“Guess we do this the hard way, huh, Doc,” the man said as he unceremoniously dumped Tess’s limp body onto the cushioned chair next to the window. Her head lolled back, and her arms flopped to her side. Her eyes were fuzzy, as if she couldn’t focus.
The man charged, head down. He hit Ryan in the stomach, sending him backward. They hit the wall together with a crash. Ryan lifted a knee, jamming it up into the man’s chin. The man grunted, his head snapping back.
As he staggered upright, Ryan swung, hitting him full in the cheek. A burst of pain shot up the length of Ryan’s arm, but he ignored it, going after the man with a fast right, followed by a left. The man fell over, hitting his forehead on the windowsill. He lay still. Stunned.
Ryan turned his attention on the other man. Jung had him cornered, his back against the bedroom closet. The gun lay on the floor. Good dog, he’d earned an extra treat. He’d gotten the man to release the gun.
Ryan rounded the bed.
The second intruder dived for the gun, but Ryan beat him to it, lashing out with a kick that caught the man in the shoulder and spun him around. He yelped in pain as Jung jumped on his back, sinking his teeth into the meaty part of his upper shoulder.
“Ry-an,” Tess’s warning was weak, barely a whisper.
He whirled around but not in time to dodge a fist from the first man, who had recovered. The blow smashed into his left temple. Bursts of light exploded in front of Ryan’s eyes, and he staggered two steps back.
He shook his head, trying to clear it.
The man charged him again, knocking him into the closet doors. The doors crashed inward, sending Ryan sprawling against a collapsed rack of clothes.
“Come on, let’s get out of here!” one of the men yelled.
Jung yelped as the first man landed a good kick, sending him rolling into Ryan.
The two men rushed out of the room. Seconds later, their footsteps thundered on the stairs as they ran for the front door. The door opened and then slammed shut.
Untangling himself from Jung, Ryan pulled himself up. He ignored the sensation of red-hot needles prickling the entire left side of his face. He rounded the end of the bed, kneeling beside Tess.
“Are you all right?”
She lifted her head, her smile lopsided and halfhearted. “Sorry I wasn’t much help. They stunned me with a Taser gun as soon as they entered the room.”
He helped her sit up. “Who the hell were they?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. I woke up and they were in the house.”
“I’m calling the police.”
“No!” Tess reached out and grabbed his arm, preventing him from reaching for the phone sitting next to the bed.
“What do you mean, no? Someone broke into my house and tried to kidnap you. That’s not something to fool around with, Tess. The police need to investigate.”
She shook her head and weakly tried to pull herself to a standing position. She flopped back against the cushion and he didn’t miss the frustration in her eyes. “No cops. If you call the cops I’m out of here.”
“From the looks of things, you couldn’t leave if you wanted to. You can barely sit up.”
Ryan picked up the phone and dialed 911.
Chapter Five
The next morning, General Thomas Flynn watched the endless rush of cornfields whip past the car window. He clamped his back teeth together and glanced down at his hands resting on his thighs. They were clenched so tight his knuckles shown white.
He forced himself to relax, sliding his finger along the crisp crease in his trousers. How did people actually live here? It was so far from civilization that their nearest neighbor could only be reached by getting into some kind of junky, beat-up truck and driving miles over teeth-rattling roads.
He shifted on the smooth leather seat, shooting his wrist out the end of his jacket to check his watch. Six-forty. The trip from the airport seemed to be longer than he remembered. Perhaps he should have allowed Bloom to send the helicopter, but Flynn knew keeping a low profile was critical right now.
He’d only visited once before, right after the center opened four years ago, and the less contact he had with the place the less chance there was that he’d be tied to the center if something went wrong.
“How much farther to the Half Moon?”
“About ten minutes, sir.”
“Take me directly to the police station.”
The driver nodded. “Yes, sir. Dr. Bloom made it very clear that you wanted to be taken there first. He said that he’d meet you there. Perhaps you’d-”
Flynn cut off the young man’s comment by raising the privacy window again. He focused his attention back on the view outside his window. He wasn’t in the least interested in what the young man thought he might like to do while he waited.
At the moment, he was more concerned about how the local chief of police was going to take the story he and Bloom had cooked up regarding Tess.
It was imperative that they get Tess back within the walls of the center’s lab. The sooner she was under their control again, the sooner they could proceed with their plans.
TESS ROLLED UP on her side and groggily tried to see the clock sitting on the oak bedside table.
She watched as the green digital numbers flipped over to read 7:45 a.m. She rubbed her eyes and flopped over onto her back again. Her gaze fell on Ryan, sound asleep in the chair by the window.
She smiled. How sweet. He’d agreed to sit with her last night until she fell asleep. But he must have been so tired, he’d fallen asleep sitting upright in the chair. His head was stretched back at an uncomfortable angle, and dark, unruly strands of his thick hair fell onto his forehead, giving him a slightly rumpled look.
Once the cops and paramedics were done asking their questions and checking them both over, the police had done a complete walk-through of the house and yard. They had left, promising to return in the morning with material to check for fingerprints. Not that anyone thought they’d find anything, especially when Ryan told them both men had been wearing gloves. But she knew they would be back and this time their boss, Chief Cole, would be with him. She’d been relieved last night when they showed up without the police chief.
She sat up and swung her feet over the side of the bed. A shooting pain between her shoulder blades and in her lower back reminded her of last night’s tussle. She eased herself to her feet, stretching a bit to loosen her tight muscles.
Jung stood in the doorway, watching her with alert brown eyes, his bony tail thumping eagerly against the door panel.
He wanted out and his master was dead to the world. Tess figured she could do the honors and then spend a few minutes whipping up a hearty breakfast for Ryan. It was the least she could do considering how good he’d been to her.
She tiptoed downstairs and walked out through to the kitchen. Jung followed close on her heels, nearly tripping her more than once. As she unlatched the patio door and slid the screen door open, he made urgent little noises in the back of his throat. When the door was open, he bounded out, taking off for the far end of the yard.
Tess opened the refrigerator door and studied the eggs-and-bacon situation. She yawned. Maybe a quick shower would wake her up enough to do the job right. Shuffling back down the hall, she headed for the upstairs bathroom.
But as she neared the front of the house, someone knocked on the door.
