Atone in Darkness Page 14

  Instead, he would start by learning as much as he could from Edgar and go from there. If he could be believed, he’d been a prisoner at least two months longer than Chase. “Where were you stationed, and how did you end up at the compound?”

  “I served out of central Costa Rica. Hell, I hadn’t even been back to the States for a couple of years. The last thing I can remember was walking along a street in San Jose on my way back to headquarters. I woke up in a glass cell in the compound. No thanks to the doctor here, I barely managed to escape with my life, and her friends are still out there hunting for me.”

  He glanced at Chase with wild eyes. “Hunting for both of us.”

  Marisol was ashen. “Chase, I swear I’ve never seen this man before, and I never heard of anyone named Edgar.”

  The man sneered. “That’s because you always called me Number Three like I was some damn lab rat. She instructed my captors on exactly how she wanted them to beat on me. Hell, half the time she stood by and watched with a sick smile on her face. I heard she had another play toy in the other lab at the compound. The guards liked to take bets on which one of us could survive the most damage. Hell, they even had a pool going on how many times we could die and not come back crazy.”

  Well, shit. Even if Marisol hadn’t yet figured out what that marker in Chase’s DNA meant, Edgar had just connected the dots for her. It didn’t help that his wound was already visibly smaller, verifying he was another Paladin. Sure enough, she was looking at Chase now, so many questions whirling in that incredible mind of hers, ones he had no business answering. But after last night and everything else they’d been through, he was done lying to her.

  The real question was whether or not Edgar’s claims had been designed for the sole purpose of destroying the fledgling trust between Chase and Marisol. Divide and conquer and all that. There was no way to know for sure, but there was something about the man that didn’t ring true to him. Still, the experiences he was describing were identical to what Chase himself had gone through. So many questions, so few answers.

  “Chase, what does he mean about dying multiple times?”

  “Later, Marisol. I promise.”

  Shoving all his anger and his doubts down deep to be dealt with later, he turned his attention back to Edgar. “The guards were bastards, every last one of them. And maybe you have good reasons not to trust anyone connected to that place, but she’s the only doctor we have handy right now. I’ll be right here to keep an eye on things. Let her see what she can do to stop the bleeding.”

  Marisol had flinched at his assessment of the situation, but he pretended not to have noticed. She’d proven her loyalty to him time and again. Edgar was the unknown in this equation. He needed to learn what the man knew about the camp and the people behind it. Maybe he was another victim, another Paladin captured and tortured for weeks. That didn’t mean Chase was ready to declare the two of them blood brothers and start singing kumbaya anytime soon.

  Edgar finally nodded. “As long as you keep an eye on the bitch. I’ll warn you, though. If she comes at me again, I’ll kill her.”

  Enough was enough. Chase lunged across the short distance to clamp his hands around Edgar’s throat. “Threaten her again, I’ll gut you myself. I’m telling you straight up, the same guys hunting for me are after her, too.”

  The other man was smart enough to keep his mouth shut. He simply went limp, offering no resistance as Marisol washed away the blood. She snapped out orders with cold efficiency. There was no sign of the warm woman Chase had slept with last night. “Get me the soap and hot water. Also, that open bottle of scotch in the top cabinet. I’ll need it to disinfect the area before I bandage the wound.”

  He did as she asked, still keeping a wary eye on Edgar. Even wounded, the man was quite capable of snapping her neck in seconds. One wrong move, and Edgar wouldn’t live long enough to draw another breath. Paladins were hard to kill, but not impossible.

  Once again he knelt beside Edgar to hold him down if the pain became too much while Marisol cleaned his wound. When she finally doused the area with the cheap scotch, it became clear the man had a real talent for creative cursing. Chase made note of a couple of expressions he planned to try out on Jarvis the next time the two of them crossed swords in practice. Maybe the shock value would throw the older Paladin off his game enough so that Chase could actually win a bout against him. If so, it would be the first.

  Meanwhile, Marisol cut up another of their unknown host’s T-shirts to use as a bandage. Once she had it secured in place, she left it to Chase to help Edgar pull on another shirt. After he got the wounded man situated in one of the club chairs, Chase cleaned up the floor and packed up the last of their few first aid supplies.

  Marisol’s silence was starting to get on his nerves. It wasn’t as if he felt free to talk in front of their guest. He still didn’t know how much of the guy’s story he believed or if he even believed any of it at all. Because if Edgar was telling the truth about his experience in the compound, then Marisol had lied to Chase about everything.

  And after last night, holding her and loving her every which way he could think of, learning she’d been a willing participant in torturing a fellow Paladin would be a betrayal he wasn’t sure he’d survive. He wanted to believe her, but he wasn’t a fool. He hadn’t exactly been thinking with the head on his shoulders when it came to her.

  Shortly after bandaging Edgar’s shoulder, she’d disappeared into the bathroom. There’d been a long silence followed by the sound of water splashing. If he had to guess, he figured she’d taken it upon herself to start wringing out their clothing. Maybe she could use some help.

  When he stepped into the bathroom, he might as well have been invisible for all the attention she paid to him. He watched as she struggled to wring the water out of the uniform pants he’d stolen from the guard.

