Retrieval (18 page)

“Nothing wrong with a little something to hold on to,” he said with a lusty grin.

“As long as it’s only me you’re holding on to, we’ll be fine.” she retorted and then wanted to swallow her own tongue for betraying her possessiveness of him.

He leered at her in a knowing way and made a let’s-continue-on motion with his hand.

“The youngest of us, the actual last in birth order, is Kinsey or Specimen K. She was, and this is such a frigging joke, but that’s how Milania writes it, she was ‘gifted’ with the ability to become the shadows. Kinsey can literally bend light and certain particulate matter to give the illusion that she’s disappeared. She can also absorb light energy and transfer its basic components into other matter. She needs a relayer to pass that energy on, but she’s invaluable as a supplier of untapped energy. With the added bonus of being able to disappear without physical dissolution, she can get into places others only dream about.

“Specimen R is the third in birth order, and that’s my sister Raina. She’s the relayer I was just speaking of when I told you about Kinsey. Raina can transfer energy in mass amounts to anyone who needs it, in any way they need it. What?”

His eyebrow was raised, and he shook his head side to side. She waited for him to voice what was on his mind.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the movement of energy. Let’s see, maybe I can explain it better. Energy is the force by which everything in this world operates. There are natural sources and man-made sources, but everything houses the potential to create or use energy. Energy can also be amassed and then directed in certain ways. The sun rays give us solar energy, moving water gives us hydroelectric energy, both of which humans use in various ways. Using those examples, the easiest way for me to explain Raina’s ability is to describe her as a type of super solar cell or the ultimate hydroelectric dam. The difference is that she can take energy from any source, natural or man-made, and direct it to where it needs to go.

“My sisters and I are the ultimate in energy production and utilization. We harvest, use, and disseminate any form of energy in the specific way we were developed to do that. Raina is the supplier. She recharges our batteries when we’re low and is able to convert whatever energy our systems produce or manipulate into whatever form any of us are needing. Like taking solar energy and creating electricity or like taking water and creating light. We call her our relayer. She will literally send us energy when we need it. She’s probably our greatest asset and our greatest weakness, because without her we’d have to wait longer to get the juice flowing again. She is also blind without the touch of another; not vulnerable, mind you, but blind. Her other senses are hyper-enhanced, but unless her skin is touching another’s she cannot physically see.

“Piper is Specimen P. She’s second born and definitely the one who is the hardest to contain. Piper is the ultimate soldier. She was created and enhanced to be the ultimate weapon. Piper has the ability to assess any conflict situation and resolve that situation with either as little or as much damage as possible. She makes the leaders of the free world look like amateurs when it comes to conflict resolution, while at the same time making
The Art of War
look like a comic book.

“Piper has knowledge that expands with every situation she encounters. She has a photographic memory and remembers each and every newspaper article, billboard, poster, and book or magazine she’s ever read. She can unravel any code any man or computer could ever create. And she is a beast to fight. The other morning when you got the drop on her? It was because she let you, for me. I’ve never seen her beaten in hand to hand. Believe me, she can kill without a backward glance.

“She also has the unique ability to manipulate the trajectory of bullets or missiles, and she can shield to a small degree. Shielding is the manipulation of matter to form an impenetrable barrier around another object.

“I am the best shielder, but Piper is good. So good that she can protect my sisters when I’m not there, and Raina is able to throw energy her way.”

Sky looked down at this point. She was getting too close to her own abilities, and she was terrified of seeing his disdain when she listed them. She was also scared to talk about the lost one.

“Specimen S2 is the one we call the lost one. She’s the sister we’ve never met. She’s my exact physical duplicate, with only a hair color variation, thrown in for flavor I guess. She was implanted in another woman shortly after Milania discovered all the embryos were viable. I know it’s crazy. She had all five eggs implanted and then had S2 removed and placed into someone else for some reason. While Milania wrote of doing this, she never wrote why. It has been our life’s goal to find her before Smythe-Ward discovers there were actually five who survived and not just the four he thinks did. My opinion is that S2 was the only egg not genetically tampered with outside of the initial replication. But that’s inference from Milania’s notes, so I could be wrong. As we haven’t been able to find her I have no way of knowing.”

