"G.o.d, this is incredible," Isabelle stared at the two men, confusion creasing her face.
"Claire and Liza have always behaved above reproach. They have never done anything to shame either of you, and this is the only way you can treat them now that they aren"t fol- lowing your orders?"
"Isabelle, that isn"t true," Audi argued.
Liza noticed his voice was even sincere. "This has nothing to do with the mistakes you girls are making in your current lovers-"
"Oh, excuse me!" Isabelle demanded then.
"Our mistakes in our lovers? You can go to h.e.l.l! As for you, Uncle Ray, you can jump and accuse Claire of doing drugs because she had the nerve to argue with you? And you can"t go out of your way to warn your daugh- ter not to arrive at the office after you"ve canceled her clearance? I"m sorry, Audi, but that"s exactly what it sounds like."
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"Isabelle." It was Terran who stepped in at that point. "There are things you don"t un- derstand, sweetheart."
"They why not explain it, Dad?" Chelsea rose slowly from her seat as well. "Because it"s obvious the two of them"-she nodded toward Liza"s and Claire"s fathers-"aren"t going to explain a d.a.m.ned thing."
Terran grimaced, his hand lifting to rub at the back of his neck as he glanced at the oth- er two men, his expression uncertain. Fin- ally, he gave a brief shake of his head as his expression turned resigned.
"I"m out of here," Chelsea bit out, the fact that she was at the end of her patience more than obvious. "I"ve had it to my back teeth with the half-truths and manipulations going on here." She turned to Liza. "When our par- ents decide to be honest with us and tell us what the h.e.l.l is going on, I hope someone lets me know." She stalked from the room, the door slamming closed behind her.
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"Is she safe?" Liza asked Stygian softly as her friend slammed out of the room.
"She"s safe." The growl in his voice sent a chill racing up her spine.
She didn"t dare glance back at his expres- sion, not while she was watching the trepida- tion in her father"s eyes as he glanced behind her.
"Gentlemen." Stygian stepped forward then. "Leave."
The order was given in such a primal, furi- ous tone of voice that Liza flinched.
Liza"s father glowered back at him. "This meeting isn"t over."
"It"s over." As he spoke, the door opened and Flint entered with Dog, Mutt, Mongrel and Loki. Behind them walked in Jonas Wyatt.
"What"s going on here?" Liza asked Stygi- an, her voice low.
"This room is tied into Breed security."
Lowering his head, he answered her in a tone 678/862.
that she doubted anyone but she could hear.
"Jonas has been watching."
"Did you bug my laptop, Stygian?" While she had his attention, had him close enough to ask where no one else could hear, she took the opportunity.
"I would never betray my mate." The for- bidding tone of his voice was almost enough to make her nervous.
It was a warning-she didn"t dare question him further, and she didn"t dare disbelieve him.
The animal he was so related to was clear in his voice, the dominance and arrogant strength shadowing it.
No, he hadn"t betrayed her, she could bet her life on it.
CHAPTER 20.
Liza watched with a frown as Jonas and her father stood, staring each other down.
Both men were incredibly strong-willed, each with an innate arrogance that no doubt grated on the other.
They were two men who would never get along. They would rarely see eye to eye.
And one was about as stubborn as the other.
Jonas wouldn"t leave Window Rock until he had answers, one way or the other.
If her father knew those answers involved his daughter, then h.e.l.l would freeze over be- fore he"d tell Jonas a d.a.m.ned thing.
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Unfortunately, in the meantime, a little girl was suffering and she and Claire were on a roller-coaster ride they couldn"t seem to stop.
"I believe, Mr. Johnson, you were asked to leave." Stygian stepped around her, placing his body in a protective position in front of her.
"This is ridiculous, Stygian," she muttered.
Turning his head and pinning her with his gaze, his lips formed the words, "Trust me."
She sighed. She trusted him fine, it would just be nice to know what the h.e.l.l was going on, and to make sense of her father"s and Ray Martinez"s att.i.tudes.
"Liza, you know I would never hurt you,"
her father stated as she watched him silently.
No, he would never hurt her physically, but emotionally, she was learning, was an- other thing.
"Dad, that"s exactly what you"ve done."
Tears thickened her voice, humiliating her, 681/862.
making her feel like the child he obviously believed she was.
"Your feelings are hurt, but I"d much prefer your feelings or your pride singed versus the alternative," he stated cryptically.
"And that alternative would be?" It was Jo- nas who spoke up as her father, Ray and Ter- ran moved to leave the room.
Audi stopped, his expression tightening, gray eyes flashing in anger. "The situation you"ve provoked, Director Wyatt. You"re pla- cing her life in danger," he bit out, unable to hide the anger in his voice. "You and your refusal to allow the past to die."
"Audi, stop," Ray snapped, his voice low.
