Operation Middle of the Garden 02 - Of the Knowledge of Good and Evil Read online

  Their censure didn’t even blip on her radar. It was something she’d lived with her entire life, and it wasn’t going to start bothering her now, especially when she had to get the hell out of here as soon as possible.

  She turned and sprinted down the hallway, but only made it a few meters before she heard more footsteps charging her way. She sighed and waited for the onslaught. She’d just get through them as quickly as she could.

  I’m coming, she mentally whispered across the miles that separated them. I’m coming for you, baby.

  • • •

  They were taking too long to get him out of here. Jericho paced the confines of his room for what felt like years before walking briskly to the far side of his room and charging the door. The boom that echoed through the room as the side of Jericho’s body made contact with the door brought back the memory of the booms he’d heard just before she had appeared.

  He dimly realized she must have broken out of a locked room similar to his. Was she another test subject?

  The door flew from its hinges and across the hallway to strike the opposing wall with a clatter. Jericho spared just a brief glance at its twisted corpse before moving down the hall at a run. He passed several people but barely noticed their presence as he searched frantically for his Impulse mate.

  Apparently, leaving his room after months of self-imposed imprisonment was a phenomenon worth noting. Those he passed stopped in their tracks and watched him with slack mouths. Jericho didn’t pause in his search to address their silent questions.

  He had to find her. Even though his instinct told him she was no longer in the building, he couldn’t stem the instinctive need to search her out and confirm she wasn’t here.

  A hand fisted in the back of his shirt and pulled him to a halt. Jericho spun around without thinking and only just prevented himself from decking the now-shocked face of his best friend, Eli.

  “Whoa, man,” Eli said in a low voice. “Take a breath. Everything’s okay.”

  Jericho realized his chest was billowing in and out, and he forced himself to at least exude calm.

  Over Eli’s shoulder, Jericho watched as Abilene waddled toward them as fast as she could, her belly swaying back and forth with her movements, her face flushed. As always happened when Jericho clapped eyes on the small blond woman, Jericho’s chest constricted at the sight of her ripe body; everything he’d lost rushing back to the forefront. But it was different this time: the loss of his mate and his unborn child only a sharp sting instead of a devastating assault. Jericho frowned.

  Abilene pushed Eli out of the way. Her eyes crinkled in concern, and she laid a hand on his arm. “What’s wrong, Jericho?” she asked, just as the overwhelming Knowledge that she was good swept through his body — a result of the second fruit he was testing.

  Jericho found that focusing on her words was difficult. His eyes wandered around the hallway, looking once more for the woman he had to see again.

  Abilene crowded his front, her belly bumping him, and snapped her fingers in his face.

  He forced his eyes back to her. “What?” He had to assuage her curiosity so he could get on with finding his woman.

  He shuddered at the thought. Another mate. Never in a million years would he have guessed it was a possibility.

  “Jericho!” He’d wandered again. Abilene was checking his pulse at his wrist, and Eli’s look of shock had morphed into one of worry.

  “What?” Jericho repeated.

  “You’re out of your room,” Abilene said.

  Jericho shook his head. He didn’t have the mental energy to interpret the answer she needed to hear from him to let him go.

  Abilene looked over her shoulder at Eli, who stepped up to help. “Jericho, buddy … you’ve never left your room before.” He glanced down at Abilene, then flicked his glance over the growing crowd clogging the hallway. He leaned toward Jericho and lowered his voice. “And you’re tearing through the halls like a bull in a china shop. We’re … concerned.”

  This was wasting his time. “Where is she?”

  Abilene and Eli looked at each other again. “Dahlia?” Eli asked after a beat.

  Dahlia. Jericho closed his eyes at the sound of her name. It was as beautiful as the woman herself.

  “You’re looking for Dahlia?” Abilene asked, her voice cold. “That’s what this is about?” Her dainty features hardened into a war mask. “What did she do to you? You can tell us. We’ll send her away if we have to.”

  “No!” Jericho exclaimed before he could stop himself.

