Total Surrender

  CHAPTER

  20

  HER FATHER HADN’T come for her personally. For all he knew, Piper had been kidnapped, possibly harmed, and had escaped… and her father hadn’t come personally. He’d sent a contingent of soldiers to the gas station, who’d promptly loaded her up and driven her to the center of Utah and the heavily armed compound.

  Yeah, Jory had been right. Inner compound, here she was—and if she didn’t convince the commander she was telling the truth about her ordeal, she’d probably never leave. She took a deep breath and slowly let out the air, counting to ten. Sweat slicked her palms, and time slowed down.

  Once arriving, she’d instantly been debriefed by two soldiers after being told her father was on an important conference call.

  Now she waited alone in the commander’s office, trying to push down hurt. It wasn’t as if he’d ever acted like a father. Why would she expect concern now?

  She clasped her hands together and wondered what it would’ve been like to have had a father. One who cared. Her stomach hurt, and tears clogged her throat. She’d managed to call her mother to reassure her she was all right, and Earl had been there comforting Rachel. Earl had even gotten on the phone to hear Piper’s voice himself.

  Why couldn’t Earl have been her father?

  The hurt she could handle—the fear, maybe not. Pounding ached along her temples as the first adrenaline rush faded. She swallowed over a lump in her throat and allowed herself to wallow for just a moment. Okay, enough of this. She didn’t have time for fear or regret if she wanted to survive, so she steeled her shoulders. Time to figure things out.

  She had to get out of this meeting and back to the computer to figure out the algorithm that changed the codes, and to finish the new program that would hopefully bypass Jory’s damaged chip. If she’d had any doubts about helping Jory and his brothers—and frankly, she hadn’t—they’d be long gone now. She didn’t give a hoot that they were trained killers and quite possibly not the good guys.

  Her father sucked.

  This office was much more plush than the city one that had been blown up. Well, if leather chairs, oiled weapons, and heavy walnut furniture could be considered plush. The scent of gunpowder and rich cigars permeated the furnishings. On his desk he had a computer and a stack of files. Peering closer, she studied a glass paperweight encapsulating a bullet casing. Weird.

  High heels tapped down a hallway outside, and Dr. Madison swept in. White lab coat, red heels, a computer tablet in her hands. Her lipstick matched her shoes, and she’d pulled back her black hair. No gray. “I’ve been told you hurt your arm.” All business, Madison brushed around the other leather chair and sat, leaning forward and grabbing Piper’s left wrist.

  “I fell in a bush.” How dangerous was the rude woman? Piper studied her and played along, wrinkling her nose at the heavy floral perfume cascading around the brilliant doctor. “I’m fine.”

  Madison reached in her lab coat for a tube of ointment to hand over. “Use this. It’ll take care of the burn.”

  “Okay.” Piper extricated her arm and unwound the top of the tube. She had some size on the woman, but she’d bet her last penny Dr. Madison had been trained in hand-to-hand. The woman moved with a grace that suddenly appeared deadly.

  “Our men swept the cabin in which you were kept. The PROTECT men were no longer present.” Madison sat back, sharp eyes narrowing.

  Piper rubbed ointment on her arm and tried to appear casual. “I suppose they left when they discovered I’d jumped out the window?”

  “I suppose.” No emotion colored the doctor’s monotone. “I read your report and have a couple of questions.”

  Fine hairs rose down Piper’s back. She’d never been a good liar. “Go ahead.”

  “Did these men say anything to you?”

  “They threw me in a car, drove to the middle of nowhere, and tossed me into a room in a cabin. The guy with the accent said something about the commander messing with God and genetics, and then we called the commander.” Piper half turned to fully face the other woman. “Since you’re so close to my dad and all, I’m sure you know all about that conversation.”

  Heavily blackened eyelashes stilled as Madison’s concentration focused fully on Piper. “I wanted to get your perceptions as well.”

  Piper screwed the cap back into place, trying to keep her body relaxed while her heart thundered into action. “To be honest, they made me curious. Have you and my father genetically created soldiers? Raised them to kill?”

  “Yes.”

