Run To Me (Lazarus Rising #4)(66)

“That’s not how the formula works.”

“That’s how it will work. I’ll give you the formula, you’ll come back stronger, better, and your mind—all of those false memories that Maverick and Wyman tried to give you will be gone. You’ll be a blank slate.”

And the fear Willow felt got worse. Because if what he was saying was true…if he gave her that formula, and she woke up with no memories at all…

Will I believe him then? Will I believe a man who says he’s my lover? That I love him? He could make up some story about her being in an accident, he could feed her any lie he wanted, and she’d—

Believe him?

“Now you’re figuring it out.” Lucas nodded, as if he approved. “You’re realizing how vulnerable you’ve been all along. You had to buy the stories that Maverick and Wyman told you, but, sweetheart, they were lies. They were always lying. You were mine. I was yours. You love me. They kept us apart, but it won’t happen any longer. We’re together, and we’re going to stay that way.”

Why hadn’t he already given her the formula? Why hadn’t he given it to her when she’d been unconscious?

“There’s just one small problem.” His lips curved down. “I think that, for the formula to work, you’re going to have to die first.”

***

“You look like hell,” Wyman muttered as he glared at Jay.

Jay glared right back. “Thanks, asshole. So do you.” Wyman was paler than the sheets around him, black shadows lined his eyes, and twice as many machines were now surrounding the bastard as they had been before.

Wyman grunted. His eyes were slits. “You let him take Willow.”

“I’ll get her back,” Jay promised.

“How?” Wyman shook his head. “He’s stronger than you, faster, he’s—”

“Not fucking smarter.” Jay heaved forward. Walking was hard, standing was hard, but he ignored the pain. Nothing mattered but getting Willow. “Tell me what I’m facing. If I don’t go in blind, I can stop him. I can save her.”

But Wyman was glaring at him with fury. “You were the threat. You brought her into the open.” His breath choked out. “You made it so he found her, you—”

“It’s all on me.” Again, he lurched forward. “Fine. What the hell ever. Tell me what he is. Tell me how to stop him. Because I know you did something to him. You and your damn enhancements. He tossed Flynn like the super soldier was a rag doll.”

Flynn coughed from his position near the window. “And I’m not exactly easy to toss.”

Jay didn’t look away from Wyman. “What did you do to Lucas Tate?”

“He volunteered.” Wyman swallowed. A trembling hand swept over his jaw. “Early experiment, okay? Nothing like Lazarus. He can’t come back from the dead. He’s just…” He exhaled. Wheezed. “There was another doctor, okay? Before I met the ever so promising Elizabeth Parker.”

A growl came from a watchful Sawyer.

Wyman didn’t glance his way. “Dr. Gail found out that we could improve the human body in certain ways. Make muscles stronger. Reflexes sharper. Of course, I was interested to see this type of development in the field—”

“Let me guess,” Sawyer cut in. “There were side effects.”

Wyman’s gaze fell to the bed. “Yes. Adrenaline was key in this experiment. Soldiers perform better when they have maximum levels of adrenaline in their systems, but too much of Dr. Gail’s formula—too much adrenaline—led to permanent effects. Uncontrollable effects. The experiment had to be terminated.”

“You mean the subjects had to be terminated,” Jay fired back, reading between the lines.

Wyman sighed. “They killed without remorse. When a frenzy hit them, they went wild. Like the berserkers of the old days. Dr. Gail even called them her Norsemen. In a battle, the men instantly became better warriors. They didn’t feel any pain inflicted on them, and their strength increased to stunning levels. But while their strength increased, their…their ability to distinguish between friend and foe—that vanished.”

Flynn swore. “You already had one clusterfuck of an experiment, and you still went ahead with Lazarus after that?”

“My job was to create the perfect soldier. I was doing my job.” Wyman’s thin shoulders straightened. “And I learned from my mistakes. I kept the Lazarus subjects isolated so that they could be tested. I didn’t let them into the general population, and I didn’t—”

“You fucked up again,” Sawyer snarled at him. “Then you tried to clean up your mess by killing us. Only this time, you’d made soldiers who couldn’t be killed.”

Wyman didn’t speak.

Jay would make the guy talk. “Why didn’t you kill Lucas?”

Wyman flinched at the name.

“He killed Willow.” Jay was certain of this. “He killed the only person you claim to care about in this world. And knowing you, I just don’t get it. Why wouldn’t you have destroyed him right away? Torn the bastard apart?”

“You think I didn’t try?” Wyman rasped. “You think I didn’t send every man I had after him? That I didn’t even send Lazarus subjects after him?”