Sleeves (35 page)

The little guy jumped into his arms.

Kel was clinging to them both. “Stay in the van, Peanut, okay? Stay with Casey. And don’t watch the monitors. I don’t want you seeing this shi—stuff,” he said, correcting himself. He was trying so hard to watch his language around his son.

She smiled.

“Thank you for allowing us to come along,” she said.

“Well, it’s not like you listened when I kept telling you no.”

She gripped his shoulder and squeezed it. “You know if this was reversed, there’s no way you wouldn’t have come along in the van.”

He shook his head, giving her that look that said, “This is not the same at all.”

“Odds are they’ve all bailed out and it’s empty inside there,” Hanford said, coming up behind them. “Either way—we’ve got orders to get in there right now. No more stalling.”

Kel hugged her one more time, gave her a quick kiss and then he was walking away, on his own.

It felt like he was marching off to his execution.

A part of her wished that the inside was vacated, but then another part of her said that would be a disaster. They needed to end this threat, and keep the rest of the unsuspecting public safe.

Her insides were knotted up as she watched on the monitor and didn’t bother to keep the little peanut away.

If that was her father, she’d want to know.

Kel waltzed right up, opened the door to the building and went inside. The fact that there was no ambush or people aiming guns at him, pushing him down and restraining him, had her even more worried.

“Should it be this easy?” she asked Hanford.

“Like I’ve said—they probably moved their operations elsewhere.” Hanford watched the screen intently.

All Casey could think about was how wrong this felt.

“We should call him back. They probably already knew somehow we were here.” She sucked her lips in and rubbed them together then wiped her sweating palms down her jeans.

“Is he in trouble?” Robbie asked.

“I don’t know,” she answered, patting his head and offering a weak smile.

Kel’s camera was scanning around the room. Everything was still in place, but the people were missing.

There was even blood still left on the ground from where Kel made his kills when they escaped.

She knew they hadn’t left directly after that, since Casey had gotten in a few weeks later to free Marie.

“Kel,” a familiar voice said from behind him.

Casey scooted closer to the screen.

Kel swung around and there was Hannah, eyes puffy and bloodshot.

“Your mother,” Hannah began.

“What do you want from her now?” Kel’s voice was stiff and filled with animosity.

“Nothing. I know she’s gone.” Her face contorted in anguish. “And I know you won’t believe this, but I cared about her.”

“As much as a chemist loves the guinea pig he experiments on?” he clarified.

“You know it wasn’t like that.”

He huffed. “Then tell me what it
was
like—because I’d hate to see what you’re like when you actually hate someone.”

“I have something for you.” Hannah’s face was drawn and she appeared exhausted. She slouched and moved at a sluggish pace as she approached him.

“Stay there,” he said, backing away.

“I thought this was why you came here.” She pulled out a few vials from her pocket. “The serum, right? After your cure worked, I’m sure you panicked and wanted it back for Miss Long.”

“That’s the last thing I want for her.” He swiped the vials out of her hands, and threw them down, smashing them to bits.

Casey gasped and had to turn her eyes away from the mess on the screen.

“Ohhhhh God!” She chewed her bottom lip as her eyes watered and her mouth flooded simultaneously.

What was she going to do now?

“Take the files. Take them and then get out.” Hannah pulled out a gun, and her hands shook. “I’ve kept you safe up to this point, made sure my men didn’t kill you or ever come after you when you escaped, but I can’t guarantee your safety anymore.”

“You’re not gonna shoot me,” Kel said, his voice firm.

“Of course I won’t. I love you.” Hannah’s brow crumpled and tears spilled out of her crazed, tortured eyes.

“Fuck, that’s funny . . . Just like you adored my mother and our son?” The camera went down to his shoes. He kicked at the broken glass.

“I know you think I was cruel, but everything I did was to ensure—”

“Ensure what?” he broke down and started yelling. “That we suffered worse than any demon in hell ever did?”

“It wasn’t like that!” Hannah stepped closer.

Once more he shuffled back.

The camera lifted, and she had the gun pointed at her head.

“My father loved your mother. He tried to make her jealous with my mother. He used her, and wound up getting her pregnant in the process with me. When my mother died in childbirth, he tried to save your mother from her illness, but the only way she’d do it, was to enlist your father. My father thought if he did this for her, she’d fall as hard for him as he had for her.”

“Nice try.” Kel’s camera bobbed around. “My mom told me my dad was approached before her, and they were already married.”

“Of course she said that—don’t you see?” Hannah stepped to the left, almost circling him. “She was in love with both men, but your father got to her first. She was a cheating whore, sleeping with both men. We had a brother, Kel. His name was Stuart, and he had—”

“Shut up!” he screeched and punched the wall.

“No! You need to hear!” Hannah’s finger went over the trigger and the gun’s barrel was flush against her temple. “I used you the way my father used my mother, only I wasn’t trying to make someone jealous. I was trying to hurt your mother. But then she . . .”

“She
what
? What did she do?” His voice grew quiet and was strung tighter than Casey had ever heard.

“She helped me out. I was born without a uterus, without any reproductive capabilities. My dad had destroyed all evidence of the serum when our brother died, and he killed himself shortly after. She gave me her blood, though, and my team and I, we figured out how to re-manufacture the serum. I used it on myself. It worked.”

“She wouldn’t have done that.”

Thud.

The camera jolted.

Had he hit his back against a wall?

Hanford was breathing so loudly it was getting hard to hear.

