Nightshade.Her shocked expression must have shown on her face, because Rainier puffed up with triumph.
“Yes, I know your true identity. It wasn’t too hard to figure out after I pulled your medical records from the hospital in Germany. Very clever on Mankel’s part to transplant you as your twin sister. I wouldn’t have ever suspected a thing if you hadn’t been brought in so injured.”
“My scars,” she gasped, her hand itching to touch the scar on her thigh.
“Caroline didn’t have a single one. Believe me, I know,” Rainier’s voice dropped an octave and she had to fight off the rolling wave of nausea at his implication.
“I couldn’t have planned it better, though. I finally get my hands on the golden egg. So to speak.” He laughed, a deep full sound that would have been pleasant if it hadn’t come from the General. “Now all I have to do is wait on daddy dearest to swoop in, clean up my tracks, and you my dear, will disappear.”
He’d found out her identity and baited Mankel. His last words,I trust you,an ice pick to the chest. Rainier had been working with Cotter all along. Oh my God. “Mankel will never show.”
Rainier scrutinized for agonizing seconds before slowly saying, “He really did do a number on you. Damn. Gotta give the evil bastard credit for carrying out the charade this long. Do you really believe Jack Mankel could spawn a child?” Rainier laughed again, only this time evil completely filled the sound and sent a shiver down her spine. “Jesus, maybe I could take a lesson from him before I kill him.”
“What are you talking about?” She held her breath, her brain unable to process the possibility of the General’s words. It was too incomprehensible…too evil…
“Mankel isn’t your father.”
Rainier dropped that life altering bomb and Nightshade felt the ground tilt around her. Not her father… All those years of wanting his approval, needing his love; love that would never come.
Her heart contracted into a small hard ball and she fought for oxygen. There was too much truth to his words, too much confidence. All those years she’d prayed for Mankel’s love…and in one-minute Cotter had given it freely.
“Don’t look so shocked. It was genius really, using your sister to keep you in line and then holding you in his back pocket the entire time. You were his ace in the hole against Cotter.”
“But why? Why would he do that?” How could he lie to her for her whole life? He’d made up an elaborate story about Cotter kidnapping Caroline to control Mankel. Cotter had destroyed their family. Killed her mother… “My mother?”
“Ah, Sarah. She is the crux of the whole thing, isn’t she? Poor Cotter never had a chance after she set her sights on him. Sarah Foster was the one woman Jack Mankel ever loved, if he even knows how to love. If she hadn’t left Mankel, this whole situation may never have happened.” Rainier tapped his lip. “But then again, Sarah Foster was responsible for the creation of Operation Midnight.”
“Operation Midnight? I shut that proposal down. What the hell are you talking about Rainier? And what the hell are you doing with my daughter out here?”
Nightshade spun to see Cotter approaching, his usually loving gaze locked with deadly intent on the General. Her heart kicked back into gear on one explosive burst, sending a hard tremor down her entire frame. Cotter stopped at her side and gently touched her arm. “Are you okay?”
Nightshade managed a weak headshake, suddenly remembering Reaper’s presence. He’d melded back into the tree line, but when Rainier gestured for him, Reaper emerged. Just as big. Just as deadly. His weapon aimed at Cotter this time.
Her father.
Her real father.
Oh. My. God.
She’d been the bait. After all her training and planning, she’d ended up as the bait.
Nightshade tried to ease in front of Cotter but he shoved her behind him in a move of unshakeable protection. She knew the moment he spotted Reaper, because his already rigid stance went rock hard. Even a civilian knew when they were staring at death.
“Reaper is an excellent shot, Cotter, but he’s not perfect. You might want to take a step to the side if you don’t want to risk injuring your precious daughter,” Rainier sneered.
Reaper’s gun didn’t waiver a millimeter. His entire countenance held a remote detachment from any sign of human emotion.
“I’m going to fucking kill you.” He knew about her sister.
Rainier dusted off his suit, and straightened his jacket. “I know. I know. You’ll gut me, cut off my fingers, blah, blah, blah. That’s what they all say. Even Reaper here initially threatened violence, but that was before Operation Midnight. Eventually, you’ll meet the same fate.”
She studied Reaper more closely, looking for any crack in his calm veneer, but found none. He’d moved with the deadly quiet of a skilled assassin, but now, he looked more like a deadly machine. And yet, there was something about him that was eerily familiar… “What did you do to him?”
“I gave him a little dose of an experimental serum formulated by a very, very intelligent woman,” Rainier said
Cotter’s rigid frame trembled ever so slightly. “She didn’t want this, dammit. You know it.”
“Sarah might have had a few second thoughts in the end, but she wanted it. She wanted it just as bad as I did. As bad as you. And as bad as Mankel.” He took a small step forward. “Otherwise, she would have never come to you with the formulation in the first place.”
