Senator Cory Keeling was a dead man walking. Any human being who could use someone so callously and then try to toss them away like garbage didn’t deserve to live. After what Whitney had been through today, Hicks planned to torture Keeling before he died. The man deserved to endure a bit of the trauma for what he’d put Whitney through.

Hicks hated himself just a little for feeling relieved that she’d never slept with the bastard, but it likely brought some comfort to him and Whitney.

If Keeling’s men came to the compound, Hicks’s team would be more than ready. But such an open conflict would risk exposing them to General Rainier, who had men and spies stationed throughout the entire country and the government. He was a twenty-year veteran of the United States Department of Defense, with ties reaching so deep and long it would be impossible to ever untangle them all.

They had to stop Senator Keeling on his own turf or risk exposure. And that meant they needed to get planning…now.

“Whitney, honey, we have to warn the men now. Can you pull it together, just for a little while? If not, you can stay here and I’ll go brief them.”

“No! I’m not gonna sit here and be a victim.”

“Good girl. I didn’t think you would.” She had the internal fortitude of a well-armed fortress. “Want me to carry you to your room or can you walk?”

She wiggled her way to the floor as an answer. “Come on. I want to be there when you and the guys confront him. He’s going to answer for everything he’s done to me.”

Whitney grabbed his hand and dragged him from the room. Hicks followed her down the hall, stopping when he heard a soft feminine voice drifting from Quantum’s open door.

“What the hell?”

As far as Hicks knew, the only people who ventured into Quantum’s room were the team members, but there was only one other person in this entire maze who sounded like that. “My teammate, Quantum, has been unconscious for weeks. He fought to stay alive back in the lab, and managed to do that, until we escaped. He nearly gave up his life to make sure we all made it out safe. Even though he suffered worse than the rest, he never gave up the fight.”

Hicks gestured for Whitney to remain silent as he peered around Quantum’s door. Dr. Averton sat next to the bed, a book the size of a dictionary in her hands, reading aloud. “And then Hades pulled Helios from the sky and cast him into the depths of hell itself. Helios struggled with all his might, but Hades was strong. Helios wanted to give up.”

“Our story,” Whitney whispered. “Melissa wrote this book when she was eight.”

“And then Hades tasked all his demons to restrain Helios, for he could only derive pleasure by taking from others what they wanted most, and what Helios craved above all was the bright light of the sun and the wind swishing under his wings, his sword raised to the gods above.” Dr. Averton never looked up. She’d shed her lab coat in favor of a set of long pajamas and deep green robe. He’d never seen her look so casual, even walking about the mansion.

“Why is she reading that story?”

Whitney squeezed his hand. “She used to read it to me when we were children.”

“That is not a book for a child,” he said.

“Yes, but Melissa’s never really been a child. At least in her mind. She read The Iliad when she was seven years old. Then, of course, she thought she could improve it. She wrote her own version.”

Whitney’s eyes took on a faraway look, and her expression softened. “It’s a story about how strength of spirit can save you, even if it feels like everyone and everything has turned against you.”

Dr. Averton continued, “And then Hades plucked out Helios’s eyes so he could not see to fly and cut his wings off his back so that he could not escape hell,” Dr. Averton continued, unaware of their presence.

Hicks leaned down to whisper in Whitney’s ear, “That does not sound like something any child needs to hear.”

“Yes, it is, when that child is constantly put down and ignored by the people she loves.”

There was a hint of sadness in her voice, and it struck Hicks that he knew nothing of Whitney’s past. From what she’d said, her childhood might not have all been pigtails and ponies. Maybe that explained why Whitney and Melissa were so different. Had something happened to Whitney? The thought cast a dark shadow over his soul. He could picture a miniature version of her with long, curling, dark brown hair and huge sapphire eyes filled with the trust and hope of childhood. The thought of someone she loved destroying that hope made his hands curl into fists at his sides.

“What happened to you?”

