by S. M. Dapelo
“Pot?” Richard’s brows went to his forehead. “Don’t you mean cup?”
“Nope,” the other three men said.
“While he doesn’t look like it, Berto tries to be the stereotypical geek,” Xavier picked up a tablet and started paging through.
“Except when it comes to sex,” grumbled Tanner. “Then he tries anything my youngest sister suggests.”
Ethan pulled me into his lap and started clicking through pages, “How fast can you go through this?” he asked.
I kissed his cheek, “Go work. I should get through all of this before we leave,” I stood up, staring at the screen.
He got up, his hand on my back, “Any headaches and you stop. Got it?”
“Agreed,” I muttered, clicking through the pages at breakneck speed.
“Tanner, what are you doing?” I heard Ethan
“Same as Sam. We need two sets of eyes on this and I’m the only one that can go at her speed,” my brother said from directly behind me.
“Make it so,” I heard Ethan say as he walked away.
Rich sighed, “Star Trek?”
“Next Gen.” Tanner leaned over the chair, shaking his head, “He’s on a Patrick Stewart phase right now.”
I pulled open the employment files and raced through each one. “Son-of-a-bitch,” breathed Tanner and I sat back glaring at the screen.
“I’m putting a bullet in his head,” I found myself shaking.
“Not if I get him first,” Tanner replied.
“What’s going on?” Richard walked up to the screen, Ethan looking up from his file.
“Brock Peterson’s real last name is Tyson. He’s a nephew of General Tyson, which explains why he didn’t get charged after shooting you.” I tried to control my breathing, “He’s also worked with every single member of Project Chimera.”
“They didn’t work for the same departments or agencies.” Ethan headed toward the desk, “Heck, some of them were only military.”
“Yet he worked with all of them,” Tanner’s jaw ticked again. “Have we ever pulled his file?”
“No.” Berto walked in typing on a table, “We always thought he was too stupid to look into.”
“Pull it. Now,” Ethan ground out. “I want everything before we’re in the air. I also want everything on the General.”
“Both of them have the ring,” I said, enlarging a picture. “We knew Peterson had it, but it looks like the general did as well.” I pointed at the screen.
Richard swore, “He was cleaning house. Getting rid of anything, including people, that could tie him to Chimera.” He looked at the screen, “What doctors did he work with? Does it say?”
“I haven’t seen any mentioned.” Tanner reached around me to grab the mouse, clicking some more. The he stopped and looked at Richard, “How do you know about cleaning house?”
“He’s my uncle,” Ethan’s arms were crossed. “He was trained for this the same as my dad, the same as me. He just chose a different path.”
I glanced at Ethan, “You weren’t exaggerating? You were trained for this since you were born?”
He gave a single nod, “But our children won’t, so don’t worry about that.”
I froze, “Um…”
“You broke her again,” Xavier sang.
“Lafferty’s don’t do kids well,” Tanner said as he kept going through the files.
“Bullshit,” Ethan barked. “You two kept Lyssa safe. I’m not saying she’s normal, no one would …”
“Thank God for that,” smiled Berto.
“Shut up,” both Tanner and I yelled.
“But you two kept her safe,” continued Ethan like he’d never been interrupted. “You’ve worked with the Horsemen since they were ten. I can’t think of two people more qualified for children.” Since they were ten? I needed to find out more about this group.
I sat back looking at the computer, “I need everyone out. I need to speak to Tanner and Ethan now.”
The others started to argue, but I just glanced up between Ethan and Tanner. Tanner’s lips disappeared and Ethan gave a single nod. “Everyone out,” he said quietly.
I waited until the door shut behind them. “There’s records here, medical records. Everyone had their bomb implanted shortly after they arrived at boot camp. Everyone except for me. However, the medical records are telling.” I looked at them, “This asshole general expected to breed me, so more superspies would be born.”
