Chapter 18

The soldier closest to Whitney yanked him back and down. The blade sliced across the back of soldier’s arm. As he whipped out his gun and leveled it at Sean, Whitney yelled, “No! Don’t kill him. I need him alive.”

Sean didn’t look at any of the security team. His gaze was solely on Whitney, as if he were a robot programmed to destroy. In spite of the men who were surrounding the doctor, he waded in, fists flying, trying to achieve his goal.

Mari struggled to her feet. Violet and the senator were already at the elevator, and they weren’t waiting for her. She was left on her own, facing Whitney, his supersoldiers, and a demonic Sean. She took a deep breath and inched toward the hall. Most of the guards were watching Sean, trying to find a way to subdue him without getting hurt. He was fast and dangerous, and most of them had at one time or another been bested by him.

She couldn’t use the elevator, so the stairs were her only option. She made it about six feet before Whitney turned his attention to her. “Stay where you are, Mari. You don’t want Rose to get hurt, now, do you?”

Rose? Are you out? Mari hesitated, needing reassurance.

Kane made me run. He fought off a couple of the guards. Someone, must be your friends, provided covering fire. I’m over the fence and running free. Someone tried to stop me; he kept shouting they could get me out, but I don’t trust anyone. I’m sticking to our original plan. Scatter and evade. I can get to the stash of money and take my share.

Mari knew she had hesitated too long. Most of Whitney’s supersoldiers in the vicinity wrestled Sean to the ground. He was making animal noises and still trying to crawl, with the security force on his back, toward Whitney.

Cami. Are all the girls safe and away?

We’re close. We’ll scatter and will meet you at the rendezvous point, Cami confirmed. Are you out? I’ll come back and help.

The doctor sighed. “You’re a lot more talented than I ever suspected, aren’t you, Mari? And to think I nearly gave the order to eliminate you. Are you pregnant with Norton’s child?”

“You sent Sean to me last night. I won’t know until after it’s born, will I?” She took another step back, but two of Whitney’s guards were locked on to her. Each step she took, they mirrored, so they were doing a macabre dance with her.

It was bizarre and very difficult to be in a deadly dance and yet hold a telepathic conversation with her sister. Of course Cami would risk her life and return to aid Mari. Mari would do it for her. No! Keep moving. I’m going with Ken to his home in Montana. She sent the images of its location she’d picked out his head.

“I don’t understand how I could have missed your abilities all these years.” Whitney frowned and rubbed at the bridge of his nose.

“I knew you were psychic. You use touch, don’t you?” she guessed shrewdly, hoping to throw the guards off by talking to Whitney. She gained a few more inches, but the entrance to the stairs was still so far away. She was fast, very fast, but Whitney’s team was enhanced.

No! Cami objected. Don’t trust any of them. Stick to our plan.

Go, Cami. I’m in a fight right now. Get away!

“Very good, my dear. Of course I do. I have a superior brain as well as being psychic. There are very few true strong psychics in the world.” He glanced toward Sean. The man was pinned down and secured with flex-cuffs on both his ankles and wrists. He was still fighting to get to Whitney. “You controlled his mind, Mari. You planted a suggestion, a nasty one at that. He hasn’t touched you, has he? He simply thinks that he has. Yet Brett . . . ,” he said thoughtfully, a small frown of concentration on his face.

Mari leapt to cover the distance, using enhanced physical ability to gain the stairway. She grasped the railing, leapt onto it, and, using it as a springboard, jumped half a flight of stairs. She raced up to the third-level landing. She heard Whitney yell to his men to go after her, and she caught the second banister and made a second jump.

Ken. I’m on the run. Are the other women away clean? She didn’t like that almost Cami had given her and wanted him with her. She could hear the men, one leaping after her, the other galloping up the stairs, talking into a radio, and telling someone to cut her off. Someone was waiting on the next staircase; she heard the radio and the buzz of men’s voices.

I led them out through the corridor. Your friend Cami’s taking them the rest of the way. It’s up to them to get out once they’re on the surface. Jack says all hell is breaking loose. I’m on my way back to you.

I’m on the stairs, trying to get to level two, but I’m trapped between two security teams. I don’t think I can make it to you. You’ll have to go without me.

Like hell, don’t be ridiculous. I’m not leaving without you. How close are you to level two? Can you beat the team chasing you?

Yes, but I’m running right into the men waiting for me. Mari paused, unable to decide what direction would be the most promising.

Keep going, sweetheart. Fast. You want to be at the top; hit them hard and mean, buy us a couple of seconds.

What are you going to do?

I’m going to take down his house. I take it Sean didn’t get him?

No, and Whitney realized he was under a suggestion, but he thinks I did it. She had sprinted as fast as she could up the long staircase. Without slowing down, she hit the door and plowed into the security guard waiting there for her. They both went down, Mari kicking hard at his face.

The guard caught her left foot and twisted, rolling her over onto her stomach, but she kicked at him with her right foot, hitting him hard enough that his hold loosened. Still using the momentum of the fall, she rolled over into a crouch and sprang back to her feet. The second guard loomed over her, and she ran into his chest before she could stop her forward motion. He wrapped his arms around her smaller frame, pinning her arms against her sides. Mari used her knees, driving upward to hit him under the chin with the top of her head.

