Forsaken Duty (Red Team #9)(72)

“So we find the formulas—and the labs making them—and eliminate them,” Rocco said.

“We thought that at first,” the man said, “but we’re now hearing reports about spontaneous mutations occurring among the affected population. It’s like the human organism is being retrained by the behaviors of the nanos. Like nature is taking back over, healing and improving itself.”

“So that’s a good thing,” Greer said, frowning.

“In theory, perhaps,” the woman said. “We don’t know the full extent of these mutations. We don’t know what they’re doing, not doing, what they’re changing in the human genome. We opened Pandora’s box.”

“The formulas for the human modifications are still in the control of the Omnis,” the man said. “If they act quickly, they can situate themselves in a power position. And that’s what they’re attempting to do.”

“I’m sorry about Grams’ house,” the woman said to Wynn. “We were there that night. We’d been hiding in her house until you came.”

“I saw you,” Angel said.

The woman nodded. “We were trying to make contact with Wynn, but the Omnis followed us to you. We brought them to you. I’m so sorry.”

“We narrowly escaped,” the man said. “We talked to the fire department and the sheriff, told them we were neighbors of yours. We wanted to find out how to reach you. They gave us Kit’s information.”

“We didn’t know which side of the Omni war Kit and the rest of you were on,” the woman said. “We came up here and stayed in a hotel, checking the pulse of the townspeople to see if you were safe or not. Finally, we got up the courage to talk to the police. We gave a statement to the deputy. It sounded so crazy, what we had to say. I mean, what sane person would believe us? But it was such a relief to finally reach out for help. And then Jafaar showed up and our freedom was lost. Again. He took us. He took you.” She looked at Wynn. “We had no choice but to go with him in exchange for his releasing you. Which he did. He kept his word.”

“Only because he figured it would be easy to take her again, if and when he wanted,” Angel said.

“So the deputy’s dirty,” Ty said, looking at Kit. “Is the sheriff?”

Kit’s jaw clenched. “We’ll find out.”

“Angel, escort the Ratcliffs to their room,” Owen said. “I would suggest you don’t leave the house,” he said to the couple. “For your own protection.”

“Don’t worry about us. If we’re safe here, we won’t cause any problems,” the woman said as she stood. “Besides, we’d like to get to know our daughter again.”

Wynn got to her feet. “We don’t know that you’re my parents yet.”

“The DNA doesn’t lie,” the man said.

“Maybe not naturally, but it’s your creative playground. You could make it lie. Goodnight.” Wynn left the room, heading down the hall toward the backstairs to her apartment, in the opposite direction that Angel was taking the couple.



“We got incoming,” Max said before anyone else could leave the room. Angel was halfway up the stairs with Wynn’s parents. He paused, looking over the banister to Kit.

“Who is it?” Kit asked.

“Doc Beck.” Max looked around the room. “Anyone expecting a house call?”

Silence met his question. The doorbell rang. Kit opened it. “Doc. Weren’t expecting you.”

“Yeah. Sorry for the late visit.” Beck looked into the living room and saw everyone standing there. “I need to talk to you and Owen…and Ms. Jacobs.”

Addy tensed. Owen moved to stand in front of her. “What’s this about?”

“I’d like a private word with Ms. Jacobs, then we can talk.”

Addy gripped Owen’s shirt, then tiptoed to whisper, “I don’t want to be alone with him.”

He nodded. “Doctor, let’s go to the den.”

Beck moved deeper into the foyer, catching sight of the couple claiming to be Wynn’s parents. “Doctors Ratcliff?” he asked.

“Dr. Beck?” the man answered. Owen saw the look Wynn’s dad exchanged with her mom.

Beck seemed to relax a little. “Glad you’re here. You might want to join us.”

“It’s cool, Angel. Bring ’em back down,” Kit said. “We’ll be here when you’re finished with Addy.”

Owen led the way down the hall to the den. When the three of them were inside, he closed the door.

“This is a confidential matter concerning Ms. Jacobs only,” Beck said, staring at Owen.

“She’s asked me to stay with her.”

Beck made a face, then handed an envelope to Addy. “Your tests came back clear.”

“What tests?” Owen asked.

Addy’s face reddened. “I saw the GYN at the clinic a couple of days ago. I wanted to be sure I was clear of STDs.”

“Oh.” Owen folded his arms. “Okay.” He blinked, unable to keep the hint of a smile off his face until he looked back at Beck. “And what is it you wanted to say to my team?”

“I ran into Ms. Jacobs at the clinic. I saw her eyes. It was a clever cover she gave, saying it was from ‘mood’ contacts. The staff fell for it…and have been looking for them ever since.” He chuckled. “But I knew that wasn’t the case. Owen, I’m working with your father. He sent me here in part to patch you guys up like I have been, but also to watch for the mutations to show up. With you guys in the thick of things, we surmised you would be among the early recipients. And I’m glad to see you found the Ratcliffs. They’ve been missing for a couple of months. We weren’t sure they’d survived the Omni purge that’s been going on.”