Through the Flames, page 17
“I don’t care about that. We just need to get to the hospital. I can do it fast and we can be out of there in no time.” Brenda didn’t look away from Dilbeck.
“The hospital doesn’t have electricity, like the rest of the country. You won’t be able to do the tests.” He shook his head, arms crossed over his chest.
“Fine. No tests. But I can get them more stable, find pain killers and antibiotics.” She glanced at Andy. He’d needed some before. He couldn’t be all better without some aid.
Dilbeck glanced at Andy, Josh, and Daniel – bastard. “Look, we have Bastian. He can give us the information we need on the tests. If Parker dies, well, that’s too bad.” He pressed his lips together but concern didn’t mar his features.
Brenda quirked her eyebrow. “’That’s too bad’? Are you an idiot or something? What about Tom? That kid was trying his best to help out in any way he could. Your own man is lying on the ground and could die. Your manpower is down because you don’t give a damn.” She jumped down from the back to the ground. “You need manpower?” Brenda released a second piercing whistle. “Sara! Come out.”
Dilbeck raised his gun, followed by his two other men. They swung in a circle, taking in any and all movement, crouched in a squatting position as if they expected to shoot any second.
Sara and the rest of the group edged out of the bushes and trees no more than ten feet from the ambulance. Brenda couldn’t be more shocked. Stealth didn’t describe their technique. She covered her reaction under a smile and a wave, cockiness her only ally. “Hey, I forgot the signal.”
Sara’s answering laugh, filled with just enough sarcasm, relaxed Brenda. She’d heard the conversations worth hearing. She got it. As soon as everything was over, if they made it out alive, Brenda was going to hug the woman and give a gushy thank you.
Dilbeck stood and lowered his weapon. “You have your own army, Brenda. Is this to free Dr. Parker?” He stepped backward, coming to stop when his shoulder nudged the open door.
“What? No.” Men were so dense. “That’s not it at all. They came with me from Farnham’s compound. They wanted to join the real militia, but couldn’t find them. I told them where I was going and why and they asked to come along. You have more manpower now.” Brenda jerked her head toward the patients in the ambulance. “We could get to the hospital and I can have them repaired in no time.” Come on, say yes. She mentally crossed her fingers. Tom deserved so much more than dying on a gurney because someone didn’t have time. “Plus, you could always use Daniel to contact the attackers to say we have whatever it is they want.”
“They want Rachel.” Andy finally spoke. His eyes burned and he clenched his jaw. “They want her for her tests, Brenda.”
She nodded. “Of course they do, Andy. But give them Daniel. She’s in no shape.”
“But they aren’t my tests.” Daniel’s silky smooth voice hadn’t been damaged by his beating or by her attack. Damn. Next time she was going for the friggin’ throat. He inclined his head. “Not that I don’t agree with you and would happily go in Rachel’s place, but I’m not what they want. They want her.”
Brenda stalked toward him, her moves tightly controlled. Oh, she wanted to slap him again. Dilbeck shifted and if she attacked, he’d be right there to pull her off. But she might get in a solid hit... instead, she pressed her face as close to his as she could – which wasn’t close with their height difference, but she tried anyway. “You worked with her. You turned her in. You aren’t innocent, Bastian. I have a brand to prove you’re out to get my sister. What was the message in searing my neck? Huh?” She jabbed his chest, her fingernail sharp and digging. “I’m betting if you’re really a good guy, she wouldn’t be in this mess, would she? She’d be safe and would be discussing whatever the hell she could to help out.”
Dilbeck held up his hands. “Enough. We need to figure out exactly what NATO wants and how we can either get ahead of them or give it to them. The attacks need to stop so we can recover our losses and hopefully, make contact with the other militias. See what’s happened around the rest of the country.” He pointed at Daniel. “If you know anything, I’d suggest you spill it.”
Daniel watched them from his one good eye. Brenda’s gaze didn’t falter under his steady perusal. His voice lowered. “I’m so sorry about the burn. I didn’t want to.”
She couldn’t even scoff. His voice was hypnotic and she’d forgotten the magnetism bursting through him. That whole bad-boy persona. She didn’t even need to know him and she was attracted to his height and his marathon running form. Beaten bad, his features still maintained a regality she’d recognize in Europeans and east coast bluebloods.
