Authors: Joan Swan
Blaze (17 page)
“Dinner?” Luke said. “When did you two have dinner together? And who the hell is this surgeon?”
“We get together every month, Ransom,” Mitch said. “Just 'cause you're too stupid to realize how hot she is doesn't mean all men are.”
“There is no surgeon.” Keira rubbed at the pain in her forehead. There was nobody. There hadn't been anybody since her pathetic attempts at dating shortly after breaking up with Luke. Even the thought of trying again made her queasy. Until she'd set eyes on Luke, of course. Why was the universe so damn cruel?
“Stop stirring the shit, Mitch,” Alyssa said.
“Holy crap.” Mitch's gorgeous hazel eyes whipped around to land on his sister. “Did you just swear?” He turned to Luke. “Did you hear that?”
“I heard it.”
“I think that might wipe out our debt. What do you think?”
“I agree.”
“I hate to be a wet blanket,” Keira said, “but can you two stop screwing around before I choke you both?”
“Oh, baby.” Mitch slanted her a grin. “Promises, promises.”
Luke's fist hit Mitch dead center in the chest. Mitch sputtered a pained laugh.
“Mi malónete.”
Mateo's voice brought everyone's gaze around to the boy's worried face.
“Lucas, mi malónete.”
Mateo's voice brought everyone's gaze around to the boy's worried face.
“Lucas, mi malónete.”
“That's what you need, Ransom.” Still grinning, Mitch rubbed his chest. “A five-year-old to keep you in line.”
They pulled into a parking lot alongside the rural community hospital and stopped at a wing of office buildings.
“Pull up to that second building on the right.” Alyssa pointed over Luke's shoulder. “There's a side door . . . yeah, right there. My friend owns the building and he turned the alarm off remotely from his home. Said there's a spare key attached to the corner of the building between the foundation and the framing.”
Nelson exited the vehicle first, his gaze sweeping the area, weapon held ready. The parking lot was deserted, dimly illuminated by sparse overhead lighting. He retrieved the key, unlocked the door, and disappeared inside.
“Are you sure no one will see us?” Keira asked.
“It's a nine-to-five-type place,” Alyssa said. “No one will be here until tomorrow morning.”
Nelson emerged and waved them in. Outside the car, Keira handed Mateo over to Luke and drew one of the Glocks from the Jeep. Mitch held a weapon he'd dragged from somewhere beneath his leather jacket and followed Alyssa and Nelson inside. Luke waited for Keira, then scanned the area before closing and locking the door behind him.
Inside an exam room, Alyssa unpackaged medical supplies and set up a procedure tray.
Keira crossed her arms, scanning all the white and blueâwrapped bundles. “How bad is this going to hurt?”
Mitch wandered to the counter across the room and opened cabinets. “She's not cutting on you, Pixie.”
Luke's brow went up. “Pixie?”
“Yeah, she looks like a pixie.” He picked up an object from a shelf and fiddled with it. “You know, like one of those things with wings in Kat's books.”
“You mean a fairy,” Luke said. “Hence the term
fairy
tale.”
fairy
tale.”
“Should have known you'd be a fairy expert.” Mitch lifted his chin at Keira. “Look at her. That little nose, the angle of her eyes, those freckles. She looks like a pixie.”
Luke shot her a scowl. “Too bad she doesn't have their sugarplum personality.”
“You two are
so
not funny.” Keira was ready to pop out of her skin. Something about being cooped up in that room with all those supplies and instruments, knowing there were people outside who wanted them all dead, just didn't bring out the jokester in her.
so
not funny.” Keira was ready to pop out of her skin. Something about being cooped up in that room with all those supplies and instruments, knowing there were people outside who wanted them all dead, just didn't bring out the jokester in her.
Unlike Mitch. Who approached the exam table with a mischievous grin and an anatomical model in his hands. A detailed, three-dimensional, life-size model of a penis and testicles.
“What in the hell?” Keira sputtered.
