Harper crouched on the moist, leafy ground, waiting for Rome to return. Disabling the perimeter cameras of the Five Watch facility without anyone noticing was his task. He’d been gone for about five minutes and she expected to be alone for precisely five more.
Watery rays of sunlight gently filtered through the moss-draped trees around her. A misty drizzle cast a light sheen among the brush that was providing her cover.
She’d never been in this area in the daytime. The only two times she’d come to Bobby’s lab, it had been the dead of night.
She hadn’t even known there was a vast facility adjoining the lab in the front. Bobby’s lab was underground and seemingly far from the gray buildings she could barely make out in the distance. Apparently they connected through a myriad of hallways. But there was another concealed bunker about a hundred yards from the entrance she’d used to get to Bobby’s lab.
That was where she and Rome were headed.
Over a package of surprisingly tasty store-bought cinnamon rolls, they’d decided this morning that they needed to find some tangible evidence of what was going on. They trusted Bobby’s notes, but wanted to see for themselves exactly what they were up against.
She glanced at the timer counting down on her digital watch-4:30 blinked back at her. Rome had been very specific about the timing. And gone over and over it before they’d even left their tawdry motel room this morning.
Mmm…this morning. Waking up with Rome spooning her had been, well, heavenly. The combination of warmth and strength and the vulnerability in his sleep had nearly undone her. When he’d been kissing her the night before, she’d never wanted anyone or anything more in her life than she’d wanted him. Not even an Olympic gold. She still didn’t fully trust him, but my goodness, she was fully attracted to him. But when they made love, she wanted plenty of time to explore his delicious body. And this morning they’d had other things to contend with.
Another glance at her watch-2:10. She had to clear her mind or she’d jump him the second he returned.
As much as she’d initially wanted to claim vengeance on her own, she’d come to realize that she couldn’t do this without Rome. Harper knew nothing about this spy stuff other than what she’d seen in movies and the video games she played. She desperately needed his expertise and endless resources.
And not only was he trained in this kind of stuff, but his steadfast support was beginning to mean a lot to her. She’d lost so much already. She didn’t think she’d survive losing Rome, too. Even if she did have a limited life span.
His betrayal still stung. And she still wasn’t ready to forgive it. Yet she was smart enough to know he was a real asset. She needed him to help her get revenge for Bobby, given she didn’t know how long she had to live.
She knew she should feel something about her imminent death. But somehow, she felt that the moment she’d decided on revenge, she realized it would end in a oneway ticket to mortality. And surprisingly, she was okay with it. As long as she got vengeance first.
A slight rustling of brush to her left spurred her out of her absorbed thoughts. Glancing at her watch, she saw the digitized numbers count down from ten. Rome slipped through the leafy barrier with hushed ease.
“I’m surprised I could even hear you,” she said softly, flicking her gaze back to see the seconds tick down to zero. Amazing.
“It was on purpose,” he said quietly with a smile, hunkering down right next to her. “I didn’t want to scare you.” He placed his hand on her shoulder, warming her through the fabric of the black microfleece coat he’d given her to wear. “Are you ready?”
Sure, she was ready to break into a supersecret underground government facility that, unbeknownst to everyone but the two of them, was being used by a traitorous faction with unscrupulous plans, willing to murder in order to keep their secret.
“Yes,” she nodded, knowing it really didn’t matter whether she was ready. They were doing this. For Bobby. For his research. For the good of everyone. They would put the wrongs of the faction right. “Let’s go.”
He returned her nod, taking her hand in his and pulling her up to stand with him. A light tug on her hand and she followed closely behind him, shifting out of his clasp to rest her hand lightly on the small of his back as they moved quickly yet quietly through the thick covering of trees.
A thrill of anticipation prickled through her blood, much like she experienced just before a race. Adrenaline pumped a sense of purpose into her, eliciting a confidence she knew she was going to need to get through this.
Sooner than she expected, they reached the wellhidden bunker. It surprised her to see just how close it was to the secret entrance she’d used not too long ago to sneak into her brother’s lab.
Rome held up a hand, motioning for her to stay put. Nodding, she watched him move with ghostlike steps toward a rocky area covered with thick green moss.
Harper relished watching him and was impressed at how stealthily he could maneuver, considering his muscular bulk. She imagined it wasn’t much different than the smooth way she cut through the water. They were more alike than they were different. She loved that.
Whoa. Love?
Where the heck did that come from? Wait. At the café, she’d said she loved him. In jest, surely, but she’d never slipped with the L word before. Ever.
“C’mon, we have sixty-five minutes.” Rome’s reminder shook her out of her shock, causing her to jump. “Hey, are you okay?” In an instant, he was beside her, rubbing her shoulder under the backpack she was wearing, sporting a sincere questioning look.
“Um, right. Yes, I’m fine,” she stammered, and gave him a smile she hoped backed up her words. He narrowed his eyes at her, clearly undecided whether to believe her.
“You’re sure?” he asked, his hand roving to her back in comfort.
She nodded crisply, gesturing for him to proceed as she reset her watch timer for the sixty-five minutes he’d bought them by shutting down surveillance. Or whatever he did.
