HeatedMatch (11 page)

Adam punched a boy in day care today. The teacher called
and I had to leave work to pick him up early. I miss you. Not only because my
pay was docked for missing work. That’s the life of a single mom. I miss you
when Adam does such a boy thing and I can’t relate. He needs his daddy. And I
need my husband.

Diane

Chapter Six

“Commander Shepard?” Loren knocked again on the office door
first thing in the morning.

“Come in,” a gruff voice called.

She pushed her way inside the office and gave a quick social
smile to the commander hunched over a stack of documents on his desk. No hum or
buzz emitted from the dormant computer.

“What can I do for you, Loren?”

“I want to go home.”

Shep looked up in surprise. “Already? I thought you had more
grit than that. You gave it less than forty-eight hours.”

“I don’t mean permanently,” she said, fingering her borrowed
clothes. “I meant for an hour or two to pick up my clothes and some toiletries.
Maybe stop by work and grab my laptop. I hadn’t really planned on taking time
off.” She tried to inflect some annoyance in her tone that Shepard had more or
less kidnapped her when he’d thrown her in a room with Adam and introduced her
to her brother, knowing how hard it would be for her to leave.

“Well then. That would be fine. I’ll call for an escort. Did
you want to leave now, or do you have a few minutes to talk?”

“I can talk.”

“How is it going?”

“Um fine,” she said, shifting uncomfortably in her seat.
Commander Shepard didn’t seem like the coffee klatch, schmoozing kind of guy.
What was he really asking? She’d hoped to make this a quick visit with the
commander and then look for a phone she was allowed to use to call her boss and
let him know she was taking some time off.

“Did you and Adam have sexual relations last night?”

Her jaw dropped.

“Other than your tryst in the grass on the west side of
Residence Hall B?”

“Uh…” She struggled for composure, feeling the flames lick
at her cheeks. “How…? I…”

“You’re about to ask why it’s any of my business, but I’ll
remind you that Adam gave up all rights to personal privacy when he signed his
contract at age eighteen.”

“He’s thirty now. Surely he’s earned a little freedom.
Besides, I’ve signed nothing.”

The commander folded his arms across his chest and looked
smug. “You never signed anything, but your father did.”

“He did?” Her lips compressed into a tight line and she felt
hot despite the cold air-conditioning in the office. “I don’t understand. What
was my father’s connection to the Program?”

He ignored her question. “Ms. Stanton, have you ever noticed
anything
different
about yourself?” Shepard asked.

“Different, how?”

“About your body or your mind? In school could you run
faster than the other kids? Did you finish tests first and get perfect scores?”
He sat forward and braced his forearms on his thighs.

She thought about his question. “Well yeah, but I worked
hard.”

“Did you?” Shepard raised an eyebrow.

Fury shot through her. “Hell yes, I busted my bu—” She
stopped as she remembered that school and sports had come easy to her. Maybe
too easy. She sat still for a moment, recalling a day in third grade phys ed
class when she’d purposely limited the number of chin-ups she could do. The
other kids seemed to struggle with more than three or four, so Loren had
stopped at five, though she could have gone for a lot more. She didn’t want to
be labeled a freak. It was hard enough being the tallest girl and the one who
could even beat the sixth-grade boys in a running race.

She looked up at Shepard. “What’s wrong with me?” A modicum
of hysteria danced on her words.
Oh my God, I’m the Bionic Woman.

“Nothing’s wrong with you. You’re fine. Better than fine,
actually,” Shepard added. “Loren, you are one of us. I spent last night going
through the medical archives, and I suspect your mother’s and father’s records
were tampered with. They were the genetic perfect match. Not Chase’s mother and
your father.”

“I don’t understand.”

“It means you’re one of us. What do you know about how we
manipulate genetics and DNA?”

She racked her brain and came up short. “Uhh, nothing more
than all the news articles reported. Are you sure I’m part of this? My father
was a journalist and my mom a housewife.”

Again he ignored her direct question. “In 1953 two
scientists, Watson and Crick, played around with human DNA and learned about
the double helix. You may remember the film from your eighth-grade biology
class.”

