Charlotte rushed into the room right as James laid Annie on the bed. “What happened? Where was she?”

“She went to see the sunset.” James didn’t bother to hide the snarl that had returned to his voice. He was angry that she’d had another attack so fast. More so that she actually thought she was less of a person. And the pinnacle of his anger lay with the bastard that had done this and so much more. “I’m going to rip that son of a bitch into tiny little pieces.”

“Stand in line,” Charlotte muttered. In quick succession she hooked the monitors back up. The IV was replaced, and she added new medicine. “Her pulse is weak and thread. At this point I don’t feel safe taking another sample, but I think it’s safe to say she’s deteriorating further.”

“Maybe Elan was stupid, but then again maybe she was the smartest one here. We need Mom. You sure as hell can’t think outside the box like she can.”

“Stop it James. Stop taking your confusion out on me. You care about Annie. You want her better. I get it. Just admit it so we can move on and fix her.”

James stopped mid-pace, a low growl in his chest. There were many things he was capable of, many horrible, cruel things. Caring was not one of them. “Nice try, shorty. I don’t care. I’m a not-so-natural born killer, remember?”

“Blah blah blah.” Charlotte rolled her eyes. After checking the monitors and making notes in the chart she stepped away from the bed. “Go ahead and sit with her. I know you want to. I’ll get back to work on trying to think outside the box.”

“What happened?” Warren raced into the room ahead of everyone else. “Is she okay? Damn it. I thought she was up, she was doing better.”

James couldn’t stop the growl that shot through him. “She’s dying. She thinks her parents don’t trust her, and there is no hope for her. Yeah. She’s stellar.”

“Easy James.” Chance walked in behind Abby. “Charlotte? What’s the word?”

Charlotte didn’t respond. When James glared toward her silence, he realized she’d paled so much, she looked like a white woman instead of the native she was. Whatever her distraction, he couldn’t be bothered with it.

“Shorty!” James snapped his fingers in front of her face. “What the hell is up with people anymore? They can’t focus long enough to actually help someone. Since Char is out of commission and can’t be bothered to think outside the box, I guess I’ll go back to the stupid lab.”

“James.” Chance didn’t have to speak loud to put the power of his role behind his words. When James was smart enough to keep his lip shut, Chance turned to Charlotte. “Is everything okay in there?”

Charlotte’s head shook violently and she took several steps backward. “Lynx.” She said nothing else, just stared off toward the west.

“Great. Lynx’s thoughtlessness is making Char useless as hell.” James snarled.

Chance pointed to the door. “Hall. Now.”

James didn’t have to be told twice. He barely made it to the hall before his fist connected with the metal wall with a resounding tone that half-deafened him. “As stupid as I think Elan is—at least she took action! Nobody else is doing a damn thing.”

Chance showed no reaction to the outburst beyond a quirked brow. “That’s two broken hands today. At least yours will heal faster than Danny’s.”

“Stop trying to be clever, you’re not mom.” James dug his fingers into his hair, ignoring the pain from his hand. “Sorry, Chief.”

“Getting tired of apologizing to me yet?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. I’m damn tired of needing to hear it.” Chance’s hand landed on James’ shoulder with a firm grip. “I am your chief. I’ve always had faith that you could get past this wall you’ve deemed exists. You’re the one struggling with it.”

“I know what I was programmed to be.”

“Then why do you care about Annie? Why do you love your mother? Your father? Why do you protect your sister even when you’re being a jerk to her?” Chance sighed. “You’re as stubborn as your mother always was. She actually thought she didn’t know DNA once. It took Roark beating her over the head a few times for her to get the picture.”

“Yeah. I’ve heard the story.” James sighed and turned to lean his back against the wall. “About a million times. Doesn’t mean I’m not what I was created to be.”

“You were created to be a strong center for your family—to be everything your mother imagined her children to be. Do you really think Talisa would ever do anything exactly as ordered? That anyone, even Steele, could bully her into making you nothing more than a killing machine with no real heart?”

