The doctor typed onto a tablet, taking notes. “Are you seeing Dr. Zycor today?”
“Yes.” Audrey settled more comfortably onto the examination table. “My last internal surgery was over three months ago, and this is a follow-up to check for scar tissue.”
Dr. Washington nodded and rubbed the back of his neck with a large-boned hand. “Excellent.” He swiped something on the tablet and patted her shoulder. “Let me know if you have any further discomfort, and please consider returning to physical therapy.”
“I will.” Not. Physical therapy had brought her as far as it could, and she would do the remaining exercises at home. “Have a good one.”
“You too.” The doctor turned and quietly exited the room.
Audrey took a deep breath, swinging her legs under the sheet. The A/C flipped on, and she shivered.
The door opened, and she began to smile, only to stop halfway when a woman entered. She swallowed. “Hello, Mother.”
Isobel Madison lifted her chin, her dark blue eyes appraising. “Audrey, how are you feeling?”
“Better. My leg is hanging in there.” For the past five years, since Audrey had worked with the commander, she and her mother had reached a mutual agreement. Maybe, for once, her mother was actually proud of her. Audrey didn’t want maternal approval, or rather, she didn’t want to need maternal approval. But she sat straighter and with a lighter heart. “I’m waiting for the next doctor.”
Isobel nodded. “You could’ve done something with your hair.”
Irritation chilled Audrey’s chest along with an odd hurt. “I could always go for the bun look, but it’s patently yours.”
Her mother sniffed and flipped over the metal chart in her fine-boned hands. “Sarcasm is beneath you.”
Audrey tried to shrug but ended up patting her hair instead. How could she and her mother be so different? She’d inherited her mother’s blue eyes and black hair, but Audrey was much taller and curvier than the genius scientist. Even now, as Isobel perused her daughter’s medical chart, scientific curiosity lit her eyes. “Why are you here?” Audrey asked wearily, searching for concern in her mother’s expression. There had to be some.
A familiar hurt assailed her. She knew her mother felt love because that sentiment had motivated the woman for decades with the commander. So surely her mother loved her, too. She just didn’t show it well.
Isobel closed the chart and smoothed down her perfectly pressed lab coat. “I’m here to review your current medical progress, of course. Some of the surgeries we performed on you were experimental and will change the medical community forever.”
Science and exploration ruled and motivated Isobel Madison like nothing else. “Of course,” Audrey muttered.
“Have you been taking the concoction of natural vitamins and muscle-healing tissues we created for you?” Isobel asked.
“Yes.” Audrey warmed a little. Isobel had been pushing those vitamins that really did help Audrey to feel better, and plus, she trusted the science and the doctors. Her pathetic gratefulness at thinking her mother cared tasted like sour lemons on her tongue. They’d never really had a heart-to-heart, and it was time. Since the commander would surely kill Audrey if he found out her deal with the senator, she might not have long to get the answers she needed. “Why did you have me?” Audrey asked quietly.
Isobel tilted her head. “You’ve never asked me that.”
Frankly, Audrey had never wanted to hear the answer. “I’m asking now.”
Isobel sighed and pushed a strand of hair away from her timeless face. “I found myself pregnant and wondered at the experience. Plus, it seemed a shame to waste my intelligence and not pass it on.” She tapped long nails on the metal clipboard. “These last couple of years since you’ve been working with us, I’ve truly seen your potential.”
It was as close as Isobel had ever come to expressing pride in her daughter. Audrey’s throat clogged. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I take satisfaction in seeing my child succeed.”
Audrey swallowed, wondering if she could finally gain answers. “Who was my father?” She’d asked the question many a time, never receiving an answer.
“No clue.” Isobel glanced at the gold watch around her narrow wrist. “Could’ve been any number of soldiers—it’s not like I’ve ever denied myself.”
No, the woman had slept with dozens of soldiers through the years. Maybe more. But… to say her IQ went beyond genius was accurate. Wait a minute. Audrey thought about the myriad of emotions that struck her because of Nate. She’d never want to have somebody else’s child if she was around him every day. Her mother couldn’t be that different from her. “You wouldn’t have let yourself get knocked up.” Fire washed through Audrey’s torso. “You would’ve chosen carefully.” Why had she never figured that out? “Somebody with good genes and high intelligence.”