She dug both thumbs under his ribs, and when his arms loosened, she dropped lower, spreading her elbows to gain even more precious inches of room. She was able to get one arm free and drove the heel of her palm into his nose, pivoting to throw her body weight behind the blow. Breaking free, she tried to run again, knowing the two other guards who had been chasing her were only a couple of steps behind her.

Get down!

She dropped, both hands covering her head, as a deafening explosion knocked them all off their feet. Ken burst out of the rubble, grabbing her arm and jerking her up. As he turned, he drove the toe of his boot into one guard’s head, dropping him like a stone. “Run, Mari!”

Ken tossed her a gun and a knife, then dropped back to protect her as she made her way through the dirt and debris. Go left. Take the left passage, he instructed as he laid down a spray of bullets, driving their pursuers back.

Mari whirled around, all business, as two lab techs popped up waving guns. She shot them both, her aim deadly. She kept moving, running along the narrow hall, twice taking out a camera as she went, her legs carrying her when her mind felt numb.

“The others, Ken, have you heard anything?” Mari asked anxiously.

Ken swept her against the partition, covering her body with his as bullets spat into the wall behind them. He returned fire, pushing her forward, urging her to run while he stepped out and sent covering fire down the long hall. Glass shattered, and guards leapt into doorways, finding whatever shelter they could. Ken ran backward, keeping up the fire until they rounded the next corner and he could turn and sprint after her.

“Jack says the women took off in different directions. My team had a hell of a time providing covering fire for them, but no one could stop them long enough to get them to the waiting helicopter. They went up and over the fence and scattered into the forest. We stopped most of their pursuers, but there’s one hell of a firefight going on between Violet’s men guarding the senator and Whitney’s supersoldiers. It actually helped get the women out.”

Ken caught her arm, bringing her to an abrupt halt as he yanked open a small maintenance door set into the wall. “The grill, get inside the shaft. Hurry.”

She didn’t waste time asking questions. They only had seconds. When the guards rounded the corner and saw they were gone, they would check the small maintenance room. She yanked the grill free and dove into the shaft, scrambling forward to give Ken plenty of room. He pulled the grill after him and signaled her forward.

Almost immediately bullets cut through the door and walls of the room behind them. Mari hesitated, her heart pounding, but Ken pushed her bottom, urging her to keep moving. Mari crawled as fast as she could, trying to stay quiet. The tube was surprisingly large, and getting wider as she moved down it. Ken tapped her ankle as she came up on another grill.

She pushed it out and like the other one, the grill fell open easily, the screws already removed. Mari slid through headfirst, rolling, gun up and ready, tracking the room. She found herself in another maintenance room, tools scattered everywhere and a bucket of dirty water with a mop stuck in it pulled away from the wall. The bucket seemed out of place to her with all the tools.

She looked around, breathing hard, struggling to control her fear. She’d been on several missions with bullets flying, but nothing had prepared her for this—escaping from Whitney. He had controlled her life for so long she wasn’t certain she could even think for herself.

Ken’s hand brushed the nape of her neck. “You’ve been thinking for yourself for a very long time, honey. Stop worrying.”

“You weren’t touching me and you knew what I was thinking. I hate that. You scare me sometimes.”

He flashed a small grin at her as he pushed past her to crack open the door enough to peer out. “You don’t exactly have a poker face, darlin’,” he drawled.

“I wish I could believe you, but I’m not that transparent. I spent too long fooling Whitney. You’ve got way more psychic talent than you let on.”

The alarm was blaring through the compound now, and chaos had broken out. Lab techs hurried out into the corridor. Ken reached out and snagged a man by his coat, yanking him into the closet and smashing an elbow to his head. The tech slumped to the floor and lay there groaning. “Get his jacket off.”

Mari crouched down to pull the jacket from the tech. Whitney had made it mandatory for all techs on the third level to wear a black lab coat and those on the second level a white one. The man was wearing a white coat, but she’d caught a glimpse of several third-level techs. They were swarming up the stairs along with the security teams sweeping through each of the levels.

“What was the explosion?” She kicked the man as he tried to rise, and he went down a second time. Mari donned the jacket and looked around the room for a hat.

“I set a few timed charges. They’ll keep going off at odd intervals, just enough to keep Whitney and his men rattled. The women are over the fence and presumably away. Jack says unfortunately the senator is almost to the plane. Jack’s waiting for us.”

“They don’t have my sisters?” She winced as Ken grabbed a second white-coated tech and slammed him into the wall. He bounced and Ken dragged him into the small room. “Not a single one?”

“Your sisters aren’t very trusting.” His vivid gaze pinned her. “You knew they wouldn’t be. You all discussed it ahead of time, didn’t you?”

To avoid his glacier-cold eyes, Mari bent down to pull the jacket from the tech. “Yes. I knew you wouldn’t be happy.” And he’d be even less happy knowing she was supposed to get away from him and meet them as soon as possible.

“Just because my men are risking their lives to get the women out? Your sisters knew they were going to be there, with bullets flying and a helicopter waiting, and they went over the fence and scattered into the woods.” He reached down and pulled her to her feet. “Are you planning to do the same thing?”