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He looked at himself in the mirror and saw that his skin was completely unblemished, with the exception of a long, ugly scar that ran across his abdomen. Cali had said the nanites healed everything. Why was this scar still there?

This was all so fucking confusing. Instead of pondering it until his head ached again, he returned to the bedroom.

Someone had thoughtfully provided a pair of shorts and a shirt for him to wear. He slipped them on, then opened the door.

The hallway was just as opulent as he remembered from that morning, and just as out of his league.

Tate was the first person he saw. His friend sat at the breakfast bar, sipping on what looked like iced tea.

“Sleeping Beauty arises,” the big man joked, but his tone was serious. “I poured you a cup when I heard the shower start up.” He pushed a mug in front of Benny. “Drink up before you deck me.”

Benny took a sip. Just like this morning, it was made exactly how he liked it, and even though he still wanted to punch Tate for even touching his sister, the ritual of remembering how he took his coffee bled away some of his righteous anger.

“Just so you know, I love her, and I’ve always loved her. Probably from the day that we met,” Tate mused and took a sip of his tea. “She loves me as well. It’s not simply something forged in danger. It’s always been there. I almost died for her the other night, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”

Well, hell. Benny put down his coffee. It was hard to stay mad when he said it like that. “I’m still a little butthurt by it,” he said. “But I figure we’ve all got bigger things to worry about right now. As to whether she loves you, I want to hear that from her.”

Tate nodded, his gaze never leaving Benny. “I missed you so much,” he said quietly. “Losing you about broke me and Beth. It’s so good to have you back. And yeah, there’s a shit ton of stuff that you don’t know yet, so let’s go sit in the living room and I’ll walk you through it.” He held out his hand.

Benny stared at it for a moment, then stepped forward and gave his friend a big hug. The simple contact with another human being, someone he’d trusted with his life in the past and likely would again, grounded him. But the nagging sense that there was still something missing hovered at the edges of his uncooperative brain.

“Where’s Beth?” he asked, not seeing his sister anywhere nearby.

“Catching up on her sleep. She stayed awake while I was healing, then through everything else. Once you went down, so did she.”

That made sense, and knowing she was close made something settle within him. Not everything, but something, and he’d take it for now.

They settled on the ridiculously comfortable couch that overlooked the Strip. They were so high up that all they could see were the tops of the other skyscrapers and the flashing images of the Sphere a few blocks away.

Tate recapped everything that had happened from the day Benny had been hit by the car and holy moly, it was a lot. Some of it was a repeat of what they’d told him earlier, but now he had the brainpower to take it in.

Dev starting up St. Michael’s and everyone jumping on board. Clay’s injuries, then Warren’s. The women who had come into their lives. And then Beth witnessing a murder and Tate being her bodyguard until she could testify. The shootout just forty-eight hours ago. The fact that his sister was finally safe. Davenport, the shadowy figure who had delivered him with no explanation and all of the weirdness seemed to circle around.

“Dev hates that guy,” Tate said. “I really don’t give two shits one way or the other. He saved my life and he delivered you to us. In my opinion, all I have to give that man is my thanks.”

Benny thought about the coldness in Davenport’s eyes. About the controlled way he moved. The lethal grace. Yeah, he wasn’t looking forward to tangling with someone like Davenport anytime soon.

“You really can’t remember anything?” Tate asked.

Benny shook his head. “I can’t remember the last year at all. Right after we finished therapy, it goes blank.”

Tate considered that for a long moment. “You’re the medic. How do you think we can get your memory back? We need what’s in your head to get a better handle on how to move forward. Davenport leaked a memo to us about a week ago. We’re all lab rats for a government experiment.”

Benny went cold. Why was this the first he was hearing of it? Granted, a buttload of information had been thrown his way in just a few hours, but this bit seemed pretty damned important.

Tate held up a hand as he read Benny’s expression. “We all decided it was better coming from me, since I’ve been through it as well.” He got up and grabbed the tablet he had left sitting on the countertop, brought it over, and handed it to Benny. On the glossy surface was a governmental memo.

Alpha-01 will undergo one last series of trials, and should he continue to resist testing and treatment, will undergo neural manipulation, as previously discussed to continue his viability as a test subject and to maintain program security.

Alpha-02 will continue to be monitored, but barring additional trauma, has little to offer us in terms of research at this time. It is still unclear why the nanites did not activate at the time of the initial injury.

Alpha-03's recovery from a gunshot wound gave us more than enough data to extrapolate from, and further physical surveillance interventions may prove more problematic than beneficial.

Alpha-04’s activation is scheduled for eight weeks from today, after we have completely analyzed Alpha-03’s data.

Alpha-05, as the last remaining affected subject, will stay deactivated for the foreseeable future. The subject's medical knowledge could prove disadvantageous should she become activated without careful planning and monitoring.

Alpha-06 remains viable as an asset and will continue to surveil the rest of Alpha Group due to his intrinsic knowledge of nanite technology and the benefits.