“Antibiotic resistant plague carried by flea infested rats immune to it. Specifically pneumatic plague. A weapon he planned to sell to the highest bidder.” Emma narrowed her eyes. “Danny destroyed the genetically modified plague and rats.”
Nik narrowed his eyes. Did Emma pursue Bolton as revenge for the murder of her fiancé? “So what makes you think Bolton is involved with creating wolf-man hybrids?”
“He once worked with Project Sabertooth. Ten years ago, long before Gaby and Steele destroyed the group.”
Rylee raised a brow. “Gaby would recognize him.”
“According to my father, he kept his identity a secret from anyone below the director. Gaby would never have known of him.” She sighed. “Then again, that doesn’t necessarily mean he is working on wolf chimeras,” said Emma.
Rylee pinched her chin and turned to Jesper. “Let’s get the hackers to follow his tracks. Money. Where he’s been. Connections.”
“Yes
, ma’am.”
Nik shrugged at Rylee. Tempted to tell her that was a wild goose chase, but held his tongue. Rylee would ignore him, thinking even a small lead might be worth pursuing.
Emma released a long breath. “Thank you, ma’am.”
Rylee turned to her. “Emma, just because your former fiancé tried to nail Bolton, doesn’t mean you should.”
“No disrespect, but what are you implying?” asked Emma.
“I’m saying, you might be following your emotions and not the person behind the monstrous experiments.”
Emma’s cheeks flushed. “Ma’am, trust me. We should keep Bolton on our list of suspects.”
“And we will. If you are right, there’s no doubt Bolton might be behind the hit to kill you.”
Nik kept his reaction neutral, but he supported Rylee. “How would he know about wolves that might carry the HERV retrovirus? Something even Dr. Becker didn’t know until recently.”
Rylee nodded. “That’s why I suspect a werewolf might be involved. Someone who knows something about our ancestry.”
Emma said, “I’m thinking a werewolf would contact a man with Bolton’s finances and interest to carry out experiments.”
Nik tilted his head and nodded. “Possibly.” He hated that she might be motivated to nail Bolton because she still loved Danny. Then again, he respected a mate’s need for revenge.
She turned to Rylee as if he hadn’t spoken. “I need a record of all the rogue werewolves likely to have betrayed our kind.”
“Jesper will get you the file.”
Nik raised a brow. “I know a few.”
“I suppose those brought in go straight to Enforcer Dominic,” said Emma.
Rylee nodded. “The odd thing is most rogue werewolves hate humans as much as they hate us.”
Emma said, “Unless, they think turning real men into werewolves will help them start a pack. Or build super soldiers for criminal activities.”
Rylee sneered. “A legitimate motive, but I doubt a new pack would want to be involved with a human, even one as powerful as Bolton.”
Emma resented the fact they thought her suspicion about Bolton had to do with Danny and her team’s deaths. The lycans probably smelled her frustration. The connection may not be obvious, but he certainly had state of the art labs to carry out such experiments. Having a boss question her was one thing, but a partner who didn’t believe her was not only infuriating but dangerous. No way did she want to partner with Nik. Cricket would make a convincing guide, but then again she didn’t speak Russian or, did she? “I heard Cricket is the best lycan to portray a human. Why not let her be my guide?”
Nik blurted. “Cricket doesn’t speak Russian and she does not have helicopter license.”
Rylee smiled. “She is the best, but Nik is right. We need someone who speaks the language.”
“Like native speaker.” Nik smirked.