Tanner's Scheme (18 page)

He really was too good-looking for any woman’s peace of mind.

Her emotions, her attraction to him and this unexplained hunger were getting the best of her. She had to escape. Now. Before he broke her. Before his promises and his insistence that she trust him broke through her woman’s heart.

Today, she had to escape.

“So where’s your brother?” She lifted the cup and sipped again, staring at him over the rim as she attempted to distract his attention from her.

“My brother?” His brow arched perfectly. Damn, she wished she could do that.

“Cabal,” she intoned mockingly. “You two are normally shadows of one another.”

“And what makes you think we’re brothers?” he asked curiously, setting the cup back on the table.

Scheme breathed in deeply. “You forget, the Council had your full file, Tanner, not just the remnants that survived the lab’s explosion. I know you and Cabal are identical twins. You don’t have to lie to me.”

He crossed his arms on the table and leaned forward slowly. “And how extensive are your files?” he asked.

She shrugged easily. “Somehow, the files in the Council’s database were destroyed. Most of what Father has is from memory only, which isn’t extensive. But I remember reading the file when I first took over the job as his assistant.”

His eyes narrowed. “The files were destroyed?”

“You didn’t know?” She arched her brows in question. “I assumed the Breeds had found a way to get a spy into the main headquarters of the Council databases. Most of the files on the Breeds were destroyed several years ago when a virus was implanted into the network. The Council is still trying to recover from that one. I applaud whoever managed it.”

She had managed it, along with Jonas’s help. The headquarters in Sweden were considered impenetrable, their computer and backup networks impossible to infiltrate. But they had done it.

His eyes narrowed. “We had no idea how extensive the damage was.”

“It was catastrophic.” She sighed. “Somehow, someone implanted a virus that corrupted every file with the Breed extension. An explosion at the secondary facility that housed the disc backups took care of those as well. We assumed it was a Breed assault.”

Jonas was even more closemouthed than she had given him credit for. Once he had managed transferring the Council file databases, he had implanted a virus so insidious that it had taken the Council computer geeks months to catch it. By then, every Breed file they possessed, as well as backups, had been corrupted. The explosion at the secondary facility had been a stroke of genius as well.

“So there’s nothing left?” he asked softly.

She shrugged again. “There were hard copies of some files, though those contained very little information. Mostly training stats, genetic source, and so forth. Many of the photos are lost forever though. They’re still attempting to put their files back together.”

Tanner’s lips pursed. “We knew about the explosion, and the virus, but we had no idea how extensive the damage was.”

“Of course you knew.” She smiled. “I remembered your file though; I read it several times after you were appointed the head of Public Relations at Sanctuary. You and Cabal were created as twins, then separated after the first year for training purposes. If I read correctly, he wasn’t as cooperative as you were with the training.”

Her chest clenched at the thought of how uncooperative he had been. Cabal had been horribly abused at the German lab in which he had been confined.

“He was nearly dead when we found him,” he stated. “Which makes me wonder why you’re asking about him. Your father was the head of the committee that decided life or death, Scheme. His signature was on Cabal’s cancellation papers.”

“Mine wasn’t,” she pointed out.

She hadn’t known of the cancellation orders that had gone out that month. If she had, she would have made certain that one was shredded. The mode of death had been particularly horrific.

“I found him in that pit,” he suddenly snarled. “Half-dead, surrounded by the Breeds that had been thrown in there with him, their bodies already decomposing. He had almost bled out from the strikes those knives had made at him.”

The only thing that had saved Cabal was the fact that the soldiers had overfilled the pit with Breeds. The smooth stone walls were fitted with deadly sharp daggers that struck in a random pattern. The fact that he had evaded a deadly thrust was a testament to his training. He had managed to calculate the timing and direction of each thrust as other Breeds died around him.

Her father had helped design that pit. It was first implemented as a training pit; the random thrusts of the dagger-sharp blades were used to train and test the Breeds on their ability to sense where and when danger would strike. One or two Breeds at a time in the pit and the blades did little damage. But once it was determined that as a training tool, the pit was ineffective, then it had been used instead as a means of mass murder. It was quite effective in that.

