The Darwin Protocol: A Thriller (The Last Peak Book 1) Read online

  “Was that so hard, Mason?”

  “Great. Now, Iridia, what’s your plan?”

  “To be famous, of course. Isn’t that what everyone wants?”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  Mason groaned. He hoped it was mostly on the inside.

  “I wish you the best, but I’m not sure how that affects you boarding a flight this evening.”

  “It has everything to do with it! I have a meeting with Bryce Eaton this evening.”

  She said the name like that explained everything. Any vague interest his primitive male brain had in her female form sunk beneath a crusty layer of extreme irritation.

  He held her gaze with no problem. He hoped she sensed his frustration.

  “He’s a director. You’ll love him. He’s the talk of the town. Had a movie last summer gross a billion worldwide. That’s big time. He makes careers.”

  She clearly sensed nothing. In his experience, the bigger the big time, the bigger the dumbass. Iridia herself was adding evidence to that theory.

  “I’m sure he’s a charming individual, but I have one job and one job only.”

  “To do what I say.”

  Oh no. That’s what all the famous types thought. It was part of what made working with them such a hassle.

  A close protection officer wasn’t a slave. The reverse was the case. His job was to stay out of the way and only make requests that mattered. Ones that impacted the safety of the protectee.

  “Wrong. My job is to keep a mob from ripping your limbs from your torso.”

  Her mouth dropped at the thought of her million-dollar-body ending up in a million pieces.

  “Anyway, whatever. I didn’t fly out here from New York to miss this meeting. Want to tie me up and drag me out kicking and screaming?”

  She offered her intertwined wrists, looking hopeful he’d take her up on it.

  “I’m not going to do that, Iridia.”

  “Your loss,” she said with a shrug. Her breasts heaved with the movement.

  Lord, she needed to get some clothes on.

  His submerged male curiosity threatened to bubble to the surface. She was gorgeous. Even if he was married and she was an idiot.

  Mason decided to surrender a tactical victory to gain the larger strategic victory of getting her clothed and in the general direction of going somewhere.

  “Okay. Where and when are you meeting this director?”

  She laughed like the world waited on her every word.

  “We were supposed to meet over an hour ago.”

  “Wonderful. Where?”

  “Mason, you’re going to love it! I swear! Not another spot like it in the city. Give me a minute to slip into something.”

  He wanted to press for more information, but absolutely wasn’t going to derail some measure of forward progress.

  He followed her through the living room and she headed toward a bathroom that looked like a grenade had gone off in it. She pulled up to the mirror and admired herself. Still clearly naked and in plain view of where he stood. She applied dark mascara above her eyes with the precision of a heart surgeon.

  “Be a doll,” she said, “and pack my bags for me. Makeup takes forever and I don’t want to miss my flight. My bags are in the closet in the front bedroom.”

  Mason grimaced. A twenty-five year old supermodel was yanking his chain. He was going to kill Miro.

  “Got it,” he murmured as he headed toward the nearest bedroom. The room looked worse than the bathroom. Like an F5 tornado blew through. Skimpy panties hung on the lampshade by the bed. Dresses, shoes, skirts, more panties, and other assorted wardrobe covered every inch of horizontal surface. Empty and mostly empty bottles of champagne were mixed in with equal frequency.

  In some places, the debris looked a foot deep.

  Mason trudged through the wreckage and rustled five enormous, floral-print suitcases out of the closet. He zipped them open against the wall and flung everything within reach into them.

  He’d made it halfway through the mess when he grabbed something wet and squishy. He yanked his hand back and recoiled in horror.

  A bright red, thoroughly used condom stuck to his fingertips.

  Jesus!

  He whipped his hand and the filled piece of thin rubber sailed through the air and stuck to the wall.

  Disgusting!

  Mason wiped the unidentified goo clinging to his fingers on a discarded towel on the floor.

  At least she was being safe.

