To Touch Poison Read online

  The idea of Eamon near secure information was enough to scare the hell out of Jayme. Definitely not an option. Would never be an option. “The office is fine. We won’t be long.”

  Eamon struggled to move, carefully placing one foot at a time on the tile floor. “Sorry, I’m slow these days.” He dropped into the nearest chair.

  Jayme hip-shot the door closed, then turned to Eamon. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  Pulling out a handkerchief, Eamon wiped the sweat from his face. “Seems I have multiple sclerosis, and it’s been aggravated the last few months. I need help.”

  Jayme temper flared. “You already ripped off all that money from Mom and Dad—”

  “Not money. I want a cure for this bloody disease.” His words were raw, stilted.

  Jayme sifted through what he knew about MS. “There isn’t one. Autoimmune suppressors help, and I’ve heard yoga—”

  “Asshole. I’m a bloody scientist, and I’ve been living with this damn disease for over two years. I want a cure. A miracle drug, and the grapevine is rife with the news that your girlfriend has it.”

  The hair on Jayme’s neck lifted. “Kaimi? What do you know about her? Where is she?”

  A full-throated chuckle erupted from Eamon. “Well, damned if the C-I-fucking-A hasn’t kept their golden boy in the dark.”

  Jayme fisted the collar of Eamon’s shirt, and yanked him out of the chair. “Where is Kaimi?”

  Eamon went limp, and Jayme dropped him. “If I knew, boy-o, I’d be there getting treated. But apparently you know less than I do,” Eamon staggered to his feet, and opened the door. “I’ll be watching you, and when I find your girl, I’ll pass along a nice warm hello.” He didn’t bother to hide his grin. “You don’t know shit, which leaves the playing field wide open. Maliu will be hungry for a man after six months of celibacy. We’ll be a match made in heaven.”

  Jayme watched his brother shuffle out of the guardhouse, considered chasing him down, but held his rage in check. The very grapevine Eamon mentioned would explode with news of an altercation between the Grady brothers. Besides, he could read Eamon well, and there was no doubt his derelict brother knew exactly where Kaimi was.

  It was time for Jayme to hit the underground…running.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  THE HEAT AND HUMIDITY EXACERBATED Eamon’s symptoms. He’d fallen twice since he’d begun his hike into the rainforest, but it didn’t matter. Finding Kaimi Maliu did. Fion had kept him up to speed with her new identity, progress with her research trials, and her secrets.

  But, just like Jayme, the Maliu bitch was so uptight she’s probably never had an orgasm. It’d be his pleasure to fix that before he broke her into small pieces, but he’d have to wait for that kind of fun until after he’d stockpiled enough of her magic formula to keep him healthy for the next century.

  Why the hell wouldn’t she share it? It wasn’t anything to her, wouldn’t cost her a damn thing, and he was more than willing to be a human guinea pig. Maybe she was smarter than Fion thought, and she’d jump at his offer to be a test subject for her precious formula. A strangled chuckle escaped. He’d have to make sure she gave him the non-lethal stuff, and didn’t kill him by accident. Or at Jayme’s request.

  He stepped into the clearing that surrounded the lab campsite, and spotted Fion in the kitchen. His vision blurred, then cleared. Damn MS.

  Not much had changed since he’d been away. He raised his arm and waved at Fion. Her jaw gaped, and then she crashed out of the kitchen door and ran smack into him. His weak leg gave way, tumbling both of them to the ground. Heat flashed up his neck and into his face. “Get the hell off me, Connor.”

  Fion stumbled to her feet and backed away. “Sorry, I didn’t realize—”

  Eamon bit down on the blast of temper building in his chest. He’d always been quick to anger, but since this last exacerbation of the MS, his brain wasn’t working right. Or maybe it was because he’d been impotent for nine damn months. Thirty years old and he couldn’t get it up.

  “Yeah, right. You didn’t realize. Why the fuck do you think I went back to Ireland?”

  She didn’t raise her head to look at him while they walked to the building that served as their living quarters. Good. He’d smacked her into submission, just the way he preferred his women these days. He rearranged his pants. Sometimes if he was angry enough… Nothing. Bloody hell. He would have considered tumbling Fion if there’d been any chance... “What’s to eat? It was a long trip upriver.”

