Page 84 of Heart of Danger
Catherine was still touching his wrist and she suddenly stiffened. “Wait!”
Jon tapped on his screen, frowning. “Catherine, this guy is about three minutes out. And we’ve got guards coming. We don’t have time to waste.”
Darkness, pain, despair.
Bodies on beds like moths pinned to felt.
Brave men, reduced to animals.
Her heart pounding, Catherine looked up at Mac. “Were there other men with you?”
He frowned. “When?”
“When—” She pointed at the scar on the side of his face. “When that happened.”
The frown deepened. “Yeah. They’re all dead. Why?”
Awareness burst inside her, together with dread and sorrow. “Because some are here,” she whispered. “Three of them.”
Nick grabbed her arm. “Who? Who’s here?”
She met their eyes, certainty blazing through her. “They’re here,” she said clearly. “Some of the men who were with you that night. They didn’t die. They were captured. They are being used as guinea pigs. As lab rats. Tortured. They are here and we must go to them. Colonel Ward doesn’t want to be rescued if he has to leave his men behind. He would rather die.”
She could feel their shock. It came off them in waves.
“Romero, Lundquist, Pelton?” Jon whispered. “Alive?”
With each name she felt a shock of recognition. “Yes. Alive. And here. And we must rescue them.”
“Where are they?” Mac asked.
She listened inside herself, felt for the answer.Oh God.“Level 4,” she said, shocked.
“How do we get there?” Mac asked urgently.
“I don’t know. But I know who does.” She looked at the man lying limply in Mac’s strong arms. He looked close to death. Perhaps a less strong man would be already dead. But there was something in this man, and it was the same thing that was in Mac. And Nick and Jon. A core strength that would carry them beyond what other men could do. This man had commanded them. He would be as strong as they were. Maybe stronger. She had to count on that.
“I’m going to try something. I don’t know if it will work.” She put her hand on Mac’s arm. She didn’t need her psychic powers to draw strength from him. The steely arm under hers belonged to a man whose will was as strong as his muscles. “You’re going to have to trust me. Can you do that?”
She looked up at him. He was tense with the effort of standing still. She imagined every instinct in him was screaming at him to escape. They had their man, now they had to go. Yet he stood unmoving, waiting for her word.
It was at that moment that she realized how much she loved Mac. Loved everything about him. Loved his strength and his loyalty. Loved the fact that he was willing to risk his life on her say so. He’d come here at enormous risk, believing in her implicitly, the first human being who’d ever done so. She loved him and because she did, she knew he could never live with himself if he abandoned the other men here. This had to be done.
They needed to get to Level 4, fast. Level 4 had been a rumor, almost a joke. There was no way she could get down there unless…
“I think I’m going to hurt him,” she murmured, watching Mac. “I have to.”
He nodded.
She looked at Nick and Jon. “Can you two buy us some time?”
At Mac’s nod, Nick said, “Sure. I’ll send the Antz out, they’ll give us an early warning sign.”
They left the room, two utterly tough and competent warriors. Catherine knew they’d provide her with a window.
Both Catherine’s hands hovered over Ward. “I hate to do this,” she whispered. “But I have to.”
“Do it,” Mac ordered.
