American Heroes Series - 01 - Resurrection (37 page)

Coral sat forward, her blue eyes glittering with an odd excitement that was difficult to pinpoint. It was clearly disturbing.

“Yes,” she whispered. “He wants to create God. And then he wants to control him.”

The implications were overwhelming. It was almost more than they could wrap their minds around and J.D. in particular was having a tough time; in all his years as a terrorist analyst, he’d never heard of anything so outlandish. It was mind-boggling.

“What hospital is Olivia at?” he finally asked.

Coral’s gaze turned to Ethan, boldly. “Do you truly want to know?” she was speaking to J.D. as she looked at Ethan. “You promised me a package deal. If you want the name of the hospital, I get my package right now.”

“You need to tell me everything or the entire deal is off.”

“Package first if you want the name of the hospital.  If not, then you can find Olivia yourself and that could take days. She’ll be pregnant by the time you find her.”

J.D. looked at Ethan, who was fixed on the hideously smudged woman. There was a heavily uncertain pause before Ethan spoke to J.D. without looking at him.

“Go,” he told him. “Shut the door behind you. And clear out the control room behind the one-way mirror.”

“Ethan,” J.D. hissed. “You can’t….”

“Get out.”

“I won’t let you do anything that will compromise the integrity of this case.”

“I won’t. Just do what I say.”

J.D.’s jaw ticked furiously but he did as he was told, motioning Christophe from the couch against the wall.  The two of them quit the room, J.D. shutting the door quietly behind him. He then cleared out the observation room behind the one way mirror, his last look at Ethan had the man still standing where he had left him. He hadn’t moved a muscle.

 J.D. turned away, sickened and disheartened. He couldn’t even stomach what Ethan was considering doing just to gain that last little vital piece of information, so critical to them all.  So critical to Cydney.  The man loved her enough to do anything for her, even at great personal expense.

J.D. shut the door to the empty observation room. He didn’t want to know any more.

Ethan heard the doors slam and knew that he and Coral were alone.  Coral was gazing up at Ethan expectantly and he was having a difficulty keeping the bile down. She wanted something, that was clear; yet so did he.  He pulled out a chair and straddled it, his arms resting on the back of the chair as he faced Coral.

“Now,” he said softly. “There’s one more thing you need to do before this package deal is sealed.”

She had a stupid smile on her face. “What’s that?”

Ethan lifted an eyebrow. “When this is said and done, you’ll be free.  Free to roam the streets, free to go home… free to return to Wildegrav.”

Her smile faded. “Why would I return? He’ll kill me if he knows I’ve talked.”

“He won’t know right away,” Ethan countered. “I want you to go back to the Cardinal and do something for me.”

“What about my package deal?” Coral demanded.

“You need to give a little before I will.”

“But I’ve already told you what I know,” she insisted. “I will not divulge Olivia’s location until you hold up your end of the deal.”

Ethan gazed steadily at her before moving a hand to his tie; very slowly, he began to remove it. Coral watched with wide eyes as he pulled the tie off and set it on the table.

“Answer a question for me and I’ll remove something else,” he said seductively.

Coral was having difficulty breathing as she gazed at his spectacular form beneath the clothes. She could only imagine what that white shirt and t-shirt concealed.

 “Sweet Jesus,” she gasped, swallowing hard. “She… she’s at the Hospital San Pietro Fatebenefratelli.”

It all came pouring out in a quickly running sentence. She couldn’t seem to get it out of her mouth fast enough. Ethan smiled, a very sexy gesture that nearly toppled Coral from the chair.

“Awesome,” he purred. He began to unbutton his shirt, hinting at the delights beneath. “You said she was under the care of a fertility specialist. What’s his name?”

The shirt was halfway open and Coral was feeling faint with anticipation. It was difficult for her to think back and remember what Wildegrav had told Nat.

“Uh…,” she drew in a deep breath. “I… I think the name is Gioia. Dr. Gioia.”

The shirt was open now and he pulled it off.  A clean white t-shirt lay beneath and he grabbed the bottom of it in preparation for pulling it over his head.

“Excellent,” he said softly. “One more thing.”

Coral was fanning herself with her hand. “What?”

“I want the Robe back.”

