Retrieval (5 page)

Dolan Smythe-Ward had come to the U.S. with Adler. After his father’s death at the hands of police, he’d gone to college and remade himself into a self-proclaimed purveyor of truth as well as a scientific genius. He somehow managed to hide the mantle of evil his father had draped him in by shedding his father’s name and living a relatively normal life. He developed his mind and cultivated his relationship with the government. His inventions and works within the field of genetics propelled the science of war to new levels. He’d become a brilliant mind, whose level of determination was eclipsed only by his well-hidden deceit, but he always managed to give the government what it wanted.

While there were still unanswered questions about Smythe-Ward’s past, there was no doubt about what Sebastian had read on the trip over here. The man may be a scientific genius, but he wasn’t to be trusted.

“You’re aware of my studies in genetics these past sixty years. I’ve made startling discoveries that have served to help humanity by destroying diseases and lengthening life. Unfortunately, in my youth and exuberance to find cures for deadly diseases, I stumbled across certain things that, for a time, led me in another direction. I’ll not bore you with the details; suffice it to say that I once felt indestructible and ready to take on the world. I wasn’t afraid to try new things in my field, and once I had established GenTech, I recruited several top notch scientists, also in the field of genetics, to help me in my quest.”

“Your quest for what?” Sebastian interrupted.

It took a full minute of complete silence before Smythe-Ward responded.

“Immortality.”

Sebastian’s chest tightened, and his scalp tingled in awareness.

“Yes, gentleman. For a time I thought I could play God. My fellow scientists made discoveries that to this day haven’t been brought to light, and if the true God is willing, they never will. I can’t begin to describe the euphoria that comes with certain knowledge. But the devastation that knowledge brings with it can be deadly. I fell in love with one of my fellow scientists, Milania Veragova. She was a wondrous beauty, though I felt her true beauty lay within the winding recesses of her brain.”

The man’s eyes held a faraway look, and his voice was thick and filled with an indeterminate emotion. He took a deep breath before continuing, and icy fingers of dread tickled Sebastian’s spine.

“We were lovers for a short time. In my arrogance, I thought she’d never leave me. I was wrong. She left, but I later discovered she’d been pregnant with my children. I began searching for her, but she’d covered her tracks well. I searched for years before finally locating her in Ohio. By the time I found her she was already dead. I was distraught. My beloved Milania—dead. And what of my children? Had they lived? Where were they? Needless to say I searched for years until I managed to uncover a thread that led me to Savannah, Georgia.”

The man wheezed in another breath and slung back a shot of the deep gold liquor he’d poured earlier. His face screwed up, and he inhaled sharply. It must’ve burned like hell.

“I found that my children had been living with a moderately wealthy family there for fourteen years, but they’d moved. I searched for another six years, and finally, through sheer luck, I located them again. Before I could reach them, they disappeared. I despair that my children have been told lies that have led them to fear me. That’s why they run. Always they run.”

The doctor set his snifter down, his eyes going to Sebastian. Sebastian nearly applauded as the man shook his head again, lifted a handkerchief to his eyes, and dabbed away nonexistent moisture.

“This guy’s good,” Bleak said out of the corner of his mouth.

Morrissey grunted. “We’re better.”

Their words carried no farther than the three of them.

“Then my good friend General Post referred me to you. Your name is bandied about as being the best retrieval man in the world. Many recommend your team. Now it seems you’ve found them only to lose them again. I have faith that if you did it once, you can do it again.”

“That’s a really beautiful sentiment, and a great story by the way, but the question is, why do you so desperately want to bring them here to you? It’s obvious to me she wants no part of being brought anywhere. Her resistance to even talk with me was proof of that. What are you not telling me, Smythe-Ward?”

“Imagine never knowing your children. What have they been told about me to scare them in such a way? There is another reason as well, but I must be assured of absolute secrecy before I speak of it with you.”

Who do you think you’re fooling?
“I signed an agreement giving you full confidentiality. The things I learn will never be released. I don’t tell tales,” Sebastian ground out, hating the man in front him but still not sure why.

