Bodie by Nyssa Kathryn

Chapter 27

Maya gritted her teeth as she was thrown into the door of the truck. Two large men sat in the front, one of which had been the person to yank her from the bar when the explosion went off.

She hadn’t had time to panic in the bar. Everything had happened so quickly. Her last thought before being thrown into the back seat was of Bodie…God, she hoped he was okay. That his friends were okay, and Roe and Trish and Shayna.

Maya breathed long, slow breaths to try to calm the panic.

The thing that had her freaking out the most was the man who sat on the other side of the back seat. The man who’d been a constant in her nightmares for the last few months.

Sinclair. She wanted to put as much distance between them as possible, but every time her body was thrown to the left, she just about fell into him.

“Faster. They’re catching up.” Sinclair’s voice was edged with panic.

Some of Maya’s fear had eased the moment Bodie climbed into the car behind them. Watching the man she loved get shot at…the only word she could use to describe it was terrifying. Her safety was secondary to his.

Just because Bodie had jumped in the car didn’t mean the thug had stopped shooting at him. The bullets continued to fly. When they’d received return fire, the shooter had quickly retreated back inside.

Maya swallowed. What the hell was the plan? It didn’t look like these guys were going to be able to outdrive them, but at the same time, no one was slowing.

Glancing over her shoulder again, she could see the car was right there. She wished she could see Bodie’s face, but the tinted windows made it impossible.

They were now speeding down an empty back road. There were no other cars in sight and not a single person around.

As they took a hard left turn, Maya’s body hit the door again. Pain radiated down her right shoulder.

Pain that she barely recognized as the truck began to slide across the icy road.

The man behind the wheel cursed loudly as he spun the steering wheel, attempting to gain control of the vehicle.

He couldn’t.

Maya tried to scream but her chest seized when the back of the truck hit a tree. The impact caused her head to be smashed against the window, Sinclair’s body falling onto hers.

Then there was stillness.

Closing her eyes, she attempted to ward off the dizziness. She noticed a ringing in her ears and could just make out the sound of doors opening. Then hands were on her body. Sinclair’s hands. Shoving her out of the truck.

She stumbled, immediately falling to the ground. Sinclair yanked her to her feet, his grip so tight she could practically feel her skin bruising.

Gunfire echoed through the night. It was quickly followed by the thud of bodies colliding. Fists hitting flesh.

The truck shielded them from the battle. Sinclair’s nervous breaths were loud in her ear. Was he planning to wait out the fight? Was he placing all his chips on his guys winning?

The cold muzzle of a gun against her temple had Maya’s breath catching. Sinclair held the weapon with one hand and her body in front of his with the other.

Oh, Jesus. The man was going to use her as a shield.

Sinclair inched away from the truck. Maya’s feet were barely working, causing Sinclair to almost drag her body.

She caught her first real glimpse of the violence. Fists flew through the air and blood splattered. Each man fought with lethal tenacity and skill.

It was terrifying.

When Bodie glanced her way, his movements slowed. Their gazes fixed for less than a second. That was all it took for his opponent to gain the upper hand and tackle Bodie from behind, sending them both to the ground.

Maya attempted to lunge forward but Sinclair easily overpowered her. She struggled against his hold, arching her back and kicking, fighting with every ounce of energy she had, all the while being dragged the remaining five feet to the car that Bodie and Oliver had vacated.

Maya screamed Bodie’s name just before she was shoved into the car. Sinclair almost threw her over the center console into the passenger seat as he got in after her. She immediately went for the handle but Sinclair had a gun pointed at her before she could open it.

“Don’t.” His voice was low and firm as he closed his door.

Dread settled like a heavy weight in her gut. She watched Bodie through the window as they drove away. For a moment, she willed him to get the upper hand. To race to her, tear the car door off, and take her in his arms.

He didn’t. He was too busy fighting for his life.

When Bodie was out of sight, Maya swallowed a whimper of despair.

He was gone. They were gone.

She could only hope that Bodie survived. Even if he couldn’t come for her, she needed him to live.

Pressing a hand to her chest, Maya tried to steady her ragged breaths. Her heart was beating so hard it was causing pain to ricochet through her chest.

