about it. But maybe this was her way of showing him a place to drink safely.
A place where she might join him?
Probably best not to hope for that yet. It was enough to know that she worried about him. That she wanted him alive, his fine ass intact.
She wanted him.
Rafe could work with that. If he could manage to stay alive.
* * *
SECURITY MEMO
Franklin Center for Genetic Research
EF-Gen14-B’s employer is dead. Autopsy indicates poison. The techs have only just begun their forensic accounting, but it’s already apparent that the employer’s business holdings and the vast majority of their material wealth has been diverted in a manner similar to what we saw with HS-Gen16-B’s employer.
Dr. Keller’s termination may have been premature.
Dr. Phillips, November 2083
* * *
TWENTY-SEVEN
The pitying looks were coming from inside the house now.
Nina sighed as she finished washing lettuce for their salad. “Stop looking at me like that, Dani.”
The blonde didn’t lift her chin from her hands, but she did raise both eyebrows. “Like what?”
Nina set the bowl on the table and began gathering silverware. “Like I’m some horribly sad book you can’t stop reading.”
“That’s not…” Dani trailed off. “Okay, that’s not a bad metaphor, actually. You’re breaking my heart, Nina. Just call the man, for fuck’s sake.”
“You don’t have to.” Maya perched on one of the stools at the island, juicing lemons. “We’re Team Nina, all the way. But, as a member of Team Nina, can I just say that you’ve been looking … kind of yearny?”
Nina’s cheeks went hot, and she avoided their gazes. She’d spent the first few days after their return to Atlanta just trying to keep her head above water. She’d thrown herself into work, because if she wasn’t ready to process everything that had happened, she could at least use the desperate shallowness of her thoughts to her advantage.
And once she felt steadier, like she could cope with things again, she had other things to think about—the fact that Ava was alive, along with the revelations about the Franklin Center. Knox’s betrayal was low on the list.
But circumstances kept conspiring to bring her attention back around to him, anyway.
Nina wiped her hands on her jeans and took a single deep, careful breath. She tried to sound casual, but she overplayed it hard, and she fought a wince when she heard her own voice. “Did you pass along the message?”
Dani hummed. “I paid Rafe a friendly visit last night.”
Maya froze with a lemon hovering in the air. “How friendly? Like actual friendly, murder-friendly, or friendly-friendly?”
“Oh, he was revved and ready to go.” Dani sighed. “Too bad we were interrupted. Anyway, I didn’t have to tell him about the Protectorate. They know the score. They’d have to be stupid not to.”
But they hadn’t left town yet. Nina worried her lower lip with her teeth as she considered the implications. Knowing what she did of Captain Knox, it wasn’t hubris that kept them from running.
It was exhaustion.
Sympathy tugged at her. She’d known people who were being hunted by the Protectorate. Most hadn’t survived the experience. Some had … but only with help.
When she glanced up, her gaze locked with Maya’s, and Nina knew she was thinking the same damn thing.
“We know what they’re up against,” Maya said softly. “I know they’re assholes, but maybe we should—”
“Put yourselves in the line of fire? Honestly, I thought Dani, at least, was more pragmatic.”
By the time Nina registered Ava’s voice, Dani was already out of her chair and across the kitchen. She knocked Ava against the wall and held her there with a blade to her throat.
“Yes, exactly,” Ava said, as if the knife wasn’t even there. “Pragmatic. I appreciate that about you, Dani.”
Maya hopped out of her chair, a stun-stick in one hand. “If you like her pragmatism, wait until you see her face-peeling.”
“No one’s peeling any faces,” Nina countered.
Dani groaned in protest, her muscles trembling. “Come on, Nina. You have to give me this.”
“Dani.”
She relented with another groan. “Fine. But I’m keeping the knife handy. One wrong move…”
Ava quirked one eyebrow. “If I had come here to hurt you, I wouldn’t have announced my presence.”
“Not helping your case,” Dani shot back through gritted teeth.
Nina stepped between them. “Excuse us for a few minutes.”
“Nina—”
“Just … wait here, okay?”
Nina led her sister through the back door and into the warehouse, where they’d set up the staging area for the freeze-dryers. They only had two, and the machines were plenty small enough to fit in the utility room off the