“Romanov is Olivia and Josh’s father,” Porter informed him.
“Sperm donor,” Colt muttered.
Alex glared at Colt who readily returned its intensity tenfold.
These guys.
Trent visibly staggered back. “What?” He continued backing away and sat on the couch as if ready to hear a long story.
“Are you telling me Olivia really stopped the shooter?” Trent continued. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t be here and neither would Kate.”
Alex perched on the edge of the desk. I took a seat beside Trent. Colt remained standing, braced on his powerful legs with arms crossed, face still thunderous. The admiral stood by the sofa.
“Two weeks ago, the Executive Office of the President received demands from an unknown group demanding the release of Grigori Zorin and several of his lieutenants from federal prison,” the admiral said. “They gave the president fourteen days to comply.”
“Wait. Wasn’t Zorin the Russian Mob boss who was arrested for selling weaponized plutonium?” Trent asked.
“Yes,” Alex said. “His brother, Nikolai, has long been a scientist for the Lovets Snov project that served the FSB. Lovets Snov, or the Dream Catcher project, started as psy-ops and genetic engineering. After the collapse of Chrysalis, Harold Baxter struck a deal with Nikolai and the FSB Special Purpose Center.” The FSB, also known as the Federal Security Service, was the successor of the KGB. Alex belonged to Spetsgruppa “A” also known as Alpha Group. They were the equivalent of SEAL Team Six, which would explain the clashing testosterone levels in the room.
“You brokered that deal,” I said quietly.
“Yes,” Alex replied. “That was the only way I could get close to you. For two years, I thought you were dead. Baxter knew I wanted you—”
“So, he dangled me like a carrot,” I cut in sarcastically.
Alex smirked. “Pretty much. He was after our psy-ops technology. You see, Nikolai was developing these brain spindles. A tiny electronic device intended to control the human mind.”
What. The. Hell.
Everyone progressively leaned forward, but I was suddenly gripped by a sense of dread.
The air in the room clotted with tension.
“Go on,” the admiral said in a controlled voice.
“It’s a device planted at the base of the skull and can overtake the host’s personality and change his beliefs similar to brainwashing.”
“They’ve done autopsies on the subjects including analyses of brain tissue. They found nothing,” the admiral said.
They continued talking, but I had tuned into myself. The Gray Room that was taunting me at the base of my skull … was it a brain spindle?
“Kate, are you all right?” Colt asked.
“Is the spindle in me?” I croaked.
Alex nodded gravely. “You were one of the prototypes. It didn’t work, but I think it contributed to extending the time of your comatose state.”
Because it was trying to take control of me while I was unconscious, it was learning me until I woke up catatonic. The Gray Room and I were at an impasse. It had trapped me, but it couldn’t make me do things.
“And Olivia?” I eyed him accusingly.
Alex flinched. “We put one in her eight weeks ago.”
“You son of a bitch,” I whispered bitterly, renewed rage bringing me to my feet. “How could you?” If I had a knife, I’d castrate the bastard right here, right now.
Trent surged up from the couch and crossed in front of me to body-check Colt who had his fists clenched.
“Motherfucker,” he growled.
“Easy, man,” Trent said. “Beat the shit out of him later. We need answers.”
“Your people were dying,” Alex said loudly. “Russia and the U.S. are not easy allies, but we would never condone open attack on innocent lives.”
“What do you mean?”
“Nikolai has disappeared. From FSB’s intel, one of Grigori’s oligarch friends has helped him. Before he left, he was working on a master spindle which he had always fully intended to use on a telepath.”
“What are Liv’s powers?” I asked.
“She’s a telepath and a precog.”
“Where did she get the telepath gene? Not from you?”
“From our psy-ops gene pool.”
“Well, whatever you guys did, hurt her. Did you know she didn’t talk for a while?”
“We expected it would be temporary.”
“How did she stop the mass shooter?”
“The precog in her senses … the presence of anyone with the spindle—she can even read their thoughts. Olivia’s telepathic waves are through the roof … it’s almost telekinetic. She can short-circuit a spindle. This wouldn’t necessarily destroy it, but would render the host unconscious. Olivia almost scrambled the brain of one of our techs—and they didn’t even have the device in them. That’s how powerful she is. She needs guidance from people who know how to nurture her gift.”
“She’s only eight years old,” Colt snarled, pushing against the sheriff, wanting to get to Alex.
“And how old were Kate and her siblings when they were trained?” Alex pointed out. “We don’t coddle our children; we explore their potential—”
“I’d stop right there if you value your life,” I cut in, my hands clenching.
“Kate, we need answers,” the admiral said.
“And I’m this close to not giving a fuck,” I snapped.
Trent and the admiral exchanged troubled looks. I reeled in my anger at everyone. At this point, I knew it was Colt who’d always stand by me no matter what; and the admiral’s agenda be damned. They expected me to play nice with this man who’d violated me in the worse way and hurt my children?
Still, I had to step back from all this hate if we were going to stop the mass killings.
I turned to Colt. “Didn’t you say I had an MRI?”
“Yes.”
