“Who is Brett? And why is she combative?”

“She doesn’t want to cooperate with him.” He shook his head. “I don’t want to have that kind of trouble with you.”

“My sister is with someone named Brett? And he disciplines her? See why I’m so confused? I thought Whitney wanted certain pairs to have children together and he made certain they were attracted physically.” She took another drink of water, trying to slow down the inevitable-stall for time.

Luther pulled out his own medical kit and wiped the area around her hip with more antiseptic before applying a topical antibiotic. “We realized it isn’t necessary for the woman to be attracted to the man-only that the man wants her.”

Briony frowned. “That’s ridiculous. Why would she ever agree to have someone’s baby if she isn’t attracted?”

“She doesn’t have to agree. You don’t have to agree. We can force compliance. It isn’t easy if the woman is a fighter-but on the other hand, it’s a good thing, and we all recognize that. If the woman is willing to fight, and she’s tough enough to cut a disc out of her body, she’s definitely someone we want as the mother of our children.” He put gauze over the wound and taped it in place. “That should hold until we get you back to the lab.”

Briony bit back her opinion that he was crazy. “Will I be able to see my sister?”

“If you two want to see each other, you’ll have to do whatever is necessary.”

“You mean have sex with someone we don’t want to be with? Why doesn’t Whitney use in vitro rather than force a woman to be intimate with someone she’s doesn’t want?”

“Because when we have the soldiers we want, no one can say they were genetically engineered. They’ll be human and beyond any outcry or protest.”

“It’s rape,” Briony pointed out.

“Only if you make it rape,” Luther argued, his fingers settling around her wrist to pull her to her feet. “The woman has a choice. We always give her a choice. The easy way or the hard way. Don’t be like your sister.”

The fanaticism on his face sickened her. He believed every word he said. He didn’t think there was anything wrong with what he was proposing-forcing her to have sexual relations in order to produce a child of superhuman strength and abilities. It made no sense that they wouldn’t use in vitro to produce a child-there had to be other reasons.

She staggered against him as he pulled her from the tunnel into the night. That quick he was on her, whirling her around, slamming her up against the side of the entrance, pressing tight with one hand while he clamped down on her wrist with the other, exposing the knife. He pried it out of her fingers and sent the blade skittering along the ground.

“Do you really think I’m that stupid?” He slapped her face, hard enough to rock her, following it up by pushing her back against the wall again. “I’m already angry with you, so don’t piss me off.”

“Why?” The slap brought involuntary tears to her eyes. “What did I do besides try to get away? You would have tried too.” She tried to think, to keep from panicking. Jack was on the way. Just stall. There would be a moment, one moment when Luther wasn’t paying close attention, and she’d find a way to get away-or kill him.

He inhaled, pressing his face into her neck. “You stink of him. You slept with that killer. That’s all he is-all he knows. He’s no soldier. He doesn’t understand loyalty to the unit. He’s a killer and you’re carrying his baby. You’re going to a doctor before we get you to the lab, and you’re getting rid of it. You’ll tell them you lost the baby. Understand? If you don’t, your life is going to be hell for a very long time. I’m tempted to cut the thing out of you myself, just like you did the tracking disc.”

Briony couldn’t stop the shudder that ran through her as his hands wandered over her body. He kissed the side of her neck, bit her shoulder hard, a punishment for her sins. “You were always meant to be mine-never his. Why they wanted his child, I’ll never know, but they aren’t going to get it. I’m not going to be able to wait long for you, but I at least want his stench washed off.”

He was pressed up tight against her, so tight she felt him rock solid, his hands exploring her flesh. The sound of gunfire echoed through the night, off in the distance, and she knew Jack was still far away.

She shouldn’t react. If she showed Luther how much she detested his hands on her, he might beat her and force a miscarriage, but his tongue lapped at her neck and his hands crept up her shirt to grab her br**sts, and she couldn’t stop herself.

“I know what you’re thinking, and you don’t want to try it, Briony. You’re tough enough, but in a fight, I’d take you every time. You’re not mean enough. I’ve studied you, every training tape they have of you, every move you have.” His lips traveled up to the lobe of her ear and his hand cupped the weight of her breast.

For one small moment she tried to understand what it was like for him, driven by Whitney’s diabolical mind to pursue her, needing to pursue her because his body made relentless demands. No other woman was going to satisfy him ever. Why couldn’t Luther see he was every bit a victim as she was-as Jack was-her sister and probably Brett? Whitney moved them all around like pieces on a chessboard.

Luther shoved up her shirt and lowered his mouth to her breast, the urgent needs of his body overcoming all reasoning.

Briony stomped down on his foot as hard as she could, kicking back to drive her heel into his knee. She missed the knee, but hit his shin. He grunted in pain, but his hands tightened to try to hold on to her. Bending forward, she caught him around the neck and threw him, using her back to roll him off of her. Luther hung on to her wrist grimly as he sailed over her head, yanking her arm nearly out of its socket as he somersaulted and hit the ground. She fell facedown and tried to roll at the last moment, instinctively protecting the babies.

