Tate took a deep breath, knowing he was taking one hell of a big leap of faith. But his gut was telling him it was the right thing to do. “Rebecca Brannon has been funding Mahsood’s research. The woman in the picture from the security camera is her daughter. Mahsood was experimenting on her, almost certainly with Brannon’s full knowledge and support.”
If Chase tried to hide his surprise, he wasn’t able to pull it off. “You have any proof of this? Proof solid enough to go after a woman this powerful?”
Tate shook his head. “No. And to be truthful, I doubt I’m going to be finding any up here. Which is fine, because that’s not why I was sent here.”
“Then why are you here?”
“To figure out what killed Bell and make sure it doesn’t kill anyone else,” Tate said. “Let’s get over to see this research assistant and see if she can help with that.”
Chase started the car and put it in gear but then hesitated. “You mean who killed Bell, right?”
It took Tate a moment to realize exactly what he’d said, and by then, it was too late to worry about it. He turned to gaze out the passenger window. “Yeah, sure. That’s what I meant.”
* * *
“What is this place?” Zarina asked as she set down her pack and knelt beside him on the ground.
Tanner didn’t answer her question. They were a dozen feet from a deep, slow-moving stretch of the Entiat River, less than an hour’s hike from the camp. Tanner could hear the crunch of tires on gravel as a heavy vehicle moved along the forest access road a couple hundred yards away. He remembered that rough, narrow road well, even if he’d only been semiconscious the last time he’d traveled over it.
He closed his eyes, vividly remembering the smell of the humid summer air the night Stutmeir’s men had brought him here. He could almost feel the hard bed of the pickup truck digging into his spine as the vehicle bounced and jounced along the unpaved route that was little more than a firebreak through this section of the forest. It had been a night he’d never forget. The weight and scent of the four dead bodies that had been piled on top of him in the back of the vehicle guaranteed that.
As much as he’d never wanted to come back here, there was a part of him that always knew he would. In the privacy of his own mind, he could admit that the place terrified him. But at the same time, it called to him. He had a history with this stretch of riverbank.
Opening his eyes, he reached out and scooped away some of the pine needles that had collected in the shallow depression in front of him, making it easier to see the outline. There were even a few telltale sections of dirt as evidence that the soil had been broken up and pushed to the side.
“This is the place Stutmeir’s men brought the bodies after the hybrid experiments,” he said softly. “This spot right here was my grave. As things go, it wasn’t bad, I guess. It had a nice view of the river.”
Zarina stared at him, understanding and horror crossing her face in equal measures. “Oh God. You were…?”
“Buried?” Tanner finished, because he knew she wouldn’t be able to. Her beautiful, amazing mind simply couldn’t envision something that terrible. “Yeah, I was buried here, along with Spencer, Bryce, and all the other homeless people and hikers Stutmeir’s doctors experimented on.”
Zarina’s head whipped around as she took in the dozen or so other shallow depressions scattered around the clearing. “Are the bodies still here?” she asked hesitantly, her voice low as if she was worried about disturbing them.
“No. At least I don’t think so. The DCO cleaned the place up after taking down Stutmeir so no one would stumble over the remains and draw attention to the area.”
Even though the bodies weren’t there, the thought of them was enough to make him remember Stutmeir’s men dragging him out of the back of the pickup truck along with the others and tossing him into the holes they’d dug. Then they’d started dumping dirt on him. They’d buried him alive, and there hadn’t been a damn thing he could do to stop them.
He remembered everything so clearly because the drug Zarina had injected him with to trick the doctors into thinking he was dead had made his heart rate drop and trapped his fully functioning mind inside a nearly comatose body. He’d been completely aware the whole time the men had buried him, and the sensation of the dirt hitting his face and covering his helpless body had taken him back to the very worst day of his life and almost crushed his soul.
Kneeling there now, reliving the memories, was enough to send his pulse racing and make his fangs extend. He didn’t realize how close he was to completely losing it until Zarina reached out and rested her hand on his forearm.
Tears filled her eyes, spilling over and running down her face. “I’m right here, Tanner. You’re not alone.”
His pulse slowed at the sound of her voice, his fangs retracting. For about the millionth time, he wondered what it was about Zarina that gave her the ability to pull him back from the edge with nothing more than a touch or even a whispered word or two. He’d never fully understood how she did it, but it had been like that from the very first moment she’d spoken to him mere hours after Stutmeir’s doctors had given him the first dose of hybrid serum.
He wanted to reach up and wipe her tears away, but his hands were too dirty. Literally and figuratively. Sometimes he didn’t think he’d ever be clean enough to touch her.
“I’m sorry,”