“Pull your pockets out.”

Maya frowned. “My pockets?”

“Now! Empty them.”

She quickly did as he said, the gun pointed at her, almost daring her to defy him. She knew what he was looking for…a phone. He wouldn’t find one.

Sinclair took his eyes off the road for a moment to check. Once he was satisfied, he pressed his foot harder to the accelerator.

“You’ve cost me a lot, bitch.”

Maya’s gaze shot to Sinclair at his angry words.

“I’ve had those men by my side for years. You cost me two men in Tyler, and two here in Keystone. If I lose my last two soldiers, it will be your boy who pays.”

She’dcost him? If he’d stopped sending men to kill her, they would all be alive and well! The rage in Sinclair’s voice matched the sudden rise of Maya’s own anger.

“Maybe you should have left me alone.”

Shut up, Maya. Don’t anger the man further.

But instead of getting angry, Sinclair laughed. A dry laugh that had tendrils of unease crawling up her throat. “Your fate’s been sealed since New York. You were never going to walk away from this.”

“Because I heard your voice and knew you were involved in the lab break-in?”

There had to be more to it than that…

“That’s why I went to the hospital to kill you. My plan changed when I found out about your heart defect.”

Maya’s brows pulled together. “Why would my heart defect change your plans?”

Sinclair took another hard right. “Because I have the same damn defect.”

A thick silence filled the air. Sinclair had an atrial septal defect…a hole in his heart? Okay. That didn’t explain why he needed her.

“Well, not the same. Unlike yours, mine is inoperable.” There was a thread of pain in Sinclair’s voice. “Doctors described my case as ‘extremely rare.’ The hole can’t be closed with surgery because of its size and unusual position within the heart. You know what they want me to do? Enjoy my last few months of life. Just live with it and pretend like the defect isn’t killing me.”

He scoffed, like the very idea was ridiculous.

Maya was still waiting for him to tell her exactly where she fit into all of this.

Sinclair shook his head as he turned left. “I’m not ready to die. Not after what they did to us. And not before we achieve what we set out to do.”

She was almost too nervous to ask, but she had to. “What are you talking about?”

“Wyatt found my sad story about the military screwing me over, didn’t he? Of course, he did. Once they talked to you, it was only a matter of time.” Sinclair took a hard right, sending Maya into the door. “We bent over backward for them. Saving whoever they told us to save. Putting our lives on the line over and over again.” The sudden fury in the man’s voice had Maya too scared to speak. “Then my team gets taken—and suddenly we’re the ones who need saving. And you know what they did? They left us there to die! Like our lives meant nothing. Do you know the torture I endured? That I watched six of my seven teammates get murdered!”

Sinclair banged his fist against the wheel, causing Maya to jolt in her seat.

“In the final weeks, I was begging them to kill me. That’s probably why they didn’t. They enjoyed how pathetic I’d become. How desperate I was for them to stab a knife through my chest.”

There was so much torment in Sinclair’s voice, Maya almost felt sorry for him. If they had met under different circumstances, she would have. “How did you get out?”

“They made a mistake. They thought we were too broken to fight. I was. Hylar wasn’t. They left him unbound. You should have seen him. The man went into a murderous rage. Killing everyone.”

A shiver coursed down Maya’s spine at the picture Sinclair painted.

“When we got home, we vowed that the government would pay. We didn’t know how, but we knew they would.”

“So, you created Project Arma as a way to build an army against your country?”

“We created weapons. The government deserves retribution for what they allowed to happen to us.” He shook his head again. “And now, everything’s a mess because those assholes are ruining it all! I think Hylar’s finally getting to the point where he realizes they need to die. I told him they needed to die from the beginning. He didn’t listen to me.”

Maya was struggling to keep up. “I still don’t understand how I come into this?”

Sinclair breathed out a long sigh as he took another left. “I told you. I’m not ready to die. Luckily, we have a great doctor who specializes in drug experimentation at Project Arma. He may have finally worked out the exact concoction of drugs that will form a clot in the hole.”

Sinclair turned onto a narrow dirt road.

“We need to test it first,” Sinclair continued. “Other versions that were tested all failed.”

