Result exceeds all recorded PN-class neonatal thresholds.
LAB NOTE:
Dual PN-class inheritance confirmed.Compound expression demonstrates cumulative amplification.Infant subject classifiedHIGH-YIELD BIOLOGICAL ASSET.Long-term observation strongly advised.Containment Forecast: Unstable
STORAGE RECORD
Cord Blood Specimen Preserved: HX BIOVAULT
Access Authorization: Helixx Biosciences
Lachlan filters through a few more pages but finds nothing relevant.Danya grabs the files, stuffs them back and re-locks the drawer before Lachlan can say another word, dragging him out quickly with not a single second to spare.
They’rejustback in position when the radio crackles to signal surveillance is back up again.Danya calls Lachlan a foul name in his mother tongue, and Lachlan can’t help but think what a fucking waste of time that was.
His skull ispounding, pressure like he’s too deep underwater.
Fucking airless hell-hole of an office.
‘What did you find?’Danya asks quietly, headed for the East Wing.
Lachlan sighs, disappointed.‘Nothing.’
?
‘You’re avoiding him,’ Blaire says in early September.
They’re outside by the pool on one of Lachlan’s very few days off.
Jules, Savannah and Vasily are in the pool with Mimi playing together.Lachlan tries not to look at Jules for too long.It runs counter to all his instincts but he’s getting better at it lately.
‘I know.’
‘You’re avoiding everything, in fact.’
‘Please let’s not.’
‘I know the research is important to you, but—’
‘But what?’
Blaire never takes her necklace off even in water.Lachlan loves the way it catches the sunlight, glinting against her skin.Her black hair is longer than it ever has been, past her shoulders now, naturally wavy.In a bathing suit, she is outrageously beautiful, but Lachlan has long since accepted that he sees her like a sister.
‘You hardly train him anymore.’
‘Danya knows more about CQC than anyone on earth.’
‘You’re spoiling Mimi, too.’
‘What?’
‘Not in that way.Not…’ Her tone softens.‘Not likethat, but you are.You’re warping her.’
Lachlan looks at Blaire, flooded with a sour mix of shame and anger.‘The fuck did you just say to me?’
‘You’re the one Mimi loves more than the waking day.Youare the one she wants to be like, and you’ve lost the ability to refuse her anything.’
Jaw working, he forces himself to look away.
