Keep Me Close (Lazarus Rising Book 2)

  You disappoint me. He sent the sharp words right into her head.

  That’s fine. You make me sick. Her instant response.

  He snapped her wrist. The brutal crack was music to his ears.

  “L-let…her…g-go…”

  Wait, was that Aaron talking? Seriously?

  Bryce turned his head, frowning at the special agent. And he sent his emotions surging at the other man. Guilt. Eating you alive. Twisting like a snake in your gut. You hurt Cecelia. You choked her. You tried to kill her.

  Aaron blanched. “St-stop it…”

  Was the little prick actually fighting back?

  “Know…i-it’s you…n-not crazy…”

  “Of course, you fucking are,” Bryce snarled. “You’re about to jump off a roof.”

  Willow kneed him in the groin. Pain burst through his body and he punched her, hitting her as hard as he could. She flew back across the roof and then she fell, slumping forward.

  Disgusted, he glared at her. “Is that any way to thank the man who saved your life?”

  She pushed onto her hands and knees. Her hair covered her face. “How did you find me?”

  He smiled. He’d always known about her. Landon Meyer had confided some special secrets to him. “I wanted another soldier on my side, but you’ve been a disappointment.” He reached back and pulled out the gun that he’d tucked beneath his shirt. Did Willow think she was the only one who’d brought a weapon? He lifted it, aiming the gun at her head. “Good-bye, disappointment.” Even if she tried to dodge his bullet, he’d fire again. She was weaker than he was, he’d get her…sooner or later.

  The elevator doors dinged and slid open. He fired at Willow—once, twice—even as his head whipped toward the old elevator.

  Flynn. Or rather…the bastard he’d known during their Lazarus days as Subject Two. Cecelia was behind Flynn, and he could see the wonderful fear on her face.

  He loved Cecelia’s fear. And her fear was about to get a whole lot worse.

  He fired again, aiming for Flynn this time. Fired and fired even as Flynn whirled to protect Cecelia, because of course, the whipped bastard was going to protect her. And when he rushed to play hero, that annoying act slowed Flynn down. It made Flynn present his back as a target.

  “Stop!” Aaron gasped.

  Seriously? That sonofabitch hadn’t jumped yet? Screw that. Flynn shoved the guy, as hard as he could, and Aaron toppled right off that roof.

  Cecelia screamed. She tried to lunge for Aaron, but Flynn held her too tightly.

  That’s right, you dumb bastard. Hold her tight. Let her hate you because you made her be helpless while her friend died. Willow had told him all about Cecelia’s fears, and he was going to make sure her worst fear became reality.

  But then a blur raced past him. A blur that he knew was fucking Sawyer Cage. He’d just caught a glimpse of his old Lazarus team leader. Cage had erupted from the stairwell, and he rushed straight forward, going over the side of the roof. Cage had always been the fastest of the test subjects, but even he couldn’t be that fast…could he?

  Bryce fired at Sawyer, whirling his body, because he’d wanted to take out Sawyer Cage for a long time now. Payback was such a sweet bitch—

  Flynn hit him. Tackled him. They both staggered. Went down. Then Flynn was punching Bryce, driving his fist into Bryce’s face again and again. Bryce felt his nose break, and he laughed as he tossed Flynn off him.

  But Flynn just landed on his feet.

  Bryce swiped away the blood that dripped from his mouth. His gaze swept the scene. What a lovely reunion. Dr. Elizabeth Parker had joined the fun…only she was currently kneeling beside Willow. Dr. Parker should save herself some effort. He could hear Willow’s heartbeat slowing. She shouldn’t be a problem much longer.

  When he turned his head, Bryce saw the tall, muscled African American man who was currently aiming a gun at him. Bryce smiled. “Be careful. You don’t want to become a dead man.”

  “No, you’re already the dead bastard,” the man snarled back, and then he fired.

  Bryce leapt to the side, but a bullet still streaked across his neck. Furious, he sent a surge of rage at that jerk. You hate the world. Fury, building inside of you. Hate. Rage. Thick, choking you. The only way to stop it is with the gun. You’ve got it, use it. Stop the pain…Stop it all by turning that weapon on the people around you.