“Not any one thing in particular,” she said softly, though bittersweet disappointment lurked in her gaze. “And it’s not anything worth talking about now. Melissa’s reading him that story because she thinks he can hear her. It’s her way of helping him get past his struggles, of encouraging him to fight his way back to the light. She’s over halfway through the book now, so I’m guessing this isn’t her first night with him.”

“She’s determined to save us all,” he said on a whisper.

As if sensing their presence, Dr. Averton turned and looked straight at him, gave him the smallest nod and then returned to her story. He felt like he was intruding on a private moment, so he grabbed the doorknob and eased it shut.

Hicks had been living a few doors down the hall this whole time, completely unaware of Dr. Averton’s visits to Quantum. He thought of all those times he’d been outside his teammate’s door, too scared to enter and face his own demons. That slip of a woman had been in there every night, caring for Quantum, coaxing him from his nightmares. He was a coward. “I’ve been avoiding him. I’ve been too scared to see exactly what could happen to any one of us. He had no choice in the matter. No control.”

Whitney’s arms snaked around his waist. She tucked her head right on top of his heart. “It’s okay. He’s still here, which means you’ve got time to make it right.”

He dropped his cheek to the top of her head, drawing strength from her. “He must think we’ve abandoned him.”

“A man with no one would’ve given up long ago. He knows you’re here and he knows how you feel. He’s fighting to get back to you and your team. Don’t give up.”

She was right. If Quantum were lucid, he’d tell him to get bent and stop being such soft asses. They’d been together so long now they weren’t just teammates, they were brothers. They never sat around and shared their darkest secrets, but every single man on his team would give up his life for the others, and each one of them had come close. That type of bond surpassed small talk. The bonds forged in battle were unbreakable. “I love you.”

She leaned back and tilted her head up, her lips parted. “What did you say?”

Had he really said that out loud? The thought had appeared out of nowhere, but the moment the words left his mouth he knew them to be true. “I love you.”

“Hicks, I don’t—”

He put a finger to her lips, stopping her before she could speak. “It’s okay, I don’t expect you to understand yet, but maybe one day you will.”

Whitney’s lips turned down and she snatched his hand from her mouth. “As I was saying before you so rudely interrupted me, I don’t totally understand it, but I’d swear we’re connected somehow. Like we were meant to be together. I love you too.”

Pleasure flooded his entire body. He groaned and scooped her up in his arms, squeezing her as hard as he could without hurting her. He didn’t understand any of this either, and he probably never would, but Whitney was a gift and he intended to treasure her.

“Come on. Let’s brief the team so I can get you back in my bed.” The moment the door to the lab slid open, Hicks knew something was wrong. A blast of emotions hit him square in the chest: worry, anger, fear. “Something’s wrong.”

Nausea rolled around in the empty pit of his stomach as he grabbed Whitney’s hand and raced down the staircase. He didn’t sense an outside threat of violence, this was worse.

Much worse.

“What’s wrong?” she asked breathlessly as she followed alongside him. Hicks unlocked the door at the bottom of the staircase and burst inside. Everything looked normal, just as it always had, but it didn’t feel right. “I don’t know. It feels like—like someone is dying.”

Picking up the pace to a near run, he passed by lab after empty lab, sweat popping out on his temples. He neared the end and the nausea caused his stomach to heave. Hicks stumbled and slapped a palm against the wall, catching himself before his knees gave out. Icy panic rolled down his spine and robbed him of his breath.

“Hicks! What’s wrong?!” He barely felt Whitney’s arm wrap around his waist. His vision tunneled and the familiar tendrils of a migraine started to wrap around from the base of the skull.

He tried to answer her, but his tongue was thick in his mouth and it wouldn’t work. He staggered, driven forward by the driving need to see what was in the doorway ahead.

Each step felt like he was wading through lead-lined concrete.

A swarm of insects seemed to be buzzing, screeching, and wailing in his head, sending forth wave after wave of sharp pain. Hicks stumbled through the door, landing on his hands and knees inside the main lab. A high-pitched screech emanated from somewhere in the room. A memory careened into him and he gagged. It was the same screech from the lab in the jungle when they’d lost it and murdered all those scientists.

