What had we done?
And how could we undo it?
You can’t undo it. Death is pretty much final, even now.
Renati curled into the fetal position.
Tony just stared.
Well, let it not be said I don’t have my moments of reckless bravery. I pried myself free of Tony’s grasp, took a flying leap, and crashed onto Logan’s back. I locked my arms around his throat and clung tightly, trying to cut off his air supply as he’d cut off mine.
Logan heaved his shoulders and bent.
Suddenly I was on my back, stars dancing over my eyes and the wind knocked out of me. Of course he’d thrown me off. Fucking trained soldier.
I thought I heard Alyssa calling for us to stop again, but we were beyond hearing her. A black blur shot past me—Tony throwing himself on top of Logan and another fistfight breaking out in earnest. I made myself sit up, and reached for Renati, who was still wheezing on the ground.
The two men grappled for a moment.
I checked Renati’s face. Nothing broken, though he’d have several ugly bruises to show for his troubles. I pushed myself to my feet, lurched toward the fighting males. Logan had Tony in a headlock.
I jumped on Logan again.
He let go of Tony long enough to grab at me. “You are like a goddamn howler monkey,” he said, reaching overhead. His hands tangled partially in my hair, and he gave me a painful yank, half wrenching me off.
I screeched.
Tony, abruptly freed, took the opportunity to plow his elbow right into Logan’s gut.
The soldier let out a rush of air, then went over backwards.
On top of me.
He just lay there for a few seconds, squashing me.
“Stop!”
Oh, fuck. I knew that voice.
“Don’t lay another hand on him!”
Fuck.
Keller had arrived. Judging by the sound of boots I heard, he’d brought a lot of friends—specifically soldiers carrying guns. Lots of guns.
Well, look who finally came to collect Logan. About damn time.
Safeties clicked off.
“Hands up,” Keller barked.
Feet stopped next to us. Logan was pulled off me. I tried to gulp down some air, then found at least five machine guns pointed directly at my face.
I gulped. Why were they aimed at me?
“Wait,” Renati said. “Wait, this isn’t—”
Click. The doctor suddenly had a gun on him, too. It seemed like no one was going to have a very good day.
Keller himself had a pistol aimed at Tony’s forehead. “Commander McKnight,” he said, his voice devoid of its usual layer of strained politeness. “Couldn’t keep your nose clean, could you?”
“Captain—”
Keller struck him across the face with the pistol. Tony’s head whipped around, a portion of his cheek going red almost immediately.
“Don’t talk,” Keller said. “Just keep your mouth shut before you all make this worse on yourselves. Your neighbor filed quite the noise complaint about you last night. I come here in good faith to assure myself it wasn’t true, and I find you assaulting one of my soldiers? Harming a doctor?”
“Captain—”
Keller whacked him again.
Tony just grunted.
“I said don’t talk.”
“Wait,” Renati said. “Captain, this is—”
“You may go about your business, Renati,” Keller said, not even looking at the researcher. “We’ll sort them out in the brig.”
That acted as a sort of signal to his men. Two of them lifted me up, securing me between their fatigue-clad bodies. I looked for help—for something in Renati, who stood there looking horrified, and in Logan, who was getting pulled to his feet himself, albeit in a much gentler fashion.
Keller paused in front of Alyssa, studying her.
“Doctor,” he said.
The researcher lifted his head. “Captain?”
“Is she deceased?”
Renati’s gaze darted around, real fear blossoming. “Sir,” he said. “She appears to be.”
Keller continued to stare at Alyssa. She didn’t show any sort of reaction to the statement…no, wait. She was looking at her hands. Did she see how pale and stiff they were? How hard she had to work to bend her fingers?
The captain must have noticed her struggling, but he did not seem overly concerned by it. “Congratulations, Doctor,” he said. “You’ve done a hell of a job on her.”
Renati absorbed the praise, then began shaking his head violently. “Sir. This isn’t my work. This was Jacoby’s project, I just—”
“I don’t care if Jacoby did the bulk of the work. He’s dead. You’re not.” Keller doffed his cap. “I’ll be back to chat about this. But for now, please accept my sincerest congratulations. You may have just stopped this horror in its tracks.”
The soldiers pulled Tony and I off in one direction, and Logan in another. We left Renati and poor, dead Alyssa standing there, watching us go.
I felt their stares long after we’d left the pen area behind.
Chapter Twenty-One