“He survived,” she reminded him, steeling herself against the knowledge of the horrific crimes committed against the Breeds.

“And now you’re asking about him.” He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest and staring back at her with a glint of anger.

“I was merely curious. The two of you are rarely seen apart now.”

“You don’t want to know about Cabal, Scheme,” he half-snarled. “His hatred for your father is deeper than most Breeds’. He would break your neck before I could stop him.”

“What difference, him or another?” She rose from the table, lifted her plate and cup and carried them to the sink. “Forget I asked.”

“Are you ready tell me why your father wanted you dead?”

She had known that question would return.

“I assume he believes I’m betraying him. It’s normally the only reason he goes to such extremes.”

She slipped the knife she had managed to slide her fingers over into the hand she had placed behind her back as they talked.

“He didn’t entrust me with as much information as the Breeds assume he did. I was a very small cog in the whole organization. But I know enough to make him uncomfortable with a few things that have happened lately.”

“Such as?”

She shrugged, forcing a mocking smile to her lips. “Various plans he had made with the pure blood societies, a few reports he gets on missions going out from Sanctuary. Nothing too incriminating, but as I said, uncomfortable.”

And he could tell she was lying. She could see it in his eyes.

“This isn’t helping you.” His golden eyes were narrowed on her and filled with suspicion as he rose to his feet.

Scheme tucked the knife into the band of her pants before pushing her hands into the pockets. He barely glanced at the movement as he rose from his chair and collected his own dishes before moving to the sink.

Dammit, she needed him to sit back down.

“I believe I told you I didn’t need your help.” But she did. She needed his help, his heat, his honest passion for her. And it was destroying her.

She retrieved the coffee she’d set on the counter and moved back to the table. Seconds later he did the same.

She had to escape and contact Jonas as soon as possible. She had to get away from Tanner before he stole her soul. She was desperate, suddenly more terrified of herself and her own emotions than she was of the risk she was preparing to take.

She needed that electronic remote she knew Tanner carried. It had to be the way out of there. She had checked every corner, every crack and crevice. There had to be a hidden doorway that remote worked.

He continued to stare back at her, the brilliancy of the green-flecked gold eyes almost mesmerizing. The Bengal was perhaps the most dangerous of the Breeds created, which was one of the reasons so few were designed. They were naturally, deceptively lazy, appearing to heel easily. The tiger genetics had taken decades to manipulate, and the scientists had learned early that the animal, as well as the Breed, wasn’t always dependable. The moment you thought you had tamed one, he struck. That made them a threat.

“Do you know why I was appointed head of the Public Relations Department of Sanctuary?” he asked then.

She rolled her eyes. “You were appointed as head of Public Relations because you have the looks of a fallen angel and the social graces to match. You’re considered the epitome of what the Breeds truly are: playful, caring and as threatening as a lap cat purring for attention.”

His lips curled into an amused smile as he propped his arms on the table and leaned forward once again.

“That’s the reason we leaked to the public,” he said softly. “I took the job because of those things, as well as the fact that my sense of smell is so highly developed that I can walk into the room and give the crowd what they need to hear. What they need to reassure themselves. I can smell more than a lie, Scheme. I can smell the slightest deception. I know you’re still lying to me.”

She stared back at him silently, cursing her own weakness. She wasn’t lying, exactly. She just wasn’t being totally honest.

“Do you think I’m really going to give you enough to let you hang me?” And that was total honesty.

He stared back at her intently, so intently that Scheme wondered if he could see into her soul.

“I wouldn’t hang you. Trust me, Scheme. Let me help you,” he told her, and her heart believed. Her mind screamed out in warning. She had heard those words before, from Chaz. He had sworn he would protect her. Sworn he loved her. Sworn she was his life, his love and all things in between, and God help her but he had nearly destroyed everything she was instead.

