“L-let me go, Sawyer.”
His head turned toward her.
“You don’t need to take me with you. Wherever you’re going, whatever is happening, you don’t need me.”
That was what she didn’t get. He let out a soft sigh. “You want to know why I’m not as fucking crazy as Five? As Three? Want to know why I got my shit back together in Landon’s office?”
Her lips were trembling. He hated her fear.
“Because of you,” he told her.
“Sawyer…”
“Something is between us. Something about you gets to me. And I can’t hurt you. I won’t hurt you. I’ll also fucking never let anyone else so much as bruise you. There’s danger here, all around us, and I don’t know who I can trust and who I can’t. I only know this—” His voice dropped. “I won’t leave you alone. I have to protect you. I can’t let you go.”
“What if…what if you’re the one I need to be protected from?”
He looked down at his ankle. “You disengaged it.” He freed her wrist and bent to touch the band. He’d heard the lock disengage when he’d been in Cecelia’s quarters. Beneath his fingers, the band pulled easily apart, and he tossed it aside. “You did that for me because you feel the connection, too.”
“I didn’t want you to explode, okay? I didn’t want—”
“I want you.” Flat. True. Dangerous. “I want you to stay alive. I want you to stay safe. I don’t remember what we were like before. Hell, I wish that I did. And I don’t have time to convince you that you’ll be safe with me. I just—we have to go. Leaving you behind isn’t an option. Protecting you—it’s the only thing I can do. It’s my mission. You are my mission.”
She stared at him with her deep, dark eyes.
“We need to haul ass, baby. And we have to do it now.”
She hesitated, but then gave a grim nod.
Fucking A. He pulled her into his arms, carrying her easily even when she gave a start of surprise. “I’m faster,” he said. And he was. So much faster than he’d let on. Faster. Stronger.
The hallway disappeared in a blur as he ran. First, he went back to the cells because he needed to find the others. Four. Six.
But a fast glance showed him they weren’t there. Their cell doors had been broken open, just like Two’s. Sawyer sent out a fast, mental call…Four? Six? Where in the hell are you?
There was no answer. Only silence. He didn’t know if that meant the guys were dead, if they were unconscious or if…if Three had been right. Maybe Four and Six weren’t the men he’d thought they were. Maybe one of them was sending the poison into his brain.
We’re running out of time. He sent out that fast mental call. The gas is coming in less than five minutes. Get to safety. He headed for the elevator, for the shaft that would lead him to his freedom. He just had to get there. Had to get up to the helipad. He kicked down any doors in his way, and the heavy metal was not a match for him. In moments, he could see the elevator waiting. Two was there, with Cecelia at his side. They were there, and…General Jamison was crumpled on the floor.
Sawyer caught the coppery scent of blood.
“We’ve got a problem,” Two snapped.
The problem was that Jamison’s throat had been cut, a long slash from ear to ear. The general’s body was still warm and blood soaked his shirt-front.
“Not my kill,” Two added darkly. “Someone beat us here.”
Subject Four? Subject Six?
But…“The access keycard is still around the general’s neck.” Sawyer put Elizabeth down and yanked up the card, ignoring the blood that covered it. He scanned it, and then he typed in the code he’d seen the general use that day.
The elevator opened. “Everyone…in.”
But Two didn’t move. “What about the others? The others on our team? We can’t leave them behind. No man gets left, remember?”
“We can’t trust them.” He barely trusted Two. “Five was attacking Cecelia. He wanted to torture her, and you saw Three for yourself.”
At the mention of Five, Two’s face went hard, brutal. “He touched Cecelia?”
“Get in the fucking elevator.”
Two grabbed Cecelia’s hand and held her tight. “He was the one who hurt you? Five? He was—”
“Stop using the damn numbers!” The cry burst from Elizabeth as she jumped into the elevator. “You all have names. You’re people, not numbers!”
Sawyer hit the button to take them up to the helipad.
“He’s Sawyer, and your name is Flynn.”
