Forged in Smoke (Red-Hot SEALs #3)(70)

The oddest doubt rose. The SEALs wouldn’t believe in Kait’s abilities so completely unless they had personal experience with it . . . as Rawls claimed to have.

Faith turned to Beth, the question breaking from her without thought. “Have you actually seen her heal anyone? I mean actually watched her, with your own eyes?”

Beth’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “Well, sure. So have you. Back in the forest when Rawls was shot.”

“They told me it wasn’t his blood. That he was just stunned. That he’d been wearing armor plating and it stopped the bullet.” The words tumbled out of her.

Beth looked even more surprised. “You were there, Faith. You watched them take off his shirt. There was no armored vest. Don’t you remember? You saw the healing glow. You even mentioned it.”

I did?

Of course she remembered the weird glow, but after contemplating the memory, she’d convinced herself it had simply been the light of the moon hitting the trees and refracting downward. Or even the moonlight bouncing off the lake. Except . . . the forest would have blocked the reflection from the lake, and the treetops would have shielded the forest floor from most of the moon’s glow.

So where had that strange glow come from? She focused. Thought back to that night six days ago.

Cosky and Kait kneeling over Rawls’s limp, bloody body. An eerie silver sparkle cocooning them.

Unconsciously, Faith shook her head. What the silver radiance had been, she couldn’t say. But it hadn’t been moonlight. That she remembered with certainty. It hadn’t reflected from the lake or filtered down through the treetops. The platinum shimmer had originated within Kait’s chest and flowed down her arms, into her hands, and from there into Rawls . . . and maybe Cosky . . . his hands and arms had been glowing too.

Amy pushing up Rawls’s bloodstained shirt, exposing the steady rise and fall of his bloody chest. “He’s not bleeding . . . I can’t even find any wounds . . .”

She reeled as the memories exploded in her mind. He hadn’t been wearing a bullet-proof vest, or armor plating, or whatever else they wanted to call it. The only thing between his chest and the bullets had been his shirt. His bloody, bullet-riddled shirt.

A shock wave traveled through her. She swayed, more off balance than she could ever remember feeling. How in the world could she have buried something so critical? She’d always been so contemptuous of scientists who steadfastly ignored any evidence that didn’t corroborate their own conclusions. Yet she’d done the exact same thing when it came to Kait’s unusual healing abilities.

“Are you okay?” Beth asked, worry in her voice.

“I’m fine,” Faith said automatically, only to swallow a bubble of laughter. At least as fine as someone could be who’d just had their entire world view incinerated.

“Maybe you should sit down.” Beth steered her toward the cavern wall.

Faith sat. When it came right down to it, she was nothing but a hypocrite. She winced at the realization. Take the Thrive generator. While they’d been working on a new energy generator first and foremost, once they’d stumbled onto the prototype’s side effects, she hadn’t denied they existed. Not like she had with Kait’s gift—even though she’d witnessed the miracle of Kait’s touch firsthand.

But then again, they’d experimented like crazy with the machine once they realized its capabilities. Or, at least they’d experimented as much as they were able to while maintaining the project’s confidentiality. They’d run double-blind testing on both the machine and its test subjects. Before long, they’d had reams of scientific data to extrapolate from. So yeah, while the Thrive generator had interfaced with certain subjects’ brains to produce supernatural-like abilities—talents that were somewhat similar to Kait’s healing ability—there was one big difference.

She knew what powered their machine’s pseudosupernatural effect. She didn’t know what powered Kait’s.

Once this was over, and the bad guys were behind bars and no longer interfering with her life, maybe she could talk Kait into undergoing some testing. If Kait really did have the ability to heal, there was bound to be a scientific or biological explanation for her gift. They just had to find it.

Of course, there was always the possibility that Mackenzie planned on doing some testing of his own—or at least the navy did. It didn’t take much imagination to envision the military’s interest in weaponizing Kait’s talent. If her touch could heal, it must have the potential to kill as well. Had any of the men broached the subject to her?

She frowned, staring absently at the wall. It might prove useful to nudge Kait aside when the opportunity arose and ask. The answer might tell her whether she could trust these men enough to fully disclose the Thrive generator’s secondary effects. They’d need to know this information if they located her team and launched a rescue.

She was so caught up in her thoughts she flinched when Rawls suddenly squatted in front of her.

“Hey,” he said, scanning her face. “How you doin’?”

She paused before answering to assess her heart’s beat and rhythm. Both felt stronger and more regular than they had before.

“I’m fine.” She groaned beneath her breath. She sounded like a broken record.

“How ’bout I have a look-see for myself?” With a reserved smile, he loosely circled her wrist, pressing two fingers against her pulse.