Cross (The Formicary Book 2), page 13
Ronnie. I narrowed my eyes as I pushed him aside. I opened up my senses, scanning the woods like a fox on a hunt. I was seriously hampered by the sheer amount of life within those dense trees. Even a ten-story apartment building full of people had nothing on nature. The sounds and smells were harder to categorize, and there was always something moving. I listened carefully, trying to separate insects from birds, and squirrels from rabbits. There was a bear several miles away and a den of foxes close by.
And then I caught a scent. It was overwhelmingly fruity with a splash of soap. Gray could tell I was on to something from just the look on my face. He sighed. “Chris….”
“I know you don’t agree with this, but it has to be done.”
“Does it?”
“She’s going to be okay,” I assured him. “I have no desire to hurt Ronnie.”
“You had no desire to drag me into this either, and look what good that’s done,” he snapped. “I fucking hate this, Christian. It feels like my well-ordered life is in freefall. I hate living with a sword of Damocles over my head.”
He was right, of course—the part I understood, anyway. I had no reason to feel stung, so…so wronged, but I did. Right about now, my feelings were about as tender as a nice cut of perfectly cooked filet mignon. This was why having someone’s heart was such a big responsibility. A stranger could wound you if he slashed at you for a while—that wasn’t a special talent. But just a papercut from the one you loved had the power to eviscerate you. And leave you bleeding on the ground.
He sighed. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it.” I cleared my throat and worked on trying to look less like someone had kicked my dog…into traffic. “I get it. I’d hate me too.”
“I said I hate this. This.” He made a sound of frustration. “How many times do I have to fucking tell you that I don’t hate you?”
More. Lots more.
“Hey. Days of Our Lives.” Chaos braced his hands on the deck railing. “If you’re not too busy, maybe you could go grab the doc? Or should I?”
I gave a disgruntled Gray one last look before I took off on swift feet in the direction of that fruity scent. It didn’t take me long to spot her. She didn’t hear me coming until I was about a half a block away, and she took off running, a flash of flannel fabric and jeans amidst the trees.
For fuck’s sake. It was an exercise in futility, and she knew that…not to mention an exercise in danger. If she kept running pell-mell in that direction, she was going to come face to face with at least three bears. I had the feeling they weren’t the “who ate my porridge, who’s been in my bed” kind. They would probably be pretty interested in solving the mystery of who smelled like pomegranate shampoo.
I cursed and poured on speed as I chased her through the bushes. How such a tiny woman made such a cacophony in the brush, I would never know. When I caught her by the waist, she didn’t fight or struggle. She just went limp in my arms like a ragdoll. I decided not to tell her that I’d saved her from a potential attack that would’ve been both grisly and grizzly—and no one wanted to be attacked by a homophone.
I set her on her feet. I almost expected a surprise attack—like maybe she’d jam one of her hiking boots in my ankle, but she only sent me a rueful look. “Christian.”
“Ronnie.” I paused. “You don’t seem surprised to see me.”
“Well, when the nurse at Mountain Gardens told me that Mandy had gotten a visit from her brother/cousin/friend, I figured someone was on my trail.”
“And yet, I can’t help but notice that you’re still here.”
“Where would I go?” She lifted her shoulders simply. “At some point, you run out of places for a new start.”
I knew that feeling all too well. “I’m sorry about this. You have no idea how sorry. But I’m going to need you to come with me.”
She looked resigned. “I thought as much.”
We began the long walk back—her in front, me slightly behind. Just in case. There was nowhere that she could run to get away from me, but I wasn’t about to underestimate her. I also had no desire to chase her through the woods again. Back at the cabin, I waited until she took a seat at her desk. In the blink of an eye, she pulled a gun from under the desk and leveled it at me.
I guess she wasn’t out of fight.
“Ronnie,” I said warningly.
“Don’t Ronnie me,” she cried.