She took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “And then there’s me. Specimen S1. I’m the primary. All of the abilities I have listed are seen in me only they are present to the nth degree. I am the alpha if you will. I can shadow, like Kinz, I can relay, like Raina, I can do all the things that Piper can do and so much more. I can shield. I can teleport. I dissolve my body into its basest particles, and I can re-form wherever I need to. I can manipulate sound, light, water, and any earthbound particulate matter known to exist. I’m the mother of all witches without the voodoo and supernatural that goes with it. I am the ultimate energy factory and super user, and I can do just about any damn thing you could ever want or need done. I have an innate knowledge of how everything works, and I can manipulate it to either work for me or against anyone I choose.”

After a moment of reflection, because that was a lot to drop on someone all at once, she risked peeking up at Sebastian.

Miracle of miracles he was staring at her without censure or judgment. The look on his face only radiated his concern for her. There was no disgust, no horror, nothing, but a look of such unconditional acceptance that Sky could only gape.

Her eyes watered. He immediately picked her up and held her tightly as he stroked her back. He wrapped her securely against him and pushed her face into the crook of his neck.

It took her a few minutes to realize that she was sobbing and another few to realize that she didn’t give a damn. He was holding her. After knowing her curse, he was holding her, providing warmth and acceptance and, if the bulge in the front of his jeans were any indication, he wasn’t off put at all by her superpowers.

Amazement and joy spread through her system, and she held on tighter, afraid of losing the connection with this man who had come to mean so much to her in such a short time. How was she going to leave him when the time came?

That thought drew her up short. She was going to have to leave him or risk his life with her existence. No way in hell was Smythe-Ward going to take the one thing that had come to mean more than her own life. Before, it’d been all about her sisters. Now, it encompassed not only her sisters, but Sebastian and his men as well.

So be it
. She was willing, had always been willing, to do whatever was needed to take that bastard down.

She stayed there in Sebastian’s arms. He said nothing, but she felt his warmth and knew, deep in her soul, that he was in danger. It was unacceptable. She held him as tightly as he held her, and she prayed for the strength to protect him. The time had come to end this thing with Smythe-Ward.

She was going to kill her biological father, and she was going to do it very soon.

Chapter 12

“So you don’t know if Smythe-Ward knows everything you and your sisters are capable of?” Bleak asked skeptically later that afternoon.

She turned the chicken over on the indoor grill, wiped her hands on the towel slung over her shoulder, and turned toward Bleak, who was seated at the table. She’d taken a long and restful nap after her talk with Sebastian earlier. The man had engraved himself on her heart as he’d sat there holding her as she cried. He’d stroked her arms and hair in his efforts to ease her pain. Then he’d waited until she was sound asleep before he left. When she’d awakened, he’d already headed out with Rover.

She didn’t know where he’d gone. Bleak refused to tell her anything other than “He’ll be back when he gets back.” She had the ability to find him, but she was still recuperating, and she had a nasty feeling she needed to hold on to as much of her energy as she could for the time being.

“That’s right. He and Milania played God, and I don’t think they had any idea they were creating something beyond even their wildest imaginings. He’s desperate though, Bleak. He’s got more than just you guys and that other team looking for me, that’s how he works. We always had to be wary of more than one team. I’m not that worried about my sisters, but I really wish that I could be there with them,” she told him as she grated cheese and sliced tomatoes.

“Well from what you say, they’ll be fine, but I’m still not sold on this whole mumbo-jumbo magic stuff,” Bleak said and cut her a sideways glance.

If he expected her to get angry, he had a long wait coming. It didn’t surprise her that this man in particular had a hard time believing her. If what Raina had told them was true, he had no reason to ever trust anything any woman ever said to him.

That made Sky sad, and she suddenly felt a kinship with Jerry “Bleak” Moore that she hadn’t felt with anyone in a long time. Both of their lives had been shaped by the monsters they had for parents, and it was Sky’s fervent hope that the man in front of her opened himself up enough to accept the gift she knew was waiting for him.

