Page 99 of Jump or Fall
“We have his nephew,” Silva said.
Millon covered his mouth to stifle a laugh. “You have Jasper? Oh, this is a great day. Maybe you don’t need to trade, though. Like Mara, she lives in an apartment nearby.”
Knowing that Nella had been so close all along was jarring, but it shouldn’t have surprised her. Dawson liked to keep his possessions close.
Kimmie’s mouth gaped open. “Let’s go get her then!”
He tilted his head. “He may have moved her back in—what with the current situation. We should go about this quietly.”
“Take me there,” she demanded.
“I’ll take you, but I want Silva to get to work on Mara’s eye. Hacker-man, I can’t exactly order you around, but we may need your skillset.”
Gordon shook his head. “I’m not leaving Mara’s side.”
“Very well.” Millon stood and headed for the door. “Rogue Enforcer, this way.”
Kimmie muttered a curse and followed him out.
Silva guided Mara into the surgical room, methodically prepping the equipment. The sterile scent of antiseptic filled the air as she studied the bionic eye in greater detail, turning the box over in her hands.
“What kind of improvements can be applied to these?” she asked, pulling it close to her eye for a better look.
Silva arched a brow, his glasses slipping down his nose. “Is now really the time for a project?”
Gordon answered, “It’s the perfect time.”
They went down to the Armory where Mara selected a God’s Eye helmet, then carefully extracted the mechanical eye.
With delicate precision, she opened the casing of both the helmet’s eye and the bionic implant, laying them side by side under the bright lights.
Silva leaned in and adjusted his glasses. “Does this have a synth-mind in it?”
“And thermal vision,” she confirmed, observing the intricate circuitrywithin.
He let out a low whistle. “All right, tell us what to do.”
They worked quickly, modifying the bionic eye with the enhancements. With her depth perception impaired, she directed them through the process. Every connection, every adjustment had to be precise—there was no room for error.
Back in the surgical room, she hesitated. The thought of enduring another round of SynThera made her stomach twist. The relentless burning and itching had been unbearable at times, forcing her to pause whatever she was doing just to get through it.
Gordon stood beside her as she lay back on the bed, his warm hand enveloping hers.
The last thing she felt was his reassuring grip before the sedative dragged her into the void.
Chapter 33
Mara - Nine Years Earlier
It was a Saturday, and Mara was desperate for fresh air. She hadn’t crossed paths with Karena yet and wanted to keep it that way.
She despised Karena almost as much as she hated Dawson.
A year had passed, and still, Karena’s hatred only seemed to deepen, festering with each day. Mara had earned a little more freedom and could go a few places without Max. But even that small taste of independence was spoiled by that jealous bitch.
Half the time, Karena pretended she didn’t exist. The other half, she was throwing insults or attempting some kind of sabotage.
Just the day before, Mara had been given a new stripe because Karena had gone into her closet and ripped one of Dawson’s shirts. The week before that, she’d slipped a rotten pineapple under her bed.
