Rogue Darkness by Dianne Duvall

No one inhabited it.

A woman wearing a white lab coat, blue gloves, and safety glasses occupied the next. Her dark blond hair twisted up into a messy bun, she focused on removing liquid from a beaker with a pipet and depositing samples into a series of tiny tubes. Catching movement from the corner of her eye, she glanced over at them, looked away in dismissal, then spun back to frown at them.

Sean pushed the door open. “Hi. Where’s the vomit?”

Her expression blanked. “What?”

Stepping inside, Sean made a show of examining the floor while Nicole entered behind him.

“Hey. You aren’t allowed to be in here,” the woman said belatedly.

He nodded. “We’re just here to clean up the vomit. Someone called and said they wanted it mopped up ASAP. We’ll leave as soon as we’re done. Where is it?”

“No one vomited in here.”

Sean propped his hands on his hips and frowned. “This isn’t the… what was it he called it… the catamaran lab?” He looked at Nicole. “I know the word I’m looking for isn’t catamaran. But now that it’s in my head, I can’t stop thinking it. What did he call it? Whatever it was started with a C.”

Nicole feigned thought as the door swished shut behind them. “Catalytic converter?”

“No. That’s a car part.”

“The one they keep mentioning thieves targeting on the local news?”

“Yeah.”

The woman made a huffing sound of irritation. “Look, there’s no vomit in here. If you don’t leave, I’ll have to call security. Who even let you in?”

Sean turned back to her. “I think his name was Al.” The name on Seth’s ID card read Albert. “I’m pretty sure he said we were supposed to go to the catalytic something.”

“Catalyzing growth lab?” she suggested.

Grinning, he snapped his fingers. “Yes! The paralyzing growth lab.”

“Oh brother,” she muttered, and pointed. “It’s two doors down.”

Nicole turned to Sean. “By the way, now might be a good time to tell you I’m a sympathetic vomiter.”

“Come again?”

“I’m a sympathetic vomiter. If I see or smell vomit, my gag reflex kicks in and I puke my guts out.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No.” She sent the woman a hopeful smile. “Maybe I could wait in here with you while he cleans it up?”

Scowling, the woman carefully set her tools down. “No, you can’t wait in here! I’m working. And I’m still not sure you’re even allowed to—”

A dart struck her in the chest.

Half a second later, her eyes closed and her forehead hit her desk.

Sean stared at the woman, then turned to Nicole, who now held a tranquilizer gun.

Both burst into laughter.

“That was freaking awesome,” she said. “I did not expect her to pass out so quickly.”

Trying not to laugh loud enough to draw attention, Sean said, “It was like a cartoon character or something.”

“I know.”

Focus, Seth suddenly commanded in their heads.

Lips twitching, they hurried out the door and down the sterile hallway. The next lab was a little larger, with two long tables loaded with equipment. Both inhabitants were already looking toward them.

Had they heard their laughter?

He and Nicole used a shorter version of the same vomit excuse to tranq them while they were seated at their research stations.

A slender man with a blond comb-over full of highlights worked in the last lab.

When Sean and Nicole entered, he gave them no chance to speak. After sizing Sean up, he turned a furious gaze upon Nicole. “Who the hell are you?” he demanded. “You don’t have clearance to be in here. Your ass is so fired. Don’t ever interrupt my work. No one interrupts my work. I—”

Sean shot him with a tranquilizer dart.

The anger on the jerk’s face drained away as his eyelids closed.

Neither Sean nor Nicole stepped forward to break his fall when he toppled to the floor.

“What an asshole,” Sean muttered.

She nodded.

“Did you see how he sized me up and then started bitching at you?”

“Yep. Classic bully move. Only attack those who appear defenseless.”

“What an asshole,” he repeated.

She grinned. “I love you.”

Irritation falling away, he smiled back. “Love you, too.”

Leaving the unconscious man on the floor for Seth to examine later, they hurried up the hallway once more. Nicole stationed herself just inside the main door, tranq gun in hand.

“Be careful,” Sean whispered.

“You, too.”

He stole a quick kiss, then headed into the primary lab.





Chapter Nineteen





Melanie and Darnell each sat before a computer, their fingers dancing over the keyboards. Four men and one woman lay unconscious on the floor. The last woman—the one who had looked relieved upon seeing Al—sat in a chair, restrained only by Bastien’s glower as he stood before her with his feet braced apart, arms crossed over his broad chest. Her pretty face creased with anxiety as she alternated between trying to see what Darnell and Melanie were doing and sending Bastien wary glances.