The Lost (25 page)

Slowly Adam came to his feet, but he hesitated about taking the file. It took his father thrusting it against his belly for Adam to finally accept the documents. With a last fleeting look in her direction, he bent his head to read.

She knew what was there for him to know. The long pent-up inhalation told her he had seen the information
and was processing it. The rough breath that followed, along with his rocking back on his heels, communicated that he had understood and accepted the truth of the prognosis on the paper.

This time when he glanced at her there was no denying the emotion.

Pity. It might have been easier for her to handle anger or disgust.

After a long swallow, he said, “I’m—”

“Don’t say you’re sorry,” she parried straightway. “At least I’m alive.”

Unlike her men.

A muscle ticked along the side of his jaw as Adam closed the file brusquely and flipped it onto the surface of the table. Jerking his hand in the direction of the file, and without facing his father, he said, “Now that you’ve violated Bobbie’s privacy, care to explain what that has to do with anything?”

Bobbie stared hard at Salvatore, wanting to lash out at the man, but contained herself. Her anger would accomplish nothing.

“I noticed Ms. Carrera seems to be walking better,” he said, craning his head to glance past Adam to her cane as it rested on the rung of a nearby seat.

“Where are you going with this?” Adam challenged.

“Where? I thought that would be obvious to a genius like you.” With those caustic words, Salvatore tossed the final report onto the table.

Adam flipped the file open and flinched.

Bobbie glanced over at the papers, but couldn’t make anything from them. They were just random bars and lines and what looked like lab results, but of what, she didn’t know.

Until Adam’s father started his explanation.

“I haven’t said anything because I was hoping it was just coincidence that you and Bobbie seemed to have met, but when I did some digging around, I found these test results.”

“DNA analysis. My DNA and yours, Bobbie,” Adam said, gazing at her, the pity and concern in his eyes slowly switching to accusation.

“I don’t understand,” she said, and reached for the file, but Adam kept a tight grip on it.

“The last case I worked on—am working on now in a supervisory role—involves Bobbie’s brother and sister. I thought it odd that one family could find itself involved in the same case not once but twice. Now I understand,” Salvatore said.

Bobbie marched up to him until she was nearly nose to nose with him. “Why not make me understand, then?”

“Your family seems to like collecting people with unusual powers, don’t they? Caterina Shaw. Jesse Bradford. Did you plan to add Adam to your family’s collection?”

“That’s insane! Adam… Bobbie started to refute the accusation, but as Adam once again flipped through the papers, she could feel the doubt creeping into his mind.

“Bobbie’s older brother and sister are married to people who were genetically engineered. Bobbie’s sister somehow got your DNA and Bobbie’s for analysis.”

“Tell me you didn’t give it to her,” Adam said, gazing at her as if he was seeing her for the first time and not in a good way.

“Of course I didn’t. I would not betray you like that. And my family has no reason to do this.”

“Except of course to obtain yet another specimen with
unique abilities. Maybe even secure patents on whatever properties can be distilled from my son’s DNA. They would be quite valuable and would certainly help your parents with their financial issues. Help you pay for your medical expenses,” Bruno reasoned.

“That’s a lie. I would not betray you, Adam,” Bobbie repeated, reaching for the file to examine it herself, but Adam stopped her by trapping the papers beneath his hand.

As she glanced at Salvatore, his smug smile said it all. She looked back at Adam.

“When could I have given anyone your DNA? I’ve been with you since the attack. Let me have the file and talk to them. Hear their side of it,” she said, but Adam’s hand remained on the papers.

“Give it to her, son. I’ve got a copy.”

Adam clenched his jaw so tightly Bobbie thought she heard bones pop. His knuckles were white from the pressure he was exerting on the files and she could feel his anger and confusion within her, creating a swirl of emotion deep in her core from the link between them, a link that suddenly felt as if it was growing stronger. He pushed the report in her direction.

“I don’t know, but I think you should go.” Gone from his voice was any trace of the day’s earlier passion.

Bobbie grabbed the file and strode toward the door to the garage, but as she neared it, she realized she had forgotten the cane, which hung on the rung on one of the kitchen chairs.

She turned and her gaze fell upon it, but so did Adam’s.

“You forgot this.” He jerked the cane from the chair and flung it at her.

She caught it with her left hand and pain radiated from her palm from the force of his toss. But that pain was minuscule compared to that from the fist squeezing her heart. She bit back her distress and met his gaze directly, unafraid. She had truth on her side. In time that would win out over his father’s lies.

Without another word, she left.

W
hen the door closed behind Bobbie, it was if someone had drained the life out of him. Adam plopped down heavily in the kitchen chair and buried his head in his hands, almost overwhelmed by the enormity of all that had transpired.

“I’m sorry, son,” his father said, and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder, but Adam shrugged it off.

With a belligerent stare, Adam replied, “You said you had a duplicate of the file.”

“Of course, I do. I wouldn’t—”

“Let me have the copy,” Adam said, his tone flat and somewhat curt while he held out his hand for the documents.

“But, Adam—”

“Let me have the copy.” Each word was clipped and cutting sharp.

His father must have realized that although he’d driven Bobbie away, Adam wasn’t completely under his control.
With a resigned nod, Salvatore reached into his briefcase and extracted his copy of the file. Adam snared it from his hands and placed it on the table before him.

“Now go,” Adam said.

“But, son—”

“Go, Salvatore. Before I lose all respect for you.”

His father’s face fell, but the action struck Adam as theatrical, much like his behavior while he’d been busy staging his case against Bobbie and her family. But no matter how melodramatic his actions had been, Adam could not afford to ignore the cold, hard facts included in the various files.

