BRAINSTORM

Chapter Thirty-five - Behind enemy lines.

Anger coursed through Nick's bloodstream, as potent as any drug, but he refused to let it control him. Instead, he held completely still so he could listen as he crouched behind the stack of boxes.

Sebastian Warner said, "You can go, Mario. I got this."

"You sure, boss?"

"Yeah. Tell Alfonso thanks for taking care of the problem on such short notice. I'll send him double the normal amount."

"Will do, sir. Anything else?"

"That's all."

The back door of the warehouse slammed shut, and Warner spoke again. "So how long do you think it will take for your boyfriend to come rescue you? He's a resourceful fellow. My best guess is about three or four hours, tops. That gives us a lot of time together. How do you think we should spend it, Ms. Ryder?"

Nick recoiled at Warner's words. He wanted to run in there right now and rip Warner's head off, but he didn't. It wasn't the right time.

"What, no suggestions? Oh, that's right, you can't talk with that gag in your mouth. Let me take it off for you." Nick thought of Warner touching Melissa, and it was even more difficult to stay still.

"I have nothing to say to you."

"You should have told that boyfriend of yours to stop snooping around. Then we could have avoided all of this. It's really his fault, you know. He should have minded his own business."

Melissa screamed, "Shut up!" Nick was sure she knew her words were impotent, but he understood that sometimes you just needed to scream. Things got quiet for a little bit afterward, and that made Nick nervous because he couldn't see what was going on.

Finally, he heard Warner say, "Do you even know who I am?" There was silence as Warner waited for an answer. "Suddenly quiet, are we? You should be very interested me" Warner's voice got low and deadly. "I'm director of the NIH. Your son, Sidney, is part of my most important program. Unfortunately, he isn't responding well to his training. We may not be able to keep him for much longer."

"You asshole!" Nick heard the sounds of a chair scraping on the concrete floor. They must have tied Melissa to it, and now she was trying to reach Warner. Then he heard a loud clunk. The chair had fallen to the floor, he guessed. Now!

He ran into the room with his gun pointed at Warner. "Don't move!"

Warner squinted at him askance. "Oh, hi, Nick. Nice of you to join us. I do like threesomes. But you're earlier than expected." Warner started to raise the gun in his left hand, but Nick was quicker. He shot Warner twice in the upper left shoulder, and he collapsed backward.

Nick ran over to Warner, pulled the gun from his grasp, and slid it into a corner of the room. He called to Melissa, "Hang in there, Mel. I'll help you up in just a second. Got to take care of this asshole first."

"I wish you had killed him."

"You're messing with the wrong person, Nicholas Sperry," Warner said as he thrashed beneath Nick. "You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into."

"Want to enlighten me?" Nick growled. He secured his Glock in the waistband of his pants as he held Warner down with the weight of his body. He removed his own belt with one hand and used it to bind Warner's wrists together.

"You'll have to figure it out on your own," Warner snarled. "If you can."

As Nick leaned in to pull Warner's belt off his waist, Warner suddenly lurched up and knocked his forehead into Nick's. The blow forced him sideways. Moving with the speed of a viper, Warner grabbed Nick's gun and hopped up.