Forgotten Sins

Chapter 25

Shane let silence waft over his skin, filter through his pores to his muddled brain. Drugs. He hated being numb. Pain beat feeling nothing any day of the week. A ticking clock punctuated the silence. Then footsteps, soft soles, outside the room. On hard tile. The beeping of a machine filtered through, and finally breathing. Soft, sexy, he knew that breath. He opened his eyes.

Josie.

Warmth exploded in his chest. Determination straightened his spine. Angel. His one and only. “Hey, sweetheart.” His voice came out hoarse.

She scooted closer to the bed, sliding her small hand under his. “Hi.” Dark circles marred the soft skin under her stunning eyes. A bruise still spread over her cheek. Her hair wisped all over the place. Even her lips had gone pale.

Damn, she was beautiful.

He forced his voice to work. “You impressed the hell out of me today.”

Her smile lifted the corners of her eyes. “I just used moves you taught me.” A chuckle escaped. “You should’ve seen Max nearly hit the floor, though.”

Danger. Shane had failed to protect her from it. This time she’d protected herself. Pride filled him, chased by determination. No way would she be in danger alone again. He wouldn’t allow it. The world was Josie. Period. No more wondering, and no more changing his mind. His path was clear.“I’m proud of you.”

A pretty flush filled her face. “Thanks. I was glad you arrived when you did.” She frowned. “Sorry I got you shot twice… today.” A white tooth sank into her bottom lip.

“Not your fault.” He glanced at the end of the bed. “Hand me the chart, would you?”

She nodded, handing it to him. He flipped open the lid, quickly scanning the doctor’s notes. “I’m fine.” He grabbed the blankets to push away.

Josie’s hands on his stopped his movements. “Oh no, you don’t. You’re staying the night here. Period.” She squared her chin.

He lifted an eyebrow. “Says who?”

“Me and the doctor.”

Shane shook his head, and nausea welled inside his belly. What had they given him, anyway? “If I’m staying, so are you.” He tugged her onto the bed, scooting to the far side.

Those pretty blue eyes widened with temptation and need. Vulnerability shone through and pretty much broke his heart in two.

He sighed. The boy inside him who had once cried out in loneliness and confusion, wondering why he had to fight and die, now howled out with hope. Because of Josie Dean. For the two months of their marriage, he’d been whole for the first time in his life.

He loved his brothers completely and absolutely. Without question, he’d die for them. He’d killed for them, and he would again. But he was taking the chance on forever with Josie, even if he had to live apart from them. They loved him, and they’d understand.

He tightened his hold on hope. “This is your place, sweetheart. Take it.”

With a swallow, she nodded and slid into the bed. She snuggled into his good side, her breath on his shoulder. “I could sleep.”

He settled back down. “Did you talk to the police?”

Her yawn shook her entire body. “Yes. Malloy couldn’t wait to talk to me.”

“Malloy? What are we—his pet projects?” The cop seemed like a good guy. Shane didn’t want to have to hurt him.

“I guess.” Josie’s voice slurred with fatigue. “He really wants to know about the mystery man with you at the bar. I played dumb.”

“So long as we stick to the same story, we’re fine.” No way would he let Matt get caught up in the clusterfuck Shane had made of his own life. They’d finally positioned Matt in Seattle, a safe place for his older brother. For now. The commander wanted Matt bad, and they all knew it. A memory shifted behind the drug haze in Shane’s brain. Jory. Something there. He tensed.

“What’s wrong?” Josie murmured.

“Nothing.” He couldn’t catch the thought. But it was there. Maybe when the drugs cleared, the last two years would finally come clear. He’d need to get Josie to safety before he went after the people who’d killed his brother. But he’d hunt them, without question.

He shifted his thoughts to allow his subconscious to take over. “Remember that hat you knitted me for Christmas?” His first homemade Christmas present, just like the families gave on television. Black and gray, she’d interwoven the strands into something guaranteed to keep him warm when they vacationed on the ski slopes.

She giggled. “Yes. I had to sneak and knit at night when you slept.”

He’d felt her leave the bed each night and had known why. “I still have it.”

Her shoulders stilled. “You do?”

“Yes. My hat, your picture, they’re in a safety-deposit box in California. The most important items I own.” He wanted that hat. Now. Wanted to feel the love and care she’d put into making it for him.

“That’s sweet.” Her voice thickened. “The necklace you gave me of the silver angel—I need to get it from my house.”

“We will.” He shouldn’t ask. He really shouldn’t. “Where’s your wedding ring?” His was safely with the hat.

“Same jewelry box.”

Well, at least she’d kept the ring. He had time later to talk her into sliding the stunning solitaire back on her finger. “Have you kept up the knitting?”

“Yes.” She smiled against his skin. “I opened a store on eBay and sell stuff sometimes.”

