Page 23 of Harris

“Name’s Apollo.”

“That supposed to mean something to us?”

“Your team helped my little sister a few years back.”

“Who’s your sister?”

“Ellen Hammon,” Apollo said before offering his hand to Brick. “I owe your team and a man named Rick a debt I cannot repay for protecting her and getting her to safety.”

With a shrewd look, Brick took his offered hand and shook it. “You’re the missing brother. The one they said died at birth.”

“Reports of my death were greatly exaggerated.”

Harris could have been knocked over by a stiff wind as the shock set in. The Hammon kidnapping case was the team’s first brush with the Noah Group and their genetics project. Spence and Rick had led that case involving Commander Rask, a man from Spence’s past. The case ended with a pile of bodies and a new mission for the Fire Lake team.

“How are Ellen and Rosaline?” Brick asked.

“Alive and safe, thanks to you and your men, but to put it frankly, shouldn’t you guys know better than to have this guy wandering around like this even if the two of you have a hate for each other? Those guys in the van were about to abduct him,” Apollo said while looking between Brick and Harris.

“That was the plan, asshole,” Harris said, unable to remain silent any longer. “And you just screwed that up.”

“What?” Apollo stared around at them. “What kind of a fucking plan is that?”

***

Woodley

“Did I hear him right?” Woodley said as he reached for the door handle. “He’s trying to help us?”

“Stay put,” Gunner growled. “You’ll blow our cover.”

“Shit. He’s a project survivor, Ellen’s brother,” Conor said. “That must be why I couldn’t get a read on him. Apollo’s mutation must be able to block me from accessing his mind.”

“I wonder if that’s why he’s such a big fucker?” Gunner asked.

“Likely has something to do with it,” Woodley agreed. “This staying out of sight sucks.”

“Figured you’d be used to it, being a cop and all,” Gunner said.

“Yeah, I am, but this is different.”

“’Cause someone you care about is in the line of fire,” Conor said.

Harris and the team walked back into the hotel as the police arrived. They didn’t want to be involved in this hit-and-run, leaving Apollo to deal with them.

“Okay, guess we head back to the rental to figure out our next step,” Woodley said once Harris was out of sight. “This plan is officially a bust. We’ll need a new one.”

“Agreed,” Gunner said.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Harris

“You’ve got to be shitting me. Long lost brother.” Shaw said as they packed up the hotel room. “You think the guy’s been tracking us?”

“Don’t doubt it,” Harris agreed. “Can we trust him? That is the real question.”

“When we meet with the rest of the team again, we’ll have to discuss how much we share with this Apollo. Spence is digging as we speak, but I doubt there’ll be much on file,” Brick said. “The Noah Group covered its tracks, and if this guy did manage to break free, he’d stay deep underground.”

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