“You cut him open and put your hand inside of him,” Javier said.
She shivered, remembering his reaction. Javier had placed a knife to her throat. The gesture had seemed casual but was anything but. She’d kept working, knowing she didn’t have much time. She’d found the severed artery and repaired it within minutes, shouting for Mack to give Kane her blood immediately.
It had all been hazy from the moment she’d pulled Kane into the helicopter, “saw” the severed artery, and cut him open. Mack hadn’t hesitated, starting the transfusion immediately, even as Gideon gave him plasma. She’d been so frightened, wanting to grab Sebastian and leap from the helicopter, taking her chances with the unknown rather than with these grim-faced strangers without Kane.
Oddly, it had been Javier who helped her. He held her stable through the flight, using his own body to prop her up. He’d asked one of the others to slip makeshift pillows under her arms to help keep them up and then had her covered with a warm blanket as she crouched over Kane. Her blood flowed into Kane’s body in a desperate attempt to keep him from bleeding to death, while her fingers, deep inside his body, had reinforced her repair of the artery. She would never forget that incredible helicopter ride as she tried to breathe for Kane, willing him to live with every ounce of strength she possessed.
“Whitney never found out about you?” Kane asked.
She shook her head. “I told you, even as children we knew we had to hide our gifts from him. He might help us develop them, but had he known about me, he would have put the other girls in jeopardy just to see me use it. He can be very cruel. He doesn’t look at it that way. Everything he does, for him, is justified in the advancement of science.”
“That’s why you have such a difficult time with Eric,” Kane guessed.
Rose nodded. “His need to learn can outweigh his moral scruples. Once a man believes that an individual doesn’t count for the good of the masses, he crosses a line and is capable, in the name of science, of anything. Whitney crossed that line a long time ago. He believes himself far above everyone else in intellect. He has powerful friends who aid him. That only feeds his ego and belief that he’s above the rest of humanity. Laws don’t apply to him.”
“Can you see the fantastic job Dr. Lambert did?” Paul asked, indicating Kane.
She shook her head. “It never happens unless there’s a crisis. That’s why I can’t be certain Sebastian is completely healthy. I know he’s not in immediate danger, but I can’t examine him.”
“Do any of the other women have this talent?” Paul asked.
“We stopped sharing information fairly early on because he recorded our conversations. Most of us became very secretive. Whitney believed we each had one strong talent and maybe another to a far lesser degree. It wasn’t until he began experimenting on adults that he discovered there could be more than one strong psychic talent in one individual. He isolated us after that, but we’d learned to be vigilant by that time.”
Kane tugged at her hand, a little disconcerted to have Paul staring at his insides. “Come take a look at the baby, Paul.”
“I’ve never really examined an infant,” Paul hedged. “I’m not certain I’m really qualified to do this.”
“You’re what we have,” Kane said. “That makes you qualified. Take a look at him.” He stepped back to allow Paul into the bedroom where the small crib was.
Rose hovered close as Paul approached the crib. Kane indicated for Javier to follow him out of the room. He wanted to know exactly what threats his family faced. Rose wouldn’t leave Sebastian’s side while Paul was with him, giving him the opportunity to assess the risks.
“Where’s Mack?” he demanded.
“Didn’t Paul just tell you to rest?” Javier asked, one eyebrow raised.
“The hell with that. What’s going on, Javier? Half the team is missing, and don’t tell me they’re out on a mission somewhere.”
Javier shrugged and swaggered into the kitchen to pour himself a cup of coffee. “Mack will be here in a few minutes. He wasn’t that far behind us. You got yourself a good woman. She admits she learned to be secretive, yet she’s obviously disclosing information to us in an effort to show good faith. That takes a great deal of courage.”
Kane glanced up at the admiration in Javier’s voice. Javier rarely showed inner thoughts or allowed real emotion to surface.
“You should see her in action,” Kane said, “No hesitation, Javier. None. She gets the job done.”
“I can see that in her. I put a knife to her throat, Kane. When she was cutting you open on the helicopter. One moment we’ve pulled you aboard, blood all over the place, and the next she’s on her knees, slicing into your belly. It scared the holy hell out of me. I thought she was hacking you up, she was that fast. I put my blade against her neck, tight enough to cut the skin, and she never so much as flinched. I swear she didn’t even bat an eyelash. She just kept working fast. Your blood was all over her, and she was shouting orders to all of us. In the end we just did what she said. She’s one cool customer.”
“I should beat you to a bloody pulp for threatening her,” Kane said, “but it wouldn’t do a bit of good. You’d do the same thing again.”
“I’ve never seen anything like that, Kane,” Javier answered seriously, leaning back against the sink, coffee mug in hand. “Seriously, she moved so fast, no wasted effort, cut right into you in front of us, no hesitation, not even when I threatened her. She’s a very unusual woman—and dangerous.”
Kane’s gaze flicked over Javier. “You admire her.”
“Damn right. She reminds me a little of Rhianna.”
Javier rarely mentioned Rhianna Bonds. She’d grown up with them on the streets of Chicago, the only other girl in their “family.”
“Does she?” Kane wasn’t altogether certain he was happy Javier thought that. Although he never admitted it, Javier was obviously crazy about Rhianna in a weird, possessive kind of way. Kane didn’t want Javier looking at Rose that way.
Javier nodded. “Rhianna doesn’t seem to have a fear factor, other than when it comes to me, where Rose battles fear, but they both are very dangerous.”
“And you like dangerous women.”
Javier shrugged. “They’re intriguing to me. That edge you come up against. She might kiss you or stick a knife in you. You never know what you’re waking up to.”
Kane burst out laughing. “Well, she did shove a gun in my gut,” he admitted. “She was very serious about it too. That’s when I ditched my locator.”
“Mack was pissed about that, Kane. It was just as well you nearly died, because he would have killed you himself.” Javier took a slow sip of coffee, obviously savoring the blend, before scrutinizing Kane over the steaming mug. “You scared us all, bro.”
Kane heard the sincerity in Javier’s voice. The man rarely showed emotion; although all of them knew he felt it deeply, he just buried it equally as deep.
They both turned as a cursory knock on the door preceded a flashing alarm as Mack shoved the door open before the alarm had time to deactivate. Mack cursed and paused long enough to punch in the code again.
“Damn thing. Jaimie has to speed that up,” he groused. “Can’t even keep up with me.” His gaze ran over Kane, clearly assessing his condition. There was a shadow of worry in his eyes and few more worry lines etched into his face Kane hadn’t remembered seeing. “You’re finally on your feet. That woman is fucking overprotective of you.” His voice was gruff, almost hoarse, both accusing and shaken at the same time.
Kane grinned at him. “I could get used to it.”
“Well, don’t. You ever scare the shit out of me like that again, and I’ll put a bullet in you myself. We clear on that?”
“Yeah, Top, I get it.”
“Good. We’ve got that settled. Is Paul looking after the baby?” Mack pointed to the coffeepot.
Javier obligingly poured him a cup of coffee.
“He’s in the other room with Rose, who most likely heard the alarm and covered you with a gun. She’s a little edgy like that.”