Atone in Darkness Read online

  “Where are you going to be?”

  “In my cage and back under that blanket on the floor. If he sees me out here with you, he might call in the troops again. Let him think I’m still . . . unconscious. I can’t afford for them to hurt me that badly again this soon. Close the door once I’m back inside.”

  That slight hesitation in his voice brought back vivid images of what had happened to him the last time the guards had trapped him in that cell. She suspected that he’d really meant to say dead instead of unconscious, but she let it pass.

  “No, I’m not going to lock you up again. Not after what they did to you.”

  His eyes widened in surprise, but he didn’t argue. “Can you close the door most of the way, but not let it click shut?”

  “Maybe, but I’d rather give you my remote control. That way you can open it from the inside if you need to.”

  “Hurry, he’s almost to the door.”

  Although she couldn’t hear anyone approaching, she didn’t doubt Chase’s word. She pulled the remote out of the drawer and tossed it to him. He stepped back into the cell and closed the door just as the guard strolled in.

  Hustling over to stand in front of her computer, she pretended an interest in the numbers that were displayed there. After counting off several seconds, she finally glanced toward her uninvited guest. It was the guard she’d spoken to after breakfast when she’d been hunting for Dan. She gave his name tag a pointed look. “Was there something you needed, Wesley?”

  He jerked his thumb in the direction of Chase’s cell. “I came to check on him.”

  How should she play this? She settled on anger. “Why bother? I pronounced him dead hours ago. I’ve already marked his files as terminated in the system.”

  She crossed her fingers that the man didn’t have the authority to access her files.

  Wesley’s eyes flashed wide with what looked like fear. “What do you mean he’s dead? Hasn’t he revived yet?”

  She slowed her cadence to make it sound like she was talking to someone who was slow on the uptake. “No, he hasn’t revived. Like I said, he’s dead. You idiots killed my one test subject. I’m sure our employers will be just thrilled to learn they’ll have to go hunt down someone else with Number Five’s particular characteristics. I look forward to meeting test subject Number Six.”

  The guard’s face flushed red. “You better be lying about all of that. There’s no way he died from a simple beating.”

  This time she let her temper fly. “A simple beating? Is that what you call it? You should’ve seen the internal damage you and the others did with your batons and your steel-toed boots. After that amount of trauma, it’s no wonder he quit breathing, his heart stopped, and then his body shut down completely. It was that way when you guys left. It was still that way when I did the autopsy.”

  It was hard not to laugh at the man’s growing horror. He stared at her. “You cut him open?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  She glanced toward the cell. “After all, dead is dead, but I figured at least we should learn something from his demise. Now get out of here so I can finish my report.”

  When she reached for the keyboard, the guard made a grab for her arm. “Don’t you dare tell them what happened. There’s no telling what they’ll do.”

  She’d been expecting something of the kind and had her scalpel ready. He howled with pain when she shoved the blade into his palm as far as it would go. Unfortunately, he had two hands and the other one was perfectly functional. He grabbed her hair and jerked hard, sending her sprawling on the floor. She ignored the pain and scrambled to put more distance between them. Where was Chase? Had the remote not worked for some reason?

  Meanwhile, Wesley snarled as he wrapped a towel around his bloody hand. “You bitch, you’ll pay for that.”

  Her assailant then prowled toward her, laughing when she tried without success to stand up. It was as if fear had turned dissolved her bones so her legs could no longer support her.

  He kept coming. “We’d planned on drawing straws to see which one of us would get to break you in for the others. Guess this is my lucky day.”

  The sound of the cell door sliding open caught his attention. Wesley spun to face the man who had just stepped out into the room.

  “Not so much, you bastard, unless you really think dying is a lucky thing. Personally, I’ve had my fill of it.”

  Seeing Chase heading straight for him with death and destruction in his eyes had the guard fumbling to call for reinforcements. Marisol crawled back toward him, this time stabbing him in the leg. The damage wouldn’t disable him, but it was enough of a distraction until Chase could take over.

  The fight was short and brutal. It spoke to how off the rails her life had gone that the level of violence between the two men didn’t send her running for cover. Instead of giving in to the panic lapping at her self-control, she ran into the cell and picked up another piece of the chair that Chase had destroyed. It wasn’t much of a weapon, but she wouldn’t stand there cowering while she waited to see which of the two men emerged victorious.

  Marisol stepped back out into the lab just as Chase grabbed Wesley by the head and twisted hard and fast. A loud crunch echoed through the room followed by the soft thump of the guard’s limp body slumping to the ground at Chase’s feet.

  “Is he—”

  She didn’t finish the question, but Chase nodded anyway. At the same time, he knelt by the body and started unbuttoning the guard’s uniform. “Come help me strip off his clothes. It will be easier for me to go unrecognized if I’m dressed like one of them.”

  When she remained frozen in position, Chase glared at her. “Come on, Doc, this isn’t the time to second-guess the plan. I’m telling you straight up—either we go together or I go alone. If you’d rather wait here for another one of Dan’s buddies to show up, fine. Even if they believe that I’m the one who killed this guy, they’re going to know you helped.”

