Predatory Game

CHAPTER 16

Jess stared down at Saber’s face. She lay curled up, sound asleep, exhausted, one hand flung out toward his pillow-and him, he hoped. The small lamp beside the bed spilled light across her face. Her skin was soft and luminous, her lashes long, lying like fans against her skin. He held her close, his body around hers, his hand under her breast, his cock pressed tight against her buttocks. And God help him, he was as hard as a rock.

He laughed softly, the tightness in his chest finally easing. Patsy was in a hospital being taken care of and Saber was in his bed where she belonged. He bent his head to brush a kiss in her hair before shifting to slide from the bed to his wheelchair. Saber needed the sleep and he needed to get busy and finish the investigation.

He and Logan had tried to recover the data on the recorder and hadn’t been successful, but Neil should have been able to do something with it. There were a few GhostWalkers who were very good with sound and Neil should have managed the recovery. Hopefully there was a message waiting from him.

More importantly, for the first time, he had a positive direction in which to take his investigation. The men who had come after him were definitely army. Ryland Miller and his team would want to know. They were conducting the investigation into their handler, General Rainer. Once they all had the same direction, Jess was positive, they’d make progress.

And he had to do something about the bionics. If he couldn’t get his legs moving, he would have to consider the idea of wearing the external pack. Even if he could walk part of the time, he couldn’t ever rely on his legs, so they were useless to him in their current state.

“Jesse.” Saber turned over, her lashes lifting, her gaze meeting his.

“I’m here, baby. Go back to sleep, I’m going to work for a little while. You’re exhausted.” And the bruise on her face stood out starkly against her pale skin. He had discovered a few others on her body as well, one particularly bad one on her hip from where she’d been kicked. Every time he thought about the jeopardy he’d inadvertently placed his sister and Saber in, he felt sick inside.

She pulled the sheet closer around her shoulders and smiled at him. “I love the way you look, Jesse.”

Her voice was so drowsy and sexy, he felt it vibrate through his body, heating his blood, stirring his senses.

“Go to sleep. I’ll come wake you in a few hours.”

“You’d better. I have to go to work tonight.” She yawned and then smiled at him, her lashes already drifting down. “Or my boss might fire me.”

Her boss was already thinking about firing her. He was altogether certain he could not survive her going to work, not after what had been done to Patsy. “A couple of the guys will be over, so don’t come walking out in my shirt and nothing else.”

“Good tip.” Amusement tinged her voice, a slight smile curved her mouth, but she didn’t open her eyes.

Jess left her to sleep, showering and dressing, using his racing chair rather than the heavier electric one to take him into the office. It took twenty minutes for Logan and Neil to show up, and he could tell by their faces Neil had managed to extract something from the recorder.

“You’re going to hate this,” Neil greeted.

Logan glanced around. “Where is she?”

“She?” Jess frowned at him. “You mean Saber? Do you really want to piss me off, Max? Because I just spent a couple of hours looking at the bruises on her face and body. I saw her lying in the fetal position on the ground, from the psychic backlash after firing a gun and killing a man-for me, for Patsy. I wasn’t close enough to draw the energy away and you and I both know without an anchor, even a shield won’t help. She knew it too, but she still did it.”

Logan poured himself a cup of coffee from the pot on the desk. “I’m going to look out for you whether you like it or not.”

“Then let’s get this over. Tell me how she’s different. Eric Lambert has the same objection to her, but he isn’t a GhostWalker. You can kill. I can. All of us do kill. Does it really make a difference how we do it? You have no problems with Mari or Briony.”

Logan sighed. “Mari is a soldier and Briony doesn’t have a mean bone in her body.”

Neil cleared his throat. “What about the other women? Flame and Dahlia?”

Logan swept a hand through his hair. “I know Dahlia. That’s different. To be honest, I didn’t trust her at first. And Flame-she can kill with sound. So yeah, she makes me a little nervous too.”

“I can kill with sound,” Neil pointed out.

“It isn’t the same thing.”

“Why?”

“Because women don’t belong in combat. They shouldn’t be running around killing people. They’re supposed to be the gentle sex. We take care of them. They should be having babies and cooking dinner not killing people. What the hell is going on in the world when we think it’s okay for women to have guns?”

“Flame, Dahlia, and Saber don’t need nor want guns, bro,” Neil pointed out.

“Well that’s just a fucking great relief to me,” Logan snapped.

There was a stunned silence and then both Neil and Jess burst out laughing.

“I suppose they shouldn’t be allowed to vote either,” Neil said.

