Rough Edges (12 page)

“No. You've done enough.”

“I'm not going to fight with you about this. Our time is better spent planning our escape.”

“There is no
our
. I go. You stay.”

“I can't stay. When Mother finds out what I've done—and she will—she'll put me in the White Room.”

“What's that?”

“It's her version of a torture chamber. No blood or bodily damage. Just pain.”

“I can take pain.”

“Not like this. The last time she sent me there, I nearly died.”

“You're her
child
,” he said, his tone horrified.

“I'm her
experiment
. And I don't think she counts me as a successful one, either. Some days I wonder why she even cares that I stay here.”

“You want to leave,” he said.

“Wouldn't you?”

He stared at her for a moment as if searching for a lie. “Where are we?”

“If I tell you that, will you promise to take me with you?”

“No. Tell me.”

“Why? So I can wait for the next test subject skilled enough to help me get away for good? I don't think so.”

“You don't know my skills.”

“I've looked you up. Read the reports. Mother has been keeping an eye on all of you at the Edge. She says that's where several of the people on the List have been hiding.”

Jordyn had only recently learned about the List—a string of names listing those who had been subjected to the experiments of Mother and the other scientists working for the Threshold Project years ago. Most of them had been small children at the time—young enough to be altered by various drugs and procedures. Too young to be reliable witnesses.

Those children had since grown up, and Mother was determined to find as many of them as she could. She claimed they were the key to recovering the research that had been destroyed in the fire that had nearly killed her.

If there was one thing Jordyn knew as the absolute truth, it was that Mother would never stop until she had everything she wanted. It didn't matter how many people had to get hurt or killed. It didn't matter how many lives she destroyed along the way. Mother got what she wanted. Always.

Gage fell silent as he studied her face. Jordyn didn't know if he was searching for a lie or trying to figure out how to convince her to stay here. Maybe a little of both.

“You've been here for weeks,” she said. “You haven't figured out how to escape yet. Who's to say you don't stay here for years longer? Is that what you want? And what about me? I won't survive here much longer. Every trip I take to the White Room is worse than the last.” She shuddered at the thought, but refused to look away from his steady gaze. “The next one could kill me. I
need
to get out of here.”

His mouth tightened and his eyes closed for a moment. He let out a resigned breath. “What's your plan?”

“I get the new security codes for the external doors, come back here, take you with me. You'll have to be ready to run. We'll only have about three minutes to get out before the alarm resets.”

“Weapons?”

“I don't have any.”

“Can you get one?”

She thought through the process it would take to acquire one of the guard's guns. The armory worked on a completely separate security system. Breaking into that would not only be difficult, but it would also most certainly get her discovered before she had time to reach Gage.

Jordyn shook her head. “I can't reach the guns. It's too risky.”

“Knife?”

“They're all implanted with microchips. If anyone tries to take one from the kitchen, it sets off an alarm. I might be able to hack the system, but I've never tried.”

“Don't. Not worth the risk. What's your exit strategy?”

“I can cut off one of the elevators from the main control system, hijacking it. Once we reach the surface, we'll take one of the trucks. I should be able to get keys.”

“Should?”

“I've done it before.”

He nodded. “Where are we?”

“I won't give you specifics, because if I do, you'll think you don't need my help. But I will tell you that we're belowground. The nearest town is miles away. All that's nearby is grazing land filled with cows. Lots and lots of cows.”

“How far to Dallas?”

“Hours. That's all I'll say.”

Frustration lined his brow. He pressed his weight more fully against her, but instead of her body interpreting it as some kind of threat, that strange, deep part of her perked up in excitement. A quivering kind of energy spread down her limbs, making her shake. The oxygen in the room seemed to thin, forcing her to breathe faster to compensate.

She had the strangest urge to press her mouth against his. She was looking at it, trying to figure out why she'd want to kiss him when he tilted her chin up with one finger.

“Eyes up here,” he said in a rough, quiet voice.

She did as he asked only to find that his pupils were huge. His skin was flushed. A line of sweat had formed along his brow.

His thumb stroked her chin. The caress sent all kinds of tingling sensations winging down her spine.

Whatever effect this man was having on her, she was certain it wasn't the kind of thing that was going to help her concentrate on escape.

Or anything else.

“I should go,” she said. Her voice was faint and weak.