  Both of them raised their eyebrows. Jericho stepped closer to Eli. “I have to find her.”

  His friend was obviously baffled. “Why?” he asked.

  “She — ” Jericho spread his hands wide. “She triggered the Impulse,” he finished in a whisper.

  Eli’s brows crashed down over his eyes, his mouth formed a grim line. Abilene gasped and covered her mouth with her hand.

  “No,” she said. “Not her. Jericho, she’s a terrible person. You have to be mistaken. You’d never mesh.”

  Eli simply asked, “Are you sure?”

  Jericho thought for a moment. It had been just as it had been with Emily. The Voice whispering The One to him, the immediate feeling of connection, the drive to be with her in every way. Jericho shifted uncomfortably. God, he wasn’t sure he was ready to feel that way about any other woman. But he was sure about one thing. Jericho nodded at Eli. “We Impulse-paired. I’m sure.”

  Eli clapped Jericho’s shoulder. “Okay. Tell me what you need us to do.”

  Jericho blinked. He hadn’t expected cooperation. He looked at the crowd in the hallway and shifted his weight back and forth between his feet several times.

  Eli followed his gaze and groaned. “People, we have work to do. Determine how many were injured and if anyone has an indication of where she was headed.”

  “Injured?” Jericho asked as the onlookers dissipated.

  “Yes, injured,” Abilene said. “Dahlia left a trail of broken men in her wake when she escaped.”

  Jericho bit his bottom lip. That just didn’t seem right. Anger flared. “What did they do to her to make her fight?” he demanded.

  Abilene rolled her eyes, and Eli squeezed her shoulder. “They didn’t do anything,” he said. “That’s just how Dahlia works.”

  Not possible. Jericho knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that he would not be paired with someone he wasn’t compatible with. That’s not how the Impulse worked. He only had to look at how perfect Emily had been for him to see that. Jericho could never love a violent woman; therefore, Dahlia couldn’t be violent. There had to be some variable here that was still unknown. Eli and Abilene’s prejudice against her was tainting their interpretation of the events.

  Sergeant Collins, the co-director of Operation: Middle of the Garden, approached Eli. The older man walked right up to Eli and whispered in his ear, but Jericho was still able to hear every word. “Three men were admitted to the hospital. Four others were treated and released,” Collins said. “It’s bad, Eli. They’re already forming a task force to retrieve her.”

  “That’s not going to happen,” Jericho interjected, jerking several sets of eyes to him. They were not going to run after her half-cocked and angry. “If you need her back, I’ll retrieve her.” That way he could make sure no one else hurt her or scared her into defending herself so vehemently.

  Collins stared at him for several seconds, and then questioned Eli with his eyes.

  “They Impulse-paired,” Eli said.

  Collins sucked in a breath. “Well, hell’s fire.”

  Jericho was starting to get annoyed with the constant dramatic reactions. He may not have been ready for the pairing, but it had happened. Dahlia was his, end of story. He didn’t appreciate hearing her maligned. “Call off your men, Sergeant,” Jericho said. “I don’t want her threatened again. You need her back, I’m volunteering to go get her. There’s nothing to discuss.”

  Abilene sputte
red. “You don’t want her threatened?”

  “Darlin’,” Eli said into Abilene’s hair. She huffed but didn’t say any more.

  Collins continued to measure Jericho with his eyes. After what felt like an eternity, the man clicked his tongue and said, “I can see you’re determined. You can go get her. God knows you’re trained enough to track anything. But I’m telling you, son,” he wagged his finger, “you’re on a schedule. I want to hear from you every six hours, and if you don’t bring her back in two days, I’m sending out reinforcements. She’s way too dangerous to have trolling the streets with civilians.”

  Jericho chose to ignore that last comment as he turned back toward his room. “I’m going to get a pack together. You can debrief me in thirty.” He could feel three pairs of eyes burn his back as he made his exit.

  Chapter Three

  Dahlia gritted her teeth and pulled her “borrowed” hoodie further over her head, curling into herself as the police officers passed her on the sidewalk. She released her breath when they didn’t look at her on their way around the corner.

