Atone in Darkness Read online

  With some effort, she dragged her gaze back up to meet Lonzo’s. “Believe me or not, I had no idea until right before we escaped what was really going on. All I knew was that Chase had exceptional abilities to heal. I’m guessing that’s true for most of you, as well.”

  He didn’t bother to confirm or deny her assumption about him and his men.

  She couldn’t remember the last time she’d cried as much as she had over the past few days. Right now, she just ignored the tears and kept talking. “It wasn’t until the day we escaped that he told me that they’d been killing him over and over again. I have no idea how many times, but Chase was afraid that it might have used up all his chances.”

  Lonzo cut loose with a long stream of curses, not that she blamed him. Finally, he walked away to join the one Chase had called Jarvis. With him no longer blocking her view, she turned her attention back to the drama still playing out on the ground in front of them. From where she stood, it was hard to see what was going on through all the large men now surrounding Chase. She could see his feet, which weren’t moving. The increasingly grim expressions on everyone’s faces didn’t help.

  Another man moved up to stand next to her. When she glanced in his direction, she was startled to realize she recognized him. He’d been one of the original guards at the compound when she’d first arrived.

  He must have sensed her scrutiny. Offering her a small nod, he said, “Doctor, it’s been a while.”

  The man on her other side spoke up, looking at both of them with suspicion. “Tyson, how well do you know her?”

  Tyson? That wasn’t his name. Before she could say anything, he looked over her head at the other man. “Eli, she’s not the enemy.”

  The man grunted in response, clearly not convinced. Meanwhile, she leaned closer to the former guard. “That’s not the name—”

  He cut her off. “I go by Tyson Dahl these days. You’re not the only one on the run from our former employer.”

  Okay, she got that. Besides, now wasn’t the time to celebrate reunions. The discussion around Chase was getting loud and angry. For sure, his brother-in-law was clearly agitated as he and Larem exchanged heated words. Finally, they both stopped arguing long enough to look at her. Before she could figure out what she’d done to draw his attention, Jarvis was up and headed straight for her.

  He loomed over her, probably intending to use his size to intimidate her. It worked. “You stood by and let them kill him over and over again? What the hell kind of doctor are you?”

  She did her best to stand her ground. There was no way to defend what had happened to Chase, but neither would she break and run. She owed him that much. To her surprise, though, it was Tyson who spoke first. He planted himself firmly in front of the other man, making it clear that Jarvis would have to go through him to get to her.

  “Back off, Jarvis. Dr. Riggs here had no idea what she was getting into when she took that job. The men who hired her didn’t tell her anything about what they were doing until they had isolated her in that compound. She was one woman alone and surrounded by thugs. Even the management knew what kind of animals those men were. Hell, they blew the bastards up rather than unleash them on the world again.”

  He took a half step to the side. “Now, ask her what you need to know, but keep a civil tongue in your head.”

  Jarvis made no move to step closer to her. When he spoke again, he had his temper back under control, at least temporarily. “Did they do anything else to him? Drugs, that sort of thing?”

  That at least she could answer with some confidence. “They started using a gas of some kind to subdue him after he did some serious damage to several of the guards when they tried to drag him out of his cell. It never seemed to have any lasting effects on him. Other than that, I never saw any indications of them drugging him at all. I monitored his vitals on a regular basis along with doing a wide spectrum of bloodwork. There was a gradual deterioration in some of the values, especially in the ones related to trauma. Nothing that was life threatening, at least not yet.”

  “How many times did he die while he was in there?”

  “I don’t know. As I said before, right until the day we escaped, I had no idea what was happening or that it was even possible.”

  She risked another look in Chase’s direction. “He remained amazingly strong no matter what they did to him. I know he took great pride in protecting the secrets of your kind. When you get him to a medical facility, I will be glad to tell everything I can remember to his attending physician.”

  Jarvis’s temper flared again. “I’ll see that you get a pen and some paper so you can write down anything you think might help him, but there is no way I’m going to let you get anywhere near him after this. Tyson here might trust you. I don’t. I won’t.”

  Then he walked away. His rejection hurt, but she could hardly blame him for feeling that way. He had good reason to doubt her. They both knew that if Chase had escaped on his own, he probably would’ve made it farther and faster. Not to mention he wouldn’t have allowed that guard to get a drop on him. He’d been distracted by talking to her.

  Tyson and Eli continued to flank her as the medic and Larem kept up their intense discussion. Apparently the two of them reached a consensus, because they turned as one to present their decision to Lonzo and Jarvis. Then they called another man over and asked him several questions. While he answered them, he rubbed his chest as if it hurt. Finally, he patted Larem on the shoulder before walking over to stand with Eli and Tyson. Jarvis and Lonzo watched him walk away before turning their attention back to Larem. Neither man looked happy, but they both finally nodded.

  The medic immediately switched places with Larem, moving so that he was positioned at Chase’s head. After taking a deep breath, he put his hands on Chase’s shoulders as if preparing to hold him down. Jarvis and Lonzo knelt on the ground near Chase’s feet and gripped his legs in tight holds. Each man looked more grim than the next. What on earth was going on? That’s when she realized the man she loved was staring straight up into the sun without blinking, without breathing.

