Breed of Havoc (The Breed Chronicles #3) (23 page)

I nodded now. “And what’s the perfect excuse? Selling off-limits stuff to Chris.” I shook my head. “He makes the perfect scapegoat.”

“He does. Whatever John’s reasons are, he went to a lot of trouble to set Chris up.”

“Which is why you think he—or they—will try again.”

He nodded.

“Ah, hell.” I shook my head. The knot that’d formed in my stomach last night when we found out Chris was in trouble tripled in size. “So where does that leave Chris? Do you think Greene believes him? We can’t be the only ones who do. We can’t be the only ones who’ve thought of this.”

Linc’s eyes were dark. “I’m betting Greene knows, which is why Chris wasn’t suspended.”

I didn’t doubt him, unfortunately, and I almost wished I could. Not about Chris, because I was glad he hadn’t been kicked out. But the whole situation was beyond extreme. I really didn’t like the idea of some weird guy (or guys) following us around and trying to sneak onto the property for…whatever they wanted. I really didn’t like that they’d used one of my friends for it.

I hated that everything Linc said made sense. I hated that I agreed with him. And I especially hated that Greene had been right all along.

Because this Phase just got a hell of a lot more complicated.

C
HAPTER 11

Later that night, Greene ordered everyone to the auditorium. Linc and I expected the speech to come—and so did half the other Prospects it seemed. The tone in the room was muted, like everyone knew they weren’t going to like what they were about to hear. Considering rumors had been flying since last night about Chris—some true, some not—it didn’t surprise me.

Greene stormed to his podium and dropped his tablet down. The sound had most of the Prospects jumping or wincing, including me and Linc. Chris, who’d been busy trying to make himself seem smaller, jumped more than anyone else. Tasha clutched his hand between hers.

“I’m sure you’ve all heard the rumors by now,” Greene said, his tone cold. “They’re true. A man was spotted with one of our Prospects yesterday, outside the CGE property.”

A few people shot Chris dirty looks but I glared at them threateningly. I hadn’t expected it to actually stop them, but it seemed to scare the P1s and P2s into turning away.

Well, as least being hated comes in handy for something.

“I won’t go into more detail about it than I already have, and I’m not,” he added hastily when someone raised their hand, “taking questions. Forgive me, but this is going to be a one-sided discussion. The bottom line is this, all incoming and outgoing communications from the CGE will be monitored. This, as I’m sure you’re all perfectly aware, is nothing new. However, any mention of the CGE, its location, or the people who work here, is strictly forbidden, and anyone who breaks this rule will be banned from the property. Anyone seen with non-CGE personnel in or around the property will be gone within an hour of the discovery. No questions, no debates. That person or persons will be expelled. Period. Consider this your only warning.”

Chris slinked down in his seat more.

“The fact that we’re having this conversation again infuriates me, and I’m sorely tempted to ban all New Orlando trips from this point forward.”

At those words, half the Prospects in the room jumped to their feet or shouted.

“However,” Greene continued, his tone even lower now, “seeing that I’m not completely unreasonable, New Orlando trips will continue as scheduled—with the added warning that you should all be very careful with whom you speak and what you say, because anyone suspected of divulging information will be banned. Good day.”

He stormed right back out, looking as angry as he had when he came in.

“That’s bullshit,” I muttered, earning me weird stares from anyone in hearing distance—which happened to be half the Prospects. Rolling my eyes, I motioned Linc, Tasha, and Chris to follow me and headed to the far side of the auditorium, away from everyone else.

“What’s bullshit?” Tasha asked.

“Greene’s speech. Chris didn’t bring anyone here, and I’m willing to bet Greene knows it, too.”

Chris frowned. “I’m grateful for the vote of confidence, but why?”

“Haven’t you guys noticed anything different?”

“Added security,” Linc said.

I nodded. “Exactly. They’ve doubled the patrols, and they installed new spotlights around the property last night.”

Now Tasha frowned at me. “How do you know?”

I shot Linc a sidelong glance. “Because I haven’t been sleeping well, and when I can’t sleep, I walk around.” By ‘walk around’ I meant I went out to the catwalk. “I saw agents and guards running around last night, working their butts off to get everything done by morning, I’m guessing, before too many people noticed. And that ‘routine check’ of the alarm system this morning? Yeah, I’m sure those do happen, but don’t you think the timing is suspicious? I mean, they start this the day after John is found here? Please. Greene can deny anything is wrong until he’s blue, but I know better.”

“So do I,” Linc said.

“I really do appreciate the votes of confidence, but it doesn’t matter. Everyone thinks I did it now, and honestly, it doesn’t change anything. That guy used me and I let him.”

I shook my head. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Chris. John—whoever he is—did.”

“You should leave it alone,” Tasha said, her tone hard. “Come on, Chris.” She took his hand and marched away with him in tow.

I sighed. “I thought he’d feel better knowing we believed him, that Greene does too, even if he can’t or won’t say it. It didn’t help though, did it?”

“No,” Linc said, shaking his head.

“That’s really messed up of Greene, because he’s using Chris as a scapegoat, just like John.”

“You know why he’s doing it.”

“Yeah, I do, but it doesn’t make it better.” Greene probably didn’t want to worry all the Prospects by mentioning an attempted break-in. As much as he talked about being prepared for everything, it was different when it was actually happening. If everyone knew…they’d all be freaked out and there’d be mass hysteria. At least, I hoped that’s why Greene was letting Chris take the blame for it.

Even knowing Greene had a good reason for it, it didn’t sit well with me. The whole sacrificing-one-to-save-the-many thing wasn’t cool in my book.

*~*~*

Chris spent the next week hardly saying a word to anyone. If he wasn’t in class, he spent his spare time in his or Tasha’s room. Despite our reassurances, he was positive Greene was going to kick him out if he said one wrong word or took one bad step. I couldn’t blame him for being paranoid, but it still pissed me off.

