Along a wall, running along Onalee’s left side, was the laboratory’s central network, which held all of the lab’s data.
Brogan had already positioned himself in front of the network’s main console in an attempt to block Rebus, whose job it was to copy the experimental results onto a tiny, portable unit.
About the size of a pen, and made of flexible nanowire, it could hold all of the data in the entire building.
Rebus moved into position, but before he could insert the external drive, the fourth scientist advanced on their group. Iliona intercepted him, and Onalee fought a smile.
Iliona was dressed in black, like her comrades; but instead of the regular pants with a multitude of pockets, heavy boots, long-sleeve shirts, and utility belts, Iliona’s “uniform”—if it could be called that—had a second purpose: distraction.
Her black clothes consisted of a fitted bodice, with fine black mesh above her breasts and over her shoulders. She wore tight-fitting black pants, high boots, and her hair piled atop her head. With weapons on her belt, she looked like a sexy warrior.
Iliona set her sights on the advancing scientist. She moved towards him, cocked her hip, planted a hand on it, and smiled at him. He stopped in his tracks.
“Is that your work station?” she asked him in a low tone that even Onalee found titillating. “Can you show me?”
The poor male didn’t stand a chance. He promptly forgot everyone else in the room, and ushered Iliona over to his console, eager to show her his contribution to the research.
Onalee had to fight to hold back her laughter. Iliona was as well-trained as the rest of the Guards, and was essentially Brogan’s right-hand-woman. But the female knew how to use all the weapons at her disposal.
Conall asked Doctor Ravi questions that kept him, and the other two scientists, talking for several minutes while Rebus worked. But Onalee was getting antsy.
She smiled, nodded, ooed, and ahhed when appropriate, but could hardly focus past the beating of her own heart. Corporate espionage was definitely not her thing.
She held it together through Ravi’s lecture, as he showed them the bundles of cells, still merrily dividing, and while he explained his plan to run further tests before distributing the cure throughout the population.
She felt intense relief when Brogan stepped to her side and gave her a pointed nod. They’d gotten the research!
“I can’t tell you how impressed I am, Doctor,” Onalee praised when he’d momentarily stopped. “This afternoon at four-o’clock, we will share your discovery with the universe from the front lobby of the building. I have a feeling that you’ll be a very popular man.”
“It wasn’t just me,” Ravi adamantly told her. “It’s the success of my entire team.”
Onalee inclined her head. “Of course. Please make sure they’re all in the main lobby at four for the announcement.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She turned, eager to leave, but he stopped her with a question.
“Are you sure about announcing our results this early? Shouldn’t we wait for another round of tests? Or at least for your brother to come examine the results himself?”
Irritation and anger slithered down Onalee’s spine. She was sick and tired of being a passive figurehead. Legally—and in her heart—Cormikan Industries was as much hers as Forkan’s.
Actually, once his treachery was made public and he was incarcerated, she’d be the sole owner of her family’s legacy.
“I am more than capable of making the decision myself, Doctor Ravi. And yes, it must be this afternoon, for reasons which I am not comfortable sharing with you at the moment.”
What she didn’t tell him was that the announcement had to be made before Forkan found out what she’d done, and made a move in retaliation. Even though they now had a copy of the researcher’s data, there was still a lot he could do.
Doctor Ravi inclined his head in respect. “Yes, ma’am, I never meant to insinuate that you…”
He faltered, and Onalee gave him a reprieve. It wasn’t his fault he didn’t see her as a leader in their company. She had let herself become what she was through years of naive deferment to her brother. That was all about to change.
“Doctor, please don’t worry yourself,” she told him with a smile. “I will see you and your fellow scientists downstairs at four.”
She turned, leading her team through the laboratory and into the lift. Only once the doors closed did she breathe a sigh of relief. Two hands were on her back.
“You did fantastically,” Conall praised.
“We’re not clear yet,” Brogan added tightly. He turned towards his team and they nodded at his unspoken words. Rebus cracked his neck, Anders smoothed a hand over his sidearm, and the tension ratcheted up several notches.
“What’s going on?” Onalee asked warily.
“Oset just reported that Forkan is walking into the foyer, accompanied by a male he identified as his associate, Stigus,” Brogan answered.
Onalee’s swift intake of breath was her only indication of her unease. She nodded in understanding. She’d hoped to have a confrontation with her brother later, preferably in private, but if he was going to make a public scene, she wasn’t going to stop him.
“Rebus, can you hack into the building’s internal monitoring system?” she asked quickly. The lift’s doors would open at any moment.
“Yes, I can,” he answered.
“Good. Make sure the cameras follow me, and that they can hear every word spoken.”
Rebus nodded.
“What are you planning?” Brogan asked warily.
“Forkan is going to want to pull me aside to talk.” She looked straight at Brogan. “And you’re going to let him.”
The doors of the lift opened, and they stepped out.
“The hell I will,” Brogan replied low.
“Not bloody likely,” Conall added from her other side.
“You must,” she told them both quietly. “I can get him to admit to everything if he thinks the conversation is private.”
