Chapter Seventy-Nine

“You should leave her alone.” Nina’s soft voice sounded from the bed behind him. “She works better on her own…just like us.”

Rory tensed. Was she serious?

Slowly, he swiveled his seat around to find her wide awake, watching him. That she’d said “us” told him she was once again Nobody,

He clasped his hands between his knees. “You think so?” he asked. “Look where working alone got you. Damaged beyond imagining, running for your life.”

Gazing into her eyes, he saw that something about her had changed. Something profound.

He came to a sudden, amazing realization, and straightened abruptly.

Not Nobody.

Nina.

Could it be? He barely dared believe it, but he would swear it was her.

“Tamara is different than us,” she said with a slight shrug. “She has a purpose. She will not fail.”

“What purpose?” He had his suspicions but wanted to hear it from Nina.

She just looked at him.

“If she recognized you, why didn’t she just say who she was?”

“We were Lena and she didn’t know why, so she couldn’t take the risk. There wasn’t time.”

“Time for what?”

Nina shook her head sadly. “To figure it all out. Tammi needs to find something. Something she can’t do without.”

“Don’t talk riddles. I hate it when you do that.”

She blinked and considered him closely, as if weighing how much to tell him. “Her daughter.”

Not a rumor, then. “Tamara Ormond really does have a child?” he asked. “You found her?” If this was true, she had just made his job easier again.

Hopefully.

“ATDF took her away the day she was born. Tammi has been looking for her ever since.”

“Bastards.” He said it softly, imagining what that unspeakable cruelty must have provoked in the woman…any woman. But especially a former child-soldier. Her reaction couldn’t have been pretty.

“Tammi was always very ethical. After Morgan’s escape, Tammi was determined to take the agency down. And she would have succeeded, too—if they hadn’t found the leverage to control her. Taking the child was the easiest way to ensure her cooperation.”

“And you really found her daughter?”

“We found a lead,” she specified. “It will aid Tammi in her search.”

“So, you remember it all? ATDF, Morgan, the child-soldiers?”

“We remember everything,” she replied.

“What changed? The last time I tried to talk to you about the past, you nearly died.”

“That won’t happen, again. We are not afraid anymore.”

“But what about Ada?”

“Don’t worry. Her days are numbered. We are in control now. She was created to take our place, but instead we fragmented. And she hid among us. She was there, though, interfering, and contacting Creed without us knowing it. Then, when you pushed too hard, she tried to kill you.” Nina sighed, as if she’d traveled a long distance and was weary. “No matter. She will be destroyed in time. In the end, only we will remain.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Tammi, when she intervened at the base, broke through the barriers that came up when Nina shattered. She made it possible for us to merge again. Though being separate kept us alive all this time, it also made us weak against Ada. Without Tammi, we would have failed in the end.”

“But how did she know?” he asked.

What could Tammi possibly know about the things Lopez at Prima Vista had done to Nina? Had she somehow been involved? Like Creed? No. That didn’t make sense. Why help Nina at all at the base if she was in cahoots with those bastards?

“Tammi…she grew up in the compound with us, remember?”

Rising Sun. Somehow it always came back to that damned sect.

“We went through the training that made us all think as one. The endless indoctrination. The mind games. How they got to us. She was there through all of it. Knows exactly how it was done, how our mind works.”

That made sense.

“And what they did to you at Prima Vista, it was the same kind of thing?”

“In many ways, yes. A lot less subtle, though. They tried to do in months what Rising Sun had worked to accomplish throughout our entire childhood. It was far more brutal, and in some ways more effective. But because we shattered into several identities, and the information they wanted scattered among us, Ada could not access it and was effectively blocked out of anything except the memories made after she came into existence.”

For expediency’s sake, he nodded.

“So, back at the base, Tammi made us remember what we learned from Rising Sun, and showed us a way to find Ada’s weakness. We did, and now we are able to defeat her.”

“How?” he couldn’t help asking. It was incredible if she could really do this, have the insight to heal herself and undo the damage of that crazy doctor…or at least start the healing process.

“It’s really very simple. Pain. Ada can’t cope with it. We can.”

