Last Strike by Regan Black Read Free Book Online Page A

table.
    “That depends on how quickly you tell me about your deal with Chameleon.”
    “Why are you, in particular, so loyal to a program that’s used you in such terrible ways?”
    He shrugged one beefy shoulder. “Isn’t loyalty part of the character trait upgrade?”
    “Stop it,” she chided. “Contrary to the rumors, I can see you’re completely aware of how they use you.”
    “Messenger uses me,” he said without an ounce of remorse. “No one else.”
    She wasn’t as convinced. Messenger got funding from somewhere, executed orders delivered from another source. How curious that Noah felt his loyalty was to the man, not the program. “However you phrase it, you’re loyal. Why?”
    “Messenger saved me from you and your ruthless testing.”
    She felt the heat of shame and embarrassment rising in her cheeks. There weren’t any excuses or explanations she could give. “I tried to get you out of the program once.”
    “I’m aware. There were plenty of days I wished you’d succeeded.”
    He couldn’t mean he preferred the idea of a life sentence in an institution. Maybe his mind remained as broken as it had been at the beginning. “Well my attempt to get you out was before I knew exactly what happened to the patients we scrubbed.”
    “Scrubbed. A clean word for what amounts to euthanizing a sick animal.”
    “What?” He couldn’t be serious. Institutionalizing the washouts was bad enough. No one could approve simply killing subjects that didn’t measure up.
    “Drop the innocent act, Doc- Daria. I might not have known my name or history, but I’ve always known people weren’t meant to be lab rats.” He stood tall, that silent stride carrying him to the dirty windows at the far end of the upper level.
    She followed him, even her bare feet making a noticeable noise. “You were never a lab rat to me, Noah. You were a person I wanted to heal.”
    “Heal?” He turned and the temper and pain knocked her back as effectively as a physical blow. “You promised me honesty. I know damn well you voted to terminate me,” he shouted without raising his voice.
    “That’s not true!” She didn’t have the same vocal control. Between the volume and the emotion, she couldn’t get the words out quickly enough. “Never. I fought to keep you in the program.” To keep him with her, when she realized what they intended for him.
    He grabbed her elbows, gave her a little shake. “Messenger showed me the file once...”
    She waited for him to finish. He didn’t. He was too busy searching her face for a sign of dishonesty. He wouldn’t find one. She hadn’t been this honest with anyone in years. “I voted to terminate your field trials ,” she said. “Your eyes were too sensitive in the daytime exercises.”
    “So scrubbing me, having me put down like a rabid dog was supposed to be my salvation?”
    “No!” She closed her eyes as the memories battered her. “I tried to get you away from that bastard before he turned you into a blind and voiceless killer. It was the last time I saw you.” They’d transferred her to a lab where she couldn’t interact with the subjects. Where she tested her various formulas on nameless cell samples and couldn’t get attached to the people they represented.
    He released her. “Until today?”
    She nodded. “I heard about your program successes.”
    He turned his back on her again, as if he couldn’t tolerate the sight of her. “Then you know I’ve met and killed a few of yours.”
    Her heart broke for all the ways the right research had twisted into something so wrong. For Noah and the others UI managed to recruit into the merciless system.
    Recruitment was something that persistently troubled her. For years, as she tailored serums to samples, she’d been trying to understand what made so many men and women willingly sign over their lives.
    “Noah.”
    “Stop aiming that name at me.”
    She would do no such thing. He deserved his name and the past before UI