She glanced at Brogan as they walked, and he nodded tightly, clearly unhappy with her plan. “I’m not letting him lead you out of my sight,” he told her.
“You’d better not,” she replied. “And make sure you’re listening with those super-ears of yours. Once we’ve got enough evidence, please handle the situation as you see fit.”
“I’m going to arrest him,” Brogan warned. Onalee looked his way and their eyes met.
“I understand.”
He nodded, and they faced forward, entering the foyer. Forkan and Stigus had just come through the main doors. Her brother’s expression changed the instant he saw her. He was angry.
“What about the other male?” Conall asked quietly.
Onalee’s eyes went to Stigus, and she suppressed a shiver of disgust.
“I’d rather you not let him near me,” she told him honestly.
Brogan growled low in response, and she knew he understood. Neither male would let anything happen to her, so she focused on her brother approaching their group. She smiled politely at him when they got close.
“Afternoon, Forkan, Stigus,” she greeted with her pleasant mask.
“Onalee. I didn’t expect to see you here,” Forkan replied. His eyes skipped from her to her companions. “We need to talk. Privately.”
“I agree.”
She allowed him to take her elbow and steer her away towards a secluded corner. Thankfully, Stigus stayed with the others.
She glanced at Rebus as she passed and he gave her a nod, his fingers on his wristunit. Good: he’d tapped into the security systems.
Forkan rounded on her once they were out of earshot of the others.
“What are you doing here?” he demanded.
Onalee stood tall and determined.
“I just met with Doctor Ravi and his team to check on the progress of his research.”
“You have no reason to concern yourself with that.”
“Oh, I believe that I do—especially after the conversation you had with Stigus, where you explicitly told him to use explosives and destroy all data pertaining to the successful testing of a cure.”
Forkan flinched back from her statement, his expression one of shock. “What? That’s ludicrous! Where did you hear that?”
“From you. When you gave the order.”
His eyes went wide, before they narrowed in suspicion. “Were you spying on me?”
She shook her head. “No, Forkan. But I have ears, and am usually overlooked.”
He stood for a moment, quietly assessing her. Onalee let him look his fill. If he was thinking that something within her had changed, he’d be spot-on.
“What are you going to do?” he finally asked.
“I’m going to announce to all of Arath that we’ve had successful experiments. I’m going to tell them that Cormikan Industries has found a cure for our race’s infertility.”
Anger momentarily flitted over his face. “You don’t understand the implications of what you’re suggesting.”
He visibly calmed himself. When he spoke next, his voice was lower, making sure it was only her who heard him. “If the cure is released to the public, we’ll lose everything.”
It was Onalee’s turn to be confused. “What are you talking about?” she asked.
“Cormikan Industries is entirely dedicated to finding a cure. It’s how we get all of our funding, and the reason I have a seat on the High Council.”
This wasn’t news to Onalee; she’d known that their family business was leading the search for the cure. It’d been a source of pride for her. She’d also known that his work was the reason Forkan was on the High Council. But somehow he’d twisted what should have been a source of pride into something dark.
If Arathians were cured, their business wouldn’t exist, and Forkan would lose his seat, and status. She would too.
He’d been trying to cover up their successes to keep his position in society—one that he’d had for many years.
Actually, now that she thought about it, there’d been a few lab accidents over the past few years: three that she could think of off the top of her head—explosions that had injured several, and destroyed entire laboratories.
A dark thought crossed her mind… One that she hoped wasn’t true.
“Is that why there have been accidents in some of the labs here? To cover up progress in the research?”
Please let that not be true, she thought to herself.
She wasn’t sure if she could hear anymore horrible things her brother had done, but he didn’t need to answer her. The look on his face told her more than she needed to know.
Frustration and anger bubbled up inside of Onalee. It wasn’t just their family he was putting at risk, it was the entire Arathian race.
“How long have you been doing this?” she demanded. “How long have you been repressing something that could save our race from extinction?”
Forkan didn’t answer her. That was alright, she knew the answer to her own questions.
“You don’t want us to find a cure, because the search is what drives your power,” she assumed.
That had him narrowing his eyes on her. “Without it, our family’s business is just one of dozens that research scientific advancements.”
“There’s honor in that,” she argued.
“Yes, but no real power.”
His voice had risen again, and his eyes skirted behind Onalee, where she knew her mates and the team waited for her.
When Forkan turned back to her, he’d lowered his voice again. “Tell me the truth, are you being forced to do this? Did they threaten you?”
It was Onalee’s turn to be surprised. “Of course not. Why would you think that?”
“Because this isn’t you!” he told her urgently. “My sister wouldn’t do this to me: she wouldn’t jeopardize the company our mother and fathers worked their entire lives to build.”
His expression grew soft, and he reached out to cup her cheek. When she pulled back, his eyes turned sad.
He took a step away, ran his hand down the front of his shirt to smooth it down, in a motion she knew to be one of agitation, then rounded on her again.