“Mom never did anything as ordered, she hates being ordered around.” James glanced up when the door opened. When Charlotte emerged, her skin almost green, he frowned. “Char. What is it?”

“I’m not sure.” Charlotte’s blue eyes were still wide. “Can you handle the lab for a little while? I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Charlotte?” Chance wrapped an arm around her shoulder and kissed her temple. “Anything I can help you with?”

“I’ll be okay. Lynx isn’t blocking as well as usual, or I’m not. I don’t know.” She gave Chance a strong hug. “I’m okay, Popsicle, I promise. It’s been a crazy couple of days and I think I just need to get my head on straight again.”

“You aren’t the only one.” Chance smiled. “Go take some time and get your head together. You can’t work twenty-four-seven. Not even Tal can do that. Then you can come back refreshed and ready to work.”

Before she took off, Char barreled into James. He grunted, but held her close in a hug. “Easy Shorty.”

“Let yourself care before you explode.”

James sighed. That was the problem, wasn’t it? He couldn’t. The girl had kissed him, and then proceeded to collapse. She was going to die, so what good would caring do?” He kissed the top of Charlottes head. “Go on, Shorty. I’ve got work to do.” He pushed her off him and then down the corridor.

Chance smirked. “If she was feeling better she might have smacked you harder. She wants you to be happy, James.”

“Well maybe if someone came up with a way to save that girl so Abby and Warren could live without suffering like the rest of us.”

“If you want to claim it’s for Abby and Warren, fine. Just keep something in mind, James.”

“What?”

“Your demeanor changes around Annie.” Chance met his gaze levelly. “Just think about that while you’re working on her. It’s not a bad thing to care. I promise.”

“We’ll see.”

Lynx forced out her mother’s voice and rose. There was no way she’d fail in this mission. Steele forgot one very important thing.

She’d grown up in this compound, but more importantly, Steele had raised her as his ultimate weapon. Her intense, brutal training made her the best. While he’d searched for ways to create super-soldiers under the guise of destroying the threat he’d created—he’d grown his own little super-soldier in the package that was Lynx herself.

Worst of all, for him, she knew all the ins and outs of his organization. In the end the so-called military would suffer a huge blow. Roark and Talisa would be free to return home and save Annie.

Everyone would win.

Except Steele.

If this proved to be her last mission, it would be the best damn mission she’d ever run. The best executed and the only one she’d ever done for the right cause, the right reasons, to save the right people.

If she did it right, Steele would be dead along with a chunk of his military.

“Lynx, my dear.” Steele’s smile was warm as she entered his office. “Thank you for not killing my men. Talisa and Roark actually made improvements with their latest experiment. My project is finally seeing the progress we’d always dreamed of.”

Lynx forced forward a bright smile. She could kill him right there and then, but he had safeguards in place that would mean instant death for her parents. First she had to play his game until he let her close enough to disable those mechanisms. “Good to know. Curious they were together like that, though. I thought for sure you’d never allow such a thing.”

“Oh, that. Talisa had a heart attack or some nonsense. She’s too weak to do much of anything right now. Also, it can’t be said that I’m heartless. I suppose a couple of hours once a year is allowable.” Steele smirked. “They can consider it incentive to do well. I might let them see each other again.”

“So you’re done pursuing Talisa as your own personal genetics factory and bedmate?” She picked up a gun from his large display of weaponry. All of them were empty of ammo, but she pretended to admire the new addition to his collection, wishing it could be so easy as one bullet.

“She’s been too disagreeable this time. Pretty as she is, I don’t care for such attitude. Having this disease has really changed her.”

Disease. She tried not to curl her lip over the fact he still called their mutations a disease, or his levels of denial that anything changed her mother but her losses. The genetic alterations only made her stronger. Steele would never change, though. The fact that he and military leaders from all around the world were the cause of this ‘disease’ didn’t matter to him, he only wanted it eradicated because he wanted to control the super humans, not be defeated by them. “You’ll still let me remain infected, won’t you Poppa?”

