Violet (The Silver Series Book 4) (18 page)

Men began to spill from the vehicles. Rafe
told me to stay put, then followed Kaynan and Jaze outside. Kaynan
gave me a horror-filled glance that said he had experienced the
same flashback from the accident, then a man grabbed him from
behind. I screamed, but Kaynan crouched, elbowed the man in the
groin, then swept his legs out from under him and elbowed him in
the back as he fell to the ground.

I felt helpless and looked around for
something useful to do. Jet had already put the drivers of the next
two cars out of commission. The other werewolves were occupied in
the fight and the cars were abandoned as far as I could tell. With
everyone distracted, I figured it would be the best time to look
for our parents.

I slipped out the door away from the action
and ducked low behind the cars. I stepped around the unconscious
driver from the first car and opened the rear door. My heart fell
when I found the backseat empty. I left it open and ran in a crouch
to the next vehicle. My heart fell even lower when I found that
backseat empty as well. I crept around the moaning driver of the
next car, checked the seat with a quick glance, and ran to the last
two vehicles, barely slowing until I stared at the empty back seat
of the last car.

The battle on the other side of the vehicle
was intense. Bodies lay scattered on the street, but the werewolves
were still fighting. The sound of sirens was heavy in the air as
word of the accident spread. Jaze's cheek had been sliced and bled
freely down his face. Jet limped, but fought without letting the
injury slow him down. Rafe had two men cornered against a car; his
shoulder bled from either a gunshot wound or a knife, but he
ignored it, his eyes intent on the men as though he dared them to
run. Kaynan was crouched on top of a man on the ground. He raised
something metal and I flinched when he sliced the man's throat.

A sharp whistle sounded. Jaze spun around,
an expectant expression in his eyes. From out of nowhere,
werewolves and Hunters swarmed past the buildings and cars and
overtook the men who attacked us. Within seconds, every man was on
the ground, guns pointed at their heads. Jaze and Jet walked
between them checking on bodies. Down the block, Hunters with
police cars put up barricades and spoke to the drivers of two
ambulances and a fire engine who argued to get through.

A limo pulled up slowly from the opposite
end of the street. At Jaze’s word, his small army surrounded it,
guns out and no mercy on their faces. The limo stopped in the
middle of the men and the back door opened. A man in a navy blue
suit with a red handkerchief in the pocket stepped out. He took one
look around, spotted Kaynan and I, and started clapping.

“
Well done. Very well done.
Who would've thought you could muster a militia so
quickly?”

Kaynan glared at him. “What do you
want?”

The man gave a small smile. “The real
question is, what do you want?”

Kaynan glanced at me. “Our parents, and our
freedom.”

The man met my eyes. “Did you find your
parents in any of the cars, Colleen?”

I bristled at the sound of my name from his
lips, but shook my head. “They're not here.”

“
Huh, strange.” The man
pulled something out of his pocket and tossed it toward me. The
necklace Kaynan had given Mom landed at my feet.
“Clever.”

“
You're outnumbered,” Jaze
pointed out. “We could just kill you now.”

The man gave a half smile. “But then you'd
never find the Andersons. By the time you tracked them down, they'd
be just bodies to bury in the cold ground.” His voice lowered. “You
don't want that, do you?”

A growl rumbled in Jaze’s throat and he took
a step toward the man. “One phone call and I’ll have a S.W.A.T.
team on your tail. I don’t care what branch of the government you
work for. This isn’t the way to handle business.”

The man held up a hand. “It doesn’t need to
be this way.”

“
You’re right, it doesn’t,”
Jaze replied. His dark brown eyes sparked with intensity and the
threat of his words sent a shiver down my spine.

“
Let me state my business
and your friends can choose to go on their way, or help us with a
little matter. All they need to do is listen for just a minute.”
His tone was honest and he appeared unarmed. I couldn’t decide if
he was insane or confident that we could come to an
agreement.

The thought made my stomach roll. “What do
you want?”

