Page 90 of A Touch of Treachery
A low, bitter laugh tumbled out of my lips.“Doing shady things is part of the job for everyone in Section 47, myself included, so we can serve the greater good and all those platitudes.And the General might be my father, but I have no illusions about what kind of man he is.”
“Then you’re a lot smarter and more perceptive than I expected.You not believing in your father’s innocence is going to make this a lot less fun.”Henrika pouted.“Oh, well.Fun doesn’t matter to me nearly as much as science does.”
I frowned.“What does that mean?”
Henrika smiled, and anticipation burned in her aura.She looked me up and down the way a scientist would view an exciting new discovery they were eager to explore—or a frog they were about to dissect.
“It means you’re an anomaly, Desmond.And Idespiseanomalies, especially when it comes to my creations.”
“You mean yourweapons.”
Henrika shrugged off my accusation.She strode over to a table near the center of the lab and hit some buttons on a laptop, making a display pop up on a monitor bolted to a wall.
I read through the information, my stomach sinking a little more with every word.“How did you get my Section personnel file?”
Henrika gave an airy wave of her hand.“Oh, this was one of the many things Miriam Lancaster slipped me.She gave me Charlotte’s file too, although it’s notnearlyas interesting as yours, Desmond.”
“Why is that?”
Henrika went over to the monitor and pointed to an area that detailed my paramortal abilities.“Your Section file claims that you have above-average stamina, speed, strength, and pain tolerance.All the basic enduro traits.Normally, I wouldn’t think much of that, since Section is littered with enduros, and they are the most common type of paramortal.”
“But?”I asked the obvious question.
“But Section 47 is known for meticulously documenting the powers and abilities of all its agents, right down to synth analysts like Charlotte who rarely leave their cubicles.”Henrika’s lips puckered in thought.“Your file seems rather ...thin in comparison.”
My hands clenched into fists.My file was thin because my galvanism was a rare ability, even among paramortals.To my knowledge, no other Section 47 agent was a galvanist, and I’d given more than one blood and tissue sample so the scientists could try to figure out how my magic worked and potentially replicate my power in other cleaners.But they had never been successful, and my father had buried all the research.
It was one of the few things he’d ever done to protect me.
But the General had his own reasons for that kindness.If other paramortals found out about my power, they could take measures to protect themselves, not to mention the fact that they would try to capture me, just like Henrika had.A galvanist could be useful in all sorts of criminal enterprises.
“So my file is thin.So what?Like you said, Section is littered with enduros.Just like Bryce Finkley and Trevor Donnelly and a dozen others I could name.”
Henrika looked at me.“So someone with only a moderate level of enduro magic shouldn’t have been able to survive a single blast of Redburn.Much less an entire beach loaded with bombs all packed to the brim with my formula.And yet somehow you managed to do just that.Care to tell me how, Desmond?”
I pressed my hands flat against the cell wall.Fury spiked through me, and if I could have, I would have clawed my way through the glass to get to her.“Because my partner threw his body over mine and shoved me down into the sand.Graham took the brunt of the blasts, not me.He sacrificed himself to save me.”
I swallowed the hard knots of guilt, regret, and shame lodged in my throat.“Ishould have been the one who died, not him.”
Henrika nodded.“Yes, you should have.That’s how I planned it.”
I froze, my mind struggling to process her words.“Youplannedit?What does that mean?”
She gave me a look that was almost pitying.“I wantedyouto die on the beach, Desmond.Your friend Graham was just collateral damage.”
“What did you do?”I asked, my voice coming out as a low, harsh whisper.
Henrika clasped her hands behind her back and started pacing back and forth, eerily like my father would do.
“I was still testing Redburn.My results had been promising, but I needed data from a real-world situation.Adrian Anatoly wanted proof the explosive could kill any paramortal, no matter their powers or abilities, so he tasked me with rigging the beach in Australia to eliminate some Section cleaners who’d been authorized to kill him.You being sent on the Blacksea mission was just a happy coincidence, Desmond.”
Understanding flashed through me.“You wanted to kill me to hurt my father.To get back at him for whatever he did to you.”
Anger flared in Henrika’s eyes, and her aura burned a dark, dangerous green over her heart.“You’re damn right I did.But unfortunately, you survived my experiment.Then you and Charlotte escaped the trap Adrian Anatoly set for you both at the Halstead Hotel.”
The anger dimmed in her eyes, and another thoughtful look creased her face.“I had cameras recording the lawn.It was quite ingenious of Charlotte to use her synesthesia to figure out where the bombs were buried.I’m still not quite sure how she did that.Care to share?”
I remained silent.Like me, Charlotte often downplayed her magic, and I wasn’t about to reveal that Charlotte’s synesthesia whispered about all the dangers around her.The less Henrika knew about Charlotte, the better.