  She wanted to deny that but she couldn’t, not when she’d helped Chase escape his prison. There might be time for regrets later, but right now they had to keep moving. She joined her accomplice on the floor and began untying Wesley’s boots while Chase stripped off his sweats.

  When she realized he wasn’t wearing anything underneath them, she blushed and averted her eyes, but not before he noticed and grinned at her. Nothing about this was funny. Rather than point that out, she ignored him and concentrated on putting the red sweatpants on the body.

  “We’ll put him in the cell and use the blanket to cover him up. At first glance, they’ll think it’s you.”

  “Good thinking.”

  Together they made quick work of dressing the body and arranging it in the cell. When they were done, Chase shut the door and pointed toward the control panel on the wall. “Do they all have the access code?”

  “No, as far as I know, just me and the supervisor on each shift.”

  “Good.” He pocketed the remote. “No use in making it easy for them to get in there.”

  Then he picked up the guard’s Taser and baton. “Gather up whatever else you need, Doc, but hurry.”

  She shoved the two bombs she’d made into her computer case along with her laptop. She handed him one of the cheap lighters she used to light her burners in the lab. Then she stuck the last couple of scalpels into her lab coat pockets and divided the syringes filled with the tranquilizer between her and Chase.

  “These won’t instantly drop anyone in their tracks, but that quantity of the drug will knock them out for hours.”

  “Good to know.”

  Chase led the way to the door. “Anyone asks, I’m escorting you back to your quarters. We’ll figure out where to go from there. Either way, we won’t be coming back here.”

  Because they’d either make good on their escape or die in the attempt. She drew a deep breath and followed him out into the hall.

  6

  * * *

  Chase kept a wary eye on Marisol as they wa
lked down the hall, not yet sure she wouldn’t ultimately betray him. He automatically positioned himself half a step behind her to look more like he was escorting her and not necessarily to someplace she actually wanted to go. Marisol looked worried enough to give credence to that idea.

  Fortunately, so far they pretty much had the halls to themselves, but that wouldn’t last. It was tempting to hurry their pace, which would only draw unwanted attention if they did cross paths with any of the other guards.

  “My place is just ahead.”

  She murmured the words without looking back in his direction. He took that as a sign she was aware of the image he was trying to project and that they needed to act the part. Upon reaching the entrance to her quarters, she quickly keyed in the security code. Chase hovered close by to memorize the number sequence while she hit the keys.

  They both released a deep breath after they crossed the threshold and the door slid shut behind them. At best, this was only a momentary respite from the danger that surrounded them, but he’d take it.

  “Gather up anything you think might be useful when we get out of here.”

  After she set her computer case down on the coffee table, he leaned in close to whisper, “Are your quarters bugged?”

  “No way to know for sure. I haven’t seen any cameras, but there could be microphones. Considering you’re the only person I’ve ever invited in, they wouldn’t have heard much.” Then she quietly asked, “Do you really think we stand a chance of escaping?” Her chin took on a stubborn tilt. “And don’t bother lying. I’ll know.”

  “The odds aren’t great, but giving up isn’t an option. If we stay, we die.”

  He expected her to deny his assessment of the situation, but it appeared she was made of stronger stuff. “Okay, then. I’ll change clothes and grab a few things.”

  He stopped her before she could disappear into the other room. “Is there any chance I can access the Internet with your laptop?”

  Once again, she hesitated. “Maybe, but be quick about it. They limit my access to uploading my reports. If they notice unusual activity, they may come running.”

  He’d been afraid of that. “How quick do I need to be?”

  “Depends on how good they are. Considering what this operation has to be costing, I wouldn’t bet our lives on them not having top-quality techs on salary. I’m guessing minutes at most.”

  “Log in, and I’ll take it from there. I’ll be contacting a secure site, one I know for damn sure they won’t be able to hack. They’re not the only ones with top-notch computer people.”

  She booted up the computer and keyed in her ID and password. “I won’t be long.”

  He nodded as he accessed his account through the Paladins’ secure server and typed in his direct boss’s e-mail address. Jarvis Donahue wasn’t only the top dog at the installation that served as Chase’s home base, he was also his brother-in-law. Who else should he include in the message? His friend Jake, a computer whiz. He also added Devlin Bane, the top Paladin in the Seattle area.

  Those three should be enough. They would call in the troops and coordinate the search to find him. He gave them a brief summary of the situation. He also warned them the installation was heavily armed, but he was doing his best to escape on his own. At the last second, he added he’d seen mountains in the distance. That might not narrow their search much, but it was a start. After sending the encrypted message, he shut the computer down and crossed his fingers that he’d made the right decision to reach out to his friends.

  He’d had plenty of time to think about his situation. The implications of the day he’d been kidnapped remained all too clear. No one outside of the organization had known where he was headed and how he planned to get there. While he’d love to find out that he was wrong, his gut insisted he’d been betrayed to the enemy by a person who had access to the Paladins’ secure server. If true, Chase had just alerted that same enemy he was on the move.

