Thane's Redemption. Nina Crespo

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СКАЧАТЬ seconds flowed through Thane as easily as the air moving in his lungs. He materialized near the oak staircase on the main deck of the super yacht Loelle. Nausea rolled in his stomach. Reid phased in beside him. The pallor of his friend’s face contrasted with his dark buzz cut, but he signaled good-to-go and popped a TUMS. After five years of working for Dalir, phasing onto moving targets was still a bitch.

      Shelving the worry of losing dinner on his tac boots, Thane focused on priorities. The empty passageway, the MP5 in his hands, and the latest intel on the hostages. Red Path Anarchy had taken Jerrold Fineway and his daughter. The specs for the luxury craft designated the section below as the accommodations deck, but Red Path had turned it into a lab. They’d find the molecular biologist there. His twenty-one-year-old daughter, held as an incentive for him to complete his work, was on the lower deck.

      Thane signaled for Reid to take point, and they crept down the stairs. No opposition in sight. The crew and a few hired guns snoozed peacefully in their beds, not expecting trouble miles out in the Pacific. Reid took a peep down the passageway and signaled he saw one guard, armed, in front of the door.

      Mace’s voice came through their headsets. “Ghost Rider, this is Casper One. Package is secure.”

      Thane cued one squelch into his throat mic in response. They had Fineway’s daughter—time to move. He squeezed Reid’s shoulder, and his friend quick-phased. An arch of golden light, caused by speeding short distances in time, followed him. The guard’s mouth dropped open, and he fumbled for his weapon. He jerked and went limp. Reid shimmered back into form. Using the same deft touch making him a master on the keyboard, he sat the unconscious man on the floor.

      Heart pumping with adrenaline, Thane advanced down the passageway and phased into the lab with Reid. Sensing movement to his left, he spun and aimed.

      Sitting on a cot, the balding, middle-aged man raised his hands.

      Thane lowered his weapon. “You’re safe. We’re here to get you.”

      Doctor Fineway’s expression wavered between bafflement and concern. “What about my daughter?”

      “We have her.”

      The scientist’s shoulders slumped with an exhale. Blinking, he sniffed and slid his glasses up his nose. “I have to destroy my samples.”

      “That’s the plan, but bring your notes. We leave in twelve minutes. Do you need help?”

      Fineway shook his head. “Everything is in the cleanroom, and there’s only one bio suit.”

      He hurried to his suit, put it on, and went into the glass-enclosed area sectioned off from the main lab. The door slid shut and pressure locks bolted into place.

      Reid glanced at Thane. “I’m with you.”

      “I didn’t say anything.”

      “You don’t have to.” Reid’s eyes narrowed. “Your face says exactly what I’m thinking. This should have been a simple phase-and-go with some fireworks left behind to blow up the boat.” He shook his head. “It would have been easier to prevent this from happening in the first place. If Dalir really wanted us to handle shit—.”

      “We’d have the power to go back in time and not just forward.” The thought had crossed Thane’s mind often, but there wasn’t a damn thing they could do about it. “I hear you, but keep your head in the game. Take a look around and make sure we don’t have unexpected visitors.” He cued up his throat mic. “Casper One, what’s your sit rep?”

      “We’re at rally point with the package.”

      “Rally point. Roger.” Mace and Colby had made it back to the ship.

      One of the many knots in Thane’s gut eased. Once Fineway destroyed the samples, they’d reunite him with his daughter. Then they’d turn over all the information about Red Path Anarchy to the proper authorities.

      This time tomorrow, instead of an MP5, he’d have his guitar and a shot of whiskey in his hands.

      Alarms sounded from the cleanroom, and hairs rose on Thane’s nape. He ran to the observation window and switched on the intercom. “Dr. Fineway, what’s happening?”

      “Don’t come in. I’ve flooded the cleanroom with a contaminant. I’ve also destroyed the antidote along with my samples.” Fineway took off his protective headgear. He gestured to a bin with burning papers and the lab oven on the counter. “My notes are gone, and I’ve fried my laptop. The work they made me do isn’t finished, but what I’ve done can never get out. The only place it exists now is in my mind.”

      Thane’s blood ran like an icy river through his veins. “Doctor Fineway, don’t. We’ll protect you.”

      “I won’t take the chance of having people I care about used against me. This is the only way I can keep them safe.” The scientist lifted a syringe and tears filled his eyes. “Please tell my wife and daughter I love them. And I’m sorry.”

      Chapter 2

      Celine struggled in the middle of a best-friends-forever sandwich. “This is harassment. You can’t barge into my apartment and order me around.”

      “No, this is an intervention.” Ari shoved her mammoth-sized purse against Celine’s butt, and they stumbled into the bedroom. “You’re not spending another depressing Friday night snoozing in front of the television.

      “I have plans.” Thai-fusion takeout, a bottle of wine, and lusting over hot actors in her favorite crime drama. It wasn’t exciting, but it was the perfect plan. Or at least it had been until Ari dropped an earring in the trash and discovered the tickets.

      “You’re going out. Deal with it.” Lauren looped her blond hair into a haphazard twist. “Ready, Ari?”

      Ari’s brown eyes narrowed as she twirled a pair of crystal-studded handcuffs. “Yep.”

      “Hold on a minute.”

      Instead, they pounced, stripped off Celine’s sleep shirt, and secured her to the bedpost.

      They’ve lost their minds. Why else would two grown women raid her closet as if hunting down the last Prada on Earth? Celine pulled on the cuffs. “If you don’t let me go, you’re back on my shit list.”

      “Didn’t know we were off it.” Lauren, carrying a red, strapless mini dress, stepped over a mound of clothes. “Let’s do this.”

      Ignoring Celine’s protests, they uncuffed her and dragged her into the bathroom where the two painted, curled, sprayed, and spritzed her into submission. Grinning, they put her in the dress and slipped a pair of stilettos on her feet. Done. They high-fived the result.

      “You both suck.” Celine snatched her clutch from the dresser and stomped out.

      A half hour later, they shuffled through the crowd at the hottest new martini club in town, The Song.

      “Table on the right, near the stage.” Ari raised her voice over lively conversations, clinking glasses, and one of the hottest pop music tracks playing over the house speakers.

      “Got СКАЧАТЬ