When they’d lost control.

The rest of his team seemed to be in the same condition, only worse. King and Juarez and Diggs lay sprawled on the floor, hands gripping their temples and teeth gritted shut.

Hicks fought the fog, lifting his head through the agony to see Reaper on his knees and Caroline laid out beside him, flat on her back on the floor. “Please baby, please wake up. You can’t leave me now.”

A fresh blast of fear slammed into him and Hicks dropped to his elbows, his head rolling uselessly on the floor.

“Stop,” he grasped out reaching a hand toward his teammate.

He felt Whitney’s cold touch on his face. “Hicks, what do I do?”

The roaring reached a crescendo in Hicks’s head and he couldn’t think enough to form the words tumbling about in his mind. The high-pitched sound blasted through him like a nail-coated grenade, taking his team down with him.

Hicks barely registered the low, long moan that seemed to fill the room, dimly aware it was the keening wail of the grieving man. “Caroline!” Reaper bellowed.

Hicks was scarcely aware of Whitney leaning in close and whispering, “I’m getting Melissa. Hang on.”

Hicks didn’t know how long he lay there on the floor, curled up in a tight ball of pain, but the blood pulsing in his ears eventually quieted enough that he heard the distinct sound of Reaper’s whimpering. Something was terribly, terribly wrong.

What had happened to Caroline? Did the screech affect her too? He couldn’t think – the alarm was like a sonic boom, pulsing throughout the lab and pinning him down to the floor. He’d never felt such physical pain before, but the worst part was the terror blooming inside his chest, which had him paralyzed and twitching on the floor.

“Caroline!” Reaper bellowed.

Hicks sensed Reaper’s absolute despair through the fog of pain and started to drag himself across the floor, inch by agonizing inch. When he was close enough to reach a hand overhead and touch Reaper, he collapsed, using the last bit of his strength to grab his teammate’s ankle. “I’m here.”

But Reaper didn’t hear him or even acknowledge his presence. And the beginnings of hopelessness bloomed inside Hicks—a hopelessness that was not his own.

“Caroline,” Reaper’s voice was ragged and broken.

Suddenly there were pounding footsteps in the room and Hicks felt Whitney’s hands stroking his cheeks, over and over. “Hicks, hold on. Melissa’s here.”

And then he heard Melissa’s stern voice, “Reaper, move. I need to check her.”

Hicks managed to rasp out. “The sound. Make it stop.”

Melissa stopped running and looked around the room “Hicks, I can’t hear any sound. Can you tell where it’s coming from?”

He used all his strength to point toward the back corner.

Melissa took off. “Whitney, grab that red stick from the counter. Hurry!”

There was the sound of metallic objects moving and clothes scraping as people moved about the room. And then Whitney’s sweet voice, “This?”

“Hand it to me.” Melissa grabbed the wand and swept the back wall. Its beep was barely audible over the shrill screeching. “Here. The digital recorder. It’s on!”

“Melissa, what’s on? I don’t hear anything,” Whitney wailed.

Whitney yanked a small tablet from the table and hit the screen. The wailing stopped instantly and Hicks let his head drop.

Melissa ran to Caroline. “Whitney, I need your help now. Go get that bottle and syringe out of the cabinet on the back wall.”

Whitney hurried to follow her sister’s directions, bringing the syringe to Melissa. “She’s not breathing. Stand back.”

Hicks heard a loud beep and then a thunk. If he could open his eyes, he was sure he would’ve seen Caroline flop on the floor as Melissa tried to shock her back to life. Reaper moaned and Hicks’s gut tightened.

“Clear.” Buzz. Thunk.

“Whitney, pinch her nose and open her mouth. Two breaths for every ten compressions. Ready?”

Hicks could sense Whitney’s anxiety.

“Caroline, don’t die. Dammit, you’re not allowed to die!” Melissa pumped her chest furiously. If Caroline died, they were all dead. Hicks already felt like his brain was going to implode. Whitney breathed into Caroline’s mouth once. Twice. There was a cough and then the sweet glorious sound of Caroline dragging air into her lungs.

