“Stop stalling, Kate. Just spit it out,” Blake demanded, clearly as irritated as I felt.
“When Sammy took over in the theater,” Kate said, looking at me and ignoring Blake, “Tonbo either knew or realized then what was really happening. He told you he’d had you brought to your room to rest, Sam, but what he didn’t tell you was he came to see you soon after. Only you were Sammy, so you don’t remember.”
Thankfully, Blake didn’t interrupt, so she continued. “Sammy again told Tonbo of Kory’s plans, pleading with him to keep you from killing your own brother, Blake.” She glanced over at him. “But he wouldn’t budge, accused her of making it all up. He thought there was no way it was really Jaxon, and even if it were, that there was nothing to be done but to kill him. Said it was too late for Jaxon.”
Blake’s frown deepened, but he still didn’t stop her.
Kate sighed and rubbed her forehead. “That’s when Sammy spilled the beans and told Tonbo there might be a way another way of dealing with Kory’s Defenders. She’d found something that could help them control their urges. She needed time to make sure it worked right. Time she didn’t have sharing her body with you.”
It felt funny hearing Kate put it that way. Suddenly, I felt bad for Sammy. Although, to be fair to myself, I had no idea about any of this. Heck, I didn’t even know she existed at this point.
“Tonbo became adamant that under no circumstances was Sammy to experiment on the bugs. He felt the results could only make things worse,”
“A valid argument,” Blake commented in an even tone. “So what happened? Obviously, Tonbo and Sammy didn’t see eye to eye.”
“Nope. So Sammy did the only thing she could do. She pretended to faint.”
“Oh,” I said. “So Tonbo would think it was me coming back. Right?”
“Exactly. Tonbo got you back in your bed and left the room fast. As soon as he was gone, Sammy took off for the ancients.”
“What about the letter she wrote and left for Tonbo?” I asked.
Her eyes widened. “What are you talking about?”
Luckily for me, when I transformed back into myself from Jocelyn, my same clothes came too. I pulled the folded-up piece of paper from my pocket.
“Tonbo said this note was left from… er… me. But if what you said is true, Sammy wouldn’t have left a note at all for Tonbo saying she was leaving.”
“Let me see that,” she said, holding out her hand.
I hesitated and gave it over. For some funny reason, I didn’t want to part with it.
“Sammy didn’t write this,” she said after a glance. “I’d recognize her handwriting anywhere.”
“Then who did?” I asked, taking the letter back from her.
She shrugged. “Who knows… maybe Tonbo did after he discovered she was gone. To cover his tracks.”
Blake frowned at Kate. “You said Sammy went to see the ancients next. Why?”
“In all their heated discussion, Tonbo had mentioned a few of the ancients who had been there during the bugs’ terror. He had been using them to prove his point, saying, ‘Just ask Alek or Otto if a bug is worth saving!’ Well, Sammy decided if Tonbo wasn’t going to help her, maybe they would. It was a huge risk, but she did it anyway.”
“So that’s how Otto had Jaxon’s plans in his office? Sammy had shown them what Kory was up to?” I asked, trying to piece it all together. “Why would they agree to help her? I mean, they are pretty loyal to Tonbo. And the bugs’ had killed their friends and family long ago too,” I said, remembering how Galina had said not just Tonbo’s family was lost that day.
“Good point,” Kate said, “But Sammy knew a few things from her own research that maybe Tonbo hadn’t shared with everyone, including the ancients. Since she knew Otto and Alek, with a few other key scientists, had helped Tonbo develop the original Dragon Fae serum, she thought it was worth a shot to at least present them with the facts.”
“What facts?” Blake asked, his eyes narrowing. “I find it amazing that Sammy can find out things that no one has known for a hundred years. I mean, she must have an amazing search bar on her computer. Oh wait… she shares her computer with Sam. And come to think of it, most of her days are shared with Sam’s consciousness.”
“You can make all the snarky remarks you want, Blake. I’m not making any of this up. Just stop me now if it’s not at least answering some of your questions.”
He grimaced but didn’t say anything. Clearly, he was going to let her finish as he promised me, and then we’d see where the chips fell.
“Okay, then. Where was I? Oh, yeah. The ancients. Man, are they a mess if I’ve ever seen one. Good luck governing them, Master Blake.” Kate laid the title on thick.
Annoyed with how slow Kate was going about this, I squinted at the horizon. There was something out there, far in the distance. Were those Outskirts? Were we that close already?
Crap! Kate has so much to tell us. Like what we’re going to do to stop all this! All we’d really learned was that Sammy thought Tonbo was a ruthless killer who saw no good in the Defenders’ lives, Sammy supposedly had some cure up her sleeve after all, Tonbo may have lied about knowing about Sammy, which put the whole, I need to speak with Sammy, into a new light, and Tonbo might have been the one who was keeping Jaxon from getting better.
That last thought sickened me. If that proved to be true, I didn’t know if I could ever forgive Tonbo.
“Kate,” I said in a sharp voice. “We are getting close. You need to speed up this explanation!”
Kate glanced ahead and spied what I saw. “Okay. So long story short,” she said quickly, “Sammy went to the ancients. She pleaded with them to understand that just because something is different, or maybe doesn’t fit the mold, doesn’t mean it’s a monster. She got them to see that even the bugs—a byproduct of science gone wrong—still had lives worth saving.”
“Wow,” Blake said, clapping his hands like Kate had just given a speech. “You know, this all sounds wonderful. Too bad it’s not real life. The super soldiers were stone-cold killers. I should know. I killed the last one, remember? There was no humanity left in it. I can barely see humanity left in my own brother! He was a good husband, the most devoted, loving dad I’ve ever seen. A doctor, for crying out loud—dedicated to saving people! Now, I barely recognize what’s left of him. So sorry if I don’t buy the whole, let’s save the bugs because they are still people speech.”
Hearing Blake’s torn words, I felt how deep his pain really ran. His love for his brother was the only thing keeping him from finishing him off.
“The bugs Tonbo developed for the Germans long ago aren’t so different from you and me, Blake. They were given the same dragonfly DNA, but Tonbo added lots of testosterone and adrenaline. Enough that it would have killed any normal man. But with the dragonfly DNA, it created huge, out-of-control dragons, or bugs, as everyone calls them. I always hated that term. Seems so juvenile.”
“Kate,” I snapped. “Who cares what they’re called! For us being in such a hurry, you’d think you’d explain what we are about to do!”
She frowned at me, slowing in her flight. “But that’s just what I’m doing! You have to understand why and what Sammy did. The history of this is important. Or Blake is never going to go along with what we have to do now.”