Lethal Consequences (24 page)

“Black?” she finally asked.

The wariness in her voice sent a shot of dread straight through Landon’s stomach. Against the phone, his palm grew sweaty. “It’s too late, isn’t it? They already have your father’s biotoxin.”

“I don’t know for sure, but it sounds like it. You’ll need to watch her arm. The necrosis is going to form a radial pattern outward from the injection site. It’s a very unique pattern. That’s how you know Cerberus is reacting.”

“What the hell is Cerberus?”

Dani was silent for a moment, then said, “Landon, my father wasn’t working on a biotoxin. I didn’t give you all the details because I figured the less you knew, the safer you’d be. Ironic, right? Me protecting you?” A wistful note filled her voice. “My father was bioengineering amino acids.”

Landon knew shit about biological science. Or what the hell that had to do with Olivia. “In English, please. You’re already talking over my head and you know it.”

“Sorry. Amino acids are found in all human tissue. There are over five hundred different types, and they’re typically known as the building blocks for proteins. They also aid in cellular function for all processes in the body. By tweaking different chains of amino acids, my father discovered—mostly by accident—that he could create a radioactive amino acid, which could then be tagged. This was a research-altering moment because, in theory, a tagged amino acid can be tracked outside the body.”

“How?”

“Through RFID—the radio frequency identification system. It reads tags via GPS and satellites. My father figured this out, but the trick was getting that tagged amino acid
in
the human body. Thus came his experimentation. He tried and failed several times, but finally discovered that he could hide the new bioengineered amino acid in a cluster of amino acids, which he called Cerberus, that could then be injected in the human body so none would be rejected. He was in the act of refining that process when he died.”

When Landon showed up to kill him. Dani never outright called it what it was—an assassination—but they both knew that’s what he’d gone there to do.

“You’re telling me that by tweaking science, a person in a lab in, say, California can track someone clear across the globe, simply by tracing this genetically enhanced amino acid?”

“Technically, yes. Which is why the US government didn’t want Cerberus to fall into the wrong hands.”

No fucking way. Landon’s brain went into turbo spin. This was like . . .
Mission Impossible
shit. Not real life.

“Why not use a microchip? They already have GPS tracking chips small enough to be injected into the human body.”

“Because chips can be found and removed. Infect the entire human body at the cellular level, and it’s undetectable unless you know specifically what you’re looking for.”

Damn. That made a lot of sense in a sick sort of way.

“Imagine the implications,” Dani said. “Say you want to assassinate the president of the United States. You can’t get close to him, right? No one knows his schedule or where he’s going to be unless it’s an advertised event, and those are always secured to the rafters. Heck, half the time you don’t know which plane or helicopter he’s on because the Secret Service sends out several to fool the masses. But with this, all it takes is one checkup, one nurse, one compromised doctor to inject Cerberus into the president’s body, and suddenly he can be tracked anytime, anywhere, and that tracking instrument won’t be detected and can’t be removed. From there you simply need one carefully calculated missile strike on his caravan or helicopter or Air Force One, and he’s gone. The same for any world leader, any person who speaks out against the government, any person who’s deemed inferior. Technically, it would work on any race, any gender. Entire armies, if injected, could be tracked. You could see mass injections at birth. Lifelong tracking data. We’re talking about a global change to how the world is run, and the people who have the power to change it are the ones who control this science.”

A chill spread down Landon’s spine. This was biowarfare on a completely different level from anything he’d even considered. And if the Red Brotherhood really was pushing the new world order, they could change the entire human landscape of the planet.

“Unfortunately, the technology wasn’t refined,” she went on. “My father experimented with Cerberus in animals but was never able to track pinpoint locations, only generalized areas. It was his life’s work, something I vehemently disagreed with. But he deemed it important research for the future. At some point, the Red Brotherhood found out what he was doing, and they were ready to pay to keep his research going, until, of course, you came along. You succeeded in stopping him, but if what you’re saying is true and your friend was injected, then it means somehow Cerberus got out. Someone leaked it. Someone who wasn’t me or you.”