“Caroline, can you hear me?” Melissa said.

The dark cloud surrounding Hicks eased enough for him to crack open his eyes, though he could barely get a toehold on reality through the pain and discomfort.

Reaper was still on the floor, clutching Caroline’s hand. Caroline’s chest rose and fell in short shallow movements. Melissa pulled open each one of her eyes, shining a small pen flashlight in her pupils. “Caroline, can you hear me?”

“What happened?” Caroline blinked, and through Reaper, Hicks sensed her squeezing his hand.

With a groan, Reaper shoved the Avertons aside and gathered Caroline into his arms. Bowing her over on his knees, he rocked her back and forth, moaning against her neck, “Thank God. Thank God.”

Whitney scrambled over to Hicks and pushed his sweat-dampened hair back from his forehead. “Hicks, are you okay?”

He managed a shaky nod, feeling as if he’d just raced across the entire Earth and back again. It took all of his energy to keep his eyes open and focused on Whitney.

He already knew he loved her, but now he knew what it would be like to lose her. Like a yawning bottomless hole inside of him, as if someone had ripped out his heart and his lungs and shoved his chest cavity full of cold nothingness. He’d felt like he would never see the sunshine again or feel the summer wind on his cheeks.

Hicks dragged her to him on the floor, locking her as tight as he could against his chest. He needed to feel her heart beating. Needed reassurance that she was alive and well. “I love you.”

Any hesitation he’d felt earlier about saying those words was gone. She belonged to him and he knew without a shadow of a doubt he’d give up his life to save her.

“Hicks, I can’t breathe,” she said.

He loosened his hold, allowing her wiggle room but not enough to get away. He still wasn’t strong enough to stand on his own and he couldn’t stand the thought of not touching her. “Caroline?”

“She’s okay. Melissa is checking her. Honestly, I think she’s doing better than her man.”

Hicks turned his head to see Reaper still clutching Caroline, tears streaming down his harsh cheeks. “What happened?” he asked her, his voice rough. “You were fine and then you just, you just weren’t.”

Melissa put a cuff around Caroline’s arm and checked her blood pressure and listened to her pulse. Caroline smiled faintly and said in a very soft voice, “I don’t know, I don’t remember anything. But I’m guessing from how you all look that it was pretty bad.”

Hicks felt his strength return. Diggs moaned and cradled his head while King had managed to get on all fours.

“You guys okay?” he said.

“What the fuck was that?” Juarez panted.

Diggs moaned and rolled onto his side. “I don’t know, but I think my ears are bleeding.”

Melissa finished checking Caroline and sat back on her haunches, looking strangely out of place in her pajamas. “Caroline, I need to run some tests on you. I’d like to keep you down here overnight. Reaper can help you into the room in the back.”

Caroline had been receiving the same injections as Hicks and his team. After being held against her will by General Rainier and used as part of the experiment, she’d been subjected to a punishing round of injections and withdrawals. It was a miracle she was still alive.

“I’m not leaving her down here,” Reaper said.

“I don’t expect you to leave her.” Melissa got to her feet. “I know you’ll monitor her better than any of my equipment can. Why don’t you go get her settled so I can check the rest of your team? I’ll come in and check you when I’m done.”

Even though Hicks knew how difficult it must be for Reaper to move, somehow his team leader managed to stand and gather Caroline in his arms. He moved slowly through the back of the lab and into the room they’d set up with a hospital bed and monitors.

Whitney stroked his face again and he turned his attention back to her. “Do you think you had a seizure or something? Melissa, come check on Hicks. He’s all pale and sweaty, and his pupils are dilated.”

Melissa knelt at his side, her stethoscope warm against his chest. She checked him over, pursing her lips. He could see the wheels turning in her mind. She wasn’t sure what had happened either. “I don’t know how it got turned on, but I intend to figure it out. That recorder holds all the audio from the night –” she stumbled over the words – “the night your team was forced to commit murder.”

