Authors: Rebecca Zanetti
“I still have Dr. Zycor’s card, so maybe I can get into the secured areas, even if the commander doesn’t
invite the senator back there.”
“They would’ve changed his card upon discovering you had it,” Matt said, standing up.
“Maybe.” Audrey reached for a shirt hanging on a table chair, donned it, and then buttoned up.
The ticking clock in the kill chips hung over their heads like an invisible mantel of sheer stone.
Tension oozed through the room, but nobody acknowledged it.
Matt handed her a pair of earrings that looked like man-made sapphires. “You’ll need to keep your hair
up so you don’t block the camera. It’ll be in your right ear.”
Audrey slipped the earrings into place. “I understand.” She walked in stylish flats over to the window
and glanced out. “I can’t believe you stole a car that looks exactly like mine.”
Matt shrugged. “Red Toyotas are easy to find. We hammered out your license plates to put into place,
and nobody should notice the VINs don’t match. By the time anybody figures anything out, we’ll be long
gone from here.” He gathered up extra wires and put them away in a metal case. “We’re all set to go here.
Nate?”
Nate studied Audrey. She was smart and quick. The commander wouldn’t hurt her, especially since she
now carried Nate’s child. “If you think you’re in any danger, you give us the code term. We’ll launch
everything we have to get you out.”
She moved toward him and patted his arm. “Stop worrying. I’ve got this. We’ll head to my place to
appease the FBI, and then I’ll go scope out the commander’s base for you. Everything will go perfectly.”
Nate swallowed. Never in his life had anything gone perfectly. By the looks on his brothers’ faces, they
had the same thought. He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Let’s go over today’s plan one more time.”
After hours of traveling, Audrey smoothed down her skirt while sitting in the back of a plush
limousine. The urge to let her hair down hit her again, and she fought it.
The senator tipped back his head to drink a bottled water. The good kind. “It was nice of the
commander to send a car for us,” he said pleasantly.
Audrey smiled and tried not to laugh. The senator hated limos and anything with pomp or
luxuriousness. “The partition is up, Senator Nash. The driver can’t hear you.” Although it had been fun to
listen to the senator be polite for the long drive.
He rolled his eyes and leaned toward her to whisper, “I bet the place is bugged.”
Audrey coughed into her hand. The place
was
bugged—by her. Maybe it wasn’t ridiculous to wonder if
the commander had bugged the limo, too. “Good point.”
“How bad was your apartment this morning?” the senator asked.
She swallowed down bile. “Actually, the only thing out of place was a big pool of blood on the floor. I
didn’t find anything out of the ordinary.” Nate had thrown on another fat suit and accompanied her to the
apartment before she’d gone in to work. “My lawyer called a cleanup crew, and it should be good as new
tonight.” Of course, the smell of death might take a while to leave.
“I’m glad to hear it.” The senator plucked on his tie, only stopping when Audrey lifted an eyebrow.
“Why would somebody plant George’s body in your apartment? Any new theories?”
“No, and I don’t understand the connection to Darian and his death. I mean, with both men having that
odd brand on their bodies.” Audrey studied the senator, wondering how the commander was going to fix
this one, considering he’d already framed somebody for Darian’s murder. “Any thoughts?”
“No.” The senator rubbed gray whiskers. “I forgot to shave, darn it. Oh well. Let’s see if we can figure
it out. Darian was a top lobbyist who wanted funds for his military group, and George was a brilliant
scientist who considered building manufacturing plants in Wyoming. They both wanted something from me
—money.”
Audrey eyed his whiskers. He should’ve shaved. “That’s not a motive for murder.”
“I know.” The senator tensed as they approached the first guarded gate. “Plus, they found Darian’s
murderer. So what’s up with the weird tattoo? Here come the guns.”
