Rx Missing (Decorah Security Series, Book #10): A Paranormal Romantic Suspense Novel (18 page)

Mack sensed that someone was calling his name, urgently, insistently—but from far away so that he could barely hear. Was it his brother? Or was it Lily? Or both of them? And what was he going to do about that?

“Mack, can you hear me, Mack? Oh Lord, Mack, answer me. Please answer me.”

He could tell that voice was Lily’s. He heard his brother, too. Silently calling him. But she was closer now, and he knew she was worried about him.

Still, he was confused. Hadn’t he been flying an F18 fighter jet that was hit? And he’d had to eject.

No, that was years ago.

No, it couldn’t be years. That was impossible. He remembered it like it was yesterday.

And then . . .

He struggled to make sense of the next part.

He’d ended up in the VR. That’s where he’d met Lily and made love with her.

That last piece of information jolted him.

Or was someone shaking his shoulder? His head swam in confusion. It felt like his body and his mind were detached, and he couldn’t bring the two of them together no matter how hard he struggled.

“Mack. For God’s sake, Mack. Wake up. You have to wake up. Hamilton and that other guy could come back any minute.”

Another piece of information that slithered through his mind—in one side and out the other. He grabbed at the snake’s tail before it was completely gone.

Did he know someone named Hamilton? What was she talking about?

“Open your eyes and look at me!”

Her voice had been soft and gentle. Suddenly it was sharp and commanding.

He tried to tell her he only wanted to go back to sleep. Then he felt a needle stabbing into his arm.

Seconds later, a bolt of sensation surged through him, and he gasped. His body was on fire, every nerve screaming, and all he knew was that he had to get away.

His eyes blinked open, and his hands clawed at the rails that confined him as his panic threatened to wipe out all reason.

“Mack! Please, Mack.”

He tried to zero in on the voice and the face hovering above him, but it was just too hard to concentrate. He wanted to go back to sleep.

“Mack, it’s Lily. Please, Mack.”

Then he heard her gasp.

He was aware of movement as she sprang away from him.

Moments later, another voice said, “What’s going on here?” It was a man who sounded like he’d been taken by surprise, and now he expected the right answers.

Another man cleared his throat and said, “This is my associate, Dr. Lily Wardman.”

“Where were you earlier?” the first man said.

There was a long pause. Finally Lily said, “I was in the VR.”

“What?” the first man asked as though he was in total shock. “How is that possible?”

“I’ve been going in periodically to make sure the program is running smoothly,” Lily answered.

“Oh, have you?” the questioner asked. “Does that mean you’ve talked to them?”

“Some of them,” she admitted.

oOo

Grant had stayed in the VR to help the patients. Lily had told him to go do his job. Knowing there was nothing he could do for Mack, he’d left her room and headed back toward the common area. Now he stood at the corner of the hallway where he could look down on the lobby with minimal risk of being seen.

It looked like nothing much had changed. Well, Preston had apparently gotten tired of holding on to Paula. She was sitting on the floor, hugging her knees and gasping. But he saw no blood, thank God.

The little warriors were aiming automatic weapons at the people who had returned to the lobby—apparently without finding Roper. Grant thought about fading back around the corner and heading down the hallway. But Preston was right about his options. There was nowhere to go beyond the hotel. And he’d stayed here to watch out for Jenny.

He located her in the crowd. She was sitting hunched on one of the side chairs, her hands gripping her shoulders and her head bowed.

She looked like she wished she could turn herself inside out and disappear.

His chest tightened as he watched her. They’d talked a little bit in the office when they’d been hiding out. He knew she was in some kind of serious trouble, but she didn’t trust him enough to tell him what it was.

He was going to get her to level with him, but he didn’t have the luxury of a long conversation with her now. Or any conversation, until they took care of the Preston problem.

Grant dragged in a breath and let it out. As soon as he stepped around the corner, the biker spotted him.

“Ah, one of the Bradley twins. Come on down,” he called, sounding like the guy who used to run that TV program, The Price is Right.

Grant started down the stairs.

“Nice of you to join us again,” Preston said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Did you find Roper?”

“No.”

“Then what were you doing up there?”

“Looking for him,” he answered as he reached the ground floor.

“I don’t think so. You left with your brother and Lily. Where are they?”

“We split up,” Grant said.

“Yeah, I see that. Let’s find out if I can get some straight answers out of you.”

Suddenly ropes materialized in the air. They flew toward Grant, circling his body, dragging him against one of the pillars and binding him to the column.

Preston walked over, studying him.

“I’m thinking I can persuade you to talk,” he said in a voice that made Grant’s flesh crawl.

The hacker reached out a hand that had turned into a claw and ripped open the front of Grant’s tee shirt. The action drew gasps from the other people in the lobby.

