Decoded Page 16

  That she lingered surprised him. There was just one answer he would like to have before he finished this. He might as well ask. “Was there ever a moment that you genuinely loved any of us? Felt guilt for what you’d done?”

  She moved her head side to side, disdain in her eyes. “You’ve lost your edge. You wouldn’t last long out there like this.”

  Maybe, maybe not. But she wasn’t going to last the next few minutes.

  “We should move on to the termination room.” She gestured to the door as if she had just invited him to dinner. “I’ll allow you to view their exodus prior to termination.” She smiled. “You see, I’m not a complete monster.”

  He knew she was lying, but that was irrelevant. If he timed his move just right, his plan could work.

  Slade led the way out of the room. With the evac in progress no one would be around to stop him. He would have the Dragon all to himself.

  THE SUN SAT LOW ON THE mountains behind the compound as they crossed the yard toward the main gate. The stone wall looked even more menacing the second time Maggie laid eyes on it. She wanted to run back to the massive entry door and scream Slade’s name.

  Were these guards really going to let them go? She rubbed at her neck where the band had been. Lucas still wore his. He was leaning on one of the guards. Maggie prayed he hadn’t gotten enough of that toxin in his system to do permanent damage. He didn’t look good.

  She looked around, vaguely wondered where the other guards were. Had the evacuation been that thorough? When she looked back at the building they had exited, she got a nudge in the lower back for her trouble.

  Did Slade have an alternate plan? He’d given up his weapons. How was he supposed to fight the Dragon unarmed?

  Her stomach lurched at the thought that he could be in serious trouble right now. There was no one to help him. Why hadn’t he allowed the Colby Agency to help? Why had Lucas come to her alone?

  This was all wrong.

  Tears welled in her eyes. Dammit. She did not want Slade to die.

  Lucas dropped to his knees. Maggie turned to see if he was all right, but her guard grabbed her by the hair and pulled her back.

  “Get up,” the one who seemed to be in charge demanded of Lucas.

  Lucas didn’t respond. His head lolled forward. Was he dying? “He needs help,” Maggie cried. “Can’t you see that?” When the guard did nothing, she shouted, “Help him!”

  As the guard hovered over the older man, Lucas moved like lightning. He rammed his elbow into the guy’s groin. The guard buckled forward. Lucas grabbed his weapon and shot to his feet. He leveled it on the man holding her. “Let her go.”

  The guard shoved the muzzle of his gun against her head. “Drop the weapon,” he warned. “Don’t think I won’t kill her. Our orders are to kill you both at the gate.”

  The explosion that shattered the silence deafened Maggie. The guard clutching her jerked back. Something warm and wet splattered her cheek. His hold on her released and he crumpled to the ground, an angry hole in the center of his forehead.

  “That’s what I figured.” Lucas lowered his weapon.

  Maggie couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak.

  The guard on his knees suddenly pointed something at Lucas. “Watch out!” The words pealed out of Maggie’s throat.

  Lucas spun around and fired another shot. The man slumped over.

  Maggie turned all the way around. The whole place seemed empty. The silence was almost as deafening as the gunshots.

  A weapon hit the ground near her feet. Her slug gish reactions forced her attention upward. Lucas was clutching at the silver band around his neck. His eyes bulged and he was gasping for breath.

  Maggie reached for the band. It tightened around her fingers even as she tried to pry between it and Lucas’s throat. It was choking him. He tried to say something, but couldn’t get the words out. He pointed to the guard slumped over on the ground.

  There had to be a key or something. She pushed the man over. Ignoring the hole where his nose used to be, she searched his pockets.

  Lucas dropped to his knees. Maggie’s movements turned frantic. There was no key! Nothing but a cell phone and a pack of cigarettes. “There isn’t a key!” Lucas’s face was beet red.

  Something small and dark on the sandy ground captured her attention. A gadget about the size of a cigarette lighter. She grabbed it and, smoothing her thumb over the surface, felt something like a button. She pressed it, knowing this was her last and only hope.

