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Beside her, Dallas inhaled sharply. “Could he control them?”
“Yes. He was creating an army.”
Shocked whispers and mutters broke out at the table. Renna sneaked a glance at Major Larson from beneath her lashes. He sat perfectly still, no reaction, no indication he was part of Navang’s plan. That would have been too easy, of course.
Finally, Usamov held up her hand. “Silence. Let Miss Carrizal finish.”
Nausea burned the back of her throat as she pushed away the images of the stark facility, the blind obedience Navang had forced on his test subjects, the way the hybrids had gone eerily silent as Viktis had dispersed a technological virus through their neural network. Instead, she focused on the people in the room to steady her trembling heartbeat. She couldn’t afford to feel guilt or fear.
“Dr. Navang used Myka’s genetic material to develop a new drug, which he then injected into me after Viktis and I were captured. According to him, it will force my neural implant to fuse to my nervous system and eventually become part of me. If I survive the process.”
“Did he say anything else?” Larson asked. “Any hint as to why he would do this? What he hoped to accomplish?”
Renna watched the major. A trickle of sweat crept along his hairline, but he didn’t break her gaze. “I’m afraid not,” she said finally, shaking her head.
“But what about Captain Finn, Myka, and the Athena?” The admiral sat back in her chair, her gray eyes troubled. “Why would they run? Once you retrieved him from Navang, the boy was safe.”
Renna shrugged. “I have no idea. I thought everything was fine until we landed at Aldani’s lab. That’s when I discovered Finn and Viktis were actually working together. They took the boy and Aldani and fled, leaving me behind.”
“But why?” Dallas asked. A frown marked deep lines around his mouth. “Finn would never work with a pirate.”
“I wish I knew. Maybe they thought they were protecting the boy?” Renna paused, letting her shoulders sag. “I trusted them.” She let her voice hitch on the last word.
“I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation.” Dallas patted Renna’s hand. “I know Captain Finn, and he would never do something like this without good reason.”
Usamov rose to her feet and paced behind the table, arms clasped behind her ramrod-straight spine. “I don’t disagree, Major, but the bigger question is: What did Navang hope to accomplish with this army, and is anyone else involved? It concerns me that we don’t have any intel on this. How did we miss it?” Her voice sharpened into icy daggers as she stared at her advisors.
Renna bit back a shiver at the woman’s expression. She was suddenly very glad she didn’t report to the admiral.
Finally, Major Larson cleared his throat, breaking the uncomfortable silence. “Unfortunately, we can’t ask him, since Renna and her crew decided to destroy the facility. All traces of the experiments, hybrids, and tech are gone. We have nothing. The boy is our last clue to what Navang was planning. He must be found.”
Usamov turned her laser gaze to Renna. “Can you tell us why Finn’s team destroyed the facility? He must have known how important that intel was to MYTH.”
Renna shook her head. “I don’t think the captain was behind it. He and the Athena had already left the planet. Maybe Navang rigged it to explode if it was discovered.”
“Or perhaps you had something to do with it yourself.” Major Larson’s gaze bored into hers as if he could somehow read the answers there.
And there it was: casting suspicion on other people to cover his ass. Good thing she needed him to lead her to Pallas or the major might wake up to a knife at his throat the next morning.
Renna forced away the delicious image of him begging for his life and shook her head apologetically. “I think you forget, Major. Navang had been experimenting on me. I was lucky to make it out of the facility before it exploded. I was in no shape to go setting off bombs.”
“Renna has done exactly what we asked of her, Larson,” Dallas protested. “And at great risk to herself. This situation is not her fault.” He turned his gaze to Renna. “I understand Dr. Samil has started to synthesize a version of the drug, and it seems to be helping slow the fusion of your implant?”
She blinked at him. The last thing she’d expected was for Dallas to come to her defense. Maybe the guy wasn’t so bad after all. “As far as we can tell.” She turned to the admiral. “Ma’am, the lab might be destroyed, but you do have one last example of what Navang was trying to do. Me.”
Usamov stood motionless at the head of the room, pinning Renna with her cool gaze. “What exactly are you offering, Miss Carrizal?”
This was it. Everything rode on her convincing them of her sincerity. It might just be the biggest con of her life. “I want to help you. I want to become a part of MYTH. Let me track down Finn and the Athena and get to the bottom of this. I might be the only one who can find them.”
A nearly inaudible gasp spread around the room, and the MYTH personnel fell into a shocked silence. But Renna ignored them, keeping her expression calm and not breaking the admiral’s gaze. Right now, no one else mattered. It was like facing down a man-eating terrorcrest. One heartbeat of fear and it was all over.
Dallas was the first to speak. “I agree. I was the one who brought Renna into this, and I still stand by my decision. With a little discipline, she could be a real asset to MYTH. And she’s right. Finn and the pirate have worked with her and they trust her. She knows where mercs go to hide. She can find them.”
Admiral Usamov shook her head, her lips barely a slash on her stern face. “This is highly unusual.”
“We can’t trust her,” Larson protested. “Even more importantly, she’s the missing piece to Navang’s experiments. We can’t just let her go traipsing around the galaxy. What if we could use her to strike back? To uncover his data? This could be the leap ahead MYTH needs to become—”
Usamov held up a hand, cutting Larson off mid-sentence. “I think we have everything we need from you, Miss Carrizal,” she said coolly. “You may return to your room. We will need to discuss your proposal further.”
Renna stood and let her gaze drift across the group one last time. “Please believe me when I say I’m not proud of my past, but I’m ready to make a change. To do the right thing. I think my skills could be invaluable in your organization, and I would be honored to be part of MYTH. I hope you consider my offer.”
