Jordan Summers - [Dead World 01] (29 page)

Red licked her lips. "I'll stay with Jim."

"Good idea," he said, flashing a victorious
smile.

Jim
Thornton stood
in the dissecting lab hosing down
the
empty tables with sanitizing spray.
Protective cloth
ing covered his body and a filtered mask
concealed his
mouth.
Red stepped into the room and gagged as the noxious odor bludgeoned her
nostrils. Her eyes began
to water and
Jim's image blurred.

"Sorry, my dear. I didn't notice you standing
there. It's good to see you up and about," Jim said, voice
muffled.
Shutting off the valve, he gazed at her, while
Red wiped her eyes. "Stinks doesn't it?"

She coughed, unable to answer.

"It's gotten so that I barely notice it
myself."

Red cleared her throat. "I don't know how you could
miss it."

Jim shrugged and smiled. "Thirty years of doing
this
job and your olfactory senses are permanently
fried."

Red laughed. "I'm sure
that's a defense mechanism."

Jim's eyes twinkled. "Now I know you haven't come
down here to talk about my job and the various
odors associated with it."

"No." Red straightened and breathed through
her
mouth. "I've come about that shirt
I gave you the other
day
."
Her stomach soured at the thought of what would
be
  revealed.

"Yes. of course. Let me just get the results of
the tests
that I ran. I'll be right back."

Red watched Jim head toward his office then began to
pace. She glanced around the dissecting lab at the various tables that now
sparkled from the cleaning. The bodies were long gone. She was about to turn
back, when she spotted the white tarp in the cor
ner.
Red stopped, frowning.

That one had been here the last time she'd spent time
in the lab. Jim
had told Red all bodies must be disposed of quickly in order to recycle the
parts. So why was the one under the tarp still here? Maybe it wasn't even a
body. Perhaps it was an animal that Jim had brought back to dissect.

Curiosity got the better of her. Investigating gave
her mind something to do while she waited. Red
glanced toward the door, but saw no sign of Jim. She
listened
for footsteps. Nothing. The sound of the air filtration system droned in the
background. She glanced at the tarp once more.

"Screw it," she said, walking across the
room to the lone table. Red looked over her shoulder one last time before
lifting a corner of the tarp. She shrieked
and
stumbled back. The gruesome figure of a woman
stared up at her.

Flashes of Lisa Solomon's shredded body spilled into
her mind. The similarities were too close to ignore. Whatever had killed Lisa
and Moira Collins had also attacked this woman.

She took a couple of deep breaths, then stepped forward
to examine the body. The woman had been dead awhile—quite awhile. Red was no
dissecting lab director, but she'd seen enough death to recognize its stages.
This woman clearly predated Moira and Lisa.

Morgan had lied from the very beginning. He
knew something was killing women. Had known all
along.

Red dropped the tarp and clutched her stomach as
pain that rivaled the attack ripped through her.
Damn
him. She'd trusted him with her life. Her mouth began to water as
she fought down the urge to vomit. She recalled Jesse's battered face. Was that
why she looked so scared when Morgan and Kane entered her
room? Did she think that one of them was behind
the
killings?

Red pulled out the crumpled piece
of paper in her pocket and stared at it. Why would Jesse scribble non
sense
on the page? She turned the synth-paper on its side
and looked again. "Oh no," she gasped, slapping a hand over
her mouth. It looked like an
H. Hunter.

Rage shook Red's body violently. She'd come so close
t
o
sleeping with Morgan last night. What if he truly
was the enemy?

Footsteps echoed in the hall.
Red rushed across the
room
to stand near the door. Jim Thornton was obviously
involved in the cover-up. She'd trusted these peo
ple, and she didn't trust
anyone. This incident drove home
the reason. How could Morgan do this to her?

Jim
walked into the room holding synth-documents i
n
his
hand. He was so preoccupied with
them that he nearly
walked into
the door. He glanced up at the last second
and stopped in
front of her.

His
brow furrowed. "Are you okay, Gina? You look a
little green."

"I'm fine," she bit out. He didn't seem to
notice.

"Did
you touch anything at Moira's crime scene?" he
asked absently,
flicking through the pages.

The question temporarily deflated Red's anger.
"No, why?"

"I'm
sure it's
a mistake in my testing.
I'm
going
to run
the shirt again."

Red brushed the loose strands of her hair away from
her face.
"Jim, what do you mean by mistake?"

"It's
nothing."

Red reached out and grasped his
hand. "Please tell me
what you found."

Jim's face flushed. "There are minute traces of
Moira's DNA mixed in with your blood on the shirt."

"How's that possible? Up until last night, I
didn't have any injuries."

He shifted, his gaze darting around the room as if he
were searching for means of escape. "I'm not sure. Like I said, the tests
must be off."

Red's stomach sank. She couldn't seem to catch
her breath. Jim was lying. She knew it. And it
wasn't
just paranoia over discovering the woman's body. Had she killed
Moira during the night? What if she'd killed the other women, too? Was it even
possible? And worse still, had Jim lied out of fear? But that didn't explain
the attack on her and Jesse.

Her thoughts beckoned to the hysteria waiting at the
edges of her mind. Fear threatened to crush her, but Red knocked it aside,
focusing instead on her building anger toward Morgan.