  “Get…out,” the guy groaned. And instead of firing the gun at his friends, the bastard dropped the weapon.

  Flynn had moved to stand in front of Cecelia. Always drawn back to her, wasn’t he?

  “You’re done,” Flynn swore as he glared at Bryce.

  Hardly. In fact, Bryce was just getting started. “Sorry to ask, but has anyone looked to see if the special agent is dead? Or if Sawyer managed to be the annoying asshole he usually is…and save the guy’s life?”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Cecelia lunged for the side of the roof. She got there two seconds before Elizabeth. They stared down in absolute horror. Sawyer had saved Aaron, but the two men were currently surrounded by a group of men wearing all black and holding guns—guns trained on Sawyer and Aaron.

  “Oh, did you just see the recovery team?” Bryce’s mocking voice asked. “They arrived exactly on time. I mean, you knew the government wasn’t just going to surrender their valuable property, didn’t you? Lazarus subjects don’t get to walk away.”

  Flynn surged toward him.

  Bryce tried to dodge him, but Flynn drove his fist into the guy’s jaw. Bryce’s head whipped around, and he laughed.

  “They’ll take all of you!” Bryce promised. “Dr. Parker—you know they want you. Did you really think that arrogant ass Jay Maverick could keep you safe? He’s been working with Lazarus all along!”

  Cecelia glanced back at him. “No.” That couldn’t be true.

  Bryce lifted his wrist toward his mouth. “I have them on the rooftop. Storm the facility now.”

  She realized that he was talking into a transmitter. He was working with the retrieval team? What in the hell?

  “Chopper’s coming,” Flynn snarled. “I hear it.” He spun and rushed toward Cecelia. “We have to go!”

  This whole thing…it had been a set-up to get them back in Lazarus? No, no, that didn’t make sense. “Bryce is a killer.” She stared at him as fury churned inside of her. “You killed Jennifer McKenzie.”

  He rolled back his shoulders. “I kill a lot of people, and Wright doesn’t care. He never did. I get the job done for him, and that’s all that matters.”

  Wright. So he was the man still pulling the strings. Still alive, just as Mark had said.

  “How did you remember?” The words burst from Cecelia. “None of the other subjects remember their pasts!”

  “I remembered because of you.”

  A cold fist squeezed her heart.

  “I think it was a test. There’s no way you were randomly put in my path.” His laughter rolled to her. “After our first session, I started having these dreams. Flashes.”

  “But the jewelry!” She still couldn’t put the final pieces together. “How did you remember where you’d hidden your trophies? All of the jewelry that belonged to your victims?”

  His laughter stopped. “Landon gave me an address once. Said if I ever got out of Lazarus, to find the place. The cabin had my prizes waiting for me. Along with a DVD, a fucking recording of myself. My confession, I guess you could say.”

  So he didn’t remember all of his past. And for Landon to push him to that cabin… “He wanted you to come after me.”

  “You’re a loose end. Your services are no longer needed by Lazarus.” Bryce lifted his arms. “There is no escape for you. None of you will get out of here without—”

  Gunfire erupted. A fast rat-a-tat that had come from the street down below.

  “Sawyer!” Elizabeth yelled, and then she ran for the door that led to the stairwell.

  “You’re the one not getting out of here,” Flynn said fl
atly to Bryce. He turned his head toward West. “Go…don’t let this bastard get in your head. I’m ending him. You help Elizabeth and Sawyer. They need you.”

  West hesitated.

  Cecelia’s gaze swept the roof. She saw the gun that Bryce had fired when they first burst onto that rooftop, half-hidden in shadows. Was it empty? Had he used all of the bullets?

  “Jay didn’t sell us out,” West rasped. “Don’t listen to that creep.”

  Bryce laughed. “Yes, he did. And don’t you know, super soldiers can hear lies? You just lied right through your teeth. Liar, liar…What does that do to you? The guilt, the lies, what does—”

  “Go!” Flynn bellowed to West.

  Swearing, West rushed back into the building. He didn’t pick up the gun he’d dropped before.

  Bryce rolled back his shoulders as he stared at Flynn. “Trying to figure out how to kill me? And how to escape this building with precious Cecelia? Let me guess, you think you can leap off the roof with her. You can carry her to safety, and she won’t fall prey to the retrieval agents.” He put his finger to his lips as if revealing a secret. “You shouldn’t worry about that. They don’t want her. Wright said her usefulness was at an end. I get her as payment for providing him with what he wanted.”

