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But Rhiannon was right. Running hadn’t solved any of his problems in the past, and it wasn’t going to fix things now. He had to face this.
“I think it was stolen,”he admitted finally,“and used to trigger the quake. And I think the people who stole it are after me because they’re either afraid I can stop them or they need me to help them use it. As bad as this quake was, we’ve seen only a fraction of what Tectra-X is capable of.”
“Oh, my God,” she whispered. “Who do you think used it?”
“Worst-case scenario, a doomsday cult.”
She blinked at him like she couldn’t comprehend his scenes. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, seriously. They’re called Hope’s Embrace. The leader and most of the main cult members are dead from a mass suicide, but it’s possible some stayed alive to set off the weapon.They believed an apocalyptic event would wipe the earth clean, and they’d be brought back to repopulate it.”
“I…” She shook her head and shoved her hands into her hair. “That’s crazy.”
He nodded once in agreement.“It is, but I learned from firsthand experience not to underestimate them.”
“If that’s the worst-case scenario, I don’t know if I want to know what the best-case scenario is.”
“It’s still pretty bad— the military. They still don’t want me spilling their secrets, so as long as I’m alive, I’m dangerous to them.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty bad. Are there any scenarios that aren’t worst-case?”
“Not really, but if it makes you feel any better, I don’t think the military is involved in this because they wouldn’t have activated the weapon. Too messy for them.”
She gave him a dry look. “Funnily enough, that doesn’t make me feel better.”
He winced.“Yeah, sorry. But if it’s not the cult, it’s more likely a mercenary group got their hands on it and accidentally set it off. It’s essentially a one-time-use device. Before I left the project, it was one of the problems we were trying to address. My guess is if they set it off, they now need me to fix it so they can sell it to the highest bidder.”
Her eyes rounded. “The mercenary team is Halston, isn’t it?” Then her cheeks flushed. “Sorry, I kind of read Gareth’s lips while you were talking the other day.”
Despite everything, a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. Of course she had. He should’ve expected it. Rhiannon was nothing if not persistent.
“Yeah, Halston,”he confirmed, his smile fading.“They’ve been on the fringes of this for a while. They work security for one of the labs involved in the project. They’re not exactlyknown for playing nice when it comes to technology that can disrupt the balance of power.”
Rhiannon’s expression hardened, and her brow knitted in thought. “Okay, so that I’m one hundred percent clear. We’re dealing with either a doomsday cult—” She broke off and laughed lightly in disbelief. “I can’t believe I said that with a straight face. But it’s either them or a group of deadly mercenaries who don’t play by any rules. And they’ll both do anything to get their hands on you—whether it’s to use your expertise or eliminate a loose end.”
He nodded.“That sums it up.”
She sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Is there anything else I should know?”
Before he could respond, a sharp voice interrupted them.
“I knew it!”
They both turned to see Lori standing a few feet away, her face pale and eyes wide with shock and fury.
Fuck.
“Alan!” she called over her shoulder. “You were right. They’ve been lying all along.”
Alan crossed to stand beside his wife. “What did they say?”
She pointed a shaking finger. “Pierce—they’re saying he’s the one responsible for the earthquake. He built some kind of weapon, and now people are after him for it.”
“I knew you were hiding something,” Alan said, his voice dripping with satisfaction. “And now everyone else is going to know the truth, too.”
Pierce felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. The last thing he needed was for the entire group to turn against him, especially when there was still so much danger looming. Dean had started sowing seeds of doubt, and now, armed with Lori’s half-understood revelation, Alan was nurturing them.
It wouldn’t take much for him to fracture the group completely.
