And that's already happening to me. That's why the leg keeps bleeding and now I'm getting nosebleeds. A frisson of fear crept down her spine. She could deal with anything if she knew what was happening. She would not panic. Why would he continue to give us the drug if he knew it would kill us?

The pad of Ken's thumb brushed back and forth over her wrist. Blood began to run in a tube from his arm to hers. If you're captured and can't get to him, you die. It's another protection in place for him. If you come back, he administers an antidote and no one is the wiser. If someone comes back late, he either saves them where no one can see or that person simply disappears. He wins any way you look at it. All of us are disposable.

I'll bet Lily isn't. Mari studied the face of the doctor's daughter. She wore a look of total determination. No one was that good of an actress. Lily Whitney was totally focused on saving Mari's life.

Has he talked about her lately?

No one gets that close to him--well--other than Sean. Sean's a supersoldier, and Whitney keeps him around as a bodyguard.

There was that name again. Sean. Ken often caught glimpses of Sean in Mari's mind. More than that, there was respect--admiration even. His gut twisted into hard knots at the mention of the man, and something dark and shadowy swirled in his brain.

Could I really die?

He brought her knuckles to his lips wanting to comfort her, not wanting to answer her, or think about the possibilities. She sounded forlorn, and vulnerable. His heart reacted with a strange shifting. There was more blood at the corner of her mouth. Ken ignored the way air rushed from his lungs, leaving him fighting to breathe. He refused to panic if Mari wasn't. Lily would save her because there was no other choice.

If something happens to me, tell Briony I thought of her every day--that her happiness mattered more to me than anything else. Even in his mind, her voice sounded faraway, paper thin, as if she struggled to breathe, to live.

Ken went still, holding her hand tightly against his lips. Her skin was soft, even along the scar that split his lip.

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