Chapter Five

Chapter Five

When She Wakes

Burrowing under the blanket, Kimberly smiled. The bed was so comfortable. The blankets soft. There was an amazing fragrance filling her lungs every time she drew breath. She drifted in that safe space—between awake and asleep—for a handful of long, pleasurable minutes.

She didn't know where she was. Yet the knowledge didn't frighten her. Instead of feeling alarmed, she felt as if she were exactly where she needed to be. That sensation didn't fade as she inched toward wakefulness.

Laying there—breathing in that wonderful scent—she let the memories come. A smile teased her lips at David's shocked expression when she targeted his eyes with bear spray.

Her upturned lips flattened, quickly morphing into a frown when she remembered her vandalized house, followed by the pain in her head and the cold seeping into her body from a cement floor.

She sighed. Thank God the headache from hell was gone. She remembered feeling David's arms around her—as he carried her out of that nightmare. He'd saved her. Somehow healed her. And got her away from her captors. She had vague memories of them throwing her in a car and pinching her to try and get her to respond to them. She knew it happened but was fuzzy on the details.

Opening her eyes, Kimberly sat up, unsurprised to see David sitting in a chair beside the bed. She realized the fabulous scent she'd been breathing—was him. "Who kidnapped us and why?" she demanded.

The man grinned at her. "I'm so glad you are awake—it's been two days."

Her eyes widened. "Two days?"

Nodding, he reassured her. "I wasn't worried. You had a concussion but were healing. Rest was the best thing for you. You are in my space…"

"You rescued us. Thank you."

"I'm only glad it worked. I had help, but you're welcome. Thomas Markam."

Kim frowned. "The billionaire businessman? Why would he… It doesn't make sense. I don't even know him."

"His name is on a list I uncovered on a case I helped with in America. Along with the Prime Minister. You might have heard about the billionaire business owner who used his lab to create a poison used to pollute a small city's water supply. The poison caused an increase in miscarriages and stillbirths. Knowing that might help us find the connection." David clasped his hands in front of him. "The men who helped us escape gathered information from the building we were in. They copied digital files from the servers onsite and copied security camera footage. We might be able to figure it out when we go through all that."

Kim frowned and pulled her feet up, sitting cross-legged on the bed. She was glad she had a big gray tee-shirt on, probably one of David's. She rubbed her chest. "I don't think we have to search for long, although I want to go through everything you have… my boss kicked me off a story the morning I accosted you at the coffee shop. I was investigating the disappearance of a woman that worked at the city water supply. There is a connection to your case. Maybe she saw something she shouldn't have. But I also know she was seeking help to get pregnant, as she had a miscarriage and issues with infertility. That's another connection. I saw the press release on that case." She tilted her head and studied him. "Are you a cop?"

He grinned. "Something like that."

"I want to see all the information your friends gathered and all the stuff you have on the case in the U.S." Kim waited for him to deny her access. Law enforcement wouldn't want the press looking through all the gathered info.

"I figured you would. There are two folders on this computer tablet. The first holds all the information gathered from America. There is more information in this file than was included in the press release. Grace, the woman mentioned, is a friend of mine. If you have any questions, I can get them to her. The second folder contains everything collected by my Helpers. I'm going to get you something to eat and drink. Do you have a request?" David asked.

She pursed her lips together, worried that this was too easy. Kim decided not to complain and to read for a bit. She was hungry, but not sure she could eat something heavy. "I'd love coffee. And soup of some kind. Chicken noodle? A creamy orzo?"

He got up and handed her a bottle of water. "Drink this. I'll make soup. From scratch, so it will be a bit. But I'll bring you coffee right away and maybe some toast?"

"Perfect." Kim had already opened the first file before he walked out the door.

Dahvid

Hurrying down the hall to the kitchen, Dahvid's mind raced. He was an Earth chicken. A horrible, terrible chicken. He should have told her about the Binding Pollen. About him being a Guardian, and why he was here. It wasn't like he could hide it for very long.

The changes were there in amazingly brilliant color. His inability to tell Kimberly everything she needed to know was going to come back and bite him in the ass.

These last few days of caring for her gave him hope. He'd seen to her needs. When she was restless—he gathered her into his arms and she calmed. Pressing her nose to his chest—his scent seemed to bring her peace.

That peace would shatter soon. Dahvid would make her coffee and soup, preparing for the worst. But he needed to tell her everything. He walked into the kitchen, delaying the inevitable.

