The crest of red on Senna’s cheeks were a surprise. “Of course. Thanks, Maylin. Can you create a few more? If this works, we’re going to need a team to check the target. It’s too big for one person.”

  “Already working on it. Once we hear from you on the efficacy of the machine, we’ll swing into production. Should be able to finish three in the next week, and just have them at tweak point in case something needs refining.”

  Franklin watched the two women stash the ugly but sensitive items into a padded container.

  “I’ll take that.” He reached for it, but Senna brushed his hand away.

  “No, you won’t, Franklin Mann,” Senna said. “You’re my assistant, not slave. And besides, you’re not allowed to carry or lift.” Maylin tittered and Senna smiled. “Thanks, Maylin. I’ll be in touch.”

  Franklin seethed on the way to the vehicle. “I’m not an invalid,” he groused once she’d eased into the driver’s seat.

  “Maybe not. But my orders were clear, and I’m not going to face Michael and say I ignored them to save your manhood.” The click of the safety belts echoed in the now silent vehicle.

  There really wasn’t any use in arguing, he decided. She was just as hard-headed as his friend, so he merely watched as she ignited the engine and pulled away from the curb.

  Senna arrived at Franklin’s coordinates and simply stopped outside the large, white building. It looked like a prison. The tall structure was cold and impersonal.

  “You’re sure this is it?” Senna asked. As she turned, she caught sight of the taut planes of Franklin’s face.

  “Yeah. This is where the bastard held Clarissa for over six months. It’s where they impregnated her, cut her up, and implanted the cybectronic parts. The bastard was only three miles from town and got away with murder. We found the remains of several other victims of his therapies.”

  “It should have been demolished, though I’m grateful for the lab space.” She spoke vicously now, her tone hard and sharp like a knife.

  “Wait until you see inside. Then tell me that.” His words were stones that tugged at her brain. What else could possibly be in there to compound the realities they already knew?

  “Has it been fully investigated?”

  “There wasn’t time or resources. The warrior kids were coming out of the woodwork, and we had to abandon our homes for the security of the base.”

  Senna pushed an errant lock of hair out of her eyes. “What about on the other continents though. Are things as bad there?”

  “We’ve only received minimal reports. But yes, for the most part, the same has happened worldwide. Some of the more remote southern continents don’t have the same issues, but that’s more because the terrain isn’t conducive to their advance at this time.”

  She’d half-expected his answers, but hearing the brutal truth made her wonder if there was any chance of overcoming the threat to them all. Are we fighting without any chance of winning? She shook her head against that self-defeatist thought.

  Senna drove forward, glancing left and right for any indication they’d been detected or that the lab was breached. At the secure garage, they alighted. Senna grabbed the lockbox and her small satchel containing the offcut she’d taken from the hospital site and her notes.

  At the front she waited for the team who’d traveled ahead to open the access door, while her body quivered with tension.

  If there were combatants out there, this was the time they’d attack, in her estimation. Hairs on the nape of her neck upended and she half-turned as the door opened. Senna gave her full attention to the man beyond. In the region of maybe his middle-fifties, the man took pains with his appearance. His gray-flecked, dark hair was short, and his body was as toned as a twenty-year-old’s.

  “Sevres,” acknowledged Franklin as the man waved them inside.

  “Be quick, Franklin.”

  “No issues?” he asked the man before him, but Sevres shook his head.

  The door slid shut with a whoosh and the low buzz of the security lockdown sounded.

  “Show me to the lab.” Senna repositioned the bag on her shoulder, felt the weight shifting, and changed her stance accordingly.

  “This way.”

  Sevres led them from the wide foyer through swinging doors. “The walls and doors of this place are reinforced. They’d need a missile to gain entrance.” Footsteps echoed in the silence, and a musty smell from disuse clogged her nostrils.

  “How long has the place been empty?”

  “Since Clarissa. About a year or so,” Sevres answered.

  Lights above her head flickered, and she detected signs of mold and mildew growth. She just hoped the lab was cleaner, otherwise she’d have work to attend to before she began setting up for the experiment.

  The further within the building they traveled, the more unsure she became. The corridor reminded her of the ancient horror movies they played in the wee hours of the night, darkly forbidding, and each door they passed was a chilling reminder of what this building had been.

  They reached a door and Sevres pushed it open. The room contained everything she’d need, but it required urgent cleansing.

  “Ah, damn,” she muttered.

  Franklin moved in front of her. “What’s wrong?”

  “We’ll need to clean before I can begin. Every surface wiped down and a clean room established. Any speck of dust or grime will compromise our outcomes. We need to find the utility room and get cleaning.”

  Sevres and Franklin looked at her as if she were mad.

  “What? Haven’t you ever cleaned before?” If the situation weren’t so dire, she’d almost laugh. “If there are others, get them down here and we can have this sorted in a matter of hours.”

  “I… Of course, Sergeant Reed.”

  Sevres shot through the door, likely heading off to contact the others, and Franklin grinned. “I didn’t expect this, but whatever you want, Senna.”

  If it were a matter of whatever I wanted, then that would be— She cut the thought off before it went any further. Now wasn’t the time to be considering that kind of rot, Senna told herself.

