Free Generation 18: The Spook Squad 2 by Keri Arthur Page B

kept his voice soft, not wanting to jar her out of her trancelike state.
    “To the dead.” She hesitated, frowning lightly. “To her twin sister.”
    Emma Pierce was listed as an only child, but she was also adopted. So it might be worth checking to see if a mistake had been made. “Why is she killing these people?”
    “They should not exist.”
    Her breathing was becoming too shallow, too quick. As much as he needed the insights, he couldn’t let her continue. Not while she was still clearing the Jadrone from her system.
    “Sam.” He touched her arm lightly and she jumped.
    Her gaze leapt to his, her expression confused and just a touch frightened. “What happened?”
    “You were reading the room. Or the emotions in the room.”
    A shudder ran through her. “It felt like I was an observer in someone else’s dream. I could see and hear what was going on, but I couldn’t intervene.”
    He touched her cheek, gently wiping away a drop of sweat. “I think those psychic gifts you don’t have are starting to come to the surface.”
    She stared at him and then shook her head. “Impossible! I was tested.”
    “The tests can be skewed. I think we should do more.”
    She reeled back as if he’d hit her. “No more tests. You promised!”
    “I also promised to help you get answers about your past. That isn’t going to happen unless you start cooperating.”
    “No.” She crossed her arms, her look mutinous. “The last batch of tests almost killed me. I won’t do any more.”
    She was talking about the tests that the bastard she’d once called her partner had performed. “Jack didn’t care about you, only what you were and how he could use you.”
    “And are you so very different, Assistant Director?”
    The barb struck home and his anger surged. O’Neal chose that moment to walk into the room, but he stopped abruptly, his gaze darting from Gabriel to Sam.
    “Everything all right, sir?”
    “Fine.” Gabriel somehow managed to keep his voice even. “We found a bloody sweatshirt in the trash can. There is blood sprayed across the mirror. I want samples taken from both and sent to the labs ASAP. And next time, O’Neal, kindly make sure you do a proper sweep of the crime scene.”
    The detective flushed and nodded, and Gabriel shoved his hands in his pockets and walked from the room. He heard Sam murmur something to O’Neal, then her footsteps as she followed.
    He punched the elevator button. She stopped behind him, her gaze burning deep into his back.
    “If you’ve got something to say, then say it,” she said. “Don’t take your anger out on other people.”
    Normally, he didn’t, but she had an uncanny knack of seeing what others didn’t, and it both irritated and alarmed him. He turned to face her.
    “I’m not Jack. I’m not using you for my own purposes. If I were, I’d keep you as a partner.”
    She crossed her arms, her expression cynical. “And that’s supposed to make me feel better?”
    It wasn’t supposed to make her feel anything. “Sam, that birth certificate Jack gave you might be a fake.”
    “I know that.”
    “Then you should realize that the only true clue we may ever get lies in uncovering whatever that unknown chromosome in your system is. Remember, someone looped Finley’s computer to stop us from accessing the test results. They may very well have bombed Central Security for the same reason.” He hesitated, then added, “Damn it, Sam, don’t you
want
to know what you are?”
    She rubbed her arms and stared at him for several moments. “
Who
I am, yes.
What
I am? I don’t know.” Her voice was soft, face troubled. “I really don’t know.”
    “Then you’d better decide quickly. People died because of the secrets in your past. How many more have to do so before you find the courage to face what you might be?”
    She stiffened. “You’re a bastard, do you know that?”
    “Maybe I am. But at least I’m a realistic bastard.”
    They waited in silence for the