“You remember that I tried to help you, right? I worked on that. I made sure you had supplies. I made certain you were given what you needed.” His words weaved a braided rope between them. How could his effect be Stockholm’s when she wasn’t his captive anymore? But he had tried to help her, hadn’t he?
Brenda squinted at him, trying to see behind the smoke and mirrors of a potential hypnosis. Daniel was a colleague of her sister’s and that meant he couldn’t be trusted. Rachel was a master manipulator and she’d altered Brenda’s thinking and frame of mind before. Brenda was no virgin to being taken advantage of. “Good for you. But what about the food poisoning? You lied to me. And so many people died.”
“No. I didn’t know. I told you what they told me.” He shook his head. “I’m so—”
“Sorry, yeah, we get it. What exactly does NATO want and why does it have to be Rachel?” Josh stepped between Brenda and Daniel, yanking Andy with him. “I don’t really care what you’re going through on a personal level, Bastian, is it?” He pressed Brenda a few feet back. “Do you know anything? And speak to me or Dilbeck, not to her.”
“What the he—” Brenda cut off her expletive at Josh’s quelling look. Okay, he’d gained the upper hand. He’d better not waste it. She glowered at him.
Daniel crossed his arms over his chest, hands tucked into his elbows. “Rachel has undergone intelligence testing before and she has this ability to quantify the results of the mind tests against the effects of the physical tests for most productivity. NATO is also aware of her photographic memory that is second to only one tested in the world.” He paused, as if afraid to share too much.
“Second to who?” Dilbeck shuffled his feet. The man’s gaze drifted between Brenda’s group and Daniel.
“Me.” At least he had the grace to look embarrassed. “I have photographic memory, which includes audio, tactile, and fragmented spatial memory. I only need one piece of a puzzle made of hundreds of pieces to know exactly which puzzle it is and where that puzzle fits in. This logic application can apply to anything I’ve seen at least once.”
Andy brushed his words away with his hand. “While that’s interesting, Bastian, if you were partners with Rachel, why can’t you just recreate what you worked on together.”
Daniel cocked his head and focused on Andy. “You’re her husband. Did Rachel tell you everything that went on in her head? Did she ever tell you all the different routes she could see just to get to the grocery store? She’s smart, Mr. Parker. Smarter than most people on this planet, but she’s afraid of what she can do. So when we worked together, she ran over the tests and designs herself before she would share anything, using her statistical knowledge to gauge the effectiveness of the tests versus how much potential damage they would create to the victims.” He held Andy’s gaze for a moment longer. “If the odds were close, she tested them on herself first.”
Brenda snorted. All eyes turned her way. She cleared her throat, forcing back the laughter begging to scream from inside. “Yes, Rachel is smart. She’s so smart, she figured out ways to torture people in a ‘humane’ manner. So smart, that NATO, Idaho militia, and countless men are after her. So smart, she cut open her head and bit her tongue so she can’t speak.” She stepped close to Dilbeck and motioned toward Sara and the others. She lowered her voice. “Major, I’ve brought people who want to help, in whatever way you can use them. They’ve had a pretty hard time with Farnham’s group and they really just want a chance to get back at whoever is attacking them. I’m not asking you for a lot. Get us to the hospital. I can take over from there. You can ask all of them whatever questions you have, alright?”
Calculating, his eyes searched her face. She had nothing to hide. Rachel was smart, no doubt about that. Tom was most likely going to die, no denying that either. But Brenda wasn’t sitting around while the men argued. Especially when they argued over Rachel. Like a damn damsel in distress. Seriously.
Dilbeck studied her a moment longer, then turned to his two men. “They’re already armed. We can have them go with us and find out about their backgrounds and abilities when we stop at the medical center. Back into the ambulance dock and one of you stay with the vehicles.” In mid-turn, he pointed at two of the men behind Sara. “You two come with me. We’ll ride in the Jeep. The rest will have to fit on the motorcycles and in the ambulance.”
“We have our own rigs, sir.” Sara’s back couldn’t get straighter. “We’d like to ride them, if that’s alright.”
