Chapter Fifteen

 

 

Owen sat in Ezra’s bare bones apartment and tried to let everything that had happened sink in.

Tomas. She’d not only known that name, she’d admitted to treating him. He’d known she’d been there at the same lab as McDonald. He’d even sort of known they’d likely collaborated, but he finally understood she’d been working on the same project. Rebecca Walsh had aided in developing the drug that had wiped out his memory. The one that had turned him into a blank slate.

Tabula Rasa.

“I don’t remember her, but that’s not shocking.” Theo Taggart was staring down at the photograph they had of her. At both of them. The doctor and the woman who played superhero for little kids. Both photos showed a gorgeous woman. He wished they had a picture of the woman who lied, who worked with monsters.

Erin stood beside her husband, a hand on his back as she looked to Ezra. “You’re saying Dr. Walsh treated Theo? Why would McDonald have brought him out into the open like that? Why would she risk it?”

“Theo was the anomaly,” Robert replied. “The drug didn’t work on him the way it did the rest of us. He was always able to fight it better than anyone else. She might have been trying to figure out what went wrong. Dr. Walsh was known for being able to figure out the complexities of drug interactions, especially when it came to memory function.”

“I don’t remember any of it,” Theo admitted. “But this was during a time when she was regularly dosing me. Even if I remembered something one day, I would forget it the next. I’ve gotten a lot of my memory back but it’s almost all from before I met McDonald. I don’t even remember how I got shot. I don’t remember moving into our house. I sure as hell don’t remember a couple of appointments at a lab.”

Erin’s hand ran up and down her husband’s back. “It’s okay. I’ll let you do all the work for the new nursery. And I’ve been meaning to replace that horrible recliner of yours. We’ll get all new living room furniture and skip on the delivery. You can shove it all in the back of Case’s truck. It’ll be exactly like when we moved in.”

Theo turned and stared down at her. “I remember the first time I kissed you. And I remember the first time I spanked your pretty ass. I can recreate that, too, my sarcastic love.”

But he was smiling. Erin had done her job and she winked her husband’s way before turning back to the group. “So now we think Dr. Walsh is the bad guy?”

The bad guy. The evil doctor. Or rather assistant evil doctor.

Could she have not known? How could she have not understood what was happening? All he knew was if she’d had an inkling of what was going on behind Dr. McDonald’s project, she hadn’t mentioned it. “What do we know about the lab she was at?”

Ezra had his laptop up. “McDonald was in and out at the time. This was in the months before Kronberg shut her down and she went on the run. Naturally they kept it all quiet. They announced that Dr. McDonald was leaving to pursue other opportunities. The last thing they wanted was the world to know who McDonald was. It could have opened them up to lawsuits. Hell, even her death was covered up. The papers announced it as an accident and said nothing else.”

“Given the time period, I would have thought we were in Argentina, not Germany,” Theo said.

Ariel walked in with two mugs of tea in her hand. She placed one in front of Robert, her hand briefly touching his shoulder before she sank into the seat beside him. “She had the Argentine base long before she was forced out of Kronberg. Her father had been funding those portions of her research. Are you certain you heard correctly? I have a hard time believing Dr. Walsh knew what exactly was going on.”

He did, too, but it was obvious she’d known something and she’d said not a word. “I know what I heard. Sasha sent Jax a digital recording before he went to work at the foundation. You can listen to it yourself. She states plainly that Theo was a patient.”

“No, she said Tomas was a patient,” Robert pointed out. “She likely had no idea he wasn’t exactly who McDonald said he was.”

“There’s an easy way to figure this out,” Erin said. “Theo and I walk into the foundation.”

“And see what happens? See how she reacts?” Ezra nodded. “That could work.”

Erin moved out from behind her husband. “You didn’t let me finish. Theo and I walk into the foundation, put a gun to her head and tell her to talk or we’ll blow it off. She’s a brain surgeon and all that. I think she’ll know what happens to the old brain pan when a bullet hits it.”

Ezra stared at Theo. “Your brother puts up with this, why?”

“Big Tag loves me,” Erin said, pulling out a chair. “Okay, how about we consider calling her and setting up a meeting. We say Theo is still Tomas and would like to talk to the doc who helped him years ago.”

