Read Online Essentially Human by Maureen O. Betita - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Maureen O. Betita
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fumed. Damned women had no business yielding authority. How dare that fat old cow question his evidence? He was the security expert. With a grin on his face, he contemplated seeing the bitch’s career ruined. He could do it, easily.
Now, Professor Hermione Bale provided a different challenge. He couldn’t just fabricate a scandal for that one. He sensed a great depth to her and immediately set his agents to uncovering her secrets. She wanted her boss back and wasn’t happy at his being a turncoat, but she’d accept it. She didn’t have a choice. He’d enjoy watching her twist and turn in the breeze. Before he finished, she’d be blinking in confusion and begging him to cover her ass however he wanted to do it.
He looked forward to that.
With that thought dancing across his mind, he bent to the current matter at hand. T’talin had lied to his father about that idiot author. He studied the computer records from Agent Montgomery’s team at HRSD and had to admire the detail they went into. He had no doubt it was the author. Though the Aleena developing a clone fell within the realm of possibility. It depended on how severely she’d been injured jumping from that ship. Every expert his father spoke to said she died on impact.
His mother threw every resource she commanded trying to find the stupid witch, but even she eventually admitted to defeat. She’d left them, ten years before Aster’s suicide, to work for the Save the Seas Foundation after hearing the writer at a convention. His father signed a huge settlement after she agreed to only use her maiden name and keep Hammer out of the membership roster. Years earlier, when his wife had discovered the author and grown more and more polluted by her agenda, he’d negotiated all the funds she needed to indulge herself, but only if she went to conventions under an assumed name.
Too bad he hadn’t known how poisonous her writing would be. He’s lost a wife and Alfred his mother, to the romance writer. And now her existence, or her clone’s existence, threatened the kingdom he’d built. He wanted her dead, or suffering. He didn’t care if they’d managed to revive her and strip fifty years from her or if they’d cloned her. Either way, he’d have her in his labs and under a microscope soon. Or he’d reveal the Aleena and see the fires of hell fell on them.
Imagine how the country would react to discover the real enemy maneuvered off the coastline, capable of infiltrating every river and lake? T’talin may have enough backbone to mislead him, but in the end, the alien would lose and surrender their prize. She must mean a great deal to them, considering the risk they took to retrieve her.
And Agent Montgomery? If he lived, he would be the ultimate scapegoat.
Alfred bent his attention to the reports, first making a quick note to look at Montgomery’s team for weak spots. If nothing else, that sort of man could be manipulated by threatening his team.
*****
Harold looked her in the eye. “We’re going up against Hammer Industries?”
“You rather let them paint Montgomery as a terrorist?” Hermione lifted an eyebrow.
“No. You’re certain this isn’t a mistake?”
“I’m certain this is a frame-up. I don’t know what Hammer is covering up and that is part of why we are meeting. No online notes, no recorded data. We do this strictly old school. And we will discover the underlying reason behind the rewriting of history.” She held up a paperback book. “I bought this the evening we brought that woman to the base. And despite Hammer’s manipulating the electronic trail, he can’t remake paper. The woman Sam handcuffed himself to wasn’t this Hadasa Jefla.”
She opened the back cover and passed the book around. “That is who the Ballard pulled from a raft. Whether surgery made her look like this…”
Drum shook his head. “No scars, no signs of surgery of any sort.”
“All right, then someone perfected cloning or a cure for suicide and
Now, Professor Hermione Bale provided a different challenge. He couldn’t just fabricate a scandal for that one. He sensed a great depth to her and immediately set his agents to uncovering her secrets. She wanted her boss back and wasn’t happy at his being a turncoat, but she’d accept it. She didn’t have a choice. He’d enjoy watching her twist and turn in the breeze. Before he finished, she’d be blinking in confusion and begging him to cover her ass however he wanted to do it.
He looked forward to that.
With that thought dancing across his mind, he bent to the current matter at hand. T’talin had lied to his father about that idiot author. He studied the computer records from Agent Montgomery’s team at HRSD and had to admire the detail they went into. He had no doubt it was the author. Though the Aleena developing a clone fell within the realm of possibility. It depended on how severely she’d been injured jumping from that ship. Every expert his father spoke to said she died on impact.
His mother threw every resource she commanded trying to find the stupid witch, but even she eventually admitted to defeat. She’d left them, ten years before Aster’s suicide, to work for the Save the Seas Foundation after hearing the writer at a convention. His father signed a huge settlement after she agreed to only use her maiden name and keep Hammer out of the membership roster. Years earlier, when his wife had discovered the author and grown more and more polluted by her agenda, he’d negotiated all the funds she needed to indulge herself, but only if she went to conventions under an assumed name.
Too bad he hadn’t known how poisonous her writing would be. He’s lost a wife and Alfred his mother, to the romance writer. And now her existence, or her clone’s existence, threatened the kingdom he’d built. He wanted her dead, or suffering. He didn’t care if they’d managed to revive her and strip fifty years from her or if they’d cloned her. Either way, he’d have her in his labs and under a microscope soon. Or he’d reveal the Aleena and see the fires of hell fell on them.
Imagine how the country would react to discover the real enemy maneuvered off the coastline, capable of infiltrating every river and lake? T’talin may have enough backbone to mislead him, but in the end, the alien would lose and surrender their prize. She must mean a great deal to them, considering the risk they took to retrieve her.
And Agent Montgomery? If he lived, he would be the ultimate scapegoat.
Alfred bent his attention to the reports, first making a quick note to look at Montgomery’s team for weak spots. If nothing else, that sort of man could be manipulated by threatening his team.
*****
Harold looked her in the eye. “We’re going up against Hammer Industries?”
“You rather let them paint Montgomery as a terrorist?” Hermione lifted an eyebrow.
“No. You’re certain this isn’t a mistake?”
“I’m certain this is a frame-up. I don’t know what Hammer is covering up and that is part of why we are meeting. No online notes, no recorded data. We do this strictly old school. And we will discover the underlying reason behind the rewriting of history.” She held up a paperback book. “I bought this the evening we brought that woman to the base. And despite Hammer’s manipulating the electronic trail, he can’t remake paper. The woman Sam handcuffed himself to wasn’t this Hadasa Jefla.”
She opened the back cover and passed the book around. “That is who the Ballard pulled from a raft. Whether surgery made her look like this…”
Drum shook his head. “No scars, no signs of surgery of any sort.”
“All right, then someone perfected cloning or a cure for suicide and
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