“Would you like her better if I told you she can cook?” Jess asked.

Logan glared at them. “Go ahead and laugh. It isn’t right.”

“Good God, Max. You’re a fuckin’ male chauvinist,” Jess said.

“So what if I am? What about you? Don’t pretend it doesn’t freak you out just a little that that woman can kill with one touch. What if she’s on her period? You ever see a woman with full-blown PMS? My mom used to lose her mind. I’d go to a friend’s house for a week until she’d call and say it was safe to come home.”

“Okay, I’ve gotta go with Max on that one,” Neil agreed. “Think about it, Jess. The ability to kill with a touch and a woman with PMS. You gotta have some big balls to live with a threat like that.”

Jess let out his breath. “I have to admit, I never thought about it.”

“It could be ugly,” Logan said. “Really ugly.”

“I’ll just have to keep her pregnant.”

“Yeah. That’ll work,” Logan rolled his eyes. “Don’t you watch movies? Ever see a woman in labor? Or having a baby? One hard contraction, my man, and you are toast. The husband’s life is already at risk without the woman knowing how to kill. Seriously, Jess, you’ve got to think about this long and hard, and think with your brain, not with other portions of your anatomy.”

“You’re just trying to scare me,” Jess said, glaring at them.

Logan and Neil burst out laughing.

“Go to hell, both of you.” Jess poured a cup of coffee. “You’re a couple of boneheads. Are we working here or what?”

“I brought this for you.” Neil pulled a disk from his pocket, the smile fading from his face. “I’m going to let you listen. It took a while to clean it up and get the conversation. There’s still some background noise, but I think you’ll recognize a couple of voices.” He pushed the disk into the computer. “I’m saving the original and you’ll see why.”

There was a moment of silence and then the sound of footsteps. “We can’t afford to let any of them live, Senator, not one. I don’t care if they’re out of it or not. You’ve got to shut that program down. The biggest danger to us right now is that megalomaniac, Whitney, and the abominations he creates.” The voice was muffled, and a little distorted, but Neil had managed to amplify the sound enough to catch the words.

“I’m trying.”

“Try harder. Whitney knows about us. He’s going to find a way to bring us down and you’ll go down with the rest of us, Senator. We’ll all be charged with treason and my guess is, some of us will be taken out and shot before we ever go to trial. Do you think the president is going to want anyone to know that we’ve been selling secrets to terrorists and funding them for years on his watch? No one is going to want that information made public. They’ll kill us all, and Whitney’s supersoldiers will be the ones pulling the triggers. The man’s mad as a hatter but they won’t terminate him. We’ve got a few people in key places who feed us information, but it isn’t enough. You have to find a way to take him down.”

“I’m doing my best.” The voice was clearer, as if perhaps he was the one with the voice-activated recorder nearest him.

Jess leaned in to pause the recording. “That’s Senator Ed Freeman. This had to be made before he was shot. Who’s the other man?”

Neil shook his head. “I have no idea. I’ve been trying to match the voice with voice prints I have, but so far, no luck.”

“The senator sounds almost as if he’s afraid.”

“Listen to the rest of it,” Neil suggested and once more activated the sound.

“Whitney’s going to keep going until he’s killed. There’s no other way to stop him. You’ve got to kill all the women in his breeding program-all of them. We can’t have them adding to this mess.”

“He doesn’t trust me. I think he’s trying to have me killed.”

“He must know you were instrumental in sending out a couple of his GhostWalkers to the Congo. Get it done. And when I say all the women have to die, I mean all of them.”

“Violet is helping us,” the senator hissed.

“She’s the one who told him about Higgens. If she hadn’t tipped him off we would have gotten the bastard then. Instead, Higgens is dead and Whitney is in the wind.”

“She didn’t…”

There was the sound of a knock on a door, hinges creaking, and then more footsteps. Both men went silent instantly. Chairs scraped.

“No, no, keep your seats.”

The recorder went off abruptly. Jess and Logan looked at each other. The tension in the office rose.

“Was that who I thought it was?” Logan asked.

“That was the vice president,” Jess said. “He has a very distinctive voice. He just walked into that room. You don’t think whoever was talking to the senator is in the White House, do you?”

“Could the rot really go that high up?” Logan took a deep breath. “They’re talking about selling out our country from the White House.”

“We’re dead men,” Neil said, “if we don’t find these people.”

“They’re traitors,” Jess snapped. “Fucking traitors and we’re going to find them. Isn’t Higgens the man Ryland had to kill?”

