“Let’s get out of here. I’m hungry. If he wants to talk to her later, if she’s still alive, he can deal with her.”
“You going to bandage those cuts?”
“Why bother?”
“The rats are going to get her.”
Gideon cursed under his breath, but he was already on the move, sending his people texts, certain he knew the vicinity. She was going to need Paul—and not just to find out whether she was a risk to the rest of his teammates.
“Let ’em. She’s not going to make it anyway.”
The voices were fading. Gideon heard the sound of a metal door clanging. He was certain now of the direction. He slid down the staircase using only the rails and hit the first floor running. The front door opened automatically for him. Javier joined him on the sidewalk, and they swerved around three people walking toward them as they raced around the corner and cut behind the building to the back alley.
“Ethan’s bringing a car. Paul’s got the equipment for everything he thinks we’ll need for her,” Javier said. “You want her back at your place or Mack’s?”
“Mine,” Gideon said decisively, without hesitation. He wasn’t going to take chances with Rory again. She was his. He was going to sort them out one way or another, even if that meant leaving his team for a while and living apart from them. Mack wouldn’t like it and neither would any of the others, but he wasn’t losing her.
They came up on the high chain-link fence blocking the way to where rows and rows of containers coming in from the sea were stored. Neither man slowed. They simply leapt over the fence and landed, still running without breaking stride. Behind them, Mack and Kane were at the fence, engaging with the guards, while Ethan, driving the car containing Paul and the medical equipment, waited for their commander to get them inside with official approval.
Running at the same pace as Gideon and Javier but on the opposite side of the guard gate were Rhianna and Brian Hutton. They also leapt over the fence and were running through the rows of containers to provide backup for Gideon and Javier. On the rooftop of the building across from them was Lucas Atherton, a member of their team considered an excellent marksman. Rose was on another rooftop with a sniper rifle covering the team from a different angle. Marc Lands, an experienced field medic, set up everything they might need to treat Rory at Gideon’s home.
Unerringly, Gideon blew past the tall rows of shipping containers and down several metal steps to a platform below another metal deck closer to the water, where containers were off-loaded from ships. Large pipes led into a building that housed huge tanks. The pipes ran in a network throughout the building, along the floor up toward the ceiling and in and out of the tanks. The warehouse was unbearably hot. Water dripped steadily from condensation that formed on a few of the pipes.
Rats scurried away as Javier and Gideon ran to the motionless woman tied to the metal chair in between two of the tanks. She was slumped over, arms strapped to the chair, open wounds sliced into them so that blood ran down the sides. Her thighs had open cuts as well. Her captors had used a knife blade to slice through her skin with thin cuts.
Gideon whipped the hood from her head. There was thick congealed blood on the back of her scalp. She didn’t open her eyes. Her breathing was shallow—too shallow. Javier cut the ties binding her ankles and wrists, and Gideon scooped her into his arms. Gideon ran with her out into the fresh air. Ethan had the car waiting, the back door open, and Gideon slid inside beside Paul. Ethan slammed the door closed and rushed around to the driver’s side, and they were away that fast.
Javier stayed with Rhianna and Brian to pick up any signs of who may have taken Rory. They left tiny cameras in several places to ensure that when someone came to check on Rory, they would know and be able to track them.
“Share with me everything you see, Paul,” Gideon ordered. “Everything. I don’t care how bad it is. I had everyone, apart from Mack, leave for a reason. If it comes down to it, I’ll take Rory, and we’ll go as soon as she’s able to travel.”
He didn’t look at Mack when he spoke to Paul, but he made it clear to both that he meant what he said. “I’m not willing to give her up again. It’s going to take a lot of persuasion on my part to get her to take me back after betraying her the way I did. So, you tell me everything you see and what she’s facing.”
Paul nodded. “Don’t talk, Gideon. This type of work isn’t the easiest. First, before anything, she needs oxygen. Let me deal with her lungs. I mean it. Don’t talk.” He poured authority into his voice.
Gideon had heard Paul speak in that tone when he was saving lives, and his heart dropped. He exchanged a quick look with Mack, who would know just how bad things were with Rory. Gideon hadn’t been able to reach her, but that was because she was unconscious. Not because she was near death. Not breathing right. Not hit too hard. The cuts Marc had been working on weren’t that bad. They were shallow. He tried not to panic. He wasn’t a man who ever panicked.
He watched Paul carefully, not once taking his sharp gaze from the man. He was a raptor, and he didn’t miss details, especially not this close. Paul’s eyes had gone nearly opaque. Crystalline. His eyes had gone to a strange silvery blue, almost like ice with a bluish cast, as if he had gone inward. He held his hands palms outward, hovering them just an inch or so over Rory’s lungs. There were no colorful lights. No flashes of healing or anything at all to give away the fact that Paul was one of the rarest of healing powers possibly on earth. He simply breathed normally and held himself still, not moving, with no expression on his face.
Gideon became even more alarmed when Paul stayed in the same position for what seemed far too long. He had been with Paul when he worked on patients. Even when he did psychic surgery on patients, complicated surgeries on patients, it hadn’t taken that long in one spot. As a rule, Paul looked very young. Now, despite his expressionless mask, Gideon could detect a strain.
Time passed. It seemed far too long before Paul’s palms slowly moved up Rory’s bronchial airways. In truth, that didn’t make Gideon feel any better. Paul spent another inordinate amount of time there as well before he took a step back, staggered and clearly wheezed when he tried to draw in air. Gideon caught him and eased him into the chair behind him. Mack handed him a bottle of water with the cap already off. Paul didn’t try to talk until he drank half of it.
“Her lungs are bad. Airways nearly closed completely. You got to her just in time, Gideon. She wouldn’t have lasted much longer. There’s an obstruction in her lungs, and her bronchial tubes are far too narrow. I’ll come back to that after I examine her thoroughly.”
“One of Whitney’s experiments, or do you think she was born that way?” Mack asked.
Paul frowned. “He enhanced her, and by doing so, he increased problems she was born with, but he was well aware of them prior to operating on her. He deliberately made her physical difficulties worse.”
Paul drank more water and, after screwing on the cap, pressed the cold bottle to his forehead. “I’ll start again.”
“Don’t wear yourself out,” Mack cautioned. “But check for anything that could harm her or one of us. Then for programming.”
Gideon didn’t comment on what Mack was asking for. It had to be done, not just for the sake of the team but also because when Rory woke, she would never stay if she thought she was a threat to them. No matter what she really wanted, there would be no persuading her.
She had an IV in her, giving her necessary fluid, and an oxygen mask, so there was a continual flow of air going to her while Paul examined her. They wouldn’t have too much time before she became aware of what was going on around her. Gideon did have his own request though.
“She reacts every time Whitney’s name is mentioned by pressing her finger against this spot right here.” He touched the exact place above her left temple. “She says there’s a strange sensation, like her skin is cracking and wants to shed. Like a lizard or snake. I looked very closely at her skin and couldn’t see anything different.”
