She nodded reluctantly. “Lies registered as a jarring note that jangled along the nerve endings when someone was talking. It could be a small jolt or a really big sizzling one, like a bolt of electricity running through me. Not at all pleasant. It was all new, so I was just learning what each reaction meant.”
Jonas heard the note of reluctance that was still in her voice. Still in her mind. She didn’t want to know if Marigold had been the one to betray Camellia when she was attempting to escape. Camellia had already accepted Beverly as the guilty party. She wanted that betrayal to be the damning one, the ultimate. If Mari had known about her twin and chosen to keep her existence a secret, eventually Camellia could come to accept that. But would she ever be able to forgive a betrayal that caused the death of a fellow sister?
Jonas sent a silent prayer to the universe that no one interrupted them. Camellia needed to get it all out. To let herself speak of her fears. She had to have one person she could talk to without fear of recrimination. He wanted to be that person for her.
Camellia sighed. “Marigold never brought up the subject of Ivy or Beverly, and when someone else did, she was very quiet as a rule. There was only one time . . .”
She fell quiet, swallowing hard. When she looked up at him, her eyes meeting his, she looked all woman, no sign of her cat. Her eyes had gone as liquid blue as the sea, making his heart ache. “Marigold said we knew who had betrayed us and we could never allow Whitney to drive a wedge between us. We had to stay strong together, that there was no sense in talking about it any longer. That was when she brought up the idea of talking to Senator Freeman and putting together an escape plan for all of us.”
The wind tugged at their clothing, growing stronger. He felt that vague threat growing closer. Whatever—or whoever—was on the move. He had to talk with Jeff and Kyle and make a decision. Ryland and the others had to be warned. He didn’t have a lot of information, but he knew for certain there was an actual threat. The team had to go on high alert. That meant getting the children under lockdown. Daniel was a handful, and if there was one thing the boy didn’t like, it was to be restrained in any way. Jonas had hoped to know exactly what they were dealing with before he sent a report back to Ryland, but he couldn’t wait. He couldn’t risk something happening to him before he alerted the team and their families to the approaching threat.
Through the shared networks, Jonas examined the memory in Camellia’s mind, noting every nuance, every inflection of Marigold’s tone as she spoke to the other women about betrayal, trust and plans for escape. He did so dispassionately. He wasn’t a man who ever made judgments about fellow GhostWalkers. Enhancements were difficult to live with. The things Whitney had done to them made it nearly impossible to get through a day at times.
Camellia’s mind was a wonder. Each memory stored in vivid detail, down to the smallest aspect. Whether consciously or not, she had noted everything, from what the temperature was to the exact measurements of the room she was in. She had even counted the rotations per minute of the fan above her head.
Yeah, he was going to have to go with Camellia on this one—Marigold hadn’t been telling the exact truth about something. She had successfully shut down the conversation about Ivy, Beverly and Whitney’s intimation that someone else might have been the one to alert the guards to Camellia’s absence. As she had volunteered to try to go out with her former unit to be on the protection team for Senator Freeman and Violet, she clearly believed she might be able to help all of them, including herself. That led him to the conclusion that she knew more about the night Ivy was killed than she let on. That didn’t make her guilty. It only meant that, like Camellia, Jonas didn’t altogether trust her.
“You don’t believe her either, do you?” Camellia came right out and asked him.
“That’s a tough one, honey. I don’t know her. I’m not the kind of man to hang with the women from the other teams. In the old days, before the enhancements, I might have been considered a player, but not anymore. I make everyone nervous when I walk into a room. Whitney put too much of every predatory animal he could in me. Makes for an ugly mix. So I tend to keep to myself. I avoid trouble with the others that way.”
Camellia spun around to look at him. “Wait a minute. When you say this, I’m getting a feeling that I don’t like. Your team members accept you, and you don’t make them nervous, right? Because you go on missions with them all the time and probably have saved their asses.”
He tried not to smile. “Just as they’ve saved mine.”
“So when you say you make everyone nervous when you walk in a room, you aren’t really talking about Team Two members either, are you? Because they’re enhanced as well. It’s their women who don’t know you,” she clarified. “That’s what you’re saying, Jonas. Ken wouldn’t like it if you disturbed her peace of mind, even though you’re up here checking out a threat to her and her family.”
His heart fluttered in his chest. She sounded outraged on his behalf. “Camellia.” He said her name gently, wanting to kiss her again, just because she stood for him and she didn’t know him. He might have deserved her championing him at one time in his life, but Whitney had changed him for all time. “Thank you. I wish I could live up to your good opinion of me.”
“Aren’t you up here checking out a threat to Marigold’s family? It isn’t just Lily and Ryland’s family. You mentioned Briony and Jack. Marigold and Ken. I heard you. Right when we first were talking together. I wanted you to tell me everything you could about them. At the same time, I didn’t want you to say anything more. I was confused and hurt. But I do know you were here for one reason. You felt a threat when no one else did, and you came to make certain the families with wives and children were safe.”
“I suppose I can’t deny that, Camellia. It’s just that with a mixture of all the various enhancements Whitney stuck in me, I can become extremely aggressive. I don’t like it, and I do my best to control it, but that doesn’t mean I’m nice the majority of the time. I’m better outdoors.”
She gestured toward the trail, retreating from his side, dropping a step behind him. “I think I am too. At least, after spending so much time on my own, I feel more at home outside with my plants.”
Jonas knew she was telling him she wasn’t going to accompany him back down to either fortress, not even to the one Team One had built. They were separate from Team Two, a distance away, although escape routes connected them. He didn’t know how Ryland was going to feel about Camellia’s refusal to introduce herself. He would just have to tell Ryland that the man would have to make a trip up the mountain if he wanted to meet her—that was assuming Jonas could convince her not to run.
With a sigh, he resumed walking down the mountain. “You’ll like Jeff and Kyle.” She would. He tried not to think too much about that. “Jeff Hollister and Kyle Forbes are two of the best men I know. Kyle helped me when I was at my absolute worst. Both men stood by me when others would have walked away.”