Damari was behind Variant Valor, the attack on Bradford Hills Institute, the Vital kidnappings. The whole world should know what a piece of scum he was. But Tyler and Alec kept explaining it wasn’t that simple.
Much of what happened in Thailand was classified and therefore couldn’t be discussed. Plus, apparently Melior Group’s board had decided it would be bad for business if it got out that dozens of their best elite operatives had been knocked out in one fell swoop by a single Variant with an impressive ability. They were trying to save face.
Senator Christine Anderson was talking, but she refused to front the media or go on record with human law enforcement for fear of her life.
Zara was cooperating too. She’d told Melior Group about another of Davis’s secret labs in Australia, but by the time Melior Group had got a team there, the place was empty, completely cleared of people or any trace of useful information.
While we knew the truth, the rest of the world was left to wonder what the hell had happened in Thailand, and Davis’s name was not once mentioned in relation to the incident. This had resulted in more suspicion, fear, and worry in the general public. They were filling in their gaps in knowledge with the worst-case scenarios.
And now the psychopath behind it all stood, untouched, in a three-thousand-dollar suit, announcing a “scientific breakthrough” as if it was just another business day and he had nothing to do with the chaos erupting all over the world.
Davis Damari was winning. It made my blood boil.
He didn’t go into detail about how exactly he gave abilities to Variants who hadn’t manifested any, but people were losing their minds, reporters clambering over each other to ask questions.
One of the main sound bites they kept repeating was that the technology was nearly ready, but there was one last kink to figure out. They were close, really close, but something stood in their way. At this point, Davis announced he was out of time and walked away from the frenzy of questions.
“It’s me,” I breathed, stepping out of their embrace. “I’m what’s preventing him from figuring it out.”
The attack at the café, the woman’s declaration that he would never stop coming for me—it made sense now. When he’d captured me in Thailand, he hadn’t had enough time to test his process, perfect it, poke, prod and torture me until he understood my glowing Light better. He still needed me to figure out how to not kill people during the procedure, because even he couldn’t sell that.
The door swung open, and Ethan and Josh burst into the office, finally tearing my attention from the four screens.
“Why haven’t they arrested him?” Ethan’s booming voice bounced off the walls. “Why the fuck was he able to just walk into a car and be driven away?”
Josh remained silent, a deep frown on his face. He crossed his arms and leaned back against the door.
“Keep your voice down.” Tyler’s commanding tone had an immediate effect on Ethan. He didn’t back down completely, his big shoulders still tense, but he did unclench his fists and take a deep breath.
“Sorry.” He sighed. “I just don’t understand.”
“It’s OK, Kid.” Alec slapped a hand on his cousin’s shoulder as Tyler muted the screens.
“He’s in fucking Dubai. We have operatives in the area, but we couldn’t get them there before the cameras showed up. We couldn’t take him into custody with the whole world watching—not when no one knows all the shit he’s done. And now this . . .” Tyler groaned, running his hand through his messy hair and looking out the window. “He planned this perfectly. He disappeared off the face of the earth, forced us to spread ourselves thin looking for him, then reappeared in a location where we couldn’t get to him in time. Now with this announcement, the press will be on him like a bad smell, not to mention all his supporters and lackeys. He’s basically made himself untouchable.”
He was looking out at the campus grounds below, and I knew what he was seeing—people rushing about, some excited, some worried, everyone talking about it.
“So what do we do?” I asked. I needed a plan. I always felt better with a plan.
Alec lowered his tall frame into one of the tub chairs.
No one answered.
“Guys!” I nearly yelled, a bit of panic leaking into my voice. “What do we do?”
Tyler squared his shoulders. “We keep an eye on him, and we work on our