“So how did Melissa shooting Morgan and nearly kidnapping Sheridan play into this?” Gunnar drawled.
Jack shot him a look of pure venom. “Fuck off, Tersch. I didn't see you ripping through her disguise, did I?”
“No, but I didn't marry her.”
“Neither did I.” Jack swore. “Fuck. Melissa's precious Lonnie, Robert Leonard Anderson, is a powerful psychic big into mind control. All he needs is physical contact. He and I met weekly, supposedly on behalf of the admiral, when he'd actually reinforce his influence. The cocksucker had me believing I'd married Melissa and that we were working to help protect you guys. When she turned information over to her 'source,' I never batted an eye. I thought it was for Admiral London.
“When those rogues shot me, it broke his hold over me. Melissa escaped, Morgan was shot, and I started to understand I'd been played for a fool.”
“Why not explain the situation to us?” Jules asked.
“Mrs. Sharpe wasn't happy, and when she's not happy, she's scary. The woman planned on isolating me until she pulled the whole truth of my presence here. But I couldn't wait.” Jack turned to Ava. “Grayson contacted me a while back. He helped me avoid Mrs. Sharpe long enough to learn a few things. Together, we've been working to uncover Anderson's involvement in it all.”
“Grayson's been captured.” Gunnar tossed the information out.
“Shit. You sure?” Jack rubbed his hand over his eyes. “More mess we don't need.”
Ava felt bad for him. “He'll be okay. Grayson told me they're holding him in a place Melissa knows about. A place she thinks of as her personal fortress away from home that she calls her playhouse. If you can find her, we'll get him out. I called Anderson a few days ago looking for Grayson, so he knows we know my brother is missing.
“According to the information Grayson sent me, Anderson is using the psychic shielders of the PWP on a special project, so our attempts at astral projection and remote viewing to find Grayson haven't turned up squat. The PWP guys think they're holding the bad guy at bay, but they're actually working for the bad guy.” Jack lit up with a fierce energy that put Ava and the Circs on guard. Weird shadows flickered over his skin, like stripes almost. Then they vanished as if they'd never been. “I know where she is.”
Admiral London nodded. “If anyone can do it, Jack can. He was gifted before he joined the PWP. I'm sorry my people are being used against us right now, but they're actually quite a boon to our government. Folks like Jack have been around for a while, working for me.”
“Like Keegan Price?” Gunnar wanted to know, his gaze hard on Ava.
She forced herself to pretend a calm she didn't feel. Oh boy. She hadn't wanted to explain her past in detail just yet.
Lonnie glanced from Gunnar to her and back. “Keegan Price is one of my best men. He worked with Ava a while back, but that information is classified. Sorry, Gunnar.”
“Me too. Because I'm not buying any of this shit.”
“It's true.” Jesse sighed. “All of it. He and Jack might be trying to bullshit us, but they can't hide their thoughts for long. As it is, the admiral is starting to worry that he hasn't found Mrs. Sharpe yet. Jack can't stop thinking about wrapping his hands around Melissa's neck and squeezing.”
Everyone studied Jack.
“I was married to her for a year, except I wasn't. Can you blame me for wanting payback?”
Jules grunted. “Not really. She fucked with the wrong woman when she messed with Sheridan.”
“Try being forced to acknowledge a tie to a woman you know you don't love.
You don't understand why you can't leave. You don't want her, but you can't help yourself. And she's sick. Really, really twisted in ways you can't imagine.” Jack's harsh whisper disturbed her. What had Melissa done to him?
Jesse frowned. “But why stay? Was her hold on you that strong?”
“You're not listening to what he said.” Lonnie shook his head. “It wasn't Melissa. She's a shielder as well as a telekinetic with advanced ability. But it's her Lonnie—Robert Anderson—who's the master at work. As I understand it, when he met with Jack weekly, he took bits of old memory while shoving new memories down his throat. After a while, he burned out Jack's ability to protect himself.”
“Wow, Jack. I'm sorry.” Ava commiserated. “I can see why you want to get even.”
“Not get even, get justice. Anderson and Melissa hurt a lot of people.” His eyes darkened. “She especially deserves what's coming to her.”
Gunnar nodded. “Yeah. Because of her, Montaña hurt Ava and nearly killed Jules.”
“No. She had little to do with Montaña. That was Anderson's doing,” Jack explained. “He used Montaña to manufacture that drug to take out the PWP
because they were starting to detect a traitor in their midst. Him.” Jack's eyes flashed. “But then he realized the drug had potential. It wouldn't hurt the Circs, and it made some of them psychic. He's been farming out rogue Circs to foreign countries since the projects started.”
“Where's he getting them?” Jules asked.
“From a lot of different places. Delancey and Montaña were just two of his sources. There are more. But now that we know who he is, we just need to know where to strike next to take him down. I'm going after Melissa. I'll send Grayson back in one piece.”
“Jack,” the admiral tried.
“I'll do it. No one else needs to die for my stupidity.” Ava thought he was being a bit hard on himself. But then another problem presented itself.
A hard female voice yelled from just beyond the conference room. “Ava!” She paled. “Oh shit. Grandma's back. And she's pissed! We need to get Lonnie out of here, ASAP.”
Before anyone could move, the door to the conference room burst open, knocking Gunnar back a step. Instead of her petite grandmother, a raging beast with snout, snarl, and fangs hurled herself inside like the Big Bad Wolf.
“He's innocent, Grandma.” Ava made the mistake of stepping between her grandmother and Lonnie.
The eight-feet-tall monster that used to be a tiny woman slapped her across the face and into a nearby wall.
Gunnar roared, his voice deepened, and chaos reigned as everyone tried to calm a transforming berserker and Ava's furry, clawed grandmother.
“Down, Tersch,” Jules commanded. “I'll handle this.” Fallon attempted to soothe Alicia. “Easy, Mrs. Sharpe. Let's talk about this.
Lonnie's innocent.”
“Lies,” her grandmother rasped. Talk about a berserker. Her grandmother, when changed, normally appeared like Ava's beast. A slightly larger version of herself with claws, fangs, and incredibly enhanced agility and strength that appeared like a hazy film of savagery over her human frame. But unlike Ava, Alicia had another level of beast, an angrier, deadlier version that rarely appeared. Her grandmother's angry intensity rivaled Gunnar's berserker.
Ava blinked, and as the room came back into focus, she saw Gunnar in front of her. No longer a beast, now the berserker had come to play. Hell. His black, white, and blue striated eyes fixed on her grandmother, who had yet to look away from Lonnie.
Lonnie, to Ava's surprise, didn't back down. He yelled back at Alicia, “How could you think I'd turn against you? After everything we've been through? You could honestly think I'd try to hurt you?”
Alicia lifted him by his throat and shoved him up against a wall.
“Do it, then. Cut me in half,” he dared her, shaken, distressed. “There's nothing for me without you, Alicia.”