Flynn. Sawyer saw the other man blink slowly.
“Five is a man named Bryce King. I didn’t know him before I came here, he didn’t work with us back in D.C.” Her words were coming fast now. A wild tangle. “Flynn, you and Sawyer were best friends before Lazarus. You went on every single mission together. You always watched each other’s backs. You trusted each other then, and I-I don’t know what’s going on now, but the facility has gone mad. We have to think. We have to—”
The elevator dinged. The doors opened. Sawyer advanced first, making sure to keep Elizabeth behind him. The chopper waited up ahead, and no one was near it. The helipad was empty.
“That’s our way out.”
“Yeah, but I know someone beat us here.” Flynn clenched and unclenched his hands. “I can smell the blood.”
So could Sawyer, but they didn’t have time to waste. “Get in the bird.”
Flynn was already running for the chopper. Flynn. Had the guy really been Sawyer’s best friend before the nightmare began?
“I sure as hell hope you remember how to fly,” Elizabeth said.
He locked his hands around her waist and lifted her into the chopper. “I remember.” Just as he remembered how to kill. But how to love?
He’d forgotten that.
They got in the chopper. He took a position in the pilot’s seat. “Buckle up!” He yelled over the roar of the blades.
“They might try to shoot us down,” Flynn warned grimly.
They might. If they stayed, Sawyer knew he was dead.
“The others…” Flynn stared at him. “Are you sure we can’t help them?”
Elizabeth. Have to get her out. She’s priority. “Three tried to kill her. And Five—fuck, Bryce—he went after Cecelia. We can’t risk them.”
Flynn nodded grimly.
“I can’t reach Four and Six.” Yeah, they had names—he didn’t know them. But I will find out. “Can you? I try, but it’s just darkness.”
“Only darkness.” Flynn’s voice was soft. Sad. “Does that mean they’re dead?”
Sawyer didn’t know what it meant. The men should have met him at the rendezvous point. The elevator had been the rendezvous point. The gas would be spraying in that facility at any moment. If they didn’t leave, there was no going back.
Attack. Destroy…The sinister thoughts shot into his head again, surging hard at him.
“Fuck!” Flynn snarled. “Someone is in my head!”
The chopper lifted into the air. Up, up, higher and higher. The higher they rose, the softer the voice in their heads became.
Sawyer could taste freedom. It was so fucking close.
They’d get out. And the Lazarus bastards would never find them again. He and Flynn would vanish. Disappear.
But what happens to Elizabeth?
His head turned so he could see back into the rear of the chopper. She sat with her shoulders huddled, still clutching that laptop in her hands. Still so beautiful it made him ache. He was getting her to safety, but after that, was he supposed to walk away from her?
Her head lifted. Their eyes met. There were a thousand things he wanted to say to her, but the helicopter blades were whirring at full force and it was too late.
Higher, higher.
Flynn let out a whoop of joy. “Never gonna be in a cage again!”
No, no, they wouldn’t be. They’d be free.
Dead men? Hell, no. They were finally about to start living. The
chopper flew away, heading into the growing darkness of the night. With every beat of the blades above him, the tension eased from Sawyer’s shoulders. His thoughts settled. The rage and darkness eased. It was okay. They were going to—
Do you think you can come back from the dead again?
The voice blasted right into his head, rough and hard, mocking with laughter. A familiar voice. A voice—
An explosion sounded from overhead. The blades stopped spinning—half of the blades flew away, and the chopper plummeted. It just fell, like a stone sinking from the sky.
Sawyer heard screams and yells. Desperate cries. And he didn’t realize some of those cries were his own. He didn’t realize— “Elizabeth!” He wrenched free of the harness and belt and jumped from the seat. Piloting was impossible. They were going down, and they only had seconds left.
He grabbed for Elizabeth. He saw Flynn reach for Cecelia.
“I love you,” Elizabeth said as her hands stretched toward Sawyer.
