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"You want to knohy you’re here?" He stared down at Acklow in the blaze of Kellan’s irises "It’s because of the Breed-killing ultraviolet technology you created"
Ackone mute with fear now
"You’re here because that UV tech was used to ash a Darkhaven civilian on the street a few ht, just the kind of equalizer your species would kill to have" Kellan kept talking, ignoring the tears that sprang into the hu to stand there and deny that you had any part in this?"
"I don’t knohat you’re talking about Have I discovered ait to liquid? Yes It’s one of several prototypes I’ve been working on under star project But none of my data or models has been released to the public And they’re all light-bringing technologies, not weapons The project’s chief purpose is to benefit the planet, to revolutionize energy consu about nuclear power" Kellan growled "I don’t have time for bullshit Who’d you sell the tech to?"
"No one!" Ack lu yet And besides, I’ve never sold any ofwith the purpose of inflicting harm on someone If anyone claims they have it - if someone has used my work, as you say - they must’ve stolen it You have to believe me! You have to trust !"
No, he didn’t have to believe him Nor did he have to trust
Kellan had a much more reliable tool at his disposal than ordinary intuition
He reached out and pal skull
The jolt of understanding came swiftly, irrefutably
Kellan’s Breed talent stripped through the huht to the core of truth hidden deep within Jeremy Ackmeyer’s soul All Kellan found was honesty, the purest of uilt whatsoever
Holy hell
Kellan drew his hand back as if burned The realization sank in like bitter acid, corrosive and impossible to scrape off now that it had touched hi him the truth He had no idea his work had been used as a weapon for assassination against the Breed
Kellan had ordered the kidnapping of an honest, innocentrim face filled the flat-screen monitor on the wall of the Boston Command Center
He hadn’t been pleased to hear Nathan’s report from the field, but where the Gen One leader of the Order had every right to swear and bellow over the siled to accept the fact that one of the Order’s own had gone nment That it was Mira, a female raised by the Order froravity of the loss all the more difficult to deal with objectively, not only for Lucan, but for Nathan and the other pair of Order athered with hi Chase, the Breed warrior who’d helmed the Boston operation for the past two decades, sat soberly in the roo over her slender fingers on the table Tavia accepted the tender gesture, despite that she was no delicate Darkhaven lady, sheltered from the realities of the world
Born in the same laboratory, of the same alien DNA that had spawned Nathan and a small army of assassins bred and raised just like hienetically crafted, Gen One female, and a daywalker besides Where Nathan would perish after ht, his half sister Tavia and her offspring - a set of fraternal twins named Aric and Carys - could sunbathe all day in the tropics without breaking a sweat
"If anything’s happened to Mira," Taviawith flecks of amber, "if she’s harmed in any way - "
"We’ll find her," Nathan assured them all "I won’t rest until she and the human scientist are located"
On the monitor, Lucan nodded his dark head "I knoe can count on you That’s why I’nment It’s crucial that we keep this probleht on this, and I want the bastards dealt with cleanly and perical precision job, Nathan"
He inclined his head in acknowledgray gaze bore into hih the video screen "You have my permission to remove any and all obstacles in order to meet your mission objectives If there’s fallout afterward, I’ll take sole responsibility for the op"
Nathan held the Gen One’s grave stare "It will not be necessary"
"Nikolai and Renata will need to be infor idly over the back of Tavia’s hand "There’ll be nothing to keep the, except the fact that Renata is pregnant and due very soon," Tavia pointed out "But Chase is right They need to know, Lucan Mira’s their daughter"
The Order’s founder pressed his lips together in a flat line but acceded with a sober nod "It’s not the kind of news any parent should hear," he re more pronounced as he considered the advice "Gabrielle and I will ether, as soon as we finish here" To Nathan he said, "This is a kill op I don’t want any of these rebel bastards left standing to rise again after the dust settles Agreed?"
Nathan accepted with a doard tip of his chin "Yes, sir"
A few minutes later, the call was ended and Nathan left the conference roo outside the door Rafe, Eli, and Jax were joined by Aric Chase, who rose as soon as Nathan caned a tea Mira back?"
The twenty-year-old son of Sterling and Tavia, Aric had trained under his father’s direction alongside his best friend, Rafe But where Rafe had finished ed et his chance, leaving the East Coast for Seattle, to be assigned as a newly minted warrior on one of Dante’s teams in that district
Nathan did not respond to the recruit’s rookie question, and the rest of his team knew better than to prod for answers about a private conference with Lucan Thorne The other Breed males followed Nathan as he set off toward the corridor that would take hi facility
"Da Ack in with the rest of them "I would’ve made sure those Homo sapiens sons of bitches OD’d on lead and steel Let them take on a Breed in the daytime and watch the rebel cowards piss theod-save-us"
Even Nathan had to ad at his mouth as the banter between his felloarriors continued, each of the up the fear factor on the pain and terror they’d like to deliver on the bastards who’d taken Mira