Until It's You (26 page)

But no, she might miss. She needed him defenseless.

He closed the distance to her and got a good look at her head.

She held still for the inspection. "Dunn attacked me," Kristina said. "I managed to get free and hit her. Where is the guard she had?"

"Knocked him out from behind," Landon said, still looking at her head. This could be the moment. “Carter and the FBI are on the way."

Kristina stepped back and motioned to the ground, where Ms. Dunn was lying on the ground. "Good. She will love this."

Behind her, she heard Ms. Dunn grunt.

Swimming her head and Kristina felt she floated. She smiled dumbly, like a goof. 

Back to crisp. Serious face.

"Are you okay?" Landon asked.

Kristina swallowed hard. Where was that water glass? "What?" Kristina said. "Yeah fine."

She stepped toward him, but her stomach turned. For some reason, she couldn't do it.

But Ms. Dunn wished it!

An idea sprang to mind. She motioned again toward the ground. "Do you think we should tie her up until Carter arrives?"

Landon stared at her for a moment, then his eyes went to the ties that lied cut on the ground. "Sure," he said, still eyeing her suspiciously.

He walked over to the tie on the ground, then bent and took it in his hand. Kristina watched him, the pressure in her head building with every moment. This was the most adrenaline she had ever felt in her life.

"You know how to do this?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Not really, no."

He stared at her for a moment longer. She rocked side to side on her feet. Finally, with a last glance, he bent down and took Dunn's arms to bind them.

Kristina's hand went to her blazer pocket. Her fingers curled around the shatterproof glass of the loaded syringe. This was her moment.

She closed the distance between them, eyeing the vast expanse of his back. She could just jab the needle in there . . .

He was so handsome and Ms. Dunn wished it. But how could she inject him? He was Landon!

"Almost done," he said, without looking back.

Kristina took her hand from her pocket, her thumb on the syringe's plunger. Could she do this? But she must.

"Kristina," Dunn shrieked from the ground. "Do it now!"

Landon spun and saw her, syringe in hand. She froze.

He shot up to his feet and tackled her to the ground before she could move, his hand coming up to cushion her head as they fell.  The landing on the ground was not too rough, but she had to inject him. Ms. Dunn had said she must do it now!

His broad chest pressed close to hers. She tried to bring the syringe still in her fingers up but his strong hands wrapped around both her wrists and stopped her. Her head fell down to the concrete beneath her. He pinned her legs down with his and they were face to face.

She bucked and struggled beneath him, rage in her veins. She must inject him. Ms. Dunn wished it.

"Kristina," he growled. "Stop. You've been poisoned."

"No!" she gasped, struggling.

How was he so strong?

"Yes," he said, his voice tender. "Listen to me. Dunn poisoned you. What you're feeling are not actually your thoughts. I can help you."

A buzzing at the base of her skull like a bell had been rung. She looked past him to Ms. Dunn, who was groaning on the ground as she struggled to her feet. Her hands were still behind her, but it looked like she might be struggling free.

Renewed anger coursed through Kristina's body. How could he hurt Ms. Dunn?

His face was so close. She reared her head back and aimed for his nose.

But he pulled back as she tried to hit him and so she just nodded down. His grip on her wrists tightened.

"Stop it!" he snapped. "Listen to me. What do you remember before you came here? What do you remember this morning?"

Ms. Dunn was getting to her feet. Kristina struggled with his question. What did she remember? It was all so foggy . . .

She looked back at him blankly. Remembered herself. The vibrations in her skull. She bucked under him, trying to free her legs.

Inject. She had to inject. She
hated
him. He had hurt Ms. Dunn. Oh, Ms. Dunn.

"Kristina," he growled. "Look at me."

She did. She looked into his coal black eyes. Then he leaned forward and his mouth opened and his lips were on hers and she closed her eyes despite herself, then, his warm mouth against her lips felt so nice and inviting. She relaxed and a warm feeling bloomed in the back of her neck like a hot towel after a massage.

Footsteps. Ms. Dunn! She opened her eyes and Landon pulled back from her. Ms. Dunn was up and she had something in her hand. The chair she had sat on before.

She swung it at Landon and hit him in the side of his head. He fell off her, stunned.

"Kristina!" Ms. Dunn cried. "Do it now!"

Kristina scurried back on the floor and scrambled to her feet. She looked at Ms. Dunn, then at Landon as he sat on his butt on the floor, dazed. Dunn was pointing wildly at him, her eyes on Kristina. The warm feeling at her neck bloomed out, creeping up the back of her head and down her spine.

She stumbled over to him, her grip tight on the syringe until she was just a foot away.

Inject
. She had to inject him so that she would complete her task. Ms. Dunn would be happy with her.

Dimly from the distance, footsteps on the stairs.

"Kristina!" Ms. Dunn yelled. "Now!"

Kristina bent down to get a good angle and took aim at Landon's hard chest. His head was down and he raised an arm weakly but she knew he was stunned. His face was slack, his eyes unfocused.

She raised the syringe and the warm feeling in her neck exploded hot, searing like a hot iron.

She staggered.

No.

What was she doing? This syringe? She was holding it to inject because Ms. Dunn requested it.

But Landon—

The side of her face pulled down in a spasm, like toffee at the fair. Blinding pain shot through her vision.

Why would she?

The world went dizzy, her vision white and the pain searing. Footsteps at the back. Ms. Dunn, oh Ms. Dunn was screaming but Kristina couldn't hear what she said, she had failed her and yet Landon was another, someone other than Ms. Dunn. She couldn't inject him. Not him.