  “Xola made stew for supper before she left for her morning scavenger hunt. It’s only ten, but there’s no reason you can’t have some for breakfast. And there’s fresh passion fruit and some acai berries I picked this morning.”

  It would do. “Fill me in on the bitch’s progress while I eat. She perfected the magic cure yet?”

  Fion shook her head. “No. She’s been focused on an antidote for the poison. But she keeps a lot of her work hidden.” She held up her hand. “Don’t bother to ask. I’ve searched through her lab papers, trailed her every move, and still haven’t figured out where she’s hiding her test vials. Nor have I found any written documentation of what she’s up to. Must keep it all in her head.”

  He dropped into a chair at the kitchen table. Yeah, his thinking had been scrambled, especially the past month, but surely no one could keep reams of scientific data in their memory. “She some kind of genius?” He spat the words.

  Fion flinched, then ladled out a bowl of stew and set it in front of Eamon. “Could be. There’s definitely something different about her. Doesn’t talk much, even when I poke and probe. Heck, I’ve stooped to being friendly and still can’t get anything out of those pinched lips.”

  He blew on a spoonful of stew. “You’re her boss. Demand a written account of the results.”

  “Yeah, right.” Fion grabbed a handful of acai berries from the dish on the table. “She has no concept of rank order, and with just the two of us out here, there’s no way for me to enforce it short of shooting her.”

  Eamon nodded. “And?”

  “You’re a bloody idiot if you think I’m going to kill the only living person who can create a lethal toxin, the antidote, and some sort of miracle cure. Those formulas are going to sell for enough money to make us multi-billionaires.”

  “Who said anything about killing?” Eamon sucked down a bite of stew. “There are lots of ways to make people talk.”

  Fion snorted. “Uh-huh. Have you forgotten she has the US government watching over her shoulder? Surely her handler knows every damn thing about us.”

  Eamon grinned, a Machiavellian glint in his eyes. “She’s got the hots for my brother.”

  “Your…brother?” Fion straightened in her chair. “You want to use him for bait? Threaten him with bodily harm if she doesn’t turn everything over to us?” She erupted in a full belly laugh. “Bloody genius.”

  Eamon finished off the stew, crumpled his napkin, and wiped his mouth. “He’s been looking for Maliu for six months. Shouldn’t be any problem getting him here. I’ll send a message.”

  KAIMI SHOOK SO HARD SHE could barely hang on to the armful of seedlings nestled in her arms. Thank God she’d stopped outside the kitchen to secure the plants in the crook of her elbow before she touched the doorknob. And a double thanks to God that the window was open and Fion’s voice had an underlying screech that carried for a bit of a distance. Jayme and Eamon were brothers! That rocked her world, but worse, these morons wanted to sell the formulas for the toxin, the antidote, and, holy shit, the curative formula no one was supposed to know about. They were traitors to their own governments as well as to the US. Rage spiraled in her gut. Not on her watch, they wouldn’t.

  Eamon had barely disconnected from his personal satcom link when the kitchen door flew open and Kaimi burst in with an armload of seedlings.

  “Need to get these in water.” She fitted the stopper, placed them in the sink, and turned on the faucet before she turned to face Fion an
d Eamon. Her forehead wrinkled for a second. “You must be Eamon Grady, the Irish member of our group.” She offered her hand, then jerked it back. “Sorry. I cut myself harvesting the plants. I’m Xola Muerte. Is Grady a common name in both Ireland and Scotland? Any chance you know Jayme Grady, attorney? Works for the CIA? He’s a Scot, though, not Irish.” Shut up, Kaimi. You’re babbling and they’re going to know something’s wrong.

  TALKATIVE LITTLE THING. EAMON BARELY KEPT from slapping her mouth shut. Instead, he grabbed her hand, forced her to shake his. He wanted the contact, needed to feel the magic of his brother’s girlfriend. Her palm was damp and slightly gritty. He freed himself from her grip, and used the napkin to wipe her blood from his hand. “Grady is a commonplace surname in much of the UK. What’s that?” He nodded at the sink.

