“You knew about that?”
Max tips his head to the side.
Tech guys and their trust issues. “Yeah. Do you know what it’s about?”
“No. Shock covered his tracks, but I can see when he went off book. What is this little project that has you acting like you’re about to be jumped by men with guns and possibly a badge?”
“You don’t want to know.”
“As soon as someone says that to me, I have to know.”
Same. Not that I’m going to admit that to him. “How is this then; you don’t want to know.”
“Probably not. But if you want the tech, you’re going to tell me anyway.”
“It could endanger your family.”
“You’re risking Dahlia?” Max steps back, bumping into a metal table that’s bolted to the ground.
“No. I’ll break it off before it comes to that.”
Max reaches up and grabs a curl tugging on it. “There must be bodies in the ground all ready for you to react this way. Too many to ignore?”
“I could ignore the ones in the ground except there might be more. And one of them was almost a friend of mine.”
“They safe?”
“For now.”
“You going to make them disappear for a while?”
“That might not be enough.”
His mouth drops open. “Forever?”
“That was discussed and is a strong possibility right now.” One I hate, but a new life is better than death.
“Did Shock know about this when he started using my tech?”
“No. He stumbled upon it. Then did a little digging.”
“What are we talking about, another organized group like you already are making friends with, a wacko, or is this some sort of government thing?” Max leans against the edge of the table.
“We don’t know. My gut is shouting it’s the government and to run hard and fast. But we don’t know enough. Shock needs to do some digging on the bodies we already have and the ones that went missing before we make any decisions. And to do that in a timely manner—”
“—he needs my tech.” Max stands up and walks around the room. “How many bodies in the ground?”
“Dozens.”
He stops. “Have you found anything that ties them all together yet?”
“Yes. But it’s odd.”
“Could it be anything less? Well?”
“They’re all identical siblings, but they each have one genetic difference.”
“I’m in,” Max practically jumps in with both feet.