  Lucas gasped.

  She turned to him just in time to see the silver band pop loose and drop to the ground. She hurried over to him, trudging through the sand on her knees.

  “You okay, Lucas?” His weight fell against her. She lowered him to the ground and once again panic started to build inside her. She needed help!

  His mouth and eyes were open. His face wasn’t so red anymore, but he wouldn’t respond to her. She leaned down, put her cheek close to his nose and mouth. He wasn’t breathing. She checked his pulse. Nothing. Oh, dear God!

  Instinct kicked in. Maggie assumed the CPR posi tion, tilted his head back as she pinched his nose closed and blew air into his mouth. She mentally counted off the puffs, then did the required number of chest compressions. Again. She repeated the series. Please don’t die!

  After a few more rounds of compressions and breaths, she thought she heard a shallow gasp. She checked Lucas’s pulse again. There it was. Relief spewed through her limbs.

  His eyes opened and she almost fainted. “You scared me to death.”

  He tried to smile, but a cough stopped him.

  “Can you get up?” She wanted to get back in there and check on Slade.

  Lucas elbowed his way to a sitting position. “I think I can manage.”

  The crack of gunshots shattered the silence.

  Lucas pulled Maggie to the ground and covered her body with his own.

  Who was shooting at them? They had no cover. The weapons were too far away to reach.

  Maggie raised her head far enough to stare back at the house. Somehow she had to get back in there.

  As if to dissuade her, a bullet hit the sand next to her head.

  THE CORRIDORS WERE DESERTED. Each room Slade passed was the same. In the sprawling kitchen was a door that led to a basement level. That was where all on-site terminations were carried out.

  “Has Alayna left already?” he asked as they descended the stairs.

  “You cost your sister more than you know by dragging her into your betrayal.”

  She knew.

  Slade’s insides turned to ice.

  “Where is she?” He turned on the Dragon. “Where is Alayna?”

  The Dragon gestured across the room. “I wanted to be able to admire her beauty, so I arranged a special place for her.”

  The bottom dropped out of Slade’s stomach as he rushed to the containment vessel that encapsulated Alayna. She stared back at him with unseeing eyes. Her slim body was naked and the bright blue-green dragon tattoo that marked her stood out against her pale skin.

  Renewed rage detonated inside him.

  He turned to face the monster who had done this. Whatever had cut her face, he wished it had torn her whole head off.

  “You killed her, just like the others.”

  She shook her head. “You killed her. Now it’s your turn. Only, you’ll be incinerated like the others. Not a single trace will be left.”

  She slapped at him, but he dodged her hand. The ring she always wore was turned downward so that the massive faux stone served as a weapon. A lethal weapon. The Dragon always wore that poison ring. It was her trademark maneuver when taking out an enemy up close.

  Slade grabbed her wrist, kept her hand and the ring away from his throat. The carotid artery was her preferred target. This time there was no one here to back up the Dragon and he was physically far stronger than her. It was psychological power she had always held over him. She struggled ferociously.

  No more.
It was over.

  “You wouldn’t dare kill me!” the Dragon roared. “I created you!”

  From the corner of his eye, Alayna snagged his attention. She stared unseeing at him through the glass. Sweet Alayna. She had done nothing to deserve this awful end.

  Slade ruthlessly twisted the Dragon’s hand around and slammed her palm into her own throat. Her eyes rounded in surprise.

  He pressed harder, forcing the toxin into her body. Then he released her.

  She staggered back, her arms falling to her sides.

  He watched without blinking. He wanted to relish every moment of this.

  Then he wanted her to burn as she had planned for him.

  The Dragon’s eyes closed for the last time.

  Slade checked her pulse and then loaded her body into the incinerator. He hit the switch as he turned away. The sound of the flames igniting was music to his ears.

  Right now he had to find Maggie. And Lucas.

  Kennemore was the Dragon’s closest confidant and ally. Slade didn’t trust him one little bit with Maggie and Lucas.

