A Chimera's Revenge (Chimera Secrets Book 4) Read online

  Luke sighed. “No trap. I need help.”

  Despite everything, Jett believed him. “Who are these people that caught you?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. I never got their names. I do know they seem to be Russian backed. But they obviously had connections, given how they’ve been moving around.”

  “How did you escape?”

  A wave of green rolled over Luke’s eyes. “By killing every single fucker who stood in my way. The night they went after Cerberus, they practically emptied out the place.” Luke shrugged. “I knew I might never get a better chance, so I escaped with Maggie.”

  “Can you show me where they kept you?” Jett asked.

  “I could, but I can already tell you won’t find shit. I returned for answers, but the place was razed to the ground.”

  “They might have chipped you.”

  Luke’s lips tilted. “They might have, but I learned from my mistakes. Since I didn’t have an EMP machine I did the next best thing and went to a dentist. Ran myself through the x-ray machine a few times. Had to do it to Maggie, too.”

  “That’s dangerous for the baby,” Jett barked.

  “So is getting caught by psychos,” was Luke’s retort. “What else should I have done?”

  “Have you seen any sign of them since?”

  Luke shook his head. “But we’ve been on the run, never stopping more than a day or two in any place.”

  “I’m going to have to tell Adrian,” Jett informed him.

  “I figured that.”

  “Why not tell him yourself?”

  Luke took a moment to reply, as if the answer troubled him. “I can’t go near him because I desperately want to return.”

  The words didn’t entirely surprise Jett. He’d suspected for a while that the magnet drawing the projects back wasn’t a place but a person.

  One person.

  Chimera.

  The father of monsters had disappeared, but his children kept coming back.

  Chapter Five

  Adrian Chimera didn’t suffer regret often, but he did feel bad about setting the empty house on fire, especially since it looked just about done. The stickers from the manufacturer were still in the windows. A homeowner’s dream about to become a burnt-out insurance nightmare.

  You’d think, given it was the third one in as many evenings, he’d feel less remorse. But Adrian was a man who hated waste. Look at the wasted resources being reduced to ash. Almost as bad as those who wasted life.

  When he saw those with no motivation, no drive, he wanted to shake them. Slap some sense into them and remind them they never knew what tomorrow might bring.

  Adrian spent the first half of his life in a body that kept decaying, going from able-bodied to crippled in a wheelchair. The fact he ever managed to achieve the science necessary to repair himself was a miracle in and of itself.

  The desperate gamble paid off. He was living, walking proof. But the cure wasn’t quite perfect.

  You’re insane.

  No, I’m not.

  Because having conversations with the voices in his head wasn’t crazy at all.

  The flick of the match against the cardboard resulted in a flame. He dropped the match. He left the porch at a run, his hooded sweater hiding his features on the off chance someone watched. Explain that to the authorities.

  Yes, officer, I set that house on fire, but I had a good reason. I am trying to catch a woman who likes to walk into infernos.

  There was a padded cell somewhere for people like him.

  The gasoline-soaked rag that he’d dropped on the porch burned merrily, the flames hungry enough to melt the vinyl siding. Smoke filled the air, although this time of night it was more a smell than a sight.

  He hunkered across the street, the shadow of the excavator left behind for the next day’s work a good shield from behind which to watch. The erratic dance of the flames hypnotized and made him wonder how long his old lab burned once he gave the command to destroy it. The very fact he’d made a plan to blow up his lab in the first place just went to show how far down the rabbit hole he’d fallen.

  There was no climbing out. No redemption for him. Also, no damn proof he’d done anything. Between the charges that exploded and the chemicals left behind, they’d turned his life’s work into a raging, melting blaze that wouldn’t be easily put out by simple water. Even if someone sifting the ruins found an intact hard drive, good luck getting any information. The virus he’d run on the network wiped everything clean. He’d watched and learned from the errors of past science greats both real and fictional.

  As the fire spread across the front of the house, licking up the siding, lighting the night sky, Adrian wondered if he wasted his time. For all he knew, the woman he sought was clear across town visiting another burning building. Or didn’t exist at all. What if the videos were fake? She could have died in the last sighting.

  This is stupid. He chased an impossible dream. A second chance he didn’t deserve.

  And then he saw her. Hips sashayed as she suddenly stepped out of the shadows, an undulating Venus with her rounded hips, indented waist, and handful-sized breasts tickled by hair that appeared dark but could have been the auburn he knew so well. There was a languid grace about her movements, and he couldn’t help but stare at the woman. Was it Jane? She approached from the far side where he couldn’t quite see her face.

  He’d have to move, which might startle her. But the important part was she’d come. Now he’d find out once and for all if it was Jane or a look-alike.

  He ducked out of from behind safety of the tractor onto the road, feet pounding on the pavement to reach the sidewalk.

  The woman never once turned her head, just kept walking toward the dancing flames. Their hungry orange tendrils edged closer to the roofline, spreading and growing to brighten the dark.

  The woman didn’t appear daunted by the inferno and kept approaching, closer than he dared. He couldn’t let her get away.

  “Hey. You,” he shouted to no reply.