Someone who could be with the DIA. Landon swiped a hand over the back of his neck, the muscles bunched and tight. They were the only other ones who knew what the fuck her father had been up to. Hell, they’d sent him to take the man out. “You have an antidote, right?”

Dani sighed. “I have my father’s research, but that’s not the same thing.”

“But an antidote can be created,” he prodded.

“Technically,” she said. “Any kind of antidote would require another genetically engineered amino acid, which could then be injected into the infected body in such large amounts it would dilute the radioactive element.”

“So it can be done.”

“Theoretically, but I’ve never tried it. And there could be side effects.”

Screw the side effects. “What would you need?”

She blew out a long breath, and he pictured her sitting in her lab, swiping the loose bangs out of her face. “A blood sample from the infected individual, I guess. That would be a starting point.”

“Done.”

“Done?”

“I’ll be there in”—he glanced at his watch, calculating flight hours and time zone changes—“roughly fifteen hours.”

“You’re coming here?” Surprise lifted her voice.

“You’re the only chance she’s got, Dani. You’re the only one who knows how to fix this.”

“Landon, I don’t have a clue if it will actually work. I’m not my father. I can only go off the research he left me.”

No, she wasn’t her father—she was smarter than her father. She’d graduated college at the age of fifteen, gotten her PhD by the time she was twenty. And she was compassionate, a trait her father had clearly lacked. Even after her life had been turned upside down by what he and her father had done, she’d devoted her life and her scientific research to discovering new ways to help those in need, including the sick and poor on the small island where she’d been hiding the last few years.

“I need you to try,” he said. “If I can get you a blood sample, I need you to try to work your magic.”

Dani was quiet for a moment. “When was she injected?”

“Two, maybe three days ago.”

“And where is she?”

“Italy.”

After several seconds of silence, she said, “If the Red Brotherhood injected her with Cerberus, then it isn’t stable. That’s the part my father was trying to perfect. The radioactive piece will start to break down. If she’s not showing symptoms yet, she will soon.”

His gaze strayed to the open door. Inside he could see Marley taking a blood sample from Olivia’s arm and could hear Olivia still insisting she was fine.

“What kind of symptoms?”

“They’ll be minor at first. Fatigue, yellowing of the skin, weakness, abdominal pain, difficulty concentrating, edema. We’re talking about a cellular breakdown. It’ll start slowly but will quickly spread to her organs. From there . . . systematic organ failure and, eventually, death.”

No . . .
Olivia looked perfectly healthy. She was frowning up at her sister and insisting everyone was making a fuss for nothing. This couldn’t be possible.

Pain spiraled through Landon’s gut, and the air clogged in his throat. He’d done this to her. Being with him had put a ticking time bomb on her life. “H-how long?”

“Two weeks tops, from the time she was injected.”

Two weeks . . .

His knees buckled, but he braced a hand against the wall to keep from going down.

“You’ll need to bring her to me,” Danica said. “You won’t have time to get me a blood sample, wait for me to process it, and fly it back to her. I don’t know how long it’s going to take me. It could be a few hours. It could take days.”

He blinked several times, realizing his eyes were damp. “Okay.” Leaning his shoulder against the wall to hold himself up, he swiped a hand across both eyes. “Okay, I’m bringing her to you tonight.”

“There’s something else, Landon.”

There was more? God Almighty. How much more could there possibly be?

“If the Red Brotherhood injected her,” Dani said, as if she’d heard his unspoken question, “then I guarantee they’re already tracking her. If you bring her to me, you’ll bring them as well.”

“Oh . . .
fuck
.” The last few days spiraled through Landon’s mind, and links suddenly clicked into place in his brain. “That’s how they knew where to find us in Tortoli. That’s why they let us go.”

“They
let
you go?”

“Yeah.”
Son of a bitch.
He knew they’d escaped from that compound way too easily, but he’d been so intent on getting Olivia away from those psychos, he hadn’t thought about the why. “They injected her so I’d have to find you. They’ve been herding me toward you. They knew I’d go to you for help.”

