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Silently I curse, using every profane word in the dictionary. And some that were not. Outwardly though, I remain cool, collected. “If I double your funding, how soon can it be ready?”
“Two years, if I have the right scientist in place, which I don’t feel I do at present. Maybe longer. Too long, considering we have no idea what set off the violence in these animals to begin with. The X2-positive soldiers could do the same thing at any given moment. As I’ve already made clear. They must be locked up.”
Locking them up makes them enemies. In this, my daughter is not wrong. “You’re certain it’s X2 related?” I ask.
“I’m not,” Ms. Lane replies. “We’ve focused on the X2-positive chromosomes. We need to do a broader study. It’s short-sighted to see this as an X2 problem.”
“I am of the belief that all GTECHs are the unknown, and thus volatile,” Chin reiterates after casting Ms. Lane a scathing look. “Exactly why I’m willing to work on Red Dart. But specifically”—he motions to the cages—“I disagree with Ms. Lane. This threat is directly linked to the X2 gene.”
“You lock some up, the rest are potentially triggered,” Ms. Lane replies, motioning to the cages. “Then what?”
“Are you suggesting we lock them all up?” I ask.
“I think locking any of them up is a mistake,” she counters. “You’ll turn friends into enemies.”
“Ms. Lane is out of line,” Dr. Chin states. “She takes risks with our very country with such careless suggestions. These men are weapons that could reproduce. They must be contained and contained now.”
My mind races rapidly. The only way I can lock them up, I think, is to tell the Secretary of State and the soldiers that they are undergoing vitamin injections, but this can’t be a long-term solution. My daughter and Ms. Lane are correct. What good is something that buys me time with the government if I turn the soldiers into our enemies? A consult with Dr. Stein comes to mind, but I quickly discard this idea. She’s too close to my daughter, who will be on her moral high horse, which isn’t how I need to make this decision. I cannot risk her talking to her. Safety and the future dictate my next move, not a moral compass. That’s part of being a leader, not a scientist. You make the hard decisions. “I’ll think about it,” I say. “And make sure this stays here, between us only. I don’t want Dr. Stein involved, not just yet.” With that, I turn and walk out of the room.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Julian
I lurk in the shadows of Ava’s porch, watching as she parks and walks toward the house, her sultry hips swaying with her steps, my cock rock-hard, as it should be. She’s marked. She’s mine, and the only reason we haven’t done the blood exchange is our need to keep her off the radar until we’re ready to end this farce of a military operation Lawrence believes he’s running. My heart thunders in my chest at her approach, and the minute she’s up the stairs and within reach, I grab her and pull her to me, her lush curves melting into me with her instant submission. She knew I was here. She anticipated this moment as much as I did. We are one, and Ava will one day soon, when the time is right, bear my child, who will become the future leader of a new superpower—the Zodius Nation. A nation that will be free of weakness and crude human diseases. My nation.
And that day is almost here.
“Julian,” she murmurs, her fingers curling on my chest. “I thought you wanted me to call when I got here. Are you just that anxious to be inside me?” she teases.
My cock throbs with her invitation, but business first. I set her away from me. “What happened in the meeting today?”
“Chin’s so afraid of the X2-positives he’s pressing Lawrence to imprison all the GTECHs, but Lawrence is resistant. I just don’t know for how long. I’m trying to buy time.”
Fucking Chin, I think, but Lawrence won’t want to lose his mighty soldiers. That’s in our favor, but he also won’t risk losing control, and Chin is stirring that fear. “We may not be able to buy time,” I say. “We can’t risk Chin screwing us over.”
“We aren’t ready,” she argues. “I’ll buy time. I promise, I can do it. I’ll get close to Addie. She’s General Lawrence’s daughter. She’s got a soft heart.”
She’s right, of course. The underground facility I’ve funded through private investors with the promise of converting them to GTECHs isn’t completed, nor do I have my hands on what’s left of the serum to mass produce it. But sometimes you just have to push forward and the bright side to this plot to imprison us might just be the awakening of Caleb. My brother has clung to humanity’s goodness, and yet those same humans would see us in cages. Perhaps even exterminate us, which is what I’ll tell my followers, accurate or not. They mean to mill us. Even Caleb will see the writing on the wall. Humans corrupt everything they touch. It’s us or them—and the stronger group, the GTECHs, will prevail.
