Till Death: Deep Six Security Series Book 1 (19 page)

Dave grabbed the Russian’s arm and hurried him toward the helicopter.  He shoved him inside with the bags, then climbed inside, and helped Susan up. 

“
Go, Hawk
!” he shouted, as he slid the door shut.

Dave crawled into a seat and put on his seat belt.  Susan was buckling the girl into a seat, then flopped back into the center seat to fasten her own.  The Russian was on the floor board, gripping the bar on the back of the bulkhead.  Hawk quickly lifted, and the bird shot forward, dragging a moan from Susan.  Logan felt the tension in her body, saw it in her clenched jaw.  Once the helicopter leveled, he reached over and unclicked her seatbelt to pull her onto his lap. 

He grabbed her chin in his fingers, and held her gaze.  “You are the most amazing woman I’ve ever met.  And the best partner I could ever ask for.  You saved my ass, baby, thank you.” Dave closed his mouth over hers, Susan moaned as she threw her arms around his neck.  He squeezed her tight, kissing her until all of the tension left her body. 

When she relaxed in his arms, Dave dragged his mouth from hers.  “What did you do to distract the guards?  What kind of alarm was that?”

“Just followed your lead, oh great one,” she replied smugly.  “I found the laundry room and soaked a rag in a little combustible cleaner I found in the supply cabinet, then threw it into the dryer, put it on high heat and poof.” She threw her hands up to demonstrate, and Dave laughed.

“Your timing was impeccable, sweet cheeks,” Dave said with another squeeze, and Susan leaned in to kiss him again.  With a growl, he kissed her harder. 

The Russian said something, and Susan pulled back to give him a look and say something snarky back to him.  Dave knew it was snarky, because he recognized the face she used when she delivered the words, and the Russian’s frown confirmed it.  He shut up, and sat back to fold his arms over his chest. 

They should probably tie him up again, Dave thought.  “Did you bring the belts to tie him up?” he asked, setting her off of his lap.

“They’re in the suitcase,” she replied easing around his seat to reach it.  Dave heard the zipper, then the belt flopped onto his shoulder.  “You’ll have to tie him up though.  I need to sit down and find my stomach.  I left it behind at that takeoff.”

“He was just lifting hot, like I asked him to do.  Sorry, about that,” Dave said getting up after she was seated again.  “Tell him to turn around.”

Susan issued the command, and the Russian looked like he wouldn’t do it, but Dave shot him a hard look and he unfolded his arms and put them behind his back.  Looping the belt around his wrists, Dave tied it tight then looked at their other passenger.  She was resting her head against the outside hull, and he could see the sweat beads on her forehead, but she was shaking like a leaf. 

“You might want to ask her if she’s okay,” Dave said sitting back down.

Susan reached over and swiped the girl’s hair from her forehead, and laid the back of her hand there.  “She’s burning up.”  Susan tapped her cheek and said something in Russian, but the girl didn’t move.  “We need to get her to the hospital now, Logan.”

Dave got up again and walked through the aisle to the front of the aircraft.  Hawk looked over at him and pulled his headphones off.  “We need to step on it.  The girl isn’t doing well.  How far from the hospital are we?” he asked.

“Fifteen minutes, tops,” Hawk replied, making adjustments to instruments on the dash.  “Ten now.  Put your seat belts on.  I already radioed the hospital that we’re coming in.”

Dave squeezed Hawk’s shoulder.  “Thanks, buddy,” he said as he made his way back to his seat and refastened his belt. “Y’all hang on tight, we’re putting the pedal to the metal.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“I’m sorry, Ms. Whitmore, you’ll have to leave the room.”  The nurse pushed her back toward the door, but Susan dug in her heels, and the nurse huffed a frustrated breath.  “This girl is in bad shape, and we need to treat her immediately.”

“I’m the only one who can interpret for her,” Susan argued, with a glance at the lifeless looking girl on the cot, who reminded her entirely too much of her sister.  She found out she was named Tatiana, and she was from a very poor village in Russia.  She had come to the States on the promise of a good paying job.  What she got instead, was used and abused by the doctors at that clinic.  For her damned eggs, which they used in some kind of research projects, or sold to other labs around the world for the same reason.  That was all Susan had been able to get out of her before she passed out, but it was enough. 

The GenMax project and the drug they were developing was bad news.  The drug wasn’t for curing endometriosis.  It was to stimulate the egg production in those young women so they produced more eggs to feed the greed of the owners of that clinic.  The more she thought about it, the more pissed off Susan became.  Those people needed to be stopped.

“Please stay nearby, so we can call you if you’re needed.  Right now, we need privacy for the gynecological team to come in and examine her.  If you could find out what drug she was given, that would be helpful.”

“Trust me, if I could, I would.”  Her own sister was under the influence of the same drug, and would probably be in this same shape soon, if she didn’t do something.

Susan nodded and left the room to go down the hall to the waiting room.  Logan had left her behind to help with Tatiana, while he went to drop off the Russian, who refused to give her his name, at the compound with Mac and Dex. 