“He must have been part of a much larger ring and we thought we got it, but we didn’t even get the tip of the iceberg. When you’re talking senators and someone working in the White House…”

“Or the Pentagon. The recording could have been made there as well.”

“We know the conversation takes place somewhere the vice president would visit. Neil, can you isolate any background noises?”

“I tried. The recording was damaged. I don’t know who could have put the recorder into Louise’s private safe.”

“The senator’s wife? She’s a GhostWalker. But she also had made some kind of deal with Whitney to save her husband’s life. Whitney put out a hit on him. When she made the deal, she sold out the girls in the breeding program.”

“It was one of Whitney’s soldiers who put a bullet in his head,” Jess confirmed, “although any of us would have been happy to. The senator is responsible for Jack and Ken’s capture and torture. He handed them over to Ekabela in the Congo. Prior to that, Whitney had targeted the senator for assassination using Saber. She escaped instead of carrying out the order.”

Jess took another drink of coffee, his frown deepening as he tried to puzzle it out. “So we’ve got two factions. We have Whitney who is a madman, making weapons for his country and thinking he’s as patriotic as all get out.”

Logan nodded. “And we’ve got some group, small or large-I’m guessing large-selling our secrets to the highest bidder. They’re in top government positions and we know they’re also in the military-at least some of them.”

“The bastards who went after my sister were army,” Jess confirmed. “We need to talk to Ryland Miller as soon as possible and get this information to his team.”

“Whoever was talking to the senator is the one giving orders to the admiral and the general, sending our teams out on suicide runs. It has to be him. We’ve got his voice now. We should be able to nail the bastard,” Neil said. “I’ll keep working to clean it up and see if I can enhance it even more.”

“And try again to get something on the background noises, see if we can maybe figure out exactly where the conversation is taking place, which building,” Logan added.

Neil nodded. “I doubt I’ll get too much more. It wasn’t easy cleaning it and pulling up what I did get.”

“Was there any more of the conversation?”

“Not that wasn’t damaged beyond my abilities to recover. I can ask Flame, she’s a genius with this kind of thing, but I wouldn’t count on getting much more. I think the man must have been standing a distance from the recorder.”

“He couldn’t have known the conversation was being recorded,” Logan said.

Jess snapped his fingers. “But the senator might have. Listen to the things he said. Short answers. Nothing too incriminating. He might have been the one recording it. Violet would be likely to urge him to get some insurance. I don’t know how the senator got involved with them, but I’ll bet he wanted out.”

“Then he tries to bargain with Whitney, an exchange of information-especially if the senator’s wife is targeted to be killed,” Logan filled in. “Whitney didn’t sell out those women, nor was the senator going to rescue them, he was trying to show Whitney what he knew, that he’d keep quiet in exchange.”

“Then why did Whitney have him killed?” Neil asked.

“We don’t know if he’s dead.”

“It was a confirmed head shot. I doubt if he survived, and if he did, he’s a vegetable.”

“Then Violet is going to want revenge. She can’t go home to Whitney and she can’t come to us. She’s out there alone with everyone wanting her dead,” Jess said. “So what’s she going to do? She plants the recorder in Louise’s office, because she’s heard the rumor that I’m conducting some kind of investigation.”

“We’re making a big jump here,” Neil said.

“Maybe,” Jess agreed, “but it fits.”

“Talk about a pissed-off woman,” Logan said. “See, I have a point. She’s a loose cannon and no one knows whose side she’s going to come down on. In the meantime, everyone had better watch their backs. Now you see what I’m talking about with these women. Gun or no, she’s dangerous as hell.”

“At least she’s got good cause, and you ought to be happy, Logan, she was protecting her man,” Jess said.

“Too bad she had the wrong man. What a waste.”

Jess burst out laughing. “You’re such a hypocrite, Logan. You say the women shouldn’t be enhanced, but if they are, you don’t want to share them with anyone.”

Logan shrugged. “I’m a complicated man.”

“You’re a nutcase.”

The smile faded from Jess’s face. “You’re a smart nutcase, Max. Before Saber escaped, she was in Whitney’s office and she found two files out. One was on the senator. She didn’t talk much about it, but when I ask her tonight, I’m going to bet she’ll tell me it documented treasonous acts.”

“That would at least confirm our speculations.”

“And there was a file on bionics. Both files were in English, typed out and left right on the desk for her to find. Whitney always, always, uses mathematical code. I asked Lily and every single time she’s accessed a file on the computer it’s in code.”