The air left her lungs in a rush, and she drew up one leg as Luther lunged to pin her. She tried for his crotch, kicking out hard, but he turned enough to take the numbing blow in his thigh. He swore, doubling his fist and smashing it into her face. Briony saw stars, her left eye swelling so fast she lost vision immediately. Closing off all pain, she pushed up as he sat on her, rising to meet him, trying to get his weight off her stomach. Deliberately he shoved his knee into her hip, grinding down on the stitches she’d put there.

“Damn you, I told you not to try to get rough with me. You can’t win. Do you have any idea how much I could hurt you if I used my full strength? That was just me teaching you a little lesson.”

She shoved at his chest, his leg, doubling her fists and beating at him in an effort to get him off of her.

Stay down! Stay down.

Jack’s voice moved through her head, nearly lost in the adrenaline and fear for her children. She hesitated and then dropped back to the ground. Warned by that small uncertainty, Luther threw himself off of her, rolling away as the bullet tore through his shoulder, where his head had been. He kept rolling away from her, into the mine entrance.

Briony scrambled on all fours toward the thicker cover of the woods. Her eye was swollen, keeping her from seeing properly. Hard hands caught at her and she fought, swinging wildly.

“Baby, it’s me. You’re safe. You’re safe now.” Jack enfolded her in his arms, tight against his chest. She could smell his scent, hear his heartbeat. He pulled back to look down at her. “Fuck! Son of a bitch!” He caught her close again and then pushed her toward Ken, turning his head toward the mine, his eyes glacier-cold.

“No!” Briony caught his arm and tried to pull him back to her. “He knows where she is. I have a sister. He knows where she is, Jack.”

Jack didn’t even turn his head to look back at her as he ran toward the mine.

“Jack! Please!”

You jackass. You’re not thinking. Ken launched himself at his brother. You don’t track a wounded bear into his lair, no matter how much he needs killing. He hit Jack low, at the knees, and brought him down as gunfire erupted from the mine.

Get the f**k off me!

You have a foul mouth. Get your head out of your ass, Jack. Briony’s been through enough, and she doesn’t need to see you die because you’re going off half-cocked. Let’s get the hell out of here. We can track the bastard later.

Did you see what that son of a bitch did to her?

I saw. We’ll get him-just not now. She needs you thinking, Jack.

Jack took a breath-reached for calm. Anything to do with Briony seemed to shatter his composure, but the sight of her swelling face and blood soaking through her jeans and shirt on one side… He shoved Ken off of him and crawled through the brush back toward Briony.

Jack gathered her smaller body up against him. “It’s okay, baby, I just lost my mind for a minute. You’re getting a hell of a shiner there.”

“I have a sister, Jack.” It was humiliating, but she couldn’t stop crying. “They have her. They’re holding her somewhere, and Luther said she was being disciplined because she didn’t want Brett touching her. He said it didn’t matter if the woman was attracted-only the man. What kind of people are they?”

“Bastards, baby,” Jack said, wiping her tears with the pads of his thumbs. Although he was infinitely gentle, she winced, and he dropped his hand. “What happened to your side?” He lifted her shirt to see the gauze pad soaked with blood. “What the hell, Briony! Baby, stop crying, you’re killing me.”

“He sat on me. You saw him sit on me. I don’t know if he could have killed them just by sitting on my stomach, Jack. I don’t know enough about babies.”

The tears streaking down her face broke his heart. “I read that unborn babies were in a very protected environment, Briony. They’re fine. They’re safe.”

“He said he was going to cut them out of me. He planned to take me to a clinic to abort them.” A shudder ran through her body, and a fresh wave of tears began.

Jack wrapped his arms around her and dragged her into the protection of his body, looking a little helplessly at his brother. “Nothing is going to happen to them, Briony.” He lifted her shirt again to reveal the wound on her hip.

“We’ve got to move or we’ll be trapped, Jack,” Ken cautioned, watching their back trail. “We aren’t going to fool them for long. They’ll know we left, and they’ll come running. And Luther or one of the other enhanced soldiers is bound to be telepathic. He’s pinned down in the mine, but the others will be running to cut us off.”

Jack lowered her shirt with a slight frown and tucked her beneath his shoulder. The two men began to jog with her in between them, through the woods away from the house and away from the mine. Briony pressed her hand to her side to try to still the constant throbbing.

“What happened?” Jack repeated.

“The doctor planted a tracking device in my hip. I cut it out so they couldn’t follow us.”

Jack glared at her. “You did what?”

“Jack,” Ken cautioned.

“What would you have done?” she demanded. He couldn’t yell at her, or she was going to be sick all over him. Her eye throbbed with every step she took, shooting pain through her head, and her stomach kept lurching uncomfortably. She was worried about the babies with Luther sitting on them, in spite of the assurances Jack had given her. “Do we know where we’re going?”

“We’re heading for the pass. We’ll take the canyon route. It looks like a dead end and we can draw them in,” Ken explained. “They’ll think we’re trapped, but we have our own way through the pass.”

“The sun’s up and we’ll need a good start on them,” Jack added. “We should stop and fix your hip and eye. There’s a grove just ahead that has a nice slope to it. We’ll be a little safer there. You’ll need to drink water. If you get tired and need to rest, don’t be stupid-say so.”