He pulled the t-shirt off, revealing a torso that could only be described as glorious. Coral actually thought she might faint. She stared at the tanned skin with the light matting of dark hair, her heart fluttering wildly, as he stood up. The faint scent of aftershave floated upon the stale air of the enclosed room and she closed her eyes, inhaling deeply.  She opened her eyes and looked at him.

“I can’t help you with that.”

“I think you can.”

She hesitated until he flexed a beautiful bicep.  Then she lost her control completely.

“Oh, God,” she gasped. “What do you want me to do?”

He told her.

***

“Cydney,” Ethan was standing in her hotel room, having just switched on the light. “Wake up. We need to talk.”

Cydney had been in a dead sleep but she sat up at the sound of Ethan’s voice. It was morning now, the dawn of a new day. Only half awake, she rubbed her eyes and struggled to snap out her stupor.

“What’s wrong?” she was instantly frightened. “What’s happened to Olivia?”

He sat on the bed opposite her, his expression impassive. “Nothing has happened to her yet,” he said. “But you and I need to talk. It seems that you forgot to tell me something about The Lucius Robe, something that has turned out to be the reason why we’re chasing Olivia over half of Europe.”           

She was more awake now and thoroughly perplexed. “What did I forget to tell you?”

Ethan lifted a dark eyebrow. “About the tooth in The Lucius Robe.”

“The tooth?’ she repeated, confused.  Then realization dawned and her eyes widened. “Oh, my God… the
tooth
. I completely forgot all about it. Why? What does it have to do with anything?”

Ethan could see she was being truthful but it didn’t soothe his irritation.

“It has a lot to do with it,” his voice was tinged with sarcasm. “Apparently, Olivia knew about the tooth embedded in The Lucius Robe and told her captors. That’s why they want her.”

“What?” Cydney was completely awake now, watching Ethan through horrified eyes. “I don’t understand. What does that tooth have to do with my daughter?”

He didn’t pull any punches although in hindsight, he should have been gentler about it. Still, he was in interrogation mode and his patience was gone. After what had just happened with Coral, he was exhausted, aggravated and preoccupied, which spelled disaster when dealing with Cydney at the moment.

“We told you that they intended to crown a new Holy Roman Emperor with the Robe,” his voice as low. “But when Olivia told them about the tooth, it changed the entire schematic. Somehow, somewhere, they got the crazy idea of extracting the DNA from the tooth and using it to create a clone.  A clone of Christ. But for that plan to work, they need an unfertilized ovum and a surrogate mother.  In their crazy and twisted world, Olivia becomes the new Virgin Mary and they plan to have her give birth to whatever they end up cloning from the DNA extracted from that tooth.”

Cydney was ashen by the time he finished his speech. She stood up unsteadily, hand to her mouth.

“Oh, my God,” she breathed. “They… they’re going to get her pregnant?”

“Yes,” Ethan nodded irritably. “You should have told me about the tooth, Cyd. It would have saved us a lot of time and hassle.”

As horrified as Cydney was, she sensed his anger at her and she riled. Her emotions were on the surface as it was and she didn’t need his fury for something unintentional.

“I completely forgot about the tooth,” she fired back. “It never even occurred to me. Certainly, if I had thought of it, I would have told you, but it slipped my mind. I’m sorry I made your job more difficult, Ethan, I really am. It’s not like I withheld vital information on purpose.”

He looked at her, his jaw ticking, realizing he had been harsher with her than he should have been and she was reacting in kind. Gazing into her pale face, he realized he wasn’t really angry with her. If he thought on it, it was a fairly trivial thing.  Still, this trivial thing had been a major key.  He wiped his hand over his eyes, a gesture of his level of exhaustion.

“I know,” he relented. “I’m sorry, honey. It’s just that I sat through eighteen hours of interrogation with Coral Chastity Aames and she was the one who ended up telling me about the tooth. I felt like an idiot that it had to come from her.”

“Is that all you care about? Feeling like an idiot?” Cydney wasn’t ready to accept his apology yet. “My daughter is in horrible danger because a group of crazy zealots want to implant her with a fertilized ovum and all you can think about is yourself?”

He sighed heavily. “I didn’t mean it that way.”

“Then how did you mean it?” she shot back. “Olivia is fighting for her life and all you care about is looking like a fool?”