“Which means he wanted her to see those files,” Logan said.

“Exactly, but why?”

Logan studied his face. “I think you already know.”

Jess was silent for a moment. “You’re wrong about her.”

Logan looked startled. “That was an abrupt change in subject.”

“She saved Patsy’s life. There was something wrong with Patsy’s heart and Saber knew it. Patsy had a heart attack, Logan. She would have died without Saber. She might be able to kill with a touch, but she can give life as well. You might want to think about that. It could be your life she has to save one day.”

Logan held up his hand in surrender. “I don’t know why or how we circled back to this, but I’m more than willing to be wrong. I don’t like risking you, but if she was mine, I’ll admit, I’d risk everything for her.”

“We’re good then?”

“We’re good.” Logan shoved out of the chair and set his coffee cup aside. “I’m taking off. It’s getting late and she’s going to be up soon. She won’t want us here.”

“She doesn’t like you knowing about her past,” Jess conceded. “But she’ll get over that.”

Neil placed his mug beside the coffeepot. “I’m heading out as well. I’ll get the recorder to Flame and see what she can do with it. You know we’re close if you need us. Martin’s taking the watch tonight. And I’d like to point out, and you can tell her, that I don’t know, nor do I care, anything about her past. She’s one of us.”

“Thanks, Neil. I’ll make her aware of that.” He grinned up at Logan. “It’s only Max she has to avoid. And great work, Neil. I couldn’t get anything off that piece of junk.”

Neil laughed. “Our strange little skills come in handy.”

“Yeah, they do.” Jess thought of his sister as the men went out. If Saber hadn’t zapped her heart to get it going, she’d most likely be dead, or her heart irreparably damaged. Saber could do things with her talent-good things. And he had an idea that that was the reason Whitney had left that file in plain sight for Saber to read. He had a feeling convincing Saber of what needed to be done, though, was not going to be easy.

He sat for a long while observing her sleep. She was curled up like a kitten, her springy curls blue-black against the pillow, matching the color of her feathery lashes. He enjoyed seeing her in his bed. She looked a little lost without his body beside hers, but he liked that as well.

As he sat watching her sleep, his body hardened, began to make demands. He took his time divesting himself of his clothes, never taking his gaze from her slender body. She looked so right in his bed. He dropped his shirt and then struggled out of his trousers, wincing a little as his body tightened and thickened in anticipation. She looked a beautiful invitation with her hair tousled and her lips slightly parted, lying in the too-large bed.

“Stop staring at me.” She didn’t open her eyes.

“I want to swim.”

“Go swim and leave me alone.”

“I’m not supposed to swim by myself. My doctor said so.”

She made a rude noise, but still kept her eyes stubbornly shut. “You swim by yourself all the time. Since when do you listen to your doctor?”

“Think how bad you’d feel if I drowned.”

Her lashes fluttered. “I’m thinking I might help you drown. If you go away, I can sleep for…” She lifted her lashes a bare centimeter and peered at the clock before settling against the pillow again. “A couple more hours.”

He rested his chin on his palm, elbow on the side of the bed, leaning in to put his face inches from hers. “Did you know that you’re grumpy when you first wake up?”

“Just because your friends left doesn’t mean you get to bother me.”

He should have known she would be aware of others in the house. The knowledge just made him proud of her. He tugged on the sheet. “Swimming. Exercise. We can skinny-dip.”

“You really aren’t going to go away, are you?” She opened her eyes and glared, then her gaze widened and she flushed when she saw he was naked and more than alert.

He laughed at her. “Nope.”

“You aren’t exactly the dream man I thought you were. You’re relentless when you want something.”

“I’m your dream man.” He dragged the covers off of her and slid his hand over her stomach, up to her breast. “I want something now.” He bent his head to the invitation, enjoying the way her stomach muscles bunched and her breath caught in her throat when his mouth settled around the offering.

Saber closed her eyes, circling his head with her arms, holding him to her breast while his mouth pulled strongly, sending flashes of fire arcing through her bloodstream. She was all too aware of his other hand drifting down her body, sliding over smooth skin, moving lower and lower. Her hips jerked in anticipation of his touch. He moved his palm to her leg, gliding up and around to her inner thigh.

Her pulse pounded in her blood. Waiting. Needing. Wanting. He had to touch her. In that moment, with his mouth pulling strongly at her breast, his tongue sending waves of heat crashing through her body and his hand moving over her skin, she saw her future, time stretched out before her clearly. She would never be free of her need of him. She would crave his touch with this same intensity-for all time.