He gave her a long, pointed look before turning toward the now-open door to the underground facility. After a quick shake of her head to clear her muddled thoughts, she followed him into the darkness.
Admittedly, she felt more than a little uncomfortable breaking into a facility like this. The worst she’d ever done was sneak into the living room while her parents were watching Jaws, after they’d forbidden her from seeing it. Yet, at the same time the fear spiked her adrenaline and got her heart pumping as though she were swimming a sprint.
Once again, Harper kept her hand on his firm back as they maneuvered down through the dimly lit corridor. The passage walls pressed in on them and the moist smell of packed soil sifted into her senses. Earthy dust grazed the back of her throat after she took a deep breath.
Every so often lightbulbs, enclosed by caged fixtures that had been secured to the dirt walls, illuminated the way for them. The slope wasn’t too steep, but it was a definite tricky descent, making her grateful for Rome’s sturdy presence just a pace ahead of her.
After a few moments of winding, the natural dug-out walls became smooth gray concrete and squarely structured. Their booted footsteps sounded deafening once on the level surface. Well, hers did, anyway.
This morning she’d hacked into several government provisioning databases to pull up the basic building plans of the facility to give them an idea of the layout. Then Rome had chosen this route when they devised this plan, thinking it would be the most deserted. He explained that the Five Watch was most likely confident in their anonymity and covert surveillance. So, he’d said with a wicked smile, they probably wouldn’t be counting on a seasoned agent and expert hacker to come aknockin’.
After running through several ideas together about where to head once they’d broken in, they’d concluded that the best option was to check out some offices or labs for files and hard evidence, then go through the ceiling’s service ducts to see what they could witness firsthand.
Though their knowledge of the facility was limited, his familiarity with infiltrating secure organizations was considerable, so she didn’t feel like they were going in blind.
But planning was one thing. Actually doing it was another. Especially with a novice like herself.
Rome stopped at a corner and peeked around it. His slow, easy movements were impressive. According to the building plans, offices were down this hallway, but Rome believed that the Five Watch may have made their own modifications by adding more laboratories.
She waited in silence, throwing an uneasy glance over her shoulder, chasing shadows. Ahead of her, Rome began moving forward again, rounding the corner as quiet as a summer breeze.
Following him closely, she once again marveled at how silently a tough guy like him could walk down a dim, sterile hallway. Every step she took sounded like a bass drum to her, but his strides were featherlight.
Rome slowed as they approached a closed unmarked doorway to their right. He flattened his hands against the surface and leaned in his head to listen. One of his hands brushed the door handle and tried it slowly. Locked.
He waved down the hall, signaling they’d try the next door, about twenty paces away. But that one was locked, too.
He gestured to a small panel on the wall with numbers and a tiny red light. Harper hadn’t even noticed it. Pointing to it, he wiggled his fingers like he was typing. What the heck? She wasn’t trained in special-agent signs. She was winging it here.
Holding her hands palms up and shrugging in the universal sign for huh? she waited for clarification. Rome rolled his eyes and moved close to her, brushing his mouth softly against her ear.
“Disable this,” he whispered; his warm breath against her skin caused her to shiver. He then pulled back slightly and gave her a questioning look, tilting his head toward the panel on the wall.
Oh. She nodded. She moved her fingers to the panel and pointed to the red light, giving him a cautious look. He nodded back, so she figured it was okay.
Removing the panel cover, she carefully fiddled with the wires, much like she had with Rome’s alarm at his warehouse. In less than a minute, the light flicked to green and she heard the lock snick.
Rome moved his hand to the doorknob and twisted it slowly, opening the door just a sliver. He peeked through, then opened it wider and quickly moved inside, yanking her along with him.
He shut the door but didn’t turn on the lights. The room was illuminated by two dim fluorescent bulbs, one hanging from each end of the ceiling.
Curiously, the room was very cold. It boasted several stainless steel tables and assorted laboratory equipment, not unlike the machines she’d been hooked up to while in captivity.
On the tables was a scattering of lab beakers, rubber tubes, and glass vials. Shuddering with unpleasant memories, she padded across the room to the laptop resting on the desk in the corner, careful not to touch anything along the way.
Rome was examining some of the equipment as he moved toward a bank of large metal cabinets that lined half of the wall in the back of the room. She continued to watch as he reached for a drawer handle and pulled on it, raising his eyebrows at her when it unlatched easily. He gave it a good tug.
A body slid out.
Harper choked and covered her mouth with her hand. Considering all the dead bodies she’d seen-well, caused-in the last week, the grisly sight shouldn’t have shocked her. But this one wasn’t a victim of self-defense like the others. Against her better judgment, she went to Rome’s side.
On a metal slab, the dead body was similar to the men who had attacked her-large and muscular, built for power. And almost familiar. But this corpse was withered and appeared annihilated, as though like it had been beaten thoroughly by some unbearable force of nature.
Then it hit her. This was the leader of the camouflaged group that chased her through the woods and cornered her at the Barracks.
And murdered her brother.
Her blood heated in rage, flushing her body. This corpse was a casualty of the psi-power war they started with her. This guy got what he deserved. And before this was all over, the rest of them would, too.