Rational or not, he was angry that she hadn’t told him her full medical condition. How could she hold back when he’d offered his most vulnerable memories?

And he was furious at the DNA testing, and the risk it presented to his existence, even if there was a measure of thankfulness that the tests had proven what his gut had told him all along—that he was different. Possibly not human, and yet coupled with that was the reality that he wasn’t alone. The tests had shown a genetic link between him and Bobbie.

True, they had been together almost constantly, but what if the first attack had been a setup? A ruse to collect a sample of skin or hair. The first night she showed up at his home, was it to collect something then?

So lost was he in his thoughts that it took him a moment to realize that his father still stood there, as if expecting a reprieve from Adam’s condemnation. But there would be none. Not tonight at least.

“Go,” he repeated again, more forcefully, and this time his father left the kitchen.

Adam waited until he heard the snick of the front door lock. Then he went to the security system panel by the garage door and set it, engaging the system so that the moment any entry was opened the alarms would trip. He didn’t want any disturbances or surprises as he reviewed the test results and tried to make sense of what they indicated about who he was and maybe even where he came from.

Hands shaking and palms wet with nervous sweat, he flipped open the file.

Alexander Sombrosa glared at his son’s soldier, rage churning in him from so many things. Maya, who had been standing beside him, side-stepped away as the force of his anger created dangerous spikes of energy that jumped out to singe anyone nearby.

“Are you certain of this?” Alexander pressed, unable to believe that his own son was keeping secrets from him. Why hadn’t Christopher mentioned the possibility of an incredible source of power they could use to heal themselves?

“I am sure, Añaru,” the foot soldier replied, pumping his hand to his chest and dipping his head in deference to Alexander’s rank. “It happened two nights ago. Not far from Christopher’s home and near the territory belonging to the Ocean clan of the Light Hunters. A wave of power like nothing we had ever experienced washed over us. Restoring us,” he said, and held out his hand.

Alexander leaned close and peered at the seemingly normal-looking appendage. As he did so, he perceived the power radiating from the man, so alive and enticing. He grabbed hold of the cadre member’s hand,
ensnaring it tightly in his grip. The rush came immediately as the unique energy flowed into him, and like the spider for which the Añaru was named, he shot out tendrils of power, which wove a web around the man’s hand. They sank into the man and spread up his arm, slowly sucking the life juices from him.

Surprise came swiftly to the man’s features. “I don’t understand.”

“You owe your allegiance to my son and yet you come here, telling me his secrets,” Alexander said, laying his other hand on the man’s shoulder to tighten the web around him and speed the transfer of power. Before his eyes dozens of tendrils of Hunter energy formed around the points of contact before sinking deep into the man’s flesh to draw yet more vigor from his being.

“Came… to… help,” the man pleaded, not that it would do him any good.

“Añaru. You are draining him,” Maya said from beside him, fear in her voice.

“The energy, Maya. It is incredible,” Alexander said, caught up in the vitality racing through his body, repairing the damage created by the damned human pox. A faint whimper came from the man as he slowly crumpled to his knees, and still Alexander held on until there was not a drop of energy left in the other Shadow’s body.

He released his hold and the man fell to the ground, his lifeless stare still mirroring his confusion.

Alexander brushed his hands together, as if wiping off something distasteful. Then he faced Maya, and with a smile, cradled her cheek and released a bit of the life force.

She shuddered and released a mewl of pleasure.
Beneath the tight fabric of her gown, her nipples hardened into visible nubs.

“Later, my dear,” he said, and with purposeful strides he returned to the massive granite and steel desk by the large windows of his office. Pushing the intercom button, he summoned his own cadre captain and within seconds the man entered.

His captain strode in, ignoring the other Shadow Hunter’s corpse as he approached Alexander and saluted. “What is your command, Añaru?”

“Select your most trusted man, William. I need him to replace this scum in Christopher’s cadre.” He negligently flicked his hand in the direction of the fallen Hunter.

William finally glanced down at the body of his former clansman. “Did he displease, Añaru?”

Alexander chuckled. “Not at all, William. He pleased me quite well, but there is something I need you to oversee,” he said, and advised his captain about the dead man’s report and what he wished William to do.

“I want your man to confirm what’s happening with Christopher and I want you to visit Salvatore Bruno. Impress on him that Maya and I are growing tired of waiting.”

After he had finished, his captain nodded and saluted again. “As you wish,” he replied, and exited, leaving him and Maya alone with the corpse.

She walked toward Alexander, her hips swaying, her aura a dark crimson stained in spots from the smallpox energies woven into her being. As her gaze met his, the desire roused by his earlier touch was evident in her dilated pupils. He knew what she wanted, but he would not satisfy her tonight.

“It’s time you went to Christopher, Maya. I want you
to find out whatever you can about this unique power he seeks.”

Maya walked straight up to him, not stopping until the hard nubs of her nipples rubbed across the cotton of his shirt. She teased him with a little blast of her sexual energy, but he would not be weak tonight. Not when he had such wonderful vitality flowing through him.

“Not tonight, Maya.”

“But I’m so ready for you, Alexander,” she said, and to prove her point, she grasped his hand and brought it to the fabric between her legs.

There was no denying her readiness. The heat and wet of her drenched the fabric beneath his fingers and his cock jumped in anticipation, but he fought back the desire.

“Go, Maya, before I suck you dry as well.”

Realizing he was serious, she copied the cadre captain’s earlier deference. “I will go to Christopher as you wish, Añaru.”