Security showed up in the form of Billy Ray Dobe, a young trainee who had yet to be assigned a truck. Although he’d been with the county for only a few months and he barely knew her, his thin face looked as distressed as Sadie’s. “Miz Devereaux, I’ve got to … Big Al says … ”

“No problem, Bill. Oh, here.” She removed her car keys from her ring before handing it to him. “You’d better put the truck in for service before you start driving it. The engine’s been vibrating a lot, and I think the motor mounts need to be replaced.”

Sadie took Lilah’s box and shoved it into the trainee’s hands. “You be a gentleman and walk her all the way out to her car, Billy Ray.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed. “Yes, ma’am.”

Sadie enveloped Lilah in a cloud of perfume and soft arms. “If you need anything, honey, you call me, you hear?”

“I will,” Lilah lied again, and hugged her back.

Everyone stood up as Billy followed Lilah out of the office. Their stares weighed on her shoulders almost as heavily as the loss of her job, but she kept her head up and her smile in place as she nodded to those she passed. Behind her, someone started clapping slowly, and then everyone was doing it, some whistling and others calling out her name.

Lilah glanced back to see the noise drive Big Al out of his office, a furious jack-in-the-box, and she paused to give him a smile. He jerked back a little, as if she’d slapped him.

No matter how many legs they had, some creatures never knew how to cope with kindness.

As soon as they were outside the building, Billy grinned at Lilah. “Big Al looked like he was about to bust a fuse, didn’t he?”

“Several. Here, let me have that.” She tried to take the box from him. “You don’t have to walk me out to my car, Bill.”

He put a protective arm up over the box. “Miz Sadie will tear my head off if I don’t.” He hesitated. “My mom said they’re hiring now over at the market by Maple-brook. Minimum wage, but it might tide you over till you find something else.”

Lilah’s heart melted a little. “Thanks, Bill. I appreciate it.”

“This just ain’t right, Miz Dee.” He shook his head as he followed her around the corner to the side lot where all the employees parked. “I mean, you’re never late. Heck, you usually get in earlier than anyone else.”

“Not today.” Lilah stopped by the back end of a Subaru and looked around.

He stopped beside her. “I wasn’t here for the bear, but I know what you did that time that Rottie got loose from the cage room and bit Doc Rivka, and all the ladies were shrieking and jumping on their desks. You just walked right on up to him like he was nothing but a yapping puppy, and made him sit, and put that muzzle on him without getting a scratch.”

“He was just angry and scared.” And she’d used her ability to calm him down, something she’d never put in her reports. “You should never do what I did, Bill. It was reckless.”

Billy shook his head. “You got something special, Miz Dee. No matter what those critters do, you never get mad, and they never go after you. All the guys say that’s why they like to send you out on the bad calls. Mr. Brewer’s crazy for letting you go.” He noticed her expression. “You sure you’re gonna be all right?”

“I will be.” She frowned at the empty space where she had parked twenty minutes ago. “Soon as I find out who just stole my car.”

Chapter 2

“I’m glad we could come to terms.” Jonah Genaro shook hands with Yutaka Hashimoto while the petite Japanese man’s entourage bobbed up and down in synchronized bows. “I’ll have my engineers send over the specs by Friday.”

“Thank you for your hospitality, Jonah. As always, you are a generous and understanding host.” Hashimoto beamed at Genaro’s secretary, Tina Segreta, before he glanced at his own assistant. “Schedule a meeting tomorrow morning with the factory managers. We will begin production as soon as the plans arrive.” After giving Genaro a final smile, he led his people out of the office.

Genaro’s secretary finished making her notes. “I’ll have these transcribed in an hour, sir.”

“Thank you.” He sat back and regarded her. “How did your evening go?”

“As expected.” Tina flipped her steno pad closed before she met his gaze. “Mr. Hashimoto seemed flattered, and was easy to please. He prefers fellatio to intercourse, and mentioned how much he likes ‘tall, blond American women.’ ”

Genaro had hired Tina for her administrative skills, which were admirable, but also for her sexual talents, which he had personally refined over time and which had elevated her to being a formidable company asset. However, she was petite and black-haired, which rendered her less of a temptation for Hashimoto. “Make a note of that in the file.” He gave her one of his rare smiles. “You did very well, my dear.”