She blinked, then glanced at Rome and realized he was watching her, a probing look on his face she couldn’t discern. She shook the greedy avenging thoughts from her mind.
Rome pulled out a folder filed in the small partition at the front of the drawer. He swung his backpack around and tucked the folder in it as he closed the drawer with a heavy click. She watched him open the next one and take its file as well. He continued down the line until they heard an electronic beeping near the door. Yikes. Someone was coming.
Zipping the backpack, Rome quickly replaced it on his back and closed the drawer quietly. He put a finger to his lips and pulled her with him along the wall to crouch together behind one of the enormous machines in the corner.
Blindingly bright incandescent light showered the room, forcing her to squint. Peering through the thick levers and pipes of the creepy apparatus, she watched a tall man with a white lab coat walk in, his attention glued to the open files he had in his hands. He hadn’t noticed the two of them at all.
A shrill ringing pierced the silence. Harper nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound. In an instant she realized just how foreign all this was to her. Rome laid a calming hand on her thigh. The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a cell phone.
“Yes?” he said, answering the phone, his voice a tad nervous. “No, the latest tests failed.” A pause as he listened to the caller. “You’re coming here? Now?” He sounded anxious, as though the person on the other end was supremely unhappy at his negative response. “Okay, I’ll meet you here. Yes, at the lab.”
Disconnecting the call, the man mumbled something harsh and slammed the folders on the desk next to the laptop. He swiped his brow with a clearly shaking hand, then stamped out the door.
Harper turned to face Rome. His blue gaze appeared troubled and excited at the same time as it met hers.
“Let’s get out of here and into the ducts.” He glanced upward. “I want to see who’s coming to the lab to meet with this guy.”
She nodded in response and followed as he crept soundlessly around the side of the ugly machinery and headed for the door. He held up his palm, mouthing to her to wait, while he checked to see whether there was anyone in the hall.
At his signal, she followed him out of the room. They turned back the way they had come and tread quietly down the sterile hallway.
Another few steps and Rome stopped abruptly, almost causing her to collide with him in the cloak of near darkness. The comforting warmth of his strong body seeped into her while she watched his hands sweep along the flat surface of the wall. Looking for something.
Her eyes adjusted to the dark, and she saw the outline of a door flush with the wall, but no handle.
He reached into his back pocket, his hand brushing against her stomach, inadvertently causing little flutters.
“Not sorry.” His low chuckle came from the darkness.
“Not a problem,” she answered with a soft laugh of her own.
Harper heard a muted snap, then some scraping, and figured out that Rome was attempting to pry open the buried lock with his secret-agent-spy gadget that looked like a simple pocketknife, but had many special little tools inside of it.
With a faint click he pulled the door backward. She backed off slightly to allow him to replace it in the back pocket of his jeans, though she was sorely tempted to lean in for another indulgent fondle.
She took another step backward as Rome tugged harder on the door and stepped inside after a quick peek. His nod was barely discernable in the dim entryway. She followed him across the threshold and pulled the door softly shut behind them, enveloping them in a closefitting and slightly muggy passage.
As they moved cautiously upward through the enclosed space, she could easily see why he’d favored the ceiling ducts. According to the plans, these particular channels ran above the working laboratories, where she and Rome figured they could gather the most information in the least invasive way.
The shadowy duct was narrow and tight, with coiled wires snaking along the sides and underneath the thin, grated catwalk. Puffy silver-coated insulation lined the area above them.
Stagnant, warm air filled her lungs, making every breath heavy, and there was a constant low hum that tickled her ears. But among everything, including the various pipes that streaked above them, the space was blissfully empty and unprotected.
Carefully watching her step, she followed Rome’s shrewd maneuvering. A few more paces and Rome stopped, kneeling to the floor. Crouching next to him, she watched as he pushed aside some of the wiring and pulled out his trusty little device to cut away some of the padding that layered the ceiling below them.
Harper admired his deft precision with the knife and the way his fingers balanced between strong and graceful. He passed the fluffy padding to her and she took it, placing the chunk on the metal walkway as he leaned down on his stomach to get into a good position to peer down below.
The ceiling tiles were unusually constructed. From the little green triangles printed on the corners, she could tell that they were made from recycled metals, creating a thin layer with tiny holes constructed for optimum air circulation.
The diagrams they had studied that morning had shown that the diamond-shaped holes filtered the flow of the recycled air, making it clean. The tiles also filtered out sound, which kept the noises that shrouded them up above silent to those down below.
Harper had actually been very impressed with the green-minded health consciousness of the Five Watch. Rome had explained to her that most of the government facilities in Oregon were constructed this way.
He’d also told her he’d noticed the same construction in Bobby’s lab on that fateful night when they’d first met. Of course, he would notice everything. All she’d seen that night was her brother’s workplace in shambles.
Shaking away her thoughts, she saw Rome slowly pull the wires back to their original position and then gesture for her to join him by lying flat opposite his prone pose on the catwalk. He pointed down and then brought his hand up to motion her to listen and watch.
