“I guess he wants me to leave, boss,” Thor drawled, his tone thick with sarcasm.
Diane let her lips curve into a cold smile.
“We’ll finalize the arrangements later, Thor.” She covered their conversation, her voice low as she remained locked with Lawe’s gaze. “Make certain you have the accounts in order and let the accountant know we’ll have to change our appointment to tomorrow evening.”
They didn’t really have an appointment yet, but it was the best she could do on such notice. “Got it, boss.” Thor nodded sharply, gave Lawe a hard glare then turned and walked quickly to the door.
One of the two Breeds guarding the inside of the room opened the doors for him, then closed and locked them as he left.
Looking past Lawe, Diane met her sister’s worried gaze across the room, and understood completely why Rachel hadn’t, and most likely wouldn’t, say much to her for the time being. Not until she knew exactly what Diane was planning. Or more to the point, not until Jonas and Lawe figured it out.
It hurt. She felt as though her baby sister had deserted her. As though the one person she had always depended upon was suddenly more loyal to others instead.
She didn’t bother to hide her feelings as Rachel met her gaze. Diane let the hurt, as well as the disbelief, fill her eyes before deliberately turning her head.
To meet Lawe’s gaze. She almost sighed. That look was brooding and intense as though if he looked hard enough, deep enough, then he could read her plans in her eyes.
There was no way she would allow that.
Breed senses were much too primal. The least hint of a lie or subterfuge and Diane would have so many Breed guards on her ass that it would be impossible to peel them off. The only way to hide it was with anger. She had a damned good reason for being angry too. One of her men was betraying her to the point that she suspected her past accidents had not been accidents at all. Someone was trying to put a highly fatal hole in her head—and her sister was deserting her.
“Ignoring your sister isn’t a move guaranteed to please Jonas,” Lawe told her as she stared back at him silently.
Diane shrugged. “Did she know you had Breeds on my ass?”
No doubt she did. Diane knew her sister, and she knew how Rachel worried. She wouldn’t blame her, but she could definitely use it to her advantage. Just as Rachel would expect her to.
“The team was my decision,” he growled as his gaze flashed with something akin to regret. “You were nearly killed in Syria, Diane.”
“Oh, no doubt,” she said, mockery filling her voice. “I rather doubt either Rachel or Jonas sicced them on me, Lawe. For some reason, both of them seem to believe I’m perfectly capable of leading my team on my own and saving my own ass whenever needed.”
“Neither of them saw you the way I did in that Middle Eastern dungeon either,” he snapped.
Diane came out of the chair, anger pushing her to her feet at the chastising tone of his voice.
“You are not my f**king keeper,” she informed him furiously as one finger poked firmly into his chest before her hands went to her hips. “Get that in your head, Lawe Justice. I haven’t had a keeper since I was twenty-one years old, and I refuse to accept one now. Especially one as high-handed, arrogant and completely superior as you appear to be.”
His gaze narrowed. “We’re definitely going to have this fight,” he informed her. “But Jonas wants your report first.”
“There is no report.” Crossing her arms over her br**sts, she was confident that the scent he was searching for when his nostrils flared wasn’t there.
There really was no report. She wasn’t about to tell them a damned thing. Not in this lifetime. Not as long as she risked losing control of the mission she considered still active. The one she considered her personal responsibility.
“You told Jonas you weren’t comfortable sending information electronically,” he reminded her, his tone become cold, hard. “If there was nothing to report, why bother?”
She sneered back in his face. “Because I was being watched. For some reason, dumb little ole me thought it was an enemy or one of those pesky little groups that thought they could get to the prize before I did. Do you think I wanted them to know I couldn’t find a damned thing? I do have a reputation to consider, Lawe. And I’m also sick of the confidence displayed by the Council when it comes to finding subjects they don’t want us to find.”
She’d learned while the two Breeds were with her team exactly how to lie to a Breed. Hell, they had even helped her learn how to do it.
A fierce frown furrowed Lawe’s brow as a snarl lifted the sides of his lips. “That’s why the rogue they call the Executioner was shooting at you. Because he thought you knew something, Diane.” He bit out his words, the ice in his tone barely covering the anger. “Why the hell are you risking yourself and your men that way?”
“Let him keep thinking it then.” A toss of her head and a wave of her hand should be enough to convince him she really didn’t give a damn. “I hope the bastard has nightmares about me getting there first. Wherever the hell ‘there’ is.”
He raked his fingers through his hair as he turned from her, took two steps then turned back suspiciously. “You were gone three months,” he reminded her. “You found nothing?”
“Oh, I found plenty,” she informed him. “The files are in my bag.” She flicked her fingers to the leather bag she’d carried downstairs earlier. “Brandenmore and his scientists were some coldhearted monsters, but you already knew that. They were determined to make the Genetics Council’s scientists look like cuddly teddy bears. But none of them knew where the Roberts girl or the other two earlier subjects were. As far as they knew, the Bengal and the remaining girl had been terminated. If they knew any differently, they weren’t telling.”
She hadn’t expected them to know differently. She’d hoped one of the techs who had befriended the girl, or perhaps one of the scientists’ assistants, would have come forward, but none had.