ple time. “A point I was going to raise. Where are they, Samantha?”
He hadn’t found them, then. Good. “Where do you think?”
He cursed. “I thought you’d have more sense than to give them to the spook.”
“He was trying to help me, you know.”
Jack laughed harshly. “Stern is no more trying to help you than I am. He wants you for his own ends, and you’re a fool if you believe otherwise.”
Maybe. But right now, she knew which of the two men she trusted more—and that was something she’d never thought would happen only a few days ago. “What about the kite, then?”
He smiled. “Reflex test. No human can outrun those things, yet you did.”
“Maybe I’m just very fast when I’m scared.”
He raised an eyebrow and said nothing. She shifted, suddenly uncomfortable under his knowing gaze. She didn’t want to be anything else, didn’t want to be related to the very things she’d loathed for as long as she could remember.
“Where did those things come from?”
“The man from whom I would wrest control, of course.”
“Sethanon?”
“I really should have killed Stern when I had the chance. He has told you entirely too much.”
“So why didn’t you?”
“His death was certainly planned, but that abruptly changed the night he and you met.” Jack’s expression was perplexed. “Any idea why?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Why would I have any idea?”
He shrugged. “The boss rarely deigns to explain his orders, but I had a feeling Stern’s stay of execution had something to do with you.”
“I have no idea what that might be.” Sam studied him for a moment, then said, “Does he have any idea that you’re using his creations for your own gain?”
He snorted. “Hardly. He trusts me.”
She’d trusted him, too. But she was a whole lot wiser now—and for some odd reason, she suspected Sethanon might be, too. “How do you know about me, about my past?”
“Because the boss told me.”
“And why the hell would he know or even care about me?”
“Because he fears what you might become.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, right. A would-be dictator with hordes of dark monsters at his command fears one lone cop who’s a few cogs short in the memory department? Nice try, Jack.”
His cold smile widened. “I was appointed your watchdog five years ago by Sethanon. Before me, there was Rachel, your blond neighbor for several years. Before that, I believe there was a boy named Raul. Brown hair, buck teeth. You went through training together.”
She stared at him. She’d never told him any of that. Had she lived in a fishbowl all her life, unaware, yet never alone? It was a frightening thought. She swallowed heavily.
“Then who’s trying to set me up for your murder? And why the clone?”
“Sethanon, again. It would seem some of your searches were getting a little too close to the truth for his liking. He wants you off the force and away from their computers. Having you ‘kill’ me was a method of ensuring that.”
All that would ensure was that she’d end up in prison. Though she guessed that would keep her well away from the State’s computer system. “Why try and take the clone back, then? It was your men in the morgue, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. Reliable help is not readily available these days, I’m afraid.” He gave her a thin smile. “The clone was pumped with accelerant. Even after death, the accelerant keeps working. In a day or so it would have been very obvious it was not me.”