Read Online Burned: Black Cipher Files #3 (Black Cipher Files series) by Lisa Hughey - Free Book Online

operation,” Jamie said firmly, quietly. “There’s no way Chen and her dead partner had the authority to engineer everything on their own. They had to have help at the highest level.”
    Zeke knew that. Knew Jamie was right. He had a vested interest in discovering the traitor who had let Chen and her partner experiment on espionage agents, but he had to tread with extreme caution.
    Because if David Armbruster, the Assistant Director of the NSA, found out he’d been anywhere near Susan Chen he was fucked.
    “I realize that, but—”
    “What’s going on at your end?” Jamie asked suspiciously.
    Besides the fact that he was an idiot and unbelievably attracted to his surveillance subject? Besides the fact that he’d broken a cardinal rule of surveillance and actually had extended contact with his subject? Besides the fact that he’d kissed his surveillance subject and, frankly if he had the chance, he’d probably kiss her again?
    “Nothing.” The only threat that he could see to Sunshine Smith was himself. “It’s quiet.”
    “What if sending you there wasn’t just a hunch?” Jamie asked. “San Luis is extremely close to Cambria. She’d have access to a lab, and maybe to a test subject. After all the first round of subjects who’d been given the drug were part of Department 5491.”
    Zeke’s heart froze. Chen’s original experiments had not been a success. For all they knew she could be looking for new subjects. And for some reason they didn’t understand, her test subjects were all from the same genetic pool.
    “She could be after Sunshine.” Jamie’s words speared worry through his heart. Logically it didn’t make sense that Susan Chen would go after Sunshine, assuming she could even find her. Sunshine had been off the grid in a major way. However Chen had access to all sorts of information and resources that she shouldn’t have had. So what if Jamie were right?
    “Shit, do you think so?” But as he examined the idea, he thought it was possible. They only knew about the agents that had been injected. What if she was looking for a new batch of test subjects?
    Patterns. Patterns everywhere. The pattern was there, even if he couldn’t see it right now. Zeke said fiercely, “She can’t hurt Sunshine.”
    “Why does that upset you so much?” Jamie’s voice was soft in his ear.
    Jamie couldn’t possibly have figured out he was a little obsessed with his surveillance subject, could she?
    He stayed silent and Jamie continued, “The only people given the original drug and antidote are in the 5491 file. Chen could be going after the others who hadn’t been given the drug. Sunshine, Bella, and ADA, whoever that is.”
    “But the original experiment subjects were...agents,” he argued. “People with secrets. People with security clearance.”
    But if Zeke thought about it, Sunshine clearly had secrets too or she wouldn’t have stayed hidden for the last thirteen years.
    “Who’s to say Chen hasn’t gotten ready to start up again with new subjects? She is frantic to make an effective antidote. And to test the antidote you have to have the drug first.”
    Exposing herself to capture did not seem like a smart or even viable plan to lay low, which surely should be Susan Chen’s course of action. Especially if she wasn’t going after her daughter. Zeke couldn’t see it. Sunshine didn’t fit the pattern.
    But what if Jamie was right and Chen was planning on using Sunshine and others as new test subjects?
    Over his dead body. Susan Chen was not getting her hands on Sunshine. She was not continuing her experiments and fucking up that woman’s life. No effing way.
    Suddenly everything clicked, as if his whole life he’d been fractured, a little off. The reason for his inability to connect with people, the reason he saw patterns in random facts and numbers. He refused to let anyone become a threat to Sunshine.
    So if that meant finding Susan Chen and making sure she didn’t get anywhere near