  “Oh, God, no.” She grasped at Tyson’s arm. “He’s dead again, and it’s my fault.”

  The former guard wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “No, it’s not. You didn’t kidnap him, you didn’t torture him, and you sure as hell didn’t pull that trigger. Besides, he won’t stay dead.”

  They both also knew that might not be a good thing if the damage done by the guards had pushed him beyond his body’s ability to recuperate.

  “What will they do now?”

  “I would think there wouldn’t be much more they can do for him here.” Eli kept his eyes riveted on the men surrounding Chase. “Best guess, they’ll call in a helicopter to fly the body . . . I mean, fly him back to headquarters. They have a pretty amazing medical facility there and people who know how to deal with . . . well, all this weird shit.”

  But the men surrounding Chase’s body weren’t acting as if there was nothing to be done. Jarvis was in the process of cutting Chase’s shirt open to bare his chest. The gaping wound from the gunshot was still seeping blood, but it had slowed to a trickle. No surprise there, considering his heart had quit pumping.

  Everyone stopped whatever they were doing to watch in horrified fascination as Larem raised his knife over his head and began chanting. The words he spoke weren’t English, and she didn’t recognize the language. His voice grew gradually louder until he shouted one last word that echoed down the hillside. At the same time, he slashed his palm open with the knife and coated the blade with his blood. She glanced at Tyson and Eli to see if any of this was what they had expected to happen. Judging by their expressions, she would have to say no. They were clearly as stunned as she was.

  Then in an unexpected move, Larem plunged the blade down into the open wound. He chanted as he held it there for several seconds before finally jerking the knife back out of Chase’s chest. He slumped to the side as if the single blow had taken every bi
t of strength he had. A second passed, then another, when suddenly Chase’s entire body bowed up off the ground. It took all three men to hold him in place as he collapsed and began thrashing around to break free of their grasp.

  And his screams—they were the stuff of nightmares.

  20

  * * *

  Marisol panted as if she’d just run a mile straight up the side of a mountain. What had Larem just done to Chase? And how? Once again, she glanced at Eli and Tyson, hoping for some kind of explanation. However, both of them stared at the drama still playing out in front of them with something akin to both fear and horror. The newcomer took it more calmly, but he still looked shaken. He was also back to rubbing his chest.

  Maybe he had some answers.

  She tugged on his jacket sleeve to get his attention. “What just happened?”

  He glanced down at her, his handsome face pale. “I was there the first time Larem used his special mojo. I didn’t see that part because I was dead at the time. It hurt like hell, though. I remember that much.”

  He shook his head as if to clear it. “I can’t tell you much more than that, and wouldn’t if I could. The how and why of it are both on a need-to-know basis. Sorry, but until Jarvis or Lonzo says otherwise, you don’t need to know.”

  Then he stalked away.

  Tyson muttered something colorful under his breath. “Eli, I swear this shit just gets weirder by the minute.”

  The other man actually laughed, his humor dark. “Yeah, but you’ve got to admit that it never gets boring.”

  She had so many questions and so few answers. The scientist in her demanded to know exactly what Larem had just done. Was it the combination of blood and steel that somehow jump-started Chase’s return to life? How was that even possible? Realizing Tyson had released his hold on her, she took a cautious step forward and then another, hoping to reach Chase’s side before anyone would notice.

  Someone did.

  Yet another man she hadn’t met blocked her way. “Just where do you think you’re going?”

  “I’m a doctor. I need to make sure Chase is all right.”

  “He’s not your concern.” He glared down at her with a whole lot of attitude. “Lady, your being a doctor doesn’t mean squat right now. You’re batshit crazy if you think we’re going to let you within spitting distance of Chase. On the other hand, you do have a choice to make. Either stay right there with Eli and do what you’re told, or we’ll handcuff you and drag you over there to wait with your guard buddies.”

  She didn’t bother pointing out they’d never been her friends. Instead, she sighed and retreated to where Eli and Tyson stood waiting for her.

  The newcomer said, “Smart move.”

  Eli shifted from foot to foot. “What’s next on the agenda, DJ?”

  The other man turned his attention back to Eli. “The chopper is on its way in. It will take Chase, Doc, Jarvis, and Larem back first. After refueling, it will return to take the prisoners and their less fortunate partners in crime back to headquarters. Jake and Hunter will provide security on that trip.”

  He slanted a glance toward the bodies wrapped in blue plastic tarps and laid out in a neat row. The two guards who had survived the brief but vicious fight with Chase’s friends were tied up nearby. Their resigned expressions said they suspected there were tarps with their names on them somewhere in their immediate future.

  Marisol didn’t think they were necessarily wrong about that.

  DJ was still talking. “After that, it will make one last trip to pick up everyone else, but it will drop us back at the compound. Devlin plans to meet us there with reinforcements to do a more thorough search of the place to see what we can learn.”

  He once again turned his attention in Marisol’s direction. “He wants you there to give him a guided tour and a full report on what happened in that place. He’ll also want to know how you and Chase escaped and everything that has happened since.”

  She was getting tired of being ordered around, but right now she had no choice but to go along with the program. “Fine, but what happens to me after that?”

