READER SHOUT OUT: This chapter is dedicated to DespinyaNY (again!) for being the most mind-bogglingly supportive reader and friend. I am truly lost for words (and that is saying something!) Your generosity of spirit, and sharing is an example to me. Thank you for offering so much love in this world.
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~ SASHA ~
Stunned into silence by what Nick was implying, Sasha sat in the back seat of the Suburban and looked out the window, though she barely saw the passing trees that turned into pastures, and then scattered homesteads.
"I don't believe you," she said finally. "I wasn't in contact with any of your people before Zev came to get me. You're playing with my mind. Making me question—"
"Sasha, I'm a manipulative bastard, I'll admit it. I know how to play people like musical instruments, and I won't apologize for it. It's served me well. Especially with Zev. You might have noticed our favorite young man has a little tendency to run straight into danger without thinking about how it will affect him. Especially when something—or someone—he loves is threatened."
"What's that got to do with—"
"I could see it coming," Nick said. "I knew he was going to break. He was fooling himself, but I could see it as plainly as I can see my own hand in front of my face. He was falling apart. Which meant he was coming for you. And that meant we had to be prepared. We'd had eyes on you since high school, he told you that, right?"
"Yes," she said through her teeth. "And he told me how you manipulated him back then, made him believe you'd kill me if he didn't come back—"
"That wasn't manipulation. I wasn't lying."
Sasha blinked. Nick was staring at her in the rear-view mirror of the car, his eyes clear and focused, right on her. He would glance down to check the road, but he wasn't avoiding her.
"That's sick," she said, finally.
Nick snorted. "That's a very polite way to describe the men I work for, Sasha. See, you and Zev suffer the same affliction: You're so busy caring about other people, you forget to remember there are people in this world who not only don't give a flying fuck about you—or anyone else. Who'll actively use others, just for kicks."
"I'm not so na?ve—"
"Hold that thought," Nick interrupted rudely. "Because you need to understand: We had eyes on you all this time, because we always planned to use you. We sent Zev into the human population specifically to find his match—which we were pretty confident was you, right from the start. But we left him too long. Your bond grew too strong. We couldn't afford to have him cement the bond that early. So I had to yank his chain. And I wasn't lying when I did. We were confident Zev could bond with more than one person—just like a human. That he needed time for intimacy to grow, and trust. But that when he found the right kind of woman, he'd find the bond too.
"But it happened to soon. Too quickly. We thought you were both too young to make the Chimeran bond. But after you had sex… well, let's just say my bosses almost pulled you in then. I was the one who had to convince them that you both needed to grow up. You can thank me later."
Sasha gaped. "Thank you? For stealing Zev from me?"
"For letting you both grow up a little before you had to face this!"
"Face what?" Sasha snarled. "That you sick people are trying to use humans for your experiments like… lab rats?!"
"Almost. You haven't gone far enough, Sasha. You need to face the fact that your entire life already has been controlled and manipulated, and that you already are just one more lab rat whether you want to be, or not."
"I am not a lab rat! I haven't had anything to do with you people until now."
"That you know of."
Sasha scoffed. "Watching me is not the same as—"
"Having teachers in place that you confide in, who can point you in the direction we want you to go? Or what about a private investigator, who's just affordable—and who stumbles on some very crucial information no one else ever found?"
Sasha's mouth fell open. That had happened. After Zev's disappearance her parents had met a private investigator at dinner one evening, and he'd been so helpful… At least, Sasha had thought…
"What about people in the sandwich place where you buy lunch for work? Or having the landlord in your building on the payroll so our people could play with the water supply without getting caught?"
He locked eyes with her in the mirror.
"You wouldn't. You didn't!"
"That's child's play for these people, Sasha. This is what I'm trying to tell you. You have to set your mind loose. There's no boundaries here except whether or not something will bring them to the place they're aiming to go. No boundaries at all. Not lying, not violence, not even death. I work for men that would shoot your father just for asking the wrong question, if it caused fewer problems than it solved. These people are ruthless, and Zev is their number one asset. They will do anything to bring him to his fullest potential. They've spent billions on this project in the past fifty years, and they won't stop—as long as they're certain the endgame is still in sight.
"But if you take away their endgame… if you make it impossible for them to reach where they want to go, they will wipe the board clean and start again. No apologies. No accountability. You will be done, and the only person who will grieve you is me. And Zev. If he lives through it."
Sasha opened her mouth to tell him that Zev wouldn't, then closed it again. Knowledge is power. That's what Zev had said.
She swallowed the words back and shifted in her seat. The picture Nick was painting…
"Wh-what endgame?" she asked hoarsely.
Nick took a deep breath. "A whole new race of humans who are bigger, smarter, faster, that can heal themselves… and who are fighting machines, capable of withstanding higher and lower temperatures and still functioning at ninety percent, self-sufficient, and resilient. A people who mature faster, grow faster, and live longer, you name it, they do it. In short… Zev."
"So, they made Zev. What does that have to do with me?"
"I said a race, Sasha. Didn't Zev tell you what he's been doing for the past three years? Didn't he tell you what they tried?"
"Yes," she snapped. "I don't need to hear about that."
"You do if it will snap you out of this dream world and into reality. Because if you don't talk to them in a language they understand, this is going to go really, really badly for you, really fast."
He kept staring at her and it made her skin itch. What was it he wanted her to say? To do? She understood that these people were ruthless, that they saw Zev as some kind of animal. But her?
"What? What?!" she asked angrily. "What language do I need to speak?"
"The language where your offspring are the answer to their prayers," Nick growled. "Wake up, Sasha. Every step they take, every penny they spend, it's all to make sure that Zev will father a nation of people that is their future." Nick caught the shock and dismay in her face and sighed again. "They call this Project Abraham, Sasha. Do you get it yet? Offspring as numerous as the stars, that's the goal. And you? You're their meal ticket. Because the only female on earth Zev can have children with, is you."
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