  Marisol rejoined him in the small living room, a backpack slung over her shoulder. “All I had for food was some bottled water and a box of granola bars. I stuck in a few personal items, a small first aid kit, and the disposable lighters I brought from the lab.”

  “Sounds good. Before we head out, where do you think we should toss our firebombs to be the most effective?”

  She bit her lower lip as she gave the matter some thought. “In here wouldn’t be a bad idea. It’s unlikely anyone would notice until the fire gets bad enough to set off the alarms.”

  Then she pointed at the sprinkler in the ceiling overhead. “That’s a problem, though. It could smother the flames too quickly.”

  “Good thinking.”

  He immediately dragged the coffee table over to the center of the room and climbed up to see if he could figure out how to disable the sprinkler head. Frustrated, he looked around the room for any ideas. “Do you have any sheets of plastic? Something we could use to block the spray from hitting the fire once we start it? And some duct tape?”

  She disappeared into the other room and returned in a flash with a shower curtain and a roll of surgical tape. Holding the items up for his inspection, she asked, “Will these work?”

  “We’ll make them work.”

  He shoved the small sofa as far from the sprinkler head as he could and then taped the shower curtain to the ceiling to provide at least some meager protection. “It won’t hold for long, but hopefully it will let the fire get big enough to make evacuation necessary. Do you know of a place we can hide closer to the entrance until that happens?”

  “Yes, there’s a storage room right down the hall. That will give us a straight shot to the front door.”

  Then she handed him the bottle of reagent and watched while he poured it over the sofa. When he was done, he held out the computer. “Hide this someplace. If we take it with us, they might be able to use it to track our location.”

  She disappeared back into her bedroom. When she returned, she grabbed her jacket out of the closet and stuffed it into her pack. “I’m ready.”

  Then her dark eyes met his. “No, I’m not. Not really, but we have no choice.”

  “No, we don’t.”

  He flicked the lighter she’d given him earlier, ready to light one of the strips of cloth they’d planned to use as wicks. “Get near the door. There’s no telling how fast this will burn or how toxic the fumes will be.”

  Before he could toss the burning fabric onto the sofa, an alarm sounded out in the hallway. He dropped the strip the floor and stomped on it. “What the hell is that?”

  As if in response to his question, an automated voice came on the intercom. “Attention all staff. An immediate shutdown of this facility is in effect. Please follow evacuation protocols. This is not a drill.”

  Then the emergency alarm sounded again, and the message was repeated a second time.

  Marisol looked puzzled. “I thought Dan was lying about the possibility of the owners getting ready to pull the plug on this place.”

  So had Chase, especially this soon. “This might actually be good news. If everyone is leaving, we might have an easier time getting outside of the fence.”

  “Do you think they’ve discovered you’re gone?”

  “No way to know, but it’s possible. If so, this might be their way of trying to flush us out of hiding. I wish we knew for sure.”

  Then he smacked his forehead. “I’m an idiot.”

  He pulled the radio that he’d taken off the dead guard out of his pants pocket. “I forgot I had this. I took it from the guard we . . . I . . . left behind in the lab.”

  Despite what that guy had intended to do to Marisol, Chase knew she hadn’t gotten past the shock of seeing him snap the bastard’s neck right in front of her. No doubt she was feeling a bit skittish around him. Holding the radio between the two of them, he hit the on switch to eavesdrop on the conversation.

  “She’s not in the lab. Someone check her quarters. The powers that be will be thoroughly pissed if we’ve
lost her. They’ll want to debrief her completely before terminating her part in the project.”

  Another voice responded. “If she’s not there, start a room-by-room search for her.”

  There was a slight pause before the first speaker asked, “What do we do about Number Five?”

  “We just checked the lab. We don’t have to worry about him. He’s still on the floor of his cell covered with a blanket, so he hasn’t recovered yet. The boss said to leave him there, and they’ll take care of that part of the cleanup. They’ve learned all they can from him.”

  Okay, time was definitely running out. The bad news was the guards were on the hunt for Marisol and would be headed their way any second now. The good news was that they hadn’t figured Chase into the equation.

  He ran through a few scenarios in his mind and made his decision. “We’re better off walking out with everyone else where we’d have a chance to get lost in the crowd. In here, we’re sitting ducks once they start a door-to-door search.”

  Without waiting for her to respond, he pressed his ear against the door to see if he could hear what was going on outside in the hall. “People are leaving. Let’s go. When in doubt, act like you don’t want me to be hauling your ass out of this place.”

  “Quit ordering me around.”

  This was not the time for her to dig in her heels. “Listen, Doc, you might know all there is to know about medical stuff and your research, but you don’t know jack shit about surviving situations like this one. We don’t have time for long, polite discussions. Either do what I say or find your own way out.”

  Then without giving her a chance to reply, he all but dragged her out the door. They fell into step a short distance behind a cluster of guards heading for the exit. No one seemed to be in a big hurry, and most were carrying duffels slung over their shoulders. If this was a hoax, it didn’t appear that the locals were in on the secret. At least this way no one would question why she had her backpack with her.