Pride. She was something. “I remember that was your dream. To drop the numbers and sell your creations.”

“It’s just a dream. Numbers pay the bills.”

“I have money, Josie.” A lot more than he ever expected to have. Nate was a financial genius at investing the profits from Sins Security—probably because he didn’t give a shit and was happy taking risks. “You can do anything you want in life. Live your dream.” With him. God, please let her stay with him.

“What about you, Shane? What’s your dream to live?”

He sighed. “You’re my dream, angel. Just you.” Her scent of wild berries filled his nostrils while she filled his heart. His soul. If he had one, it was hers. Made in test tubes, taught to kill, he’d often doubted the possibility. But with Josie cuddled into his side, he felt like he had a soul. Even if it bore stains, his soul existed.

Her breathing evened out as she slipped into sleep.

He closed his eyes and listened to her steady breathing. In the dim recesses of his brain, he cataloged the noises outside the room, down the hall, and outside the building. But for this one moment in time, peace settled his heart rate.

Familiar footsteps echoed down the hallway into his room. He opened his eyes, smirking at his brother. Matt had dressed in faded surgical scrubs and somehow had found a mustache and thick copper-rimmed glasses. “Doctor.”

Matt’s eyes softened as he glanced at Josie before grabbing Shane’s chart for a quick read. “The bullet didn’t impact anything important. You’re fine.”

“I know that.”

The chart clanked against the end of the bed. “She’s something, Shane. Taking down those two men.” Matt rubbed his chin.

Yeah, she was. He understood the risk he was taking, and leaving his brothers would cut him in two. But the risk was his, and he had to keep them safe. But he had to choose Josie—she needed him more than they did. Any life he had wasn’t worth it without her. “I want to stay with her, Mattie.”

“I was afraid of that, little brother.” Matt sidled around the bed, dropping into a guest chair. “The whole happily ever after with a family… it’s impossible. Does she know, I mean, ah…”

“We can have kids, Matt.” If he couldn’t, and Josie wanted kids, they’d adopt. Maybe. Someday when he’d taken care of the danger.

Matt frowned. “They tried, Shane. The scientists tried to create little test-tube babies with our genetic material. You know that. They never once succeeded.”

“Maybe test tubes won’t work for our kids.”

“Maybe.” Matt leaned back, stretching his neck. “It’s more likely they fucked up our DNA so that we can’t reproduce.” Anger filtered through his quiet words. “Something to think about.”

He would. “Besides, we’re not exactly safe right now, Matt. Won’t be until the commander and his top scientists are in the ground.” That was if they figured out a way to deactivate the kill chips. If Shane were a better person, he’d think about sending those people to jail. But he wasn’t. The only way his family would be safe was if the people who’d created him died. Period.

“True.” Matt eyed Josie. “I spent the day hacking into the local police database. Apparently, the bugs in Josie’s house were planted by Max’s men.”

“Yeah, I know.” Shane took a deep breath. “I found the bugs, figured the commander had found Josie, and bugged her place myself. Then when I figured out it had nothing to do with me, I went after the morons lying in wait for her.” Of course, he hadn’t planned on getting hit in the head with a bat.

“Then you conducted Internet searches that could’ve brought us down. Thank goodness they didn’t. We got lucky this time. From now on, we check in with Nathan once a week so nothing like this happens again.” Footsteps sounded and Matt stiffened, his shoulders relaxing when a nurse passed by the doorway. “Though to be safe, we need to get out of town.”

“Yeah. I need to get Josie to the ranch—just for the next three months. If we figure out the code for the kill chip, I’ll take her somewhere else to keep everyone safe.” The ranch was one hundred acres in the Montana mountains where Nate had set up a protected space for them all to live if necessary.

“We need to stick together, Shane.”

“Not if it puts us all in more danger.” Shane shook his head.

“We’re not separating.”

“Leaving her again is impossible, and I won’t let my choices put you in the ground.” Shane winced as his abs protested. “I’m so sorry, Matt.”

“Don’t be.” His older brother leaned back, his gaze serious. “All I ever wanted was a good life for you. If you think it’s possible, I’ll do whatever I have to do in order to help.”

Gratitude and love choked Shane. “I can’t let you take the risk.”

“That’s a fight you’re not going to win—a fight for another day.” Matt steepled his fingers under his chin. “So your memory is coming back?”

“Yeah.” Shane searched deep in his head where something echoed. “I’m almost there. I can feel it.” Maybe he didn’t want to know what happened to his brother. “Tell me what you know.”

Matt’s jaw tightened. “We put Jory deep into a company called Millennia Investments.”

“I remember. The company has its fingers in everything from military contracts to genetic laboratories and drug manufacturing.” Shane had posed as a researcher to get in quickly. “Jory was beyond a genius with computers, wasn’t he?”

