God she was convincing, thought Desh. He had deceived her in a life and death situation—for good reason. So was this true? Was she just doing this to him in return? He wanted to believe her with every fiber of his being, but his rationality returned like a baseball bat to the head, and he cursed himself for allowing himself to hope, if only for an instant.
“You really think I’m that stupid?” he screamed bitterly. “I was there when you had your chat with Frey,” he reminded her. “When he was enhanced. I heard everything! You told him to kill me if he wanted. You told him you wanted to team up with him. That your sociopathic alter ego had absorbed your personality. And it was all true! Every word! Or Frey would have known.”
“Jake called me from South Africa while you were on your way to Florida,” said Kira hurriedly. “Dutton framed him to get him out of the picture. But he escaped. And now he believes we were framed also. So he called to warn me that Dutton had you and Matt and was heading to the States.” She paused. “I knew Frey would try to use you both as leverage. So I was expecting his call. And I had time to come up with a plan. I knew the only way to get him to trust me with his life was to convince him I was on his side. While he was enhanced and I wasn’t.”
She stared intently at Desh, her large blue eyes pleading with him to believe, willing him to trust her. “When the call came in from an unknown phone,” she continued, “I knew it was Frey calling to hold you and Matt for ransom. And I was ready. I took a gellcap before I answered. It turned out to be you at first, but by the time I was talking to Frey, I was enhanced.”
Desh stumbled backwards. She sounded so reasonable. And she wasn’t enhanced now. Being able to come up with a story this complex and believable on the fly was beyond even her—or was it?
“Instead of just diverting a fraction of my capabilities to create a slower version of myself for communication, I put a hundred percent of my capacity into creating a Kira avatar that would pass as normal me. I made sure my eyes didn’t gleam with an inner, superhuman intelligence. That my body language, my posture, was that of normal Kira Miller. And that my word choices were hers in every way. There is only one way to lie to an enhanced mind: if you’re enhanced also. Enabling you to control your every facial expression at the cellular level so your body language is precisely on track with your words.”
“So it was all a set up?” said Desh, afraid to believe, only to be fooled again.
“Yes!” replied Kira emphatically. “I offered Frey everything he could want in a way that ensured he would trust me. Then when he and Dutton came to our headquarters, Ross and I could easily take them out and get you back. And finally—finally—explain to you what’s really been going on. I didn’t count on him wanting to meet here, and I especially didn’t expect a double-cross when he had everything to gain from working with me. Even so, I had Ross as my ace in the hole.” She shook her head. “The plan still should have worked. It was just bad luck it didn’t. Having snipers hidden out of sight is a level of caution I could have never predicted.”
This would explain the tranquilizer gun she had with her, that Frey himself didn’t understand, since sociopaths weren’t exactly dedicated to the use of non-lethal force. She had wanted to take Frey and Dutton alive so she could get as much intel as possible and unravel his organization. “Your plan hinged on Frey being enhanced when he called, so he would think he could read you. What if he hadn’t been?”
“I would have insisted on it,” she answered immediately, “at the start of the call. To prove my sincerity to him. Jake had given me plenty of warning, so I had multiple contingences planned out.”
As Desh considered this last, Kira’s iron grip on her emotions broke down once again and the look of pain and vulnerability returned. This time, tears flowed from her eyes as well. “I love you, David,” she whispered. “I know what I’ve done to your mind. And how badly I’ve hurt you. I can’t blame you for not believing me. But I swear to you, I’m not the sociopath I pretended to be with Frey. I’m the woman you fell in love with.”
Desh gazed at her, his mind numb. Everything she said was so plausible. But was he being played for a fool yet again?
“Dutton and his men will be back any minute,” she said. “You have to decide if you can trust me.”
Desh looked into her beautiful eyes, still moist but no longer producing tears. Maybe she was that good. Maybe his heart was clouding his judgment even now. But if this were the case, then it would be better if she did kill him. Death would be a welcome release.
“Okay,” said Desh, nodding. “Let’s do this.”
They hurriedly positioned themselves back to back and Desh began sawing at her cuffs with Metzger’s combat knife. Her cuffs, unlike his, had been left with a two inch length of plastic between her hands. Sawing backwards in such an awkward position with little leverage required every ounce of his strength and focus, but after just a few minutes he succeeded in freeing her.
Desh held a mental breath. What would happen now?
True to her word, Kira immediately began sawing through his restraints, her hands in front of her and, unlike Desh, now able to use the strength in her arms as well as just her hands. In less than a minute the razor sharp combat knife, its flat surfaces covered in dried blood, finished severing the plastic.
Kira retrieved her Sig Sauer from Frey’s body and Desh chose one of several automatic weapons now strewn throughout the living room. Together they dragged the sniper Desh had killed with his violent kick out of sight of the entrance, and took up positions on either side of the door, about twelve feet deep in the room. Still clutching their weapons, they put their hands behind their backs as though they were still bound and readied themselves.
Less than a minute later, Dutton threw open the door and entered, spotting Kira in front of him and to his left. “The attacker was acting alone,” he told her. “But I’m taking over for Frey, which means I’ll be needing those magic pills of yours.” He leered at her suggestively. “And for the record, I do like adult women.”
He was about to continue when it finally dawned on him that something was very wrong. The sniper he had left to mind the prisoners was nowhere in sight. His two companions had caught on just an instant earlier, but before they could react Kira and Desh cut all three men to ribbons.
Kira knew they couldn’t afford to do anything less, but it was a bloody massacre, and she fell to her knees when it was done, fighting back vomit.
She visibly shook off the horror of having been an instrument of death, and her physical squeamishness, and moved over to Ross to inspect his wound. “Find a fist-aid kit,” she ordered, and Desh marveled at her ability to keep getting back in the saddle after every fall. She was truly remarkable.
He raced through the safe house and returned several minutes later with a military style first-aid kit. Kira washed Metzger’s wound and went to work dressing it. He had lost considerable blood, but in the few minutes he had played possum, his enhanced mind had marshaled clotting and immune factors to the wound and directed these biochemical armies to initiate the healing process far more efficiently than his body would have done naturally. Kira was confident he would make it.