“You don't recognize Big Jim and the Twins?” Mitch pulled pieces out, put them back, pulled others out, looked inside. “I can fix that, sweetheart.”
“Mitch, put that down,” Alyssa scolded. “I swear, if you break somethingâ”
“Why does this guy have a puzzle like this in his office? Is he gay? Not that I care. I mean I'm a San Franciscan transplant. Besides, gay guys have
the hottest
girlfriends.”
the hottest
girlfriends.”
“I swear he was switched at birth.” Alyssa glared at her twin brother. “Doctor Henle is a urologist. I'm sure if you ask nicely he'll give you a free prostate exam, Mitch. Now put that
very expensive anatomical model
down.”
very expensive anatomical model
down.”
Mitch set the model back on the counter. “Killjoy.”
Luke laid Mateo on the table as Alyssa directed. Keira combed her fingers through the hair at his temple, whispering reassurances the boy didn't understand and Keira didn't feel.
“You're going to numb him or something, right?”
“Yes, with a tiny needle. He may feel a little stick and burn, but that's it.”
The boy made it through the numbing better than Keira. Just the sight of the needle tightened her throat. She had to look away when Alyssa injected. Mateo, on the other hand, barely made a murmur of complaint.
His eyes grew heavy and closed before Alyssa had even picked up a scalpel. But as soon as she pressed the tip of that knife into the skin of Mateo's neck, the second that drop of bright red blood bloomed on the boy's olive skin, Keira's head went light. A distant buzzing grew louder until it encompassed her brain.
“We're gonna lose her,” Alyssa murmured somewhere close.
Luke's arms circled Keira before she even realized she was melting toward the floor.
“She's pale.” Mitch's worried voice came at her from the left. “Is she okay?”
“She'll be fine.” Alyssa's gaze remained locked on Mateo's neck. “It happens to parents a lot. Should have seen Teague when Kat hit her head on the coffee table and needed a couple stitches.”
He's not my kid.
But Keira didn't say it. Couldn't say it. Nausea boiled too close to the surface. Alyssa could have been digging to Mateo's spine the way she prodded and tugged.
But Keira didn't say it. Couldn't say it. Nausea boiled too close to the surface. Alyssa could have been digging to Mateo's spine the way she prodded and tugged.
“What's going on, Lys?” Mitch asked. “You said it was superficial.”
“The chip is,” she murmured, still working, “but it's attached to something.”
Keira's mind engaged. “What do you mean?”
“Could be scar tissue. Could be a tendon or a muscle. I'm not sure.” Alyssa drew back with a frown and wiped her forehead with the back of her arm. Keira's gaze caught on the forceps in her hand, the tips covered in blood.
“Oh, God.” She pressed a hand to her stomach.
“A little blood makes you woozy,” Luke muttered, “after you've killed at least fourâ”
“Luke,” she snapped.
“What?” Mitch straightened away from the counter.
Alyssa's gaze came around.
The hollow in Keira's stomach squeezed tight. She wrestled herself out of Luke's grip, pressed her back to the wall, and slid away from him, arms crossed over her chest again. “Thanks. I needed the reminder.”
“Damn, you are so extreme it's freakin' hot,” Mitch said with too much excitement. “What the hell happened?”
“Foster,” Luke bit out. “Don't be aâ”
“Don't you two start again.” Now cold and clammy, Keira wiped at the sweat breaking across her face. “Let's just say it's been a rough day.”
Keira didn't look at Mitch, who she knew wanted to press for details. She couldn't watch Alyssa dig into Mateo's perfect, precious flesh. Wouldn't even glance at Luke for fear she might knock out a few teeth. Instead, she paced the opposite side of the room and let her gaze roam the detailed cutaway poster of a kidney.
“Got it,” Alyssa announced.
Keira spun around. “Is he okay? Is it all out?”
“He's fine.” Alyssa lowered the chip to a silver tray. “But unfortunately, no, it's not all out.” She pointed to one end of the thumbnail-size chip. “See those holes? About a dozen of them? Each was attached to a wire.”