He frowned. “That doesn’t make sense. From what you’ve told me, she was created from pain—lots of it.” His stomach still churned when he thought of what she had endured at that terrible place.

“Not that sort of pain, Rory.” Nina shook her head. “Not physical pain. But the pain of memories and emotions. She doesn’t know how to handle them.”

“Okay.” He rubbed his face, trying to clear his brain to fully grasp what she was saying. Maybe after he got some sleep… “One more question. You’re still addressing yourself as us and we. If you remember who you are now, why—”

“As we were once many, we are now Nina. Nina is who we are. Nothing will change that.”

“What the hell does that mean?” He watched her, gauging her words and seeing peace in her eyes for the very first time.

“It means that, in time, we will again become who we once were.”

“Just like that? Will it really be that simple?” he asked, and marveled at the sweet smile that appeared on her face as she folded back the blanket in invitation.

“Only time will tell, Rory. Come to bed. You look tired.”

His body responded instantly. Muscles tensed and his heartbeat picked up. She was dressed in only a loose T-shirt that revealed a glimpse of her delicate breasts.

She was captivating.

Suddenly, he wasn’t all that tired. Still, he fought the instinct that wanted to take her offer with both hands, and he remained where he was. “I’m sorry, Nina.”

“For what?”

“For last night. No matter what I do, I can’t seem to keep you safe.”

It was a pattern. A pattern that had cost him much in the past. First Alice—sweet, vulnerable Alice. And now Nina was in constant danger. He’d sworn to protect her, but he had failed miserably, so far. He struggled with the fear of losing her. Just as he’d lost Alice.

“It’s not your fault,” she said gently.

He shook his head. He couldn’t accept that.

“You have to stop,” she warned, reading his mind. “Do you think Morgan would have given you this vital task if she didn’t trust your abilities? Your strength and honor? She did. And Morgan does not give her trust easily.”

“Neither do you, Nina.”

“No.” She sighed again, regret in her expression. “And we are all sorry for that, more than you’ll ever know.”

“You don’t have to apologize.”

“Yes, we do. But that is beside the point.” She stirred on the bed.

A glance showed her getting up, the blanket wrapped around her as she crossed to him. “Do not worry so much. It will all be okay,” she told him when she stopped in front of him, cupping his face between her hands and lightly kissing his forehead. Then the top of his head.

With a sigh, he let go of the tension that coiled inside him, wrapped his arms around her waist, and buried his face in the soft warmth of her mid-section.

“We promise that everything will work out, querido. We’ll be good.” There was sincerity in her voice, and perhaps just a spark of mischief.

With a chuckle, he mumbled, “That’s the trouble. I fear you’re too good,”

They stayed that way a long time. Her hands combing gently through his hair while he held her close, breathing in her now very familiar scent.

At long last she withdrew, tipped up his face so she could meet his eyes. “Better be careful, Rory,” she warned, leaning down until they were almost nose-to-nose. Her teeth nipped lightly at his lower lip.

“What for?” Bemused, he trailed her flushed face.

She leaned into his touch and sighed. “We’re falling for you.”

In her eyes, he found a mirror image of the turmoil he himself felt.

“You make that sound like it’s a dangerous thing.” He wondered why her confession didn’t worry him. In fact, he felt exultant as he eased his arms around her and drew her close once more. He could feel the very heat of her seep right into him.

How he longed to just surrender and make love to her. His body was on fire for her, but he refused to give in to temptation. He couldn’t. Not until Creed was taken care of, and she was safe, and her mental health no longer an issue.

Most importantly, not until she was no longer his assignment.

“Believe us, it is dangerous,” she said with a very Lena-like smile. “We’re very possessive when we think of something as ours.”

He smiled back. “I’m terrified.”

Something in the region of his heart gave way to possibility…even if only in a distant future, and if he could somehow manage it.

“But are you ours, querido?” she asked, suddenly serious again.

Sensing the importance of her question, he responded to that by kissing her. “I think—” he murmured, kissing her jaw next, “you already,” and the scented hollow below her ear, “have me.”