  “Need some help?”

  She shook her head and went right on twisting the fabric with renewed effort. He suspected she was imagining that was his neck she was twisting right now. “He’s like me.”

  “I figured that much out for myself.” She finally glanced in his direction. “So you really were dead on the floor of the cell. I didn’t imagine it.”

  “Yeah, I was. That wasn’t the only time, either. There were at least two other times that I can remember.”

  She drew a sharp breath. “I’d think a person would have a hard time forgetting something like that.”

  He shrugged. “It depends on how many times you’ve died. Personally, I do my best not to remember. It happened the first time when I was eighteen.”

  “You let me think I had left you suffering all that time under that blanket.” She plopped his pants on the side of the tub and reached for another piece of clothing. “And what was up with your eyes flashing orange like that?”

  Damn, did they really have to do this now? Evidently, because she tossed the shirt back down into the water and looked up at him in expectation.

  “Fine.” He sat down on the edge of the tub resting his elbows on his knees. “We only get so many get-out-of-death-free cards. Before you ask, no one knows how many we’re dealt or why it varies from man to man. The orange-eyes thing is a sign I’m on the verge of running out of chances. If they ever stay orange, it means I’ve used up my ability to recover, and I’ve come back whack-job crazy.”

  He had to force himself to look straight at her when he told her the next part. “The only choice at that point is to put me down like a rabid animal. In fact, if that happens to me or to our new friend out there, either kill us or get the hell away before something happens we’ll both regret.”

  She turned her attention back to their laundry. “You believed Edgar out there. That I was part of the team that tortured him. Don’t bother to deny it.”

  The abrupt change in topic had Chase running his fingers through his hair in frustration. “To tell you the truth, Doc, I don’t know what to believe. Until now, I’ve never had call to doubt the word o
f anyone I’ve ever met who shares that DNA marker you’ve been studying.”

  “Either you believe him or you believe me. It’s that simple, isn’t it?”

  “That’s not fair, Marisol. We’ve both known all along that if I was the fifth lab rat your employers had gotten their hands on, there had to be four others before me.”

  When she swiped at her cheek with the back of her hand, he realized she was crying. He reached for her, hoping to undo the damage his doubts had caused, but she scooted back out of reach. “Damn it, don’t cry, Doc. You have to understand why I’m having trouble with all of this.”

  “Just go, Chase. I’ve got work to do here.”

  A sound from the other room caught his attention. There was no way he should be leaving Edgar alone out there. “I’ll go keep an eye on him and warm something up for breakfast. I’ll let you know when it’s ready.”

  “Fine.”

  Before he walked out the door, she added, “And what you said about something happening that we’d both regret. All things considered, maybe it already has.”

  Not knowing what to say to that, he walked out and quietly closed the door behind him. Yeah, he had regrets, but last night wasn’t one of them. The fact that she felt like that hurt like hell, so Chase did the only thing he could. He made breakfast for the three of them, wondering the whole time if he was feeding the enemy, and if so, which of his companions actually fit that description.

  14

  * * *

  The makeshift meal was nothing if not tense. Edgar shoveled in the soup and fried canned meat as if it was the finest gourmet cooking, while Chase struggled to choke down enough to keep up his strength. Marisol had picked up her own food and disappeared into the bedroom to eat alone. Chase couldn’t really blame her, but he had no idea how to breach the wall she’d erected between them, especially with Edgar watching them both like a hawk.

  Finally, the other man shoved his empty bowl away. “Thanks. That hit the spot.”

  Then he looked around the cabin. “Any idea who owns this place?”

  “No.”

  Interesting question, though. In the hustle and bustle of getting Edgar inside to dress his wound, Chase hadn’t stopped to question how the man had just happened to stumble across the same abandoned cabin that he and Marisol had found. Also, why he’d claimed to have known Marisol from the compound, yet he hadn’t mentioned knowing Chase but had somehow immediately recognized him as a Paladin. Had he been following their tracks since escaping the compound? If so, why would he do that if he knew they were being hunted? And what had happened to whoever had shot him? Before he could give voice to his questions, Edgar spoke up again.

  “If it’s okay with you, I’m going to sack out for a while. My shoulder is feeling better, but I haven’t slept more than an hour or two at a time since night before last.”

  “You didn’t say how you got away.”

  Edgar had been in the process of standing up, but he froze for a second. “No, I guess I didn’t. Two of the guards were dragging me out of my cell when they heard the first explosions. One of them ran to see what the hell was going on, and his partner got careless when the screaming started. I knocked him out and took off. It was already dark outside, so it was easy to lose myself in the panic. I hid in the woods near the compound until I realized the bastards were planning a hunt when I overheard them say the doctor had disappeared.”

  He carried his dishes over to the counter. “I managed to stay ahead of them for several hours, but then one of them got off a lucky shot. I kept to the creek for as long as I could to hide my trail. Eventually, they gave up and moved on.”

  “Why?”

  “From what I heard, they want the doctor back really bad. Their bosses think she stole their research and plans to sell it on the open market.” He glanced toward the closed bedroom door. “You do realize the Paladins can’t afford for that to happen.”

