Memory Zero (Spook Squad 1)

Gabriel smiled grimly. “But if someone has succeeded, we need to find out who and why. Especially if those people are connected to Sethanon.”

“True.” Karl hesitated, then added, “I’d like to get hold of a cell sample from Sam Ryan, too.”

No one would be getting anything from her if he couldn’t find her again. “Why?”

“Haven’t you noticed her eyes?”

Gabriel frowned. “They’re blue.” And quite pretty, even when they were glaring at him.

“Bright blue, ringed by a fine band of shifting, smoky gray.” Karl hesitated, his expression curious. “So?”

“So eyes that color were one of the few tangible signs of a Shadow Walker.”

Gabriel snorted. “Shadow Walkers never existed. It was simply another name humans gave to vampires.”

“Oh, they existed all right. But their numbers were few, and they were thought to have been killed in the Race Wars.”

“Which were fifty years ago.” The Race Wars had pitted humans against the many nonhuman races. It was a war that cost billions of lives, and yet, in the end, provided no clear winner. Humans still ran most governments, but nonhumans had at least won recognition—the right to vote, to take a hand in the decision-making process. Most were happy with that. Some, like Sethanon, were not.

“Sam’s twenty-nine. She can’t have Walker blood in her.”

“Why not? Her parents would certainly be close to the right age to have at least some Walker blood in them.”

“There’s no record of her parents. She was abandoned as a teenager.”

“Everyone has parents, my friend. There’ll be a record somewhere.”

You’d think so, but apparently no one in State, and no one in the kids’ home she’d spent her teenage years in, had ever been able to find it. Which, in itself, posed several interesting questions—but her being the offspring of Walkers certainly wasn’t one of the answers he’d come up with. “Birth records don’t state race, and Walkers were never one of the declared races, even after the wars.”

“No, but they existed, even if in extremely small numbers. Eyes like that aren’t a freak of nature; as I said, they’re the one tangible sign of the Walker race.”

“Why are you so revved up over the possibility that Sam might have Walker blood?” Especially when they were nothing special? While they supposedly possessed the ability to wrap the merest wisp of shadow around their bodies and disappear from human sight, it had to be nothing more than a vampire trick. Though Walkers could apparently move around in daylight, where vamps couldn’t, which would have made them better spies. He’d heard that the government had used them extensively during the Race Wars, but he’d found no evidence of their existence, let alone use, in all the searches he’d done over the years. Which was why he, like many others, believed the Shadow Walker legend was mired in the reality of vampires.

“Walkers were more than just shadow dwellers, my friend,” Karl said, an undercurrent of excitement edging his normally serene tones. “Much more.”

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “Finley has been running genetic tests on her, and while he has found some anomalies, I very much doubt Walkers are on his list of possibilities.”

Karl frowned. “Doing those sorts of tests at the SIU labs could be dangerous. Computers are not safe conveyances o

f information. How often have you told me that?”

“Quite a lot. But given the amount of genetic testing we regularly do, I doubt whether these are going to garner any immediate interest.”

“Unless, of course, someone out there doesn’t want the test results known.”

Gabriel ran a hand through his matted hair. He didn’t have the time to be arguing the existence of mythical creatures when there was so much he had to do before the meeting with his brother tonight. And on top of all that, he now had to find Sam. Yet something held him to the spot. Maybe it was the conviction in Karl’s voice. Maybe it was the knowledge that his friend’s hunches were very seldom wrong.

“Why would anyone else be interested in the tests?”

“Why would anyone try to kill her?” Karl countered. “Someone must know, or suspect, that she is more than what she seems. Yet if that’s the case, they may well be watching what is happening at the SIU.”

“What if I send you a copy of all of Finley’s tests so far? Then you can check them out for yourself.” And give them a secure backup.

Karl nodded. “And once you finish your meeting tonight, drop by. I have some books you might need to read if she is a Walker.”

Something to look forward to, for sure. “I might have to drag her along with me.”

“Even better. I can run a few tests of my own.”