Night Shadow (27 page)

this particular clinic to find out if they were pregnant. They were. With

your sisters. The clinic was legit. It was owned, however, by Dr. Mason

Knight.”

A buzz started in the back of Alex’s brain. Whatever was coming next

wasn’t good.

“Our mothers were artificial y inseminated?” Blackthorne said, clearly

puzzled. “What are we missing?”

“When each of your mothers went to Knight’s clinic, they were a month

into their pregnancies with your birth sisters. They each carried a single

child. Knight implanted in each of them a second embryo.
You.
”

Oh, Jesus. Alex’s entire body went ice cold. “Show us how you put this

together.” God help him, he believed what Caleb Edge was tel ing them.

He knew in his gut that this was fact. But he needed a few seconds to

col ect his thoughts. Fear, like a slimy black slice of evil, curdled in his

bel y.

Caleb showed them holographic images of Knight’s progress with the

fertilization process. Showed his failures, and showed his elation when

each woman returned for their regular checkups.

Alex got a lump in his throat when Knight informed his young mother that

her twins were in perfect health. The fucking sick son of a bitch.

His hands tightened into fists. Just wait until he got ahold of Knight. The

black thoughts consumed Alex further as he sat there with the others

watching the way Knight had manipulated their lives from the moment of

conception.

Once his powers had begun to flicker, Mason had never returned his cal s.

Not for weeks. Unlike him. He always called back. He was interested in

everything Alex and the others had done. Always had been. Until now.

God . . .

“Christ. Look how
young
she was,” Blackthorne said softly as a dark-

haired woman entered the clinic. His mother.

Alex’s heart pounded and his mouth went dry as he observed Fox’s young

mother sitting in an empty waiting room. The images flashed and flickered

in fast-forward. Clearly these were different days, possibly different

months, but it was apparent that the visits had been close together. His

mom was next.

Seeing her beloved face, a lump formed in his throat. She was younger

than he remembered her, but seeing her pretty face, her curly dark hair,

and soft blue eyes caused a lump to form in his throat. He couldn’t take

110

Night Shadow

his eyes off her. Wanted to reach out and touch her smooth skin, cal her

name. He could almost smel the floral fragrance of her perfume.

“Why them?” His voice sounded as raw as his emotions right then.

“Luck of the draw,” Gabriel Edge told him. “Just luck of the draw. Knight

had been trying for five years prior to this to inseminate unsuspecting

women. He’d failed. None of those pregnancies reached ful term.”

The hologram now showed a much younger Mason Knight in a laboratory

madly scribbling notes. Test tubes and petri dishes littered the counter

space. The image of that much younger man also caused Alex to

experience a sensation of nostalgia. This was the guy who’d helped him

with his math homework, who’d given him an appreciation of black-and-

white movies on their regular Friday movie night. He’d played baseball

with him, Lucas, and Simon. Had encouraged and celebrated their hiring

by T-FLAC—

“Did he have anything to do with al of us joining T-FLAC?”

“Without a doubt,” Duncan Edge muttered, indicating his brother move

on.

“I’m going to forewarn you guys—” Caleb glanced over at them. “Knight

was directly responsible for the deaths of your parents. None of their

accidents were accidents. Their deaths were wel planned and, no pun

intended, careful y executed.

“I’m not sure this is helpful, but I have the entire thirty-six years of your

lives in fast-forward for your viewing if you choose to do so. You can tell

me later if you want a copy. For now, let’s move on before my brother

blows a blood vessel. Okay. These are Knight’s notes. As you can see, in

the same year he impregnated your mothers, there were seventeen other

women he attempted to fertilize. None of them took.”

Blackthorne looked grim. “Are you telling us that he’s our natural father?

Why didn’t he tel us?”

What Knight had done, Alex thought, his temper rising in direct proportion

to the hurt he didn’t want to feel, was mentor. The son of a bitch watched

them move from foster family to foster family, always there, always

overseeing their education. Withholding the one thing they all wanted

most—a family. “This is the tricky part,” Duncan told them somberly.

“Knight didn’t use his sperm to fertilize the egg.”

“Then whose?”

“Ah, shit!” Lucas Fox said with feeling. “I have a damned good idea. He

was fucking-well pumping sperm from wizards at the medi-spa in Rio.

There’s our father. In a goddamned col ective jar of slops.” He rubbed a

rough hand over his mouth in a gesture Alex could relate to.

“Tel them about the medi-spa, bro,” Alex suggested, his own throat tight.

It took Lucas a couple of minutes to bring everyone up to speed as he told

the Edges and the Council about several of his team being captured and

unwillingly being sperm donors. Alex and Blackthorne both swore.

“The son of a bitch has been doing this for thirty-six years?” Alex

demanded, horrified. “How many kids has he created?”

“He stopped in vitro fertilization after the three of you were born. He went

bigger,” Caleb told them. “Much bigger.”

111

Night Shadow

The hologram changed to the warehouse both Fox and Alex had visited in

Brazil, then the warehouse in New Mexico. “Holy Mother of God. He didn’t

steal
those babies,” Simon breathed, appal ed. “He’s
manufacturing

them!” Duncan indicated the computer on Knight’s desk. Alex recognized

Mason’s London home office. He, Lucas, and Simon had spent summer

vacations there. Had played fort under that desk, and later had written

their col ege applications there. On the credenza behind his desk was a

familiar glass case.

World Series 1992. Minnesota Twins center fielder Kirby Puckett dril ed an

eleventh-inning, game-winning home run in the sixth game of the fall

classic. It was one of baseball’s most exciting moments. Alex had been

there. He’d caught the ball, had it signed by Puckett, and given it to

Knight for his sixty-second birthday.