Isobel chuckled and shook her head. “Not exactly.”
Oh no. Audrey gasped and clutched her stomach. “You didn’t—”
Her mother frowned and then laughed. “The commander isn’t your father. While he’s tough and sexy, his intelligence isn’t quite what I would’ve hoped.”
Wait a minute. While Isobel lied to herself, Audrey knew full well the woman loved the cruel commander. She would’ve wanted his baby—intelligence or not. “I don’t believe you.”
Isobel started. “Excuse me?”
“You would’ve wanted Franklin’s offspring.” Audrey narrowed her gaze as her mind clicked facts into place. “He said no.”
A glimmer of hurt lightened Isobel’s eyes to be quickly dispelled. “Fine. Franklin said that since we worked together every day that a child between us would complicate things.”
Audrey bit back a gasp. How could such an intelligent woman like Isobel let a man treat her so poorly? In the name of love? “Why do you love him, Mother? He’s terrible to you.”
Isobel scoffed. “Love? Don’t be ridiculous. This is about the pursuit of perfection.”
“At what cost?” Audrey murmured. Was she like her mother? Falling in love with the wrong man—a man who could kill so easily? One who’d put his mission before her?
“Any cost is worth it if we create the perfect soldier.” Isobel shrugged, her eyes veiled.
Audrey shook her head. “You wouldn’t have picked somebody to knock you up.” She’d been wrong and hadn’t figured in Isobel’s inexplicable feelings for the commander.
“I’ve told you for years that I have no idea who fathered you.” Isobel’s expression didn’t change. “There was a time when I experimented a bit with hallucinogens, trying to expand my mind, and it often led to recreational activities I can’t quite remember.”
Audrey’s head jerked back. “So my father might not even be a soldier?”
Isobel glanced down at the chart in her hands. “It’s possible, but usually I took a cadet or two home with me.”
Audrey shook her head and dropped her head into her hands. “So it’s possible I was conceived in an orgy after you’d popped shrooms. Really?” She lifted her head, finally, and with a bone-deep sadness, accepting the possibility that she’d never know her father. Maybe he would’ve liked her.
“Again, I have no clue who fathered you, not that it matters,” Isobel said.
Audrey gathered the sheet more protectively around her legs. “So why have me?”
Isobel shrugged. “Why not? There was a chance you’d inherit my brilliance.”
“Apparently not,” Audrey said, her mind calculating scenarios. She needed answers. “Does it even bother you that you set me up with Nathan? It nearly broke me when our relationship ended.”
“Oh for goodness’ sake. Nathan was just a man—get over it.”
“Just a man? I loved him!” Everything inside Audrey exploded at once. Just like Isobel loved the commander. Life was so screwed up, and the one person who was supposed to have protected Audrey had actually thrown her under the bus. “You used me. You used us both—as
an experiment. As a way to motivate a soldier.”
Isobel sighed. “Well, get over it because he’s never going to want you back. You broke his heart, and there’s no forgiveness in that man.”
Nate would agree with her, and they were both wrong. The man had more capacity for love and loyalty than anyone Audrey had ever met, and forgiveness was a part of that.
Audrey knew him, and it was time to seize the opportunity to delve deep and manipulate Isobel into giving her information about the kill chips. No matter how screwed up Audrey’s feelings were for Nate, she wanted to save him. She had to save him. “You don’t know Nathan.”
“I know everything about that boy—I’ve studied him since birth. You took away the only thing he every truly loved besides his brothers—you. Nothing in him will ever be able to forgive you for that. It’s how I made him.” Isobel frowned and eyed her watch again. “What in the world is taking so long?”
“You’re wrong. Nate will be back for me someday.” Audrey tipped her hand in order to gain information, her fingers tapping nervously on the leather table. “Don’t you think?”
Shrewd blue eyes narrowed on her. “No. Why—do you?”
Audrey sat up straighter. “I wouldn’t, except the commander has had men following me for the last three weeks. Why would they be watching me, if there wasn’t a credible reason?”