  She reached for the knob of the house, which had been locked when he tried it. Yet turned in her grasp. The door swung open, and she took a step over the threshold, about to disappear inside.

  No. He couldn’t lose her. Desperate, he yelled, “Jane, stop.”

  The woman paused and then cast him a glance over her shoulder, a gaze with eyes kaleidoscope in color, freakishly bright and unnatural.

  The flames all around lit her in a glow, and her hair appeared as a burning nimbus draped over her shoulders. She perused Adrian, dismissed him, and entered the house.

  Adrian started after her, feeling the heat licking at his skin, sucking at all the moisture. The very air scorched his lungs. “Jane,” he yelled again, because he’d lost all doubt. As impossible as it seemed, she lived.

  And she might die if she didn’t get out. He tried to get closer to the inferno, only an explosion rocked the house, the windows shattering outward, sending a tremble into the ground. He wavered on his feet and then covered his face and head as debris rained down. A smoldering piece of something hit the ground beside him.

  Sirens approached, and he cursed. He needed a few more minutes to look for Jane.

  Or not. He stared at the completely consumed wreck. Between the smoke and the fire, no one could have survived.

  No one human, that was.

  As with the other scenes, the firemen found no remains in the house.

  No sign of her at all. But Adrian wasn’t about to give up. Jane was out there, somewhere. He was sure of it.

  I have to find her. Had to explain. Atone.

  He did his best, only to fail night after night but not for lack of trying. Adrian ran around the city setting fires, one each night in a different locale. Three since the night he’d seen her. And not a single sighting.

  It took Jett taking the lighter from his hand when he eyed a firework outlet store before Adrian snapped out of it. “This isn’t working,” he muttered.

  “Ya
think?” was Jett’s sarcastic drawl. “It’s time you went home.”

  “But Jane…” Adrian murmured her name. Still amazed she’d recovered. Curious about how she survived the fire. And why was she drawn to them?

  “Are you even sure she’s alive?” Jett asked, not for the first time.

  “Yes.” A certainty he couldn’t explain.

  “Even if she is, Jane obviously doesn’t want to be found.”

  “She’s confused.”

  “Or pissed.” Jett, the voice of stark reason.

  “I need to find her.”

  “Ever think she doesn’t want anything to do with you?”

  Adrian glared. “You’re not being helpful.”

  “Sorry, would you prefer I bowed and said yes to every stupid thing you say?”

  Adrian pressed his lips into a tight line. “No. But it’s Jane.” Jett couldn’t understand why he had to help. Why he had to find her. “She has to be somewhere.”

  “Yup, and I’ll wager she’s watching,” Jett remarked, helping him to their car.

  “And not showing herself?” Adrian frowned. “Why not?”

  “Gee, maybe because you left her to die in that explosion. Wouldn’t be the first time one of your patients didn’t appreciate your efforts.”

  Adrian’s lips pursed. “But she wasn’t awake. She has no idea I treated her.”

  “Even if she knew you were her doctor, she also has no idea who you are.” Jett fixed him with a dark gaze as he pulled the car onto the road. “Keep in mind, the last time she saw you—”

  “I was a puny glasses-wearing kid in a wheelchair.” Adrian had changed a lot since then. And so had the world.

  Jane had been sleeping for more than two decades. A lifetime full of invention. In her mind, she probably still felt eighteen, the age when she’d overdosed.

  “Could be she has no memories at all,” Jett added. “Weren’t you the one saying she was a vegetable?”

  Adrian scowled. “Don’t say that. She was sleeping.”

  “Sleeping like the dead.” Jett wasn’t one to couch things. “And now she’s not.”

  Probably on account of what Adrian did. “I cured her.”

  “Maybe. Or maybe she’s the start of the zombie apocalypse.”

  It took him seeing the slight quirk of Jett’s mouth to realize he jested.

  “I have to find her.”

  “You ain’t finding her. Not unless she wants to be found.”

  “So what do you suggest I do?” Adrian snapped. Of late it happened more often.

  “Go home.”

  “What the fuck am I supposed to do there? Twiddle my fucking thumbs?” Adrian asked with some sarcasm.

  “Actually, you need to start prepping. Or have you forgotten about Becky and the babies?”

  “I haven’t forgotten. I get the ultrasound machine this week.” Adrian drummed his fingers on the car door.

  “You’re going to need more than that. When was the last time you delivered a baby?”

  “Excuse me?”

  Jett stopped at a red light and gave Adrian his attention. “An old friend of yours needs your help.”

  It took him only a second to grasp who Jett meant. “You’ve spoken to Luke?”

  “Yeah.”

  The knowledge almost blew his mind. “When?”

  “A few times since we got to town.”

  Adrian exploded. “And you didn’t tell me?”

  Rather than apologize, Jett shrugged. “I’m telling you now.”

  “How did you find him?”

  “I didn’t. He contacted me.”

  Mind blown again. “He’s sane?”

  “As sane as a guy with a super pregnant wife can be. But he’s looking for help.”

  “Of course, I’ll help. Bring him to me.”

  Jett shook his head. “Not so quick. Before you meet, he wants assurances.”