The view through the shimmery metal tiles was hazy but workable. The room below appeared to be the same lab they’d just been in. Rome must have thought the man and the person who called would meet there, in the same lab. He’d estimated they’d have sixty-five minutes to investigate before his tinkering with the electronics was discovered. Checking her watch, they had about twenty-nine minutes left.
The door thumped open, almost startling a jump out of her. Harper cringed and glanced up to see Rome place a finger in front of his sensuous mouth in a shushing motion. With an apologetic smile, which elicited a sexy grin from him, she returned her glance to the lab below.
Crisp footsteps clacked across the hard floor out of her range of vision. She looked back down and saw a man wearing a white lab coat approach the table with the laptop. He faced her. She couldn’t make out his features, given her high angle, but she was pretty certain it was the same nervous guy they’d hidden from. He had apparently returned to the lab in the time it took her and Rome to get to the ceiling.
The body that belonged to the clacking shoes came into her view, joining Lab Coat at the computer. Another man. He stood at Lab Coat’s side, his face visible to her, but not one she recognized.
Harper sensed Rome tense. His face was tight with fury. Shoulders bunched, he appeared ready to pounce and tear something apart with his bare hands. And she didn’t doubt that he could.
She reached over to carefully brush the back of his clenched fist with her fingers, trying to get his attention without startling him and blowing their cover. It took a long moment, but his stormy blue gaze met hers.
“Trouble?” she mouthed, watching him struggle to breathe normally. He was obviously rattled.
Rome shook his head firmly in answer, returning his concentration to the scene below, clearly dismissing any other distractions. Shrugging her shoulders, she did the same.
“How’s the next batch?” Clacker’s voice was muted, but understandable, and a touch irritated.
“The same as the others,” Lab Coat answered with a sigh, sounding skittery and worried. “I don’t think it’s going to work.”
“Think?” Clacker asked tightly, slamming his hand on the counter and causing the laptop to shudder. Harper blinked in surprise. “Dr. Blake, I’m getting tired of what you think. I need a working serum, not the knockoffs you’re giving me. Stop thinking and start doing.”
“It’s not that easy, Jeff,” Dr. Blake explained.
Jeff. Was that Rome’s boss, Jeff? A quick peek at Rome’s white knuckles and she knew she was right. Did this mean Jeff was in on all of this?
“I don’t care whether it’s easy or not,” Jeff said, pressing. “Give me a good serum.”
“You don’t understand,” Dr. Blake pleaded. “It just doesn’t work that way. We don’t have the original formula. We’re trying to work from the plant extractions, but without the true formula, it will take time to recreate it. It’s hit-and-miss.”
“It’s killing my men,” Jeff countered, pounding his hand on the table once more. “ She’s killing my men.” Did Jeff mean her? A small bubble of pleasure welled up inside of Harper.
“I know, and I’m sorry.” Dr. Blake actually sounded remorseful. “But she has the original formula in her system. And trying to extract it from her blood is working the same way as extracting it from the plants. It’s essentially diluted. Secondhand. Besides, I told you when we started that we shouldn’t use human subjects until we reconstructed the original serum. My instincts are telling me this is never going to work.”
Jeff moved closer to the doctor and grabbed him by his white lapels, bunching the fabric in his grip and pulling him close. Harper leaned forward in a reflexive response and noticed Rome did the same.
“Your instincts?” Jeff yelled, just inches away from the doctor’s face. “Instincts are what made me launch this project. Agent Lucian’s failed instincts killed good people. This serum will prevent that from happening again. So don’t talk to me about your instincts.”
Harper snuck a glance at Rome. His rugged face was strained with agony. Evidently Jeff had used Rome’s one failure to prompt his own evil plan. And they’d both been caught up in it. She itched to reach over and soothe his suffering. But any movement would call unwanted attention.
“You knew what you were getting into, Doctor,” Jeff said, rolling the doctor’s coat in his hands even tighter.
“Losing the formula data in the fire has made my job very difficult,” Dr. Blake sputtered.
“It’s your job to produce the serum, so I can do my job by using superior agents.” Jeff’s voice was hard and controlled. “Dr. Kane was able to do it with the plants. You should be able to reproduce it for humans using those plants.” The mention of her brother stung Harper to the core. Jeff released the doctor with a little shove, and then backed off to glare at him. “No more excuses. Do your job, Dr. Blake, or else.”
Jeff turned on his heels and walked to the door.
“Or else what?” Dr. Blake asked with remarkable bravado.
“Or else I’ll find someone who can,” Jeff answered gravely, and straightened his tie.
“You’ll murder me like you murdered Dr. Kane?” the doctor challenged.
Harper went rigid with crazed fury, just barely kept under her skin. Rome’s tight reassuring touch on her wrist was the only thing that prevented her from crashing through that ceiling and strangling the filthy life out of Jeff.
“Dr. Kane was eliminated because he wasn’t with the program,” Jeff articulated solemnly. “Don’t make the same mistake.” And with that Jeff turned to open the door and step out of her vision.