“Yes.” Matt sighed, dropping his hands to his lap and stretching his legs out. “Jory’s IQ kept him alive when he was a kid.”

Memories of a scrawny kid with huge feet filtered through Shane’s mind. “I remember. You kept him alive as a kid. It was you.”

“No.” Matt shook his head. “Jory’s IQ was incredibly high. Too high to measure, in fact. That kept him alive until he grew into those feet.” He chuckled. “Then he became downright deadly, remember?”

“Yes.” Shane nodded. Jory fought with cold, hard logic. No emotion, no anger. His well-trained limbs did what that powerful brain dictated. He usually won. “What if he hadn’t? I mean, did you ever wonder what really happened to the kids who left the camp?”

Matt stilled. “You’ve never asked me that before.”

Maybe Shane hadn’t wanted to know. “Do you know?”

“No. I assume they went to a different camp.” Raw pain flashed through Matt’s eyes to be quickly veiled. He was lying. There was no question he was hiding something. “Either way, right now we need to figure out what happened to Jory.”

Shane could let it go. For now. “So Jory went undercover to filter out whether the commander and his scientists had fingers in Millennia.”

“No. We already knew they did. Jory went in to find the commander and the names of the other investors. The people playing God.” Matt snapped his jaw shut.

Shane breathed out. “That’s right. What did he find?”

Matt lowered his tone, his gaze on Josie. “Don’t know. Six months later we received an urgent message from him that he’d been discovered and was heading out.”

Something hurt in Shane’s gut. Bad. And it wasn’t the bullet holes. “What then, Mattie?”

Matt dropped his gaze. Lines dug into his face. “Nate hacked into the computer system, and we found a video file showing Jory being tortured.”

“The commander?”

“I don’t know. Just saw Jory.”

Shane didn’t remember the tape. “I saw the video?”

“No. Nate and I saw it before a virus uploaded and pretty much exploded his system. What a mess.” He sucked in air, pain filling the oxygen around them. “I saw Jory die. Or rather, a video of his death.”

“Are you sure?” Shane whispered. Videos could be doctored.

“Yes. A woman shot him point-blank in the chest.”

“A woman?” Pain filled Shane’s body along with air as he breathed. “Just one shot?”

“No. Several.” Matt scrubbed his face. “I saw him fall. Saw his eyes go blank.” He coughed, closing his eyes. “I lost him.”

“Not your fault.” Shane shifted, hiding a wince at the pain. “So I went undercover to find out who killed him—and what he’d found before he died. Did I check in?”

“Yes. Not with information, but you let Nate know you were alive every other month. Until a month ago. Then you took off—without a word. We didn’t even know you’d broken cover until you triggered the Internet alerts looking for us.”

Shane sighed, his head aching. Something there… a memory. Reality flashed through, hard and bright. “I was heading to Seattle, to you, Matt.” He remembered going by his old base for mail and getting the divorce papers. “I stopped here on the way to deal with the divorce.” He’d waited for Josie at her house, the buzzing of the planted bugs instantly alerting him she was in danger. “Figuring the commander had found her, I set up my own bugs to find him, and the next day I had the run-in with Max’s men.” Ending up with him getting amnesia. “But I was coming to you. Something happened, I knew something.” He grabbed his head. What the hell was it?

“We need to figure out what you found.” Matt lowered his voice. “Shut your eyes and relax.”

Shane shut his eyes, forcing his heartbeat to slow. His breathing to even out. Such physical control the scientists had given him. An explosion ripped behind his eyelids. “Jesus.”

“What?”

“I remember blowing the facility up five years ago.” He opened his eyes. “We escaped. The barracks, the base… we blew it up and ran.” The horrible place they were raised, the horrible place where they were trained to kill. Destroyed. It was easy to blow the place to hell. But they’d remained safe for the time being because of Jory. He figured out how to corrupt the computer system—with most of their records—which made them harder to track and even harder to find. Jory was by far the smartest one of them.

“Maybe you should sleep. See if anything comes back in your dreams.” Matt’s voice lowered to a hoarse rumble.

Sounded like a good idea. “What’s your plan?” Shane asked.

“I’ll keep watch until you get your memories back, and we find out what you discovered.”

Doubt made Shane clear his throat. “Can you be away from your job any longer?” Another memory… of Matt searching for a witness. “You’re hunting somebody?”

“Yes.” Matt stood. In profile, Matt’s face appeared even harder than usual. Two strides had him at the door. “Get some sleep, Shane. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

His brother. The one who’d driven Shane so hard to train, so hard to fight. So he’d survive their childhood.

But they weren’t kids anymore. It was time someone protected Matt. Shane ran his hand through Josie’s silky hair. He’d been trained by the best, and he knew how to survive. Survival meant both Josie and his brothers lived. So he’d make sure they won. No matter the cost.