Loren shook her head but remained silent. Science had never
been her thing. Biology class had been spent reading a novel tucked into her
textbook.

“Around the same time, Watson and Crick conducted their
research, the National Institutes of Health started their own genetics program.
They wanted to see if the human body could be improved upon. Their goal was to
eradicate diseases such as cancer and heart disease. They failed in that
endeavor but stumbled upon something bigger. They discovered that when certain
DNA chains combine with other specific chains, interesting things happened, and
the offspring of particular combinations produced amazing children. The
Department of Defense recognized the potential in that right away and enlisted
volunteers.”

“Wait a second.” Loren held up her hand and shook her head.
“What do you mean volunteers? To do what? Conduct tests on babies?” Her mind
whirled at the information she’d heard. “Are you telling me that the United
States government found women willing to sleep with strangers and then give any
resulting babies up to the military? Did I get that correct?” The articles
mentioned
nothing
about that. People would’ve gone ballistic.

Commander Shepard laughed. It was not comforting. “Well, my
predecessors certainly wanted to go that route, but I can tell by your
expression, it would have met with resistance.”

She snorted. “You think?”

“They were clever. As you probably know, the DOD and NIH
formed a new branch of the military and called it
The Program for DNA
Manipulation and Eradication of Disease
. They recruited military men to
join a new, top-secret agency. Remember it was the height of the Cold War, and
soldiers were more than willing to play their part against the Russians. They
believed they would be training with new, dangerous biological weapons. Only
single men were brought on board as it was reputed to be a dangerous job.
Several single female secretaries were hired to help with office work. Everyone
lived in barracks on a gated property.”

“Let me guess,” she interrupted. “The secretaries were
young, beautiful and not too bright.” Disgusting, but not totally unexpected
the US government participated in such degenerate behavior. She’d seen the
movie
The Right Stuff
.

“Right on two out of three counts,” he said. “The women were
young, attractive
and
highly intelligent. Hiring for the positions took
months and was quite rigorous, akin to the original astronaut recruiting. Ms.
Stanton, what do you think happens when you lock active, single military men on
a secured campus with beautiful, intelligent women?”

She gaped at the commander, trying and failing not to blush.

“Within three months, we had our first wedding. Within ten
months, our first baby was born,” Shepard said with pride. “I was that baby.”

She sat in silence. All at once she had nothing to say and
everything to say. Government breeding programs was the stuff of science
fiction and middle-of-the-night B movies, not her life. She swallowed once but
failed to make progress past the giant, dry lump in her throat. Shepard watched
her expectantly and waited for her to speak.

“You said I’m one of you too. Which means, I’m a genetically
modified human? How is that possible? How could I live my whole life and not
know this? Or, wait, is it like that television show, where my abilities won’t
manifest ’til adrenaline hits hard?” She flung her hands in front of her chest,
looking for lightning sparks or ice sabers or
something
to emit. If ever
she’d had more adrenaline rushing through her, she couldn’t recall. But nothing
happened.

Shepard watched with amusement and consternation dancing on
his expression. “Loren, you’re not Harry Potter.”

She turned to him and even she could hear the wildness in
her voice. “Well, who then? Are you Superman? Can you fly? Move things with
your mind? What?”

Shepard intervened. “Loren, we are not magical. We are
simply enhanced.”

She must have still had a look of bewilderment on her face.

“We can run faster for longer periods of time, have stronger
bone density, and utilize more of our brain power than the average person. The
DNA plays out differently in everyone too. Each of us has different strengths.
Is there anything special about you? Any abilities that your friends didn’t
have?”

She bit the inside of her cheek. “I have a near photographic
and eidetic memory.”

“There you go. That’s your gift. I also think that’s enough
for now. Why don’t you go wait in the hallway and I’ll find someone to drive
you to your apartment.”

“But wait,” she protested. “You didn’t tell me about my dad.
Was he superhuman too? Does my mom know?”

Commander Shepard came around from his side of the desk.
“Your father was one of us, Loren, and he was my best friend. I miss him every
day. Once he married your mom and left the compound, we lost the details of his
personal life. He continued to work for us, but our claim was only on his work
time. We don’t even know where you grew up.”