Tanner started cursing. Ethan face went dark. “When we got together, that ruined his little plan. What’s it say? Does it say with who?”
“Who do think?” I snarled as I sat back. “His douche bag of a nephew. That’s why we were paired up as partners. They probably didn’t expect me to hate him on sight.”
“You think they would have.” Tanner reached over me and hit the mouse, “Every single other member that he worked with tried to get him up on charges. Look, he almost hit two others with a shot. They complained he was too busy trying to flirt, not work, his way up the chain of command.”
“It still doesn’t explain why the electrode was put in the wrong area,” I glared at the screen.
“Well, that’s easy,” Ethan’s voice grew eerily calm. “If you couldn’t remember me, Brock figured he had a chance.” He pulled out his phone, “Berto, find out where Peterson and the general were when Sam got hurt.” A vein was starting to throb in his neck.
“What are you thinking, Ethan?” asked Tanner.
“That we weren’t supposed to find her,” Ethan was noticeably trying to control his breathing. “She wasn’t supposed to escape, but someone underestimated her. I’m guessing Peterson since the General trained her. If we hadn’t found her, Peterson would have. I need to make a call.” He walked to the door, wrenching it open and stalking through it.
“Tanner, we’re the good guys, right? Ethan wouldn’t purposely hurt someone. He’ll just turn him in?” I glanced at him.
His face was somber, “Sam, someone not only hurt you, but tried to destroy what you and Ethan have.” He glanced over at me, “This is gonna get bloody.”
Chapter 36
The flight on the Ryker Group’s private plane should have been calming. The seats were leather, the drinks were free, heck we didn’t even hit turbulence. Unfortunately, I was preoccupied. Ethan was frowning at something he was reviewing on his tablet, Tanner was asleep in his chair, Berto was doing something on a computer, and Xavier was reading a magazine.
“What’s bothering you, Samantha?” Richard sat next to me.
I bit my lip. “Something Tanner said,” I replied and then glanced over at him. “We’re the good guys, right?”
Richard gave a wry smile and gave a slight shake of his head, “Depends on who you talk to. I’m sure the Lebanese government doesn’t think so, or the Sudanese, and I can think of a few drug cartels that would say you’re not.” He looked at me thoughtfully, “What did Tanner say?”
“That it’s going to get bloody,” I crossed my arms.
“Oh, it is,” Rich nodded.
“You’re a doctor, shouldn’t you be arguing against it?” I stared at him.
“Samantha,” he sighed, “These bastards took children and turned them into weapons. They even put self-destruct buttons in them in case they got caught. Everything has to be wiped out, or sometime in the future someone else will decide it’s okay to do the same thing.”
He stared out the window for a moment, then turned to me again. “I chose to walk away from the family business. There have been spies in this family for as long as we can trace our genealogy. I let my brother run the group, and I went and studied medicine. I convinced myself that I had the more noble calling. But when I read through files like this one, I second guess myself. Monsters who steal children from their families to become weapons, they have to be stopped by any means necessary.”
“What about turning them over to the authorities?” I argued.
“As long as they live, their methods l
ive.” Rich frowned, “They already started cleaning everything, but we have to make sure it’s all gone. We can’t let them do this to anyone else.”
I stared ahead for a moment, “Doesn’t that mean getting rid of me? I was part of it.”
“You have no memories of it,” Richard said. “All you are is a fantastic spy with a gift for picking everything up. They didn’t give you that gift, you always had it.” He bit at the tip of his thumb, “Sometimes you have to do bad actions for good results. It sucks, but it is what it is.” He thought for a moment then turned to me, “If someone was threatening Ethan would you stop them?”
“Yes,” I answered without hesitating.
“How?” he asked.
“Depends on what was available,” I shrugged.
“Their coming up behind him with a knife, there’s no way for you to warn him, and you have a gun,” he stared at me.
“I shoot them,” I shrugged, then paused realizing what I said.