Audrey nodded and scooted closer to her window, making sure to point her ear toward the soldiers
manning the gate. “They do have a lot of firepower,” she murmured. The enforced gate connected to a
small hut where one man stood in a standard black uniform, his hands and weapons out of sight. Two men
flanked the gate outside the hut, each armed with automatic weapons, sidearms, and knives. After looking
inside the limo, a guard opened the gate.
Two gates later, the car finally pulled up in front of the main building of the compound.
The commander waited, dressed in the standard black uniform, his hair cut like a steel brush even in the
rain. The downpour didn’t dare muss his hair. At the odd thought, Audrey accepted his hand in exiting the
limo.
He glanced down at her, black eyes fathomless. “How are you feeling?”
“Fine.” She brushed by him, not wanting to discuss the pregnancy.
He shook hands with the senator and led them both inside to a common conference room. The senator
protested without sitting down. “I’d like to tour the entire facility, if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind.” The commander executed a perfect pivot, his hands clasped at his back, his boots
polished until they reflected the light. “This way.” He led them through the main facility and right into the
private areas.
Audrey’s heart galloped, and she made sure to look around so the camera could catch everything. While
she could’ve drawn the layout for the Deans, there was nothing like a live recording. They went through the
armory, the offices, and finally the labs, where people in white lab coats worked with vials, microscopes,
and buzzing machinery.
At the last lab, the senator glanced through a closed door with a hazard warning on the window. “What
type of experiments do you do here, anyway?”
The commander glanced at Audrey, and she nodded. While she certainly hadn’t told the senator about
the creation of soldiers in laboratories, he’d gotten the information from his sources.
“We use the labs for medical research in order to assist soldiers in healing quicker and better.” The
commander stood straight and tall. “We did have a failed experiment when we tried to raise soldiers from
birth, but that program is long shut down.”
Baloney. Audrey smiled and nodded. “That makes sense.” She slowly walked around the lab, her
camera catching everything.
A clicking of heels on tiles announced her mother’s arrival. Audrey turned. “Hello, Mother.”
Isobel slipped an arm around Audrey’s shoulders and gave a somewhat maternal hug. “Audrey. How
good to see you.” All manners, the brilliant doctor held out a hand for the senator. “This handsome man
must be Senator Nash. We haven’t formally met.”
The senator took her hand, standing tall and tugging on his tie. A dark flush covered his weathered face.
“It’s my pleasure, ma’am.”
Good Lord. Audrey stifled a grin.
Isobel twittered. “My daughter didn’t mention how handsome you were.”
The senator snorted. “That’s kind of you. I was asking about the experiments here.”
Isobel patted his arm. “We try to make things better for soldiers. That’s good, right?”
“Maybe.” The senator glanced around at the expansive equipment. “But you don’t clone people, do
you? I mean, you don’t use science that would be better left to God?”
Isobel’s eyebrows lifted to her hairline. “Of course not. God has His place, now, doesn’t He?”
“Yes.” Relief crossed the senator’s face.
“But weren’t you offering good deals to George Fairbanks and his crew if they built in your state?”
Isobel asked sweetly.
“They work on technology that speeds up computer processing,” the senator said softly, as if speaking
to a lady of years ago.
If the man had any clue how tough her mother really was… Audrey glanced down at the small-boned
beauty who’d held the lives of thousands in her hands at one point or another.
Isobel nodded at the senator. “Yes, George’s former group does work on computers, but they also have
a grant for nanotechnology that might be used to change human biology if it works out. How do you feel
about such matters?”
The senator’s eyes widened. “I do not agree with changing biology at all, and I had no idea Fairbanks
was into such experimentation.”
Audrey coughed. Wow. Talk about a bad turn of events for Fairbanks. First he gets murdered, and then
he loses an in with a senator.
Isobel turned back to her daughter. “If you gentlemen don’t mind, I’d love to steal my sweet daughter
for a moment.”
Warmth flushed through Audrey, even though she knew her mother was playing it nice for the senator.
So she forced a smile. “Is it all right, Senator?”
