Reaper grabbed one of the gloves laying in the passenger seat, and used it to hold the device so he could study the tiny, cylindrical, blinking red light.
A tracking device.
He’d used them himself before, only soldered onto the back of the circular chip was a long narrow metal tube about a millimeter in diameter and an inch in length. It had to send whatever was in that tube that shocked him. So why had it been activated now?
He and his men had escaped the lab several months ago, but this must have been implanted in them during their time in Mayhem. The answer to this question came in a stunning moment of clarity. They were tracking him—they knew where he was—and that meant they’d found Caroline.
And he’d left her tied and helpless, unable to run or hide.
He might as well have handed her over to the general himself.
If the general took Caroline away, not back to the lab, Reaper would never be able to find her again. She’d be gone forever and his hopes of saving his men would disappear right along with her.
And his naïve hope for a future with her, no matter how small, would vanish too.
“Be careful, easy, we don’t know what type of trauma she may have suffered.” Dr. Averton hovered near Caroline as the lab technicians moved her body from the rolling gurney to her hospital bed. “Get back, move.”
When the technician was slow to move, she shouldered her way in and laid her fingers at Caroline’s pulse. Strong, but too fast. She yanked the cuff from the blood pressure monitor, wrapped it around Caroline’s elbow, and quickly took her measurements. 180/110. “Get me atenolol 75/25 stat.” Too high. Her blood pressure was too high.
Caroline’s body was obviously working in overdrive, despite the fact she remained unconscious from the entire trip back to the lab, and her condition wasn’t improving.
The lab tech on her right fumbled in the drawers and then went to the glass cabinet in the back, digging through the bottles.
Tired of waiting, Melissa grabbed the pick herself and set up the IV and hung the bag next to her head. By the time the lab tech returned with the medication, she was ready to administer the dosage.
“Come on, come on.” Melissa watched the monitors, fingers crossed that Caroline would begin to stabilize.
“We can’t stay here long, Reaper knows our location. We have to move.” General Ranier’s years of harsh and uncaring voice grated down the back of Melissa’s neck.
She didn’t bother trying to hide her ire this time. “We can’t move her like this. She will die.”
Her eyes turned back on the monitor. Caroline’s blood pressure had increased. Not decreased. Crap. “Grab the lisinopril. And volume. It’s not working.”
As if sensing the urgency in her voice, the slow-moving lab tech picked up the pace and had the medications in his hands within seconds.
“What’s wrong?” Ranier asked.
Melissa jammed the first needle into Caroline’s IV, administering the ACE inhibitor for the sedative. “Externally she appears to have overcome the seizure, but internally her body is still showing signs. Her blood pressure is climbing, so is her pulse. If we don’t get it down ASAP, she’ll stroke out.”
Caroline’s eyes moved back and forth beneath her closed lids, sweat dripped down her face and neck, her fingers twitched. She was struggling, maybe fighting the biggest battle of her life. And more than anything, Dr. Averton needed the serum, because that’s exactly what Caroline needed to stabilize. Reaper cleaned out their stores and she had no fresh dosages ready to go.
“200/130, Doctor, it’s still climbing.” A lab technician stared at her across the table with worry in his eyes.
“Get the coma inducing medication. I’ll have to put her under or she’s gonna burn out.” Dammit, it was too risky. It had worked for Quantum, putting him into a medically induced coma until his body had enough time to recover from the major internal damage when he had seized so terribly in the beginning. But it hadn’t worked for John Dawson.
“Coma? You can’t put her in a coma. We’ve got to move, now!”
Melissa spun on the general, her gaze blasting with fury. “The only way she’s going to get better is with a dose of the serum—serum that we don’t have. This is her only option, unless you want her to die.”
Why the hell was Ranier smiling with such satisfaction? Did he want her to die? Wasn’t Caroline his source of money?
“Why didn’t you just say that in the beginning, Dr. Averton?” Ranier reached inside his jacket and pulled out a syringe. “From my own personal stores.”
“You had more?”
“Of course, I have more. Do you really think I’d leave every drop in that refrigerator in the back of the lab?”
“How much more?” Melissa grabbed the needle from his outstretched calloused hand and spun, injecting Caroline within seconds. She had to fight to keep her hands from trembling.