  “The hell you do,” Cecelia yelled back at him. “You don’t get me. You don’t—”

  His eyes narrowed. “Haven’t you felt me? Oh, dear Cecelia, why lie?”

  What?

  “I already have you. I’ve been with you this whole time. You got into my mind at Lazarus, during our sessions, but, love, I got into yours, too.”

  She shook her head. No, he hadn’t. He was lying—

  “You were so scared when you were tied to that chair on that long-ago day. Poor little good girl. He wanted to use his knife on you. It was that fear that let me in. I can smell fear. It’s such a strong emotion. My favorite of the emotions, really. I rode that fear right into your mind, and I’ve been there ever since.” He smiled at her. “What? Did you think you were stronger than me? That you could keep me out? No, Cecelia, I’ve been there all along. And I’ll always be there.”

  “The hell you will.” Flynn lunged to grab the gun West had left behind. “A bullet to the brain is going to stop you.”

  “Not even death can get me out of her mind. I’ll be the fear that makes her wake up screaming. It will be my name on her lips. Always.”

  Whoop-whoop-whoop. She could see the light from the helicopter, could feel the wind blowing against her face as it approached Sin.

  “Hope you like being in a cage, Flynn. Cause you’re headed back to one now.” Bryce laughed.

  “Fuck you.” Flynn fired the gun.

  Bryce leapt to the side, running fast, moving in a blur, as he tried to dodge the bullets that were raining down on him. Flynn fired again and again, but Bryce didn’t stop.

  Bryce appeared right in front of Flynn. His hand flew out and locked around Flynn’s throat. “You’re…out of ammo.”

  Flynn smiled. “You might have dodged the head shots, but you’ve got four bullets in your chest. Your body is going to shut down, and you’re going to fall any second.”

  “You’re…weak…too,” Bryce spat. “I shot you…when you…came on roof…bullets in…your back…” Bryce yanked Flynn closer.

  And then she could see the blood on Flynn, too. The blood that soaked his back.

  Even as she stared at him, she saw Flynn shudder in Bryce’s grasp. Flynn was weaker than she’d realized. Oh, God, all that blood loss. He’d been…dying…all along, bleeding out, but he’d still fought, still tried to save everyone. And she hadn’t even realized because she hadn’t seen his back, not until then.

  “Flynn!” Cecelia yelled.

  Bryce snapped Flynn’s neck.

  The sound shattered Cecelia. It seemed louder than anything she’d ever heard. Louder than the helicopter that was coming so close. Louder than the thunder of her heartbeat that echoed in Cecelia’s ears. Louder than the scream that wouldn’t stop coming from her.

  Then both Bryce and Flynn fell.

  Blood soaked Bryce’s chest.

  Flynn’s eyes were closed, his head tilted back at an odd angle.

  He’ll come back. He’ll come back. The Lazarus subjects were supposed to be able to rise from death. He’d sure as hell better rise.

  “I’m not…out c-cold…”

  Bryce.

  She stared at him in horror. He smiled, and blood covered his lips and teeth. He dragged his body toward her.

  “Still awake…still g-gonna have y-you…”

  She’d already grabbed the gun that had been half-hidden in the shadows. The gun that Bryce had held when they first burst onto the roof. “No, you’re not.” Flynn had weakened Bryce for her. Bryce had suffered so much blood loss and internal damage, he wouldn’t be able to dodge her bullet.

  “N-never be free…” Bryce whispered. “Always…in…y-you…”

  “That’s what you think.” She fired. And thank God, there was a bullet still in the gun. The bullet blasted into Bryce’s head and she watched it, every second, making herself see just what happened to him as that bullet hit the man who’d terrorized her.

  He was still smiling when he fell back.

  But he was also fucking dead.

  The light from the chopper fell on her face. So bright. Blinding. She turned away from it, and Cecelia knelt next to Flynn. Her right hand still gripped the gun. Her left stroked Flynn’s face. “I love you.”