  “And he went to you to ensure them?” It burned that Luke would have approached Jett instead of Adrian. At one time, they’d been friends. But apparently, according to Luke, Adrian ruined things when he kept experimenting on Luke. Didn’t his friend understand he was trying to achieve perfection?

  “He came to me because I understand. My wife’s also pregnant with a child who is…” Jett trailed off as the light turned green.

  “Your children are the next stage of evolution.”

  “Or the downfall of it. I love my wife, and I’ll love our kids, but let’s not kid ourselves here, boss. What you’ve accomplished could change the face of humanity.”

  “About time.” It wasn’t as if humanity had that much to offer. Adrian might have been cured for over a decade now, but he never forgot the taunts. The depression. The feeling of rejection.

  He also never forgot what revenge felt like. Jane used to be his daily reminder of what happened when vengeance wasn’t tightly focused. But Jett didn’t know about his dirtiest secret of all.

  “Luke only wants to deal with you and me,” Jett said.

  “What makes him think he can trust you?”

  “My wife.” Jett grimaced. “Apparently, Becky has been chatting with Margaret for a while now. She promised I would help.”

  Adrian knew better than to expect Jett to break that promise. “When does he want to meet?”

  “Soon. He won’t be giving any warning. Just expect him to show up.”

  “At least he didn’t wait too long. She’s what, five, six months along?”

  Jett shook his head. “According to Luke she might be further along. Says she looks ready to pop any day.”

  Accelerated growth? Certainly a possibility.

  “I wish he’d not waited so long to contact me,” Adrian noted. “If there are complications, it might be too late to intervene.”

  “First off, don’t use the word intervene around Luke. He’s liable to rip your face off. And second, you better hope neither of them dies.” Left unsaid, Luke would kill him if they did.

  “You’re getting on the highway,” Adrian observed, recognizing their path.

  “Told you, it’s time you went home. Your luggage is already in the trunk.”

  A part of him wanted to argue. To demand his employee turn the car around. He kept quiet, because he realized Jett was right.

  Time to stop chasing Jane. This torching of places wasn’t working, and sooner or later, the cops would catch up.

  He needed better bait.

  Chapter Six

  She kept watch long after the noisy metal box left. Mostly because of her fascination with one of the males that climbed inside.

  He drew her with his strong presence. He delighted with his ability to start lovely warm fires for her to bask in. Except, once she realized he set them for her, she stopped enjoying them. Mostly because she wondered if the fires he set were part of his mating ritual.

  Did he seek to attract her?

  It only partially worked. Because while the infernos delighted, the male discomfited.

  He seemed familiar. The timbre of his voice. Something in the general shape of his face. But his scent…she didn’t recognize it at all. Even as it intrigued her.

  She was drawn to the man, which made her suspicious. Hence why she ignored his offerings and watched instead.

  And then he was gone. The first night of no fires she spent searching, not for the flames but him.

  Only he was nowhere to be found.

  She did eventually find some warmth in the form of coals burning under a bridge. Standing on them gave her a sense of peace until some noisy males thought to touch her. Their screams pleased almost as much as the scent of their burning flesh.

  As she chewed on some crispy fat, enjoying the quiet she created, she pondered why the interesting male had left.

  Don’t care. A claim she kept repeating to herself, yet she looked for him again the next night.

  And then the third.

  It wasn’t until the fourth she realized he wasn’t coming back. Had he given up?

&
nbsp; For some reason that bothered her. Especially since she missed him and had decided she needed to know more about this strange male. Why did it feel like she should recognize him?

  Why had he stopped coming?

  On the fifth night, a bright flare caught her attention as a sudden inferno erupted. Thinking he’d returned, she raced across the city, only to arrive too late. Noisy metal machines with flashing lights arrived before her. The males in their bulky suits held long snakes that spewed water.

  Way to ruin a perfectly good fire.

  From her perch atop a roof, she watched and only barely heard the arrival of another. She whirled and beheld nothing. Yet she could have sworn she didn’t stand on that roof alone.

  A voice whispered. Words she could almost understand but garbled as if filtered. She shook her head and took a step toward the shadows, a darkness that shifted. A shape moved, shifted, and spoke a word that registered. “Revenge.”

  Her nostrils flared at the mention, and she growled.

  The arm pointed, finger extended into the distance. A direction to follow. “Revenge,” the voice repeated.

  And she understood what she had to do.

  She left the city that night in search of him.

  Chapter Seven

  Not much was said during the long ride back to Adrian’s house in the woods.

  As the miles whipped by and the scenery became more desolate, the stretches of dense forest growing longer, he had to wonder if he’d made the right choice.

  He’d left Jane behind. Poor confused Jane, who, through some miracle, woke and now had no idea what had happened to her.

  I should have done better in tracking her down. Yet the closest he might have gotten to her was a basement room. Decrepit with a single sink and a mattress on the floor. But it was warm. The pile of garbage on the floor and the oil slick in the corner had created a nice smoldering blaze that was easily extinguished in that concrete space once the fuel ran out.

  The police called it the work of vagrants, but Adrian wondered if perhaps it was Jane, so he’d visited the location.