  Slade said one last goodbye to Alayna, then he raced up to the ground level without encountering another living being. He snagged a weapon from one of the downed security men. Those who hadn’t been terminated were likely already in the evac tunnel.

  He paused at the front entrance of the place he had once called home and listened. No sound of exchanging gunfire, but he could hear voices.

  Weapon readied for firing, Slade leaned far enough into the opening to visually assess the situation.

  Maggie was hugging someone. Lucas was on the ground with Jim Colby and Victoria hovering over him.

  Slade stepped out into the dusk and headed that way.

  He knew the moment Maggie saw him. She stood up and rushed to him, throwing her arms around his neck. “I was so afraid for you.”

  He let her hug him for as long as she needed to. When she drew back, she had twenty questions. Was he okay? Was the danger over now? Had he slain the Dragon?

  Jim Colby approached them. When Maggie looked up, he said, “We have a MedFlight copter en route to transport Lucas to a trauma center.”

  “Will he be all right?” Maggie pressed.

  “I believe so,” Jim assured her. “He’s a tough guy.”

  “Thank God.” Maggie sagged against Slade about the same instant Jim’s attention swung to him.

  “You’re unharmed?”

  Slade nodded. “She initiated the evac plan,” he went on to explain. “The others…the files for the Code—all of it is escaping through the mountains, as we speak.”

  “The CIA and Interpol are already on it,” Jim explained. “They have the group secured.”

  Slade felt a sense of relief like he had never before experienced.

  It was over.

  His attention settled on Lucas. Victoria hovered over him, caressing him and whispering to him. Slade couldn’t help wondering what it felt like to love someone that much.

  What it felt like to love someone at all.

  Maggie smiled up at him. She deserved someone to love her the way Victoria loved Lucas.

  Slade wished he could be that man. For Maggie and for the baby.

  But he wasn’t.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Colby Agency, Chicago,

  October 28, 4:05 p.m.

  Victoria was the last to settle at the conference-room table. The others waited silently, the tension thick enough to taste. She immediately reached for Lucas’s hand. A week in the hospital had cleared the toxin from his system. He remained a little weak, but he was gaining strength every day. For that she was eternally grateful.

  She surveyed the faces around her. Jim, Simon, Ian and Slade Keaton. This meeting had been called to clear the air once and for all. She also had a surprise announcement regarding the agreement she and Lucas had reached while he was hospitalized. But that would come later.

  “I’m glad we’ve all finally found the time to meet.” The past twelve days had been a whirlwind of activities and changes.

  Slade met her gaze and she smiled. This had been the hardest on him. Days of intense interrogation by both the CIA and Interpol had cleared him of any possible charges based on the extenuating circumstances that surrounded his childhood. He had gone back to Mexico and ensured a proper burial for his sister. Then he had helped the CIA dismantle the Dragon’s fortress of horrors. Jim had stepped forward and volunteered to assist him with both efforts. Victoria hoped a bond would form between the two men; after all, they were brothers in a way.

  Ian was first on the meeting’s agenda. “Keaton, we’ve deliberated at length and we’ve reached an agreement.”

  Slade looked from Ian to Victoria and back. He was one of the strongest men Victoria had met and still his trepidation was immense. Only because she had come to know him so well could she see that uncertainty. This told Victoria far more than anything else about the man. He cared. Few who had survived what he had, with no nurturing foundation whatsoever, could grow as much. Her son, Jim, had at least had the first seven years of his life to achieve that foundation before being ripped from his real home by a monster not unlike the Dragon.

  “Before you say more,” Slade spoke up, “I realize that most, if not all, of you have no reason to trust me.”

  Jim held up a hand. “Take it from me, Keaton. What you did is not the worst anyone at this table has done. If the majority of us weren’t prepared to trust you, you wouldn’t be here today.”

  Leave it to Jim to cut straight to the chase. Her son was very much like his father. Victoria was incredibly proud of him.

