Page 23 of Saint

“What do you mean?” asked Griffin, staring at Hiro, Luke, and Eric. “Who is controlling this? What isthis?”

“We think that the woman pushing the DOD contract, Michelle Fryar, is behind all of this,” said Eric. “We think that she and her team found you and the others in Wyoming and chased you down. They lost you, but she has some serious knowledge of all of you.”

“Michelle,” repeated Griffin. “Michelle.”

“Do you remember her?” asked Marilisa.

“There was a nurse at the hospital in Baghdad named Michelle. She would come in almost every day to see me. I thought it was strange because she shouldn’t have been on shift like that every day. She was nice, but there was no connection to her at all.”

“Maybe that was part of the problem. Maybe she was supposed to have a connection to you and didn’t,” said Saint.

“I don’t know.” Griffin shook his head in confusion.

“Eric, Griffin said that he had a nightmare last night about the laboratory. I didn’t have one. Nothing. It was the first time since I’ve been here that the nightmares were gone. I think he’s taking on my nightmares.”

“No,” said Griffin, shaking his head. “I think the nightmares were mine all along. I think it’s what drew us here. We were all feeling something—strange connections of some sort. Spook could sense that something was blocking out sounds in this area and knew it was different. The others could feel it too.”

“Griffin, would you be willing to speak with Bree and the team? Maybe let them put you under to see if we can find out what they’ve done to all of you?”

“I’m willing to do anything if it will help all of us. If they exposed us just to see how our bodies and minds would react, it doesn’t seem beyond comprehension that they would have taken sperm, eggs, tissue samples, anything just to get to what they really want.”

Eric nodded at him, leading him toward their therapy team. He explained what was happening with Griffin and Marilisa, and the women all looked at him and frowned. Immediately, Ashley and Bree stood with him, guiding him to the small office they kept in the on-property offices. It allowed them to see their own without interference from outside clients.

“I’m trying to comprehend why anyone would want to do this,” said Marilisa.

“To create a race of superior humans,” said Saint. “We’ve seen it before. Whether through drugs, training, or mind games. Someone is always attempting to create superior beings that could rule the world. It never works, and yet they continue to try, destroying lives as they go.”

“This contract could kill all of us,” said Marilisa. “If we get this device to work, they could find anyone who was ever exposed to whatever is inside all of us. When they inject or implant it into others, there would be no escape. It’s a horrible, hideous thought.”

Adam walked up to them with Flip and his wife, Nat. He’d been working with Suzette, Gabi, and Riley all day in the lab and was exhausted and ready to eat.

“I’m curious about something,” said Marilisa. “Hi, Flip, Nat”

“Hey. How is everyone?” asked Nat with a smile.

“We’re good. I was just curious. You guys have a son, right?”

“We do, and Kane and Aislinn have a daughter. We’re the only couples who have ever had children. We’re not sure why. It wasn’t for lack of trying,” smirked Flip.

“Not to sound crass, but were the children born with gifts?” asked Marilisa.

“No. In fact, we were all relieved that they were born perfectly normal, healthy babies,” he said.

“Well, Fan, that’s our son,” said Nat, looking around the grove and pointing to the rather large young man. “I wouldn’t say he was normal. He was almost fifteen pounds when he was born. My fingers were setting off fires in the delivery room trying to kill Flip.”

The others all laughed, nodding at her.

“You’re awfully small to give birth to a baby that big,” smirked Saint.

“Yes. I know,” she frowned. “That’s why we only had one.”

“That’s not entirely true,” said Flip, chuckling. “We tried for more but couldn’t seem to have any. We were lucky.”

“How old is he?” asked Marilisa.

“He’s twenty-one now. We’ve had his IQ tested, and although it’s on the higher side, it’s not genius level. He doesn’t possess great speed, abilities to manipulate energy, water, fire, anything like that. Adam tested him for the pink dust and found nothing. Same is true for Esme, Kane and Aislinn’s daughter.”

“So, it can’t be genetically transferred,” said Marilisa. “That means she needs them there, in a lab, in order to inseminate them. She needs to remove the sperm, match it to an egg, and hope for the best. If she were to inject the radiation particles or whatever this is into the children because of their parents, it might give a greater chance of enhancing any likelihood of them having abilities.”

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