“She did it for you. She told me after I got pregnant. She fooled me. It seemed like the only way she’d ever get you out of here. She figured if I had your baby then I’d let you go. That I’d want a family with you. She knew I had feelings for you, but when my pregnancy was so accelerated and you were freaking out about everything, I knew I had to develop a cure for you and Robbie.”

“Fuck. You! You lie! Why would you name him Robbie if all this is true? That’s the cruelest thing you could’ve ever done.”

Peanut cowered and whimpered.

Casey wrapped him up in her arms. She almost wished they
had
stayed behind in the apartment, instead of sitting by helpless in this van.

“I did it to honor him and you. To show you I knew how badly it had all hurt you. It was my way of apologizing.”

“And yet you gloated and treated me and my son like shit once you had me back here.” Kel slid down the wall it seemed because the camera was now angled up at her. His legs stretched out on the ground. “And what was the point in experimenting on Casey if you loved and wanted me? Makes no sense to do that to her.”

“Go in there! Get her!” Casey urged Hanford.

“Not yet!” Hanford pointed at the screen.

Hannah had lowered her gun, and it was aimed at Kel.

“I had to play the part. I had to go along, and if I told them to leave her alone, to get rid of her, they’d know I had feelings for you. I was going to free you.” Hannah’s eyes were lifeless, and so was her voice. “I was already keeping your mom here. Didn’t Casey tell you that—how I was trying to figure out a way to help your mother? I wanted my mother-in-law to be with us. We were going to run away together again with our little boy—finally be a family.”

Kel growled, “My boy told me you hurt him every time you touched him. And Casey told me the reason you were keeping my mother was because you were preparing to run new tests on her—to see if you could get her pregnant again. You sick motherfuckers. You would’ve treated her new baby the same way you did my boy—nothing but extreme torture for your twisted experiments.”

“I was never cruel, but I had to spank him; grip him tight so he wouldn’t fight back. If I treated him any differently, they would’ve figured it out. I was going to release you both. Touch doesn’t hurt him the way it does you, so it’s not what you think.”

“Oh, yeah? And Casey and my mother, too? You were going to free them as well?”

“I couldn’t get them free. And they would’ve gotten in the way. You belong to me—not her. We have a sweet little boy to raise. Leave with me now. I know you returned for me, and that’s why you’re here. The others—they left.” She paused and licked her lips then wheezed as if she was trying to catch her breath. Her eyes shifted around in a manic, possessed way. “They told me to go with them, but I stayed behind. I stole the files on your parents so I could prove it all to you. And I kept the serum and the formula for it so you’d know how much you mean to me.”

Hannah pointed to the desk.

“It’s all over there, then, huh?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“And you’re simply going to give it to me?”

“Yes.” Hannah’s voice shook, and the gun continued to tremble right along with her.

“And if I don’t wanna be with you? You’ll
what
—kill me?”

“No, Kel. I would never hurt you. And you feel the same about me. You used to pass out every time you’d orgasm because you’d freak out, thinking you’d harmed me. We don’t have to worry about that anymore since I don’t have to lie and pretend I’m a feeble, normal, human woman. You know now that I’m just like you, that I have the serum in me—it’s changed me. We can be happy together.”

He coughed like he didn’t believe her. “And what about Casey?”

“I’ll kill that woman that’s made you
think
she’s in love with you. You don’t need her.” She frowned.

“Casey didn’t make me
think
anything. I do love her, and she loves me more than anything. She’s pregnant with my child. I’m marrying her the minute she says she’s ready, and we’ll raise Peanut without you.”

Hannah’s face turned red. “Ahhhhh! Bastard! That’s my son!
Mine
!” She lunged at him, and Kel maneuvered to the side, swiping her leg out from under her, crashing her to the ground.

He tackled her; wrangled the gun out of her hands.

The men in the van were flying out the back, yelling orders at each other.

Casey gave Peanut to one of the agents, and told her to keep him safe.

Before the little boy could protest, she had followed after the men going after Kel.

“Get Kel out of there!” she hollered.

Pow! Pow! Pow!

Three shots.

And three minutes later she rammed her way into the lifeless building, and slid on a puddle of blood.

She braced her fall with her forearms and glided across the floor, ramming into a thick, tree trunk leg she knew so well.

It failed to move.

She screamed until she glanced up and saw him sitting up, staring, eyes full of terror.

Her head moved and she followed his line of sight.

Hannah was on the ground, her brains blasted out and the gun was lying on Kel’s other leg.

“Is Peanut o-okay?” Kel stammered, his eyes glazed over.

“He’s fine. He didn’t see this,” she answered.

And the next thing she knew, she was wrapped up in Kel’s arms. He was breathing in her hair, his nose nuzzled into her ear.

“Thank God, you’re here! I . . . I don’t know how I would’ve done this without knowing you were nearby and could . . . And could . . .” He hiccupped a broken sob.

“Shhh . . . I’m here, and don’t you dare blame yourself for any of this. Don’t. You. Dare.”

She kissed him and ignored the agents shoving papers around, rifling through filing cabinets and gathering evidence.

Their life was theirs now. No one else would get in the way.

Chapter 17

10 months later . . .

Kel roamed around the cage, glaring at the woman before him.

“What now, bitch? You wanted to join me in here—why’re you moaning ‘bout it?” Kel ran his finger down a bar, keeping his eyes on her.

Her lips parted and soft pleading sighs floated out of her as her ribs expanded from exaggerated, highly anticipatory breaths.

He paced, growling obscenities at her about what a fucking cunt she was to be standing there with his blindfold on.