"My refusal to allow my child to die?" Jo- nas snapped back, the liquid mercury of his gaze shifting dangerously. "We asked for your help when we arrived, yours and Pres- ident Martinez"s. You refused. I will not leave here until I have the answers I came to find."
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"We don"t have what you want," her father snarled, surprising her with the frustrated fury in his voice.
"And you think your training can actually dissipate the lie you f.u.c.king stink of every time you"re questioned on this." Jonas was suddenly on him, his voice raised, all but nose to nose, fiery anger and a dangerous warning echoing in his tone. "Let me tell you who you are dealing with, Mr. Johnson. You are dealing with a Breed whose senses are far superior to those that obviously trained you to lie to a Breed."
Panic tightened through her.
Why?
Liza could feel the fear rising in the depths of her soul, a sense of such horrible panic that the premonition seemed apocalyptic.
"Tell me, Mr. Johnson, exactly what are you hiding?"
She wanted to scream.
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Liza had to fight to hold back a cry of deni- al, a furious demand that Jonas stop, that he leave, that her father hold his secrets as he had always done.
Her heart was racing in her chest, the blood thundering through her veins with such force that she would be amazed if everyone in the room couldn"t hear it.
"Easy." Stygian"s voice was so soft, so low, she wondered for a moment if she heard it.
"Your secrets are safe."
She heard him. Everyone"s attention was on Jonas and her father, so no one saw him lower his head or heard the words he whispered at her ear.
"Audi has kept your secrets this long, Jo- nas won"t draw them from him. I give you my word." Once again, so low, so quiet, it reached her ears only.
Her heart rate eased.
Stygian wouldn"t lie to her. He wouldn"t give her his word unless he was certain.
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"I"m keeping many secrets from you, Dir- ector Wyatt," her father stated sarcastically.
"Many. But I a.s.sure you, if I could give you any information, any clue in your efforts to save your daughter, then I would do so."
The look of pain that flashed across Jo- nas"s face was so overwhelming, so deep, that Liza would have given anything in that moment to help him.
"I have a daughter," Audi said as Jonas moved back slowly. "And I know the pain you"re going through. If I could help your child, you wouldn"t even have to ask."
"You"ve been asked to leave," Jonas"s voice was grating now. "Please do so."
Stepping back, he watched the three men.
His expression was stone cold, but his eyes raged with agony.
Watching as her father, Claire"s and Isa- belle"s left the room, Liza then turned her attention to Jonas.
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His head lowered as he slowly shook it and said softly, "He said if he could give me what I needed, not that he didn"t have it." He turned his gaze to her. "He would willingly burn in the fires of h.e.l.l for you, wouldn"t he?"
Her father would never sacrifice her for Jonas"s daughter. That knowledge swirled around them, struck at her heart and caused a single tear to slip free of her eyes.
"Dad forgot to take my laptop," she said, unable to bear the pain in his eyes or the fear she couldn"t fight any longer. "If you can by-pa.s.s the new security Dad set up on the data- base with it, then you"re welcome to it. Per- haps it will be easier with the laptop itself rather than just tapping into it." The last she said with painful mockery as she picked up the briefcase and handed it to him. "While you"re in there, if you could ignore the journ-al file, I"d appreciate it. I tend to collect pa.s.swords, though no one is really aware of the 686/862.
habit." She stopped and then stared at Jonas as the panic rose inside her again. "No one is aware of it but one of the chiefs of the Six who suggested I do so."
"Pa.s.swords?" His voice was thicker, the harsh sound brutal in its intensity as he ac- cepted the laptop.
"Yeah. Pa.s.swords." She refused to feel guilt. She was terrified of the choices she was making, but she wasn"t going to be frightened.
This had gone too far. If there was nothing to hide, then what she was doing would hurt no one. "Like my father"s security key to ac- cess the database. I want your word it will be used for nothing else, Jonas, and you"ll destroy the file once you"re finished."
"I swear to you that no matter what is found, the only information I"ll use is any that will help my daughter, or those who were involved in the Brandenmore experiments."
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There was a warning in his eyes. If she was one of those girls, he wouldn"t walk away from it.
She consoled herself with the fact that the only access codes she had ever "collected"
were those that weren"t harmful: the Genetic Database codes. Her parents" personal Inter- net codes and those into their home computers.
Ray"s home Internet access code was there, but only because Liza and Claire often worked at his house when Claire spent the weekend there. Even the code to her father"s laptop, the one he used to keep information needed for the security of the Nation, was in there. She prayed Jonas was as true to his word as she had always heard he was.
If she was who she hoped she was, then there was no harm to be done.
No information regarding the Navajo Breed Underground Network could be on the networks or computers that would be 688/862.
compromised. If it was, then perhaps she should have never been told that such in- formation was forbidden to be written down, or placed on a computer.
Relinquishing the laptop to him, she pushed aside the panic and the fear of what would be found. She couldn"t live with her- self if she ever learned she could have saved Amber Wyatt"s life.