“We don’t know how deep into this she is.” Owen felt the need to take the lead in this. He’d been the idiot to push them all to trust her. It was definitely time to take a long step back. “If she knew what was going on, this could tip her off and she could run.”

Ariel set down her tea, a look of concern on her face. “Owen, she could have known absolutely nothing about the true nature of McDonald’s research. You have to remember that Hope McDonald was a sociopath, and a brilliant one at that. She was excellent at covering her tracks.”

“You said she left early,” he pointed out. “I happen to know Rebecca Walsh doesn’t walk away from anything early. She gets the job done. She walked out for some reason. She knew something and she didn’t bother to get the word out. Have you considered that if she’d reported McDonald, none of what we went through afterward would have happened?”

Theo would have come home years before he had. Jax and Tucker, Dante and Sasha wouldn’t have been forced to commit crimes. Robert wouldn’t have suffered. Theo would have been home for the birth of his son.

His mum and sister would be alive. He would have his memory. He would still have a bloody home. He would never have betrayed his team.

Theo stared across the table at him. “You can’t go down that road. Believe me, I understand. I think all the time about the things I could have done, but we can’t go back. We can go forward, and right now that means trying to figure out what’s going on.”

It was easy for Theo to say that since he had a family who loved him and a home. He could have pride in himself.

Ezra sat back. “I listened to the tape Sasha sent. First of all, I want to know how Carter knows what he does. If he’s been talking to someone, I’d like to know who that is. It’s obvious this wasn’t as well buried as we thought it was. I didn’t even know she’d called it Project Tabula Rasa.”

Theo shrugged. “I can put a call into Ian and Case. No one knows more about McDonald than my brothers, perhaps with the singular exception of my sister-in-law. Mia’s been dying to write the whole thing as a tell-all. So far Case has managed to keep her under control because of the whole classified-material thing, but she’s never stopped researching. If this Carter guy has a connection to McDonald, she might know about it.”

“I don’t see how.” Owen had gained a lot of knowledge on Carter Adams. “He’s been working at Huisman for the last six years. He’s never been out of the country. He’s spectacularly ordinary. But I definitely think we should look into any possible connections between Carter and McDonald. Sasha and Dante are going to search her office again. They can’t get into her lab. No one is allowed in there, and I’m starting to worry we need to. Apparently her private office in the lab is protected with biometrics. We would need a retinal scan to get in.”

“I can get that for us,” Erin said with a savage grin.

He stared back at her. “Don’t touch her. I’m still the man in charge of handling her and not a one of us is going to physically harm her.”

“I always knew you were soft, Shaw,” Erin said, sitting back. “So what did she say to you about Carter showing up? How did she react?”

There was a knot in his gut that twisted at her words. “She didn’t say a word about it. She told me no one showed up. I was supposed to stay in the back of the museum. She has no idea I was listening in the whole time.”

She’d lied directly to him, and when he’d prodded her, she’d lied some more. Of course he was lying to her as well, but he had his reasons. What were hers? Was she covering up the fact that she’d helped to develop one of the most dangerous drugs in the world?

“I listened in with Ezra,” Ariel began. “If I had to guess, I would say she was afraid and confused. I would like to see the CCTV footage. If I could read her body language that might help enormously. Jax is supposed to be getting it to us soon.”

“Who is still at the foundation this afternoon?” He needed to keep eyes on her. He should have stayed and staked out the foundation building, but Ezra had wanted a report. “I’m supposed to pick her up at eight, but I don’t trust her not to leave the building without me. Not anymore, I don’t.”

“Tucker is there along with Dante and Sasha. Sasha’s on night duty. Dante gets off at six along with Tucker.” Robert’s arm moved casually around the back of Ariel’s chair and it made Owen wonder if the last few days had gone well for those two. Or he would wonder it if his own misery wasn’t twisting his soul. “Dante’s staying after his shift so he can get some pictures and video footage of the labs. It might take some time, but I can’t imagine Chelsea and Hutch can’t figure out a way around those biometrics.”