She rushed past Jim. nearly toppling him. Red had to
get to Morgan. She needed to hear an explanation for the lies. If he'd lied
about this, what else had he lied about? Had he been lying to her this morning,
when he pretended to care?

Pumping her arms, Red ran harder, paying no heed to
the dizziness threatening to overwhelm her. She needed to know the truth and
with all that had transpired in the past few days, she was itching for a good
fight.

Red flew to the sheriff's station, ignoring the
curious glances as she sprinted down the sidewalk. More than one person looked
behind her to ensure no one was giving chase. She didn't care what they
thought. The only thing that mattered was finding Morgan.

Red kicked herself for kissing him. How could she be
so naive? He'd played her from the start. The mere
fact that she'd
been attracted to him should've been
all the warning she needed. Somehow being around Nuria
had made her soft.

Well no longer. The bitch was back and Morgan w
ouldn't know what hit him. Her lungs heaved as
she rounded
the block. The sheriff's office
lay ahead. She
didn't break stride,
thundering over the threshold.

"Where is he?" She gasped, pressing her hand
against the stitch in her side.

Maggie's eyes widened. "What's wrong?" She
looked
past Red as if she were searching for the hounds
of
hell.

"Where?" Red asked, marching forward. She t
hrew the door to Morgan's office open and strode
in, but
he wasn't there. This was beginning to be a habit with
him.

Red's head whipped around. "He's not here,"
she said,
stating the obvious.

Maggie stood and backed away. "He had to run home
for a couple of minutes. He forgot something. Said
to tell you
he'd be right back."

"Did Morgan drop my car off here?" she
asked, scanning
the office. She was in no mood
to wait for his
return. 
His house would be a
far better place to confront
him.

Maggie pointed outside. "It's around back. He had
one of the deputies pick it up. Do you want
to tell me what
happened so that I can notify the
sheriff?"

"No!" Red strode toward the door. "That
won't be necessary. I'll fill him in when I get there. All I need from
you are
directions to his home."

Red watched Maggie tap the comlink in her ear.
Morgan would know she was on her way in a matter
of
seconds. She didn't care because he had no idea
what she'd found at the dissecting lab and neither did
Jim
Thornton.

The drive took a little longer than she'd remembered.
She was so focused on her anger that Red didn't notice the car that had stopped
down the road. She jumped out of her vehicle and raced inside, leaving the door
open.

"Hey," he said, in way of greeting.
"Maggie called and said that you were upset. What happened?"

Red's fists balled and she swung, catching Morgan off
guard. His head snapped back, but he made no effort to stop her. "You
lying son of a bitch. I can't believe that I bought into your bullshit."

Morgan licked the trickle of blood off his lip.
"What are you talking about?"

Red's voice trumpeted. "I'm
talking about the body
under the white
tarp in the dissecting lab. You've known all along that women were being
murdered. I
bet you could hardly contain
your laughter. The jokes
on IPTT, right?"

Morgan's cheeks colored.

 "What else have you been concealing? How many
more bodies are there?"

Morgan's gaze narrowed. "Calm down."

"I will not calm down." Red rounded on him,
her hands moving to her hips. She glanced at the rest pad and noted the fresh
linens and candles nearby, but was too far gone to consider their meaning.
"I can't believe that I almost slept with you."

Morgan jerked as if he'd been slapped. "As I recall,
you
did
sleep with me."

She growled in frustration. "You know what I
mean."

Morgan walked over and shut the door, locking it,
before advancing on her. "I received an interesting call from Jim
Thornton. Seems like I'm not the only one keeping secrets."

Red gasped. She wasn't keeping secrets. Well, maybe
a few, but that
was different. She hadn't re
mained silent
to deceive anyone. "That has nothing to
do with this."

"It could have everything to do with this
situation and
you know it," he snapped.

"Are you accusing me of something, Sheriff?"
Red asked, stepping into his space. "If so, why not arrest
me?" She
held her hands out in front of her with
her
wrists together in preparation for the energy
binds.

"Don't be ridiculous." He snarled. "I
base my findings
on facts, not assumptions ... unlike some tactical
learn members I know."

Red hauled her fist back and swung again. This time
Morgan was ready and caught it easily. His amb
er
eyes flared. Whether in warning or in promise, she
didn’t
know.

"I let you hit me once. That was enough
foreplay." He flashed her an unholy smile, then pulled her into his
body. His hard cock pressed into her stomach and
he rolled his hips. "Fuck
now, fight later," he growled
a
second before his lips crushed down upon hers.

There was no time to protest. Not that she could think
of anything to say. Her thoughts scattered under the press of his mouth. Red
struggled, but her body was already surrendering.

"Stop fighting me, I don't want to lose
control," he pleaded, deepening the kiss.

"Never."

Morgan's lips were insistent, demanding her sub
mission. He fed upon her mouth, devouring her
like a
man dying of thirst.

"Gina, your heart rate is going up dangerously
high," Rita came out of standby mode and chimed.

The sensations were too much. He was too much. She
pulled back, determined to stop him, but he leaned forward and nipped her
bottom lip. The tactic worked.