Betrayal: Book 3 of the Guardians Saga

CH. 8.2 Honestly

A/N: Please listen to the music video. I think it enhances the chapter

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"I knew you would be along eventually." The grey-suited man on the brothers' couch lit a cigarette. "Which one of you is Gabe? I'm looking for Alex Robertson, Richardson, or Brown, or whichever last name she's using."

Gabe drew his sword. "You shouldn't be the one asking any questions.  Who are you?  How do you know about Alex?  What do you want with her?"

Cale drew his sword and flanked him.

Grange lifted an eyebrow. "Alex didn't tell you about me? Well, she has reasons for her secrets.  I'm from the agency.  Alex has done a few jobs for me lately, but she stood me up this morning and I want to find her."

"You're from the agency? What do you want with Alex?  I don't believe you," Gabe said, rapid fire.

Grange flipped open a leather billet and tossed it over to them.  "Good enough?"

"If you're from the agency, ask Brockner where she is." Cale examined the badge and flipped the billet back to him.

Granger caught it expertly . "Brockner? What do you know about Brockner? Is Alex with him now? Brockner is dangerous and we need to find her."

The man's  cool demeanor cracked. His eyes hardened, his lips thinned in anger and he hand clenched over his badge, knuckles white.

"Perhaps I should explain." Cale sheathed his sword.

***

It took a little while, but Cale told as complete a version as he knew.

"I certainly hope you didn't buy that load of crap from Brockner." Grange rocked back on his heels. "Didn't Alex tell you she was assigned to trap Brockner?"

"Sort of." Cale eyed his silent, angry, eldest brother and decided to not tell Grange the whole scenario.

"So why did you believe him? Even if you didn't totally trust Alex, don't you think Brockner was a bit prone to exaggeration?"  Grange sounded puzzled by their attitude. "'Power to make anyone love her'." He snorted in derision. "Where did he get that, a bad 1950's science fiction movie?"

"What can you tell us about her powers?" Gabe, flushed an embarrassed deep gold color, and he examined his sword's edge.

"Her flying ability comes from a nuclear fission slipstream generator in her chest, so she can fly whenever she is conscious. Her powers are neuro-electric from cultured organic grafts, stimulating various portions of the nervous system of her target. It certainly does not make her target fall in love with her. Those powers take a toll on her, so she needs a lot of sleep to regenerate her own nervous system.

"We've suspected that Brockner was a mole for awhile, but we hadn't had much luck pinning anything on him.  When he became interested in project AL-X, we figured it would be a perfect trap for him.  When he chose Alex for the project, he picked his own predator.  He saw exactly what we wanted him to. We faked that murder on her training mission. It made her irresistible to him and he chose her.  She was no psychopath."

Grange shook his head at them. "She was an overly eager raw recruit who happened to perfectly fit the necessary biophysical profile.  When she found out, there wasn't a day that went by that she wasn't trying to receive the implants.  It was all she cared about. Brockner made his move before we or Alex were ready.  Even worse, he was double-crossed by his own operative, Morgan.  Neither Brockner nor I could pick up his trail. I wish I knew who or what that Morgan character was. Brockner falsified all Morgan's information."