“Can’t you see that I’m doing this for us? For our future? I make these hard choices so that you don’t have to. My sweet sister, I never wanted to burden you with the knowledge of what I’ve been forced to do to ensure our success.”
He looked so much like the brother she knew and loved, that Onalee’s heart momentarily softened towards him. He’d taken care of her for years—was the only family she had. She knew it’d been hard on him, and that he’d been forced to make sacrifices, too. She’d just never imagined that he’d also sacrificed the future of their entire race.
“What have you been forced to do?” she asked, afraid of the answer. What else had he done over the years that she didn’t know about?
Forkan shook his head. “Never mind that. Please, Lea, give me the data drive, and come home with me where you belong. Your life is with me, with your family.”
He held out his hand to her like a lifeline, and she recoiled. He may be blood, but he wasn’t her family any longer. His decisions had taken that from her.
Her life wasn’t with him. It was with Conall, and Brogan… with Oliver, her new son.
“No.”
“What did you say?” he asked, as if he’d misheard her.
“I said no. I will not be going home; neither will you… not after the world hears of your treachery.”
His hand fell, as did his expression.
“Onalee, you’re still not following what I’m saying. If the search is over, if the Arathian race is cured, we’ll have nothing.”
“But our people will gain everything!” she retorted.
She did grasp the magnitude of his actions—possibly better than he did.
“Don’t you understand what you’ve done?” she asked him. “You’ve killed more Arathians, by not allowing them to even be conceived, than the Lazools ever did with their weapons.”
Forkan jerked back from her verbal blow. Onalee wasn’t sure if he’d just realized the magnitude of his actions, or was surprised at her standing up to him. Either way, the soft look he’d given her only moments ago was quickly replaced with anger.
His face flushed, nostrils flared, eyes tightened, and his hands clenched at his sides.
Don’t retreat now, Onalee told herself in the face of Forkan’s fury.
“How dare you betray me!” he yelled. “After all the years I took care of you? Secured your future? This is how you thank me?”
The old Onalee would have apologized and backed down. Not today. How could he turn this on her—like she was the one in the wrong?!
“Me? How dare you betray your own race!” Onalee yelled back, uncaring of who heard her in the vast, echoing atrium of the building.
Forkan noticed the rise in volume, and that they’d begun to draw a crowd. His eyes swept the room, and he lowered his voice once again.
“You have no proof. It’s your word against mine, and I’m a well-liked, honorable member of society. You’ve been in my shadow your entire life, and will remain there, no matter what you accuse me of.”
Onalee shook her head, and smiled a completely fake-sweet smile.
“Oh Forkan, I don’t think I’ll have any trouble, since this entire conversation is being recorded. Also, once the Guards gain access to your personal Database, I’m sure they’ll find all the proof they need to remove you from your honorable place in society.”
Forkan cleared his throat and glanced towards Brogan and the other Guards, his smile long gone. They had begun to approach the siblings.
“I’m sure I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he replied loud enough for the Guards to hear—as if that could save him now. Anders was already putting Stigus into handcuffs.
“Really?” Onalee asked rhetorically. “How about the fact that you’re
in league with the Anti-Earther Movement? Or that you provided them with schematics to replicate weapons that would go undetected? Or that you plotted to assassinate King Lukas and Queen Jayda?”
That was Forkan’s breaking point. He raised his fist as if to strike her, but a large Arathian hand grabbed his wrist and wrenched it swiftly behind his back. Forkan cried out in pain, as his arm was twisted and secured into bonds; but his eyes still shot daggers at Onalee.
“They won’t be around to protect you forever!” he yelled at her. “When things calm down, they’ll go back to their lives, and you’ll be all alone.”
“Not a chance in hell,” Brogan asserted from behind Forkan. “I’d never abandon my mate.”
“Nor would I,” Conall agreed, as he stepped to Onalee’s side and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, tucking her against his side.
Forkan’s fury turned into shock.
“What did you say?” he asked Conall, before turning to Onalee. “Is this true? Have you consented to mate with these… these…”
“Watch what you say, brother-mine,” Onalee warned in a deceptively-sweet tone, “for they’re your brothers now, too.”
Shock was once again overtaken by animosity. Forkan pulled against his bonds and yelled, uncaring of who heard him.
“How could you mate with an Earther? They’re polluting our genome, and will make us unrecognizable as Arathian!”
Onalee shook her head. “You’re wrong, Forkan. Earthers are what has saved our race. I will make sure that every Arathian knows that.”
Fury etched itself into every line of Forkan’s body. He pulled uselessly against the bonds at his wrists, fighting and spitting curses as Brogan pulled him towards the atrium’s doors.
“You promised her to me!” Stigus yelled at Forkan, when Brogan dragged him past. “All of those years working for you… you promised that she’d be mine.”
“Shut your mouth, Stigus! You idiot!” Forkan yelled back.
Onalee swallowed hard, and urged Brogan and Anders to move faster. She didn’t want to hear anymore. Her limit for revelations had been met for the day.
Alien Revelation Page 26
