Remember Jamie Baker (Jamie Baker #3)(91)

At least, I really, really hoped so…

“Come on, Marine,” I muttered, sending up a silent prayer to anyone listening as I released a blast of electricity into his chest.

I waited a second, and just when I was about to hit him with another blast, a small sputter thudded in his chest, singing to me like the most beautiful concerto I’ve ever heard. “Harper!” I cried when the man coughed.

He moaned and I grabbed him up into my arms, overwhelmed with relief that I’d not killed him. Well, not permanently. I squeezed him so tightly that he groaned again and a small laugh shook his chest. “Easy, Angel, don’t crush me. It’d be a pity to die now after all that.”

A half hysterical laugh bubbled out of my chest, and I let him go. He sat back and grinned at me. “Not that dying in your arms would be the worst way to go.”

I laughed again. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. I owe you one, Angel. Those bastards took me from my post over four months ago, and it’s been driving me crazy. I’m more than ready for some payback.”

Major Wilks beat me to the million-dollar question. “Then, you know where Donovan is?”

Harper shot the major a smile that I would not like to be the cause of. Donovan was a dead man. “Oh yeah, I know where he is. And who he’s working with, how many people are at his base, all of the soldiers injected with the strength serum, what the security is like, and I have all of the entry codes. I have all the information you need to plan an attack and take him out, once and for all.”





The ACEs all burst into a chorus of whoops and cheers. Ryan’s relieved voice rang out above them all. “This is perfect! With this information, we don’t have to send Jamie in at all now.”

My head whipped in his direction at superspeed. “Excuse me?”

He was too excited to notice my anger. “Babe, we know where he is. With the information we’ve got, the military can plan a proper attack. They can do a full-scale invasion if they need to. We don’t have to involve you at all.”

I couldn’t believe he expected me to stay behind after everything I’d done and everything Donovan had done to me. “You seriously want to cut me out?”

Ryan shook his head. “You’re not a trained soldier. You’ve done so much to help already. You’ve put your life at risk enough. You probably have another concussion after that hit you just took.”

I was sure I did. And maybe a few bruised ribs, too—not that I was going to bring that up right now.

“Let the pros take it from here. It’s what they’ve been trained to do. You’ve earned a break.”

If the lights hadn’t already exploded, they’d be flickering in and out right now. I didn’t want a break. I wanted to nail the monster who was stealing people and controlling them to do his dirty work. I wanted to. I wanted to get Teddy back, since it was my fault he’d been captured, and I wanted to get my memories back.

Ryan, as knowing as ever, gave me an apologetic smile. “I’m not trying to exclude you, Sunshine. It’s simply the practical solution, and I want to keep you safe. I’ll even stay back with you. I’ve only been enlisted for six months. I’m barely a soldier at all. I’m not ready for any kind of battle. We can stay with Geek in the command center and oversee everything as the guys go in.”

“He’s right, Angel,” Major Wilks said. “Your help has been invaluable to us, and we’re grateful for all you’ve done, but we can take it from here.”

Logically, I understood. They were right that I wasn’t trained. But the words felt like betrayal. They hurt. It sucked to be sidelined because I was useless. I felt like a teenager being forced to sit at the kid table for Thanksgiving dinner.

“And the superthugs?” I asked, willing my voice to remain steady. I didn’t want anyone to see how upset I was, though I suspected they all knew anyway. “Won’t you need my help with them?”

Johnny G stepped forward, grimacing as if he knew I was going to hate what he had to say. “We have the advantage here. We’ll be able to form a plan to take them out without them ever knowing what hit them. We’ll gas the whole building or something, and put them all to sleep before they ever know we’re there. If something goes wrong and a fight breaks out, well, we’re trained for that type of thing, but hopefully we can go in, detain everyone, fix the people controlled by the nanobots, and sedate anyone juiced up on the strength serum until it leaves their system. We get the bad guys, save your friend and the other PACs, and nobody gets hurt. Everybody wins.”

Everyone, except me. “And my memories? Donovan is the only person who can help me. He’ll never give up that info if he’s captured. Can’t I just go in alone, and then you guys come get me? I know how to fix the nanobot situation now. He can’t control me. But if I play my cards right, he might reveal his secrets about my memory before you guys come in and wipe them out.”

Each and every one of them shut my suggestion down instantly, making me feel as if a brick wall had been slammed down between us. None of them even thought about it. Their refusal was followed by looks of pity that had become so familiar to me over the last six months. Major Wilks voiced what they were all thinking so that no one else would have to be the bad guy. “It’s not worth the risk, Angel.”