A few hours ago, Hawk said he would bring Logan back later.  Susan wished later would get here, because she did not like being left here alone to worry.  Seeing Tatiana in that hospital bed just drove home the point that her sister could be in trouble too.  And she felt guilty for sitting here worrying about another girl, when she should be helping her sister. 

But Susan couldn’t help Jenna if she wouldn’t answer or return her calls.

Sitting in one of the plastic chairs along the wall, Susan dialed her sister’s cell phone again—the seventh time now since earlier in the week.  When her call went immediately to voicemail, Susan hung up. 

Taking a deep breath to fight the burn behind her eyes, Susan tried to get a grip on both her anger and grief.  If something had happened to Jenna, she really would be all alone. 

Her hand tightened around her cell phone just as it vibrated, and she quickly hit the talk button. “Jenna?” Susan asked hopefully, but looked at the display and saw it was Slade, a second before she heard his voice.

“Snapper, we have a problem…” Slade’s voice sounded sick, and Susan’s heart dropped to her toes.  Something had happened to Logan.

“What is it?” she asked breathlessly, picturing Logan and Hawk going down in flames in the helicopter on the way to the compound.  “Is Logan okay?”

“I don’t know.  I haven’t heard from him, but your sister is in the hospital.  I told Logan we should tell you what I found out about that GenMax project before you left, but he wanted to wait until you came back.  I’ve been keeping an eye on her, but an ambulance just picked up her and her roommate from the dorm.”

A cold chill skated down Susan’s spine. 
I told him we should tell you what I found out about that GenMax project
.  Logan hadn’t told her whatever it was because it was bad, and because he knew she wouldn’t have gone out to the clinic with him.  He had been more concerned about solving his surrogate case than telling her that her sister was in danger.  Dave Logan was a self-centered, cold-hearted workaholic bastard.  When the hell would she learn not to trust a man—any man?

“What did you find out, Slade?” Susan asked, as her heart crashed and burned in her chest.   Numbness floated up from her toes until even her face went numb.

“God, I don’t want to tell you,” he said, and his voice was even sicker than before.

Susan had to swallow herself.  “Tell me, Slade.  I need to know, and I need to know where they took Jenna.”  Slade just groaned, and Susan grated, “I need to know
now
!”

“A girl I talked to on the campus told me that the GenMax Project was bad news. Two girls were in the hospital from it, and one of them died.  Her ovaries exploded.”

Susan’s blood froze in her veins.  “
What?
!?!” she shouted as she vaulted up to her feet.  “And you and Logan didn’t think that was something I should know right away?”  Slade was yet another man she should have never trusted.

“I’m sorry, Snapper.”

“Sorry doesn’t cut it, Slade.  Where did they take Jenna?” She demanded, as she walked toward the door.

“Seton Southwest is what the medic said,” Slade replied, then asked, “Where are you?”

Susan didn’t have time for conversation, she hung up the phone, and figured out how long it would take her to get to her sister.  Two hours probably, since the hospital Susan was at was south of San Antonio.  Her phone rang again, and she saw it was Slade calling back, and pushed the button to send him to voice mail.  Susan had nothing to say to him or to Logan right now.  Maybe ever again.  It was a good thing neither was here, because they would find out exactly how much damage her little thirty-eight could do.

But Susan needed a ride to Austin right now, and that was all she was worried about.  She would deal with Logan and Slade later.  Once she was sure her sister wasn’t going to die on her, she thought, and her eyes fucking burned like fire.  To get to the hospital fast, she needed someone who lived close to give her a ride.  The only person she could think of was Carlos’s younger brother, whom she thought had relocated to San Antonio.  She wasn’t sure Carlos would answer her call, or agree to help her, when she dialed his number, but he did thank God.  He arranged for Joe to pick her up and she was thankful, but truth be told, he owed it to her for wasting two years of her life on him.  Dave Logan owed her too for wasting two minutes, but she wasn’t about to call him. 

Susan never wanted to speak to him again.

“Logan, we have a problem,” Slade said angrily.

“I have enough problems right now, Slade, just deal with it,” Dave replied in the same tone.  Dave didn’t have time to waste, he had to get back to that hospital and check on that girl.  Susan wasn’t answering his calls for some reason, and he had information he thought the doctors could use to help the girl.  In the photos he’d taken of those binders, he’d accidentally captured an image of the drug label for the GenMax drug.  The doctors wanted to know what was in the drug, well Dave knew now.  He just needed someone to tell him what it meant. 

He also found out why they needed so many eggs from the women at that clinic.  They were conducting reproductive cloning experiments, which wasn’t illegal, but everyone in the world believed it was unethical and immoral.  So did Dave, because those mad scientists at that clinic were playing God, or Satan, he wasn’t sure which yet. 

Dave was sure if the governor knew about their cloning activities at the clinic, he would get an injunction and funnel the information to the proper authorities to stop them, so he called Senator Allison Rooks to get her on that.  He knew she was personal friends with the governor.  At least maybe an injunction would slow them down long enough for Dave and Susan to get enough evidence to get the feds involved. 

