She swallowed.
Finally. A reaction.
Now he had a starting place and knew what to do: establish a common bond. “If my girlfriend contracted a life-threatening disease, I’d want to die myself. She’s my life.” He told himself the words were a lie, but he couldn’t stop an image of Mishka from flashing through his mind. Every muscle in his body tightened. Not now. “Joe knows you weren’t yourself when you attacked him. He knows you didn’t mean to hurt him.”
Nothing.
“At least tell me how you’re doing, Patty, so I can tell Joe. He’s so worried. He’s not sleeping. He’s not eating. I’m afraid he’ll get sick. So tell me, how are you?”
“How do you think I am?” she muttered, the words slurred. “Home, home, want to go home.”
“I want to help you get there,” he said, doing his best to hide his relief. She was talking. “I want you back with Joe. First, you have to answer some questions for me. Okay?”
She stilled, not even breathing that he could see. Then her lids lifted slowly and she was staring right at him, her dark eyes seeming to swirl with vast tomes of knowledge. More knowledge than any twenty-three-year-old should possess.
“Same questions you asked my friends?” Her voice was layered now, both high and low, like Nolan’s had been.
Jaxon blinked in surprise. Friends? To his knowledge, none of the victims knew one another. They didn’t live next to one another, didn’t work in the same buildings, didn’t frequent the same salons. And since becoming A.I.R.’s “guests,” they damn sure hadn’t had any contact with one another. “Which friends?”
“The girls here.”
“How do you know I spoke with them?”
She smiled, and the sight of that smile was a little freaky. Too sharp teeth in a saliva-filled mouth. “They told me.”
“How?” The women had not been allowed to leave their rooms. Except for their doctors, they had not been allowed visitors. More than that, the walls were soundproof. No way the women had been able to talk through them.
The light in Patty’s eyes dimmed, leaving them suddenly vacant. “Who are you?” Once again, the words were slurred, no longer layered.
Jaxon’s brow furrowed. What. The. Hell? “My name is Jaxon. I came to help you.”
“Am I dying?” She didn’t wait for his answer. “He’s sorry. He didn’t mean to do it.”
He? The otherworlder? “Do what?”
“Hurt me.”
“I’m sure he didn’t. What’s his name?”
A tremor racked her, and she drew her arms tighter around her stomach. So tight the blue lines of her veins swelled.
“Patty. Who is ‘he’?”
“I’m not gonna tell,” she said in a singsong voice.
Protective of the one responsible for her current position? Most likely. None of the others had been. And that Patty was, a woman who had only spoken to him because he’d mentioned her love for her boyfriend, seemed odd. “If I know who he is, maybe I can find him and bring him to you.” Jaxon’s warm breath created a sheen of moisture underneath the mask, uncomfortable and constricting. “Would you like that?”
“He gave me a baby,” she said as if Jaxon hadn’t spoken.
“Yes.” Gentle, gentle. A quick body scan upon arrival had revealed that little gem. Just like the others. “I know.”
“It’s a boy.”
“That’s wonderful, but how do you know?” She was only a few weeks along and none of the other women, also pregnant, had given any indication that they even knew their situation.
“He told me.”
“Who is ‘he’?” Jaxon found himself asking again.
“He talks in my mind. Like the others.”
Who talked in her mind? The Schön or the baby? Who were the others? The other victims? “What do they tell you?”
“I’m hungry,” she said, once again ignoring his question. Maybe she hadn’t heard it. Her expression was lost, her trembling more violent. “Want to eat.”
“Answer my questions and I’ll bring you anything you want, I promise. Joe told me you like chocolate chip cookies. I have a box at my desk.”
“No cookies.” She licked her lips, then smacked them together with a ravenous growl that had nothing to do with cookies. Slowly her gaze rose, just like before, and latched onto him. “No cookies.”
Great.
She stilled, a predator who had just spotted prey.
She was gearing to attack.
Sighing, he turned and the door opened automatically. He stepped into the hall, heard Patty screech. He cringed and turned again. She was racing toward him, teeth bared, saliva dripping from them.
The doors locked together before she reached him.
Part of Jaxon wished he’d snuck a gun inside that cell. He suspected the doctors were going to let each woman go to term with her pregnancy. He suspected the sick babies were going to be tested, mere pincushions. The thought sickened him. He could hear their excuses now: For the good of mankind.
“Jaxon,” Mia said, suddenly beside him.
He hadn’t heard her approach. He didn’t face her, but continued to stare at the door. “Yes?”
“I think we found Nolan’s voice signal.”
CHAPTER 16
Two days before
I know, honey, but something’s come up. I need an hour, maybe two, okay? Then I’ll be home.” Pause. A warm smile. “You’re a tough negotiator, you know that? All right, all right. Forty-five minutes and no longer. I’ll be home then.”
Pause.
“Love you, too.”
Kill me. Hearing Estap goo-goo with his wife always sickened Le’Ace.
“Talk again soon.” Senator Estap hung up the phone and faced Le’Ace, his soft expression hardening into something menacing.
She’d always marveled that he could morph from loving husband to fierce master in a matter of seconds. Though she despised him with every fiber of her being, she had to concede that he wasn’t an ugly man. Didn’t have horns, fangs, or a devil’s tail. He was average height, lean, with thick brown hair and intelligent hazel eyes more brown than green.
She had hazel eyes, and she hated that they shared the trait.
He leaned back in his chair and folded his hands over his middle. Dressed in a very expensive double-breasted suit, he radiated wealth and power. The years had (unfortunately) been kind to him. His skin was smooth, mostly unlined, and glowed healthily. There were only a few strands of gray in his hair, but she knew he’d had those chemically added to give him a more distinguished air.