Richard gave a soft smile, “Exactly. That’s all Ethan’s doing. He saw someone who hurt you, and he’s making sure they won’t anymore. Make no mistake, some governments would pay a lot of money for the techniques that were developed from this project. Which is why everything has to be destroyed or put out of commission.” He patted my knee and walked over to the bar, grabbing a drink. I sat and digested what I learned.
Ethan moved to Richard’s vacated seat and kissed my cheek. “What were the two of you talking about?”
I turned to him, “Do you think there are good guys and bad guys?”
His eyes widened and he sat back, “I have to admit, I never thought about it.” He paused as he contemplated my question. “No. I think there are ideologies, and you try to stay true to them. I mean, look at the movie we watched last night. The bad guy thought he was in the right. He was stopping people from starving or destroying themselves by getting rid of half the universe in a completely random way. Hell, if the main good guy had just let that one robot deactivate himself, it would have stopped everything. But he didn’t because he stayed true to his ideology. And because of that, the other guy won.”
He stared at me a moment, “Ask your question, Sugar.”
“Are you going to kill them?” I asked quietly.
“That’s what I thought you were going to ask.” He pushed a strand of my hair out of my face. “Depends. We still don’t know that much. But if they come after you or any member of this family, the answer is yes. Without a second thought.”
“Didn’t they already come at our family?”
He nodded and looked at me through hooded eyes, “I guess that answers your question. Can you live with that?”
I took a breath and nodded, “I don’t have any idea what my ideology is, but I know I want all of you safe.”
He gave a soft smile, “I was hoping to keep you completely out of this side of the business, now that you don’t remember.”
“Was I in it before?”
“Does it matter?” He took my hand and brought it up to his lips, “It’s not important what you used to do. It’s important what you do now. And now, your only job is to stay safe and …”
“If you say to be the mother to your children, we’re going to have another fight,” I interrupted.
He made a face, “I was going to say love me. Your job is to stay safe and love me.”
I frowned. “As easy as it is to love you,” Ethan smiled at that, “I have to have more, or I’ll go nuts. I don’t have my memories but sitting around all day waiting for you to come home seems way too boring. I wouldn’t survive it a month. I didn’t survive it a month. I need a purpose.”
He gave a huge smile, “A couple of kids would give you a purpose.”
I rolled my eyes, “And I’m back to being mad at you.”
Chapter 37
“This is a hotel room?” I stared around at what looked to be a huge apartment.
“No, this is the most expensive Villa in Las Vegas,” Tanner said as he walked past me with his bag.
“It’s also the most secure,” stated Ethan as he came up next to me.
“I wouldn’t say that.” Lyssa walked out of a room, “It took me less than twenty minutes to get in. I didn’t even break a nail.”
Tanner pulled her into a hug, “You need to contact us more often when you're on the job. Any complications?”
Lyssa pulled back and rolled her eyes, “Getting in and out, no. But someone showed up as I was leaving. Dark suits, dark glasses, dark car. There were four of them.”
“It might have been the Agency,” Ethan grabbed the bags and walked us into the living room. “What time did this happen?”
Lyssa thought for a moment, “About nine.”
“That’s after we called them about the attack on Sam,” Tanner glanced at Ethan.
“Wait. Sam was attacked? How’d they get in the compound again?” Lyssa glanced around.
“They didn’t,” sighed Tanner. “That’s why you need to call more often. Sam had a little … episode. We had to run her into the hospital. While she was there, some nurse went after her with a scalpel and Sam kicked her ass.”
“In all fairness, Xavier’s the one who knocked her out,” I said as I was still taking in the surroundings. Wow, fancy.
“You stopped her, while strapped down.” Tanner frowned, “You get most of the credit on that one. Plus, you already had suspicions on her and warned Xavier to check her out.”
“But you’re still on medical leave and taking it easy,” Ethan stared at me. I just shrugged. We’ll see.
