Falling Apart (Barely Alive #2) (8 page)

Dominic’s words slowed but not enough to suggest a significant amount of doubt. “Well, don’t cause a commotion, Paul. If you save her, you can have her.”

“That’s rather generous of you, Dominic.” I shifted in my seat. “Tell you what. You get her past Lewiston and
you
can have her.” James glanced at me, but I ignored him. We’d get her back. We had to.

Dominic laughed. “What makes you think she isn’t already?”

I joined him as he continued to chuckle. “Because we aren’t far outside of Coeur d’Alene and I’m on their tail – little black car? Designed for speed, Dominic, but you don’t know about the pending quarantine or about redneck drivers.”

His answering silence stuck to the phone lines like peanut butter. A real smile – a pleased smile – split across my face. “Uh oh, Dom, weren’t prepared for that one, were you? Well, when we get her, we will complete the vaccine and start spreading it across the northwest.”

He’d given away his only playing piece, maybe more. He’d confirmed the car we’d only thought had Heather in it as well as the fact that Brian worked for him.
Smooth, Paul.
What can only be described as boredom riddled his single word. “Fine.”

I scowled. “What the hell do you mean ‘fine’?”
Ass wad.

“Don’t worry about it, kid.” He sounded smug, but I couldn’t be sure if it was an act or not.

The car weaved in front of us, brake lights red in the darkening night. James pulled up, only to be pushed back by a different car cut off by the speeding black automotive. His knuckles tensed on the wheel. But he didn’t break stride, instead, James pushed the button on the radio and utter silence filled the cab. Dominic didn’t speak and I waited to see if I was going to make it out of the car alive.

Two vehicles driving side-by-side separated us from the black one.

James looked ahead, glanced at his speedometer and then pounded his foot on the gas.

I clutched the armrest and pressed myself into my seat. The last thing I wanted to hear for eternity was Dominic’s maniacal laugh as my brains were spread across the grater-like road. Not the way I wanted to go out – or not go out as it were.

A feminine hand poked from the side window, waving at us. It had to be her. She had to be waving for help. The motion had no resemblance to a prom queen riding in court, more like a frantic movement wrapped in furtive courage.

I tapped James’s shoulder. He nodded and spurned past the two cars in front of us to the shoulder, where he passed them, their horns blaring beside us. I broke the silence on the phone. “Dominic, I think you should know we are overtaking the car now. Heather is in there and I’m going to get her out. Brian might not make it down to you.” I forced myself to sound less than worried. When in all actuality I couldn’t breathe properly. Well, hell, my brother couldn’t drive the freeway without getting a ticket for going too far under the speed limit. He didn’t have the capabilities to control a vehicle outside established limits.

“Heather doesn’t need to be alive. She’s just a carrier. I can handle just having a finger returned to me. Can you?” The bastard was right, and if he didn’t need Heather alive or Brian, then why the frantic speed chase? I was trapped in a damn verbal chess match and not prepared to deal with the potential consequences of winning or losing.

We pulled alongside the small car. Heather’s tear-streaked face peered at us from the side window. A gun poked into her side. I couldn’t see the driver’s face, but I saw enough fear in Heather’s face, my leverage blew right out the damn window.

I mouthed to James, “Back off.”

He braked, but stayed with them, almost tail-gating.

Dominic’s voice stung through the ear piece. “Tell me something. Have you nailed that yet? You don’t have long before she won’t be able to stomach the sight of you.”

Of course he’d tagged the problem. I might like her, but she could never completely like me. We were the worst Romeo and Juliet ever. I couldn’t kill myself and I certainly couldn’t take her down with me.

Unperturbed by my silence, Dominic hummed to himself. After a moment of the annoying noise, he asked, “So, why don’t you come to me? I’d love to see James again. We’d do things you’ve never imagined.”

