let him know which room she was in, then went to her own quarters.
Three minutes later, a knock sounded on her door. She felt the now-familiar buzz of electric energy she'd come to recognize as Boris Grinkov. Taking comfort in knowing that Maddox was within shouting distance, she opened the door. 'Dr.Grinkov.'
'I told you and the others that you were to wait for Halloran to bring you back to your quarters.'
She lifted her chin, 'Why an escort? Are we prisoners?'
'Of course not.' Grinkov said. 'But we conduct experiments for private groups who do not wish their business to be known before they're ready to reveal their findings. We take our security and confidentiality seriously.' Iris felt a sense of calm steal over her as Grinkov's anxiety ebbed. 'I am sorry. You think our guidelines restrictive.'
'No.' she said with a smile. 'I understand. I'll behave.'
Grinkov smiled at her choice of words, 'Halloran will be by later to escort you and the others to the cafeteria. Cook is preparing seared tuna steaks today. I'm sure you will find them delicious.' He gave a curt nod and left the room.
Iris slumped on the edge of the bed, her head still throbbing from the residue of Tom Stanton's distress and her own moment of tension with Grinkov. How was she ever going to find Sandrine if her every move was controlled and choreographed?
She felt a sudden flood of warmth, laced with liberal bits of pure adrenaline, a second before the door opened and Maddox slipped inside. She jumped from the bed and met him halfway, wrapping her arm tightly around his waist and pressing her face against the front of his gray coveralls.
He stroked her hair. 'Well, hello to you, too, sugar.'
'What are you doing here?'
'Getting you out.'
'I can't leave, l haven't found Sandrine yet.'
He grinned at her, triumph in his eyes. 'But I have.'
She grabbed his arms. 'Where?'
'In the infirmary.'
Her heart dropped, 'What's wrong with her?'
'I don't know.' he admitted. 'She's unconscious but her vitals look stable, and she's breathing on her own.'
She bit back her panic. 'We have to get her out of here.'
'And we're gonna do that, sugar, but I have to tell you something first.' The sensations coming from him darkened. 'Another body washed up. Amanda Marquez.'
'The other empath on the list?' Iris's knees wobbled. She found the edge of her bed and sat.
Maddox sat beside her. 'You didn't feel my knee this morning, did you? Something's happened to your… what ever it is.'
'It's back.' she said, surprised by the deluge of relief that flowed from him at her words. 'I think it was a temporal thing caused by…overexertion ' She looked at him.
He arched one eyebrow. 'Yeah?'
She flushed and forced her mind away from her memories of the previous night's pleasures.'I've got to get to Sandrine.'
'I can show you where the infirmary is. But there are cameras all along the hallways. We'll never escape notice.'
'How did you get here unnoticed?'
'I'm on the cleaning crew. We're crawling all over this place. I'm practically invisible.'
'Then we need to shut down the surveillance.'
'I'd be happy to go all Mission: Impossible for you, maybe swoop down from the ceiling and knock out the security to this place, but I don't have time to set things up.'
'Do you know where the security center is?'
He arched an eyebrow 'Yeah, Quinn gave me a schematic.'
'That may be all we need.' She reached up and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek. 'Wait here.'
She headed for the door.
Iris returned to her room five minutes later with three other people, a man and two women. The tallest of the women, a raw boned redhead, stopped in the doorway, her hands on her hips, and asked, 'What the hell is going on here?'
Iris closed the door carefully behind them. 'Bailey, this is Maddox Heller. He's not really a cleaning guy. Maddox, this is Bailey, Hildi and Tom. They're in my test group.'
Maddox stood and nodded toward the others. 'What the hell is going on here, Iris?'
'We need to disable security, right? And you know where the security center is located, you said '
He nodded warily. 'But-'
'Show us the schematic '
'Oh, my God, you want us to shutdown security.' Bailey said, moving farther into the room. Her eyes lit up. 'Well, it's about damned time! This place is a freaking prison!'
Maddox looked at Iris, the hair on the back of his neck prickling. Who were these people, really? How did she know they could be trusted? Iris met his gaze with calm assurance, her eyes asking him to trust her. He forced himself to relax.
'Maddox Heller.' the man named Tom said suddenly, 'You're that Marine, the one in Kaziristan.'
Maddox felt Iris's eyes on him, but he didn't look away from Tom's narrowed gaze. 'I was '
Tom's face creased with a sudden smile. 'Was, hell. Once a Marine, always a Marine, man. Second Battalion, Second Marines myself. Saw time in Haiti. Semper fi.'
Maddox couldn't help but return the grin. 'Semper fi.'
'Heard you got the shaft, man. That's rough. So this place-I take it it's not on the up-and-up?'
Maddox glanced at Iris, who was gazing at him with so much pride it made his head spin. He looked back at Tom. 'I think it's a cover for something very dangerous. And I think it just may take all of us to get out of here safely.'
Unfolding the schematic, he showed Hildi the location of the security center, while Iris caught them up on what they knew about Boris Grinkov, Tahir Mahmoud and the Telarana laboratory.
'I see it.' Hildi said suddenly, her voice rising with excitement. 'It's a black cord, plugged into a panel at the back. Not detachable. It'll have to be ripped out.'
Bailey closed her eyes a moment, 'I see it, too!' She looked up, a huge grin on her face.
Iris gripped Tom's arm more tightly as his breathing started to speed up and grow a little ragged. Pain hammered into her skull but she held on.
'Let me give it a try.' Bailey closed her eyes again.
A sharp, blinding pain slammed into Iris's head. Her grip on Tom's arm started to loosen.
'Don't let go!' he barked at her.
She squeezed her eyes shut against the onslaught of agony and clutched his arm. She felt arms wrap around her from behind, holding her upright. Maddox. Warmth stole over her, built a wall between her and the pain, providing blessed relief,
'Got it!' Bailey and Hildi cried at the same moment.
Tom let go of the women, and Iris let go of Tom's arm, slumping back against Maddox's chest. He stroked her hair back from her forehead and pressed a quick kiss against her temple.
'We have about ten minutes, best guess, before they figure out what's up and either find a backup for the system or call for a security crackdown. Tom, you take this.' Maddox pulled a compact 9 mm semi automatic from an ankle holster. 'Fifteen rounds, one in the chamber. Make it count.'
Tom took the weapon and gave a firm nod.
'Get the women out through this side entrance to that hiding spot I told you about.' Maddox showed Tom the building schematic.
'I'm going with you, Maddox.' Iris protested.
He touched her shoulder. 'I have to do this one alone, baby. Go with Tom. I'll bring Sandrine out to you and you can do your magic once we're safe. I promise.'