His hand slid down to encircle her throat. Now he was the one staring at her mouth. “Is it safe?”

“As safe as it's going to get.”

He jerked his gaze away from her and focused on the wall just past her left ear. His spine straightened, and whatever heat she thought she'd seen in his eyes was gone now. “When do we go?”

“Soon. A day or two. I need some time to put things in place. It'll be around this time when we make our move.”

“I'll be ready,” he said, completely confident.

Jordyn only wished she could share his confidence, because the truth was, they were both probably going to die trying to make their escape. She only hoped that if she did, her life was ended with a nice, fast bullet, rather than days of suffering in the White Room.

*   *   *

Gage waited for over an hour before he moved back into the camera's eye. He didn't want to do anything to risk getting Jordyn discovered.

She was his way out, his ticket to finding Stynger's location and taking her down for good. Using the daughter to destroy the mother was his only option, but it didn't sit well with him.

He didn't like the idea of using Jordyn at all, but it was his only choice. He had to find a way to get past his guilt. Even when she looked at him like she wanted to kiss him.

He shifted in his bed, his dick as hard as a rock.

The woman got to him. He didn't know what it was about her, but she got to him deep down, exciting his body in a way he'd never experienced before. He'd barely even touched her, and all he could think about was how soon it would be until he got his hands on her again.

The memory of her smooth, soft skin under his fingers made his balls ache. Her clean, sweet scent went to his head. Even the feel of her body tucked in that corner with only him between her and the evil going on around them made his protective instincts kick into overdrive.

How the hell was he going to drag her into the kind of danger escaping this place would heap on them? Then again, how the hell could he leave her down here with that viper of a mother?

He couldn't see the sun, but even so, he could feel dawn coming. It would be here in a few hours, and with it would come another chance to do what he'd come here to do. It was up to him to find a way to keep both himself and Jordyn alive long enough to walk out of this place and see the sun again. Whatever it took, that was exactly what he was going to do.

R
andolph stood before Dr. Stynger, feeling like a child summoned to the principal's office.

She sat behind her giant desk in her white office, her bony hands steepled in front of her. “Is this what you call results?” she asked as she slid the report across her desk. “Five men captured. They're in enemy hands, undergoing surgery right now to remove my property from their skulls. I hired you to disable one single woman, not destroy my entire life's work by letting it fall into the wrong hands.”

“I made the right call,” Randolph said, refusing to cower. A woman like Stynger would eat him alive if he let her think he was easy prey.

“Failure is the right call?”

“The operation didn't fail. You wanted Bella afraid, paranoid. What better way to do that than to make her witness the death of a man she holds dear?”

“She knows now that it wasn't Gage you shot. Do I even want to know who died for this charade?”

“Probably not. And it doesn't matter that she knows now that it wasn't Gage. There was a period of time when she believed. You said that the drug we subjected her to would activate if she was in a heightened emotional state.”

Some of the anger on Stynger's face faded, replaced by scientific curiosity. “Did it work? Has she shown any signs of reversion?”

“I'm working on finding out. My contacts are limited. It may take a few hours to get all the players where they need to be to gather intel.”

“I'm not a patient woman. I have too many loose ends left before I leave the country.”

“Bella won't be one of them. You have my word.”

“Your word means nothing. I want results. You may need to administer another dose of the serum personally if your previous plan fails.”

“It won't.”

“That remains to be seen. While you're wasting your time waiting around to see if your plan worked, there are a few other loose ends I need you to tie up.”

Randolph didn't bother pretending he didn't know what she meant. “Who do you want me to kill?”

Stynger wrote down three names and slid the paper across the desk toward him.

He read the names and let out a low whistle. “These aren't nobodies.”

“If they were easy targets, I would have already taken care of them myself long ago.”

“How do you want it done?”

“Quickly. Cleanly. With absolutely no ties to me. We're running out of time.”

“Any specific order?” he asked.

“I don't care so long as it's all done soon. And while you're at it, stop by this address and finish cleaning up the mess you left.” She wrote down the address and gave it to him.

“What's here?”

“It's a medical facility where they'll take any of my men who survived. Bella and her merry band think I don't know it exists. Then again, she's never suffered from being overly bright. Once we rid her of that pesky aggression, she'll be no more threat than a scared puppy.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Kill the surgeons and staff. Rescue any of the men who are untouched by them. Burn any bodies you leave behind.”

