop on them. They didn’t know he’d spotted them yet, at least he hoped they didn’t.

As soon as he got to the end of the ramp, he gunned it, weaving through the traffic, which thankfully, was light. Horns blared, and a few hand gestures waved as he looked in his rear view mirror.

“Dammit!” They’d spotted him and were hot on his ass. With the gas pedal to the floor, the chase was on. That sedan had more power under the hood than Ryden gave it credit for, and it was gaining fast.

“Oh, hell no, bring it on, man. Let’s see what you got.”

Sharp turns, near misses, and a few trash cans flew as they hit them. It was only a couple blocks before he turned sharp and gassed it back up onto the expressway. “Damn punk ass. If you’re going to risk a high speed chase, learn how to drive.” As soon as that thought ran through his head, shots rang out and the back glass on the car shattered.

“
Fuck
! All right, that’s it. Game on, you ass wipes!”

He pulled his 9 millimeter just as they came up beside the Mustang, but before he could aim, they sideswiped his car. The gun went flying and landed in the floor on the passenger side. Ryden felt like his head was permanently detached. He managed to keep the car on the road as they hit him again.