  Yeah, Piper had figured the doctor knew all about the program. The woman had no conscience, did she? How could anybody raise little boys to kill? Piper hissed out air.

  Madison chuckled. “The commander has always been driven, and combined with my genius, we’ve done remarkable things.”

  The woman sounded, almost, aroused. Bile rose in Piper’s throat. “People aren’t things.” She slammed the ointment tube on the desk. Her father had lied to her—repeatedly. No way did the U.S. government sanction the creation of soldiers from birth. She barely knew him, but she’d held such amazing hopes and dreams, as they died, she hurt. “Did you ever think about the damage? The actual kids you created?”

  “No.” Madison sniffed. “They were never kids. From day one, they were creations with one purpose.”

  Piper tilted her head to the side. Her heart burned for those poor boys. For Jory. “Which was to kill?” she asked softly.

  Madison’s eyes sparkled. “No. To fulfill the commander’s destiny. Their creation, their training, their very essence as soldiers are his destiny.” She jerked her head. “Right or wrong.”

  “Do you see the wrong?”

  Madison’s lips thinned. “We were right, but our results went wrong. But we were on the brink of something brilliant before those boys escaped.”

  Thank God the Dean brothers had gotten free. “Wow.” Piper breathed out. “You’re all in, aren’t you, lady? Drinking the fruit juice and falling right down.”

  Madison clucked her tongue. “Don’t be snide. Someday, you’ll understand love.”

  Piper shook her head. “Lady, that isn’t love. Not even close.”

  Madison’s pink tongue darted out. “Then what is it?” She frowned as if truly wanting an answer.

  “Desperation. Obsession.” Piper breathed and tried to quiet her now rioting mind. “Not love.”

  “More than love, then.” Madison shrugged, and eyed Piper. “Love is pain, right? Clouds judgment until it’s too late. Believe me, it’s too late now unless we get those weapons back.”

  What the hell did that mean? “They’re people, not weapons.”

  “If you really think that, they’re working you. Perfectly,” Madison all but purred.

  Now that was a direct hit. Madison was probably one of the smartest people Piper had ever met, and yet she’d blinded herself with love to a sociopath. The commander was charming, that was true… and Piper could see the similarity between Madison’s craving for the commander’s love and Piper’s earlier need for his approval. But while Piper was seeing the truth, Madison still seemed obsessed. “Did you know about me? That he had a daughter?” Piper asked.

  For the first time, genuine emotion flashed across the scientist’s face. She paled, and then red burst across her smooth skin. “No. Not until you showed up for work months ago.”

  The agony of the betrayal was almost palpable, and Madison’s eyes flashed fire. Yet even that subterfuge hadn’t turned Madison against the commander. Did love make every smart woman a fool? “Discovering that the man you’d devoted yourself to for decades had a child with another woman must’ve hurt you. I’m sorry,” Piper murmured.

  “No matter.” Dr. Madison crossed shapely legs, her fine-boned hands shaking.

  Piper fought the real urge to offer comfort to the damaged woman. “Maybe the commander isn’t capable of emotion.”

  Amusement lifted Madison’s lip. “Like a sociopath?”

  ??
?Perhaps.” At this point, who the hell knew?

  “He’s a genius, not a sociopath. Let’s discuss something else. What did you think about my Jory?” Madison’s smile widened like a cat who’d found a bowl of cream.

  Her Jory? Oh, hell no. Piper’s head snapped up. “I didn’t get to know him, but if he’s one of your creations, the guy deserves freedom.”

  “Hmmm. Interesting.”

  The door opened, and the commander strode inside. “Is she damaged?”

  Dr. Madison stood. “No. Just a scratch.” She studied the commander and then crossed the room to the door. “I have work to do.” The door closed nearly silently behind her.

  Piper cleared her throat. Just how dangerous was her father to his own flesh and blood? Did the guy even have a heart? “You’ve hurt Dr. Madison.”

  The commander frowned and crossed to sit behind his desk. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  “Do you love her?” There wasn’t a puzzle in the world Piper could resist, and the man was all sorts of pieces.

