Page 71 of Forged in Deception

She wanted to be happy. Mother was pleased with her, and their chosen one had come.

But she couldn’t shake her worry.

She couldn’t shake her fear that they would be found out, and that all of their enlightenment would be shrouded in shadows once again.

She swallowed hard, forcing her eyes shut, pushing away the fear.

No. She was strong. She would make it.

And if she couldn’t do it for Mother, she would do it for the Professor.

He had started her on this journey, and she had come so far.

She would make him proud.

CHAPTER

THIRTY-TWO

ASHER

Asher unclipped his seatbelt the second that Karlin brought the truck to a stop behind the staff cabins.

He’d felt jittery for the rest of the drive back to the retreat site, like he couldn’t sit still. They were so close to the end now. All he had to do was get through one more DX8 session, and they’d be able to go to the authorities. Finally, Senera Pharmaceuticals would face the consequences of their crimes.

“No vehicles,” Karlin announced triumphantly as she took her own seatbelt off and climbed out of Bajwa’s Jeep. “We made it, but it’s probably close. You should get to your cabin. I’m going to run over to the small lab. If we’re leaving this place tomorrow, I have a few personal items that I don’t want to leave behind. I also have to put Bajwa’s keys back.”

Asher hesitated, glancing around the quiet desert.

Even though the sun hadn’t set yet, the empty retreat site gave him the creeps. He could hear nothing at all. Even the birds and insects seemed to be holding their breath, like they knew something had shifted. He almost wished for those weirdcoyotes to howl in the distance. He’d prefer it to the oppressive silence.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay on your own?” he asked.

Karlin nodded firmly. “It would be suspicious if we were caught hanging out together right now. I’m telling you, everyone is going to be back any minute now. Safety in numbers, right?”

Asher couldn’t find a good reason to argue.

Sure, they’d almost been caught back at Senera, but he was fairly confident that it had only been by a janitor or another employee entering Bajwa’s office at random.

No one had come after them in the parking lot, and they hadn’t seen a single vehicle behind them, either. They could check the few cameras they had at some point in the future, but he’d deal with that when–or if–the time came.

“Okay,” he agreed. “I’ll come out as soon as everyone arrives.”

He had hoped for some kind of proper goodbye, maybe even a hug, but Karlin was back in pure focus mode. With a quick nod in his direction, she locked the truck, turned on her heel, and headed toward the building that held her on-site laboratory.

He watched for a moment, making sure she’d made it safely inside the door, and then headed for his own cabin. Now that he was truly alone, he felt even more freaked out, though he couldn’t exactly explain why. He wasn’t really the type of guy to jump at shadows. But there was something about the quietness of the place that–

He rounded the corner of one of the empty cabins, nearly colliding with Lily and sending his train of thought shuddering to a stop.

“Hey,” he said, letting out a puff of breath as he waited for his heart rate to slow back to normal. “You guys are back already? You scared me to death. Man, I must have slept longer than I thought. What time is it?”

Lily smiled up at him. “Oh, no, you’re right on time, hon. I ended up staying behind at the last minute. I have a pretty bad left hip, and I felt bad slowing the others down.”

Asher muttered something noncommittal, wondering why Lily was so far from her own cabin and so close to his own, and why she hadn’t announced her intentions to stay behind sooner when she knew her hip was weak. It was odd, but it was hardly odd enough to call her out on it.

The most likely explanation was that he was being a tad paranoid.

He had to keep his eyes on the ball.

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