“Interesting,” he murmured as though he too could sense what Rule was doing and how he was doing it.
That intuition, the animal senses that were strong to begin with, were suddenly off the scale, and what Rule sensed was far more than he bet Gideon understood.
This wasn’t the insane creature the Breeds had faced before. There was no insanity here. Cunning, intelligence, determination and . . .
Son of a bitch, that striped bastard held such affection for Amber that Rule nearly reeled from the knowledge of it.
Gideon shook his head and sighed before turning back to Jonas. “She’ll be ill for a few more months,” he told the director matter-of-factly. “She hasn’t been slipping away from you, Director, merely slipping away from the human moorings she once held. Once Brandenmore injected her, he began changing things within her. To ensure her future health, to ensure her life, I took it upon myself to complete what he started.”
The backs of his fingers brushed against the little girl’s face.
“You did what?” That was fear in Jonas’s voice, Rule thought.
Gideon’s lips quirked. “You see such secrets, such forms as to make a man believe he’s lost his mind. What you didn’t see, couldn’t yet see, was the fact that this sweet child was dying before Brandenmore touched her.”
“He’s lying,” Rachel gasped weakly. “It’s a trick, Jonas.”
Gideon glanced at her sympathetically before turning back to the director. “The file is in her crib. Brandenmore’s codes, encryptions and formulas for this particular serum. The same serum both Honor and the other were given.” Demonic fury flickered momentarily in his gaze as Amber laid her small head against his chest and jabbered something softly.
“Yes, sprite, Gi-gi is fine,” he promised gently, almost smiling back at Jonas. “A treasure you have here, Jonas,” he stated then. “A very unique one. Get the files to Ely. The serum that will complete her recovery is contained there as well. As we both know, she’s not fully recovered from her ordeal. You’ll learn why in the papers I left.”
“You’re not leaving,” Jonas snarled.
Gideon chuckled. “It was a great game we’ve been playing, my friend, and perhaps one day soon, we can sit down and discuss it, but that day is not today.”
“The hell it isn’t,” Jonas retorted furiously.
Rule knew the instant the Bengal decided the discussion was at an end. And exactly how he intended to end it.
“Catch.”
Amber flew from his arms as Gideon jumped through the open balcony doors to the two-man stealth copter that suddenly flew past.
Just that fast he was gone.
Just that fast, both Jonas and Rule missed the tiny child flying through the room as she giggled gleefully.
She wasn’t flung into the wall. She didn’t fall to the floor.
Rule watched in amazement as she was suddenly suspended from the ceiling, the nearly invisible lines holding her aloft a familiar sensation for the child, if he wasn’t mistaken.
“How?” Jonas whispered as both he and Rachel watched as their child bounced happily in the air. “How the hell did he pull this off?”
Rule looked from the baby, to Jonas, then back again.
He cleared his throat.
“Do you think he’s related to Dane?” he asked then, knowing Jonas wouldn’t miss the backhanded insult.