  “A new strain of one of the plants I’m working with.” She hesitated. “First I’ve seen with the purple-edged leaves, so I’m hoping it has the properties I’ve been missing…”

  Eamon stood, balanced himself, then strolled to the sink and plucked out a seedling. “Yeah? For the toxin or antidote?”

  Kaimi snatched the seedling from his hand and tucked it back into the water. “The roots have to stay moist.” There was a snap of anger in her words.

  Fury erupted, turning the edges of Eamon’s vision bright red. The uppity bitch hadn’t answered his question. “Toxin or antidote?” he barked.

  Fion would have scuttled away at his tone, but this smart-ass bitch stepped right into his personal space. A challenge. Anticipation hiked his heart rate up a notch. She glared. “You might want to try speaking to me in a civilized tone of voice.”

  Who the hell did she think she was? His hand fisted with the need to hit her, but the first stirrings of a hard-on grabbed his attention. His brother’s girlfriend. Exactly the coup he’d been planning. Now all he had to do was make nice. “Sorry. It was a long boat ride, and I’m not myself.”

  With the possibility of sex on his brain, the apology had slipped out without a hitch. He grinned.

  Kaimi backed away, turning toward the door. “It’s a long trip upriver. Get some rest and we can talk about the work this evening. Right now I need to prep a nutrient bath for these specimens.”

  Once she was out of sight, Eamon braced his hands on the kitchen table and leaned toward Fion. “You search her room yet?”

  “No.” She shook her head. “It’s the only place I haven’t checked. She keeps it locked and would know if anyone broke in. It also gives me the creeps to walk by her door, because she’s done something in there.”

  Women. Eamon barely controlled the itch to slap Fion. “Like what?”

  “Put a hex on it. I don’t know. Something.”

  He straightened, adjusted his pants, and headed down the hallway toward their sleeping quarters.

  Hex his ass.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  KAIMI FOUGHT THE NAUSEA ROILING in her stomach. It was up to her to stop this. She’d have to find a way to contact Fred when Eamon and Fion weren’t around, and…and what? Would Fred even believe her, since Fion was the team lead? She grabbed a jar of nutrient mix off the shelf and fumbled, barely catching it before it shattered on the stainless steel lab bench. Backing away, she gulped air, then fisted her hands, released, fisted, released until she got control of the shaking and could prep the constant-temperature controlled bath for her fragile seedlings. Plants first. Traitors second, but only because she didn’t have a clue how to stop Eamon and Fion’s betrayal. Yet.

  Normally, Kaimi would have prepped the solution before her hike, had it ready, but such a large find of the precious plants had been totally unexpected. Her mind tingled with anticipation. And then she noticed some of her blood had dripped into the bath. It was contaminated for sure, but delaying the transfer of the fragile roots while she mixed another batch of nutrient would probably kill the seedlings. She worried her bottom lip while she bandaged the gash on her palm. If only her knife hadn’t slipped.

  Too late now. She’d been in such a hurry to protect the roots, she hadn’t paid attention to her injury. Had thought the bleeding stopped after she shook hands with Eamon. A shudder trailed down her spine. Touching him had been…disturbing. Jayme’s brother. And he’d all but denied they were related.

  What would happen when Jayme came after her? And he would. Just as she’d do whatever was necessary to find him if their situations were reversed. Wait. Maybe Fred suspected that Eamon and Fion were traitors. Maybe that’s why the CIA had loaned her out. But wouldn’t they have briefed her? Damn, but she should have taken more covert classes. She’d tried to get messages out when their supplies were delivered, but Fion took care of that paperwork, and she usually made sure Kaimi was tasked with a project to keep her well away from the delivery people.

  With a sigh of regret, Kaimi pushed all thoughts of traitors from her mind and checked the temperature of the bath. These plants were surely the breakthrough she’d been waiting for, and she had to go and contaminate their food source. Not one linger over regrets, she made a notation about the anomaly, then added a question mark and filled the top with a smiley face. Maybe blood wouldn’t hurt the seedlings. Still, it made the experiment null and void, and she was almost positive these babies held the last ingredient she needed to create a curative formula. She’d process one of the seedlings for histologic information, and nurture the others until she had the base formula perfected and ready to mix with her latest discovery.