Harper twitched as an angry chill flooded through her, causing her body to rock forward. Feeling herself beginning to slide ahead, she swung her arm around, trying to halt her abrupt movement. The catwalk creaked loudly with the sudden shift of her weight.
She glanced at Rome with an apologetic wince at her noisy blunder. His eyes were as wide as hers, and then they both looked down into the room at the same time.
Jeff and Dr. Blake were directly below, frozen and glaring at the ceiling. The two men couldn’t see her and Rome through the tiles, but there was no doubt they’d heard the metallic groan. They knew someone was there.
“Go,” Rome hissed, shoving her into motion.
He didn’t need to tell her twice. Like a crab, she scrambled frantically across the grating to stand, as Rome rushed past her, already on his feet. He grabbed her hand and she stumbled behind him, racing as fast as the tight area allowed, their boots clanging on the catwalk, not caring anymore about stealth.
Just as they burst through the duct door, she ran smack into his hard back, almost causing both of them to fall.
Peeking over his broad shoulder as her eyes adjusted to the muted light of the hallway, Harper saw what had made Rome stop.
They’d been found.
Four huge men were barely visible in the dim lighting. Harper hoped there weren’t more, but couldn’t tell what lurked in the shadows.
Three of them had handguns pointed directly at her and Rome. The fourth stood holding a rifle across his barrel-like chest, but she had no doubt he was just as ready to whip that thing around and use it.
Harper was getting darned tired of big guys with guns.
The six of them stood there, facing off for what seemed like an eternity. She was sure Rome was planning something, the tightness of his shoulders and the twitching of his fingers warning her.
Was he thinking up something to say or to do? They hadn’t really planned an escape strategy other than the gun in the holster inside his coat.
Well, that and her psi power, as they had referred to it since reading Bobby’s notes.
Confident she was beginning to learn to control it, she decided that she’d use it on these guys. Placing her hand ever so slightly on Rome’s back, she tried to signal her intentions. The muscles in his lower back tensed under her fingers. She hoped that meant he understood.
Focusing on the threat a few feet away, she concentrated sharply and reached inside every corner of her mind to call upon the psi power.
Nothing.
She closed her eyes and tried again, this time concentrating on remembering Jeff and the doctor talking about her brother while she and Rome were in the duct. She recalled her rage and fury at their words.
Struggling to direct the steep pain that flushed through her, Harper beckoned the white heat that would blaze within her body just before she unleashed her lethal power.
Nothing.
Glancing uneasily around the cool shadows, she wondered in a sudden fear whether she’d somehow lost her psi power. Panic flushed through her. Did that mean she was going to die now? Was she about to end up like the others?
She hadn’t been able to use it when she’d been held captive, either. Maybe the power didn’t work indoors. Yet she’d trashed Bobby’s lab using it.
Before she could explore those thoughts, she sensed motion from Rome. Clearly he wasn’t about to wait for her to save them again. Good choice, considering she couldn’t, anyway.
Then all heck broke loose. Before she knew what was happening, Rome had rushed two of the men, slamming them against the concrete wall.
An instant later she went into action, kicking the gun out of the hand of the third man before he could pull the trigger, while ramming her body into the rifle-bearing brute with all her might.
Identical grunts sounded from both of them as they sailed through the musty air and thumped onto the unforgiving ground side by side. After a few seconds of wrestling and trading punches, she knew she had to do something about that rifle, but he was strong. Very strong. She wasn’t sure just how much more scuffling she could take before he overpowered her or the others paid them attention. Plus she had no idea how Rome was doing with his battle.
Shifting her body to face him squarely, she clasped onto her enemy’s shoulders, taking a couple blows to her abdomen for her efforts. Bracing her upper body on his, she hoisted her knee straight up to connect solidly with his groin.
Her attacker instantly froze and rolled to his side, grasping his crotch and wheezing. Hey, a girl’s got to have some tricks, and she wasn’t above fighting dirty when it came to her life. And Rome ’s.
Spinning away from the downed man, Harper peered through the dimness to see two prone bodies on the floor, and Rome fighting the third.
She scooted across the ground to kick the kneecap of Rome’s assailant. The man crumpled and clutched his knee in agony.
“C’mon,” Rome said breathlessly, grabbing her hand roughly and pulling her along the tunnel toward the entrance they came in.
Stumbling in haste, they raced through the winding shadows. At last they rounded the last corner of the dirt passage, arriving at the bunker door just as it crashed inward, almost banging into the two of them.
Bodies roared through the opening, taking advantage of their surprise. The door slammed shut, blocking the outside light, and they were once again shrouded in near darkness.
The rapid light and dark buzzed her vision for a quick moment, startling her into immobility. Someone thudded against her, forcing her back against the hard earthpacked wall. Her breath rushed out of her lungs, causing a momentary lapse of awareness.
Two solid punches hit her face, snapping her head backward, hitting the wall once more. Harper was sure she’d see stars if she could clear her vision.
A tackle at her thighs took her legs out from under her, and she tumbled to the uneven ground. Levering on her hands, she twisted her body around just as brutal hands yanked her up and pulled her to her feet.
