Predator (23 page)
Authors: Janice Gable Bashman
Tags: #teen, #Young Adult, #werewolves, #Paranormal, #Fantasy, #Bram Stoker Award nominated author, #Science Fiction And Fantasy
Bree looked at Isabella, who nodded, and then Liam sat next to Bree and squeezed her hand. “I’m one of them,” Bree said to General Maberry.
“What?”
“It’s not like you think,” Bree said. “I took a different version of the formula, one that was much more advanced, and I’m in control of the power. I’m
nothing
like those men.”
“So it worked,” General Maberry said soberly.
Bree nodded.
He looked Bree straight in the eyes. “They’ll come after you, and they won’t stop, no matter what it takes. And once they have you, they’ll study you until they figure out how the serum worked. Then all they have to do is reverse engineer it. If that happens, there will be no stopping them.”
“Why should I believe you won’t do the same thing?”
General Maberry looked down at his lap. “I spent my entire life fighting to help people. In the process, I’ve lost so many brave men and women under my command, including my own son—soldiers who gave their lives willingly to protect what they believed in.”
Soldiers like Troy. Bree understood such sacrifice.
“What a minute,” she said as she fully comprehended what he had just told her. “Andy’s dead?”
General Maberry drew in a quick breath and nodded. The pain she saw etched in his eyes convinced her he was telling the truth.
“We need to stop those men before they hurt anyone else,” he said softly, as if it took all his effort to speak. “Will you help me?”
Bree harnessed a new power, quiet and fierce. She wouldn’t be alone; the Benandanti and Liam would have her back. And those horrible monsters had to be stopped. She was responsible for unleashing this mayhem in the world by finding the hand and helping distill the DNA—and for using it.
Bree saw only one choice. She had to see it through. “I’m in,” she said.
She was proud to do it. In memory of her dad and Conor. For Liam. For the Benandanti, to whom she now felt connected. For Andy. For Troy.
She didn’t know what awaited her out there.
But she was ready.
Janice Gable Bashman is the Bram Stoker nominated author of
Wanted Undead or Alive
and
Predator.
She is editor of
The Big Thrill
(International Thriller Writers’ magazine). Janice lives with her family in the Philadelphia area, where she is at work on her next novel. Visit her at
www.janicegablebashman.com
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