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"He was also cruel Manipulative Ruthless" She spoke the words with great care, considering each one "He scared in the mutation The same time as Sam, actually, but Sam was a totally different person Sam lashed out with his power, lost control of himself, and was devastated by it But Caine? He used his poithout the slightest concern for anyone but himself"

"Same mother, same father, and so different?"

"Sa an affair I never had a DNA test, but it is possible that they had different fathers"

She could see that this shocked Darius He didn’t approve Well, why should he? She didn’t approve of herself

The roo," Darius said "You cooking some ribs on Friday?"

"Darius I told youWhat is it you aren’t telling me?"

Darius stopped at the door Connie wondered if he would ever come back He’d seen a side of her he had never expected

"I can’t tell you anything," Darius said "Except that the military loves acronynize on some vehicles that came into camp NEST Sounds innocent, huh?"

"What’s NEST?"

"Look it up See you Friday if I can"

He left

Connie opened her laptop and tied into the hotel’s wi-fi She opened Google and typed in NEST It took a few seconds to find that NEST stood for Nuclear Eency Support Teaineers ere called in to deal with a nuclear incident

A nuclear response teaoing on Maybe soerous So a possible radiation spill

Which in with

EIGHTEEN

18 HOURS, 55 MINUTES

FULL NIGHT

Sam had recalled Brianna when the sun went down The darkness was deadly to her One stued and deain But she knew better Saet souards were changed Edilio sat blinking sleep away Dekka brooded Sam hadn’t seen Astrid in a while He assumed she was down in his bunk Maybe she was mad at him Probably And maybe he deserved it He’d been curt with her

He wanted to go down there and be with her But he knew if he gave in to that need, if he found peace and forgetfulness, he ain