She was then forced face-first against the wall while someone jerked her wrists around, trying to bind them together. She thrashed frantically to keep it from happening, tasting chalky bits of dirt that crumbled off the wall from the erratic movements.
Guns fired. The shots echoed loudly in the cramped space. Then the struggle with her hands stopped. And the large body behind her slid to the ground.
Swinging around, she watched a blur of forms grappling and shards of light dancing in the haze of gun smoke as the muted beams of the corridor flickered off the barrels of moving guns.
She also spotted the glint of a blade, which descended in a flashing arc to slice her forearm.
A searing burn stung her flesh. She reflexively reached for the wound. Pulling her hand away, she saw blood drip through her fingers. Ouch, that hurt like a son of a gun.
The knife ripped at her again. Harper backed away as the swipe passed just in front of her; then she lunged forward, knocking her attacker against the wall.
She heard the clang of the knife as it hit a rock on the ground. A quick backhand smacked her hard across the face.
Harper reeled back a few steps as her nose stung and tears welled in her eyes. Running her tongue along her upper lip, she tasted blood, presumably trickling from her tingling nose.
Enough.
Planting her right leg firmly on the hard-packed dirt, she recalled some of her kickboxing training and hopped onto her left leg, twisting her right foot through the air to land a solid roundhouse kick to the head of the brute who hit her. He flailed backward, knocking his head against the wall, and then fell flat onto the ground.
And stayed there.
The crack of gunfire ripped throughout the shadows again. She whipped around, watching bodies fall. More close-range shots rang and more bodies fell.
Silence.
She realized after a cold moment that she was the only one still standing. A murky haze from the gunfire and upset earth veiled the area as she anxiously searched for Rome among the prone figures.
The leaden tang of blood swamped her senses. She could taste it with every breath. Smell its thick stench. See the dark stains mingle with the shadows on every surface.
She found Rome lying facedown. As she turned him over, she gasped at the blood covering his face and drenching his coat.
Was it his? Had he been shot?
A blinking light and hushed single beep came from her wrist. No. The system that Rome had shut off was about to come on. Her watch warned their sixty-five minutes were up in sixty seconds.
“Rome,” she whispered, shaking him gently. “Rome.”
No response. They needed to get out of there. Now. Before more people came. Panic bubbled in her stomach. Were you supposed to move gunshot victims?
Maybe a little louder. “Rome!” she screamed in true fright, afraid he might really be hurt.
A strong hand seized her wrist. She jumped back, but the ironclad grip held her steady before she fell over.
“Stop yelling, Harper,” Rome rasped, and groaned as he struggled to push himself up on his elbows.
“Sorry,” she spurted, relieved beyond belief that he was okay. She hadn’t started to think about what she’d do without him. She didn’t want to.
She reached under his arms to help him. He groaned even more, but allowed her to support him. That spoke volumes to her.
Smiling, she began to stand and heft him up with her. His arm clenched her slashed forearm, making her wince in the dimness as her wound seethed from his heavy touch.
“Let’s go before more come,” Rome grunted through heavy breaths. Great idea.
He braced against her as he stood, a bit wobbly. She flung her arm quickly around his lower back, trying to hold him up. He was solid muscle.
Walking to the bunker doorway, his sagging weight almost knocked her over. Leaving him to lean against the dirt wall, she hurled the door open.
The bright daylight nearly blinded her, but she grabbed Rome around his waist and hauled him up the uneven stairs and outside with her. Sucking in a lungful of cool air, she relished being in the fresh outdoors and out of that rank corridor.
Rome moaned, and she chanced a sideways glimpse at him as they staggered away. He looked as if he were about ready to keel over, but lurched forward to snap himself alert. Thank goodness her years of training had made her legs strong; otherwise his jerky motion might have pitched them both face-first onto the ground.
A beeping noise startled them both. Her watch alarm. Their sixty-five minutes were up. Good thing they’d scurried far enough away for cover where they were hidden from the outside surveillance, just beyond her original hideout. And close to Rome’s stashed motorbike.
He’d been the one to drive them here on the bike, but he was in no condition to drive now. They’d concealed the Bug about fifteen miles from this location and ridden over the uneven forested terrain to get here.
In other circumstances, she’d have been excited to drive the unusually quiet dirt bike, one of Rome’s many resources. He’d given her a basic tour of the machine and how to operate it, but right now, she just hoped she could get back to safety without killing either of them.
Reaching the bike, she propped Rome against a tree trunk. He was steadier now, but in definite pain, given his intermittent wincing and grunting. The slice in her arm was simply on fire, but she put the burning aside to pull the bike out of its camouflage of leafy brush.
She rolled it toward Rome and started it up just as he’d shown her. As soon as it rumbled to life, she pulled up next to him.
She helped him settle onto the back of the wet leather seat, and then quickly moved ahead of him to straddle the bike, grimacing at the sogginess that seeped into her jeans. About to reach behind to secure his hold, he did the job himself by wrapping his shaky arms snuggly around her torso.
“Rome, are you okay?” she asked softly, knowing she should’ve asked sooner, but also knowing she couldn’t have taken the time. They probably didn’t have the time now, either.
