Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 125037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 625(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Diego did his best to listen with an open mind, if for no other reason than to try to understand Pillar and his way of thinking. There was no possible way to agree with him, but it was worth listening to him in order to figure out how a man as intelligent as Pillar would find a way to justify the experiments on children. Not just any experiments—many of them were totally horrific, such as introducing cancer over and over to the child and operating without anesthesia, as well as so many other heinous and unconscionable practices.
Leila pressed her fingers deeper into his thigh, drawing his attention. She leaned closer to him, her gaze sweeping over his face, feature by feature, as if assessing his condition. The floor is trembling. Is that you?
That would be Rubin. My calm, reliable brother. Everyone will think it’s me because Rubin always has it together. He very rarely loses control, but when he does, it is complete devastation. He included Rubin so his brother would hear the amusement in his voice and feel it in his mind. It always made him laugh when his brother turned hothead.
Poor Jonquille learned the hard way that Mr. Calm, Cool and Collected isn’t any of those things and her brother-in-law with the badass rep is.
Rubin gave a snort of derision, but the floor ceased the mild movement and amusement immediately filled Diego’s mind. Don’t let him fool you, Leila. He’s furious with Pillar. I think he’d take out a gun and shoot him if he thought he’d get away with it. The reason I have such a foul temper is because my brother feeds me his anger and I have to get rid of it for the two of us.
Leila stifled a giggle against Diego’s arm.
That’s the first time he’s ever told that whopper, Diego told her. It’s a good thing he can direct lightning, otherwise it would strike him in the head for that lie.
Can you really direct a lightning strike? Leila sounded awed.
Diego squeezed her hand and pressed it harder into his thigh. He loved that she was seeing a small part of his brother—how truly powerful he was. He wanted Leila to see Rubin the way he did.
He turned his attention to Pillar, trying to understand the man and how he believed.
“The soldiers in this room”—Pillar paused and looked around the room, including Diego, Rubin and Ezekiel in his slow, thorough perusal—“all volunteered for a program they believed in. That program had been in the works for years. Whitney believes in saving lives just as I do. We met many times to discuss how best to protect our soldiers and the young men of the nation.”
“And women,” Logan interrupted.
“What did you say?” Pillar demanded.
“And women.” Logan raised his voice. “There are women in our military, and one would presume when you were speaking with Whitney about protecting the male soldiers, you would include the female soldiers as well.”
Logan used just the right note of sarcasm to provoke Pillar. Before Pillar could speak, General Ranier did. “Logan, please stop interrupting.”
Logan raised an eyebrow, turning toward the general. “Really, sir? You didn’t think the women should be included? I feel it’s a very pertinent point that they weren’t included, considering that Whitney was already experimenting on female children. We know he acquired these girls as infants and toddlers.”
“They were unwanted,” Pillar burst out. “Throwaways. Their own families got rid of them. Whitney gave them a purpose. He fed and clothed them. He provided an education for them. These girls had more training and education than most females in this country have ever gotten,” he defended. “Let’s circle back to the real problem. The needless death of soldiers. We knew, thanks to Luther Gunthrie, that one soldier of his caliber could be worth a battalion. He, alone, saved many lives and continued to do so throughout the years.”
Diego knew that was very true. He knew Luther, and the man was nearly unstoppable.
“Once it was established that a genetically altered soldier could be sent out with specific orders to take out the enemy without being seen, we knew we had to create more. We were excited.”
“We?” Ranier prompted. “You and Whitney?”
“There were others. The idea was taken to the vice president and two senators. We kept the circle small. I had asked permission to share with Whitney. He was our top go-to man and got things done. There is no doubt of his patriotism. Once he knew about Luther, he immediately went to work figuring out how to improve on our odds of creating a supersoldier. Too many hadn’t measured up, and we couldn’t figure out why. Whitney spent several years developing a protocol for the two laboratories to follow. While there have been things that have gone wrong, and I’ll admit that, having Luther and all of the GhostWalkers proving we save soldier’s lives every time they are sent out on a mission balances the negative.”