Chaos shifted in her peripheral, and she swung the muzzle in his direction. I used that opportunity to disarm her as simply as taking a pair of scissors from a child. I admired her spirit and fortitude, but I was also annoyed. She made us what we were, for crying out loud. She knew that she was just wasting time with these futile attempts.
I tossed the gun to Nick, and he nearly dropped it with a gasp. “You don’t just throw artillery at someone,” he said shakily as he held it out from his person with two fingers.
“Artillery?” Chaos snorted. “It’s a nine millimeter. Barely qualifies as a gun.”
Ronnie paid them no attention, her gaze trained on me. “You can’t take me back to that place. You just can’t,” she said quietly. “You’re the one who helped me get away in the first place.”
My stomach churned. I hated to do it, but I didn’t have much of a choice. I had to get Dobroslav what he wanted. Anyone who got in the way of that was expendable. If it meant saving Gray’s life, I would deliver a bus of crying children to the Formicary doors. That made me a shitty person, but at least I was honest.
“I’m sorry,” I finally said.
“He’s going to kill me, you know,” she said conversationally.
“He’s not going to kill you, Dr. Granger,” Gray said gently. “He needs you.”
“To lock me up in that glorified insane asylum again? Working in the lab all times of day and night, creating things that should never be created?” When she realized what she’d said, she colored a little and directed a glance and Chaos and me. “No offense.”
“None taken,” I said. But maybe you could stop saying that shit in front of the guy I want to think I’m still lovable?
“Is any of it reversible?” Nick asked with his usual brand of tact.
She sighed. “I don’t even know what it is anymore.”
“So glad we can keep referring to my entire being as it,” I said dryly.
Her mouth quirked. “Sorry. But you’re asking Orville Wright to fix a Boeing 747 right now. It may have started out as my technology, but I’ve been out of the loop for a long time. I have no idea what Petar’s team has done.”
“So…no,” I said, trying not to let my disappointment show. I gave a wistful sigh. “And to think, things started so innocently.”
I could feel the stares from everyone in the room. “Yes,” Gray finally said. “Who knew that a plan that started with death and destruction and revenge could go so very wrong.”
I glared because he knew what I meant.
“Can I have some water, please?” Ronnie asked. “I’m suddenly very thirsty.”
That was pretty much all Grayson the caretaker needed to hear. He hustled to the kitchen as I pressed Ronnie for more details. “Why did things finally go south between you and Dobroslav?”
“Things fell apart after Project Atlas. I looked at…the finished product, and I knew I’d done the wrong thing.”
Gray returned and handed her a bottle of water that she accepted with a nod of gratitude. He waited until she’d taken a long sip before asking, “What is Project Atlas?”
“Simply put? Something that should’ve never seen the light of day. I tried to rectify my wrong by shutting the clo—the program down,” she corrected hurriedly. “But it was too late. At least the program is still in stasis. Everything in it is highly unstable.”
“We already know,” Nick said grimly.
Chaos glanced between us both before his jaw tightened. “I thought I told you not to concern yourself with the Geneza room.”
“You don’t think it was important for Christian to know that she fucking cloned him?” Nick spat angrily.
I didn’t turn around to see how Gray was taking the news. His slight intake of breath was more than enough. My ears felt hot, and I could feel his stare, right between my shoulder blades. And he didn’t even know the worst of it.
“You’re wrong about one thing, though,” Nick said. “Project Atlas is already up and running. They already released one of the clones.”
It was Chaos’s turn to look flummoxed. I guess Dobroslav hadn’t shared that little tidbit with Project Titan. “How….” Ronnie swallowed as she looked me up and down. She didn’t bother to be discreet. “How do I know I’m talking to the real Christian Cross?”
“I’m not a fucking clone,” I said as calmly as possible. And it was true…mostly. I mean, I didn’t know for sure, but I would know. I had to believe that.
Nick cleared his throat. “If you truly want to help us, you can give me the code to this computer,” he said. “This flash drive won’t let me in without one.”
“2412,” she said tiredly.
He sent her a grateful look. “Thank you.”
