“I—it was too late for him. The massive seizure he suffered caused an aneurysm in the subcortical portion of his brain. He was dead before I got to his side.”
“Reaper, please! I trust her! She’sthe only onethat’s protected me from Ranier.”
Reaper searched Caroline’s gaze for any hint of the open and caring way that she had just stared at him only hours ago, but there was nothing but desperate determination directed toward him.
“Yes, I protected her. I’m the one that triggered your tracker so you’d come back for her. I’ve planted incendiary devices on every computer and server in the lab. I alone hold the data. I can help you,” the brunette said.
“And how is that? How can you help me?”
“I haven’t figured out how to fix it yet, but I’ve identified the hole in the genome sequence which causes your dependency on the serum and the breakdown you and your men suffer. I think I can fix it.”
Fix it? Was there really a chance? Could he save his men?
Or was she simply lying to him to hold him there longer, giving Ranier and his troops time to swarm. Reaper pressed the tip of his Beretta against her flesh. “You’re lying.”
Caroline yanked on his arm, trying to pull him away from the brunette, but Reaper didn’t give an inch. “Do you really think I would believe anything you or anyone in this entire place said?”
“I don’t expect you to believe me right now, just take me with you so I can show you.”
“There’s no way in hell you’re coming with us.”
“If you take her, I’ll come too,” Caroline said quietly.
It was all Reaper could do to draw in a breath of air, let alone restrain himself from pulling the trigger.
“You don’t understand what they did to my team,” Reaper ground out, unwilling to cave.
Caroline ducked beneath his outstretched arm and placed herself between him and the brunette. “Take her with us, or you might as well put that gun to my head and pull the trigger.”
Reaper’s resolve shattered and he stumbled back a step. How could she ask him to save someone responsible for such evil? Was this the ultimate sacrifice required of him for redemption in her eyes? Would she ever speak to him if he didn’t do what she asked?
He couldn’t take the chance.
“Fine, I’ll get her out of the lab. But if I so much as sense a hint of betrayal, I’ll slit your throat.” Reaper directed his last comments to the brunette, who gulped but nodded.
Boom!
The entire room shook. Reaper threw himself over Caroline, shielding her from the falling debris.
“Dammit, we’ve got to go now or none of us will make it out of here alive.” Reaper hauled Caroline to her feet, made a blind grab for the brunette who was on her hands and knees coughing a few feet away, and propelled them all from the room. The smoke was so thick now; he couldn’t even see a foot in front of him.
But he didn’t need to see to detect the enemy. He could feel them moving through the hallways, scurrying toward them like rabid rats after a feast.
“Hold hands and be quiet,” Reaper whispered harshly and dragged the two women along behind him, his fingers firmly entwined with Caroline’s.
Debris littered the floor and crunched under his boots, the blast had knocked out the lights leaving on only the red emergency lights in the corners. It didn’t matter. He knew his way out of here by heart. He could take another bullet too, but not Caroline.
Moans filled the hallways and drifted from distant parts of the labs. Reaper cut right, propelling them down another dark corridor, this one partially free of the haze from the explosions. He checked his watch. Fifteen more seconds before the next bomb went off.
Suddenly, another boom sounded, this one completely out of sync with his and much closer than Reaper would’ve liked. He pinned the women against the wall and threw his arms over their heads, ready for the roof to fall in. The structure could be suffering from the series of attacks, and with nearly three levels of earth directly overhead pressing down on the ceiling; even the steel beams would give way to that kind of pressure after the blunt force trauma he’d purposely inflicted within the laboratory. He’d set the bombs at critical load points with that exact purpose in mind, but the timing was off. “What the hell?”
The brunette lifted a shaky hand, holding up a small black detonator. “I don’t want them scrubbing the hard drives. Ranier can’t get his hands on the data. He can’t replicate this on anyone else.”
“The computers,” Reaper breathed out.
“Are destroyed,” she finished.
There was a loud boom and the floor beneath their feet quaked. The entire place was going to cave in. “Go!” He grabbed the girls and dragged them behind him, gunning down the hall so fast he barely registered his feet touching the ground. Reaper glanced at his watch. One second. Boom!