  “No.” He flicked dust off his desk. “Silly emotions get in the way.” Then he typed several keys near his computer. “I read the report of your ordeal, and some of it doesn’t track.”

  She stiffened. “What doesn’t track?”

  “I don’t know yet. But I can assure you I have men tearing apart the cabin.” He turned from the screen to focus on her again. “If there’s anything you’d like to tell me, now is the time.”

  “I told the guys interviewing me everything.” She clasped her hands together in her lap. “Who are the PROTECT people, anyway?”

  The commander sighed. “They’re a nuisance, nothing more and nothing less. A group dedicated to erasing the work I’ve done. They won’t succeed, and you shouldn’t worry about them. If you’re not telling me the truth about your kidnapping, then I’m your concern right now.”

  Piper sighed, her heart aching for what she knew would never be. Every silly daydream she’d had of a father, of having somebody there as a grandpa for her kids someday, faded away. He’d raised Jory and had no more feeling for him than for a coffeepot. How much more could he have for a daughter he’d barely just met? Not much. But was he a danger to her? “I wish I knew you.”

  Taking a hard look at her, he reached under his desk and tapped. A door slowly slid open behind him, revealing a small room. “Very well. I guess it’s time you did.” Then he waited.

  A shiver wound down her spine. The hair on the back of her neck stood up.

  She instantly fought the dual urges to run away and investigate. Giving in, she slowly rose and walked around the desk to enter the room. Boxes of Cuban cigars lined one shelf. DVDs took precedence on another, while various antique weapons perched throughout. Several drawers were perfectly aligned beneath the shelves. An older, dinged laptop rested on a middle shelf.

  A picture caught her eye, and her lungs compressed. Taken about twenty years previous, when Jory had to have been around five years old, he sat on a cement block next to another boy with gray eyes. The other boy was bigger and had thrown an arm around Jory. Two other boys, also with gray eyes, stood behind them. One with serious eyes, the other with angry ones. The angry kid looked like Nate.

  “They look so young,” Piper murmured. She picked up the picture and turned. Was there some sense of nostalgia in her father? “Why do you have this?”

  His chair swiveled, and he faced her. “I made them. They’re mine.”

  She shook her head. “They’re people.”

  “No.” He steepled his fingers beneath his chin. “They’re creations. I still have the video of you and Jory at your neighbor’s.”

  Yeah. Figured he hadn’t erased it. She shrugged off a sense of the willies. “Why?”

  “No reason, really. But I do doubt he just up and left you after the exchange on the floor.”

  True, that. He’d pretty much rocked her world in a retirement community instead. Her muscles tensed. “I haven’t seen him since.”

  “Pity. What did you think of him?”

  “Why?”

  The commander smiled. “Just curious.”

  “I think if we had a relationship, and psycho avengers kidnapped me, he’d be there if I called for help.” She eyed the man she’d never quite know.

  “I think you’re right,” the commander murmured. “Where is he, Piper?”

  She inhaled slowly. “I have no idea.”

  “Well, then. Please bring me the DVD dated two years ago with Jory’s name under it.”

  She rolled her eyes, her feet itching to hurry from the room and keep on running. “I don’t need to see another Jory sex tape. Thanks but no thanks.”

  “Now, Piper.”

  Fine. She’d go along until she could get home and then make a new plan for her life. She quickly found the DVD and hurried from the room, tossing it on the commander’s desk. “You’re wasting your time.” Her legs shook to flee and never come back before she had to watch Jory with yet another woman, but she dropped back into her chair.

  “This isn’t a sex tape.” The commander removed the disk from the plastic container and slipped it beneath his desk. Then he turned his monitor so she could see the screen. “This shows the day he was shot.”

  She sat up. If the commander was showing her this, then he had something to prove, and it probably wasn’t going to be good for her. “I don’t want to see this,” she whispered.

  “Too bad. It’s time we understood each other better.” He frowned and concentrated on the keyboard, and a slide came up of Jory lying in circles of blood. Red covered his chest, and spray had arched up over his neck and jaw. His eyes were closed, and he appeared dead and gone.

