Free Legend of Michael by Lisa Renée Jones

clicking on the red-brick path that led away from the German military hospital where she’d worked for nearly two years. Her coworkers had left hours ago for the New Year’s festivities she had no desire to take part in. She’d take her rented G.I. Joe DVD and microwave popcorn and be just fine. She didn’t mind being alone. In fact, she preferred it, found peace in it. She simply hadn’t been ready for relationships—neither male nor female. Not after the two people she thought she’d known—Michael and her father—had proven, despite all her clinical skills, that she was incapable of evaluating those closest to her.
    Even now, she would catch herself replaying Michael’s parting words, trying to understand why he’d been so adamant about hiding the mark if he wasn’t trying to protect her, if he was really loyal to Adam and his Zodius movement. She shook herself, murmuring a word of frustration. She was doing it again, tearing herself up inside with the unanswered questions. Trying to make a traitor into a hero.
    The few months she’d spent at a Texas air force base right after the Zodius uprising hadn’t been far enough away from Groom Lake. She’d never considered herself a coward, but maybe she was—because she’d simply wanted out. Away. She wanted to forget. She didn’t even ask what was happening with Adam. There wasn’t any news of some massive Zodius takeover, and Adam wasn’t coming after her. That was enough for her.
    A snowflake fluttered in front of her. Another touched her nose. She loved the snow. She loved this job where she counseled rather than researched. She wasn’t sure how she’d gotten away from that aspect of the field. She liked her life. She liked the food, especially German pasta—she adored spaetzle. And she liked—the rest of her thought was lost as the wind gusted around her, blowing her a step backwards. The snow began to fall faster, mixed with ice that pelted against the pavement. She cast a furtive look around the nearly vacant parking lot a few feet away. There was no sign of trouble. No GTECH—Renegade or Zodius. No Adam. No… Michael. God, would she ever stop looking for him in the wind? Hoping he’d come to her and explain everything, hoping everything wasn’t as it seemed.
    Quickening her pace, Cassandra clicked the lock on the silver Audi that had replaced her Beetle—a little luxury for once, a luxury she’d decided she deserved. She was about to get into the car, when a black sedan with dark windows pulled up. The back window rolled down. “How’s my favorite daughter?”
    Her heart stopped beating for an instant. She wasn’t sure if she were more shocked just to see her father—who she had not seen since her move—or to see him out of uniform, in a designer-looking, black suit. “Father?” she said, questioning the obvious, reeling with disbelief. “What are you doing here?” The wind gusted again, snow and ice plastering her hair against her head and face, reminding her why leaving her hat in the car was a bad idea.
    “Get in, sweetheart,” he said. “You’re getting wet.” The door popped open.
    She stood there, staring at the door, her heart randomly charging and stalling. Tears prickled in her eyes, and she was thankful for the snow. She hadn’t cried since that first night in the hospital when she had faced Michael’s betrayal. And her father’s actions, both at Groom Lake and then in the aftermath, when she’d caught glimpses of a desperate man trying to save himself no matter what the expense. But she’d dealt with these things. Or so she thought. Yet now emotion filled her chest like a heavy block of steel, crushing her.
    With a slow, calming breath, she forced herself to slide into the double-seated back, directly across from him. He reached for the door and pulled it shut, leaning back as he brushed the snow away from his jacket.
    “What’s going on, Father?” Even as she asked the question, a stark, cold memory filled