Whispers in the Dark (KGI #4)(63)

Shea shrugged. “Who knows if that’s what they think? I haven’t stuck around long enough to ask questions. I just know I don’t want my sister anywhere near them.”

“I think it’s naïve to think they wouldn’t want to harness your abilities as well,” Donovan persisted.

“Their only concern when they held me down and beat me was to extract information about Grace,” she said flatly.

Donovan held up a hand. “Bear with me here. I’m not trying to be an ass**le. They beat you, but you told Nathan it was a methodically executed beating. They hurt you, no doubt, but they didn’t damage you. They were careful not to risk hurting you seriously, and by that I mean broken bones, internal injuries. They were trying to manipulate you with pain and fear but they had no intention of killing you.”

“Well, of course not. I hadn’t told them anything about Grace.”

Donovan shook his head. “They want you both, Shea. You need to realize that. You’re as valuable to them as your sister. How would they even know what the full extent of your abilities are? They haven’t had access to you since you were a child.”

“He’s right,” Nathan interjected. He smoothed his hand over her leg as he spoke.

“What happened?” Ethan asked. “How did you end up with the Petersons? You were raised as their children and they never told you the truth. You have no memory of the laboratory?”

Shea shook her head. “In her journal, Andrea wrote that she and Brandon grew increasingly upset over our treatment. They’d been with us, studied us since our births, and they felt a bond to us. They considered us theirs because no one else acted as our parents. They planned their escape meticulously. For months. And then one night, they took us and ran.”

“Amazing that they were able to keep you hidden from them for all those years,” Donovan murmured.

“We moved a lot.” She turned to Nathan, a frown twisting her lips. “We talked about this before and it makes even less sense to me now. We never had a lot of money. Mom and Dad always scraped by doing jobs where they could be paid cash. But then we moved to that house in Oregon. You saw it. It’s huge. It’s on the ocean. It has state-of-the-art security and surveillance. We never seemed to worry about money after we moved there. So what happened? Why did we suddenly stop running? Where was the money coming from? They didn’t work. They spent their time homeschooling us, making sure we never went out in public. We didn’t have friends. I’m sure the townspeople thought we were crazy recluses.”

The men traded frowns. Swanny sat forward, his fingers forming a point. He glanced at Nathan and then at Ethan and Donovan. “That’s a damn good question. It certainly would appear that the Petersons got help from someone. Was there anything in the journal to explain it, Shea?”

“No. That’s what’s frustrating. She chronicled the events of our early years and she did so after the fact. It was like a written account almost as if she wanted us to know the truth one day. But her entries stopped when we moved to Oregon. Her last entry only says, ‘God willing, we won’t have to run any longer.’ ”

“Pretty damn cryptic,” Nathan muttered.

“It certainly adds another dimension to this whole mess,” Donovan said in a grim voice. “The Petersons got help from someone, but who? And what was their motive?”

Shea rubbed her forehead in an attempt to ease the strain and the thudding ache that pounded at her temples. Nathan pulled her to him and kissed her brow and then replaced her hand with his own, gently kneading.

“I don’t know. I swear I don’t know. I feel so stupid. I knew my life wasn’t normal. I didn’t always know that, but when I got older, I knew it was downright strange. Still, I never imagined this. How could I have? I thought my parents were just protective of Grace and me. They feared our abilities being discovered and what our lives would be like if that happened. I misunderstood their fear obviously, but I chalked up all of their eccentricities to concern for their daughters.”

“Shea, look at me,” Donovan said.

She lifted her gaze to see Donovan and Ethan both looking at her and Nathan with determination in their eyes. Gone was the skepticism, the doubt. All that remained was burning sincerity.

“KGI has a lot of resources. There isn’t a lot we can’t find out once we set our minds to it. But beyond that, you’re important to Nathan so that makes you important to us. KGI is an organization, yes, but we’re a family first. And we go to the wall for family. Every time. No questions asked. No conditions.”

Her chin quivered as she fought the tide of emotion his heartfelt words wrought.

“I don’t make promises lightly. I don’t bullshit people. We’re going to do everything we can to get to the bottom of this. I can’t guarantee that we’ll ever know who was the mastermind of the experiments on you and Grace. But what I can guarantee is that we’re going to do everything in our power to keep you safe.”

“And Grace?” she asked anxiously.

“And Grace. I need time to look at the surveillance and to gather as much intel as I can, and then I promise you that we will find your sister and we’ll give her the same protection we give you.”

She leaned forward and gripped his hand in both of hers. She included Ethan in her gaze. “Thank you. I’ve been so worried. I don’t know what to do anymore. I didn’t want to involve Nathan, but I couldn’t turn to anyone else.”