Edge of Inhuman by Atlas Blaine

Author:Atlas Blaine [Blaine, Atlas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Publisher: Raven & Quill Publishing
Published: 2023-10-26T16:00:00+00:00

twenty three

I phone Mason Dare immediately. Either he’s colluding with Brenner, or he was the one who gave me her name.

“Hello?” he answers uncertainly. At this hour I hadn’t actually been expecting him to pick up.

“Care to explain your relationship to Rosalie Brenner?”

“Kai?”

“Yes.”

I hear him sigh. His usual energy and eccentricity have evaporated. “I suppose I should have expected you to find out it was me who sent those messages.”

“Why didn’t you want me to know?” I demand. I’m probably being more interrogative than is necessary, but I have to find out what the hell I’ve gotten into.

“Well…” he says slowly. “I needed to keep myself out of it. If Holbrook ever found out I was suspicious of what Brenner is up to…”

Holbrook. Why is it always him?

“What? He has something to do with all of this?”

“I think so. I think he’s working with Dr. Brenner. I don’t know what kind of role, but I can’t imagine it’s good. And if he finds out what I know, it puts my family at risk.”

“Your family?”

“My son and his mother. They live in South America, and Holbrook is one of the few people that knows they exist. I want to ensure that they remain hidden.”

“Hidden from what?”

“Any person or entity who might see them as threats, as weapons, or as subjects.”

I’m so lost. “Can you back up? I didn’t even know you had a son. Why would he be a threat?”

“He’s twenty-two or so now. His mother, Lara, didn’t tell me about him until he was six, and by that time I was married to someone else. Evidently Lara left me because she found out she was pregnant.”

It’s obvious by his voice that he’s not over what happened, so I feel like I could be venturing into something that should be private. But still, I have to ask. “Why?”

“She…” He pauses to take a breath, and I imagine him squeezing his eyes shut for a moment. “It was around that time that the GUARD started asking me to come work for them, and she became worried that my involvement would put her—and, as I found out, our son—in danger. She thought that the GUARD would try to use them, and that wasn’t the life she wanted. Why she didn’t just tell me about him… God, I would’ve gone away with her. But working for the GUARD was huge for me, and she knew that. She didn’t want to take that away from me, so she left. I was always a bit of a handful anyway, especially with the fame. Lara would have never been able to live a quiet, protected life with our child, so I can’t blame her for what she did.”

“But who was she? Why would the GUARD be so interested?”

“It’s… it’s really hard to explain. I promise I will soon. But not now.”

I sigh exasperatedly, but Dare seems firm on this. “Okay. Fine. So you’re worried about Holbrook’s power to hurt your family.”

“Yes. I wouldn’t put it past him to take revenge on my child.

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