His eyebrows lifted. “What you want,
actually. Your parents safe and your lives back.” He motioned
toward the car door. “Give me a minute of your time and we'll see
if we can come up with an amiable arrangement to make both
happen.”

Jaze started to protest, but Kaynan met my
eyes. “I'll meet with you, but Colleen stays out here.”

The man shook his head. “This is a deal
you'll both have to participate in. You don't want the choice of
saving only one parent, do you?” He ducked back into the limo to
wait.

I grimaced and walked toward the car.

“
Colleen, don't,” Rafe
said.

I gave him a look I hoped was reassuring. “I
don't have much of a choice. At least he can't do much in a car,
right?”

Rafe didn't look so sure. He followed me and
paced outside when I climbed in with Kaynan close behind. The man
in the suit waited for us to close the door, then dropped all
pretense of formality. He leaned forward and extended a hand. “I'm
Agent Sullivan of the GPA.” At Kaynan's look, he lifted an eyebrow.
“The Global Protection Agency.”

The title didn’t faze Kaynan. “Your ability
to protect anyone is questionable. You're keeping our parents
where?”

Agent Sullivan dropped his hand and grinned
as if the snub didn’t bother him. “If only life were that easy.” He
sat back in his chair and folded his hands in his lap. “Look, I'll
be honest with you. The GPA has little reason to let you go. The
only way I could ensure the safety of both the world and your lives
was to get them to accept a bargain.”

“
You bargained with your
own company on behalf of our lives?” Kaynan questioned. “Why would
you do that?”

He glanced toward the front of the car where
the tinted partition window separated us from the driver; he then
leaned forward and motioned for us to do the same until our noses
almost touched. “Because my wife happens to be a werewolf,” he
whispered. “I refuse to believe that a person should die just
because of what they are, or in your case, made to be.”

He sat back and cleared his throat. “The
deal I'm offering is for you to wear suicide bracelets containing
pills that will kill you as well as render your DNA uncloneable in
a matter of seconds.” At our looks, he gave a sympathetic smile. “I
know, sounds pleasant, but the government operates with its own
insurance policy. Life or death situations aren't taken lightly,
and neither is the cloning of a potential werewolf army.”

I glanced at Kaynan, the pit in my stomach
matching the sick look in his eyes. “And if we agree to that?” he
asked quietly.

Agent Sullivan continued lightly, “Then we
move on to part two of the agreement, which is to destroy Base
Omega.”

Trepidation joined the chaos in my stomach.
“What's Base Omega?”

He pursed his lips. “Apparently, Dr. Tannin,
with whom you are both familiar, decided to create a backup plan in
case anyone destroyed his first facility.”

“
The Development Center,”
Kaynan said, his face pale.

Agent Sullivan nodded. “And since you were
so accommodating on demolishing that one, Base Omega continued
according to his plan.” He sat forward with his elbows on his knees
and his hands clasped loosely together in front of him. “Base Omega
is the only other facility in the United States besides the
Development Center that has the capability of cloning werewolves.
Since the two of you are the only viable clones that ever came out
of the Development Center, you are the most likely subjects for
that cloning. You need to destroy it to ensure your safety.”

Everything muffled past the words 'viable
clones'. I stared at my hands, unwilling to believe that he meant
what he said. I opened one hand and closed it slowly, needing so
badly to look at Kaynan and see if he had heard what I did, while
at the same time telling myself that by not looking, I could
pretend that I never heard it.

Kaynan's voice came out as a strangled
whisper. “Did you call us clones?”

“
Yes,” Agent Sullivan
answered. He paused. “I thought you knew.”

“
That we were clones?” I
saw Kaynan shake his head from the corner of my eye. “I knew they
were making clones of us, but I didn't know we were clones,
too.”

“
The human body wouldn't be
able to phase into a werewolf. Only a body created with werewolf
DNA already in place would be able to. I assumed you knew that.”
There was a touch of pity in his voice. I met his eyes and he
stared at me for a second before the pity left and his gaze
hardened again. “If you refuse both conditions, I have orders to
kill you and bury both you and your parents in unmarked
graves.”