  True enough, although it was obvious that someone in this mysterious organization already knew more than they should’ve about them. Right now Chase would give anything to know how that had happened. One possibility was that someone in the Regents organization had betrayed him, since Marisol’s employer had known exactly when and where to kidnap him. He couldn’t wait to tell Jarvis and Devlin Bane his suspicions. If he was right, once they managed to ferret out that person’s identity, they could start the search for anyone else who’d been compromised.

  “No, we can’t. For now, why don’t you get some sleep.”

  “Good idea.”

  But before that, he had one more question for Edgar. “How did you know I was a Paladin? As far as I can remember, we’ve never met.”

  Edgar stared past him toward the window, his hand rubbing his throat. “They made me watch you suffocate when they hung you from the rafters in the gym a few weeks back. After the guards cut you down, they did the same to me.”

  Chase clenched his fists as the memory of that day washed over him. There had been an audience standing somewhere behind him. He could remember their laughter as he’d struggled to breathe. Bastards.

  “Like I said, get some sleep.”

  While Edgar stretched out on the floor, Chase worked off some of his anger wringing out the wet clothes and then draped them over the backs of the kitchen chairs to dry by the stove. When that was done, he debated whether or not to try to talk to Marisol. When he opened the bedroom door, though, she was curled up in the bed sound asleep. She stirred and blinked sleepily when he picked up her dirty dishes.

  “I would’ve taken care of them when I woke up.”

  Damn, he wanted to crawl back between those sheets with her again and pretend the past couple of hours had never happened. “I know. I was just checking on you. If you don’t mind, I’m going out to scout around a little while Edgar is sleeping.”

  When her eyes flared wide with what looked like fear, he hastened to reassure her. “Don’t worry, I won’t be gone long. Stay in here with the chair propped under the door handle if that makes you feel safer. You can also watch for my return from the window.”

  She sat up and stretched. “What are you looking for besides the obvious?”

  He shrugged. “I’m not sure. I guess I’ll know it when I see it.”

  She didn’t seem impressed with his logic. “Good luck with that.”

  “Do you want me to leave the rifle with you?”

  After a brief pause, she shook her head. “You’re more likely to need it. Be careful out there.”

  “I’ll try.”

  His gut feeling was that there was more he should say to her, but she turned away and lay back down. Even if he could’ve figured out the words to use, she clearly wasn’t in the mood to listen.

  Okay, then. If that’s how she wanted it, who was he to argue? He’d scout around, make sure they were safe for the time being, and then get some rest himself. Come tomorrow, they’d hike their asses down that road. The sooner they reached civilization, the sooner he could get his life back.

  The one without an aggravating woman in it.

  • • •

  MARISOL STARED OUT of the window until Chase left the room. It had taken all the strength she could muster not to beg him to believe her story instead of Edgar’s. She’d had little reason to trust men in her life, but she’d thought Chase was different, that last night had meant something to them both.

  And it wasn’t just the emotional betrayal that she was mad about. No, back in the compound he’d let her think that she’d written him off for dead when he wasn’t. Only now, when he was backed into a corner, was he finally sharing the truth about what that DNA marker meant. He had been dead. Really dead. Not only that, it wasn’t the first time since she’d known him.

  More than anything, she wanted to believe that either he was crazy or that she was. The trouble was she had the hard data to prove, at least to herself, that Chase had amazing recuperative abilities. It wasn’t much of a leap of faith to know that Edgar had them, too, if he really
was patient Number Three.

  It only seemed logical that whoever had hired her to do the study knew all about Chase and the others long before she’d arrived on the scene. If so, what had they hoped to accomplish by having her study Chase? Had they only wanted to prove he could survive all that abuse, or were they hoping for more? Long term, had they hoped she could find a way to trigger the same kind of abilities in humans who lacked that all-important marker?

  She could only imagine what it would do to her professional credibility if she were to attempt to publish her findings about a subspecies of humans who not only healed faster than anyone could imagine, but for whom death wasn’t always the end of the road. Yeah, even if she hadn’t signed a nondisclosure agreement at the outset, there was no way she could risk saying a word about what she’d learned. That would be tantamount to pouring all of her education and everything she’d worked for right down the drain.

  No longer interested in sleep, she put on her shoes and grabbed her jacket off the back of the chair. Even if Edgar was asleep, she wasn’t comfortable spending time alone in the house with just him. Besides, the walls of the small cabin felt like they were closing in on her. She wouldn’t go far, just outside to walk around for a few minutes.

  She crept past the man sleeping on the floor, hoping to make it out the door without disturbing him. When she stepped out onto the porch, she paused to draw in a deep breath of fresh air heavily scented with wood smoke and cedar. She walked around to the side of the house to face the hillside where Chase had gone exploring. It was tempting to follow him, but she rejected the idea. If he came back a different way, they might miss each other, and she couldn’t risk crossing paths with the men who were hunting them.

  Instead, she did several brisk laps around the house, each time stopping just long enough to see if she could spot Chase on his way back. The longer he stayed gone, the tighter the knot of tension in her chest grew. Had he finally decided that he was better off without her? Worse yet, had the guards caught up with him?