Masked (27 page)

“What’s he talking about?” came a voice that was an instant relief to Roman. He turned to see Charlotte walking out from the shadows, her slight body blending in with the night. The rebels with her had guns pointed at everyone, their eyes alert to both parties before them. From the other side came more, and suddenly Roman found himself surrounded by even more enemies. Ludwig wanted to draw out the rebels, and it looked like he had won the lottery. He just wasn’t sure who was going to come out on top at the end of it all.

Charlotte was being pulled back before she’d even registered what was happening. The room had exploded into gunfire in a matter of seconds after her father made his presence known. By the time she realized what had happened, she was already tucked behind a table, squished between the underside and Pete’s body.

Everything was in utter chaos. Phoenix and the girls were behind another table, along with Trent, all of them shooting back. Charlotte had tried her best to push Pete off her, but he wouldn’t move until Seamus had finally led them toward the open doorway at the side of the building. Thankfully most of her father’s soldiers and the New World ones were too focused on each other to notice the lot of them escaping.

It hadn’t taken them long to hear the voices of her father and Ludwig just a ways down from where they’d exited. Charlotte had watched the interaction in stunned silence, confused by the familiarity between her father and Ludwig. As far as she’d known, neither man really knew the other, aside from things they’d heard through the soldiers. But she wasn’t fooled, as she stood there in the shadows offered by the building behind her. She could tell that there was a history between them that she’d been unaware of, and finally curiosity got the better of her.

She stood now, facing her father, who had Bridgette at gun point still. Her blood boiled just seeing it, but she fought back the desire to rush him and risk her sister’s safety.

“Tell your men to put their weapons down, Charlotte,” he father commanded in his bored voice. It was the same one he’d use with her as a child whenever he thought she was doing something stupid. She hated that tone. If he didn’t have her sister she would have told him to sod off right then.

Tyler stood across from her, his eyes hard. She watched him hesitate for a moment before dropping his weapon along with the others. Roman and Ludwig stood silently to the side, seemingly unarmed as well. Her father appeared to have the upper hand right then and it was scaring the crap out of her.

“And women,” Sam said, dropping her gun.

Douglas turned to look at her with the coldest stare, one that often made Charlotte sweat a little, but Sam seemed completely unaffected. Her opinion of the other girl was raised a little right then.

“Answer my question,” Charlotte said, refocusing.

“It’s nothing,” her father said, brushing her off. “Ludwig is just trying to play the mind games he’s so good at.”

Ludwig laughed. For some reason Charlotte seemed more inclined to believe the words coming out of the New World leader’s mouth than she did her own father. “I’m not playing any mind games, Douglas, and you know it.”

“I’m confused,” Charlotte admitted. “Do you two know each other?”

She watched as they looked at one another. Ludwig had a small, smug grin on his face, while her father looked about ready to shoot him right then and there. Their silence was only pissing her off more.

“Father used to work for him,” Bridgette offered. Charlotte looked to her sister, even more confused than before. Her sister shrugged, or tried to in their father’s grasp. “That’s as much as I know.”

“He certainly did,” Ludwig said, his smile growing. “He was one of my most brilliant and promising scientists.”

Charlotte looked to her father, stunned. “Scientists?” Since when was her father a scientist? He was…she stopped. What was he? Now that she thought about it, she wasn’t sure what her father had done before the rebellion happened.

“He’d been working on a very special project for me when he decided to steal it and disappear. How else do you think I knew which house was his?” Ludwig was looking at her when she turned back to him. His eyes told her he was telling the truth. It wasn’t often that the New World leader would lie to her, at least she hadn’t thought so until now. Obviously there was a lot he’d never told her.

“What kind of special project?” she asked, her voice just barely above a whisper, caught in the emotion now clogging her throat. A loud click had her head snapping toward her father who was now pointing the gun at Ludwig.

“I’m done with this,” he stated. “You’re done, Tennebris. Your reign over this city is over.”

Ludwig laughed, despite the firearm aimed in his direction. “And what,
you’re
going to be the one to free the people?” He laughed harder. “Don’t be obtuse, Hatcher. We both know you’re no more the hero than I am. The only reason you want me gone is so you can have my supremacy.” His eyes looked at Charlotte then slowly over to her sister. “I think we both know how obsessed you are with obtaining power.”

Charlotte glanced at Roman and stopped when she saw he was staring back at her. His eyes looked sad or guilty, she wasn’t sure which. She had the distinct impression that Roman knew what was not being said between her father and Ludwig. Then something glimmered there in his look, his eyes flashing as if he were silently trying to communicate with her. Subtly, he nodded his head toward Ludwig, giving her a pointed look. She understood immediately.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

They continued to spar verbally with one another, while everyone seemed content to just stand around and witness it. Charlotte closed her eyes and senses to it all, focusing inward.

It didn’t take much energy to open her mind since she’d been keeping it partially open the entire time they’d been inside the party, worried that someone might notice her or the others. She’d been listening in on private thoughts, however nothing useful had come from it. On the contrary, the Uppers seemed ridiculously self-centred and oblivious.