Dilbeck spared her a second glance and nodded. “Sounds good.”
She jerked her chin down and then grabbed the girls and the remaining men, herding them toward the dirt bikes and four-wheelers they’d hid up the alley. A wink in Brenda’s direction calmed her down.
“Load up.” Dilbeck inclined his head toward the ambulance and looked at Andy, Josh, and Daniel. They didn’t move. “You’re in the ambulance again, gentlemen. Get going. I’m not leaving you here.”
Brenda stepped onto the road toward where she’d left her own ride. Dilbeck stopped her. “Brenda, you’ll drive the ambulance. I can’t trust these guys to do what I say.”
“How do you know I’m trustworthy?” She bit the inside of her cheek. Of course, she was, but how did he know to trust her?
Dilbeck half-smiled. “I don’t. You’re the one demanding we go to the hospital.” And that’s her sister in there. The words dangled unspoken in the muggy May air. The palpable threat didn’t stand a chance. He needed Rachel, even if she was partly functional. He’d trade her dead body to NATO, no doubt about it.
Brenda didn’t need to guess what he’d do to get the information from Rachel, if she did come to and no one was around to help out. She waited while Andy and Josh clambered into the back, stuffed amongst the bed and bodies. They couldn’t sit on the bench occupied by Rachel, but Andy stuffed himself into the corner of the cushion and lifted her head to his lap and Josh, still handcuffed to his friend, perched on the counter.
Dilbeck slammed the doors shut and tugged on the handles. “All set.”
Arms crossed over her chest, Brenda stared at Daniel in the same pose. Neither moved.
“He’ll ride in front with you, Brenda.” Dilbeck raised both eyebrows. “Don’t kill him... Yet.”
Chapter 37: Andy
The ride held onto a sinister tension, even with more familiar faces and less power in Dilbeck’s hands. Except as more and more revealed itself, Andy’s certainty in who was for and who was against the US muddied.
“What did you do to get your ass cuffed to me again?” Andy hated the bracelets. Dilbeck had tightened them the second go-round and the metal dug into his skin.
Josh shrugged. “I let Rachel go. Someone needed to get out of there. She seemed like the best choice.”
Andy considered Josh’s words. Josh chose Rachel when no one was certain she was even on the right side. He studied his right hand hanging limply from the cuff partnering him to Josh. A lock of Rachel’s silken hair lay across his arm. Twisting the brown strand through his fingers, he whispered, “Do you know what day it is?”
Nobody answered, either because they didn’t hear him or they didn’t know. He went with the former and spoke louder. “Does anyone know what the date is?”
Choked like he needed to cough, Daniel answered through the opening between the cab and the back. “The calendar says it’s May thirtieth.”
Brenda met Andy’s gaze in the rearview mirror. He ignored the look she gave him. Not that he ever understood what her odd expressions tried to say.
Brushing a finger down Rachel’s nose, he muttered, “Happy birthday, darling.” And he had nothing for her. He didn’t even know what he believed about the revelations flying around. Was she working with NATO? Had she designed so many tests? Was she as smart as this guy was saying? Andy had always known she was smart, but he’d never known the extent of her brilliance. Maybe he didn’t even understand now what Daniel’s comments had meant. She’d tested herself with what?
The ambulance hit a bump and Brenda growled something at Daniel. Andy didn’t deny her right to be pissed at the asshole. If Andy hadn’t been under-the-weather in the gym like he had, he might have recognized Daniel when he’d first seen him, but the damage to Bastian’s face took away all chances Andy had at seeing the man who’d held them captive, taken Brenda away, and returned her marked up and wounded.
“Did you hear what I said, asshole? Don’t touch anything, or I’m going to pull over and kick your ass out.” Brenda screeched. Andy bit back a smile. For once her anger was turned on someone besides him. She screamed. The sound of a hand slapping across flesh echoed into the back.
Josh jerked upright, into a fighting stance, his left arm restrained by Andy’s weight. Andy pulled him back and shook his head.
“He might hurt her.” Josh whispered, his eyes wide.
Andy scrunched up his nose and replied in a low tone, “He won’t. I’m more worried about what she’s going to do to him.”
