Horrible images that could never be real flashed through hermind.
“We were dumb, and blindlytrusting.”
“Whathappened?”
He clenched his jaw and turned away from her. “First we thought it was awesome. They gave us the medicine, we took it and started testing our strength, our abilities. The enhancements were amazing. Beyond normal. After a while we started getting side effects. Migraines. Blackouts. Nosebleeds. And some of us started to question it. They just pushed us harder. Your brother—Dawson—they pushed himhardest.”
Laura sat up straight, the tendrils of tightness around her chest squeezing. “What did they do to him?” And then a thought struck her. “They told me he was dead. That he was killed inaction.”
“We thought he was dead. They’d overdosed him with the drugs they were giving us. They were trying to see how much we could take. One of our team saw him die, or thought he did. We managed to escape after that, we ran and have been hiding ever since. We were searching for the people who did this to us, searching to bring justice for our team and for your brother.” The veins on King’s armspopped.
“Then John didn’t die,” shewhispered.
He shook his head. “No, he didn’t. We didn’t know until several months ago when he crashed an FBI raid we were assisting on. He attacked us.” King looked straight at her hand. “He attackedme.”
Laura shook her head in denial. Her brother would never attack his own team—he’d given his life for his country. He’d been a Boy Scout his whole life, an honors graduate, a stand out soldier. “You have to be mistaken. It wasn’t John, he’s never been violent. He goes out of his way to avoidviolence.”
“Believe me, it was him.” Kings tone turneddark.
John had showed back up on her doorstep all those months ago, quiet, but not once had she seen him have an outburst of anger or rage. Sure, he was different and he used to be more serious. Every movement had been careful and measured, but she’d always thought he was just being cautious around Faith. He’d come and gone, telling her he couldn’t stay, that he was still on contract with the military. She’d accepted his excuse because he’d always had that with the Special Forces, he’d be home one day and deploy the next. She’d been so overjoyed to discover he wasn’t dead she hadn’t questioned anything. Should shehave?
No. He was her brother and she knew her brother. She loved him. “You’re wrong. He’s been staying with me for months and I haven’t once seen him act out of control in any way, if anything, he’s even more measured than he used tobe.”
“And you were with him every day? All day?” Kingquestioned
“Well, not every day, he still had to work. So did I. But we were with him enough.” She felt the need to defend her right rising. “He took her to play in the park every week, brought her doughnuts and ice cream, read her bedtime stories. An out-of-control man couldn’t have functioned like that.” She’d seen enough out-of-control people in her job as a social worker to know that. People on the verge of a breakdown weren’t calm and collected, they fidgeted. They jumped like nervous cats. Had outbursts and yelled. Threw things. John had done none ofthat.
“And who is he working for? Did he tell youthat?”
Her eyebrows drew together. “John never tells me anything about his missions. Hecan’t.”
“That’s because he doesn’t work for the government anymore. He’s working for the man who betrayed us,” King saiddarkly.
“He would never betray his country or histeam.”
“Maybe before the experiment, but after—Laura, you have to understand. He’s not the same John you knew. He changed.” King grabbed her hand into his. A bolt of electricity raced up her arm. In that instant, she was aware of every single callous, every bit of heat in hispalm.
He continued, “They changedhim.”
Trembling, she drew her hand back to her lap, afraid of her reaction to him. “It’s nottrue.”
“It is,” he repeated. “You can ask any of the men here on the team. They’ll tell you the same thing. We all had to fight our way back to normal, but Dawson neverdid.”
She shook her head, biting her lip. “You’re wrong. You have to be. John dedicated his life to saving others. He wouldn’t throw it all away.Ever.”
She knew he wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize his tenuous relationship with hisdaughter.
“You were there this morning,” King said. “He triggered an explosion in your house. Did you even know that wasthere?”
His question brought her up short. No, she hadn’t known anything about the bomb, but she didn’t want to admit that to King. “So?” shehedged.
“He was willing to destroy your house and risk yours and Faith’s lives in that explosion. Is that not even a little bitunhinged?”
“If what you’re saying is true about the lab and the experiments, he probably put it there to protect us in case they came after us.” That sounded more like the John sheknew.
“He put it there to cover his tracks and erase any evidence of himself. He’s on the run, dangerous. Why can’t you seethat?”
“Because I know him.” Laura slammed her fist onto the mattress between them and jumped to her feet. Before she could start walking, he shackled her wrist and that same bolt of awareness wasthere.
