Page 72 of Lust
“I know where a Faithful hideout is. There’s a single replicate tank on display.” She turned to Joe. “Will that be sufficient evidence?”
His expression turned thoughtful. “It will depend if we can link it to the actual Syndicate organization somehow. If not, at least it’s proof of unlawful activity bysomeone.” He leveled his gaze on Pride. “Genetic modification and cloning of humans are illegal. It might give us probable cause to open an official investigation.”
“Great,” Envy said, looking more excited than he should. “Let’s suit up.”
Pride slapped him on the chest. “Tonight. For now, we prepare.”
Today, tonight, it didn’t matter. Despair was ready with the next phase of her plan. She just needed as many of them as she could out of the building.
23
Joe had wantedto join the Deadly Seven and their raid of the Faithful hideout, but first had some loose ends to tie up at the precinct. He had a serial killer to catch, and he had to figure out a way to get his director to drop the investigation against Liza and her family. The best way he could think of was to steer him in another direction, toward the Syndicate.
Before he’d left Liza this morning, he’d spoken briefly with Sloan. As their resident computer guru, she had records of interactions and evidence they’d gleaned from Syndicate sites. The ringleader, Julius Allcott, worked out of a tall building in the city’s Quadrant, but it was filled with unassuming business corporations, and was seemingly innocent. They could be fake companies, but Sloan couldn’t find evidence of fraud. For all intents and purposes, the offices were real. So it wasn’t the Syndicate base of operations. Not the scientific base, anyway.
Joe’s laptop had pinged continuously during the day with more information from Sloan. He knew they kept their cards close to their chest, but the documents she sent were incredible, and nothing he’d be able to obtain without many months of hard work. Some files contained data from the black site the Seven had infiltrated. It showed experiments of all sorts going on, but none of them were the replicate program. He filed them away for a time he could get tech forensics onto it.
Joe looked up when a knock came at his office door.
“Come in.” The door opened and gestured for Geoff to enter. “What did you find?”
Geoff ambled in and dropped a file on Joe’s desk, then opened it to show a rap sheet with a mug shot of the man who’d pressed charges against Liza.
“You didn’t get this from me,” Geoff said.
Joe studied the sheet.
Gareth Smith. He looked like a junkie. Hollow eyes, bad skin, long face with scarring on one side.
Geoff took a seat and started talking. “Two DUIs, a bunch of misdemeanors, one aggravated assault, which was later withdrawn, and a slew of unpaid parking tickets.”
“Who withdrew the assault charge?”
“His father. Seems like Smith comes from a long line of Meat Royalty.”
“As in cattle and a slaughterhouse?”
“Yep. Except, he was disowned after that last assault. From what I gather, Gareth’s shenanigans cost his father a meatpacking plant. Had to shut the whole thing down and declare bankruptcy to cover his son’s debts.”
Joe whistled through his teeth. “This is the guy who pressed charges against Liza?”
It wouldn’t stick.
“He came in with pictures taken at a hospital and claims a witness can verify his assault.” Geoff leaned forward and flipped the case files to the next page, pausing at the picture of a heavily beaten face. You could hardly reconcile it with the man in the mug shot.
“Shit,” he murmured.
“You think Liza did it?” Geoff asked. “I mean, I don’t know her from a bar of soap, but you do.”
Joe studied the picture. He knew what Liza had been thinking—not much at all. She’d said she blacked out. This was brutal, in his face, evidence of Liza’s deadly potential. The same went for her entire family. And this assault had nothing to do with their superpowers. If the Syndicate had their way, or if one of the Deadly Seven lost their marbles, then this violence was only a taste of what was to come.
A moment of doubt hit him. Should he be supporting this vigilante family, or making sure they were carefully quarantined and safely secured away until a failsafe could be put in place? The latter had been his original instinct, but after the night he’d spent with Liza, he knew it wouldn’t be possible. They were too strong, too clever, and if he supported the capture and charging of the Lazarus family, they would be spirited away to some undisclosed location, put under a microscope, tested, poked, and prodded. He couldn’t do that to Liza, especially since she was born in that environment. It would break her.
And he’d never see her again.
Once the notion sank in, a profound protective instinct surged. He would do anything to keep Liza safe, even if that meant becoming the thing he hunted. He would break the law.
“We’ll let the investigation decide that,” he said to Geoff. “In the meantime, this man is a person of interest in the Ripper killings.”