Sitting in the co-pilot seat of the helicopter, Dave covered the mouthpiece of his phone.  “Step on it, Hawk,” he said, and the pilot nodded. 

“Susan knows.  Her sister is in the hospital, so I had to call her,” Slade said shortly, but Dave could barely hear him over the rotor noise.

“Who’s in the hospital,” Dave asked.

“Jenna Whitmore, Susan’s sister,” Slade replied, as if to an idiot.  “I told you that drug put two other girls in the hospital, and killed one of them.  You should’ve let me tell Susan.  Her sister was in trouble, Logan.”

Dave heard that loud and clear and his heart melted to flow like lava right down to the toes of his boots.  No wonder Susan wasn’t answering his calls, she was pissed, and had every right to be.  His reason for not telling her had been totally selfish.  He knew if he told her what Slade had discovered, she either wouldn’t have gone with him, or wouldn’t have been able to focus.  He’d needed her to do both, so he’d played the odds that nothing would come of it over the weekend, and it looked like he’d just rolled snake eyes. 

“Oh, God...” he groaned, shoving a hand through his hair.

“Yeah, you’re gonna need him on speed dial, brother.  She’s done with both of us, I think.  She hung up on me,” Slade said, sounding frustrated.

“Yeah, she’s not answering my calls, either.”  And Slade was probably right in his conclusion that she never would again.  He had to get to that hospital to see her face to face.

“You probably don’t want to see her right now if she’s armed,” Slade recommended.

“She just has a pea shooter,” Dave replied.

“I’m sure it’s enough to shoot your balls off, which is where I’m betting she’ll aim.  I know I’m going to wear a cup until she cools off.  I suggest you do the same,” he said with a laugh.

“I’ll have to take that chance, I need to try and explain, so where is she?” 

Dave had zero hope that Susan would even listen to his bullshit attempt to explain, much less understand or forgive him, but he at least had to try.  At a minimum, he needed to check to make sure she and her sister were okay for his own peace of mind.

“I’d imagine she’s headed to Seton Southwest to see her sister.  That’s where the ambulance took her and her roommate.”

“I need you to head to the hospital in San Antonio to keep an eye the girl we rescued.  See what the doctors say, and let me know when she wakes up.  Susan is the only one who can speak with her though.”

“Why is that?” Slade asked confused.

“She’s Russian,” Dave explained.

“Susan speaks Russian?”

“Yeah and four or five other languages.”

“That’s fucking amazing,” Slade said, with a laugh.

“You have no idea how amazing she is,” Dave replied, his stomach taking a lurch. 

So beautiful, so fucking smart, and funny…the sexiest, most exciting woman he’d ever known, but he had to face the fact it was done.  He would never have an opportunity to explore the possibilities with her, because he’d been an idiot.  Again. 

The pain of this loss was a hundred times worse than before, but he needed to just deal with it the same, by burying himself in so fucking much work he couldn’t look up.  It had worked before, and he had faith it would again. 

Right now though, he needed to focus on something he might have a chance of salvaging.  Getting Susan to help him finish this case, before she left.  He couldn’t finish it without her help, so he had to convince her to do that.  Since it now looked like the clinic tied into that drug, and her sister was involved, he held out hope he may be able to do that.

After the case was done, he’d let her go, because Susan, like Sarah, deserved so much better than he could offer her.  Dave realized now that this was just the way he operated with women, and it was obvious he wasn’t going to change.  The last thing he wanted to do was hurt Susan more than he already had, and the likelihood of him doing that was great.

From here on out, he’d do womankind a favor by taking himself out of the game.  His job would keep him busy, and that needed to be his focus.  It was easier, and much less painful when he failed.  A bullet would definitely hurt less.

“Logan?” Slade said, and he realized then he’d been sitting on the phone lost in his thoughts.  He gave Slade the hospital name and information on the girl, then hung up.

He twisted the mic on his headset to his mouth.  “Hawk, I need to you to take me to Seton Southwest near Austin, instead.”

“Crap, that’s two hundred miles in the other direction!” Hawk shouted, throwing him a hot glare.  “I’m going to have to stop and refuel.”

“Hurry, please. We need to get there before Susan does.” 

With a heavy sigh, Logan closed his eyes and laid his head against the back of the seat to catch a catnap, as Hawk banked and headed toward Austin.  They hadn’t slept much in the last twenty-four hours, and had been to hell and back in that time.  He hoped Susan had gotten a nap too, but he doubted it.  When he saw her, he imagined that was going to make her even less open to hearing what he had to say.  Whatever it took though, he was going to get her to agree to finish this case.  He’d throw apologies, but if she didn’t listen to that, he’d throw money at her.  Enough to keep her until she found another job.

Whatever it took
, he thought, as he dozed off.

Susan jerked the door handle, before Joey Ramos’ car even came to a stop under the canopy at the Emergency Room at the hospital.    She put one foot out, but then stopped herself to lean back inside and kiss his cheek.  “Thanks for the ride.  Tell Carlos I said thank you too,” she said as she got out and shut the door. 
And tell him I said I’ll call him back to talk like he asked when hell freezes over too
.