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Diane suppressed a shudder at the thought of what those Coyotes had suffered, but words her uncle used to mutter drifted through her mind: “Live by the sword, die by the sword.”
“Lawe said Malachi reported knowing him?” Surprising enough.
Rule nodded. “They met during one of Gideon’s escapes, his first one. Gideon worked with a small group Malachi was leading until they reached Amsterdam where Gideon decided to go his own way.”
“And there he was betrayed by a prostitute,” Diane murmured.
“Yes, he was.” Rule sighed. “Malachi’s mate is Chief Ray Martinez’s niece, though. The attack convinced them to give us permission to begin the investigation to search for him.”
Diane stilled for a long second before turning to Rule, uncaring that Lawe or anyone else for that matter would detect her displeasure.
“That’s not why we’re here,” she reminded.
“We are not going to get permission to investigate the missing research projects, and we’re not going to inform them that’s why we’re here,” he told her, his tone steely now as he lowered his voice. “I can give you the reasons why later, in private, when I update Lawe. Suffice to say, our story is that we’re searching for Gideon for fear that the feral fever he’s slipped into could cause an unwarranted death. That’s all they need to know. The Navajo don’t want bodies to begin piling up in Window Rock, especially after Isabelle Martinez’s attack by a man her father once trusted.”
She swung back around and glared at Lawe now. He’d turned, his gaze meeting hers, his stare brooding as it flicked between her and Rule.
“You shouldn’t have come here to begin with.” Gritting the words between clenched teeth she shoved her hands in the pocket of her jeans to keep from trying to strangle him. “You caused an incident where none was needed.”
“Then Malachi wouldn’t have found his mate,” Rule pointed out, as though that somehow validated the decision.
“You and your brother just piss me off.” Diane turned back to him, the irritation churning into anger. “Your arrogance and complete lack of consideration for others never fails to amaze me, Rule.”
The corners of his eyes shifted and his brow arched. “What did we do this time?”
“You found a way to argue a decision you knew was wrong to begin with. Gideon knows you’re here, and now he knows it’s not just him you’re chasing but the Brandenmore Research projects he’s after as well. You’ve just forewarned him.”
“The Genetics Council believes we’re searching for him.” His voice grated.
“He’s not stupid,” she retorted. “By allowing him to believe you even know whe
re he’s at before letting me arrive first was all he needed. You’re not dealing with the Council or their Coyotes. You’re dealing with a Breed whose intelligence rates at the genius level and whose ability to coordinate and carry out what others considered suicide missions when he was only a teenager should have been your warning. He knows, and now he’ll stop at nothing to ensure you don’t get anywhere close to them. I just pray to God he doesn’t consider killing them a viable option to losing them to you.”
Better yet, she was to the point that if it weren’t for her own niece, she would hinder their search in any way possible. Fortunately for them, Amber needed the girls. The answers to what the serum had done to them as they matured, especially Honor Roberts, was vitally important.
For some reason, the contact she had found in Argentina had believed it was Honor who may hold the answers to what Amber would be facing as she grew older.
The changes in her niece were astounding. She had been walking for the past few weeks, despite the fact that she was barely eight months old. She was purring when she found something that pleased her, if she believed she was alone. And her sister swore her daughter understood far more than she should for her age. The few moments Diane had spent with Amber before leaving D.C. had assured her Amber did know far more than she should.
Jonas was convinced of it, Rachel had told her during an earlier discussion. She often caught Jonas talking to the toddler, giving her directions, then watching her carry them out when she thought her “da” had left the room.
Rachel was terrified that the advanced intelligence was only the first sign that her daughter would follow the same path as the monster who had injected her. That her brain would deteriorate, just as Phillip Brandenmore’s had after he had injected himself.
“Diane.”
Lawe caught her arm as she paced up the hall. Her only thought was to get away from him and his supreme confidence that he had done the right thing. Any moron would know this couldn’t possibly be the right thing. It would have been far better to allow her to handle it alone. Gideon wouldn’t have been nearly so worried about her, because he believed she would be weak without her men. Everyone she met believed that, believed she was no more than a figurehead to the group of mercenaries. “We’re going to destroy lives here,” she whispered without turning around, the certainty that they couldn’t do anything less if they continued was searing her conscience. “We know he’s here to find them as well. That’s the only reason he would have given me the location he suspected they were in. For whatever reason he believes I’ll have a better chance of identifying, locating or convincing them to reveal themselves. But what does he intend to do once that’s accomplished? Why go to these extremes?”
Her only thought was for her niece. She and her sister had gone through years of torturous testing to cure them of their diseases, and according to the scientists in Argentina, they had nearly died several times after being given the serum that was eventually concocted.
According to one of her contacts, it was possible Amber would never survive past her second year without the help of the two girls that had been in the labs, especially Honor. Regret had filled his gaze when he told her that Honor Roberts was her only chance, because Fawn Corrigan had died with the Bengal Breed they’d been experimenting on, known as Judd.
Just as he had warned her to be careful of the remaining Breed that had been in the labs. The one they had possibly driven past the point of sanity.
Gideon’s fury was becoming the stuff of legends already. The suspected feral fever that drove him had made him one of the most vicious assassins to come out of the creations science had dreamed up.
She had wondered why he was helping her. She had let herself believe it was out of concern for the three who had been imprisoned with him, but a part of her had known better. She hadn’t believed the man known as the Executioner—but also known for never harming an innocent—would strike out against the victims he’d shared the Brandenmore labs with. She still couldn’t believe it.
“He has no reason to kill them.” Gripping her upper arm lightly he began steering her to the elevators as Rule followed. “And we were petitioning the Navajo Council for this investigation. We can’t operate on their lands without apprising them of it. It will break the agreement we have with them and we’ll lose far more than we’ll gain. Even doing it your way would be seen by them as dishonest and cause sanctions to be slapped on us immediately. Ray Martinez does not tolerate Jonas’s games and he doesn’t care who it effects once he learns he’s being manipulated. There would be no way to convince him that Jonas wasn’t behind this.”