Kaynan gave a humorless chuckle. “Not much
of a choice, is there?” His voice was flat, emotionless, and I knew
his mind reeled the way mine did at the thought that we were
clones. I needed time to think, but time was the last thing we
had.

Agent Sullivan shrugged. “That's how the
government works.”

“
What about the wolves
taken from Rafe's forest? Will you return them, too?” I
demanded.

Agent Sullivan nodded. “We will.”

I glared at him. “Why did you take them in
the first place? It's enough that you have our parents. Rafe's pack
has nothing to do with this.”

He met my gaze. “We do what we must to
ensure the safety of the human population. All the time that you
spent in the forest without contacting your family left us doubtful
as to your bond with them, but your actions with the wolf pack left
us little doubt. Rafe was our target for your compliance, but the
wolf pack was all we found, so we settled.”

“
They killed the alpha,” I
pointed out angrily.

He gave a little nod. “Not of my doing.
Apparently no alpha will stand by and watch their pack be carried
away. The team was told to take precautionary measures and they
felt killing the alpha was the best way to go about it.” His eyes
softened. “Believe me when I say that I never take the loss of life
lightly.”

I met his gaze for a minute, then looked
away as the image of Rafe's alpha lying dead in the grove flashed
through my mind. I blinked back tears.

“
What makes you think we
can just waltz into Base Omega and destroy it?” Kaynan asked,
changing topics to give me a minute to collect myself.

The agent gave a calculating smile. “Because
you're you. You are the only people they want.” His smile fell
slightly and an almost embarrassed sheen came into his eyes. “And
since clones aren't recognized by the Constitution and neither are
werewolves, we retain no liability if anything happens to you. The
GPA walks away and no one is the wiser.”

“
One neat little package,”
Kaynan said with heavy sarcasm.

Agent Sullivan gave us both a frank look.
“Honestly, the whole situation makes me sick and I don't feel that
anyone should be considered expendable, but very few individuals
are offered a way out. As improbable as it may seem, it's better
than nothing.”

His honesty struck me true and I knew we
wouldn't get a better offer. I liked my life, a farce though it
might be. I definitely had some intense thinking to do on that
later if things ever slowed down. I put out my hand. “Thank you,
Agent Sullivan. We'll take you up on your offer.”

The relief in his eyes countered the
disbelief in Kaynan's. “We will not!” he growled.

Agent Sullivan ignored him and took my hand.
“I wish there was any other way.”

“
I know,” I consoled him,
laughing inwardly at myself for comforting someone who was sending
my brother and I off to an almost certain death.

He reached into his suit pocket and pulled
out two metal bracelets. They were tube shaped with a bulge in the
middle. Agent Sullivan showed us where to bite on the bulge to open
it, revealing two orange pills inside. “It only takes one to do the
trick, but two won't hurt.”

“
Won't hurt worse, you
mean,” Kaynan muttered. He glared at us both when I held out my arm
for the agent to fasten the bracelet, then shook his head when I
told him to do the same.

“
Kaynan, I'm going, so if
you're planning keep your self-appointed job as my protector, you'd
better accept that you're coming and stop being
difficult.”

He held my gaze heatedly for a minute, then
looked away, a wet sheen to his dark red eyes. “Fine.” He held out
his arm and let Agent Sullivan fasten the bracelet. He then eyed it
angrily. “You could have made it a bit more masculine.”

“
I'll take that up with the
Agency,” Agent Sullivan replied dryly.

Kaynan rolled his eyes, then opened the limo
door and climbed out. I got up to follow him, then hesitated and
glanced back at the agent. “I don't envy you your job.”

He gave a genuine smile. “I don't envy you
your's, either.”

A half-smile touched my lips and I climbed
out after Kaynan. Rafe, Jaze, and Jet were with him, and by the
looks on their faces had already gotten the gist of what we were
told by the agent.

“
No way,” Rafe said. He
stalked to my side with his eyes on the limousine door. “He can't
be serious.”

“
He has our parents, and we
know they want all of us dead. It's the only way,” I said
gently.