“A wire? I don't understand. Can't you get the wire out, too?”
“Wire
s
. And no.” She set the forceps down and picked up a needle already threaded with black filament. “Those wires seem to be attached to something else . . . higher up.”
s
. And no.” She set the forceps down and picked up a needle already threaded with black filament. “Those wires seem to be attached to something else . . . higher up.”
Keira waited for Alyssa to expand. When she didn't, Keira prodded, “Higher up? Like in his scalp?”
“No. They're too deep to be in his scalp. I think they'd have to be . . . in his brain.”
Denial hit Keira first. Then panic. Then searing anger, burning away the chill.
“Thoseâ”
Motherfucking bloodsuckers.
“I'm going toâ”
Kill them.
Motherfucking bloodsuckers.
“I'm going toâ”
Kill them.
The realization that she'd already killed some of them gave her grim satisfaction. But not near enough for what they'd done to this baby.
“How do we know they can't track him with whatever's still in there?” Keira asked.
“I guess we don't.” Alyssa stitched the tiny incision. “I know a little about how these types of implants are used in medicine, and they're still experimental. But we already know these probably weren't implanted for medical reasons.”
Keira closed a hand over her eyes. “This is too much,” she murmured, more to herself than the others. “Just too much.”
“Help us out here, hotshot.” Luke's strained voice brought Keira's head up. He was glaring at Mitch. “You've got contacts everywhere else, what about in the IT field?”
“Be careful whose throat you're jumping down, Ransom. Next time you need a fucking plane, you may not get one.”
“Mitchâ” Alyssa didn't take her eyes off her work. “Quit swearing or I'll reinstate the payment rule, and you have quite a tab running already. Answer him.”
“I'm thinking.” Mitch's gaze dropped to the floor. “Techies aren't the types who usually need my help. More like the Ransoms of the world, who screw up at every turn and ask for shit like planes and pilots, and, oh, yeah, one more thing . . .”
“Fuck you, Foster.”
“That's it. You both start off owing me a hundred bucks.” Alyssa fixed them each with a solid glare before she set down her needle and stretched her back. “Twenty more per curse from here on out.”
A new dark swirl of emotion distracted Keira from the group's banter. She checked Mateo, but found him asleep. She looked at Luke, but this sensation didn't have the same quality as the other feelings he'd emitted.
“It doesn't count when the kids aren't around,” Mitch grumbled.
Alyssa gestured toward Mateo. “And who is this?”
“He doesn't even speak English.”
What office?
Keira held up her hand to the others. “Shhhh.”
The room went silent.
An Adam Henle. Opposite side of the building. We can go through this corridor.
Fear exploded in her belly. “They found us.”
She swept Mateo off the table.
“I didn't hear anythâ” Mitch started.
A knock sounded on the door just before Nelson poked his head in, gaze homed on Mitch. “The primary security alarm just sounded. Worst case, they're here. Best case, the cops will arrive in a couple minutes.”
“I didn't hear the alarm, either.” Alyssa chucked supplies into the trash.
“It's a low buzz at the receptionist's desk,” Nelson said. “The loud one will kick in after about three minutes if the primary isn't deactivated.”
Luke intercepted Keira and took Mateo. “I'll carry, you shoot. Mitch, grab the foil. Wrap that chip.”
Keira pulled the gun from her jeans and followed Nelson out the door.
Alyssa was still trashing supplies when Mitch grabbed her arm. “Earth to Doctor Foster. Come in, Doctor Foster.”
“I'm just observing a little professional courtesy. Will you ever grow out of being such a bully?”
“If I was going to, it would have happened by now.”
Alyssa snapped off her gloves and tossed them into the garbage as she passed through the door.
The others climbed into the Jeep. Nelson lifted the hatch and rolled into the back. Mitch handed the foil to Alyssa, who fashioned a rudimentary cap over the back of Mateo's head and neck. “Sorry, little buddy. Not near as cool as Uncle Luke's.”
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