She nodded, satisfied. “Is there anything else, sir?”

“Call Dr. Kirchner.” Genaro shrugged out of his jacket and loosened his tie. “Ask him to join me in the exercise room.”

“Right away, Mr. Genaro.”

Showering before his workout was a waste of time, as he would only have to wash again after he finished, but it kept Kirchner waiting. By the time Genaro emerged from his private bath, the geneticist was pacing around the weight equipment.

“Eliot.” He finished toweling off his face before he continued. “Hashimoto has agreed to take the contract. We should receive the first shipment by the end of the month.”

“Our preparations for the move are almost finished,” Kirchner said. “You should have them shipped to the new facility.”

Genaro adjusted the settings on his treadmill before he started the walking sequence and climbed on. “What progress have you made with the transerum?”

“None,” he said bluntly. “Since the New York operation was botched, we’ve only identified one new potential. Until she’s classified, I won’t know anything.”

“I understand your frustrations, Eliot, and I share them. But now is not the time to indulge your temper.” He increased the treadmill’s speed to a trot. “I need you to focus on whatever it takes to make the transerum work.”

“I’d be happy to, if I had what I need.” Kirchner came to stand in front of the treadmill. “The progenote was stolen and lost. None of the DNA we’ve acquired can overcome the debilitating effects the transerum has on the subject’s brain. Until we can negate it, the transerum is too dangerous to test on any of our acquisitions. We need to begin over, acquire more of the progenote and DNA from at least a dozen Primes, maybe more.”

Genaro switched off the treadmill and slowed to a standstill before he stepped down. “That is unlikely to happen. You’ll have to take another approach.”

Kirchner’s temper finally exploded.

“What would you have me do, Jonah?” the geneticist demanded. “Put an ad in the paper for superhumans to volunteer to be tested? If I’m to do the work, I must have the proper materials.”

Genaro took a fresh towel from the wall rack and slung it around his neck. “Are you finished?”

Something else replaced the ferocity in Kirchner’s eyes before he lost all expression. “I apologize. We’ve experienced so many setbacks and disappointments over the last several months that from the moment I step into the lab, I already feel defeated.”

“You should follow Yutaka Hashimoto’s example,” Genaro said as he went to the Nautilus and set the weight pins. “He works off his frustrations through oral sex.”

Kirchner, who was a celibate by preference, folded his arms. “If you provide me with what I need, Jonah, I’ll personally give you head each and every morning.”

Genaro had never doubted his chief geneticist’s commitment to the project, but the man had no sense of humor whatsoever. “I’ll look into obtaining a new sample of the progenote. In the meantime, have your people in tech step up their efforts to identify new potentials. Tell them to keep the news agencies on twenty-four-hour feed.”

“They’re doing that.”

“Look for unusual incidents as well as miraculous recoveries,” Genaro said. “The Kyndred are adept at hiding themselves, but they can’t resist using their abilities, especially during emergency situations.”

“Sometimes these things are just coincidences,” Kirchner pointed out. “People under enormous stress are adrenaline fueled. Often it gives them superhuman strength, but it never lasts.”

“We can use the mistakes as test cadavers.” He glanced over as his secretary slipped into the room. “That will be all, Doctor.”

Kirchner left, averting his gaze from Tina as she began to unbutton her cuffs.

The geneticist’s show of distaste seemed to amuse Tina, although she didn’t comment on it. Instead she stripped down to her skin and waited for Genaro’s direction.

“On the bench,” he told her as he took his position under the pull bars. He tested the weight and found it agreeable. “Tell me everything you did to Hashimoto last night.”

Tina began relating the details of the encounter, and he timed his repetitions to the rhythm of her voice. He kept her talking until he felt the burn beginning in his muscles, and then rose and walked over to her.

“Now show me what you did to him.”

“Do you need me for anything else, sir?” Tina asked once he’d finished and she’d caught her breath.

“Not today.” Genaro stood, shrugging into a robe before he handed her another. “Go home and get some sleep.”

She pulled on the robe. “Sir, may I make a suggestion?” When he nodded, she said, “Why don’t you allow me to accompany Dr. Kirchner to the new facility?”

He frowned. “Why would I do that?”