How much time did they have? It felt like a net was tightening around them.

“I’m going to text Tucker and ask him to stay late, too.” He pulled out his mobile. “I want to know where she is at all times. Have we figured out why Green paid a visit to Canadian intelligence?” He quickly texted Tucker.

“I don’t like it,” Ezra admitted. “Something’s happening and I can’t see it.”

The door came open and Jax rushed in, a piece of paper in his hand. “Guys, you need to see this. I pulled some stills from the CCTV at the museum and Sasha got a couple of pictures, too. He told me he was suspicious of the woman who bumped into Becca.”

“I couldn’t see her.” Owen looked down at the picture. Jax had blown up a shot of the woman’s face. She was stunning, her beauty more obvious than Becca’s subtle loveliness. “Did you find a name?”

“Yes,” Jax said, his voice steady, but there was tension to it. “She’s here under a Chinese passport as Zhang Li Na. She lives in Quebec and surprise surprise, the condo she lives in is owned by Jean Claude Huisman.”

Ezra frowned. “That’s awfully coincidental. And Becca didn’t seem to know her?”

A nasty feeling took root in Owen’s gut. “What else, Jax? There’s something else.”

“Her real name is Zhao Mo Chou and she’s MSS, according to Adam,” Jax said.

The room erupted in discussion about the new information. Before he could start asking his own questions, a text came through from Tucker.

Will do, but something’s going on. I overheard someone talking about security shutting down some doctor’s access. I think it might be our girl. Any thoughts?

Any thoughts? It all fell into place.

“He’s going to arrest her,” Owen said, adrenaline starting to pump through his body. “Green set her up. He went to Canadian intelligence so they’ll facilitate handing her over to the US. I don’t know what’s going on with the money, but I know that Green is going to use it. He’s the one who drew her out today, and it was all to get a picture of her with a known Chinese operative.”

Ezra stood up, cursing under his breath. “He’ll have her accused of selling secrets to the Chinese, and I’m sure Levi has offered the Canadians anything they like if they’ll turn her over quietly. He can take her anywhere. He will not take her back to the States. I promise you that.”

Even though he was blindingly angry, he couldn’t let that happen. In his rational brain he told himself it was because if they lost Rebecca, they lost her knowledge and the possibility of ever finding out who the lads really were.

“We have to get her out of the building now,” Ezra ordered. “Robert, call Sasha or Dante. They need to take her into custody before Levi walks in that building. Ariel…”

“I’m calling Tucker now,” she said, stepping away from the table.

“Owen, go and pack a bag for her,” Ezra ordered. “I’ll find a place for us to hole up. We’re going to have to move and quickly, and assume Green’s got eyes on us.”

“I’ll get us a place,” Robert said.

Theo and Erin were on their feet, Erin checking her gun and looking ready for a fight.

Owen moved, following Jax. They would head to the building they lived in and grab their go-bags and River. They were on the run. Again. But this time they would take Becca with them. They would get her out before Green could get his hands on her.

Deep down he knew he couldn’t let her go. He couldn’t. He could scream at her. He could accuse her. He could punish her.

But he could never let her go. He might never be able to let her go.

 

* * * *

 

“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?” Cathy asked, her purse on her shoulder as she stood in the doorway.

“No, I’m fine. I’m going to clear up some paperwork.” And make a few calls to some of the doctors she’d worked with on the McDonald project. The ones who were still alive. God, why hadn’t that hit her before now? There had been a team of docs working on Tabula Rasa, and most of them were dead. They’d been a fairly young team so the fact that three out of four of them were gone should have tipped her off that something was weird.

She’d had her head up her ass for years when it came to that summer. It was time to start figuring out what had really happened and why so many of those team members were dead.

She’d called the head of Kronberg’s research, but she’d been told there had been several changes made to their staff and she would have to wait for a call back. There had been one research assistant, Veronica Croft, a young American interning for the summer. She’d seemed close to…it was hard to think his name. She’d been close to Dr. McDonald’s assistant. She might have known something.

How would Carter know what he knew unless he’d been talking to Veronica or one of the others who’d been close to the project?