“I'll see to it,” said Randolph as he turned to leave.

“You have three hours,” she ordered.

“That's barely enough time to fly to Dallas.”

“Then I suggest you get moving. You really don't want to know what's going to happen to you if you fail me.”

No. No, he did not.

*   *   *

Bella was still shaking several hours later as she waited to see if any of the men they'd tranqued could be saved. She tried to tell herself that her body was responding to the intense emotional reaction she'd had at seeing a man she thought was her friend being murdered in cold blood.

That was a lie. Victor was the one who made her tremble.

He sat quietly a few feet away in the tiny waiting room of the private medical office outside of Dallas. No one would know it from the outside, but inside this building was a state-of-the-art facility filled with the latest technology in the field of neurosurgery. Two of the world's leading surgeons were in the back right now, trying to save the lives of the men Victor and Bella had tranquilized.

It was nearly dawn. Another night had gone by with little sleep. Fatigue grated against her eyelids and ached in her joints. Even so, she knew there was no sleeping now, not with the hum of sexual frustration vibrating through her body.

I have a feeling you're going to be worth it. Whatever the cost.

That's what Victor had told her. Too bad he didn't know just how fucked up she really was.

The door to the waiting room opened and a man with a surgical mask dangling around his neck came out to speak with them. “We lost one man on the table. A second came through the procedure well. He's not out of the woods, but I'm hopeful.”

“What about the others?” asked Victor.

“We're working on them as fast as we can, but keeping them sedated in the meantime.”

“How long until we can talk to the survivor?” asked Bella.

The surgeon frowned. “You can't. My orders were clear. I was only to inform you of the outcome. You're not allowed to see any of the patients.”

“Whose orders? One of my men is being held captive. I need to question these men to see if they know anything about his location.”

“I'm sorry, but I can't help you. I need to get back there. We still have a lot of work to do.”

He turned to leave, but Victor grabbed his arm. “She asked you a question. Whose orders?”

The man stared pointedly at Victor's big hand. “Payton Bainbridge gave the orders. General Norwood said I should follow them. I work for him, so that's what I did. Now let me go.”

“Payton doesn't give the orders. I do,” Bella said, trying to keep her fury from her voice. How dare Payton interfere like that? He had no right to poke his nose in and control things.

“Sounds like the three of you have some things to work out. That falls squarely in the category of things that are
not
my problem. The man on the operating table with a deadly implant in his brain is. Excuse me.”

The surgeon left. Bella sucked in a series of deep breaths and shoved them out hard trying to dissipate some of her anger. “How dare Payton go behind my back like that?”

“Payton and Norwood go way back. I'm sure he didn't mean to keep you out of the loop.”

“Of course he did. He's been keeping secrets from me for years.”

“You should get some sleep before you talk to him.”

“I don't need sleep. I need Payton to butt the hell out of my life. He's done enough damage for one lifetime.”

He took her hand in his. “Let me take you home. You'll be able to make a better case with him after a few hours of sleep.”

“You say that like there are two sides to the story, like he has a point. He doesn't. The man let people do horrible things to children. He found parents that didn't give a fuck about their kids and then paid them off so people like Stynger could use those children to experiment on. He doesn't get to act like that was just some little mistake he can rectify if he tries hard enough. The man doesn't have a fucking leg to stand on. He's a monster.”

A hint of motion caught her eye. She turned to see Payton standing in the doorway. The look on his face told her he'd heard the whole thing.

For an instant she felt bad for what he'd heard her say. It was a knee-jerk reaction to their years-long friendship. A few weeks ago she would have sooner shot herself in the leg than hurt his feelings. He was the closest thing she had to a real father. But that was before she'd learned that all the carnage she'd seen—all the tortured souls and damaged minds and bodies—were at least in part his fault. He'd destroyed the lives of children, stripped away their innocence and all hope they had for a normal and happy future.

He'd lied to her for years, working beside her every day, not caring that she might have a ticking time bomb in her head.

“I just came to tell you that I had the post-op survivor transported to a more secure facility for his recovery,” Payton said.

“It didn't even occur to you that you should ask me before you acted, did it?” she asked.

“You're exhausted. Injured. And you don't have access to the resources that I do. It seemed the logical choice. I didn't think you'd mind. Obviously I misjudged.”

