Savage Redemption - By Alexis Morgan Page 0,52

it into her pocket. It was stupid to be afraid of the instrument that had delivered the message.

Whoever the caller was, he knew about the copy of her research that she’d taken with her when she’d walked out of the Institute. No way she wanted to turn a chemical weapon back over to them. Heck, she wasn’t even sure she could trust the Coalition to do the right thing.

In the wrong hands, her findings could lead to the destruction of thousands of people, all singled out because of the genetic anomaly that separated the vampires and the chancellors from the purely human. To her way of thinking, each race had its own strengths and weaknesses, as well as its own share of good and bad among its members.

For years, there had been rumors of an underground movement among the humans who bitterly resented what they saw as the unfair advantages enjoyed by the vampires, with superior strength and longevity being the main two. That they needed blood to survive was seen as a weakness, especially when the majority of their food supply came straight from humans. It wasn’t that they couldn’t feed from chancellors or even other vampires, but there simply weren’t sufficient numbers of those two groups to meet the growing need.

Among the human purists, chancellors were equally hated because of their mixed blood and because they often inherited the strengths of vampires without the weaknesses.

Kat wandered through the condo, trying to figure out what she was going to do. She wouldn’t risk Conlan’s life; he’d already paid too dearly for trying to help her three years ago.

They were probably safe for now, but all bets were off once they retrieved her flash drive. Maybe tomorrow, after a good night’s sleep, she’d be able to figure out a way to escape the noose that was tightening around them both.

* * *

Well, that answered that question. Kat Karr was definitely with Conlan Shea. Richie hadn’t been able to dig up a telephone number for Kat herself, but he’d managed to find Shea’s. Cyrus hadn’t actually expected her to be the one to answer the call, but bonus points for that.

Unfortunately, Shea had disabled the GPS chip in his phone. That was against the Coalition’s regulations, but obviously the man wasn’t thinking with the head on his shoulders. If he’d actually gone on the run with a wanted criminal, the last thing he was worried about was breaking a few other laws along the way.

Cyrus crossed to the window and stared out into the darkness. He had to wonder if threatening her nieces had been the right thing to do. People did crazy things when they felt cornered. Some collapsed, destroyed by the pressure. Others, though, fought back with everything at their disposal, digging down deep and finding strength they never knew they had.

He wished he knew more about Kat Karr. Based on her file from before she’d disappeared three years ago, he would’ve expected her to be weak-willed and more likely to beg for mercy than stand her ground. However, she wouldn’t have survived so long on her own unless she’d been stronger than she seemed. That she’d held off his men until help arrived certainly gave that some credence.

Then there was the way Rafferty had welcomed those mongrel girls into his clan. Rumor had it that Ambrose O’Brien had taken up residence on the O’Day estate, as well. He wouldn’t be staying there if the fugitive had already been apprehended. If she was on the loose, shouldn’t he be back in New Eire leading the hunt? Since he wasn’t, Cyrus could only assume that Ambrose had other reasons for remaining where he was. He suspected that it had something to do with the nieces. The head Coalition chancellor wasn’t the kind of man to use children as weapons, which meant he was more likely there to help keep them safe.

Fine. Cyrus hadn’t really planned to make another attempt to gain custody of the brats. That didn’t mean he couldn’t use the threat against their aunt anyway.

Shea, on the other hand, might make the perfect target for the mercs if she refused to cooperate. No doubt he’d already lost his job over this escapade with Kat, and he’d be a wanted man. No one would miss him.

Yes, now that he thought about it, better to sacrifice one ex-con chancellor than two cute little girls, even if they were mongrels. Regardless of their bloodlines, it would be a public-relations nightmare. Yeah,