  He laughed. Only a father would think that thought, at that moment.

  He scrubbed his fingers in the ensuite bathroom sink. Until the flesh glowed pink and he felt relatively certain no trace of liquid biological potential remained.

  He was going to kill Miro until he died twice.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  Beth gulped down the bitter dregs of some cold coffee and looked at her watch. She’d normally be home for dinner by now. Not tonight. Jane lay on the operating table next to her, still intubated and in critical condition. An all-night vigil looked likely.

  She texted Mason with the latest, which wasn’t much.

  B> Still at work. Not sure when I’ll be able to leave. Jane doing okay for now.

  M> Hang in there. Working. Love you.

  B> Love you.

  She pushed the phone onto the counter and rubbed her itchy eyes. She laid a gentle hand on Jane’s large chest. It rose and fell in inverse time with the machine’s diaphragm expanding and contracting.

  She stroked the chimp’s face. Soft skin that hardly covered hard teeth. Teeth that she’d never feared because of their shared bond.

  “Fight, Jane. Stay strong for your babies. For me.”

  The lab room door swung open and Diana Richston marched in with a shit-eating grin on her face. What was she still doing here? Seeing her at work one minute after five was unusual. Hours after the closing bell? That was a miracle.

  Beth willed her hand to continue stroking Jane. So it wouldn’t ball up and sock Diana in the mouth.

  “Beth, you were not approved for overtime, but I’m glad you’re still here.”

  “What do you want?”

  “I just got off a conference call with the members of the Milagro Corporation board. We had an emergency meeting prompted by your actions today.”

  Beth recoiled in surprise. She knew Diana would be out for blood, but the speed of her attack was unexpected.

  “Your actions put this organization in danger today. Put the lives of my employees in danger. Your lack of judgement is a hazard to yourself and, more importantly, to the zoo. I will not allow you to ruin something so important.”

  What a sick joke. She’d hadn’t been there long enough to learn everyone’s names, and she’d made her concern for the parent company’s profits abundantly clear already. It wasn’t about the welfare of the zoo for her. No matter what the words that slithered out of her mouth said.

  Beth’s temper flared. Her exhaustion bleeding away what little patience she might have normally had.

  “Spare me the lecture. I saved Jane today. And there wouldn’t have been a problem if Jack had remained locked up. Just how did he get out, Diana? Would you know anything about that?”

  Diana ignored her question. “The board has voted and, with one abstention, your contract has been terminated as of today. Dr. West, it is my great pleasure to inform you that you are no longer an employee of the Los Angeles Zoo and its parent company, the Milagro Corporation.”

  The floor beneath Beth seemed to crack open and a bottomless black pit pulled at her feet. Taking care of animals was all she ever wanted to do. Her time at the zoo, while sometimes a pain because of people like Diana, had been the pinnacle of her life’s ambition. The prospect of having it taken away was no different than having her heart torn from her chest.

  A confused cauldron of emotions bubbled up. Despair. Anger. Lots of anger. But even larger than that was the loss. The desperate sense of loss that she might not get to da
ily spend time with the animals. And in particular, that she might not be a regular part of Jane’s life.

  Diana smiled in the most self-satisfied, shit-eating way. She crossed her arms, her legs spread. This was the “take charge” Diana that everyone on staff loved to hate. She had no clue how ridiculous she was.

  “I’d like you to pack your personal belongings and leave. Now.”

  Beth jumped to her feet and landed way inside Diana’s little bubble of authority. The rage dulled the pain in her leg as she landed.

  “I’m not going anywhere until Jane is up and around.”

  “That is no longer your concern.”

  She said it in a snarky way that comes naturally to someone with a lifetime in upper management.

  Beth glanced back at the slumbering form of the pregnant chimp. There was no chance in hell or hades that she was leaving now.

  “I’m not leaving. Call the police. File a lawsuit. Do whatever you feel you have to do. I’m staying until she’s stabilized and the babies are safe.”

