Part 28 (1/2)

Because when they did-she'd kill them all. She'd take every single a.s.shole out in order to keep Penny away from these monsters.

”DUDE!” Nina whispered hot and fierce against Sam's ear. ”What the f.u.c.k is wrong?”

Sam clasped his head, gritting his teeth-the buzzing had turned into a rapid-fire banging in his brain and a shooting pain attacking his chest almost disabled him. He couldn't think clearly for the pandemonium erupting in his body. ”It's fine. Just listen,” he ordered, grinding out the words. ”Phoebe's in there. I hear Phoebe.” If he had anything left in him when this was over, he was going to kill this woman who'd so captivated his heart.

Darnell nodded with a vigorous bounce of his head, his eyes screaming his worry, his voice low and chilling. ”Yeah. Tha.s.s her a'ight. She talkin' to somebody. We need to get to gettin' here. Now!”

Nina's eyes burned with anger when she c.o.c.ked her head to listen, too. Her fists wadded in clear fury. ”I'm going to eat Bad Listening Skills Barbie for lunch, G.o.dd.a.m.n it!”

Sam ignored everything but getting to Phoebe. ”We need to move!”

But as with all good plans-and in Sam's vast experience, sometimes a covert op was a lot like those horror movies you watched and the soap operas Phoebe had compared their situation to-you really did need someone to be your audience so they could scream, ”Look behind you, you dumba.s.s!” Especially when you did something stupid like forget to cover your back. You're really slipping, Sammy ...

In flashes of white coats, muddy work boots, and the craziest most convoluted gun Sam had ever seen, they were caught and a warning was sounded.

”I wouldn't move, if I were you. I know what you all are, and with one spray of these guns, you'll be extinguished,” a voice taunted from behind, gleeful and filled with hatred.

Someone slammed into each of them, dropping them to their knees with the sharp crack of bones when they hit the cement floor. Sam instantly clasped his hands behind his head, encouraging Nina and Darnell to follow suit with his urgent eyes.

His first concern was Nina and her mouth. He shot her a warning glance, and she flashed her murderous eyes at him but said nothing.

Large, callused hands grabbed at them, yanking them upward and forcing them to move toward the very room they'd planned to storm. Those bizarre guns pressed to their backs, the wide nozzle ends jammed close against each of them.

Darnell stumbled on the strings of his high-top shoelaces as he walked, his eyes vivid and hot with an emotion that was a stark contrast to the twinkle usually written in them.

Nina's jaw was tight-flexing and grinding as she so obviously fought the urge to control her rage. Sam couldn't help thinking how proud Wanda would be that Nina was showing such unbelievable restraint. Her anger was so thick, it seeped out into the air-it was palpable-nearly visible and wildly chaotic. And still, she remained silent.

In the name of Penny ...

They were launched into the room with the double doors, skidding and sliding until they stopped short of the far wall.

Nina's nostrils flared, her eyes meeting Sam's as she directed him to the closet.

f.u.c.k. Phoebe was in the closet. He could smell her perfume-the same pear-scented perfume he'd reveled in when they'd made love. If she could just stay put.

”Turn 'round!” someone gruff with poor diction roared.

As each of them turned to face their attackers, Nina was the first to react. In words. Those words that could cut you to the quick or simply cut out all the bulls.h.i.+t. ”You? It's you?” She threw her head back and laughed, her mouth wide-the cackle was meant to mock, to debase. When her head lifted, her eyes gleamed just the right kind of crazy. ”Oh, you motherf.u.c.king, spineless, a.s.s-licking freak. You'd better hope whatever you got in that gun works, panty wipe. 'Cause if I get my hands on you, I'll rip your limbs off, and while I do? I'll pick my f.u.c.king teeth with your skinny-a.s.sed bones!” she screamed, straining against the hands Sam and Darnell had each placed on her arms.

The man who Nina had verbally a.s.saulted swung the freakish gun Phoebe'd described wide and cracked Nina under the jaw with it.

Darnell growled, but he held his tongue while Sam's blurry eyes a.s.sessed. Two thugs plus the blond man. Clearly the brains of the outfit. Three guns total. Three guns with foreign ammunition he had no idea how to stop.

The gun pointed at them, glaring and white. ”Oh, Nina,” the doctor Phoebe had depicted so vividly admonished. ”Still so cla.s.sy. Tell me. Have you given up on the word f.u.c.ktard and graduated to the big-girl name-calling?” He flapped a hand at her and smiled-charming, cold. ”But that's neither here nor there, now is it? In fact, I encourage you to lob any and all protests. It makes for a much more invigorating kill.”