Saber ran her fingers through his hair, keeping her eyes closed to better absorb the sensations. Heat and fire. A coiling. It was amazing how he could bring her body to such life. “This is such a perfect way to wake up,” she murmured, still drowsy, arching her back like a cat.

“I agree.” He kissed his way down her ribs to her intriguing little belly button. “Do you know how soft your skin is?” His voice was low and rough, that husky tone that excited her, that told her he was focused wholly on her.

She lifted her lashes to see the raw desire etched deeply into his face, the stark need in his eyes-for her. His hands were hard on her hips, turning her body so she lay across the bed, dragging her closer to him, his gaze greedy, centered between her thighs. Her breath caught in her lungs as he opened her legs. His hands stroked caresses along her inner thighs, moving slowly toward her heated center. She ached for him, her body pulsing with awareness and need.

His lips feathered down her abdomen, tongue teasing nerve endings into tiny explosive sparks. He said something low and rough, his voice sensual, eyes darkening, adding to the need building inside of her. The warm, drowsy feeling had been replaced by sheer need. She was shocked how fast desire built inside of her, reaching a fever pitch, and he was only kissing her skin, touching her. There was something sinfully sexy about the harsh stamp of lust on his sensual features as he tugged on her legs, widening her thighs apart, using the width of his shoulders to keep her body open for him.

He lowered his head again and his breath was warm. Her body jerked in reaction but he held her firmly. His tongue stroked a long deep caress and she cried out in a broken tone. His mouth settled over her, his tongue flicking as he suckled at her. He suddenly speared his tongue deep. She moaned and nearly came off the bed. He was strong, stronger than she’d remembered, and he held her hips, pinning her in place while he feasted.

His tongue thrust deep and hard, over and over, circled her clit, and he suckled again, sending fireworks exploding all around her. Her fingers bunched the comforter as she whipped her head back and forth, writhing beneath the sensations ripping through her body as his flicking tongue threw her into orgasm.

“Jesse.” Her breath came in ragged gasps. “Slow down. You have to slow down.” Because the pleasure was skittering too close to pain, the buildup too fast, the orgasm too furious. She felt out of control and unable to catch her breath or think straight. Already another orgasm was building rapidly, winding her tighter and tighter, taking her higher and higher.

He growled low in his throat, the vibration sending a spasm through her womb as her muscles clenched in need. He shifted again, his tongue sliding over her one last time, tasting her heat. He pulled his body onto the bed and rose above her on his knees, catching her hips in his hands and lifting her.

Their gazes locked. He looked wild, his eyes almost black with desire, his face glistening. The head of his heavy erection pressed tight against her entrance. She swore her heart stuttered. The air caught in her lungs. And then he plunged into her, driving deep through soft folds and tight muscles, lodging so deep she felt him against her womb. He stretched her, invading, forcing her body to accommodate the intrusion of his thick shaft. Pleasure washed over her at the intensity of the friction, through her, rocking her until she wanted to scream.

Jess began a fast tempo that had her rising to meet him, desperate for release. The powerful strokes took her higher, forcing her body into a tighter and tighter coil. The temperature rose, until she felt as if she was burning, melting around him, until the tension in her just kept building beyond anything she could ever have imagined.

“Stay with me, baby,” he ordered. “Hold on, Saber. Let me have you. God. Baby. Give yourself over to me.”

She hadn’t realized until that moment that she was thrashing beneath him, her head tossing, her nails digging into him, hips bucking. She was fighting herself, not him. The gathering storm inside of her was too much, too big, too frightening. It was more than her body, it was all of her, and if she gave herself up, sacrificed everything, trusted him that much…

He held her thighs apart, surging into her, forcing her to keep climbing with him. She could feel her body pulsing, tightening around his, gripping hard, clenching and rippling. There was no stopping even if she wanted to-and she didn’t want to. Her vision blurred, her breath came in sobbing gasps as the explosion rippled through her, building like a wave-a series of waves. High. Hot. Continuous.

Her body was tight, fiery tight, her channel squeezing and clamping down, her flesh melting around his driving cock. He felt the first rush of her orgasm, the slick, heated cream, the fierce grip of her sheath around him, and his own release was there, erupting fast and hard. He held her tight while the waves burst over them, and the explosions finally began to subside.

He collapsed over her, his breathing harsh as he fought for air. Sex had never been that good with anyone else, and he was damn sure he wasn’t going to take a chance on losing what he had. He rolled over and lay beside her, his fingers tangling with hers. Beside him, Saber gave off heat, her muscles still bunching in the aftermath.