She fell to her knees and her hands fell to her side and the syringe fell to the ground, beside her. The pain in her neck, her head, the flashing white light and she fell back on the ground. A dull ache at the top of her spine.

"FBI!" someone cried, somewhere in the world.

The lights went out and the sound muffled like her head had disappeared beneath a soundproof blanket.

Then nothing.

***

In a haze she woke up stuck with needles somewhere in the world drowned in white. Squinted against the bright lights overhead. It was a hospital, maybe. That might make sense.

Something had happened and then the hospital. This happened all the time. Not to her, necessarily. But she knew it could happen. It was a good thing to wake up in the hospital because that meant you hadn't died and probably could have.

The screaming pain in her temple sharpened and revealed itself along with an ache in the back of her head.

She closed her eyes. A machine vibrated almost silently to her left. Wherever she was, it felt like she was alone. Must be a private room. Good thing, though. Easier to sleep.

A door opened and closed. Her eyes snapped open to be greeted by that harsh light again. Squinting and in pain, she eased herself up in the bed until she was just about sitting up. Then she took a look around to get a better sense of the room. Where had that door opened? It sounded so far away—too far away for a hospital room.

Then her eyes caught a sign on the far wall.

TATUM PHARMACEUTICALS

LAB 1

The throbbing in her head got worse as she read the words. Oh, god. What had happened?

Where was Ms. Dunn? She'd failed her, somehow. Inject. She'd failed to inject him. Now she was hooked up with a needle in her arm and she was in a lab. A lab he owned.

The door. The door had opened and closed and that probably meant someone had come in. She frantically to her right, where the door was. Stark white cabinets shone pristinely under the bright lights, towering all the way up to the ceiling. Beneath them were transparent bubble glass countertops. Fine, stainless steel machines whose function she did not know where scattered around them, along with a sink. The door at the room's corner was jet black, almost like a portal in the otherwise bright room.

She turned to her left and there was Tom.

Her breath left her chest in a sharp gasp. How had he gotten there? Why didn't he say anything?

"Tom!" she cried. "What are you doing?"

His blue eyes opened wide behind his tortoise-shell glasses. He was wearing a blue and black plaid shirt tucked into black pants. Which, for him, was basically a work outfit.

"What do you mean?" he asked. "I came in to check on you."

"Did you have to startle me?"

He shrugged. "I didn't know how you'd be feeling."

She nodded and the pain in her head came back. "Well, I'm awake. Where the hell is Ms. Dunn?"

The words were out of her mouth before she knew what she was saying. She claimed her free hand up over her face. Why was her heart pounding so hard?

Tom took a deep breath, but if he was particularly worried he didn't show it.

"Okay," he said steadily. "Don't talk. That will make it worse."

She looked at him blankly, hand still over her mouth. A seizing pull came at her throat. She nodded.

He took a deep breath. "Landon took you here after what happened at the restaurant. In answer to your question—"

She sat up even straighter and he frowned.

"Actually, I won't tell you that. Let's just say that situation got handled. Then Landon took you here and Kevin got the place secured. With him plus the FBI looking out, I'm guessing we should be safe. In fact, I think it's probably mostly over."

She tried to talk but a strangled sound came from her throat and she hadn't expected that or even felt it until it happened. Panic.

Then calm, like a cool mist had descended from the very top of her head and soothed her strung out nerves. The outlines of Tom's form went blurry and the lights sharpened.

"Soothers," Tom said quietly. He looked around the room, then back at her. "Damn, that Phobos is nasty. Landon's working on something for you now."

At the sound of Landon's name, the panic started again, but it ran into a block somewhere and her mind went blank again. Tom got even blurrier.

He sighed and watched in silence. She felt as though her body was submerged in warm water after a long massage. Dimly a door opened somewhere in the world.

Tom's eyes went up. Did he say something? His mouth opened and closed as though he was . . .

That calm in her. Just so
relaxed
.

Tom was gone. Had she fallen asleep? She couldn't even tell if her eyes were open or if she was dreaming. The whole world had slowed down, like syrup gone cold and left to dribble on a plate.

Then another schism in her head, dull pain like the aftermath of hitting her head on the corner of a table.

Landon towered over her. The right side of his face was swollen and there was a cut down his cheek. His dark eyes were bloodshot and tired. The shirt he wore reminded her of something that had happened once, maybe. It looked very fine but also rumpled, like he hadn't changed in a long time.

"Don't talk."

She thought that was his voice but she couldn't be sure. Was she dreaming or awake? She shut her eyes hard until orange swirls filled her vision, then opened them. He was still there. Did that prove anything?

Could you actually hear anything in your dreams? She thought so but she wasn't sure. Maybe you just thought you heard something.

Of course you thought you heard something. It was a dream. She meant . . .

What was happening?

Landon reached toward something on her left. Close to where the IV in her arm was. The world came into focus more.

"Don't talk," he repeated. It was him. He was okay. "I'm turning your soothers down so we can see if this works like I think it will. But you need to keep yourself from saying anything or I'll have to turn them back up. Okay? Just nod."

She swallowed what little saliva was in her mouth and nodded. A little jittering started at the base of her skull and she tried very hard to ignore it and focus on Landon's face. His stubble looked like it had when she first found him.

"You have been injected with a Phobos deployment that is linked to Victoria Dunn. She was taken into custody shortly after you passed out. After that, I brought you here and started working on something to counter it. I hope."