“Yeah. Okay,” he said with a sigh, and leaned forward against her back, his warm breath reassuring against her damp neck.
Harper took a moment to pull his arms tighter around her middle, and then put the bike into gear. The drizzly wind streaked through her hair and the hazy sun energized her exhausted body as they sped through the rough forest in a light drizzle.
Reluctant to take her eyes off the terrain, she chanced a glance over her shoulder at Rome. His eyes were squinted but alert as they raced along.
Turning her gaze forward, Harper was just in time to see a big black Hummer barreling through the trees, headed straight for them.
Harper yelped as bullets whizzed past her head. A man was standing through the sunroof, aiming a rifle at them while the huge vehicle continued on a head-on course toward their little motorbike.
“Holy shit!” Rome’s loud curse reached her ears as more gunfire rang out. “Turn!”
He didn’t need to tell her twice.
She veered the bike to the left, nearly skidding the machine out from under them on the loose, wet soil. The Hummer flew past them and slammed on the brakes to angle around.
Her knuckles strained white with tension as she gripped with all her strength, trying to control the fishtailing bike. Rome began leaning with the motions, which eventually helped her steady the wild twisting.
Sparing a quick glance over her shoulder, she saw the black monster tear up the earth with its spinning tires. Finally catching enough traction, it began to follow them.
Great. Just great. How was she going to lose them? She could barely manage this thing. Sure, she’d driven Jet Skis, but they were made to slide around. The bike needed solid footing. Something that was going to be difficult on the leafy, muddy ground.
Another round of bullets streamed past her as she turned back around. She had to focus on the jarring landscape.
“Weave, don’t keep a straight line,” Rome shouted.
One of his arms unwound from her waist. His hand shifted between them as though he was digging around for something. Something solid brushed against her lower back.
A gun. It was a little frightening that she was beginning to recognize it so easily.
“Keep it steady,” Rome instructed, and started to remove his other arm from around her.
“What are you doing?” Harper asked, worried about his stability. She was fighting hard against the rocks and muck to keep from dumping them off the bike while he was wiggling it.
“I’m going to shoot back while you lose them,” Rome explained simply.
Oh. Okay. No problem.
More rustling behind her was followed by a few grunts. She continued to wind across the terrain, zigzagging to keep from being hit by the bullets peppering the drizzly air and foliage around them.
Harper almost jumped out of the seat when Rome’s arms encircled her to tie his fleece coat around her middle. She looked down to see his hands twist the arms into a tight knot. He tugged on it, pulling her a little with it.
His hands disappeared and she kept her eyes ahead. Then she pitched forward slightly when his arm snaked up her back to hold on to the coat, levering his body as she felt him twist to face the threat behind them.
Ah, Rome was using her as an anchor while he fired off a few shots at the Hummer. Though she doubted his one little gun on the back of the bumpy bike could do much.
“Got one,” Rome called to her.
Despite the dire circumstances, she couldn’t help grinning as she stood-well, sat-corrected.
Her body jerked a little as Rome shifted in the wet leather seat while she maneuvered over some slick granite. She glanced behind, hearing the deep rumbling of the Hummer’s huge engine drown out the bike’s own motor as the big monster began to gain ground on them, plowing easily through the jagged, muddy terrain.
Another smattering of bullets filled the air, and she knew she had to do something. She had a feeling the chase couldn’t go on forever, and at the rate they were going, the Hummer would be on top of them soon.
She gave a fleeting thought to using her psi powers now that she felt a little stronger. Out in the open, it had never failed her.
Looking inside herself, she began to focus on the energy inside her mind.
“Harper!” Rome yelled as she skimmed a jutting rock, almost dislodging them.
“Sorry.” She cringed, glancing around at the blurring greens and browns of the forest as the rain slapped against her face. Apparently not a good idea right now to try out her tenuous control of the power. She could kill the two of them before she saved them.
Taking a deep breath of the fresh damp air, she looked hard at the trees to their sides. At the cutting paths that crisscrossed through the course they were riding. At the hills that rolled ahead.
Harper knew this area. She and Bobby had hiked it many times before, though she had no idea just how close they’d been to the lab all those times.
The bike slanted dangerously from the harsh recoil of another shot from Rome’s gun. Struggling to keep it under control as they raced over moss and mud, she tried to recall everything she knew about this area.
Where could she lose the Hummer? The metal beast was mowing down the vegetation, but she didn’t dare try to slalom the trees to the sides. She was afraid she’d land them smack-dab in the middle of a solid trunk, so she’d stayed on the rough trail that traversed the dense tree line.
“Do you know this area?” she called over her shoulder to Rome.
“A little.” He paused to aim and shoot once more. She anticipated the shot this time and swerved along with the motion. “Just from the map.” He sounded a little breathless. A lot breathless, actually.
Goodness, she’d forgotten about his wounds. And hers. She flexed her arm to test the slice in her forearm. A little tight, but not the heavy stinging of before.
“I think there’s a small gorge up ahead,” Rome hollered, jerking her body backward while he reloaded his weapon, his arm still looped through the coat tied around her waist.
Gorge? Oh, holy cow. Rome was right. But it wasn’t a small gorge. It was a wide ravine. Wide and deep.
