Carolina Rain (4 page)

A sound echoed within the room, like several children running through the marbled halls of the house. He realized that it was his heels hitting the floor at an uncontrollable rate, vibrating to a beat that seemed impossible for humans to accomplish
.
A
nd then it was over.

Odd. He couldn’t move
,
but felt the coolness of the floor and his eyes were
beginning
to burn for lack of moisture.

What the hell?

Lance’s mind did what anyone’s would in this situation; he craved help.
Lily.
But it occurred to him that
she
wasn’t
helping. Certainly she could see he was in trouble, that something was terribly wrong with him. He glanced up and received the answer he’d never dreamed would be his.

Lily, his Lily, was above him wearing a smile that raised his fright to an indefinable level.
She
,
it,
was void of any
brand
of joy but
,
instead, filled with
—
dare he think it
—
an evil he’d not
envisioned
.
Watching as fear gripped his heart, she bent close to him.

“Don’t worry, darling Lance. I won’t let the toxin steal your breath. That’s something that I’ve waited to do since you put your fingers on my imperfect hand. You simply had no idea what you were in for.”

She nuzzled his ear
, bit it,
and
laughed. She then reached into her pink bag, pulling out two objects.

If his eyes could have grown wider, they would have. In her right hand was the largest corkscrew he’d ever seen, accompanied by a shining three-inch medical scalpel. He tried to
scream, to move, to run
. B
ut the only thing he could sense at all was the beating of his heart
,
barely.

Lowering herself to the floor, she proceeded to sit cross-legged at his left shoulder, leaning close and smiling a brilliant smile.

“I hope you
’ve
enjoyed the last look at the thing you crave most in this life. The sex we had didn’t do much for me but
,
then again, my pleasure is
still to come
.”

Stroking his face with her hand she
began
to sing something he didn’t recognize, and then placed the corkscrew upright on his chest, point down.

Once again, he tried to move but nothing happened.
Yet h
e did notice, however, that he was having
difficult
y
breathing. More panic. Men like him didn’t check out this way. For one of the few
moments
in his life, he wished his father were here.

Lily bent closer to his ear. “You must be curious as to what’s happening to you. Fair enough. Let me just say that the ocean is my friend,” she whispered.

Even at that
instant
, he felt a flash of desire for her.

The next second, his chest bore the brunt of pain delivered from hell itself. Blood pulsed into the air as Lily’s laugh
ter
echoed off the walls.
Lance watched as she turned the corkscrew again, and screamed, but only his mind heard it.
After two more excruciating turns, she lowered her face to his, and he saw the pleasure throbbing in her crazed eyes. It was then, truly then, that he knew he’d die today.

A moment later, she straddl
ed
his chest, raising the scalpel to his right eye, still wearing that God-awful grin. She plunged the steel at his face just as he felt his heart run amok in his chest. He barely felt the scalpel withdraw from his iris
. And
then he felt nothing at all.

CHAPTER-5

Sophie pushed past Alex and Chloe and sprinted toward the open storm door where the
big
man had disappeared with Jen Williams. He had to be Michael Garity. He’d lost weight, was wearing a wig or had grown his hair, but the height was right and the purpose
unmistakable
.

H
ow did he
get
past everyone? There were at least thirty agents looking for him.

She ducked inside, feeling the others at her back, her throwing star drawn and her eyes searching for the son of a bitch that had killed her Manny and
then had the balls to
take his daughter
. . .
right in front of her no less.

Sophie burst through another interior door and wondered briefly how she would stop herself from killing Garity
if
given even the remotest of opportunities.

Looking to her left, she waited. Three
passageways
staggered down the
dimly lit hallway
. The first doorway
was
on the left about halfway down. A
t the end of the hall was an open
corridor that probably led to the basement and
,
to the right, a
stairway ascended to the main
service
room of the funeral parlor.

Both
seemed to beckon her with an invitation to enter, to find out if life or death lurked. She cl
e
nched her
star
,
then pulled her
weapon,
one in each hand,
then
moved forward with the resolve that had protected her in the past.

“I think not, you bitches,” she whispered.

Taking another step, Sophie hesitated again, listening for something that would help make the next decision.
She slowed her world down and used all of her senses just like Manny had taught her. There was no screaming, no disruption or commotion coming from the main floor
up
the stairs
, so Garity hadn’t gone in that direction
.
There was n
o noise
behind the first door
either
and her intuition told her
Garity
and Jen weren’t there. That left one option
:
the basement.