Nick typed in her code with quick fingers…and that was right about the time all hell broke loose. Her computer sparked, and he yelped, jumping back. A thin stream of smoke spiraled up from the back of the machine. Then a hole started to form, right there in the middle of the screen, burning itself from the inside out.
He reached for it and yelped, pulling his fingers away as he burned them. The charred hole grew bigger. It was consuming the computer, right before our very eyes. “What did you do?” Chaos shouted.
“It’s not me,” Nick yelled back, sounding a little panicked. “I think her code started a self-destruct sequence.”
“No one is getting that research,” Ronnie said, her voice sounding a little slurred. “No one. This ends here.”
I frowned at her, noting her milky pallor and suddenly drowsy eyes. It seemed like she was having a hard time keeping them open. “What’s wrong with you?”
She had no answer. Instead, she started sinking in her chair, listing farther and farther to the side. I sprang forward and caught her before she could hit the floor, one hand under her neck and one hand awkwardly on her rear. I tried sitting her up, but it was like trying to work with a wet noodle. I finally gave up and lowered her to the ground. Gray pushed me out of the way as he squatted down next to her.
Her eyes were rolling as she twitched a little. I waited impatiently as Gray examined her quickly, checking her mouth and eyes and finally, her pulse. His grim expression as he let her wrist slide from his fingers let me know he’d figured something out. I was more than ready for him to share with the class.
“What’s wrong with her?” I demanded. “Did she have a seizure? Stroke?”
“No, I think she took something,” he said absently, lifting her chin and putting her head back. “It might have been in the water. It was the only one in the fridge.”
“Like what?”
“I obviously have no idea. Ronnie,” he said louder. “What did you take?”
“I can’t let them keep creating monsters,” she said through chattering teeth. Foam formed at the sides of her mouth as she instinctively struggled against the grip of the poison. “As long as I’m alive, it will never be over.”
She tensed briefly, and then her head lolled to the side. Her fingers were still twitching as Gray instructed tersely, “Ronnie, stay with us.” He leaned forward like was going to give her CPR, and I yanked him back.
“Don’t even think about it,” I said, my voice deadly serious.
And then she was gone, her china doll face still, her eyes glazed over. It was probably the first bit of peace she’d had in a long time…which was great for her. But over here in Screwed-Ville, we were still a population of four.
“Now what?” Gray asked, wiping sweat from his brow.
That was a damned good question. The serum and flash drive were burned to a crisp. Unrecoverable. Alistair Kessler was dead, and he’d taken whatever secrets he’d had with him. Ronnie, the brains of the operation, had taken her own life. She’d set up a self-destruct sequence for her computer, which now had a giant burned crater in the middle. We were still involuntary guests of the Formicary, and the only two people in the world who gave a damn about me were up to their necks in my bullshit.
We had nothing. I could hardly process how close we’d been and how far we were now. We had absolutely nothing.
“I don’t know,” I said truthfully.
“I think it’s time we faced facts, here.” Chaos’s quiet voice made us all turn to face him. “Cross, we tried, but you have to know when to admit that it’s over.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that time is up.”
“I still have a week left,” I shot back. Dobroslav had given me two weeks, and I intended to hold him to that.
“Dobroslav will be expecting us when we get back, and I don’t expect him to be pleased about this latest development.” Chaos didn’t look all that happy, either. “Hell, maybe we should just—”
A gunshot sounded then, so loud that I jumped. Another shot rang out, just as loud as the first. I looked in shock at Chaos as two bullet holes appeared in his chest. He touched one of the wounds, his expression a mirror image of my shock. Then he slumped to the floor, revealing Nick behind him. He was white-faced, his hand shaking as he lowered the still-smoking weapon.
The smoking gun, I thought a little hysterically. He’s literally holding the smoking gun.
“I guess I do know how to use a gun,” he murmured.
I finally found my voice. “What…what did you do?”
“I saved your fucking life is all,” he snapped.