She had to get out of there and get hold of Jonas. It was imperative, because her need to trust Tanner was overruling her need for caution. She rose to her feet, doing nothing to hide her nervousness, hoping, praying that the scent of her arousal and her nerves would overwhelm the scent of the knife at her back.

“You’re very confident of yourself.” Her voice shook as she moved around the table.

“Confident of my ability to help you, if you’ll let me.” He stared back at her, his expression suddenly serious, almost sad. “But you would have to believe in me first, wouldn’t you?”

“I don’t need your help.” Her fingers trailed up his arm as he leaned back in the chair, his eyes drifting closed as she came around him, her fingers caressing up the shirt-covered shoulders to his neck as the beat of her heart threatened to strangle her and tears suddenly dampened her eyes.

She lowered her head to his neck, placing a heated kiss to his pulse as she slid the knife from her waistband. Her hand shook as a tear fell from her eye.

She had to do it. Her tongue tasted his neck as she shuddered, gripping the hilt desperately as her hand lowered to her side.

He would be okay. Breeds healed amazingly fast. She wasn’t going to kill him. She knew where to strike. Her father had taught her how to maim and how to kill. She could do it. Easy.

She fought to breathe, bringing the knife up further as he sat relaxed in front of her, his arms on the table. The perfect position. The knife would slide in just under his ribs, missing the spleen.

He would be disabled until she could bind his hands and then the wound. He would live.

Do it,
she screamed out at herself.
Now.

Her hand trembled.

Her breath hitched as a sob filled her throat.

This was her only choice. She had to escape, and he had already proved he wasn’t going to just let her go.

“Do it, Scheme,” he whispered gently. “Hurry, pretty girl, before you lose your nerve.”

He knew. She would have frozen if a shudder hadn’t shaken her body and the sob hadn’t escaped her throat.

“It’s easy.” His voice was amazingly tender. “The knife you chose is perfect. If you keep hesitating, I’m going to get impatient.”

“You son of a bitch,” she screamed, jerking back before she threw the knife, the tears finally falling as she stumbled back from him, watching as his head lowered and shook slowly.

He rose from the table lazily, turning to her, his expression somber, filled with sadness.

“It’s not so easy to kill when your hand holds the weapon, is it?” he asked, his tone so understanding that holding back the tears was impossible. “If you want to convince me that you’re a killer, that you’ve cold-bloodedly worked with your father all these years, then you’re going to have to do better than that.”

Another sob broke free as he moved toward her, staring at her with eyes so gentle, so filled with emotion that she felt something inside her soul rip open—a wound so intense, so destructive that it weakened her knees and left her on the floor, crying.

“You have to let me go,” she cried. “Let me out of here, Tanner, please.” If he didn’t, she was going to lose her strength; she wouldn’t be able to hold back the need to trust him much longer.

Let him think it was claustrophobia; she could handle that. The truth could get her killed, could get her returned that much faster to her father, and the death that awaited her there wouldn’t be easy.

“Come here.” He knelt in front of her, lifting her, holding her close to him as he moved her to the couch. “Right here.” He sat her down, then opened the laptop he was working on. “Look at this, Scheme.”

The screen flared to life, six small windows glowing on it.

“This is the area around my cabin, several miles from here.” He pointed out four of the screens. “What do you see?”

The screens were thermoactive, showing bodies moving, weapons held ready.

“Those are Council soldiers, looking for me,” he told her. “They’ve been watching the cabin for days, hoping to find you. Reports are coming in from Sanctuary that several transmissions have left our communications base, concerning you and the assignments that have gone out from Sanctuary. Your father wants you bad enough to make his spy work overtime to find out if the Breed community is searching for you, or if they have you.”

“So why are they here?”

“Because every Breed in Sanctuary knew I was gunning for you. His spy would have known. His spy would have informed him that I’m missing from the compound. Very few people know I’m on vacation right now. If you walk out of here, he’ll find you. He’ll kill you. Trust me. I can save you.”