being “second.” Yet anyone else would be beaten for such a refusal.
Adam set his glass down and spread his arms across the back of the couch. “Tell me about Cassandra. I always thought she was one of those preacher’s daughter kinds of fantasies for you. Only it’s the general’s daughter.” His lips twitched. “Did you kiss her broken heart and make it better?”
Michael had a fantasy all right, the same fantasy he had at least once a day, and not about Cassandra. The one where he slit Adam’s throat and ended all of this. Only it wouldn’t end. Adam had insurance on himself—a strategy he’d made clear to both the government and the Renegades. Upon his death, those three biological weapons they’d taken from Port Said years before would be released, among a string of other disasters that would escalate around the country.
He and Caleb both blamed themselves for that one. And thus far, only Michael knew where they would be released, but not by who—if he knew who, he could end this, end Adam, and end his terror.
Michael forced himself out of the fantasy and back to the conversation. He disliked talking about Cassandra with Adam. “She’ll be cooperating,” he said. “But she’s been kept in the dark. I’ll guide her through manipulating her father. She’ll find Red Dart.”
“Quickly,” Adam said. “Guide her quickly.”
Ava sashayed back into the room, wearing a pink silk robe and draping herself over Adam’s shoulder. “Did you tell him about the fertility testing?” She didn’t wait for a response, excitement lifting her voice. “I injected six women with a hormone formulation from my pregnancy. Their fertility ranges immediately skyrocketed off the charts. Next step is to pair them with some of the soldiers and see if the hormones make them lifebond compatible.” Ava lavished the women inside Zodius City with gifts and luxurious living quarters. These were the future mothers of Zodius children. Seventy percent of the nearly one hundred women inside the “Silver, Gold, and Twilight Quarters”—the female housing units—were brainwashed by the glamour and Ava’s unique ability to mold nearly every female mind she touched. Only a small percentage were unaffected by her new gift. Despite the requirement of frequent, rotating sex partners, they wouldn’t leave if given the chance.
“What Ava failed to mention,” Adam said, “was the part where two of the six females she injected have died. The last thing I need is a bunch of panicked females worried about why women are disappearing. I want them all injected now, deal with the fallout, and be done with it all at once. There is no reason to wait.”
Michael had gone ice-cold inside. This was where the buck stopped, where he exited Zodius. Because he was leaving with as many of those women as he could—and he was doing it tonight, while they still had a chance to live. And considering a woman who’d had sex with a GTECH developed a psychic energy that could be traced by certain skilled GTECHs while above ground, that wasn’t going to be easy.
Ava curled up to Adam’s side. “We’ll need more women, Michael. You’ll need to send a team out hunting.”
Adam smiled. “If you didn’t have to attend to the needs of Cassandra,” he said, “I’d say we take the wolves out hunting for prospects. It’ll be an interesting diversion. I love to watch their faces when the wolves go at them, and then we save the day by rescuing them.” He laughed. “Priceless. They come willingly. We are their heroes.”
An hour later, finally having leveraged himself out of Adam’s company, Michael appeared inside Sunrise Canyon on a deserted dirt road eighty miles north of Zodius City. Only a few miles from the underground Renegade Headquarters, their version of Zodius City: Sunrise City.
A black Jeep waited by a mountainside, and with nothing but desert and darkness for cover, he wasted no time climbing into the front passenger’s side.
Adam set his glass down and spread his arms across the back of the couch. “Tell me about Cassandra. I always thought she was one of those preacher’s daughter kinds of fantasies for you. Only it’s the general’s daughter.” His lips twitched. “Did you kiss her broken heart and make it better?”
Michael had a fantasy all right, the same fantasy he had at least once a day, and not about Cassandra. The one where he slit Adam’s throat and ended all of this. Only it wouldn’t end. Adam had insurance on himself—a strategy he’d made clear to both the government and the Renegades. Upon his death, those three biological weapons they’d taken from Port Said years before would be released, among a string of other disasters that would escalate around the country.
He and Caleb both blamed themselves for that one. And thus far, only Michael knew where they would be released, but not by who—if he knew who, he could end this, end Adam, and end his terror.
Michael forced himself out of the fantasy and back to the conversation. He disliked talking about Cassandra with Adam. “She’ll be cooperating,” he said. “But she’s been kept in the dark. I’ll guide her through manipulating her father. She’ll find Red Dart.”
“Quickly,” Adam said. “Guide her quickly.”
Ava sashayed back into the room, wearing a pink silk robe and draping herself over Adam’s shoulder. “Did you tell him about the fertility testing?” She didn’t wait for a response, excitement lifting her voice. “I injected six women with a hormone formulation from my pregnancy. Their fertility ranges immediately skyrocketed off the charts. Next step is to pair them with some of the soldiers and see if the hormones make them lifebond compatible.” Ava lavished the women inside Zodius City with gifts and luxurious living quarters. These were the future mothers of Zodius children. Seventy percent of the nearly one hundred women inside the “Silver, Gold, and Twilight Quarters”—the female housing units—were brainwashed by the glamour and Ava’s unique ability to mold nearly every female mind she touched. Only a small percentage were unaffected by her new gift. Despite the requirement of frequent, rotating sex partners, they wouldn’t leave if given the chance.
“What Ava failed to mention,” Adam said, “was the part where two of the six females she injected have died. The last thing I need is a bunch of panicked females worried about why women are disappearing. I want them all injected now, deal with the fallout, and be done with it all at once. There is no reason to wait.”
Michael had gone ice-cold inside. This was where the buck stopped, where he exited Zodius. Because he was leaving with as many of those women as he could—and he was doing it tonight, while they still had a chance to live. And considering a woman who’d had sex with a GTECH developed a psychic energy that could be traced by certain skilled GTECHs while above ground, that wasn’t going to be easy.
Ava curled up to Adam’s side. “We’ll need more women, Michael. You’ll need to send a team out hunting.”
Adam smiled. “If you didn’t have to attend to the needs of Cassandra,” he said, “I’d say we take the wolves out hunting for prospects. It’ll be an interesting diversion. I love to watch their faces when the wolves go at them, and then we save the day by rescuing them.” He laughed. “Priceless. They come willingly. We are their heroes.”
An hour later, finally having leveraged himself out of Adam’s company, Michael appeared inside Sunrise Canyon on a deserted dirt road eighty miles north of Zodius City. Only a few miles from the underground Renegade Headquarters, their version of Zodius City: Sunrise City.
A black Jeep waited by a mountainside, and with nothing but desert and darkness for cover, he wasted no time climbing into the front passenger’s side.
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