“Wouldn’t the spindle show up on film?” I demanded of Alex.
His jaw tightened. “I’m not saying any more until I talk to you.” He glanced at Colt. “Alone.”
“If it’s pertinent to how we’d put a stop to Zorin, then it’s information we need to have,” Porter countered.
“This doesn’t make sense,” Trent said. “How could family members not notice if these perpetrators are gone for days? It’s brain surgery, right? They would be out of commission for weeks if not months?”
“The device is delivered via a jet injector much like the ones used in mass vaccinations,” Alex replied. “There is no recovery period. Once it’s implanted, it becomes operational. Our technology is proprietary, but I’m willing to reveal it to Kate. It’s up to her to tell you if she chooses.”
Turning to Porter, he continued, “I’ve held up my end of the bargain, Admiral. It’s time you held up yours.”
The admiral looked at me. “Kate?”
“Fine,” I said. “Would you guys step outside for a few minutes?”
Alex was shaking his head. “No way. Not here.”
“She’s not going anywhere alone with you,” Colt snapped.
Ignoring the mountain of simmering man beside us, my ex-lover said, “I have some things to show you, lyubov moya.”
His tone softened with the endearment, turning husky.
My gut churned in revolt. This man lied to me, conspired to turn my brain against itself, violated my body, stole my eggs, and created children—my children—in a lab for his own purposes. Surely he wasn’t expecting me to melt with this display of tenderness?
“We never agreed you could take her offsite.”
“Those are my terms.” Alex flashed his eyes at the admiral. “Otherwise, my cooperation ends here.”
“Let me remind you that it’s your government’s missteps that are costing American lives,” Trent said roughly.
“And your own government doesn’t have skeletons?” scoffed Alex. “We’re not ignoring our duty to help. It’s your incarceration of Gr
igori Zorin that started this path for Nikolai. Otherwise, he’d still be under our control. The FSB could have washed its hands off this, but we chose to help. I’m its envoy because I have the expertise to understand what the spindles have done. You need me, but nothing is free.” He looked at me. “My price is Kate.”
“Like fuck.” By now, the molecules of oxygen in the room had reached alarmingly low levels. The affable rancher was nowhere in sight. In his place was a man vibrating with the need to tear through someone.
“Let’s ease up on the rhetoric, shall we?” Trent muttered. By this time, he had forced Colt against the door with an arm across his chest.
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” I declared.
Alex straightened from his perch on the desk. “Then we’re done here. Remind me not to make deals with you next time, Admiral. You have my information.”
“You didn’t even ask to see Josh and Olivia,” I accused.
“You wouldn’t even trust me enough to be alone with me. What are my chances of even seeing the twins?”
“They should have been your priority, not me.”
He took two steps closer to me, oblivious to the scuffle and cursing happening beside us. “It always comes back to you, lyubov moya.”
A fist displaced the air and hit Alex straight across the jaw, sending him staggering. I gasped. I didn’t even see Colt break free from Trent.
“Oh, hell,” the sheriff muttered in resignation. “Dammit, Montgomery.”
“Enough!” Porter got between the two brawlers. “Kate, if you leave with Romanov, I’ll have two of my men follow you. Is that acceptable?” he asked, looking to Alex.
He nodded.
“Kate?”
I didn’t reply but glanced at Colt. He didn’t want me to agree. It was written all over his face and in the way his fists clenched at his sides. I stood and walked over to him now, unfurled the fingers of his right hand and held them in mine.
“Give us a minute,” I threw over my shoulder.
We left the room and walked to the empty hallway. Turning to face him, I cupped his jaws in my hands. “I want to get this over with.”
He wrenched his face from my hold and gripped my shoulders. My hands slipped to his arms. “So. Do. I. But I can barely stand it that he’s in the same room with you. I’d lose my mind if you were alone with him.”
“Alex and I were over a long time ago. There’s no way he can come between us. And in case you can’t tell, I hate his guts.”
“I know it doesn’t make sense, but it makes me angry enough to bend a crowbar.”
“I can tell.” I squeezed the bunched muscles of his biceps.
“I’m not finding anything amusing, babe,” he growled.
I sighed. “I have to do this. Trust me?”
His expression softened a fraction. “I do. It’s him I don’t trust.”
“I’ve got skills and Porter’s men are behind us. I think Alex just needs closure.”
“You’re too trusting,” he grumbled.
I snorted in amusement. “That’s a laughable observation.”
Without warning, he switched our positions and my back was against the wall. His lips came down on mine in a brief, searing kiss. Like a brand of possession.
“He tries anything, I’m gonna hunt him down and tear him limb from fucking limb.”
“Noted,” I responded lightly.
He touched his mouth to my temple. “I’ll get the kids from Millie.”
“Thanks.”
“Come back to us, Kate.”
“I will.” I was suddenly struck at how much I liked the idea of Colt and the twins as being mine.
I was falling for them.
19
Kate
“Why did you bring me here?” Alex and I were sitting in a car parked in front of the Grand Hyatt hotel. “You’re not expecting me to go in there, are you?”
“I thought it would give us privacy,” he replied matter-of-factly.