  CHAPTER 7

  The cleaning wasn’t exactly enjoyable, though it was cathartic, Franklin admitted privately. Senna was adamant that he shouldn’t do any lifting or excessive turning, instead finding him a stool at a large sink and setting him to washing the droppers and test tubes.

  “I can do more,” he argued much to Senna’s obvious frustration.

  “Michael will skin me alive if you hurt yourself, and these need a thorough cleansing before I can use them. I’m going to set up the centrifuges and burners.”

  Senna stalked off, and he took a moment to watch the unconscious sway of her hips and the long lines of her body. Lean and strong. Well-honed and very unlike the women he’d dated in the past. He’d preferred curvy and well-rounded at hip and breast. A woman who could carry out a rational conversation, it was true, but the body had always been just as important.

  He returned his thoughts to the task at hand. The boxes she’d dumped beside him appearing never-ending initially. As the time passed, he worked methodically, the drying racks she’d set out at the beginning filling with the glass equipment. Franklin listened to the chatter in the room.

  “I wasn’t sent here to clean,” groused one of the guards.

  Franklin almost laughed, as neither was he, but this was the task she needed completed before she could begin her work.

  “Complaining again, are you?” He heard Senna demand and smothered his sputter of amusement.

  “Er, no, sergeant,” the man answered, and Franklin swallowed a laugh at the chastened answer the man gave Senna.

  Hands on her hips, Senna towered over the man, her eyes glinting in the artificial light and her voice echoing in the cavernous chamber. “And for the record, no, I don’t have a completed degree in science, but what you should be asking yourself is, if I don’t get this done, and the room is compromised so the results are skewed, how will that affect the scanner? Will it work or cause the deaths of hundreds of civilians on the colony ship? Do I have enough knowledge of what I’m doing to save these people, and if I fail because of your interference, will you be able to sleep at night? So, don’t whine. Just do what I’ve set out for you. None of us want to be here, but it’s the price of saving millions of lives.”

  The man looked shamefaced and muttered, “Of course,” and his mates gave him a wide berth for the rest of the day.

  “I didn’t know you’d studied science,” Franklin whispered.

  “I didn’t finish my degree, because I didn’t have the necessary funds to finish, so the guards seemed the best option. Afterward, returning to study with a bunch of fresh-faced, adult-kids made no sense. Instead, I joined the arson squad, used my knowledge there, and that’s how I got here.”

  He wanted to ask her other questions, but she turned away. He had the impression it was a part of her life she didn’t really want to discuss. But he could certainly tell that she was turning the memories over in her mind. He’d bide his time. Perhaps one day, she’d share.

  Senna bustled around, cleaning the benches while others attacked the floors and walls until everything shined with a brilliant ceramic white. The burners she attached to the gas lines were in place, and the centrifuges were set up on another table. She raided the cupboards, and dispensed lab coats, gloves, masks, and even head coverings. Franklin watched as she crowed with glee after she located a stash of disposable items.

  “Whatever we don’t use, I’ll take back to the base with me,” she muttered aloud.

  Setting up the items on the table, she checked over the provisions. “We need to keep the work area clear from contamination.” Then she hefted the locked box onto the table beside her.

  The latches clicked open, and Franklin saw her reach in and retrieve the precious scanner.

  It didn’t look like anything special, a two-piece set of hand-held units, a bit like a communicator base station, and a pair of glasses.

  “What a find,” murmured Senna, who then proceeded to explain how the item came equipped with a film slide attachment. “We’ll use it to detect the compounds via the beam of light sent by the other half of the unit.” The eyepiece, wireless and compact, she wore like spectacles.

  “What do you need me to do?” he asked.

  Senna shook her head. “There isn’t much else right now. I need to make a test of the compound and apply it to some rocks. Maybe you should report back to base that we’re set up? They may have some things they want you to retrieve.”

  He retreated, leaving her to work in silence. Once on the other side of the doors, he scooped up his communicator, one they’d fitted with a blocker, so no one else could hear their conversations.

  “We’re all go,” he informed Jonah, and in the background he spied Daniella, the senator.

  “Good. Look, unless you’re needed, Daniella and I are aware the building was searched briefly then secured and abandoned, but if you can find any records, details about people, files we need to know. Anything that can give us a clear indication of Colvert’s knowledge of the structure of our opponents will assist.”

  “In other words, you want a deep search and seize?”

  Jonah nodded. “Information is power, and right now, we have a vacuum. I need people, places, and who did what. Anything that can give us an upper hand. Oh, and while you’re at it, tell Senna to hurry. The engineers green-lighted the ship three hours ago.”

  Shit! Green-lighting the ship meant time now had almost run out. “She said it could take days.”

  “I can give her no more than forty-eight hours, Franklin. We need to inspect and load. We’re out of time and options.”

  “I’ll let her know and gather some men to check the building over.”

  “Good work, and thanks, Franklin.” The line disconnected from Jonah’s end, and Franklin shoved the communicator in his pocket.

  Looking through the round glass portal on the door, he could see Senna bent over her work, so he decided to find some others and begin the search of the building. He’d apprise her later of his conversation with Jonah.

