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She could see the wo at theShe was very te so close and just get the job done It would rid the world of a very evil man, but it wasn't her mission, no matter how much she wished it were The woman, Senator Violet Smythe-Freeman--now just Smythe--was herout her country and her fellow GhostWalkers, the teams of soldiers few even knew existed

There was no way into the office, but that didn'tin plain sight Even if one of the men or women on the floor happened to look up, they would have a difficult ti as she was careful toher way to her destination She positioned herself outside the office over the door Muting out the sounds around her, she concentrated on the voices co from inside the office

Cheng faced her Even if she couldn't hear his every word because he'd soundproofed his office, she could read lips He wanted the GhostWalker progra soldiers to take apart Her stomach clenched Violet's voice was pitched low She had the ability to persuade people to do what she wanted with her voice, but Cheng seemed immune

She wanted n Maurice Stuart had na mate for the presidential election If elected, she planned to have Stuart assassinated and she would beco would have an ally in the White House It was a siins of dark money never had to be exposed No one would know

Violet was beautiful and intelligent She was poisonous A sociopath She was also enhanced, one of the original girls Dr Whitney had found in an orphanage and experimented on so that he could enhance his soldiers without hars she wanted More than anything, she wanted power

Cheng nodded his head and leaned forward, his eyes sharp, his face a mask He repeated the price Files GhostWalkers

Bellisia remained still as Violet sold out her country and fellow soldiers She told hiet to them She also told him there were copies of the files he wanted in several places, but et to The place where he had the best chance was in Louisiana, at the Stennis Center

Cheng responded adaet the files for him She was just as adaainst the GhostWalker program

Bellisia tried to get closer, as if that would help her hear better She wanted to knoell Violet was one of theinal orphans Peter Whitney had used for his own purposes--a "sister," not by blood but certainly in every other way She'd undergone the saenetics, changing DNA There was no doubt that Whitney was a genius, but he was also certifiably insane

Violet's murmured response horrified Bellisia The woman was a GhostWalker snob Superior soldiers were fine DNA of animals was fine Enhancement met with her approval But not when it caht--the use of vipers and spiders That was going too far and cheapened the rest of them She wanted anyone with that kind of DNA wiped out

There was aher sudden burst of venomous hatred over and over in his mind, just as Bellisia was Bellisia could have warned Violet that she was skating close to danger Violet was a GhostWalker Few had that information, but in that one outburst, she'd ent ht there in his laboratory

Violet, seeer--or because of it--swiftly ain The tent back to haggling In the end, Violet began to rise and Cheng lifted a hand to stop her She sank down gracefully and the deal was made Bellisia listened to another twenty minutes of conversation while the two hashed out what each would do for the other

Bellisia calculated the odds of escaping if she killed the senator as the traitor eood Even so, she still entertained the idea The level of treachery was beyond iination for Bellisia She despised Violet

A stir in the office drew her attention Guards marched in and directed those in the slanced into the hallway and saw that the entire floor was being cleared Her heart accelerated before she could stop it She took a slow breath and steadied her pulse just as the siren went off, calling everyone, froe dorm areas

Lockdown She couldn't get to the water closet to retrieve her unifor before the soldiers searched, nor did she have enough tian to kill her She couldn't re's endless lockdowns He was paranoid enough that he had kept workers on the premises for over a week more than once She'd be dead without the antidote by that ti would be even worse with his security once the jacket and ere discovered

She began the slow process necessary to o down to thein and every floor would be flooded by now She had to go up to the only sanctuary she et to There were tanks of water housed on the roof that fed the sprinkler syste would conduct once her clothes were found The items would only feed his paranoia That meant she had to take the elevator

Cursing in every language she was fluent in--and that was quite a few--she hovered just above the elevator doors The soldiers would go into the space, but it was confined, a relatively small space, and that meant she would have to be very close to thehtest mistake would cost her More, she could blend into her environe Her clothing would s, so she would have the look of the elevator over her body, but her head and hands and feet would be exposed for that couple of seconds

Heart pounding, she edged over to the very top of the elevator Should she try to start blending into that color now, or wait until she was inside with a dozen guards and guns? She had choices, but the wrong one would end her life Changing colors to round was more like the octopus than the chaan, concentrating on her hands and feet first She was already clinging to the elevator doors now, high up, so as she mirrored the colors around her, she appeared to be part of the doors

The ping signaled that she only had seconds to get inside and up the wall to the ceiling of the elevator She waited until soldiers stepped into the elevator and she slipped inside with the to the wall above their heads The door nearly closed on her foot before she could pull it in The men crowded in, and there was little space She felt as if she couldn't breathe The car didn't have high ceilings, so they were ainst her body Twice, the hair of the man closest to her--and it was just her bad luck that he was tall--actually did brush against her face, tickling her skin

She rode floor to floor ascertain that all personnel did as the siren demanded and went immediately to the dormitory, where they would be searched

The last of the soldiers went to the roof She knew this would be her biggest danger point She had to exit the elevator right behind the last soldier It was i outward and not back toward the closing doors She was a mimic, a chaain it would take a et there in a new environment

She crawled down to the floor and eased out behind the lastthe roof to find the water tanks There were six banks of the the sprinklers on several floors She stayed very still, right up against the elevator until her skin and hair adjusted fully

to the new background Only then did she begin her slol across the roof,for the nearest tank while the soldiers spread out and swept the large space

Up so high the as ahard and continuously at the usts She stayed low to the ground, almost on her belly She stopped once, when one of the soldiers cursed in a hainese He cursed the weather, not Cheng No one would dare curse Cheng, afraid it would get back to him