It was a good thing he couldn’t see her face, because this time she did grimace at calling him Poppa again. He chuckled behind her. “I’m not insane, Lynx. You are the best soldier I’ve ever had. So long as you remain loyal to me, you’ll stay just as you are.”

“Good to know.”

“On that note.”

Lynx’s stomach did a sickening flop. A lifetime in the man’s presence left her familiar with every nuance of every tone of his voice. She knew what he was thinking before he said it, and while she’d expected as much, it didn’t make it easier to face. He wouldn’t trust her, not yet. She’d have to endure a test of faith first. “What sort of test are you throwing at me, Poppa?”

“You should pluralize that. You’ve been out of the fold a long time, my dear. Who knows what they’ve brainwashed you to believe.” One firm hand planted on her shoulder. “You’ve endured these tests before. It should be no trouble this time.

Lynx couldn’t deny the scream of Talisa in her mind, proving she hadn’t truly shoved her mother all the way out. Of course, her own grief and guilt over what Steele’s plans would mean to her life, her husband, and how much she would betray her own wedding vows. She had to focus on the end game. “Of course, Poppa.”

“That’s my girl. I have a few new toys to play with you, but first you can go visit your old friend. He’ll be thrilled to see you again. You both did so well mixing business and pleasure.” Steele’s smile when he turned her around was cold and hard as his moniker. “Once you’ve adjusted back to our way of life I’ll be able to send you on your first mission.”

Lynx nodded and pulled away. After a brief glance toward her parents labs below, she left the office. There was no point in delaying the inevitable. Maybe in the end her ‘friend’ would be able to help her.

Chaz had been as warped as her when she’d left. There’d been seven more years since for Steele to warp him further. Unlike her, Chaz was treated like an actual animal. To Steele, he was no more than a tool and a way to get money. Chaz was regularly sold off to rich benefactors for hunting, or for women to play with in their own sick way.

First, she would have to deal with the animal. Perhaps then she could get through to the human she knew lived underneath. That meant doing something she hadn’t done since she’d met Danny, she’d have to let another man abuse her. If there’d been any doubt before, it was a sealed deal now. Danny would never forgive her.

Outside the door to Chaz’s quarters stood two guards. She waved them off. Last thing she needed now was an audience.

The door slid open at a touch of the keypad. Humidity wafted over her, and birds chirped somewhere inside. Her sharp ears picked up other animals scurrying and slipping through the foliage and trees of the jungle Steele had created in the room. If she hadn’t known its purpose, she might have called the scene before her pretty.

Instead, it was a sick elaborate cage for an Exceptional that deserved far better. Of course, that particular Exceptional didn’t know it, and had been conditioned to not think like most humans. After a few deep breaths to brace herself, she stepped into the woods.

The path to Chaz’s cage had become overgrown. Since the war it was probably difficult to find the wealthy individuals that had once fueled Chaz’s purpose as money-bait. It seemed the war had spared Chaz from some of his worst duties.

That also meant he’d been penned in for a very long time. Which meant the upcoming reinitiation could be very painful as Chaz would likely have little control over his animal instincts, as if he ever had.

“Chaz?” Lynx crept over the large log that held his cage. “Cheetah?”

A low growl greeted her, feline and nasty as hell.

“Cheetah, it’s me. It’s Lynx.” She dropped down in front of the cage. Yellow eyes glowed from inside. She was surprised to find her hand shaking as she reached for the lock. The code was complex, which bought her a few more minutes. “Cheetah.”

“You left.” It was a snarl, difficult to understand. Of course, his use of English had never been great, but based on those two words it might have devolved some.

“I had a mission. He sent me away. I’m here now. Maybe together we can get out.”

He growled low again. “Let me out.”

“I am.” Lynx hovered over the last number. “Cheetah. Remember, I’m your friend.”

“You always help.”

She swallowed against the uncharacteristic fear of what that meant. After pushing down the fear as she’d been trained, she hit the last button. She stumbled away from the cage.

A flash of pain triggered her mutation.

Soon it would be over.

Then he would listen.

He had to.