And hell, I’ll admit, the prospect had more appeal than anyone would ever know. I wouldn’t have to fight my instincts so damn much. I wasn’t hypnotized by anyone anymore and I’d be able to sit beside Dominic as he worked on the cure. Because Travis and Connie worried about a vaccine – I did, too, of course – but I needed a cure. And a cure would be Dominic’s
first
priority, if not the ability to lengthen the strengths into an immortal existence. Less than ten weeks left on the earth wasn’t enough in my book. But I ignored the temptation he offered. I had time.

I was better. I could do it. I had more control than he implied. I hadn’t eaten Heather yet, had I? Cravings be damned.

Anger filled me. I clicked the phone shut on the bastard. “We have to stop. You need to go back.” I slammed my hand on the dash.

“What? Are you kidding me? I’m going with you. You need me.” James stuck to the black car’s tail without faltering. He had no idea what could happen. I’d seen the worst in Dominic and I knew more would come.

I ran my hand down my face. “Truth? You can’t get too close to where he is, or he’ll know and use it to his advantage. I don’t know where he’s holed up, but wherever he is as soon as we get within range, you’ll be in his control and we’ll be screwed.” The effort to jump out and disappear into the woods wouldn’t be half as painful as heading into Dominic’s headquarters alone. “Let’s follow them as far as we can. They’re bound to need gas soon.”
Us, too.
“Maybe we can do something at that point. I don’t know. I’m working on the fly here, and I have no idea what the hell to do.”

As much as Heather meant to me, I couldn’t lose my brother any more than I would. He had a couple weeks more than I did and I had to try my best to ensure he had every chance possible.

But
she
needed me.

And as much I wanted to live, I wanted to live with the chance that she’d kiss me again.

The miles passed beneath us. James didn’t lose the position he’d jostled into and maintained a fairly close distance from the black car’s back bumper. Even when the driver brake-checked us, James didn’t slip up. He held steady.

Glancing at my brother, I realized I needed him.

In the car ahead of us a girl trusted me to save her. She needed me. And she’d been in this mad race with me from the beginning. I needed her, too.

The phone rang in my hand, startling me from my thoughts. “Yeah.”

“We have it.” Connie’s excitement split through my quandary.

I sat forward, bracing my elbow on my upper thigh. “Have what?”
Please say vaccine. Please say —

“The vaccine. Travis and I even tested it. It’s successful.” She laughed, the giddiness in her voice took years off her age. Stoicism gone, she sounded almost normal – not so brainy.

They’d tested it.
On who?
“And who did you test it on?” I gritted my teeth, unsure I wanted to know the answer.

“Your mom and Grandma Jean. They both volunteered, and I couldn’t decide who to test. Travis had pegged this so well, I knew it was safe.” She trailed off, reacting to my silence before I realized I’d failed to respond.
Well, what the hell? She’d tested the damn vaccine on my mother! Okay, so it had to happen, but to Mom?

Facts and fiction. When had I slipped into some damn horrifying science-fiction novel? I couldn’t tell reality from make-believe anymore. “I understand. What happened?”

Relief rushed her through her explanation. “I offered the two vials to the ladies. They each gave themselves the shots and then we waited. I had to wait a full thirty minutes before testing the results. It takes about that long for the blood stream to reach every part of the body.” Someone coughed in the background. Connie cleared her throat. “Sorry. Okay, so after thirty minutes, we used more of your saliva and injected both of them, close to the spot where the vaccine was introduced into their systems. And there you have it. No reaction, no death, nothing. Well, except for a minor red area, but it’s nothing.”

No reaction. But they could still be infected. “Connie, how long did you wait for the virus after you injected it?”

“Almost fifteen minutes. The odds that they would be in the latent phase longer than that are very low.” She rustled some paper, muffled the mouthpiece and muttered to someone. She returned to our conversation. “Even better news? I can recreate the vaccine much faster than normal vaccines. We don’t have the capabilities to kill the virus, so we’re using altered bodies to vaccinate. I can’t believe how simple it is.”

The right turn signal blinked on the car in front of us. I sat up and pounded the arm rest. “Connie, that’s awesome about the vaccine. I have to go. We’re still chasing Heather.” I hung up. Connie understood the situation. I didn’t have to apologize.

