His twin's gaze finally met his. In it was nothing more than steely determination. "She is the best person for the job, whatever the risks."
"You haven't even warned her, have you?" Gabriel scrubbed a hand across his jaw. Christ, she could be walking straight into a goddamn trap, and there was nothing he'd be able to do to save her.
"She knows we believe Sethanon could be involved,"
Stephan commented.
"Which is the least of our worries. Wetherton's and Kazdan's clones could have only one source, and we both know it. Neither the government labs nor the black marketers have succeeded with personality and memory transfers. Hopeworth has."
"So our spy tells us. It's not something we've been able to confirm."
"I think Hopeworth basically confirmed it when they maneuvered to get their clone in charge of the budget."
"If they wanted their clone in charge of the budget, they would have got him assigned the Defense portfolio."
Gabriel crossed his arms. Hopeworth had fingers in both pies, and Stephan knew it. "Did you even mention Hopeworth?"
"It was mentioned. But we don't know for sure if Hopeworth is, in fact, involved."
"Then did you at least tell her Sethanon is more than likely involved with Hopeworth?"
"No, because we have nothing more than a suspicion about his involvement. We have no picture of this man. We don't even know if he truly exists. He is currently nothing more than a name."
"That name has over thirty SIU and Federation deaths attributed to it. I don't particularly want her name added to that list." His voice was tight with the anger coursing through him. True, he'd wanted to lose her as a partner, but he certainly hadn't wanted to throw her to the lions, and that's basically what his brother had done. She would have been safer remaining his partner than taking this damn mission.
Stephan grimaced. "Nor do I, brother. Believe me. But we need to uncover the source of these clones. We need to draw out Sethanon, and we need to uncover whether or not he is involved as deeply with Hopeworth as we suspect. The truth is she's the best bait we have to achieve all those aims."
"What about our source in Hopeworth? Has he heard any whispers about Sethanon?"
Stephan shook his head. "It's not a code-name the military uses."
"Kazdan knew who he was. Others must. It's just a matter of uncovering the layers of his organization."
"Which is why Samantha has been assigned to Wetherton.
We know he's a clone. We know his name was on that list she got from Kazdan. We need to know what that list was, and what Wetherton promised to do to get his new lease on life."
"But as I said, that puts her in too close a contact with Hopeworth. That could be extremely dangerous."
Stephan leaned back in his chair and regarded him steadily.
"Only if, as you presume, she is a product of Hopeworth itself."
"You've seen the initial reports from O'Hearn. You've seen the coding. Whatever Sam is, it's definitely not a product of natural selection."
"Yet it was Sethanon who assigned Kazdan to monitor her every move. Sethanon who appears to know just who and what Samantha is. You noted that yourself. Couldn't that mean he's responsible for her creation?"
Possible, but not likely. Gabriel didn't doubt that Sethanon wanted to use her. But if the man had been responsible for her creation, why would he take the risk of releasing her?
"Sam had a military microchip in her side. The same sort that we found in both the Generation Eighteen rejects and in Allars." She was also afraid of Hopeworth. Though she had never said anything, he could feel it in her, feel her fear, as clear as if it were his own.
"And yet our source in Hopeworth can find no record of her, though he can find records on every other reject."
"Maybe because her project was destroyed by a fire years ago."
"A fire would never destroy every scrap of information.
Nor could it erase every memory."