Then Preston spread the torn sides apart, exposing Grant’s chest. The man’s hand had become normal again. And now he was holding some kind of plastic box. It had wires attached, with metal clips.

Preston attached a clip to each of Grant’s nipples. Then he stepped back and inspected his handiwork before turning a dial on the box he held. Electric current zinged down the wires, delivering a jolt that made Grant struggle not to scream. Preston turned up the current, and Grant couldn’t hold back a gasp.

But his gaze was defiant as he met Preston’s inquiring gaze.

“That’s not going to make you talk?” he asked.

“Hell no.”

“Hum, then what about this?”

There was a whir of motion several feet away. Jenny screamed as the same kind of ropes materialized out of the air, wrapped around her and bound her to another pillar.

“Leave her alone,” Grant shouted.

“Yeah, like I figured, you care what happens to her.”

“You bastard.”

As Preston had done before, he reached out a claw and ripped Jenny’s shirt open, then her bra. The hand turned back into its normal form as he pushed the remains of Jenny’s tee shirt and bra to the side and fondled her breasts.

People in the room gasped.

“Leave her alone,” Grant shouted again, desperately struggling to free himself. But the ropes held him in place against the pillar. Grant hadn’t known Jenny long, but something in her had called to him. She was so sweet and vulnerable. And he could see she didn’t give her trust easily. Now he could see he’d gotten her into this terrible position.

Preston turned back to him with a smile on his face. “I gave you a taste of what that electric current felt like. How do you think it’s gonna feel on her?”

oOo

Mack lay in his bed struggling to stay away and also struggling to understand what was going on around him.

A man was talking to Lily, his voice low and nasty.

“Perhaps we should have a discussion about your contact with the patients,” he said.

“I really have work to do,” Lily responded, obviously struggling to keep her own voice even.

“Well, technically, you’re working for me, since I’m funding the project,” the man said, his tone sending a chill over Mack’s skin.

“Yes, I know.”

Mack struggled to make sense of the conversation. The man who had funded the project was . . . Sterling. This must be him. But what was he doing here?

“Do you know why I stepped in?” he asked.

“No,” she answered, but Mack could hear the hesitation in her voice.

“I think it would be a good idea for us to have a chat,” Sterling said.

“I should check the patients.”

“Later,” the man snapped. “We’re going to talk. You, me, Hamilton and the designer of the program.”

“But. . .

“You’re lying about something, and we’re going to find out what’s going on.”

“No.”

He heard the sound of a hand slapping flesh, and she cried out in pain and surprise.

“Now,” the man shouted.

“Leave her alone,” Hamilton said, but his voice was thin and watery.

“Shut up and get going.”

Mack heard the sound of people moving off. Then a door shut.

Jesus! The man had hit Lily—right in front of Dr. Hamilton. Which meant there was no telling what else the guy was going to do. And there was no one to help her but Mack.

That terrible knowledge started his heart hammering. It also helped clear his brain. He’d felt foggy. Now the fog was lifting. He wanted to leap out of the bed, but he knew that leaping was way beyond his present condition. Maybe getting up at all.

No. He had to get up—and save Lily from the bastard who had hit her.

His eyes opened, and he blinked in the sudden brightness. He was staring up at one of those tile ceilings where a metal grid holds the panels in place and some of the tiles are replaced by light panels.

He’d wanted to be left alone so he could sleep off what felt like a two-day drunk. Now he knew he had to get himself up and find Lily before Sterling did something worse to her.

He dragged in a breath and let it out before reaching for the rails at the side of the bed. Cautiously he pushed himself up, feeling a wave of dizziness sweep over him. He fought the urge to lie back down and rest—just for a little while. Instead, he waited for the sensation to pass. He knew that if he moved, he was going to throw up. But he had to push past that. For Lily.

Gritting his teeth, he willed his stubborn body to accept that he was awake and intended to function in the real world.

The rails on the sides of the bed were in his way, and he didn’t know how to lower them. Instead he scooted toward the end of the bed, until some kind of line attached to his arm stopped him. He looked up, seeing a drip bottle that led to the tube inserted in his arm. Not knowing what else to do, he pulled it out, seeing fluid spill out onto the floor.

Every motion seemed to take forever to complete, but finally he was standing on unsteady feet.

He had to grip the end of the bed to stay upright. How long had he been lying there? He didn’t really know. He’d thought it might be years, but it couldn’t be that long. Weeks or months, more likely.

Lily had said the bed and physical therapy had kept him in good shape. He’d hate to think what he’d feel like if he were in bad shape. At the moment, his muscles felt like rubber.

He looked around the room at the other beds where men and women lay. Todd was in the next bed over. Roper was next to him.

