Hunting the Shadows Read online

  He nodded. “Want to see where J.C. works?”

  He grabbed her hand, dragging her forward through the narrowed space. It wasn’t until they neared that she heard the voices.

  “She’s not progressing fast enough. What are we going to do about that?” Broderick’s voice was low and impatient. “Her track record isn’t impressive. I want that remedied. We both know that those who are useless have no place here at the Centre.”

  Gripping the air vent, she lifted herself up, fingers curled in the metal.

  She found J.C. over by his desk, looking anything but happy as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Your definition of progress and mine seem to be different. Her abilities are getting stronger every day. She’s demonstrated a high level of—”

  “I want those abilities documented.” Broderick shrugged off the rest of J.C.’s words. “What are the risks of her mental state shattering?”

  “Anything is a possibility. She may never be stable.”

  He thought she was broken? Amy glanced at Drake, lifting her fingers to her lips to ensure his silence. Looking back up, she noticed Broderick had moved closer, giving her a better view of him.

  “If she’s too fragile, you do know that you’re going to have to get as much information about how her mind works before it breaks, right?”

  J.C. drew in a sharp breath. “She would never survive the procedure.”

  “Most don’t.”

  “She’s getting stronger. A bit of training and I believe she’ll be able to build her own shields without aid.”

  Broderick glanced down at some tests. “Make sure you know what you’re doing, J.C. I won’t have a crippled psychic blemishing everything I’ve accomplished. You marked her yourself all those years ago. You were the one who recommended that she not be allowed to leave isolation.”

  Shock ran like ice through her veins, the sound of surprise catching in her throat. J.C.? He was the one who’d locked her up? He marked her? Betrayal made it near impossible to breathe.

  “As you said yourself earlier, she’s a lab rat,” J.C. said tightly. “She offered me a chance to help her catch the killer and I couldn’t pass that opportunity up. If I can train her into the weapon you want her to be, it’s only an advantage. I just need more time.”

  Bastard. He’d imprisoned her, ensuring there’d been no way for her to have a semblance of a real life. And more than that, he only helped her so that he could use her.

  J.C.’s eyes jerked to the vent, pinning hers as though he’d heard her and she stumbled away in a blind rush.

  “Get me out of here, Drake,” she whispered, blinking back the sting of tears. “I need to leave.”

  * * *

  Amy thought that by the time J.C. got to his room, she’d be packed and out of his life. She didn’t know where she’d go, but she didn’t care. She wouldn’t give them the chance to send her back to her prison. It came down to that. She would never let them take her back into that room. Not when she would know every day for the rest of her life what she was missing.

  When J.C. charged into the room not ten minutes later, she thought she could hold her ground. The moment she got a glimpse of his eyes, however, she knew she was wrong.

  “What were you doing in the walls?”

  There was something in his stance, in the way he held himself still that got her back up. She lifted her chin, bracing her shoulders as she straightened. “You used me.” The words were hard, colder than she thought they’d be. “I’m nothing more than an experiment to you.” She jabbed a finger into his shoulder and when his brows knitted down, she did it again.

  Who cared if she was in the walls? As far as she was concerned, her eavesdropping was the least of their worries. He wasn’t going to lay the blame on her. She was many things, but she wasn’t a coward and she wasn’t going to let someone else hurt her. Not anymore.

  “We’ll get to that.” He shut the door with his foot, closing the last chance she had to run. “What if Dare or one of the other Enforcers had come across you in there? It’s not safe, Amy. I know you’re new to the outside, but you can’t go around where it’s dangerous.”

  She didn’t want to hear his lecture. She was so angry that she had to stop herself from reacting for fear of what she might do to him. If he knew what was good for him, he’d shut up and let her go.

  “You’re not going to turn this around on me. I’m not going to forget. You marked me, J.C.” She didn’t realize that she’d moved, not until her palm made contact with his face. Shocked, staring at that red mark with disgust, she trembled with rage. “You took my life away.”

  He just stood there. Lifting his hand, he touched the spot she’d hit. “I deserved that. You’re right.”

  She swallowed back the tears and turned her back to him. “I want to leave.”

  J.C. reached for her bag at the same time as she did, tossing it aside before she could grab it. “Do you really think they’ll let you leave? Do you really think that you’ll escape? The Council will hunt you down and bring you back. For what? You’ll end up on the other end of that knife you fear so much. Broderick has already ordered me to perform the procedure. Your leaving will seal that fate.”

  “I can do whatever I put my mind to. If I want to leave, no one will stop me.” She glared at him. It took everything in her not to delve into her powers and use them on him. Something dark whispered to her, a little voice that said to show him what she was capable of doing. “You told them to keep me in isolation.”

  “Amy,” he pushed his hands into his hair, “if there was anything I could do, I’d change that. I was stupid and I made a lot of mistakes.”

  She refused to be swayed. This was her life, not his.

  “Rick wanted a consult. You were in coma, but that day you woke up. I was asked to help. You lost control of your abilities and it frightened me.”

  “You didn’t think I was stable so you told them I needed to be locked up.”

