Memory Zero (Spook Squad 1)

He stared at the smoking ruins for several seconds, and then ran a hand through his hair, prying free several twigs. “Stephan is the shifter you sensed.”

Confusion flitted across her face. “I thought he was the human.”

He frowned. “What?”

“Lyssa’s the shifter I sensed, not Stephan.”

His frown deepened, even as a feeling of dread began to build in his gut. “Lyssa’s a changer. Her other form is a cat.”

“Then why—” She hesitated. “I’m getting the same sort of feeling from her that I got from that shifter who took Finley’s form in the lab.”

No, he thought. No! “You’re wrong.”

“Maybe.” She shrugged and shifted her gaze away from his. “After all, this talent, or whatever it is, is fairly new. Maybe I’m just reading it wrong.”

But she’d been right about the kites, about Kazdan’s clone, and about the shifter in the lab. Odds were she was right about this, too. He closed his eyes again. Lyssa wasn’t Lyssa—what other explanation could there be for Sam sensing a wrongness about her? God, this could shatter his brother’s spirit. Completely. “Are you sure it’s saying Lyssa is a shifter rather than a changer?”

“As sure as I was about the others.” She hesitated again, concern flaring deeper in her eyes. “Why, is something wrong?”

Everything, he thought bleakly, then shook his head. “No, nothing.” Nothing beyond the fact that the woman his brother loved, the woman who was now carrying his brother’s child, was not the woman he’d married.

Somehow, he had to separate them, had to find out what had happened to the real Lyssa. There was always the chance, however slight, that she was still alive.

“You two okay?”

Like a soothing breeze in the heat of the night, Stephan’s voice rose out of the darkness. Gabriel glanced up. His brother had stopped a pace away and was wraithlike in the darkness.

“Someone wants to make very sure you’re dead, Stephan.” He let his gaze rest on Lyssa for a moment. She’d stopped just behind his brother, face pale and eyes haunted. Either she was a very good actress or she hadn’t known about the bomb.

Maybe both.

“Why would someone do this?” Lyssa whispered, the shake in her voice matching the shock in her eyes.

“That’s what we’ve got to find out.” He returned his gaze to the house. With so little left to burn, the flames were beginning to die down. “I think it might be wise for you to go on a business trip.”

“Might be.” Stephan’s voice was dry. “At least we won’t have to worry about packing.”

Despite his brief attempt at humor, relief and anger mingled freely in the vivid green depths of his brother’s eyes. “Alone, I mean.”

Stephan’s gaze narrowed, but after a moment, he nodded. “What about Lyssa and Mary?”

“I’ll arrange a twenty-four-hour guard,” Martyn said, and then he hesitated and shrugged. “Accommodation might be a problem. If this is Sethanon’s doing, he might know all our safe houses.”

Mary was standing just behind Martyn, staring at the crater, a glazed look of horror on her face. Maybe she hadn’t known the power of the bomb.

Damn it, it made no sense that she would even set it. If she was behind the poisoning, why make such a public attempt of murder when the poisoning appeared to be working?

“Take Mary and set her up in apartment 317.” Stephan’s voice was even, despite the anger in his eyes. “We only acquired it three days ago, so it should be safe. Lyssa can stay with relatives.”

He meant their relatives, not her relatives. And she would be safe in the Stern compound. The question was, were they safe from her? How safe was it even showing her the location? But he couldn’t dispute Stephan’s decision, not without telling him why. And there was no point in doing that until he knew for sure that Sam was right. He’d just have to call his old man and have him keep an eye on Lyssa.

In the distance, sirens howled, drawing closer. People in dressing gowns hovered near the front gates or peered out windows from the surrounding houses. Stephan glanced over his shoulder, studying them. “State’s on the way. We tell them nothing.”

“They’ll want to know how we escaped.” Sam’s soft voice held a hint of annoyance.

“We know nothing, and we tell them nothing. This is our business, not State’s.” Stephan glanced at Gabriel. “Not even SIU.”

Sam looked ready to argue. He brushed his hand against hers and shook his head when she looked at him. Her gaze was mutinous, but after a moment, she nodded. He pulled the cell phone from his pocket and handed it to Stephan. “Let me handle State. Why don’t you ring the old man and make arrangements for Lyssa to go home?”