“Thank you, Mr. Graham. You’ve proven an invaluable asset, and I apologize for anything I withheld that would’ve made your job easier.”

Sebastian inclined his head.

“This thing is so heinous it is not to be believed. Yet all of my studies on the research my Milania did have led me to no other conclusion. My children are special. I want the opportunity to try to get to know them before I pass away. They will inherit a wonderful company, and some part of me just wants to know them before I die. I may not have many years left.” He cleaned his glasses before continuing.

“Forgive me my fit of melancholy. Where were we? Oh yes. When Milania left I discovered some of her journals about her research. She was brilliant, on par to becoming a leading wonder in the field of genetics. But she was a troubled soul. A violent father who frequently abused her in his bouts of drunkenness raised her. She and I had to overcome many of her personal demons before we were able to connect. It wasn’t until right before she left that I noticed her bizarre behavior. She had a propensity for journaling her inner thoughts, and I felt lucky when I discovered the writings she’d left behind. At least until I read them. Then I discovered how sick my precious Milania truly was.”

There was a dramatic pause. Sebastian barely kept from rolling his eyes.

“I wept at the levels she’d sunk to in her research. Her betrayal by leaving pregnant with my children was given levity only when I realized what else she’d done. I was appalled, and to this day I feel a strong need to apologize to my children for the actions of their mother.” Smythe-Ward again lifted the kerchief to his eyes and took a moment to compose himself.

“What horrible thing did she do, Smythe-Ward?” He fought to gentle his voice. The question came out more a guttural command.

Smythe-Ward sighed and put his glasses back on. “I have such a hard time saying these words, you understand?”

“Well just spit them out, and we’ll help you pick up the pieces.” This comment was delivered in a frustrated tone by Bleak.

“Gentlemen, please know that I would have never condoned her actions.” Again another long pause, and then Smythe-Ward looked up at Sebastian.

In the other man’s eyes the lie shone for what it really was. He knew at that moment that whatever Smythe-Ward said his lady love had done, whatever horrible thing he was about to tell them, they’d been his actions, not those of his deceased lover.

Every muscle in Sebastian’s body tightened. “What did she do?”

“She changed them. She tampered with the genetics of our children, and now I don’t know what they are,” the old man wailed.

Chapter 5

“Do you believe him?” Morrissey asked from the back of the rented SUV.

“I think the problem is
he
believes him,” Sebastian said as he maneuvered the streets of Chicago. “No doubt, what we watched Skylar McKannon do isn’t normal, but he’s trying to make us believe Milania Veragova created these women? That she genetically tampered with the makeup of her own children thereby creating superhuman beings? I don’t buy it. I need to talk to Post when we get back and find out what he knows, and where this shit is coming from.”

“Rover just hit me up and reported that he can see Ms. McKannon, but he has no idea where she is.” Morrissey reported with a grunt. He grabbed the oh-shit handle as Sebastian took a corner a little too fast.

“Has she knocked out audio?” Sebastian asked afraid of the answer.

“He said she hasn’t, and that she has a voice so pretty it would make the gators scream in ecstasy.” Morrissey snickered.

“That’s funny,” Bleak murmured from the passenger seat, “I didn’t wire the camera with audio.”

“She must have overlooked one of your bugs then,” Sebastian mused.

“Are you shitting me? Get real. She didn’t miss one of my bugs. I only placed five, and they were all on the concrete in the shed beside where the car used to sit.”

“Well, we’ve got audio somehow, and hallelujah for it,” Morrissey said in a tight voice.

“At least that’s something in our favor. Mo, I need you to contact Craven and anybody else you can think of that might be available to help us on this. We need intel, and we need it yesterday. Whatever these women are involved in, it’s messy, and I have a raunchy feeling in my gut that they’re the ones who need help staying
away
from the good doctor.”

“I’ll call in some chits. I know someone who can help us out with that. Hey, Bleak?”

“Yeah, man?”

“Do these women remind you of anybody?”

“Yeah,” Bleak said on a heavy sigh, “they do.”

The tension in the SUV ratcheted up another notch. The space between Sebastian’s shoulders itched. He pinned Morrissey with a look in the rearview mirror. “What are you talking about?”

