Cloud Invasion by Connie Suttle Read Free Book Online

is questionable."
    "I believe Hal's clone may have advised her on this," Shaw jerked his head at the photographs on my tablet. "Therefore, he may have had a good guess as to where they'd be taken. I wonder if Madam President considered that."
    "I think the CIA Director and the Joint Chiefs are so smug in their perceived invincibility, they may have advised her against moving these. Obviously, they thought them well-contained."
    They had. Steel doors more than a foot thick, which had been ripped from their hinges, attested to that. "They're either on their own and can cause damage that way, or they're in the hands of the enemy, and we've all seen what he's capable of doing," Shaw said.
    * * *
    Corinne
    "Cabbage, we're here." Rafe squeezed my hand to wake me.
    "What? Oh." I'd been far away in my dreams and wasn't particularly pleased about waking in the extremely hot state of Nevada.
    I blinked sleepily as I followed Rafe and the others off the plane, while our luggage was taken off the aircraft and loaded into three waiting SUVs.
    "Cori, you look half asleep," James came to stand beside me while Auggie and Leo decided who was riding with whom. Rafe, Opal and I ended up with Auggie. Nick and Maye went with Leo; Jeff rode with James, Richard Farrell and Marcus.
    I'd seen Marcus eyeing Opal-she was beautiful; an American Indian with long, black hair and dark eyes. I caught her eyeing him a couple of times, too, and I wouldn't want to be Marcus if he attempted to touch her without permission.
    Just the thought of it made me smile.
    "What?" she turned a lovely smile on me.
    "Oh, just thinking about Marcus and how much trouble he might be in if he doesn't keep his hands to himself," I said.
    That made her laugh. "You're right," she said. I knew without a doubt that Opal had no yearnings toward Marcus, and hoped he didn't learn the hard way just how dangerous she could be.
    "We don't have much information on you," she said. "I saw dossiers on everyone else in the Program, with permission from the President." I could almost hear Auggie and Rafe's ears perking up at Opal's question. "The President said she wouldn't give your information to anyone-that you could tell us or not."
    "I almost died in the terrorist attack on the Louvre," I shrugged. "The drug kept me alive."
    "You were there?" Her dark eyes widened at the idea that someone actually survived.
    "It's a long story," I said. "Do we have water in the car, Auggie?" He'd let Rafe drive and was sitting up front with him.
    "Some in the cargo area-they sent a cooler," Auggie said.
    "Okay." Unbuckling my seat belt, I reached over the seat to open the cooler. The minute I put my hand on one of the bottles I knew. Don't drink any of the water , I sent to everyone in our party. It's laced with ricin , I added.
    Auggie's cell phone rang immediately. "James drank some of the water," Jeff reported.
    "Pull over. Honey, pull over," I was terrified in an instant.
    Dr. Farrell was already using the ability he had to heal James when we pulled over to the side of the road. I jumped from the SUV and ran back to James' vehicle. Richard's hands were on James' chest while he sent power coursing through James' body to reverse the poison's effects.
    I placed my hands on James' chest, too, only it was my goal to neutralize the poison. Richard felt my presence and turned to blink at me, astonished by what I was doing. He could feel it in his hands-that the poison was changing composition to something that wouldn't harm anyone.
    "Cori? Will I be okay?" James' voice wobbled when my work was done and I removed my hands.
    "Honey, you are one hundred percent okay now," I said. "You wait till I find whoever put that shit in your water, though. They have a big surprise coming, and it won't be a good one, either."
    "I'm with her," Richard pulled away and nodded in my direction. "Colonel Hunter, how long is our drive from here?" He turned to Auggie.
    "It's less than an hour away," Auggie said, blinking in the