Chapter 29
Grace writhed against her bindings, the rope cutting off feeling to her right hand. She was in a small white room with fluorescent lights and a tall white cabinet, her ankles and wrists lashed to a metal chair.
She’d been lounging in bed feeding Theo when the door came crashing in, the thought of Brett’s gun crossing her mind in the moment before she was hauled out of bed by a muscled white man in a T-shirt and ski mask.
Theo’s shrieks had been instantaneous, her fear for the babies worse than her fear for her own life.
“Let me go!” she’d screamed, fighting against the man with futile motions and kicks, the scent of cigarettes and noxious cologne overwhelming her sense of smell.
She’d been injected with something that made her black out, awakening in this room, tied to this chair.
What had happened to Toby and Theo? Were they even alive? It was her responsibility to care for them, but she’d been violently ripped from their side. She had no idea where she was, no idea who was holding her, no idea what would happen now.
A prayer circled through her mind like a mantra.
God, please let them be okay.
She tugged at her arm, the force of her movements threatening to pop her shoulder out of joint. She looked around the room, her eyes combing the walls and floor for something—anything—that could help her escape.
There was nothing.
She tried to scream, the duct tape that covered her mouth preventing any real sound from escaping. How long had she been here? Time was fluid and unknown, moments or hours, she had no idea how much time had passed.
Brett.
Did he even know she was gone? When it got to be four in the morning and he still hadn’t returned from his trip to Lamont Scientific, she was starting to get concerned.
It was unnerving to think of HERO Force breaking in, hoping not to get caught.
They were walking straight into the dragon’s mouth, and she had feared for their safety when she should have feared for her own.
Fleming had found them. She didn’t know how, but he had. Suddenly, she thought she heard the distant cry of a baby, and her ears strained to hear. But instead of a baby’s wails, she heard the thud of footsteps coming her way.
She held her breath as the door opened, a tall, red-haired man in a suit and tie stepping into the room, his disturbing scent all too familiar.
It was the man from the hospital lounge who had taken her from the cabin.
Fleming. He leaned forward and pulled the tape from her mouth with one quick yank.
She winced but quickly righted her expression. “What, no baseball cap this time?”
He leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms. “I don’t need it anymore. I’m a fugitive, remember? Thanks to you and Champion, everything I’ve worked for is gone.”
“You did this to yourself.”
He backhanded her, stars exploding in her peripheral vision as her head snapped to the side. “Shut up,” he said, squatting in front of her. “You think you’re so smart. You don’t have any idea who you’re dealing with.”
She sucked in her bottom lip, tasting blood. Making him angry was bound to make things worse for her. She needed to find a way out, a way past this man. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“Good girl.”
She needed to placate him, to make him think she was on his side. “I know how smart you are,” she ventured. “I know about the techniques you developed to fix sperm no one else could use. They’re incredible.”
He slowly came to a stand. “Flattery will get you nowhere. You’re going to die here today, along with your lover.” her eyes widened and he smiled. “I saw the condom wrapper on the nightstand.”
“What about the babies?”
“They never should have been born.”
“But they’re Joni’s sons. You loved Joni. Those boys are the last part of her that’s alive.”
His brow lowered. “Those boys are Champion’s sons, and no part of that man deserves to draw breath on this earth.”
“Please. They’re children. They didn’t do anything to you. Let them go.”
“Those children are a mistake and an embarrassment to my career. An aberration. A liability to my legacy.” He pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and stared at the screen. “Those bumbling idiots finally realized you’re gone.” He turned the phone toward her.
She could see the sun just cresting the horizon, a body of water, a log cabin on the shore…
Their log cabin.
Her mouth fell open as she watched what could only be the men of HERO Force getting into their SUV. “How do you find us?”
“Part of my state-of-the-art security system. A stalker drone. Why just watch a break-in when you can pursue the perpetrators?” He slipped the phone back in his pocket and opened the tall white cabinet, withdrawing a square cardboard box.
“They’ll catch you, you know. They’ll catch you, and you’ll go to jail. But if you return the boys and me unharmed, they’ll go easy on you.”
“Of course they’ll catch me, but you’re wrong about jail. I have something much better planned.” He ripped the box open and brought it close for her to see the contents, brick-sized packets labeled “C4,” a clear bag full of wires. “You still don’t understand, do you?”
Time seemed to stop, images of Toby and Theo alone nearby, as vicious flames and noxious fumes consumed the walls around them. “Please,” she begged, her voice weak. “Let us go.”
“Right now, my research is on its way to the editor of every major medical journal in the country. My findings will revolutionize our understanding of fertility. I’ll be acknowledged as one of the greatest scientists in history.”
The work was Joni’s, not Fleming’s. Grace had read her notes. But there was no point to upset him further by pointing that out. “Fame won’t do you much good in jail.”
He cocked his head, an eerie expression transforming his features. “I told you I won’t be going to jail. I have no intention of leaving here alive. We’re all going down in a blaze of glory—you, me, this company, the twins—and the man who ruined my life when he fixed his cousin up with a cop.”