  They settled on a room by room pattern. The therapy rooms were overwhelming with machines and cords, and none of them looked remotely like anything he’d seen in the infirmary.

  They hauled all the comps out, packing them into boxes to take to the base once they were on their way back, well aware he hadn’t the expertise himself and clearly no one on the taskforce here did either. Better to let Maylin at it than trip some hidden link that would wipe the information from the systems.

  At the top of the building, they looked out over the vista, large glass windows allowing for an unobscured view. In fact, if not for the building itself, he might have thought himself staying in a five-star hotel. The only thing that concerned him was they hadn’t yet found Colvert’s hidey-hole.

  Once more he pressed the communicator and waited. This time Jonah’s visage appeared, exhausted. “What’s wrong?” Franklin asked.

  “Nothing,” Jonah hedged, but Franklin had fought alongside the man for too long to be put off by his friend.

  “Something’s bothering you. Another attack?”

  Jonah sighed heavily and shook his head. “No, but I’ve just received intelligence that someone is aware of your location. I’m not sure how much longer you’ve got. Have you found any information on the comps?”

  Franklin gritted his teeth together. “No. We’ve collected all the main systems and thought it better to let Maylin have at them.”

  Jonah appeared to relax, and Franklin’s internal alarm began to blare loudly. “Why? What’s going on?”

  “Don’t turn them on. What I do need, however, is for you to find Colvert’s private office. We didn’t when we went through the building. We didn’t have the time or the resources back then, but I think we’ll find a key there. Something to help us tie up who’s in charge, how to find them, and a whole heap more.”

  Franklin frowned. “Like what?”

  Jonah shook his head. “Not now, Franklin. Once you’re back on base, we’ll get the team together and I’ll explain it all. Just get Senna to move fast, find Colvert’s office, and bring me those machines.”

  It sounded so simple when Jonah put it like that, but thus far, they hadn’t found anything to show them where to find the office space Jonah needed them to check.

  Franklin disconnected and turned to his team. “We have to find that office. Fan out. Check every level, every door and cupboard. Colvert had to have a private space, and that’s what we’re looking for.”

  They moved down the building, opening every door in a methodical fashion. The only room they ignored was the lab.

  At the bottom of the building, Franklin was ready to explode.

  “There’s nothing here, Franklin,” Sevres told him.

  “There’s only one room left. Let me go in first and talk to Senna.” He entered the room to find her rubbing her eyes.

  He checked the chrono on his wrist and swore when he saw the 0300. “Dammit. We need rest, Senna, take some time, you’ll work better fresh. The men and I will take shifts watching for signs anyone knows we’re here.”

  “I thought I almost had it.” She sighed. “But when I checked—” Her shrug appeared limp.

  Unable to help himself, he moved forward, curling an arm around her waist and urging her down off the stool. Her eyelids drooped, and he cursed himself for his inattention.

  “We take a break. Resume at 0800, which will give you time to rest, shower, and eat before starting again.”

  Her dark hair escaped from the vicious ponytail she’d pulled it back into. “No, Franklin. I know the answer is there, just out of reach, but—”

  “Rest first, Senna. Otherwise, you could make a mistake. One that’s fatal to hundreds.”

  She snapped back at his words, lips thinning and spine turning ramrod straight, then she sagged, all the fight leaving her body. “Yes, you’re right. Where can I…”

  He indicated a consulting room. It wasn’t a great place to sleep, as he thought back to what he’d last seen here, but they’d be able to get some horizontal rest. At least there were the beds the men had shoved into two of the rooms. His body ached, particularly his ribs, and he really needed to lie down.

  Even as the thought melted away, Senna leaned in and he hissed.

  She reared away. “You’ve done too much. Dammit. Where were you anyway?”

  He grimaced as her hand brushed against his side. “Searching. Looking for comps and Colvert’s office.”

  “Colvert?”

  “The guy behind the experimentation and the production cloning and tech implantation of the warrior kids.”

  She rubbed hands over her eyes, and his emotions roiled. “It’s really a little too much to take in tonight. Where are we sleeping?”

  His sigh echoed in the room. “In some consulting rooms. We grabbed therapy beds and wheeled them in, so at least we’d have something to lie on. There are enough beds to rotate the team.” He ushered her into the first room, where he’d stay with her, since the team had planned on him not taking a duty tonight. “By the way, I have news—”

  Senna shook her head, stopping his words. “I’m too tired. Tell me in the morning,” she said and crawled onto the nearest gurney before closing her eyes. “Blessed sleep.”

  It irked the way she’d brushed off what he was about to say, but honestly, his mind questioned whether it would make any difference tonight or tomorrow morning. So, on that thought, he followed suit, shucking only his jacket, which he placed over the dusty pillow, and settling down. The wash of relief from the pain was immediate, and he lay still for long moments, focused on the sound of Senna’s breathing until he too closed his eyes.

  Franklin slept as Senna clambered off the gurney. Overnight, her mind had contemplated and spun ideas. She’d woken with a plan after allowing her mind to consider how she might successfully complete the task.