No, no, she hadn’t said that. It was a dream. It was the past. It was a nightmare. It was—
Wind whipped around them. The chopper was plunging straight for the ground. They were all going to die. Just when he’d started to live.
Fuck, no.
“Hold tight,” Sawyer told her. “Baby, don’t ever let go.”
She closed her eyes, and she held on. And he curled his body around hers, determined to hold her in his arms, to keep her safe, no matter what price had to be paid.
I’d die again for her. Over and over…for her.
When the helicopter slammed into the ground, he was still holding her tight.
Chapter Nineteen
She hurt. Her whole body ached. Elizabeth let out a groan as her eyes slowly opened.
“Baby?” A rough hand pressed to her face. “Look at me, okay? Look at me.”
That voice—Sawyer’s voice. Her head turned and she found him, leaning over her. Blood streaked his forehead, and his face was stained with dirt and sweat. He was staring at her, his face grim and scared. That was odd. Sawyer didn’t get scared. She’d never seem him be afraid before. Why would he be—
The helicopter.
The crash.
They’d fallen out of the sky. Out of the sky. And he was still alive. She was still alive. Impossible. Insane.
Elizabeth jerked upright.
“No! Stop, just take it easy.” He swore grimly. “You scared the hell out of me.” His arms wrapped around her, cradling Elizabeth carefully. “Shit, doc, I thought I was losing you.”
She’d thought they were all dying. “H-how?” That one croak was all she could manage right then.
He was warm and strong against her. “I tried to shield you with my body. When we hit the ground, I held you as tightly as I could.”
“We crashed. We should be dead.”
A gruff laugh came from him. “Yeah, you mentioned that to me before. You seem to think I’m always dead.”
But they weren’t dead. They’d survived a helicopter crash. If he was strong enough to survive and use his body to protect her during that kind of fall, then that meant… “You’ve been keeping an awful lot of secrets, haven’t you?”
There was a faint cough from her right. Elizabeth’s head whipped around, and she saw Cecelia, a bruised but very much alive Cecelia, standing at Flynn’s side. “They’ve all been keeping secrets.” Cecelia’s clothes were torn and a bit bloody in spots, but she seemed okay. They’d all survived a crash that should have killed them.
Super soldiers.
“We all have different strengths,” Sawyer said quietly. His fingers stroked over her arm. “Flynn and I…well, when we worked the second mission for Jamison, we found out that we were both damn near indestructible. And when we do get hurt, we heal very, very fast.”
“I broke my left ankle and my right wrist in the crash.” Flynn gave a shrug. “They’ve both healed already.”
She blinked.
“Doc, we used our bodies to protect you and Cecelia, to cushion you from the impact. Wasn’t sure it would work…” Sawyer’s smile was weary. “But it was the only option we had, and I was desperate. I would have done anything to keep you safe.”
“Same here,” Flynn growled as his fingers slid over Cecelia’s shoulder. “You weren’t dying on my watch.”
Elizabeth looked at the wreckage. It waited, about fifty yards away. A tangled mess.
“Are they going to think we all died?” Cecelia asked. She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.
“That would be too easy.” Sawyer released Elizabeth, but he didn’t move away. And she liked having him close. Maybe he made her feel safe.
Maybe he scared her to death.
“A team will come out and search the wreckage. We have to be long gone from this site by then.” He swept his gaze over her. “I can carry you. Every step of the way. But we have to get out of here.”
She tried walking. Nothing hurt too badly, so she figured she had this. “I can walk.”
“But not as fast as I can.”
Yeah, okay, he had a point.
“We need to get moving. They’ll be after us soon. The sooner we disappear from here, the sooner—”
Elizabeth grabbed his arm. “They aren’t going to think you died. Not you.” Her gaze swung to Flynn. “Not either of you. And it doesn’t matter how fast or how far you run, they’ll find you.”
Flynn’s shoulders straightened. “No, they won’t. They aren’t dragging me back into the ground, into their damn facility to be their attack dog. They won’t—”
“They have a tracking device on you. On you both.” She licked lips that were desert dry. “As long as that device is on you, they can figure out where you went.”
