Into the Mist

Chapter Seven

Jonah was pissed. Oh yeah, he was hanging on to his temper by a thread. He hadn’t even said anything to her. He just stared at her with that tick in his jaw, his dark eyes furious.

And as predicted, he picked up the radio. “I want the entire island in lockdown,” he ground out to his security team. “No one gets on or off unless it comes directly, and I do mean directly, from me.”

He dropped the radio and folded his arms across his chest. He continued to stare her down, but she didn’t flinch. She stared back at him as Mad Dog stood to the side, no doubt trying to figure out if he’d have to jump in and separate them.

“You’ve compromised every single one of us with your actions.”

Still, she didn’t say anything. An apology wouldn’t cut it at this point, and he wasn’t done with his lecture.

“You can’t keep this up, Ty. Your attempts to help D are only going to bring trouble to our front door.”

She looked down, no longer able to meet his gaze.

“You’re out of commission until I can figure out what the hell to do about Eli Chance.”

She yanked her head back up. “You can’t do that.”

Fire blazed in his eyes. “I just did. You aren’t leaving this island. You’ll stay where I can see you at all times. Are we clear?”

She glared at him, her teeth and lips so tight together her jaw ached.

“I said, are we clear?”

She nodded.

“I want to hear it, Ty.”

“We’re clear.”

“I suggest you go find D. He’s not that happy with you either at the moment. If I can’t talk some sense into you, maybe he can.”

She turned away, guilt and worry nagging at her. Why had he told D?

“He’s not stupid, Ty,” Mad Dog said in a low voice. “You tend to think if you don’t talk about it, it doesn’t exist. Jonah didn’t have to tell D anything. He knew.”

She walked out of the room, avoiding Jonah’s gaze. She went to find D. She’d missed him. Lately they hadn’t spent much time together. Between her search for Eli, and more recently her jaunt to Paris, she hadn’t had time to do much else.

She found him on the deck, staring out over the ocean. She walked past the open sliding glass doors. He looked up when he heard her approach.

“Hi,” she said in a soft voice.

He opened his arms, and she walked into his embrace. She wrapped her arms around him and held on tight. Just like so many times before.

His lips brushed across the top of her head. She turned her face up so she could see him. “How are you?”

“I don’t want to talk about me.”

She closed her eyes and buried her face in his chest. Strong fingers slid under her chin and forced her gaze back up to meet his.

“I want to talk about you, Ty.”

She closed her eyes and shook her head. “Don’t spoil things, D. Let it go.”

He tapped her cheek with his finger, causing her to open her eyes again. “I’m not letting it go.”

“There’s nothing you can say that will change anything. I don’t want to fight with you.”

He sighed and gripped her a little tighter. “I won’t let you do this. Stay away from him, Ty. I won’t let you kill yourself for me.”

She pulled away and gripped his shoulders in her hands. “I’m not going to get myself killed. You know I’m better than that. But if you think I’m going to sit back and watch you suffer, then you know nothing about me.”

Damiano turned his back to her to stare over the ocean again. “What you don’t understand, Ty, is that I’d suffer more if something happened to you. Maybe you should think about that instead of trying to fix things you can’t change.”

She curled her arms around his middle and laid her cheek to his back. She could feel the tremors rippling through his muscles. The resignation in his voice made her want to scream. Never had she felt so helpless in her life. Not in the orphanage, not when they came for her and Damiano, not when Damiano stood in front of her, determined to take whatever he could for her.

“He’s stable, D. He has absolute control over his shifts. He has connections we don’t. Someone or something helped him. If it can help him, it can help you. I won’t accept that I can’t make this right for you. I won’t.”

His hands closed over hers and pulled them up over his heart. “I’m asking you to stand down, Ty. Don’t do this.”

She closed her eyes and kept her face buried in his back. He never asked her for anything. But this was one promise she couldn’t make him. So she said nothing, because she wouldn’t lie.

Jonah stared down at Damiano and Tyana lying on the couch in the game room. Ty was on the inside of the couch, curled into D’s body. D had a protective arm around her midsection and both were asleep.

Even in sleep, D was tightly wound, his body tense. His breaths came erratically, seemingly torn from him under duress. Nerves twitched and muscles jumped.

The two looked vulnerable. Despite their toughness. Despite the fact that Jonah knew they could take on just about any challenge. They wouldn’t be on his team if he had any doubts about their capabilities.

But right now they reminded him of the two scared, starving kids he and Mad Dog had found on the streets of Prague so many years ago. They were running on empty.