“By all means,” the senator said, his smile wide.
“Good. Plus, Audrey should take a break. Pregnant women need rest, you know.” Isobel beamed.
The senator’s gray eyebrows rose to his forehead. “Pregnant?”
Isobel clapped a hand over her mouth. “Oh my. I let the cat out of the bag.”
Heat rose through Audrey’s face. “That’s all right. Um, I’m pregnant.” She felt like she’d been caught
making out in the barn.
“That’s wonderful.” The senator beamed, reaching out to pat her arm. His chest puffed out. “I’m so
happy for you.”
Audrey shuffled her feet. “Thank you.”
He studied her, obviously trying to think of a way to ask the obvious question.
She forced a smile. “Um, I briefly dated a college professor for a while. We kept our relationship very
quiet.”
“I understand.” Delight filled the senator’s eyes. “A baby. Oh, I can’t wait to go shopping. Do you have
a crib?”
She faltered. “Um, not yet.”
“Excellent.” He rubbed his hands together. “Ernie has been teaching me woodworking, as you know. I’ll
make one for you.” Pure, unabashed delight filled his face. He smiled again at Isobel. “Ernie is my chief of
staff.”
Audrey’s heart thumped. Chances were she’d be long gone when the baby was born. She was going to
miss the senator. “That would be very nice.”
He nodded. “Well, you go rest. The commander and I are going to look at the outbuildings where
weapons are stored and the barracks where the soldiers bunk down.” He gave a short bow and turned to
follow the commander.
Audrey glanced down at her mother. “I’d like another ultrasound.”
“Why?” Isobel’s brow furrowed.
“Just to make sure everything is all right.” Audrey shrugged. “Maternal worry.”
“Very well.” Isobel slipped her arm through Audrey’s as they walked back toward the main medical
facility. “I remember being pregnant with you. Morning sickness for the entire nine months.” She smiled
and revealed perfect teeth.
Audrey stumbled. Were they having a moment? Actually bonding? “I haven’t been too sick.” She
glanced behind them. “Mother, the senator believes there’s another compound somewhere, and he isn’t
going to recommend funding for you until he knows where it is.” Maybe she could get her mother to reveal
the information.
Isobel hissed out a breath. “Why does he think that?”
“I don’t know, but he’s certain.” Audrey smoothed her face into concerned lines, actually feeling a little
bad to be manipulating her mother in such a way. “He won’t give the money.”
“You’ll have to convince him.” Isobel led her into the examination room.
“I tried,” Audrey lied again. “Why not tell him the truth?”
Isobel shook her head. “We can’t. You know the kind of experiments we do—and you heard what he
said about science. He can never know.”
Audrey’s stomach lurched. “You’re still creating soldiers?”
“Of course.” Isobel tsked and gestured toward the examination table. “I thought you were on board with
us.”
“I am. It’s just a surprise after the fiasco five years ago. I’d assume you’d be afraid those soldiers would
be coming back for you.” Audrey unzipped her skirt and lay back on the table. Fear trembled down her
spine. Nate was listening in, and he’d just discovered Isobel was experimenting again.
He might kill her this time. Dread dropped like a lead weight into Audrey’s stomach.
“Oh, the soldiers from years ago will probably seek us out at some point.” Isobel smiled, her canines
seeming a bit too long.
“Why?” Audrey asked, holding her breath.
Isobel squinted behind the glasses. “No reason. This is where they belong.”
Baloney. But there was no way Isobel would confess about the kill chips.
“Where’s the other compound?” Audrey asked idly, as if they discussed the weather, her heart battering
against her ribs.
Isobel’s gaze narrowed. “I don’t think you need to know that.”
“Okay.” Audrey shrugged, letting go for the moment. Isobel was still creating soldiers, and the
commander was training them to kill. But at least Audrey had gotten her mother to admit to there being
another facility. That was enough for now. “Let’s check out this baby.” She sat back to watch the monitor.