Linc and I tried talking to them about the break-in thing, but Tasha had gone into protective mode. Anytime we said a word about it around them, she snapped at us, so Linc and I had to be sneaky and discuss it in one of our rooms. Linc waited a few weeks before doing anything, but he finally managed to get Chris alone and asked him to retell the story. The only new bit of information Linc had managed to get was a really vague description of the guy that, unfortunately, fit half the male population of Florida. White guy, mid-thirties, brown hair, and blue eyes. The only remarkable thing about him, according to Chris, was the guy gave him the creeps.

Without knowing what the guy actually wanted, it was impossible to figure out who he was. But it was impossible to figure out who he was when we didn’t know what he wanted. It was a freaking catch twenty-two. Our only theory was that it had to have been someone from another research facility, but that didn’t really help us any because it still left too many questions. Which facility did he work for? Had the guy acted alone? Had he acted on someone else’s orders? What, exactly, was he after? Research about demons or DNA?

Too many questions with no answers.

For a month after the break-in, those were the questions we asked ourselves. But without more info, there wasn’t anything we could do. There were only so many times we could go over the same stuff without driving ourselves crazy, so we focused on our school work again.

Unfortunately, my focus at the moment was on my impending mentor meeting.

I’d just left Linc (who still refused to go along as backup) and made my way to the fifth floor. The ball of dread that usually accompanied me weighed me down and made my steps slow. In my head, I ran through my usual list of questions: Why was I doing this? What was I thinking? What was Greene thinking? And really, how bad would it be if I ran back to my room and hid under the bed?

I never answered any of the questions, and despite my hopes, they never answered themselves.

Just more unanswered questions.

I’d timed it this week to arrive last, so I didn’t have to sit around and wait for Peter to arrive. (Last week it had been Dale, because Peter and Adam were out on hunts.) When I saw Peter and Adam sitting at the table, I let out a sigh.
At least that’s one thing that went right.

Adam grinned at me. “Hey, Jade.”

“Hey,” I said, taking my seat on their side of the table. Kristina was there, and her and Peter both waved to me.

“So,” Peter started, “Dale tells me you guys didn’t have any questions for him at your last meeting.”

As the words hung in the air, a few people looked down at the table, seemingly studying it.

Dale was a great guy. Kind of grouchy and a little scary, but pretty cool. Despite that, when he’d been here, no one had asked him a single question. He’d let everyone leave after thirty minutes of near silence and grinned at me as I followed them out.

Peter smiled. “Does anyone have any questions this week?”

The guy sitting across from Adam—Tommy—nodded. “Yeah. Once we get the treatments, will we all have great hearing like you?”

“You’ll have better hearing than most,” Peter answered. “But until you receive the treatments, there’s no way to tell.”

“What about you two? Er, three,” Tommy added hastily, shooting me an apologetic smile.

“We don’t hear the same things.” Adam spoke this time.

“The sounds you’re not used to, do you hear them all the time or do you tune them out? Can you tune them out? “

Adam shrugged. “Mostly, we tune them out and only concentrate on the rest when we’re hunting. Personally, if I’m not focusing on anything or if I’m sitting still for a while, I’ll usually pick up more sounds without trying to.”

“Same here,” Peter said.

“What about you, Jade?”

My head snapped up. “Me?”

Kristina rolled her eyes and laughed. “Yes, you.”

“Oh. Bit of both, I guess. Sounds are easier to ignore, but I have a hard time tuning out voices unless I concentrate.”

Peter frowned at me. “Really?”

I fought the urge to fidget. “Yeah.”

“So why’s it different for her?” Tommy asked.

I’d hoped Peter or Adam would have an explanation, but Peter only said, “Like we’ve been saying all along, everyone is different. Jade didn’t have the treatments herself, so that might explain the difference.”

I tried not to frown at being called different, especially when it was true and everyone knew it.

“So who has the better hearing between you three?”

“Peter has better hearing than me,” Adam said. “But he’s been an agent a lot longer than I have.”

“Can we do a little test?” Kristina asked. “I’m curious how much better your hearing is compared to mine.”

“We can compare us to you, sure. Though the doctors will run tests before and after your treatments for their own studies, so they keep track of that information. They’ll give you a basic percentage rate increase, if you want it. They like numbers.”

“I like numbers,” she said.

“You’re a geek,” someone else commented as the others laughed.

She grinned at them.

Peter rose from his seat. “If we’re doing this, we better get started. Adam, you want to go first?”

Getting to his feet, Adam nodded and went out to the hall. “I’m by the back stairs,” he called out a minute later.

Peter grabbed his tablet from the table and directed Kristina to the far corner of the room, the one furthest from Adam’s position. Turning on his tablet, Peter opened a program with a big red microphone on the screen. He held it up. “I’ll have you record something and then play it at different volumes. It’s the easiest way to test.” He passed the tablet to Kristina. “Say something, but speak clearly and keep it short.”

Kristina held the tablet and frowned, “What the hell do I say?”

Peter laughed and took the tablet from her. “That’ll work.” His head turned to the side partially. He laughed again. “Adam’s getting bored out there, so are we about ready?” Peter motioned everyone over. “Come on. No talking, okay?”

As the class nodded and gathered around, Peter selected the lowest volume level and played Kristina’s message.

The tablet had ten preset volume levels. Peter went up a level at a time, and after the sixth, Adam came back in shaking his head. “‘What the hell do I say?’ That’s what you pick?” Adam grinned at Peter. “I was more creative with my test message.”

“What did you say?” Kristina asked.

Adam’s mouth opened, like he was about to answer, but Peter shook his head and shot him a shut-up-you-idiot look. “Something that won’t be repeated here.”