“They’re not stupid.”

No, they weren’t. And the fuckers hadn’t just put him between a rock and a hard place, but between two cement walls. Having to choose who to save: the girl he owed for ruining her life, or the one who’d stolen his heart.

“They won’t be able to pinpoint her exact location,” Dani said. “That will give us a little time. In the meantime, I’ll start on a serum, which I’ll have to tweak once I have her blood sample. Don’t worry. We can make this work.”

Landon wasn’t so sure. His entire life was a series of fuckups, starting with his father and ending with Olivia.

Please don’t let anything end for Olivia.

He swallowed hard again, and then a thought hit. “How long will the amino acid sequence remain traceable in human blood?”

“In a vial?”

“Or a pint. Yeah.”

She blew out a breath. “I don’t know. Two days. Three max. The greater the sample, the longer it should remain active.”

Three days might be enough time.

“What are you thinking?”

“I’m not sure yet. Let me talk to a few people. I might have a way to slow the Red Brotherhood down and give us all a little more time.”

“Okay,” she said cautiously. “Keep me posted.”

“I will.” His throat closed, and a dozen different emotions, most of which he never let in, bombarded him from every side. “Thanks, Dani. I don’t know how to . . .”

“You don’t owe me any thanks,” she said softly.

But he did. He owed her that much and more. And they both knew it.

“You know I’d do anything for you, Landon.”

He knew that too. Though why he’d never understand. He just hoped he didn’t let her down.

This time he hoped he didn’t let her or Olivia down.

“
This is the stupidest idea,” Eve said, watching with her arms crossed over her chest and a worried expression on her face as Olivia tugged on a dark wig and ball cap.

“Danica said the tag will stay active for up to three days outside the body.” Landon handed Olivia a light jacket but didn’t meet her eyes. He hadn’t told her she had only two weeks before her organs started to shut down. Couldn’t bring himself to think about that happening. All she and the others knew was that there was a chance the amino acid strand could turn unstable at some point, but he hadn’t elaborated on when that would happen. If he thought too much about that . . .

Yeah, if he did he might lose it. And right now he had to keep it together for Olivia’s sake.

“That won’t give us a ton of time,” Marley said, pulling her blonde hair back into a ponytail, then dropping to a chair in the living area of the safe house as she tugged on Olivia’s white Keds. “But it’ll confuse the Red Brotherhood enough so they’ll have to split their focus.”

She was dressed in capri jeans, a white T-shirt, and a thin sweater, as Olivia had been dressed when she’d come to see Landon in Barcelona, and without the glasses, from a distance, Landon was pretty confident no one would be able to tell the difference between the two women.

“Can Crossler create the serum in that time frame?” Marley asked.

Landon sure the hell hoped so. They all thought they were working against the clock before the tag in the blood sample they’d drawn from Olivia’s arm expired. He knew differently. “Yeah. Should be enough time.”

Dressed in jeans and a white button-down, Ryder stepped into the room with a black duffel slung over his shoulder. “I’ve got the jet fired up at the airstrip and a second in the hangar on standby.”

“Good.” Landon turned Ryder’s way. “We’ll wait until Marley’s plane is in the air before we take off.”

Ryder frowned as he leaned over and unzipped the duffel so Landon could see inside. A host of weapons filled the bag—two SIG Sauer P220s, a Glock 17, an M4A1 carbine rifle, M67 hand grenades, flashbang grenades, smoke grenades, and extra ammo. “I got everything you asked for. I’m still not wild about this plan of yours, though. You’ll be sitting ducks until Crossler gets the serum right.”

Landon pawed through the bag, then zipped it back up and tossed it over his shoulder. “I know how to hide. I also know the area. Those fuckers don’t. We’ll be fine.”

“I agree with Ryder,” Eve said, dropping her arms. “Archer and I are going with you. You need more eyes.”

“Eve,” Olivia cut in. “We’ll be fine.”

“No.” Landon didn’t bother to glance at Eve or Olivia. “By now they know exactly who Olivia is. They’ll expect her sister to stay with her. You go with us and they’ll know Marley’s plane is just a decoy.”