She turned her head and smiled at him. His heart actually jumped in his chest. The sight of her, sprawled out naked beside him, his scent mingling with hers, expression just a little dazed, made him a little light-headed.

“Marry me.”

Beside him, she gasped. Stiffened.

Jess sat up. “Marry me, Saber. I want you in my life forever.”

“You can’t ask me to marry you, Jesse. Good grief, what are you thinking?” She was genuinely horrified and it showed on her face.

“I just did.”

“Well, no. Of course no.” She sat up too, pulling the sheet around her.

“Why?” He should have been hurt and maybe that would come later, but she was so distressed and shocked he felt the need to comfort her.

“Why?” she repeated. She pushed the heel of her hand against her eyes and shook her head before looking at him, her expression saying he was a moron. “A million reasons, but first and foremost, Jesse, you have parents.”

There was a small silence while he struggled not to laugh. “I don’t understand your logic here, baby.”

“You understand my logic very well, Jesse. I can barely manage when Patsy comes to the house. She’s wonderful, but she’s like the real thing.”

Now his mouth did twitch. He covered it with his hand and shook his head, more confused than ever. “Do you really think you’re making sense? Because I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Patsy. Your parents. Family, Jesse.” She thumped the pillow hard. “Are you crazy? I’m really upset that you would even consider marriage with me.”

“Why? Do you think you’re going to get into an argument with my father about politics or something and decide to give him a heart attack at the dinner table? I can’t see that happening, Saber. They can drive me crazy, but I’ve never wanted to kill them, not even Patsy when she’s interfering.”

Saber covered her face with her hands. “You have to stop. You’re pushing me too fast. We just…you just…I can barely keep up with what’s happening between us and you want more from me.” She clutched at the sheet again and peered at him, distress on her face.

“Marriage is supposed to be a good thing, Saber.”

“It’s not. It’s absurd.”

Jess leaned close to her. “You aren’t really upset over this, are you?” Silence met his question. He pulled her into his arms. “Is it such a bad thing that I’m in love with you? Don’t you want to be with me?”

She rocked back and forth, shaking her head.

“Is it scary to think of spending your life with me? Is it because I’m in a wheelchair?”

She glared at him, sliding off the bed, still holding the sheet around her in a show of modesty. “No. Not at all. I am insulted you would even think that-”

“Because I think I’ve figured out the problem with the bionics. We can fix them. You could fix them.”

She stopped, her jaw dropping, mouth open in shocked disbelief. “What? Why would you think for one minute that I could fix the bionics?” She felt absolutely vulnerable-naked, unable to talk when she didn’t have her clothes. On the edge of desperation, she looked around her. “I may have read the file Whitney left out, but I’m not a doctor and I don’t understand half of what was in it.” She looked exasperated. “I can’t find my clothes.”

“Saber, look at me.”

“I have to go to work.”

“In the report Whitney mentioned something about electricity being used for regeneration, did he?”

She spun around, her face going white. “I know you’re not talking about that ridiculous article he cited. Biologists manipulating the electrical fields in tissues to regenerate amputated tails of tadpoles at a stage when they can’t regenerate? Not that. Because there’s a huge difference between a tadpole and a human being.”

“What else did the article say?”

She swirled the sheet around her, holding it close. “It doesn’t matter. I know where this is leading and I’m not going to do it.”

The discussion wasn’t going well, Jess decided. She was tense, her fingers twisting together, knuckles turning white as she gripped the sheet. She had a stubborn look on her face. Her mouth was set firm and her chin high.

“Just tell me what else it said.”

“There was something about electrical fields helping to, and I’m quoting here, ‘control cell identity, cell number, position and movement, which is relevant to everything from embryonic development to regeneration to cancer and almost any biomedical phenomenon you could imagine.’ I don’t want to know what that means in terms of your bionics, Jess. You can’t just introduce electricity into the body. It can kill you. I ought to know.”

“Or it can be used to save someone, the way it did Patsy.”

She shook her head. “I’m not having this discussion with you. I’m not. I don’t care if you get angry with me, I’m not risking your life. I won’t do it. And you’d better keep those two friends of yours away, because neither one of them is doing it either.” She sent him a smoldering look, controlled fury in her eyes. “I’m going to work. Never, and I mean never, bring this up to me again.”

She turned to walk out of the bedroom. The door slammed closed, trapping her inside the room.