  There was nothing friendly in DJ’s smile. “Well, it all depends on whether Devlin likes the answers you give to his questions.”

  Tyson moved up to stand beside her. “DJ, I’ll say this one more time. She’s not your enemy. Stop threatening her.”

  DJ smirked. “It’s not a threat if we mean it. It’s a promise.”

  Enough was enough. She maneuvered herself between the two men, who were currently locked in a stare down contest.

  “DJ, is it? Listen, I’ll willingly go where you tell me to go. I’ll answer what questions I can, and I won’t lie. I have no reason to.”

  The tension in his stance eased off just enough for her to think he was listening. “All I ask is that when you kick me to the curb, you do it someplace far away from wherever we are. Chase was convinced that the Cadre won’t quit looking for me anytime soon. I’d appreciate a head start in getting away.”

  DJ frowned. “Who the hell is the Cadre?”

  She pointed toward the line of bodies. “One of those men had the same abilities as Chase. He said his designation in the study was Number Three, so he had the same DNA marker in his blood I was hired to study. Chase was called Number Five.”

  Not that any of that mattered right now. “His first name was Edgar, and he told Chase he’d been stationed in Costa Rica. He said he had gotten tired of being used as cannon fodder and walked away. Shortly after that, he was offered a job helping to recruit other test subjects. He referred to our mutual employer as the Cadre, although that’s not a term I heard before he used it. I was hired by a company that called itself Annulus Development. That’s all I know.”

  DJ looked past her to Tyson. “Any of that ring a bell?”

  “I was still in the marines when I was unofficially reassigned to a classified operational group. No one used that terminology around me. But like I told Lonzo, things changed a while back, and not for the better. I walked away when they ordered a hit on Eli’s commanding officer. The people I worked for originally would never have done that, so it wouldn’t surprise me if the group was under new management.”

  Even if she hadn’t already known that she was surrounded by modern-day warriors, she would have now. Just like Chase, they were all three now on full alert and hyperaware of their surroundings, shoulders back, hands on weapons, and ready for action.

  Too bad that with the sole exception of Tyson, they were all convinced that she was their enemy.

  • • •

  DAMN, HE HURT. Every time Chase drew a breath, jagged shards of pain ripped through his chest. What the hell had happened?

  Only one way to find out. He forced one eye open and then the other one. His vision remained blurry, but he’d seen enough ceilings in a Paladin medical lab to recognize one when he saw it. There was the usual medicinal smell, the feel of the cold stainless steel he was lying on, and the familiar tug of chains strapping him down.

  “Welcome back, Chase.”

  He blinked, still trying to bring the world back into focus. The woman talking to him might be smiling, but he couldn’t be sure.

  “We’ve met before, but I’m guessing you’re pretty groggy right now. I’m Dr. Young, Devlin Bane’s wife. I’ll be your Handler while you’re here. For now, a few people want to say hi. Once they’ve had a chance to reassure themselves that you’re back with us, I’ll shoo them out and start a full assessment. You’ve been through this before, so you know what to expect.”

  It took some effort, but he managed to turn his head just enough to look at the speaker. She wasn’t alone. There were several men standing nearby. They parted as another woman pushed her way to the forefront of the group. His sister and Jarvis replaced the doctor at his side. He stared up at their worried faces.

  He whispered. “Gwen?”

  She cupped the side of his face with the palm of her hand. “I’m here, Chase. You’ve had us worri
ed.”

  His mouth was so dry that it hurt to talk, but he tried. “Sorry.”

  “We’re just glad you’re back.”

  He could hear the tears in her words. The bastards who’d taken him hadn’t only tortured him. Everyone who cared about him had been through hell, too. If he could get his hands on them, he’d make them pay. Make them bleed. Kill them over and over again.

  His past melded with his present in a burning orange haze. Was he really surrounded by friends, or had the enemy only tricked him into believing he was safe? No way to know. Needed to get free. Needed his doctor. Not this one, but his doctor—Marisol. She would tell him the truth.

  He fought against his restraints with everything he had and chanted the name of the one person he trusted to tell him the truth. “Marisol, Marisol, Marisol.”

  The woman claiming to be his sister was dragged back out of sight, a large man taking her place. “Damn it, Chase, stay with us.”

  Another voice yelled, “Dr. Young! His eyes are changing again.”

  The Handler reappeared, a large syringe in her hand. He fought harder, trying to prevent her from injecting him. Too late. He wanted to trust the sympathy in her expression, but he couldn’t risk it.

  “Marisol. Need her.”

  He wasn’t sure if he actually said the words or not. Already his thoughts were going hazy as his pounding heart shoved the chemical through his veins. No longer able to form words, he closed his eyes and listened as the conversation swirled around him.

  A woman—his sister?—whispered, “Will he make it back again?”

  The doctor answered. “I hope so.”

  She didn’t sound convinced.

  A deep male voice entered the fray. “Would it help if that woman was here? The one he keeps asking for?”

  The Handler didn’t hesitate this time. “It’s worth a shot. We all know that it helped Trahern that Brenna was at his side when he struggled to make it back all the way.”