Hicks closed his eyes and focused on the blood pulsing through his muscles, willing all of the fatigued tissue to heal. After a few seconds, he was able to prop himself up on his elbows. “It was Rainier.”

Melissa and Whitney both froze. Whitney said, “Impossible.”

Hicks shook his head, fighting through the pulsing and buzzing that was slowly subsiding. “What other explanation is there?”

Melissa reeled back in shock. “He can’t. This place is clean. We left no ties to the outside. None.”

“There is now,” Hicks said quietly and squeezed Whitney’s hand. “He could have found us through her somehow. I went out in public. He has spies everywhere. What if that device has some kind of remote trigger? He wouldn’t even have to pin point our location to activate it.”

They were vulnerable. Much more so than he’d thought before.

“Hicks, if that’s true, there isn’t anywhere you or your team can escape. Not until we figure out how to change you back to normal,” Melissa said.

Altered. It was a bitter reminder of what they were now. Not human, not soldiers. They were altered. He’d never be normal again. He could never give Whitney a normal life. She deserved so much more than he could give her. All he could offer was a hidden life secluded from the rest of the world, one where they both would have to be constantly on the lookout for some type of brain fritz or seizure. Worse, what if he was forced to hurt Whitney?

“After all of this is over, we need to find you somewhere safe,” he said to her softly. “You can’t stay here for much longer. Not until we know more about our condition and how Rainier is controlling us.” Those were some of the hardest words he’d ever spoken, but by God he’d rather live without her than put her in danger.

“Like hell I will, I’m not leaving you.” Some of the fire had returned to her eyes and Whitney crossed her arms and glared. “You think I’m scared of a little science experiment? Do you know who I grew up with?”

“I don’t care if you grew up with Einstein, you don’t know what we’re capable of. Hell, we don’t know what we’re capable of. It’s too much of a risk,” Hicks said. Didn’t she see what had just happened? The lot of them had nearly all stroked out.

Whitney shook her head, scooting closer to him. “I don’t care if I have to handcuff myself to you, I’m not leaving and you can’t make me.”

The thought of Whitney with a pair of handcuffs gave him a small and unexpected choke of amusement and arousal. “So, you’ve got handcuffs too?”

Her deep blue eyes softened and her sexy lips curled into a faint smile, smoldering enough to singe the edges of his soul. “Reinforced steel.”

“I don’t want to know.” Melissa rolled her eyes and padded across the room, unlocking the small refrigerator where she safeguarded the serum they needed to survive. She returned a moment later, knelt beside Hicks’s arm and then gave him the injection he needed.

He felt his body and mind healing within seconds, the strength that surged through him so powerful he shook. Hicks got to his feet and pulled Whitney to hers.

“Is that the stuff that makes you really strong?”

“So, your sister told you about us?” Hicks countered pensively.

Whitney nodded her head yes. “And I think it’s kind of cool, not weird. So don’t start thinking you need to tell me to leave for my own good.”

A blast of protectiveness careened through him. “Woman, if it means keeping you alive, I’ll lock you up as far from me as possible.”

“I’d like to see you try.” She closed the gap between them, her full breasts pressed against his chest. Desire fanned the heat inside him and it was all he could do not to throw her over his shoulder and haul her up to his bed.

“Ouch,” Diggs said.

Melissa had just plunged a fresh needle into his arm, injecting him as well. “You’ve had hundreds of these. Stop whining.”

She withdrew it, and Diggs covered his arm, practically pouting. “I’ll be ready for the day when we don’t have to get these anymore.”

King had somehow managed to climb up onto a nearby chair, the only team member besides Reaper to have gotten to his feet after the…incident without the help of an injection. “If you don’t shut up, I’ll be the one to give you your next dose, and you won’t like the way I do it.”

Melissa tended to Juarez and King next. They’d be back at a hundred percent soon. Most of them would, anyway. Why didn’t the serum help Quantum like it did everyone else? And Caroline? She was steadily going downhill.