Now she forced her mental hands outward toward Ludwig, something she’d never done before. Truthfully, it had never even crossed her mind to search the New World leader. From what she knew from the outside, she could only imagine the horrors that would be found within. Horrors she was more than willing to avoid by keeping as far away from his inner thoughts as possible. But now things were different. They were keeping something from her, and Charlotte wanted to know what. Whatever it was, it wouldn’t be hard to find since they’d just been talking about it. Ludwig’s thoughts and memories of his past dealings with her father would be in the forefront, a walk in the park for Charlotte.

She pushed forward, ignoring his internal calculations of how to defuse the situation, although taking note of the fact that he was waiting on a troop of men who were, even now, climbing to the rooftops of the surrounding buildings. Say what you wanted of the New World army, but no one could deny they were well trained. Charlotte had no doubt that they took notice of Ludwig’s absence only shortly after he’d arrived here, meaning they’d been calling for reinforcements immediately. If her father didn’t make a move, or if
they
didn’t for that matter, they were all likely to either be shot or arrested in mere moments.

Moving around these thoughts, she looked for the ones she wanted finding them easily. There it was, the explanation as to how he knew her father. He did, in fact, work for him. Ludwig hadn’t been lying about that. Not that she’d thought he had, but it was nice to know for sure. It was what her father did for him that had the blood draining from her face, a cold, sickening feeling washing over her. It couldn’t be true. She dug deeper, finding the evidence there, knowing that it couldn’t be denied. Her father’s betrayal so deep and hurtful, she knew there would be no coming back from it.

Charlotte’s eyes popped open, going straight to her father who was in the middle of some rant that she couldn’t hear over the rushing sound in her ears. She could feel Roman watching her closely. He must have known she knew now. She could practically taste his sympathy in the air. A hand gripped her waist, a familiar voice calling her name softly in her ear. Pete. His voice was questioning and urgent, trying to get her attention.

But she couldn’t look away from the man who had help to bring her into this world. The man who seemed more dedicated to his own aspirations in life than he was in his own flesh and blood. She hated him, more than ever.

“How could you?” she said. It wasn’t loud, but he heard her, his words stopping midsentence as he looked over to meet her gaze. She saw the realization in his eyes that she knew. There would be no denying it now. “We’re your daughters.”

“All the more reason to make you
more.
”

“
More
?” she asked, even more disgust filling her, causing her chest to ache. Was there no end to this man’s madness?

“What are you talking about?” Bridgette asked, looking between them. Her eyes landed and stayed on Charlotte. “Charlie, what’s going on?”

“He used us as test subjects,” Charlotte said, choking on her words. Her entire body wanted nothing more than to shy away from those words. Saying them out loud seemed to somehow make them even worse.

“Charlotte, love?” Pete’s voice entreated. “What are you talking about?”

Her mouth had gone dry, her hands shaking by her side as she stared at Bridgette. “Ludwig hired him to create a drug that would enhance humans, give them heightened senses and abilities. He wanted to make an army of super humans. Father was the head scientist on the project for years. But their tests kept failing,” Charlotte said, her heart growing heavier with each word. “The men and women would die from unexpected side-effects, or simply exhibit no changes at all.”

“That’s enough,” her father said loudly.

Tears blurred her vision as she continued, looking to him now. He stared back at her, his jaw tight, eyes narrowed.

“He thought, perhaps, what they needed to do was start the treatments earlier. He figured if they gave them to children when they were still developing, their bodies might accept them better. So he decided to try with his own children, knowing very well that no parent would willingly give up their child to something so dangerous.”

“You were his first success,” Ludwig said. His voice sounded anything but pleased with that information. “Well, first known success,” he continued. “I’m assuming you’ve realized something about Bridgette since you’ve been so eager to retrieve her.”

Charlotte saw Bridgette stiffen, her eyes flashing to Roman’s. Charlotte wasn’t aware of any special abilities her sister might have. She stopped. Or did she? Hadn’t Lake and Seamus said something about her fighting skills? Was that it? Did Bridgette have some sort of enhanced reflexes? It would make sense, since Bridgette would have never been in a fight until now. When else would she have been able to demonstrate such skills? It was no wonder their father had never noticed.

“I was your first success, and yet you still ignored me,” Charlotte said, the ache of the child she’d once been still fresh.

“I couldn’t,” he said simply. “Ludwig would have realized it had worked. I had to hide you.”

“That’s why you’ve been searching for him for so long?” Charlotte asked, looking to Ludwig.

“At first I was simply looking for him because he stole every single note and document we had. One day his lab was completely cleaned out. I knew then he planned on taking what I had started and using it to his own advantage. Once I met you, I realized he actually managed to make it work. Then, of course, I needed to find him in order to get the drugs back. I couldn’t very well let something of that magnitude stay in another’s hand.” He swallowed, his face grim. “I don’t condone what he did to you, Lottey,” he said, using her nickname for the first time since she’d known him. “It sickened me when I realized what a risk he’d put you at by giving you something we had no idea the effects of. Right then I knew I had to keep you safe from him. I had to make up for what he’d done, especially since I’m the one who’d started it all.”

A tear slipped down her face.

“You could have killed us,” she heard Bridgette whisper. “How many more are there?”

“I’m not answering that,” her father replied. There wasn’t a note of remorse in his voice.

“I always knew you were a cold hearted man,” her sister said, “but even I couldn’t have ever imagined just how deep that coldness ran. You disgust me.”

Charlotte saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Then once again, everything went to hell.