Jonas, think about it for a minute. What am I made up of? What do I do? What can I do? To be a true partnership, we both have to bring something of equal value to the table, right? When we were outnumbered by these enhanced soldiers, I could set the traps, and you could take them down. That meant we both contributed something of equal value.
She was right. She had set the ultimate in traps. Her rolling fog was extraordinary, especially in the way she could plant subtle suggestions that preyed on the unwary.
We have a continuing partnership in the field, Jonas. Clearly, we can use our network for aiding our soldiers in a battle. We can bridgecommunication and help run operations. We can aid in healing. We can develop weapons using toxic plant materials.
He hadn’t considered the ability to communicate with not only their team but all the teams if they needed to do so. She was right. They could, using the mycelium network. As for developing weapons, he would need to talk to her about that.
A personal relationship is even more of a partnership, Jonas. We have to be compatible. Whitney may be a complete ass, but he was also a genius. He had to have known you had a certain personality when he enhanced you, the same way he knew I did. The idea was that two people worked well together. We made up for each other’s shortcomings, so to speak.
That was true. Whitney’s original plan had been that exactly, before he threw that out the window and decided he was going to produce superbeings. He didn’t care about the pairings after that. He just wanted babies. In the beginning, though, he had created couples he thought would work well together.
Crawley’s pace was a ground-eating jog. They were covering distance at a good clip. The man had long legs, and he was making good use of his ability to move. The pace didn’t seem to bother Camellia with her shorter legs. She kept up without even breathing hard. So, aside from being compatible in the field and the obvious physical chemistry between them, what did she bring to him and he to her in the relationship department?
Camellia had created what had amounted to a rain forest at a high elevation where there should be snow. It was a little slice of paradise. When Jonas had entered, he had expected the enemy to be there. He should have been coiled like a snake, ready to strike. Instead, he’d felt peace and serenity, as he’d never experienced it before. She’d brought that to him. Just the way she had come to him, so confident when he was a snarling, brutal beast, ready to rip and tear anything in his path, managing to somehow find a way tosoothe him when nothing or no one else could have. Could she be right?
Was it possible Camellia held the key to taming the violent mix of animal and reptile genetics in him? He couldn’t conceive of anything doing that, yet in a short time she had managed to turn those neurons from moving in the wrong direction. Observing them through her eyes, he could see they were like a river flowing in the opposite way it was meant to go. With gentle brushes, she had coaxed the tide to reverse itself. Within a short period of time, the adrenaline was diluting and he could feel himself settling.
We’re getting closer to the compound, Jonas.Jeff’s voice startled Jonas, breaking into his introspection. Jeff used the pathway that included Kyle and Camellia as well.It’s now or never for Camellia. If she goes in with us, do you two have a plan if Ryland gets insistent about her? He could. He’s going to be really upset that anyone is coming after Lily and Daniel. Kyle and I talked it over. We’ll back your play. Camellia is no threat to Lily or Daniel, but Ryland may not see it that way. Or he may feel the need to talk to General Ranier about her and her abilities. That wouldn’t be a good thing in our opinion, Jonas.
Jonas couldn’t help the affection welling up for Jeff and Kyle. They were good men. Good friends. They’d always had his back, no matter how bad things had gotten for him—and they’d gotten bad.
Camellia moved a little closer to him. He realized she wasn’t aware she did it, or of the small positive chemical reaction she had to the admission Jeff made that he and Kyle had discussed the eventuality of Ryland’s reactions to her accompanying them to the compound. Every protective trait he had kicked in tenfold.
She didn’t feel as if she were going to take off on him though. She jogged beside him, head up, determination in her mind.
I plan to throw you and Lily under the bus to divert his attention away from Camellia,Jonas said truthfully.That’s after I kick your assfor being an idiot. I was going to do it without anyone around to spare you the humiliation, but then we ran into these jokers.
There was a small silence. He could feel Jeff’s rising alarm and Kyle’s puzzlement.
What’s he done now, Jonas? You might as well confess, Jeff,Kyle said.I’ll find out eventually. If I have to patch you up after one of Jonas’s beatdowns, I should know why he’s kicking your ass.
Again, there was a silence. Jonas kept his gaze fixed on Crawley. The man was pulling his bullshit move again, stepping off the trail to hit a bush, hoping to leave evidence of his passing. Camellia simply repaired the damage to the plant, sending the necessary nutrients ahead of her. She did so as if she were on automatic pilot. Crawley kept glancing over his shoulder, trying to catch one of them in the act. Every now and then, his gaze dropped on her. It was brief, but Jonas didn’t like the speculation there before the man would turn his head and renew his efforts to pick up his pace.
Jonas knew there was no way for Crawley to know that Camellia had been the one to repair the damages to the plants, but he certainly was wondering if she was the one to have done so. If Crawley was in any way connected to Whitney, the man was going to have to die, no matter what Ryland said. Jonas didn’t dare leave him alive. That was the problem with taking prisoners. There was always the possibility that they could escape or smuggle word out to someone. Whitney had enough money to buy a country, let alone bribe people.
You know there’s a traitor in the compound, Jeff. Someone is aware of Daniel’s abilities.
We don’t know that,Jeff denied.Crawley could have been sent up here to get him in order to discover what his abilities are.
Whoever is behind this has a plant in our compound. They know his abilities,Jonas reiterated.
That isn’t possible,Kyle denied.The only people who ever see whatDaniel can do are members of our team. No one else. We don’t make those kinds of mistakes, and neither does Daniel. He knows better. He might be a toddler, but he’s highly intelligent. He doesn’t show off, and he doesn’t ever show what he can do, not even if we go visit the Nortons and their sons.
There was another long silence. Jonas waited to see if Jeff would confess to Kyle. He didn’t. Jonas didn’t really expect him to. He sighed.Does Ryland know, or is Lily keeping secrets from him?
Damn it, Jonas. We aren’t doing this. We can’t do this.The harsh denial exploded in their minds.
Jonas jogged down the mountain for a quarter of a mile before he replied. They were in very familiar territory now. He knew eyes were on them.I wasn’t the dumbass agreeing to do it, Jeff. That was you. And you know someone else knows. If I figured it out, someone else has. That someone is the traitor. We have to stop them before they deliver Daniel and Lily into enemy hands. Or you. At first I thought this asshole and his men were coming for you. There might be another team, for all I know, coming for you. You don’t agree to this kind of shit without talking it over with us.
They all felt Jeff sigh.Talking things over means it isn’t a secret, Jonas.
Is it a secret from our commander?Jonas pushed. He needed to know how much trouble Jeff was going to be in.
I don’t know. I figured Lily would tell him. Daniel is his son. It never occurred to me she would go behind his back, but he was never with us. I still thought he knew. Now that you’re all over me about this, I’m getting a little worried.
Would either of you like to fill me in?Kyle prompted.We’re getting close, and I don’t want to get blindsided if you’re really going to talk to Ryland about something to do with Jeff.
I don’t have a choice.Jonas felt he didn’t.Jeff, you have to talk tohim. We both do. You know there’s a traitor. Someone reached out to make all this happen.