“Are you sure?” Cathy’s voice brought her back to reality. “Did something happen at lunch? You left with a smile on your face and came back…well, you weren’t smiling when you came back.”

Because her whole world had turned upside down and she wasn’t sure where she’d landed. It didn’t make sense. How did any of it fit together? She had a long night ahead of her and she still had to figure out how to talk to Owen about all of this. The last thing she needed was Cathy getting involved. “I’m fine. I’ve just got a headache. Too much caffeine. I’m trying to wrap up this report so I can take the weekend off and spend it with Owen.”

That got Cathy’s face to light up. “Well, I can’t tell you how happy that makes me. He’s a charming man. All right, you call me if there’s anything at all I can do for you.”

She gave Cathy what she hoped was a bright smile. “Have a nice night.”

Cathy waved and then turned before bumping into someone. “Oh, hello, Dr. Huisman. Did you need something?”

Becca groaned inwardly. She did not need a confrontation with Paul.

“Not at all,” Paul said, sounding more chipper than he usually did. “I was simply coming by to congratulate Dr. Walsh on the latest round of testing. I’ve heard it’s spectacular.”

Cathy grinned, her pride showing. “Oh, they’re spectacular. Expect our girl to bring in the cash next quarter. She’s going to shake up the medical world with this. Maybe we can convince her to travel a little, get out and show her face to the world. She needs to start networking if she’s going to win her first Nobel Prize before she’s thirty-five.”

“Whoa, let’s tap the breaks on that.” She didn’t need more pressure on her.

Paul looked amused as he leaned against her door. “Yes, let’s slow down. We have to get the drug and the therapies approved first. We’ve got a few hurdles before she takes over the world.”

Cathy shrugged. “She’ll do it. If you don’t need anything else, I’ll say good night.”

Paul nodded her way. “Good night.” He turned back to Becca. “I hate to do this to you, but can you stay another hour or so? Maybe two? There’s a courier bringing in some legal paperwork and they’ll only accept a signature from me or you. I would stay myself, but I need to pick up Emmanuel from school.”

“Of course.” It wasn’t like she hadn’t been planning on staying anyway. She glanced up at the clock. It was almost six. “I thought school let out earlier.”

She would have sworn there was a surprised look stamped on his handsome face, but it cleared quickly. “Emmanuel stays late to work with a tutor. He’s a brilliant child, but he struggles with focus. I’ve found having him complete his homework in a classroom environment helps.”

Sometimes she felt for poor Emmanuel Huisman. He didn’t talk much and when he did, he was awkward and seemed too focused for a child his age. Perhaps it was because his father pushed him to be far older than his years. She understood that. “No problem. Homework is important. I was staying late anyway. I have to get through all this data I want to present next week when your father is in town.”

He huffed, a sound somewhere between amused and annoyed. “Yes, well, I’m sure my father will be thrilled to see it. I’ll let security know you’re going to be here in your office.”

“Okay,” she agreed. “Anything I should be worried about? You said it was legal paperwork.”

“Just some cleanup on staffing situations,” he replied with an odd smirk. “You know how my father likes to cover the foundation’s ass on all fronts. Feel free to look at it if you like, or you can ship it straight on to HR after signing for it. Good night. I hope it’s a fun evening for you.”

He slipped away before she could say anything else.

And she was left alone with her thoughts, and they weren’t all that good. She really did need to work on the report, but the numbers scrambled in front of her.

She should have told Owen what happened. She should have gone to the café at the bottom of the castle and sat with him and told him everything.

Or she should consider the fact that they’d only slept together a couple of times and she was putting a whole lot on him.

No. He cared about her. She felt it. They were together and that meant she couldn’t leave him out of important things. She expected him to let her know if he was in trouble because he had to know she would move heaven and earth to fix things for him.

She loved him.

A low groan came from the back of her throat, and she put her head down on her desk. It was stupid. It was everything she’d worried it would be. This was precisely why she’d tried to stay away from the man in the first place. She’d known she would fall for him and hard.

Owen Shaw was her damn knight in shining armor, and she was an idiot if she didn’t call him. He probably knew investigators who could handle this. She would pay him back in ridiculously kinky sex and give him all the love and affection he so obviously needed.