Sawyer pulled her closer. “What device?”
“Wright said that a tracker was implanted on all of the test subjects, hidden beneath scars that you already had. The metal band that you wore for missions, that was just—it was a bomb. It was designed to be a back-up plan in case you ever went rogue.”
“We’re definitely fucking rogue,” Flynn snarled.
Beside him, Cecelia flinched.
“You have to get the tracking devices out.” Running would do no good while the trackers were under Sawyer’s and Flynn’s skin.
Sawyer stalked away from her, heading back toward the chopper.
She stood there, uncertain, and then she saw him scavenging inside. He pulled up a dark backpack. She caught the gleam of a blade. The rough form of a gun. And—
The laptop. Sawyer had just shoved it aside while he searched but she rushed forward. Her steps were uncertain at first and she felt a bit dizzy, but she staggered toward him and grabbed for the laptop.
“The thing is blown to hell,” Sawyer told her as he turned away from the chopper. “Leave it.”
It did look as if it had been to hell and back but… “I have a friend who might be able to retrieve the data on here. This is Landon’s computer. Every secret he has could be on this machine.” She wasn’t just going to let it go. “It’s important. We need it.”
He stared at her a moment, then gave a hard nod. And he offered her a knife.
She clutched the laptop tighter as she eyed the weapon. “What do you want me to do with that?” But she had a sinking feeling in her gut.
“Find the tracking device. Cut it out of me.” He pulled the laptop from her and shoved it into the backpack.
With shaking fingers, she took the knife from him. “But we don’t know where the tracker is.” Big problem.
“Then you’ll just keep cutting until you find it.”
Oh, no, she wouldn’t.
They hurried away from the wreckage, moving to the shelter of a small patch of nearby trees. Narrow trees that had sprouted in the middle of that rough, red terrain. The night was lit by the full moon’s glow. It hung, heavy and low, in the sky.
Sawyer dropped the pack and stripped off his shirt. He let it hit the ground. “Doc, you help me. Cecelia
, you get the tracker out of Flynn.”
Flynn already had a knife in his hand that he was offering to Cecelia. She stared at the weapon in absolute horror. “I don’t like knives,” Cecelia whispered.
“Yeah, well, I don’t like having a tracker under my skin or being a freaking test rat for the U.S. government, so looks like we’re both dealing with unfortunate shit today.” He pushed the knife toward her. “Take it.”
She didn’t. Cecelia backed up a step.
“Come on,” Flynn urged her. “Let’s just check and—”
Cecelia was adamantly shaking her head. “I don’t like knives.”
When she was fifteen, she was taken right off the street. Elizabeth remembered what Landon had told her about Cecelia’s past. Oh, damn. “I’ll do it!” Elizabeth cried out. “I’ll get it from both of you.”
Flynn frowned at her.
“Don’t make Cecelia do it, okay? I’ve got this.”
Flynn focused back on Cecelia and finally seemed to notice that she was staring at the knife with a kind of numb horror on her face. “Cece?”
“The last time I used a knife like that…I killed a man.”
Flynn’s brows shot up.
“I just…” Cecelia’s lips trembled. “I really don’t like knives.”
Flynn considered Cecelia a moment. “I can cut it out myself.”
He couldn’t just start cutting into himself. They had to think this through. “L-look for a rougher ridge in a scar you have. The tracker will be small, but near the surface of your skin so you shouldn’t have to cut far to get it out.” Elizabeth bit her lip. “If you guys heal as fast as you say…” And, obviously, they did. They’d just survived a helicopter crash! “Then Landon could have put the tracker in when he was doing another exam on you, and you never would have known.”
Flynn flipped the knife in his hand. “I’ll find it.” He turned on his heel. “Think I’ll get a little space while I do the job.”
He walked into the darkness. Cecelia stared after him a moment, then she hurried forward as she called, “Flynn! Wait! I-I’ll help, but just don’t give me the knife.”