Free Seleste deLaney - [Badlands 02] by Clockwork Mafia Page B

called, but I’ve seen it. I was searching through the crates to present it to you as proof of my story because I know how ludicrous this all seems. I’m trying to keep anyone from dying. That’s the truth.”
    But it wasn’t everything. Something in the way he said the words made them sound practiced, too sure. She ground her teeth, struggling to keep a grip on the clockwork. It wasn’t designed for this. She’d altered it to use as a fast offensive weapon, not a controlled threat. Her fingers ached from the vibrations already. “Why would people die , Tobias? What aren’t you telling me?”
    “Henrietta, I hate to say this, but your father wasn’t exactly the honorable senator he pretended to be.”
    “Ninth circle of hell! Tell me something I don’t already know.”
    * * *
    Tobias had expected Henrietta to react with shock or anger when he spoke against her father, but not this kind of anger. He gaped at her and tried to avoid shifting his gaze back to the mechanical struggling to escape from her grip. Fortunately, his plan had room for a bit more of the truth.
    “He wasn’t just working for the government in his laboratory. Your father had other partners who paid top dollar in order to keep certain experiments private. He’d promised them new technology...something to do with gold.” She started at that—nearly losing her grip on the clockwork—but he plowed ahead, desperate to get her to shut the blasted machine down. “He’d done work for them in the past. Now that he’s dead, they want the research in order to avoid it falling into other hands. If I don’t provide it, they’re going to kill me and everyone I’ve ever cared about.” A bit of overkill, but he had a feeling his own life wouldn’t be nearly enough for her.
    For a long moment, they stayed like that: him backed into the corner of the infirmary and her trembling, knuckles white, as she held onto the clockwork. At last she deactivated the thing—didn’t put it away, but off was an improvement. Tobias didn’t relish the idea of staring down his own death at the hands of some woman. At least if the mafia killed him, people wouldn’t see him as weak.
    With a still trembling hand, Henrietta waved for him to go on. “Will they leave us all the hell alone if we give them what they want?”
    “Perhaps. Your father was creating super-soldiers through mechanical implants. When he presented his initial experiments on animals to the military, they pulled his funding.” He turned away from the storm in her eyes, staring instead at the reflection of the gaslamps in the grooves on the walls, streaks of fire bright enough to forge steel...or brass. Shuddering, Tobias closed his eyes. “The government said they wanted no part in creating monsters.”
    “Wise of them. What did my father expect? No soldier would voluntarily submit to such ridiculous procedures...” She huffed, the sound too close to a laugh. “He never planned on asking for volunteers. It was intended to be forced on the men.”
    Opening his eyes, he shook his head. In no version of his plan did she take things this well. “You aren’t surprised.”
    For the first time, her gaze darkened with something less like anger and more akin to sadness. “As I told you, I already knew my father led his life with less than upstanding moral fiber. Nothing he did ‘to benefit’ the United States would shock me. No matter how extreme or cruel.”
    Whatever Senator Mason had done burned like a brand, marking Henrietta as clearly as a hot iron—an injury that would heal but she’d never recover from. How he hadn’t seen it before, he didn’t know. She was more than just some silly girl and would require enough of the truth to be afraid before she’d allow him to do what he needed.
    “When the United States dismissed his plan, another group came forward and offered to fund the experiments as long as he shared the results with no one else.”
    “Pragmatic to the end.”
    “Nothing