Lyssa blinked for a few minutes, then shook her head. “Okay. I’ll get more details later. Ethan, I made the arrangements you asked for and put that item in your room. I threw my stuff in my and Berto’s room. Tanner, your room is …”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Tanner put his hands up. “Berto’s sleeping on the floor in my room.”
“No he’s not,” Lyssa crossed her arms. “If you fight this, we won’t even try to be quiet.”
“I will,” squeaked Berto.
“Oh, come on, it’s not like you sleep in your room back at the house. Tanner needs to get with it. I’ve put up with more of his bimbos in the last four years than anyone should have to.” Lyssa glared at Tanner, not even looking at Berto, who’s face was becoming whiter as the other two glared.
“As amusing as this is,” I butted in, “Lyssa’s right.” I turned to Tanner, “Your baby sister has a boyfriend, and they do naughty things with each other. I suggest instead of being in denial, you start demanding to know his intentions,” I smiled evilly. I knew Ethan was at my back because I felt him starting to chuckle.
“What?” both Lyssa and Berto’s heads swung toward me.
“Seriously. What is this thing between the two of you?” I shrugged, “Is it casual, long-term? Do you see yourselves married soon or in a couple of years? What if something happens and Lyssa ends up pregnant? I mean, birth control is only ninety-nine percent effective, depending on the type you use.”
Both of their mouths fell open and they glanced at each other. “I should probably sleep in Tanner’s room. Or the sofa, that looks more comfortable,” stuttered Berto.
Lyssa gave a small smile. “That might be a good idea,” she turned around a hurried down a hallway, as Berto headed down the opposite one.
“And that’s how you deal with it,” I crossed my arms and smiled smugly at Tanner.
Ethan roared with laughter, and Tanner had a massive smile on his face. “How?” Tanner asked, “How did you figure that out?”
I shrugged, “I watched the two of you go pale every time Ethan talks about love or children. Every television show has men terrified of commitment. From what I can tell, Ethan’s an outlier.”
“I think you just fell for a stereotype,” Ethan kissed my cheek. “Remember, TV isn’t real.”
“It’s not a stereotype.” Tanner shook his head, “Dude, you are a geek dressed up like a heartbreaker. We all knew that you were lost
the minute you met her. Name one other guy on this team, including your uncle, who’d run willingly into a relationship like you did. I’m surprised it took you so many months to get her to go out with you.”
Ethan gave a half-smile and looked down. “It didn’t actually take that long.” He shrugged, “We just hid it well.”
Tanner glared at me, and I shrugged, “I have no idea what he means. No memory, remember?” I looked at Ethan, “Just tell us since we’re both going to interrogate you.”
Ethan rubbed the back of his neck, then glanced at Tanner, “Remember when we first recruited her. That I had to stay over for a few days, due to meetings and such.”
He crossed his arms, “Yeah, you stayed at the Hilton like you always do. I called there when the Sri Lanka situation happened.”
“I forwarded the phone. I stayed at Sam’s place. We were, um,” he looked to the side as he gathered his thoughts, unable to hide his smile, “we were pretty heavy into negotiations.”
“You knew she was my sister,” Tanner growled.
“Yeah, and I also knew she was my future. I knew I was marrying her from the moment I met her and I don’t believe in wasting time.” Ethan looked him in the eye, “Which is why, when Berto and Lyssa finally come to their senses, you need to give them a break.”
“Should I give them a break about their favorite group games?” Tanner’s jaw jutted out.
“It’s not my style, but it’s theirs,” shrugged Ethan. “They’re not hurting anyone. They’re adults.”
“You helped raise her,” yelled Tanner.
“Hold it.” I got between the two of them, “It doesn’t matter right now. They’re both freaked out and avoiding each other. Deal with it one day at a time.” I turned to Tanner, “As for Ethan and me,” I shrugged, “Who cares? We’re married, and if you had asked his intentions, he probably would have told you.” I glanced at Ethan.
