The Valkyrie Project by Nels Wadycki Read Free Book Online Page B

the right words—"I don't really talk to many people outside the Project."
    "So, what, you guys just go around patting yourselves on your insular backs?"
    The amusement was gone. That was a flat-out insult. Well, maybe not, but close enough that Ana felt her stomach coil like a snake, ready to strike. The anger reached from there almost far enough to stir her hand to slap him. The nerves tingled in her hand, but she held it in check.
    "We're reviewed on a regular basis by the head of the Project and all of our reports are available to the Board. If we were a bunch of inbred suck-ups who weren't doing the right thing, someone would have called us out by now. The government stopped blindly throwing money at anything remotely off-book long before you and I were even born."
    Jrue reacted like the medicine ball had been a stun grenade and had just exploded in his hands. Ana realized she should have taken another moment to consider his words instead of rushing to misinterpret his perception of her and the project that had taken the place of her family. Especially since he had no way of knowing the parts of her life and personality she'd had to bend and reshape in order to even make it to this point. So she began to backpedal.
    "I'm sorry. Like I said, I don't really talk to anyone except, y'know, my co-workers." Not enough, but it softened the blow somewhat.
    "Don't take it personal, Ana. People talk behind your back. If they can't say it to your face, it's 'cause they're scared or jealous. Probably both."
    "Thanks," she said, then looked at her feet. She didn't usually —okay, ever—shy away from conversations, or confrontations, or whatever, but she'd already embarrassed herself pretty thoroughly when all she'd wanted to do was come by and see how he was doing with his recovery.
    Then a strong, gentle finger guided her chin up until her eyes were drawn as if by a tractor beam into alignment with his. She bit slightly, unconsciously, at her lower lip.
    It was at that moment of a budding but precarious intimacy that her comm chose to crash between them with a sonic boom. She jolted with the noise; Jrue shook himself free of the momentary reverie.
    "Shit. I got to run. Keep up with your recovery. I'll see if I can get you flying for me some time." She said it with a tone of professional courtesy, but she wanted desperately for him to misinterpret it as badly as she'd done with his comment.
    "I'll keep my comm on."
     
    --
     
    The temperature didn't change as she entered the room, but Ana definitely knew she was walking into a firestorm. She managed to shut the door against a backdraft and faced a good-looking silver-haired gentleman with gently tanned olive skin. In addition to the skin tone, the Senator's eyes were wide and dark, all too similar to those of her brother. That had to be why his son looked like her lost sibling. A little bit of hope surged within Ana but was quickly consumed by the conflagration of rage swirling around the Senator.
    "I thought this project was supposed to help people!"
    "It does," Marisol said, but the words barely made it over his shoulder.
    The man —the father of the kidnapped child, Ana presumed—whirled to face Marisol. "Well, it's not doing a very fucking good job finding my son."
    Spittle flew across the room, thrown as if from a bio-grenade, a poisonous gas looking for its next victim. Pointless anger reddened the senator's face. Ana's backbone stiffened to a level close to where Malcolm's already appeared to be. Marisol and Justin were significantly more relaxed. Justin she could understand, he didn't seem to be the target of the invective attacks. Marisol had skin lined with a titanium alloy. Ana could practically see the laser beams from the senator's eyes bouncing off of that metal -infused skin.
    Luckily for the three Valkyries, Malcolm wanted to remain in charge.
    "Mr. Senator, I can assure you that we are doing everything possible."
    "Wow. How old is that line? I thought we gave