Kimberly

Before she looked at the files on the tablet, Kim took a minute to herself. There was something about David that made her want to crawl into his lap, ask him to wrap his arms around her, and just hold on. She had vague memories of him carrying her and she wanted him to do it again when she was awake. Worse, she was addicted to his scent. So much so that when he was in the room, all she could think about was pressing her nose to his chest.

Then there was his smile. Every time he looked right at her and his lips turned upward, she wanted to melt. This was so out of character for her that she wanted to burrow under the covers and marvel at the sensation. Or laugh.

Kimberly took several deep breaths and tried to center herself. She needed to pull it all together and read the files.

She chose the folder with the American incident first. And was amazed at what she found. There was a video of what happened at the lab in America. Only this wasn't the one shown on TV, with the woman's face blurred to protect her identity. This was the original recording of the conversation between Grace, an obstetrician worried about her patients and the uptick of miscarriages and infertility—and Garrett.

Garret was the owner of the lab Grace contracted with so she could use their equipment for testing and research because she wanted to figure out why it was all happening. He had tied Grace to a chair in his office and beat her. Then, because he thought he was in control, he boldly confessed everything to his captive. Not realizing he was being recorded. Not believing the woman would escape.

As an added bonus in this version, Grace added text to highlight her thoughts and feelings. The video opened with Grace tightly bound to a chair in front of Garret.

"I know the fertilizer you make is being dumped in the town's water supply." Grace huffed out a breath before saying, "I don't know how you're doing it. Or why?"

Garret laughed. "I love that you are frustrated. The how is easy. As part of my bonus for moving my company to this city and county, I requested direct access to the power grid and the water supply. The county commissioner and city council didn't blink. They were so excited to have the jobs my company provided—they didn't question the security risk. I think they'd have given me anything."

Grace looked angry. "But why? Don't you know what those chemicals are doing? People are dying, Garret!"

This time, he laughed louder. That sound was filled with glee and a little madness. Grace's text comment was: For the first time, she was truly afraid. Garret was more than evil. He was crazy. She could see it now. It was in his eyes and in his unquestionably cheerful attitude about causing all those deaths.

"So, you do know that the chemicals you're dumping in the water are causing miscarriages, stillbirths, as well as clotting issues—which lead to more deaths."

He giggled at her words. "Oh, and so much more than that. Over a period of time, there will be a sharp rise in every type of cancer. Not to mention just about every autoimmune disease known to man." He frowned. "Plus a few new ones."

Grace shook her head at him. "Do you have a reason? Or are you just doing this for the hell of it?"

Garret barked his laughter this time. "Oh, I do love your mind. Yes, there is a reason. Because there are too many damn people in the world. The organization I represent wants to lower the birth rate of the middle class and the poor. If we make it next to impossible for them to get and stay pregnant, in a few decades, most of them will die out."

Grace glared at him. "Why? Why are you doing it and why do you think you can get away with it?"

Grinning, he leaned forward; you could see the excitement on his face. "Because I can. I'm rich. The people working with me all have more money than they can spend. We are doing it in part because we can, and so that there aren't so many damn people in the world. Think about it… there won't be any rush hour traffic to deal with. The beaches won't be crowded. Pollution will go away, and so will poverty. No one will have to fight for a job because we'll just assign them the work we want them to do. And as for getting away with it? Piece of cake. Everyone wants to be us, so they bend over backward, trying to be our friends. But they are scum. For the short term, the scum will protect us, and we can continue with the plan."

Grace texted that: She wanted to scream at him. To jump up and use her fists. He was killing people so he wouldn't have to deal with rush hour traffic? There had to be more to this.

"Continue with what plan?" she asked carefully.

"I'm so glad you asked. I so seldom get to share my greatness with anyone. But you'll be dead soon. So, I can tell you everything. The goal of our group is to help the elites - those groomed from birth to lead. We want everyone who doesn't belong to our group… moved off the land and into the cities. That way the land will be ours or deeded to the government to create green zones. We won't allow anyone to grow or raise their food. It will all come from us. They won't own a house or a car… anything. They will have to rent from us. If we deed the land to the government, we'll keep the water and mineral rights. No one builds or creates anything… without our permission and control."

Grace's text mirrored Kim's thoughts: The man was bat-shit crazy. She couldn't believe what he was saying to her. No one would believe her if she told them. Then Grace wrote: God, she hoped all this was detailed on the data drive she'd hidden. She just needed to live long enough to make sure it was all released to the world.