  He sighed and moved away. “It’s a bit more than that. At the time, I was in the middle of creating the wrist band you’re wearing today. Rick wanted me to fit you with one. He wanted to get you out for training exercises and I told him no.”

  “Just like that? One incident and you were willing to ruin my life? Even Rick came back for future consultations before making final decisions.”

  “Yeah, and he also has no regard for your safety or your health.”

  She was past angry. She could barely look at him right now. “That’s not the point. He came back.”

  Something passed through his eyes, a look she couldn’t read. “I wasn’t allowed to, Amy. Your case file wasn’t in my jurisdiction.”

  “You didn’t try.”

  “No,” he agreed. “I didn’t. I was an idiot. I thought I was ready to make the important decisions about what happened to others and not care. Yes, I didn’t go back, but I never forgot about that day, or what happened.”

  “How can you try and justif—”

  “Amy.” J.C. leaned forward, catching her face between his hands. His gaze caught hers, drawing her deeper. “Go into my memories.”

  “You don’t like it when I’m in your head. I might be the spy,” she snapped. She had trusted him. With Rick and Dare, she knew not to. They never kept their word. But she’d thought J.C. was different. Now, to find out that he’d been using her…it was a stab in the back.

  He sighed heavily, lowering his forehead to hers. “I was wrong. I’m sorry. I don’t think you’re a spy and I should never have black marked you.”

  “You called me a lab rat.” She shoved against his chest. “You told Broderick that you were using me.”

  “I lied. Sweetheart, it was for Broderick’s benefit. He’s pushing for results so I had to tell him something to give us more time. If I don’t put up the necessary fr
ont, he’s going to take you away. I won’t hand you back to Rick.”

  Because he wanted to inflict the pain himself? “Why not?”

  “I can’t.” His voice hardened, his jaw tightening.

  Pain stabbed across her forehead. When she stumbled and he reached out for her, she stepped away, using the desk as support instead.

  He frowned. “I would never hurt you. Don’t you know that?”

  “I thought I did.”

  Catching her hands, he brought them up to his mouth, pressing his lips to the pulse at her wrist. “I’ll do whatever I need to protect you. Whatever it takes. You don’t know how sorry I am that you heard me, but I didn’t mean any of it. I care about you and I’m not supposed to.”

  “What about the next time? What happens when Broderick tells you to take Testing to the next level? Like you said, Broderick has already ordered you figure out how my brain works through whatever means possible.”

  “I’m not Rick. He may do whatever his father wants. I don’t,” he said. Those hands slid up her arms then down again, his fingers tightening around hers before he let go. “Okay?” His thumb rubbed along her jaw, down over her lip.

  “No, it’s not okay. My head is spinning right now. You were the one person I never expected to betray me. All my life I’ve been used like some toy. The moment I’m not wanted, I’m shut away.” Her heart hurt as she pulled in a deep, gasping breath. Lifting her shaking hand, she pressed it to her chest. “I wanted to believe you were different, but you’re like every other scientist who wants something.”

  “Don’t ever think that. Go into my memories, Amy. I’m not lying to you.”

  She didn’t know what to expect when she slid into his head. The memory in question was of a nineteen year old with the first taste of power and a need to prove himself. A young man with insecurities about what he was doing and an intense fear that he was going to mess up. Although he’d been working in the lab all his life, he’d never been in control of one and making the tough decisions.

  On his first day he was called to the psych ward to fit a patient with a trial band. The ward was in chaos and in high alert. He’d come into the room, nearly tripping over one body, in time to watch a second doctor who was trying to restrain her younger self fall to the floor, bleeding from his eyes and nose.

  She looked feral. When her eyes had locked on his, he prayed she wouldn’t kill him. Instead, when he felt the tearing through his mind, it simply knocked him unconscious.

  When he woke later, he would tell Broderick she was a high risk.

  Amy pulled free from J.C.’s mind, dragging in a ragged breath as she tried to calm her system. His fear when she’d attacked him was more than she could deal with. It stripped her of her anger, leaving her feeling hollow and numb.

  “I’m sorry.” His hands slid down her arms. “If you want me to move you elsewhere, I will, but you can’t leave the Centre. You can stay with Ajay, but until we capture whoever is killing the agents, I can’t let you be alone.”

  Her world turned upside down. She didn’t know what to think anymore. “And what happens after we catch the killer? What then?”

  “What do you mean, what then?”

  She pulled her hand free of his. With a wide gesture, she turned. “Are you planning on sending me back to the psych ward? Are you planning on dumping me in some small room and never thinking twice about me again?”

  “Of course n—”

  “Because you’ve done it once already. I was alone without even a friend to talk to. If you’re going to do it again, I’d rather you tell me now. It’d be cruel to let me out now, just to shove me back in that room.” She blew out a breath of frustration. “I’m not going to let you break me. You can take everything from me, you can lock me away from all human contact, but you’ll never—”

  He pulled her against him and before she could finish, his mouth slid along hers and silenced her. She had no defense against his kiss and could only hold on, wrapping her arms around his neck for balance.

  He broke the kiss. “I’m a lot of things, a bastard being one of them for hurting you, but I’d never do that.” His gaze never left hers, giving her a look at the vulnerability in his words.