  Making her escape through the crowded streets of Washington, D.C., was less than ideal. She hadn’t realized how close to civilization the lab was located, and it was damned inconvenient. She was moving way too slowly as she protected herself from being spotted.

  Dahlia dodged wandering tourists while keeping an eye out for security cameras. They were everywhere. She knew how resourceful Major Taylor had been, and he had been flying under the radar of the government when he was testing Eli. The new Operation had complete government backing. They had access to everything, including the feed of any security camera in the country. And probably outside of it, too. Well, at least she wouldn’t have to worry about those. She was headed to California, not London.

  She spotted signs for an Amtrak station, and an idea formed in an instant. If she could get onto the train without getting caught by any security cameras, she had a decent chance of getting to Needles before getting recaptured. No one expected the bad guy to make her getaway on a train anymore, and she wouldn’t have to worry about the hazards attached to stealing a car: Lo-Jack, fuel stops, nosy gas station clerks.

  But a train ticket required money. No reason to risk discovery by hopping a train. Classic mistake. She had to go legit.

  Time to steal some cash.

  Luckily, this was a busy city, which meant a bank on every corner. After scouting the location of surveillance cameras, Dahlia propped herself up against a lamp post and watched the activity in a bank’s lobby from the corner of her eyes. When a man who put a substantial stack of bills in his inside jacket pocket made his way toward the exit, Dahlia straightened, lowered her hood, fluffed her hair, and licked her lips. Show time.

  The man was middle-aged and the best kind of victim: distracted. He was busy texting on a phone, one painfully slow letter at a time, as he came through the double glass doors, so he didn’t see as Dahlia approached. She plowed into him, gasping as though surprised while quickly reaching into his jacket pocket to lift the cash. Then she stumbled back and pretended she was about to fall on her ass.

  The man’s reflexes kicked into gear, and he clasped her by both shoulders. His annoyance at being run into evaporated as his squinted eyes took in her long, wavy hair and exotic features. “Whoa there,” he said with a wink. “Sorry about that.”

  Dahlia gave a breathy giggle. “Oh my goodness, I should watch where I’m going. Thank you so much for catching me.” She even threw in a quick fanning of her face with one slim hand.

  He released her and stepped back. Before he could continue what was sure to be some sort of inane pick-up attempt, Dahlia flashed him one more smile and then dashed off, giving the impression she was in a hurry.

  Which she was. It was only a matter of time before he felt for his money. She didn’t want to be around for that. She hustled around a corner and quickly checked her make. Five hundred dollars.

  Thank God. She wouldn’t have to rob someone else. This was enough for a train ticket. She peeked around the corner once more, saw her victim was nowhere in sight, and continued toward the Amtrak station.

  She paid for a ticket to California and was waiting for the train just a few minutes later. She’d spotted several security cameras, so she was half hidden behind a pillar as she fumed that the train trip was going to take two days.

  Two days! So much could go wrong in that amount of time. She needed to be there yesterday. Or last week. Dahlia sighed. Honestly, she should have been there for the last eight years. She had only herself to blame for this situation. Herself and all of her bad decisions.

  As she was scanning the platform and assuring herself that the train trip was her best bet, she spied a young boy walking up to the edge to look at the rails. Dahlia forced her eyes away and stared blankly at a poster for the National Archives while she tried to swallow around the lump in her throat and ignore the pang in her heart. She only lasted a few heartbeats before her eyes were drawn back to the child, and then she jerked upright.

  The little idiot was leaning far, far over the edge. Obviously, he hadn’t studied gravity yet in school. Dahlia searched for a parent, but it appeared the boy was by himself. She took two quick steps forward before she remembered the security cameras.

  Her eyes flicked to the closest one, and she breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn’t walked into its line of sight. She glared at the boy’s small back, hoping he would feel her stare and turn around.