We’d reached Moscow, a small college town on the highway south to Lewiston. Gas in the center of town, smack dab amongst civilians.
Hell.

“What do I do?” James followed the other car into the right turn lane, his head swiveling right to left.

“Follow them.” I hunched low in my seat, watching through the mirrors and side windows as the car pulled alongside a pump and… holy hell, Brian climbed out. “That bastard is supposed to be dead.” Way too much blood for him to be otherwise… unless the blood was partly Heather’s.

“Why? Did Dominic say he was?” James pulled in behind them. “He looks like he might wish he were. Do you see his hand?”

What hand? Where Brian’s left hand should be, a tight wrap covered what looked like a stump. A previously white bandage, bright red in the gas station’s fluorescent lighting, poked from beneath the ace bandage. He met James’s eyes but ran a card and prepared the gas tank at the rear of the car.

James climbed out, ran Travis’s card, and pumped into the tank of the SUV. They eyed each other as if the other had a weapon hidden under their shirts. James did, and Brian had a gun of some sort. Anything could happen.

I climbed from the vehicle. They could stare at each other all night, but unless they planned on getting a room, we needed a catalyst and I was chock full of enzymes ready to catalyze all kinds of situations and reactions. Cocky didn’t describe my saunter up to the car and how I leaned against the rear panel, inches from Brian, and crossed my arms. Mentally I channeled UFC, I’m from Vegas. I can do anything I want.

He didn’t move, just watched me with his mouth slightly open.

I tapped his shoulder, even though I was right in front of him. “Hi, Brian. We seem to be going the same way.” I nodded toward his arm. Like I spoke to an invalid child, I said in a high voice, “Oh, that looks like it hurts. You okay? Is that your gift for working with Dominic?”

Anger replaced his shock and he used his good hand to clutch the handle of the nozzle. He most likely wanted to strangle me with it. I didn’t blame him. Crap, I could be annoying. Wetness pricked his eyes.
Oh, boy. Emotions.
I hated them.

He worked his mouth, but failed. Brian glanced over his shoulder at the gas station.

A man strode by, toothpick protruding from the side of his mouth. “Hey, yous kids better get your gas and get on home. There’s a quarantine in effect. Didn’t you hear about them people eating other people? They could be here anytime.” He grunted at our blank stares. “Have it your way.” He waved to the woman behind us in line. “Ma’am, you best hurry on with your business.”

I leaned in close to Brian, his breathing hitched. “So they took your hand, huh? And didn’t even give you the benefit of a bite?” I pursed my lips. “Doesn’t seem fair to me.”

Pushing buttons was an art form, one I had apparently mastered a while back. Brian jutted his chin toward me and hissed, “I don’t want to be like them. I have to save my mom and all I have to do is deliver Heather to them. She doesn’t even have to get hurt, if I can get her away from you. If not? Then she dies and so does my mom.”

The nozzle popped, signaling the tank was full. But he didn’t move, his gaze squared with mine. Less taunting and more concern filled my voice, betraying the tough guy act I worked so hard at delivering. “Why’d they do that to your hand?”

He held up his limb. I caught a glimpse of fingers under the thick gauze. “They didn’t take anything. I slit my wrist to make it look like we’d been kidnapped or something. I was trying to throw you off. Damn. I have to get down there. I have to save my mom.” He patted the top of the car. “I stole this from a guy who stopped to help us. I made him walk into the woods, told him one of the murderers was after us.”

Talking to Dominic might have made things worse for Brian or better. I wouldn’t know. His mom was kidnapped. Hell.

Brian released the trigger and replaced the nozzle in the pump recess. Arms akimbo, his face tight, he pleaded, “What do I do? I need Heather or Dominic will turn my mom over to whatever the hell those things are.”

“Where is Dominic? You’re meeting him, but where?” I tensed my jaw. The last thing I wanted to do was go to him. But the events unraveled like yarn, meant to go here and there with knots throughout the whole thing. Damn, I hated knots.