Cautious, as if not sure why he was sitting back down, Josh kept his gaze on the opening but spoke in a conspiratorial tone with Andy. “What happened to her? Why is she so mad at him?”
“He’s the guy that held Brenda and me in the gym.” Andy didn’t want to say more, admitting that Daniel was there when so many people had been shot. Admitting Daniel had had that much power stung Andy’s pride. Self-preservation demanded he not acknowledge the previous conditions between them, but rather treat him as less than Andy while they were both captives. Josh screwed up his lips. Andy added, “He’s the one that branded her neck. There aren’t a lot of things Brenda won’t forgive, but physical abuse from a man is her number one Achilles’ heel. At least according to Rachel.”
Josh nodded, his confusion evident in the turn of his mouth. He looked Brenda’s way and lowered his voice even more, if that was possible. “She’s sweet. Kind of neurotic, but sweet.”
At that, Andy laughed. He’d never heard Brenda described that way before. By anyone. His movements jostled Rachel who moaned. All jocularity dashed from his mind. “Rach? Are you okay? I’m sorry. Jeesh.” He brushed the hair from her face, careful around her stitched hairline. She calmed down, her moans quieting.
He’d sworn his stomach had jumped into his throat and his heart had fallen to his knees when the two men had returned with her body hanging like a noodle between them. Thank heaven for Brenda and all her experience as a nurse practitioner. Rachel wouldn’t have made it.
A sharp turn and slight squealing of the tires, made Andy grasp Rachel’s shoulders to steady her. He ignored Tom and the man on the floor. Tom looked worse than anybody Andy had seen in the gym or since and the guy on the floor was down in an unknown condition. He’d never killed before, but he wanted to. Dilbeck, Gustavson, Daniel. Andy’s anger roiled beneath his concern for Rachel. But he restrained it. He’d never be able to forgive himself, if he killed someone. Josh had more experience in that arena.
“Does it get easier?” Andy’s lips barely moved.
Josh turned his head. “Does what?”
“Killing.” Duh. What else would he be talking about? Baking a damn cake?
“Um, I haven’t killed enough people to know. The act itself is easy, if you don’t think about it, but the after sticks like a burr.” He sat in silence beside Andy and neither spoke.
It sucked. Andy couldn’t define what “it” was, all of “it” maybe.
The ambulance swerved into the parking lot.
They’d just left the building. Andy didn’t want to go backwards. He wanted to get to the property, hide in the cave with his kiddos and not know what happened to the rest of the world until all the insanity disappeared.
“Do we try to escape?” Josh shifted on the counter, leaning his free elbow on his knee. “What track do we take, Andy? Who are we concerned about and who do we leave behind?”
Good question. But the options sickened Andy. “Well, there are the obvious ones...”
“Are there? Who? Who is obvious? Which one do we know is one-hundred percent on our side?” Josh pierced Andy’s eyes with his own. “What is our side?”
The validity struck Andy in the chest. He looked at Tom, at Rachel, and in the direction of the cab. “I... well, I think we can safely assume that Brenda is on our side. She wants to heal everyone, right?”
Josh shrugged, but a soft nod added her to the list.
The ambulance slowed down over all the speed bumps. Andy pointed at Tom. “He’s been beat to hell. He can’t be bad, right?” Damn. The kid looked bad.
He couldn’t do it. He wanted to, but something held him back from declaring Rachel as one-hundred percent safe. But his loyal side demanded he at least suggest the possibility. “You know, I don’t... what I mean is, I’m not sure how... er...” Damn. He couldn’t do it.
“You’re not sure what to make of Rachel? I know, man. I don’t know either. But she’s your wife. You know?” Josh stood.
The ambulance stopped moving. Andy got it. She was his wife, but what if she’d done all the things that Daniel and Dilbeck had said? Did he trust that she wouldn’t do something to hurt someone else? In the name of science, Rachel had a single-mindedness that rivaled Napoleon’s.
Andy didn’t want to look any closer at their options. Tom and Rachel weren’t even ambulatory at the moment. Andy was still damaged and wouldn’t be able to pull them or carry them to safety. “We’ll make that decision when they’re ready, yeah?”