He ran his fingers roughly through his hair trying to contain the pounding

in his head that was threatening to explode out his eyes. His whole

goddamn fucking life, all of it, had been a giant experiment to get Knight

jacked off on some insane power trip. The hologram moved on. More

notes on the computer, secret bundles of papers in the wall safe. A secret

life as Knight visited warehouse after warehouse fil ed with babies. Every

image, every new bit of information, hit his skin like a drop of acid, eating

away his identity bit by bit. Mason was the glue that held him, Fox, and

Blackthorne together. Mason was the poison that had tainted them al .

“Over a thousand children according to his records,” Duncan informed

them. “But wait—there’s more.”

“What?” Alex snarled, “A fucking Ginsu knife? I believe what I’m seeing

and hearing. So can we cut to the chase here? What’s the fucking bottom

line?” He wasn’t sure how much more of this he could take.

“Yeah,” Blackthorne said flatly. “Give it to us straight, we already know

this situation is FUBAR.”

Listening to the Head of the Wizard Council, Alex kept his eyes glued to

the fast moving hologram images and watched his entire life unravel.

Lark preceded three women into the room before disappearing into the

shadows again. One of the women, wearing a cling-everywhere black

dress, huffed as she looked around, missing the men seated way the hel

and gone at the other end of the room.

“Very Gothic, wherever we are. Dammit, I was shimmered while in the

middle of a very nice dinner with my publisher. I have
no
idea how I’m

going to explain
that.
Why didn’t she tel us what this is all about

anyway?”

Alex only had eyes for Lexi. Dragging her into this was unacceptable on

every level. Yes, she was a trained professional and could handle herself

in any situation; as an operative he was perfectly aware of her abilities. As

a man—

Fuck it. He wasn’t afraid for her safety
here.
But God—He wanted Lexi as

far away from this clusterfuck as he could get her, not drawn in further.

“Lark?” Lexi raised her voice, sounding impatient and worried. “Why are

we here?”

112

Night Shadow

“Over here,” Alex raised his voice to be heard across the great expanse of

the room.

Al three women glanced around at the sound of his voice.

“Come on Duncan, Jesus, you know this is out of bounds,” he said tightly,

shooting a narrow-eyed glance between his friend and the woman he l—

and his team member who was at that moment racing across the floor as

if her ass was on fire. “She
shouldn’t
be here. She’s not part of this.”

Slightly out of breath Lexi almost skidded to a stop beside him. Her chin

was up. “Thank you. I can speak for myself,” she told him mildly. She let

her gaze run over Edge as if analyzing his physical composition for

defects.

Having dispensed with the cowl, Duncan was bareheaded as he stood

beneath normal wattage lighting. “Who are you,” she addressed the Head

of Council. “And what are we doing here?”

Not only could Edge be charming, and very likeable, he was a decent-

looking guy, and his mantle of authority might easily turn a woman’s

head. Not, apparently, Lexi Stone’s. She was glaring at him as if Edge

were a personal affront and Alex l—admired her for it.

“Duncan Edge, Miss Stone. Head of the Council, and we have a problem. A

big damned problem that I hope you ladies can help us with.”

Lexi cast Alex a worried look. “Of course.”
Are you in trouble? Is there

anything I shouldn’t say?

“You can say anything, none of the guys is in trouble,” Duncan answered

Lexi’s thought, which made her eyes go wide and startled. “And we’d

appreciate your being perfectly open with us.”

Edge materialized more chairs to the left of Fox. “Please be seated,

ladies.”

“I’l be happy to.” Lexi didn’t sound in the least bit happy, Alex noted. “As

soon as I rearrange the furniture.” She grabbed the arm with both hands,

putting her back into dragging the heavy wingback toward Alex’s chair.

For the first time in hours, hel ,
days,
he wanted to laugh.

Shaking his head slightly, Edge let out a small sigh, then shimmered the

chairs, rearranging them in pairs, side by side.

“Thank you.” Lexi sat down and immediately reached for Alex’s hand,

pul ing it into her lap and twining her fingers with his. The fact that she’d

forgotten herself, allowing a PDA, showed Alex how rattled Lexi was.

Tension radiated palpably off her and her palm was a little sweaty. His

intrepid, fear-nothing Lexi? Nervous? Yeah. Understandable under the

circumstances.

“I’m going to have Alex recap what we know as fact so far. After that I’d

like to hear what you ladies have to contribute, if anything. Since we’ve

got a cast of thousands participating here, it might be best if we go

around the room when Alex is done, and see if and what any of you might

have to add. One at a time,” he said dryly, clearly realizing that with this

many people vested in the proceedings things weren’t going to go one at

a time. “Alex?”

Alex made it short and sweet. Inseminated. Donor unknown. Parents

purposely kil ed. Manufactured children. He kept his tone cool and his

113

Night Shadow

emotions under wraps. He didn’t know how to begin to describe his inner

turmoil over this whole mess. Betrayal. Anger. Disappointment. Fear.

The first three he could shove into some secret dark place to examine

later. The fear was a whole new ball game, and one he’d never

experienced before, but it was damn close to the burning pain he’d taken

for Lexi after Ginsberg had carved her up.

Lexi’s fingers squeezed his in a death grip, even as her eyes darted from

one face to another. Lucas took up the story and told them what had been

discovered in the warehouses.

He didn’t want Lexi anywhere near Knight.
Where can I take her?
Alex’s

thoughts raced. Somewhere secluded. Somewhere she wouldn’t be found