  The image slammed into Piper’s stomach and cut straight to her heart with the heat of a sharpened blade. She swayed in her seat. “Please turn it off.”

  “Hmmm.” The commander peered around at the screen. “Let’s watch the video, which I took great pains to retrieve.” He punched in a couple more keys, and the screen went blank before starting at the beginning.

  Jory sat in a chair, his hair long, his chin down, anger turning those spectacular eyes gunmetal hard and gray. His hands had been tied behind his back. “I don’t give a shit who you are—and there are no other creations like me.” Power and promise rode his strong voice.

  A man, broad and muscled, stepped into the screen. Bald and in fighting shape. “I’ll torture you until you beg me to take their location from you.”

  Then Jory smiled. “You have no clue what you’re talking about.”

  The man shook his head. “I’m willing to let you live if you give up the other locations of the creations. My group could use you.”

  “Screw you.” Jory’s eyelids dropped as if the entire situation bored him enough to sleep. “We done?”

  Two years later, watching the video, Piper’s shoulders relaxed. “Who’s the man?”

  “A leader of the PROTECT group,” the commander said.

  Piper’s mouth dropped open, and she quickly shut it. “You’ve known about the group for two years? They actually found Jory?”

  “Yes. Apparently Jory had gone undercover at a facility being watched by PROTECT—everybody trying to find me. They took him because he was watching for me and didn’t have a clue about them. Bastards.” The commander tapped his chin.

  Piper looked back at the frozen screen. “You lied. The Russians didn’t shoot him.”

  “Of course they didn’t.” The commander tapped the screen. “Keep watching. I fetched this video after we rescued Jory—the shooter was also wired with a camera, but you don’t need to see that one. This one will do better.”

  Well. Even though it sucked she had to watch her lover get shot, she knew he survived. Since he hadn’t lied to her, she relaxed. “Let ’er rip.”

  “Just watch.”

  In the DVD, the PROTECT leader picked up a sharp blade.

  Piper hissed out a breath. “I don’t need to see torture.”

  On the
screen, a commotion set up outside the torture room. A woman yelled something, and the door banged open. “I’m sorry,” a female voice whispered, the sound distorted through the screen.

  The PROTECT soldier pivoted on the screen and then dove to the ground. A gun fired three times, the bullets impacting Jory’s chest and throwing him back onto the cement. Blood sprayed up and arced through the room.

  Kicking up, the soldier grunted, and the gun flew across the screen. “You shot him!”

  “Yes,” the shooter snapped, turning and kicking the soldier in the head.

  Watching the screen, Piper frowned. Why did the voice almost sound familiar?

  Heels came into focus, and then a head bent down. “He’s dead.”

  Piper gasped and bolted straight from her chair. The woman in the video turned, her face fully on display.

  “Mom?” Piper gasped. Two years ago, her mother had shot Jory?

  The screen went dark.

  The commander slowly, deliberately turned the monitor back into place. “I’m sure it’s an odd feeling knowing your mother shot your lover.”

  Piper fell back into her chair. Her lungs compressed. “I don’t believe this.”

  “It’s true. Your mother is actually a crack shot. Always has been.”

  The world screeched to a full stop. Piper’s mind whirled. “Excuse me? A crack shot?” Piper pushed hair out of her face, her hand shaking. “My mom doesn’t even own a gun.” The woman ran yogurt shops, for hell’s sake.

  He cleared his throat, black eyes serious. “Well, she might not have told you everything.”

  “You think?” Piper snapped.

  The commander straightened. “When our contacts in the PROTECT organization let us know that one of my soldiers had been taken, I had no clue it was Jory, so I thought to just end the problem. I needed to get somebody in there to shut the prisoner up before he spoke. Somebody unremarkable. Like a yogurt shop deliverer from a few towns over.”

  Piper shook her head. “What?”

  The commander nodded. “Fortune shines on the bold. You were caught hacking, and all of a sudden, I found a way to solve both your problem and mine.”

  Wait a minute. Piper rapidly clicked facts into place. “Now that’s quite a coincidence.” Sarcasm coated her words.