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“That’s big of you. ” He wasn’t in the least placated.
Scheme shrugged as she stared around the grounds. “It will never be easy for either of us, Tanner, you know that. Father will always be waiting for me. ”
“He doesn’t have to live forever. ” His head lowered, the red in his eyes deepening.
Scheme backed up sharply, her eyes widening. “What are you talking about? For God’s sake, Tanner, what are you planning? You can’t kill him any more than he can kill you without it backfiring. ”
His expression instantly closed. “All I’m concerned with is keeping you alive,” he snapped, his fingers curling around her arm as he headed to the back door. “Nothing more. ”
“I’m getting sick of you dragging me around like this. ” She jerked at her arm. “And I’m getting really sick of you treating me like a dimwit. ”
“You are a dimwit,” he snapped as he pulled her into the house. “You just put yourself in danger like tomorrow doesn’t matter. ” The back door slammed behind him. “Just fuck it, as far as you’re concerned it’s going to be done your way, period. ”
“It’s not like that. ”
“The hell it’s not,” he yelled back at her. “You needed a damned keeper. I’ll be damned if I have any idea how you survived this long. You are so fucking stubborn you make me rabid. ”
“I’m getting really tired of your insults. ” Her teeth clenched against the need to fight back. She was not going to get into a screaming match with a damned Bengal in the middle of a Breed kitchen. “And you were born rabid. ”
“Then prove me different. ” He threw his hands up at his sides as he turned sharply away from her and headed for the coffeepot. “Go on, Scheme, tell me how fucking wrong I am. ”
She turned to Cabal. “Could you help me out here?”
His brow lifted mockingly. “I’ve learned not to argue with him. As you said, he was born rabid. It’s best to let him blow off the steam, then start wearing him down again. ”
“Just tell me if you saw anything or if that little trip outside was a fool’s errand?” Tanner growled.
Cabal’s lips thinned. “A faint glint of the sun off metal farther up the mountain. Just for the slightest second and consistent with the gleam of the sun on the new telescopic scopes Vanderale sent last year. They have a single vulnerability. If the sun hits them just right, then it will reflect back for a millisecond before the computerized lens detects it and shifts the shading within the lens. We’ve only just discovered the vulnerability. Not all the Breeds are aware of it yet. ”
“And you caught that?” Scheme blinked back at him. She knew of only one Breed in her father’s organization that had been able to pinpoint that one millisecond of light reflecting back from those lenses.
“I’m rather good at some things. ” Cabal shrugged. “That’s one of them. ”
“Someone had a scope on her!” Tanner’s voice was a low growl of rage as he glared back at her. “No bullets, huh?”
She shrugged placidly. “None were fired. ”
“She has a point, Tanner. I had a team move into the place where I detected the reflection, but it was clear. We didn’t even get a scent. ”
And that had Scheme’s blood running cold. No scent. That meant a Breed had learned how to camouflage himself.
“Who’s accessed the scent neutralizer Ely created?” Tanner shocked her as he questioned Cabal.
“You have a scent neutralizer?” She turned back to him in surprise. “Since when? Even the Council scientists couldn’t come up with anything to keep Breeds from detecting Breeds. ”
“Vanderale Laboratories has been helping us with it. ” Tanner poured a cup of coffee, his voice still tight, his body tense. “We developed it with their help just this past month and just started testing it. Evidently it works. ”
“Only Ely’s supposed to have access to that,” Cabal said. “But according to her, Jolian had been in the labs lately chatting with her. ”
“Chatting with her?” Tanner asked dangerously.
“Chatting,” Cabal said coldly. “Passing the time of day. Ely says they’re friends. ”
Tanner turned an accusing eye on Scheme. “Harmless, is she?”
“We don’t have enough to confine her yet, Tanner,” Cabal informed him, his voice still hard. “Until we do, all we can do is watch her. ”
“Then you watch her,” Tanner ordered harshly as Scheme leaned back against the kitchen island, crossed her arms over her breasts and waited.
