Chapter Eight
Mallory drove toward Piney Cove with the precision of a racecar driver. Her heart hammered in her chest, and her palms grew sweaty. “I hope we’re not too late.”
“How far does your sister live from here?”
“About ten more minutes.” Mallory cut someone off in the turning lane, in a hurry to reach the light before it changed to red.
Her cell phone rang in her pocket. She tugged it free and glanced at the caller ID. The display showed private.
“I should have ditched my cell,” she informed Vaulcron before pressing the green button. “Cahill.”
“You have something I want, Miss Cahill.”
Mallory’s breath nearly froze in her lungs. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh? Well maybe this will jog your memory.”
“Mallory? Who are these people?”
The sound of her sister’s terrified voice tore at Mallory’s heart. Nausea rolled through her gut, and she bit the inside of her cheek to keep from being sick. “Are you okay, Amy? Have they hurt you?”
“They haven’t hurt me,” Amy responded quietly. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing, sweetheart. I need you to stay calm. I will be there in a few minutes.”
“Don’t come here Mal. They—”
Amy’s voice was suddenly replaced by the masculine asshole who’d originally called Mallory. “If you’re not here within the next ten minutes, your sister dies.”
The line went dead.
“Damn it.” Mallory tossed the cell phone onto the console and slammed her foot in the gas, effectively running the red light.
“They have your sister.” Vaulcron’s quiet omission penetrated Mallory’s rage-fogged brain.
“Yes. And they plan on killing her if I’m not there is the next ten minutes.”
“They will kill her regardless.”
Tears sprang to Mallory’s eyes. “Not until they get what they are after.”
“I will not allow them to take you,” Vaulcron growled, his chest rising and falling with obvious rage.
Mallory blinked back the tears that threatened to spill. “We don’t have a choice. I will gladly trade my life for Amy’s.”
“They will dispose of you once they extract from you the information they seek.”
“I’ll think of something. I always do.”
Mallory pulled the car over a few streets from Piney Point. “Get out here.”
Vaulcron gaped at her. “You think me a coward?”
“Just get out. I don’t have time to argue with you. The gulf is a mile north of here. Swim to Cuba and don’t look back.”
“I am not leaving you.”
And I’m not letting them take you!” Mallory shouted, reaching across his lap to open his door. “Now get the hell out.”
“I will only follow you,” he murmured, resolve anchored in his emerald-green eyes.
“Damn you.” Mallory jerked the door closed and punched the gas once again. “This is suicide.”
“I refuse to let you go to them alone. Ultimately, it is me that they want. Your government would use you as bait to draw me out. I will not be the cause of your death.”
“Yet you expect me to be the cause of yours.”
* * * *
Doug Jefferies stood at the window in Amy Brighton’s small kitchen. He hated like hell to scare the young blind girl and really had no intention of hurting her. But Mallory didn’t know that. Besides, Amy was the only leverage Doug had to get his hands on the Bracadyte in Mallory’s possession
“Do you think she’ll show?”
Doug glanced over his shoulder at Anderson. “I’m positive. We are holding all the cards. She’ll come, and the creature will follow.”
“He may be in the wind by now.”
Jefferies shook his head, turning his attention back to the parking lot. “According to Cahill’s cameraman, the creature is soft on the reporter. If he’s not with her, he’ll be close by.”
“What about the sister?” Anderson questioned, a hint of pity in his voice.
“We’ll leave her here. What can she do? She can’t identify either of us. She’s harmless.”
Anderson’s sigh of relief wasn’t lost on Doug. Hell, he didn’t want to hurt the poor girl any more than Glenn did. Hopefully he wouldn’t have to.
“What are you planning to do with my sister?”
Amy’s soft, quiet voice penetrated Doug’s anxiety-induced brain, pulling him up short. He spoke without turning from his window-watching, understanding that the girl wouldn’t notice the difference. “I just need to ask her some questions.”
“Are you going to hurt her?”
“Not if she gives us what we need. If she doesn’t? Then I’ll do whatever is necessary.”
“What is it that you need? Maybe I can help you.”
“You’re already helping us, just by being here. Your sister has done a bad thing. And as long as she cooperates, she’ll not be harmed.”
Amy grew quiet for a moment. “I don’t believe you. I can hear the deception in your tone.”
Jefferies was impressed by the girl’s perception. “You’re only afraid. That’s to be expected. Believe it or not, we’re not the bad guys here. Your sister is.”
Doug’s cell vibrated in his pocket. He fished it out and pressed it to his ear. “Jefferies.”
A woman’s voice came through the receiver. “I have the president on the line.”
“Jefferies?” Rueben began without preamble. “What have you got?”
“Nothing yet, sir. We’re at Cahill’s sister’s place, waiting on the reporter to show. Once we have her and the alien, we’ll be bringing them in.”
“Change of plans, Doug. Take them to Winchester Industries and wait for my arrival. I’m leaving in a couple of days.”
Doug’s jaw tensed in agitation. “Why Winchester Industries, sir?”
“I spoke with Kerik. He and I both feel that if we can’t locate Abbigail Sutherland or her child, we have no choice but to create one of our own.”
Jefferies remembered the conversation he’d had earlier with Kerik. “You’re going to impregnate a human with his sperm?”
“Not just any human, Doug, but Cahill.”
Doug’s heart began to pound. “How the hell are we supposed to pull that off, sir? She’s a public figure. Once the child is born, she’ll expose us all.”
“Not if she doesn’t survive the birth.”
Jefferies understood the meaning behind the president’s statement. Cahill would have to die after giving birth. “Yes, sir. I’ll bring them both to Winchester’s lab.”
“Very few people are to know about this, Douglas. Bring in a team of soldiers that you trust with your life, and no one else. I want that building surrounded. We don’t need a repeat of last time. I’ll be there as soon as I can."
Doug ended the call and turned toward Glenn. “A word in private?”
Anderson trailed over. “What’s going on?”
“That was the president on the phone,” Jefferies murmured in a low tone. “He’s ordered us to take Cahill and the alien to Winchester Industries. We are to bring in only those we trust. Strictly top secret.”
“Any particular reason why he wants us to take them there? It’s not the best defensive structure we have.”
Doug glanced toward Amy before leaning in closer to Glenn. “He’s going to breed Cahill and the alien. If we can get a child from them, it just may hold the answer to a cure for the virus. Or at the very least, a vaccine.”
Something flickered in Glenn’s eyes. “Let me guess. They’re planning on breeding the reporter, taking her child and killing it before terminating Cahill as well?”
“Don’t start going soft on me now,” Jefferies growled. “It’s for the greater good. Remember, kill the one to save the thousands.”
Glenn took a step back. “Not going soft, sir. Just wanted to get the facts straight.”
“I can count on you, then?”
“Yes, sir,” Glenn quipped before striding back to his post in front of the girl.