  Roots or leaves? No matter, she had time to process both while she figured out what to do about the traitors in her midst. She rubbed the back of her neck, pushing the collar away from her skin. Since the eavesdropping incident there’d been an uncomfortable niggling in the back of her mind, and it was traveling down her neck. “Well, damn.” Her whisper escaped into the humid room. Why hadn’t Jayme mentioned that he had a brother? Yet another fragment of anomalous information to keep her nerves on edge.

  Fred contacted Kaimi every Friday for an update on her progress, but had steadfastly refused to answer any questions about her family or Jayme. Having never been part of a black ops project before, she had no knowledge of the protocols, so she’d accepted the strange parameters surrounding her situation. But it had been six months, and there was still no sign that she’d be getting a furlough. And with this new information, she really needed a face-to-face with Fred. Or someone who knew something about what was going on. She’d never come so close to attacking a colleague as when Eamon had gotten in her face, and if she wasn’t very careful, she’d blurt out something incriminating. No telling what her partners would do if they learned she was privy to their traitorous scheme. Kill her, no doubt.

  Nutrient bath prepped and at a constant temperature, she locked down her work area and hustled across the compound to the team’s living quarters. Time to get her babies into protective custody. She’s set a Huna energy shield around them, just like she had her personal space, but she truly hated leaving them alone with Fion and Eamon nearby.

  The kitchen was empty, and her seedlings appeared to be in perfect condition. She scooped them up, drained the sink, and hurried back to the lab. Fion must have crossed paths with her, because she was sitting at her worktable going over the latest series of slides they’d made from the bark and roots the natives used for euthanasia. Better Fion than her. The destructive elements of this formula gave her nightmares. But once a week she still forced herself to study the chemical properties as diligently as Fion did, only not for nefarious purposes. Kaimi not only wanted to find an antidote, but if she could also figure out how to render the formula inert, there wouldn’t be as much pressure to create an antidote.

  Fion looked up from her microscope. “You okay? Eamon gave you kind of a hard time.”

  Kaimi glanced at Fion, then turned away to unlock her area and arrange the armful of seedlings in the nutrient bath. “Is he always that belligerent?”

  “Yeah, pretty much. Well, ever since the multiple sclerosis hit. He wasn’t tha
t way in school.”

  “School?” Maybe she could worm some useful information out of Fion. That’d be helpful. Kaimi rinsed the nutrient bath off her hands, and then reached for a towel, stopped. The bandage had come loose and the cut on her hand was practically healed. She dried her hands carefully, rubbing at the red line where the knife had gashed her palm.

  Fion turned back to her microscope. “We were at university together. That’s how we got assigned to this project. The Dean’s father worked with the Resistance during World War II, and he followed in his father’s footsteps. Not in resistance, of course, but the Dean does consulting work with MI6.” Fion shoved the slide she’d been examining to the side, then slipped another one under the microscope.

  Pieces of the puzzle surrounding Fion and Eamon settled into place in Kaimi’s head, but they still didn’t fit together well. Why would they sell out their countries like this? For money, of course, but there had to be more, and damn, but she was determined to find out what it was. She cast a glance at the controlled temperature bath, plucked one of the plants from it, and cradled it in her hand. “I’m going to my room to make some drawings and write up a report on this baby. See you later.”

  “I’m not cooking supper, so it’s going to be leftover stew.” Fion’s voice trailed after Kaimi.

  Leftovers were fine with Kaimi. If she could avoid kitchen duty to work on her healing formula, hot dogs would have been fine. And she hated hot dogs, as un-American as that was. She pushed thoughts of food from her mind, and while she walked, whispered sweet nothings to the seedling in her palm. Silly, maybe. But she always talked to the plants she worked with, and when anyone asked, she would swear they grew stronger because of it.

  A chill slithered down her spine.

  She spun. Nothing behind her. That’s what you get, Kaimi, for focusing on your work instead of your surroundings. The self-scolding didn’t do a thing to chase the chill away. She opened the door to their shared living quarters, cautiously checking the kitchen for anything amiss. Surely neither Eamon nor Fion had spotted her lurking outside the kitchen door earlier. They would have confronted her right away and…eliminated the problem.