Cocking her head, she realized another truth; she should have heard footsteps behind her, as in
,
where in hell were Josh, Dean, and the others?
S
he felt suddenly alone, almost abandoned, having no control over anything coming down the pike
,
and that made her skin crawl. Fear had never been a companion, but it
had its hand on her shoulder now
.

She glanced behind her again. Nothing. Sophie regripped the star and
tightened the
hand
on
her gun
even more
. Listening intently, she still heard nothing except the thumping of her heart in her chest and ears.

“What the hell is going on?” she whispered.

Just then, the light in the short hallway pulsed and dimmed, causing the shadows to rise up like so many
unholy
monsters. She shook it off as imagination but
,
in her heart
, she
knew that the hall
was
darkening and the
terrors
were gathering strength.

The moan from behind the first door brought her to full attention as she snapped her head
back
in that direction, her fear escalating, her heart pumping faster. Shaking off the emotion that would damn her, maybe even kill her if she didn’t control it, she moved closer to the door, placing her ear against it gently.

She couldn’t tell if the maker of the moan was Jen
,
but who else could it be? Or was it a trap that Garity hoped she’d fall into? And
, for the second time, she wondered
,
where in hell
Josh and the others were
?

Some things in life never changed. She was always surrounded by people but forever alone, especially since Manny was gone. He
had
gotten
her. He
’d
understood the why of her. But Garity had taken that away. Good God, she hated him and prayed that he was behind that door so
she could slay two demons at once; Garity himself and the next forty to fifty years without Manny. The fear had returned and
,
this time
,
she allowed it
,
knowing that fear would turn to anger, then a roaring rage. Manny would tell her to think and toss the emotion aside, but she didn’t care
.
She was going to kill Garity, and
she was going to
enjoy it.

The
heavy
hand on her shoulder caused her to jump high and turn with a perfect spin kick. But it landed in thin air. She squinted in the ever
-
growing dark and saw only a shadow. Then the shadow laughed.

“That’s your best shot
,
A
gent? I can’t believe someone like you ever got into the Bureau, but I suppose they have female hiring quotas and all.”

Then another laugh.

The chill that ran down her spine as she recognized the voice paralyzed her. This encounter, this conversation, was impossible. Argyle was dead.
Manny had blown his brains all over the deck of that boat.

Before she could get her mind around what was happening, strong arms grabbed her from behind, squeezing so hard that she dropped her weapons
and lost her breath
.

Her capturer whispered to her.

“Where are all those folks that are supposed to be helping you get through this, Agent? Are they as chicken shit as you? It seems to me they want you to die on the vine, so to speak. I can help with that
,
and I’m more than willing.”

Garity.

Her mind
reeled
and
seemed
ready to explode
,
simultaneously
. Argyle alive? Garity holding her fast when he should have been running for his life? And where was Jen? Had he already taken her out? How could all this be happening?

Argyle stepped close, turning his head from side to side, taking in every line and curve of her face. Her fear turned to
utter
horror
. The
G
ood
D
octor had been responsible for so much pain and for taking Manny away from her
,
but
she knew
he wanted more. Much more. He
sought
her soul. She could sense it.

She kicked at him, but he was just out of reach. More insane laughter.

“You’re dead. How can this be happening?” she managed.

“Really? Did you think that I could truly die, Agent Lee? Men like me are eternal. Your partner knew that
. However,
you aren’t him, are you?”

Argyle nodded to Garity. “Kill her
. . .
slowly.”

A second later,
large fingers closed
around her throat. She reached up with the hand he’d freed but couldn’t loosen his grip. Nothing worked. She
kicked his legs
, tried to reach his groin, but the pressure around her throat increased and her connection with consciousness began to disintegrate. She was headed for the edge of darkness; the gate
wide
open to that undiscovered realm. She would leave this world with questions and a mammoth chip on her shoulder, but maybe Manny had been right. Maybe this life was only a test and God had a special home for her
too
.

Wondering one last time where everyone else was
—
her help, her companions
—
she set her mind at embracing the future, whatever it held. As she was ready to slip away, she heard a voice calling her name, then the room burst into a dazzling light.

Her eyes flew open. Garity no longer had a death grip on her throat.
As she dropped to the musty floor, h
er eyes darted to where Argyle should have
been standing. He’d disappeared. The tears started to flow as her mind sought any kind of rational purchase. It failed.

This was crazy. Hell, maybe she was crazy
.
Her friend, her partner, her mentor
, the lover of her soul,
stood in the entrance draped in a grin that
was supposed to live
only in her memory.