“For what?” I was too bewildered by either his audacity or delusion. “Alex, I’m in a relationship with Colt. Nothing is going to happen between us.”
A protracted silence, and then, “You’re not married to him.”
“Not yet.”
His eyes narrowed. “And you think I’ll simply stand by and let you play house with him and my children?”
Counting to ten was a good idea. I stared at the hotel again, then opened the car door, and got out. I signaled to the two men trailing us, telling them to follow us into the hotel. Alex fell into step beside me.
“You have a room in the hotel?”
“Not yet,” Alex replied. “I couldn’t chance Porter bugging me.”
Made sense.
“The guards stand outside the room,” I told him.
“Whatever makes you comfortable,” he complied. “All I want is to spend some time alone with you.”
The longing in his voice softened the edge of my anger toward him, but he was a ruthless Russian agent and lowering my guard would be a mistake. Alex checked into a junior suite. He wanted us to do the whole room service thing. I hope he didn’t expect me to get comfortable in a bathrobe. Only one of Porter’s men got into the elevator with us. I presumed the other one was handling the perimeter. When we arrived at the floor, my bodyguard followed discreetly.
Entering our room, I was glad I had taken a shower at the hospital, otherwise the luxury suite would have tempted me to wash the grit of the day away.
After calling room service and placing our order for dinner, Alex unzipped his suitcase and extracted a small Pelican briefcase and opened it. “I have something for you.”
Curious, I moved closer.
Two manila envelopes.
“What are these?” I asked suspiciously.
“Choices.”
“I have no patience for your riddles, Alex.”
“Flash drives. One of them contains pictures and videos of Olivia and Joshua,” he said, smiling.
“I’ve seen them,” I replied tersely, not wanting to be drawn into whatever web he was spinning.
“Not these. They don’t belong to the lab.” His face sobered. “You probably know I’ve been an absent father, but it was so hard to look at Olivia and know that her mother wasn’t mine.”
“Bullshit,” I said furiously, backing away from my position beside him and starting to pace the room. “You wanted to create the next generation of Enhanced Soldiers.”
“That was what I tried to convince myself,” he conceded.
“That was your main objective,” I derided. “And the other envelope?”
“Intel about the remnants of Chrysalis.”
“There are no remnants of Chrysalis. The agency has gotten rid of all of them.”
“Not this particular lab in Russia.”
My distrust deepened. “Why give it to me?”
His eyes softened. “I’ve always looked out for you. When you turned up in Misty Grove a year ago, I wanted to come to you and be the one to take care of you. I know Piper’s death hit you hard—”
“Stop,” I whispered, my chest hurting at the memory.
He nodded. “I understand and want to help you.”
When I didn’t say anything, he added, “You want to avenge Piper, but there are Josh and Olivia to consider now. Either of those envelopes can give you what you want. Avenge Piper, or forget about revenge and begin a new life with the twins.” His gaze grew piercing. “With me.”
“Chrysalis isn’t my problem anymore.”
“I agree, but it would be remiss of me not to mention that the people involved in that Russian lab participated in the creation of the first Enhance Soldier prototype.”
My breath hitched.
“Yes, Kate,” Alex said sadly. “The same ES who killed Piper. I will help you shut down the people responsible for creating him.”
This information is huge! I couldn’t even begin to process what it would mean to me, so I forced myself to set it asid
e for now. “Why don’t we cut through all this history and stick to the current problem? Tell me why the brain spindle isn’t detectable by MRI.”
His jaw hardened as he stared at the envelopes in his hand. He lowered them to the desk and braced against the table. “The device is a carbon nanotube. It can’t be detected unless you have special equipment.”
“It’s made of carbon? Can it even be used in electronics?” My brows knitted together.
“Insulators can be turned into semiconductors when reduced to the nanoscale.”
“And why can’t Porter know about this?”
“Because I wanted to tell you first. It’s up to you how you want to use the information.” When I didn’t say anything, he continued, “The first-generation spindle we injected into you had a flaw. As with anything in the nanoscale, the particles are so small that there’s a possibility that it could cross the blood-brain barrier and introduce toxicity into the brain.”
“Tell me honestly. You said my spindle’s not working.” I chewed the inside of my cheek. “Is that true?”
“It is not a lie,” Alex said. “But there’s a possibility that Nikolai can find a way to make it work.”
“I’m a wildcard?”
The corners of his mouth hitched up. “Pretty much.”
“Or I could die of brain toxicity?”
“Or go insane.”
“Thanks,” I muttered.
“I’d never leave you, Kate. If either of those outcomes happens, I’ll take care of you,” he said softly.
“It’s your fuck-up that got me into this mess,” I reminded him and he winced in the way Josh did whenever he was uncomfortable.
“I did and I take full responsibility.”
“Can’t it be surgically removed?”
“It can be done, but the process has its own dangers.”
“Lay it on me.”
“As easy as it is to implant, a faulty extraction of the carbon nanotube can cause it to disperse the particles into your bloodstream and facilitate brain damage. Motor skills, memory, personality changes.” He shook his head. “The list goes on. You need a specialist.”
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