Garret continued, "The people who are left, who don't die from the poisoned water, will eat what we tell them to eat. Whether we want them to become vegan or have an all-meat diet. We might decide they need to eat bugs." He laughed at this. "Whatever keeps them hungry and weak—so they can't fight. And if we make it impossible for the masses to reproduce, when they die out, eventually, so will their ideas. They won't have any children to pass on their mistaken notion that they have a right to freedom and this land. The children who are born into our new, ideal world will know they get nothing. Unless we give it to them. And since they won't know there used to be options—they won't fight it."

Grace cried out, "Why the hell did you offer me the job when you knew I was researching poisons in the water supply? You knew I'd work tirelessly to figure this out? Why did you hire me, knowing my background and how tenaciously I approach research?"

He threw his head back and laughed again. Garret was beaming when he said, "I did that on purpose. You were my guarantee. I wanted to see if you, or anyone, could find the source of the poison. If you worked for me, I could monitor what you were doing and follow every step. This way, I could ensure no one else could follow the dots you discovered. If you found anything, I knew I could fix it. There was an alarm on the server that alerted me when anyone accessed certain files. At that point, I knew you were getting close."

Grace closed her eyes at the sight of Garret's gloating face. Her text read: I wonder how I missed this fanatical craziness.

Garret didn't stop. He still had more to confess. "Even if you figured it all out and tried to tell anyone what I was doing, they wouldn't believe you. You'd never get past all the personal relationships I nurtured with the media and law enforcement, ensuring they would come to me before releasing any information about me or my company. If that ever happened, I planned to manipulate any data you found or delete it. It would be simple to manufacture evidence that made you appear crazy or vindictive."

Wow. Kim could not believe how powerful this was. And the rest of the story, information about the escape and "release" of Garret, only to have him killed by one of his partners, named here as only the Prime Minister , made her pause.

America didn't have Prime Ministers. She blinked. Canada did. So did several other countries, but she wondered if that was why David was sent here. That didn't make sense. The capital of Canada was Ottawa. If David were searching for a connection to the Canadian Prime Minister, he wouldn't be in Toronto.

The story was so engrossing that it took her several minutes to realize the Dahvid referred to in the files—was her David.

Dahvid had saved Grace and his fellow Guardian, Raptor. Dahvid had retrieved Garret's hidden backup drive from where Grace hid it.

Dahvid—not David. After all they'd been through together, it seemed as if she should know that.

What the hell was a Guardian? It sounded like a secret police force. But everything she read about Garret and what he was doing in the U.S. sent bells and whistles going off in her brain. The similarities to what was happening in Toronto were spooky. Was Thomas Markam somehow involved? Did they think Kimberly knew something because of her ongoing story about the missing woman?

She didn't know anything that would tie the two together. But she was going to look for it.

The reduction in births in the small U.S. town matched what she'd seen in the neighborhoods on this side of town. Did that mean someone poisoned the water supply? The missing woman worked for the water plant. Did she disappear because she'd seen something there or at the fertility clinic? Kim had to believe Nancy Simmons knew something. Now the trick would be to figure out if she were alive or dead.

Kim skimmed through some of the information Grace uncovered in Garret's office. There was a list of names and places, crimes. Not just the crime of polluting the water supply with the intent to kill, but others. Like, causing mine fires, blowing up food processing plants, and more. Many of the named on the list were very well known. She recognized politicians, billionaires, and celebrities from different fields.

It was also noted that Garret and his poisons were responsible for hundreds, maybe thousands, or more miscarriages and that the water systems in at least five U.S. cities of varying sizes were also being poisoned. They'd completed the test study and planned to roll out the program worldwide.

It bothered her that Thomas Markam's name was listed, but without specific details of what he'd done. What he was involved in. She would have to find out.

Something else was bothering her. Grace's account was vague on certain details. Like, how did they get off the roof of the lab when they were escaping? Try as she might, she couldn't figure out how Dahvid got her out of a locked room and out of the building. She needed to skim through some of the footage from the building they'd been held prisoner in. Dahvid said the people who helped them escape had copied that and all the information from the building's servers.

But first, after finishing the water, she needed to pee. Kim hopped out of bed, thankful Dahvid's gray tee-shirt hung almost to her knees. There was an outline of a door on the other side of the room. Kim prayed it was a bathroom and not a closet. She groaned with pleasure when she saw the toilet.

After taking care of business, Kim washed her hands. She glanced at the mirror before stepping out of the room and slamming the door shut. It took a moment for what she'd seen to make sense. Only it didn't make sense. All the breath left her body in a gasp. She swung around and went back to check the mirror again. This time she took a good, long look—then shrieked, " Dahhhviiid! "