“Interesting.” Isobel pursed bright-red lips. “Soldiers, hmmm?”
“I can spot a tail, Mother.” Good Lord, she’d been partially raised in a military environment. “Why. Am. I. Being. Followed?”
Isobel rolled her eyes. “I assume it has something to do with the subcommittee for military funding. Franklin is hedging his bets.”
“Why haven’t you been able to find the Gray brothers? The commander is the best at tracking and, yet, nothing.” How could she get Isobel to admit the truth about the kill chips?
“I’m not the soldier here, and I have no idea.” Isobel tapped a high heel on the floor.
No way would her mother let the truth slip. Well, one action left. Audrey launched off the table and shoved her mother against a cabinet, forearm against the older woman’s throat. She cared little that she stood in a T-shirt and underwear. “Tell me the truth, now. I have no trouble killing you.”
Surprise widened Isobel’s eyes, and she burst out laughing. “You forget—I made you, too.” Genuine amusement and no anger crossed her face. She shoved Audrey’s hips, pushing her back a couple of inches. “You always have amused me. Like you’d ever really kill your own mother. Sit down before the doctor gets here.”
Audrey waited several heartbeats and then slowly backed up, reclaiming the sheet to sit on the table. Yeah, the woman did know her. She’d never kill Isobel. But she would and could catch her off guard. Her mother’s security card cut into her palm, and she discreetly tucked it under the pillow. The older woman may have made Audrey, but she didn’t know her as well as she thought. The security card would get Audrey access into any area of the entire facility. “I apologize. I’m not quite myself today,” she said quietly.
“I understand.” An indefinable gleam filled Isobel’s eyes.
Audrey swallowed as unease straightened her spine. What was going on?
A discreet knock sounded on the door, and Dr. Zycor slipped inside. Small of stature, the Asian doctor was the smartest person Audrey had ever met—and that was saying something. Audrey instantly smiled. While several doctors had operated or rehabbed her leg, only Dr. Zycor had fixed her insides. He remained a calm and gentle man in a dangerous facility, and he’d been on her side.
He silently handed a sheet of paper to Isobel, who breathed out while reading. A pink flush rose from her neck across her face.
Audrey’s heartbeat kicked into a full-out gallop. “What is that?”
Isobel giggled. “Good news. Very good news.”
Dr. Zycor pushed an ultrasound machine toward the table. “You’re completely healed, Audrey. It’s almost a miracle.”
Oh. So her crazy mother wanted grandchildren someday, was that it? Audrey lay down and shook her head. “There’s no way I’m procreating, Mother.” Yet, the thought of being healed, of actually having a child, created a burning need inside her. The feeling had been there since she’d first met Nate, actually.
The doctor squirted gel on Audrey’s stomach and pressed the receptor against her abdomen. Audrey settled back, relaxing. She’d had hundreds of ultrasounds through the years.
A rhythmic thump, thump, thump echoed throughout the room.
Audrey frowned and turned toward the screen. “What is that?” Her gaze landed on the outline of a baby with something fluttering in the center. The heart. Shock nearly stopped her breathing. “What—”
Isobel clapped her hands. “It worked. I can’t believe it worked.”
Audrey’s chest constricted and her breath caught. She began to pant, and a ringing filled her ears.
“Hold on.” Dr. Zycor pressed a dry hand against her head. “Panic attack. Hold your breath for a moment.”
Audrey held her breath, allowing the carbon dioxide to dissipate. She’d fought panic attacks for a while after the explosion, but she’d learned to manage them and hadn’t endured one in over a year. She sucked in air. “I’m pregnant?”
“Yes.” Isobel peered closer to the baby moving on the monitor. “About fourteen weeks. Your last surgery wasn’t really a surgery. We sedated you and inserted sperm into you—after you’d been ingesting a series of hormones, of course.” She frowned. “I’d hoped for a multiple birth, but apparently there’s only one little genius soldier in there.”
Audrey shook her head, the room hazing. Pregnant? “How—who?”
Isobel’s eyes glittered with satisfaction. “Nathan’s, of course.”
