Page 16 of Sin

Okay, point made.

“What do you want me to say?” I rolled my eyes. “Nice to see you all again?”

Mare smirked before crunching down on a popcorn kernel. “Ooh, I think I like this one.”

“You just like him ‘cause he’s pretty,” Blade teased, hopping off the desk and sauntering over to Mare. In a brazen move, she stabbed a piece of popcorn out of Mare’s bowl with a thin blade.

In a move almost too fast to catch, Mare had Blade’s wrist caught in her grasp.

My breath snagged, knowing just how poorly this could end. While Blade was deadly with her, well, blades, Mare could end a fight with a single touch.

Mare cocked her head, smiling wickedly up at Blade. Blade held still as Mare brought the blade to her lips and bit off the popcorn. She released Blade while she chewed, watching her with an amused gaze.

Blade simply rolled her eyes and sat on the arm of the couch like nothing had happened.

Mare turned her attention back to me, and her grin grew feral. She stood from the couch, thrusting her bowl into Blade’s arms, and crossed the room like she owned the place. When she stood nearly toe to toe with me, letting me see every strand of chin-length, blue hair, she held out a hand. Her expression was once again filled with challenge because we both knew what letting her touch me could do. It could expose all of my deepest fears to someone who could exploit them with her power.

By accepting her hand, I would be vulnerable.

But by refusing her, I would be seen as a coward.

Holding her gaze, I grasped her hand, just hoping like hell that my mental shields were strong enough to keep her out, just in case she attempted anything.

Her smile widened, her hazel eyes bright with a modicum of respect.

The handshake lasted a mere second, but by the time she let go of my hand, my palms had started to sweat. I was sure she’d noticed, but she didn’t comment before slapping me on my shoulder and laughing. It sounded a bit unhinged, if I was being honest.

“Dude, your face,” she cried.

I scowled. “What about it?”

Shaking her head, she returned to the couch, stealing back her popcorn, which now looked noticeably emptier than before, and flopped down. “You looked scared shitless.”

“Che, I did not,” I argued, though, maybe I had. I’d felt scared shitless, that was for sure.

“Yeah, okay,” she scoffed, stuffing a handful of popcorn into her mouth.

“Enough,” London said, moving to stand before the largest screen on the wall to my right. He pulled up the digital files President Osborne had showed me last night in the infirmary.

Had it really just been last night?

“I know we’ve read over the files, but since this is the first time we’ve all been together since being assigned this case, I wanted to briefly review the information we have.” He pulled up Lucas’s image.

“As you all are aware, we know very little about Lucas’s past. From what we understand, Lucas is only going after those who worked in the labs. There were around about a dozen lab workers under Dr. Kelley employment, and so far, four have been found murdered. First, Dr. Phillip Kelley, then Taylor Knowles, Stanley Fite, and most recently, Trixie Bunnell. The other teams had been trying to locate the rest, but since news of their ex-colleague's deaths, the workers have all gone into hiding. President Osborne wants our focus to be centered on Lucas while a few other teams continue searching for where the lab workers might be hiding.”

If I heard a mentally unwell Super I’d used to hold captive was going on a murder spree after all those who tormented them, I’d have run away too.

“We’re not entirely sure how long the former UAS kept him locked up,” London continued, “nor do we know exactly what happened in the laboratories.”

I held up my hand. “Why don’t we know this?” I hadn’t thought to ask much about this last night with President Osborne.

London eyed me with amusement before he firmly schooled his features into neutrality. “Because Lucas’s life was scrubbed from all databases. It seems the UAS wanted any record of him—his birth certificate, social media, school records, hell, even his dental records—wiped from existence. In short, he’s a ghost.”

“How in the world did they manage that?” I asked, shocked. “That seems like a lot of work.”

“Exactly, it is a lot of work,” he agreed. “Which means they must have had a very good reason why. Anyone have any guesses?”

“Maybe he was a secret agent?” Jinx offered, ripping open a… Was that a chocolate bar?

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