“Landon’s right,” Marley said, pushing to her feet and tugging on a UK Wildcats cap so her ponytail stuck out the hole in the back. “Our goal is to draw their eyes away from Olivia. We stick to the plan and everything’s smooth as silk.”

“I still don’t like the idea of Marley being used as the decoy,” Ryder said. “She’s more valuable here with me tracking the Red Brotherhood and figuring out how the DIA is or isn’t involved.”

Landon glanced at his watch. They were running out of time. They didn’t have hours to stand around dickering out the details. Dammit, they’d already been through them a dozen times. “Marley’s the only one who can pull this off.”

“Why not dress Eve up like her sister?” Ryder asked.

Marley cut a glare toward her boss. “Eve has to go with us. Haven’t you been listening? They saw her in Sardinia. They know Eve won’t leave her sister. Get real, Jake. I realize you don’t want me participating in any of the ops, but this is about as tame as it gets. Get on a plane, get off the plane. Piece of cake. Besides, you’ll have Hedley here. He can help you track down info on the Red Brotherhood.”

Landon caught the clip to Marley’s voice. It irked her beyond belief that Ryder never let her work in the field. He also saw the flash of irritation in Ryder’s eyes. His boss knew as well as anyone that nothing ever went as planned, but Landon didn’t have time to stress over what was happening with the rest of the group. He needed to get Olivia to Dani so the girl could neutralize that damn amino acid before it did irreversible damage.

Ryder narrowed his dark gaze on Marley. “You and I need to have a few words.”

Marley rolled her blue eyes.

Archer stepped into the room carrying a small red cooler. “Hedley’s got the car out front ready to go. Second vehicle’s in the garage.”

Landon breathed a quick sigh of relief. Finally, they could get this show on the road. He reached for the keys Archer held out. “Thanks.”

Scowling, Ryder cut his glare from Marley and glanced at his watch. “Okay, it’s oh-eight-thirty. I want a status report from each of you by ten-hundred. Stone and Bentley are en route to Crossler’s location to secure the area. Miller, as soon as I have confirmation on their arrival, I’ll let you know.”

Landon nodded. He glanced toward Olivia. Her eyes were huge as she looked from face to face. They hadn’t spoken privately since he’d noticed the spot on her arm, nor had he asked how she was doing since he’d relayed his abbreviated conversation with Dani to her and the group. He knew she had to be freaking out, but he couldn’t worry about that now. All that mattered was getting her where she needed to go and keeping her safe, and if that meant locking away every single emotion he’d had for her since the day they’d met, then that was exactly what he needed to do. Because giving in to those emotions had made him weak. And weak hadn’t just put her in danger, it was going to get her killed if he didn’t pull his shit together.

“You ready?” he asked her.

She nodded. “Yeah. As ready as I think I’ll ever be.”

At least that made one of them.

Olivia’s nerves were strung tight as a drum.

Her fingers tightened around the armrest of her chair on the private jet Ryder had arranged. They were still parked in the hangar, but the doors were now open, and bright morning sunlight filtered into the enormous building. The plane rumbled, telling her the engines were coming to life. She glanced past the leather seats and fancy interior toward the open cockpit door where Landon was leaning against the wall, quietly speaking with the pilots.

Were they talking about the radioactive substance
in her body
? She tugged off the dark wig and tossed it on the ground at her feet, then fluffed her hair and swiped a hand across her brow, still having trouble believing that one. She didn’t know a thing about science, but Eve, Zane, and even Ryder all obviously believed it was possible. She felt totally fine, though. Pulling her sleeve back, she glanced down at the black spot on the inside of her arm. It hadn’t changed shape or color since last night. It was highly possible they were all totally overreacting. No one had even tested her blood, for crying out loud. How could they know what was going on
inside
her body?

Because this is the kind of crazy world they live in,
a voice in her head whispered.
Because this is the shit spies and terrorists and people like Landon do best.