“So enough about me, Bleaky, what’s up with you?” she asked as she turned back around to check on the chicken.

“What did you just call me?” he asked in a hard voice.

She heard his question and could have kicked herself. She’d do best to curb her tongue.

“Um, Bleak?” she asked, intentionally ignoring that she had indeed added a “y” to the end of his name a second ago.

He shook his head and took a deep breath. Thankfully he let it go. She absolutely did not want to discuss how her sister had imprinted on him and spoke with him in his mind. Some things were best left untouched right now.

A few moments passed, and he didn’t pursue it. Relieved, Sky sliced the perfectly grilled chicken and put the salads together. She also sliced up an entire breast for King and set it on another plate for him.

Taking the food to the table she slid into the chair opposite Bleak and held her hands out as she waited for him to take the hint.

He rolled his eyes, muttered something about, “Just like my sister” and grudgingly took her small hands in his own mammoth mitts.

“Want to say it together?” she asked him impishly.

“That’s okay, you go ahead,” he said as if the thought of saying a prayer were so foreign that it gave him the willies.

“Dear Lord,” she began, “thank you for the food, the company, and your grace that sustains us. Amen.”

“Amen.” Bleak followed.

“So?” she asked as she picked up her fork and prepared to eat, motioning to King that he could begin also.

“So what?” Bleak asked her with a look of confusion.

Was it her, or did all of the men in Sebastian’s little group do “confused” really well?

“Soooo … what’s up with you? What’s your story?”

“My story?” he asked and still looked confused. Or was it uncomfortable?

“Okay, follow me closely here. This is me trying to get to know Bleak. Where are you from, Bleak?” she asked slowly and with emphasis on each word, so there was no mistaking her meaning.

He barked out a laugh. “You guys are such smart assess,” he quirked.

“Who’s ‘you guys’?” she asked looking around to see if anyone else had magically appeared in the room with them. Nobody had, and so now she was the confused one.

“You, Sasha, Talia, hell all the women in my life lately are smart assess. And before you ask, Talia is my sister. Sasha is a woman who could literally be your twin, in appearance and personality, and then there’s you. I can’t win for losing,” he finished on a sigh before finally digging into his food.

Shock ran through her, cold and vicious. “Who is Sasha?” she asked him quietly, her food forgotten, but the fork still halfway to her mouth.

A pained look crossed his features. “Sebastian didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what?” her tone was sharper now. “Who is Sasha?”

“Sasha Bennoit, twenty-six years old, from Gainesville, Georgia. She looks like your mirror image. Sebastian didn’t tell you her story? I mean it seems to somehow be tied in to what’s going on with you and your sisters. I thought he would have?” The question in his voice was unmistakable.

“Well he didn’t tell me, so guess what, Bleak?” She put her fork all the way down, placed her elbows on the table, and folded her hands over her plate before she rested her chin on them. “You get to.”

“Well, shit. I guess I can’t eat first right?” he asked forlornly.

“You got in one.”

“Damn it. You’re one pushy broad.” Frustrated, he wiped his mouth before he threw the napkin on the table and leaned back.

“Nobody says broad anymore, and give it up, Bleak. Right now,” she demanded in a nasty tone. She’d run out of patience thirty seconds ago.

“I used to be a member of Presidio Security, an outfit of security experts run by a former military commander and buddy of mine, Dray Bonner. Dray met his lady Sasha Bennoit almost two years ago after she’d been tortured at the hands of Peter Dempsey. Dray and his team, me included, were still under Uncle Sam’s thumb at that time, and we’d been set up as pawns in a little game Dempsey was playing with Dray. It was our team that rescued Sasha from a mountaintop hideout for one of Dempsey’s cronies. Unfortunately, Dempsey had an ace in the hole, that would also be me, and he used me to betray my friends and coworkers. After we rescued Sasha, Dray fell head over heels for her, and they spent the next two years trying to get their shit together. They’re still trying, and are now awaiting twins, though I’m pretty sure a wedding is on the horizon.” Bleak also went on to tell her the specifics, and why Sasha had been in Afghanistan to begin with.