She sat up and felt better having made the decision.

She stood up. She needed a cup of coffee and then she would call Owen and ask if they could talk. Maybe she would ask him if he could come up here and sit and wait with her for the courier. Then they could pick up a six-pack and some takeout and talk about all this in bed.

That was what she truly needed, his arms around her. Once she talked this through with him, she would feel better. It had been a mistake to keep it from him.

The floor was quiet as she stepped out of her office. Across the way, she could see the sun starting to sink, the dying light shining off the buildings. The elevator doors opened and she hoped it was security escorting the courier up. If she could get out of here fast, she’d go to Owen’s work and surprise him.

Except she wasn’t sure where his building was.

A man strode out, his pace nearly a jog. “Dr. Walsh. Dr. Walsh, I need to talk to you.”

She froze where she stood because she knew that voice. It sent a chill down her spine. The last time she’d heard that voice had been when the man attached to it had threatened to rape and murder her.

Dr. Reasor. Except Dr. Steven Reasor had died. He died. It had been the only reason she’d felt safe.

“Hi, my name is Tucker and I’m an intern downstairs.” He strode her way and his hair was longer than it had been when he’d worked for McDonald, but there was no way to mistake those blue eyes. At first she’d thought he was handsome, but she’d seen how cold those eyes could go. Arctic. Like the coldest winter day.

He was dead. They’d told her he was dead. Dr. McDonald had told her. It had been an accident, and that had been the first time she’d been able to breathe.

He was coming for her. He was saying words, but all she could hear was the ones he’d said that day.

You really should run. Maybe I’ll catch you. Maybe I won’t. Either way, you should run.

She turned on her heels and took off toward the stairs.

It was pure panic, and it came from PTSD. It came from him turning into the nightmare she had for weeks afterward.

He’d promised if she ever got caught up in his world again, he would come after her. She’d believed him.

Don’t think about it. It hadn’t been real. It hadn’t been real. Couldn’t be real.

She ran, screaming out for help. Fear ruled her. It caused her to be irrational, made her see things that weren’t there. Probably.

It didn’t matter. She had to get to a place where she would be safe. She would call Owen. She would lock herself in a room and call Owen. He would come for her.

She just had to get somewhere safe.

He was shouting behind her, but she didn’t stop. She hit the door to the stairwell, her arms slamming into the metal with a hard thwack.

He was still behind her. She had to think. She had to know the building better than he did.

How long had he been here? How long had he been stalking her?

Would he take her back to that place she’d gone to? To that hell she’d convinced herself couldn’t possibly have been real?

Couldn’t go back. Couldn’t go back.

The door came open as she rounded the corner and saw a man with dark hair. He wore the uniforms the janitors wore. He was tall and broad, and in that moment, he looked like the best thing she’d ever seen.

“Please help me,” she said.

He frowned. “Of course. Are they already here?”

She stumbled coming off the last step and he caught her up in his big arms. “They?”

He set her on her feet. “Yes, the men who are coming for you.”

Confusion started to pierce through her fear.

“They’re not here yet,” that familiar voice said. “But you need to get hands on her because she’s running from me, Dante. I have no idea why, but she’s running from me.”

Steven Reasor was jogging down the stairs. And he was talking to the janitor.

She turned to try to get away, but the man he’d called Dante grabbed her. He pulled her close even as she fought. She brought her elbow up and back and then stomped on his foot. The man didn’t move, didn’t even grunt.

“Are you fucking serious?” Steven asked as he closed the distance between them. “Do you carry one of those around? Shouldn’t we talk to her first?”

Something sharp stung her neck and her vision immediately went fuzzy.

It was happening again. The devil was back and she was going to hell. She wouldn’t wake up this time.

“You’re going to be okay,” he said, looking down at her.

Someone had picked her up. Her legs didn’t work anymore. She wasn’t going without a fucking fight. She wasn’t going into that darkness without letting him know. Hate mingled with fear.

“Fuck you, Reasor. Fuck you.”

The last thing she saw were his eyes widening in what looked like shock.

As the darkness clouded her vision she prayed Owen would come for her.