Page 110 of Lethal Weakness

“Let me check on the pizza,” Aunt Kay offers, just giving us an excuse to have the room.

“Divine intervention, huh?” Linden leans her elbow on the table and rests her head on her hand. “Do you believe in God?”

I grab the bottom of her chair, pulling her towards me. “I believe in whatever led me to you.”

“So Project Obsidian?” She smiles softly.

“I guess I should call my boss and thank him.”

“Who is your boss?”

“I have no idea. I’ve only ever heard his distorted voice.”

“Creepy.”

“Pay is good though.” I shrug, and she shakes her head in amusement.

“Seems like a lot of risk for a paycheck.”

“It was never about the money. If the op was terminated and I wasn’t getting a dime, I would have stayed right next door to you until I knew you were safe.”

“I like the Jack that speaks what’s on his mind,” she whispers, looking at me tenderly with her beautiful honey eyes.

“Talking about you is a whole lot easier than talking about the bad stuff.”

“Then sandwich it. Good, bad, good.”

“I’m afraid to tell you the whole truth about the Merrill and Edmund,” I admit.

“Why?”

“It’s going to devastate you, and that devastates me.”

“You don’t think I can handle it?”

“No, I know you can handle it, but it doesn’t mean it won’t suck any less. It goes way beyond a bee sting, Linden.”

Referencing Avery’s “bee sting” from a few weeks ago makes her sit straight up in her seat. “Tell me right now.”

“Let’s just wait until Avery goes to sleep.”

“No, I will have a panic attack by then. I need to know now.”

Shit. I knew I shouldn’t have brought it up, but she deserves to know. I just can’t risk Avery overhearing. “Come outside with me.”

She nods and lets me help her to the edge of the backyard where a swinging bench sits, looking into the trees bordering the property. The moon is rising in the sky just beyond them.

We sit next to each other, but it’s not close enough, and she doesn’t protest when I drag her onto my lap.

“Whatever your reaction is, you are safe to feel it with me,” I assure her, kissing her head. She nods, tangling her fingers into my shirt above my chest.

“Merrill and Edmund were experimenting on humans.” She stiffens in my arms. “I was there because they were selling human body parts on the black market, but we had no idea how extensive it went. They weren’t stealing recently deceased bodies… We thought maybe they were finding brain-dead patients who weren’t organ donors from the hospital but…”

“Those people in the house? They were…”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, my God. What were they doing with them though?”