  He teetered, and Dahlia broke into a dead run. Just before he fell onto the tracks, she grabbed him by the back of his hoodie and jerked him backwards. He fell so hard on his bottom that he skidded a couple of times. Wide brown eyes blinked up at her like an owl, and his thin little-boy lips began to tremble.

  She realized with a start that she was standing directly in the beam of the security camera. She stamped her foot and clucked her tongue as she turned on the boy. “Just what the hell did you think you were doing?”

  • • •

  “A murderer?” Jericho scoffed. “You seriously expect me to believe that?”

  A muscle in Eli’s jaw ticked. “I have personal experience with that fact, so, yes. Dahlia is a murderer.”

  Jericho fell silent. He didn’t know exact details about Eli’s torture, but he knew death had been involved. Repeated death. Because Eli had been a test subject for the fruit from the Tree of Eternal Life, he could never die. That knowledge had been gained by good old-fashioned lab work. Eli had been the lab rat.

  If he said Dahlia was a murderer … “She conducted the experiments?” Jericho whispered, not sure how this conversation would affect Eli, and not sure if he was ready to hear the answer.

  Abilene, Eli, and Sergeant Collins all exchanged a loaded glance. After several moments, Eli finally spoke. “Not personally.”

  A breath of relief. “Then you’ve never witnessed her actually commit a murder.” Eli began to speak again, but Jericho cut him off. “Do you have proof?”

  Abilene tossed her hands in the air. “Jericho, you can’t be serious! She was working with Major Taylor! She personally shoved the fruit down my throat.” When Jericho didn’t say anything, she continued, “After she’d kidnapped me from Sergeant Collins’s home in the dead of night.”

  Jericho nodded. “Yes, those are serious crimes — ” and Jericho knew she would have a good explanation for behaving so poorly, “ — but none of them are murder.”

  Sergeant Collins stepped forward as the tension in the room tripled. “All right, let’s just take a break from this line of discussion. I do have some intel to share with you, Jericho.” The man gestured to the long, mahogany table that dominated the meeting room, and all four of them took a seat while Collins continued. “As soon as Dahlia left the facility, I had a tap into every security camera in a one-hundred-mile radius. We got a hit about thirty minutes ago.” Collins pulled the video feed up on his laptop, and everyone crowded close to watch the grainy footage.

  On
the small screen, Dahlia lunged forward and pulled a small child back from the edge of a train platform. A couple of seconds later, she began what looked to be a pretty heated lecture, and the child burst into tears.

  Jericho gave the others a superior look as he felt an onrush of pride. His mate saving innocent lives.

  Eli’s lips twitched. “She pulled a small kid around by his neck.”

  “Away from the rails,” Jericho pointed out.

  Abilene pointed at the screen. “He’s crying.”

  Jericho slashed his arm through the air, cutting her off, as another woman rushed onto the scene — the boy’s mother — and put her arms around the boy, escorting him off-camera with a vicious, black look over her shoulder at Dahlia, who was surreptitiously glancing at the camera that had caught her heroic action.

  Jericho fought disappointment. “She knows she was caught on camera.” This was going to be a dead end. She wouldn’t do anything he could use to find her if she knew she was being watched.

  “Just wait,” Sergeant Collins said.

  A train pulled up to the platform, and they all watched as Dahlia visibly battled whether or not to board. They collectively sucked in a breath when, just before the doors closed, Dahlia jumped on board.

  “Wow, she must be desperate,” Abilene said.

  Jericho silently agreed. Her choice to take the train had been a sloppy mistake. Whatever was waiting for her on the other end of her trip had to be pretty damn important.

  “I knew it,” Eli whispered and all eyes in the room turned to him. “She’s got a secret. Her choice to take that train, even though she knows she’s been spotted, proves how desperate she is to protect it.” Eli turned to Jericho. Abilene and Sergeant Collins followed suit, and Jericho tilted his head, bracing himself for what was about to come. “Finding out what it is needs to be your main objective, Jericho.”

  A secret? Jericho knew instinctually that Eli was right, but what he was being asked to do — find it out and report it back …