Jesus! Was it Roper that had caused all the damn problems? What was it with the guy? He must have some information that Sterling wanted. But he was in no shape to survive if they tried to wake him up. So Sterling had sent Preston in there to ruthlessly pry it out of him. Had anyone found him? Or had he figured out a really good place to hide. Landon the designer of the VR might have some thoughts about that.

And hadn’t Sterling said he was taking Lily and Hamilton to the guy? But where was that, exactly. Mack had no idea.

He looked toward the cabinets where rows of shelves held drugs. Probably there was a stimulant in there that would get him moving. Or it might kill him. Yeah, better stay away from stimulants for now.

Still fighting dizziness, he crossed the room, holding on to beds as he made his way to an open cabinet where he saw hospital scrub suits. There were more of them on the shelves, and he awkwardly exchanged his hospital gown for the pants and top, cursing his rubbery arms and legs. Then he looked around for the desk where Grant had stowed his gun.

Oh great, there were a couple of desks. Which one had his brother’s weapon?

“Leave her alone,” Grant shouted, hearing his own desperation as he looked at Jenny.

“Can’t I give her one little jolt? Just for fun,” the sadistic bastard asked.

“Please. Don’t. I’ll tell you anything you want to know,” Grant answered, hating that he’d given in to this creep, yet knowing he couldn’t be the cause of Jenny’s pain.

Preston looked at him, a satisfied expression on his face. “Did you find Roper? Are your brother and Wardman helping him? And they sent you back here to distract me.”

“No. None of that.”

“Then where did Bradley and Wardman go?”

“Out of here.”

“What do you mean?” The man looked from the control box in his hand to Jenny, then back again. “There’s no way out of here. This VR is to give coma victims some kind of life.”

“Lily’s a physician. She’s part of the medical team, with in and out access to this place through a portal in her room. They used it to go back to the lab.”

“Oh yeah?

“Yeah.”

“Then your brother’s a dead man. Lily may be in normal physical shape, but Mack Bradley is not.”

Grant spoke through clenched teeth. “She said his injury was a result of his twisting his neck. In the lab he opened his eyes and responded to me. He’s got a chance.”

Preston laughed. “You can think so, if it makes you feel better.”

“Let me go.”

“You say she has a machine in her room where she can communicate with the lab.”

Grant nodded.

“Then let’s go up there.”

Suddenly the bonds that held Grant to the pillar disappeared, and he fought to keep his balance. When he was steady on his feet, he rushed across to Jenny, who was also freed. He reached for her, taking her in his arms and murmuring reassuring words to her as he zipped up her jacket over her torn shirt.

“You’re okay. Everything’s okay.”

“Oh God. I thought this place was safe,” she answered.

“It will be,” he whispered.

“I hate to interrupt this tender scene, but let’s go,” Preston said. “Show me where to find her room.”

oOo

Mack fought the sick feeling in his throat as he moved from one desk to the next, opening drawers. The gun was in the third place he looked, and he breathed a sigh of relief as he closed his hand around the butt, then checked to make sure the weapon was loaded.

Okay, now he was armed. The next step was to figure out where Sterling had taken Lily and Hamilton.

He was about to leave the room when another thought occurred to him. He’d come here because a hacker named Preston was wreaking havoc in the VR. Maybe it would be a good idea to keep him from finding out what was going on over here.

The communications equipment was on one of the desks where Mack had looked for the gun. He staggered back there and stood for a moment studying the setup. When he couldn’t figure out how to turn it off, he pulled a bunch of plugs from the power strip, hoping he hadn’t destroyed anything important in the process.

Or maybe he’d acted too fast. Maybe he would have found a directory of the building in the computer—if he’d even known where to look for it.

He stood for a moment, holding on to the desk, swaying on his feet, cursing himself for not getting his butt in gear.

And then another thought skittered into his mind.

Call Decorah Security.

Had he come up with that on his own? He didn’t think so, but it was what Grant had told Lily if she needed help.

That was as true now as it had been back in the VR. She needed help, and so did he.

He was torn. He wanted to dash down the hall and find Lily, but he didn’t know where she was. And if he fell over in a dead faint, that wasn’t going to do her any good.

Grant had told Lily the Decorah number, but Mack’s numb brain couldn’t dredge it up. In the end, he had to go through information.

The phone was picked up on the first ring by a guy with a crisp voice.

“This is Mack Bradley, Grant Bradley’s brother. He told me to call if I needed help.”

“Just a moment.”

He waited for agonizing seconds before another voice came on the line. “This is Frank Decorah. What can I do for you?”

“Did Grant tell you I’d been killed . . . in the Middle East?”

“Yes.”

