Generation 18 (Spook Squad 2)

“Computer on.”

Izzy appeared. “You have a call, sweetness. From General Frank Lloyd.”

“Fuck.” Sam rubbed her eyes. The last thing she wanted, either now or anytime in the immediate future, was to speak to the general. She couldn’t shake the image of a crocodile toying with its prey—that prey being her.

“Put him onscreen, Iz.”

The general’s powerful features appeared and a chill ran over her skin. This man would play some part in her future, and none of it would be good.

She rubbed her arms. “What can I do for you, General?”

“The question is more what can I do for you.”

His smile made her skin crawl. “General, it’s been a long day. Just get to the point.”

He raised a bushy eyebrow. “Given your questions regarding the Generation 18 project, I thought you would be interested to know that we’ve discovered the identity of the man who hacked into our system.”

And he’d only just discovered this name? Somehow, she doubted it. “It’s not Michael Sanders, I suppose?”

The general frowned. “No. Orrin Whittiker.”

He seemed to place an odd emphasis on the man’s name. Was she supposed to know the man? “Who is?”

“A reject from a different project.”

“Jesus, General, how many rejects do you have wandering the streets?”

“At last count, one hundred and forty-five. There could be one or two more I don’t know about, though.”

One hundred and forty-five rejected children? How many successes must they have had? And how many deaths? If what Mary said was true, then the latter number, at least, was very high.

“Do you keep track of all your rejects?”

“Oh yes. We can’t afford not to.”

Then Hopeworth had known about the murders. Had known, but had done nothing. “Do you intend to pick up this Orrin Whittiker?”

“If we can find him, yes. But we thought, perhaps, it might be in both our interests if you were also looking for him. If you do get to him before us, we’d appreciate you handing him over once you have finished with him.”

That was not up to her. “Only if you offer the same guarantee, General.”

He smiled. “That I cannot guarantee.”

So why even call her in the first place? Something was very off. Was this some sort of test? If Orrin had breached Hopeworth, he could certainly tell her more about that place than they might wish…unless that was the whole point. But why the hell would he want her uncovering more about Hopeworth, especially if she was one of their rejects? “What project was Orrin rejected from?”

“I cannot tell you that.”

“General, I need to know what to expect when I go after this man.”

The general hesitated, his eyes going curiously blank. There was no doubt that he was telepathic—and right now, he was obviously contacting higher authorities.

“Orrin,” he continued, barely skipping a beat, “possesses an unusual height and girth. He is also extremely strong.”

“What sort of unusual height are we looking at?”

“He’s over eight feet tall, and at least half that wide.”

She blinked. She’d be trying to arrest a man almost double her height? Like that was going to happen. “What the hell were you trying to achieve with Orrin’s lot? Man mountains?”