  Diana seemed at a loss. Her authority had probably never been challenged so directly. It kicked her world off kilter. Unsure for an awkward pause, she then doubled down.

  “You will leave. Now! I don’t care if that stupid monkey dies one second after you’re gone. This is my zoo and I decide what happens in it!”

  The volume of her voice was in counterpoint to Beth’s reply.

  “You’ll have to drag me out,” Beth said in a dangerous whisper. She stepped forward, her eyes dark and foreboding. “Now get out of my lab before I knock you on your prissy ass.”

  The facade of strength and control shattered. Diana stumbled back a step as if struck by a physical blow.

  “That’s assault! You’ve bodily threatened me. I’ll have you thrown in jail. I’ll have your license revoked.” She babbled as she continued to shrink away.

  The ceiling lights flickered and the ventilator stopped pumping and shrilled in alarm. The room strobed as the lights buzzed and hummed. The lab dropped into darkness a moment and then flickered back into view.

  Beth paused, wondering what to do next.

  The power flickered again and returned to normal. The ventilator went silent as it resumed its metronomic rhythm. The diaphragm collapsed and Jane’s chest expanded.

  Beth sighed in relief.

  What was that about?

  She stared at the ceiling, as if the answer might be found there.

  Must have been a hiccup.

  Then the room plunged into inky darkness.

  CHAPTER FORTY

  The lights didn’t come back on this time. The ventilator shrilled its battery-powered warning. Beth oriented herself in the dark, remembering the layout of the lab. Her messenger bag should be over by the sink on the far side of the room.

  “What’s happening?” Diana whispered.

  Beth ignored her.

  Beth crept forward with her arms outstretched. Her fingertips swished through thick fur. Jane on the table. Her chest didn’t move. No air expanded her lungs.

  Beth had to hurry. She had to get Jane on a manual ventilator, but there was no way she could sort through the medical supplies and get it hooked up in the pitch black.

  She needed her flashlight.

  She edged around the table and left it, stepping into the gulf of open space between it and the sink on the far wall.

  “What’s happening?” Diana said again, this time louder and tinged with panic.

  Beth visualized the room the instant before the lights cut out. Where had the roller chairs been? She crept forward, wondering if she still had five or fifteen feet to go. How foreign the world felt through the lenses of impaired senses.

  She took another step and her foot landed on something awkwardly. Her ankle twisted and her foot swept out to the side, throwing her in the other direction. The rolling chair spun around and caught her in the leg, right on the gash in her thigh. A jolt of pain shot through her leg.

  The darkness spun and she tipped forward, reaching for the chair to stop the fall. Her searching fingers found empty air as she tumbled forward. The back of the chair jabbed her ribs as she twisted and crashed to the concrete floor.

  The chair clattered and tipped over next to her.

  “What’s happening!” Diana shrieked. Blind terror made her voice raspy and raw. “Help me! I can’t see anything!”

  From the floor, her thigh sticky with ruptured sutures, Beth groaned with irritation. Pain too. But aggravation overwhelmed the sting.

  “Shut up, Diana! Shut your mouth!”

  “Beth! Beth!” Diana howled, as if just now remembering the world contained at least one other individual. “Was that Jane? Is she awake?”

  “Shut up, Diana!”

  Her employer’s hysteria wasn’t helping her own struggle to remain focused.

  “I fell down. I’m trying to get a flashlight. Don’t move. And keep your mouth shut.”

  A shrill squeak escaped and then gurgled to silence.

  Beth picked herself up in the dark, feeling around her to get some clue and finding none. The fall turned her around so she had no idea which direction to go now.

  Another squeak from Diana told her to move in the opposite direction. She turned and limped forward, praying not to encounter another obstacle that might send her to the floor and completely open her wound.

  She touched her pant leg and felt the wet fabric stick to her skin.

