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“And what lab, what hospital is going to allow you to mix it up?” He drew back from her, cupping her face in his large hands, strands of her hair still clinging to his beard.
“A lab at the CIA or Prospero. They’re the good guys. They’ll help you.”
“They’ve also put their trust in Tempest. Don’t you think Tempest has already put out the word? Rogue agents, armed and dangerous. If the CIA doesn’t kill me first, they’ll send me back to Tempest to deprogram. I’m an intelligence asset. They can’t allow me to walk the streets spouting crazy conspiracy theories.”
“And Prospero?”
Furrows creased his brow. “I don’t know. They’re a wild card. Why did Tempest’s leader choose that name and moniker of Caliban for himself?”
“You said it yourself. Tempest is the dark side of Prospero. Where Prospero is a force for good, Tempest is a force for evil.”
“That’s just it. Is Tempest the flip side of Prospero? Two sides of the same coin? I can’t take that chance. I’m not going to end up in Tempest’s clutches again.”
“Caliban doesn’t want to kill you, does he?”
He released her and fell across the bed, toeing off his shoes. “Do you know what happened to Bessler?”
“No.” She sat on the foot of the bed. “He wasn’t shot. There was no blood.”
“Someone shot him in the neck with a tranquilizer dart.”
“Do you think he’s dead?”
“I don’t know, but the same type of attack was planned for me and I know my dose wouldn’t have been lethal. I would’ve wound up in the hospital, and my helpful brother or doctor or even wife would’ve come to collect me, bearing all the necessary ID and paperwork to airlift me to a facility of their choosing.”
“They’re diabolical.”
“To say the least.” He punched a pillow. “Tempest wants me back, but I’m not playing along. Before I’d go back to my so-called life at Tempest, I’d rather...”
Her nose tingled and she gulped back a sob. He’d rather kill himself. And what could she do to stop him? He didn’t want to be around her once the withdrawal from the T-101 turned him into a raging machine.
She shivered as she recalled Simon Skinner’s dead eyes through the glass at the lab. She never wanted to look into Max’s deep, dark eyes and see that look. Better to remember the warmth kindling there as he made love to her.
She’d have that memory forever, and she’d never let it go.
Opening her hand, she stretched it out toward him. “We still have three more days. Let me have those three last days with you.”
He pinched the two pills between his thumb and forefinger, took the tin from his pocket and dropped them inside to join the other. “We’ll make these three days feel like an eternity.”
She scooted between his legs and rested against his chest, feeling at home against the steady beat of his heart. “Let’s start now.”
He stroked her hair. “God, I was so terrified when I saw you on the ice, I didn’t even ask if you were okay. Are you okay?”
“I’ll probably have a couple of bruises on my knees. I’m sorry that I tore out there like an idiot, but you disappeared right after I saw Adrian collapse. I thought they’d gotten to you, too.”
“I have no doubt they planned to nail both of us, but I think they wanted to get me first. Bessler stood up suddenly and that’s when he was hit. I knew immediately what had happened, so I dropped.”
She ran a hand along his belly. “I’m glad I did go out there. I remembered he’d said something about not having enough blue pills, so I figured he must’ve had a couple. And he did.”
“Poor kid. I kind of have to believe now that he was on the up-and-up, unless Caliban plans to kill him to tie up a loose end.”
“What else did he say before he was hit?”
“I’d forgotten all about what he said, but it was interesting.” He toyed with her fingers. “He’s the one who broke into your brother’s place, and he bugged it. That’s how he knew we were staying here, and he knew your brother was trying to secure a lab for us.”