Morrissey’s face outlined his internal struggle. Brows drawn down, frown tugging at his mouth, he ran an impatient hand through his hair. If his man was withholding information, he was going hit the roof. He’d always let his men come to him instead of demanding information from them. That tactic had worked well for him. Right now he had a serious issue on his hands, and if he couldn’t get this situation figured out relatively quickly, he feared Skylar McKannon would pay for it.

That bothered him. His eyes narrowed, and his hands tightened at the thought that she could be in danger. This entire set of circumstances kept getting more and more bizarre, professionally and personally.
Shake it off for now; there’ll be time to deal with it later.

“Morrissey?” Sebastian prompted, and his voice was harder than before.

“Before I signed back on with you for this job I worked a little freelance with Presidio. You know Dare and Dray Bonner’s outfit?”

Sebastian nodded. Morrissey continued.

“I don’t know the last time you talked with Dray, but he and his lady are expecting twins soon. And Bleak’s sister, Talia, is now married to Dare.” Morrissey laughed when Bleak grunted.

“So good for them; love is in the air, and all that shit. What’s this got to do with the McKannon sisters?” Sebastian asked gruffly.

Sebastian didn’t miss the quick look Morrissey threw Bleak but decided to let it play out.

“When I was working with the Bonners, we raided a torture house. I guarded a woman we rescued from that hellhole. Thing is, in hindsight, she looks eerily familiar.”

“What’s with all the mystery, Morrissey? Just spit the shit out.” His voice, tense, betrayed his frustration.

“We only knew her as Aurora. And she’s a goddamn doppelganger for the McKannon sisters. They have the same facial features, those same eerie eyes; even their physical stature is similar. They could all damn near be identical with the exception of hair color,” Morrissey finished with a confused tone to his voice.

That tone caused uneasiness to beat at Sebastian. This was turning into something very complicated.
Retrieval, my ass!
The look of desperation in Skylar’s eyes played across his memory. Whatever she was running from was bad. He wanted to help her.

He pulled into the driveway that led to the condominium they’d rented. He parked and climbed out.

“Get some rest. We’ll meet in the war room at oh-seven-hundred sharp,” Sebastian ordered as he walked into the condo.

Morrissey snorted, and Bleak grunted. Other than that they headed off to do his bidding.

None of them would get much sleep, but rest was needed. They’d been tracking the McKannon women for almost a month with little to no downtime. It looked like they weren’t going to get too many opportunities for sleep in the near future.

He walked into the war room. Rover was half sleeping, half watching the screen in front of him. Bending down, he peered intently over the man’s shoulder into the nineteen-inch flat screen and was rewarded with a view of Skylar behind the wheel of her Dodge Charger.

The scenery passing by wasn’t discernible. It was night, and the lights outside the car window were sporadic, not enough to give him any details. The picture was fuzzy around the edges. He’d gotten the camera from a DOD contact. They needed new engineers.

“Have you seen anything that could tell us where she is?” Sebastian asked his man.

“
Non
, boss. But man oh man, can that little
pischouette
sing. I swear my heart can’t take it when she open that mouth, and let it roll—it’s beautiful, too beautiful to describe.”

Rover was always over the top, but for some reason knowing that he’d been sitting here for the last few hours watching and listening to Skylar sing … well, it pissed Sebastian off.

“Gotcha,” Rover said, still holding his hand over his heart, a knowing smile plastered on his lips, mischief dancing in his black eyes.

“Shut up, Rove. I don’t have time for your shit. Get up, and go get some sleep. We’ll meet up here in the morning at oh-seven-hundred.”

“Sure you don’t want me to keep an eye on our girl there?” Rover poked at Sebastian.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I can handle it. Go get some sleep,” Sebastian barked, then laughed when the big Cajun yelled, “Whooeee, that’s one hot mama” and left the room.

He sat down in the chair left vacant by the retreating Rover. He took a moment to collect his thoughts. It’d been one hell of a day, and he needed a minute to get his own shit together before he tried solving this fucked-up mess of a mission.