She opened her mouth to ask another question, but Shepard
took her elbow in a definitive grip and escorted her outside. “Wait here.
Someone will be along shortly. I’ve got a boatload of paperwork to deal with
regarding the kidnapping.”

* * * * *

Loren smiled as she anticipated seeing her apartment again.
She rode the small elevator up, trying and failing not to breathe in the
masculine scent from her companion who stood in the corner, arms crossed over
his wide chest, scowling at her.

“You didn’t have to come with me,” she told Adam.

His frown intensified. “No one else would volunteer.”

“I’m sure everyone had better things to do on a workday than
take an hour drive to Virginia to watch me pack.”

“Yes, but that’s not why they didn’t volunteer.”

She waited for more information, but it wasn’t forthcoming.
The elevator doors slid open, and he held the door for her. His lips brushed by
her ear as she passed.

“They didn’t want to piss me off,” he said, causing shivers
to run down her spine from his nearness. They walked down the narrow carpeted
hall in silence. She wasn’t sure what to make of his statement. How could his
colleagues giving her a ride piss him off? Unless… He couldn’t possibly be
jealous. He kept claiming to want nothing to do with her, but he obviously
wanted her enough that his friends refused to get in the way.

She started to retort that he couldn’t have his cake and eat
it too, but the words died on her lips when she saw the door to her apartment
was wide open for anyone to waltz in. She dashed ahead and had barely made it
to the doorway when Adam’s strong arm yanked her back.

“Do you normally leave your door wide open?”

She struggled to peer around his biceps. “Of course not.”

He gently moved her to the side. “Stay here. I’m going in.”

Her eyes widened as he pulled out a gun she hadn’t been
aware of him having. She waited approximately seven heart-pounding seconds
before Adam shouted for her. “Loren, get in here!”

She ran around the doorway and entered her apartment to the
unexpected sight of three police officers, her building manager, and Derrick
from work. Adam had his hands above his head and one officer had a gun trained
on him. Adam’s gun was on the floor at his feet.

“What is going on in here?” She’d barely got her words out
when her face was crushed against Derrick’s chest.

“Loren! You’re safe. I was worried.”

She struggled to catch a breath against the overly scented
fabric-softener smell of Derrick’s shirt.

“Tell him to release you, Loren,” Adam said in a strained
voice.

“Huh?” She managed to turn her head enough to see Adam
glaring at Derrick. His hands were now in fists at his sides.

“Let her go,” Adam said to Derrick.

She immediately caught on how delicate the situation was.
Yesterday Adam had pushed Gavin off her and today he’d do the same to Derrick,
only the police would be witnesses this time. She slid both her palms up
Derrick’s torso and pushed at the same time as stepping back. When she was free
and in clear view of all the men in the room, she said, “Anyone care to explain
what the heck is going on?”

“I thought you were missing,” Derrick said.

She faced him. “Why would you think that?”

“Because you didn’t come home last night or call me with any
news. And when I called the car rental company, they said the car hadn’t been
returned yet.”

She released a breath. It had never occurred to her that
she’d be reported as missing after a day and a half away. Her mother might miss
her after three days, but she supposed she could see how Derrick might have
worried. The missing rental car would have made her worry also.

“Well as you can see, I’m perfectly all right.” She turned
to the police. “Officers, I’m sorry your time’s been wasted.”

The officer with his gun trained on Adam lowered it and
turned to her. “Next time check in with your friends.” Then he turned to Adam.
“We’re gonna need to see your concealed weapons permit.”

“But he’s an officer of the law too,” she protested.

Adam glanced at her. “Actually, I’m not.”

“Huh?”

“But I do have a license to carry. I’m going to reach for my
wallet slowly,” he said to the officers. They eyed him as he smoothly pulled
his brown leather billfold from a back pocket and produced a laminated card,
held out for their inspection. One officer took it and examined it. Then he
made a call and read the numbers off through the receiver. After a few moments
he nodded and hung up.