Stronger Than Sin (13 page)

Jesse Bradford might be attractive, but his many faults and issues outweighed that masculine beauty.

The car stopped. She had been so lost in her contemplation that she hadn’t realized they had reached the facility. Withdrawing
a key card from her purse, she walked to the door, Jesse following behind her. He was flanked on either side by Whittaker’s
men.

She swiped the card and they entered the laboratory.

Carmen was at her workstation, bent over the microscope. She rose and faced them as they entered. A smile erupted on her friend’s
face as she glanced beyond Liliana to Jesse.

“Is the treatment ready?” Liliana walked up to Carmen and gently nudged her to get her attention.

Carmen motioned to the treatment room. “Almost. You can get set up in there. I shouldn’t be much longer.”

Liliana turned, but Jesse and his two guards were already in motion. Liliana joined them, but between the equipment in the
room and all the bodies, it was a tight fit.

“Could the two of you wait outside?” she said to Bruno and Howard.

They shared an uneasy glance, obviously hesitant until Liliana said, “He can’t go anywhere. You can wait by the door.”

Reluctantly they took up spots on either side of the entrance, earning another dimpled smile from Jesse. “Doc, you sure know
how to get your way.”

Too bad she didn’t know how to get her way with him.

She pointed to the borrowed hospital bed, and Jesse eased onto the edge of it while peeling off the sunglasses and hat. His
bright blue gaze glittered intensely as his smile widened and he patted the bed beside him in invitation.

This was the Jesse the media loved, she realized. The one with a string of female conquests that meant nothing. Another negative
to add to her list.

“Not on a bet, Jesse.” She walked over and asserted gentle pressure on his shoulder to get him to lie down.

All business, she wheeled over a table with a pulse oximeter to track his pulse and oxygen levels as she said, “You may want
to take off your sneakers and get comfortable. This could take a couple of hours.”

“A couple of hours with you sounds like heaven, Doc,” he replied with a wink but did as she asked.

Liliana shifted the plasmapheresis machine to reach all the wires and tubes she would need to connect to Jesse. With them
in hand, she sat on the edge of the bed and he sighed dramatically.

“Finally got you where I want you,” he teased and his smile broadened.

There was something about his humor that was hard to resist, even though it was sexist and disrespectful. Maybe
it was that she sensed he was doing it just to push her buttons. So she decided to push back.

“So why don’t you do something about it? Like take your shirt off for me?” She pitched the tones of her voice low, hoping
for sexy.

He chuckled, aware of her ploy, but played along. Humming a tune suitable for a striptease, he pulled one arm out of his sweatshirt
and then another, leaving the shirt over his body until with a triumphant, “Ta-da,” he ripped it off.

“
Dios mio.
”

Carmen froze in the doorway, eyes wide at the sight of Jesse’s body.

Jesse glared at her, arching an eyebrow, and Carmen immediately snapped out of her daze. She approached the bed and grabbed
some of the wires from Liliana.

“Let me help get you the anticoagulant and IV drip ready,” Carmen said.

“What are they for?” Jesse asked as Liliana wrapped a rubber hose around his bicep and tapped his arm to expose a vein.

“We need to keep your blood from clotting as it flows through the machine. The IV drip will stabilize any drop in blood volume
and pressure,” she said, all traces of the earlier playfulness gone.

Jesse quietly watched as the two women efficiently got him hooked up to the plasmapheresis unit, inserting needles as well
as the IV drip into his two arms. Liliana clipped the pulse oximeter on his index finger and then kicked on the unit.

He was fine for a few minutes, but soon light-headedness set in. Liliana seemed to notice his discomfort and covered his hand
with hers.

“It’ll pass in a bit. Close your eyes and try to rest, since this will take some time.”

He did as she said, but the whirling sensation continued, reminding him of the beginning stages of the mind control drugs
Whittaker had used on him. Hating that sensation, he opened his eyes and realized the two women had left the room.

From his position in the bed, he could observe them at a workstation, examining something with a microscope.