  Wind beat against her clothes, it tossed her hair. She hunched over Flynn, trying to protect his body. The retrieval team would have to tear him from her. If there were more bullets left in the gun she held, then she’d use them. They weren’t going to get Flynn without a fight. She wasn’t going to give him up.

  The whoop-whoop-whoop of the chopper was so loud that she didn’t hear the footsteps rushing toward her, but she felt the touch of a hand on her shoulder. She whirled around, the gun coming up to aim at the enemy.

  Only she wasn’t staring at the enemy. She found herself gazing into Elizabeth Parker’s dark eyes. Sawyer was right behind her friend.

  Sawyer.

  West.

  Jay.

  Even…Aaron? Well, Aaron was draped over West’s shoulder, looking a bit bloody, but he was there.

  “That’s our ride,” Jay snapped. “Come on, we need to get the hell out of here before reinforcements arrive.”

  What?

  She shook her head, and then she pointed the gun at Jay. “You sold us out.”

  He immediately lifted his hands. “Oh, hell. Is she under Bryce’s control? And how is she under his control? Because I’m pretty sure that’s his corpse getting ready to rot over—”

  “You sold us out!” Cecelia yelled at him.

  “No! No, dammit, okay, yes, I was working with Lazarus, I financed them in the beginning…” A gust of wind from the chopper had him staggering forward. “But I am not working for them now! This isn’t about the U.S. government! Not anymore! Wright is rogue, and all those men downstairs that Sawyer just knocked out—they are Wright’s agents!” Jay pointed behind him as he shouted to make himself heard. “His agents, but not his chopper. That helicopter is mine! I ordered it here in case things went south because I heard too much chatter online. I knew something was going down, I saw too many red flags and just—shit! We need to get on the chopper! I can explain everything once we are out of here!”

  Was she supposed to believe him? Put her trust in the guy?

  Her gaze flew to Sawyer. “Is he lying?” Cecelia yelled.

  Sawyer’s narrowed stare was on Jay.

  But it was West who responded. “My brother can be an asshole,” West yelled, nodding, “but he is telling the truth now. He’s working to stop Lazarus, not to help them, and we need to get our asses on the chopper!”

  “He’s telling the truth,” Sawyer emphasized.

  And it wasn’t like they had a ton of options. She could
hear the scream of sirens cutting through the whoop-whoop-whoop of the chopper. She’d pulled the fire alarm downstairs and all hell really had broken loose in Sin, so it wasn’t surprising that the local authorities had come rushing to the scene.

  Sawyer grabbed Flynn and hoisted his friend over his shoulder. “I got him, Cecelia.”

  “He’s going to be okay.” Her voice was a whisper now, but he still heard her. “His back is soaked with blood. I-I don’t know how many times he was hit, and then Bryce broke his neck—” A sob broke from her. Too much pain.

  “He’ll be okay, Cecelia, I promise.”

  He’d better not just be giving her a fake promise.

  They hurried to the chopper. She jumped in with the others, but Jay glanced back around, scanning the roof-top. He saw Willow and ran to her.

  “Jay!” West shouted.

  Jay lifted the woman into his arms. He stared down at her, and Cecelia could have sworn grief flashed on his face. Then he raced back to them. “She’s still alive!” Jay screamed. “There’s blood all over her face and head, but she’s breathing!”

  Surprise rocked through Cecelia.

  “The bullet didn’t go into her head.” Elizabeth’s voice was shaking. “He hit her twice. Once in the chest—and I think that shot killed her. She didn’t have a heartbeat earlier. It had just stopped. But when I examined her, I saw that the bullet he fired at her head had just grazed Willow’s right temple.”

  Jay started to climb onto the chopper.

  “Her body must have already healed from the bullet wound to her chest,” Elizabeth added. “She’s going to wake up soon.” And she sounded worried.

  “I just heard her heart start beating when Jay approached her,” Sawyer added. “She’s a pretty fast healer.”

  Cecelia had to strain in order to hear him.

  Before Jay could scramble onto the chopper, Sawyer blocked his path. “She’s dangerous. Willow was working with Bryce. The instant she wakes up, she could attack us.”

  “I can’t leave her on this building.” Jay shook his head. “We take her with us! Shit, man, you can restrain her if she wakes up and goes crazy, but we have to get out of here, now!”