“Yeah? How’s that?” I demanded. “Because where I’m standing, you just took the award for making shit worse. And that’s kind of my thing.”
Gray, recovering a lot quicker than I did, went around me. He kneeled beside Chaos and put his fingers at his neck. He was quiet for a few moments before he shook his head. “Holy shit.”
“Is that an official diagnosis?” I scrubbed a hand down my face. “Because I second that wholeheartedly.”
Nick bent down too, only to rifle through Chaos’s pockets. He pulled out a wallet and thumbed through the billfold quickly. He gave a nod of satisfaction as he stuffed it in his pocket. He then proceeded to take off Chaos’s watch and even the tiny diamond stud in his ear.
“Help me look for valuables.” He straightened and headed over to the table. He grabbed Ronnie’s purse and began rifling through it. “We’re going to need some money and fast.”
I could only stand there, still immobile in shock. “I…I don’t think you realize what you’ve done.”
He ignored me as he tossed Ronnie’s purse aside and proceeded to give her body that special Nick-gravedigger treatment. He netted a bracelet, a pendant, a pair of earrings, and a smartwatch. “I think there are a few new appliances in there that we could pawn,” he muttered. “That espresso maker might be worth something.”
I didn’t see the point. “You do know that the rest of Project Titan is going to be on us like flies on dogshit,” I said conversationally, still staring at Chaos’s body. “I don’t have a prayer in hell of protecting you.”
Gray touched my arm. “Chris—”
“No, listen to me,” I said urgently. “They’re going to kill you. And him. Definitely him,” I said, glaring at Nick as he yanked the cord to the espresso maker out of the wall.
“They were going to do that anyway,” Gray said reasonably. “I think Nick has the right idea. Let’s get a few things quickly and get the hell out of here.”
I was starting to be concerned about the health of his emotional meter. I was hardwired to be a cool customer. What the fuck was his excuse? But then I took a look at him—a good look—and I saw that he wasn’t as calm as he seemed. He was a little sweaty at his temples, and he was biting the inside of his cheek.
“We have to do something about Ally and Erica,” he blurted. “Dobroslav said that he can reach them anytime he wants.”
“I know, I know.” I rubbed his arms briskly, trying to think. “You need to call them.”
“Now?”
“Yes, now, before he finds out what happened here. Tell them to go….” My mind momentarily went blank. No surprise there. I was pretty sure I had safehouses all over the world. I had no idea where they were anymore. And how would they get there? They needed to get somewhere safe. Quickly. We could work out the details later.
“We’ll ask Nick,” I finally said. “He has some shady contacts that might be able to help.”
“Shady contacts?” Nick looked offended, but it only took me raising an eyebrow for him to capitulate. “Okay, maybe. There’s this guy that owes me a favor or two. JoJo. I might’ve covered his tracks when he hacked into something he shouldn’t have.”
Grayson spluttered. “A computer guy? Look, I’m a proud nerd, but I was thinking someone a little more dangerous. Someone like…well, like him.”
When he jerked a thumb at me, I glared. “Hey.”
“In this case, that’s a very good thing,” he assured me.
“Well, if you’re looking for someone like me, there’s probably going to be a bunch of them headed our way pretty soon,” I said dryly. “So maybe we should, I don’t know, stop arguing and go?”
“JoJo’s girl is ex-military, so she knows how to handle herself. They’re both as trustworthy as it gets,” Nick said. “And they live in a pretty rural area, so there aren’t a lot of neighbors up in their business.”
“Gray, I think this is the play,” I said, seeing his hesitation. “Ally and Erica will be safe, and that’s all that matters.”
“Maybe we should just head that way and get them,” he said, biting his lip.
“When we figure out what we’re doing and where we’re going, we will. Right now, I think they’re a lot safer away from us.”
He didn’t respond verbally, but he gave me a hesitant nod. Before I could ask, Nick was already pecking out a number on Ronnie’s phone. “I’ll call JoJo and give him the heads-up.”
