he said as he turned to follow Rafe and Gray. “The place will be crawling with more squads in another ten minutes. If that.”
An unnecessary reminder. For years, Knox would have been the one deployed to clean up a clusterfuck like this. He would have questioned the witnesses he could find, pulled whatever spotty or irregular camera footage was available. He would have been the one crouching in this dirty alley, meticulously examining the carnage for what it could tell him.
Grenade fragments, shell casings, and over a dozen dead Protectorate soldiers. What did it tell him?
That the prey was too dangerous to be captured or contained. That when he came for them, he wouldn’t risk the chaos and unpredictability of a shootout. If Knox were sent to clean up this mess, he knew what he’d do next.
It wouldn’t happen immediately. The Protectorate always responded to a bloodied nose the same way. A step back, a calm, methodical evaluation. They wouldn’t take another swing until they knew exactly where they were aiming, and who might be standing in their way.
But when they swung, it would be with a force overwhelming enough to devastate everything in its path.
Somehow, Knox had to cut all ties with Atlanta and have his team long gone before the Protectorate punched back.
* * *
SECURITY MEMO
Franklin Center for Genetic Research
Authorization granted to terminate the HS strain with Generation 17.
Dr. Reed, July 2084
* * *
TWENTY-NINE
“It’s nearly healed already.”
“Told you, Nina.” Dani stretched her arm out, then flexed her biceps experimentally. “I’ll be weaker on this side until the muscles heal, but I can compensate for that.”
“Great.” Now, if only Nina could compensate for the stress. Sending Dani and Maya out on their own had been a mistake. It didn’t matter if the bullet that hit Dani had been a lucky shot, or that Nina likely couldn’t have prevented the injury.
She should have been there.
Panic fluttered in Nina’s belly. She carefully counted through it, three counts of three, until the dizziness subsided.
Dani’s vague smile vanished as she studied Nina. “Hey, don’t look like that, okay? Maya and I knew the score when we said we’d do this.”
“I know, I just—” The empty med-gel applicator in Nina’s hand snapped. “I wish I had my shit together, that’s all. If I did, I could have gone with you. Backed you up.”
“You’re not ready to see him again,” Dani said matter-of-factly. “It’s understandable. I mean, here you are, beating yourself up for not having a handle on your broken fucking heart yet, and it’s been … what? Two weeks? Give me a break, Nina. You bounce back fast, but not that fast.”
It didn’t feel like she was bouncing back at all. The whole goddamn situation had knocked something loose inside her head, and she had to wait for it to stop bumping around before she could do anything else.
Before she could even begin to start dealing with it.
“Now, that said…” Dani slid off the prep table and hauled a fresh tank top over her head. “I’m really going to need you to make a choice. Either we help them, or we don’t. No more cinematic warnings and last-minute Hail Marys, all right? My arm may not hurt, but I still don’t like having bullet holes in me.”
She was right. Of course she was right. “I hear you. I promise that I will get over my bullshit long enough to figure it out.” Nina carefully closed the lid on the medical kit. “Will you do me a favor? Go see what Maya wants for dinner?”
“Sure.” Dani crossed the room but lingered by the door, her hand on the push bar. “If we’re not going to help them out … I could do it.”
There was a hint of something utterly foreign in her voice, so unexpected that it took Nina a moment to identify it as dread. “Do what?”
“Kill them.” Dani stared at her, unblinking. “I could make it quick. Painless. It’d be merciful, compared to letting the TechCorps get their hands on them. I know that for a fact.”
Three counts of three wasn’t enough to stave off the blackness swimming at the edges of Nina’s vision this time. “We’re not killing anyone, Dani.”
“Could’ve fooled me.” She pushed through the door, and it slammed behind her with a sharp snap that twisted Nina’s stomach.
“She’s unpredictable, isn’t she?”
Ava’s voice echoing through the warehouse should have startled Nina. Instead, she felt like some part of her had known her sister was there all along, listening. “Not really.