No problem, Pepper took care of it. Malichai is fine. He’ll be fine.
Trap moved away from the others and jogged around the corner to check on the woman. She was gone. He knew she’d be gone, but he had to check all the same. He went to the spot where she’d gone down, crouched and read the signs. She was hurt all right. It had taken her a few minutes to get up, but she’d done it. She’d dragged herself a good way before she was back on her feet. The tracks led straight toward the trees. She was heading for the swamp.
He shook his head. She had the right to live free. They all should, but still, banding together was far better than going it alone. He could have told her that. He turned back to the people who had become his family and joined in dragging the big soldiers to the boat.
Be careful, Wyatt, Ezekiel cautioned. It bothers me we didn’t come across one single civilian guard. The place looks deserted, but I’m getting a bad vibe.
Got the same vibe, Zeke, Wyatt responded. But Braden’s goin’ down tonight.
Wyatt dropped down through the hole in the roof Braden hadn’t even bothered to repair. The sheer arrogance of the man shocked him. Even Whitney didn’t display that kind of contempt for the men and women he’d enhanced. He respected their skills and considered them worthy adversaries.
Clearly Braden thinks his brain is so much more superior that he hasn’t bothered to step up the security here at his laboratory, Wyatt observed.
Braden found a way to give his soldiers more armor, but their speed and their thinking abilities were greatly impaired, Trap answered. He’s probably judging us the same way.
Go easy, Wyatt, could be an ambush, Ezekiel cautioned again. He paused for a moment. I got a bad vibe off your woman as well when we went in to secure the house.
Wyatt sighed, checked the laboratory. It was empty. The entire compound seemed abandoned. Even the civilians and the dog. He pushed open the door and walked boldly in, scanning the dark room. He sighed. Yeah. I caught that, Zeke. Whitney can definitely find psychics even when they’re babies, but he can’t tell who is goin’ to make a good soldier. She isn’ so good at handlin’ the killin’ part.
She’ll get over it, Trap declared.
No, Trap. She isn’ like us, Wyatt contradicted. She won’. She’s goin’ to have a difficult time with this one. All of you keep an eye on her.
She’s yours, Ezekiel said. And ours. She’s one of us. We’ll watch her.
They dropped down, one by one, and entered the laboratory.
Somethin’s lyin’ right out in the open. North side. On the table there, Wyatt said. It looks like a man.
He moved quickly between the rows of tables and desks to get to the one where the body lay spread out right on top of smashed beakers. Glass was everywhere, but Whitney had made a statement and it was a big one. Wyatt knew it was Whitney before he took the note off Braden’s chest and glanced at the signature.
Four folders sat beside Braden’s dead hand. The top one simply said Pepper in bold letters.
“He cleared everyone from this place. Any dead he must have had burned in the crematorium. He doesn’t like anyone to go against him, and Braden must have branched out on his own.” Wyatt frowned down at the paper in his hand, shaking his head.
“Braden died hard,” Trap said. “They made certain he lived awhile before they gave him death.”
“Whitney likes to make statements,” Wyatt said. “He probably sent videos to his other little helpers to warn them what happens when someone messes with him.”
“What’s the note say?” Trap asked.
Wyatt handed it to him and looked at the others. “He says I owe him.”
Ezekiel shook his head. “You don’t owe that bastard anything.”
Wyatt smiled at him and picked up Pepper’s file, flipping it open. Yeah. He’d been right about her parents. They were famous in the field of studying snakes. Both had been killed in India, a break-in at their home. The newspaper articles were included in the file. Missing was their two-year-old daughter.
He closed his eyes. Whitney. He’d taken her. Killed her parents and taken her from a home filled with love straight into a nightmare. Wyatt flipped through his daughters’ files. Pepper was definitely their mother, according to the file, and he was their father. They all had been split from the same egg. Whitney had wanted three of them exactly alike.