  “You can’t tel—”

  He pressed his mouth to hers again, forcing any argument she had back down her throat. “Never.” His lips trailed over her jaw. “I promise, you’ll never go back in that room again.”

  She opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, someone pounded on the door. They jumped apart and she stumbled back as J.C. stepped toward the door. He opened it a crack to let Darilynn inside.

  “There was blood in a crack on the locket. It isn’t Teresa’s. It has to be our unsub’s.” Her cheeks were pink, her breaths coming in quick puffs. She’d apparently run all the way to his quarters. “We’re running the sample through the system against everyone at the Centre. If he’s in there, we’ll have him.”

  Time was running out for the Psychic Vampire.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “What do you mean the unsub’s DNA is Stefan’s?” J.C. swung around, snatching the paper from the printer. He stared at the amplified DNA sequences of both the unsub’s and of Stefan’s, focusing on the identical fragments of bands.

  It was Stefan’s blood in Teresa’s locket. There was no doubt about it, but the confirmation made little sense to him. Was it really possible that Stefan had attacked Teresa?

  When Rick made a sound, J.C. glared and stalked toward the computer to go through the alibi checks Darilynn had run on everyone who had constant contact with the children.

  Stefan taught ages six to ten. He would have been one of the first individuals Darilynn would have checked, and yet, the file was missing.

  “There has to be a mistake. There’s no way my brother murdered those agents. He has his issues but he doesn’t have the balls to kill someone. We both know that.”

  J.C. didn’t listen. He was tired of dealing with all three Gurvitch men and as far as he was concerned, Rick needed to stay as far away as possible. After everything Rick had put Amy through, he was lucky J.C. hadn’t killed him already.

  “Would you shut up? I need to think.” And he couldn’t do it with Rick going on about Stefan’s innocence. It was only going to piss him off more.

  Blood itself wasn’t enough to charge someone with murder, but it made Stefan a suspect. “He had access to the children,” he murmured, dragging a hand across his face.

  “There had to have been contamination. My brother—”

  J.C. shot a hard glare over at Rick. “Your brother is a possible murderer and up until now, we had nothing. He got sloppy this time.”

  “I can’t believe you think that Stefan could murder our friends.” Rick said with disbelief. “You’re letting Amy lead you around by your cock. She’s delusional. She can’t distinguish between reality and her nightmares. Hell, I bet she told you Stefan—”

  J.C. snarled, shoving Rick so hard that he slammed into the counter. Jars and equipment rattled. “What did I tell you about Amy? I’m not warning you again.”

  He would deal with Rick later, but first, he had to find Stefan. The son of a bitch killed Leila and the others.

  Dropping his hand to his holster, J.C. bolted from the lab. He ran because instinct dictated it, because every second he waited was another moment Stefan had free. The world jerked all around him, blurring as he pushed his body against a hall door and took to the stairs. His breathing sawed in and out of his lungs, his mind filling with unwanted memories and fragments of conversations from the past. They hadn’t always had bad times. There were good memories buried, like the time he and Stefan had snuck into the Council room to steal the blueprints of the Centre or had spent an entire month in the wilderness of the mountains with nothing but what they had in a backpack.r />
  What had turned Stefan into a killer?

  In another twist of fate, it could have been any one of the other agents. The Centre knew how to create monsters.

  Stefan’s door was wide open and he got a sinking feeling deep in the pit of his stomach. He shoved himself back against the wall, holding his breath. J.C. drew out his gun.

  “It’s over, St—” He barged into the room, only to find Mackenzie standing by the window. “Damn it, Mackenzie, what are you doing here?”

  She turned to face him, her eyes dark and guarded. “I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”

  “It’s entirely my business, Doctor.” Holstering the gun, J.C. shifted his gaze around the small open space of the sitting area then to Stefan’s bedroom. “Where is he?”

  “How should I know?”

  He blew out a breath of exasperation. When it came to protecting Stefan, Mackenzie knew how to piss him off. There was nothing she wouldn’t do for Stefan and that worried him. She didn’t care if J.C. was trying to look out for her. “You can cooperate or you’ll be held accountable. Don’t push me, Mackenzie. Where is he?”

  “I don’t know. Like I said, he’s not here.” She glanced over his shoulder, lifting her gaze toward the door. J.C. turned as Rick arrived with a forensic team. They moved inside, efficient as they began picking apart the living quarters. “What’s going on?”

  “Stefan’s a suspect. His blood was found on Teresa’s locket. Do you know how it could have got there?”

  “You’re wrong.” Mackenzie insisted, but all color had seeped out of her. Her eyes went wild, her throat muscles moving up and down as she swallowed apprehensively. “You can’t go in there.” She stepped into the doorway of the bedroom to block it, sneering as one of the men pushed past her anyway. “This is invasion of privacy. Stefan’s not going to like it when he finds out you were in his room.”

  J.C. gripped her arm and pulled her away from the door. Under his hand, her skin felt clammy, every muscle in her body tense. “Let them do their job.” He knew the woman wanted to believe that Stefan was innocent but she was going to get herself into trouble if she didn’t watch her actions. “What do you know?”