His marrow sample? he wondered. A moment later, Liliana’s colleague waved a blue light over something and a slight yellow-green
became visible near the bottom of the microscope. As she passed it over a nearby test tube, the color became a bright phosphorescent
neon green.

Liliana patted her friend on the back. They discussed something, but it was impossible for him to hear what it was.

The light-headedness intensified, creating a disturbing whirl that had him wanting to vomit. Taking a deep breath, he closed
his eyes and tried to combat the nausea.

Whittaker listened to the message Bruno had left him.

Fate was working in his favor for a change.

If Carrera had taken Bradford to the lab, it was possible she was administering the inhibitor, and none too soon. He might
be able to save at least a few of the subjects they had so diligently engineered for sale if he could get his hands on her
inhibitor.

He parked his Suburban in front of the building, walked to the secured door, and swiped his key to enter.

Inside, Bruno and Howard were at a far door, guarding what looked to be a sleeping Bradford. He paused briefly for their report,
but they advised that nothing unusual had happened.

Whittaker continued into the lab. Carrera and her colleague Dr. Rojas were examining a vial of something that was glowing
brightly under a black light.

“Is that Bradford’s blood?” he asked, pointing to the test tube.

“A bone marrow sample. That seems to be the place where the Wardwell genes have been incorporated,” Dr. Rojas advised.

“And where they’re producing the proteins that are creating the ossification in Jesse’s body,” Liliana tacked on.

“What about the glow in the blood?” he questioned, recalling the bits of light in the earlier samples Carrera had drawn.

“Free-floating marrow and osteoblasts. Both were likely produced by the hybrid genes in Jesse’s system,” Liliana answered
and motioned to the door to the treatment room. “We’re filtering his blood to attempt to cut down on the number of bone-producing
proteins. That should help control the damage to his body.”

Whittaker nodded and glanced toward the door. Bradford had not moved since he had entered a few minutes earlier.
Playing possum?
he thought but then returned his attention to the physicians.

“You’ll also be using the inhibitor to control the genes?” And when they did, he would snag a sample somehow.

“Not yet.” Liliana held up a test tube with glittering bits
floating in it. “We don’t know if the inhibitor will contain the replication in his marrow because of the difference with
what’s happening with Caterina.”

“Different? How?” he asked and jammed his hands in his pockets, playing with his change as he waited for an answer.

“With Caterina we needed to control the replication of the hybrid genes, but the cells being produced were not essential for
life-sustaining functions,” Dr. Rojas began.

“In Jesse’s case, we can’t inhibit bone marrow formation. The marrow produces too many necessary cells. So for now, no inhibitor.
We’ll just eliminate the excess proteins from his blood,” Liliana finished.

Fuck,
Whittaker thought and rubbed his hand across his buzz cut. “When will you know?”

“When we’ve done enough testing,” Liliana advised in the tone he recognized as her don’t-mess-with-me stand. Grudgingly he
admired her tenacity, but he had to find a way to get the inhibitor.

“Since Bradford’s down for the count, I’m going to grab a dinner break. Howard, come with me so you can take over for Bruno
later.”

Liliana stood silent until the two men had left. Then she faced her friend and the tube that she held. “Can you set up some
kind of test of what the inhibitor will do to the marrow?”

Carmen brought Jesse’s marrow sample up to the room light. Even without the black light, the glow was bright. “I can clone
it. Analyze how it reacts.”

She hated sounding like Whittaker, but she had to know. “How long will that take?”

Carmen shrugged. “Can’t say. In the meantime, maybe
you should assess just where these genes are at work besides the marrow. Give us an idea how serious his condition is.”

She thought of her visual exam and the bony parts it had revealed. Wondered how she would expand on that assessment when Carmen
handed her a handheld black light.

“Run it over his body. Whatever glows—”

“We’ll know where something is up.”

With a nod, Liliana grabbed the portable unit and headed into the treatment room to examine Jesse.

J
esse’s eyes were shut tight, and his breathing had the slow, measured cadence of sleep.

The clink of glass and metal, Carmen stirring something probably, filtered into the room. Liliana shut the door to block out
any sound.

