Penumbra (Spook Squad 3)

“You felt what I felt,” she told him.

“I know that. But why the hell were you feeling what he was feeling?”

She wrapped her fingers around his arm. If he tried to fire the laser, she’d feel the movement of his muscles. Would try to stop him.

“Josh and I are twins. Two parts of a whole.”

He frowned and glanced at her quickly. “Fraternal twins. So?”

“You forget that we are military creations, born in a lab.” She hesitated, then licked her lips. “Our life forces are connected and combined. If he dies, I die.”

His shock was evident in the way his muscles tensed. “That’s not—”

“Just as it’s not possible for you to feel when she is hurt?” Josh commented. “We are linked, the three of us, more than any of us could want.”

She glanced sharply at Josh. “You once said that you would let Gabriel rot in hell except for the fact that I would come and rescue him. But that was a lie, wasn’t it? You knew, even then, that hurting him would hurt me.”

He smiled. “It wasn’t a lie. Just not the entire truth.”

“Many things you say aren’t the entire truth, Josh.”

“Would someone care to fill me in on this conversation?” Gabriel’s voice was filled with frustrated anger.

And that was dangerous, given the situation.

She squeezed his arm and wished he’d lower the weapon. “Josh is Joe. They are one and the same man.”

“And who is Joe?” His voice was hard. Cold. He’d heard their conversation; he just needed confirmation.

Josh glanced at her. “Tell him.”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Sethanon.”

Gabriel’s muscles moved. She threw her weight against him, knocking him sideways. The deadly blue beam shot skyward, briefly illuminating the rooftop of a nearby warehouse before disappearing from sight.

She hit the ground with a grunt, but rolled swiftly to her feet. Josh was gone, cloaked by night and moving swiftly away.

You’ve finally found what you began searching for so long ago. You found, in Gabriel, that piece of yourself you always felt was missing, no matter how close our connection. You have chosen your path, and it is not mine. His words rolled through her mind, at once soft and sorrowful and yet somehow determined. I have given you time, as you asked that night, but I shall wait no more. It begins, Sammy. Do not try to stop me.

I have to, Josh. This time, I have to.

Then we shall truly discover who is the stronger power.

I guess we will.

He disappeared from her mind and her senses, just as Gabriel grabbed her arm and swung her around roughly.

“Why the hell did you do that?”

“Because you would have killed him.”

“And rid the world of a monster!” He spat the words, his fury so great it was almost smothering her, making it difficult to breathe.

“And in killing him, you would have killed me!” She raised her eyes to his. “Or was that a price you were willing to pay?”

For a long time, he didn’t answer. She began to think he wouldn’t when he released her arm and pushed her away from him, almost violently.

“He shot Andrea. That was the face of the man who shot her.”