  Slade scrubbed a hand over his chin. “I appreciate your vote of confidence. But I still owe all of you an apology.” He laughed and directed the next comment to Jim. “Take it from me, that doesn’t happen often.”

  There were a few chuckles and the tension eased a fraction.

  “I have a long way to go,” Slade confessed, “but I have every intention of ensuring that the rest of my life matters.” He glanced at Lucas. “I finally found the path I want to take and an excellent role model to help me stay on the right track.”

  Pride welled in Victoria. Lucas and Slade had worked out the details of their relationship. The mutual respect had been apparent. The ground was still a little shaky, but the two had an excellent start.

  “With that in mind,” Ian continued, “the Colby Agency would like to offer you a position here. Jim and I would also like to extend that same offer to any of your team from the Equalizers, since you don’t plan to reopen.”

  The surprise on Slade’s face warmed Victoria’s heart. From the moment she had learned that Slade was Lucas’s son, she had hoped this moment would come.

  Slade laughed. “It would be far more polite for me to say that this is a huge surprise.” He shook his head. “But the fact is, I have watched you for nearly two years. Each time you banded together to help those who darken your door or even in support of each other, I was certain the act was just for show. The occasional good deed. No one was that giving and that caring all the time.”

  Expectant silence reigned in the room.

  “But I was wrong. You are not only the best at what you do, you care.” He shook his head again. “I’m not sure I measure up to those standards.”

  Victoria started to disagree but Slade held up a hand.

  He looked from one face to the other, lastly settling his gaze on Lucas. “That said, if you’re willing to give me this opportunity on a probationary basis, you have my word that I will do everything within my power to meet those standards.”

  Jim clapped him on the back. “The position is yours, Keaton.”

  A round of applause filled the room.

  The door opened and Mildred Ballard, Victoria’s longtime assistant, led the rest of the gang into the room. Nichole, Ian’s wife, Jolie, Simon’s wife, and Tasha, Jim’s wife, followed, their arms loaded with champagne and glasses.

  Corks popped. Stemmed c
hampagne flutes were filled and passed around the room.

  Lucas held his flute high for all to see. “A toast.” The crowd quieted instantly. He turned to Slade. “To the newest member of the family. Please welcome Slade Keaton, my son.”

  Emotion made Victoria’s lips tremble as cheers resounded in the conference room. This was as it should be. She sipped her champagne, then caught up with her husband and kissed him on the cheek.

  “I am so proud of you, Lucas.” She wrapped her arm around his. “You are an amazing man.”

  Lucas lifted an eyebrow and eyed her skeptically. “If we’re taking another vacation, let’s go north this time.”

  Victoria laughed. “I’m not buttering you up for a vacation.” She searched his face, her thoughts turning serious. “You’re still sure about what we discussed?”

  He nodded. “One hundred percent.”

  Anticipation sang through her veins. “Shall we?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Victoria squeezed his arm before moving to the conference table to refill her flute. She tasted the sweet wine and then lifted it high to garner the room’s attention once more.

  When all was quiet, she began with a nervous glance at her husband. Victoria actually felt giddy. “I have two very important announcements.” A rumble went around the room. Simon, Ian and Jim exchanged a look. They were aware of her first announcement, but they knew nothing of the second.

  “For more than a quarter century the Colby Agency has operated solely from Chicago. Until four years ago we had used the same building for all that time.” She searched the faces of the people who made up her extended family. The most honorable and compassionate men and women to be found anywhere. She loved them all. “Our clients come to us from far and wide. We serve their needs with the utmost discretion. We are the very best.”

  More applause and cheers reverberated in the room.

  “But we want to do more. With that in mind, the Colby Agency is branching out. We’re opening an office in the great state of Texas next spring.” Victoria waited for the applause to settle once more. “Simon will be heading the office.” She sent Simon a pointed look. “He has been informed that he may not recruit from this office.” Laughter roared. “He may, however, borrow help for a time to get things off the ground. Simon is scouting locations now. We should have a new Colby address soon.”