~
Max unwrapped the handkerchief that was tied around his palm, cursing under his breath. He scowled, turning to look at the heavily sedated girl sprawled out in the back of the van. She looked sweet and innocent, lying there with golden curls framing an angelic face, but he suspected that she might just be the devil in disguise.
He had serious doubts about the wisdom of taking her so soon, and a gut feeling that they were making a huge mistake. They had a good thing going with the twins, and everybody was making plenty of money. So why rock the boat?
He’d tried to convince the professor to wait, to fully assess the situation before bringing her into the building, but Reed was adamant. From the moment the professor had learned of her existence she’d become his sole obsession, and he’d been preparing for her arrival with a frenzied rush of energy. The maniacal gleam in his eye was troubling; when it came to this girl, the old man would not listen to reason.
Once he got a close up look at her it got even worse; the old fool couldn’t stop crowing about how all his years of work had been vindicated. Now Max was even expected to supply women for his freaky experiments … like the chimps hadn’t been hard enough to come by!
The girl was trouble, all right, and nowhere near as delicate as she looked. Max had personally witnessed her disable a battle-hardened veteran, delivering a crippling blow with no hesitation. She’d left him a man short of a full security detail, and now he had her to deal with on top of everything else. He rubbed his temples, and the throbbing in his bitten hand only served to reinforce his misgivings.
“Headache?” the driver asked.
“Yeah,” Max replied, “A huge one.”
The Athena Effect Page 45