He put up his hands. “Stop, will you?” he commanded softly. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean it the way it sounded. I just meant that I should have known already. I should have heard it from you.”

“And I told you that I forgot about it,” she seethed. “It never even occurred to me. I saw the thing once, mentioned it to my daughter, and that’s as far as it went. I put it out of my mind.”

He lifted his eyebrows at her. “Well, your daughter told her captors about it and now it’s a major issue,” he said pointedly. “Are there any other surprises you forgot about? Now would be a good time to tell me so I don’t get blindsided again.”

Frustrated, sick and furious, Cydney just turned away from him and went into the bathroom. Slamming the door, she locked it.  Ethan stood there all of five seconds before he moved to the door and lifted his hand to knock.  Before he could wrap on the door, however, he could hear Cydney vomiting on the other side. Feeling like a massive jerk, he knocked softly on the door.

“Cydney, honey,” he said softly. “Open up. I’m sorry, I really am. Please open the door.”

He could hear her crying. “Cydney,” he rattled the doorknob. “Open the door, baby. I’m sorry, I’m just tired. I took it out on you and I’m sorry.”

Her weeping was interrupted by a series of painfully deep dry heaves. Ethan counted seven before he heard the toilet flush.

“Go away,” she cried from the other side of the door. “Leave me alone.”

“I’m not going away,” Ethan said firmly, gently. “If you don’t open this door, I’m going to break it down.”     

She didn’t answer him. He could hear her crying on the other side of the door.  Taking a step back, he lashed out a big foot and kicked the door right at the weak point where the knob and plate met.  The door plate ripped out, dislodging the lock completely and the door popped open. 

Ethan pulled his coat off and tossed it on the bed as he entered the bathroom. Cydney was lying on the tile floor next to the toilet, her hands over her face. He knelt down beside her, putting his lips against the hands that were covering her face.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured, kissing her fingers. “I shouldn’t have gotten upset with you and I’m sorry. Please forgive me.”

Before Cydney could answer, they suddenly heard a young, frightened voice in the doorway.

“Dad!” Tyler was standing there in his pajamas, gaping at the broken door. “What did you do?”

Ethan looked back at his son, trying to formulate a reply, when Tyler suddenly came rushing into the bathroom where Cydney was laying on the floor. He looked accusingly at his father.

“What did you do to her?” he jabbed a finger at Cydney. “Why is she on the floor?”

Ethan opened his mouth to reply but just ended up chuckling. He looked down at Cydney, who was now gazing up at Tyler from between splayed fingers.

“You’d better help me out of this or I think my son seriously intends to hurt me,” he said.

Cydney pulled her hands away from her face and wrapped her arms around Ethan’s neck.  He picked her up off the floor, cradling her.

“No worries, Ty,” she said, laying her head on Ethan’s shoulder. “The door was jammed and your dad had to bust it open.”

Tyler was young but he wasn’t stupid. His gaze moved between his father and Cydney. “Then why were you on the floor?”

“I slipped.”

His brow furrowed. “Oh,” he said. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I appreciate your concern.”

Tyler made a thoughtful face, looking around the bathroom before coming to rest on his father again. “Why were you guys fighting? It woke me up.”

Ethan cradled Cydney against him. “It’s okay, Ty,” he moved to take her out of the bathroom. “Your old man was just being an ass. Everything’s okay now.”

Tyler followed them out of the bathroom and stood at the bottom of the bed as Ethan lay Cydney down. Cydney didn’t let go of him, however, so he ended up sitting beside her with his arms wrapped around her.  Tyler eventually came to sit on the bed opposite the pair, his anxious gaze moving between them.

“What did you find out about Olivia?” the boy asked.

Ethan gazed at his son a moment, debating how much to tell him. “She’s being held captive not far from here,” he said. “J.D. is with the Rome police right now gathering a might force together. He’s also made arrangement with the U.S. Embassy for some Marines. We’re going to go get her.”

Cydney’s head snapped up. “An armed incursion?”

Ethan gazed steadily at her. “We want to make sure we’re prepared. My specific task it to get her out of wherever she is while everyone else covers me.”

“It sounds like a battle.”

“I won’t lie to you,” he said softly. “It may be. We just want to be prepared.”