Forsaken Duty (Red Team #9)(47)

His team members were coming into the room…from a closet. They took one look at her and froze in horror. Troy looked up at her, then gasped. He caught her face in his hands, his eyes and mouth opened wide. “Mommy. Your eyes.”

Owen knelt in front of them. Worry covered his face. What was wrong with her eyes? She rubbed at them until he caught her chin and turned her face to one side, then the other.

“What are you doing?”

He took out his phone, set it to front camera, then showed her as he took a pic. Oh my God. Her eyes were…glowing. They looked like animal eyes reflecting light, but the light was coming from her eyes. She set Troy on the sofa and made a beeline for the bathroom she’d seen next to the closet.



Owen looked at the picture he’d taken of her. He frowned at Kit as he handed his team lead his phone, then followed her into the bathroom.

“What is this? What kind of trick is this?” she hissed, turning to glare at him.

He held her face so he could better examine her eyes. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like this. Has it happened before?”

She blinked, then looked at him sideways. “Am I hallucinating?” She shut her eyes and covered them with her hands. “Tell me this isn’t a dream. Tell me I got out of that house.”

“You’re out. Good and out, and never going back.”

“My eyes are burning.” She looked up at him.

He nodded. “We all see what you’re seeing. Does it hurt?”

“A little.” She drew a ragged breath. “Make it stop, Owen.” She put her hands over her eyes again. “Make it all stop. All the changes in me. The time we lost. The hell with Cecil. Losing Augie. I want to go back. I want a do-over.”

“I can’t set the clock back,” he whispered, touching his forehead to hers. “Our do-over is now and forward.”

“What changes is she talkin’ about?” Max asked. The whole group had turned to face the bathroom. He was the closest to it.

“I don’t know all of them. Something is different, changing her.”

“No shit,” Blade said.

Owen gave him a quelling look. “She heals strangely fast.” He faced his team, blocking her from view.

Addy rested her head on his back. How did he know just when she most needed his big shoulders? “I can see in the dark like it’s daylight,” she said. “I can remember things with high precision. Words. Things I hear and see. I can smell…more. I can distinguish faint scents from heavier ones. Now this. I’m a freak.”

The room was silent, but she knew they heard her.

“Hey, cuz,” Val said, breaking the silence. “We don’t discriminate against aliens here.” Air whooshed from his lungs as Ace elbowed him. “Ooof!” He winced and, protecting his ribs, he said. “As long as she’s on our side… She is on our side, right?”

Owen didn’t laugh. “She’s not an alien. The Omnis did this to her.”

“Did what, exactly?” Selena asked.

“Changed her,” Owen said. “It isn’t anything the doctors who examined her can identify. They tried treating it with chemo, but that only made her sicker.”

“Then we better find docs who know what they’re doing,” Angel said.

“Sure. Like who?” Owen asked.

“Like Wynn’s parents. I believe they’re still alive. They were researchers for the Omnis. Jafaar has them now.”

Owen checked Addy, who met his glance with just a little glimmer of hope. “What makes you think they have a clue as to what to do to reverse this?” he asked Angel.

“They were groundbreakers in nanotechnology research. Her dad was a chemical engineer, and her mom was a molecular biologist. They both died in a suspicious lab fire. While you were gone, Jafaar had Wynn kidnapped. She was stung with a tiny bumblebee drone that injected her with something that knocked her out. Later, when she had a chance to get away from Jafaar, she saw a couple who might have been her parents. I think I saw her mom at her house just after it was hit by some Omnis.”

“Addy was stung by a bee a few months ago,” Owen said.

“You said Jax told you that your dad was looking for all of Omni’s scientists and because of that, King was killing them,” Ty said. “Maybe that’s why Wynn’s parents made a run for it? It was run or die.”

Owen nodded. “We’d only just started our meeting downstairs, but I can see it involves more than just our team. I want everyone there. Let’s convene in the living room in a half-hour.” He looked back at Addy and Troy, who was leaning against his mom, watching him with big eyes. “It’s not a talk for children.”

“Then I’ll sit it out,” Addy said.

“No. We need you. We need all the women there. And Russ and Jim.”

“Casey can sit the boys,” Kit said. “I’ll set up a movie for them—a couple of movies. But let’s hold the meeting after dinner. We need time to go through Addy’s things.”

Owen accepted that. “After dinner, then. We can meet in the dining room instead of the living room.”

Max frowned and exchanged glances with Greer.

“Spit it out, Max,” Owen said.

“Can we trust her?” He thrust his chin toward Addy. “We don’t know anything about her.”