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“No. Stern advised Stephan to separate us, and he tried to send me to some military compound.”
“Then maybe he suspected you.”
“Suspected his best friend’s wife? Not likely.”
“Stern’s no fool. You must have said or done something to raise his suspicions.”
“And maybe it was your precious little partner that made him suspicious. If she could sense the presence of the kites, why couldn’t she sense I’m not who I’m supposed to be?”
“None of the tests I’ve performed indicate that she should.”
They hadn’t? Then what the hell was he looking for? What had he found, if not her growing ability to sense some nonhuman races?
“And yet she knew Mary was up to no good—something I wasn’t aware of even though I’d practically lived with the ungrateful witch for the la
st six months.”
“You never were the most observant person in the world, my love.”
Suzy snorted.
“I was observant enough to see Karl leave the mansion. It got you Sam’s com-unit.”
“But not observant enough to realize Martyn was watching you. It’s thanks to Mary you didn’t get caught. Half our current problems would be over if you’d simply poisoned Stephan when you were supposed to.”
“It’s not my fault it wasn’t working fast enough.”
“I told you to increase the dosage.”
“And I told you it was too damn dangerous.” She paused, and Sam could well imagine her tossing her long hair haughtily. “But he’s dead now, so it doesn’t matter.”
Stephan was dead? When did that happen? She remembered the anguish in Gabriel’s eyes when he’d learned that Hanrahan might have been caught in the SIU bombing. How would he cope with losing his brother and his friend? Not well, she suspected.
“No thanks to you,” Jack all but snarled.
“Damn it, look at the monitors. She’s weakening. If you want her help to overthrow Sethanon, you’re going to have to stop these tests right now.”
Jack cursed softly. “You’re right. I need to find Mary, anyway. She’s supposed to be here with the PM’s schedule. The boss will be peeved if I don’t confirm that in the next hour or two.”
The edge in his voice suggested Sethanon was someone you didn’t want angry at you. So why was Jack attempting a takeover? Surely that would piss off Sethanon a hell of a lot more than being late with a schedule …
“So the hit’s still going ahead?”
“What Sethanon wishes, Sethanon gets. At least until I’m completely ready to take over.”
Suzy sniffed. “The longer you wait, the more chance there is of discovery, especially with Stern nosing about.”
“Some things can’t be rushed, my love. Why don’t you find me someone to eat while I go make some phone calls?”
“And her? You can’t leave her here.”
“I’ll get Roston to take her to a cell. Let her sleep it off for a while.”
Their voices faded, leaving her spinning in the wash of darkness and pain. Her whole body tingled, as if every nerve ending, every cell, had been forced to life, waking and stretching to discover new boundaries. The beat of her heart was an unsteady drum that pounded in her chest, echoing past her ears and vibrating the cold metal table beneath her. But it was a rhythm that was weakening.
Time was something she lost all sense of. It might have been hours, or it might have been only minutes, before she became aware that she was no longer alone in the room. Became aware that another heart beat in unsteady time with her own.
“Samantha.”
