Chapter Thirty-Five

Jenna stretched experimentally. The truth was she felt fine, so filled with energy she could almost feel the blood flowing through her veins. She glanced down and saw she was virtually naked from the waist up. Luke’s gaze lingered on her, but she didn’t bother covering up.

They’d left her alone since she regained consciousness. She’d known it couldn’t last, but somehow a strange sense of fatalism had overcome her fear when she’d heard footsteps. Her whole body had tightened in anticipation. Then she’d opened her eyes to see Luke standing in the doorway, and a feeling of overwhelming relief had washed through her body. He had come for her.

Saved her a second time.

Her mouth curved up of its own volition, and he frowned as though she wasn’t behaving as expected.

“I’m fine,” she said.

“They didn’t hurt you?”

She remembered back to the drugs and the agony that had engulfed her body. “A little. I’m okay. I just want out of here. Are we going to make it?”

“Yes.”

The soft tread of footsteps sounded. “Luke?” He looked up and caught her eye. “There’s someone coming.” She nodded to a spot behind him, and he turned slowly.

“Lie back down,” he whispered. He drew his pistol and moved so he stood to the side of the door.

Jenna lay back on the cool steel and peeked out from beneath her lashes.

A man hesitated in the open doorway. He wore a shiny silver protective suit and a full face mask. Behind the mask, she recognized the doctor from her interrogation and had to fight the urge to leap up and rip out his throat. A flashback washed over her to how good it had felt as her heel had crushed the other man’s chest. How good this would feel, and she had to lock her muscles to stop herself from moving.

The doctor stared at her for a minute, and she held still. He took a tentative step through the door, no doubt wondering why it was open. When he was in the room, Luke moved swiftly. He pressed his gun up against the doctor’s side. “Freeze.”

The man froze, and Jenna glared at him, allowing the hatred to show clearly in her eyes. Horror blossomed on his face. After swinging herself up into a sitting position, she jumped lightly onto her feet and stepped toward him. Above the mask, his eyes widened until she thought they might bulge out of his head. She liked the idea and allowed a small smile to curve her lips.

When he tried to step back away from her, Luke jabbed him hard with the pistol so he had no choice but to stand his ground.

“Who is he?” Luke asked.

“Doctor Smith. He’s the one who carries out the interrogations.”

“He hurt you?”

She nodded.

“Take off the mask,” Luke said.

The doctor swung round. “What?”

“The mask. There’s no gas down here.”

“Gas?”

Luke reached across to pull off the mask, and Smith struggled, his hands snatching at his face as he tried to hold it in place. Luke ripped it from him and threw it on the floor. Smith lost control. Ignoring the pistol, he sank to his knees, scrabbling for the mask, which he grabbed at and covered his face with. His breathing was short and sharp, and he stayed on his knees and backed away until he was in the corner of the room, as far from Jenna as he could get.

She took a small step toward him, and he pressed back against the wall. Jenna turned to Luke and shrugged. A small frown played across his face as he studied the doctor.

“It’s safe,” he said again. “There’s no gas down here.”

The doctor’s gaze shifted for a fraction of a second to Luke and back to her as though he couldn’t look away. His voice came out muffled from behind the mask. “Not gas. It’s her.” He lifted a trembling finger and pointed at Jenna. “She’s poison.”

…

“Lauren.”

She’d dozed off as the car drove them out of London. Now she opened her eyes as Mark spoke her name. He sat on the seat opposite her, a laptop open on his knee, and from his carefully blank expression, something had just gone badly wrong.

“What?”

“The woman, Jenna Young, she’s escaped.”

She came fully awake “Tell me.”

“They broke into the facility where she was being held.”

“Who broke in?”

“We don’t know. They stole the security feeds and the hard drives.”

Lauren’s mind raced, working through the implications. Did this compromise the attack? Should they call it off? Her whole mind protested at the idea.

“How did they find her?”

“We don’t know.”

“Well, what do you know?”

“Hockley went to see Gordon Haughton earlier today. When it became obvious Haughton was leaving with him, I gave the order to take him out. The hit failed, and they got away.”

“Jesus.”

“We didn’t think it mattered. Haughton shouldn’t have known anything, certainly not the location of headquarters.”

“Well, obviously he did. There’s something else, as well, isn’t there?”

“Smith’s missing. We think he was taken at the same time the woman escaped. Either that or he’s gone into hiding.”

“The doctor? Shit. How the hell did this happen? It must have been Hockley. Goddamn it!”

“It’s not so bad. Smith knows very little about the actual attack.”

“He knows enough, and he can guess more. Put extra security on the storage facility, just nothing too overt. I don’t want to draw attention to the place.”

“We have helicopters stationed nearby. I’ll put them on alert. They can be there within minutes.”

“Good. But let’s see if we can find them before it comes to that.”

She sat back. What was the relationship between Jenna Young and Hockley? Had he gone in tonight to save her, or was the doctor his real target? Trying to ease the ache before it could take hold, she pressed her fingers to her forehead. One thing was sure—they needed to get Jenna Young off the streets.

“The woman—I don’t care how, but I want her found. And if Hockley goes anywhere near the storage facility, kill him. And this time, make sure he stays dead.”