God!Is that why she was taken? To be the next patient for some experimental drug?

He shot a look at her. The dread that had been gnawing at her insides threatened to spill over.

“We’ll give you the drug. It’s getting harder and harder to locate people with the condition, particularly with our dwindling resources.”

Maya noticed a building at the end of the road. A small building that looked to be old. Easily a hundred years or more.

“Even if I could find someone else with the condition,” Sinclair continued, “at a certain point, this became about more than just killing you. It became about beating them. The assholes who killed my men.”

Breathe, Maya. Breathe.

It was a struggle. Especially when he was slowing the car. Pulling in front of what she now saw was an old, tiny cabin.

When the car came to a stop, Maya scanned the darkness, desperate to spot someone, anyone who may be able to help her.

“This place is in the middle of nowhere.” Sinclair’s voice was casual. Like he knew she wouldn’t escape, so there was no need to be anything but calm. “Most people don’t even know it exists. No one will hear you.”

Sinclair stepped out of the car before coming around to her side and pulling her from the passenger seat. The moon cast a dim light over the area. Maya could only just make out the ground beneath her feet.

She tugged at her arm and screamed as loud as she could. There could be someone around who might hear…she had to try.

Sinclair hardly paid any attention. Just kept dragging her like she was a rag doll until they stepped into the cabin.

When the door shut behind them, Maya quickly took in the tiny space. A bed occupied most of the room, with a miniscule kitchenette to the right and a bathroom to the left. The only light came from some candles around the room. She assumed that meant there was no power.

There was also a small corner table where a man sat. An older man with a bag at his feet.

“You’re late,” the stranger grunted.

“The assholes got in the way. Deal with it, Doc.” Sinclair shoved her onto the bed. “You bring it?”

The older man opened his bag and pulled out a vial and a syringe.

Maya’s jaw dropped open. The syringe was huge. So much larger than any she’d ever seen. The needle had to be two, maybe even three inches long.

“Here? You’re going to test a drug on me here, in this cabin?” God, was she going to die in a hundred-year-old, flea-infested hellhole and never be found? “Isn’t there a lab you should take me to?”

She needed time. Time for Bodie to find her.

“There’s a strong chance you won’t survive.” Maya blanched at Sinclair’s flat words. “Every other recipient has died within minutes. We’ll give you the drug and if you survive, we’ll wait it out. After a few days, that asshole boyfriend of yours will assume we’ve left town, and it’ll be easier to return to Hylar.”

Every other recipient has died within minutes.

She didn’t even hear what he said after that. Terror filled her veins.

“You’re sure they won’t find us?” the doctor asked as he pierced the sealed vial with the syringe.

“This place is off the grid. It’s not even on any maps. And like I said, they’ll assume we’re taking her to Hylar. It would be the logical course of action.”

So they were going to inject her with a possibly—probably—toxic concoction of drugs, and watch to see if it kills her.

“And if I survive?” Maya finally asked when she could get her voice to work again. “What do you ultimately plan to do with me?”

“Once we get to our facility, we’ll do a scan of your chest and check that the drug has worked like we hoped. Then we’ll find a way for you to be useful in our organization. If it’s not working on drug creation, we can use you against Bodie.”

Maya watched in alarm as the doctor tapped the syringe. Sweat began to bead on her brow.

“I’m hopeful that my latest tweaks have fixed the issues we’ve been having.” The doctor took a step toward Maya. “Hopefully, this one will form a clot in the hole without the body treating the substance as a foreign object and attacking.”

Oh sweet Jesus, no.

Sinclair nodded. “Do it.”

Fresh terror reared up as Sinclair moved forward to grab her. She quickly shot out a foot, hitting him right between the legs.

When he doubled over, she put the power of her whole body behind kicking his chest.

He fell to the ground as the doctor lunged toward her.

He was too slow. She was already running. Out the door and into the dark, snowy forest behind the cabin.

Maya ignored the fear moving through her blood like wildfire. She focused on putting one foot in front of the other. On pumping her arms and running as fast as her body allowed.

Her lungs protested. Her heart thudding hard behind her ribs.

She ignored it all. She was fueled by terror. By a need to live.