Page 27 of Brax

“We could help her,” said Cruz.

“Honey, we might be able to, but if she’s the person who’s been trying to get to Stephanie, that’s not something the team is going to like,” said Riley.

“But maybe she wasn’t trying to kill her. Maybe she just wanted to replenish her own body,” he said compassionately.

“I love where you’re going with this,” said Gabi, “but we have to be damn sure we know what we’re doing. I need anyone and everyone who can read these files and understand them to focus on this. Stephanie is not out of the woods yet as long as this woman is out there trying to get to her.”

They heard a shuffling behind them and turned to see Brax and Stephanie standing in the doorway.

“She wanted to know what was going on,” he said, shrugging.

“I could help her,” whispered Stephanie. “I mean, if what you say is true, if it’s correct, my body could help hers.”

“Maybe,” nodded Wilson, “but it also might damage your own. We won’t know any of that until we figure out what he did to her to get the clones.”

“Plural? There’s more than me?” she asked.

“We kind of always knew that, but yes, there appears to have been more than just you,” said Gabi. “But it doesn’t appear that they are alive. They’ve searched for them and never found them.”

“Then I’m her only hope,” said Stephanie quietly.

“Honey,” started Riley, shaking her head.

“I know what you’re going to say. It’s a risk. She’s dangerous. I could hurt myself. I get it. But that poor woman has suffered immeasurably because of that madman. I will never again complain about this body I was gifted. I want to help her.”

“Well, we have to find her first,” said Wilson. “She destroyed that complex in Houston and disappeared, which is quite a feat considering how she looks.”

“You forget that she’s also a genius,” said Brax. “She thinks like all of our geniuses do. We need for them to help us figure out where she would go.”

“Well, it’s obvious that she has some idea of where Stephanie is located, which means she may come back to this area,” said Doc. “We could put an ad for a scientist to do genetic research.”

“Not a bad idea,” said Suzette. “It would have to be very specific, and we’d need to have a facility away from the property. That will take us some time.”

“I’ll talk to Cam and Luke and see if we can get this moving,” said Doc, moving toward the door. “If we can use an empty warehouse, we have enough manpower to get the equipment in and set up for her to see if we can draw her in for an interview.”

“Man,” said Cruz, shaking his head, “it makes me wonder how that poor woman has done interviews in the past or anything that required face-to-face meetings.”

“That’s my point,” said Stephanie. “She didn’t deserve what happened to her. She was an unwilling participant just like the rest of us.”

“Honey, we get it,” said Wilson, “but that doesn’t mean we’re going to risk your life for her. We will try to help her, though, if we can.”

“That’s all I can ask,” said Stephanie. “She’s suffered enough. How old is she?”

“Umm,” said Suzette, searching the file. “It looks like she’s fifty-four, almost fifty-five.”

“So, she’s more than twenty-five years older than I am. That means that they may have extracted everything from her and released her from the school.”

“Or the Depot,” said Brax. “We need to see if we can show her photo to the others. Is there a way to alter the photo to what she may have looked like as a young girl?”

“Sure. We can do that,” nodded AJ. “It’s a best guess, but it might be close enough if I can find all of her original statistics like height, weight, eye color, that sort of thing.”

“Eye color? Why would that change?” asked Brax.

“We’re not sure, but she has two different color eyes. That could be how she was born or could be an effect of what they did to her,” said Riley. AJ nodded at the others in the room, and Stephanie smiled at him, giving a soft nod.

“Let’s find out.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

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