Jonah turned to look at Mad Dog who stood a few feet away. Helplessness he wasn’t accustomed to flickered uncomfortably in his mind. He was used to being able to meet any challenge no matter how great. But Tyana and Damiano mattered to him. They were his family. For the first time, he was faced with a situation where he wasn’t sure he could provide a solution.

“How much of a threat is Eli Chance?”

Mad Dog scowled. “To us? Not great, even if he did manage to locate the island. He’s nothing we can’t handle. To Ty, however…” He shook his head. “I’m afraid this has become more than a simple matter of her searching for answers. He’s gotten to her twice.”

“Fuck waiting for him to relax his guard,” Jonah said coldly. “I want to know when he eats, sleeps, takes a piss and where he does it. When you have everything compiled, bring it to me. We’re going after him. I won’t take chances with Ty’s safety.”

Mad Dog nodded. “I’ll get on it.” He paused for a moment then looked over at Jonah. “What are we going to do about Ty when we go after Chance?”

Jonah fixed Mad Dog with a stony stare. “If I have to tie her up and have the Falcon secondary sit on her, I will. She’s not to leave this island again.”

Damiano’s guttural cry woke Tyana from a deep sleep. He rolled from the couch and hit the floor. She was beside him in an instant, her arms curling around his spasming body.

“D, stay with me,” she pleaded.

“Get away from him, Ty,” Mad Dog ordered as he strode into the room.

“No. I won’t leave him.”

Damiano arched and jerked. His hand caught her in the face. Pain exploded through her head as she sailed backward several feet. She lay there, stunned at his strength.

“Jonah! Get the hell in here,” Mad Dog yelled.

She stared at Damiano in mute horror as his body contorted. When his eyes opened, he stared at her without recognition. The pupils constricted and changed shape. They were no longer human.

“No,” she whispered.

Jonah and Mad Dog fell on him in an attempt to subdue the raging beast. Two more of their security personnel ran through the door. One carried a syringe.

“Stun him,” Jonah barked.

“No!” Tyana scrambled over to Damiano as he struggled beneath the men. “Don’t hurt him.”

Mad Dog plucked her from the floor and held her kicking, writhing body away from the others. “Ty, stop. It’s the only way.”

She twisted and fought, but Mad Dog held her fast. Finally, he pushed her to the floor and put one knee in the middle of her back and held her arms behind her with his hand.

“Goddamn you, Mad Dog.”

With his other hand, he stroked her hair, the action at complete opposition to the force he was using.

Damiano let out a cry of pain, and Tyana jerked beneath Mad Dog’s body. Then all went quiet.

“D!” Tyana’s cry split the room.

“He’s all right, Ty,” Jonah said as he got up from the floor. He looked over at Mad Dog. “Let her go.”

Mad Dog eased off her body, and she crawled over to where Damiano lay, his breaths coming in quiet spurts. Tears filled her eyes as she gathered him in her arms.

“I want him confined to quarters,” Jonah said to the security men.

She shot to her feet. “Why are you doing this? I won’t let you treat him like an animal.”

“Am I supposed to stand by and let him kill you, Ty?”

“He won’t hurt me.”

Jonah reached out and cupped her bruised cheek. “He already has.”

“It wasn’t his fault,” she said desperately. “It wasn’t him. You know he wouldn’t hurt me.”

“That’s just it. He’s not himself. I won’t allow him to endanger you just because you’ve lost all objectivity.”

“We can’t all be the cold-hearted bastard you are,” she spat. She whirled around to see Damiano being carried out of the room. Jonah followed close behind. She started to go after him, but Mad Dog caught her wrist and held tight.

She stared at him with accusing eyes. “You too?”

“You’re not being fair to Jonah and you know it,” Mad Dog said quietly.

Rage simmered underneath her skin, begged to be let loose.

“Will it make you feel better to hit me?” he asked.

Her chin sagged, and she looked away. “No, goddamn it, it won’t.”

“Jonah is doing his best, Ty. Cut him some slack. He wants to help D just as much as you do.”

She sank onto the couch and held her hands over her face. “I know. Damn it, I know.”

Mad Dog sat down beside her and for a long moment neither of them spoke. She turned to him, finally breaking the silence.

“I don’t know what to do, Mad Dog,” she whispered. “I don’t know how to help him, and it’s killing me.”

Mad Dog touched her face. “You need some ice on that or it’s going to swell.”

She sighed as he got up and walked over to the minibar to get some ice. Her head ached like a son of a bitch.

“Get me a drink too. Hell, and fire up one of your joints.”