“No.” Audrey shoved the ultrasound receptor away and sat up. The thumping stopped. “All of their specimens were destroyed in the blast.” She’d double-checked.
Disappointment filled Isobel’s face when the screen fuzzed, and she turned toward Audrey with a resigned sigh. “We had one vial for each Gray brother stored at a safe location, because as you know, we always wanted to create offspring from them. They’re the most talented and gifted soldiers we’ve ever created, so who knows how gifted the next generation might be? How much they might help the commander’s cause? We used all of the samples over the last five years—unsuccessfully—saving Nathan’s for you in case we healed you. You were the only woman ever to be impregnated by a Gray brother, so we had to take the chance that it wasn’t a fluke.”
Audrey swayed. “Wh-why Nathan and not one of his brothers?”
“Because Nathan had managed to impregnate you before, even though that was natural and not via test tube. Sometimes there are chemicals and hormones at play we can’t pinpoint.” Isobel beamed, a maniacal glint in her eyes. “Since you and Nate had created life once before, we hoped against hope the result might happen again.”
Audrey shook her head, her mind swirling. Fear and a dangerous hope burst through her. She was pregnant. Again. With Nate’s baby.
The room went dark as she fainted completely.
Chapter 18
When Audrey came to, her mother was gone. Audrey sat up on the examination table, her head pounding. She put a hand to her forehead and murmured a soft “ow.”
Dr. Zycor, sitting on a rolling stool, finished typing onto a tablet and glanced up, his eyes soft behind the wire-rimmed glasses. “Are you feeling all right?”
Fury consumed her so quickly she nearly hissed. “You bastard. You fucking bastard.” She’d trusted him. Hurt and disbelief nearly propelled her from the table, but her legs shook, and she didn’t trust them to hold her up.
From day one, when he told her he’d be able to heal her internally, that he’d be able to save at least one of her ovaries, she’d thought they were on the same page. In the same corner. She’d thought she wasn’t so alone in the sterile medical environment. “I’m going to kill you.”
/> He nodded. “I can fully understand your anger.”
“Can you, now?” Disbelief flooded her. “My mother was aware of the plan from the very beginning?” she whispered, already knowing the answer.
“Of course.” Sympathy glittered in his dark eyes. “It was her idea, actually.”
Betrayal melded with outrage until focus escaped Audrey. Her mother had allowed the commander to impregnate her against her will and without her knowledge. How could she have done that?
Rage overtook the hurt.
Audrey reached under the pillow to draw out the card and jumped off to snatch her skirt off the chair. Why hide her body? The man had seen her both inside and out. “I trusted you.” She kicked one leg into the silk, discreetly sliding the card into a pocket.
“I know.” He stood and whipped off the glasses. “I apologize for deceiving you, but you knew I worked for the commander from the beginning. And the medical advances here—”
“Shut up.” If one more person talked about her body and the incredible medical advances, she’d break their nose in one punch. “Where’s Dr. Evil?” She hadn’t called her mother by the sarcastic nickname in way too long.
Zycor glanced at the closed door. “I assume she went to update the commander on the news.”
The news. Audrey’s hands trembled as she zipped up her skirt. A baby. Her baby. And Nate’s baby.
They’d used condoms when they’d had sex. Yet here Audrey had become pregnant with Nate’s baby via in vitro when he’d been nowhere around and she’d been sedated. The irony nearly choked her.
Danger instantly threatened the barely formed human for the mere fact of its parentage. Nathan’s child. The commander and Audrey’s mother would never let the child live a normal life—never let him or her see freedom. Unless Audrey stopped them.
Maternal rage surrounded her heart. This was her baby, and she’d protect it. No matter what. Its father was one of the most deadly men in the world, and he needed to live in order to help. So she had a job to do. Now.
Air swished as she shot an uppercut to Zycor’s throat, sending him sprawling against a cabinet. He cried out, arms wide, and medicinal cotton balls rained down. Twirling him, she forced him into a choke hold, fighting hard as he struggled like a caught carp. But she held fast, taller and with better leverage, until he dropped into unconsciousness. “Sorry, Doc,” she muttered while removing his lab coat and taking his security clearance card just in case.