Sharpening her focus, she peered through the spitting rain, looking forward for the signs of the fateful ravine that just might save them.
Or kill them for good.
Harper recalled that the only warning of the ridge was the thinning of trees and a small hill that dipped just before the edge. If she remembered correctly, the drop was about the length of the Olympic pools she swam. Probably even a touch more than the fifty meters.
The distance across the ravine was the real problem. She wasn’t sure. Twenty or thirty feet. Maybe farther.
She noticed a rise in the terrain as she swerved around a thick section of a downed tree. The ravine was just ahead.
Now what?
She flirted with the idea of jumping the chasm, then shrugged it off with a smirk. Was she crazy? She was barely keeping the bike stable on the ground. How in the world did she think she could run it off the ledge and make it to the other side? Could this bike even do something like that with both of them on it?
She’d seen motocross commercials where they did flips and jumps. So maybe…Oh for crying out loud. Was she seriously thinking about jumping?
Another barrage of bullets whizzed by her, smacking the large rock in front of her, the sparking chips of granite nearly showering them as she sped past the boulder at close range.
Yes. Harper was seriously thinking about it. She didn’t really see any other option. The Hummer was gaining on them and seemed to have an unlimited arsenal, so they couldn’t stop. The trees were too thick to try to weave the motorbike through. Turning around would be suicide.
Rome was too injured to fight or run. And she didn’t know whether she could chance revving up and releasing her psi power before it was too late.
“Damn it all,” Rome yelled. “I’m out of ammo.”
Her body jostled forward, and then back as Rome dislodged his arm from the coat loop. He twisted around with a grunt and settled against her back, locking his arms around her waist.
“Where are we going?” His warm breath huffed against her ear, tickling her damp skin. “I thought the gorge was ahead.”
“It is,” Harper confirmed, turning her head so he could hear. Should she share her idea? Sure, why not. He had to come with her anyway. “We’re going over it.”
She waited for him to yell at her in disbelief. No sound came. She shifted to glance over her shoulder. No wonder he was quiet. His jaw was clenched so tight, she was surprised he could still breathe. She could have sworn she saw smoke come out of his ears.
She faced front again to see the hill quickly approaching. Just beyond it was the ledge. And beyond that, the ravine.
“Harper, I’m not so sure about this.” He tightened his grip on her body.
“Me neither.” She grinned against the drizzle blowing against her face. It was crazy. “But what choice do we have?” She was crazy.
“There’s always a choice,” Rome roared at her, just as a bullet hit the left side mirror, blowing it off the bike. She turned to meet his wide gaze with her own. “And it’s a good choice.” He nodded at her.
Harper laughed and turned back around to face forward. Rome’s grasp tightened, almost squeezing the breath from her gut.
Gripping the handlebars tight, she twisted the throttle, giving the motor all the power it could manage. The bike lurched forward with the extra speed. Rome stiffened behind her and moved forward so close, she doubted any speck of air could fit between them.
Her stomach dropped as she shot the bike down the last decline at full speed. The bike caught a little air as it snaked across the ground just ahead of the ledge.
Here we go. Harper’s knuckles whitened as she held tight to the bike. One last pull of the throttle and she watched the slick rocks that bordered the edge of the ravine fall away to nothing.
And she and Rome soared.
As if looking at herself from outside her body, a perfect lightness overtook her as she savored being suspended with Rome for this one moment in time.
Then the descent. The ground on the other side rushed at her at an alarming rate.
They made it. As the tires hit the hard earth, they swerved and reeled. Harper barely- barely -held on, struggling against the natural forces trying to sweep the bike out from under them.
But she did. And Rome was right behind her.
Steadying the bike, she skidded to a stop, mud and leaves kicking out from the strain on the tires.
She took a deep, steadying breath and gazed toward the ravine they’d just miraculously jumped.
On the other side, the Hummer’s front wheels were hanging over the edge, the back tires squealing against the ground, trying to reverse the heavy truck fully onto the solid land as it teetered dangerously.
The decent human being in her hoped they could right the vehicle. The fallen fugitive in her, sick and tired of being chased, beaten, and shot at, really didn’t care whether they succeeded.
Peeling her fingers from her death grip on the handles, she turned to look at Rome, rubbing the circulation back into her stiff wet hands. He appeared stunned and invigorated all at once. Just like her.
He leaned forward to pull her into his shaking arms, giving her a hard and deep kiss. Primal. Natural. Full of adrenaline. She kissed him back, tasting sweat and blood and the sexy tang that was all Rome.
They broke apart and stared at each other for a long moment, just glad to be alive and in one piece.
“Let’s get back to the Bug.” His low suggestion severed the charged air. She nodded in agreement.
As the adrenaline of their thrill ride started to wear off, reality set in and the aches and pains came in droves. She realized that they did need to get back. Back to the Bug and back to work.
Harper grabbed control of the bike and started off in the direction Rome pointed. It would be a longer drive now, but at least they were alone.
And once they were back to relative safety, they could assess their wounds. And the information they’d overheard. She just didn’t know which was going to hurt more.