“I was taken captive. It’s a long story. I’m at a lab in Gaithersburg. Hamilton Labs. I was being held in a virtual reality experiment.”

“Wait. Slow down.”

“I was in a coma. A bunch of us in similar conditions woke up in a virtual reality. Like being in a video game, only more real. I’m out—but weak. Grant went in because it’s under attack by a hacker, and he’s still there. Dr. Hamilton’s financial backer, a guy named Sterling, has taken him and Dr. Lily Wardman captive in the Hamilton building—but I don’t know where. I’m in the lab with the sleepers.” He dragged in a breath and let it out. “This probably sounds crazy.”

“No. We’re on our way. Do you know where Sterling was taking them?”

“He said to Sidney Landon, the program designer, but I don’t even know where that is.”

He heard keys clicking in the background.

“Second floor. Room 289.”

“Jesus. How do you know?”

“One of my computer guys called up the building specs while we were talking.”

“Okay.” He stopped. “And if I’m in the lab with the patients who are in comas, where am I?”

“Third floor. You’re in the back of the building. Room 389 is in the front.

“I’m going down there.”

“Wait for some of my men.”

“I can’t.” He stopped, trying to clear his head. “Be careful. Sterling has trained killers working for him. They tricked Grant into meeting them at the FDR Memorial, then tried to kill him.”

“Christ. I wish I’d known about that sooner. Stay on the line with me. We’re en route now.”

“I can’t. I don’t have a portable, and this landline is in the medical ward with the patients.”

“Stay where you are.”

“I can’t,” he repeated, fear for Lily rising like a tidal wave threatening to drown him.

He’d already taken too much time talking to Decorah. Slamming down the receiver, he turned to the cabinet where the drugs were kept and started looking at labels. Thank God there were several stimulants on the shelves, probably because a patient who woke up might need them.

Like him. Lily had given him a shot of something. Was it okay to take another hit, too?”

Fuck it!

He swallowed a capsule without water, praying that it would kick in soon—and wouldn’t make him feel like he was bouncing off the ceiling. If he’d dared, he would have taken two, but he knew that was plain stupid.

Teeth gritted he started down the hall, moving cautiously, on the lookout for the men who had tried to kill Grant.

There were none of the invaders on this floor, but he found a guy in a scrub suit. Maybe an orderly who had been working with the patients. He’d been shot through the head and chest and was lying on the floor of a small office.

Christ! The poor guy.

Seeing there was nothing he could do, Mack backed away.

By the time he reached the stairs, he was feeling steadier on his feet and was thinking more clearly, unless he was fooling himself on that point.

Cautiously he opened the stairwell door and looked up and down. He saw no guards. Probably Sterling thought everyone else in the building was a zombie.

He made it to the second floor, then slowly opened the door. Still no guards.

Had Sterling dismissed them? Or perhaps he had sent them down in case someone tried to enter the building. Which was too bad for the Decorah guys.

He should have asked how many were coming. But he’d been too focused on getting to Lily—because he was in love with her.

Love? The idea was crazy. He hadn’t known her long enough, yet he knew it was true. And he knew she’d only been doing her job in the VR. Their relationship might have started off with her lying to him and everybody else who was part of the experiment, but what choice had she had?

He looked at the room number nearest him. 330. 389 must be down the hall and maybe around the corner.

He moved cautiously, his weapon at the ready as he paused by each doorway and listened.

As he approached the cross hallway, he heard footsteps coming toward him from the left. He ducked into the nearest room, holding the door open just a crack as he saw two men round the corner.

“I don’t know why he’s having us patrol,” one of them said. Was it one of the guys Grant had encountered at the memorial?

“Yeah, nobody here but zombies.”

The other guy laughed as they passed. Mack watched their backs as they moved away.

Now he was between them and the room where Sterling was holding Lily and the others. If he went down the hall and they turned around, they could shoot him in the back.

Shit!

Overhead he thought he heard the whir of a helo, then it kept going, and he figured it was one of the patrols that had routinely flown over the DC area since 9/11.

He looked down the hall again, seeing one of the men pull open the door to the stairway. If they were going down, that would get them out of the way—unless they noticed that one of the patient beds was now empty and an IV line was dripping on the floor.

How many more men were patrolling the building? And where were they exactly? Probably some of them were with Sterling to help keep his captives under control.

Mack started down the hall again. He wanted to run, but he couldn’t take the chance of being spotted—or on using up his limited supply of energy.

He rounded the corner and moved a few doors down, until he realized from the numbers that he was going the wrong way.

Cursing, he reversed directions, forcing himself to stop and look for more guards where the hallways intersected. When he saw none, he sprinted across, then headed for room 289

Before he had taken more than a dozen steps, the sound of automatic gunfire sounded from the floor below.