  Her outstretched fingers smacked into something hard. She patted the cool surface of the counter and swept from side to side until she encountered the slick ballistic nylon of her messenger bag. She dug inside and found the cool metal tube.

  With a click, a small beam of light shot to the ceiling. She gave silent thanks to her husband for always insisting she carry an emergency flashlight. No matter how many times she said it was ridiculous. She’d never say that again. She’d even remember to change the batteries herself.

  She aimed the small, single LED light around the room. Diana stood by the door, her burnt orange, fake-tan skin several shades lighter than usual.

  “Thank God!” She waved Beth over. “Give it to me! We have to get out of here!”

  Jane’s still form jerked. A violent shudder tore through her chest. Her enormous body settled an instant then spasmed again.

  She needed oxygen. The infants inside her needed oxygen. Fast.

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  “What are you doing? Give me the light!”

  Diana hadn’t budged from her spot by the door. She held her hand out as if Beth was a child making a bad choice.

  Her words barely registered. Beth rifled through the medical supply cabinet and grabbed a sealed plastic, sterile bag containing a manual respirator. She tore it open and moved back to the operating table.

  The chimp continued to shake as her body rebelled at the the lack of oxygen.

  “Get over here, Diana!”

  Diana blanched, her mouth a twisted grimace of fear and anger.

  The final, thin bubble restraining Beth popped. She flew at Diana in a rage. Her boss shrunk back as the flashlight rushed at her.

  Beth grabbed her arm and dragged her like a child’s doll back to the operating table.

  Diana screamed and screeched.

  Beth shook her hard.

  “Shut up!”

  All the fight flooded out of Diana. Her shoulders slumped and she looked at Beth, her lower lip trembling violently.

  “Hold the flashlight, right here!”

  Beth put the light in her hand and positioned it so the light fell where she needed it.

  Fighting the spasming body on the operating table, Beth disconnected the ventilator from the tracheal tube and attached the manual respirator. She squeezed the bladder bag and pushed air down Jane’s throat. The large furry chest barely moved. The manual respirator didn’t move half the air the ventilator did.

  The illumination on Jane’s face dropped to the floor.

  “Hold it up!”
Beth screamed. Spit shot from her mouth and peppered Diana’s face.

  The circle of light came back up to the operating table.

  Beth worked the respirator, but it wasn’t enough. Jane’s thick limbs twitched then went still. Beth peeled back one closed eye and didn’t like what she saw.

  Jane was fading.

  If she died, her babies would too.

  They had to come out. Now.

  Beth had never performed a Cesarian on a chimpanzee before. She had on a few other mammals over the years and she knew the anatomy of the chimpanzee as well as she knew her own.

  But she’d never done it without assistants. Qualified ones. And she’d never done it in the dark on a dying animal.

  None of that mattered, because she didn’t have another choice.

  “Diana, I’m going to have to get the babies out of her.”

  “What? Are you insane?”

  As much as it would hurt to lose Jane, losing her and the infants would be a blow Beth wasn’t sure she could take.

  “They’ll die inside her. It’s the only way to save them.”

  “Save them? Why? They’re just animals for God’s sake!”

  Beth wanted more than anything to pummel Diana through the concrete floor.

  Jane’s body jerked and went still again. Beth dug her fingers into the fur on her neck and felt for a pulse. There was none.

  The respirator wasn’t moving enough air.

  “I need you to respirate while I open her up.”

  Some air was better than none.

  Diana’s jaw dropped. She stared at the chimp lying on the table.

  “Touch that disgusting beast? I won’t do it.”

  Beth leveled a gaze at her that promised murder.

  “You will.”

  Diana shrank back in terror.

  “Give me the flashlight.”

  Beth took the light and guided Diana’s hand through manually filling and emptying the respirator bladder.

  They weren’t going to give up on Jane or her babies.

  “Don’t stop.”

  Diana nodded in silence, her face like a white moon surrounded by dark sky.