Immune (The Rho Agenda #2)(140)

In the darkness just outside the door, Eduardo stilled his breathing, allowing the sounds within the maintenance building to caress his enhanced hearing. Inside, fingers tapped a computer keyboard. He increased his focus. There it was. A lone heartbeat. Wait. Two heartbeats, one at a steady fifty-six beats per minute. The other, much less distinct, raced along at a hundred-and-ten beats per minute. And this second was at a higher pitch, the volume of blood pulsing through a much, much smaller aortic cavity.

The mother and her unborn child.

The woman was close, sitting at a computer not more than ten feet from the door. El Chupacabra couldn’t have asked for anything better. What had started as a great night had suddenly gotten better. Much better.

With a pull that shot the door open along its track, El Chupacabra leaped into the room, racing across the intervening space with a speed that no mortal could match. Although surprised, the woman recovered immediately, her hand flying to the gun sitting beside the laptop. She was fast. But not nearly fast enough.

Eduardo’s blow knocked her backward out of her chair, sending the weapon flying into the center of the room. Landing in a tuck roll that brought her back to her feet, the pregnant agent-woman found herself too slow to deal with the onslaught that confronted her. Eduardo chopped into the side of her neck with a precisely gauged blow.

She pitched forward, face-first, but before she could hit the concrete floor, Eduardo caught her, tossing her over his left shoulder as if she weighed no more than a child.

His eyes swept the room. Definitely not the spot he wanted to take on the Ripper. Single exit, too enclosed. If the Ripper waited outside, Eduardo would be trapped here. Ignoring the laptop, his eyes moved to the walkie-talkie on the desk.

Picking it up, Eduardo paused in the doorway just long enough to ensure the path was clear. Then, backtracking along the way he’d entered the air base, he stuffed the woman’s unconscious body beneath the fence flap, then ducked through. Once again, he lifted her onto his shoulder, the feel of the unborn heartbeat in her belly elevating his pulse with anticipation.

A quarter-mile later he found what he’d been looking for: a draw that funneled into a perfect kill zone. Laying the woman down between two trees, he extracted his rape kit, pulling loose a pre-cut strip of duct tape and placing it across her mouth. He didn’t bother to bind her hands and feet. After all, he was a new god. Well beyond fear of any man, much less a woman.

Eduardo touched the woman’s pregnant belly, looked back toward the airbase, and smiled. In a few minutes he would press the button on the walkie-talkie to let Jack Gregory hear his girlfriend’s screams.

A grin of anticipation split Eduardo’s lips. The Ripper would come for him. And then El Chupacabra would show the Ripper the true meaning of fear.





145


Janet struggled toward wakefulness, her lips so dry that they felt like they’d been glued together. Then it came back to her.

Her eyes popped open, but her lips did not. A heavy strip of duct tape closed them as effectively as a padlock on a storage locker. She couldn’t move her arms either. They were pinned to the ground by a pair of knees that straddled her stomach.

A face swam into her blurred vision, a startlingly handsome face. In her memory, it had a name attached to it, although in her current state of confusion, that name eluded her.

The night breeze was cold on her naked body, squeezing her skin into tight little goose bumps, puckering her nipples. She was completely naked. The realization brought her out of the haze. She moved her gaze to the man who straddled her. Although fully clothed, he was plainly excited.

Weighing her options, Janet looked again into that face, her eyes locking with her attacker’s. Eduardo Montenegro.

She tried to scissor her legs, but they failed to respond. She was a cobra, locked in the snake charmer’s gaze, her body frozen so that she could only stare up into those strangely active eyes.

Eduardo smiled as his hands caressed her body.

“Hello, Janet. It is Janet, isn’t it?” The silky smooth Latin voice creeped her out more than her inability to respond. “With this round body, it took me a while to recognize you from your file photos.”

Eduardo leaned down and gently kissed her on the cheek, the feel of his lips sending a pulse of revulsion through her body. It felt like she’d just been kissed by her mortician.

“Don’t worry,” he said, “I like pregnant ladies, especially ones as pretty as you. It excites me.”

His breath on her cheek smelled faintly of cinnamon candy. Red Hots. Christ, she’d dated a boy in high school who had chugged down Red Hots. Janet had never liked him either.

“You know what makes me really hot?” Eduardo asked, opening the buttons on his shirt.

“Fuck you,” Janet mumbled behind the tape gag.

Eduardo smiled. “That too. But first, indulge me with a bit of fantasy. Tell me, young lady. What do you really fear?”

Suddenly, Janet found her gaze bound more tightly to his, unable to move, unable to blink.

The night sky melted away, leaving her seated in a green, grassy park with a large sand playground. The sound of children laughing as they swung from the monkey bars tickled her ears. It was a perfect day. She didn’t know why she should be uneasy, but she was.

Where was her Robby? He’d been right here just a minute ago, whirling round and round on the merry-go-round, but now he was gone.