Jesse was lying on top of the covers, his upper body exposed and connected to the cell separator by the tubes carrying his
blood into the machine. Within the unit were a series of filters specifically chosen to remove the dangerous proteins from
Jesse’s blood. Liliana hoped that would contain the bone formation.

She approached cautiously, anxious about disturbing his rest. At his side, she flipped on the black light, and immediately
parts of his body began to gleam with a paler, less dense version of the yellow-green of his marrow.

The hardened knuckles and back of his hand.

The injury along his left side where he had been recently Tasered, now nearly healed with a coating of something other than
skin.

She walked to his other side, and the larger batch along his ribs phosphoresced. More pronounced and shining brightly beneath
the black light.

As she moved, the light played across the IV tubes and bits of yellow-green shone back in his blood.

So much contamination,
she thought, and when she turned back, the black light skimmed along his skin and her breath whistled out in surprise. She
leaned close to his arm and focused the beam on his bicep.

Was she imagining the glow lying just beneath the surface of his skin?

She snapped off the light and laid her hand on his arm, gently palpated the muscle beneath. Harder than just muscle. Rock
hard, but with Jesse that expression had an entirely new meaning.

He was turning to bone, and she had little idea on how to stop it. And if she didn’t…

She looked up at his face—that movie star face. Tears welled up in her eyes as she imagined that visage hard and still in
a death mask of bone. Imagined that playful dimple gone forever.

She laid her hand on the strong line of his jaw, traced the spot where that dimple would come out and play.

Jesse opened his eyes slowly, but as he saw who it was, he fixed his gaze on her face and smiled until he realized she was
crying.

He awkwardly took hold of her hand but grimaced, probably as the needles in his arm pinched with the motion.

“You’re not crying for me, are you, Liliana?”

She liked the sound of her name on his lips. The way his eyes had darkened to the gray of storm clouds as he noted her upset.

“What if I was?” she said defensively, although it seemed to be a losing battle to guard her heart.

He smiled again and shifted his hand to bring hers to
his lips. A whisper of a kiss across her knuckles created a flutter in her midsection as he said, “You have the hands of a
healer.”

When he opened her hand and dropped another kiss in the center of her palm, her stomach did a somersault that kick-started
a more dangerous response farther down.

“Don’t care about me,” he whispered against her palm.

“Why not?” She sat on the edge of the bed, leaning toward him.

The smile on his lips faded, and he released her hand as he said, “Because I’m not worth the pain I’ll bring into your life.”

It was crazy.
Madly and certifiably crazy,
she thought only a second before she said, “Why don’t you let me be the judge of that.”

And then she was closing the distance between them until her lips hovered close to his and their gazes locked.

Inquisitive.

Determined.

Alive with doubt about that next step.

Jesse slipped his hand to the back of her head, cradled it in his hand, his fingers tunneling into the thick, silky strands
of her hair. Urging her closer until his lips played on hers.

So smooth,
he thought, rubbing his mouth along her lips.

So sweet as he allowed himself a taste.

Shock filled her warm brown gaze before her eyelids fluttered closed and she released herself entirely to the kiss. Her mouth
moving along his, exploring it. Opening, the wetness of her tongue passing over the edges of his mouth, dragging a groan from
him as his body responded.
From somewhere, a persistent beeping penetrated his brain and was followed by the jangle of the doorknob.

They broke apart, breathing heavily, but seemingly in control as Carmen entered the room.

“I heard the warning signal from the pulse oximeter,” Carmen said, glancing at where their hands were still joined. Where
Jesse’s hand was now minus the finger sensor for the monitoring device.

Liliana fumbled with the sensor. “I was just checking it out,” she lied, earning a knowing smile from her friend.

“
Sí,
I can tell you were just checking things out,” Carmen replied, choking back a chuckle.

Liliana glanced at her watch. The plasmapheresis had already been running for nearly an hour. Just another hour to go. “Let
me just double-check Jesse’s vitals, and then you and I can go over what you’ve got.”