My revelation is met with silence. I understand. I was stunned as well—still am. We all assumed Cole was dead or at the very least slaving away down in the labs beneath the Hybrid-run PharmaCorp.
“Cole is a Hybrid.” Parker makes this a statement more than a question.
“Yes.” I think for a moment. “Well, maybe.”
“There’s no such thing as a maybe Hybrid,” she says back.
“No?” I let my gaze land on Paul who, as usual, listens more than speaks during meetings. “Then what do we call him? Because we all know he’s got a little bit of something unexplainable going on.”
The changes in Paul are noticeable to all of us, but have never been addressed as a group. The increase in muscle mass. His speed. The darker shade in his already brown eyes. Some of that acceptance was out of respect to Alexandra and their friendship, but she’s gone and he’s still here and we need some answers.
“I’m not a Hybrid,” he says.
“No one said you were—exactly,” Davis chimes in. “Your temperament is even and you definitely have independent thought, but I’ve spent the majority of my life in gyms and with weightlifters and I’ve never seen someone’s body composition change so quickly.”
“Right,” I say. “That’s how Cole is, too. He isn’t angry. He was reasonable and there’s no doubt he was disobeying orders. He wanted out of there before the Hybrids got to the farm.”
“Or so he said,” Jude interjects.
“Was he bigger?” Parker asks, giving Paul an apologetic glance. “Physically?”
“It was hard to tell under the clothes, but he was faster for sure. More confident. I’ve fought with Cole dozens of times, as have all of you. He’s capable and a good marksman but I never had a concern he’d gain an upper hand on me.”
Jude raises an eyebrow. “Did he?”
“It was closer than I’d like to admit.”
“Okay,” says Parker. “Say he’s a Hybrid and working for his sister. Maybe she sent him to mess with you. Screw with your head. It could just have been to a trap for later?”
“Chloe is vindictive and whatever Jane gave her made her unhinged, but I can’t see her letting those kids and the others go just to mess with me. Particularly not the farm itself. That place could have housed and fed them for months. He had the upper hand the whole time. He had a gun on me before I even stepped in the room.”
“Wyatt and I both heard the orders the other night—from two different camps. They wanted that family and the children and adolescents were mentioned specifically,” Jude says, tapping his fingers on the table. “Why does he want to meet tonight?”
I shrug. “He said he’d answer my questions. I guess I’ll find out then.”
“So you’re going?” Parker asks.
“Yes, I’m going.”
She and Jude both look wary. Paul and Davis don’t. I nod at the former. “You’ll be my back up.”
Paul nods, understanding that my request conveys a level of trust. He may also be the only one to get me out of trouble if this whole thing is
a set up. “Got it.”
“The rest of you stick to the plan. Head to Dublin with the other units, take the higher ground before the Hybrids get there. It may be the only chance to hold them up before they find the base.” They note that I don’t say stop, because I think we all know right now there is no stopping them, but we can buy some time.
Davis scoots his chair away from the table and asks, “Does Erwin know?”
“Not yet. Let me get a better handle on this first and what it means.”
The informal meeting ends and the team disperses to other areas of the base. I bend to tie the lace on my boot. When I look up they’re gone, and it’s just me and Paul. He studies me carefully, leaning his elbows on the table in a way that reveals how large his biceps have become. I can’t determine if he’s trying to intimidate me. It’s effective, if so.
“Is something wrong?” I ask.
“Why are you really meeting him?”
“He asked me for the meeting—not the other way around. I do have questions I need answered. I’m not one to waste an opportunity.”