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I know you will I have faith in you and your brothers

"If you two are finished sending telepathic kissy faces," Garrett said dryly

Before, Shea would have likely blushed, ducked her head and felt horribly conspicuous But she was growing more comfortable with his family all the time, which thrilled Nathan

She raised her chin and s Nathan that I needed to re yesterday"

Garrett sighed while everyone else dissolved into laughter

Sarinned and then dropped into the chair across froradually chose spots to sit, but Swanny hovered in the background He still hadn’t reached his co home in a few days, but Nathan knew Sam had extended a job offer, and while Swanny had said he wanted tio hos, and be back He hoped so at least Swanny was adrift He needed KGI He needed a purpose just as Nathan had when he’d returned fro to an

Shea’s mouth dropped open and she autohtly against his side He slipped his arm around her shoulders and squeezed

"Is he crazy?" she demanded

"There’s a lot you don’t know, but know this before we get into all the whys and wherefores You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to Period If you say the word, the man will never set foot in this coaze and holding it "You’re in the driver’s seat We’ll only do what you want us to do, okay?"

She smiled and nodded

"Now, he wants to meet you because he was conceived in the same lab where you and Grace were born"

Shea went completely still, so still that for a moment Nathan worried they’d upset her already

"Then why?" she whispered "Why would he do that to me? Why would he allow it? He knows He has to knoent on there, doesn’t he?"

Nathan kissed her temple and stroked a hand down her hair But he reive her the details as unemotionally as possible Nathan couldn’t be objective He still couldn’t even think about Resnick without wanting to kill the bastard He couldn’t forgive the fact that, if not for Resnick, Shea wouldn’t have been captured a second time

"He wasn’t the one who handed you over to the people who hurt you I know it seems that way He took you from us because he wanted to protect you It was stupid But I don’t think he ever meant for you to be harood possibility that he’s your brother"

This tih him Their pathas open and he could feel all the conflicting eer Sadness And her confusion

"He was an experiment too A failed one, by his account He doesn’t have special abilities like you and Grace He’s the one who helped the Petersons when you on He finally tracked them down after they disappeared with you and Grace years earlier He funded their efforts and directed them to call on him if help was ever needed He asked them to tell you and Grace the same but evidently they didn’t trust him or maybe they just didn’t want you to know the truth about their roles in your birth and the fact that they weren’t your biological parents"

"Does he knoants Grace and iven us all the infor and we have access to all his files," Salanced to Donovan, her eyes wary

Donovan sent her a reassuring smile "I don’t want you to worry Okay? Promise me that"

"Tell me," she said softly

"He spoke of two Russian scientists, so I went in search of infor else I could find out about the purpose of the experiments and their intended uses I was able to track down one of the scientists, who still lives here in the US despite Resnick thinking or at least saying that he’d returned to Russia"

Shea went still and leaned forward, her eyes narrowed in concentration

"In the beginning this was solely a hly classified Furthermore, there were other successful test subjects besides you and Grace There were other children born with psychic talents But once they discovered that they’d been able to produce the ability to heal, the others were discarded, adopted out, dropped froram"

"Grace," Shea whispered "It was about Grace all along Why keep me then?"

"Because you have that ability too, Shea," Donovan said gently "Yes, it would seem that your abilities differ, but think about what you did for Nathan Now consider how you and Grace could operate as a tea We talked about this before, remember? You could co froh you Now think about how the ifts like these Indestructible soldiers They get injured on the battlefield and are healed telepathically They get captured and tortured for infor and shield theine it from a rescue perspective Just as you did for Nathan, you could communicate with the prisoner and lead a rescue team to him These are talents that, yes, the military would kill for"

"But you work for the military All of you Or at least you did," she said in bewilderment "Don’t you still?"

"This is a part of the military that no one ever sees Not even the enlisted themselves," Sam said " ‘Funded by the military’ is a code word for a top-secret project that only a few very high-ranking people even know about Thetheir jobs Research like this is done for black op groups that don’t officially exist We’re telling you this because you deserve to know We aren’t supposed to know all we do, but we’re are so that if there’s ever a need, we’ll go public far and wide in order to protect you and Grace and any others who are targeted for this kind of research"

"So there’s nothing we can do? I--we--just have to live with the knowledge and never be certain whether they’ll coain?"

"Resnick is very determined to blow this operation from the top down I don’t entirely trust hi froa, this will all quietly go away It’ll be like it never existed"

"If only it were that easy," Shea h hers "You’ll never be alone again, Shea You’ll never have to live your life on the run We take a stand here Together"

"Hooyah," Ethan softly called

"Fuckin’ A," Garrett said emphatically "And the first one of you who rats ets their ass kicked That includes you, Miss Shea"

Shea s to be okay He felt it

"Shea?" Sam said