“Yes. You did. I don't care what resources you have. If there's something I need, I'll ask Norwood myself. I don't need you butting in.”

“You're carrying too much of a burden, Bella. And I
need
to help.”

“I don't care what you need, sweetheart. Every judgment call you've made since the first kid you bought is suspect.”

“It wasn't like that and you know it. I thought I was helping them escape lives that were going nowhere. The research was so promising I thought that one day those kids would thank me.”

“Have they?” she asked. “Has a single one of them had a better life because of what you did to them?”

His mouth went tight and pale. “I thought I was doing what was right. As soon as I realized how wrong I'd been, I started working to correct my mistakes. What else would you have me do?”

“Walk away. Stop making the cleanup efforts left from your mess harder. Accept the fact that
we don't need you.
”

Payton flinched. In the space of a breath, he deflated and looked ten years older. “I'm sorry I've caused you so much distress. If you ever do need me, you know how to find me.” With that, he turned and left.

His retreat was exactly what Bella had asked for, but now that she had it, all she felt was a sad emptiness. He wasn't the man she wanted him to be. He wasn't even the man she thought he was. But he had still been a huge part of her life for years. He'd kept her out of prison for murder. He'd funded her business endeavors. He'd been there for her every day, listening and giving advice.

Most of it had been good. Smart. Loving.

She sank into a chair and covered her eyes with the heels of her hands. There was simply no reconciling the man she'd known for years with the man he'd been before they'd met. Those two people could not possibly inhabit the same body. How in the world could she ever forgive him for stealing her childhood and subjecting her to experiments that had fundamentally altered her personality? At the same time, how could she go on with her life without Payton constantly poking his nose in her office and scolding her for her recklessness, impatience, or for blowing up something expensive?

The warm weight of Victor's hand on her shoulder eased her nerves enough that she could pull in a full breath. He was his own set of problems, but she could deal with pushing only one person out of her life at a time.

“Let me take you home, Bella. It's been a long day.”

“It's been a long couple of months.”

“You're exhausted. You should sleep.”

“Every time I close my eyes I see that man I thought was Gage die. I wonder where he is, if he's safe. If he's alive.”

“I'm sure he is. We have to have faith that his training will hold him up until we can find him. Or until he can find us.”

The image of the man who looked so much like Gage being shot in the head filled her mind. She'd been certain that she'd lost him, and the devastation she'd felt had been unbearable. Even through the insulation of denial she had been savaged by her grief.

She couldn't lose him for real. She wouldn't survive it. Neither would her team. They all loved him like family.

“Until then, how am I supposed to sleep?”

“If you don't, you'll be of no use to him. We all need to be at the top of our game, ready to jump into action if there's any sign of him.”

“I know what I'll dream about the second I fall asleep.”

“That wasn't Gage who died tonight. It was a stranger chosen to rattle you. You have to remember that.”

She was so tired. Running on fumes. Emotionally drained.

Afraid.

She looked up at Victor, hoping to see answers in his perfect features. “I feel like I should be here for these men. The people who love them can't be.”

“I understand. Let me stay here while you get some sleep.”

“You've been up all night, too. And I don't want to leave.”

“Then slip into one of the exam rooms and rest. I'll wake you if any decisions need to be made.”

She didn't have many options. Her body was giving out. If she didn't rest soon, her judgment would follow. Her team depended on her to keep them safe. If that meant forcing herself to sleep, then that's what she'd do.

“Will you wake me when the next man gets out of surgery?” she asked.

He nodded. “If that's what you want.”

What she really wanted was a long, hot shower and her own bed, but that wasn't what she was going to get. At least not right now. “It is.”

He held out his hand. “Give me your phone.”

“Why?”

“Because business hours start soon and you'll be getting calls from people who don't realize how exhausted you are.”

“What if Gage calls?”

“I'll answer.”

She removed the password lock from her phone and handed it to him. “Promise you'll wake me if anything important comes up.”

He slid a finger across his chest in an X. “Cross my heart.”

Bella wanted to drag her own finger over his chest so bad it made her fingers clench.

Maybe what she really needed was to get his mouth back on hers for a while, maybe fuck his brains loose. Or hers. She hadn't been thinking about Gage or Payton or any of her other problems when he'd been kissing her. He'd been too much of a distraction, absorbing her complete attention.

She really could use a little of that right now.