“Her ID was logged into the message relay system. She took great pains to erase her tracks, but I found proof of it. ” Chaz handed him the ID log.
It was there in black and white. Her attempts to erase her presence from the relay system and to destroy the message that they knew had been sent to the Bureau of Breed Affairs earlier that day. A message requesting asylum from Jonas Wyatt. It had been sheer luck that his spy had been in the offices in Washington when that message came through. Cyrus restrained his sigh, his regret. “She obviously didn’t have the time to do the job right,” he murmured. He knew well that she could have done it, given time.
“And I would suspect she knows that. She thought she had destroyed enough of the internal memory to give her the time she needed instead to get to Jonas Wyatt. She’s our spy, Cyrus. It’s time to admit it. The question is, what information did she take with her? Do you think she knows about the kidnapping of the Breed child?”
Admit it. He had suspected it several times. He had tortured his own child to force the admission out of her, only to fail each time. For years he had hated himself, felt flayed by the guilt of it, only to learn she had been more deceptive than even he had believed possible.
The beatings he had ordered. The times he had buried her alive. The one time he had allowed her to die before quickly reviving her. Because he suspected her. Because he was desperate to turn back the tide of her possible betrayal and to avoid the need for her death.
Cyrus lifted his gaze to the oil painting on the far wall. His Scheme, resplendent in fiery silk, curled in his office chair. Long sable hair cascaded over her shoulder, dark lashes shielded the expression in her eyes. He pretended often that she hid her love for him there. Her understanding.
“It doesn’t matter what she knows. Our agent is in close enough now that taking the child will be no problem. She won’t know the exact date, only an approximation. Telling them won’t affect the outcome. ”
But she knew other things. Things she might not have proof of, but that could destroy him anyway.
“She’s a liability now, Cyrus. You’ve made the right decision,” Chaz assured him.
“She’s attending a party for Reynolds, that bastard Bengal. I want her dead before sunrise. ” The words choked him. “Mercifully, Chaz, if you please. ”
Chaz tilted his head in agreement. “I wouldn’t hurt her, Cyrus,” he promised softly. “I’ll take care of her. ”
And Chaz would. He felt affection for Scheme, Cyrus knew that. But unlike Scheme, Chaz understood the future and what they were working toward.
“Do you think allowing her to keep the child would have prevented this?”
That question often haunted him.
“I doubt it, Cyrus. She was working her way toward this since the day her mother died. She’s always known you killed her, despite your story. You would have just had to kill a grandchild later. ”
Yes. Cyrus nodded at the assassin’s words. As he had killed his wife, now he was forced to take the life of his child. He couldn’t have borne doing the same to a grandchild he had helped raise.
“Very well. ” He nodded, setting the picture back in its place. “I trust you to take care of it then. ”
Cyrus rose to his feet, only to pause before turning.
“I couldn’t have m
urdered my child, Cyrus,” he said. “I would have killed you over a kid, had it been born. You made the right decision. That child would have made us both weak. ”
Yes, it would have. Weaker than Scheme had managed to make them. He nodded again. “Mercifully, Chaz. Gently. ”
Regret flickered in the younger man’s gaze before he turned and headed to the door. Chaz, like himself, would regret the loss, but he would carry through.
“Good-bye, Princess,” he whispered, his finger reaching out to caress her face in the picture as another tear slipped down his cheek. “I’m sorry. ”
CHAPTER 1
She was the epitome of grace, mystery and beauty. Tanner Reynolds watched as Scheme Tallant skirted around the edges of the room, chatting here and there, that cool smile tempting him, challenging him.
He should have ordered her death the moment he learned she had accepted the invitation to the party. But something stopped him. Something always stopped him. Not for the first time where she was concerned, his lust was guiding his actions.
She was General Cyrus Tallant’s daughter. The seed of evil itself. Cyrus Tallant had headed the training program for the Breeds until their rescues ten years before. Manipulative, destructive, he had managed to cover his ass and make certain there was no true proof of the position he had held, but Tanner and the Breeds he had followed out of the labs in New Mexico years ago had known the dark malevolence that infected him.
And it infected his daughter. She worked with him, worked for him. She had signed the orders for Breed deaths and she had destroyed vital information to cover the tracks of the Genetics Council.
They had managed to have dozens of Council members indicted, but the head of the beast was still intact. The twelve-member inner Council head had yet to be penetrated. Until they were destroyed, there would be no peace for the Breeds.
If they could take Cyrus Tallant out, then the head Council would be seriously compromised. Scheme Tallant was her father’s weakness. Unfortunately, no one had been able to get her to talk.