Her gaze drifted back to his broad shoulders and muscular body in the jeans and gray T-shirt he wore, blocking her view out the windshield of the posh plane. He hadn’t said more than two words to her since he’d forced her out of bed and told her to get dressed, and a big part of her was frustrated by that fact. She’d felt closer to him last night than she ever had, and she knew he’d felt it too. Then all this had happened, and he’d totally pulled back. He was a complex blend of emotions and duty, and she was so frustrated with this two steps forward, one step back dance they seemed to be doing, she wanted to scream.

Just frickin’ talk to me
. She thought about yelling the words, but stopped herself. She knew he was stressed. She knew he was in black ops mode, working like hell to get her help, and her flipping out wouldn’t help matters. But dammit . . . she was freaking out. It was all she could do not to keep thinking about what kind of damage something radioactive was doing to the inside of her body. Was it too much to ask that he show her a fraction of the compassion he’d shown her last night?

Don’t think crazy thoughts. Stay calm. Everything’s going to be okay.

She repeated the words in her head as the plane rumbled forward, and she gripped the armrest at her side. They moved toward the hangar doors. Landon closed the cockpit door and headed in her direction. But he didn’t look up, didn’t make eye contact. Just dropped into the seat next to her, reached over and yanked on her seat belt until it felt like it was cutting off her blood flow, then buckled his own.

“Marley’s plane just lifted off,” he said, still not looking at her. “The signal won’t split until we’re a good five miles apart.”

Growing more frustrated by the minute with his blasé attitude, Olivia glanced out the window as the jet left the hangar and headed for the runway. Her mind drifted to the blood sample she’d given, which was now stored in that cooler Zane had been carrying. As long as the radioactive amino acid in the sample was transmitting a signal, the people following them wouldn’t be able to figure out which plane held the real her. It was still dangerous, though. The Red Brotherhood or whoever the hell those people were would probably send thugs after both of them.

“I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

“Eve and Archer know what to do. They’ll make sure Marley’s safe.”

Olivia was confident Eve knew how to take care of herself, but she didn’t like the fact her sister’s life was now in jeopardy because of her. And she had a feeling Jake Ryder wouldn’t put up with anything happening to his assistant either.

She wondered about that relationship. Wondered if there was something going on between them or if she was just misreading the situation. Glancing toward Landon, she was about to ask, but noticed his head was leaned back against the headrest, his eyes were closed, his hands crossed over his abdomen. He looked to be on the verge of relaxing, but his jaw ticked beneath the scruff on his skin, and she quickly sensed the stress and worry radiating off him.

If there was one thing she knew about the man next to her, it was that he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. He felt responsible for what had happened to her. But this wasn’t his fault. And even though she was stressed to the max, she trusted that he’d keep her safe. She’d always believed that, right from the first moment they’d met.

She laid her hand over his against his abdomen, then squeezed. “Everything will be fine, right?”

For a heartbeat, he didn’t answer. Then the plane’s engines roared, and the jet rocketed down the runway. Without opening his eyes, he moved his—and her hand—to the armrest between them. “Sure. Yeah. Absolutely.”

But there was a hint of something skeptical in his words. A whisper of doubt she caught loud and clear. And it caused tiny warning signals to blare in her head.

He pulled his hand out from beneath hers, placed his on top, and held her trapped between the cool armrest and the warmth of his skin until the jet’s wheels lifted off. They climbed into the air in silence, and as they passed through the wispy clouds, she wanted to ask what he meant, what he was thinking, but something held her back.

Was there more he wasn’t telling her? She replayed everything he’d said since he’d hung up with Danica Crossler, every conversation they’d had since last night, but came up empty. If there was something else going on, if there was something he was keeping from her, then she had every right to know.

A bell dinged, indicating they’d passed ten thousand feet, and Landon quickly let go of her hand, unlatched his seat belt, and moved toward the back of the plane.

Confused, Olivia turned and watched him go. He headed into the galley, reached for a glass, and poured a generous shot of amber liquid.

He was drinking. Whiskey, it looked from here. Marley had said he never touched the hard stuff.