Penumbra (Spook Squad 3)

“The small gent at the back. He was surprised when he first came in, then excited.” Illie met Gabriel’s gaze. “What’s so special about your former partner that this mob is willing to kill six people just to run some tests on her?”

The bigger question was, why did they continue with the tests when it was obvious his partner wasn’t Sam? What did they hope to achieve? Was it merely a means of getting rid of him and Illie? Though why would they do that, when it would only bring down closer scrutiny of their activities by the SIU?

“We don’t know.” And that was becoming more and more of a problem.

Rogers’s assistant approached. “If you’d like to follow me, gentlemen, we’ll get this over with as quickly as possible.”

No doubt they would. Without Sam, though, it was pretty much a pointless exercise—thankfully.

“They still want to test you, you know.” Illie muttered. “Something you did during the firestorm has excited that scientist.”

Gabriel frowned. “But I didn’t do anything.”

“Yeah, you did,” Illie said. “You sensed what was happening early enough to save our lives.”

“Are you sure you’re reading him right?”

“Yeah. Positive.”

They approached a set of doors marked with a red cross. Their escort swiped a card and the doors slid open. How many med centers needed a security clearance to get into? Gabriel wondered. Why bother, unless the med center did more than simply patch up accident victims?

Whatever the military was up to, he’d just have to let it play out—for now. But the Pegasus Foundation and its director certainly needed closer scrutiny.

Their escort motioned them toward two well-padded chairs. Gabriel sat down and watched the man disappear through a second set of doors. “When we get back to HQ, I want you to do a complete background check on Kathryn Douglass.”

Illie nodded. “Including home security tapes?”

“If you can get them.” It would keep Illie off his back for a while, at least. In the meantime, he’d do a check of his own—on one General Frank Lloyd. There had to be information about the man somewhere.

His first priority, though, was Sam. Illie was right. If the military was willing to kill six men just to get the chance to examine her, it could only mean they had a fair idea about who and what she might be.

And that, in turn, made her current assignment even more dangerous.

If Hopeworth was behind this bombing attempt, they wouldn’t leave it at that. There would be more.

But he couldn’t watch Sam’s back twenty-four hours a day. Not without help. It was, Gabriel thought, time to arrange a meeting with his sister.

—

The shrill ringing of the telephone jerked Sam awake. She rubbed her eyes and glanced at the clock. It was just past eight in the evening. She must have dozed off while reading the riveting account of Wetherton’s life.

She blindly groped the coffee table behind the sofa arm and finally picked up her wristcom. “Yeah?”

“Samantha? Doctor O’Hearn here.”

O’Hearn was the nonhuman and rare species specialist she’d been sent to by Gabriel and Stephan. Apparently, if anyone could sort out precisely what she was, it would be this woman. A sliver of tension ran through her. Surely it was too soon to have reliable results back? She’d been told it could take months of checking and cross-checking. “Hi, Doc. What can I do for you?”

“I want your permission to discuss your case with Karl Morgan.”

Karl? Gabriel’s friend? “Sure, but why? Karl’s an herbalist healer. How would he be able to help?”

“He also happens to be the Federation’s resident expert when it comes to extinct races. I think he might be able to help make sense of some of these results.”

Obviously, O’Hearn had been unable to match the gene coding in the test samples with any known races if she was now considering extinct ones. Walkers were, apparently, a very rare race who were vaguely related to the vampires, without possessing their need for blood to survive. A race who could completely disappear into shadows. Become shadows, in fact. They also apparently had eyes just like hers—eyes that wavered between blue and gray. “Karl did say he suspected there might be walker blood in me, but he never got around to doing the tests.”

Mainly because he’d been blackmailed into handing her over to Jack, who’d wanted to use her emerging abilities to overthrow Sethanon.

“Yes,” O’Hearn said. “Gabriel mentioned Karl’s suspicions, which is why I want your permission to talk to him.”