“And if she’s still working with them?” Ezra asked.
“Then we’re not any worse off than we were before. If she’s working with them it doesn’t matter if I walk in there and offer her a drink because they already know who I am and whose side I’m on.” River looked to Owen. “I understand that I’ve never been in your position. I haven’t been through what you have. I didn’t lose what Erin did. But I do know where Becca is, and if you want to have any chance that she’ll end the night helping us, don’t walk in there as avenging angels. Owen, walk in there and explain why you did it. Tell her you didn’t mean to hurt her, but you got in deep with her. Let Jax explain how he lost his family. Let Robert talk about how hard it is to have no idea who he is. Tell her your story. And then listen to hers. That’s the only way we’ve got a shot at getting that box.”
“She was terrified, Owen,” Tucker said, his face grim. “Have we considered the fact that it might not have been McDonald and the drug who made her run? It might have been me. I need to know. I need to know if I’m some kind of monster.”
He turned to his friend, trying to let what River had said sink in. He’d gone about this all wrong. He’d heard a few words and declared her guilty without even asking what had happened and why. Tucker couldn’t make the same mistake about himself. “You are not a monster.”
“How can you know that?” The question sounded tortured coming out of Tucker’s mouth.
“Because I know you. I can’t begin to understand the forces that shaped you before you lost your memory. I can’t say who you were then, but I know the man you are now. I know the man who those forces didn’t touch. This is who you are without the influence of anything else. That’s not right. This is who you chose to be despite the pain she put you through. When you had your mind erased, when you were tortured and forced to do another’s will, this is the man you chose to be. Kind. Helpful. Hopeful in a way I try to understand so I can find it for myself. Tucker, we need to figure out who you used to be but only because it could help us move forward in clearing your names. Not so you can pay for some crime you committed for reasons you’ll never remember. This is who you are. That person, Dr. Razor, he’s dead and he’s not coming back. You’re Tucker. You’re who you are right now, and that’s a man I’ll fight beside. That’s a man I’ll let watch my back. That’s a man I’m proud to call my brother.”
Tucker looked up and there was such determination in his eyes. “Back at you, brother. Now listen to River and maybe we can save this thing. Maybe we can save a lot.”
He turned to the door that separated him from Becca and wondered if there was anything left to save at all.
“All right,” Ezra said with a nod. “We’ll try this River’s way. She’s right. She’s the only one who knows how it feels to be Rebecca right now, but we have to be careful. If she won’t tell us where that box is, we could lose our shot at what’s in there. I can’t imagine Levi is giving up.”
Levi Green would never give up, and now he had to wonder why Levi had sent them here at all. Were they still falling into a trap?
And how much would it cost them?
He took a deep breath and walked through the door.
Chapter Seventeen
Becca watched as Owen walked in. Walked? The man didn’t walk. He strode. He prowled. He was a gorgeous predator, the perfect bait to a trap for a dumb woman like her. Had they staked her out? Done their homework and realized how lonely she was? Was that why they’d sent in the man meat?
“Let me help you up.” He stood over her, looking perfect in his jeans and T-shirt. It was what he’d worn earlier in the day, and somehow he wasn’t wrinkled or haggard. He hadn’t just been sick as a dog. “Do you want to use the bathroom?”
“I want to go home.” She turned her eyes away from him. How was she going to get out of here? She needed to get a look at the layout of the place. Maybe she should go to the bathroom. It would give her a chance to see where she was. She might be able to get a glimpse of the front door or out a window.
He sighed and got down to one knee in front of her. “I’m afraid your home is being searched right now by a police unit.”
“Why would they do that?”
“Because you’re at the heart of a conspiracy that’s been going on for several years.” He sounded so much warmer than he had before. “Because you worked for Hope McDonald and she did some terrible things. Did you know she was developing a drug that erased memories?”
“She wouldn’t do that. I don’t know what your game is, Owen, but I’m not going to play it.”
“It’s not a game.”
She looked up and a familiar man was standing in the doorway. Jax’s boss. Jax must be in on it, too. How many of them were there? And did they all have to be so gorgeous? “You’ll excuse me if I don’t believe you. I would like a lawyer or to be let go.”
She struggled to her feet because she wasn’t about to let Owen help her. At least she didn’t have anything left to throw up.
“I can’t do that,” the man who’d called himself Ezra Fain said. “I’m sorry about how we started. You have to understand that everyone on my team was deeply affected by Dr. McDonald’s work.”
Damn it, she wasn’t sure she could make it farther than the table. With shaking hands, she started to pull the chair out. Owen was right there, doing it for her. She didn’t look at him as she sat down. Fain slid a green can her way.
It sounded way better than the tea had. And if they’d poisoned it, well, it wasn’t like they hadn’t already drugged her.
She started to pull the tab.
“Let me help you,” Owen offered.
“If you touch this, I’ll throw it on you,” she promised.
He backed off but didn’t go far. “Becca, I started this off all wrong. I was angry you lied to me.”
She wasn’t buying his new warmth. “It’s Dr. Walsh, and do you understand the meaning of the word hypocrite? I would really like to understand how I lied to you.”
“This afternoon,” he replied. “You lied about Carter coming to see you while we were at Casa Loma.”
“How did…” The truth hit her like a hard slap to the face. If only that had been the actual place he’d slapped her. “You had someone watching me.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “We’ve had someone watching you for a while now, but there were several of us earlier today. I was able to listen in on the whole conversation.”
She let that sink in. The major question was why, and she could only come up with one reason.
“I want to know if he’s here.” She didn’t want to know anything about Steven Reasor, but it appeared she wouldn’t have a choice. What she didn’t understand was why he would want her here. She’d done what he’d asked her to do. She’d run and she hadn’t looked back. She’d left him alone with his precious mentor.
But now she had to wonder exactly what he’d done to her back then. Time dilation. McDonald had mentioned it while they’d had lunch one day shortly after she’d joined the team.
Think of the implications, Rebecca. If we could trick the brain, we could effectively become immortal. Forever young. Imagine all that time to do our work.
It was science fiction. It wasn’t real.
But it explained so much. What was the old saying? Something about eliminating the impossible and whatever was left had to be the truth. It was impossible. Except very little was impossible when it came to the brain.
“Are you talking about the man you knew as Steven Reasor?” Fain took a seat in front of her. “I have some questions about him. Was he on Dr. McDonald’s team at Kronberg Pharmaceutical?”
She forced herself to take a drink. She couldn’t panic the way she had this afternoon. If she’d been logical, she might have avoided this trap. “He was at Huisman this afternoon. Are you telling me he doesn’t work with you?”