Hicks met King’s impossibly black gaze and they shared a current of understanding. Every man in here was wondering the same thing. Was it only a matter of time before they all regressed into helpless vegetables?

A deep red light blinked on and off overhead and Hicks’s heart stopped. “They’re here.”

The red light was the alarm for the outer perimeter. Someone had managed to breach the perimeter wall.

“They, who?” King said quietly.

“Is this because of Whitney?” Melissa said sharply.

“I’ll fill you in on the full story later. What you need to know now is that a very powerful man is sending professional hit teams after Whitney. He’s the one who sent the assassins from this morning, and it looks like another crew tracked her here.”

By now Diggs, Juarez and King were all standing. The effects of the serum were fast and blunt— although it hadn’t fully kicked in yet, they’d be able to operate effectively as a team. “Whitney, I need you to stay here and help your sister.”

She shook her head. “No, you’re not going out there. Didn’t you see what those men were like in the garage?”

A surge of amusement shook through Hicks. If he hadn’t had to worry about Whitney’s safety last time, he could’ve taken out that entire three-man team in half the time. Without even breaking a sweat. “Baby, it’s not me you have to worry about.”

Diggs cracked his knuckles and a look of excitement lifted his features. “About time we got some action.” All of them were feeling the drag of their daily routine.

“No,” Melissa interjected, “it’s not safe. You’re not ready. We don’t know what just happened. What if it happens again while you’re under attack?”

“This is the perfect opportunity for us to test the waters,” Hicks said. “We’re in our own controlled environment, we know the lay of this compound better than any GPS could track it and we can see them coming.”

A cold, hard rage was forming in Hicks’s chest and he embraced it. These men were coming to kill his woman, but they’d walked into their own deaths. He didn’t care what he had to do, he’d crush them, one by one, until any remaining threat to her was demolished.

“Let’s get to the war room. We can gear up and track them on the monitors.” King crossed to the door, and Diggs and Juarez followed. They lingered there, waiting for him. Melissa had that disapproving look, like a mother hen hovering about her flock.

Hicks pressed a soft kiss to Whitney’s lips. “Promise me you’ll stay here. I’ll be able to work better if I know you’re safe and out of harm’s way.”

“Okay, but please be careful. I…I can’t stand the thought of you getting hurt.”

“Like I said, it’s not me you have to worry about.” Hicks released her, forcing his mind to focus on the oncoming battle.

Melissa finally uncrossed her arms and blew a piece of dark hair, nearly the same shade as Whitney’s, out of her face. “Fine, if you guys are determined to go through with this, I need to give you something else.” She made her way to another cabinet and extracted what looked like an oversized silver barrel with a trigger at the back. On the opposite end was a clear tool with what looked like a tiny silver dial inside. “I’ve been developing these biological trackers. They’ll help me determine exactly what’s going on inside your body in the heat of battle. If something bad happens, I’ll be able to time it down to the very last nanosecond and determine what triggered that event.”

She approached Hicks with the gun, and despite everything Melissa had done to help them and save their lives, he couldn’t help but be wary. Whitney stepped in front of him, blocking her sister from his path. “He doesn’t want it.”

Melissa pulled up short, looking at her sister in shock. “He may not want it, but he needs it. Each and every one of them do.”

Whitney glanced back at him, asking him without words what he thought. And he thought she was the sexiest creature alive. “Damn, I like it when you get all protective.”

She rewarded him with a saucy grin. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”

“Would you two get a room already? Listen, there’s no time to argue, would you just trust me?” Melissa said.

Of all the people in his world, Dr. Averton was the only one who had never given him a reason to distrust her. Hicks extended an arm. “Fine, do it in a hurry.”

Melissa grabbed his wrist, pressed the cold barrel against his flesh and squeezed the trigger. There was a brief flash of pain and then nothing. There wasn’t even an injection mark.

“I need to inject each of you. You each react differently.” Melissa moved closer to the door and the men who were still standing there. Without question, they each extended an arm. When they were done, King pulled open the door and said, “You ready?”

Hicks gave Whitney a squeeze and joined his team. “More than you know.”