Nina growled, making Sam latch on to her arm while a bone-jarring pain ripped through his arm and headed straight for his temples. He fought a grunt-fought it like if it were ripped from his throat, he'd explode into a million pieces. And still, the question remained. Who was this man? How did Nina know him?

The placid face of the blond doctor made Sam take great pause. This was the face of a madman. His expression was devoid of anything-even the joy he claimed he would take in killing them.

He was the worst kind of sociopath, if Sam was reading him correctly. If the cla.s.ses at the agency he'd taken were proof, there'd be no reasoning-no deal making, no distracting.

The only hope they had left was the element of surprise from behind.

f.u.c.ked would probably be the best adjective Sam could give this scenario.

They were f.u.c.ked. There was no one left-behind or otherwise.

IT wasn't just fear that tore at Phoebe-it was a shredding, screaming pain, crawling all over her body-upward until her scalp was on fire. Yet, she clung. Who was this man Nina clearly knew? How could she possibly keep them from pulling the triggers of those guns she knew they had trained on them. On Sam.

Her hands blindly grabbed at the interior walls of the closet; her fist went to her mouth to keep the howling scream from pus.h.i.+ng its way out of her throat at bay.

Realization crashed around her. This was it. What was happening to her right now was what had happened to Meredith and Alice and Raymond Schaeffer.

But it was going to happen before she got Penny to safety.

No. No. It would not. By all that was holy, she would stop this. Think, Phoebe-think. Surely there's a soap opera scenario you can call on.

Think, d.a.m.n you. What would the great Leticia Halloway from Eagle's Crest do?

”SO I guess you want to know who I am and what I've been up to?” the blond man asked. ”I'd only consider that a fair request. After all, I will be the one to help you meet and greet with your maker. Clearly, you should have a name to grudge on. Nina and I know each other, er, socially,” he said with clear disdain. ”But we'll get to that later. So for now, shut up. Got that?” He winked at her.

Nina grunted, but Darnell held her fast, pulling her to his padded side.

Nina knew him? All this time and it was someone the women of OOPS knew?

He ran the tip of his finger along the top of the gun with a sensuous pa.s.s, like it was his lover. ”First, the why, and I'll be brief. Not long ago, maybe four years or so, my world fell apart. I blame one person, and one person alone. That person will, along with all of you, die a heinous death. Much like the ones I've already doled out to that CIA agent Meredith, who was foolish enough to think she could stop me and save my test subjects.”

He spread his arms wide, the crinkle of his lab coat shredding Sam's eardrums. ”This is Project Eternal. A project that was four years in the making. Four years of hatred for one woman who took everything from me. Now, some would call me diabolical or crazy-whichever adjective most makes you comfortable. I just call me awesome sauce. But I can't take all the credit. I didn't do this alone. I had help from someone who almost hates this person as much as I do. Almost. Though, she only lost some silly man over what happened. But a grudge is a grudge-no matter the source. Some of us seek retribution out of scorn-and others, others like me? They seek it out of revenge.”

Sam knew better-he knew not to react-but again, it was that d.a.m.n woman in the closet who kept him from keeping his highly trained mouth shut. ”I know the drama of this is what you've been living for-but could we get to the point? I have a h.e.l.luva headache. And, yeah, yeah. You're the genius responsible for that. I'd tip my hat to you, but I think my arm might fall off if I lift it.”

The blond man smiled. ”I like you, Sam the Cowboy, is it? That's how Phoebe has you listed on her phone. Very manly hat, by the way. Tell me, Sam, how did this happen to you? I'm all sorts of intrigued.” He swept a hand up and down Sam's length. ”And don't bother to deny you're one of my maniacal creations. I can smell it.”

Smell it ... no. Sweet Jesus, no. Sam warred with his disgust when he gave a subtle flare of his nostrils. ”A woman-beautiful, so beautiful. She bit me at a Halloween party.”

”Gorgeous dark hair and the most vivid eyes anyone's ever seen?”

Sam nodded, short and quick, because when he moved his head, it felt like it would explode. ”That was her.”

”I can see how her beauty would have captivated you. That was Meredith the CIA agent.”

”Wow. CIA agents come hotter than Hades these days, huh?” Sam joked.

His face went on instant alert. He flashed the gun at them. ”Smokin' hot,” he agreed with a cold chuckle. ”At least that's what her handler thought.”

Sam forced his face, a face that was bleeding fire by now, to go blank. ”Her what?”